TD Cowardice TD - Recruiting!

Zaraf

New Member
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22
Cowardice TD

I am recruiting one (or maybe more) people who are interested in designing towers and abilities for Cowardice TD.

Cowardice TD is a very unique TD experience whose original concept was designed by myself. Im_On_56k has joined my team as the main JASS/vJASS trigger guru, and I have two more guys who are providing some minor help with some tasks.

What is Cowardice TD all about and what makes it so unique?

Unlike almost all other TDs, in Cowardice TD, your builder is NOT immune from the creeps. In fact, the creeps CHASE after your builder! The objective is to build towers, and then lure or "kite" the creeps near your towers. Your builder is also a hero who gains exp and levels, and learns new defensive skills to help you survive. Since your builder can't attack, you must rely on the towers to kill and provide the exp. The skill factor becomes apparent when you can't be too close to the creeps, because they will kill you...but stay too far away, and you will miss out on exp, and also lose "aggro". You can build a bunker in which to hide your builder when things get too rough, but be warned, your builder receives no exp while inside of the bunker, and cannot leave the bunker until there are no creeps remaining on your field.

You are able to choose one of 12 builders. You first choose a type (Str, Agi or Int) and then choose an Element (Earth, Fire, Air, or Water)...or if you feel adventurous, pick a random category for either, or even both! Each builder will have some unique skills in its arsenal to stay alive!

Wood randomly spawns in random places in your area, and you have a few seconds to grab it before it disappears! Wood is used to purchase certain advanced upgrade and special items. Speaking of items, you are able to build an item shop which sells various items for you to take advantage of. You can also build an armory in which you can change your builder's armor type, to maximize your defense against the creep's particular attack type for the level you are on.

A full custom design has been made of the armor type vs. weapon type table, and it includes custom icons (from WoW). Like some other TDs, armor and weapon types are a key component to the TD, and must be managed in order to help you survive.

Probably the most unique feature of Cowardice TD is that there is no single path for the creeps to follow. The player's area is designed so that there are MULTIPLE possible paths. I have already implemented numerous balanced paths into the map, and depending on the pathing mode chosen, the creeps move differently. Currently, we have 3 pathing modes available: Simple, Normal and Chaos.

-In Simple mode, one path is randomly chosen and used for the whole game. This pathing mode is the one that is most similar to normal TDs.
-In Normal mode, a random path is chosen every round, and all of the creeps walk along that path. This provides some excitement, as you never know which way the creeps might move next!
-In Chaos mode, every CREEP picks a random path and walks it! Now you have creeps walking all over the place, and you have to avoid them! Personally, my favorite mode :)

There are MANY more features planned and even implemented already, but they are just too many to mention here...plus, I like to keep some things as a surprise for the actual release :)


We currently stand at the terrain being complete, and the core triggers mostly done as well. Creeps, towers and abilities are all that remain for the core of the map, and then there are a bunch of extra things we are planning on adding. I am responsible for the overall management of the entire project, and designing the creeps for now. Im_On_56k is currently doing a superb job in the trigger department...helping me to achieve things for the map I never thought possible.


This is a very serious project, and we are working as fast as we can to complete it! We need some serious people to help us out to help bring this map to completion even faster!


So we are looking for people who are very creative and have unique ideas for towers and abilities. This map will be made to be high quality, and the towers must reflect that same level of quality! We expect towers on the level of Element TD's towers, in terms of uniqueness and creativity.

People with previous experience in making TDs are preferred, but if you're a TD fan who has always wanted to design your own TD just because of all the cool tower ideas you have, then THIS IS YOUR CHANCE!

If you are interested, please post here in this thread, and also send me a message on any of these chat program contacts:

AIM: ZarafFaraz
MSN: [email protected]
ICQ: 24523150
Yahoo: [email protected]
Xfire: ZarafFaraz

I look forward to seeing the creative juices flow in this community :)

Progress Report as of June 14, 2008

The following things are left to finish in the map:
- 5 basic tech trees have been completed and balanced in a spreadsheet, and now require object editor input and such
- More towers for the Advanced Elemental tech trees. I'm going to look through some of the suggestions here and see if I can use any of them
- Need to add more builder abilities....still lacking in those
- Fixing some various bugs and improvements on the current systems (something Im_On_56k will do when he gets back...soon I hope)
- From the theoretical balancing, and doing some fine tune balancing via play testing

So it's not too much left really...so I'm hoping to finish it all within this next month, since then I have my wedding....and I know the project is going to standstill if I'm gone for a few weeks.

