[Project] Power of Chaos RPG - Preview

[Zwiebelchen]

You should make the terrain more open and adjust the size of the doodads.
Right now, your trees are way to narrow and way to small compared to your units.
You're developing this as a 3rd person rpg, so realistic scaling values are important!

Your trees should be at least 2-3 times bigger as those on your screenshots; same goes for buildings and stuff. Try to get some pictures of forests as a reference.

 

[Cr34p]

you're right and this is also a fact we try to consider, since this project is still in a early developement phase we have much freedome of reworking terrain etc.

I told Goldendemon that he may rework some size issues

Anyway me working on the UI rightknow doing some new stuff, like implementing the new navigator and do some additional work on the inventory

 

[Zwiebelchen]

you're right and this is also a fact we try to consider, since this project is still in a early developement phase we have much freedome of reworking terrain etc.

I told Goldendemon that he may rework some size issues

Anyway me working on the UI rightknow doing some new stuff, like implementing the new navigator and do some additional work on the inventory

Remember that you can always adjust scaling in two directions: Either make your units smaller or make your doodads larger. I recommend the latter, because it increases the detail of things you can not scale freely (like ground tiles, water tiles and ground grass/plant detail).

Of course, the playable map size will be limited in a large scale that way; but its worth the gain. You will want to have the maps as small as possible anyways, to increase tile variation and stuff (simply go with multiple maps).

 

[Cr34p]

Actually I think we won't have problems with tilevariation since our playable maps are just small pieces of planets or other objects. The first map Xel'Shin includes 10 regions with a similar environment, only exception maybe the main city, but we will work hard on a world which looks lively and nice to the player, so that that there are beautiful / awesome places to explore

 

[real138]

I'm guessing you don't have any text I need to look through? ^^ Don't forget about me if you need it

I agree about the Trees they need to be enlarged to the right proportions.

 

[Zwiebelchen]

Good to know that the screenshots of the terrain you posted are just experiments. Your map is still in a phase where you can almost adjust everything freely without problems. The more you progress, the less you can improve old mistakes. Terraining is probably the most vital point in that calculation.

I can just recommend you to develope a realistic terraining style as soon as possible, BEFORE you continue terraining. If you now miss vital things like correct scalings, you will later never be able to make something like "true" enterable buildings (not just some signal where you step on and are teleported to another part of the map, but actually buildings where you enter the door and are right inside).

After the most promising project (in my oppinion) Starcraft Universe was cancelled, your map is the only one where I can still put hopes into.
Please don't make it suck and provide us with a lot of information beforehand, so we can still intervene if you are planning to do something that is going to suck for sure ...

 

[Cr34p]

of course I keep this project up to date, so if I implement new systems or UI stuff I will post screenshots other stuff for feedback. Sad that there is not that much good feedback like yours Zwieblchen.

So here a screenshot how the temple area looks like, the sizes seem to be fine, except the cotainers and terraner buildings, we placed some units to see how they fit into this (size and free space for walking placing other objects etc.)

Negative and positive feedback is welcome

 

[Vengeancekael]

Positive:
Looks colorful
Beautiful
Negative:
Red light doesn't really fit...

But i'll just say that this project is dominating.

 

[Cr34p]

the redlights may seem to not fit but actually I think they do^^, they surround the spots where terrans work (more infos will be released later).

 

[real138]

Hmm i have to agree with kael there.. the red lights stick out and not in a good way.
other than that the terrain is lovely keep up the awesome work.

 

[Zwiebelchen]

the redlights may seem to not fit but actually I think they do^^, they surround the spots where terrans work (more infos will be released later).

I think the red lights look okay. Can you give me a 3rd person screenshot of this? From a birds perspecitve, it looks good, but then again, you should remember that designing terrain for a birds perspective is always different to designing terrain for 3rd person.

If I should judge the scaling values, I need 3rd person screens.
However, I think the marines are to large in comparison to for example the hangars and trees. I'd say the size would match if you scale the size of all units to like 60%.

Also, I think you've use too much doodads on that small area. But this is hard to judge from a birds eye view. It may look better in 3rd person. Give me screens of that.

Remember that you can not scale the ground details of tilesets. I would recommend instead of making the units smaller, you go with making all the doodads larger. That's what I meant with the "develope the correct scaling as soon as possible" thing. Now that you made all that terrain, it looks like your scaling isn't right and you will probably have to redo that whole area again.


Look at this picture:
http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_sBx1I8XJ7...0/mulu-national-park-binuang-tualang-tree.JPG

Trees in forests should be AT LEAST 20-30 times as high as a human.
Lonely trees outside of forests should be at like 12-17 times.
A hangar building should be at least 4-5 times as high as a human, depending on what is inside the hangar (an aeroplane hangar should be at like 10 times).
A building with just one floor should be at least 4 times as high as a human. A room interior is usually at 3 times human height. For every floor, add at least 3 times of the human height.

