Heroes of Might and Magic Map

[Gjallarhorn]

- Introduction to the thread:
So, this project is finally beggining to be worked on

For those who don't know what I'm talking about: I've spent a bit of time looking for resources and solving some of my doubts about the WE, with the goal of designing a map inspired by the Heroes of Might and Magic strategical RPG turn-based series. I was also looking for a partner to help with the map.

I ended up meeting a handful of people who like HoMM and who got excited with the idea. I also met Wazzz, who is now working on the map with me.

I'm starting this thread because some people have contacted me to offer help with the map. Unfortunatly, at this beginning stage, we are not planning on adding more people to the team. But seeing that there's a reasonable ammount of people that like our idea, I thought it'd be cool to make a thread where we are going to post updates on some things we are already doing (not everything, though =P). Keep checking this place for future info

That's all for now.

Wazzz did an update with general information about the project and a preview of the gameplay system here. He also explained a bit about the armor and attack types system here.

I did an update with some screenshots here.

 

[Traxamillion]

Is it going to be base on a certain HoMaM or all of them? My favorite are 1,3 and 5.

This sounds cool, ill keep with the thread, im interested to see its progress.

 

[Paku]

Im looking forward to seeing this map. It's a good idea.

 

[Gjallarhorn]

Is it going to be base on a certain HoMaM or all of them? My favorite are 1,3 and 5.

This sounds cool, ill keep with the thread, im interested to see its progress.

We have a big tendency to base everything on HoMM 3 =P. Actually we haven't even considered using content from the other games yet. It's possible, though.

 

[Mechanical Man]

Honestly, if you want to make a RTS variant of it, heroes 4 is the best to base it from (gameplay, not necessarily a story), although it sucked the most from all series.

 

[Gyrosphinx]

I think Homm3 is the best, most legendary items, more interesting heroes (mostly, but homm4's chaos team has Erica Fade). but i agree that homm4 has better gameplay, heroes attack, can get killed without loosing, creatures can go by it selves etc. but this is an rpg, so i guess u just play one char, wich means mor homm4 like combat.

 

[Wazzz]

Okay, some information is now ready to be released! Well, first of all, I'll let all you know exactly what each of us does so you know who to reference about different issues. Gjallaron is in charge of the art side of things: He will be creating the interface for the towns and is creating models for buildings and such. Me, well, I'm in charge of the gameplay and do most of my work in the Object Editor and the Trigger Editor. I also change things around in the gameplay constants and the gameplay interface.

Now for a little bit about what's going on with the map. Basically, I have made the gameplay a lot faster in terms of combat than the original HoMM 3. The main reason is that we wanted to introduce the series to the RTS side of things, maintaining a high level of RPG within the gameplay. So, in other words, the right low level unit could take on a level 7 unit and win (so long as it has enough numbers; 3 should suffice with type adv.).

I have completed the base details of the Necropolis units, so I will use them as an example. As low lvl units (1-3) will only take 1 food, 3 of them must be able to take on a lvl 7 unit (which will take 3 food). That is providing they have type advantage or just neutral as such. So, take 3 Zombies for example. Zombies were always slow moving tank units, so I have made them even more so in this (as they must be more durable in combat). The Ghost Dragon is a unit with average speed, damage and endurance. It's main contributing factor will be it's Aging ability, which will weaken any unit it attacks for a short amount of time. However, despite its nice damage and decent endurance, it can not charge a group of 3 Zombies, as close combat is the Zombie's specialty. The Ghost Dragon will be, unfortunately, wasted if used in that manner. However, a group of ranged units would easily take a group of Zombies down, causing them to fall where they stand.

We agreed that the game should be more based on making the units relatively even, as having Dragons and Titans rule the game would compel players to want to mass their best unit as fast as possible, ruining the point of making any other units. With that said, I made the statistics of the Necropolis units keeping in mind that they as a race have a lot of awesome unit abilities, making them a formidable race to play as.

Well, that's it for now. If you want to know more, you can contact me for gameplay or Gjallaron for art. However, if we think that what you are asking is too much to be released for now, we apologize ahead and ask that you be understanding that we are doing as much as we can. Hope you enjoy the final product!

 

[ProfessorZmurge]

Damn sounds good, when you expect to finish it?

 

[Gjallarhorn]

Damn sounds good, when you expect to finish it?

Probably a couple months.

 

[Traxamillion]

Post some screenshots when you get the chance.

 

[Gjallarhorn]

Post some screenshots when you get the chance.

I may have something to show in about half a day.

 

[Gyrosphinx]

kay, wich items are u planning to have? the elites like armageddons blade and the sword of frost, elixir of life etc...

 

[Wazzz]

Here's a little more information for you fans out there. There is a new attack/armour type system now. As there was none whatsoever in the original HoMM, bringing it to the RTS world allowed for me to tinker with attack/armour types and I have a simple yet effective rock, paper, scissors scheme.

