Svenski's Basement Defense (a WIP)

[Svenski]

Svenski's Defend the Basement! (Released)

Greetings, fellow gamers, mappers, artists, and scripters.
Welcome to the DtB Beta Thread.
NOTE: I have released the game in the map section, you can find it here. I'm no longer supporting updates to this post or updating this post in any way. See the [rainbow]website[/rainbow] for the most up to date information.



Brief Overview

Three to Five Player Cooperative Play Hero Defense Type Game with Activated Creep Wave Levels 100% Teamwork Dependent A Multitude of Innovative Spells and Items Challenging and Dynamic Gameplay Epic Boss Fights!

Official Website Links

Game Mechanics Detailed Game Overview Comprehensive Hero Overviews Input Commands Change Log (Coming post-release) Downloads

Gameplay YouTube Video!

Introduction

I present to you a work in progress, Basement Defense, or Defend the Basement!; a hero defense type map in which you and some of your friends can work together to fend off waves of attackers from destroying your humble home in the woods. There are also side-missions (dubbed, 'Neutral Bosses') for you to kill to better equip yourselves for the defense. Further Background Info The inspiration for creating this game came from my all-time favorite Warcraft 3 mod: Defense of the Ancients, a hero defense I once played called Graveyard Defense, along with my desire to play less competitively and more for fun. I've enjoyed all aspects of creating this map so far; from the programming and triggering to the concept design and artwork. Many thanks go to my friends who have consistently helped with testing and balancing since I began the project. This is my very first project, and I've been working on it since sometime in March 2009. Starting out I had no clue what I was getting into, and hadn't planned on using triggered spells or anything of that sort. Eventually I ran into ideas that required more and more involved usage of triggering and the occasional JASS editing and scripting to get what I really wanted. Long story short, I learned how to do everything while making this map (one of the reasons why it's taking me so long to finish). Player Feedback... I've spent a significant amount of time refining what is in the most up to date release of the map. I welcome all forms of criticism as long as it's constructive! Right now I'm struggling with the fact that I know everything there is to know about the game, and I have no idea how it will be for a newcomer just picking it up. So if you try it out, please tell me if something is unclear to you and I will try to make the tips in the introduction more obvious, or add better descriptions where needed. I'm open for balance suggestions or overhauling concepts so please leave feedback! Another thing that would be very helpful if you play the game with 3-5 players, upload your replay in a reply post so I can watch and make balance decisions based upon real player experiences!

Detailed Game Overview

<YouTube Video of Game Overview> Game Begins... At the beginning of the game, Player 1 (or other master player) will be prompted for the Game Mode: Player 1 may also choose to call a vote, resulting in the most popular mode being chosen. In the case of a tie, the lower tier mode is selected. The Game Modes Are: Godlike Mode: You cannot use -retry at all, but you get 150 cumulative gold per level (CGPL)! This mode is recommended for experts at DtB who want well fed heroes for the end-game boss. Hard Mode: You can use -retry up to 5 times, and you get 100 CGPL. Recommended for experienced players. Normal Mode: You can use -retry up to 15 times, and you get 50 CGPL. Recommended for players with minimal exposure to DtB and/or lots of experience with Warcraft. Sandbox Mode: You can use -retry as much as you want (no limit), but get no CGPL. Recommended for new players who want to figure out the game mechanics by trying things out. CGPL is the amount of gold awarded to each player for completing a level without using a retry. This reward accumulates for each level completed, and is rewarded after completion of the next level without using a retry. E.g.; You complete levels 1-4 without using any retries on Normal Mode. You will receive 50 Cumulative Gold Bonus (CGB) after level 2 is complete, then 100 CGB after level 3 is complete, then 150 CGB after level 4 is complete, and so on. After mode selection is complete, you may choose from a handful of different heroes, each designed with a specific roll (or roles) in mind. The heroes are designed to each have four unique abilities that require skill points to level up and each a special "Racial" ability available without spending skill points. Bear in mind, the requirements of tanking, healing, and dealing damage in both single and multiple-target fashions must be taken into account while you choose your heroes and initial skill points. Further customization of your hero comes with time, as the game progresses you can choose which skills to make more powerful, what types of armor and items to obtain, and what type of food to eat (described in the items section). Note: The difficulty of this game scales with the number of players in the game. 3-Player difficulty is the easiest, and 5-Player difficulty is the most challenging. Starting the First Level... After you choose your hero, player 1 (red) has the responsibility of beginning the first level. When player 1 types -go, level 1 begins and bad guys run down a lane toward you and you have to kill them or they'll destroy your house. If you don't have a player 1 (red) in the game, another player from the remaining players pool is randomly selected to control level starting (and retrying, described later). As mentioned in the previous section, the heroes have the responsibility of taking all incoming damage to protect Jon's basement at all costs. Nearly every creature that runs down the lane will also try to kill the defenders on the way. So, as you prepare for defense, keep in mind your formation and positioning and your important individual roll in the group. Bad guys and more... The most intense part of the game will occur during the activated levels. Generally there is some kind of challenge built into each level, something you have to do as a team other than just stand there and watch or mindlessly cast spells at your attackers. It is very difficult to complete this game without full cooperation from each party member. It might take some thought and strategy to overcome some of these challenges, especially depending on the variety of heroes in your group. At the end of every level is a boss that requires focused single target damage and sometimes some strategic maneuvering and troubleshooting to defeat. If you fail at any point during the level, you may type -retry and all the bad guys will die, yielding your team no experience but a chance to type -go again and try the level again from the beginning. The -retry trigger is disabled during some boss-fight phases to avoid problems and exploits. Items, money, and neutrals... Bosses and neutral bosses drop important items you will need for the defense. Neutral bosses are optional creeps to kill located around the map that are available to the group from the beginning of the game. The neutral bosses are extremely useful in making the proceeding levels easier to complete. A few basic items can be purchased near the start location, along with your standard consumables, permanent stat boosting foods, and recipes to combine certain boss-dropped items. Items never bind to any player and may always be passed around from player to player, they do not drop on death, and items cannot be destroyed by attacking them. Every player starts with 300 Gold. Finishing a level awards each player 150 Gold, plus your additional CGB for each level previously completed without using -retry. Using a -retry will reset this bonus gold reward to 0. Killing neutral bosses also awards each player a gold bonus, the amount of which scales with the difficulty of the boss. Don't be afraid to spend lots of gold on stat boosting foods, available for purchase from Maggie (standing just next to the hero tavern). There are three primary attributes to each hero, and a food may be purchased to upgrade each attribute. Attributes in many cases enhance the effects of certain abilities, and your primary attribute adds damage points to your regular attack. In addition, attributes give the following bonuses to your hero: Strength: Increases maximum HP by 25 per point. Agility: Increases Attack Speed by 2% per point, and increases Armor by 0.1 per point. Intelligence: Increases maximum Mana by 15 per point, and increases Mana Regeneration by 0.2 Mana/sec/point. Boss Killed, Next Level... You level up after you kill each level's boss. Killing the level boss will immediately count as completing the level and all remaining bad guys will be destroyed automatically. No experience is gained throughout a level. Put in new skill points, purchase some new equipment, and type -go to keep having fun!

Akhir Sungai, the latest addition to the neutral bosses. She can be found at the south end of the river, but be warned; no one who has ever ventured south of the river crossing has ever returned!

Hero Overview

Heroes have been divided into three major sections: Damage Dealing Heroes, Damage Taking Heroes, and Healers/Hybrids. Granted, many heroes have abilities that do not exactly coincide with their category. The primary means of segregation is this: Damage Dealers: Heroes that cannot provide sufficient healing to maintain the group, and have very few defensive abilities. These heroes are good for dealing massive damage to the enemy. Damage Takers: Heroes that have many defensive abilities and are capable of directing the aggression of attackers toward themselves. Healers and Hybrids: Heroes that may provide a wide range of support to the group, some of which have health restorative abilities. Note; this game was designed intending every group to have a health restorative spell to keep the team alive. Note 1: The fourth ability (hotkey 'R') of each hero first becomes available at Level 6, the second rank at Level 11, and the third rank at Level 16. Note 2: Detailed information about each hero can now be found on the official website! Click here to go to the heroes page.

