Battle Depths: A New Kind Of Hero Arena. (hopefully...)

[Dragonson]

Hello people =)
My name is Dragonson, or Drugnar, on battlenet.
I kinda like hero arenas, but they tend to get abit... boring, when its all about standing infront of eachother and then see who has the best gear.
SO! I want to make a map that as much as possbile removes such things. But, while i were at it, i got alot of other ideas! Heres a small list:

-Make the game in rounds, so there is Built-in time for buying equipment. Then you dont have to worry about stopping combat to go do that

-Place the players in a maze. Having to not only kill each other, but also find and chase (since most of the heroes has escape abilities of some kind) each other, is quite fun =) Plus it pretty much removes the fact that you just stand infront of each other! (itl be abit like in DotA, but Hero Arena, and not AoS)

-Put abit of humor into the game without destroying everything by making it impossible to take serious.

Im pretty sure i had more ideas, but i cant remember where i put them. Il write them on the list if i find some of the small buggers!


The Team
Dragonson: Arena Master
Sinizi: Commentator/Support Arena Master
Zack1996: Tech Support (or: "I understand things noone else on this team does. Worship me.")
Hijax: Tech Support Support
cazador: Artwork Guy
Rainbow Evil: Terraforming Guy
jsheph03: Tester
Aesthetics: Tester
Tagg1080: Tester

Team picture!

Info?

Click here!

Map Name: Battle Depths
Map Type: Hero Arena: TaK (Track and Kill)
Map Goal: Its a hero arena. First with 100 kills win.
Players Max: 8
Unique Things: Round Based, Maze Based, Otherstuffidontthinkotherpeoplehavebutthatiaintsureof.
Max Kills Per Round: 7

So Far

Click here!

14 Heroes.
Round System.
Some custom models.
Lots of triggers.
Various Other systems.
3 small mazes, connected into a big battlefield.
3 almost filled item shops.
Cool audio effects.
1 Item recepie shop with 6 recepies.
2 Modes and 3 Item Modes.

Infact, this is getting closer and closer towards no longer being a beta. It still lacks items and heroes though, and i'm sure its unbalanced and bugfilled as hell

[COLOR="red"9
[B][SIZE="4"]Things I Plan To Make[/SIZE][/B][/COLOR]

Click here!

Well... more mazes and more heroes. =P Oh! and Items!

Hero List

Hydromancer

Hydromancer
A caster hero. Is able to do alot of damage and still is hard to catch due to some l33t escape abilities. Runs out of mana fast though.
Normal Abilities:
Hydro Escape: A Blink spell. Costs very little mana in a Battle-Depths scale.
Water Explosion: Based on warstomp. Mostly a damage spell even though it has abit stun.
Waveshield: Its divine shield, but without divine.
Ultimate:
Tidecall: Starfall, but faster. Alot of damage in the area around the Hydromancer for 5 seconds. (or was it 10? i cant rmb...)

Geomancer

Geomancer
Another caster (i like those). Also quite a damage dealer, but focuses abit more on stun. Has a single ability that is a quite good get-out-of-jail card, but has a big cooldown.
Normal Abilities:
Earthspike: Its impale with a new rework. Looks kinda awesome =)
Stunstone: As the description says: A ordinary stone thrown at the target in a magical way. A stun ability.
Recall Rock: Places a rock somwhere one the map. This rock has the ability to summon the geomancer to its location once. The cooldown for this spell is big, but well, its a good get-out-of-jail card. (and yes, its NOT instant in ANY way.)
Ultimate:
Call of the Ancients: A Metamorphosis rework. Turns the geomancer into a ancient with a melee attack, extra armor, extra hp, extra damage and a attack effect.

