This document was created to highlight points not immediately apparent in the creation of Prophecy.
So you've got the characters, and the new enemy, so how are you going to present them? In a way that will surprise the players, how else? I wanted to create the illusion from the beginning that would spell 'a typical Starcraft campaign,' fighting Zerg, Protoss, and Terrans. This also gave time to introduce the new characters, as well s introduce new ones. And, once that was said and done, throw the Zeji into the mix, so everything goes to Hell.
Mission 1. The main point stressed here is to get players interested in Arestes again; this time he comes riding into town with one bad-mutha of a ship. It was meant to be the hook for which players would continue with the campaign-- a promise of what was yet to come. I resisted the temptation of surrounding Kabala and Duran, because I wanted to save the other ships for later. This also gave me the chance to get rid of Duran; the direction I wanted to take Kabala followed a different path, and for that the two conspirators had to part ways.
Mission 2. The first actual mission introduces Adonis, as well as immediately give the player the opportunity to get used to using Adonis, Chaladar, and Xaax as a team, particularly with the changes introduced to Chaladar's spells. It also served as the opportunity to reintroduce Thakras and Parakas, who I left out of Black Dream.Originally this mission was two separate missions, and, instead of destroying a Relay Organ, this would have introduced the Iron Hand.
Mission 3. Iron Hand's introduction to the story was pushed back to this mission. It emphasizes that, while the Black Dream possesses an enormous amount of power, you can't use it recklessly. A branch point was introduced late in production that allowed one to skip the mining mission entirely.
Mission 4. This mission and the following cutscene were switched around to accomodate the new branch in Mission 3. In this I wanted to utilize my Spider Minefield, forcing the players to use Vultures while the main force stayed behind to mine. It also prompted my change in Defiler movement to Hover, since it appears they are doing that already (they originally were flying units, I believe). The boss battle with the Avenger was added as a bonus; its inspiration comes from the Game Boy Color game The Legend of Zelda: Oracle of Ages' minigame where you had to knock enemies into pits while using a switch to prevent a minecar from crashing. Originally the Infested Terrans would have moved around by shooting them with the firebats, but I couldn't force them to move like the Zerglings in Zergling Round-Up.
Mission 5. The Remains' introduction was pushed back to accomodate the new mission branch in Mission 3. This only serves as a stepping board for the later venture to the Zerus dreamscape.
Mission 6. Perhaps this mission is what defines Prophecy overall; it is the most difficult mission I created to date, because the map is literally swarmed by the new, unknown enemy. I expected every player to lose in this map on their first try. You basically have to use every trick in the book to survive, and, not only that, you have to think on your feet if you want to get Yggdrasill to the Nemesis. Originally this was three separate missions, but I wanted to give the players the chance to better defend themselves from the Zeji Armada on their own.
Mission 7. One of the last missions I coded was this one, as I worked hard to modify the Installation to allow the building of structures-- mainly Creep. However, Installation's color pallete does not support the Creep's colors, so a great deal of modifications were made in order to make it look somewhat presentable. The key to this was my desire to create a puzzle with Nydus Canals-- something I believe which was never done before. This map couldn't have been done without the advice and work of The Oracle and Wargiant.
Mission 8. The easiest cutscene designed also had monstrous headaches in it-- such as getting units to move around in a fashion similar as to how a player would play the actual map. I played around with the Dark Archons a lot, as I realized they will always attempt to Mind Control the Battlecruisers. As this was the origin I always had in mind for Kabala, I believe it turned out well enough. I was unsure if I could pull-off the Zeratul conversation, but it works reasonably well here.
Mission 9. For all intents and purposes this is both a quick strike and the chance to make use of the Zeji ships yourselves (that is, if you didn't think to Mind Control the ones back in Mission 6). This mission uses a concept I haven't seen used in other Starcraft maps, and that is the ability to buy yourself more time to wreak havoc. The free reign on the shipyard was obviously inspired by the Brood War Zerg mission of the same type.
