LurkerAspect
Now officially a Super Lurker
- Reaction score
- 118
GHOST HUNTER
THE BASICS
THE STORY
In a small city outside of Lordaeron, a convoy of ships arrived, carrying aboard a Noah's ark of lost souls and spirits, carelessly bound to the vessels and cast out to the sea. Some speculate that the ships from deep within the maelstrom itself, carrying aboard all the souls of those who died in the raging waters. Whatever happened is irrelevant, the souls left the ships and populated the town, haunting and killing countless people. A city block, containing the highest concentration of spirits, has been quarantined through powerful magic, and outside excorcists have been hired to silence the restless spirits, and to save whatever innocent spirits still linger in the area.
THE OBJECTIVE
Four players begin as the Hunters, and they are able to choose what Hunter they want to be before the game starts. The other eight players are ghosts, and they also get to choose their type of ghost, each with it's own set of abilities, strengths, and weaknesses. The Hunters have to kill every single ghost on the map, and have a time limit of 30 minutes. If all the ghosts are not killed by then, the Hunters forfeit the game. The Ghosts, on the other hand, have to either survive for 30 minutes, or kill every Hunter.
THE MECHANICS
SPIRITS
Everything possesses a spirit in this game; whenever a ghost is excorcised, or whenever a Hunter is killed, they release a spirit, or in the case of the Hunters, many spirits. A spirit can then be collected by the team that freed it, and provides benefits for the collector. For Ghosts, collecting a spirit will create a copy of the ghost that collected it, or, if another player has no ghosts, a ghost will be revived for him. When a Hunter collects a spirit, his power increases, and gives him access to his abilities. When a Hunter is killed, he drops one spirit for every hero level he has.
At the start, and at every minute, a neutral innocent spirit will appear somewhere on the map, and they can be freed by Hunters or consumed by Ghosts, and increases the power of whoever gets to them first.
DAY & NIGHT
This mission is not a quick one and is expected to take several days*, and both Hunters and Hunters need to take this into account. During the day, Ghosts are blinded, and can hardly see in front of them, making them vulnerable. The Hunters can see clearly during the day, and should use that to their advantage, and Hunt during the day.
However, at night, the tables are turned. The Hunters can barely see at night, while the Ghosts can see clearly, meaning that Ghosts should wait till night to attack the Hunters. Also, ghosts heal much faster at night. During this time, Hunters should team up and take the defensive to avoid being singled out.
VISIBILITY
Naturally, Ghosts are invisible. That is why Hunters with Extra-Sensory Perception are hunted; all Hunters can detect Ghosts when they are very near them, but not from a distance. To detect them without standing next to them, the Hunters rely on spells to see. Some create vision wards, some can use limited farsight, while some can upgrade their detection range. This makes it so much harder for the Hunters, as they can't simply follow ghosts on the map.
SIZE
Ghosts are smaller than Hunters by far, and are able to slip through small gaps between buildings and trees that Hunters cannot, making killing ghosts even harder.
ABILITIES & MANA
While Hunters have to free spirits in order to gain access to their abilities, Ghosts have access to their full arsenal of abilities from the start. However, Ghosts have very limited mana, and do not regenerate it naturally. They can recharge quickly by standing next to one of the mana pools, or by their own special recharge conditions. The Hunters regenerate mana at a rapid rate, giving them an edge over the ghosts in that regard.
NOBODY GETS LEFT OUT
I'm planning to implement a system that will prevent any player from sitting around and watching while others are playing; just because their last ghost was killed or whatever. If your last ghost is killed, or your hunter is killed, you will re-join the ghost's team next time a Ghost collects a spirit. Also, this feature can be deactivated, so if you want players to drop out, just enable it. I also plan to implement an AI system, so if a player leaves or disconnects, he will be replaced by a brutal AI system (again, you can set the difficulty
)THE GHOSTS ARE NOT OVERPOWERED
Although it may seem that the game is weighted in favour of the Hunters, seeming as they can't see their enemies, have so few companions, and don't get all their abilities straight away, one must realise what makes the Hunters much more powerful.
Hunters do not have to visit mana pools or meet any conditions to recharge mana, they regenerate it very quickly, making them able to use their abilities frequently. Also, the Hunters' abilities grow stronger over time, whereas the Ghost's abilities stay the same. Ghosts are smaller and much weaker than Hunters, and a group of 5 or more ghosts are needed to take down a low-level hunter. In a one-on-one fight between a ghost and a Hunter, the hunter will win hands down.
THE MAP:
The Map is a 96x96 Cityscape arena, which resembles a maze.
There are two mana pools at the top-right and bottom-left corners of the map. Both Ghosts and Hunters can recharge mana from the pools, although keeping them secure will not be easy...
At the top-left is where the Hunters enter the game, and is also known as the corridor of death, since once someone is cornered in it, it's game over for them. Through the center of the map is a canal, which feeds off to either side of mana pools. These canals are impassable by most ground units, although some are able to bypass this rule.
Ideally, the Hunters want to control the mana pools, as it's the fastest method of recharging for the Ghosts. Their natural methods are extremely slow, so this would give the Hunters an advantage. The Ghosts are more flexible and mobile than the Hunters, and should use harassing and hit-and-run tactics to kill them or evade, making use of the maze-like structure, as well as the narrow gaps and their own mobility spells to gain the upper hand.
PROGRESS:
As of right now, this game is about 40-50% done.
- Terraining: 100%
- Triggering: 90%
- Units: 50%
- Abilities: 80%
- Polish: 30%
- Balance: 0%
I plan to take as long as it needs to (remind you of something
) in order to achieve the highest level of polish and balance possible.This map is really about stretching my limits, and exploring the possibilies of JASS coding in creating great and unique spells. This is just an exploration of new techniques, although I'm sure this game will be very popular when I'm done
ENQUIRIES, COMMENTS, IDEAS, ASSISTANCE:
Don't hesitate to post a reply leaving your comment or opinions of this project. If you think this idea sucks, tell me, and then suggest how I would improve it. I'm open to feedback of any kind. If you have any really good ideas, I'll consider them and possibly implement them (in which case you'll receive credit for concepts)
As with most of my projects, I'm flying solo, although I would greatly appreciate some part-time JASS assistants that could check my coding or give me a hand when I need it. If you really really want to help me out somehow, uhm... just PM me and I'll find something I can use you for... but I prefer to work alone.
Actually, I am looking for a good AI programmer. I need an evil hero AI system, one that measures up it's odds and strategically targets units, and the same for the Ghosts.
IF YOU DIDN'T READ ANY OF THE ABOVE:
I sympathize. This is a flippin essay. But it's a good essay...
