[Role Playing Game] The Fountain of Youth (WIP)

[FeelsGoodMan]

Hello Hive

This is a map I have been working on for the past 6-7 months. While still far from completion, it is finally starting to reach a stage where I have something to showcase.

My main inspiration comes from Fable and KotoR, but also gets inspiration from many other games, movies and maps.

The story and other major details regarding the world you play in will remain undisclosed until release.

It is a single player offline RPG map where your choices impacts both the story, your own appearance and your abilities. Your choices grants you "Alignment points". Minus alignment means you are evil, positive means you are good. The more evil or good you get your appearance will change and the stronger your abilities gets.

Throughout the map you will find so called "Mystical Doors" spread around. They are initially dormant, but can be woken up in a secret way. They present you with some kind of challenge, and if completed, will open their chamber to you. Their chamber can contain traps, secrets and loot. A big thanks goes to @HerrDave for making the amazing model for the doors. This map wouldn't be the same without the work of @HerrDave.

Another big thanks goes to @Jaccouille for modifying the Sylvanas Windrunner model to have burning holy fiery eyes.

Lastly to @MadMax for making an icon for the Sylvanas with fiery eyes.

Another big thanks goes to @deepstrasz for a lot of invaluable information, ideas, quest testing and more. A keen set of eyes like his are invaluable for any map maker seeking to improve their map. He also combined a chicken with a dragon to make a cockatrice model!

Thanks to @Mythic for altering his bow enchantment model so it fits the Banshee queen model.

Huge thanks to @ThisPOT for making the fire brute charge spell! I had a poor system in place prior to his help and this bossfight would not be the same without @ThisPOT.

Thanks a lot to @PROXY for making the moving pillar model. A great tool for nice puzzles in Skyrim syle!

My gratitude also goes to @xYours Trulyx for editing various models for me. He is working ever so diligently in the Hive's Simple Edit Resources Thread. Wholesome guy all around. He has also edited 5 WoW/HOTS models for me to optimize them, re-attach tens of thousands of vertices, transfer their animations so they all have the same animations, re-texturing them to have different colors and even make awesome icons for them. Amazing work!

Features

Planned features

Progress

• Good/evil aligment system.
• Choices impacts the story and hero build.
• Well thought out spells that synergizes.
• Lots of cinematics for those who likes complex backstories for even the smallest side quests (skippable for the boring people who just wants to pew pew).
• A full fledged murder case where you have to investigate, interrogate and find culprits.
• A lot of puzzles, traps, secrets, varied boss fights, interesting dialogue.
• 5 super bosses and lots of minibosses.
• Good looking terrain.
• Varied terrain types. You have a full fledged forest, 2 caves, 2 cities, 1 village, countryside and a volcano with a moving magma stream.
• Upgradeable rune tablet that grants different auras, information and a fast travel/warp function.
• Pouch system for expanded inventory.
• Almost every single encounter is scripted.
• 6 different travel/world music playlists and 7 boss fight music playlists.
• Dynamically changing night/day cycles with filters and enabled/disabled rays of moon/sun light.
• Bow upgrade system with 5 bow upgrade levels and visual enchantment.

• Quest item multiboard tracker.
• Custom items (will be made after all quests are done).
• At least 4 different endings, depending on your choices.

• Terrain 99% complete.
• Hero good/evil system 100% complete.
• Spells 98% complete (I am planning on changing out two spells).
• Main quest 68% complete.
• Side quests 30% complete.
• Other systems 89% complete.

Screenshots:

Forest

Cave

Village & Countryside

Human city

Undead city

Volcano

Spoiler

Spoiler

Spoiler

NEW SCREENSHOTS:

Spoiler

Spoiler

Spoiler

Gameplay videos:

Spells

Gameplay

Terrain

If you would like to be a part of this project just throw me a PM.

Release will be anything from 2 - 4 months.

 

[Clubbies]

This looks really cool. I like a lot of the environment design/layouts you've showcased. It's always nice to see a new upcoming project that someone has clearly put love, time and care into. I'd be down to give it a whirl when you release it. Good luck to completion!

 

[FeelsGoodMan]

This looks really cool. I like a lot of the environment design/layouts you've showcased. It's always nice to see a new upcoming project that someone has clearly put love, time and care into. I'd be down to give it a whirl when you release it. Good luck to completion!

