- Joined
- Aug 1, 2017
- Messages
- 4
I've been making a map for a friend of mine, But when I was telling her about it she said it would probably be enjoyed by other people. I don't keep a large friend group irl, and because of my career I don't have any "gamer" friends, just people who only play when taking a break from important stuff.
Now that the context for asking my question is stated, here's a little bit about the map.
I still have the original Wc3 from the CD I bought ..... idk how many years ago more than 10 for sure. my entire pack is 1.26 and I never updated it, im not sure if later versions are back-compatible with a version this old, so idk if anyone will even be able to open the map, but if that's not an issue, then the map looks like this -
Its a roleplaying mystery map, with the objective being to revive your lost empire and figure out who has spread blight across the map. max hero level is 100, and the object is to use a combination of gear, abilities, and cooperation in order to accomplish 3 main objectives.
1. Heal all blighted land back into normal terrain.
2. Figure out who causing the blight, and stop them. once they are stopped, find the final boss and kill him.
3. Restore your civilization to its former functionality.
There's several options for how you can go about doing these main objectives based on how you play. if you like combat, than beat the hints and clues out of enemies. If you like exploring, then traverse the (relatively large, 250ishx250ish map) to find answers. if you like being helpful then you might want to visit one of the neutral gathering spots, or one of the 2 remaining cities in order to do a few quests in exchange for answers.
The hero you pick is a blend of "core functionality" and "unique to you". let me explain.
there are 6 heroes that you can begin the game with, without getting to into detail, you have a tanky type, a melee dps type, and a healer. Then the other 3 are basically 50/50 blends of the first 3. you can pick any of the 6 as soon as the game begins. Each hero has only 2 hero abilities and begins with a scaling "unit" ability. your hero abilities have 50 levels each. You actually get your other 2 abilities in a completely different way than "just leveling up".
Your 3rd and 4th abilities come from a system I call "the school of thought system". Using this system, once you discover the location of a particular school, you can learn any ability they can teach through dialog panels. there are 7 schools, and each school has 8 abilities, but you can only take 2 total abilities using this system, so you can take 2 from the same school, or 1 each from 2 different schools. important note: When you first select your hero, there's a "Foundational tavern" in the starting zone, where you can get a passive ability, this does NOT count towards your 2 abilities from Schools of Thought, but it does show you how to use the system easily.
Using the abilities you've selected, combined with the abilities you innately had by selecting the hero you did, you can create a very unique hero.
So, wrapping up the heroes description, you have 6 heroes to pick from, and over 50 custom abilities to add to them to make them "yours". this means you can take the hero thats a pure healer, and add more heal spells or add some defensive or dps abilities to make a style that suits you, or you can make a paladin "High health, self heal" type hero, you can model your hero off of pretty much anything you want to. with 7 schools, and 8 abilities per school, plus a choice between 5 passives you can learn at the start, that's 61 abilities to choose from over the course of the game.
Pacing:
the map plays slowly, with a few "jump scare" style spikes in pressure as the enemy attempts to prevent you from making progress. there's a basic AI system I attached to the map (with good old early 2000 capabilities lol) that will behave differently and try different strategies every playthrough. Since this is a "solve the mystery by adventuring" styled map, you shouldn't ever feel "overwhelmed" by anything it throws at you.
Players:
The map is designed for 2-6 players. it is impossible to solo without cheating. (but if you wish to just explore the map and walk around a bit, there's no real reason not to try. many maps that are meant to be multiplayer can be Practiced in solo. mine is no different)
Terrain:
at first glance you might think the terrain is somewhat boring because 85% of the map is blighted. however, the dungeons, labrynths, cities, mountain maze, schools of thought, and other goodies keep things more interesting one you start exploring, and part of your mission is the heal the terrain and make it healthy and good looking again.
Your city:
When you very first begin, you learn that "something" killed everyone in your home city and destroyed all the buildings. so it becomes up to you to rebuild and train units to watch the city. You can select 1 of 3 different "empire builders". all the buildings these builders can build are similar, but the "militant" builder's buildings can all attack, and its guard towers have better range, damage, and attack speed. the restorative builder's buildings can all heal on there own and have healing auras. and the defensive builder's buildings all have 50% more health and armor than the other 2's buildings. This is because "you are only 1 person" and can't manage all the aspects of an entire empire, so you need to work together with the other players in order to create the most advanced society.
Other notes:
There's a ton of custom items, its close to like how many MMOs just throw tons and tons of items at you.
Cooperation is an absolute must. you don't have to be standing next to eachother the entire game, but if you're not working as a team you will be overtaken and killed.
Respawning works similar to how it does in a melee map. IF you have your alter, you can respawn your hero. otherwise you fall into a sort of limbo state where you control your empire without your hero until you can respawn. (its pretty hard to die early game, so this is mechanically not a big deal unless someone decided to screem YOLO and yeet themselves neck deep into a dungeon they have no business being in yet lol).
Progression is the second core aspect of the game. you begin with almost no stats, low health, low mana, and only a couple things you can do which don't heal / harm very much. but each level of progression is a big unlock in power, adding School of Thought abilities is another big unlock, most abilities are tied to your stats so getting your core stats increased by items is another good unlock in power, etc...
So, these are some of the most basic principles of the map, I am roughly 40% done with it. I need to touch up a few triggers, finish the units of the main enemies army, and 3 other major tasks. then I need to path the map to make sure its all walkable, etc.... but if anyone is interested I can talk more about it.
I'll answer any questions that don't reveal the solutions to the mystery, and I'll give updates if they are asked for.
Otherwise I'm going to assume this will be a "home piece". Either way, thank you for reading.
