Ardent Heroes - ORPG

[Craka_J]

∙•● Ardent Heroes ●•∙
A multiplayer RPG map.

Suggested Players:	2-10
Map Scale:	480x480
Tileset:	Ashenvale
File Size:	5.6MB

Development Team

Developer Name	Job(s)
Craka_J	Project Leader | Terrainer | Story
Yabooer	Designer
PurgeandFire111	vJASS Triggers
Inferior	vJASS Triggers
Forgotten_Warlord	3D Artist
Sankaku	vJASS Triggers
Switch33	vJASS Triggers
Titanhex	vJASS Triggers
Midnighters	BETA Tester
Doron	BETA Tester
Vikus	BETA Tester
Anachron	BETA Tester
Sander	BETA Tester
dansant	BETA Tester
Misfitkid14	BETA Tester

Description:

Ardent Heroes is a Roleplaying Game that will focus on a multitude of elements that makes RPGs enjoyable for players. A vast amount of quests, items, levels, customization, and other great features and systems will be included to ensure the map appeals to RPG fans.

Story: (Story isn't complete and is subject to change or be redone completely)

You arrive in the to the great land of Lodethan, only in time to discover that it has been suffering from ruthless invaders and is gradually falling to its demise. With the path to go back and escape this part of the world being blocked off by unfortunate impassible wreckage, you and your friends proceed into the destructive world, seeking the answer to ending Lodethan's main source of opposition. Despite how overrun Lodethan may be with evil invaders, the people of villages, towns, and cities have bravely held their ground. But as the days go by, the defenses of Lodethan are being penetrated more and more, and the morale and fate is dropping drastically. The land needs not one hero, but a band of ardent heroes whom vow to preserve the security and general strength of Lodethan and its people, no matter what great dangers lie before them in their path.

Features:

Choose one of three core classes. (Tank, DPS, Healer) Choose your own skills from multiple archetypes, such as Thief Mastery. Items your character has equipped will be visible on your character. (Armor & Weapons) Banks to store items safely. Fullscreen inventory/equipment system. Tons of items. (Equipped items are visible on your character!) Tons of quests. Some of which are repeatable! (Over 50 quests!) Enough dungeons and boss-fights to keep players of all level brackets (10, 20, 30, 40, etc.) happy! (At least 5 major boss fights) Level cap is set to 65. Travel from towns to cities (vice versa) with ease by paying for a Gryphon to take you down a Flight Path! Buy a mount and travel around twice as fast! Get a mount at level 35+. Rewarding PvP system. Challenge the lord of a city over its ownership and benefits as its leader. A massive world to explore, complete with elaborately detailed landscapes and a story behind it all!

Screenshots

_____________________________________________________________________

Website	Forum
Official Website	Official Forum
Blogs	Development Progress
---	Dev. Updates Thread
---	Lore

BETA Tester Applications

Are you capable of discovering issues with RPGs (or games/mods in general) and then reporting them efficiently so that the development team behind the RPG can effectively work on improving the game? Well, if you're interested, visit the BETA Tester Application thread at our forum and sign up now! BETA Tester Application thread here!

_____________________________________________________________________

The features list isn't exactly complete, it's just a few things I could gather off the top of my head that I plan on having added to this RPG. If the above information I've added so far interests you to help out with the map's development, the below lists what I need to successfully complete Ardent Heroes ORPG:

Development Help Needed!

POSITION	RESPONSIBILITIES
CUSTOM MAP PREVIEW	Create an attractive, neat, high quality custom map preview image for Ardent Heroes. Photoshop CS3 or an equivalent program required. MS Paint is unacceptable! Must include the title "Ardent Heroes" in the image.

POSITION	RESPONSIBILITIES
CUSTOM LOADING SCREEN	Create an attractive, neat, high quality custom loading screen image for Ardent Heroes. Photoshop CS3 or an equivalent program required. MS Paint is unacceptable! Must include the title "Ardent Heroes" in the image. Must include a loading bar.

