How can I make my vampirism-a-like map "unique" ?

[RLstorm]

Sub-question: What do you think about vampirism maps in general ? Boring ? Too long ?
Also please type why you (if you do so)dislike vampirism maps so I can avoid them.

Anyway, back to main question; How can I make my vampirism-a-like map unique ? You can skip the text below and answer my question if you wish so.

Picture kinda related:

It is related because I have played many vampirism maps on purpose to see how they did stuff or just because I enjoy them; but I saw some vampirism maps basically sucked just to be unique.
How can it be, you map ask; for example on some vampirism map(I wont name it) there were too much doodads/terrain. Everyone knows "raise" looks better than actual cliffs, so that map for instance used raise, weird looking trees, tons of imported doodad stuff.
In the end, I didnt count but Im sure I had at least 100 big scaled doodad running on my 1280x1024 screen. I wasnt even able to realize if it is a base or not, should I build a wall there, can vampire enter in ? It was totally unplayable. Another one I played had way too much items. There were an item that increases your hp than another one that increases your hp but does something else with, then another one... All of them meant to do same purpose; but in the end you wasnt able to see what you should do on your first playthought. It was too confusing, unnecessary stuff everywhere.
Another one I played, which I wont name again; which also was probably best in non-popular vampirism maps had "simple" terrain(in good meaning) but then again it had too much "customization".
There were races, choices, too much choices... I had to read some text and think, just to pick a race. But then the difference between race A and B is just 10 hp and 20 movespeed. It doesnt even matter. These were bad examples and bad example is never an example, thats why I am avoiding them. But Im sure I still have many stuff to figure out.
Anyway, the way of making my map unique is shouldnt be something like I said above. But rather, a good way to make it unique.
Let me give a good example, a very good one. "farmer vs hunter"(2.5 version, other versions are made by other people, overflood with terrain... too much items, all of the above...) It wasnt a vampirism clone, because vampirism probably didnt even exist at that time. That map only had few items for hunters and most of them wasnt even able to buy because lack of money. And farmers only had 3 types of farm and around 5 types of towers(including upgrades) with only 2 types of units as soldiers. It was more fun than most of maps I ever played, no... It was best. It didnt even used lumber as resource. It didnt had much terrain effects, probably none. Most interesting effect was water in that map.

So, back to main question I need a way to make it unique. And I wonder if you guys can figure something out better than me ? It can even be outside of vampirism style as long as it keeps its "survivalism" because my map wont even called "vampirism x" but rather something new, something wonderful.

 

[Switch33]

I dislike vampirism simply because there are too many of them and none of them are any good. Sure it can be said there a lot of many different styles of maps and theres usually only few good ones; but as far as an vampirism map goes I have never seen one truly well made. That being said vampirism isn't the only type of map that's do-able as a recreation and simply remaking a map to make a version that is worthwhile is usually no good unless you add some sense of unique gameplay that really attracts users in a good way.

I have an idea that's more of an arcade/quick style game(not very long games) if you want to hear it. . .

A basic Point Game.. Arcade style!
You basically choose your character at the start and it plays out similar to worm wars were a simple number of points is required to win usually by doing something with villagers. Everything is based on kills and conquest. The ideas are endless as are the playability of a point game which is what makes this idea so entailing.
Some examples:

An abomination could eat villagers until it explodes into smaller groups of little ghouls that eat until they become abominations themselves; but ghouls are weak after they split out of the abominations and abominations are weak to bugs as they can't ingest them.
An parasite worm could parasite into villagers and form groups over time; even though it can spread without notice and could deal some good damage in large groups if enough is converted it is like a waldo where if you find the origin of the source and use a cure that player is pretty much completely disabled.
A glaive could be stopped/paused when shooting a glaive out kill some villagers; but the glaive is stopped during it's attack able to get dominated by melee soldiers usually.
A builder that enlists several villagers to help him build certain structures that gain points over time and act as towers; but the structures take time to build and are weak versus siege.
An knight could enlist people in militia and travel in large armies during the day; but need to rest in tents at night.
An dread lord could convert all villagers in an area into zombies and the zombies could have chance to infect other units with the zombie virus; but the zombies could only travel at night.
A crypt lord could bury villagers in tunnels and have a pathway for his ally bugs that are spawned over time in eggs to attack; but be weak to fire and bugs often get squashed by other siege as well.
An banshee could rip the souls of villagers around it after casting a song for long enough and then use the souls(shades) to summon infernals when enough are bundled; but the banshee is weak during channeling(and also weak to spells) It also requires a good amount of souls to turn into living burning chaotic fire.
A witch doctor could convert the villagers remains into wards that fend off enemies and cauldron up potions that effect even whole map gameplay; but the witch doctor would himself be weak to many different types of enemies.
A catapult could pick up villagers and throw them at enemies; but it'd be defenseless when not near villagers.
etc etc

The idea's for what characters can go on and on since it's a point based game the gameplay is pretty free. Also you could make save-codes that enable more types of characters after you beat the game enough sort of arcade style. While one character might simply need to convert enough villagers into zombies to win by points; another might just simply eat the villagers and grow extremely huge until it bursts into several smaller monsters several times until it wins by points. The competition comes in when theres a limited resources- the villagers. Of course you could eliminate your opponents or you could go for the win by gathering enough points but getting enough points gets other players to want to target you.

