Single Player RPG - Against All Odds

[Elfangor]

Hello everyone I understand that single player RPGs are not really attractive to most people in a sense but i hope you could spend at most 5 minutes reading what I have in mind. Here goes nothing.

Setting:
You play a prince of the royal family, once happy and contented, ruling the kingdom of Dariniel. One day, your family return from an excursion to realise that you have been betrayed by your royal uncle, Felreon, accusing your family of crimes of treachery. Eventually, your father was executed in public and you and your family were exiled to the borders of Loranor. Your mother and sister both died shortly after, the former due to depression while the latter due to illness. Swearing revenge, you start training yourself, and building an army on your own, pledging to stop only when Felreon finishes his last breath..

Features:
- 3 basic classes (Warrior,Rogue,Mage) that will branch off into 24 different specializations (e.g. Combat Mage, Gladiator, Arcane Warrior etc.) that start of with 2 basic spells
- Every 5 levels you are given a choice between two spells that will determine your specialization
- Two different types of gameplay integrated into one map
- 3 people party Dungeons
The game will start off with you inside a dungeon. Depending on the choice of your basic class, you will get 2 other party members that will balance out the team. (E.g. If a mage was chosen, a warrior and a rogue will be chosen as your party members) As the game progresses more dungeons will be unlocked. Dungeons will provide better gear, provide experience, and also unlock new army races for the hero, which will be used in the war strategy gameplay.
- War Strategy
As the game progresses, you will be made to fight against armies of the Dariniel with armies of your own that you unlocked from dungeons. These fights will take place in special battlefields that have specialised terrains so that players can adopt any strategies that they deem fit, instead of an all out army battle.

Here is one of the 3 spell trees that I have brainstormed. (Mage)

Level 1 

- Arcane Bolt - [COLOR="yellow"]Deals magic damage based on your intelligence[/COLOR]
- Intelligence - [COLOR="Yellow"]Passively adds Intelligence and increases Mana Pool[/COLOR]

Level 5

- Choice 1 - Arcane Blast - [COLOR="yellow"]Deals AoE damage based on your Mana Pool[/COLOR]
- Choice 2 - Healing Touch - [COLOR="yellow"]Heals a certain amount of HP based on your Intelligence[/COLOR]           

Level 10

-[COLOR="PaleTurquoise"] If you chose Arcane Blast earlier[/COLOR], these are your choices,
  - Choice 1 - Elemental Prison - [COLOR="Yellow"]Deals damage over time and renders target immobile for duration of spell[/COLOR]
  - Choice 2 - Curse of the Devil - [COLOR="yellow"]Deals damage over time and silences the target for a short duration[/COLOR]

- [COLOR="PaleTurquoise"]If you chose Healing Touch earlier[/COLOR], these are your choices,
  - Choice 1 - Holy Shield - [COLOR="Yellow"]Heals target over time and provides a small armor bonus[/COLOR]
  - Choice 2 - Inner Fire - [COLOR="yellow"]Increases the armor, damage, and attack speed for the duration of the spell *Can only be cast on self and pet*[/COLOR]

Level 15

- [COLOR="PaleTurquoise"]If Elemental Prison was chosen,[/COLOR]
  - Choice 1 - Advanced Brilliance Aura (Fire Mage) - [COLOR="Yellow"]Adds passive mana regen[/COLOR]
  - Choice 2 - Advanced Brilliance Aura (Frost Mage) - [COLOR="yellow"]Adds passive mana regen[/COLOR]

- [COLOR="PaleTurquoise"]If Curse of the Devil was chosen,[/COLOR]
  - Choice 1 - Hex (Voodoo Mage)
  - Choice 2 - Curse of Illidan (Blood Mage) - [COLOR="Yellow"]Deals damage over time and weakens target [/COLOR]

- [COLOR="PaleTurquoise"]If Holy Shield was chosen,[/COLOR]
  - Choice 1 - Hand of God (Priest) - [COLOR="Yellow"]Heals allies within an area around caster[/COLOR]
  - Choice 2 - Michaelangelo's Aura (Supporter) - [COLOR="yellow"]Passively adds defense and attack speed[/COLOR]

- [COLOR="PaleTurquoise"]If Inner Fire was chosen,[/COLOR]
  - Choice 1 - Dexterity (Combat Mage) - [COLOR="Yellow"]Passively adds attack speed and armor[/COLOR]
  - Choice 2 - Summon Pet (Summoner) - [COLOR="yellow"]Summons a spirit bear[/COLOR]

Level 20 (Final Spells)

