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Custom Campaign Design Doc
Early development outline. Everything is subject to change.
[Premise and Gameplay]
A tribute to the gameplay of the Dungeon Keeper duology, and a chance to play as the mighty and terrifying Diablo himself! You control Diablo and his minions as you explore many unique areas, clearing out creeps with your brutal abilities and unlocking new units and structures, all to build the ultimate labyrinth and defeat the wouldbe heroes who come to attack you. Defend your Dungeon Heart, and fight your way to victory!
+Advantages
- Your main hero unit, Diablo, is a downright Boss-level character you can take out hordes of units by himself!
- Diablo has unique custom abilities (inspiried by his HOTS counterpart) that are far too powerful for a balanced Warcraft 3 match. You can destroy entire attack waves with just one!
- You have many different minion types to choose from, with extremely devestating abilities and stats!
- Your worker units can build powerful traps, towers and even walls to slow the enemy's pursuit!
- Areas are full of hidden items, buildings and units to rescue and add to your army!
- Special demi-heroes can be found and give you a massive advantage on the battlefield. Famous Diablo enemies like The Butcher, Blood Raven, and Maghda can be recruited and bolster your forces with support spells while dealing massive damage to your foes.
That's a lot of fire power! This campaign must be a cakewalk, right? Of course not. It wouldn't be fun if you just steam-rolled everything. So here's where it gets terrifyingly tricky!
+Disadvantages
- Your minions can build walls, towers and traps, (and possibly resource drop-off buildings) but *they cannot build unit production buildings.* You'll have to explore the Labyrinths to find them. This is also true for Upgrades.
- The only units your Dungeon Heart can produce are worker imps and Fallen. (Maybe also weak zombies?) Not exactly very powerful or intimidating, they're only there for you to lean on early game.
- In most maps, the AI will have base for you to attack. They only arrive in waves, unbound by food limits, allowing the computer to throw extremely devestating combinations at you unhindered. A level only ends when the "Boss Wave" is defeated.
- The enemy will always form a B-line straight for your Dungeon Heart. If it's destroyed, it's Game Over.
- Not every unit will be avalible in every map. Some maps will have vastly different unit types for you to play with. Just like how Diablo 2 maps have different enemies based on the theme.
- Demi-Heroes can't be revived or trained. You'll have to find them. When they're gone, they're gone!
- For the most part, you can't place Unit Production buildings yourself. They can be far off in the dungeon somewhere, or right near your dungeon heart. Often, you'll have to decide if the build time and travel is worth it for a stronger unit, or if you're better off massing weaker units closer by.
- Most minions of the Labyrinths aren't loyal to you, and will attack on site. You'll have to battle through hordes of undeground monsters *and* waves of heroes to survive. Often, games will revolve around a risk/reward system where you'll have to decide between hunkering down and defending your base or exploring for more resources. This will include bosses! Enemy Dungeon Keepers, and potentially even extra enemy waves!
[Lore]
Driven out of Sanctuary by a group of meddling heroes, Diablo and the Prime Evils set their infernal sight on a new hunting ground: the World of Warcraft! The Evils launched a full frontal assault on this strange new land... and promptly got their butts kicked. It turned out the inhabitants of this land were far stronger than they were prepared for in their weakened forms. Now, Diablo has been reborn deep underground, and intends to build a mighty demon army by harnessing the power of "Dungeon Hearts." Mysterious nexus' of power created by the Old Gods that have lied dormant for untold aeons, that Diablo was imbued with his own wicked power to allow him to channel his own minions.
But the hapless heroes of Altnerate Azeroth (where we can add whatever we want to the lore) seek to stop him! So now, Diablo must do what he does best: build Labyrinths full of monsters and traps to kill his enemies. Once he defeats enough of them, he'll have enough power to revive his brothers and take over the mortal world! But heroes aren't the only ones in your way, enemy dungeon keepers will also seek to overthrow you!
Most levels will take place in underground caverns and abandoned labyrinths, though late in the campaign you'll explore and conquer the overworld, overtaking major cities and destroying mighty kingdoms!
[Victory and Defeat]
In this sense, the campaign is a *lot* like Dungeon Keeper. You'll explore an area, expand your territory, and defend against waves of attackers and native enemies. Finally, in the last wave, the "Lord of the Land" -- a daring Hero who leads the forces of good in this area -- will arrive to try to destroy you. Once he dies, the map is over, and you simply need to lead Diablo to the exit.