Progress Report as of April 1, 2009

Well, things didn't go as planned, and my after my wedding and work load increasing, plus my main guy dropping out, I just wouldn't be able to complete it on my own. Especially since without knowing Jass/vJass myself, I wouldn't be able to put together all of the code that was already in place.

However, now I've got more time and I'm motivated to finish this map. I'm looking for a person who is able to help in the Jass/vJass department.

Here is my estimate of where the map stands:

Terrain: 100%
Concept: 100%
Object Editor (Units/Items): 60%
Skills: 70%
Triggers (GUI/Jass/vJass): 70%


As you can see, most of the components are complete, and it's more of a putting everything together and making it work.
 

ZiggyMcjoney

Data editor?! AAAHHHHH!
Reaction score
95
Cowardice TD is a very unique TD experience whose original concept was designed by myself.


Unless you thought of this before Gridlock TD was made (ie, a long time ago) then I have to disagree with this sentence.

EDIT: Still, it's a fun genre, and you're adding a few things to it, so I'm looking forward to this.

Good luck :p.
 
J

JacobSijsma

Guest
You should put the Image in the spoiler between "
" tags.

Some questions:

  1. Can you maze creeps in your map ?.
  2. If so, is there an anti cheat creep like in line tower ?.
  3. Does the builder have damaging spells ?.
  4. Will there be flying creeps ?.
  5. Do you take "Element TD" as a big example ?.
 

Zaraf

New Member
Reaction score
22
Unless you thought of this before Gridlock TD was made (ie, a long time ago) then I have to disagree with this sentence.

EDIT: Still, it's a fun genre, and you're adding a few things to it, so I'm looking forward to this.

Good luck :p.


Ahh, sorry, when I said original concept, I just meant the concept with all of the various details. The only similarity between my map and Gridlock is basically the "runner". But in Gridlock, your runner is NOT your builder. And Gridlock is a team game.


You should put the Image in the spoiler between "
" tags.

Some questions:

  1. Can you maze creeps in your map ?.
  2. If so, is there an anti cheat creep like in line tower ?.
  3. Does the builder have damaging spells ?.
  4. Will there be flying creeps ?.
  5. Do you take "Element TD" as a big example ?.

1) The short answer is no, you can't maze. But people may be able to do some very limited mazing.

2) There is no need for an anti-cheat because the brick paths are unbuildable.

3) No, the builder cannot do any damage. However, some of the skills the builder does have may include knockback, slow down, stun, etc.

4) Yes, there will be air levels. Those will be much more difficult, due to the fact they can move over obstacles in the terrain, so they will be balanced to be much weaker than their ground counterparts.

5) The only thing I said out of Element TD is that it has unique and creative towers. It's the only TD off the top of my head I could remember that didn't have just normal towers whose main difference was the mount and type of damage they did (single, splash, air, freeze, etc, and piercing, siege, chaos etc). Many of the elemental towers had various unique abilities and such.
 

AgentPaper

From the depths, I come.
Reaction score
107
While I can't dedicate myself to helping you on the map, I would like to help with ideas for the different heros and towers. First:

1) Are there any unifying themes among the towers?
2) Are they split up into element themes as well as the heroes?
3) Is there a unique hero for each element/stat combo, or is it one hero with different abilities depending on what you choose?
4) How does the pathing system work? They follow their path, and then wander after the hero when they see it?
5) Are towers attackable? If so, how tough are they? Would it be possible to make blocking a viable, if not easy, strategy?
6) Are there any ranged creeps? If so, how far of range?
7) Do you need any ideas on different creep types?
 

Zaraf

New Member
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While I can't dedicate myself to helping you on the map, I would like to help with ideas for the different heros and towers. First:

1) Are there any unifying themes among the towers?
2) Are they split up into element themes as well as the heroes?
3) Is there a unique hero for each element/stat combo, or is it one hero with different abilities depending on what you choose?
4) How does the pathing system work? They follow their path, and then wander after the hero when they see it?
5) Are towers attackable? If so, how tough are they? Would it be possible to make blocking a viable, if not easy, strategy?
6) Are there any ranged creeps? If so, how far of range?
7) Do you need any ideas on different creep types?

