- Joined
- Dec 23, 2008
- Messages
- 6
Background
The map opens with an in-game cinematic between three Humans who've just gone through a gateway into a world known, creatively, as simply the Alternate World. After their brief discussion, a prologue is shown, spoken by a character named Ross, who was born well past 9,000 AD but died in 1400 AD. You start as a mere Human at the Cylian Thundergate in the Alternate World at somewhere around 100-200 AC, for After Cybele, 0 AC being the birth of the new planet at about 5000 BC, Earth years.
"Queen Dasa'fiore of an unnamed empire, a Queen so powerful she drew subjects from around the Alternate World to offer her presents. They'd come from anywhere, from Gorayne, from Ilsiem Domiran, Ohndro, Sa'Ghrandai, Puldairis or Tiras Gendel. One such present was in the form of a short, golden chain with two gems attached to it. On one end was the Glorious Ruby, a gem said to be able to heal hate in even the most harrowing hearts. The other end was the Dazzling Diamond, a gem said to be able to bring back beauty to even the blackest of souls. Though the two gems were on the side of good, their functions were diametrically opposed and that gave them their power. The Queen kept the name of this artifact to herself, but what it could do, everyone knew."
- Ross, circa 1400 AD, Consumed by the Black Cloud
In years to come, this story will be told by billions to those on Earth and on the Alternate World, a string of Humans crossing the Cylian Thundergate to steal Dasa'fiore's Chain of Signala.
Premise
This is a story-driven RPG focused on Final Fantasy inspired game-play. You will control 1 character in multiplayer, maybe 3 in single player, I haven't yet decided. The map's story is a sprawling epic that has quite an extensive history and rich culture. Expect over-the-top ability effects and a character-driven plot if you choose to play in Story mode.
Technical Description
This is a map I started a long, long time ago to see if it was possible. I must confess the story back then was going to be a silly Final Fantasy 6 "fanfic." It now has an original story of heroes, love, loss, and triumph.
The map's concept worked but it was woefully awkward. It introduces turn-based combat to Warcraft 3 by means of a bunch of typed commands and an Active Time Battle bar like those found in the earlier Final Fantasy games, which would display in the standard chat area of the game -- ugly, I know. It went so far as to teleport you to a kind of arena and even mimic the camera movement present in the games and included the unused Battle theme from Chrono Trigger and played victory music when you won. It only allowed one battle at a time.
Zoom to the present, I gutted the map and rewrote the battle system. It now uses an ATB bar above the unit's head, no longer requires a separate arena (and now plays out more like Chrono Trigger) and can support multiple battles going on at a time.
The result? Holy shit, I was amazed it works, counts up the ATB bar and plays the "start turn" sound. I don't know of any other turn-based projects for Warcraft 3 and this might be a project I actually finish if I don't run into too many stupid technical hurdles like I have in other maps. I may even incorporate code from other maps I've done into this (another map I have has an awesome Grid system similar to that seen in Final Fantasy 12). This map is me giving my best shot at creating Final Fantasy inspired gameplay in Warcraft 3.
Features
Combat
The map's combat is turn-based, menu-driven. Every unit has an Active Time Battle (ATB) bar, like that seen in earlier Final Fantasy games. When it reaches max, you can use one ability: an attack, special ability, spell, item, a summon, etc.
Abilities are usable on either one unit or all enemies or allies. Abilities will say they can be cast on Single and/or Multiple. You may cast a spell on all enemies or allies by clicking near an ally or enemy unit but not on it. The Fire spell shows itself as Single/Multiple. If you cast Fire, click on an enemy, it will cast on just that unit. If you do not click a unit but click near, say, an enemy, Fire will be cast on all enemies for the Multiple cast penalty: half damage. If you cast Cure and click near but not on an ally, Cure will be cast on all allies for half the healing amount. Osmose, which steals some mana from a target, may only be cast on a single unit; try to click near a unit and the spell will not cast.
Shard System
Minor plot spoiler: you'll quickly discover the Chain of Signala has shattered into thousands of pieces. These pieces are scattered all over the world and if you pick them up, they allow you to learn magic! This system was pulled directly from Final Fantasy 6's Esper system. You will only be able to have one Shard per character. A Shard will provide a level-up bonus, say, extra HP, MP, Intellect or Strength, and offers one or more spells with Learn Rates. Shard of Ifrit teaches you Fire, Fira and Drain at learn rates of 15, 2 and 3, respectively. Every battle you win offers some Shard Points. Say you earn 1, multiply that by the learn rate of, say, Fire, 1x15 = 15, and you have learned 15% of Fire. The next battle you may earn another one Shard Point, and you now have Fire at 30%. When the percentage reaches 100%, you permanently learn that spell.
