Adding storylines to scenarios and campaigns

[Vantha]

I think most players would agree that the single-player content 0ad offers is meager, especially in comparison to other RTS games. There are many great scenario maps, but there are no built-in campaigns. In my opinion the underlying issue is that there is simply no way for map makers to tell a story. I want/plan to make an interface for exactly that; the capability to tell the player about the historical context and events a game or campaign is based on, and to pack it into a plot that unfolds while the player plays through it.

I'll disclaim it straight ahead: I'm not the typical and traditional RTS player that I know many other people in this community are -- e.g. I haven't player the AOE games.
It might be because of that, but I personally dislike the idea of adding actual dialogue and voiceovers. I'd personally rather convey the feeling of reading a history book. However, I am well aware that there are players who would disagree with this. So why not do both? We could have history-book style prologues and epilogues and something alike at key points too. And to bring the story to a more interactive, personal level, add the ability to have character monologues and dialogues.


What do you think? I made this thread to collect concepts and ideas on how to make it work and look.

(By the way, I made some mockups for this a while ago, I'll post that in here when I've cleaned it up.)

[Grautvornix]

I do like your idea - what we might need however for a campaign might be to carry over achievements/resources as well as own forces from one game to he next. Not sure this is a simple change though.