All builders will be able to construct ALL structures, however, some upgrades will be limited depending on what kind of builder you have. For example, some upgrades might require you have a Str type builder....or an Air elemental builder, etc.

You start by building a bunker. You can only build 1 bunker, and it cannot be sold or destroyed. Thus, the bunker is removed from your "build" list after you make it. This provides 11 slots for towers. Of these 11 slots, one is taken up by the "Workshop" which is a structure that can be upgraded into the item shop or armory, etc.

Now that leaves 10 slots. 4 of these slots I would like for an "Advanced Tower Tech Trees". These would only be available once your builder reaches, say, level 30 (builder level 30, not round 30). Max builder level is 50, and there are also 50 rounds. The way the game will be balanced is that you should be able to gain 1 level per round, provided you aren't hiding in your bunker the whole round :p But there is more exp, so if you managed to gain all of the exp available, you can reach level 50 earlier.

These 4 advanced tower tech trees will be elemental...Earth, Fire, Air and Water. Any builder would be able to build these, but the higher forms would be limited to the builder's element (ie. only an earth elemental builder would be able to build the higher levels of the earth tower). Maybe not right away, but eventually I'd also like to have "hybrid" elemental towers.

This now leaves us with 6 tower slots left over. These will be the basic tech trees which you can build from the start. Each slot will have a complete tech tree....similar as if you had different "race" builders (in other TDs that have races). So say you have a tech tree that has an Undead theme...you would build a base tower that would be very cheap (but would do little to no damage), and this base tower could be upgraded in to various other towers.

These 6 base tech trees can also function very differently. For example, one person suggested to me to have towers that upgrade by combining them with other towers of the same "tier" in that tech tree...much like Gem TD. Another idea someone gave is that towers within a tech tree compliment each other, so if two particular towers are within range of each other, they give each other some kind of bonus.

So with regards to these 6 base tech trees, I'm very open to ideas and suggestions. The more creative they can be, the better.

However, one thing I am quite strict about is "Slow" or "Freeze" towers. I will not have any of these, since, that is the only thing people will make. When you are running away from creeps, the easy formula is just make slow towers. Rather, slow will be VERY limited...like builder skills for example.



Ok, now I'll answer your questions directly :p

1) Yeah, I explained this one above, so aside from the 4 advanced elemental tower tech trees, no.

2) See #1

3) The main difference between the builders are their stats (and stat growth), and abilities. Later on, certain towers will be upgradeable only by particular builders.

4) That is exactly correct. The creeps follow the path, but if for whatever reason they cannot target the builder (in the bunker, out of range, invulnerable, dead, etc) they will go back to their path and continue their course.

5) No, towers cannot be attacked. And blocking is not possible since the paths the creeps walk on are not buildable. Also, the objective is to keep your builder moving...so while you may be able to "barricade" your builder for one particular level...you would most certainly be "screwed" for the next :p

6) Yes, currently the plan is to have every even numbered rounds (2,4,6,etc) to have ranged attacking creeps. The actual range has not yet been determined, and will be finalized during balancing. But my guess would be probably 500 - 600.

7) One thing I'm currently trying to decide on is the various models for the creeps for all of the levels. This is proving to be more difficult than I anticipated, so I'm always will to accept help in this regard. Also, I'm always open to new ideas, since I'm new to mapping, I make it a rule for myself to always consider the advice of others and give it some thought. So in that regard, I'm willing to listen to advice with ANYTHING in the map.

Ok, I hope that answers all of your questions :p lol Post ended up being longer than expected :p
 

Romek

Super Moderator
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963
I actually really, really like the idea...
I'll do my best to help you if you need it (And i can manage).

