Game Designer in training enters

[Melt]

ME

Hi, I'm a new member to the Hive and pretty new into w3 mapmaking as well. I've been doing tutorials and experimenting for a month or so.

I study game design at Futuregames Academy in Stockholm, Sweden. Now, in the end of year one (of two) I am in the middle of the progress of a card game and a war3 map, both my own lonely projects and both are set in the same fantasy world. The world is originally far from wc3-style but ... well, I'm not getting into that now. Expect an introduction thread about the world and map idea. Read a short intro below.

My field of expertise is rather system design than level design. By systems I mean systems of ability trees, battle systems, unit tech trees, how character progression is supposed to work, etc.

I have some programming experience from basic web programming and even though JASS looks easy enough I want to focus on the designing part with testing and tweaking the map I'm working on to make it fun to play.

I'd love to work with a team that has expertise in the other areas of mapmaking that I'm not into - such as JASS, terraining, modelling and graphics. It's hard for a designer to jump into ongoing projects since those roles are filled already by the one who started the project

I hope to make some talented guys interested in my project.
Remember, I'm to be a pro and can hire you in the future


GAST (or, My Project)

I am currently prototyping a game concept called Gast (an old swedish word for ghost. Yeah, I prob need a better name people can relate to) in the WEU.

In short, it's a 2 player co-op map where the players take the roles of an Immortal (vampire-like type) and a Gast (a bodyless ghost, kinda like the ethereal ability the Spirit Walker has). The Gast can possess the bodies of other units, while the Immortal devours the souls of stronger foes and enslaves the weaker ones. The main enemy are undead creatures that have no souls (and thus cannot be possessed, devoured or enslaved) along with other spirits and demons.

The core gameplay focus on replayability, character progression, strong co-op elements, hack-n-slash and dynamic boss fights.

Sounds like fun? It's my sole intention - making a fun map to play, not a tech demo. I do realize, however, that not getting technical is to be limited to GUI triggering and the usual war3 models ...

As I said, I'd love to work with a team. The truth is I feel to inexperienced in mapmaking yet too join an existing project. Also, my focus must lie in the designer role rather than that of a programmer or artist so leading a project of my own seems like the best way to go.

I hunger for creative output - join me in my crusade!

 

[LordDz]

Go sweden!

 

[Dreadnought[dA]]

I'll just say right now that if you want to get experience as a designer, you need to start designing on your own. If you're very new you shouldn't start a large project that involves multiple people as I doubt you know how to coordinate the effort with your limited knowledge of the WE. Start by making just little goofy maps and experimenting with stuff. That's what I did to teach myself and I think it worked pretty well.

Your description is rather lacking as well. How exactly do these mechanics work? What's the Co-op like? How do the players cooperate. Right now I don't really see how they synergize or work as a team. One takes control of units, one eats units. If anything they seem to be counter productive roles.

More description would be good and get some knowledge of the WE under your belt.

 

[Melt]

Dreadnought: Thank you! Of course you're right. I'm not new to designing or leading projects, but yes, I'm new to the WE. And I am goofying around with this map - it's experimental. As for the desc of my project it was just a quick intro. I'll post more about my design ideas later on (just to get more valueable input like this which triggers me and and keeps me going ). Also, I believe in keeping it experimental in an early stage and go forward by testing. See what works and what doesn't. Remove, add, overhaul if needed.

Yes, that mechanic about how the two of them use units is meant to be counter productive. The units are a resource and the players have to share between themselves. But again, its only theory yet and might change. Any sugestions on the co-op topic, from your experience? Thanks

 

[Dark.Revenant]

It's commendable that you are going to a specific place to learn game design: but take this from someone who knows a great deal about the games industry:

Nothing is better than experience. Start your own projects and stick with them. Once you're out of school, I suggest moving away from freesource things as soon as possible. I doubt you wouldn't do that anyway, considering you are going to a gaming-centered school in the first place. Make sure with this project you're doing that you get it right, because if you don't make your own team/company, you're going to have to show what you can do. In a world economy such as this, it's going to be even more of a battle to get hired.

Just do as many projects as you can (and would reasonably enjoy) and it will work out for you. Most of the stuff I've said you already know, but please heed this advice: Mod every game you can. You HAVE to be able to adapt to any game engine, so you must gain experience in a variety of games to develop the ability to do this.


On the project itself: Co-Op only works if the player don't have to compete for anything except for trivialities. If there's an ample supply of it and it's expendable, it's OK to force players to share, because their interests will be on something else. However, if you force cooperative players to share a resource that is extremely important and will be the center of the game's attention, things will go awry. You'd be able to get away with this when dealing with more mature audiences. However, this is battle.net we're talking about, which is just one step above public Halo 3 servers; everyone basically is a selfish bastard, and you must design the game to "connect" with your that target audience.

 

[Melt]

Dark: Thanks a lot for your wise words, much appreciated. When you suggest that I should move away from freesource, do you mean I should work with in-house tools instead of free editing tools, or do you mean I should try to sell the stuff I make?

As for modding every game I can. Well, I'm learning to use Unreal editor in school, but that's it. I feel like I should have started this years ago to have any chance. But then I'm not going for a level designer position in first place. if only I had time, I would embrace every moddable game.

On co-op: great point. The target audience is battle.net, and it means ego kids. Heh. I can see what you mean. I'm giving this some thought below.

---

In most co-op games you compete with your ally. In Gears of War, for instance, you compete about ammo and weapons, but you can also exchange them. In Dawn of War 2 you compete about gear as well (one may argue that it works when you can invite your friend via Live and that random game on b.net isn't the same).

I see some design options on this topic. Every choice is some trade-off.


1. The Gast benefits in some other way from the souls the Immortal devour (or rather .. absorb?) and vice versa.

2. Units of the same type appear in twos. Both players have a long cooldown on their absorb / possess abilities. So when one player has taken one unit, the other can take the other without competition.

3. (I take a step back on the design decisions and try something else) Avoid competition. The Immortal can absorb the souls of unit type A,B and C, while the Gast can possess the bodies of D, E and F. Perhaps, the Gast can only take the bodies of the undead - they are empty shells. The Immortal can only absorb the souls of the living.