- Joined
- Oct 13, 2005
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- 233
Table of Contents
Current Version: 1.1e
First and foremost, most people will want to know what sets this CTF map apart from all others. I've made sure to stick this right in front for those who don't want to spend much time looking through posts. Here's a quick list as to what I think sets this apart from other Capture the Flag type maps:
Gameplay
I feel there's a lot I did well
Progress
Overall: 70% - I'd say this is fairly close. I need to add more heroes and a few items, but aside from that, everything is pretty much in-place and ready
Heroes: 60-70% - I won't go above one tavern of heroes for the sake of balance, though I will add more
Current abilities: 90-95% - Some hero abilities still need some added polish and some hero abilities are very likely going to be changed at some point
Items: 0% - I've left items out at the start for balance purposes. I will soon be adding a few general purpose items
Gameplay: 90% - Still some things to sort out such as choosing amount of flag captures required and smaller things like those
Current Work
Screenshots
Changelog
Version 1.1e:
If there's any missing information from this post you'd like to see, please let me know so I can include it.
Current Version: 1.1e
First and foremost, most people will want to know what sets this CTF map apart from all others. I've made sure to stick this right in front for those who don't want to spend much time looking through posts. Here's a quick list as to what I think sets this apart from other Capture the Flag type maps:
- Custom heroes, including multiple triggered spells for each hero.
- A great deal of possible combat, for those who don't like just running a flag back and forth all game.
- Balanced heroes. While there's no such thing as perfect balance, I feel I have come close.
- Points for both killing and capturing a flag. No longer do players just have to capture the enemy flag to score. Now they can also kill to contribute to their team's score.
BackgroundGreat tournaments of all kinds are held in the Hills of Fate. You have been chosen to take place in one of its legendary games of capture the flag. The outcome will determine if you truly deserve a place in the legends told of these unparalleled battles. Create your own destiny in this epic struggle for victory.
Keep your own flag under guard during your attempts to make off with the enemy's; you will need both in order to achieve victory.
GoalsI had always liked CTF games, particularly ones with heroes. However, as I played more and more of them, I found them to be lacking in one important factor. That factor being the heroes themselves. In nearly all hero CTF games I've played, the heroes had little or not effort put into them. Generally, all there was were melee heroes with melee skills. Tomes and items were common in having a strong hero, while the actual hero abilities were obsolete if they weren't critical strike or bash. Therefore, one of my goals was to customize the heroes by adding new abilities to them, many of which were partially or entirely triggered. At level one, each hero is given 2 skill points. This allows them to better utilize their hero at earlier levels.
Another problem commonly noticed in hero CTF maps were that many heroes were considerably more useful than others. Specifically, the Blademasters were the most commonly used as they had wind walk, mirror image, and critical strike. Certain combinations of abilities that fit in one type of map don't fit in another. On top of some heroes having strong abilities that were useful throughout the game, some heroes had abilities that quickly became useless. The abilities on caster heroes could be useful in the beginning of the game perhaps, but by the end the heroes were so enhanced with tomes and items that they could barely scratch them.
I'm planning on a variety of different ways to solve this. To start, there will be no tomes or any kind of similar items in the map. Also, no hero will be overloaded with too many abilities that make them just too good for their purpose. Casters will be able to be useful throughout the game, as I've issued a fairly small level cap of 10 (which, by the way, is rarely reached).
In addition, many of these maps had large quantities of heroes, making the maps harder and harder to balance as the number of heroes increased. This problem isn't limited to any particular type of map, the more of something you have, the harder it is to balance. The large number of heroes doesn't simply just detract from the game's balance, but also from the heroes themselves. Many heroes are created that play the exact same role of multiple other heroes.
To solve this problem, I'm keeping the hero numbers at a minimum. Not so small as to that after a few games, you've experienced everything. Instead, I'm taking this route to ensure that the hero balance will remain as good as I can get it. In addition, each hero will serve a unique function. No two heroes will be able to do everything another can.
