Rinpun's Solo Project --- War of the Universe

Rinpun

Ex TH Member
Reaction score
105
Game Summary --

War of the Universe is an AoS with many special twists. It is fought over an area of outer space (cliff platforms to represent planets over a void only traversable by flying units), so it is impossible to be confined to any particular area of space except by sheer firepower.

You will need to build marines and take them around in transports in order to capture bases on planets, allowing you to create interplanetary engineers that can strengthen your hold on that particular planet and grant you the income you need to win your wars.

And how will you protect these transports and such you may ask? Well, for starters, for serious planet warfare, you can build mechs to send along in your transports. They can't build outposts, but they're much stronger than foot soldiers and can deal splash damage, taking out massive armies of foot soldiers quickly. Most importantly, however, you will need to defend the transports themselves with your very own spaceship fleet made up of fighters, battleships, and your personal flagship, which levels up as a hero and can gain various abilities by doing such. Your spaceships come pre-equipped with cannons, but to add to the unique aspect of this AoS, you can construct buildings to provide more cannons.

In terms of moving across the huge map, all of your spaceships can go into hyperspeed in order to rapidly move from location to location (not taking into consideration that said engine has a cooldown). However, as your spaceships can only go so far before their hyperspeed engine needs to recharge, there are wormholes you can travel through that will randomly take you from place to place. They may not take you to the right place, so you must be willing to take the chance. However, this also means there is a possibility that whoever was pursuing you ends up in a different exit, thus allowing you to hyperspeed back to a dock for repairs.

At the moment, with the money you get from controlling planets (every player controls their own planets at first for their empire, which auto-builds ships and sends them to uncontrolled planets to help you control them. If your central empire captures a planet, the empire gets the income, but then it sends out a small portion of the profit to all of the playing players on the team. If a player owns a planet completely, he gets most of the profit from taxes and gives the rest to the empire, which spreads the money around to the other players. With extra money you can build bigger and better fleets and buy more durable marines and other units.

An extra way to get money is sending trading ships to planets owned by either empire (so you may get into trouble if you go to the enemy empire...though their planets will usually send you back with more money). Then once a trading ship dumps its crates of supplies on a planet owned by that player (the farther away the more money it gives), the player gets some extra money. You can also find asteroids full of minerals floating in deep space and mine them as well.

And then it's all up to you as to which empire will win the War of the Universe.

Completed Features --

I have touched up the terrain big time. As it was causing a lot of lag, the grass model and all of the grass on the grassy planets has been removed leaving the not-as-good texture that runs a lot better. I have also made myself a simple dome model to use instead of 17-22 spliced archways. Archway domes are simply too difficult to select efficiently in order to move or float them around. They now look very different, but I personally like the look better. To celebrate, I redid the entire central human empire building (for the computer player) and added more touching up to the rest of players on the human side. I touched up the alien section as well, but not as much, as I think I did a better job on it than on the human section.

Icons for the custom buildings thus far have been completed. Not too important, because a lot of buildings still don't have custom models (I need to finish the meshes and RDZ needs to find the free time).

Custom Buildings have their animations fixed. I haven't released the map yet, so you wouldn't have noticed, but their construction animations were severely screwed up, and now they are fixed.

Buildings now can be built on ground-pathable areas, as opposed to just plain "buildable" areas. This means you can build on white marble roads and the like, which should give you more room to build things. Don't lock yourself in though and be alerted that you can walk through the center of the docks, due to the convenience of having four module towers connected with mid-air tunnels.

Carrier abilities have finally been completed! The first is Release Ships, which releases all eight little ships to swarm around and damage enemies over time. The second is Direct Assault, which sends all eight little ships to attack a single enemy in a very quick and well coordinated return. The third is Salvage Ships, where all eight little ships are sacrificed for a time period in order to heal the target ship (can be the flagship itself) over time with the accumulated scraps. Finally, the fourth is the ultimate...the Phoenix Formation. The eight ships arrange into a special formation around the target ship (can be the flagship) and then proceed to help out the target by attacking nearby enemies and nullifying damage done to the ship (target ship's armor is temporarily increased).

Complete wormhole system. At the start, 20 wormholes will be created. Then, every two minutes a wormhole is created and a random wormhole is removed. The created wormhole is added to the pool of wormholes and if you move any spaceships near the wormhole, they will be instantly warped to a random wormhole. They are purposefully warped in batches, so try to bunch up your units as close as possible and send them through the wormhole at once so that you can at least get several at the other location. If you send them in one by one, chances are they'll most likely be completely spotted all over the map. Also, bear in mind that some ships get lost in the wormhole network and end up going back through the same hole they enter, so don't be surprised to see your ships reappear nearby the same wormhole you ordered them to go through.

The space texture is now even more convincing using alphaed out ground around the cliff planets to reveal the custom skybox made by Rao Dao Zao.

There is now a system for "multi-casting". If you have multiple spaceships selected and you order one to hyperspeed to a location, originally only that spaceship would go to that location. Now all of the spaceships with hyperspeed available will warp along with the ordered spaceship to the location. This works the same with the Battleship Cannons. This will not be done with Board Ship, as then any player would abuse the strength of Board Ship and concentrate it on a target, quickly killing it.

Battleships can now board other ships.

The first flagship everyone starts with has been made the Carrier model. Unlike the Battleships series, each model will NOT be better than the others. Each model will have their own traits for defeating other models. Thus, don't look to junk your Carrier as quickly as possible if you like what it offers (backup support). The Carrier has one hero ability for it so far and that is its Release Ships. Release Ships releases eight ships that swarm around the carrier, damaging the targets they choose to attack. The swarm lasts 30-75 seconds based on the level of the ability (it can be leveled 10 times, so each level adds 5 seconds to the duration). Thanks to Rao Dao Zao's animations, you get to see the nice effect of the carrier having ships, casting Release Ships, and then losing all of its ships until Release Ships ends.

Rao Dao Zao has agreed to let me use some of his extra (and more recent) models cache that are currently not released for public use. Hopefully this will make the game even more interactive. I personally love the touch they add to the spaceships and mechs that use the models.

Mechs now have three stages of expensive extra firepower and endurance.

Flagships now have a completely redone complete-JASS (life drain just didn't cut it at all) Board Ship ability (and it's now VERY powerful and effective at taking out fighters ships one by one, though it of course has a recoil effect on your ship in that it drains plenty of health). I'm thinking of adding it to Battleships as well as they have a huge amount of hp for doing so too.

If you drop an item, it will automatically terminate in twenty seconds to avoid item clutter. When a spaceship that isn't a flagship dies, it drops all of its equipment on the ground for anyone to pick up.

Autoturrets now fire projectiles that Rao Dao Zao made. They look much better.

Spaceships can hold two equipped cannons. Buying them from the dock gives them a free gun or two that they use to attack. They cannot attack without them, so don't get sell them!

Mechs now use RDZ's awesome mech models and stand as complete powerhouses on the ground. However, they can only target one unit at a time, either firing their missiles into the air enemies or their explosive cannonballs into ground enemies.

Marines capture planets by damaging the Outposts (they are the only ones who can explode it in short order with their outpost-only Exploding Shot) and building an outpost near the Build Here! that appears.

All spaceships have the Hyperspeed ability, allowing them to zoom large distances. Takes a while to cooldown though.

There are three stages of marine and spaceship (fighter and battleship class) development:

Marines become more die-hard and their gun equipment is upgraded...the v3 version boasts an energy shield that can absorb damage.

Fighter class Spaceships get free stronger autoturrets and extra endurance...the v3 version gains a manual-fire battleship cannon.

Battleship class Spaceships gain extra endurance and an extra even stronger manual-fire battleship cannon installed for each version...the installed cannons stack, so the v3 version has three manual fire cannons with varying power. They all have decent-length cooldowns, with the most powerful one taking longer to cooldown. Thus, there is a strategy behind firing off the three cannons so that the enemy is continuously barraged. Last of all, the cannon blast stuns the target briefly, so well-timed cannon blasts from more than one battleship will make things very difficult for enemy.

Features in Progress --

A website to hold all of this growing information.