- Fire Mage - Meteor Shower - [COLOR="yellow"]AoE fire damage, allies standing within AoE will receive Immolation for a short period of time[/COLOR]
- Frost Mage - Frost Bite - [COLOR="yellow"]Single target damage over time and deals periodic stuns, allies attacking target gets a frost damage boost[/COLOR]
- Voodoo Mage - Voodoo Ward - [COLOR="yellow"]Random periodic stuns and AoE damage over time, allies get small damage boost[/COLOR]
- Blood Mage - Final Curse - [COLOR="yellow"]Detonates the curse on the target to deal single target damage or AoE damage depending on the curse[/COLOR]
- Priest - Essence of purity - [COLOR="yellow"]Passively provides mana regeneration and a chance to heal allies within an AoE whenever a spell is cast[/COLOR]
- Supporter - Raphael's Blessing - [COLOR="yellow"]Provides target with health/mana regen and maximum attack speed for the duration of the spell[/COLOR]
- Combat Mage - Melee Mode - [COLOR="yellow"]Increases damage and attack speed while the mode is active and provides a chance to cast Chain Lightning, Weaken, or Frenzy[/COLOR]
- Summoner - Merge - [COLOR="yellow"]Merges with pet to form a strong melee bear with increased armour and HP. Able to cast War Cry.[/COLOR]

 

[Elfangor]

14 views but no criticism/improvement/advices?

 

[ArneXis]

Add screenshots if you have any, people here are attracted to bright colors & shiny objects, oh and I for one love single player anything so if you need a map tester give me a pm. So was from what I read this looks really decent, if you complete it that is.

 

[mindwarper06]

personally I prefer single player games XD (even though my current project is a game that demands teamwork, and is going to be almost unbeatable without a team)
And I must say I love your idea.. I do hope you finish it! I really want to play it now XD

so when you need it tested, I DEMAND to be first on your list!!!jk, but I do want to test it for you...
and If you need any help I will be glad to help, im pretty decent with triggering, and ok at terraining, and I can come up with some great ideas though.

 

[Elfangor]

thank you both for the nice comments. truth is i'm a real newbie in terms of map-making, and at the moment making a map all by myself seems really impossible. so i may be asking lots of questions about triggering and stuff. also, i may require the help of a good terrainer and skinner to make this map even better. XD.

 

[Vengeancekael]

The things mentioned in the description are not very impressive, nor the storyline, it's kinda too simple.
At least some screenshots or systems would be nice.

 

[Formula1]

I respect your thoughts and there are things I like about where you are going with this
1) Moving towards specialization
2) inclusion of techtree
3) army and single unit

And it seems like you want to make this

but warn you my criticisms will be extreme in the regards it will change the gameplay alot
so I understand if you do not accept them

1) Make elements of magic (i.e. Frost, fire, light, shadow) learned changes from various people you meet along the way rather than leanred through techtree
-You meet a person and depending on what spell you want to elementify, you cast it in front of the person
-They will show you their take on it
--in this example all AoE will be the same amount of initial damage and deals to both allys and opponents
--Aoe frost-casts slow
--Aoe fire-does damage overtime
--thunder-depletes mana, removes buffs and stops all casting that was currently going on


basically each spell you cast will have a different elemental buff
-element-buff, negative, specialty
-frost-defense, slow, illusion
-air-speed, magic removal, can move where you would like
-fire-attack, dps, adapts your hero for you

2) change the types of magics to be different ways of casting

Make the Techtree more toward
-Personal (rouge)-for someone that doesn't really like working too hard. basically makes it so you can passively make your hero the strongest possible
-Spellcasting (mage)-Basically if you aren't the best micromanager but love to see big effects happen
-Army (soldier)-for a person that micro manages like a champion where each unit is cared for.

Meanwhile, each techtree will have a spell that does that sort of thing with different effects

-AoE
-Line
-single target-examples
--Rouge-fly transform-simply utility for moving in and out of areas
--Rouge/Soldier-heal/jump-jump to a target to heal and heal upon landing
--Soldier-Heal
--Soldier/Mage-heal/hurt
--mage-hurt
--mage/rouge-jump/hurt
-Autocast attack-So players can use their mana without thinking
-Summon-creates a
-Aura
-personal bonus

So a player can customize their hero as they please

3) Make the way each battle for each group of enemies interesting

A few examples
-numbers in no mans land-Against weak yet numourous army's you will need to get AoE damage off. with those spells you will easily take care of the units

-Killing the Creators not the Creations-creating a mission where you must take out a group of powerful mages. if you simply attack their army, their summons will continuously spawn, and eventually you will be worn down and killed off. If you attack them directly with air units and try your best to hold off the summons with tanks, you will be able to stop their attack

-Fearing the focus fire-your opponents will be very smart about killing your army off with ranged units simply by focus firing them one by one and if you get too close, they will just pick you off. What you need to make sure to do is amass a gigantic army of weak units, so they will overwhelm the archers.

