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Scorpion's Tail

This bundle is marked as useful / simple. Simplicity is bliss, low effort and/or may contain minor bugs.
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Contents:
1. "Pre-speech"
2. Prologue
3. The base idea
4. Credits
5. Changelog

Game difficulty: Easy/Medium at worst


1. "Pre-speech"
This is my first map, so don't expect anything like JASS or completely leakless gameplay. To be honest, I made almost everything by myself, with default Word Editor and common sense one can go a long way. But even that alone ain't propably enough. :)
Please report any glaring bugs (besides mobs often respawning to weird places, l am aware and unable to fix that with my current level of skill).
Oh and, all constructive criticism and improvement suggestions (that l am able to do, nothing involving JASS, incredibly complicated triggers, or stuff like that) are greatly appreciated.

2. Prologue.
You are a military soldier, Ragnik, who is travelling to the newly found continent of Marekin. During the journey you are caught in a storm. The storm destroys your ship and kills almost everyone on board. The only survivors are You and your friend, Tharen. After swimming to nearby uncharted island, you are determined on not to fall after coming so far. As your struggle for survival begins, even more perilous dangers are already looming in the horizon.

3. The Base Idea
Well, as with the most RPG's, the point is to clear the whole content with only few (and most often one) character. My map is meant to be played for fun, so if you play it, do it for fun instead of trying to find things that you could complain from. And l sincerely hope you have as much fun as l had making this map. :p

4. Credits
I'd like to thank everyone in Thehelper.net and especially to Rao Dao Zao, creator of RPG games to Warcraft 3. His RPG 'This Wreckage' is what inspired me to try creating this map and was the carrying spirit through the whole process. l also borrowed his "Darkness-in-the-cavern" Day/night lightning thingy (Custom Script, this has to have a better name?)


Note! As l previously stated, l am not yet very skilled user of the World Editor. Some of the triggers propably leak so if you experience FPS lowering after longer period of game time, it's time to reset. :)


1.0
- Fixed the glitch with Tharen dying not causing player to lose the game.
Also fixed a bug which caused player to be unable to equip new shields.

1.05:
- Some environment updates

1.1:
- Added two new shields and one new quest to the game.
- Fixed a bug which was causing players to be unable to complete main story if they went to furbolg's forest too early.
- Map now pings the area where quest is located for 7 seconds after accepting the quest.
- Another small glitch which was causing Larsine to have a permanent exclamation mark on his head.
- Murlocs and the lost Adventurer have now learned the art of self-defense and will fight you if you attack them.
- Fixed a typo with certain persons calling 'Echo Mines' as 'Echo Caves'
- And another typo with Ragnik's ultimate 'Lucky Coincide'. It is now properly called 'Lucky Coincidence'.
- Minor environmental updates
- Gigantic Smash ability now lasts less on Heroes. So no more stunlocking the last boss to death.
- Slowed main characters attack speed thus increasing the difficulty from faceroll to easy.
- Updated the last quest to clarify that you do NOT have to have sword of the Coldbringer equipped while fighting Dreanir.
- Potions no longer have cooldown.
- Ragnik has also learned to open his backpack mid-fight, so you can use the item in Backpack's inventory to heal Ragnik.
- Slightly buffed some mini-bosses damage.
- Buffed last boss to be more than brainless faceroll. Nublets beware!


Keywords:
Scorpion, tail, scorpion's, first, map, tabletti, rpg, survivor, fun, easy
Contents

Scorpion's Tail (Map)

Reviews
09:42, 7th Aug 2010 ap0calypse: Rejected
Level 14
Joined
Jun 13, 2007
Messages
1,432
I'm giving this a go. I'll edit this post later

Edit: alright I only played through the start and noticed some bugs, this map is similar to "This wreckage".

2 bugs: Tharen died yet I didn't loose. Also once I unequipped the shield and tried to put it back on it didn't work.
 
Level 2
Joined
Aug 17, 2009
Messages
11
Ahh great, thanks a bunch for so quick feedback. After checking, l indeed noticed that I forgot to add the "If tharen dies, Game Over" trigger. And the shield-thingy... I'll try to fix it right now. :smile:
It still got lot to improve, so without you guys' feedback, l'd be in trouble.
(I suck at finding the bugs myself :grin:)

Keep up the good work!