Escaper

Escaper
The Hard-to-catch guy. Has loads of agility, so he does alot of damage, but also, he's **** fragile.
Normal Abilities:
Mirror Image: Creates alot of mirror images compared to the normal ability. Also, even though theese last very short, they deal a little damage.
Escape: Another blink rework. Dont blink, youl miss it.
Damage: A ability made for the sole purpose to deal damage, as a addition to the escapers high agility.
Ultimate:
Run for the hills!: Gives you max speed for 10 seconds. After theese ten seconds you turn invisible for 30 secs. This is Permanent Invisiblity, it a temporary way, so when you attack you turn visible, but if you dont keep attacking you turn invisible again. Sweet huh? (same with abilities)

Giant

Giant
The big brute. You know the deal guys =)
Normal Abilities:
Thunder Clap: Well... thunder clap?
Spiky Skin: Its a Spiky Carapace rework, but more effective.
Bash: Not much to say here...
Ultimate:
Titan's Fury: Its a avatar rework, and it leaves its marks. God hes big when this thing is activated...

Mage Hunter

Mage Hunter
This is the guy with Manaburn and silence, and other mage pwning spells.
Normal Abilities:
Anti Magic Field: *cough* Silence *cough*
Manaburn: You know the deal.
Arcane Prison: Youd probably not expect a Entangling Roots rework on a mage hunter, but holding a mage at the same spot is kinda usefull.
Ultimate:
Mana Storm: A rework of locust swarm. Looks awesome =)

Fallen God

Fallen God
The point with this hero is that it starts out weaker than the others, but grows faster.
Normal Abilities:
Godslayer: A rework of critical strike.
Unholy Haste: Increases movement speed.
Sleep: A sleep "rework".
Ultimate:
Reclaimed Faith: The coolest ability i made so far. Has one level only, and requires level 12 instead of 6 to learn. Gives the fallen god his powers back, making him invulnerable for 2 minutes. 10 minute cooldown ^^

Ghost

Ghost:
Typical stealth hero, Fast but fragile. Is unarmored instead of hero armor, so watch it.
Normal Abilities:
Ghostly Visage: A evasion rework.
Shadow Strike: A shadow strike "rework".
Ghost Stalk: Wind walk rework.
Ultimate:
Haunting: A stampede rework. Looks pretty cool =)

Pyromancer

Mass damage dealer. Got loads of AoE, but runs out of mana fast.
Normal Abilities:
Firebolt: Deals damage...
Flame Volley: a Cluster Rockets rework.
Explosion: Frost Nova rework.
Ultimate:
Meteor Swarm: If you cant guess what this does you need to play more fantasy games...

The Last Baron

A Stealth based strength hero. Uses alot of mana, but has a great mana reg too.
Normal Abilities:
Flame Stealth: A windwalk rework. No sneak attack dmg though...
Mastodon Smash: A ability pretty unlike anything in normal wc3. A very strong melee attack.
Diabolic Pentagram: A carrion swarm rework.
Ultimate:
Immortallity: A Vampiric Aura rework. Looks awesome...

Arcanist

Damage dealer hero, even though not a completely normal one.
Normal Abilities:
Arcane Pulse: Shockwave!
Arcane Grip: Does quite alot of damage, and has ministun.
Arcane Prison: Entangling roots rework.
Ultimate:
Mana Vortex: Only one level of this spell. This AoE spell does a certain percentage of max hp each second. If a unit stays in the AoE til the spell is over the unit will have lost 50% of his hp.

Werewolf

The werewolf is a surviver. Good at getting around and away. His only real damage output is attacks though.
Normal Abilities:
Warpstep: Another blink remake.
Critical Strikes: You know the drill.
Howl: Stunns all nearby units.
Ultimate:
Blessing of the Night: Reincarnation ftw.

Storm Warrior

The storm warrior is a damage dealer, with quite alot of hp. Goot at fast kills.
Normal Abilities:
Lightning Charge: Moves you to target units location, does damage and microstun.
Lightning Pillars: Sends out lightning pillars to all nearby units. Does massive damage if they hit.
Storm Saint: Extra move speed and life reg.
Ultimate:
Storm: Monsoon!

Dryad

The dryad focuses on summoning units, then using her abilities to manipulate them and deal great damage.
Normal Abilities:
Sprout: Summons three sprouts that can be manipulated.
Explosion: Explodes a sprout to do lotsa damage.
Thorns: Doubles a sprouts damage 6 times.
Ultimate:
Obergrowth: Turns a sprout into a ent, wich is big and damage dealing.