Chat Commands

Player 1 (or other master player) Commands: -go [will start the current level] -retry [only works during levels, will kill all current bad guys and allow you to try that level again, this command is disabled during certain boss phases] -noob [this command may be entered after the intro tips, before starting level 1, in order to activate Beginner Mode which makes Level 1 easier and provides further tips and hints] -easymode [gives you the option to activate less-mob-HP mode when you loose your fourth player, down to three players] Any player may enter these commands: -movespeed [shows your hero's movespeed] -ms [same as above] -far (integer) [sets the camera distance to the integer value entered, limited to min 500, max 4000] -reset [resets your camera angle of attack, rotation, and zoom to default] -cam [disables or enables the arrow key camera adjustment system] -dmgtext [disables or enables the floating damage text] -goldtext [disables or enables the floating gold text] -bonus [displays the gold reward for completing the current level] All players may use the arrow keys to rotate their camera! However, the innate WC3 panning takes a moment to lock down, so if you really like adjusting your camera on the fly, try turning your keyboard panning speed all the way down in your game options menu for the best results.

Future progress

I'm slowly inching my way to completion of the game, trying to be thorough with everything I add. I would say close to 85% of the overall workload is complete. The remaining work includes adding the remaining levels to add up to 16 total, and completing the terrain work and neutral bosses on the right side of the map. In reality, it's a fairly small game, small map, small concept, but a high degree of attention to detail and only myself working on it yields slow progress. Latest Updates: 12/15/2010 - Version 2.2d is nearing release. However, I recently completely lost my website's MySQL database, requiring me to completely rebuild the site. Most of the website is still saved in various places I just have to recompile everything and reformat the website. This might delay the game release by a few days. 12/21/2010 - Decided to release version 2.2d. The website is also back up, although still undergoing some work here and there. Enjoy! 2/28/2010 - Finally got a test session in over the weekend. The final boss was completely impossible on 5 player mode, and likely just as impossible in other modes. Making a few balance changes and then releasing the game within the next few days!

-------------------------------------
If you've read thus far, you might as well just play the game already.


~Thanks for your time~
Svenski




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[Svenski]

Defend the Basement! - Old Changelogs

View Previous Changes

Version 2.2b Update

-HERO CHANGES-
-Dan's Purify base spell changed from slow to Inner Fire. Can now target Alex when he's magic immune. Purify no longer increases the target's movespeed, instead increases regen by +20 HPS for the duration.
-Dan's Barricade now shows an icon and tooltip while the barricade is active.
-Cooldown of Dan's Holy Sanctuary was listed at 25 s. It should read 240 s. (applicable to all ranks)
-Ben's totems no longer expire, instead they now last forever, the Elemental Totems spell has a 5 second cooldown, and when you cast the spell while the totems are out it will recall the existing totems and place them where you stand.
-Ben also will gain a totem recall spell after learning Elemental Totems, which allows recalling totems to regain 25 mana for each totem out.
-Changing spell damage to be triggered as attack type 'Spell' not attack type 'Magic' for Matt's Vindicate.
-Alex's Shadowstep Eviscerate criticals now show notification text as they should, and the Combo Point Multiplier changed from 50/100/150/200/250 to 2/3/4/5/6 TIMES STRENGTH. To view this more easily:

DMG = [BASEDMG] + [CPM x STR x #COMBOS]

where:
BASEDMG = 100/150/200/250/300
CPM = 2/3/4/5/6
STR = Total strength of Alex (includes bonuses)
#COMBOS = Combo points gained from proccing Whirlwind and Alacrity


-GAME CHANGES-
-Tweaking level 11 again, hopefully it's possible to do now if your primary DPS is melee.
-Tweaking Nexus' Bedlam trigger so that it no longer leaks healing effects, and hopefully this solves a crash bug.
-Hero tooltips will now show attack range (or melee, where applicable).
-Removing guardian who stands opposite the river entrance. He was originally intended to keep people from exploring until they've killed the Zmey's. Now there will be a viably killable guardian patrolling there for you to decide on whether or not to kill.
-A new neutral boss added.
-Reducing Stanky's taunt range from 1200 to 800, and increasing his attack range from 375 to 600.
-Stanky can only be taunted to heroes.
-You will now have to kill Stanky to purchase items from the Shady Dealer.
-Adding a beginner mode to level 1, allowing a new group of players to attempt level 1 at a lower difficulty level, giving extra tips during the level to all players, suggestions, 150 gold compensation for using their first -retry, and allowing repicking of heros until level 1 is complete.
-Tweaking level 1 elite spawn rate (used to be 50/50 every 13 sec, now is 100% every 22 sec).
-Increasing DPS of the poison on the new item: Ace, from 35 to 70 DPS, increasing gold cost from 500 to 650.
-You can no longer repick while you are dead/reviving.

Version 2.2 Release

-Hero Changes-
--
A new hero (a DPS style tank/offtank) - depends on lifestealing to stay alive, he gains more lifesteal as he takes more damage, the lifesteal gained is not an orb effect, and he lifesteals all forms of damage he deals (this ability is his racial). His other abilities include a bleed that works as aggro control, a form of critical strike, an enemy armor reduction talent, and an activated cleave/AOE booster.
--
-Nexus balanced slightly (essence warp now applies to bedlam as well as -splice, namely in cosmic you can only proc chain heals and cast healing splices and in quantum you can only proc chain lightnings and cast damage splices).
-Lilly's Disintegrate! damage reworked from 100/175/275/400/550 to 50/75/100/125/150 PLUS 2x/3x/5x/7x/10x intellect.
-Lilly's Incinerate! damage reworked from 90/200/320/550/800 to 3.5x/6x/8.5x/12x/15.5x intellect, added spell scripting to make this possible.
-Ben's Frost Shock damage reworked from 150/250/475/675/900 to 7x/10x/15x/20x/25x intellect and chance to crit changed from 25% flat to [intellect/2]%.
-Jynx's Defibrillate healing amount reworked from 125/200/300/425/575 to 5x/6x/7x/8x/9x intellect.
-Jon's Wizardry critical chance reworked from [15+int/10]% to [10+agi]%.
-Lisa's Owl Strike damage reworked from 150/250/350/550/850 to 10x/15x/20x/25x/30x intellect, and critical chance changed from 25% flat to [10+int/2]%.
-Ben's Totems and Pat's Hurricane are now 'Invulnerable'.
-Removing 'Living Seed' completely from Tree of Life (Pat).
-Pat's sight radius at night now matches the other heroes (1200) while in moonkin/tree form.
-Jynx's Life Pulse now only heals units that are missing health.
-Spelling of Jynx's racial ability name is corrected, and it now shows healing text when cast on an ally.

-Game Changes-
Gold from creeps reworked slightly (gives 1 + [creeplevel/4] gold per killing blow).
A command to turn on/off gold-text.
Neutral boss kills give the entire team a gold bonus.
You can now sell blue shards for cash.
A command to query the current gold level bonus (command: -bonus).
Certain spell crits and procs now show notification text (frost shock, disintegrate, wizardry, owl strike, moonfire, essence of life double proc).
Level 12 added.
Level 11 item drops added.
2 New recipes.
Fixes to Stanky (lol) - his taunt system actually works now, it is no longer random (happens every 10 seconds), and the targeted unit displays an effect.

