Hero Dynamics project

[unju]

Game info

The mod/game is supposed to be an extremely dynamic game centered around heroes -start with 3, can end up with 4- that convert buildings. To make use of buildings you must have them converted to your side. You can upgrade some buildings to get better items/creatures/stuff. BUT if they get converted by the enemy the upgrades remain.
Also cool is the fact that players can have different victory conditions, and they are unknown to the opponent. The main goal is to have a simple game with simple rules, but quite a high number of variants and ways to play.

I am looking for heroes to be a bit complex, more so than in WC3. They have/will have 1-2 innate abilities, available from the start; 5 learnable abilities -no "ultimate", per se-; 1 or none bonus abilities -which become available after the hero acomplishes something-; a type-of-hero bonus; and an individual bonus that that is applied everytime a hero levels up. Also, once a hero reaches lvl 5 -heroes will level up a bit faster than in WC3- he can choose an speciality, I am hoping for 20+ specialities. This all might sound like too much role-playing, but I hope it can work okay. For instance, many heroes abilities are click-and-forget, or autocast, or passive; else it would be impossible to control 3 or 4 of those heroes. My aim is that the hero system will lead to almost endless combos and strats.

Creatures will get a higher rank every time they kill a hero or 2 creatures, or are alive for a few minutes. The higher the rank, the more abilities and better stats a creature has.

Above all, I am looking for a very fast paced and variable game. Let me know if you are interested and want more info on the game or are willing to help me. I am excited!

Game update (1)
Alright, as of now, I have the wheels and engine for the game in place. Terrain is done, rules are set. I have some 160+ triggers, 4 heroes finished.
I am in the process of adding stuff: heroes, creatures, items, victory conditions, etc.

 

[RomanKing]

if you want your hero to go above level 10 then go to gameplay constants, then find one that says hero maximum level and make it what you want it

 

[unju]

Updated.

 

[Lunarios]

Well by use of hotkeys and some practice, it is not that hard to control 3 heros. I would suggest having basic and advanced heros. Basic would be as described, and advanced would have active abilities

 

[unju]

Since noone seems to be interested, I´ll go ahead and post some of the content. I start with the hero system.

Heroes have 4 characteristics, that determine the value of a bunch of attributes:

-Physical:
--> One more item slot available every 4 points.
--> +1.5 damage per point.
--> +0.15 hit point regeneration per second per point.
--> +60 max hit points per point.

-Dexterity:
--> -5 seconds to conversion every 5 points.
--> +5 to speed per point.
--> +1 armor every 2 points.
--> +0.05 attack speed per point.

-Mental:
--> +20 maximum mana per point.
--> +0.6 to mana regeneration/second per point.
--> -3 IXP to heroes that kill him per point. (IXP stands for individual experience, which determines when a hero levels up)
--> +1 IXP when using a spell per point.

-Charisma: (the point of charisma is that you come make heroes work purely as support, relying on other units to do the work)
--> +1 GXP/second per point. (GXP stands for group experience, the only resource in the game, which can be obtained in a variety of ways)
--> +2 damage, +10 speed, +30 hit points to allied creatures on the map every 2 points.
--> -2 seconds to revival time per point.
--> +2 IXP per building converted per point.
--> +1 to creature limit every 5 points.

Heroes start with different base values for both characteristics and attributes -later on I post a hero example. They level up by obtaining IXP -using abilities, converting buildings, killing units, and trading GXP for IXP-, visiting the Old Man -a "building" that improves the level of heroes automatically for free, but just once per hero in the whole game...so you must decide if you want to level up a hero from 2 to 3 and gain an advantage early on, or wait to level it from 9 to 10 for instance, which takes much more IXP (it´s one of the ideas I am proud of and hope it will work well)- , completing certain missions, and performing certain tasks. Also, every hero gets an individual bonus and other one related to the type it belongs to: combat heroes produce GXP when killing an enemy hero; leaders have a command radius 50% larger than others; mages have 25% resistance to spells and have an innate ability that temporarily gives them some physical points; and support heroes can drop items or give them to other heroes -the rest of heroes are stuck with an item once it is acquired. Once a hero dies, the item in the first position of the inventory slot is dropped and anyone can pick it up. Inventories are not visible for the opponent. Heroes revive automatically, for free, but they do take time to revive. They can be revived instantly by paying some GXP -more for high-level heroes. Max level of heroes is 12. Adding up all levels of abilities learned, it gives you 14-15 levels.

