[Campaign] Lithion's Awakening SPRPG

[Fang]

Oh….
I knew it, wish you good luck!
How is the progress?

 

[Veritas 117]

Well progress is a bit slow lately. I've run into a problem that I can't seem to figure out. I know that it means I'll have to start deleting triggers and testing to narrow it down... I hate doing that...

Other than that I have mostly been coming up with ideas rather than actually making real tangible progress. Not to mention my business is extremely busy right now so I don't get a lot of time to work on this. My wife has also been having me redo our bedroom... but I digress.

Anyhoo. The newest thing I've done is some work on an ability that shoots 5 slow moving balls of lightning outward that get progressively bigger dealing more damage the bigger they get. I'm thinking it'll be a boss ability, but it might end up on an item too.

 

[Fang]

Well progress is a bit slow lately. I've run into a problem that I can't seem to figure out. I know that it means I'll have to start deleting triggers and testing to narrow it down... I hate doing that...

How about disable the triggers instead of deleting it.

Anyhoo. The newest thing I've done is some work on an ability that shoots 5 slow moving balls of lightning outward that get progressively bigger dealing more damage the bigger they get. I'm thinking it'll be a boss ability, but it might end up on an item too.

Those balls for a Boss Ability is a good idea, it will be good fight. I have some ideas: make the boss has a Phase. So, you have to defeat the boss not 1 but twice or more
Sorry, I don't understand the last part. "but it might end up on an item too."

 

[Veritas 117]

How about disable the triggers instead of deleting it.

That's a good idea, I think I'll try that out instead.

Sorry, I don't understand the last part. "but it might end up on an item too."

I mean it might end up as an item's ability. Either the item would be actively used with a cooldown, or it has a proc chance.

 

[Arad MNK]

Amazing Terrain... Nice Systems. Can't wait for it to be finished. Overall A Good SPRPG. Wish you Good luck.



EDIT: The map must be epic-sized, right? Like how many mb's? (Or Impossibly Gb?)

 

[Veritas 117]

EDIT: The map must be epic-sized, right? Like how many mb's? (Or Impossibly Gb?)

It's actually a number of different maps. So far the campaign has 6 maps that I have done some work on. I believe it is near the 106MB range for size though for the entire campaign

 

[Wasabee]

Wow that is pretty big ehh.

 

[Arad MNK]

It's actually a number of different maps. So far the campaign has 6 maps that I have done some work on. I believe it is near the 106MB range for size though for the entire campaign

I see... that's high!
BTW Do you use Custom Music? it is a Must for such Epic Campaigns...

 

[Dr. E]

Great work, I think it's promising

 

[Veritas 117]

@Arad MNK
No custom music yet. I plan to add some in order to make the overall atmosphere of the game better. But I know custom music can take up a lot of space so I'm not sure how much I'll use

@Dr. E
Thanks!

 

[Dr. E]

No problem, but really custom music is a must

 

[Arad MNK]

@Arad MNK
No custom music yet. I plan to add some in order to make the overall atmosphere of the game better. But I know custom music can take up a lot of space so I'm not sure how much I'll use

If you are making such epic campaigns you ''MUST'' Use Custom music, No matter the size. Else, Your campaign won't get a 5/5.
IDEA: use WoW Music. E.g. Darnassus for Dillianhor Forest, Wastelands for Callienth Mountains, Stormwind for Palenthos, Graveyard for Dredmarsh and Xaxas for The Broken Fortress.

BTW, You got any Teasers?

 

[Heinvers]

No problem, but really custom music is a must

No one other than the author himself can decide that.
You're here to give him suggestions/appreciate and NOT impose!

....No matter the size. Else, Your campaign won't get a 5/5.

What kind of shitty comment is that?!

Other campaigns/maps that have next to no/no music at all got 5/5 easily.
He'll do what he thinks is best.

OT: Keep it going Veritas.
We're eagerly watching the progress of your game (it suit better than just a campaign/map word).

 

[Arad MNK]

He'll do what he thinks is best.

Yeah, thats right. again, we are here to give him suggestions.

BTW Keep on the Good work Veritas 117!

 

[APproject]

As for the size, if this is, and I am sure it is, a single player map, you should not care for size at all. If you really want to enter the next level, you need to stop limiting yourself, because limits aren't cool, it doesn't improve anything, except the time you need to upload and download. I am sure if you manage to maintain the development for several years already, you should have no problem spending few extra hours uploading (depending on you connection), and if people starts complaining about size, it is their problem, because quality has its weight. (my own project is 25% done and has like 140 MBs size even with compressed textures and unnecessary animations deleted, and I feel good about it).