You should use these scaling values as a reference.

If you consider all that, you just need to match all your other doodads to those "landmarks" and your RPG will look awesomely natural.

 

[Cr34p]

actually the map where the terrain is done I don't have any systems in it, so I just post a screenshot of a editor camera position which is similar to the ingame camera height

Show Screenshots

the problem with resizing trees to 15-20x the height of a human are the textures used for the modells... they start looking ugly

 

[Zwiebelchen]

the problem with resizing trees to 15-20x the height of a human are the textures used for the modells... they start looking ugly

Hmm, judging from your screenshots, I feel that the scaling is not matched properly. As I said: Increase the size of everything by like 60% and leave the units the way they are and it should be fine.

About the textures: That's the drawback, but it can not be avoided. However, the scaling of those blizzard trees is incorrect anyways. Leave their X and Y scaling the way it is and simply increase the Z scaling to make them higher. A human can usually embrace a tree stem totally.

You should use those trees as a placeholder anyways. Once modellers have a tool to convert .max into .m3, you can expect much better trees to be made by the community. Maybe I will make some too.

Also, when increasing the size of your doodads, remember to match the empty spots between those doodads. Judging from your 3rd person screens, the pathway is way to narrow. It looks clumped up and overall very unnatural at the moment.

 

[Cr34p]

Hm will test just resizing z, but I think it will screw the model.

 

[Zwiebelchen]

Hm will test just resizing z, but I think it will screw the model.

Remember that its not just the trees that are too small, but almost every doodad placed (maybe except for those decoration boxes and stuff).

 

[Cr34p]

Remember that its not just the trees that are too small, but almost every doodad placed (maybe except for those decoration boxes and stuff).

yep I know

Update:

Added a new screenshot which shows the new navigator-bar and the new character info in the top left

Navigator contains:
- Show Menu (Hotkey: Esc)
- Save Character (Hotkey not chosen yet)
- Show Options (Hotkey not chosen yet)
- Show Help (Hotkey not chosen yet)

The character info now fits better.

In addition I thought about how the classes will fight their battles individual with a unique battle system per class.

The berserker will something like stacking different combat moves to achieve comboattacks, you will deal more damage if you hit special moves in the right moment etc.

The templar is the caster class... he will be able to combine different passive spells (one will be able to activate or deactivate them) to gain access to mighty spells, combining of up to 3 passive spells -> you may be able to skill 4 spells combination

If you cast other spells they gain extra effects for those passive skills which are activated

This are just ideas -> concepts!

 

[Zwiebelchen]

I like the UI. Not too flashy but practical. I was never a friend of unnecesary stylized interfaces.

About your concepts: Well, you haven't told us a lot about it.


However, from my mapping experience, especially in terms of rpgs, I can just give you some advices:

1) Don't forget a money sink. Either make spells buyable and let the player buy new ranks each x levels or make the player lose a % of money on death.
A skilltree is fine, but always remember that you *need* a money sink or you will end up in balance-hell, so think of something.
I suggest having buyable/findable spells and using a talent tree to improve those spells. That way you have the best of both worlds

2) I can just suggest you to implement a threat system, kinda like in world of warcraft. It makes creating entertaining bossfights and AI much easier.
Check this out: http://www.hiveworkshop.com/forums/...hreat-system-2-4-a-156179/?prev=u=Zwiebelchen
It's a 100% working and easy-to-use replica of the WoW threat system. You just need to rewrite it into galaxy and there you go (maybe alter something here and there, as galaxy makes things like pathing checks way more easy).
It may be a little amount of work, but it's totally worth it, as your map won't be simple tank&spank that way

3) Don't forget that the classic RPG roles (tank, glass cannon, melee damage, utility, support) are vital for any MMO styled map. I don't know wether you want to make a coop or ORPG map, but I can just tell you that it is important to stick to those roles for balancing.

4) Give the players enough opportunity to specialize their heroes in some way. Have at least 2 or 3 different "speccing directions" in your talent/skilltrees.

5) Don't forget Requirements for your items. Heavy armors should require strength, whereas spellcaster items should not, etc. Also add a level requirement or you will have the problem of players farming for lower chars.

6) Remember group content. Dungeons should not be soloable (Balance them for like 5 people ... thats usually the best way to do it).


Ah and another note: Why having a save button at all? Just let the game automaticly save into the bank every x seconds.


That's all I can say for now. Give us more gameplay information and I will provide you with more feedback.

 

[real138]

Hmm i think you should put the new navigation bar BELOW the inventory and such. As of now it looks unnatural. Or maybe put it on the other side? Menu and the such ALMOST always shows up around the borders.