Each Shard also offers a Summon spell. These Summon abilities may be on a 5 minute cooldown, or may only be usable once per battle, I haven't yet decided. They are typically extraordinarily powerful and well worth their mana cost (a step up from how crappy they were in Final Fantasy 6). For example, Shard of Ifrit will cast Inferno and rain fire down upon all your enemies. Shard of Kirin casts a wave of healing to cure you and your allies. Shard of Tyrant casts Will of Tyrant and let's just say the destruction he causes is well worth the pool of blood left over after it's all said and done.
Spells
These are the spells/abilities that currently exist with descriptions for original spells. Spells with a star (*) do not yet function. Some spells may be cast out of combat, like Cure.
Attack
Mindblast (A magic-based melee attack that causes the next player normal Attack to crit.)
Fire, Fira, Firaga
Blizzard, Blizzara, Blizzaga
Thunder, Thundara, Thundaga
Cure, Cura, Curaga
Life
Full Life
Rebirth* (For one time when a unit dies, it gets revived with full health/mana.)
Osmose
Rasp
Drain
Slow
Haste
Poison
Seal of the Three (A heavy magic damage multi-only spell.)
Biogun (All enemies get blasted with poison damage.)
Crossbow of Rockets (A barrage of rockets launches at all enemies causing physical damage.)
Stances
A unit may be in one stance at a time. Stances take the place of front row/back row seen in most Final Fantasies. Changing stances takes up a normal turn. You may change stances all you like out of combat.
Anti-Magic Stance (Reduced magic damage taken and reduced healing taken.)
Normal Stance (Normal damage and healing taken and received.)
Defensive Stance (Half physical damage taken and received.)
Items
Only two items exist and they may both be used out of combat.
Tonic (Heal some HP.)
Potion (Heal some more HP.)
Comprehensive Feature List
Currently implemented or allowable by current in-game systems:
* Every player or enemy unit is a Hero
* Your ATB bar turns green when its your turn and turns red when you're in the middle of an ability.
* You will get an amazing array of abilities to use, upwards of 50-80 per character, all available at once. As of 3/13/2010, there are about 30 abilities that are usable.
* The level-up system works similar to that seen in Final Fantasy 6 where you can equip Espers to learn new spells and get stat bonuses.
* Damage will be determined by your Intellect or Strength.
* There can be multiple battles going on at once. If you walk near a battle in progress, you will join in. Enemies may also wander into existing battles.
* Every player unit will have melee attack and some kind of unique attack/ability.
* A fairly flexible Effects system was added that allows some pretty impressive spell effects.
* A pretty flexible Buff system that allows common Final Fantasy-esque spells such as Poison or Regen.
* To force the rules of turn-based combat, units cannot move during a battle and their standard attack has been disabled. Melee attacks will be "performed" from 10 feet away.
* There will be no defensive stat. Your damage and healing taken is determined by what "stance" you are in, Defensive, Normal, or Anti-Magic.
* A fairly flexible cinematic system that allows quick creation of in-game movies, complete with camera work and unit movement.
* 3 movie modes:
- - Story mode: Full blown movies in all their glory. Camera and player units will be taken over for cut scenes.
- - Quick Story: The dialogue in the movies is shown, but players can still go about their business.
- - Action: The story is put on hold and players are free to play without any distraction.
Here is the planned list of features. The technical feasibility of anything has not been determined.
* ATB speed will be determined by Agility.
* The player will be able to ride in a vehicle and in the future possibly be able to attack with it, which will have its own level and abilities. (This functionality exists in another map of mine.)
* Players will get "Block Points" every level and be able to unlock blocks in a tree, which will only apply to the current level and possibly in the future saved to the character. (This functionality exists in another map of mine.)
* Players can carry one "Shard" item, which will teach them spells or other abilities over time. Each Shard has a unique, very flashy and very powerful magic attack.
Screenshots
The last one is the end result of casting Will of Tyrant. You have one of those puddles of blood for every enemy it hits. I'm going to be a bastard and not show a screenshot of the actual spell.
Here are some videos of the map in action (in order of oldest to newest):
Demo: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YqRKknu4n6s&feature=channel
Summon Effects: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XOAr-hfzh9o&feature=channel
Demo 2: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NpBh5FdiDOs&feature=channel
There is no attachment yet because the map is currently in a roughly-unplayable state. For example, spells do not yet cost any mana.
