The Summons of War
Hi there Smitty, how're you doing?
Not too bad, a bit tired, been working on this project.
What is it?
It's a new Warcraft 3 map, stupid.
Well that was kinda rude.
Sorry.
That's ok. So what is it anyway?
It's a huge map for two teams, what I suppose is commonly referred to as an arena map, although I've tried to avoid thinking of it that way.
Why?
I don't really know. I guess because there are so many arena maps out there, and having played a few I've been fairly spectacularly unimpressed at the way they've been put together, balanced, designed. I'm a DotA player, so I'm used to maps being meticulously thought through, to the last tiny detail. I guess I wanted to put that into what I'm doing.
So what would you then say makes this different to your average X Arena map?
The emphasis is hugely on teamplay, but the map CAN be played with a smaller team than the maximum. In a way which most arena maps ignore, the heroes have roles, loosely enough defined to make them flexible, especially with the range of items, but defined enough that there's a point to each hero, rather than a generic 'Oh I'll just pick a random one and then own by minute 20' situation.
What you're saying is absolutely fascinating, do go on. I especially love your deep and manly voice, it's making me go all weak at the knees.
Ok...
Anyway, go on.
As I was saying, the game puts huge emphasis on teamplay, without enforcing it. This is done through firstly the scale, there's so much to do potentially that a team could spilt up and happily go about the game, advancing faster individually, as they wouldn't be sharing XP. On the other hand, the other team might band together, thus being able to complete bigger, more rewarding dungeons and quests, thus making them stronger in terms of items and gold, maybe pooling their resources such as they can into one or two heroes capable of 'carrying' the team. It all depends on the heroes you pick, the style of play you choose, and how you work your way through the game.
But that just sounds like the usual 'omgguyscheckoutmymapit'sthesamebutbetter!!1!' we see from so many people.
That's because when people think 'hero arena' they tend to spend ages thinking up heroes to fight each other, and then rush the rest of the development, so the map ends up being poorly put together and designed. What I'm doing is to create a map with a central arena, a starting area, big enough that there's plenty of room for both teams to roam happily, but not so big they can never find enough other. From there I'm creating various different quests, dungeons and other tasks (for example periodic competitive events) which a team can complete in order to gain something to help them win.
When you say 'win'...?
Well, the original objective is to gain a certain number of kills across your team, like in many other arena games. However, I'm confident enough in the balancing of the map that I'm going to implement a dungeon mode for sure, and possibly a couple of others, which while being less PvP oriented, will still allow the two teams to interfere with each other enough that it's not just a grindfest. There are dungeons matching all different difficulties of course, from easy to insanely hard. Rewards of course scale as such.
'Insanely hard', that just means 10000000000hp and a 1-hit-KO spell on the boss as we usually see, right?
Well, no actually. I've put a huge amount of though into the dungeons. Of course adding HP and insane damage is one way to scale a dungeon boss, but it's unimaginative, boring and just means that the dungeon can only be run once you achieve X degrees of OPness. I'm talking more subtle kinds of scaling, requiring actual strategy or at least cooperation to overcome. And of course the harder it gets, the more is required.
Want to go into any specifics?
I'd rather not. Not least because I don't want to give too much away, but also because I'm lazy and my fingers are starting to hurt. Plus, my phone is dying.
How far have you got then?
Well, I've completed the creation of a core of 14 heroes. A 15th is causing me some trouble, but should be added soon. I've completed roughly half to a third of the terraining needed, although I have a good idea of what to do for the rest, I'm trying to get someone on board to help me with it. I've also largely implemented the basic items, and I'm now setting up dungeons. Which, by the way, is harsh work.
A minute ago you mentioned 'Competitive events'. I assume that means the standard duel every 5 minutes?
Once again, no. A periodic duel is a weak excuse for an event, and makes the game unfair anyway. It doesn't allow a team to use strategic positioning for example, or try to gain any element of surprise, which is what a teamfight is all about. It also gives unfair advantage to a strong early game team, since a late game team will want to farm more, it should be the responsibility of a team who want a teamfight or to kill enemy heroes to hunt them down, to force it to happen. Besides, a duel is again, just boring and unimaginative. I'm talking about objective events, sparsely placed, where both teams aren't forced to compete, but the winner will gain some reward. There is your incentive. I want to allow teams the freedom to think and play strategically throughout the game, rather than just bashing them together every 5 minutes in the hopes that this will make the game more fun.
Sounds absolutely incredibly brilliant. So why are you telling me this?
Well, partly to attract some attention to the project. I obviously want it to be as popular as it can be. But mainly because I'm only one man, and I can only do so much work at once. I need people who are eager to get on board, to contribute, and to be a part of a team, whatever their strengths. There's plenty of work for everyone, as I said, it's a big project.
Well, I for one would love to help!
You're not even real. You're just a sure sign of my raging insanity.
What you say is true... we did say we'd stop talking to ourselves, didn't we.
Exactly. Now go away, and NEVER COME BACK!
TL;DR Moving on swiftly, and to summarise, I'm looking for people to become part of a team working on this project. It doesn't matter how small your input, or what your skillset might be, the more the better. If you want more information, I'll be happy to oblige. Watch the post below for updates, and thanks for indulging my madness
The Summons of War
A Warrior's Calling
A Warrior's Calling
Hi there Smitty, how're you doing?
