4p dungeon crawler rpg

[Paulus]

Hi fellow hivers,

I'm working on a 4p RPG. Its my first one and i really like it so far. I use alot of triggered situations, like skeletons raising from the ground to full spell casting bosses. Now the story i thought of so far is this:
After Arthas became the Lich King, he became a real threath to the world. After a long headhunt for Arthas by the Alliance, he had to take cover in a dark abandoned cave. Finally some scouts have found his hide out.
So, this is the story in a nutshell (don't judge!). So this cave has been build to a fortress. I have the following bosses in it: a necromancer (semi boss), a pitlord, a lich, a spider (semi boss), a necromancers ghost (semi boss) and a firelord.
The lich is a unique boss, cause he is invulnerable. He casts spell @ the cost of hp. You the hero's have to sit out his range of spells.

But now, i'm getting stuck in the map. I want some original scenes in it. I have some ideas to fill up the map. That are:
Boss fight crypt lord
Boss fight dread lord
Defending a item/portal/something against waves of creeps
Final boss fight against Lich King

Do you guys have any ideas for this RPG?
What do you guys really like in the rpg's you played?

 

[Binsu]

Some correction with the story/lore of yours:

After Arthas became the Lich King, he became a real threat to the world. After a long headhunt for Arthas by the Alliance, he had to take cover in a dark abandoned cave. Finally some scouts have found his hide out.

You got the threat spelling wrong.

Now, as for my suggestions, the bosses being quite smart and providing a different ways of defeating and fighting them looks unique and great. It gives this map of yours some replayability and fun for me.

For the Lich King battle also, you could give him an ultimate spell which he casts when he reaches the peak of his life. It is an AOE spell that requires casting time then when hitted by it, instantly kills you. It can be dodged by simply getting out of the spell's range.

And what do you mean by 'original scenes' anyway?

 

[Paulus]

The lich ult is a good one.
And "original scenes" i mean stuff that make a good fight or triggert effect. Something like a puzzle / boss fight or mix it up.
Think outside the box.

 

[Binsu]

Ah now I see. I would suggest making it a phased boss fight like when the boss is at:

100% life: make it cast some normal spells
50% life: summon minions to help the boss fight
25% life: make it cast much more stronger spells and possibly deadly ultimate spells

For the spells also, it is great if most of the spells are dodgeable so there will be some presence of hardwork in the fight instead of hack n slashing all the way.

 

[Paulus]

Yhea that idea i use already, and i really like it. For example, the first boss : the pitlord.
He has: howl of terror, thunder clap, storm hammer, stampede and summon lesser demonic figure.
The more damage he receives, the more spellcasting triggers there are coming on. When pretty low, he wil use stampede. I customized it so the dino's are replaced by death coils. They move a bit slower and deal alot more damage (500 on impact).
I also use sound on %hp. And when he uses thunderclap, the camera's shake for a short moment.
There are still some buggs and leaks, but i've tested this hero like 100 times and still i like it

 

[GreeN!X]

What about an escape boss fight?

Your hero will be chased by an invincible boss (could be the crypt lord) in a labyrinth and you must escape it. there would be several turns that will slow down the boss but you'll also be slowed down by the environment. There would be traps, obstacles, enemies you must evade, puzzles you must quickly answer, etc (which should only slow you down and not the boss). Once you finish the labyrinth, you'll enter a room where you'll find something that would weaken the boss once acquired (or destroyed). After you've acquired that item, the boss would break into the room and you'll finish it off with a short phased boss fight.

IMO, you should remove the firelord. Doesn't fit at all. Perhaps replace it with an giant abomination or something more undead.

 

[Binsu]

Ah great idea. It would also be great to have some sort of boss fight like what you suggested. It's a fresh and new way to defeat bosses instead of the actual hack n slash.

Tower building boss fight could also be a possible way where you beat a boss with the help of the towers you are building and such...

 

[Paulus]

What about an escape boss fight?

Your hero will be chased by an invincible boss (could be the crypt lord) in a labyrinth and you must escape it. there would be several turns that will slow down the boss but you'll also be slowed down by the environment. There would be traps, obstacles, enemies you must evade, puzzles you must quickly answer, etc (which should only slow you down and not the boss). Once you finish the labyrinth, you'll enter a room where you'll find something that would weaken the boss once acquired (or destroyed). After you've acquired that item, the boss would break into the room and you'll finish it off with a short phased boss fight.

IMO, you should remove the firelord. Doesn't fit at all. Perhaps replace it with an giant abomination or something more undead.

This is a great idea, i really like it. I'm working on this, thx man!

 

[Paulus]

@ greenix: you right about the firelord, it doesn't fit in right now. But the fight with him is cool. Kinda stole it from the epic boss fight tutorial. I'm trying to get a story so he fits in. Maybe posessed or corrupted by something.

@hell_master: i thought about towers, but i think that the hero aspect is lost then. But if something else hits to your mind, let me know

 

[Vinz]

//Thread Hijack. Uberstalk.

Maybe darken the firelord so he looks like a Lord of Darkness?

 

[GreeN!X]

^Either that

Or you can post the gameplay of the boss fight so that we can think of another unit model that fits.

 

[PlankingWolf]

Some correction with the story/lore of yours:

After Arthas became the Lich King, he became a real threat to the world. After a long headhunt for Arthas by the Alliance, he had to take cover in a dark abandoned cave. Finally some scouts have found his hide out.