 

[Cr34p]

@real138: The navigator bar can be opened by pressing the navigator button, so its just temporal

@Zwiebelchen: Nice tips, but I allready considered most of those facts. Also thanks for the linkl , but if I do something like this I do it on my own. If you program your self you may know that working with own code is allways easier then working with code of others.

Spells won't be buyable but "skillable". So you "skill" spells to unlock new spells and so on. Then you have aditional skilltrees (2-3), to improve spells or other aspects affecting your hero. Then there is a third part which is the same for all classes, there you skill stuff like reduced weapon costs etc. , this is what I had in mind.

Armor will be connected with stats , so like you allready mentioned heavy armor will require more strength-points. Also attributes will affect spells, so that additional attributes on armor make sense.
I think you will be able to find new armor but maybe no new weapons, instead you improve your wapon, to create a weapon which fits your character and the way you want to play this character.

This RPG is made for up to 3 players so I focus on creating a coop game, missions (quests) will require teamwork, will release some concepts of quests later

Some additional info:
- The currency I use will be simple credits, so no copper/silver/gold stuff. There will be a few shops in the main city.
- There will be spots which will unlock travel-routes, so that you can travel faster by just using a shuttle. Of course you have to finish the main objective in the area to unlock those routes.
- One just will lose credits on death if the whole group dies, otherwise the other players are able to resurrect the dead character. -> more infos will be released later

 

[Zwiebelchen]

@real138: The navigator bar can be opened by pressing the navigator button, so its just temporal

@Zwiebelchen: Nice tips, but I allready considered most of those facts. Also thanks for the linkl , but if I do something like this I do it on my own. If you program your self you may know that working with own code is allways easier then working with code of others.

Spells won't be buyable but "skillable". So you "skill" spells to unlock new spells and so on. Then you have aditional skilltrees (2-3), to improve spells or other aspects affecting your hero. Then there is a third part which is the same for all classes, there you skill stuff like reduced weapon costs etc. , this is what I had in mind.

Armor will be connected with stats , so like you allready mentioned heavy armor will require more strength-points. Also attributes will affect spells, so that additional attributes on armor make sense.
I think you will be able to find new armor but maybe no new weapons, instead you improve your wapon, to create a weapon which fits your character and the way you want to play this character.

This RPG is made for up to 3 players so I focus on creating a coop game, missions (quests) will require teamwork, will release some concepts of quests later

Some additional info:
- The currency I use will be simple credits, so no copper/silver/gold stuff. There will be a few shops in the main city.
- There will be spots which will unlock travel-routes, so that you can travel faster by just using a shuttle. Of course you have to finish the main objective in the area to unlock those routes.
- One just will lose credits on death if the whole group dies, otherwise the other players are able to resurrect the dead character. -> more infos will be released later

I see, so you are trying to create something like a coop rpg with a storyline. I'm fine with that. A little bit of uniqueness can't hurt. However, you can ignore my hints now, as almost all of the things I mentioned were for a MMO styled ORPG map.

About the Threat system: I don't think you should make your own. Creating a threat system is a totally different thing compared to all those other stuff you have implemented yet. It took me months (and starting again 3 times right from scratch!) to optimize the system so that it is efficient and bug-free, such as extremely user friendly. If you are not excessively confident about your scripting skills, I recommend sticking with mine.

 

[Cr34p]

If you are not excessively confident about your scripting skills, I recommend sticking with mine.

I am confident about my scripting skills , so I see no problem in doing most of the stuff on my own.

 

[Zwiebelchen]

I am confident about my scripting skills , so I see no problem in doing most of the stuff on my own.

Alright; it was just a suggestion. However; I doubt you can do any better than I did there. In terms of efficiency, it's almost perfect.
And I think you underestimate the amount of work that is required to create such a system; but that could be just me.

 

[Cr34p]

Yep there is much work behind such a system but there are some facts for doing it on my own.
1. I allways can easily maintain my code
2. I would have to convert the whole stuff from vJass to plain Galaxy, so if I do it on my own I simply can work with Galaxy straight from the beginning
3. Since the editor is still in beta I won't finish those systems before release, so I have a lot of time for creating such a system

 

[HellKnightX]

The map is still looking very promising. I will note that the lighting does look very plain at the moment. I'm sure it's just unfinished at the moment, but toying with the lighting to make the planet look more wet, add some ambient color, fog, etc. would really make the planet look more fantastic.

 

[Cr34p]

those things refer to the detailed terrain part which is the last step for the terraining

 

[Cr34p]

A small update:

Here you can see the first icons done by Nara-shikamaru ingame.

He did a new bag-icon/save/options and help, further to come.

