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Souls of Chaos Multiplayer RPG - Project Development

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Level 10
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Introduction

A multiplayer RPG for up to 3 players at a time. This is a map i have been working on solo for over half a year now. I recently have been getting help and things have been moving along pretty smoothly, the terrain for the most part is completed as well as many of the systems and a few quest.

Story

- Peace has reigned over the land of Ivalice for more then 25 years now thanks to the mighty King Mathias. It has been a good time for the kingdom but the forces of darkness have been watching with envy waiting for there chance to strike. King Mathias has grown old and his powers have diminished, as the last Paladin alive the undead have little to fear now and they have begun to creep out of the shadows. A war for the souls of Ivalice's citizens is about to erupt, will you be there savior or perish with them?

- You can play as 1 of 3 unknown heroes called upon by the king to help in these troubled times.

Orien a Arcane Ranger raised in a monistary schooled in the ways of magic and trained as a assassin.

Dragden a Dragon Knight raised from a early age to wield a sword. He is a slayer of dragons and wants nothing but to be know as a legendary warrior through-out the world.

Arius a Warlock master of magic and steel. A veteran wise in his ways and possibly humanity's best hope.

Features

1- A 256x224 map with highly detailed terrain and realistic building you can actually walk into and enter. As well as many painfully crafted areas including dungeons, caves and even a hellish underworld area.

2- A combat system similar to WC3 but you will need to time counter attacks to avoid damage and stay alive as there is no healing type spells and potions will be rare. Basically enemies attack slower then normal giving you a chance to casts a counter attack ability that dodges attacks and automatically orders your hero to attack back.

3- Spells and abilities will not be learned the normal WC3 way but instead when you level up you will gain lumber aka "Skill Points" that you can purchase spells with from guild masters so you can mix and match different classes with different kinds of spells and abilities.

4- A equipment system unlike any other with 11 equipment slots on each hero and around 50 equipable items including 6 piece armor sets as well as weapons and accessories that can increase the level of spells and abilities.

5- A Talk system where every NPC takes part in quest. By talking to the king he will guide you through the main quest line while all other NPCs are involved in side quest, probably around 10 to 15 rather long side quest will be available.

6- A smooth height variation friendly camera that fallows your hero and gives you a up close view of the action.

Team

I have done the terrain already with some help from Leet.Firefox on putting the finishing touches in. Most if not all the skins and models i will be using have already been imported. I have also been doing many of the triggers but right now im looking for people to create quest.

Main Terrainer : Wolfhelm
Co Terrainer : Leet.Firefox

Main Scriptor : Wolfhelm
Co Scriptor : Leet.Firefox, MegaFyr, EvilCrizpy

Screenshots

Here is a few screenshots, consider it a sneak peek of whats to come. I will be adding more if this thread actually gets any reply's by interested people.

1) Hero Selection screen, this is where you choose your character and gives you a good view of what the buildings look like inside.
2) Castle Wolfhelm, a fully playable castle. Also inside the walls of this great fortress is a tavern/inn and a jail.
3) The equipment system, there is 11 slots for items including head, chest, legs, feet, wrist, shoulder, both hands, 2 rings, and a necklace.
4) A view from the outside of the local mage guild in town.
5) A view of the inside of the mage guild.
6) The Black Wolf tavern from the outside.
7) A picture of the Black Wolf tavern interior.
 

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Level 17
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A three player RPG? I haven't heard of that before. Truly original, I must say and I love the idea of the three heroes. A Dragon Knight, Arcane Ranger and a Warlock. At first when I saw the 'three-player' part I thought it would've been boring like "Warrior, Mage and Rogue". But well done.

I'm hoping quests will be epic, considering you have three players, and rely on teamwork to complete them?

Also, nice job on the terrain. Not a fan of the Blizzard trees, but what can you do, eh?

And... you have lots of typos. =S
 
Level 3
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I like how you have decided on a 3 player RPG! Many of us RPG reviewers play with a friend over LAN.
 
Level 10
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Yeah well at first it was going to be single player but i think single player maps are boring. 3 seemed like a good balance otherwise it might have been too crowded in certain areas and its hard to keep a team of 5 or 6 players together, with three players everyone should be able to stick together more.

Players will be able to play through all the side quest individually or together - but they dont have to do same quest at same time if they dont want however working as a team will be very important while fighting bosses and completing main quest line.
 
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Realistically i dont think map will have fully playable version for another 2 or 3 months. Unless someone with alot of talent decides to help me finish quest.

I will be posting more screen shots soon so check back later this week and i will be keeping everyone informed on the progress as the map moves into final stages of production.
 
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Three heroes for a RPG, so the Quests will rely on teamwork?

Yes depending on the number of players in the game the bosses levels can greatly increase as well as the strength of enemy units. If you dont travel as a group it will be very difficult to kill most things.
Also when special events that have to do with main quest line happen i.e. one of the players discovers a boss and triggers a fight, all the players will view the cinematic and anyone not near the boss/event will get map pings showing them the location.

btw: that equipment system is rather complicated, right ?

No, just the opposite. The equipment system was made as easy to use as possible. When you pick up a item that can be equipped there will be orange text in the description telling you. You click on the item as if it where a potion or other usable item. To view all the items you have currently equiped you just click on the Backpack skill your hero has. While inside the backpack you can check what items are equipped as well as read the descriptions and if you want to unequip the item just click on it and it will return to your inventory.
 
No, just the opposite. The equipment system was made as easy to use as possible. When you pick up a item that can be equipped there will be orange text in the description telling you. You click on the item as if it where a potion or other usable item. To view all the items you have currently equiped you just click on the Backpack skill your hero has. While inside the backpack you can check what items are equipped as well as read the descriptions and if you want to unequip the item just click on it and it will return to your inventory.

That is much better saves people space in there inventory and looks neat and tidy. Well done. I like the map layout and the house interior. Are you going to add any skills like mining etc?
 
Level 10
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Update:

The map progress has been going really well mostly thanks to EvilCrizpy working on alot of the quest.

I have been taking care of all the details - adding spells, making units, adding more items to equipment system, and other random crap.

Megafyr is working on the spawn system and adding more camera option using the arrow keys.

So here is more screen shots i promised.

1) Graveyard massacre, you can see damage detection system and spell text system by kyuubi[lew] aka Jinchiruki_God, and Paladon's knock back system in use while i spank on some zombies. xD

2) Marsh battle, just screen shot of the marsh area's terrain. It is a battle between a huge Marsh Turtle and the Dragon Knight.

3) What happen here? Seems like a soldier got lost on his way back to the castle, better check if he has anything valuable on him. ^^
 

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Update

A few small updates not major.

Main quest line started on
Updated church started work on loading screen.

1) Updated chruch, tower coming out of roof.

2) Loading screen (To be finished)

Hope you enjoy. Will add more asap when i get more free time.
 

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Level 10
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Couple new screen shots, im going to slowly reveal intire map.

1) Graveyard boss pre-fight cinematic. All bosses will have cinematic scenes before, during and after each battle

2) Cave Crawling, a screen shot of the Arcane Ranger inside of a cave.
 

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small updates towards Religion.. and leader board:

Details:

1) New religions in Souls of Chaos, they 2% are all going to be 0.2% just had 2% for test.

2) New Leaderboard, with religion modified and icons added to stats.

3) Tips in game, each random every 120 seconds of game time.
 

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Level 10
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So far there is 40 equipable items, over 10 side quest (most of them are long) and the main quest is about half complete.

Also added a creep re-spawn where the unit fades in over time instead of just appearing on the map all of a sudden. (thanks to Megafyr)

All the potions and various quest items have there own models - still not sure what im gonna do about eqquipable items cuz there is so many and so few models already avialable.

Im currently working on a difficulty modifier based on the combined levels of all player heroes.

The goal is that you will be able to talk with every NPC on the map. (most of them are involved in one of the many side quest) I havnt counted all the NPC's but there must be 30+, but so far i think there is only a hand-full left that dont have anything to say or do.

There is still alot to do but hopfully there will be a beta map out in another months time.
 
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New Screenshots

Just a few screenshots from areas that you will explore in later stages of the story.

The first 2 screenshots are of the Underworld - A hellish prison for the damned. The gateway has been open, now you must travel inside to close it for good before the the demonic army's can march on the innocent people of Ivalace.

The last 2 are of the Abyss Dungeon - Where Nerothos (the final boss character) was imprisoned by the King many years ago. It is full of restless souls that wander the dungeon for eternity.
 

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Level 10
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Well everything is almost finished, there is still a few things left to do - mostly in the last area of map players will explore.

All the items, spells, shops, side quest, and other things are finished. Its just basically finishing the final stages of main quest that is left to do.

I will probably release a finished beta version or semi-finished version of map for testing/balancing purposes soon. (within next week or so)
If i do testers feedback will be very important to polishing map for final version.

Also im still debating to make map open source or not.
 
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I'll Pm anyone who is interested in testing the beta version of map later this week.

Right now im waiting on a couple models and trying to finish up the rest of main story quest.
 
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Beta Test Map Version 1.0

So this is what i got so far.

-You should be able to play about 3/4th of the main quest line and explore everything except the final 2 dungeon areas.
-You should be able to complete all but 1 or 2 side quest (there is 13 in all)
-Almost every item will be available.
-Every spell/skill is possible to use.
-The multiboard should be completely functionable.
-All triggers necessary for gameplay should work without flaws.

What the map is missing...


It is missing tips to explain where and how to purchase new spells (it is possible but you will just have to figure it out for yourself) This is somewhat intentional as i would like to see how difficult/easy it will be to use without having to go into great detail explaining how.
It is missing a few models but that wont be noticeable during gameplay as there is temporary models in use.
Its missing any triggers after a certain point in main quest, you will however be able to play a majority of it.
It does not have a proper loading screen.. big whoop
Im sure im forgetting more stuff but anything else that is missing should not be noticeable.