Thanks

 

[PROXY]

I really like the feel and look of it. The only thing I would improve upon would be the small village terrain. It looks not so good in comparison to the other screenshots, especially beacause it uses Lordaeron Summer tiles (I know the hate is overrated but they still do not look that good). The trees do not fit that much as well. Other than that, I'm looking forward to it. Been looking for a small, decent RPG

 

[FeelsGoodMan]

I really like the feel and look of it. The only thing I would improve upon would be the small village terrain. It looks not so good in comparison to the other screenshots, especially beacause it uses Lordaeron Summer tiles (I know the hate is overrated but they still do not look that good). The trees do not fit that much as well. Other than that, I'm looking forward to it. Been looking for a small, decent RPG

I'm glad you like it. At this point I don't think I'm able to change the tile set but I do see your point.

 

[FeelsGoodMan]

Bow upgrade system has been fully developed and implemented with the help of @Mythic who altered his bow enchantment to fit the banshee queen model.

 

[ThisPOT]

After getting a sneak peak while making the brute charges, I must say that this map looks very fun and promising, and the cinematics really help immerse you into the well designed world. The only problem I noticed (but it isn't a big deal), is that there are a few typos ^^... But that's something that can be dealt with at the very end while polishing.

PS: You should also ask for someone to update the UI (will take some designing skills) so that the side borders aren't the standard human borders (all UI's have that problem now with new resolution).

 

[FeelsGoodMan]

After getting a sneak peak while making the brute charges, I must say that this map looks very fun and promising, and the cinematics really help immerse you into the well designed world. The only problem I noticed (but it isn't a big deal), is that there are a few typos ^^... But that's something that can be dealt with at the very end while polishing.

PS: You should also ask for someone to update the UI (will take some designing skills) so that the side borders aren't the standard human borders (all UI's have that problem now with new resolution).

Thanks, you have been a great help this far. Please do let me know of the typos so I can fix them. It might just be my English as well, seeing as it isn't my native language.

Also about the UI thing yeah I know, sadly I think it will be hard to find a graphic designer to make it compatible with the widescreen resolution. I see some UI's has been made to fit the new res, but they don't really fit the theme well. Maybe I can look around on Fiverr or something if I get permission to alter the UI from the designer who made it.

 

[ThisPOT]

if I get permission to alter the UI from the designer who made it

Yes, I highly suggest that, a lot of people can help with a quick fix I'm sure (if you have the right).

---

Please do let me know of the typos so I can fix them.

Once the game is closer to finish I'll do a full run through and let you know of all that I find!

 

[FeelsGoodMan]

Map just reached 1000+ triggers

Development is slow but steady.

A lot of bugs has been fixed, including some really pesky ones that I have been debugging for days to find.

Major parts of one of the main quest lines has been finished, and some boss fights has been finalized.


Still need help with this: [Model Request] Bad Chicken

 

[Veritas 117]

I'm really liking to the look of this one. It looks like you got some inspiration from Fable which brings back some nostalgia for me. I'm a big fan of RPGs so I'm keeping an eye on this one for sure.

 

[FeelsGoodMan]

The forest has gotten a huge overhaul. I think it looked kinda boring and not as good as the terrain in other parts of the map, so I spent most of yesterday and today on improving it. The doodad limit is still my worst enemy

Spoiler

 

[FeelsGoodMan]

The tileset in the Village/countriside has been reworked. As pointed out by @PROXY the Lordareon summer tileset doesn't look as good, so with some tips from @Strydhaizer I found out how to extract tiles from the CASC files, and imported them into my map instead of the default lordareon summer tiles.

I also added three variations of pine trees to make the flora more diverse.

Screenshots in main post and below:

(The tile placements still needs some work as the old ones has just been overwritten).

Spoiler

Next step will be to replace the standard bushes and flowers with animated versions from the Stone and Sword pack!

 

[PROXY]

YES! So much better cant wait to see more progress.

 

[Veritas 117]

The doodad limit is still my worst enemy

This is one of the reasons I haven't upgraded to the new patches. I have used JNGP and UMSWE (or whatever it's called) to have unlimited doodads, and custom pathability for tiles. Along with a few custom trigger functions. I will try to get it figured out eventually, but my maps have well over 30k doodads with a lot I still want to add!

Good luck and hopefully the limit will just be removed in the future. This project is looking better and better all the time!