I'd also love to Beta Test :)
 

AgentPaper

From the depths, I come.
Reaction score
107
Well, for creeps, to make it a bit more interesting, have a set-up of abilties that creeps can have, such as flying and ranged and such which you can then set to different levels however you want. For example:

Flying - Creeps fly over terrain and towers. Costs 50% health.
Ranged - Creeps attack at a range. Costs 20% health.
Regeneration - Regenerate HP very quickly. (like 1-5% per second) Costs 10% health.
Fortified - Creeps have fortified armor. Costs 30% health.
Hulking - Creeps are huge, slow creatures. Move half speed, have double health.
Blink - Creeps will blink forwards sometimes. Costs 20% HP.
Spawn - Creeps spawn lesser versions of themselves when they die. Costs 30% health.
Boss - Only 1 creep spawns, but has 10 times HP and damage.

Then, you set up different levels to have these different abilities, either one, or a few, or even all of them. (probably for the last level) Might be cool to have different modes for this as well, such as vanilla, where no creeps have abilities, normal, where they come in a set order (always the same), random, where the abilities are applied randomly, and chaos, where every single creep has a different set of abilities.
 

Zaraf

New Member
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I actually really, really like the idea...
I'll do my best to help you if you need it (And i can manage).

I'd also love to Beta Test :)

Thanks :) Yeah, I'll definately post the beta test here and let all you Helpers try it out :)



Well, for creeps, to make it a bit more interesting, have a set-up of abilties that creeps can have, such as flying and ranged and such which you can then set to different levels however you want. For example:

Flying - Creeps fly over terrain and towers. Costs 50% health.
Ranged - Creeps attack at a range. Costs 20% health.
Regeneration - Regenerate HP very quickly. (like 1-5% per second) Costs 10% health.
Fortified - Creeps have fortified armor. Costs 30% health.
Hulking - Creeps are huge, slow creatures. Move half speed, have double health.
Blink - Creeps will blink forwards sometimes. Costs 20% HP.
Spawn - Creeps spawn lesser versions of themselves when they die. Costs 30% health.
Boss - Only 1 creep spawns, but has 10 times HP and damage.

Then, you set up different levels to have these different abilities, either one, or a few, or even all of them. (probably for the last level) Might be cool to have different modes for this as well, such as vanilla, where no creeps have abilities, normal, where they come in a set order (always the same), random, where the abilities are applied randomly, and chaos, where every single creep has a different set of abilities.


Yeah, I have something similar so far. I like that "costs X% HP" thing...that might come in handy during balancing.

Flying - yep, we got that

Ranged - got that too

Regeneration - I'll have to think about this one...don't have it yet, but it might be a possibility.

Fortified - I already have a custom armor vs weapon system setup, and the armor and attack types for the creeps of every level has been worked out.

Hulking - Anything that deals with creep movement speed has to be handled very carefully. Like hulking or fast creeps...since the main thing is your builder is RUNNING from the creeps...adding or subtracting even a small amount of movement speed can drastically change the balance of the game.

Blink - Bosses will have a blink or jump ability. Giving it to normal creeps could really mess things up.

Spawn - This is an interesting idea I didn't consider before...I'll have to give it some more thought and see if we can fit it in.

Boss - yep, got that...every 10 levels is a boss fight. And one goal we have is making the boss fights EPIC :p Bosses are going to be VERY cool. Have very neat abilities, and really make the boss fights something to look forward to :)

One type we have which you haven't mentioned is "mass". Normally we have 10 creeps spawn every level. But mass levels will have double the creeps...so 20 spawns. But they will have half the bounty, half the exp, half the hp, etc.

Thanks for those ideas! If you're interested in helping me pick good models for all the levels, please let me know and I can show you the spreadsheet I've been making to organize all of this data.
 

Im_On_56k

Hm...
Reaction score
116
This map is certainly unique. The best part I find is that for each player there is a large amount of different paths the creeps can take. This forces the player to use a strategic building placement or half the time your towers won't even attack the creeps.

Currently we are looking for tower and ability ideas for the builders. If you have an idea feel free to post and if we use it you will be included in the credits. If you have more then a few ideas, we have an open spot on the team for designing towers. Contact Zaraf if you are interested. Information for contacting him is in the first post.
 