The map opens with an in-game cinematic between three Humans who've just gone through a gateway into a world known, creatively, as simply the Alternate World. After their brief discussion, a prologue is shown, spoken by a character named Ross, who was born well past 9,000 AD but died in 1400 AD. You start as a mere Human at the Cylian Thundergate in the Alternate World at somewhere around 100-200 AC, for After Cybele, 0 AC being the birth of the new planet at about 5000 BC, Earth years.
"Queen Dasa'fiore of an unnamed empire, a Queen so powerful she drew subjects from around the Alternate World to offer her presents. They'd come from anywhere, from Gorayne, from Ilsiem Domiran, Ohndro, Sa'Ghrandai, Puldairis or Tiras Gendel. One such present was in the form of a short, golden chain with two gems attached to it. On one end was the Glorious Ruby, a gem said to be able to heal hate in even the most harrowing hearts. The other end was the Dazzling Diamond, a gem said to be able to bring back beauty to even the blackest of souls. Though the two gems were on the side of good, their functions were diametrically opposed and that gave them their power. The Queen kept the name of this artifact to herself, but what it could do, everyone knew."
- Ross, circa 1400 AD, Consumed by the Black Cloud
In years to come, this story will be told by billions to those on Earth and on the Alternate World, a string of Humans crossing the Cylian Thundergate to steal Dasa'fiore's Chain of Signala.
Premise
This is a story-driven RPG focused on Final Fantasy inspired game-play. You will control 1 character in multiplayer, maybe 3 in single player, I haven't yet decided. The map's story is a sprawling epic that has quite an extensive history and rich culture. Expect over-the-top ability effects and a character-driven plot if you choose to play in Story mode.
Technical Description
This is a map I started a long, long time ago to see if it was possible. I must confess the story back then was going to be a silly Final Fantasy 6 "fanfic." It now has an original story of heroes, love, loss, and triumph.
The map's concept worked but it was woefully awkward. It introduces turn-based combat to Warcraft 3 by means of a bunch of typed commands and an Active Time Battle bar like those found in the earlier Final Fantasy games, which would display in the standard chat area of the game -- ugly, I know. It went so far as to teleport you to a kind of arena and even mimic the camera movement present in the games and included the unused Battle theme from Chrono Trigger and played victory music when you won. It only allowed one battle at a time.
Zoom to the present, I gutted the map and rewrote the battle system. It now uses an ATB bar above the unit's head, no longer requires a separate arena (and now plays out more like Chrono Trigger) and can support multiple battles going on at a time.
The result? Holy shit, I was amazed it works, counts up the ATB bar and plays the "start turn" sound. I don't know of any other turn-based projects for Warcraft 3 and this might be a project I actually finish if I don't run into too many stupid technical hurdles like I have in other maps. I may even incorporate code from other maps I've done into this (another map I have has an awesome Grid system similar to that seen in Final Fantasy 12). This map is me giving my best shot at creating Final Fantasy inspired gameplay in Warcraft 3.
Features
Combat
The map's combat is turn-based, menu-driven. Every unit has an Active Time Battle (ATB) bar, like that seen in earlier Final Fantasy games. When it reaches max, you can use one ability: an attack, special ability, spell, item, a summon, etc.
Abilities are usable on either one unit or all enemies or allies. Abilities will say they can be cast on Single and/or Multiple. You may cast a spell on all enemies or allies by clicking near an ally or enemy unit but not on it. The Fire spell shows itself as Single/Multiple. If you cast Fire, click on an enemy, it will cast on just that unit. If you do not click a unit but click near, say, an enemy, Fire will be cast on all enemies for the Multiple cast penalty: half damage. If you cast Cure and click near but not on an ally, Cure will be cast on all allies for half the healing amount. Osmose, which steals some mana from a target, may only be cast on a single unit; try to click near a unit and the spell will not cast.
Shard System
Minor plot spoiler: you'll quickly discover the Chain of Signala has shattered into thousands of pieces. These pieces are scattered all over the world and if you pick them up, they allow you to learn magic! This system was pulled directly from Final Fantasy 6's Esper system. You will only be able to have one Shard per character. A Shard will provide a level-up bonus, say, extra HP, MP, Intellect or Strength, and offers one or more spells with Learn Rates. Shard of Ifrit teaches you Fire, Fira and Drain at learn rates of 15, 2 and 3, respectively. Every battle you win offers some Shard Points. Say you earn 1, multiply that by the learn rate of, say, Fire, 1x15 = 15, and you have learned 15% of Fire. The next battle you may earn another one Shard Point, and you now have Fire at 30%. When the percentage reaches 100%, you permanently learn that spell.