Mission 10. I consider this, originally two maps, the revelations series. I seriously had to put a lot of time into constructing this map, because I had to devise the Zeji culture and lay it out on a map appropriate to what I wanted to happen. This would also serve as the last major commando-style mission, so I pulled all the stops on this one; every unit you were given has some use on the map, and those of you who managed to keep the Ghosts alive throughout the whole thing will have found the mission easy. I also used this as my chance to fully make use of the Skippers, which I seriously underutilized compared to my original plans.
The Parakas boss battle was an interesting case; I had to change Xaax's attack so he was able to attack her. Of course, in order to keep things interesting I gave her the Judgement Light attack, which was inspired from Skies of Arcadia boss Yeligar's Voltigar attack.If I ever constructed a movie of Parakas' attack it would look just like the Voltigar attack.
Mission 11. 'The Catalyst' is a sort of turning point in the campaign, and I wanted it presented as such. For the first time I revealed the hidden Dark Templar I threw around in each map, unless players found them on flukes ahead of time. Xaax, too, is undergoing a change in heart, hinted at all along. The rest of the Scantid Fleet, too, must deal with their impending doom-- they would either be fated to go back in time to annihilate the Zeji, or die at the hands of Arestes' Zeji Armada.
Mission 12. Amukasier admits he doesn't want to die. He's the only one in the Fleet that could outright say it in words. Unlike the others he hasn't fought personally in battle, and doesn't deal with death in quite the same way as the others. Adonis shrugs it off; Chaladar always thinks everybody is going to die; the others simply don't speak of it. And now, the first proper melee mission reintroduces the Zeji Cloning Cylinders, but this time spawns more terrible villains. Although toned down, the Cylinder and the Stardocks would serve to give a taste for the Final Battle.
Mission 13. The second and last melee mission is purely such, and this time I didn't hold back on the Stardocks and Cylinders. After five minutes passed, if the player hasn't done a good deal of hurt on the enemy, they'll wish they had. The Zeji will harass the player every once in a while, and keep harassing until their base is destroyed. Since I could not AI Script the Zeji I had to resort to using Triggers to simulate semi-coordinated attacks. The duel with Van is rather simple, but the only real way you can win is if you upgraded your ship weapons ahead of time.
Mission 14. This mission is an echo of Mission 6 in the way the Zeji move about, but this time you've got the help you never knew you could get. I wanted Kabala's entrance here to be a complete surprise to the player, although astute players will know it was coming ahead of time. Even with the Black Dream I wanted this mission to rival Mission 6's difficulty, and for that I needed to make sure every ship on the map was busy doing something. Also, I implemented a simple 'Power Overwhelming' trap whereby, if it remains intact for a certain amount of time, Arestes leaves and you lose. That is practically the only way Arestes can escape, because between you and the Kabala Fleet Arestes' ship won't make it to the gate.
Mission 15. Prophecy was not always going to be a full-length campaign; originally, this map was what would compose of the entire story. It is the interior of the Black Dream, and I was planning to create a map where you play the ships new captain, and you have to interact with the crew and gain its trust. Those triggers are still implemented in the map, but they are useless. The only part of the original story that remained intact was the attack made by Thakras, and the subsequent final duel between him and Xaax. Ultimately Xaax would choose, out of his own free will, to leave the Black Dream. Depending on other factors, you could get one of two endings.
The Thakras battle is one I wish to be legendary-- the two Defilers are rivals since the beginning of Vision of the Future, and it all comes down to this last fight. However, that required me to use a number of triggers and locations to make it possible-- the fire attacks required a lot of coding time. I needed Thakras to be more difficult than Parakas before him, and that was to limit the amount of chances Xaax could actually attack Thakras. The theme I used was from Rockman X5, for when X and Zero fought their destined battle.
Mission 16. This is sort of an extra mission. I threw in every unit I could think of into this, even ones I had no intention of allowing the player to use-- including Arestes. It is also a throwback to the original Chaladar battle in Vision of the Future. The map is also from that same campaign, too. In a sense, it is a full-circle. I wanted everybody to have some fun with this.
Go back to index. [an error occurred while processing this directive]