POSITION	RESPONSIBILITIES
BETA TESTER	Do not upload an unprotected version of Ardent Heroes anywhere! Feel free to play the protected version of Ardent Heroes on Battle.Net or LAN! Try to find bugs, problems, and things you simply don't like about the map and report it to me. Please use detail and include screenshots, if possible, to help pinpoint the issues. Report suggestions you think could improve Ardent Heroes.

 

[Craka_J]

Posted a very early work-in-progress screenshot of the terrain. It may not look so great in that shot, but that's because I am designing the terrain to look nice in a normal game camera view. The screenshot I have uploaded is mainly just to reveal the first village players meet at to get quests.

As you can see, there's a bounty-board near the fountain. Those will usually have repeatable quests, but sometimes non-repeatable quests as well.

 

[drhunter]

Can I be a Beta Tester? o.o

 

[Anachron]

Wait', unprotected version? So no Save/Load systems?

 

[Craka_J]

I mean I don't want people cracking into the map so they can edit the map in the World Editor or a program similar.

 

[Anachron]

That's nice, however, it limits the stuff you can put into and increases the required skills for the programmers.

Anyway, I wish you good luck with this project. I may apply when I get some spare time to spend.

 

[Craka_J]

I guess an open-sourced map wouldn't be too bad.

 

[Raj91]

I'll take it you are sick of working on W3:WOW,lol.

 

[Anachron]

I actually like this more then Wc3:WoW.

 

[Craka_J]

I like working on Wc3:Wow and still am. In fact, I plan on making terrain progress with both Wc3:WoW and Ardent Heroes this weekend.

The reason I wanted to start a multiplayer map that is not based on another game or mod is because it gives me much more freedom to throw in ideas, actually throw in level design and details I come up with, and I don't think I'll have to rely on coders so much because the code and terrain is all in the same map and we can work whenever we want on our own versions, unlike Wc3:WoW which is a campaign with over 18 maps.

[EDIT]
Also, if you haven't yet noticed, there's a feature I listed that may allow players to challenge the leader of a city for some sort of gain. Can't really think of anything creative, beneficial, and limited (don't want a player commanding an entire army in a team-based ORPG!) at the moment so if you guys have any ideas or suggestions, I'm all ears!

Fighting the leader of a city may sound easy, but it will probably be one of the most difficult 'boss fights' to deal with and will require each of every class and very skilled/geared players to accomplish. Basically, a rough idea which will develop further into creativity is that the guards of the city will become hostile and they will all enforce the entrance of the city and throne-room. Once you've managed to kill all of the guards, the lord of the city will be the last one standing and will have a lot of health. Each lord's spells will be different and their scripted fight scenes will also be different to make the fights unique and interesting.

 

[LostKnight02]

Sounds like a Epic ORPG
I Would love to Be a Beta Tester if you still need some ^_^

 

[White-Lion]

Yeah, this sounds like a cool project

Are you sure that you'll have much time to work on this project since you're doing wc3:wow too

 

[Craka_J]

Time isn't the issue for me. I can almost always make time for modding, I enjoy it too much. The main problem is my current inability to recruit coders for Ardent Heroes ORPG. If I'm not busy this summer I'll put extra time forth into this mod's creation - in both working on it myself and looking for more people who can commit themselves to it as much as I do.Time isn't the issue for me. I can almost always make time for modding, I enjoy it too much. The main problem is my current inability to recruit coders for Ardent Heroes ORPG. If I'm not busy this summer I'll put extra time forth into this mod's creation - in both working on it myself and looking for more people who can commit themselves to it as much as I do.

 

[Sarj14]

I could be a Beta Tester as well as come up with ideas that are needed. I can make fully detailed things that will come in handy such as:

1. Heroes

2. Items

3. Quests

4. NPCS

5. Zones

6. Bosses/Boss Fights

I have a lot of ideas stored up which I think would make a map seems very interesting to players.

 

[Yabooer]

Well then, this is that secret RPG you've been working on. I'm filled with ideas of course and I'll help you anywhere I can. Didn't even know you posted a topic for this until your siggy.

 

[Craka_J]

Lol yeah. It's just me and Vikus working on it right now. Need coders though!!!

 

[Yabooer]

Oh god... Those trees are so.... Hideous! Along with the terrain, you fail as a wc3 map editor, wrist self please. =)

All joking aside how is progress going? Any news of a coder? Possible new/more screenshots? Show us your multi tasking skills, I want some previews on WC3 WoW, your Indie game and this one. Now! Haha good luck man.

 

[Anachron]

What inventory do you have in mind? What about the talents?

 

[Craka_J]

I've actually been more addicted to Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning with decking my twink Warrior Priest with gear in the endless free trial than actually spending much time with Ardent Heroes. Vikus is going to help development though and ensure this map idea doesn't go to waste. I'll get back to terraining it, but just not likely on weekdays due to being so damn busy.

Terrain is still a WIP and it's more of a layout than actual details. However, the trees are damn awesome and you know it! Very small file size too. Only a couple KB. Anywho, the map is a very linear design at the moment but don't worry Yabooer, I know you love how Venture Quest is the opposite and is more open-world, so I'll definitely try to expand from linear to somewhat non-linear so good ol' chaps like yourself can enjoy the terrain too.

I know it seems like I over-task myself or something by starting too many projects (2 RPGs and an indie game, plus another indie game which I'm working for) but really, it's so I don't lose interest, believe it or not. Focusing on just one project gets very, very boring. Sometimes when you get good ideas, you need to make them happen. All it really requires is a team of awesome people that can do the parts you can't do, and maybe help in areas you're responsible for. New screenshots may come this weekend if you remind me. The terrain's layout is more worked on than you probably think and getting screenshots up would likely only take a couple hours at most.

The inventory and talents. Right now it's that cheesy WarCraft III inventory. But I'd like to get a fullscreen or DGUI inventory interface going if I could get someone to do it. As for talents, I realize that every good MMORPG/RPG has these, so I'm forced to add them. The question is how and what talent choices will there be? Since there will be a few vague base classes to start as and build abilities and whatnot up from there, talents will likely be the same for everyone (might change that idea though now that I think of it) and they'd mainly be used to shorten cooldowns, reduce mana cost, etc. and very few talent abilities that can be used to defend, offend, or support.

 

[indomitable1319]

This looks great Cracka_J! Can't wait for it to come out.


[EDIT]
Beta tester pleaseee!!!?

 

[Yabooer]

If you do the Vquest idea, it will literally be one of the what 10 maps that has it? Not to mention it makes the game seem so much bigger. (In my opinion)

If you're not going to create zones like the idea, at least have the dungeons use this system.

Btw, Vquest 2 is coming out, you can buy spells, use a spell manager to choose which batch of spells you want on your hero. It is badass to say the least =).

You should copy the above and implement it, costs money to upgrade it which you can only get from killing and quests etc...

Mount system of course so you can go around faster, mentor system so you can help lowbies, duels to flex your E-peen. Just about everything from Vquest use it and just reterrain it lol.

 

[Craka_J]

That's the plan. Except the terrain/layout won't really be similar to Vquest. It'll be like the majority of maps where the zones are the majority of the map, not separated by cliffs.

 

[Yabooer]

Well then... Good, nothing more to say at the moment. Except where are our screenshots?

 

[Craka_J]

Been busy working on project #93248262. I'll get to terraining the map, but I need to ask Vikus for the map again since I lost it by accident.

 

[Yabooer]

Which would that project be lol? And sounds good.

 

[indomitable1319]

Beta tester? I promise I'll report every bug I see.

 

[Anachron]

Don't use DGUI inventory. It's laggy in multiplayer and fucks up your camera.

 

[Vikus]

Sup Craka_J. Just checking in, haven't heard from you about the updates I made to the map. Sent you a PM with a link to the map download. I heard you lost it.

