- Joined
- Jul 27, 2007
- Messages
- 793
What is Timberpaw? Timberpaw is my first serious project idea. Loosely based on the classic DOS game Wolf /a video: wolf timber mission one/, the gameplay is a single player semi-RPG with sim /not sims/ elements injected. The story is about a lone female worg named Timberpaw who escaped death from a Centaur's axe and is trying to make her new home in the vast plains of the Barrens.
The gameplay elements will feature hunting, growing up worg pups, escaping powerful enemies /such as the centaurs we mentioned above/ and fighting other worgs for domination. It will also feature several faction - tho wolf packs and the Horde to mention two.
The world of Timberpaw would be opened to explore, but the story line is narrow with no alter-endings. The main goal would be to enter a wolf pack and later in the game become one of the Horde's rideable worgs. However, I'm still working on the storyline so some things may change.
More on the Gameplay
- Battles in Timberpaw
There would be two tipes of battles in Timberpaw. The first one we know well from WarCraftIII - the normal in-game battles where you fight other enemies, move, and are able to escape. The second one, however, would occur when you are fighting other worgs and wolves, as well as major characters. For now I call it "Arena Fights" - a fight to death where you are unable to move, neither to flee from the fight. It is a turn-based battle where you choose the type of your attack and after that wait for the opponent to attack you. It is based on two things - the first is a gameplay element from the game Wolf, which you can see in the end of this video, the second is pure betting. There would be different attacks - some would be more powerful, some weaker, but instead of basing there power on mana cost, I decided to base it on the chance of success. What would that mean? That means that while an attack can cause immediate victory, the chance for it to cause it is only 5%, and the chance to do nothing - 95%, while a normal attack is on the opposite side with 90% chance for succession. Thus the game becomes more interesting and less complex, but not plain and simple.
- The "Passives"
The "Passives" in Timberpaw are those abilities who are passive. They'd be not much different from any other ordinary Blizzard or Custom map, however, there's a simple difference in the way you get them.
Those "Passives" will be able to chose from the player, and will take the place of the items in the game. More interestingly, the most common way to win a passive is via defeating major enemies which drop them upon dead. The more uncommon way is to do a favor for a shaman, a subject that I won't discuss now, because I'm still working on it. The less common way, which gives you the weakest passives in game, is to buy them from a hunter's pet trainer vendor. Still, some very unique abilities can be found in those vendors, so make sure you check them.
There won't be a bank for passives, neither you'd be able to drop them. Dropping a passive skill will cause its immediate destruction. However, this would free you a slot for more powerful or just different passive skills.
While talking about slots, it would be nice to mention that you do not start with 6 slots, but instead you start with no slots, and slots are won by leveling up. And while talking about 'Leveling Up', it's time to tame Timberpaw and speak for her as the main character and gameplay element.
- Timberpaw as the player-controlled unit.
We already mentioned what is the basic story of our main character. But what is Timberpaw as part of the gameplay?
Timberpaw will be a hero unit. However, her stats /str, agl, int/ will not affect her much and she will not gain ordinary abilities. Moreover, she will not even level on the well-known creep hunting way, instead, she will level up when she defeats a major enemy. That's right, every time you win against a wolf pack leader, for example, you gain a level!
And what happens when you gain a level? Then you can choose what you can improve on Timberpaw . You can improve her speed, her attack power, her slots space, or her chances for success of the 'arena fight' attack types. You can even increase her hunger points - and the hunger's something that would be mentioned in the next part.
- Minor Gameplay Elements - even though they are minor, they form up one big part of the game.
Hunger: Timberpaw is a worg, as such she needs meat. Her mana points would decrease with the time, and when they reach zero something terrible will happen.
I haven't decided what for now /death is a reasonable, but rather boring decision/, but I strongly recommend you not to let Timberpaw starve. But how?Hunting: By Hunting, of course! Hunt enemies or just weak creeps to gain food and other goodies /such as bigger amount of hit points or stopping the drain of hunger points /mana/ for a short period of time/. However you should remember that some enemies' meat is poisonous or toxic and may cause you only bigger hunger, or even decreased hit points.
Hunters: In the game there will be hunters. There are good hunters /like the ones that roam around and help you kill scorpids/, but there are bad ones, hunters who will hunt you. Remember to stay away from those Boomstick armed dwarfs near Merchant's Coast.
Meet the Bloodhoofs: It's the little things in the game that make it charming. So I decided to let you meet some of the most well-known characters from WarCraft's universe. Calm down, you won't fight against Arthas while he's trying to invade Kalimdor, but you will meet heroes of the Horde such as Rexxar, Baine Bloodhoof, Drek'Thar or even Thrall himself. And maybe a little work on the unrevealed lore done by me? However, this is yet to be decided.
And Many, Many other...
However, I haven't even started serious work on the world editor /some minor editing to try 'will it work' - yes, but serious - no/. Here are the things yet to be done/decided.
Decide campaign or one whole map: this major decision is not yet done because of the next ones, which are
Will there be many optional mission? for now my answer is 'no', still I have to decide if I'd make the few optional missions like instances /I.O.W.: custom maps loaded like the Rexxar campaing/ or not.
How big the playable world would be: the Barrens is a vast territory - from the Far Watch Post to Camp Taurajo, from Mor'shan Base Camp to The Great Elevator, with 4 major settlements /The Crossroads, Ratchet, Camp Taurajo and Northwatch Hold - a place I'd recommend you to avoid/, with more than 5 races /Trolls, Taurens, Orcs, Centaurs, Human, Dwarves, Goblins.../ and many unique locations /remember Shrine of The Fallen Warrior?/. I need to figure out with how many of these I can handle, it's not just putting them on the map but also making them interesting for the player - there's no point in making the whole Crossroads if you do not put interactivity in it. Moreover it is boring for the player himself to run long distances - remember, you are a worg in a hostile open plain territory, not a Olympic runner on long distances.
How many people I will need: Let us be realists - a single man, even an experienced map maker, will find it hard to do this alone. Moreover I'm not an experienced map maker - more likely I made 5-6 maps to play on with friends, and the few I submitted were failure. So I'll need working buddies. Even furthermore, I'm more comfortable with creating ideas and basic 'black worker' job, like ObjectEditing, than with recreating vast terrains. Anyone interested can PM me, but I'll create a thread in the appropriate forum when more things come to clear.
So, as you see, the project for now looks more like a good idea rather than a project with a clear future. Why I'm posting it here? Because of your help that I want. I'm not talking about 3-4 hours working on my very own idea, I'm talking about dropping a few lines commenting the things you like or dislike in what I said so far, giving your ideas, giving me tips, or just encouraging me. I'd appreciate it.
Thank you for the long time spent reading!
EDIT: Thanks for the quick help from Hakeem, now we have the thread in the appropriate forum.
Last edited:
