[Defense / Survival] Swarm, Is it a good idea?

[Uklabokalala]

I've run out of ideas for maps. I've had to many maps that I've started, found out it was pretty much impossible and I moved on. BUT, I shall not do that anymore.
Swarm is a map I've been thinking on making that is most likely possible to make. It is slightly based off of Star Ship Troopers where you are on an alien world and you defend from hordes of aliens.
I have been thinking of making a map where you choose a planet and your soldier (With custom/different abilities depending on the class) is placed in it. You build defenses and wait for the hordes. There will probably be 4 planets with different biomes and enemies.

Is this a good idea and should I make it a reality? Or should I scrap it and think of something else?

 

[pick-a-chew]

Other than being a generic defense, the planet thing is the only real innovation you have here, and even then it's a bit vague. Have you fleshed out how these planets work?

Sounds like it might just end up being a castle defense-esque survival but with aliens.

What novel features will your map have that make it unique/compelling?

IF you're worried about starting maps, and giving up again, start small! You could just have planets as a large plot of circular land surrounded by "space" or whatever, let players choose a planet, and then have creep waves spawn.

 

[UbanVectrex]

I am new. What are you doing right now friends?

I don't know, what kind of map that I should developed?
It make my brainz crazy. Please tell me friends.

 

[Uklabokalala]

Other than being a generic defense, the planet thing is the only real innovation you have here, and even then it's a bit vague. Have you fleshed out how these planets work?

Sounds like it might just end up being a castle defense-esque survival but with aliens.

What novel features will your map have that make it unique/compelling?

IF you're worried about starting maps, and giving up again, start small! You could just have planets as a large plot of circular land surrounded by "space" or whatever, let players choose a planet, and then have creep waves spawn.

I created a map yesterday, its the biggest it can be and I divided it into four planets. One is a urban, glacier, hellish type, and finally a generic Earth. I was going to have a different objective for each planet like one you have to defend a core, another you have to hold out for a time, another you gave to survive for as long as possible, and maybe something else.
As fighting goes ill have six classes. They can fight like normal, but I was going to add another attack that shoots a missile in front of you unit and it does 3X the normal damage. Also I was going to add abilities certain to the class.
One last thing. The planets will be chosen be red and everyone chooses a class through a building that blows up once a person was chosen.

 

[Dr Super Good]

There will probably be 4 planets with different biomes and enemies.

the planet thing is the only real innovation you have here

Seen that before...

A lot of starship trooper maps fail in that you get steamrolled. Once you lose anything (very easy to happen) it is impossible to recover. This is because they either give you finite starting resources (eg units) or that resources translate infinitely into power (so losing units permanently loses you power).

These are both detrimental to game play since if you suffer a significant loss people will instantly leave as they know it will be down hill from then.

 

[Uklabokalala]

Seen that before...

A lot of starship trooper maps fail in that you get steamrolled. Once you lose anything (very easy to happen) it is impossible to recover. This is because they either give you finite starting resources (eg units) or that resources translate infinitely into power (so losing units permanently loses you power).

These are both detrimental to game play since if you suffer a significant loss people will instantly leave as they know it will be down hill from then.

It'll be different, I assure you. I'll also take these to consideration to make a successful map.

 

[Dr Super Good]

With a bit of fog change and some destructibles you could easily turn 4 planets into 16 or more. Same basic layout but plays differently.

I would recommend either not resizing camera bounds for each planet or if you do then using a minimap icon of the underlying terrain. For such large environments a correct minimap is vital so that players can navigate around and see what is going on.

 

[Uklabokalala]

With a bit of fog change and some destructibles you could easily turn 4 planets into 16 or more. Same basic layout but plays differently.

I would recommend either not resizing camera bounds for each planet or if you do then using a minimap icon of the underlying terrain. For such large environments a correct minimap is vital so that players can navigate around and see what is going on.

Hmm, okay. So I was thinking while reading your comment that I could make four planets with two maps each that will have a slight terrain difference, difficultly change, and a new objective.
And about the camera thing. Why would I change it? Sorry, the last part of your comment didn't make much sense to me.

 

[Dr Super Good]

Why would I change it? Sorry, the last part of your comment didn't make much sense to me.

Allows you to focus on only the appropriate part of the map being used as the planet. This can give a better theme of realism as players cannot see that one planet is just a different part of the map and instead it looks like an entirely new map. The problem is that the feature resizes the minimap overlay and camera bounds (correct) but not the minimap image itself (incorrect). The image no longer reflects the overlay which can confuse players. In SC2 the feature works as intended and does resize the minimap. In WC3 the accepted work around is to place an overlay image of the appropriate minimap section onto a blank minimap.

 

[Uklabokalala]

Allows you to focus on only the appropriate part of the map being used as the planet. This can give a better theme of realism as players cannot see that one planet is just a different part of the map and instead it looks like an entirely new map. The problem is that the feature resizes the minimap overlay and camera bounds (correct) but not the minimap image itself (incorrect). The image no longer reflects the overlay which can confuse players. In SC2 the feature works as intended and does resize the minimap. In WC3 the accepted work around is to place an overlay image of the appropriate minimap section onto a blank minimap.

I'll see what you mean after school. Thanks for the help. Also, any other help or advice you have?

 

[pick-a-chew]

A lot of starship trooper maps fail in that you get steamrolled.

Well it is a defense map... if you're defenses suck then you deserve to lose...

 

[Uklabokalala]

Well it is a defense map... if you're defenses suck then you deserve to lose...

Haha, It wont really be like that. You have one unit and you can place defenses and all that, but it'll mostly be about the abilities and fighting not really the building.
(I should have a demo out by the end of the week)

 

[Dr Super Good]

if you're defenses suck then you deserve to lose...

Yes but making a small mistake should not land slide out of control. For example if you lose a single soldier or die once it should not ultimately result in you losing and instead be easily fixable.

 

[pick-a-chew]

amagad my grammar, i wrote you're instead of your

*jumps off a cliff*

depends if losses are recoverable really, usually losing a significant unit should result in a landslide for good reason

Haha, It wont really be like that. You have one unit and you can place defenses and all that, but it'll mostly be about the abilities and fighting not really the building.
(I should have a demo out by the end of the week)

i look forward to playing it!

 

[Uklabokalala]

amagad my grammar, i wrote you're instead of your

*jumps off a cliff*

depends if losses are recoverable really, usually losing a significant unit should result in a landslide for good reason



i look forward to playing it!

Thank you, ill see if I can work on it dome more. I have the terrain for the urban map is all done so all i just have to make the abilities, triggers, and units and the demo shall be out.