Flame Spirit

The Flame Spirit focuses alot on armor reduction, but can do alot of damage too. (wich is partly cause of all that armor reduction...)
Normal Abilities:
Fire Ball: Reduces armor and does damage over time.
Flame Nova: Reduces armor and does damage to everyone around the flame spirit.
Fiery Attack: Makes the flame spirit do more damage. If the flame spirit has Burning Wards, this ability both increases their damage and attack speed.
Burning Wards: This ability is supposed to be ultimate, but it isnt yet. in 0.7 it will be. It summons 1-3 immobile burning wards that last 25 seconds. They are also supposed to have a mini-stun. that too will be added in 0.7

Coming-Up-Next Hero:

Next Heroes:

Hero Ability Sneakpeaks

So... got something you dont understand? questions? ideas? suggestions?
POST THEM!

 

[Dragonson]

I am happy to announce that the first beta will be released later today or later this weekend, unless i run into some megabug. I plan the first beta to contain items, 10 heroes, systems such as rounds, 3 small mazes that are connected with portals and caves and some other random stuff. If i find out how to take screenshots of wc3 (a skill i never learned) i will prolly upload some pictures later today.

 

[Thyrael]

If i find out how to take screenshots of wc3 (a skill i never learned) i will prolly upload some pictures later today.

Just hit the "print"(Druck in german)key on your keyboard, open up a grafic program like photoshop and paste the taken image into the programs workspace. Than just save it as a *.jpg and upload it here.

 

[Dragonson]

Thanks alot =)

 

[Sinizi]

Sounds like a pretty nice game
Tip: Since you got a Mage Hunter i think you should make the Giant and people like him, so they don't need their mana that much. I bet you tried DotA, so you may know Anti Mage. It's no matter if it's an agi or int hero, most need their mana which make him pretty good against everybody.

-Sinizi

 

[Dragonson]

Yeah thats kinda reasonable =) il do that. =D

Also, i am trying to make a loading screen, but im not really good at it (especially cause any Blp converter i can find doesent for for vista ARRRRRRAHGJG!) So anyone that wants to make on is welcome =)

Okay now... if i can either get my photobucket account to work, or find out how to attach thumbnails, il have some screenshots for you =)

Edit: About that mage hunter... Its hard to make a hero that doesent need his mana without making him ABIT overpowered, but the Giant hero already doesent need his mana that much: Two of his abilities are passive. But il try

Oh and, i added ability lists for the heroes.

 

[Dragonson]

Okay. The beta will be realeased sometime next week, since i havent got much to do in that time.

 

[Dragonson]

Sounds like a pretty nice game
Tip: Since you got a Mage Hunter i think you should make the Giant and people like him, so they don't need their mana that much. I bet you tried DotA, so you may know Anti Mage. It's no matter if it's an agi or int hero, most need their mana which make him pretty good against everybody.

-Sinizi

I found a way to make atleast the strength people more resistant to him. I give most of the strength heroes 2 passive abilities (unless i have another plan for them) and that works pretty nice. When two of your abilities dont cost any mana at all, its hard for the mage hunter to really hit your weak spot. Ofcourse, this doesent leave that much space for stealth, but whatever, if i want to make a stealth strength hero il just do so. ^^

 

[Hijax]

Teh Jasser^tm has arrived!
oh, and for loading screens, try Magos Model Editor. open it, open you picture go to windows>texture manager, right click at your image's name there, choose export, save it as whatchamacallurimage.blp

 

[Dragonson]

Ey Hijax

 

[Hijax]

Oh right, its you...

 

[Dragonson]

okay... fallen god hero finished, 2 more heroes and the map is fully playable. 4 more heroes and i got enough heroes for the beta. Then i just need to make all the items...

 

[Dragonson]

Screenshots!

Click here!

Theese are screenshots taken in a version that is made for screenshots only, but we had fun making them anyway. (the version messes up the engine abit and has no items. but wth, screenshots is screenshots!)

Enjoy! =D
(Please comment... )

 

[Dragonson]

Oh and: No, theese arent fake setups to make the game look awesome. The screenshot version is simply that instead of following the normal system i place the heroes in the maze right away instead of waiting for a round to start (this was needed due to some mechanics bugs that i have fixed by now). Apart from that they are just a set of situations from some Battle Depths games that i liked.