-Big bad Bullys-The opponents are few but extremely tough and their objective is to surround and clobber you with heavy melee attacks. They do AoE so you can't just amass a huge army and get a surround and wittle them down with direct damage spells. what you have to do is a hit and run option with your units. In the meantime try to make sure they don't get a surround on your units since thats what they will try to do.

-Stopping the Scout-have a level where you can attack the base from multiple directions. At each post however, there will be a unit that will run back to the base and call for reinforcements wich will decimate your army. Being able to attack a single outpost without incuring the wrath of that army is key. so you will need to find a way to get through baracades in order to stop the runner(s). One runner will be very fast and very weak, you will need to be able to get units to intercept him before he starts running. Fly over and behind enemy lines to wait for him. Big guy will be able to survive an attack like that but is slow so you will have destroy the baricade first and then kill him off. Last one will try and keep his units alive and will run if things look bad. basically you will have to create a small opening get a surround on him before things start looking bad

-Fun with funnels-Basically all about forcing your opponents giant army to go through a thin cavern, as your army waits on the otherside taking out each line one by one

4) Have a Helper (Navi)
-Make a unit that will tell you what the right thing to do in a situation that you may have trouble with. The way I would do it is you cast a "farsight spell" and the game would pause and give you the low down of what to do. for example
-two fat melee units, 3 long distance archers
--the melee units are something to fear, while the archers are just a little distraction. you can't run away much because the archers will do damage, even if you try.
-10 archers
--The archers at this number will do hefty damage to any single unit.
-15 weak melee
--I hear AoE

Basically something to help people along the way

5) Making Boss Battles Epic
-Something that is generally hard in warcraft is making boss battles interesting. What usually happens is you load them with health, attack, etc and try to kill him off

Giving a boss something a little extra, like a slow moving wave of death would change things up. Basically you will have to avoid the damage while still getting attacks on him. giving him invincibility while also upgrading his attack forcing you to run away for 15 seconds would also mix it up.

Basically making the game less about watching yourself win and more about making yourself win

 

[Elfangor]

Firstly, thank you for taking the time to give such great advices and improvements to what i already had.

1) Make elements of magic (i.e. Frost, fire, light, shadow) learned changes from various people you meet along the way rather than leanred through techtree
-You meet a person and depending on what spell you want to elementify, you cast it in front of the person
-They will show you their take on it
--in this example all AoE will be the same amount of initial damage and deals to both allys and opponents
--Aoe frost-casts slow
--Aoe fire-does damage overtime
--thunder-depletes mana, removes buffs and stops all casting that was currently going on


basically each spell you cast will have a different elemental buff
-element-buff, negative, specialty
-frost-defense, slow, illusion
-air-speed, magic removal, can move where you would like
-fire-attack, dps, adapts your hero for you

From reading what you have written here, i think what you had in mind is quite different from the advancement system that i came up with. My spell system is not entirely based on elements, but necessarily just spells that make a specialization what it is. So with regards to the elements, i don't think i will implement that into my map. However, i like the trainer system that you mentioned and will probably be adding that into my map.

2) change the types of magics to be different ways of casting

Make the Techtree more toward
-Personal (rouge)-for someone that doesn't really like working too hard. basically makes it so you can passively make your hero the strongest possible
-Spellcasting (mage)-Basically if you aren't the best micromanager but love to see big effects happen
-Army (soldier)-for a person that micro manages like a champion where each unit is cared for.

Meanwhile, each techtree will have a spell that does that sort of thing with different effects

-AoE
-Line
-single target-examples
--Rouge-fly transform-simply utility for moving in and out of areas
--Rouge/Soldier-heal/jump-jump to a target to heal and heal upon landing
--Soldier-Heal
--Soldier/Mage-heal/hurt
--mage-hurt
--mage/rouge-jump/hurt
-Autocast attack-So players can use their mana without thinking
-Summon-creates a
-Aura
-personal bonus

So a player can customize their hero as they please

Well this is probably what i had in mind so you'll probably be seeing this in the map.

