Custom Scenarios

User made Content and Story driven gameplay

from Sins2 Forums

Warcraft III changed the gaming world with its scenarios. The ability for users to functionally create their own campaigns, story driven narratives, and even game modes made Warcraft III arguably one of the most influential games in the PC gaming industry. Spawning from it at least 3 unique genre of games.

When I played Sins of a Solar Empire for the very first time (back shortly before entrenchment came out) one of the first things I remember doing is going though the tutorials. Those tutorials were simple but they did show that scripted content (while limited) was possible in sins. Ther were, at their heart a scenario.

No sins game to date have had a campaign. The tools do exist to create a focus and scripted experience but it was never fleshed out. It was left to the tutorial and fell behind all other mechanics. What the game went on to became to strategy games is best described as what skyrim was to rpgs. The perfect base to a vibrant modding community.

Those modders took every inch of the game down to the core and rebuilt it up in every sci fi franchise imaginable. I have seen mods for cult sci fi shows and books whos following was small to none. It is honestly fantastic what the community did for sins.

With each of those mods, you could tell there was a desire for story. Their mod pages would usually start by explaining the scenario, the situation that brought us to where the mod was. In game they introduced the first concept of titan and hero ships, and unique maps all designed to capture the feel of a story within sins. They just didn't have the systems needed to go where Warcraft III had gone before it, true user scenarios.

Sins 2 is the chance to fix this.

In the build up to the announcement to Sins 2, all players in game at one point got an in game message hinting to the entity chasing the vasari being near by. The teasers, the FAQs, and multiple posts across various social medias of the sins team all drive this curiosity because they know we are interested in lore, the story behind this universe. All the dev logs do a great job of expanding that lore but in Sins 2 things need to take it up a notch.

If not an outright campaign, then let scenarios be the happy medium. Sins lives on its fans, especially its modding community. Its what brings this game up from a cult hit to true gem in the marketplace. Custom scenarios would be a huge upgrade in the same way modding in general is. It gives that dedicated community the tools to create story driven content for sins. It would give this game a true, unparalleled single and multiplayer experience; one that will rival the current 5v5 community that make up the longest uninterrupted sins player groups.

If you are looking for what will make the future of this game, or a feature that can truly make sins 2 stand out, scenarios are what you are looking for. I would love to see this feature in sins 2.

sins ii feedback
21,578 views 3 replies
Reply #1 from Sins2 Forums Top

This is a very passionate argument, and we thank you for your continued support, dedication and feedback.

 

Reply #2 from Sins2 Forums Top

I like the OP's idea and it's good to see some level of interest from the devs on it.

Maybe a few reflections how that idea could be further fleshed out and refined. At a basic level, a scenario typically involves:

  1. A custom, potentially asymmetric map and player positions.
  2. Scripted events. After x time, y happens. If player does (or does not do) x, y happens.
  3. Some lore or background and conclusion around the scenario.
  4. Some custom restrictions to research or unit options, or in the inverse, special units available.
  5. Custom win conditions.

Some ideas what that might look like in a Sins world:

  • Scenario 1 - first contact with the Vasari: map starts with multiple TEC factions having colonised a few systems each and with them all at neutral relations. Vasari start with one or zero planets but a "mothership" titan and a sizeable fleet. Goal for Vasari player(s) is to collect X resources by Y time, while for TEC it's to eliminate all invaders.
  • Scenario 2 - the arrival of the Advent: the main thing here is that Vasari and TEC are the only starting factions but at some point mid-game a huge Advent fleet spans randomly, takes over planets, and starts as a new faction.
  • Scenario 3 - the great Schism: normal game but there is a chance that at some point mid-game part of a faction's empire will splinter off as the royalist/rebel sub-faction and take some planets and fleets with them.
  • Scenario 4 - the looming threat. A series of linearly connected start systems. All factions start in the same system. Over time, the threat that the Vasari have been fleeing systematically just takes out planets, starting in the original star system and spreading throughout the map. The challenge is to keep running and shifting your homeworld as more and more of the map gets devoured and you fight desperately with the others about new resources.

Implicitly, those scenarios will play to different factions' strengths. But I think that's ok. They are scenarios. They don't need to be balanced or fair or competitive. That's what the other maps and the random-map-generator is for. This is about different kinds of challenges and infusing some lore and asymmetrics into set-ups and victory conditions.

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Reply #3 from Sins2 Forums Top

We do not know the extant of the new modding tools, but we can say for sure, that modders will have significantly more freedom. The ideas for different scenarios or even campaign have been raised by multiple members of the community. 

So we are looking for options to give modders possibilities to actually create that kind of stuff. <3

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