Edit: Fixed the bugs, rather simple starter stuff, luckily.
Oh and, by the way, how do l hide stuff behind those Spoiler-tags?
For update lists
etc. (A beginner, as l've mentioned :p)
 
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Level 16
Joined
Apr 2, 2008
Messages
2,103
Well i really enjoyed this one for a first map it is pretty professional. Though I got two things about it I think should be fixed when I got the Devils blade or so and it corrupted my shield I had the shield in my backpack and it was still there. Also I think you should put arch ways over the paths in the echo mine that lead outside just to show a bit your going outside the mines.

Loved the Left 4 Dead referance too blood harvest lol.
 
Level 2
Joined
Aug 17, 2009
Messages
11
Hm...I was sure I fixed that Shield bug (had it previously, too). But ah well, my memory is kinda messed up anyways. :)
That archway idea is really good, l think l'll do it right away (Uploading the new, fixed and environmentally-improved map in about 30 minutes)

Edit: Okies, done...But couldn't find the shield bug, nor could l myself make the *old* shield stay, tried to complete the quest in two different ways. Maybe you just got mixed up, the Corrupted Shield is supposed to "stay". The Devil's Thunder corrupts you OLD shield, transforming it in to a Corrupted Shield.
Thanks anyways, stuff like that is always great to hear.
 
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Level 3
Joined
Jan 19, 2008
Messages
40
I see you are a fan of WTFSA and TW (RDZ would be very pleased).
Aniway,not bad for a first try,the terrain and the gameplay are pretty good in my opinion.
You can actually improve the map adding more custom units and more awesome stuff like the RDZ's ones.
 
Level 2
Joined
Aug 17, 2009
Messages
11
Yup, it would. We all are bored at watching the same models over and over again. But alas, l don't yet have any idea how to import other models or create my own ones. O' well, when l get to that point, Custom Models are sure to follow.
Thanks for the feedback, once again. :thumbs_up:

Oh and, testing the Spoiler-thingy (ignore)
 
Level 3
Joined
Jan 19, 2008
Messages
40
I suggest also to add a new and good minimap image to encourage people to play it.
I found also a guy named Soul Reaver in the map,and another named Henrik,could they be what I think they are?
Don't want to be rude but you've asked the permission to use other people's heroes?
 
Level 2
Joined
Aug 17, 2009
Messages
11
Ahh, so you opened it in World Editor. Y'see, if you check the Ultimate of Ragnik's (Lucky Coincide), you'll note that it gives a chance that a random hero will help you for a while. Amongst them is Henrik, along with other characters. Soul Reaver never made it in to this map from To The Bitter End (Too complicated spells for me :grin:). Propably should delete him, he is just wasting space anyways. :)
 
Level 9
Joined
May 22, 2009
Messages
276
Good map, very nice, BUT

a mayor bug: I found the book for the elves before I got the quest, when I go back to the elves they tell me I need to find the book AND that I finished the quest, so I'm stuck with having to finish an already finished quest...plz fix, I'm guessing this could be for other quests too, u have to make it so that u create the item u have to find when you accept the quest
 
Although it be talk like a pirate day, i be sayin me review in landlubber's tounge, to help thee landlubbers understand, Arr!

I played it through, and i'd classify it as a 'very easy' map. You can correct this by halfing the attack speed of ragnik, i suppose, it'd really help, i think. also, here's a list of things i found:
1) Your proc on attack abilities don't work correctly, they proc on a unit is attacked event, and therefore you can just repeadetly press 's' or stop, and you'll get a new chance of the abilities proccing. you can use a passive buff on attack (Poison, e.g.) to correct, if ragnik really hits his target.
2) Is the turtles name tooga or torta? his name says something, and when he disappears, the other shows up.
3) Please, don't use the checkered boxes as models, it looks SO bad. Also, the 'item' model... looks bad too.
4) the angelflare (which says angelheart when procced) heals the ENEMY!... what's up with that?
5) After you get the last main quest, the entire map is revealed on the minimap, after a trip to the echo mines set it straight though :/
6) Lots of little spelling errors in the cinematics "Well... i quess i have to..." e.g.
7) Why does that destructor guy suffer full stunning penalty from the gigantic smash ability? Turn him into a hero, and reduce the stun on heroes, so he really can act like a boss.
8) the level 6 ability is called 'lucky coincide' i guess you're missing some letters there m8 ^^
9) when choosing between the diseased adventurer and the murlocs, The adventurer, at least, doesn't turn on you when you start attacking him... he should really stand up for himself!
10) The last boss... DOES you really have to use the cold sword on him? It might be the best choice, but is it possible to use others? i forgot to check.
11) When you get a quest, the minimap should really ping where you have to go... it'll speed up the proces a whole lot.
12) I love the darkness in the echo cave. How did you make it? And, alot of those mushrooms and torches doesn't light up enough, and some of them takes turns flashing... odd, i say.
13) Why does no quest reward you with a shield? i feel a whole half of the game goes down the drain there.