3) Make the way each battle for each group of enemies interesting

A few examples
-numbers in no mans land-Against weak yet numourous army's you will need to get AoE damage off. with those spells you will easily take care of the units

-Killing the Creators not the Creations-creating a mission where you must take out a group of powerful mages. if you simply attack their army, their summons will continuously spawn, and eventually you will be worn down and killed off. If you attack them directly with air units and try your best to hold off the summons with tanks, you will be able to stop their attack

-Fearing the focus fire-your opponents will be very smart about killing your army off with ranged units simply by focus firing them one by one and if you get too close, they will just pick you off. What you need to make sure to do is amass a gigantic army of weak units, so they will overwhelm the archers.

-Big bad Bullys-The opponents are few but extremely tough and their objective is to surround and clobber you with heavy melee attacks. They do AoE so you can't just amass a huge army and get a surround and wittle them down with direct damage spells. what you have to do is a hit and run option with your units. In the meantime try to make sure they don't get a surround on your units since thats what they will try to do.

-Stopping the Scout-have a level where you can attack the base from multiple directions. At each post however, there will be a unit that will run back to the base and call for reinforcements wich will decimate your army. Being able to attack a single outpost without incuring the wrath of that army is key. so you will need to find a way to get through baracades in order to stop the runner(s). One runner will be very fast and very weak, you will need to be able to get units to intercept him before he starts running. Fly over and behind enemy lines to wait for him. Big guy will be able to survive an attack like that but is slow so you will have destroy the baricade first and then kill him off. Last one will try and keep his units alive and will run if things look bad. basically you will have to create a small opening get a surround on him before things start looking bad

-Fun with funnels-Basically all about forcing your opponents giant army to go through a thin cavern, as your army waits on the otherside taking out each line one by one

I've spent quite some time thinking about the battle systems, and yes, I want the battles to involve strategy, however, i want to make it so that the battles can be won not just with only ONE strategy but multiple strategies that is up to the player to think up. To do this i'll be using varieties of terrain and units to add to the player's choice of strategies.

4) Have a Helper (Navi)
-Make a unit that will tell you what the right thing to do in a situation that you may have trouble with. The way I would do it is you cast a "farsight spell" and the game would pause and give you the low down of what to do. for example
-two fat melee units, 3 long distance archers
--the melee units are something to fear, while the archers are just a little distraction. you can't run away much because the archers will do damage, even if you try.
-10 archers
--The archers at this number will do hefty damage to any single unit.
-15 weak melee
--I hear AoE

Basically something to help people along the way

In this map, the hero will be having a scout that will bring reports of the enemy's strength, type of units, and the general layout of the battlefield. So that part is probably covered too.

5) Making Boss Battles Epic
-Something that is generally hard in warcraft is making boss battles interesting. What usually happens is you load them with health, attack, etc and try to kill him off

Giving a boss something a little extra, like a slow moving wave of death would change things up. Basically you will have to avoid the damage while still getting attacks on him. giving him invincibility while also upgrading his attack forcing you to run away for 15 seconds would also mix it up.

Basically making the game less about watching yourself win and more about making yourself win

This is one of the things that i worry about. I do realise the importance of making epic boss battles to make a good map. However, being really new in the map making community, my work may fall short of expectations. Though i will definitely try my best to make this map as good as it can be, and i will probably also be needing help from you guys. =)

 

[Formula1]

i appreciate your motivations
Succeeding in a map of this calibur can be hard, so best of luck to you

Something that is nice is the ability to see other boss battles and how they work
-Sonic the hedghog 1, first boss- Huge damage, very slow attack so its very avoidable
-Kingdom hearts 2, action commands- A boss grabs you, you must press z within .75 seconds. if you choose the wrong letter or you don't do it fast enough, you get hurt. otherwise you counter attack.
-super mario world final boss- must kill summons in order to obtain items, use items to throw at the boss. the boss can attack items
-Super Smash brothers master hand-every attack has a different "wind up" you must be prepared to avoid that kind of specific "wind up" (personal aoe, shockwave, target AoE) and in the mean time take advantage of the time he is "winding down"
-Super Mario world koopa-Your opponent will appear in one of 4 random locations while you have to avoid assorted moving/bouncing traps. Avoid the traps while you react to where ever he pops up and attack him
-secret weak point-your enemy isn't the guy attacking you... he's invincible.... but his secret is hidden in a random box. survive as you kill each box to find his true weakpoint

etc

 

[Elfangor]

Hmm those are pretty nice ideas for boss fights. Will definitely look into them.

Also i'm currently looking for a good terrainer that can help me create the terrains for the battle fields and dungeons. I will provide the general layout of what i want them to be like. Can anyone help?

 

[Formula1]

I on't know if there are any left (they might have moved on with real life or starcraft) but there are some pretty expert terrainers that were available here. I think there is a section dedicated to their skillz

But, they probably won't help you unless you have a soli foundation in terms of triggering and general combat. This is because not many people like to do work for projects that they don't think will actually happen

Make the boss fights and general missions on temporary terrains and then you can probably ask a terrain to test the map and make it pretty

 

[Elfangor]

Oh ok makes sense. Will do. Thanks.