The fighting has been balanced to a degree but some may find it rather difficult in single player and too easy in multiplayer but thats what testing is for xD

The map is protected as of right now, it will become open source when the final version is complete.
 

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Level 4
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I got to play it for a bit - maybe 10 minutes, not enough :sad:
However I did notice something while I did play - besides the buildings raping my camera view - I had scrolled it down all the way so it wasn't overhead view. Was thisTooltip.jpg, I lol'd when I saw it and the description for the bag's armor type. I don't recall it doing anything either.
 
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The camera can be annoying inside building but there is no easy solution to that problem You can scroll around camera and position your unit in a way that makes viewing the interiors easier.

That screenshot is just a tooltip mix up that was overlooked. Its suppose to say
"Quickly shield yourself from incoming attacks and counter strike."

Every hero starts with 1 basic spell that makes it possible to dodge hits and strike back.
Basically what it does is give your hero 100% evasion for a second or so then order your hero to attack the unit trying to hit you.
If you time it correctly it will keep you alive much longer then just standing around attacking.
 
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The trick to using the basic skills correctly is watching the attacking units animation - there is a delay, you will see it attack before you hear any sound and take damage. So if you time the spell at the instant the enemy starts to swing you should dodge the attack damage.

And thats good to hear about the spell purchasing - its not difficult but some people may not understand.
 
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Map Review


- I played for about 15 minutes and got bored 'cause of blink abuse, no skills (couldn't figure it out) and many texture faults.

BUGS


- Infinite, No cooldown Blink
(check the event if it's begins casting instead of finishes)
- Esc Button doesn't work, cinematics are so long and uncut that make me not wanna talk to anyone.

* Couldn't reach to talk to the starting city's Tavern girl, so I had to go around the chairs and behind the bar.
- Many trembling walls/stairs/columns. Very annoying, hurts my eyes.

TYPO'S


- Soldier: "- I hear there is an alcolyte [...]"

SUGGESTIONS


* Add sound speech, or any sound at all.
* The Archer had massive MP for just 1 spell, unless the other spells costed a lot more.
- Why are the Quests mixed up? Sort them and you MUST add a Help/Info quest, besides the credits.
* Replace the default Item-Sell System with a Menu.
(I know what I'm asking for but you have all the other stuff, why not this?)


ILIKES


+ Camera Movement
(Even if it had many faults)
+ Item Set Bonus
+ Evade & Counter
(Will need to be improved though)
+ Varius of Custom Models fit with the environment
+ Ideas!



PS: Good Start for a BETA!:wink:
 
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As you level up you gain skill points (aka lumber) that you can purchase skills with from NPC's in the town. There is a master rogue in back of tavern that will teach you rogue type spells, a master mage in the large stone building just south of tavern and a master warrior in the other large building in southern corner of town.

- Infinite, No cooldown Blink (check the event if it's begins casting instead of finishes)


Yeah, i wasnt sure how to fix that blink thanks. p.s. other spells do cost much more mana.

* Couldn't reach to talk to the starting city's Tavern girl, so I had to go around the chairs and behind the bar.

The talk spells casting range just needs to be increase - i had shortened it just befor saving the beta map because it was too large before and you could talk to someone like a mile away.

I will also make it so you can skip cinematics.

- Many trembling walls/stairs/columns. Very annoying, hurts my eyes.

Im not sure how what to do about "trembling walls" - it is because some doodads overlap.

* Add sound speech, or any sound at all.

I need help with sounds - its not something i pay much attention to myself so its not something im good at.

- Why are the Quests mixed up? Sort them and you MUST add a Help/Info quest, besides the credits.

The side quest may seem messed up but that is just the order they where created in and im not sure how to organize them differently but i will try.

And yes there needs to be a help system that will definitely be added.

* Replace the default Item-Sell System with a Menu. (I know what I'm asking for but you have all the other stuff, why not this?)

Item sell system with menu sounds interesting - i have never seen one.

Thanks for comments and suggestions.
 
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[...] The side quest may seem messed up but that is just the order they where created in and im not sure how to organize them differently but i will try.

And yes there needs to be a help system that will definitely be added.

Item sell system with menu sounds interesting - i have never seen one.

Thanks for comments and suggestions.
- The quests are in order they are created in triggers, if you move a quest to be created first in triggers, it will be first in F9.
 
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Yeah i know how to change the order, but the only other order i can think of is easiest to hardest and they would still seem mixed up.
 
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Yeah i think that might be best - i didnt do it like that at first because i wanted everyone to know what quest where available, i can do that with help system somehow tho.
 
hmmm good idea, i will add a warning system in 1 click in only.

I would also like to mention...
That i will be taken over this project from now one due to wolfhelm does not have enough time to work on it, as soon as bugs are fixed beta will be released, wolfhelm will continue to work and post just wont be as active as always.

Yours sincerly,
Evilcrizpy
 
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Agreed with VergilThazaar on the hero selection, and it takes like 30 seconds until your camera will actually be applied to the character?? Plus u have some misspelled words in there such as the soldier by the town gate with the horses he says "Fallow", when its supposed to be "follow.", Spelling is minor but just mentioning it =p
 
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