2022 has been an incredibly busy year for me. I officially founded Chiaroscuro as recognized company, and production of my full feature RPG video game has been in a massive swing, TAKE A LOOK AT THE STEAM STORE PAGE FOR IT RIGHT HERE, AND REMEMBER TO WISHLIST! Since going live on Steam (for wishlist opportunity) we've since published our first pre-alpha, which has been given out to close colleagues for play testing. It's been a massive milestone in our development, and has been taking up all our time this holiday season. You can look forward to also seeing us as Steam Next Fest this February, as well; and I'll be spending quite a bit of time touring, selling my new prints, and promoting the new title. It's gonna be a busy, busy year!
But to stay focused on LOME, it's also been a big year. I went much more quiet after May, which was the last time the mod was updated until sometime early in December, which yielded the Theater of War Update, also known the update V1.2.4 which I discussed in an article back in August.
The new update contains tons of bug fixes, campaign patches to increase playability and quality of life, some dozen of newly remodeled units, and namely, the new campaign: The Theater of War.
The Theater of War features about 8 full length scenarios that are all very loosely connected. A thorough narrative is not its goal. Instead, you'll play through major events, and self contained stories throughout the third age, culminating up and into the War of the Ring. These levels will often switch between civilizations and cultures, in an attempt to constantly mix up the experience, and the challenges grow as the missions go on. If you're new to the mod, and want to learn the ins and outs of how certain civs work, this is definitely the campaign for you!
~The New LOTR Campaign~
Coming into 2023, we have some even bigger updates chugging along, including the development of our Lord of the Rings RPG Demo! This "demo" will consist of a campaign roughly 3-4 massive levels long from the Prologue of FoTR, up to the Hobbits' arrival at Rivendell.
How does it work? 3-4 levels doesn't sound like a lot of content?
Well you couldn't be more wrong! LOME has, over time, greatly expanded on the engine to allow for great RPG mechanics, including consistent level up, hero inventory, and more importantly: the ability to carry over save data between levels.
Our maps are grand, and absolutely beautiful environments filled to the brim with quests, and other adventures to go on. If you come across mushrooms in the wild, you can pick them, and carry them over into later levels (much like other items in The Gray Company campaign).
To break things down, here's what you can expect from this demo:
- Extremely detailed, lifelike recreations of Middle-Earth (from The Shire, to Rivendell)
- Fluid RPG mechanics. Heroes will level up, and their stats and items will carry over into the next level
- Rewarding Quests that grant exp, or special items to use later in your adventure
- Highly detailed cinematics with higher poly models
- Full voice acting, with dialogue pulled directly from the film, and new voice acting for new NPC's
- A net play time of at least 6 hours
- A "Screenshot" mode, where you're able to pose the camera, remove fog of war, to get beautiful shots
Our new screenshot mode is a brand new feature for LOME (Currently only to be available in this demo campaign)! By typing in simple commands, you'll be able to cycle through different "cinematic" cameras, and take magnificent screenshots of our staggeringly gorgeous creations in Middle-Earth.
What's all this use of the word "DEMO"?!
An excellent question. Rather than go full throttle with committing to an entire LOTR trilogy remake (or even just Fellowship of the Ring), we'd rather test the water. An RPG of this quality and scale has never been done in AoM before ever -- full stop. So rather than potentially put it all to waste, we're simply going to throw out what sticks -- and if it doesn't stick, then it's going in the trash.
So I'm letting you know this now: this campaign will only EVER exist in full capacity with community support. So do your best to play the mod now, and when it comes out! When the demo releases (possibly later this month), it will hit the Steam Workshop, but I will probably also post a new benchmark version here, too.
Good luck to all in your endeavors this new year!
Niiiiice.
Excited to try it out. Thanks man :)