Psiblade94122

In need of sleep
Reaction score
138
hmmm... you shuld be able to make towers that taunt <less hp then heros> and when they die you can rebuild them at a fraction of the original price. For every life they have, you can send gold to get it armor <reduction by point> damage return <only melle> and a better taunt, once that tower dies and is rebuild, the abilities are gone. You can sell back the rubble for about 1/10 of its original cost <maby even less>

their hp however, can regenerate by paying a fraction of its cost <the total cost for the repairs will be alot higher then the cost to rebuild>
 

AgentPaper

From the depths, I come.
Reaction score
107
If you made those, they should regenerate constantly (but not too much), and when they die, they turn into a ruin (invulnerable and no pathing but unbuildable) and then rebuild after the next round. (so if they die you basically loose them for a round)

Also:

Graveyard - Summons skeletons which last 10 seconds. They do good damage and can block creeps, though they aren't tough.
Upgrade 1A: Crypt - Summons skeletal mages, which do good damage at range, but are bad at blocking.
Upgrade 1B: Tomb - Summons skeletal monstrosities, which do okay damage but are tough and large, great for blocking.

Tower of Suffering - Does high damage, with moderate attack speed and range, but damages nearby towers when it fires. The more damage done to nearby towers, the more damage it does to creeps.

Summoning Circle - Summons a minor demon. This demon has no pathing and so can't block, but can attack enemies. Whenever it kills an enemy, the circle it belongs to gains mana. The circle can then use this mana to summon more, and more powerful, demons.

Tower of Reversion - Whenever this tower attacks a creature, it turns into a creature of the level before it, with same hp percentage.

Tower of Force - Does good splash damage, and creatures it hits are pushed back.

Tower of Confusion - Creeps hit by this tower change the path they are on, or even start moving backwards.

Artillery - Attacks a random piece of ground anywhere on the map, but does a large amount of damage in a huge splash.
Upgrade 1A: Accurate Artillery - Instead of firing anywhere, it will try to hit an enemy, hitting a random spot within some range of a random enemy. No upgrade to damage or splash.
Upgrade 1B: Massed Artillery - Fires much more quickly, still hitting random positions on the map. No upgrade to damage or splash.

Parasite Tower - Fires a parasite into an enemy. The parasite will do minor damage over time. After a few seconds, that parasite will make 2 more, stronger, parasites, which will then try to launch from that enemy into a new host. If they succeed, they will repeat this process with the other enemies, each time becoming stronger and stronger, until there are no more enemies to infest, after which they will die. This tower can only fire once every round.

Splitter Tower - Fires a bouncing glaive type of attack, but every time it hits, it starts off another bouncing attack. These attacks do little damage, but can keep splitting and bouncing for as long as there are more than 1 target. (Individual glaives can only bounce a few times, but every time a new glaive is launched, it bounces for it's own amount of time. This would probably be most easily done by having a dummy unit fire another bouncing glaive each time a glaive hits an enemy)

Laser Tower - Fires a beam at the target. Does low damage at first, but as it fires at one target it does more and more damage, until it maxes out. After that target dies, it starts on a new target, once again starting at low damage, and increasing as it fires at that target.
 

Zaraf

New Member
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22
Thanks again AgentPaper :) As usual, you have some nice ideas!

The Taunt tower that Psiblade94122 has suggested is a neat idea, however, I feel that it could easily become an issue in balancing. Especially since there are other similar things which will be usable. One is that enemies will randomly drop "bait" which you can pick up and use. When you use it, it will drop a bait item where your builder is standing, and creeps will be drawn towards it. When they destroy the bait item, they will come back after you.

Graveyard - I really like the graveyard idea. However, I think it might be better to have it require corpses to spawn units than just be able to cast them out. Then we could make the spawned units last a bit longer and be a big stronger too.

Tower of Suffering - Towers cannot be attack, and are invulnerable, so this wouldn't work exactly.

Summoning Circle - another interesting creature spawn idea....I can look into this and see if we can come up with something neat.

Tower of Reversion - An interesting idea, but I don't think it would work too well for this map.

Tower of Force - Yeah, I was planning on having a tower that does knockback. We already have knockback skills that the builders will have, so adding knockback to towers won't be hard. We'll have 2 kinds of knockback towers. One that does splash damage and knocks back a group (fires really slow), and another that targets single enemies (and fire a little bit faster).