 

[FeelsGoodMan]

This is one of the reasons I haven't upgraded to the new patches. I have used JNGP and UMSWE (or whatever it's called) to have unlimited doodads, and custom pathability for tiles. Along with a few custom trigger functions. I will try to get it figured out eventually, but my maps have well over 30k doodads with a lot I still want to add!

Good luck and hopefully the limit will just be removed in the future. This project is looking better and better all the time!

Thanks a lot! Yeah I hope the limit will be removed too... Now I am deleting redundant doodads wherever I can to make room for as many environmental doodads as possible. A limit of 30k when the officially supported max size is 480x480 is beyond my ability to comprehend to be honest. But oh well, I try to make do with what I have.

 

[FeelsGoodMan]

The evil alignment spell Styx is complete. See a showcase of the evil abilities (and some neutral ones) below:

(The ultimate spell will be replaced. While absolutely awesome visually, it still messes up some things to have the hero invulnerable, elevated and paused)

Ignore the rain and bird ambient sounds, I forgot to turn them off before the video. Also ignore the lag, it's caused by terrain deformation from shockwaves and warstomps and will be fixed.

 

[maddeem]

Looks sick! Love the idea of collecting souls to heal yourself

 

[FeelsGoodMan]

Looks sick! Love the idea of collecting souls to heal yourself

Glad you like it

 

[FeelsGoodMan]

Custom minimap is finally done. I am quite happy with the result.

It is made with Inkarnate.com, by printing out a paper version of the in game minimap, then tracing it through the computer screen. Everything is in their right places with just SLIGHT inconsistencies but that's invisible due to the size of the map.

Full size map:

Spoiler

In game fully revealed:

Spoiler

 

[FeelsGoodMan]

Production is really slow due to high season at work, but I am able to get in at least 1-2 hours per day.

Testing some spells for a boss:

 

[maddeem]

Might want to preload the model for #2 sfx as it caused a lot of initial lag. Looks pretty sick in general

 

[FeelsGoodMan]

Might want to preload the model for #2 sfx as it caused a lot of initial lag. Looks pretty sick in general

Thanks for the suggestion, I will. This is only a test map though, so I will do it when I import everything into the actual map.

 

[FeelsGoodMan]

Development is put on hold due to travels.

See you in 2 weeks

 

[FeelsGoodMan]

Development is put on hold due to travels.

See you in 2 weeks

Development has resumed!

 

[FeelsGoodMan]

Sorry for such a long time without any updates. Development has been a bit slow due to extended holidays and taking on two other projects simultaneously. One of the projects is finished and the other doesn't need any immediate attention.

This means I can focus my time on this map again. When working on such big maps I need some time off sometimes to just do other things too.

I am slowly implementing more and more high quality doodads and models to make transitioning into Reforged easier. Reforged transition will still be far after initial release though.

Here's the Cave of the Ancients reworked;

Spoiler

 

[FeelsGoodMan]

Update;

It is now possible to play through the whole good main quest line.

What remains to do before the good quest line is 100% done and ready for testing:

Better AI for normal creeps.
Make more creep spells (I have them all outlined, they just need to be made).
Develop some creep strategies/tactics.
Some camera work in different cinematics.
Finish developing 6 boss fights (2 of them are almost done).
Rewrite some dialogues.
Add side quests.

 

[FeelsGoodMan]

Finish developing 6 boss fights (2 of them are almost done).

This number is actually 9 boss fights, not 6. Now it's 8 as one of them is done. Take a look;

If I hadn't sucked at actually playing the game I wouldn't have died


It lags sometimes as the recording software is a bit resource intensive, and the world editor is open with several map windows while also saving this map in the background. Without anything open in the background there is no lag.

 

[FeelsGoodMan]

The city is getting a much needed visual upgrade with a lot of HQ doodads, new houses and custom tiles.

Spoiler

 

[Heinvers]

You're definitely going strong here. Do continue and surprise us :]

 

[FeelsGoodMan]

You're definitely going strong here. Do continue and surprise us :]

Thanks!

I didn't feel like the previous one was *that* good, so I improved it even further. Starting to look quite alright now.

Spoiler

 

[ElectricSaiyan]

Any update on your map sir?

 

[FeelsGoodMan]

Any update on your map sir?

Not as of right now, I'm currently re-terraining a lot of areas but I will definitely post some screenies when I'm done.