Custom music is really not a big problem, usually it takes the least space out of the rest materials (from my own experience). Because you only need up to 2 minutes 128 Kb/s quality sounds tracks that also gets compressed by World Editor and in the outcome you get on average 1 MB addition to a whole map size, or even less. If you want to do your best, it is best to stop limiting yourself, that's my take on this situation.

These days it is easy to get 5/5, the true challenge is the Director's Cut and I am certain this project has a potential towards it. And in order to get it, you need everything on your side, there is no space for limitation.

 

[Arad MNK]

As for the size, if this is, and I am sure it is, a single player map, you should not care for size at all. If you really want to enter the next level, you need to stop limiting yourself, because limits aren't cool, it doesn't improve anything, except the time you need to upload and download. I am sure if you manage to maintain the development for several years already, you should have no problem spending few extra hours uploading (depending on you connection), and if people starts complaining about size, it is their problem, because quality has its weight. (my own project is 25% done and has like 140 MBs size even with compressed textures and unnecessary animations deleted, and I feel good about it).

Custom music is really not a big problem, usually it takes the least space out of the rest materials (from my own experience). Because you only need up to 2 minutes 128 Kb/s quality sounds tracks that also gets compressed by World Editor and in the outcome you get on average 1 MB addition to a whole map size, or even less. If you want to do your best, it is best to stop limiting yourself, that's my take on this situation.

These days it is easy to get 5/5, the true challenge is the Director's Cut and I am certain this project has a potential towards it. And in order to get it, you need everything on your side, there is no space for limitation.

I Don't Like to repeat others' Speech, But APproject is right.

 

[Veritas 117]

Well said everyone. Believe me I haven't been limiting myself, the only reason I don't have any custom music is because on my list of priorities it is near the bottom. I have so much other stuff to work on that I hardly ever think about it.

I may call on you, APproject for a little help when it comes to finding some good music when the time comes. I know your experience would be greatly appreciated.

 

[Arad MNK]

Well said everyone. Believe me I haven't been limiting myself, the only reason I don't have any custom music is because on my list of priorities it is near the bottom. I have so much other stuff to work on that I hardly ever think about it.

That seems promising.

 

[Deleted member 242951]

Well, maybe you can put up a progress chart on the thread, so we know about the chapters of this Splendid campaign.

Also keep uploading screenshots whenever possible. I'd kill for more screengrabs.

 

[Arad MNK]

Well.. Maybe you can put up a progress chart on the thread so we know about the chapters of this Splendid campaign.

Yeah, That's a Good idea but isn't Mandatory. If he had The Time, he might Put one.

Also keep uploading screenshots whenever possible.... I will be overjoyed to have a look at new screens !!

Check His Albums. they include A LOT OF progresses.

 

[APproject]

I guess it all depends on your methods of making maps. As for me personally, I like to divide the game into many small chapters / rooms and I like to finish it completely before moving to another part / area of the map, so this means I also add music in the end of chapter, this helps to maintain the atmosphere and helps to shift it in the long run, but that's just how I do it. Your way is absolutely fine as long as limitation is not on your mind.

I'm not so experienced with music, I just pick what I like it to be based on subjective criteria, hehe. But surely if you want my opinion on it, I can assist, only if it helps.

 

[Veritas 117]

Ok, so I've got a problem that I can't seem to figure out. I assume there is a trigger somewhere that is causing the problem but so far I haven't been able to find it.

When I start the campaign it loads the first map just fine. Every time. When I go to the next map, that map loads just fine. Every time. Now, when I go back to the first map, it loads all the way on the loading screen, I hit enter, and it crashes... Every time.

It didn't used to do this and I can't seem to figure out the reasons. I have decided to upload the campaign to the pastebin to see if anyone can try and figure it out.

Be warned. There is a lot of stuff here. Some of it is good (newer triggers) some of it is not (older triggers). Some maps are used right now (Dillianhor and Callienth) some are not (the rest of them basically).

If you want to travel from the first map to the second one you have to use one of the heroes blink abilities (temporary ability used for testing purposes) to get past the gate on the far left side of the Dillianhor Map. To travel back from the Callienth map you just need to turn around and walk the other way.

I'm almost at my wit's end trying to deal with this damn problem. If anyone can figure it out I will be eternally grateful and would happily name a character after them... or something like that.

link to campaign

Even if you don't figure it out I hope you enjoy looking around. I'm not worried about anyone 'stealing' anything so export anything you want. Enjoy.

 

[Freddyk]

I've tested it (just travel from map to map, i didn't do anything else) and it didn't crash.