-Version 2.2a Update-
had to fix something very minor, no impact on gameplay



Official Demo version updates (included in version 2.2):

Rukkus no longer drops branches, they are now purchased for 50 gold from Maggie.
Some players don't like using the camera system and prefer WC3 keyboard scrolling, I put in the command -cam to allow enable/disable the camera rotation system.
Some commands now work for player 5 (i think just -reset and -dmgtext weren't working)
Level 11 - Raging Water (the big water elemental elite mob) was overpowered and made it pretty much impossible to beat the game if you have to kill two of them in a row (fixed)
Damage text was a little dull, improved the visual
Tweaks have been made to some of the damage and healing mechanics in the game, as well as added healing text to all healing spells (with the exception of Wry)

Version 2.1e Updates

3 player difficulty mode (1/3 less mob HP)
5 player difficulty mode (faster mob spawn rates)
Better item choice system on the blue items from level 6, and Zmey's drops (tokens to trade in to a new shop, instead of straight drops) to make 3 and 5 player possible
Another new shop, added somewhere for you to find (it might be guarded by something ) that will contain more items in the future
Ghost Feet drop replaced with Ghost Essence, updated Squid Feet Recipie
Better leaver recovery (other players are given compensation gold, and if player 1 leaves, another player is given control of starting levels and retrying at random)
Interface tweaks
Complete rework of the adjustable camera - new system being implemented.
A multiboard!
Terrain improvements
Floating Damage Text!
Giving full visibility of the starting region up to the force-wall
Total rework of key binding system - now use Q/W/E/R/T (sometimes F too)
Added Solo Play Test Mode - Activates when you start a game alone.
Removed Cheat Codes.

A few balance changes, including:
-Nexus Primary Stat Changed to Agility
-Nexus Strength Gain Lowered from 3.7 to 2.5
-Nexus Agility Gain Increased from 1.5 to 2.7
-Nexus' Splice must now be toggled to target enemies or allies, the toggle has a 35 s. cooldown.
-Pat's Moonfire cast range increased from 600 to 1200 at all ranks
-Cooldown of Matt's Reproach lowered at all ranks
-Matt's Reproach now increases attack speed of the taunted units (rather than decrease) but lowers base damage by an equivalent percentage
-Jynx's Life Pulse will now heal an additional amount equal to the total amount of damage that it does to enemies
-Efficiency of Pat's Rejuvenation (Heals / Manacost) increases slightly as you level it up (from 45/80/120/165/215 manacost to 45/75/110/150/195)
-Level 11 is getting even more intense!

Version 2.1b Updates

Reworked the intro tips again, slightly
Tweaked the Holy Hand Grenade mechanic (level 5)
Level 11 balanced - I hope it proves to be a challenging last level for now
As suggested, a rework of the tooltip on Nexus' ultimate for additional clarity.
Frost Shock should now properly always apply the slow effect
Programmed in defeat conditions (if Jon's house dies)
Correct armor and damage type tooltips to properly reflect that all damage types do full damage to all armor types
Other minor cosmetic tweaks and developments

Version 2.1 Released

- Hero Changes -
Nexus' Splice ability multipliers modified to make healing easier - now does 30% (from 50%) bonus as damage, but increased all multipliers by +0.2
Nexus' 'Nexus' ability no longer does additional points in damage, so damage is now 100%/150%/200% lost HPS from 150%/225%/300% lost HPS. Also drains health at half the speed, 10% max health / sec from 20%, and you no longer are immune to its self-inflicted health drain whilst also under the effects of 'Invulnerability'.
Nexus' Shadowy Veil Cooldown set to 30 s. from 25 s., Duration set to 30 s. from 7 sec.
Pat's Moonfire - Star Flurry damage increased to 3x/6x/9x/12x/15x(sum of all stats). Increased manacost more significantly with higher ranks of spell.
Pat's Living Seed - Now grants 5 mana per second in addition to the 5 HPS, when struck the seed heals for 800 over 5 seconds instead of over 20 seconds, and no longer has a .5 second cast time.
Buffing Alex's Shadowstep - Eviscerate: now does 50/100/150/200/250 x combo points in bonus damage, from 50/75/100/125/150. Set range to 1000 at all ranks.
Alex's Strength per level set up to 2.5 from 2.0.
Gave Jynx a racial ability - a single target heal/nuke proportional to remaining mana: drains all remaining mana when cast, long cooldown, puts jynx to sleep for 5 seconds when cast (asleep = stunned + invulnerable)
Rebalanced Jynx's Essence of Life: Mana back from aura procs set to 15/20/25 % of max mana from 20/30/40 %. Mana back from casting spells set to 15/20/25 % of max mana from 10/15/20 %.
Added 50 AOE range to Jynx's Life Pulse.
Changed the Owl Strike visual effect.
Lisa's AoE Owl Strike ability mana cost lowered from 140/175/215/275/330 to 100/125/150/175/200.
Dan's Barricade slightly reworked: Bonus armor now scales from 4/6/8/11/14 from 4/8/14/22/30. Activation no longer gives 100% block of 20/40/70/130/190 damage, returning half that to attackers. Instead, it gives you a 15/20/25/30/35 % chance to stun the attacker for .5/.62/.74/.86/1.0 seconds dealing 25/40/55/70/85 damage (activation lasts for 15 s. w/ a 25 s. CD).

- Game Changes -
Added hints as to when to do some of the neutral boss fights
Increasing the duration of level 9 to 90 seconds, increasing difficulty of some of the level 9 mobs.
General increase of mob HP and damage to some mobs levels 4+, as introducing some of the new items and rank 5 spells was making this a little easy.
Level 6 elite spawns abilities tweaked.
Level 7 boss fight changed to be more interesting.
Level 11 Added.
Minimap image improved
Changed the -cam command to -far, and added a -farther command that further zooms your camera by 500 units at a time each entry. -far [integer] will zoom to the integer value with min 500 and max 4000.
Collision sizes of all units reduced, with the exception of bosses.
Health bars (selection size) scaled equally on all units.
Cosmetic tweaks to trees and doodads
Working on a third-person mode, currently in experimental phase, -tpc is the command.

Version 2.0 Released

5th Rank added to all basic learned spells.
You can now level attribute bonus
Added better tips for new players to read as the game progresses, and better tips at game start.
Other tooltips reworked slightly.
Some slight balance fixes - can't remember them all heh.

***New Hero***
Un-named at this point, race = "Nexus"

Very interesting hero, uses hitpoints as its resource pool rather than mana. A capable primary healer (although difficult as tested, may need to play with the multipliers to balance this hero).
Very good DPS/Heal Support

**************

New Item Combiners/Recipes (new items!).
New hero revive system that allows for respawns before the level timer finishes when using -retry, and prohibits zerging down neutrals.
Changing Rukkus to be slightly more interesting, relocated graveyard to allow for more room on that fight.

Version 1.2e Updates

The evasion properties of The Lord's Blessing [Dan] stack with other evasion - instead of basic evasion it is a chance to "backtrack" damage.
Giving the Shaman some needed buffs - increasing his agility gain to 3.2 (from 1.5), base damage set to 65 (from 35), increasing Air Totem's attack speed bonus to 15%, and Earth Totem's damage bonus to 15%. Water Totem's mana regeneration properly described in the tooltips. Frost shock slightly retriggered, duration set to 5 s. at all ranks. Bloodlust duration set to 15 s. at all ranks.
Reworking Moonfire [Pat] to be more like real moonfire. Added a DOT that tics once every 2 seconds (for 12 secs) for a multiple of your hero's total stats (only applicable to one target at a time), and reduced the instant damage in half.
Set the duration of Infernal Guardian [Lilly] to 23 seconds at all ranks (up from 15 sec).
Jon's attack range increased to 1000, projectile changed. Spell cast ranges remain the same.

Version 1.2d Updates

Retrying Level 1 won't spawn more level timer windows
Jynx's unit type name changed to Soul Mender

Reworked Jon -
+Icey Fingers replaced with Necrolysis: Gives bonus attack damage whenever you kill another unit
+Rage altered to give more substantial amounts of attack speed for a shorter duration
+Base stats reworked: Poor initial stats with extremely high intelligence gain, extremely low agility gain
+Base damage set extremely high and attack cooldown increased dramatically - should flow well with last hitting for necrolysis damage
+attack animation changed, projectile speed set to 1800 and attack range to 850
+Model changed to Ice Troll Priest and attack projectile changed

Reworked Purify [Dan]; instead of taunting a single target, you target an ally and all enemies around the ally unit are taunted to attack dan. This also places a buff on the ally unit that redirects future attackers to dan as well.