 

[Dragonson]

I am taking a little pause with the heroes and making some items and item sets. Ideas? Post em =)

 

[Sinizi]

Hmm, about item sets I think you should be able to fuse items. To compress the inventory space Those items (the fused) should be unique, so players can't have multiple of the same item (at least the fused items).

 

[Dragonson]

Well, fused items is what i mean with item sets, but il have to make a trigger that prevents having the same fused item twice. (we could just call them recepie items: thats what theyre commonly called). even though we could just let people have as many items as they want... depends.

 

[Dragonson]

Sinizi is now officially (that means i approve ) a member of the team!

 

[Sinizi]

Wuho!
You (we ^^) could make both recipe and set items. The sets items should only be dropped from some really good creeps. (Are there creeps in the map?) And recipe could be made from shop items and lesser creep drops.

 

[Dragonson]

Well... no. There are no creeps so far. (You get alot of xp from hero kills, so its not like theyre needed.) BUT! i WERE thinking to place some rocks (or other kinds of containers) around the map, each one drops a item reagent when smashed. So yeah, i were thinking that you had to collect the resources for the really good items in the rounds =)

 

[Dragonson]

I am making the recepie shop now, finished all the other items. (24 normal items as a total: left 3 spaces in each of the normal item shops, just in case.)

Oh and, sinizi.
Each team member will be allowed to choose one of the heroes to represent them on the group picture il make.
For now itl only be the two of us, but il update it as the map goes on. Il get you a screenshot with the existing heroes later on.
(oh and... the ghost is mine >=D)

I made two recepie items so far, all coming along nicely. Uploading hero picture now...

 

[Dragonson]

Here is the heroes on a image =)

Click Here!

1: Giant
2: Hydromancer
3: Escaper
4: Geomancer
6: Fallen God
7: Ghost
8: Mage Hunter

And yes, there is only 7 heroes. Im sorry for f****** up the numbers, but you can atleast still tell wo is who when using the lil list. ( and yes, i am also writing down whose models i use so i can give credits.

 

[Zack1996]

Heroes sound rather awesome. Can't wait for the beta
Good luck with your project!

Would love to see some cool spell screenies

 

[Sinizi]

Ok, the rock containers sounds fine and should be enough to replace the creeps if the xp rate is high.

I want the Geomancer as my logo

 

[Dragonson]

how did i know? =P making da firstversion team pic now!

 

[Sinizi]

How DID you know ?

 

[Dragonson]

Team pic 1 =D

Hope you like =)

 

[Dragonson]

Heroes sound rather awesome. Can't wait for the beta
Good luck with your project!

Would love to see some cool spell screenies

Im on the case!

Edit: The trigger preventing players from owning more than one of the same recepie item is gonna be abit hard... if somebody doesent come up with how to do im afraid il be unable to do that = /

 

[Zack1996]

Edit: The trigger preventing players from owning more than one of the same recepie item is gonna be abit hard... if somebody doesent come up with how to do im afraid il be unable to do that = /

I could help you with that. Tell me what you want me to do and send me your current triggers (just the triggers is fine ). I'll see what I can do.

Also, I realised the terrain is slightly weird. Blue Lava in a forest 0_o But it still looks rather good. Why are there so many impaled bodies though

 

[Dragonson]

Its ice, not lava. Plus, that place is for team pictures only =) isle of doom >=D
For the bodies: Read the red text in the buttom left corner, and you might understand. =) Spell screenies comming right up!!!

 

[Dragonson]

Spell Screenies:

Click here!

There are more spells ofcourse, i just wont show you anymore >=D

 

[Dragonson]

I could help you with that. Tell me what you want me to do and send me your current triggers (just the triggers is fine ). I'll see what I can do.

