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ULVEN v1.2

This bundle is marked as high quality. It exceeds standards and is highly desirable.
Beneath a blank sheet, the world lies dormant,
dreaming of a great Black Pyre,
dreaming until snow turns to ash,
and the world is no more...


Entry for the 18th mini-mapping contest.

full


ULVEN is a storydriven singleplayer map, where you follow the journey of Ulven as he ventures into the accursed stronghold of Synden.

Uses the latest patch of Warcraft 3 (SD)


TEASER



COMBAT
What makes ULVEN unique is its combat system, where you have to know the defence type of your enemy in order to deal damage.
You will also have to learn how to deflect incoming attacks, otherwise you won't last very long.


COMBAT: OFFENSE

COMBAT: DEFENCE




SCREENSHOTS

MAIN FLOOR

UPPER FLOOR

LOWER FLOOR




VIDEOS

PROLOGUE

TUTORIAL

BOSS BATTLE

ENDING





CHANGELOG & CREDITS

CHANGELOG

CREDITS


Patch 1.2 (February 19th 2021)
IMPROVEMENTS
GENERAL

- Reworked the effect of lightning pedestals to separate them from the pedestals on the lower floor. Activating a pedestal on the lower floor also results in a new event.
- Lowered the cost of Soul Items.

ENEMIES & COMBAT
- Made the flashing effect more noticeable on unfrenzied Clouded Minds.
- Added a flashing effect when Clouded Minds become frenzied/unfrenzied, as their attack cooldown become reset.
- Slightly increased scaling of dust effect when Clouded Minds become frenzied.

NEW FEATURES
ITEMS
- Added flavor text to Soul Items which expands upon the story and the mystery of Synden.


FIXES & ADJUSTMENTS
- STAB now activates a 0.2 second cooldown for SLASH and SLAM.
- SLASH now activates a 0.2 second cooldown for STAB and SLAM.
- SLAM now activates a 0.2 second cooldown for STAB and SLASH.

BALANCE
- Slightly lowered hallway boulders' hitbox.
- Crimson Saint hp lowered from 700 to 500.
- Clouded Mind hp lowered from 1050 to 800.
- Executioner hp lowered from 1500 to 1200.
- Living Fortress hp lowered from 750 to 550.


Patch 1.1 (February 2nd 2021)

IMPROVEMENTS
GENERAL

- Max level increased from 10 to 99.
- Each level now gives 2 Abhorrent Memories instead of 1.
- There is a better flow to leveling.
- Made some improvements to loot drops.
- Breaking a shield now sets your mana at 5 instead of 0, so that you have enough time to parry their follow-up attack.
- Made the benefits of each form more clear (both in the filter image and in the journal (F9)).
- "Skip intro" now skips the second part of the intro.
- Re-recorded some voice lines.
- Reworked credits.

ENEMIES & COMBAT
- The enemy's weapon now flashes when they are ready to attack again, which should make parrying a bit easier.
- Reworked Crimson Saints: Their special attack now costs 40 mana, which regenerates over 8 seconds. Their basic attack is now faster and deals more damage.
- Increased selection scale of Clouded Minds and Crimson Saints.


NEW FEATURES
GENERAL
- New secret events.
- New mouse cursor texture.
- New sounds and voice lines.
- Added TOTAL DEATHS to the credits.

TUTORIAL
- Added a new part to the tutorial: Learn how to use FOCUS and QUICK RECOVER to perform strong FINISHERS. Learn how to break shields through SLAM FINISHERS.

ENEMIES & ROOMS
- Clearing the upper room will now spawn additional enemies upon any revisit.
- The black abyss in room 1 is now decorated with dust clouds and distant buildings from lower floors.

ITEMS
- Soul of the Mind: puts your current mana at 90.
- Soul of Forgiveness: heals for 50% of your max health and resets the health cost of QUICK RECOVER.
- Soul of Hatred: removes the health cost of QUICK RECOVER for 5 seconds.


FIXES & ADJUSTMENTS
- "Pray for life" now gives 10 health instead of 20.
- Lowered the voice volume of Anthon in the intro.
- Lowered the wind volume in the intro.
- Removed the tree in the menu screen.
- Slowed down Ulven's animation speed in the menu screen.
- Made some minor audio adjustments.
- Fixed minor typos.
- Fixed minor bugs.

MODELS
Amigurumi - DemonGate
Amigurumi - SpinningKnife
Apocalypsen - Crescent
Blink - Anime Slash
Blink - Anime Winds
Blink - Blade Beam
Born2Modificate - Cloud
Born2Modificate - High-Res Doodads
Carrington2k - Fireflies
Dionesiist - Crow
Dionesiist - Incubus
Dionesiist - Valkyrie
Felipe Gormadoc - Blood Variation
Freddyk - Dark Soldier
General Frank - Orb of Poison
Golden Egg - Psychic Target
HappyCockroach - Metapod
HappyTauren - Human Archer
HerrDave - Haradrim Warrior
HerrDave - Myrddraal
HerrDave - T-virus Zombie
HerrDave - Questioner
HerrDave - Whitecloak
Icewolf055 - Vanguard
JesusHipster - GuardianWisp
Jetfanginferno - BanishTarget
KAIL333XZ - Icons to Models
Kitabatake - Combat Knife
Kitabatake - Porcupine
Lord T-rex - Fire
Lord T-rex - Smoke
Mike - WallTorch
Mythic - Armor Penetration
Mythic - Ember
Mythic - Ephemeral Cut
Mythic - Ephemeral Slash
Mythic - Flame Strike
Mythic - Reapers Claws
Mythic - Windwalk
Neogaidenx - Glowing Light
Olofthemoleman - MoriaWell
Sc_freek - Eerie Fog
SuPa- - CaveGoblin
Tarrasque - Brutal Lord
The_Silent - Dark Nights
TheWhiteWolf - Shuriken
Tranquil - Ceiling Rays
UgoUgo - ToxicField
Veronnis - Lacerate
Vortigon - Pursuer
WILL THE ALMIGHTY - Fireworks
WILL THE ALMIGHTY - IceSparks
WILL THE ALMIGHTY - NewDirtEXNoFire
WILL THE ALMIGHTY - NewSmokeEX
WindexIsBack - Light Sources
XiaolianhuaStudio, Longbowman - Corpses
XiaolianhuaStudio, Longbowman - Statues


