Branching Narrative

One of the big additions to Company of Heroes 3 is the Italian Dynamic Campaign Map. From day one, it has been designed to be a replayable experience, and over the last few years we’ve been building a narrative that supports that replayability. 

The story that forms the backdrop to the Italian campaign centers around our three subcommanders – General Buckram, General Norton and the Partisan leader, Valenti. Each of them has their own part to play and how the story plays out will depend on both your relationship with the subcommanders and the actions you take during the campaign.

Some changes will be subtle – choosing to come to the aid of a Partisan group caught in a German ambush may save the life of a Partisan soldier enabling him to reappear later in the campaign. Or capturing intel during a mission may unlock a story arc that provides a little insight into one of the subcommanders. 

Other times, though, the decisions you make can have lasting consequences on both the story and your relationship with the subcommanders. Ignoring Valenti’s requests for help could even cost you her support completely. 

The Generals also have competing priorities and at times you’ll need to decide which of them you want to support. The decision to follow through on that commitment is still up to you but go back on your word and you’ll damage your relationship and potentially send the story in a different direction. 

All of this is driven by two powerful systems – the Action Director and the Dynamic Narrative system. 

The Action Director gives us access to a wide range of information – from what abilities the player has used to when they last lost a battle against the AI. We can use that information to trigger appropriate objectives, story beats, and gameplay events. 

The Dynamic Narrative system not only allows us to easily build branching story content but also connects into other systems so that we can customize dialogue to reflect details from other parts of the game. Even something as simple as which order you complete objectives can change the subcommanders attitude and could determine whether they’ll pass on information that could help you in your fight across Italy. 

The meat of the Italian campaign is still the strategic gameplay, and the story is there to enhance the experience without getting in the way. But we hope you’ll enjoy exploring the stories of our subcommanders on your way to liberating Italy.

It really doesn't inspire a lot of confidence when you keep re-using screenshots from the reveal trailer for some of these updates.

Perhaps actual and brand new screenshots relevant to the topic at hand?

I think Paradox Interactive devs on their forums at least uses fresh screenshots for their dev diaries.