There could also be bosses that are kill-able(random characters) within a few hits that randomly spawn across the map and use villagers in certain ways as well. So your not just playing against other people but also the hostile AI.

You could also make it round based and have several small games to determine an real winner. Or you could have the host(or red) dictate these modes.


I would take this on but i'm already pretty stack'd with my current project at hand. This project idea i'm talking about is also more abstract as well and doesn't contain real structure for the most part.

 

[Levdragon]

Alright before I go into my idea I'd just like to say I do not enjoy any of these so called "Vampirism maps" because they lack a REAL vampire and there is basically no point in playing it unless you wish to waste time (not trashing here I'm simply agreeing with what you said in your post).

Now imagine you go into a games shop and you like vampires, so you pick up a game called Vampirism and get home to try it. You realise the vampire is like some crazy DBZ goku type character that can run at super high speeds, get shot by 1,000 arrows from about 20 towers and still survive... yeah, no.

You are trying to make a survival map but also vampire related I believe. I think you should stick to the two key words I read in your post, -survival- and -vampires-. The map should be about you trying to find a place to hide, eat, sleep, survive, alone or with others? However, if you lean more to the Vampirism style you still must do all these things, but also attempt to kill the Vampire somehow.

I suggest if you want a unique map stay away from the Vampirism games and incorporate Survival and vampires, not a worker spamming hundreds of towers to shoot a dragon ball Z vampire, but 8 (or w.e) villagers from a village trying to survive from either a crazy count living in a nearby castle or an invading vampire and in the end all turning into vampire fodder or managing to slay the vamp (Rawr buffy).

To sum my entire little rant here, basically, make it so are only ONE villager or control a few other survivors and must find a place to hide out (no not a clear patch of grass where you can build) that could perhaps be a small cave, a house or w.e, make buildings walkable, caves walkable so you can go inside and hide giving the vampire a harder time to find you.

Hope you read this and like it xD but most importantly that it helps you in creating a unique vampire survival map!

 

[RLstorm]

I dislike vampirism simply because there are too many of them and none of them are any good. Sure it can be said there a lot of many different styles of maps and theres usually only few good ones; but as far as an vampirism map goes I have never seen one truly well made. That being said vampirism isn't the only type of map that's do-able as a recreation and simply remaking a map to make a version that is worthwhile is usually no good unless you add some sense of unique gameplay that really attracts users in a good way.


A basic Point Game.. Arcade style!
You basically choose your character at the start and it plays out similar to worm wars were a simple number of points is required to win usually by doing something with villagers. Everything is based on kills and conquest. The ideas are endless as are the playability of a point game which is what makes this idea so entailing.
Some examples:


The idea's for what characters can go on and on since it's a point based game the gameplay is pretty free. Also you could make save-codes that enable more types of characters after you beat the game enough sort of arcade style. While one character might simply need to convert enough villagers into zombies to win by points; another might just simply eat the villagers and grow extremely huge until it bursts into several smaller monsters several times until it wins by points. The competition comes in when theres a limited resources- the villagers. Of course you could eliminate your opponents or you could go for the win by gathering enough points but getting enough points gets other players to want to target you.

There could also be bosses that are kill-able(random characters) within a few hits that randomly spawn across the map and use villagers in certain ways as well. So your not just playing against other people but also the hostile AI.

You could also make it round based and have several small games to determine an real winner. Or you could have the host(or red) dictate these modes.


I would take this on but i'm already pretty stack'd with my current project at hand. This project idea i'm talking about is also more abstract as well and doesn't contain real structure for the most part.

Although I didnt get the idea how enemy will be I think there will be some sort of village ? or no enemy at all, just competing with each other ? So except the village part that sounds like survival, I dont remember correct map name but it was very popular at its time. Hope someone remembers, where people pick blacksmith, builder etc. There wasnt actual buildings or cliff, you were able to go anywhere you want and do anything you wish. Of course forest were dangerous. Of course only charecter thing were similiar tho. While map you said is kind of a mini-game survival was something sewious, perhaps less fun.

Alright before I go into my idea I'd just like to say I do not enjoy any of these so called "Vampirism maps" because they lack a REAL vampire and there is basically no point in playing it unless you wish to waste time (not trashing here I'm simply agreeing with what you said in your post).

Now imagine you go into a games shop and you like vampires, so you pick up a game called Vampirism and get home to try it. You realise the vampire is like some crazy DBZ goku type character that can run at super high speeds, get shot by 1,000 arrows from about 20 towers and still survive... yeah, no.

You are trying to make a survival map but also vampire related I believe. I think you should stick to the two key words I read in your post, -survival- and -vampires-. The map should be about you trying to find a place to hide, eat, sleep, survive, alone or with others? However, if you lean more to the Vampirism style you still must do all these things, but also attempt to kill the Vampire somehow.