Also, I realised the terrain is slightly weird. Blue Lava in a forest 0_o But it still looks rather good. Why are there so many impaled bodies though

Cant you just make up the trigger yourself if i tell you what it is i need? cause my problem is that i dont really have the right trigger =( it is supposed to make sure a player cannot carry more than one of the same item, but only for specefic itmes, and i just cant figure out how to do that =(

Edit: Im sorry if this post sounds rude or ungretefull or something, that is not how i meant it to sound =(

 

[Rainbow Evil]

I think that you should put at least boss creeps that will drop unique tokens or stuff that u can trade for something better.And I can make you items or creeps or what ever you need help with
Also I can try to find better name for Fallen God cuz Abbadon is pretty used up (I mean Guild Wars,DoTa and whole bunch of other maps)

 

[Dragonson]

I was VERY close to call the Reclaimed Faith ability Nightfall instead, so yeah i know how used it is.

Making up names is one of the things im good at, but some creeps would be nice =) i got a few places i think we could place some bosses...

 

[Rainbow Evil]

And you can add random event to rarly ocure.So there wont be 2 same games.

 

[Dragonson]

Ehmm... Can anyonw here make loading screens? =(

 

[Dragonson]

Oh and, I only need one hero after The Last Baron and then i got all the 10 heroes i want for the beta. And, when the beta is realeased i will not have time to release versions conaining anything else than bugfixes/balances for three weeks, since i am going on a big vacation trip at the end of this week. So, its now or in three weeks people!

 

[Zack1996]

Ok, the system is done.
To Get this to work, make those items that you do not want someone to carry more than 1 of have a level of 0 (just set the item level to 0 )
If there is anything you don't like about this system, please do tell me

 

[Dragonson]

Awesome zack =D
Oh and, did you read my message about joining the team?
Zack1996: Advanced Trigger Guy =)

 

[Dragonson]

The system works awesome zack =) +rep!
Anyone wanting to post some hero ides should do so NOW. If i get not ideas before tomorrow il just make it myself

Edit: I have to wait abit before giving you some rep on that system... gave you rep not so long ago, so HW wont let me do right now. =(

 

[Rainbow Evil]

Arcanist
Caster Hero
Arcane Barrier - gives chance to push back enemy that comes too close to you
Arcane Grip - deals damage and causes mini stun (like .25)
Rebalance - heals all nearby creatures and gains some mana for each healed
Arcane Illusion - creates mirror image and gains some mana when image dies

 

[Dragonson]

Nice idea... even though two of those will be a little problematic.
The arcane barrier is nice, but i think id need zacks help again to make it.
The rebalance ability is awesome too, BUT, you are pretty much on your own. There wont BE freindly creatures to heal, so that one is abit outruled.

Good job =D

(this does NOT mean that nobody else can submit hero ideas. if anybody else submits too, i will have to choose)

 

[Rainbow Evil]

Thats is the point of skill,to heal both enemys and allys.Thats why its called Rebalance

 

[Dragonson]

So... it heals your enemies?

 

[Rainbow Evil]

yes,creates more balance.They gain some health,you gain some mana and then you spend your mana to destroy their health
But I have more ideas for skillz if these arent good enough

 

[Dragonson]

i like the concept, but it doesent really fit in. If you can make up something else it would be cool =)

 

[Rainbow Evil]

new skillz or new hero?
Arcane Weapon - Summons hovering sword that you can control.It can attack and has damage bonus aura.Lasts etc. 25 sec.
Arcane Power - for each etc. 5 mana you gain 1 attack damage
Arcane Blast - rework of shockwave
Arcane Bound - bounds caster with target unit.If unit goes too far from cater bound breakes and deals damage to target.If 20 seconds past and bound is still unbroken it disapears and caster gains some mana.
Arcane Whirlwind - like Cyclone,but when it finishes it teleports target on random place within etc. 1600 range.
Arcane Bash - when caster is hit by hostile spell,it has some chances to stun caster of that spell.
Arcane Elemental - caster creates Arcane Elemental that can attack,has Feedback and increases mana reg of nearby friendly units.
Mana Storm - creates Mana Storm on target location,dealing damage and destroing mana to each enemy inside per second.
Pick something

 

[Dragonson]

Cool abilities... now i just have to choose =)

I acutally already have a ability named Mana Storm (see: Mage Hunter) but it seems as a nice ability, i just have to give it another name.

 

[Rainbow Evil]

Ohh,havent noticed.Glad I helped.btw u can call it Arcane Impact,sounds so dangerous

 

[Bane]

Hey, if you would like a full detailed map review go ahead and PM me