Not too bad, a bit tired, been working on this project.
What is it?
It's a new Warcraft 3 map, stupid.
Well that was kinda rude.
Sorry.
That's ok. So what is it anyway?
It's a huge map for two teams, what I suppose is commonly referred to as an arena map, although I've tried to avoid thinking of it that way.
Why?
I don't really know. I guess because there are so many arena maps out there, and having played a few I've been fairly spectacularly unimpressed at the way they've been put together, balanced, designed. I'm a DotA player, so I'm used to maps being meticulously thought through, to the last tiny detail. I guess I wanted to put that into what I'm doing.
So what would you then say makes this different to your average X Arena map?
The emphasis is hugely on teamplay, but the map CAN be played with a smaller team than the maximum. In a way which most arena maps ignore, the heroes have roles, loosely enough defined to make them flexible, especially with the range of items, but defined enough that there's a point to each hero, rather than a generic 'Oh I'll just pick a random one and then own by minute 20' situation.
What you're saying is absolutely fascinating, do go on. I especially love your deep and manly voice, it's making me go all weak at the knees.
Ok...
Anyway, go on.
As I was saying, the game puts huge emphasis on teamplay, without enforcing it. This is done through firstly the scale, there's so much to do potentially that a team could spilt up and happily go about the game, advancing faster individually, as they wouldn't be sharing XP. On the other hand, the other team might band together, thus being able to complete bigger, more rewarding dungeons and quests, thus making them stronger in terms of items and gold, maybe pooling their resources such as they can into one or two heroes capable of 'carrying' the team. It all depends on the heroes you pick, the style of play you choose, and how you work your way through the game.
But that just sounds like the usual 'omgguyscheckoutmymapit'sthesamebutbetter!!1!' we see from so many people.
That's because when people think 'hero arena' they tend to spend ages thinking up heroes to fight each other, and then rush the rest of the development, so the map ends up being poorly put together and designed. What I'm doing is to create a map with a central arena, a starting area, big enough that there's plenty of room for both teams to roam happily, but not so big they can never find enough other. From there I'm creating various different quests, dungeons and other tasks (for example periodic competitive events) which a team can complete in order to gain something to help them win.
When you say 'win'...?
Well, the original objective is to gain a certain number of kills across your team, like in many other arena games. However, I'm confident enough in the balancing of the map that I'm going to implement a dungeon mode for sure, and possibly a couple of others, which while being less PvP oriented, will still allow the two teams to interfere with each other enough that it's not just a grindfest. There are dungeons matching all different difficulties of course, from easy to insanely hard. Rewards of course scale as such.
'Insanely hard', that just means 10000000000hp and a 1-hit-KO spell on the boss as we usually see, right?
Well, no actually. I've put a huge amount of though into the dungeons. Of course adding HP and insane damage is one way to scale a dungeon boss, but it's unimaginative, boring and just means that the dungeon can only be run once you achieve X degrees of OPness. I'm talking more subtle kinds of scaling, requiring actual strategy or at least cooperation to overcome. And of course the harder it gets, the more is required.
Want to go into any specifics?
I'd rather not. Not least because I don't want to give too much away, but also because I'm lazy and my fingers are starting to hurt. Plus, my phone is dying.
How far have you got then?
Well, I've completed the creation of a core of 14 heroes. A 15th is causing me some trouble, but should be added soon. I've completed roughly half to a third of the terraining needed, although I have a good idea of what to do for the rest, I'm trying to get someone on board to help me with it. I've also largely implemented the basic items, and I'm now setting up dungeons. Which, by the way, is harsh work.
A minute ago you mentioned 'Competitive events'. I assume that means the standard duel every 5 minutes?
Once again, no. A periodic duel is a weak excuse for an event, and makes the game unfair anyway. It doesn't allow a team to use strategic positioning for example, or try to gain any element of surprise, which is what a teamfight is all about. It also gives unfair advantage to a strong early game team, since a late game team will want to farm more, it should be the responsibility of a team who want a teamfight or to kill enemy heroes to hunt them down, to force it to happen. Besides, a duel is again, just boring and unimaginative. I'm talking about objective events, sparsely placed, where both teams aren't forced to compete, but the winner will gain some reward. There is your incentive. I want to allow teams the freedom to think and play strategically throughout the game, rather than just bashing them together every 5 minutes in the hopes that this will make the game more fun.
Sounds absolutely incredibly brilliant. So why are you telling me this?
Well, partly to attract some attention to the project. I obviously want it to be as popular as it can be. But mainly because I'm only one man, and I can only do so much work at once. I need people who are eager to get on board, to contribute, and to be a part of a team, whatever their strengths. There's plenty of work for everyone, as I said, it's a big project.
Well, I for one would love to help!
You're not even real. You're just a sure sign of my raging insanity.
What you say is true... we did say we'd stop talking to ourselves, didn't we.
Exactly. Now go away, and NEVER COME BACK!
TL;DR Moving on swiftly, and to summarise, I'm looking for people to become part of a team working on this project. It doesn't matter how small your input, or what your skillset might be, the more the better. If you want more information, I'll be happy to oblige. Watch the post below for updates, and thanks for indulging my madness
