Spell Request Workshop

[KILLCIDE]

So just to clarify, the Hero will "channel" the charge at a target point and will end if they run out of mana, correct? How will the user decide to end the channel before that happens?

 

[Lt_Hawkeye]

Yes, that is what should happen. I was thinking that he can simply press the stop button to stop channeling, or click+a the target point earlier to do damage based on the percentage of max mana he has consumed thus far, which will end the channeling.

 

[KILLCIDE]

Oh wait wait. So the original spell should be an instant cast spell, and then you choose where to go during the charge? I might be able to use two abilities and then and have it so that you select the target location with another ability.

 

[Lt_Hawkeye]

That is is correct. Using two abilities will be fine.

 

[KILLCIDE]

I'm basically done with your spell, but there is a slight issue with your damage formula. I drain the mana every loop iteration (0.03), so I have to convert the (2%) into units of 0.03, which is 0.0006 every 0.03 seconds. Let's say our Hero has 50 strength and the user only lets the Hero channel for one whole second, the damage will be: (50 * 2) * 0.02 = 2 damage.

Also, making it so that a knockback stops the charge would require you run all your knockbacks through Bribe's knockback system. With that in mind, should stunning + knocking back during the charge stop damage from happening?

Another question I have is how should the charging unit react to obstacles?

 

[Lt_Hawkeye]

To the first question, yes. For the second, he should not ignore obstacles. So, if the obstacles are in the way, he will hit the obstacles and not the target.

 

[KILLCIDE]

You didn't say anything about these two:

I drain the mana every loop iteration (0.03), so I have to convert the (2%) into units of 0.03, which is 0.0006 every 0.03 seconds. Let's say our Hero has 50 strength and the user only lets the Hero channel for one whole second, the damage will be: (50 * 2) * 0.02 = 2 damage.

...should stunning + knocking back during the charge stop damage from happening?

 

[Lt_Hawkeye]

To the first question, yes.

I said yes to the stunning + knocking back during the charge stop.

As for the damage, its fine that way even though it might seem strange.

 

[KILLCIDE]

Your Hero better have a whole lot of strength with everything you said, I only need to implement the knockback and the damage not happening if the caster gets stunned / knockbacked during the charge. I'll work on it when I get home tonight!

 

[Lt_Hawkeye]

Oh, he will Thanks for the hard work and for being patient with me despite my bad description.

 

[The Wanderer]

Oh, he will Thanks for the hard work and for being patient with me despite my bad description.

Mr. KILLCIDE is the best!

 

[KILLCIDE]

Power Attack
The user begins channeling his strength behind a single devastating attack. Attack animation is stopped before a swing during channeling.

He should be able to move during channeling (I do not mind if this can't be done). This drains 2% of his mana per second.

Click to normal attack to activate the spell on all targets within 100 radius of the main target or in front of the user. This deals damage and knockback the targets x range.

If he gets stunned, or knockbacked, etc. viva spells, or normal attack, it becomes disrupted. The spell should be avoidable.

Level 1 - Damage = (1 x Str) x % of Mana Consumed
Cooldown: 60s

Level 2 - Damage = (2 x Str) x % of Mana Consumed
Cooldown: 54s

Level 3 - Damage = (3 x Str) x % of Mana Consumed
Cooldown: 48s

Spell Type: Unit Target
Targets Allowed: All enemies except air.

That was pretty challenging to make, but I managed to get it done with minimal bugs. The "knockback interrupts caster" mechanic you want absolutely requires that you use Bribe's knockback system and that you run all your knockbacks through it. With that in mind, it also means you need Bribe's unit indexer. The animation can sometimes bug out (ex: caster animation will be standing even though they are charging). It doesn't happen a lot, but don't freak out about it; I wasn't entirely sure how to fix it. One other thing to keep note of is that due to the nature of the spell and PurgeandFire's Check Walkability, the Hero will run through units. However, he will stop on other obstacles. Here are the spell mechanics:

- Initializing the "charge up" will immediately start the cooldown for the spell. It will then remove the "charge up" ability and add the second ability that lets you decide where the Hero will charge. Big thanks to @Quilnez for giving me a point of reference on how to do this properly
- Stunning + knocking back the hero during the "charge up" or "charge" will end the spell instance and not damage + knockback enemy units
- Mana is drained every loop iteration (0.03)
- The current strength of the Hero is taken into damage, not whatever Strength the Hero had at the start of the spell
​

GIF Preview

Requirements

• Check Walkability
• GUI Knockback
• GUI Unit Indexer

Changelog

v1.00 (05 November 2016)

• Uploaded

v1.01 (05 November 2016)

• Fixed bug with charge animation still playing even though the caster ran out of mana

 

[IcemanBo]

good job so far!

 

[Dehua_Darbuya]

That's pretty sweet I must say. Well done @KILLCIDE, keep up the good work!

One small issue though; when the Chieftain runs out of mana, he keeps playing his walking animation but at a significantly slower pace. I tried looking into the code but I've gotta go soon, so I thought I'd at least bring it up with you. Besides you probably know the triggers like the back of your hand and end up identifying the problem in a matter of seconds.

I also noticed you didn't use the Engineering Upgrade trick to hide the channeling ability. This isn't an issue actually; I was just surprised at how you pulled off the whole hiding-the-spell-and-keeping-the-cooldown-intact thingy without it. Nice alternative.

P.S.: Haha, nice one @IcemanBo.

 

[KILLCIDE]

when the Chieftain runs out of mana, he keeps playing his walking animation but at a significantly slower pace.

Ahh probably because I don't reset the animation when that instance ends. I only reset it when the charge ends. Thanks for bringing it up! Ill work on it later.

I was just surprised at how you pulled off the whole hiding-the-spell-and-keeping-the-cooldown-intact thingy without it. Nice alternative.

I got the idea from Quilnez. He got the idea from someone else, but I cant remember. I take no credit


EDIT

I was right about the animation thing fixed! Thank you again for reporting it.

 

[Kyrbi0]

What's the trick? I've heard of the Spellbook trick, but Engineering Upgrade?

 

[KILLCIDE]

I didn't use the engineering upgrade or the spellbook trick. I wasn't even aware about the former.

 

[Kyrbi0]

Really? I thought everyone knew the Spellbook trick... Or rather, anyone who's ever needed to hide an ability (i.e. pretty much everyone) had to figure out how, and discovered/was told the Spellbook trick.

(if you're curious: basically you stick the ability/-ies you want to hide into a modified version of the Spellbook item ability. Give that to the unit you want, and (pre-)disable the ability with triggers... Voila, hidden ability that still works.
This works for passives definitely, but even appears to work for active-cast abilities; somehow because of the screwy way the game interprets Spellbooks (see here), it's there & not there at the same time)

Anyway, now I'm really curious. How do you hide stuff then?

 

[KILLCIDE]

The mechanic is that the unit uses the ability, goes on cooldown, gets a second ability, uses that ability, and then gets the first ability back. Hiding the ability is purely aesthetic.

It also sounds like the spellbook trick is player specific rather than unit specific.

 

[Kyrbi0]

The mechanic is that the unit uses the ability, goes on cooldown, gets a second ability, uses that ability, and then gets the first ability back. Hiding the ability is purely aesthetic.

Um? Wait, what's this about a 2nd ability (same as first, or different)? How can it get the 1st one back (does it lose it somehow)?

I'm really curious to figure this out. If you don't want to explain in more detail, I don't mind if you post a link to someone/where else describing it (Quilnez?).

It also sounds like the spellbook trick is player specific rather than unit specific.

I mean, via trigger one must disable it for the player, but the Spellbook is only on/given to a specific unit (you generally make a different Spellbook for each time you need to use the trick).

 

[The Wanderer]

good job so far!

We have to kiss his ring now.

 

[KILLCIDE]

Um? Wait, what's this about a 2nd ability (same as first, or different)? How can it get the 1st one back (does it lose it somehow)?

The spell request required two abilities. One is an instant cast, and the other is point target. The instant cast is the first ability, which has the cooldown. When the caster uses it, they begin channeling, where I then hide the first ability and add the second ability (the cooldown has already started at this point). You use the second ability to select a target point, where the caster then begins to charge at. The second ability gets removed, the first ability is unhidden, still retaining its cooldown. If you open the map or look at the gif, you will know what I mean.

I'm really curious to figure this out.

Figure what out?

 

[Elprede]

Ominous Blaze
Launch a burning arrow towards target point.

Scenario: Let the launched arrow reach the ground and it will explode in grand fire. All nearby enemy units within X AOE will become "infected".

Use a second ability that is instant to ignite these enemy units on fire. These units will take X damage every X seconds for X seconds and gradually turn smoky black as they run around in a frenzy. Any unit that comes close enough to these units will also catch fire.

Level 1 - 10 Damage every second for 10 seconds, 400 AOE
Level 2 - 10 Damage every 0.5 seconds for 10 seconds, 600 AOE
Level 3 - 20 Damage every 0.25 seconds for 10 seconds, 800 AOE

Spell Type: Point Target
Targets Allowed: Any

 

[KILLCIDE]

That sounds extremely similar to your entry for Zephyr Contest #13. Regardless, I'm not a big fan of creating "over-the-top" spell mechanics / cinematic-y spells like that.

 

[The Wanderer]

Shield Charge
Shield at hand, the unit rushes towards the enemy and damaging everyone in front

Level 1 - 180% of strength as damage, casting range 600
Level 2 - 250% strength as damage, 600 casting range.
Level 3 - 320% strength as damage, 600 casting range.

Spell Type: Unit target
Targets Allowed: Ground Units

Additional Info: If there is a unit blocking the way of the target, the triggering hero stops and deals the damage to that blocking unit and enemies nearby instead of the target of ability. AoE is 200

 

[Dehua_Darbuya]

EDIT

I was right about the animation thing fixed! Thank you again for reporting it.

No worries. Just doing my job as a guinea pig.

What's the trick? I've heard of the Spellbook trick, but Engineering Upgrade?

It's similar to the Spellbook trick but it allows active abilities to keep their cooldowns intact while they are hidden. Check this guide by WaterKnight for more info: Disable an ability for a specific hero/unit.

 

[KILLCIDE]

Shield Charge
Shield at hand, the unit rushes towards the enemy and damaging everyone in front

Level 1 - 180% of strength as damage, casting range 600
Level 2 - 250% strength as damage, 600 casting range.
Level 3 - 320% strength as damage, 600 casting range.

Spell Type: Unit target
Targets Allowed: Ground Units
Additional Info: If there is a unit blocking the way of the target, the triggering hero stops and deals the damage to that blocking unit and enemies nearby instead of the target of ability. AoE is 200

Yayy... another charge spell. I assumed that the mechanics you didn't mention, you actually wanted, sooo (excluding stun stopping the charge):

- Damage is dealt in a cone in front of the caster (starting from the target)
- Strength includes bonuses, and takes current strength of the Hero, not what Strength the caster had when it casted
- Damage is only dealt when the caster succesfuly runs into a unit
- Caster will stop at obstacles (including units)
- Charge is uninterruptible by the player
​

GIF Preview

Requirements

• Check Walkability

Changelog

v1.00 (07 November 2016)

• Uploaded

 

[Flux]

Maan that sounds complicated (even with the library linked by IcemanBo). I'll keep it in my list for now, but no promises that I can finish it.

I ended up creating my own with somewhat similar structure (Time Lapse) so if you kinda want something with extra challenge and interesting to create, how about this instead?

False Promise
Temporarily alters an ally's destiny, delaying any healing or damage taken until False Promise ends. Any healing that is delayed by False Promise is doubled. Removes most negative status effects and disables on initial cast.

Level 1 - 8 second duration.
Level 2 - 9 second duration.
Level 3 - 10 second duration.

Spell Type: Unit target
Targets Allowed: Allies/Self

To make it less complicated, if the net damage is greater than the heal received during False Promise and the targeted unit's hp is not enough because too much damage is applied during False Promise, the kill will be credited to the unit that applies the most damage.

 

[KILLCIDE]

Given that I'm by myself and I do this on my free time, I will only make it if you actually have plans of using it

 

[The Wanderer]

Yayy... another charge spell. I assumed that the mechanics you didn't mention, you actually wanted, sooo (excluding stun stopping the charge):

- Damage is dealt in a cone in front of the caster (starting from the target)
- Strength includes bonuses, and takes current strength of the Hero, not what Strength the caster had when it casted
- Damage is only dealt when the caster succesfuly runs into a unit
- Caster will stop at obstacles (including units)
- Charge is uninterruptible by the player
​

GIF Preview

View attachment 252020

Requirements

• Check Walkability

Changelog

v1.00 (07 November 2016)

• Uploaded

(GASP!) It looks like as if you have hacked into my thoughts!

 

[_Guhun_]

Given that I'm by myself and I do this on my free time, I will only make it if you actually have plans of using it

Well, if it's worth anything, I really think I could use this idea he has given xD (except the removes most negative status effects part, that's really likely going to colide with another trigger spell hehe)

Also would be interesting if you could make it so it doesn't work on units who already are affected by false promise (or at least add the option for this)

 

[KILLCIDE]

Could you use the format with the mechanics you want? It would be easier for me to reference back to while I'm making it. I will be able to start on it either tonight or tomorrow evening.

 

[_Guhun_]

Could you use the format with the mechanics you want? It would be easier for me to reference back to while I'm making it. I will be able to start on it either tonight or tomorrow evening.

Well, I don't really want to steal his request, so I'll make it similar to his:


False Promise
Temporarily alters an ally's destiny, delaying any healing or damage taken until False Promise ends. Any healing that is delayed by False Promise is multiplied by N. Configurable to make it so new instances on the same unit either add to the duration or do nothing at all.

If ( DAMAGE - N*HEALING > LIFE AT TIME OF CAST), kill the unit. (Kill credit is given to the player whose units did the most damage to the unit, or to nobody at all if that is too time consuming to code)


EDIT: Should have a buff, and spell should end normally if buff is dispelled. Please add custom events for when an instance of the spell begins and when it ends, if it's not too much trouble. Thanks again ^.^

Level 1 - 8 second duration, N=2
Level 2 - 9 second duration, N=2.5
Level 3 - 10 second duration, N=3

Spell Type: Unit Target
Targets Allowed: Friend/Self

 

[KILLCIDE]

If total damage is greater than the total healing after the duration has expired, kill the unit.

If a unit has 500 HP, takes 200 damage, and 199 healing, I should kill them?

 

[_Guhun_]

If a unit has 500 HP, takes 200 damage, and 199 healing, I should kill them?

Woops, my mistake. I meant to say:

if ((DAMAGE - HEALING*N) > CURRENT LIFE) then Kill the Unit
​

As a side note, do you think that all healing and damage in the map would need to be trigger based to make this possible? Because I wonder how you would deal with the unit's "life per second" :S

 

[KILLCIDE]

As long units do not take damage from health subtraction instead of actually dealing damage, then any damage taken can easily be nulled by a DDS. If I run the loop every 0.03 seconds, any healing done to the unit can easily be set back to whatever HP it had when the instance first started (this includes health regeneration). The only issue I don't see possible is making it so that the unit who deals the most damage gets the kill credit.

 

[_Guhun_]

As long units do not take damage from health subtraction instead of actually dealing damage, then any damage taken can easily be nulled by a DDS. If I run the loop every 0.03 seconds, any healing done to the unit can easily be set back to whatever HP it had when the instance first started (this includes health regeneration). The only issue I don't see possible is making it so that the unit who deals the most damage gets the kill credit.

Oh, I was thinking of the looping instance, but I thought you were going to do it another way (it didn't seem to efficient coming from my mind xD)

I guess the loop can also check for non-fatal health subtraction by triggers, but that would not work for any value of the N multiplier except 1, so it's useless

Also, don't worry about the kill credit, it really wouldn't bother me in my application for the spell. I could see it maybe being done inefficiently with a hashtable storing the damage (Parent: spell target unit handle ID -> store damage source handle ID on key x, damage dealt on key x+1) but you really don't need to add the kill credit if it's too much of a hassle or not possible/practical.

 

[KILLCIDE]

I guess the loop can also check for non-fatal health subtraction by triggers, but that would not work for any value of the N multiplier except 1, so it's useless

You shouldn't be doing health subtraction to deal damage anyway. If the health subtraction is fatal, kill credit is not applied. I'm a little confused with the last half of the sentence.

Also, don't worry about the kill credit, it really wouldn't bother me in my application for the spell. I could see it maybe being done inefficiently with a hashtable storing the damage

Its possible considering I only need to save the unit who has dealt the most damage so far. I have to consider the possibility of the unit damaging multiple targets with False Promise, which gets super convoluted. I'll see what I can do.

 

[_Guhun_]

You shouldn't be doing health subtraction to deal damage anyway. If the health subtraction is fatal, kill credit is not applied. I'm a little confused with the last half of the sentence.

