As mentioned in my project notes for DoW2: Retribution, the game had an interesting situation similar to Dark Crusade where many playable factions were available. This presented an issue with having an appropriate early campaign for the game to help ease the player into knowing how to play their chosen faction. With the limited time and resources usually allocated towards expansion packs, we had to figure out a workable solution because making 1 bespoke mission per faction was going to be an impractical course of action especially because we had a shortage of environment artists for the project at the time.

Thus, when I was given the responsibility for this mission I decided at the very least to ensure that the level made was playable and applicable to all races in the game.  As this mission was meant to be a second tutorial (after the Prologue), we could focus on game mechanics that would be common across the board for each race, with special attention given where needed.  I ended up creating a matrix of resources that the in-game scripting system was able to use (building on what I learned from Operation Stonewall in CoH: Tales of Valor) so that no matter what race you played the game would show plot appropriate enemies and dialogue and art assets. 

Another thing I thought of to save time was to take an existing linear map from Chaos Rising, flip it around 180 degrees, and with the help of one of our two environment artists, change the colour palette, and replace some of the foliage so that the map looked like it was set in a jungle. The end result worked so well that nobody noticed we were reusing and old map until I pointed it out! I also worked in some special “terrain tricks” to disguise spawn closets so that enemies would appear on the map in more convincing ways instead of popping into existence at the edge of vision or the map (such as busting out of rock walls, or emerging from jungle foliage). I used these techniques in my other map on this project, Awakening Ulkair.

The result was that you still had a unique experience in terms of plot and dialogue despite having common mission objectives and sharing the same map. This level's in-game cinematics were entirely scripted by me, as each designer on the team was responsible for that for their levels.  In line with Dawn of War II's approach to gameplay, the mission was designed to have more of an RPG feel, with an emphasis on teaching tactics, special abilities, and loot gathering instead of economy and numbers as per standard RTSes.

In general, the mission’s critical path is as follows: First, we teach the player about basic combat and the “revive” mechanic. We then introduce cover, capturable buildings, and unit production. Next, players learn about flanking, and heavy weapons. Some encounters are provided next to practice and hone the concepts learned before culminating in a special “boss” battle where they can then apply everything they learned to defeat the “boss” and win the mission.