The attack types are as follows:
Normal
Piercing
Magic

The armour types are as follows:
Light
Medium
Heavy

Although the names haven't changed at all due to the fact that they suit what we were aiming for, I changed things around so it goes like this:
Normal beats Medium, is average vs Heavy and loses to Light
Piercing beats Light, is average vs Medium and loses to Heavy
Magic beats Heavy, is average vs Light and loses to Medium

As I was aware a simple rock, paper, scissors scheme would be easy to beat, due to Warcraft having attack and armour types I was able to make it so units were a little mixed up. In other words, no unit will be 100% the same as another unit in the same town (although no units were the same in the original HoMM, these specialist fields help to make the need for a varied army more real). We believe that units such as the Dragons of HoMM would be very op in an RTS, so I made it that the right units can actually beat such monsters. For example, the Ghost Dragon has Magic attack and Heavy armour. Therefore, a unit with Magic attack and Medium armour would thrash the Ghost Dragon. Even a unit with just one of the advantages while the other remains neutral (e.g. Magic attack with Light armour) would be able to beat the Ghost Dragon relatively easily.

Well, I'm off to work more on the units. It shouldn't be too long before all the units are complete, but that's only a small part in comparison to the scale of this project. Also, there may or may not be ability difficulties whether it be simply making the ability or just thinking of the best way to alter it so that it fits an RTS. Anyway, see yaz!

{EDIT}
BTW, I'm having a little difficulty with an ability ATM. I just want to know how to make it so that on an attack there's a 20% to reduce the targets attack. I'm thinking that it must be based off of one of the Orb abilities, but it doesn't want to work that way, so I'm asking anyone who views this thread.

 

[Gjallarhorn]

Ok, I'm posting some screenshots for you guys .

These images show the concept for the stronghold town, including models; they also show a preview of the inferno units, with their upgrades.

All models in the stronghold town (except the Mage's Guild and the Ogre Fort) where made by myself, mostly from scratch. Please keep in mind that:

- The screenshot is merely illustrative. We'll probably make towns bigger, and unfortunatly they won't fit in the screen to reproduce the panoramic view from the original game (although that's what I tried doing here =P)
- The image is a mixture of 4 screenshots.
- I learned modelling just for this project (2 days ago), so my skill level is not high. The models look better ingame, though.
- Models will keep being optimized as we release updates for the maps.

Anyways, here they are:

 

[Paku]

How's the project going?

 

[Gjallarhorn]

How's the project going?

We haven't done much on the project in the last few days, but there is new stuff from the last update. This is not a fast paced project, though. But we'll probably have updates soon.

Thanks for the support

 

[Wazzz]

There are many things to be done with this project, so we haven't been around this post much, especially seeing as how you're the first person to leave a message for quite a while (it's been about 6 days since the last message, and it wasn't incredibly helpful to the question I asked a while ago about having a '20% to reduce damage of enemy on attack' ability ).

As I am creating the units and abilities ATM with a few other projects on the go, I'm taking a little bit in my own job, although this is the project I spend the most time on. I also try and get each ability/creature picture perfect and working 100%, which is causing some level of boredom when it comes to working on the Conflux. They have a lot of trigger abilities, which is somewhat irritating (e.g. Fire Immunity, Fire Vulnerability, Meteor Shower Immunity [what an amazingly specific immunity type :S], etc.). Anyway, the Conflux units aren't far from finished, it's just the repetetive creation of the same abilities that makes me sleepy lol.

Well, instead of just telling you this and leaving you in the air, I might as well tell you a little bit about the Conflux. As Pixies/Sprites came in HUGE numbers in HoMM, I'm making it so that you get 2 at once (they are amazingly weak, but are going to be used for high firepower, just like the Zerglings in Starcraft). As they are just like the Zerglings in Starcraft, I naturally want it and WILL make it so that no matter which Pixie/Sprite dies, the remaining one will still take 1 population.

Another feature will be that creatures from levels 1-3 will be even, levels 4-6 will be even and level 7-7 will be even (wait a minute...). This is because each unit has its own tactical use and strength. However, when working on units, I am trying to remove the mental block which prevents me from making level 1 units strong enough to make my statement 100% true. However, they do tend to have their own uses, and units like Skeletons and Troglodytes will be used for spamming purposes primarily, especially seeing as how I think they deserve higher damage with lower health. ATM the Zombies seem a little op (3 of the take out 1 Ghost Dragon, which although it was what I wanted to achieve, neither has the attack/armour advantage, so having either 1 Zombie with full-health or that Zombie with another nearly dead Zombie surviving afterwards is somewhat op. I think the Zombie should have decent health, but have less attack than the Skeleton Warrior).

Although it's been said before, I'll say it again: You MUST pay attention to the attack/armour types of units. I made it so they make a HUGE difference in this map, and if you don't pay attention, you could try swarming Zombies against Archers. Simply enough, Zombies have Light armour which takes extra damage against piercing attacks. By extra, I mean 2 times the normal damage amount. Light armour takes less damage against normal attacks, however, only sustaining 50% of the damage.

And yes, thanks for the support. It is greatly appreciated and we hope to be done with the basics as soon as possible. The hardest part will be all the polishing and triggering that lies ahead of us (*shudder*)...