 

[Veritas 117]

Hmmm. That is strange. You traveled to Callienth and then back to Dillianhor or just to Callienth?

 

[Freddyk]

Yes, as you said. I was able to go back to the 1st map without crash.
I have absolutely no idea why it crashes for you...
Also, I cannot open your campaign in my World Editor, is that normal?

 

[Veritas 117]

Well that just boggles my mind even more...

Thanks for trying it out at least. Feel free to look around and play with the mechanics. Let me know if you have questions about how to get to certain areas. It can be pretty confusing in its unfinished state. Specifically getting to boss fights can be tough.

P.S. You need JNGP to open it in the editor

EDIT: Soooooo I just tried to play the version of the campaign I uploaded and... it worked.... to a point. If you go into Callienth by walking along the path you will upgrade to level 10 (testing purposes) if you research your abilities then try to go back it crashes. So why would it do that?

 

[APproject]

I did not test it, but it MIGHT be memory's fault. I had this issue with Iceborn, after playing for a while and then starting to load a saved game, it crash because Warcraft stored about 2 GB memory at the time of attempt to load. It loads fine when memory is low.

This is mainly the issue of leaks or badly set Object Editor data which force to store memory (as it was for me, it was responsible for a huge amount of memory storage along with leaks). For example, setting selection scale of unit to -1000 value completely eliminates selection scale and life bar, it has no cons except that clicking on a unit stores 20 MBs of memory, which becomes devastating in the long run. Also triggering leaks.

You can follow this memory storage through your Task Manager. Ctrl + Alt + Delete to open it. You can play the game on Windows Mode to observe the manager for a while and see how memory shifts after the play. If game is perfectly balanced, memory growth should be minimal from what it started.

Oh and make sure if you test the map through JNGP Editor, set it to run the game on OpenGL mode if your windows do not support normal run, usually for Windows 7, because otherwise it also stores tremendous amount of memory.

 

[Veritas 117]

I'll be sure to check that out. Thanks!

I think I may have figured something out though. I disabled the triggers that would give Glainor a multiboard to keep track of his hammer's charges. I think it may have been interfering with the multiboards that had already been created in the Dillianhor map. Preliminary tests have been successful, but I may need more testing to be certain. (and a better way to keep track of Glainor's charges.)

Further tests are looking very positive. I can't believe it was something so simple... I thought I had checked that, but apparently not. Well I'm glad the campaign is out there for people to look at and enjoy. If you come across something that you think could be improved (specifically with triggers) please let me know. Consider this an extremely, incredibly, way way too early Alpha test.

Here's a link to the updated version link

 

[Arad MNK]

This also Happened to me For Gaias Retaliation. I Couldn't load saved game. (I Guess Stone-age Computers Fault)

Consider this an extremely, incredibly, way way too early Alpha test.

FINALLY!

 

[Veritas 117]

That reminds me. The game cache system messes with your ability to save the game (not that you can really make much progress anyway)

I have to find a way to make it work right. I think I'll look through the old Rexxar Campaign and see how Blizzard went about it.


Additionally:
If you play around for a while and have ideas for more hero abilities I would love to hear them. I want to stick to certain themes: Lithion is a master of blades and melee combat. Hundalor is gifted with elemental magic. Glainor has a lot of power and can take a lot of damage.
I've updated the campaign with a better command card for the heroes. They still have the attack button (it is important for a few secrets) but the rest is open and can be used for abilities so I think I want 8 per hero (I need some passives though) I'm thinking of a riposte passive for Lithion, a block passive for Glainor. Other ideas are welcome

 

[Arad MNK]

a Slow Passive for Hundalor Maybe?
I'll Give it a Shot when I have Time.

 

[Veritas 117]

That's a good idea. I'll look into making something like that. Probably a frost-like passive. (or maybe an active ability. We'll see what I come up with)

So far I have light, fire, and lightning for Hundalor. Other elements I could use are frost, darkness, earth, water, blood, nature, etc.

 

[Arad MNK]

Some Ideas for Passive abilities:

Earth-Bind (Hundalor): Something like Aerial Shackles
Wave of Protection (Hundalor): Something With a X% Chance that Whenever Hundalor is attacked, It would knock them back. Doesn't work for Huge, Bosses and Alike.
Blade Flurry (Lithion): There is a X% Chance that Lithion Deals X Damage Around Him.
Back-Stab (Lithion): Whenever Lithion Attacks From Behind, His Damage would be X% Times than Normal
Armor Break (Glainor): The name says it all
Fear (Glainor): Decreases The Attack and Attack Speed.

