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Codename: Askellon

This bundle is marked as high quality. It exceeds standards and is highly desirable.

Askellon_Logo.png



Intro.png



There's Xenos Amongst You
Inspired by Parasite, Metastasis and a splash of Warhammer 40k, a fellow crewmember has been infected with an unknown alien organism. End it before it ends you!


Deception Matters
A custom chat that uses Blizzard's new UI natives allows instantaneous changing of player names, and some Aliens can even chat as other players!


Space Travel
Pilot the Askellon through deep space or enter its smaller combat ships; Mine minerals to gain permanent power boosts... And maybe even find the source of this infestation!


Rebooting the Askellon
Something has damaged the Askellon during your escape; find out what, fix the damage and warp out of this terrifying sector.


Alien Evolution
The Crew repairs while the Alien evolves and hunts; Being aggressive rewards you with other infested Crewmembers and further alien evolutions.


Bullets... In the Third Dimension
Bullets collide with walls and terrain, use your dexterity as an Alien to jump over lead and slay humans!


Contextual Interaction System
Sick and tired of seeing games with an "Interact" ability? Now just right click to do things; enter vents? enter ships? mine asteroids, research, upgrade? All done with a single right click.


Dynamic Lighting System
Each floor on the Askellon has its own internal Power Generator, destroy those to shut down the lights and make all humans suffer!


And More
Evil Cultists, Insanity, Persistent Stats, Customizable weapons and attachments, Unique dancing animations, Blood Testing, Praying to the Emperor, Genetic Enhancing, Space Combat and Alien AI are just some of the features Askellon offers. And there's much more to come


Codename Askellon is still in active development, check out some of the upcoming content below:
- Story driven exploration, land on different planets and a satellite
- More Alien Evolutions
- More Weapons and Attachments
Join our community and receive a rare ingame skin!
The Codename Askellon Discord Server


v1.20
Cleanup and first patch of the new(er) year!
This version contains far too many numerical changes to list, and several major desync and optimisation fixes.
If anyone runs into issues while hosting this version please let me know! I finally got a massively improved debug rig set up my end to help track down problems.

- Contains major lag and desync fixes
- Administration Terminal has new abilities
Security Alert reveals, pings and alerts all players to go to a location
Manual Lockdown locks target door for 30 seconds
- Cultist Rework
Cultists must now complete rituals to progress, with different options each tier.
- Map Size reduction from 120mb to 105mb

v0.1.1
Emergency bug hotfixes

v0.1
Big Alien Patch:
- Alien no longer begins in **Worm** form
- Alien now starts as an infested Crewmember
> Worm was too complex for players just starting out, the new basic form should be far easier to grasp
- **Worm** has been renamed to **Deception Form**
- **Deception Form** can be evolved to at level 1
- **Infestation Form** can *only* be evolved into from **Deception Form**
- The game now starts with a **Hatchery** spawned on the map
> Hatcheries are constant alien minion spawners that have powerful defensive abilities and AI
- Added **Tentacles** these are spawned around the **Hatchery** while it is under attack
> Tentacles are weak, but hit hard. Kill them before they kill you
- **Infestation Form** can now spawn **Hatcheries**

Human:
- Buffed **Neokatana**, while wielding the weapon all damage you take is reduced by 7
> It's a melee weapon, it needs defensive powers.
- Added **Flares**, these reveal the area and any invisible units / bombs
- Resolve music now only plays while in combat

Annnd of course; several bug fixes

v0.052a
Major Changes
- Genetic Sequencer now shows what is inside it
- The Genetic Sequencer must now be manually repaired, it costs 1200 credits
Infesting the Genetic Sequence causes the next test to return the opposite result
- Healthcare now only has 3 upgrades
It will now focus on only improving genetic splicing
- Emotional Dampener has been remade, it now costs 900
Removes Insanity and prevents Despair and Resolve for 45 seconds; but permanently reduces Willpower by 1
- Unpowered Security Doors can now be manually opened
- The Askellon now has 30 damage reduction
The main ship of the game was dying a tad too easily, it now requires time investment to kill
- Reduced the cost of most starting upgrades by ~40-50%
- Increased the maximum amount of Alien Minions from 100 to 150
- Alien Tumor Larva spawn time from 55s to 30s
- Alien Tumor Canite spawn time from 80s to 55s
- Security Turret base damage reduced from 19-26 to 10-17
Aliens were not infesting the Askellon fast enough. This will fix that.