Each Shard also offers a Summon spell. These Summon abilities may be on a 5 minute cooldown, or may only be usable once per battle, I haven't yet decided. They are typically extraordinarily powerful and well worth their mana cost (a step up from how crappy they were in Final Fantasy 6). For example, Shard of Ifrit will cast Inferno and rain fire down upon all your enemies. Shard of Kirin casts a wave of healing to cure you and your allies. Shard of Tyrant casts Will of Tyrant and let's just say the destruction he causes is well worth the pool of blood left over after it's all said and done.
Spells
These are the spells/abilities that currently exist with descriptions for original spells. Spells with a star (*) do not yet function. Some spells may be cast out of combat, like Cure.
Attack
Mindblast (A magic-based melee attack that causes the next player normal Attack to crit.)
Fire, Fira, Firaga
Blizzard, Blizzara, Blizzaga
Thunder, Thundara, Thundaga
Cure, Cura, Curaga
Life
Full Life
Rebirth* (For one time when a unit dies, it gets revived with full health/mana.)
Osmose
Rasp
Drain
Slow
Haste
Poison
Seal of the Three (A heavy magic damage multi-only spell.)
Biogun (All enemies get blasted with poison damage.)
Crossbow of Rockets (A barrage of rockets launches at all enemies causing physical damage.)
Stances
A unit may be in one stance at a time. Stances take the place of front row/back row seen in most Final Fantasies. Changing stances takes up a normal turn. You may change stances all you like out of combat.
Anti-Magic Stance (Reduced magic damage taken and reduced healing taken.)
Normal Stance (Normal damage and healing taken and received.)
Defensive Stance (Half physical damage taken and received.)
Items
Only two items exist and they may both be used out of combat.
Tonic (Heal some HP.)
Potion (Heal some more HP.)
Comprehensive Feature List
Currently implemented or allowable by current in-game systems:
* Every player or enemy unit is a Hero
* Your ATB bar turns green when its your turn and turns red when you're in the middle of an ability.
* You will get an amazing array of abilities to use, upwards of 50-80 per character, all available at once. As of 3/13/2010, there are about 30 abilities that are usable.
* The level-up system works similar to that seen in Final Fantasy 6 where you can equip Espers to learn new spells and get stat bonuses.
* Damage will be determined by your Intellect or Strength.
* There can be multiple battles going on at once. If you walk near a battle in progress, you will join in. Enemies may also wander into existing battles.
* Every player unit will have melee attack and some kind of unique attack/ability.
* A fairly flexible Effects system was added that allows some pretty impressive spell effects.
* A pretty flexible Buff system that allows common Final Fantasy-esque spells such as Poison or Regen.
* To force the rules of turn-based combat, units cannot move during a battle and their standard attack has been disabled. Melee attacks will be "performed" from 10 feet away.
* There will be no defensive stat. Your damage and healing taken is determined by what "stance" you are in, Defensive, Normal, or Anti-Magic.
* A fairly flexible cinematic system that allows quick creation of in-game movies, complete with camera work and unit movement.
* 3 movie modes:
- - Story mode: Full blown movies in all their glory. Camera and player units will be taken over for cut scenes.
- - Quick Story: The dialogue in the movies is shown, but players can still go about their business.
- - Action: The story is put on hold and players are free to play without any distraction.
Here is the planned list of features. The technical feasibility of anything has not been determined.
* ATB speed will be determined by Agility.
* The player will be able to ride in a vehicle and in the future possibly be able to attack with it, which will have its own level and abilities. (This functionality exists in another map of mine.)
* Players will get "Block Points" every level and be able to unlock blocks in a tree, which will only apply to the current level and possibly in the future saved to the character. (This functionality exists in another map of mine.)
* Players can carry one "Shard" item, which will teach them spells or other abilities over time. Each Shard has a unique, very flashy and very powerful magic attack.
Screenshots
The last one is the end result of casting Will of Tyrant. You have one of those puddles of blood for every enemy it hits. I'm going to be a bastard and not show a screenshot of the actual spell.
Here are some videos of the map in action (in order of oldest to newest):
Demo: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YqRKknu4n6s&feature=channel
Summon Effects: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XOAr-hfzh9o&feature=channel
Demo 2: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NpBh5FdiDOs&feature=channel
There is no attachment yet because the map is currently in a roughly-unplayable state. For example, spells do not yet cost any mana.
Last edited:
