Approved
- Joined
- Feb 8, 2015
- Messages
- 820
TL;DR : this map will not please hardcore RPG players, but it's a good one shot to pass time.
Ahoy ! My game designer eyes saw a lot of little flaws here and here, but on paper it have a simple yet coherent system with no overlapping.
It have this vanilla feel without being cheap. However I will list for you what crossed my mind. I know the map would benefit from an expended universe and quests. I'll judge as it is.
Level design
Simple yet it don't suffer from serious problems. The player is led where it is supposed to be overall. Here's the nitpicks :
☼ When having a lot of troops, the road becomes very quickly cramped.
☼ Some buildings (neutral and ally) can be destroyed with no consequences. Either make them pure decoration or also invulnerable.
☼ The centaur boss base have a too narrow entrance, which makes the battle easier and messier. The base have a lot of obstacles which costed the life of many henchmen.
☼ The entrance for the second village is not very explicit. Yeah there's a guard but standing next to many other routes. I figured out a bit too late where it was.
Level scaling
For the two first villages it's fine. But with the third ones being very high level the hero generates levels like crazy.
Unique items will give less and less interesting bonuses compared to the high level hero. Furthermore, when you learned all the skills before mid-game you don't have to plan what skill you want to take later. This is the different compatible ways I would recommend :
☼ Reduce XP gain from late-game enemies
☼ Reduce power of late-game enemies
☼ Increase a bit the hero level xp requirement for higher levels
☼ Grant one skill point every two to four levels.
☼ Reduce or delete XP gain from enemies too bellow your current level
Enemy respawn and farm
I found a good trick : recruit 2 footmen and patrol them between a gnoll camp and the healer. You generate XP and gold while you're busy advancing elsewhere. I finished the game with 4000+ gold. Loot takes a good amount of space, especially in end game where your inventory is full. With newer patches we can stack items as you want. I don't recommend going full 99 stacks but 4-6 is a good average, depending on your view in the balance.
Also why not selling special items requiring a certain amount of loot.
Graphics / sounds
Due to Warcraft 3 being Warcraft 3, the cleaving attack uses the slam animation for the hero. It makes an incoherent detail. To fix this it's not very complicated : change the required animation to none in the ability. Through trigger you can add a special slashing effect (for example a slash from our great and beloved @Vinz ). Recycle this animation for the stun spell, which elegantly re-attaches the wagons.
Most of units have the same attack/impact sounds, which is a bit bizarre in my opinion. But it's not a big deal and works as it is.
Provisional and personal Tier-notation
Ahoy ! My game designer eyes saw a lot of little flaws here and here, but on paper it have a simple yet coherent system with no overlapping.
It have this vanilla feel without being cheap. However I will list for you what crossed my mind. I know the map would benefit from an expended universe and quests. I'll judge as it is.
Level design
Simple yet it don't suffer from serious problems. The player is led where it is supposed to be overall. Here's the nitpicks :
☼ When having a lot of troops, the road becomes very quickly cramped.
☼ Some buildings (neutral and ally) can be destroyed with no consequences. Either make them pure decoration or also invulnerable.
☼ The centaur boss base have a too narrow entrance, which makes the battle easier and messier. The base have a lot of obstacles which costed the life of many henchmen.
☼ The entrance for the second village is not very explicit. Yeah there's a guard but standing next to many other routes. I figured out a bit too late where it was.
Level scaling
For the two first villages it's fine. But with the third ones being very high level the hero generates levels like crazy.
Unique items will give less and less interesting bonuses compared to the high level hero. Furthermore, when you learned all the skills before mid-game you don't have to plan what skill you want to take later. This is the different compatible ways I would recommend :
☼ Reduce XP gain from late-game enemies
☼ Reduce power of late-game enemies
☼ Increase a bit the hero level xp requirement for higher levels
☼ Grant one skill point every two to four levels.
☼ Reduce or delete XP gain from enemies too bellow your current level
Enemy respawn and farm
I found a good trick : recruit 2 footmen and patrol them between a gnoll camp and the healer. You generate XP and gold while you're busy advancing elsewhere. I finished the game with 4000+ gold. Loot takes a good amount of space, especially in end game where your inventory is full. With newer patches we can stack items as you want. I don't recommend going full 99 stacks but 4-6 is a good average, depending on your view in the balance.
Also why not selling special items requiring a certain amount of loot.