Tower of Confusion - While a neat idea, and we might consider this, it could cause some serious problems with our pathing system.

Artillery - Yeah, we had this idea before and are going to put it in. I like your upgrade ideas for it though.

Parasite Tower - This is interesting, but it would be a little weird on certain levels, like boss levels. We'll consider it, but I don't think its likely we would bother with this one.

Splitter Tower - Yeah, this is a bit confusing to understand...I'll consult with 56k on what he thinks about this one.

Laser Tower - Yeah, I like this idea, and we'll most likely put it in.


Nicely done AgentPaper! If you got more ideas, keep them coming!

I managed to get someone to help with putting the towers in-game, so all I need now are IDEAS! Please provide some more cool tower ideas that would fit well with the map!
 
0

00Nobody

Guest
Flamethrower Tower

Advanced fire tower (Should be only for Fire elemental builder)

Deals a medium amount of damage upon attack and has medium range, but sets the ground on flame for a few seconds upon attack (burning oil).

Also activates the Flamethrower Battery ability every 20-30 seconds, which fires flames at all nearby targets very rapidly for 10 seconds.

Below is coding that has proven to work in one of my maps. Base the triggering spell Flamethrower Battery (Cast) off of taunt, and change it so it does nothing and makes no effect (unless you want a SFX with it). Base Flamethrower Battery off of Phoenix Fire for this, give it 0.01 duration (0 duration makes the flame effect permanent, not good for rapid-firing against creeps when theres only 10 or so), 0.01-0.05 cooldown and give it a rather low damage rating, as this will shoot FAST.
Code:
Flamethrower
    Events
        Unit - A unit Starts the effect of an ability
    Conditions
        (Ability being cast) Equal to Activate Flamethrower Battery (Cast) 
    Actions
        Unit - Add Flamethrower Battery to (Casting unit)
        Wait 10.00 seconds
        Unit - Remove Flamethrower Battery from (Casting unit)
 

Man-o-Bomb

New Member
Reaction score
30
Idea to towers

Ensnare Tower
A tower with projectiles like Ensnare and with an ability based on bash, dosnt stun, but ensnares!

Corpse Tower
Everytime a tower nearby gets a kill, this tower gets 1 shot (a Corpse).

Tidal Tower
I can se there is water on the map... This tower can raise the water so all units is drowning (Damage over time and cant move)

Drain Tower
Each attack will drain a % of the attackdamage and send it to the hero/builder

Lava Tower
A tower that sends out some chain-lightning spells, but its a Lava Spawn jumping (like when they ''clone'') from one creep to another. And if the spell hits X targets/deals X damage, it will in the end jump down to the ground and attack. If i didnt explained good enough then its cuz of my sucker english... please let me try again then, cuz i think its the best idea i got :)

Bouncer Tower
This tower creates a ball (or something else) that falls down from the sky, hitting a little area. Bouncing up and fall down to damage again. Bouncing up and fall down to damage again. For each bounce it jumps lesser.

I hope you wanna use my ideas :)
 

Man-o-Bomb

New Member
Reaction score
30
Idea to tower

Mine Tower
Dosnt attack, but got an ability based on ''Parasite'', creates Goblin Land mines when unit dies :)
 

Vestras

Retired
Reaction score
248
> Man-o-Bomb
Aw, c'mon. It's too simple :(
(Too you who doesn't know: I'm the guy that makes the towers)

And you can look forward to this map, the Laser Tower is neat.
 

Flare

Stops copies me!
Reaction score
662
> Man-o-Bomb
Aw, c'mon. It's too simple :(
(Too you who doesn't know: I'm the guy that makes the towers)

And you can look forward to this map, the Laser Tower is neat.

So what if it's a simple idea? Simple ideas are often the best (would you rather something simple that you understood, or something complex that you couldn't understand how to use?)

Cool map idea though , should be fun to play.

By the way Zaraf, should you have a list of all the people working on the project on main post? Would be nice to see who is helping, and in what way :)
 

Vestras

Retired
Reaction score
248
> So what if it's a simple idea? Simple ideas are often the best (would you rather something simple that you understood, or something complex that you couldn't understand how to use?)

It's just, the rest of the towers are complex :)



> MCR-ELSKER, DK?

Yes.
 
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