 

[redscores]

Hm, I think you shouldn't give "basic classes", but classes depending on your decisions INGAME, for example like, if the warden of the city orders you to kill the necromancers in the woods, and if you are infront of those guys you can decide what you want to do, like: asking to join them or kill them.

If you kill them you maybe can become a warden of the city (means more subquests in the city) and if you join them you can take quests from them from now on, but you will be banished from that city (of course you will be able to buy stuff at the camp of the necromancers)... and ofcourse you could take quests from the necromancers, to join them.

And you will only be able to select a class by completing a keyquest for the class.

So you can work through several clans or familys or whatever, to enable the keyquests for the given classes (some class should exclude others, by the story you developed through decisions (look at my example with the necromancers)).

Something like that

And as a suggestion: Don't listen to formula too much, he can't take other peoples ideas and forces his own PS3 and Xbox-indicating bullshit gameplay Ideas, for example the stuff with pressing Z repeatedly is a indication of bad gameplay. You can design maps without such bullshit. And don't copy other games, get your OWN ideas, at best original ones.

And at last: I am specialized in hero spells, boss battles and design of heroes as a mapmaker, maybe I could help you.

 

[Elfangor]

o.0 wow thanks for the suggestions. I'm currently working on the hero spells but i want to try making them by myself first, since it's my first time doing this, but if i need help i'll come back and ask around. XD. Thanks for the offer anyway.

 

[Formula1]

And as a suggestion: Don't listen to formula too much, he can't take other peoples ideas and forces his own PS3 and Xbox-indicating bullshit gameplay Ideas, for example the stuff with pressing Z repeatedly is a indication of bad gameplay. You can design maps without such bullshit. And don't copy other games, get your OWN ideas, at best original ones.

I think its important to note gameplay isn't necessarilly bad gameplay

Resident evil is an aweful lot of fun and includes a "spam movement" gameplay
-even spam can be fun in appropiate situations

and when considering boss's, it's meant to be exciting and different. Not supposed to be just another level. However coming up with things can sometimes be painstaking and take a long time. So the ability to convert interesting and previously enjoyable things to a warcraft scenario isn't bad.

he said he was worried, so i gave him a path to gain inspiration from

instead of creating a lifestealing boss with 1000000000 life and 99.7% armor in my opinion isn't a good idea. Its boring and stupid.

I think you, redscores, shouldn't to put down other people's thoughts. I don't know how influencial you'll be on people. but in my opinion you shouldn't try to tell people who to trust to rather give suggestions of what is possible an incredible. Based on what people actually want to do they will decide who is a better person to listen to, not because one person says they are better than another.

 

[Elfangor]

chillax guys. both of you gave great advice. no need to put each other down.

 

[redscores]

I never said he should trust me, but copying other games IS NO GOOD ADVICE! it is kind of a commercial advice.

 

[Formula1]

I never said he should trust me, but copying other games IS NO GOOD ADVICE! it is kind of a commercial advice.

It's more like conversion
1) You still need to trigger everything
2) You still need to make it fun

Someone can copy a game and it will kind of fall apart because it doesn't fit or this or that
however, if someone is worried about making a good boss, looking at other bosses done in the past helps to give a person inspiration and give something different to a cliche boss battle environment known as warcraft 3.

it is good advice, telling someone "be inventive! " can be a cumbersome. I've wasted plenty of time trying to think up this and that. Being inventive in a fame that you might want 5 or more battles may take half a year.

Though invention will be necessary at somepoint runs out of things a copy. it boss's don't necessarilly HAVE to be inventive.

 

[Elfangor]

Alright I have decided on the dungeon bosses. Being a map making newbie that i am, i shall not try to complicate things by adding more triggers like what formula1 has suggested. This does not mean that the dungeon bosses will not be epic, however. I have decided to make the dungeon bosses with reference to the game Dragon Age. The bosses will be tough enough and have skills that are useful enough so that u can't win the boss through raw force. Terraining and character combinations will obviously come into play. More updates will be posted once i finish creating all 3 classes and their respective spell trees. =)

 

[Formula1]

Respectable choice

 

[LordKalla]

Hmm, i smell Dragon Age
It sounds cool so far, but try replacing "Warrior, Mage, Rouge" with more cool names like "Royal Knight, Sorcerer, Assasin" or "Prince, Warlock, Thief." That way, the classes will be more interresting in comparrision to generic classes.