Add upgrades to be researched for troops, mechs, and spaceships.

Capturing Planets will take a portion (based on how many planets the player owns...more for fewer planets) of gold from the owner of the destroyed outpost and give it to the killer. This will hopefully end the potential issue of a cowardly player hoarding his gold and abusing the hit-and-run aspect of the Hyperspeed ability to conserve his ships to make an invincible fleet.

Work on asteroids to mine for materials, and the whole trade ship portion.

Create an ultimate mech creation that, though very expensive, provides crucial offensive firepower.

Create a repair ship for both races to efficiently repair their spaceship fleet in the depths of space.

Abilities for the Flagships.

Different classes for Flagships to change into to specialize at particular fields.

Current Progress --

Code:
[COLOR=Blue]======Terrain======[/COLOR]=  95%
[COLOR=Blue]======[/COLOR]Triggers======  30%
[COLOR=Blue]===Object=Edi[/COLOR]tor====  65%
[COLOR=Blue]===Custom=Obje[/COLOR]cts===  70%
[COLOR=Blue]======Overall[/COLOR]=======  65%
 

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Rinpun

Ex TH Member
Reaction score
105
*Dramatic drum roll*

Well, I thought I'd just mention that I've picked up working just a wee bit on this project again! However, this time I've decided to try doing it solo, considering my artwork and JASS skills have significantly improved since. As such, I have started from half-scratch by wiping away all of emjlr3's abilities. No hard feelings I hope, considering as I look back at your old work...it's in JASS, but it's full of memory leaks and stuff. Not to mention I have other ideas for abilities and things now. I tried to read your abilities, but my forgetful mind couldn't regrasp fully what the ability was supposed to do...and that the ability itself I could easily make myself today now that I know the concepts in creating such an ability. Thus, I'm going to start fresh with new ability ideas and such.

I will be keeping a credits section on my loading screen (which I'm going to give a major upgrade once the time comes) so that you guys will be recognized for helping me way back when I needed it.
 

emjlr3

Change can be a good thing
Reaction score
395
who could have predicted.... lol

nice to see you back ;)

yea my old stuff...was well....not spectacular, gotta start somewhere though right?

I always wanted so see this get somwhere, and it never did...o wells, maybe it will now
 

stavious

New Member
Reaction score
24
Good luck working solo... :eek:
Hope you can pull it off alone, now that would be an acheivement. :)
 

Effane

Save/Load Code Tutorial
Reaction score
51
I dont think it will be truly solo. You have an entire group of modders and mappers to pull from. But alot of hard work too.

Good luck with it, and hope it comes to being completed. I always throught there needed to be more AOS maps with depth, not just clicky skills and item memorization.
 

Rinpun

Ex TH Member
Reaction score
105
Yep, and as I looked at those triggers I recognize how far you've come in coding for Tropical Tag and such :p

At the moment, it already requires a lot of thought process into the AoS style (what planets to take, what planets to defend, what planets to build your specific buildings on...etc). Hopefully it isn't too much already...cause I have a lot more to add.

You are right, it won't be truly solo in terms of I'll do what I usually do...if something is already done and done very well, why do it again? I don't know if I'll incorporate them or not, but Rao Dao Zao has a fantastic mechanical-based model line I might use.

But, in all things worth mentioning to the people here who don't remember back when I first started this project...the terrain is already done. I've done it myself and it isn't too remarkable, but I want to make something that is 100% playable for large armies and massive battles on the "planets" and in space, so building large decorative buildings (which is what I did...and I took screenies and showed them to the people interested at the time) was my primary concern for making the planets look good.
 
N

NiKaNoRoU_Dr

Guest
wow, I can't wait to play the newest version (I hope u include at least one dragon unit) :shades:
 

Rinpun

Ex TH Member
Reaction score
105
Dragons? Maybe for the rogues :p

Anyway, I've updated the main post to reflect the current progress.
 

Rinpun

Ex TH Member
Reaction score
105
Ugh, typo. Thanks for pointing that out :)
 

Battlemapsta

I am the Conduit of Change
Reaction score
101
I'd like to say good luck with it as well. Never seen this kind of map before and I bet it won't be a failure in it's completion.
 

