WIP Class Wars

[LurkerAspect]

STATUS: On Hold

Hi, another map by da1nOnlyEd.
(Please hear me out before ignoring this thread entirely... this is not another lame AoS)
Yes, I really enjoy making and playing AoS's, purely because of the endless fighting

THE BASICS
There are two bases, one at the top-right and one at the bottom-left of the map. 2 computer players, up to 10 user players. Creep spawn interval of 60 seconds, first spawn at 10 seconds. Numerous towers etc etc

There are several command points as well, which players can teleport between, can heal & replenish their mana at, and can be captured by heroes to provide a closer 'checkpoint' of sorts.

THE MAP

It's set in a rather classic, diagonal-based landscape with 3 lanes. It's set in the Barrens, in order to recreate a classic skirmish between Humans and Orcs. Not very original, I know, but the good parts are further down in the post, and I like to recreate the classical element of Warcraft that I feel most mappers completely ignore.

Here's a birds-eye-view of the map:

Here's the same view except with more informative details inserted:

THE HEROES
The heroes are what makes this game special. Instead of a menagerie of different, diverse, unique heroes, the heroes in this game are created with a set class in mind, and are dominant in their particular aspect of the battle.

This game is also unique in that players will be able to change their class once per lifetime, retaining the same level and revelant health/mana, and keep whatevery items they had.

Here's a list of the classes and a brief description:

• Fighter: Typical grunt fighter, always seen on the frontlines. Has the most melee damage of all the other classes, and has high health and armour. His abilities are centered around fighting, stunning the opponent, and being the best.
• Hunter: Stealthy ranged support hero with high movement speed and damage, but low health and armour, and falls quickly to enemy weapons. Abilities are centered around trapping & poisoning enemies, and they are best when used to kill off weak enemies.
• Scout: Very fast & light, but extremely easy to kill, the scout is the only flying hero, and provides the eyes for the team. HIs abilities are all focussed around revealing the map, through sentry wards, attachable spies, farsight, and short-range stealth detection.
• Spellcaster: Arguably one of the strongest classes, the spellcaster requires a quick-thinking user to be effective. Loaded with a spellbook of simple spells, and several mana-enhancing abilities, they provide the best support possible for the team, but are easy to kill
  (Here downwards have not yet been created but are conceptual)
• Maiden: The maiden is a non-combat hero, with low health & armour and no attack. However, she has the best healing/buffing ability in the whole game, and it also has a very low mana cost and cooldown, meaning that a Maiden supporting other heroes in the thick of a battle can change the outcome of a battle, and is often worth two or more heroes, purely by how valuable her support is. She also has the unique ability to convert an enemy hero to her team, meaning that that hero becomes a permanent member of whatever team, but at the expense of the Maiden's life, and a 6-minute respawn timer!
• Artillery: An extremely fragile hero, but armed with the most powerful and furthest-ranged weapons, the artillery works well when right behind allied defense, and can use his abilities to bombard the map from any location. Works very well in conjunction with the scout.
• Ward Master: A spellcaster of sorts, he makes use of protective spells and functional wards to either shield allies from attack or to strike enemies from multiple directions. Has decent health, damage and attack.
• Assassin: Light, EXTREMELY easy to kill (like one-shot), but has permanent invisibility and many abilities designed to kill off enemy units one-by-one and with the greatest of ease.
• Guardian: Huge, with immense health and armour, and very low speed, they are designed to take the punishment for the team, and can shrug it off easily. Their abilities reduce damage, allow them to aid any ally when needed, and can even activate a devastating damage returning field when at full power.
• Demon: The demon has moderate health, high chaos damage, average speed, and decent mana capability. Their strength is summoning demonic minions to the battlefield, and can quickly amass their own private armies, and are also loaded with several other demonic abilities.

I'm going to try and introduce a sort-of Counter system, so that different classes counter each other, to add a whole new level of depth and strategy to the game. You can change your class every time you respawn, or stay the same, if you choose. So here's an example:

Let's say all heroes of team 2 become assassins, and pick off your team's Heroes with ease. On respawning, half of your team could become Scouts, whilst the other half become Hunters, and use the Sentry wards and stealth detection of the Scout to track down their Assassins, and use your team's Hunters to kill them with ease. Team 2 could then respond by changing to Fighters, which are good against both Scouts and Hunters, then your team could change to Assassins etc.

So to break it down, we could say: Assassins > Fighters, Scout > Assassins, Hunters > Assassins, Fighters > Scouts & Hunters, etc.

As you can see, there are only a few major classes that are the most simple, easy to use, and versatile. The other classes are also powerful, but have more complicated roles and require more skill, mouse speed etc.

THE CREEPS:
The creeps are periodically spawned back at your base, depending on how many Training Halls you still have (they can be destroyed by enemies, but can also be rebuilt by paying gold). There will be an upgrade that will allow you to level up all creeps, replacing all creeps with better units in their regard, as well as adding a new unit type every level up. (example, Level 2 Orc Creep Upgradewill replace all Grunts with Raiders, replace all Axe-Throwers with Head Hunters, and add a new unit to each spawn wave, the Shaman)

The project is currently at about 30% completion, with many more heroes still to be created, not to mention 50+ custom items, many team upgrades, and much more still needs to be done (not to mention ALL hero abilities are custom-made)

If anyone wants to help please note that I'll only make use of anything really useful, i.e. triggered spells, good class ideas, and item concepts. Anything else (and I'm not trying to sound cocky here) sub-standard I don't need.