I Might come out with More tomorrow.
Good luck, And Hope this helps!

 

[Veritas 117]

I like them a lot actually. Thanks for the ideas. I really like the back stab one for Lithion. It would involve a little strategy which is nice. I'm hesitant to give him any sort of invisibility that would allow for easy back stabs, but I can certainly work with that. Maybe a passive that teleports him behind the target to deliver an instant back stab or something...

 

[Arad MNK]

I like them a lot actually. Thanks for the ideas. I really like the back stab one for Lithion. It would involve a little strategy which is nice. I'm hesitant to give him any sort of invisibility that would allow for easy back stabs, but I can certainly work with that. Maybe a passive that teleports him behind the target to deliver an instant back stab or something...

Thanks +_+d
Hmmm.... Nice ideas you got for the Backstab!

 

[Drunken_Jackal]

I like them a lot actually. Thanks for the ideas. I really like the back stab one for Lithion. It would involve a little strategy which is nice. I'm hesitant to give him any sort of invisibility that would allow for easy back stabs, but I can certainly work with that. Maybe a passive that teleports him behind the target to deliver an instant back stab or something...

I think making it an active spell which would teleport him behind the target unit , deal backstab damage, and then teleport back to the original point would be better. This way the player can control when the backstab happens.

 

[Veritas 117]

@Drunken Jackal: I have to agree with you there. Especially because teleporting around can sometimes cause issues with pathing blockers and things. So returning to the original point would be good.

So while I'm thinking about it, for anyone Alpha testing you will want to use the Dillianhor Map to start with. The others in the campaign loading screen are there for testing purposes only and really don't have much to show in them. The Dillianhor map allows you to enter the Callienth map also if you use the heroes blink ability in their satchel to cross the gate on the far left side of the map.

If you want to try any boss fights there are a couple of good ones that are playable right now. In Dillianhor Forest you can use the reveal map ability in the satchel and the blink ability to reach Garen Fallowmire in the bottom right side of the map. He is in a cave system. I'll post a screenshot of where to look on the minimap. There is a little spot of cobble path that marks an area to increase your heroes to level 6 outside his arena. If you want to leave that area after beating him just sleep in his bed. A small unfinished cut scene will follow and you will be moved out of the cave.

In Callienth there are two good ones. About 3/4 of the way down towards the bottom of the map and about half the way across there is an abandoned house that can be entered. I'll post a screenshot of the minimap shortly. I'll let you figure out the rest yourself. The only problem with that one is if you leave the arena after the fight don't follow Vor'Tak. That fight is not ready.
There is another one in Callienth in Stonehaven. That is the mountain city towards the top of the map. In the middle of the city there is a statue. If you type "show edward" (without the quotes) a door will open for that fight. That can be a tough one so be sure to grab some gear from Lithion's House (Stone of Refuge in your satchel) Good luck. Be sure to figure out the abilities too!

P.S. Just north of Edward's boss fight you can enter the catacombs. You just need to blink inside the door that has the torches on either side of it. You may need to walk down the steps a little too. It's a cool place to check out

 

[Arad MNK]

Nice Screenshots! +REP

 

[Fang]

How about using Custom UI?

 

[Veritas 117]

@Arad MNK
Thanks

@Fang
It's on my list. So far I haven't found one that really fits with what I want it to look like. Eventually I will though

 

[Arad MNK]

How about using Custom UI?

Fang is right. Maybe You can Create your own? or use this:
Link to a Mass-Load of custom UI.


EDIT: This really Fits!

 

[Tickles]

I love how your terrain gives off the charming vibe that the Baldur's Gate games have

I didn't see too many enemies having using a lot of mana yet, but it might be cool if Hundalor had a passive ability that slowly absorbed mana from nearby enemies. You could call it something like Arcane Osmosis to make fall under the water category.

A passive for Lithion could be an attack speed increase that builds up on each successive attack and wears off quickly when not attacking. Blade Thirst? Each level would increase the maximum amount of charges for the attack speed buff.

Glainor seems like he needs more benefits from tanking, so maybe a passive that has a chance to stun all enemies in a small area around him when attacked would be a good way of negating incoming damage.

 

[Veritas 117]

@Arad MNK
I have looked through those. I might choose one, but none of them have really jumped out at me yet though.

@Tickles:
Those are some great ideas! I haven't had many creeps with mana yet, but that is mostly because I need to make abilities for them. I also need to make bosses mana something more significant.

I really like the idea for Lithion, it reminds me of frenzy from DIII. I may need some help on figuring out how to do it though.