Minor base stat updates to other heroes
Player 12 (the enemy) now has full playable map vision to avoid LOS exploits
Levels 1 and 2 are a little bit easier

Version 1.2c Updates

Shared unit control if there is a leaver
Balance cash flow by giving increasing amounts of gold per level to each player, increasing until -retry is used, creep kills worth less.
Fatal error when you respawn while the camera trigger procs on a neutral boss location (removed cinematic mode)
Generally increased difficulty slightly by HP/damage tweaks.
Fixed a ton of Level 10 bugs (there are probably still more).
Gateway no longer revives dead heroes.

Version 1.2b Updates

-retry past level 8 won't send you back to level 8.
-lvlup no longer destroys the herogroup variable
-cam will not reset after choosing a hero
Ghost Feet no longer turn off collision so you can run anywhere, just grant pathing over units

 

[Svenski]

Version 2.1 Uploaded with major changes! See the changelog for details.

Some great ability updates, balancing, and some updates to certain boss fights, as well as a new level! The new level still needs some balance work though, I think.

Also the change to Dan's Barricade and Nexus' ultimate haven't been thoroughly tested for balance yet. More updates will come soon as those changes are refined.

 

[BlinkforFear]

"Introduction
I present to you a work in progress, Basement Defense, or Defend the Basement!; a hero defense type map in which you and three of your friends can work together to fend off waves of attackers from destroying your humble home in the woods. There are also several side-missions - more like side-bosses for you to kill to better equip yourselves for the defense."

I see no house or a basement in your screen shots????

I will test this soon though looks like a fun hero defence. Though it may have too many cheats which I might over use.

 

[Svenski]

I see no house or a basement in your screen shots????

I will test this soon though looks like a fun hero defence. Though it may have too many cheats which I might over use.

Haha, everybody says the same thing about the title. Just pack up your computer and head into your basement before you start playing, then you'll get the idea!

Also, cheat codes are there because I can imagine it being a pain in the neck to find a full group to play through the whole game with no reputation at all yet. So, if ya wanna just test the game out, that's what they're there for! Obviously I'll remove them from the game when I finish all 17 levels and the remaining neutral bosses.

 

[Svenski]

Update: Version 2.1b uploaded!

Some refinements have been made to make the game fully playable as it is (check the changelog if you want). Although I wouldn't yet release this maps content to the maps section, it should be much more viable to beta-play it with your friends! Still includes cheat codes if you're having troubles

I've also edited my post to the point where I'm somewhat content with the overview of the map, so if you don't play it, at least let me know what you think of the concept described above!

Thanks!

 

[Svenski]

Version 2.1e Uploaded!

Hey The Hive!

I've uploaded my latest revision, version 2.1e!

HUGE changes to the systems, balance work, some spell changes, and you can now play with 3 to 5 players! Also added a solo play test mode, but removed the cheat codes for this version. Check out the changelog for more info, or read the stuff in the Info (F9) Menu in game!


This will be my last revision release before I release the official demo version, after I do a substantial amount of testing on version 2.1e. As of now, I haven't done very much testing on the new systems, so if you find a bug PLEASE SAY SOMETHING ABOUT IT!!!!




EDIT: Happy Easter!

 

[mnib]

nice map i tested it in single player as shaman
u should make the fire totem use the -# armor spell go automaticly when sumoned (as for now it can be used manual or turned on manually)
i think creeps are kinda too fast and maybe too strong dunno hard to tell
u could make some cool terrain to make the game look better and more magic
overall its really nice map ^^ and difrent from many of others

btw: if u want i released my map with a lot of changed ( still not done ) XD still u can look at screenies and stuff http://www.hiveworkshop.com/forums/...t-castle-name-can-changed-150409/#post1381199

 

[Svenski]

nice map i tested it in single player as shaman
u should make the fire totem use the -# armor spell go automaticly when sumoned (as for now it can be used manual or turned on manually)
i think creeps are kinda too fast and maybe too strong dunno hard to tell
u could make some cool terrain to make the game look better and more magic
overall its really nice map ^^ and difrent from many of others

Thanks for checking it out mnib

The fire totem, as for now, is supposed to be that way.

The balancing of the game is extremely important to me and I have already done countless hours of testing to make sure that the game is challenging and interesting but not impossible. It's really not designed for public hosting but more so that smaller groups of friends to hunker down in the basement and try to beat the game

As far the terrain goes, I've been working to improve it slowly as I add more content to the right side of the map.

I'll take a look at your game again as soon as I get the chance!

 

[mnib]

nice ;d

 

[Svenski]

DtB Official Demo released!

Hey everybody!

The official demo of this game is now in the maps section! Check it out, review it, try to beat the game, rate it!

<DTB DEMO LINK>

 

[Svenski]

Status Update

I haven't forgotten about this project, I just haven't had the time or motivation to finish it lately. I plan on giving this some more attention within the upcoming months.

A new hero was in the works last I left off (a lifesteal dependent tank) and some balance changes had to be made to the Nexus healer/dps hero. The end goal is 16 levels and a final boss unlocked by beating level 16.

Note: Last time I tested the game we crashed, I think it was due to a chain heal jumping to the druid's hurricane.

Regards,
Svenski

 

[lynnybinny]

hey, i love the idea for this map, and i like that it's beatable with a smaller amount of players, bc the usual defense maps always need more than 3 or 4. i'll be testing it out tonight!

 

[Svenski]

Version 2.2 Released

Beta 2.2 Uploaded. Includes a new level with a new unique boss fight, a new item and new recipes, along with a new hero! Lots of other changes and improvements documented in the changelog!

Note, I haven't done any actual play testing on the new content, just solo testing to make sure things worked. I changed a lot of spell scripts so if you notice anything inconsistent in tooltips or buggy in game let me know!

Next chance I get I will do some testing on the new content and balance accordingly. I'm sure the new level needs some balancing.


Enjoy!
-Svenski

 

[lynnybinny]

so my 4 friends and i tried the game. we played for about 2.5 hrs and here's my feedback:
- what was the big pudge for? we killed him and got nothing from it.
- we made it to the fire water and earth level, and gave up after about 5 or 6 tries. we also gave up the game with about 19 retries, bc the game itself is very non noob friendly. (we tried many different techniques, but in the end i think bc we retried so many times, we didn't get any bonus gold for shopping..tho not sure what we're suppose to buy)
- it's hard to start out the game not knowing what to do etc, and i find the first few levels everything comes at yu so fast that it takes a few retries to get use to. (that being said, in the beginning as healer i bought 2 mana pots. i ended up using them within the level, and after everyone died, we retried, and not only do i not have money but also no pots making it harder to heal everyone for that lvl)
- the fact that it's challenging makes it fun, but dragging on for 2.5 hrs and only making it almost halfway makes it kinda not as fun anymore..
- also, i mean i'm speaking for myself and my friends, not getting xp from creeps during waves (until the end) is very discouraging. it makes the game challenging, but maybe a bit too challenging. i know its beatable if you have someone that knows exactly what they're doing and such, but for those who are just trying the game, it needs to be a bit more noob friendly to encourage people to play with their friends. (at least in my opinion)

i think that's it for now, i can't really remember what else i was thinking while playing it, but if i think of anything else i'll let you know!

 

[Svenski]

THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR THIS FEEDBACK!

You're literally the first person to try the game as a group without me to help and leave me feedback. Also you should know that the fire/earth/water level was the last level, and was made to be especially challenging to beat. If you played version 2.1e beta then that level was REALLY hard to beat (if not impossible), because the water elementals doing split shot were way overpowered and would kill all the melee in the group. So good job getting that far!