Rinpun

Ex TH Member
Reaction score
105
I now have it updated to show that the Wormhole system is finished.

I also have added some screenies of what the game looks like now. Feel free to give feedback :p
 

Rinpun

Ex TH Member
Reaction score
105
Good...I noticed I forgot to put up a screenie of the black hole, but I suppose it doesn't matter too much. RDZ made me nice billboarded blackness, so now the blackhole towards the center of the map looks like a real black hole. Nearby ships get sucked in, then compressed, and then they explode :p

I hope I can make a good custom interface and such for it (I figure the human castle look appears a bit odd for commanding spaceships and stuff).

Part of the custom interface is actually done. The multiboard (well, the multiboard isn't done as on the spontaneity of the moment I add another row), the custom minimap image (betcha didn't notice this...but the minimap's black inbetween the planets turns into white if the texture is alphaed out...so I had to make a custom one), and the subtle fade filter over the main screen (the grains you might be able to pick out if you look close (it's easier to notice it in motion)) that makes it look as if you're looking through a window are currently done.
 
E

Eilhal

Guest
Effane said:
I dont think it will be truly solo. You have an entire group of modders and mappers to pull from. But alot of hard work too.

Good luck with it, and hope it comes to being completed. I always throught there needed to be more AOS maps with depth, not just clicky skills and item memorization.


lol... I thought so too... that's why I'm working on mine... sorry for being off topic :p


ok... now on topic... sounds like a GREAT idea... I can't wait till it's all done!
 

Rinpun

Ex TH Member
Reaction score
105
It's solo in the essence that I'm doing all of the core features of the game. 95% of the Triggering (5% would be the greatly needed local cache system) is written by me. I don't plan on grabbing anything else for it.

And for the units, concepts and terrain, I have done them all up without any help whatsoever.

The main part where I'm not exactly solo is the artwork...I do about 30% and RDZ does the other 70%, which is why I give him the highest credit on my Special Thanks.

I still count it as a solo project though, because RDZ only does the artwork, it's a very crucial part, but entirely optional. I enjoy putting all of his stuff in though because it livens up the map a lot (like some 500% to 1000% better in my opinion). As for how he's working, I just request something and he makes it. He's not thinking too much about this project as he himself is working on his own project, Asteroid Wars. His own project uses many different concepts but they are alike in that they're both futuristic and in space. Thus, he has kindly allowed me to use a lot of his models that he made for his project and that about 65% of his artwork. The other 5% is specific request.

I might even remove emjlr3 from the list. I just added him in there because it was his triggers that helped me originally learn JASS and the like, though none of his stuff is actually in the map.
 

emjlr3

Change can be a good thing
Reaction score
395
:( , well then I did a little something then right?
 

Rinpun

Ex TH Member
Reaction score
105
Sure, I wasn't indicating anything bad or whatever...was I? :p
 

emjlr3

Change can be a good thing
Reaction score
395
no, im just mooching I suppose :cool:
 

Rinpun

Ex TH Member
Reaction score
105
Well...I probably won't remove you off the list. I'm too lazy for that (just kidding) :p

But wc3sear.ch is going to get taken off. It used to be on there because I used some assorted artwork. However, I'm no longer using it. The RDZ of today is just too good. His stuff back then was mediocre, but now that he's fixing up stuff and making new models at my request, and the results are awesome.

Anyway, it's probably worth mentioning that the artwork is again changed a bit. I'm eventually going to take a screenie of the Alien Fleet, because they look entirely different in the skin they use...they're no longer green, suffice it to say :p

As for the Human Fleet, I'm redoing the skin so that they look less cartoony and fudged (by how Warcraft 3 handles skins) and so far so good. I will take another screenshot of them in the future.

And one of the most important changes has happened to the terraining. All of the grass is gone. With all of the fine detail in the spaceships and all of the units moving around, the grass caused way too much lag. The Warcraft 3 engine simply doesn't know how to handle grass real-time. And that's fine...I think it looks decent enough without it.
 
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