Graphics / sounds
Due to Warcraft 3 being Warcraft 3, the cleaving attack uses the slam animation for the hero. It makes an incoherent detail. To fix this it's not very complicated : change the required animation to none in the ability. Through trigger you can add a special slashing effect (for example a slash from our great and beloved @Vinz ). Recycle this animation for the stun spell, which elegantly re-attaches the wagons.
Most of units have the same attack/impact sounds, which is a bit bizarre in my opinion. But it's not a big deal and works as it is.
Provisional and personal Tier-notation
| M&S] When Mythical and Spellbound makes something together on Warcraft 3 |
| S] Great, elegant, extra thicc, easily hooks the mind |
| A] Good. Nothing much to say except nitpick |
| B] Genuinely OK, but can be better in many ways |
| C] Average. Not bad, not good. C- would be "meh" |
| D] Flawed, or insignificant |
| E] Unstable, badly made, or just broken |
| F] Fatal error, ruins the rest |
| Aesthetics B (How well the graphics blends with Warcraft 3 while being elegant) Nothing much to say, since there's nothing much to see. The terrain is OK and is a good base to polish. |
| Fluff C (The epicness, spice, philosophy and background of the map) The lore is as straightforward as it gameplay, which is coherent in a good sense. I won't say naive but it don't have out-of-the-box elements which flaws the rest. I prefer having this kind of map instead of a more complex and badly made teenager wet dream. |
| Feel & juice A- (How fun is it to play the map, how well it gives you positive feedback) The simplicity of the map makes it easier to get points here. You grasped the concept and you can go from good to great with some work on the gameplay feedback. |
| Strategy and tactic D+ (How the mechanics blends together, giving the map its unique approach) Due to being easy and direct, it doesn't have much complexity to work on. In your case it's not a bad thing since it's meant for casual players. |
| Balance D- (How strengths leave space to the rest, does it blends gameplay-wise together with the content) I won't say the map is too casual, however the steamroll is noticeable. Extensive tests and updates will rapidly fix that, no sweat. You finish the map with too much gold and you don't bother to sell trophies except for reputation to unlock the better units. Also the spawns might are a bit too frequent, or they happen even when the player is around, which makes retreat messy (is this intentional ?). Ogre magi can perma-stun with the hero most of enemies, but they get shredded by late game mobs (600 hp when most of enemies have 100 DPS). You had however the good reflex to make them ranged. |
| Content A (Does the map feels complete compared to its intent) As a quick one-shot, is almost in the sweet spot. But the potential could inflate the expected content. If you want to keep the same rough duration with instead a bit more quests you would reach S. Beware, expanding too much would make some parts too empty. |
| Handling & ergonomics B- (Does this map have the proper data shown, how easy is it to understand) Quests are clear, given information are enough to hint the player without holding his hand. Some semi-hidden mechanics could benefit from some context, for example if a player goes on your map without knowing the existence of the hive page. Low content means low chances of confusing a player, which is refreshing. |
| Triggers, code, overall polishing E+ (Is the map correctly coded, no leaks, have efficient algorithm, are details taken care of) Lots of leaks here and here. But since it's single player it won't hurt before 5 hours of gameplay. The use of waits could mess up some triggers, since new events can appear before the previous wait finishes. The one line If-then-else is to be BANNED, like any other one lined blocs. Using the multiple actions makes the trigger longer indeed, but waaaaaaaay easier to read and manipulate. Fun fact : when compiled into JASS it's almost the same (bad) performance. Don't worry in your case it's not a looming disaster, but remember in large scale multiplayer strategy/action maps Murphy's law will hit very very hard. I would suggest you to learn about memory leaks and how to handle them. This map isn't complex and it won't break your nerves and the gameplay mechanics. Finally it will be useful for later. |
| Overall tier B A fancy lil' cute map. Even with the numerous flawed details I cannot find any ill intent. It does the job and many would have a good time. However the big guys might genuinely want more on the plate. You're on the good tracks. |
| Personal taste C+ (No impact on the rest of the notation, just by curiosity) Not really my cup of tea, but it was a good refreshing tea. Continue to crave your way, apprentice. You may are a beginner in triggers but you know how to organize yourself, which is very encouraging. We need more creators like you to spawn these days. Luckly the experts are here to help you to learn something in one year which took us years to figuring out. |