Arrr! That be what i got fer ye today, matey!

~The_Clam
 
Level 23
Joined
Mar 29, 2004
Messages
1,976
Getting name-checked is the reason I get out of bed in the morning.

I like what you did with the (chance to) flat damage reduction for shields; makes a lot more sense against the flat damage increase of weapons, not to mention avoiding the horrors of how Warcraft translates armour points into percentage reduction.

The problem with the torches in the cave is that Warcraft can basically only support about four lights within a reasonably large vicinity before they start going haywire (either by spontaneous deletion or being cut off along the edges of the light cells). I would say custom model it up (increase the light radius on the torches, and have less of them around?), but you don't seem to be up in that junk yet. As it stands, you can probably rearrange and lose a few torches and still be okay (or drop them all and give Ragnik a lamp).

You need to watch your pathing. There were a few spots that Tooga and Chesty (I lol'd, but you might want to look for a custom model -- I'm certain there's a "Mimic" chest model around with all the right animations) got stuck at, and there are places that looked walkable but caused Ragnik to weave all around in a funny way (be careful with those Rock Spires, is all I can say. Their pathing map is a disaster, and I basically sidelined it entirely by over-scaling spires as much as possible). Oh yes, your backpack unit has a movement type of "Foot" so he kept displacing Ragnik all the time (yes, it has zero collision, but Warcraft moves in mysterious ways); fly should sort that.

Slightly abrupt ending, you could maybe have done a little finale cinematic.

Otherwise, a fine map.
 
Level 2
Joined
Aug 17, 2009
Messages
11
Working on the Ending cinematic at the moment, been thinking about it but never got the mood to do it, thanks for the feedback. And to answer the questions by Gamecrafter DK


1) First timer, as l said. I think this takes pretty much time to fix compared to "usefulness" of it, so it's last on the list. But hey, it's still there! :)

2) It's Tooga, and his wife's name is Torta. As lucky coincide makes you meet an unit from random game, you meet Tooga the lost Turtle from World of Warcraft. He is lost in Tanaris and you have to lead him to Torta.

3) Checkered box was intended, as Placeholder is . . . Well, placeholder. But if you got any suggestions, l'd be glad to hear. And what do you mean by "item" model? The Chest model of Chesty? (Yet again, newbie with this sort of stuff)

4) It does? Oh man, a bad bug. Fixing it right now, great for you to notice. (And the Angelflare's "Healing" is Angelheart, it's just kind of like Devil's Thunder has Thunderstruck. But l s'pose that is pretty misleading name for the spell. l'll figure something out.

5) No idea what could've done it, checking if l find the reason.

6) Bahh, finnish way of thinking always gets me mixed up with this kind of stuff. Double-checking them as soon as worst bugs are fixed.

7) Simple, stupid thinking of me. He is indeed hero but the Gigantic Smash just does same lenght of stun to bosses. Great to point out, continuous stunlock takes the epic out of it.

8) Humh? Maybe this is because of me being from Finland, once again, but what's wrong with it? I mean, lucky coincide. Something random happening with aid of luck. :p

9) Well, he has been diseased for god-knows-how-long and has been starved for last three days. He is just far too weak for proper physical combat. Poor guy. :(

10) Nope, you don't. It was just kind of story-thingy (They didn't know of any other lethal swords like Streamrunner or Scorpion's Tail) but you are right, it's a bit confusing.

