Triskell Interactive » Campaign Mode

Campaign Mode

05 Oct 2018

by Sinsem

Noodle talked about it a bit in the last post, we’d like to explore specific themes in Lethis – Path of Progress II. Running a city while the world is at war is just one of them.

In order to do that, we’re going to change our approach to the campaign mode of the game.

In the first game, you would just follow the development of the Lethis Empire chronologically, one mission would unlock after the other and you had to go over 24 missions to finally see the epilogue. This could take, depending on the players, up to 50 hours.

The Campaign Mode for Lethis – Path of Progress II will look more like the Zeus Adventures than the long campaign of the first episode. And because our originality knows no limit, we call them campaigns.
Each campaign will tackle on specific theme and explore it through a few different cities, which we’ll call missions. Sometimes, like in Zeus, you’ll have a few missions with the same city.
You’ll be able to pick campaigns and missions directly from the world map, which should look a lot better than the list of missions of the first Lethis – Path of Progress.

One of this campaign is called “The War Effort”. While there are no combats in Lethis – Path of Progress II, it doesn’t mean war cannot have an impact on cities in the countryside. Far from the war front, people still participate, in one way or another.
We’re exploring several types of missions, I’m going to spoil a little bit and tell you what we’ve been thinking about.

Bombings

Inspired by London during WWII, you’ll have to manage the city while bombs are regularly getting dropped on your buildings. While scientists are trying to develop weaponry to end the war, citizens have to try and go on their life under duress. Of course, protecting and reinforcing the research center is of the utmost importance, but you’ll also have to protect all of your citizens as best as you can.

The AA, a building specific to the mission, preventing buildings in its range to get bombed

Field Hospital

This mission takes you to a city not that far from the war front, were wounded soldiers keep coming on to receive care. How much of the resources of the city are you going to divert to the hospital to make sure the front is going to hold, while making sure you’re not also hurting the brave citizens of Lethis?

Supplies

This one takes place deep inside the mountains of Lethis, where most weapons and ammunitions are built. Will you be able to produce enough of them to give the troops a chance to win the war? At what cost though? Can you manage resources well enough to not deplete resources deposits before the end of the war?
This mission in particular will focus one of the new feature we intend to include in Path of Progress II, limited resources. The idea is simple, natural resources only regenerate so much each year. Overproduce and deposits will start to decline.

The Emperor of the Seas

The Lethis fleet could very well win the war, but to lead that fleet, you’ll need the biggest ship ever created. Managing the shipyards is time and resources consuming, but the payoff might be peace.

Remember the ingame posters?

The Temporary names of the others campaign are so far :

– The Explorers
– Taming the Elements
– Reconstruction

The themes here are pretty obvious, but we’re going to keep the specifics for ourselves for now.

As you see, the goal is to make the missions more specific, more eventful! The classic city building experience is still there in sandbox mode though, no worries. We also plan on having a third mode, but we’ll talk about it another time.

See you on Discord (https://discordapp.com/invite/triskell)!

Sinsem

5 Comments:

Muttala on October 20, 2018 at 3:36 pm Reply

Sinsem,
Thanks for the sharing (Actually I am your hidden supporter frequently visit here).I think Goodluck just keen to know more about gameplay.
Would you mind to take short break 1 weekend to get some inspiration below 3 games (You know, it might be good in the game planning stage to create something remarkable)

Hearthlands
It is also a walker based – Caesar 3 like Indie games but it make 2 very interesting innovations.
1) Type of buildings that generate walkers to collect resources (Fame, lore and magic) instead of delivering services. (tie to house level like tax man)
2) 4 different factions instead of one
I feel (1) is very refreshing large innovation, but maybe not until 3 resources maybe 1 (research / culture point etc) that tie to Lethis Universe.
(2) is okay which i suspect a lot of work, optional for you top consider (in fact Anno 2070 have 3 factions)

Emperor rise of middle kingdom
It is the latest 2003 / most refined version of old impression walker system city building games (Zeus with monument).
Additional facility like irrigation bonus to farms , the Heroes (Deities) with different perks, very neat UI panel on the right combining build icon and game statistic in each aspect without additional clicking, collecting ancient animal pets for the imperial castle (something extra / fun)

Banished
Not a walker based city building games, more like dwarf fortress. However, the in-game 4 seasons changes could be tie to Lethis universe well as Lethis has it’s own calendar / Climate system and very eye pleasing. Some people also complain Lethis 1 is too easy. The survival theme / occasional Disaster disruption might be something interesting.(such as cannot plant in cold winter – need to stock up, sickness)
goodluck on October 15, 2018 at 11:09 pm Reply

I know that you focus on graphics and art stills. But I hope that Lethis 2 will have a better gameplay than Lethis 1. I’ve played Lethis 2 recently after a long break, and this game still is sort of inspired by Anno-like games, yet it is… not as fleshed out as those in terms of gameplay. You have to get those gameplay things straight, even with a prototype, if you must. I assume that it is the reason why Lethis 1 did not become the success it deserves. In the end you are attracting mainly Anno players (Caesar, Tropico etc.), so you must take of minor gameplay details. I strongly suggest that you play again one of those games, and perhaps the new Tropico 6 beta. Especially Tropico 6 is very good at explaining and showing to the player, despite being more complex than the Anno series.

I just believe that your game could have done better if you would focus more on Anno players. Talk to them. Ask them how they play. Key shortcuts. Citizen and resource management. Please forget for a second about your drawing skills. Just look at the game as pure mechanics in a prototype, test it until it really feels like a wellmade Anno competitor, because this is where you are at and where the press recognizes you as well.

Sinsem on October 16, 2018 at 5:10 pm Reply

Hello !
We do plan on improving the gameplay of course, we also like pretty things so there will always be a strong focus on art in our games.
I’d just like to set things straight: Lethis – Path of Progress is not an Anno-like. Anno, Tropico and the city building serie are 3 different things. They are all city builders yes, but they do not play the same.
We’re not trying to build an Anno-like game, the core of our gameplay is based on the systems popularized by Caesar III. We’re not trying to offer a better Anno experience to Anno players, we’re not remotely in the same category scopewise.

Maxime on October 10, 2018 at 2:11 am Reply

Wow! j’ai tellement hâte! Allez! Travaillez…. 😉
Tuttu on October 5, 2018 at 8:46 pm Reply

Wow, these new campaigns look great! I’m eager to know more about them and even more to be able to play them.
Keep up the good work. I really do hope you will be able to get your financial issues sorted so you don’t have to think about that. 🙂

Campaign Mode

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