 

[Craka_J]

Nope, still got it. Even made some minor terrain changes today. Can't really get a lot done though on this netbook and can't work on my PC at the moment because it's still having issues.

 

[Craka_J]

Working a lot on the terrain today because Wc3:WoW is taking forever to download due to me also downloading drivers and patches still.

[EDIT]
Aside from working on more of the terrain near the starting area and expanding the routes and areas to allow a better feel of 'free-roam' for players, I've currently started designing a dungeon located in the jungle, which is in the second or third zone you are able to access.

[EDIT]
New feature added: Mounts.

 

[indomitable1319]

Wohohoho! Sounds cool.

 

[Anachron]

Hmm you could ask great coders for help.

 

[indomitable1319]

I really like the Mounts idea.

 

[Craka_J]

Have recently been looking for coders actually.

At the moment I'm focusing on designing dungeons, the first three zones, and also quest ideas.

 

[indomitable1319]

Can I be a Beta Tester?? Pwease! Pwetty Pwease???

 

[Deathcom3s]

So, by my book Craka, you've got 3 fairly ambitious games/mods you're working on right now... Perhaps you should start cutting back on things and start focusing on a single project.

 

[Craka_J]

Nah, I enjoy working on multiple projects at a time. Keeps me busy and I like how it feels when each project progresses, especially all at the same time.

Ardent Heroes' terrain is receiving the most terraining progress at the moment. It's fresh, it's fun, and creating new worlds is always enjoyable for me. But I can easily take breaks at this point with the RPG because the first area is just about done and I'm mainly waiting for triggers to be implemented so testing can begin.

Wc3:WoW is on a slow road of development right now but it will pick up for sure once Yixx has finished the character creation system. Mulgrim is actually making really nice progress on some player models for Wc3:WoW. I'm pretty excited to see them finished and used in our mod.

I just like working on a variety of projects, especially if I'm the head of it because it gives me more freedom in the creativity area!

 

[indomitable1319]

You've got a lot on your plate. I'm sure you can handle it.

 

[Craka_J]

While I was playing with Yabooer the other day, he gave me a bunch of great ideas and suggestions that he'd like to see make an appearance in Ardent Heroes. Here are the ideas/suggestions that I plan to add:

Improved PVP Overall	PvP rewards, pvp rankings to be eligible for pvp rewards, pvp currency to be able to afford these rewards, and all of these will be separate from PvE by a simple but interestingly intelligent system idea.
PvP Rewards	PvP rewards can range from potions up to awesomely powerful item sets that help gain an advantage in PvP specific combat. PvP items will be much more efficient in PvP than in PvE. While PvE items won't make you totally weak against PvP-specific player 'toons', those with PvP items will obviously have the upper hand from the start.
PvP Rankings	PvP rankings will be very similar to leveling up. When you're not in a PvP area, you'll have your traditional PvE leveling system, which allows you to gain levels, stats, and so on. While in a PvP area, no matter what your PvE level is, your level will reset to level 1 (if you're just starting in PvP). This will not effect your stats or PvE level. You also do not gain experience from PvP - may add PvP rewards that allow you to purchase experience though. As you successfully overcome other players in PvP, you will gain PvP Experience which will ultimately contribute to your PvP ranking level increasing. The higher your PvP ranking is, the more PvP rewards you will be eligible to purchase with PvP currency (we'll think of a better name for currency later). When you return to the PvE world to continue questing or grinding experience, your PvE level will return to you.
PvP Currency	PvP Currency will be replacing Lumber and it is likely that Food will be replaced by something else such as PvP Ranking. PvP currency is earned when you successfully defeat a worthy opponent. To ensure players don't let each other take turns killing each other for PvP currency and PvP ranking level-ups, we'll probably include a system that checks that both players dealt damage to each other well enough to call it a fair fight. This also makes sure that super high ranked players cannot gain anything from lowbies who are just beginning. Whether this limitation is added or not depends on your feedback and BETA Testing.
Improved Dungeons	Aside from being able to reset dungeons and increase the difficulty of them, some (or maybe even all) dungeons will allow you to complete it in a variety of ways, such as taking the longest and most difficult routes to complete puzzles or obtain items to ultimately fight a tougher boss for better loot.
Thievery Skill	A mastery skill path you can learn is thievery. Thievery allows you to pickpocket other players/NPCs and steal their items. Once you've stolen an item, you will be seen as a hostile for 2 minutes and 30 seconds by nearby guards and players if you either fail at trying to steal an item or managed to get caught while stealing. At this time, it is best to hide for the duration of being recognized as a criminal. The benefits are that it can be fun as a thief to steal from other players and enjoy the thrill of being chased. The downsides are the risks of being caught and killed, dropping your stolen items plus the gold-loss penalty for dying. This skill mastery is not yet totally thought through but will be improved so they can benefit their fellow players as well.
Inventory/Equipment System	Anachron's fullscreen inventory will be used in Ardent Heroes. Items you have equipped to your character will be visible on your character's body, allowing players to be able to obtain cool armor sets and weapons to look like a badass while being one.
Cast Bar System	Allows you to see your spells channel to completion before they are cast.
Bank System	Players will be able to visit a major city and store items in the bank.