Defeat is tied to your Dungeon Heart, a gigantic, vulnerable structure the enemy will try to destroy. It's the only place you can revive fallen hero units, the only thing that produces worker units, and if it's destroyed, you automatically lose. Defending it at all costs is your top priority.
Hero waves are triggered either once enough time has passed, or you've accomplished a difficult task in the map. Hero attacks put you at risk, but defeating them is the only way to achieve victory!
[Levels]
01 - Den of Evil.
This is an easy tutorial level meant to get the player adjusted to the new gameplay style. It explains the new mechanics in a natural, intuitive way that doesn't feel forced or clunky, and still plays like a regular level.
02 - Wailing Caverns
03 - The Catacombs
04 - Abandoned Temple
05 - Burning Pits
06 - Dwarven Mine
07 - Elven Forest
08 - Orc Garrison
09 - Lordaeron City
Secret Level - Dunkoff Demons!
In this level, the player fights Nazi soldiers, and the final boss is a Nazi supervillain.
[How This Demo Works]
Gameplay is really simple. Type "Go" in chat to send an attack squadron after your Dungeon Heart, and use your own units to defend it. The imps are your builders, and Diablo and the Doom Imps are your starting units. If you try to defend with only them, you'll get creamed, so start building up your base! The point of this demo is to test out unit balance, the fun factor of gameplay mechanics and assess what level of challenge this map needs to be. In the final game, units will be produced by buildings you find out in the dungeons. In this demo, however, they're produced by your "Repository." We recommend playing with many different combos and strategies!
After you've beaten a wave, you'll have to type in a code to fight another. The entry point will have to be clear of units for this to work. If they're still any left over, type in "clear" to erase them. Depending on what code you type, you'll get a different attack wave!
Codes:
"Refresh" - A standard, and very powerful, attack wave
"Hobs" - Hobbit units
"Cowlevel" - Tauren Units
"Barbar" - Barbarians!
You'll know your code worked if the gate shuts. If it does, type in "Go" again and prepare for battle!
Early development outline. Everything is subject to change.
[Premise and Gameplay]
A tribute to the gameplay of the Dungeon Keeper duology, and a chance to play as the mighty and terrifying Diablo himself! You control Diablo and his minions as you explore many unique areas, clearing out creeps with your brutal abilities and unlocking new units and structures, all to build the ultimate labyrinth and defeat the wouldbe heroes who come to attack you. Defend your Dungeon Heart, and fight your way to victory!
+Advantages
- Your main hero unit, Diablo, is a downright Boss-level character you can take out hordes of units by himself!
- Diablo has unique custom abilities (inspiried by his HOTS counterpart) that are far too powerful for a balanced Warcraft 3 match. You can destroy entire attack waves with just one!
- You have many different minion types to choose from, with extremely devestating abilities and stats!
- Your worker units can build powerful traps, towers and even walls to slow the enemy's pursuit!
- Areas are full of hidden items, buildings and units to rescue and add to your army!
- Special demi-heroes can be found and give you a massive advantage on the battlefield. Famous Diablo enemies like The Butcher, Blood Raven, and Maghda can be recruited and bolster your forces with support spells while dealing massive damage to your foes.
That's a lot of fire power! This campaign must be a cakewalk, right? Of course not. It wouldn't be fun if you just steam-rolled everything. So here's where it gets terrifyingly tricky!
+Disadvantages
- Your minions can build walls, towers and traps, (and possibly resource drop-off buildings) but *they cannot build unit production buildings.* You'll have to explore the Labyrinths to find them. This is also true for Upgrades.
- The only units your Dungeon Heart can produce are worker imps and Fallen. (Maybe also weak zombies?) Not exactly very powerful or intimidating, they're only there for you to lean on early game.
- In most maps, the AI will have base for you to attack. They only arrive in waves, unbound by food limits, allowing the computer to throw extremely devestating combinations at you unhindered. A level only ends when the "Boss Wave" is defeated.
- The enemy will always form a B-line straight for your Dungeon Heart. If it's destroyed, it's Game Over.
- Not every unit will be avalible in every map. Some maps will have vastly different unit types for you to play with. Just like how Diablo 2 maps have different enemies based on the theme.