To reply to your comments:
---
Good point about the non-noob friendliness, that was my biggest fear, and the beginning levels being hard if you don't know what's going on and have to retry a lot. I had a hard time balancing this. The other thing to point out is that 5 player difficulty is the most challenging. Right now I have the game set to auto-scale difficulty based on the # of players, so 3 is the easiest, and 5 is the hardest.

What would you think of putting in a practice mode command that lets you do the first 2 or 3 levels at an easier difficulty level? I'd like to avoid having people play at an easymode difficulty and beat the game, I want victory to feel like a true accomplishment you know?
----
About shopping: The newest beta release and the official demo version included some updates to spells that rather than doing flat damage/healing, most now scale with hero attributes (like doing damage or healing as a value increased by your intellect or whatever). My friends and I who have been testing the game agreed that this was the more interesting direction to go in, because it allows for greater flexibility in your hero role and further customization of your hero, as well as better end game scaling of spell damage and healing. So I hope now people will know to just buy more stat foods to get more effective spells. My friends and I usually just buy all stats or strength for extra HP...
----
Also, the big pudge guy, lol, he was kind of just a joke sideboss at first (I thought he was rather hilarious anyway), the latest release fixes him up some. He has an aggro system that was broken in the version you played, he was supposed to target the player furthest away from him every time he casted that roar, but it didn't work right (fixed now). You now get team-gold for every neutral boss you kill (I think his reward is 900 gold or so, for each player that is). The primary reason for him being there is to guard the shop right next to him where you can buy the Claw of the Monstrosity to finish Svenge's Revenge.
-----

Thanks again for feedback! And if you have the time to try it again, try the latest beta version, save the replay, and upload it here so I can watch! I would learn so much from watching ppl play it!

[Edit 8/28/2010] Fixed something minor in version 2.2, uploaded 2.2a, no impact on gameplay.

 

[lynnybinny]

hey, and i'm back

i think the practice mode thing is a good idea, but maybe you should make seperate practice levels so it doesn't seem repetitive right from the start? if you know what i mean. like finishing 3 practice levels, then redoing them again on the regular game mode. then again, speaking from a players pov, usually my friends and i try a hero defense game once, get owned, and then remake because we know how it goes 2nd time around, so perhaps practicing the first 2-3 levels is fine (without making a different but similar level just for practice). so that's your call

and yes i like the idea of the stats scaling to your skills, but i find that the stats were a bit pricey in the version that we played (then again, with your new update, now i'm thinking the prices are fine), and we were pooling money to each other to make the items from boss drops as well. and also, we mostly gave the int items to me (the healer), and the rest to our dps, and a few to our tank. but our secondary support didn't get any, and neither did our secondary dps bc well they were secondary so not as important as the main. i'm not sure if that's the way it should be shared, but that was the logical choice for us. and i mean, i felt bad bc everyone was getting good items, and they just had boots and branches in their inventories haha. but are you sure that this will allow for more customization for heroes? would it just be that healer pumps int for heals, and tanks pump str, and dps pumps agi?

about pudge: we thought we might get like a godly item for killing him so we tried it. and about the aggro, when we explored the map the first time and went to the shop, we didn't fight him but bought the item and ran back to jon's house, and his minions ended up following us so once we started our nxt creep wave level, they came from the side causing us all to die and lose that level. is that a bug? or is that suppose to happen that they follow you forever until they die? it was pretty jokes, but it did catch us off guard and costed us another retry.

also, level 12 is the last level? i thought we would get higher than that because our skills can be leveled so high. my friends also wondered about like a repick system or something? to repick heroes or relearn skills? because i played the necro and i ended up lvling my stun nuke skill but near the higher lvls i really wished i lvl'd my single target heal instead but it was too late.

i was also wondering about the whole right side of the map, since you said the level we got to was the last one, what about the right side? we saw a portal thing there as well, but i guess that side isn't finished?

anyway, i would love to try your new updated version, (not sure if any of my friends will be up for it, but i think i can persuade them haha). i'll see if they are up for it sometime. do you have any tips for us on our 4th try? (we remade once bc of bad hero picks, and again to let more people join the game haha)

i'll let you know what we all think, and see if i can get a replay to you

edit: i told my friend abt your updates to the map, and he says that since we made it to the last stage (without knowing, we actually thot there was more after that.. ooo and what about that huge lvl 25 boss we saw guarding the portal?), and with all tht bonus gold the game might seem too easy now. i don't necessarily agree with him, but i guess we'll see when we try it out!

 

[Svenski]

Hey lynny

-First of all again, I couldn't thank you enough for feedback. You have no idea how helpful it is.

---

What I just finished adding last night was a 'Beginner Mode', where you can type a command before starting level 1 that activates a 'slower paced' level 1. This also activates a bunch more tips to display, which include some beginner hero suggestions, a list of all the best starting primary healer spells, and some tips about spending your gold, etc. If you didn't know, you can repick your hero before starting level 1 (normally just one time). With beginner mode activated, you can also repick your hero after retrying level 1, and if you continually have to retry, it lets you repick once after each retry (note, repicking also works as a way of resetting your hero skills). It also refunds you 150 gold for your first retry in Beginner Mode. This mode is deactivated as soon as you complete level 1, and from there the game moves on normally (on to Level 2 +). Tell me what you think.

---

SO about stats scaling; yeah I realized that obviously most classes will just want to pump their primary stats. For some heroes this holds true, for some it does not.

Examples:

• Lilly the Dark Child: Her primary stat is int, and her spell damages are increased by int, and she needs more mana from int. Obviously, buy int.
• Patrick the Druid: His primary stat is int, but he benefits from purchasing any stat since both moonfire and rejuvenation are based on his total attribute sum. We usually buy all-stat food on him.
• Lisa the Hyppogryph Master: Her primary stat is agility, so buying agi gives +DMG and +attackspeed. But if you prefer doing AOE damage with Owl Strike, purchasing int is the way to go since at max rank, every point of int gives you an additional +30 damage to your owl strike, and adds to the crit chance.

There is also always the consideration of buying strength (for more health) or all-stats regardless of what hero you play in order to improve your overall performance and endurance (improving damage, max health, attack speed, mana pool and mana regen all in one). My one friend usually restricts himself to buying all-stats exclusively.

So some heroes are more customizable via stats, other heroes are more adequately customized by the way you level your abilities. And in addition to this, you can choose what type of specialty armor to wear. We've sometimes found it helpful to purchase the Armor of the Defender on our low-health int heroes for additional sustainability, or Armor of the Ancients, etc.

I've taken special consideration in trying to make playing the tank somewhat interesting and dynamic (since regardless of your style you will probably want the same items and buy strength every time). So to do so I've tried to make their abilities fairly interesting and situational. Try playing the tank and I think you'll understand what I mean.

---

LOL about Stanky's projectiles following you over and wiping you out during a level. If you don't want to kill him you can do what you did. I will change this, so that you have to kill him in order to purchase the shop items. I guess I didn't really think of that. Eventually the shop will contain more epic weapons that you will purchase with the next level of shards.

Also yeah about the right side of the map, I'm still working on additional neutral boss fights and completing the rest of the levels (eg, levels 13-16). Yes currently level 12 is the final level, it will say you can go on to level 13 but that isn't in the game yet. In the version you played previously there were only 11 Levels so you were working on the last level. The final version will have 16 levels (max level is 16, this is when you gain the final rank of your ultimate ability). Defeating level 16 will also unlock a final boss, which I can't wait to work on.

If you do/If you did play the current version (2.2 or 2.2a), know that Level 12 is COMPLETELY untested for balance. I don't know if it will be too hard or too easy, just know that it will certainly test your healer. Other than that, thanks again, and here are some general tips:

• 5 players makes the neutral bosses easier, try to do them early to get the bonus gold/item drops ASAP. (We usually kill the trolls after level 3, maybe the dragons after level 4 depending on your heroes).
• Tank and melee should purchase a food for level 1. We usually have our healer purchase a drink or two, or mana potions work just as well.
• If you can make it through the first 5 levels without using a retry, it will help you significantly on level 6 because completing level 5 gave your team 350 gold each. Also make sure you have done the Zmey (dragon) neutral boss before level 6, and have picked up your special armor. Usually Level 6 is the first retry we use (if we don't fail at tossing the darn Holy Hand Grenade...). But Level 6 is my fav level so I usually like retrying it
• If you are having trouble, try using Nexus as your healer and Lee as your tank in combination with any good range DPS and the Shaman for support/offheals and BLOODLUST. It's a ridiculous combo.