There were other ideas as well, but haven't really talked about them as deeply. Any thoughts?

 

[indomitable1319]

Hmmm, how about....

Overdrives (FFStyle) - If your character reaches 10% HP, it will make you go into 'Overdrive' mode, and the you recieve increased HP or increased Armor, and a special ability like being able to use an skill that deals 100000? damage to the enemy.

Backpack System - Exactly what I mean.
OR
Equipment System - Like the one in WC3: Diablo.
OR
Vaults - Like you can only have one type of one item in your inventory. 1 Weapon, 1 Armor, Etc. and the ones you can't equip go directly to your vault. Typing -vault in a city will teleport you to your vault where you can change equipment and place items there.

 

[Craka_J]

Thanks for the reminder, indomitable1319. I updated the post above.

As for 'overdrives', I personally see that as an unfair advantage and could be abused in PvP. So I don't think we'll be adding such a feature.

 

[Anachron]

Great update.

I think you'll really love the ItemSet feature of the CustomInventory, which does not only allow you bonuses for sets (For example, 2x Claws of Attack +6 grant 3 bonus damage) but also conditions for the sets (So only barbarians can use this set, but the other can still have the items from the set, just not the set bonus).

About the spellbar: One of my first systems in vJass! Still good I think.

I am trying to find somebody that makes my UI for CustomInventory (but without luck until yet)

 

[indomitable1319]

Awesome. Yet I think that the Theivery will suck, because other players can lose their items. Like if they had a 1000% Lifesteal item, it would dissapear with just something as simple as a skill that costs probably 5 mana or something.

Anarchon - I like that inventory. You made it?

 

[Anachron]

Yes, I made it. Glad you like it.

 

[indomitable1319]

And you're looking for someone to convert that into GUI or into JASS?

 

[Anachron]

It's impossible. Just check the gigantic code that it needs to be smooth, fast and flexible.

 

[indomitable1319]

Is it GUI or JASS?

 

[Anachron]

It's vJass.

 

[indomitable1319]

OMG and I was hoping to ask you to make it for me... Holy ass. I though it was JAss. I mean, JASS.

Wonder what other ideas people submit. It'll be interesting.

Craka_J, about the Overdrives, you should make a trigger that makes it unavailable during PvP.

 

[Yabooer]

I hoped I wouldn't have to respond to the "Overdrive" idea but, it seems I must!

Just, no. If you do not see how terrible of an idea that is then I will be shocked...

Level 1's running up to level 30's with 10% just to power level themselves up.

Even if it was implemented no healer would let one of their players get that low, talking about a decent healer that is.