 

[FeelsGoodMan]

After a long time of no updates I am sad to officially announce that I will call off this project.

First and foremost I apologize to @HerrDave and @PROXY who provided two 100% custom made resources for this map. Unfortunately the maps sheer size makes it a tremendous mess to work with in the editor to the point where simple tasks are just unbearable. I guess the world editor has its limits when it comes to size. The map lags massively when in the editor, it takes around 5-7 minutes to just load into the editor when I open it, saving the map takes even longer, selecting destructables and units in the trigger editor takes 15-20 seconds, and after having loaded the map in the editor it starts to lag while just looking around. Had it not been for these excruciating performance issues I would have loved to complete this map, but in its current state it is near impossible.

1 and a half year of development, 60k destructables and doodads, heaps of boss fights, custom spells, systems, a whopping 1500 triggers, and nearly as many variables, almost finished one of two main quest lines, lots of side quests and so on, but now it comes to an end unless a miracle happens and my map becomes a bit easier to work with. I don't consider the progress as wasted though, as I have learned a lot from the process, and will pave the way for greater things to come in the future.

I am uploading the map here in case anyone wants to take a look, or wants to play through it. I have tried removing all the severe leaks and so on. If you want cheat codes they can be found in the triggers, but the most important ones are "good" and "evil". Just type them into chat without the "" brackets. Only the good side quest line is playable from start to finish, and the end is severely lacking. Not all boss fights have been thought out, and some of them are way, way too hard and not optimized at all.

Thanks for everyone who followed the development thus far, and to those who helped in its making. A special mention should also go to @xYours Trulyx for editing a lot of models in there.

 

[proudmer22]

Well damn. Sorry to see the project go because of World Editor limitations... I've just taken look at the city and it's extremely beautiful.
What I can say is that it's not lagging much on my PC. I mean I can explore the map in editor and unit placing took one second(in Reforged mode so I assume it'll work better in SD mode). Maybe you'll just need to get a better PC..
Good luck with your projects.

 

[FeelsGoodMan]

Well damn. Sorry to see the project go because of World Editor limitations... I've just taken look at the city and it's extremely beautiful.
What I can say is that it's not lagging much on my PC. I mean I can explore the map in editor and unit placing took one second(in Reforged mode so I assume it'll work better in SD mode). Maybe you'll just need to get a better PC..
Good luck with your projects.

The problem isn't unit placement, try for example to make a new trigger then you do "kill destructible" or something like that and you will see. Try to work with the map for a bit and it will become extremely laggy very fast.

I have a top notch computer so that's not the issue I am afraid.

 

[proudmer22]

The problem isn't unit placement, try for example to make a new trigger then you do "kill destructible" or something like that and you will see. Try to work with the map for a bit and it will become extremely laggy very fast.

I have a top notch computer so that's not the issue I am afraid.

I see what you mean. That sucks.

 

[Veritas 117]

The same thing happens with my maps in my campaign, but I’ve just learned to live with it. I use a map with no doodads and very few triggers to work on things like abilities so I can just copy the triggers into the other maps in the campaign. During long delays I usually just browse Hive on my other monitor. It’s annoying, but I can’t walk away from nearly 10 years of work lol.

 

[FeelsGoodMan]

The same thing happens with my maps in my campaign, but I’ve just learned to live with it. I use a map with no doodads and very few triggers to work on things like abilities so I can just copy the triggers into the other maps in the campaign. During long delays I usually just browse Hive on my other monitor. It’s annoying, but I can’t walk away from nearly 10 years of work lol.

I did that too, made all the systems in a test map and transferred them over, but for me the lag is unbearable. I would love to find out what part of my computer is under so much strain, then I would just buy a component that's good enough to handle it, but at the moment nothing in the resource monitor really stands out....

 

[Veritas 117]

Ya. If someone ever figured it out they would make a lot of people happy. But more than 1000 triggers, tons of imports, variables, and doodads just bogs it down I’m afraid

 

[maddeem]

Just break your map up into different maps yo

 

[PROXY]

Oh what a damn shame. I still hope you might find some way to save it. If not, them I'm super excited for the next project

 

[FeelsGoodMan]

Oh what a damn shame. I still hope you might find some way to save it. If not, them I'm super excited for the next project

I hope so too. I have a few things I intend to try, but it's a real long shot in the dark.