Power Words:RPG and Arena

[Bluesbr0]

The Concept behind powerwords is that your hero has no abilities unless you (the player) type a keyword (press <enter> type "a word" *press <enter> again*)and then obtain that special ability for 10 or 15 seconds. There are different "tiers" of keywords and these tiers share relative properties spell to spell for example there could be a string of keywords a player could type and send that could look like "fireflamestrikefirestorm" and obtain 3 different abilities each consecutive ability requiring the ability before it to be active with your hero, and obviously the abilities would all be different variations of fire based spells. Another feature I use in my power word custom maps is the use of the "Channel" ability. With the Channel ability working with floating text and wait timers i can create the illusion that a hero is channeling magic to become powerful enough to cast greater spells. I use triggers to seperate a tier of 5 second spells with 15 second spells and 25 second spells. This channel requirement for spells helps keep the hero from spamming powerful spells.While the properties or spell effects of a channel spell exist the hero has no access to the channel ability.
In the beginning of the game your hero has no abilities but by the end of the game your hero has full access to up to at least 25 abilities. With just one unit and fast typing skills you can do some massive damage. This game relies on the player to know the game, know the hotkeys, and know what abilities are best for seemingly impossible situations for a single unit to cut through.
Currently I have two concepts of game styles; the rpg and the 4player bnet arena. Each concept has an individual map and very different power word systems. The rpg is a single player game that uses the power word concept but opens up the use of all elemental magics (fire,frost,nature,shadow,arcane,holy,chaos,etc..) to one hero. The multiplayer game uses items to grant the hero the ability to gain abilities through speaking keywords; items like "orb of fire" for fire spells, "orb of frost" for frost spells you can imagine what other orbs there could be. Another detail about the difference of the multiplayer map is that each selectable hero from the beginning would come with the potential to learn 2 innate abilities and some heros with less defense may get 2 hero abilities and 1 normal. This would help promote a hero's individuality. Each hero comes with a preset item that defines the hero's elemental powers from the start. However through PvP events you can obtain other elemental powers by stealing an opposing players orb(s), and by stealing i mean killing the players hero and then taking the items from his corpse. A player without an orb cannot activate any spells through sending keywords. This player will be given one last "life" to make best with for the rest of the game.
I currently have the maps under development; I am trying to spend more time on the bnet arena map. I expect to have the bnet map fully playable by the end of june. It will start out as a 2v2 hero arena w/ Neutral Hostile Unit Bosses and minibosses on the arena, elevated battle grounds, dungeon mazes, pitfalls, and traps. The Arena events will navigate the most successful heros towards the Arena master. Out of 2 hero teams of 2 heros only 1 team can leave the arena. The heros leaving the arena will be more powerful through obtaining the orbs dropped by fallen opponents. After killing the Arena Master the remaining 2 players will then fight to the death. Thats my plans for my current project.

 

[Bluesbr0]

Heres a s/s of the Arena so far.

 

[Bluesbr0]

And a shot of the full overhead on the RPG map (a huge map)

 

[Bluesbr0]

Here's an example of a channeled spell. I got the idea for this spell from Baldurs Gate. Summons an orb of chromatic magic, the orb is a suicidal unit that is more of a smart missile than a unit. Based on the Goblin sapper unit, chromatic orb damages a targeted area or unit for aoe damage and then releases a random spell effect. I currently use 5 different spell effects which include a summoned doomguard which could be friendly or hostile(hostile to everyone), a disease cloud, tornado, or water elemental. Its basically same spell concept as the original Chromatic Orb just with different spell effects. Also once the orb is summoned i have trigger set up to lock game camera to orb and select orb automatically for current player, this helps keep the player from fumbling around with the mouse to click and use the orb like a missile. Once orb is dead camera will stay locked to the corpse just long enough for the current player to view what spell effect was spawned.

 

[Shados]

Well, it sounds somewhat interesting, and your terrain looks nice. But I'm not sure I'd ever play it, I think making the player type in stuff to get abilities will mean alot of people won't play it, even if they are fast typers.

 

[Ralle]

I can't really say anything else as... AWESOME

 

[Healingpoison]

Sounds pretty good.

Your system of words tiers sounds pretty coll and advanced.