One problem I've also found is that the gameplay is just too slow moving in certain CTF games. Games can easily stretch on for an hour or more if the players don't leave from boredom beforehand. A common problem in CTF games is turtling where the players all guard their flag. By doing this, the flag almost never gets out of sight from its resting place. Other times, once a flag has been picked up, it's almost guaranteed that it reaches its destination with little or no competition.
At one point in time, I had problems with this too. However, I have found a way that seems to prevent these scenarios from happening too often. To start, when picked up, the flag doesn't hamper movespeed at all. This will allow the flag carrier to get out of a lot of traffic fairly easily in most cases. At the same time, the hero isn't completely guaranteed a safe trip home in that their armor is greatly reduced and they don't have access to their Sprint ability. The Sprint ability allows heroes to max out their movespeed for a short period of time, allowing them to catch up to flag runners fairly easily. In addition, you must have your team's flag at your home base in able to score. By having this, I have added another barrier against easily capturing a flag for the faster-moving heroes.
To solve the often "boring" gameplay, I've attempted to increase the pace the map moves at. I didn't want my CTF map to be purely capture the flag and bring it back, I wanted some combat. At one point, I got complaints that the map was more of an arena than a CTF type game. By doing this, I hope to attract people who don't usually play CTF games and think they're too "boring" to be bothered with.
I feel there's a lot I did well
- Fast paced combat
- Easy to learn, a bit more challenging to master
- A sort-of mix between an arena and a CTF, allowing more combat for those who want it
- Fairly balanced heroes, no single hero should be able to completely dominate
- Teamplay is stressed, the better you work together, the better off you are
- Spells/abilities are a focus on heroes, though not so much that they will completely win you the game
- 3 abilities with 3 levels, 1 ultimate gained at level 5. The standard Blizzard way is the easiest to use with the ultimate lowered a level so it can actually be utilized.
- Strengths and weaknesses to all heroes, no hero having too many of either
- Compensation for leaving players, experience is added to the team of the leaving player
- 6 heroes, allowing better balance and unique uses (more to be added)
- Triggered abilities that are easy to understand and use
- Little or no lag from the game itself, nearly everything is coded in JASS and all effects are preloaded before the game starts
Progress
Overall: 70% - I'd say this is fairly close. I need to add more heroes and a few items, but aside from that, everything is pretty much in-place and ready
Heroes: 60-70% - I won't go above one tavern of heroes for the sake of balance, though I will add more
Current abilities: 90-95% - Some hero abilities still need some added polish and some hero abilities are very likely going to be changed at some point
Items: 0% - I've left items out at the start for balance purposes. I will soon be adding a few general purpose items
Gameplay: 90% - Still some things to sort out such as choosing amount of flag captures required and smaller things like those
Current Work
- Fixing any small problems that arise
- Adding some items
- Option for points to win/different game modes
- Rematch option
Screenshots
 | Frigid Dance Warden finishing up her Frigid Dance ability, freezing the enemy in a chunk of ice. |
 | Corrosive Blast Druid casting his Corrosive Blast ability. Deals damage over time and lowers enemy armor. |
 | Fire The Fire Mage is letting lose his ultimate if you look at the curving flames directly behind him. They will curve around to deal massive damage on contact. |
 | Stone Circle The Druid's ultimate summons a large circle of stones around the targeted area. Great for delaying or trapping enemies. |
 | Chaos Here we have a lot of things happening at once. The Fire Mage has a Fire Wall at the narrow passage right next to the tower. He is also casting his Flamethrower ability which deals large damage over time in a line. Behind that even, is a smoke bomb let off by a trickster. |
Changelog
Version 1.1e:
- Added an option to select the amount of points required to win
- Flamethrower ability has been weakened slightly
- Flaming Spiral has been weakened greatly as it was killing heroes very fast
- Rush Attack has had its damage lowered
- Blade Storm has had its damage slightly lowered
- Fixed a problem with player compensating at the beginning of the game
- Some tooltips were fixed to properly reflect what they do
- Samurai's armor has been lowered slightly
If there's any missing information from this post you'd like to see, please let me know so I can include it.
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