11) Good idea, going to do that too to the next update.

12) l didn't do it, as l said, it was done by Rao Dao Zao who explained the reason of other lightning-issues, too. :)

13) Hmh. Didn't even notice this myself, but now that you said it IS very obvious that something should be done about it. And will be.

And thanks for all of the feedback, both You, Rao Dao Zao and De Squall, you gave me a lot to work on and make this map better. :]
 
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I'm glad you took in my feedback, no to re:re: the questions:

1: Yeah, it might be a bit too hard for a first timer, but once you get angelheart straight, it's gonna be a major plus.

2: Oh, well, that reference i didn't get ^^

3: Well, in most circles, using the stationary chesty model and the checkered box is concidered pretty nooby. It might be fun, but it's so out of the whole context of this serious game. Vague hints like tooga / torta is great though.

4: Just write that the spell angelflare casts is angelheart in the tooltip, and everybody'll be happy!

5: Well, if you enter cinematic you'll get view of the entire area, remember to end cinematic as soon as possible.

6: aye, ye guys sure have a crazy language ^^ I'm from Denmark, so it aint so bad, as for many others, i think.

8: Well, it's lucky coincidence, coincide means something very close to, but not quite the same.

9: Although i like how you put it, ^^ It's a simple trigger, and the murlocs i didn't check, but they might have the same thing.

10: Yeah, that complicates matters. Well, you have to choices, i reckon. Let people figure out themselves that they don't have to use the sword, or make a trigger that enforces it.

12: Yeah, i got the answer to that, since you didn't reply all that quickly. I just read the other's post. I like the idea of Ragnik holding a torch, and then there might be 3-4 luminous shrooms.

I am just glad, that someone is listening to me, and really making a difference, because of what i've said.
 
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Level 2
Joined
Aug 17, 2009
Messages
11
Working on the stuff right now, l really appreciate criticism that isn't "Omglol ur map suxxorz". But anyways, just finished the "ending cinematic". Also fixed the Angelheart and changed spell name to 'Grace of the Gods' to avoid confusion.

I think l am going to get better model for Chesty and Mr. Placeholder from somewhere, even though the spell all-in-all is just a big reference (Chesty is an immobile Chest in Fable 2,
Mr. placeholder is . . . Well, l'll do something with him. He has one big bug that l can't fix either, so he has to go.
Feran Flakfire, then again, is a hero from my very first World Editor map, not published, but he was a hero that *had* to visit this game. ^^
And Henrik is from This Wreckage).

And the issue #5. I see, l'll check on that tomorrow.
#6, same thing, tomorrow. Propably. l hate checking for spelling errors. :D
#8 Dang, so that was the problem. Didn't even get it in the first time. Really great to have someone who has patience to explain. Couldn't be without coming back to fix these
#9 in To-Do list for tomorrow This too, has been fixed. But haven't yet uploaded, thats for tomorrow.
#10 made a notification to quest description that the sword usage is optional, but improving it even further . . . Tomorrow :D Did today.
#12 l am really in to the whole Torch-thingy too, would give it more "Hostile Cavern" feeling too, if it didn't have lit braziers all over the place.

You have no idea how grateful l am, it's persons like you that keep me going.
Keep up the good work.

And gotta remember to add more special shields, l realized that only one non-vendor shield just ain't gonna cut it.

Oh and, as Ps. I slowed down Ragnik's attack speed to make game more challenging. Fixed the Smash too, so last boss is now a lot tougher. In fact, he is REALLY difficult if you don't have the best sword & board in the game. (Which both come from same quest)
 
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Okay! that's Good to know that you liked my critisism. I really appreciate it ^^ I'm just like you, i get stuck, if i aint handed a to-do list, the project stops.

Ahh, Chesty... i've been wanting fable 2 for SO long, but it's supposedly not out for computers yet! you just twisted the dagger in my wound XD Well, atleast download the chest mimic... even though chesty's stationary ^^

I didn't even have the lucky coincidence lvl 3 on the last boss, so i didn't see the other heroes. Also, i neither had that power surge, or chain lightning or whatever it was... i quite rushed through the game, and had potions with me to the last boss. Piece of cake ^^

Post Scriptum notice: Why does the two über thingies go from the same quest? seems like; hey! All the thingies you just worked for were only temporary, go sell them, and take this quest, you MUST use it.
 