- Demi-Heroes can't be revived or trained. You'll have to find them. When they're gone, they're gone!
- For the most part, you can't place Unit Production buildings yourself. They can be far off in the dungeon somewhere, or right near your dungeon heart. Often, you'll have to decide if the build time and travel is worth it for a stronger unit, or if you're better off massing weaker units closer by.
- Most minions of the Labyrinths aren't loyal to you, and will attack on site. You'll have to battle through hordes of undeground monsters *and* waves of heroes to survive. Often, games will revolve around a risk/reward system where you'll have to decide between hunkering down and defending your base or exploring for more resources. This will include bosses! Enemy Dungeon Keepers, and potentially even extra enemy waves!
[Lore]
Driven out of Sanctuary by a group of meddling heroes, Diablo and the Prime Evils set their infernal sight on a new hunting ground: the World of Warcraft! The Evils launched a full frontal assault on this strange new land... and promptly got their butts kicked. It turned out the inhabitants of this land were far stronger than they were prepared for in their weakened forms. Now, Diablo has been reborn deep underground, and intends to build a mighty demon army by harnessing the power of "Dungeon Hearts." Mysterious nexus' of power created by the Old Gods that have lied dormant for untold aeons, that Diablo was imbued with his own wicked power to allow him to channel his own minions.
But the hapless heroes of Altnerate Azeroth (where we can add whatever we want to the lore) seek to stop him! So now, Diablo must do what he does best: build Labyrinths full of monsters and traps to kill his enemies. Once he defeats enough of them, he'll have enough power to revive his brothers and take over the mortal world! But heroes aren't the only ones in your way, enemy dungeon keepers will also seek to overthrow you!
Most levels will take place in underground caverns and abandoned labyrinths, though late in the campaign you'll explore and conquer the overworld, overtaking major cities and destroying mighty kingdoms!
[Victory and Defeat]
In this sense, the campaign is a *lot* like Dungeon Keeper. You'll explore an area, expand your territory, and defend against waves of attackers and native enemies. Finally, in the last wave, the "Lord of the Land" -- a daring Hero who leads the forces of good in this area -- will arrive to try to destroy you. Once he dies, the map is over, and you simply need to lead Diablo to the exit.
Defeat is tied to your Dungeon Heart, a gigantic, vulnerable structure the enemy will try to destroy. It's the only place you can revive fallen hero units, the only thing that produces worker units, and if it's destroyed, you automatically lose. Defending it at all costs is your top priority.
Hero waves are triggered either once enough time has passed, or you've accomplished a difficult task in the map. Hero attacks put you at risk, but defeating them is the only way to achieve victory!
[Levels]
01 - Den of Evil.
This is an easy tutorial level meant to get the player adjusted to the new gameplay style. It explains the new mechanics in a natural, intuitive way that doesn't feel forced or clunky, and still plays like a regular level.
02 - Wailing Caverns
03 - The Catacombs
04 - Abandoned Temple
05 - Burning Pits
06 - Dwarven Mine
07 - Elven Forest
08 - Orc Garrison
09 - Lordaeron City
Secret Level - Dunkoff Demons!
In this level, the player fights Nazi soldiers, and the final boss is a Nazi supervillain.
[How This Demo Works]
Gameplay is really simple. Type "Go" in chat to send an attack squadron after your Dungeon Heart, and use your own units to defend it. The imps are your builders, and Diablo and the Doom Imps are your starting units. If you try to defend with only them, you'll get creamed, so start building up your base! The point of this demo is to test out unit balance, the fun factor of gameplay mechanics and assess what level of challenge this map needs to be. In the final game, units will be produced by buildings you find out in the dungeons. In this demo, however, they're produced by your "Repository." We recommend playing with many different combos and strategies!
After you've beaten a wave, you'll have to type in a code to fight another. The entry point will have to be clear of units for this to work. If they're still any left over, type in "clear" to erase them. Depending on what code you type, you'll get a different attack wave!
Codes:
"Refresh" - A standard, and very powerful, attack wave
"Hobs" - Hobbit units
"Cowlevel" - Tauren Units
"Barbar" - Barbarians!
You'll know your code worked if the gate shuts. If it does, type in "Go" again and prepare for battle!
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