[Minigame] Castle-Tower Defense

[Ludwigler]

Map name
CASTLE TOWER DEFENSE

(Picture from Alpha 2)

Current Version: Alpha 1

Creator: Ludwigler

Objective of the game:

* Destroy one of the two enemy castles to win.

* Two teams with four (real) players.

* Both teams will generate a small amount of gold each second.

* Each player has a tree harvester that is assigned to gather lumber from the two middle trees.

* Use your gold to purchase units from your castle to fight off any enemy tree harvester(s).

* If you lose a harvester you will be set back a modest sum of gold from having to purchase another one.

* Use gold and lumber to upgrade your castle and purchase better quality units to defeat your enemy.


Alpha 2 Changelog: (10/28) *Will be updated*

Spoiler

* Before the game begins there's a small cinematic to allow map initialization.

* Turrets now fire correctly at half the distance to the closest tree.

* All players should now spawn near their castle when the game begins.

* Each players harvester should now be at equal footing when starting the game.

* Updated the body flesh, and skeleton remains of dead units. You'll see dead bodies longer making pro-long fight more eye-candy but hopefully not cause too much lag.

* Updated the atmosphere and terrain to appear more realistic.

* Turret vision is now double it's range, allowing both teams to see a small glimpse of the two trees.

What you might expect in the future:

Spoiler

* Additional units
* Additional upgrades
* The ability to construct mini-turrets to help hold a position.
* The ability to construct farms to increase gold production
* A scoreboard utilizing a point system to know who's kicking ass.
* A Periodic event that will keep the battlefield interesting at all stages of the game.

-- Comments --


Thank you for those who have downloaded the Alpha 1 build to test the game out, and for Apsyll to give feedback. I have updated the forum post and give additional information about the game and what you may expect in the future development.


When the 1.30.2 patch comes out for Warcraft 3, that is when I'll release the Alpha 2 build and try my hardest hosting the game to get players to play this.

 

[Ludwigler]

I added a photo to show the progress of the Alpha build. I used the grid lines to ensure that each side is balanced in distance from one castle to another, and that the towers are also.

The trees are evenly placed on the middle of each side so they are at an equal playing field when contesting. I hope you all will consider this mini-game. I'm a one man army, but if I keep it small and simple, then I can focus on core game play and make it look better over time.

 

[Pyrogasm]

I wanted to test this out via game lobby in Warcraft 3, but no one wants to join when I host the map. The lobbies have a sea of bots hosting other games, so mine probably gets drowned, never to be found. It sucks trying to find players to test out my creation.

Try hosting it on the Public Test Realm (PTR) where the newest (as-yet unreleased) patch is available. Blizzard removed the ability to bot-host and you may find more traction there. Or wait for 1.30.2 (I think that's the version) to drop for real and then bots will be gone.

 

[Ludwigler]

Thank you for telling me about this newest patch coming out. I'm going to wait until the patch is out before trying it out in the new lobby. In the mean time, I'm going to start addressing issues I see in the game play (ensuring the towers hit 3 square-grid-cubes out) in relation to the nearest tree.

I'll show change notes on here and use this as the primary hive for my game. Glad there's something like this site around. I might dabble in modding to spice things up to appear cosmetic. Right now, my primary focus is getting the game play down from start to finish.

Then balance. Are tier 2 archers too strong? dominate? If I lose a harvester early, am I even able to come back or is the game over as the game progresses?
If the enemy reaches archers before I do, is it too hard to come back with just tier 1 melee? Does the enemy need tier 1 melee to soak damage for archers?
Should turrets hit archers or require them to be tier 2? Does getting tier 1 siege at tier 3 castle feel strong?

There's a lot of balance questions. I'll post a new version by the time the patch comes out so hopefully it'll be a lot more refined by then.

 

[apsyll]

I tried this map for a bit(singleplayer) and here is some feedback:
I think the start looks interesting but it lacks on special features
You could add a rock, papper, scissors concept to the unit you can train like,
Footman are strong against archer by defence but weak to siege because they are slow and get hit by their projectiles easier ect...
Also I would like to build up my base more like buildings to increase the income and walls ect..
If you hqve something planed then you can add this as planed features so people know what to expect from this game.
Good luck and keep going.

 

[Ludwigler]

I tried this map for a bit(singleplayer) and here is some feedback:
I think the start looks interesting but it lacks on special features
You could add a rock, papper, scissors concept to the unit you can train like,
Footman are strong against archer by defence but weak to siege because they are slow and get hit by their projectiles easier ect...
Also I would like to build up my base more like buildings to increase the income and walls ect..
If you hqve something planed then you can add this as planed features so people know what to expect from this game.
Good luck and keep going.

Thank you for trying my game out and giving feedback. Would you mind clarifying "special features" so I may have a better understanding. Do you mean lack of variety? Too linear? Need more choices?

I was also thinking along the lines of a rock-paper-scissors balance formula when I began constructing the units out, but decided to not go over-board or overthink the games balance when I have never tried it out in a multiplayer setting. The idea of making footman strong against archers is a good start.

I had no plans to add the ability to construct buildings in the game, however, the idea to build farms to generate more gold is perhaps a good idea, and maybe the first melee warrior you start with will create special building as blockers and can be upgraded with better defensive stats.

Once the game is more polished at the baseline level, which would be around the time I release a beta, there will be more content. Once the new Warcraft 3 patch goes live I'll release an updated version explaining the changes as well as new picture. That's when I hope I can really test this thing out.

 

[Ludwigler]

I have updated the original post with new information and a new picture of the Alpha 2 build.

 

[noob2]

I like this map especially the part when I can get regular wc3 units in addition to the modded ones.
I will try to make an ai for this map but it is not going to be very smart.
Here is the ai.
Do you like it?