Of course, I'm not expecting many applications.

You can expect to see this project released by the end of March, but not later than the end of April.

 

[UndeadDragon]

At minimum, the terrain looks good

 

[Bloodcount]

You said it.

Anyway, this doesn't really take me. But nice terrain (drool) well, I think that a non-unique hero AoS will be good to be seen. Althoug keep in mind that with evry class, made for battles or not,you shloud still be able to pack a mean punch.

 

[Randor244]

Extremily nice graphics This may be worth checking out...

 

[LurkerAspect]

At minimum, the terrain looks good

But nice terrain (drool)

Extremily nice graphics This may be worth checking out...

You guys really think so? I thought it was rather sloppy compared to other projects like BattleShips, RotG and Island Defense, but anyway...

Anyway, this doesn't really take me.

I haven't finished the project yet, just wait and see! I'm constantly coming up with good ideas to make this map all the better.

Althoug keep in mind that with evry class, made for battles or not,you shloud still be able to pack a mean punch.

See below:

Something I left out in the original post (which has now been added) is that each hero is allowed to change class once per lifetime, (i.e. after you've been respawned, like in Battlefield 2 ) retaining their relevant HP/mana, level, and items. This way it spices up the game a little bit more, and allows players to try out classes to find one that suits their preference, or to adapt to what the enemy is doing. (i.e. lets say the whole of team two goes Assassins, and absolutely slaughters all your teams heroes. Then, lets say half the team becomes scouts, places down hundreds of sentry wards, and then slaughters their Assassins with the other half that are Fighters (Assassins have no anti-air weapons, and are thus vulnerable to scouts))

I will also be trying to set up some sort of counter system (ie Fighter counters Scout, scout counters Assassin, Assassin counters Fighter etc) to add adaptability and a new level of strategy to the game.

In addition, I also want to set up a creep upgrade system, like this: A hero purchases a creep upgrade (+1000,maybe 2000 gold), and all the basic creeps are replaced with stronger units, for example, the Orc team will have all it's grunts replaced with Raiders, and all axe-throwers replaced with Headhunters, when this upgrade is purchased, as well as adding a supporting spellcaster/siege unit/air unit/heavy unit to each spawn level, depending on the level upgraded.

I'm hoping innovations such as these will entice more interest, no?

PS: Bloodcount, I'm not critizing you by quoting you several times, I'm just trying to respond to the issues you raised

 

[Megika]

Looks very good. One or two possible issues:

You can only change class once in a game? If you go towards rock paper scissors gameplay, it seems like it would be very possible for team A to go rock, team B to go paper, A goes scissors, then B goes rock (can't remember the equivalents). At this point team A is screwed.

Also, the Maiden will be able to permanently get an enemy hero onto her team? Can this be used more than once per player per game? (Can Player A use it more than once). What if everyone on a team went a Maiden leeched off creeps to get the required level for the hero swap, and then stole every hero on the other team, then swapped for fighters or whatever? Or, if that would be impractical, picked "usual" classes, got to the required level, then everyone switched to maiden and stole the others' heroes? At which point it would become 10v0

I'll say it also, the terrain looks real good.

 

[LurkerAspect]

You can only change class once in a game? If you go towards rock paper scissors gameplay, it seems like it would be very possible for team A to go rock, team B to go paper, A goes scissors, then B goes rock (can't remember the equivalents). At this point team A is screwed.

That's an interesting pointer, however I did say that a player can change class once per lifetime, ie after you respawn. Think of it as a game like Battlefield 2, whenever you die, you must wait the 15 seconds, then you can choose a new class. It's the same principle, just no 15 second respawn

Also, the Maiden will be able to permanently get an enemy hero onto her team? Can this be used more than once per player per game? (Can Player A use it more than once). What if everyone on a team went a Maiden leeched off creeps to get the required level for the hero swap, and then stole every hero on the other team, then swapped for fighters or whatever? Or, if that would be impractical, picked "usual" classes, got to the required level, then everyone switched to maiden and stole the others' heroes? At which point it would become 10v0

Another interesting point, the Maiden can use this ability as many times as she likes, the only catch is that when she uses it, she sacrifices herself, and it gives the owning player a 5 minute respawn timer, so in essence, it's like swapping one player for another. During that time, it's very easy for another player to switch and vice-versa.

But even looking at that I see a potential plot-hole. DO you think it would be better if I perhaps limit classes, so that there can only one of a specific class, meaning that only one person could be a Fighter etc.

But of course that creates even more problems. I think perhaps there should be a shared cooldown with the Coerce ability, so that a team can only convert an enemy player once every 5 minutes.

Or any other ideas? I'm open to suggestions.

I'm loving these replies, they're causing me to rethink the game

OFF TOPIC:

I'll say it also, the terrain looks real good.

I'm flattered, but I'm sure that if you play the game and look at the terrain in real-time it's not that great. I could really throw on about another thousand doodads!

 

[Randor244]

The feeling is the most important aspect of the terrain, and you've really succeded in bringing a good atmosphere into the map. I really look forward to trying it out.