Minor Changes
- Fixed Infestation Evolution Tier 1 being invisible to Classic players
- Fixed missing tooltips
- Power Generators now say what floor they power, and their current status
- Debris can now be instantly destroyed with repair kits
- Fixed issues with Infestation evolution crashing lobbies (I hope)
- Fixed issues with missing icons in classic
- Fixed issues with bad shadows in classic
- Fixed Reactive Parasitization not working for Infestation evolution
- Reduced chances Debris will block exits


AskSplash.png

AskMining.png
AskAlienLeap.png
AskVents.png
AskGene.png
AskBridge.png
AskChurch.png
CoreThumbnail.png


Mythic [Hive Workshop] = Altar, Art and Spell Effects
Spellbound [Hive Workshop] = Mining Lightning Effect
Feels Good Man [Hive Workshop] = Doodads and Webs
Maddeem [Hive Workshop] = Space Ships, Effects and Development
Mayday [Hive Workshop] = Cheergirl
Niklas [Hive Workshop] = Initial chat UI
TriggerHappy [Hive Workshop] = Typescript debugging, w3ts and being a cool dude
ScrewTheTrees [Hive Workshop] = TreeLib and Typescript debugging
Microsoft [Capitalism] = Github project hosting
Piggy [Discord] = Moderation and Sprite Work
Tasyen [Hive Workshop] = UI Help and Debugging
Tamplier777 [Hive Workshop] = Reforged Column
Purparisien [Hive Workshop] = Ventilator Model
WILL THE MIGHTY [Hive Workshop] = Explosion Models
Blizzard [Capitalism] = Sc2 models and resources
Previews
Contents

Askellon v1.3.2 (Map)

Level 15
Joined
Feb 2, 2009
Messages
154
This map is not just aesthetically beautiful but also has intuitive gameplay that makes it feel like a masterful successor to games such as parasite and metastasis. It comes packed with quality of life features such as 'role preference' and even comes with a fail safe that repicks the alien in case the player leaves or dies too early in to the game.

The roles seem fairly varied, my own experience was that of a pilot which allowed me to disembark from the ship and gather resources. Other roles allow a player to specialize similarly all about the ship, granting everyone unique objectives. The reason why this feels so nice is because in the case of parasite or metastasis there is a little too much 'running around'. Throughout the course of my playthrough of Askellon I may have felt confused, but never idle.

In fact the overwhelming feeling of entering this ship was quickly replaced by a natural curiosity and fear. I had no idea what level of strength the alien could be and every gadget or gizmo about the ship awed me. If all games had this capacity to draw in new players I think Warcraft III would be a better place.

Unfortunately my first game ended in a desync about 30 minutes in to the game, but this is not going to stop me from going back to mine some space rocks.

Amazing.
 

deepstrasz

Map Reviewer
Level 68
Joined
Jun 4, 2009
Messages
18,706
Is this open source as in people can edit and reupload their version? (talking about the Open Source tag).
Some of the tags were removed as they were not fitting.

The ship in the intro has the health bar visible.
If you're too near a wall and facing it, trying to throw a cryogrenade in the opposite place will make the grenade hit the wall you're facing.
This one remained in mid air anima.png
How do I know when I have no more bullets? The unit doesn't shoot anything anymore but the animation plays. Also, pressed on the gun item in the inventory to reload(?).
I also can't get out through stuff like ladders. Is it because of the Despair buff?

Played this in Classic, not Reforged (HD version).
Psionic Evolution has no DISBTN. The icon is green if the ability is not available. Some details about icons:
Cry Grenades don't have a proper looking DISBTN. The borders shouldn't appear on the grayed icon. The Button Manager can make a proper version.
The alien loses the CTRL+1 control group when morphing.
What's this? anima.png
Should be some information in the Quest Log.
The Human Captain's Role Information ability can be pressed and does nothing. It should be passive, no?

Other than that it seems to be working.

Approved.


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M A P - C R E A T I O N - G U I D E S

If you're not satisfied with the review and wish another opinion, contact the other reviewers or use the staff contact:
Paillan
Alexen
eubz
https://www.hiveworkshop.com/forums/staff-contact.692/
 
Level 12
Joined
Oct 10, 2009
Messages
438
@deepstrasz thanks for taking your time to look at this map.

You should be able to right click to go through ladders, and Cryo grenades hitting walls when you throw their origin too close to them is something I'm doing to stop out of map exploits.

That big grey box is me abusing a "feature" of the current reforging that stops a player's name from showing when you mouse over the alien unit. If there was a cleaner solution for multiplayer I'd take it.

Thanks for letting me know about those missing icons for classic, I'll fix it for next version.

Edit: it's marked open source as the maps code is available on github, in an effort to show people how to make maps using Typescript. While is rather there would be no re-edits of the map while I'm actively working on it, that's just a matter of reality.
 

deepstrasz

Map Reviewer
Level 68
Joined
Jun 4, 2009
Messages
18,706
Edit: it's marked open source as the maps code is available on github, in an effort to show people how to make maps using Typescript. While is rather there would be no re-edits of the map while I'm actively working on it, that's just a matter of reality.
Well, that's not really open source as per what the tag means so be careful just in case someone will reupload :D
 
Level 11
Joined
Jul 4, 2016
Messages
626
That big grey box is me abusing a "feature" of the current reforging that stops a player's name from showing when you mouse over the alien unit. If there was a cleaner solution for multiplayer I'd take it.
You could do the way metastasis does it unless your using the slot for something else, is to have the owner of the alien unit be "Player 16" and just share control.
 