-Edit
I'm not particularly skilled at adding icons and art files, so there's no custom images in the map. If I learn how to do this reliably, I'll add some. The standard icons just don't cover all the ideas appropriately sometimes.
Now that the context for asking my question is stated, here's a little bit about the map.
I still have the original Wc3 from the CD I bought ..... idk how many years ago more than 10 for sure. my entire pack is 1.26 and I never updated it, im not sure if later versions are back-compatible with a version this old, so idk if anyone will even be able to open the map, but if that's not an issue, then the map looks like this -
Its a roleplaying mystery map, with the objective being to revive your lost empire and figure out who has spread blight across the map. max hero level is 100, and the object is to use a combination of gear, abilities, and cooperation in order to accomplish 3 main objectives.
1. Heal all blighted land back into normal terrain.
2. Figure out who causing the blight, and stop them. once they are stopped, find the final boss and kill him.
3. Restore your civilization to its former functionality.
There's several options for how you can go about doing these main objectives based on how you play. if you like combat, than beat the hints and clues out of enemies. If you like exploring, then traverse the (relatively large, 250ishx250ish map) to find answers. if you like being helpful then you might want to visit one of the neutral gathering spots, or one of the 2 remaining cities in order to do a few quests in exchange for answers.
The hero you pick is a blend of "core functionality" and "unique to you". let me explain.
there are 6 heroes that you can begin the game with, without getting to into detail, you have a tanky type, a melee dps type, and a healer. Then the other 3 are basically 50/50 blends of the first 3. you can pick any of the 6 as soon as the game begins. Each hero has only 2 hero abilities and begins with a scaling "unit" ability. your hero abilities have 50 levels each. You actually get your other 2 abilities in a completely different way than "just leveling up".
Your 3rd and 4th abilities come from a system I call "the school of thought system". Using this system, once you discover the location of a particular school, you can learn any ability they can teach through dialog panels. there are 7 schools, and each school has 8 abilities, but you can only take 2 total abilities using this system, so you can take 2 from the same school, or 1 each from 2 different schools. important note: When you first select your hero, there's a "Foundational tavern" in the starting zone, where you can get a passive ability, this does NOT count towards your 2 abilities from Schools of Thought, but it does show you how to use the system easily.
Using the abilities you've selected, combined with the abilities you innately had by selecting the hero you did, you can create a very unique hero.
So, wrapping up the heroes description, you have 6 heroes to pick from, and over 50 custom abilities to add to them to make them "yours". this means you can take the hero thats a pure healer, and add more heal spells or add some defensive or dps abilities to make a style that suits you, or you can make a paladin "High health, self heal" type hero, you can model your hero off of pretty much anything you want to. with 7 schools, and 8 abilities per school, plus a choice between 5 passives you can learn at the start, that's 61 abilities to choose from over the course of the game.
Pacing:
the map plays slowly, with a few "jump scare" style spikes in pressure as the enemy attempts to prevent you from making progress. there's a basic AI system I attached to the map (with good old early 2000 capabilities lol) that will behave differently and try different strategies every playthrough. Since this is a "solve the mystery by adventuring" styled map, you shouldn't ever feel "overwhelmed" by anything it throws at you.
Players:
The map is designed for 2-6 players. it is impossible to solo without cheating. (but if you wish to just explore the map and walk around a bit, there's no real reason not to try. many maps that are meant to be multiplayer can be Practiced in solo. mine is no different)
Terrain:
at first glance you might think the terrain is somewhat boring because 85% of the map is blighted. however, the dungeons, labrynths, cities, mountain maze, schools of thought, and other goodies keep things more interesting one you start exploring, and part of your mission is the heal the terrain and make it healthy and good looking again.
Your city:
When you very first begin, you learn that "something" killed everyone in your home city and destroyed all the buildings. so it becomes up to you to rebuild and train units to watch the city. You can select 1 of 3 different "empire builders". all the buildings these builders can build are similar, but the "militant" builder's buildings can all attack, and its guard towers have better range, damage, and attack speed. the restorative builder's buildings can all heal on there own and have healing auras. and the defensive builder's buildings all have 50% more health and armor than the other 2's buildings. This is because "you are only 1 person" and can't manage all the aspects of an entire empire, so you need to work together with the other players in order to create the most advanced society.
Other notes:
There's a ton of custom items, its close to like how many MMOs just throw tons and tons of items at you.
Cooperation is an absolute must. you don't have to be standing next to eachother the entire game, but if you're not working as a team you will be overtaken and killed.
Respawning works similar to how it does in a melee map. IF you have your alter, you can respawn your hero. otherwise you fall into a sort of limbo state where you control your empire without your hero until you can respawn. (its pretty hard to die early game, so this is mechanically not a big deal unless someone decided to screem YOLO and yeet themselves neck deep into a dungeon they have no business being in yet lol).
Progression is the second core aspect of the game. you begin with almost no stats, low health, low mana, and only a couple things you can do which don't heal / harm very much. but each level of progression is a big unlock in power, adding School of Thought abilities is another big unlock, most abilities are tied to your stats so getting your core stats increased by items is another good unlock in power, etc...
So, these are some of the most basic principles of the map, I am roughly 40% done with it. I need to touch up a few triggers, finish the units of the main enemies army, and 3 other major tasks. then I need to path the map to make sure its all walkable, etc.... but if anyone is interested I can talk more about it.
I'll answer any questions that don't reveal the solutions to the mystery, and I'll give updates if they are asked for.
Otherwise I'm going to assume this will be a "home piece". Either way, thank you for reading.
-Edit
I'm not particularly skilled at adding icons and art files, so there's no custom images in the map. If I learn how to do this reliably, I'll add some. The standard icons just don't cover all the ideas appropriately sometimes.