If the N multiplier for healing is higher than one, than the amount of healing and the amount of health subtraction would matter, and there would be no way to distinguish the two, because you're only reading the health value.
Say, a unit has 450 hp, up from 400. It could've have taken 200 damage and been healed for 250.

If N=1: You should heal for (250 - 200) at the end of the spell duration, so just consider that 50 healing.
If N=2: You should heal for 500 at the end, and take 200 damage, so you would heal for 300. If you go by the HP difference, you would only heal by 100.

So any type of health subtraction is a no-go for this to work. (Luckily most people don't use it anyway)

Its possible considering I only need to save the unit who has dealt the most damage so far. I have to consider the possibility of the unit damaging multiple targets with False Promise, which gets super convoluted. I'll see what I can do.

Good Luck, and thank you

 

[KILLCIDE]

Well like I said, anyone who uses health subtraction to deal damage in their map shouldn't be doing it I'll get started on this either tonight or tomorrow evening.

 

[KILLCIDE]

@_Guhun_ hey sorry I've been busy the past few days. I haven't started on the request yet Just had two questions:

• should it be dispellable?
• If you want a buff indicator, should it be "negative" or "positive"?

 

[_Guhun_]

@_Guhun_ hey sorry I've been busy the past few days. I haven't started on the request yet Just had two questions:

• should it be dispellable?
• If you want a buff indicator, should it be "negative" or "positive"?

Sure man, don't worry about it Take your time with this

-> It should have a buff, and if the buff were to be dispelled, the effect would end normally (take damage and heal for N*healing, die if damage+N*healing > life at time of cast).

PS: It would be great if made a custom event for when an instance of the spell begins and when it ends.


PSS: I edited the post with the submission form to include everything we discussed.

 

[KILLCIDE]

It should have a buff

I'm going to use Unholy Frenzy as the base ability. Let me know if this will be a problem.

PS: It would be great if made a custom event for when an instance of the spell begins and when it ends.

Why?


Also one last thing: if the damage taken is fatal, should the target take damage first and then be healed at the end of the instance? Or should it just be healed?

 

[_Guhun_]

Why?

I'm just a fan of custom events because they allow a lot of inter-spell interaction and make it easy to add new effects to spells :S

Say, I want to make a unit explode depending on whatever factors I want to check at the end of the spell effect. I can just use the custom event to do this without having to edit your code

Or I want to loop the spell or make it so a unit can only be affected every few seconds, custom events make that easy.

I think it makes customization easier, and it's generally too hard to implement, just needs a real variable,a unit variable and some way to store the spell level (probably an integer variable).

Sorry if it sounds like I'm lazy/asking for too much :S Feel free to just ignore the custom events

Also one last thing: if the damage taken is fatal, should the target take damage first and then be healed at the end of the instance? Or should it just be healed?

Hmmm... I don't really get this part. Why would you only heal a target that took fatal damage? Don't you need to deal the fatal damage? :S

 

[KILLCIDE]

Adding custom events won't be a problem. I was just genuinely curious as to why you wanted it.

Hmmm... I don't really get this part. Why would you only heal a target that took fatal damage? Don't you need to deal the fatal damage? :S

Sorry I meant "if the damage isn't fatal..."

 

[_Guhun_]

Adding custom events won't be a problem. I was just genuinely curious as to why you wanted it.


Sorry I meant "if the damage isn't fatal..."

If you damage a unit with 500 health for 1500, but then heal it for 5000, will it die or be at 500 HP?

My intuition says that it would die, but if it doesn't than you should deal the damage first, I guess, to be consistent.

 

[KILLCIDE]

It would definitely die.

Also, I started on the spell a little bit. There will be occasions where the unit's HP bar will flicker since the heal can sometimes happen a little before the next loop iteration will run. 0.02 and 0.01 still had the flicker, but rarely. Hopefully this will not bother you.

 

[_Guhun_]

It would definitely die.

Then it's better to just heal the unit instead of damage+heal. It's more consistent

 

[KILLCIDE]

Got it. So do you only want two events (index & deindex)? What kind of variables do you want me to include?

 

[_Guhun_]

Got it. So do you only want two events (index & deindex)? What kind of variables do you want me to include?

Yeah, just index and deindex. Include the unit that is being indexed/deindexed and the level of the ability, please