Level 11
Joined
Jul 4, 2016
Messages
626
I see, its different in metastasis where only the alien master gets its name hidden, so I guess it wouldn't work in your case, but I believe you can share control of individual units or you can try the critter techqiue. I don't really know how you do the whole "alien morphing" though so the critter techique may not work either.
 
Level 12
Joined
Oct 10, 2009
Messages
438
I see, its different in metastasis where only the alien master gets its name hidden, so I guess it wouldn't work in your case, but I believe you can share control of individual units or you can try the critter techqiue. I don't really know how you do the whole "alien morphing" though so the critter techique may not work either.
Oh? What's the critter technique. I haven't heard of it before
 
Level 12
Joined
Oct 10, 2009
Messages
438
Hey everyone, thanks for your feedback!
I've fixed several of the issues Deepstrasz mentioned as well as tried to push the game into being slightly faster.

Let me know what you think.
v0.052a
Major Changes
  • Genetic Sequencer now shows what is inside it
  • The Genetic Sequencer must now be manually repaired, it costs 1200 credits
Infesting the Genetic Sequence causes the next test to return the opposite result
- Healthcare now only has 3 upgrades
It will now focus on only improving genetic splicing
- Emotional Dampener has been remade, it now costs 900
Removes Insanity and prevents Despair and Resolve for 45 seconds; but permanently reduces Willpower by 1
  • Unpowered Security Doors can now be manually opened
  • The Askellon now has 30 damage reduction
The main ship of the game was dying a tad too easily, it now requires time investment to kill
  • Reduced the cost of most starting upgrades by ~40-50%
  • Increased the maximum amount of Alien Minions from 100 to 150
  • Alien Tumor Larva spawn time from 55s to 30s
  • Alien Tumor Canite spawn time from 80s to 55s
  • Security Turret base damage reduced from 19-26 to 10-17
Aliens were not infesting the Askellon fast enough. This will fix that.


Minor Changes
  • Fixed Infestation Evolution Tier 1 being invisible to Classic players
  • Fixed missing tooltips
  • Power Generators now say what floor they power, and their current status
  • Debris can now be instantly destroyed with repair kits
  • Fixed issues with Infestation evolution crashing lobbies (I hope)
  • Fixed issues with missing icons in classic
  • Fixed issues with bad shadows in classic
  • Fixed Reactive Parasitization not working for Infestation evolution
  • Reduced chances Debris will block exits
 
Level 12
Joined
Oct 10, 2009
Messages
438
v0.10
Big Alien Patch:
  • Alien no longer begins in Worm form
  • Alien now starts as an infested Crewmember
Worm was too complex for players just starting out, the new basic form should be far easier to grasp
  • Worm has been renamed to Deception Form
  • Deception Form can be evolved to at level 1
  • Infestation Form can only be evolved into from Deception Form
  • The game now starts with a Hatchery spawned on the map
Hatcheries are constant alien minion spawners that have powerful defensive abilities and AI
- Added Tentacles these are spawned around the Hatchery while it is under attack
Tentacles are weak, but hit hard. Kill them before they kill you
- Infestation Form can now spawn Hatcheries

Human:
- Buffed Neokatana, while wielding the weapon all damage you take is reduced by 7
It's a melee weapon, it needs defensive powers.
  • Added Flares, these reveal the area and any invisible units / bombs
  • Resolve music now only plays while in combat

Annnd of course; several bug fixes
 
Level 12
Joined
Oct 10, 2009
Messages
438
v1.2.0
Cleanup and first patch of the new(er) year!
This version contains far too many numerical changes to list, and several major desync and optimisation fixes.
If anyone runs into issues while hosting this version please let me know! I finally got a massively improved debug rig set up my end to help track down problems.

- Contains major lag and desync fixes
- Administration Terminal has new abilities
Security Alert reveals, pings and alerts all players to go to a location
Manual Lockdown locks target door for 30 seconds
- Cultist Rework
Cultists must now complete rituals to progress, with different options each tier.
- Map Size reduction from 120mb to 105mb

Edit:
v1.2.1
- Hotfixed a crash
v1.2.2

Balance Changes
- Flamethrower has been redesigned
Spread Increased from 50 to 300 base
Spread is now effected by Accuracy
Flamethrower now deals full damage the first time a unit is hit each second
- On Fire now reduces Accuracy by 15

Bugfixes
- Disabled Debug Mode
 
Last edited:
Level 12
Joined
Oct 10, 2009
Messages
438
Patch v1.3.1
Bug Fixes:
- Fixed Purity Seal breaking the game
- Burst Rifle bullets are now visible when firing at close objects
- Fixed an issue where items would not spawn due to undefined minimum charge values
- Fixed the incorrect name appearing when the host is rerolled
- Fixed a startup 0 indexing error in lua for loading units on the map
- Fixed a missing catch for undefined targets of a "smart" order
- Fixed errors when an alien unit was killed in... unnatural ways
- Fixed a bug around UnitIndexation at startup
- Fixed some null units being passed to Behaviour Events
 
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