I suggest if you want a unique map stay away from the Vampirism games and incorporate Survival and vampires, not a worker spamming hundreds of towers to shoot a dragon ball Z vampire, but 8 (or w.e) villagers from a village trying to survive from either a crazy count living in a nearby castle or an invading vampire and in the end all turning into vampire fodder or managing to slay the vamp (Rawr buffy).

To sum my entire little rant here, basically, make it so are only ONE villager or control a few other survivors and must find a place to hide out (no not a clear patch of grass where you can build) that could perhaps be a small cave, a house or w.e, make buildings walkable, caves walkable so you can go inside and hide giving the vampire a harder time to find you.

Hope you read this and like it xD but most importantly that it helps you in creating a unique vampire survival map!

About first 3 paragraph of your post, im trying to create "vampirism-a-like" map yet it wont be called vampirism there wont be so called vampires either, it will have its own name. Yet the main idea will be same, which matters most imho.

About the rest, which matters most; that hiding thing is used by farmer vs hunter where some bases still have cliffs yet there is also woods, which is I think a clever Idea, even tho. my current terrain is not able for that, I will definely change it for something like it. But there is only one problem if I let survivors "cut" trees, then there will be griefing. Cliff solution is not the best solution, but it is the safest.

Oh and, almost forget; that actually trying to kill enemy(instead of just defending your base) is a very good idea Im still trying to implement. What I think was a base at north with a bridge and vast land at other parts, where your units get damaged for x hp each seconds(you can still get past of that vast land but you have to be very strong etc.) and humans trying to construct a bridge after they train units so they can kill vampire etc. And when they are powerful enough, they can actually try or actually kill enemy like farmer vs hunter.


But anyway, the most important thing I'm worried(even thought I alredy made terrain, it is nothing but bases, I should get something better) is that forest/base thing. How can I make my base safe if everyone can cut trees or kill some sort of doodad to make base ? Or how can I implement a base protection system if players are going to make their own ?

 

[Switch33]

Although I didnt get the idea how enemy will be I think there will be some sort of village ? or no enemy at all, just competing with each other ?

The villagers would be either spawned in preset village areas over time or just completely random and I didn't mention if it was competing with either an enemy or players since it could be both since there is some freedom in points games that most people don't realize especially in the form of objectives and number of allies. Yeah I didn't even mention if you revive or how you revive for that point type game but even that could somewhat be chosen as a game mode. I was trying to outline it slightly as rock, paper, scissors to show that characters concepts build on one another but I guess that wasn't clear. Like I said that idea lacks too much structure to be something that i'd want to take on yet.

How can I make my base safe if everyone can cut trees or kill some sort of doodad to make base ? Or how can I implement a base protection system if players are going to make their own ?

I think something better than just a bunch of bases might be towns or small remnants of towns that already have 1-2 structures already built or an extra few military type villagers or some kind of strength for taking that location almost like risk (and you can only take one location's men). This means more strategy in picking your location since your location may not be in a great spot but you could have an advantage by having good starting help. It also provides for some cheap feed for a vampire which would be good for noobish vampire players.

I'm worried(even thought I alredy made terrain, it is nothing but bases, I should get something better) is that forest/base thing

I think you could have a set amount of trees but also allow farmers to plant crops as another way to get lumber so they don't need to rely on trees for long. Farmers could also probably construct walls. The issue that comes up when you allow them to cut lots of trees very fast is that it starts to feel more like tree tag. But this could be still pulled off starting with no starting units for base locations if you make the farmers interesting and diverse enough. Werewolf Transylvania is a pretty interesting example of an tag and kill type map like this where farmers could fish, skin animals, and grow economically other ways.

 

[Blazing_Legion]

Firstly i enjoy vampirism fire and vampirism speed except for a few things such as in both the minute before vampire can actually do anything in vampirism fire i hate the fact you can easily kill the vampire by trapping it with your slayers and the item ring of the hell lords is stupid and op as you can basically just walk up to a base and it will kill all the workers repairing the walls or just kill their player which creates a to easy end for an otherwise tough challenge and vampirism speed just has a lot of overpowered items like the urn of dracula immedietly being able to reveal the entire map but anyway here is my idea. I think you could put a spin on it by making the vampire or whatever your using the one that has to run and slowly pick off the village to avoid being killed i also think it sjould be done without bases or at least not one the player can construct. If you were to do vampires you could make it that during the day the hunans have time to explore and hunt down the vampire but at night its the humans turn to hide. Also if this was me i would try to use some third/first person camera system

 

[aldo2000]

Well, I think It's better you use RPG kinda map, don't use races, Unique is something in your map that better than the other, don't use unique, instead make the map balanced so ppl enjoyed the map, I don't have any idea but that my post.

 

[BlackRangerXIII]

Try following the Vampire Lore

 

[Ironside]

You want an unique vampirism map? Easy, all you need to do is convert the usual place 1 wall and I'm safe to a build walls and gates type of map like Draculas curse.


Standard vampirism:
Trees-Trees-Hill-Hill-Hill-Wall-Hill-Hill-Trees-Trees

Draculas curse:
Trees-Trees-Wall-Wall-Wall-Gate-Wall-Wall-Wall-Wall-Trees-Trees