Note: I will try to upload my current beta as version 2.2b ASAP, you can see what I'm working on specifically in the changelogs and coming changes section of my original post.

[EDIT: WALL OF TEXT ^]
[EDIT2:] Tested the game last night, realized that the water elementals on level 11 are still overpowered and kill your melee too quickly! I'm fixing this by removing the multishot ability and replacing it with a 'fan of knives' based spell that deals only 200 damage instead of attack damage which is over 500. I'm also gonna make the big fire elementals have a lower chance to bash.
ALSO, we still had a crash bug when using the Nexus. I don't know what happens or why, but I believe it has to do with her chain heal. It bugged out once where the lightning effect wasn't removed. Not positive though... On a plus side, level 12 seemed pretty much balanced as is!

 

[Svenski]

v2.2b uploaded

Hello, Hive.

I've done a massive amount of work on updating the latest version from 2.2 to 2.2b. Check the change-log for details.

This latest version should make level 11 a little easier, and I'm hoping I solved the crash bug we've had in testing a couple times.

More importantly, I've added a command for newcomers to make the introduction to the game a little easier. Before starting level 1, the master player can type -noob to activate 'Beginner's Mode', in which creeps will spawn at a slower rate and you will have more time to kill them, plus you are then allowed to repick your hero between attempts at Level 1 (if for whatever reason you need to retry it).

As usual, I appreciate feedback, and if you test the game with 3-5 players, upload your replay here so I can watch!

-Svenski

 

[Svenski]

BUMP>>>

Added some really tight graphic media to my description, reworked some of the game overview sections, added a REALLY DETAILED HERO OVERVIEW SECTION that took me a lot of work so CHECK IT OUT!

...oh and, also play the game, it's really fun.

(screenshots edited in Paint Shop Pro 8, Icons credited in the game's info menu)

 

[Tamisrah]

Hi, I just played your map with a friend for about 1.5h.
With me as Matthew and him as Pat we managed to get to the "L4D level" (level6?) and got pwned by the hunters.

We had two questions though. One: what is the "bloody key" for? (Don't say if it is supposed to be a secret) Two: Is there a stat limit or something like that? Because my friend kept buying those statitems and didn't seem to receive any bonus after like 6 of them.

Besides that we really enjoyed the game. Fast paced, intuitive and really funny.

Keep up the good work

 

[Svenski]

Hi, I just played your map with a friend for about 1.5h.
With me as Matthew and him as Pat we managed to get to the "L4D level" (level6?) and got pwned by the hunters.

We had two questions though. One: what is the "bloody key" for? (Don't say if it is supposed to be a secret) Two: Is there a stat limit or something like that? Because my friend kept buying those statitems and didn't seem to receive any bonus after like 6 of them.

Besides that we really enjoyed the game. Fast paced, intuitive and really funny.

Keep up the good work

Try running past the force-wall with the key next time (*wink*wink* )

I'll check on that stat thing, there shouldn't be any limit (I hope you just didn't notice the stats going up, they don't add to the green + numbers but rather your base stats will go up).

Thanks for playing and for leaving feedback! Not really designed for 2 players, but I'm glad you can get something out of it even with just two

 

[Svenski]

I've created a brief video overview of DtB. I'll try to make one with actual gameplay footage sometime too.

 

[WaterKnight]

So I also gave it a shot after you suggested this map in my thread. We did a few games and the first games only reached about lvl3. The last game had a crazy length of nearly 3 hours and we got to around lvl15. We started with 5 players but two left, so 3 players controlled 5 heroes.

I have to acknowledge the difficulty but there were also some things you could not know beforehand, that knocked you down in an instant. 2-3 Retries were normal. What's the point of having to defend a base when you can just retry everytime? That is a decision between waiting and losing and continuing. So it could just automatically retry everytime and the task is to have one surviving/kill all spawns.

The neutral heroes were a matter of patience: Dying a dozen of times and walk there again since you do not get punished for dying.

I played the transparent Kel'Thuzad healer and thought it was good that I could not heal everything. This lead to changing my healing targets and splitting the damage. Some enemies also pushed with spells and myself could get a beating, too. Could have been more AoE spells from enemies, though, that would require even more movement. My second skill the AoE heal drove me into danger, yet was also needed to be economical with the mana budget and risky situations. So you had to use all of your skills, still it became monotone after a time.

The visibility of the playground was a problem. Well, I as healer always watched the hero portraits but the game field was very small and some trees blocked parts of sight, considering the enemies also were tightly clustered. If you'd include more AoE attacks and the spawns have possibilities to alternate/push their movements, you could broaden the terrain. There could also be more spawn locations like from random sides that would force you to adjust your positional play.

The first games neither made us noticing the small shops. My healer role required me to permanently have 1-2 mana potions and with retries money was scarce. The gem trading shops are not really needed, you could just turn the gems into spellbooks with the buyable items as spells in it. Else you just wonder whether you overlooked where to get these gems and multiple times get disappointed zapping through the shops for items you can not even save for.

Last point: A player would want to watch the outdoor situation even when being dead but cannot due to camera restrictions at the moment.

 

[Svenski]

First of all, thanks for the feedback so much!

We started with 5 players but two left, so 3 players controlled 5 heroes.

Yeah, leavers suck. It makes it especially difficult if you have to control more than 1 hero.

What's the point of having to defend a base when you can just retry everytime? That is a decision between waiting and losing and continuing. So it could just automatically retry everytime and the task is to have one surviving/kill all spawns.

I've been thinking about that. My plan has been to apply a limitation on the number of retries you can use. I was thinking; at the beginning of the game I will have a dialogue that prompts for two difficulty levels:

• Easy: Lots of retries (maybe like 25 or 30)
• Hard: Few retries (maybe 5 or 10), but you get 75 bonus gold (instead of 50) for each successive level completion without retrying (something like that anyway)

For now I haven't set these limits because it's still a Beta and I'd rather people able to try whatever they want and give feedback such as yours

The neutral heroes were a matter of patience: Dying a dozen of times and walk there again since you do not get punished for dying.

I've been meaning to put in a reset trigger for the neutrals that resets their health to full HP if no heroes are around. I'll include this in the next beta, thanks for pointing it out. I didn't really want people trying to zerg them down...

Could have been more AoE spells from enemies, though, that would require even more movement.

Yeah I've been working a lot of enemy AOE spells into the latest levels. And I think the early levels are hard enough without enemies shooting flamestrikes at you

My second skill the AoE heal drove me into danger, yet was also needed to be economical with the mana budget and risky situations. So you had to use all of your skills, still it became monotone after a time.

Yeah, that AOE heal spell is getting a conversion to stat basis in the next patch. Stat based spells make things a little more interesting.

The visibility of the playground was a problem. Well, I as healer always watched the hero portraits but the game field was very small and some trees blocked parts of sight, considering the enemies also were tightly clustered.

You can zoom in and out with the -far [] command, AND rotate the camera with the arrow keys. Although I have been thinking of widening the path slightly just for a little extra visibility and space, especially on the left side of the path to get the creeps to run more straight down the center. I'll work on that now, thanks for the feedback

There could also be more spawn locations like from random sides that would force you to adjust your positional play.

I might consider adding a level with something like this in it!

Last point: A player would want to watch the outdoor situation even when being dead but cannot due to camera restrictions at the moment.

The only penalty for dying in this game
Thanks again mate,
~Svenski

 

[WaterKnight]

Yeah, leavers suck. It makes it especially difficult if you have to control more than 1 hero.