It´s a summary so you can see where I am going. I continue with a hero example and the theory behind it.

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Hero example: Evil Panda (note that I´ll make most heroes from scratch, but a few of them are based on existing heroes -just to speed it up a bit)
Description: The Panda cannot convert buildings. At all. Has low charisma and movement speed, and gives away a ton of IXP when he dies. He is, however, particularly impressive in direct combat, disposing of enemy heroes and creatures with equal effectiveness, and enduring high amounts of damage in the process. Has powerful ability combos, and several ways to regenerate hit points. He makes for a good hero guardian.

Combat hero bonus: produces GXP when killing a hero.
Individual bonus: +7 speed and 15% of the hit points healed every time he levels up.
Innate ability: Eat Animal - Passive. Can kill wandering animals such as raccoons or sheep to replenish 75 hit points.
Bonus ability: Storm, Earth, and Fire - like the one already in the game, but balanced. Requires level 3 Breath of Fire and level 3 Drunken Brawler -explained later.

Learnable abilities: (the characteristics are improved depending on what abilities you choose)
1) Breath of Fire: like the one in WC3, but a bit improved -yes, I know it is good enough as is- given that there will be fewer units to hit. There won´t be 12 gargs or hippos or foots around. 3 levels. Requires levels 1/4/7 (hero level). +1 Physical, +2 Mental, +1 Charisma per level. Generates 15 IXP when cast.
2) Drunken Haze: like the one in WC3, with level 1 improved a bit. Again, there will be fewer units in the game. 3 levels. Requires levels 1/4/7. +1 Physical, +1 Dexterity, +2 Mental. Generates 15 IXP when cast.
3) Drunken Brawler: similar to the one in WC3, but also a bit improved (in general I am trying to get all abilities in the too-good side, so in a sense they all will look powerful and attractive hahaha. 4 levels. At level 4 the Panda ends up with 32% chance to evade attacks, 12 bonus damage, and 12% chance to do 5x damage, just to give you an idea. Requires levels 2/4/6/8. +2 Physical, +2 Dexterity. Passive, generates no IXP -I am thinking passive abilities could give IXP when the hero LEARNS them.
4) Drunken Dance: crazy ability, has 9 levels. Lasts for 12 seconds initially. +3 Dexterity to the panda and +1 second duration per level. It can be leveled up normally, but it isn´t really worth it. It levels up automatically when the panda kills a hero, but decreases in level if the Panda dies...for this to work the ability must at least be learned (be level 1). +2 Physical, +1 Dexterity. Generates 10 IXP when cast.
5) Shaolin: supposed to give the panda great versatility strengthening other abilities, Shaolin, at level 1, heals the panda for 20% of total hit points and +8 HPs/second for 12 seconds, but costs 80 mana - 80 mana here is more or less like 125 mana in WC3- and he loses 1 Physical point. At level 2, it´s kinda the opposite, the panda loses 10% of his hit points -he must be at 10+% hit points- and 1 Mental point, but 70 mana is restored and regenerates 4 mana/second for 12 seconds. +2 Physical, +1 Mental, +1 Charisma.

Theory: I can think of 3 main ways to play the Panda (not taking specialities into account):
1) Going with the dreaded BoF+Haze combo, more powerful than ever, but likely to hit fewer units. Focusing on Fire, 1 point into Haze and 2 into Shaolin, turning him into a caster-type hero.
2) Focusing on Brawler, and 1 point into Shaolin, later on placing a point into Drunken Dance to level it up with kills. Could make for a tank and hero killer.
3) Focusing on Fire and Brawler, not that great of a combo, sacrificing early-mid game power, aiming to reach the bonus ability as fast as possible.
In fact I can think of many more, but those 3 are maybe the most obvious ones.
The point is, you no longer know what to expect from the Panda unlike in WC3 =)

Initial stats:
Physical: 5 Dexterity: 4 Mental: 3 Charisma: 1
Damage: 24-34 Hit points: 300 (before applying Physical points)
HP regeneration: 0.5/second Mana regeneration: 0.25/second
Number of item slots: 2 Armor: 3 Speed: 255
Attack cooldown: 2.22 seconds Mana: 100
Conversion Time: -- IXP when dying: 60
Revival time: 30 seconds.
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As you can see it isn´t quite like your typical WC3 hero. Now, I´ll finish this intro to the game with the specialities I´ve thought of. Specialities give the heroes 1-2 bonuses and 1-2 extra abilities, and they can be chosen at level 5. Obviously, it´s one per hero. Ideas for any of the specialities are welcome. Don´t mind the names, I actually like the fact that they are self-explanatory.