In addition, if one clicks a button which opens another frame it has now a glow effect the time this frame is opened, so that the user can see which stuff is currently active.
In the buttom left you can see some concept stuff I'm working on, actually there is space for 3 buttons, I thought about Medikit, some stuff which regenerates energy and a third one, which can be chosen by the player, it's some sort of fast item accsess

Show Screenshot

 

[Vengeancekael]

Uh the options icon is too big
But the other icons look ok.

 

[Walle]

Those were examples icons, we have updated them now

Edit: Fixed the size on option icon now thx vengeancekael

 

[Cr34p]

It has been a long time since the last update. I didn't work that much at the map itself (just some terrain reworks). But I worked out some more concepts and did some new textures for the upcoming new character selection.

There will be the known create new character, but also the reworked and new load character option.

Actually I limited the character slot count to 3 (3 classes , so 3 slots, but I can easily increase them to any number). Due to the limitation Mille25 discovered according banks, I am using them in another way. Instead of one bank per character there will be 4-5banks per character (if the bank limit is reached further data will be extended in a new bank). Then there is a bank which actually handels the character count and basic information. Inventory/Missions/Achievements/Attributes/Exp etc. will be stored in seperated banks.

The load character frame will be like this concept texture (black boxes will be replaced)

The three boxes on the left will be the 3 character slots and the one on the right is the startlocation you wanna start. There will be around 6-8 locations you can chose, of course you only can start at a specific location if you allready managed to finish the main mission in this region in an earlier game. All players will be able to see which locations are chosen, which level the character reached and the playing time.

Some feedback would be nice, tell me what's your impression of those ideas

 

[Mille25]

Due to the limitation Mille25 discovered according banks, I am using them in another way. Instead of one bank per character there will be 4-5banks per character (if the bank limit is reached further data will be extended in a new bank). Then there is a bank which actually handels the character count and basic information. Inventory/Missions/Achievements/Attributes/Exp etc. will be stored in seperated banks.

that wont work because it doesnt matter how many banks you use, the limit will always exist. the values of all banks together are also limited.

so if you for example use 5 banks instead of one, you can only save ~20% of the limit in each bank.
if you have 10 players, you can save 2% in each.

 

[Cr34p]

no... banks are local

 

[I-am-murloc]

Why the name "Power of Chaos"? Just another ORPG name whos only purpose is to sound "epic"?

 

[Cr34p]

why such a senseless comment? oO

 

[Mille25]

no... banks are local

sry, but my results tell me they arent.

i was able to load a bank with X values alone, but not with another player who had the same bank. so it seems like all banks get added.

 

[Cr34p]

I will test this issue when the beta servers will be back online

 

[Nillere]

It looks pretty nice by far. Hope u're finishing it soon enough and that i can win over u in MW2 for once.

 

[Cr34p]

The map is far from completion . Currently the progress is a bit slow, but I think we may can release a beta version in 2-3months.

 

[I-am-murloc]

why such a senseless comment? oO

Why such a senseless name?

 

[Cr34p]

actually I think you didn't read through the first post, so you just fail in giving comments, so your comments are just senseless, and when I read through other posts you did you seem to like nonsense posts and just spaming

 

[The World Is Flat]

LOVE the projects progress.

 

[Cr34p]

Here a new update:
I've implemented the new character selection, ok not the whole thing but started with it, most UI parts will be reworked (except the new ones). Give feedback of your impression

 

[Walle]

Awesome!

 

[Cr34p]

Our team needs some new faces!

We are currently recruiting:
- Artist 3D
- Scripter

If you think you may fit in one of those slots send me a PM. An example of previous work is allways helpfull.

 

[Walle]

I'll be going to france on vacation for a week today, and i'll bring my sketch book, so we might have some new concept art when i get home.

 

[Cr34p]

sounds good . Actually we are waiting for the release to get new models and a complete editor, so there is not that much going on

 

[Cr34p]

So there we go, some new update , it's small but it is an update

I started working on the damage displaying system and this is what i've got so far

This System actually is full mui / mpi and the first one in pure galaxy (ok my first one).
Like u can see the damage actually shows up in the mid, what I want it to do in the finished version is to pop up at the target units place, but thats a bit complicated! Therefor I am working on a function which converts the unit position to the UI position, since this system is based on dialogs

Give feedback and ideas !!

edit: watch this on youtube for a better quality

 

[Walle]

Cool update!

 

[Cr34p]

released the system here: http://www.hiveworkshop.com/forums/starcraft-ii-408/system-library-scrolling-combat-text-sct-172872/

give feedback, will upload screenshots of the the system in the map but first have to fix the messed up UI

 

[Mille25]

released the system here: http://www.hiveworkshop.com/forums/starcraft-ii-408/system-library-scrolling-combat-text-sct-172872/

give feedback, will upload screenshots of the the system in the map but first have to fix the messed up UI

welcome to the club

 

[Vengeancekael]

lol what club?
Also, the system looks great
I hope this will turn out great. (Which obviously will be)