I only wanted to point out that maybe the game lasted this long/we needed this many tries because of that leavers. Controlling more than one was actually pretty funny as a coordination exercise.

I've been meaning to put in a reset trigger for the neutrals that resets their health to full HP if no heroes are around. I'll include this in the next beta, thanks for pointing it out. I didn't really want people trying to zerg them down...

Some neutrals like the abomination you can easily dodge its attacks (as ranged in this case). This allows only a part of the group to die and respawn to go kamikaze.

Yeah, that AOE heal spell is getting a conversion to stat basis in the next patch. Stat based spells make things a little more interesting.

I did not pay attention whether each skill is influenced by stats but what I was meaning is that because of difficulty it was hectic, nevertheless was there no variety in getting the job done. Maybe you orientated on DotA, which I do not admire btw, heroes with their spells, items and neutrals are a basic set for an AoS. Considering you do not go creeping during the waves and the some items are also rather bought before the levels, this reduces it even more to the hero work. So why do these heroes then still have passive abilities and chance abilities which you cannot control properly?

 

[Svenski]

I did not pay attention whether each skill is influenced by stats but what I was meaning is that because of difficulty it was hectic, nevertheless was there no variety in getting the job done. Maybe you orientated on DotA, which I do not admire btw, heroes with their spells, items and neutrals are a basic set for an AoS. Considering you do not go creeping during the waves and the some items are also rather bought before the levels, this reduces it even more to the hero work. So why do these heroes then still have passive abilities and chance abilities which you cannot control properly?

Well, personally I like passive abilities just as much as activated abilities. My focus was primarily on the synergy of the abilities within the context of each hero separately. Some heroes (such as the one you played) do have fairly static purposes (e.g. healing), and I don't think there's much to do about it. The problem with allowing for custom ability choices is keeping this balanced... If you allow the healers to buy DPS or crowd control abilities then you could pick the 3 healers and a tank hero and the game would be super easy. Or, it would be really hard to balance. Think of it more like World of Warcraft, where each class can only do certain things to be useful, but the mechanics of the fights are what make things interesting. (this is some interesting game theory here, I usually never get a chance to talk about this stuff with anybody )

There's a lot of variety between each hero, you might try Shadow Nexus next time if you got bored with Jynx (she's the most interesting healer)

And by the way, you're supposed to dodge Stanky's projectiles, lol. If anybody dies in that fight it's just because they weren't dodging. And yeah, I've done some beta testing online where we've had leavers, and I'm sure that's why you had to retry a lot.

And again thanks so much for feedback this is really helpful, I'll consider some of your thoughts as I continue to develop game content.

 

[WaterKnight]

I did not say reduce the classifications. Still, the abilities could become differently in handy/practice depending on specific levels for example. Maybe there are other ways to increase the gameplay possibilities like having mercs/allied units per level that you have to use sencefully, more item abilities or defense building.

There's a lot of variety between each hero, you might try Shadow Nexus next time if you got bored with Jynx (she's the most interesting healer)

You should have italicized the word "between". I was speaking of the variety during one session, game.

 

[Svenski]

I was speaking of the variety during one session, game.

Yeah, I'll be thinking about this a lot as I'm trying to finish up the game content. All along I've been trying my hardest to make the levels, systems, spells, and boss fights dynamic enough to keep the players intrigued. I'll put some additional thought into some of the early game content before I finish the final version of the game.

 

[Tamisrah]

Hey I'm back to report our advances.
Tonight we finally manged to get a four people party.
We killed EVERYTHING on our way, even the guy guarding the spawnlocation.

Criticism:
Leeland is waaaaaaay overpowered (life leech works on splashed dmg, tidefury anchor -> immortal)
Leeland seems to have a bugged aggro. As soon as he uses bleeding he is immediately attacked.
The black guardians might be a bit weak if they're supposed to fend off anyone who dares to go to the spawnlocations.

PS: No problems with the tomes this time.

 

[Svenski]

Hey I'm back to report our advances.
Tonight we finally manged to get a four people party.
We killed EVERYTHING on our way, even the guy guarding the spawnlocation.

OK, HOW DID YOU DO THAT. The guardian hits for 12,000. Even with upwards of 65% mitigation from armor, that's a 4200 damage hit. Not to mention it has 500,000 HP. That's just insane. I want to know.

Criticism:
Leeland is waaaaaaay overpowered (life leech works on splashed dmg, tidefury anchor -> immortal)
Leeland seems to have a bugged aggro. As soon as he uses bleeding he is immediately attacked.

Leeland is a very powerful tank, could probably use a little balance work still, but the trouble with him is that if he ever gets stunned or CC'd he can't lifesteal any more and just falls over really fast because that's his only defensive ability.
The bleed isn't bugged, it's supposed to pull aggro like that. If you want to use him for DPS only, don't level up the bleed spell.

The black guardians might be a bit weak if they're supposed to fend off anyone who dares to go to the spawnlocations.

The "Micro-Guardian" is intentionally killable, the one patrolling around the right half of the map.
However, the main guardian near the two spawning portals is insanely strong and I would love to know how you killed him

PS: No problems with the tomes this time.

Yeah, I was pretty sure they were working fine all along!

If I could, I would give you a million rep. Thanks so much for testing out my game! Your feedback is extremely useful! Those screenshots are also very nice, it's good to know what heroes you were using! Also note that the new beta version I'm working on has a huge list of really cool changes, keep an eye out for the release if you liked the game

 

[Tamisrah]

How to kill the Black Guardian

*Get Lilly and Pat, beat the game and buy some big mana pots.
*Kite him until you're back in the starting area
*start nuking him alternating with 'Moon Fire' and 'Disintegrate'
if the Guardian is stunned run close and use 'Incinerate'
*KEEP MOVING!
*if everything fails hatch the magical mud egg

The insane dmg of him isn't really the problem if your attacks have further range

Edit: One more Question
How are you supposed to kill Stanky?

Our Tactic

We had to sacrifice our tank to kill him. Our tank just ran like mad in circles around stanky while Lilly&Pat did all the damage they could. But after killing Stanky the projectiles still followed our tank until he just let himself be killed.

 

[Svenski]

How to kill the Black Guardian

*Get Lilly and Pat, beat the game and buy some big mana pots.
*Kite him until you're back in the starting area
*start nuking him alternating with 'Moon Fire' and 'Disintegrate'
if the Guardian is stunned run close and use 'Incinerate'
*KEEP MOVING!
*if everything fails hatch the magical mud egg

The insane dmg of him isn't really the problem if your attacks have further range

Dude, that's awesome. I had the feeling it was something like that, I just never tried doing it myself because I didn't think it would work! I will put in some kind of reward for killing him in the next patch

Edit: One more Question
How are you supposed to kill Stanky?

Our Tactic

We had to sacrifice our tank to kill him. Our tank just ran like mad in circles around stanky while Lilly&Pat did all the damage they could. But after killing Stanky the projectiles still followed our tank until he just let himself be killed.

You did it right, mostly. I'm tweaking that fight a little still.

Stanky Mechanics

The real way you can do it without dying is this:
Every 10 seconds stanky activates a taunt, where he is taunted to the target furthest away from him automatically.
Stanky has 600 attack range.
Stanky is taunted to targets up to 800 range away.

How to kill him without dying: Have one hero stand just barely in range of his taunt spell. Once he taunts to that hero (you will see an effect when this happens), start slowly kiting away, and have the rest of the group stand as close to stanky as possible for the rest of the fight.
Current problem: He only taunts up to 800 range, so if the person kiting him gets too far (say 900 range) he taunts somebody else who is probably in attack range. I'm working on fixing this by altering the taunt to have larger range when heroes are around him.

 

[Svenski]

Ladies and Gentlemen of the Hive,

Version 2.2c has finally been released. I haven't done as much testing as I would have liked to, but alas I'm so busy with school and work that with this project as well as other games to keep up with I have virtually zero free time. I welcome feedback gratuitously!