1) Damage Dealer (done)- Bonus: attack boosting items´ effects are doubled -claw of attack +6 is now +12, for instance. Ability 1: Personal bloodlust -self explanatory.
2) Fighter (done)- fighters love combat. Bonus: +2 IXP to the hero every time he attacks. Ability 1: Berserk- the hero is healed for 5 hit points every time he is attacked, passive effect (for instance, even if the attack is evaded, he´d be healed for 5 hit points). If its cast, he is healed for 15 seconds every time he is attacked. Lasts for 10 seconds, with 30 second cooldown. Ability 2: Pride- +15 damage when he attacks heroes of higher level than him.
3) Assassin (done)- Bonus: +5 to Dexterity. Ability 1: 2% chance to kill a unit outright with every attack for 50 GXP, cannot be evaded. The chance can be improved via items.
4) Tank- supposed to make the hero absorb lots of damage.
5) Creaturemaster- improves creature limit and stats. Slight bonus to charisma.
6) Healer- Ab. 1: Major Healing- autocast, heals 5% hit points of all alied units on the map. Bonus: +150 max hit points to all allied heroes.
7) Support Mage (done)- Bonus: +2 Mental, +2 Charisma. Ability 1: autocast, summons a troll high priest that lasts until it dies. 40 second cooldown. Ability 2: Frost Shield- similar to frost armor, but not autocast, and more powerful, supposed to be cast on few units.
8) Explorer (done)- Bonus 1: line of sight is doubled. Bonus 2: +3 HPs/second regeneration. Ability 1: Sentry ward- similar to the one in WC3.
9) Conversor (done)- Bonus 1: -10 seconds to conversion time. Bonus 2: +5 IXP when converting a building. Ability: Acquire- instantly converts buildings near the hero.
10) It´s the economy, stupid: every X seconds, the player gets some GXP depending on the number of GXP fountains he is controlling and the level of them. The more fountains and the higher the level, the more GXP the player gets periodically.
11) Smithy- something to do with items.
12) Chief- 50% bigger command radius. +5 to Charisma. Ability: one similar to roar?
13) Hero nuker- must be cool, ability to halve all cooldowns all spells, crazy mana regeneration for a short period, etc.
14) Summoner- self explanatory, better summons, ability to open portal to aid in summoning (maybe a ward?).
15) Fanatic- something to do with sacrifices of creatures/summons. Also cool would be if the hero could sacrifice himself, removing him from the map permanently, but making the rest of his heroes more powerful.
16) Ice mage- Bonus: attacks slow targets, passive. Powerful. And maybe an AoE damaging spell.
17) Skirmisher- Ability 1: Ensnare- autocast, ensnares random enemy unit nearby for some seconds. Ability 2: Land Mine- similar to vultures in starcraft, always loved those.
18) Power Level (done)- Bonus: +1 IXP every second that the hero is alive. Ability 1: Level up- the hero loses 1 Physical and 1 Mental, but levels up. 200 second cooldown.
19) Merchant- creatures and items are cheaper. +3 to Charisma.
20) Deathknight- something to do with skellies, bringing more units to the fight, but also an ability that makes the hero fight better.
21) Thief- Bonus: +30 speed. Ability 1: Steal GXP- 9 levels, costs mana, chance to take GXP from enemy and give it to the player. After a successfull steal, the ability levels up, improving the chance to steal and/or mana, cooldown etc. Ability 2: Steal Item- similar to Steal GXP, chance to steal a random item from an enemy unit inventory. Levels up every time that is successfull.
22) Deceiver- Bonus: +2 to Mental. Ability 1: Convert Unit- temporarily changes owner of the target enemy unit. Ability 2: Illusionary Horde- calls a magical group of units that look just like creatures from the game, but they do no damage.

 

[Quauhtli]

it seems a little like a ... bad idea
plus:
if theres unknown victory ideas,
it will be kinda stupid if suddenly the enemy wins wihtout u even knowing it so... i think that that would be weird.

 

[unju]

Isn´t it like that in the game RISK? Interpreting the opponent´s moves and guessing what his plan/victory condition is, is part of the game. Kinda like poker.