I recently gave Glainor a block passive that increases his chance to completely block an attack without suffering damage or weakening his shield. It also stuns the enemy that hit him. A sort of shield bash ability would be good though, something that can really help with crowd control.

Thanks for the ideas!

 

[Arad MNK]

This place is getting more and more like Idea factory LOL...

Anyway, Veritas if you want some Ideas, fell free to PM Me cause I Really have a lot of Leisure Time... AND Helping you in your Project would be An Honor... (Yeah I Got that from LOTR...)

 

[Veritas 117]

Your help is very much appreciated. I've sent you a PM so I'll look forward to seeing what you've got.

 

[Chaosy]

Made a quick review. I expected longer playtime than I actually played though. My professional conclusion tells me that you use the exact opposite method as me. I usually rush the basics and make everything half arsed so I at least got something rather than nothing. While you put a lot of effort on small details in your systems but therefore got big elements in the map that simply don't exist.

Map Name: LITHION'S AWAKENING Version: ALPHA Author: Veritas 117 Terrain[r] I feel like the quality goes from 1/5 to 4.5/5 depending on where you are standing on the map. The indoor stuff is generally well done 4/5 and certain parts of the forest too. But then I ran towards the edges of the map, there were a lot of empty places and an extreme lack of decoration objects. So I'd say it's pretty good if it continues like this as you progress towards the release. 3/5 Gameplay[r] Extremely lacking at the moment I ran around for quite a few minutes and did not see a single enemy. There are many nice systems in place that would bring the map from being okay to pretty good. However since there are no enemies and no quests (I found none) it's simply exploration with a few survival-like systems. I really like some stuff you added. "You have acquired *item name*", "farm discovered" and so on. Then we got the chest system. Generally good looking UI for the systems too. But you can't enchant a gameplay with fluff when the base don't exist. 1/5 Story[r] Didn't find any quests so I could just judge the preview cinematic. I will just put 2/5 for now. 2/5 Uniqueness[r] Hard to say at this point. I'd say it's leaning towards unique rather than cliché though, some gate would only be open during day time which surprised me. 3/5 Overall[r] The little I tried before being bored gave me a decent impression. I just can't help to feel like you have put effort in the wrong places though. I mean there were not even temp enemies placed out. /5 Bugs[r] Bugs -I will start with the most obvious ones, the maps got no loadingscreen description and got the title of "Just another Warcraft map". Campaign name being Test 01, yada yada. You get the point. -During the opening cinematic the shadow of those demons that come from the sea are WAY too big. -the opening cinematic never ended, everything turned black and then nothing happened. I had to restart the campaign to continue. -I am able to move my camera to an revealed indoor location. As I am writing this, I don't know what it is. I just know that it exists since I saw it on the minimap. -I really like that you have colored the tooltips nicely. However it feels wrong the every highlight use the same color. Healing 250 makes sense to have green. But dealing 75 weapon damage makes absolutely no sense to color green. -flash quest button + give the player a hint about where to go. Seems really unclear unless you check the quest log. -I randomly went up to level 6 when walking close to a house just west of the start location. -An elf randomly gave me an knife when I walked past. To be honest it might have been there from the start and I did not see it, but it still felt weird to randomly find it on the ground without any explaination. Reviewed by[r] Contact Chaosy Contact: Visitor Message, PM

 

[Fang]

This Campaign is getting really awesome!
About the custom UI, there is some in The Hive and the thread is Sticky in Request Forum.

 

[Arad MNK]

@Chaosy, You say you are leveled up? That's because of debug reasons.

BTW, i see you have put time into that Review. So, +REP!


@Fang, I already Mentioned That. Veritas said None of them jumped to him right now.

 

[rhyjames187]

I like the story.. and the RPG game mods. I wan't t play it right now.!

 

[Veritas 117]

@Chaosy:

I really appreciate you taking a look. I guess I should have clarified. This is no where near done or ready for any sort of a beta test. It was more of a 'I'm going to post what I have done so far so people can explore and mess around'

I have no real quests or structure of any kind implemented yet. I skip around from thing to thing depending on what I am interested in at the time. I even have spells in the satchel that allow you to reveal portions of the map and blink to them so you can check things out.

I actually originally posted it since I was having some problems that I needed some help with. After I got them figured out I decided to see if anyone wanted to dig around in my little unfinished world.

I'll be sure to have you take a look when I actually have something to look at. I have it all in my head or written down, but actually haven't done anything with the story yet. I know it's a back-ass-wards way of doing things, but meh. It's a hobby.


So anyways, thanks again for taking a look. I appreciate it. And I appreciate you not being too harsh with how unfinished it is