*Unknown - Dungeon Tiles

Additional models from WoW and Skyrim

TEXTURES
Ungoliath - Bandit
Ungoliath - Brutal Lord
Ungoliath - Captain
Ungoliath - CaveGoblin
Ungoliath - Combat Knife
Ungoliath - Crescent
Ungoliath - Crow
Ungoliath - Dark Soldier
Ungoliath - Doodads
Ungoliath - Dungeon Tiles (edited)
Ungoliath - Haradrim Warrior
Ungoliath - Human Archer
Ungoliath - Incubus
Ungoliath - Loading Screen
Ungoliath - Metapod
Ungoliath - Myrddraal
Ungoliath - T-virus Zombie
Ungoliath - Questioner
Ungoliath - Valkyrie
Ungoliath - Vanguard
Ungoliath - VillagerMale
Ungoliath - Whitecloak
Ungoliath - UI elements
Ungoliath - Zombie


ICONS
Ungoliath - Abilities
Ungoliath - Potions
Ungoliath - Options


SOUND
2MirrorsDialogue - Sword Whoosh
All Sounds - Metal Hit Sound Effects
FromSoftware - Bloodborne
FromSoftware - Dark Souls
FromSoftware - Demon’s Souls
FromSoftware - SEKIRO (Edited by Ungoliath)
Isolation Music - Sword Sounds
Myles Moss - Castle Thunder
Unknown - Cobra Sounds


MUSIC
Austin Wintory - Banner Saga OST
Bloodborne OST
Die by the Sword OST

Contents

ULVEN v1.2 (Map)

Level 6
Joined
Mar 7, 2011
Messages
124
wait this was so cool. i loved your combat system, and im always down for some dark souls vibe

chaining moves together felt pretty smooth, and the effect for a successful block was great. there were so many nuances with buffs and aux moves going on that went way over my head. the content being really hard made me feel like i needed to learn how to use everything well in order to get anywhere. overall, i think i would have been just as happy (and successful) playing with the two-three basic attacks and the block, at least to start. i thought the dash would be cool too but i didnt get good enough to use it except to run away. the auto refresh was also cool but way too much for me to handle

blocking felt really hard to me, and the only way i could do it was by assuming their attacks were always timed the same way, otherwise i couldnt really predict them in time. this wasnt really the rewarding back and forth reactionary rhythm i was hoping for, but its not bad either and maybe it would be a bit more reactionary if i got better. still my suggestion is some more visual queue or delay, especially in early content

i know this was for a contest, but if you made a multiplayer rpg off of this combat system i would probably play it forever. i think all the nuance-y things in combat would work much better as unlocked/class-specific mechanics, that the player could progress into. i think these engaged mechanics are best when the content is interesting, so just make sure it doesnt devolve into a mechanic you need to engage with but have no interest in doing so
 
Level 21
Joined
Mar 15, 2010
Messages
240
@Serenity09 Thanks for playing! Glad you enjoyed the combat system, I'm pretty happy with how it turned out. :)

I wanted to create a kind of "easy to learn, difficult to master" situation, but I get that some combat elements could have been introduced in a better way (perhaps by including some combat scenarios in the tutorial?). Personally I've found that you get into the flow of combat the more you play, but of course - I have an unfair advantage.

A visual queue before an attack is a wonderful idea, and something that I actually thought about. I wanted to find a quick white flash SFX that I could attach to an enemy's weapon shortly before they strike, but I just couldn't find the right model. Now that the time constraint is gone, I will definitely work on this. :)

The current plan is to expand on this story, be it in a new map or in this one (after the stronghold), with a heavier focus on open world stuff.

Wonderful feedback!
 

deepstrasz

Map Reviewer
Level 68
Joined
Jun 4, 2009
Messages
18,706
Intended for the zone where you get the fire orb from to get its enemies back after you exit it and re-enter even if you took the orb?
One of the most annoying things is trying to parry repeatedly needing to use A/S and V. Sometimes the parry or A/S doesn't work when I joggle with it. I'm fighting the yellow fast attacking creature in the braziers zone. And when putting one of the attacks in it gets crazy with the fingers.

It has that Dark Souls and other games of the type feel which usually kills the flow of the gameplay until you get the hang of a certain fighting pattern.

I guess it requires some patience as you progress which I have little usually :p

Anyways,
Approved.

Also consider the feedback on the contest thread: Mini Mapping Contest #18 - Results


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Last edited:
Level 21
Joined
Mar 15, 2010
Messages
240
@deepstrasz Thanks for playing, man! :D

I chose to treat each floor like a different zone in a metroidvania, where enemies would respawn. I also wanted the flow of time to act in strange ways within Synden (which is hinted at each time you die), so respawning enemies made more sense. From a gameplay sense it also allowed for item/level grinding and combat practice.

I understand that combat can be pretty brutal (especially against the yellow Clouded Minds), but I really believe that it is possible to get a good hang of it. I also realize that the gameplay loop (hitting a wall, learning, improving) might not be for everyone, which is totally okay. It is just something I love personally :D
 
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