You got the threat spelling wrong.

Now, as for my suggestions, the bosses being quite smart and providing a different ways of defeating and fighting them looks unique and great. It gives this map of yours some replayability and fun for me.

For the Lich King battle also, you could give him an ultimate spell which he casts when he reaches the peak of his life. It is an AOE spell that requires casting time then when hitted by it, instantly kills you. It can be dodged by simply getting out of the spell's range.

And what do you mean by 'original scenes' anyway?

There are also other mistakes that you were completely oblivious about.
After Arthas became the Lich King, he became a real threat to the world. After a long headhunt for Arthas by the Alliance, he had to take cover in a dark abandoned cave. Finally, some scouts found his hideout.
Getting that out of my system, here's a skin recommendation.
Shadow Fiend
Does that fit what you were originally thinking about?

 

[Paulus]

Thx for correcting that. The fight with the firelord:
He has breath of fire, silence/dmg overtime (original firelord spell), blink, flamestrike and summon lava spawns.
The fight starts off with him blinking around, using spells and summoning the lava dudes. Then when low enough he jumps up a highground and flamestrikes 10 times at random in the region, he does this again when very low in hp.
I also have dummies that create volcano's at random.

 

[cleavinghammer]

An idea for the firelord fight: During one of his phases, have lava crack doodads appear randomly on the ground. They don't do anything unless the hero uses a slam-type spell (thunder clap, shockwave, war stomp etc.) on it, in which case a flame strike is triggered on that location.

 

[GreeN!X]

Thx for correcting that. The fight with the firelord:
He has breath of fire, silence/dmg overtime (original firelord spell), blink, flamestrike and summon lava spawns.
The fight starts off with him blinking around, using spells and summoning the lava dudes. Then when low enough he jumps up a highground and flamestrikes 10 times at random in the region, he does this again when very low in hp.
I also have dummies that create volcano's at random.

Ahhh... So the boss fight is already based on the firelord itself? Well you can change it to flesh golem or abomination then refit the descriptions and the sfx of the skills.

Breath of fire -> Carrion Swarm
Soul Burn (DPS silence) -> Decaying strike (Same effect)
Flamestrike -> Shadow strike (SFX Change : http://www.hiveworkshop.com/forums/...50347/?prev=search=flame%20strike&d=list&r=20)
Lava Spawns -> Ghouls or mini versions of the boss
Volcanoes -> Disease Clouds

Well, most of those suggestions are just SFX changes to make it fit undead more but it's still up to you if you're gonna change the boss or not. ^^

 

[cleavinghammer]

Dreadlord fight: Takes place in a crypt littered with bones.

Hypnosis: Uses a mind control spell that gives him temporary control of one of your units (the unit also gets a Cripple spell on it, and is forced to attack one of your units).

Smoke: The Dreadlord becomes ethereal and has greatly increased movement speed (a between-phases spell).

Mass Raise Dead (channeling): The Dreadlord channels at the center of the crypt, random skeletons being raised every few seconds.

Greater Carrion Swarm: From the four corners of the crypt a swarm of bats is summoned, targeting a hero's position (put a big evil mark on the ground so they can dodge it) and dealing damage to all units in their way.

 

[Paulus]

Thx for all advice and ideas. This is helping me alot.

 

[Paulus]

Bumb

 

[cleavinghammer]

Crypt Lord: multi-phase fight, the Crypt Lord becomes a cocoon between phases (say every third of its life or so, cocoon is either invulnerable or has a juiced-up Spiked Carapace) while swarms of weak spiderlings are summoned (for heal rune drops and such). Crypt Lord fights as normal when above ground, but frequently burrows (cannot be hit by weapons, but takes extra damage from ground-damaging attacks like Thunderclap and Earthquake).

Web: Spits webbing at an area, all units in the area are drastically slowed.

Locust Swarm: Channels, summoning swarms of (killable) locusts that restore the crypt lord's health.

Impale: Burrows and repeatedly casts Impale at a hero's position.

Burrow Charge: Burrows and charges in a straight line at a hero's position, stunning on hit.

 

[Paulus]

That are some nice fresh ideas. I like it + rep

 

[Paulus]

So, im getting furter and furter with my map. Added some nice features wich i really like. Lets sum it up:
- some random traps and ...
- bossfight vs mad sientist + waves + bossfight with pudge (dota like)
- added some cinematics
- added a quest, more to come

Do you guys have some ideas to pollish this map like a gem

 

[cleavinghammer]

Tell us what the quests are so we can give suggestions, or what kind of quests are appropriate.

 

[Paulus]

In the dungeon the hero's encounter different people/ survivors from a scout squad. They have requestst for saving people, getting potions/ spellbooks for curing curses, killing a mini boss.

 

[cleavinghammer]

There we go.

I would suggest making the survivor(s) participate in the quests.

For example, the scouts' captain asks you to retrieve some of his men, who follow you back (since he can't spare any for defense, and neutral enemies continuously attack the survivor camp). Once that's done, the healer asks you to get potions, this time you are accompanied by some of the survivors. The final quest (now that all their party is back together and at full health) has all the survivors joining you in the fight to kill the miniboss who stranded them there in the first place, either as your own units or allies. Then they leave the dungeon, but give you some items like weapons and spells in return.

 

[Paulus]

Yes thx buddy