Expect vast improvements over the previous version, this project is nearing completion.

Highlights on this release:

• Two new levels bring the content up to 14 total levels you can play through
• GAME MODES! (will work on adding this into map description in 1st post ASAP, see changelog for details)
• NEW IN GAME FONTS! PLEASE tell me if this causes your game to crash or bug out graphically or in any way, especially if you are using a foreign language (non-english that is) i've heard it can cause problems
• Balance changes, new items, hero updates, and much more...

See the current changelog for details!
Enjoy!
~Svenski

 

[Tamisrah]

I tested for ten minutes in single player just to see your new graphics.

One thing I noticed is that the timer dialogs and some of the Dialog Buttons (those which have a long text) seem to glitch with your new font.
If that helps I have a german version of wc3.

 

[Svenski]

One thing I noticed is that the timer dialogs and some of the Dialog Buttons (those which have a long text) seem to glitch with your new font.
If that helps I have a german version of wc3.

Thanks a bunch for testing that out Tamisrah! I wonder if those glitches have anything to do with the language version or if it's a screen resolution thing... I'll look into that.

 

[millzy]

this map looks awsome i am interested in testing it with some people. but who?

 

[Svenski]

this map looks awsome i am interested in testing it with some people. but who?

Thanks

I usually test on weekends, Saturday nights in particular (I'm on Eastern Time in the US, GMT-5). Although it is possible to get two of my friends to play on a weekday or other time if you want to join in with us.
Let me know if you (or anybody else here) might be interested.

Or you can somehow do what Tamisrah, Waterknight, and lynnybinny have done (see previous posts) and play with some of your friends and leave me some feedback either way would be very useful for me and fun for you!

 

[millzy]

well im GMT +10 witch is a very big difference i dunno mayby pm me or somthing

 

[Svenski]

The official Defend the Basement Website is under construction!

You can check it out here:
www.defendthebasement.com

[EDIT] Just played a reallllllllly fun test of this. Got a lot of good demo footage for a new in-game footage video. To warn anybody trying this out now, know that level 13 is REALLY hard and needs a bit of a nerf (especially the skeleton archers).

[EDIT2] Youtube video completed.

 

[Svenski]

Tons of updates to the website! Check it out!

Play the game and leave me some feedback! I'll be trying to complete this game within the year so get me your feedback ASAP!

 

[Svenski]

Updates

Hey The Hive,

Just thought I'd throw down some updates, since it has been a pretty long time since I have.

I worked pretty hard on setting up the website for Defend the Basement, check it out at your leisure.

The rapid development of the game that was going on in October has obviously ceased, I've been extremely busy with school and in my free time I'm trying to pick up Starcraft 2. I plan on becoming more involved with Starcraft 2 map making if I can handle it, in the upcoming year.

However, Defend the Basement will be completed soon! I have a lot of stuff already developed for the final creep wave level (15) and an idea for the level 15 boss fight. What I have yet to do:

• At least one more neutral boss (maybe some kind of 'secret final boss')
• Level 15 programming
• Level 15 item drops or post-item development
• Level 16 boss level programming and concept design
• Level 16 item drops or post-item development
• One more hero - a support alternative to the Shaman (concept is almost complete)
• Complete balance and testing

I would say this project at least 90% completed.

I've also installed a great development test system that should speed up the testing and balancing process once I'm done with the game.

All the feedback I have been given has been extremely valuable, thanks to everybody for that. If you do try out the game, do leave a comment with your thoughts and criticisms, it helps me so much.

Best Regards,
Svenski

 

[millzy]

well i played the map over bnet with 4 poeple including my self at the start no one new where to buy and thing and we died on the first wave becuase no one bought potions......LOL after i told every one and we finished the first wave and went on from there.

one of the players just took all the boss items and he pritty much carried us with me healing him

i dunno what level we got to but we all lost to a rabbit that killed every one in one hit we retryed it 3 times then every one just gave up

we killed the massive murlock guy realy quickly we were only lvl 3 when we killed him it seemed a bit to easy considering the next neutral boss(the 2 trolls) we tryd to fight at like lvl 7 i think it was was way to hard.

that rabbit that killed us all with one hit was just stupid

 

[Svenski]

i dunno what level we got to but we all lost to a rabbit that killed every one in one hit we retryed it 3 times then every one just gave up

we killed the massive murlock guy realy quickly we were only lvl 3 when we killed him it seemed a bit to easy considering the next neutral boss(the 2 trolls) we tryd to fight at like lvl 7 i think it was was way to hard.

that rabbit that killed us all with one hit was just stupid

lol, with 5 players it is possible to kill the murloc boss at level 1, usually level 2 with 4 players. It's supposed to be an easy neutral boss.

The trolls are killable at level 4. You must have been level 5 when you tried them (since the rabbit is the level 5 boss), so you should have had no problem...

And killing the rabbit is actually quite easy if you figure out what to do (it says right in the level tip, at the beginning of the level... and if you've ever seen Monty Python and the Holy Grail you would get it).

Thanks for playing and leaving feedback! If you remember your team composition (like, what heroes you were all playing), let me know what it was!

EDIT: I should mention that I like hearing what you think about the boss fights especially. If you think they are too easy, say so! That helps spark thoughts on balance changes. I was thinking today that I will review some of that early game content in detail to see if buffing HP values on certain bosses would be appropriate.

 

[Weep]

Bug report: attempting to give an Improved Whichever Kind Of Armor It Was That Gives +20 All Stats to an ally which already had one of those items caused a fatal error.

Also, can't say we like the font.

 

[Svenski]

Thanks a bunch for playin Weep & friends, your damage detection system fuels a lot of my favorite mechanics in the game.

Bug report: attempting to give an Improved Whichever Kind Of Armor It Was That Gives +20 All Stats to an ally which already had one of those items caused a fatal error.

Hmmm, I tried figuring out this bug but wasn't able to find the issue with the script (which is very simple, it just checks the custom value of the items picked up and if you have two items of the same custom value it drops the one you are picking up from your hero...). I'll try to reproduce the error by testing it with all the different specialty armors in different combinations.

Also, can't say we like the font.

- I like it a lot, I feel that it fits the game's style.
If anybody else has any opinions on the font please leave them! If everybody hates it I might consider changing it.


On another note, I tested 5 player this past weekend to check balance issues and coding on the new level I'm working on (Level 15). Things went quite well! My school semester is over in about 2.5 weeks, which is when I plan on wrapping up this project with full speed!

Stay tuned...
-Svenski

 

[Svenski]

Hello the Hive,

I have released version 2.2d!
Highlighted changes include:
-A whole new level! Level 15 - the last creep wave level before the final boss level!
-A new set of item enhancements! Level 14 drops Token of the Jedi, improving your specialty armors to legendary status!
-Nexus reworked: Shadowy Veil is now her ultimate, and Nexus mechanics have changed. See here for details.
-Balance changes...

Please leave feedback if you play the game, and check out the new website!

 

[Svenski]

Hello, the Hive.

Only about a month after I was hoping to complete the development of this game, so I guess it could be worse. But alas, I am finally finished with the last bit of game content. Check the updated list below for those remaining action items I posted previously:
[edit]See this post.

I hope it's not too late for at least a few people to get some enjoyment out of this project after it is released. Again, check the new website out for tons of information about the game!

Thanks again for all the prior feedback, and I hope to see some more in the future.
-Svenski

 

[Miss_Foxy]

That's great
Hope to see it released!

 

[Weep]

I'd like to suggest a short period of invulnerability after respawning; on many occasions, a hero has been one-shotted after happening to respawn next to a witch on the L4D wave.

Also, my friend and I feel that the heroes are not presently balanced, at least in 2p, where most of them are too weak to succeed at 2p except for Jinx, the gryphon rider, and the druid, who are disproportionally powerful. (Stacking rejuv + AOE attacks + moonfare = very yes.)

We've been having fun except we've been limited to those few heroes in order to get very far.