Level 2
Joined
Aug 17, 2009
Messages
11
Post Scriptum notice: Why does the two über thingies go from the same quest? seems like; hey! All the thingies you just worked for were only temporary, go sell them, and take this quest, you MUST use it.

Well, they DO make the others kind of useless, but it's a very long chain quest that forces you to run around to every corner of map and is practically nothing more than ":cry: I can't finish the map"-option ^^

Think it this way; Not everyone is a really good player, and now with changes the last boss hits like a truck hitting you with a slightly smaller truck.
So if you aren't good enough and just can't down the bosses, you can take the longer way to "outgear" him. Or do it like hardcore and Chain-chug your way to victory with the potions, which is a lot faster but also more difficult. :cool:

And by the way, l am almost done; Doing the last two quests that reward you with a shield and then creating two new characters for Lucky Coincidence (Yay for proper spelling!). Done in about an hour.

EDIT: Updated the map now, you can check the Changelog l created for changed / added stuff.

Still on the To-Do list:

- Rework Lucky Coincidence lvl 2
- Lantern to Echo Mines
- Swapping temporary darkness generated by Demon Within-proc to dark fog.
- Loading screen! ^^
 
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Level 2
Joined
Aug 17, 2009
Messages
11
If anyone else got any suggestions, l'd be overjoyed to hear them. Remember, there are no bad suggestions, so just keep posting them. ^^

Edit: As l am reworking the Lucky Coincidence, now is your chance to present who do you want to 'visit' the Scorpion's Tail? ^^
 
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Level 2
Joined
Mar 22, 2009
Messages
9
I Can't say I can help but

You better get help from an experienced map maker so he can help you and give tips about triggering and etc.

P.S. I'm not saying I know how to I'm just a player.
 
Level 2
Joined
Aug 17, 2009
Messages
11
Yeh, l propably should. l know most of my triggers are really clunky, but I think I did pretty good job for a first map. ^^
And it's fine, l know how annoying it is when people go "Do it better urself thn lol". Giving honest advice is really underrated nowadays. :/

Anyways, l am going to vacation for two weeks, so can't work on this for a while.
 
Level 2
Joined
Aug 17, 2009
Messages
11
Well... I'm an experienced mapper, and i'm helping him, aint i?

Indeed ^^ How'd I miss that :eekani:

But I think he meant more direct help, like in the "How to improve the trigger's way". But I find your help more valuable than that, after all, you can finish it without major problems even at the moment. And Improving the experience > optimizing triggers for a game that can practically be played with a toaster. :D

Leaving to airport in 30 minutes, see ya everyone!
:grin:
 
Level 2
Joined
Oct 1, 2009
Messages
12
Great map :thumbs_up:

I have finished it and found only one bug with qouest for blacksmith in elven town. When it's finished it still marked as unfinished.
 
Level 3
Joined
Oct 30, 2009
Messages
21
Awesome map, I had fun playing it. 5/5 out of me. But i did notice a couple of things. Are the Sea Giants supposed to be hidden in the sand while they're in water? And is one of the helpers supposed to be a green cube throwing purple cubes?
 
This is truly a beautiful game. Nice work on the terrain, awesome skills, great, REALLY GREAT items, and awesome difficulties at the start.

- Halfway through the game: "WhereTF was Tharen? I've been beat up worse than him, and I'm alright. What's taking him so long?"
- WTF was that Marine? I didn't even get to control him, he died too fast.
- Henrik!
- Placeholder was a bit too... Odd.
- Firebloom was awesome.
- Very creative quests.
I give this a 5/5 rating. It's one of the best maps I have played. Truly fulfilling storyline.
 
Level 23
Joined
Jul 26, 2008
Messages
1,305
This was a hidden gem in the substandard map section. I think the author had a lot of fun making this, and you can see this through the way the dialogue is crafted. It was a lot of fun. Perhaps one day it will be approved.

I was unable to reach the final boss, and am still not 100% sure how to get there, since the trees were never destroyed after I picked up the snow blade.
 
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