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TrekCraft!

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TrekCraft

After a long downtime of WC3, I eventually decided to go back and make one map I could be proud of; sort of a World Editor Thesis Statement. Beginning around a year ago, I've snuck in little amounts of work at a time to make what this project currently is: TrekCraft.

My goal was to make an RTS, but make it different than all others made in the past. MUCH different. I wanted to make new game mechanics that changed the way people play RTS games. I would like to believe I have done so XD

Terrain Screens




Oh yeah, I should mention I didn't use any blizzard cliffs












Gameplay


This is where I got some splainin' to do

To start, all players are given a starter, with which they can choose any valid position on the map to start playing as either of the two current teams: Humans or Goblins
(Goblins are experimental and hard to use. They are as lethal, but I need to make youtube videos at some point to demonstrate their potential)

17065664.png


When the Human race is chosen, you are given a Keep, three Serfs, and a pack horse. The pack horse is the only unit in the game which has an inventory size of 6 (everyone else has 1 slot). The pack horse starts with 1 mining pick, 2 picks, and 1 crown.

64928063.png


The pick and mining pick are both outfits. Outfits are unit sets that can be given to a Serf. For instance, if I give a Serf a Pick, he now turns into a Worker and gains all the Worker abilities. The Worker may then use the universal ability "Drop Outfit" to turn back into a Serf and drop his Pick on the ground.

51231277.png


When a Serf has an Outfit on, he then also has 1 more inventory slot. This is for an Equipment (i.e. Crown, as seen above). Equipments are a sort of personal upgrade for a unit, helping it specialize further in it's role. The Crown is a item that each player only gets one of and no more can be bought. It is the best equipment in the game as having only two can turn the tides of a battle.

Naturally, when the Serf uses "Drop Outfit", he does drop his equipment aswell. Be wary, other players can easily run by and steal items on the ground! Pack horses are good because not only do they keep your items safe, but they can also be used for quick run-bys to steal items players have left lying about.


Roads are important because they help all units on them move faster. If a player is a large distance away from you, you may pave a road to them for 15 resources a tile!

19070728.png


Knights are made when a Swordsman, Long Swordsman, or an Axman mount a horse. They can dismount, and their health is not tied to the health of their horse. If a weak soldier gets on a horse, he will come off of it with the same health level. When the Knight dies, there is a chance that the rider will survive to keep fighting.

23852511.png


The resources of this game are Provisions, Materials, and Upkeep (respectively).

Want more Provisions? Kill a wild animal or find a corpse.

46497079.png


Workers, Militia, and Spearmen can then use the ability "Harvest meat" to collect the nearest corpse and give you more Provisions. This ability can be set on auto-cast.

Harvesting corpses means that what was a battlefield is now a field of treasure.

59289587.png


Also, animals spawn where there are animals, so if you kill all the natural animals, then they are extinct. In TrekCraft, you can hunt so much noone can any more! Due to this, it is possible (at a cost) to spawn pigs for your purpose.

Materials can be obtained in two ways: Workers and Axmen can both harvest lumber from trees (just like in regular WC3) and Miners can attack rock deposits to directly add to your Materials.

42044590.png


Upkeep is the most different resource. Like farms, Houses can be built to add more Max, but you can only have 3 Houses. This is with Stables and Keeps. The biggest difference is, only Miners and Workers cost Upkeep. You are allowed to go over your max aswell, but this is very inadvisable. When you have, let's say, 13/13 upkeep, your money is exactly as it shows. When you change this to 11/13, you are gaining 2 resources here and there for nothing. When you give yourself 15/13 Upkeep, your money will start disappearing so you can feed your workers. With Meat being a either rich or scarce resource, it is generally advisable to stay slightly under max upkeep.


To-Do


  • Finish goblin team
  • Investigate a third team
  • ___Currently, "The Alliance".
  • Investigate implementing navy
  • Investigate multiple game modes
  • balance, balance, balance (This is where I need beta testers)


So that's the basics of what makes a very different, complex RTS game. As you can imagine, I am working to make sure the Goblin team is as different from anything else to play. Everything you just read is simply for one team.

So give me feedback when you guys can XD I'd love to hear what you think!

Beta Testing


This game is still in beta stages, and I don't want to mass distribute it yet. I will let you play it, though, should you really desire! If you are interested, send me an email at

:fp:[email protected]
-OR-
Send me a PM!

If you can get a few people, we can do an actual beta testing game! I'd love to get a few dedicated testers, plus, if you play enough, you'll get your name on the opening screen *cough cough*


Peace, guys;
-Supermj
 
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This sounds really great.

Any beta version coming out soon for testing?

/Tozza
 
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Kinda reminds me of Rival Dinasties by Dj0z... actually some systems are really similar comapring to Rival Dinasties...

I actually like the idea, though all the complex systems mean there will be no AI...
Oh, and maybe you should change resource names to Food (or Provision) and Materials?
 
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GhostThruster: Honestly, doesn't sound too good. The idea is nice, but I prefer to play simple RTS which are easy to learn and difficult to master. All the complexity of your systems seem too much and will just confuse me and turn training a Knight into quantum physics.

Everyone is entitled to their own opinions, but only if they're fully educated. These systems may seem alien to you and complex, but in around an hour of gameplay they'll feel fun and necessary. It's not stressful in the slightest with APM > 25. If I am wrong, please beta test and let me know.

Tozza: This sounds really great.

Any beta version coming out soon for testing?

A version for testing exist, I will email it to you at [email protected]

Send me an email there, even schedule a game if you can

tleno: Kinda reminds me of Rival Dinasties by Dj0z... actually some systems are really similar comapring to Rival Dinasties...

I actually like the idea, though all the complex systems mean there will be no AI...
Oh, and maybe you should change resource names to Food (or Provision) and Materials?

No AI is something I can live with; I can make survival modes if enough people desire, perhaps even a campaign. But those names, dude, consider that in the game. +rep for good idea.

Also, you make me feel the need to see what Rival Destinies is sometime. Never heard of it.
 
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Im in for playing a game(beta testing).
Tell me a time and wich GMT plus server and i can check if i can play that time :)

/Tozza
 
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tleno said:
Here, hope this map will give you some ideas... also you may want to ask Dj0z to give some systems if you'll like them...

So anyway, will you consider changing resource names to Food/Provision and Materials?

In the game, man ;) I'm not the best with words, so that's greatly appreciated XD

And the map does have mechanics similar, but also has a very different feel to it. You might understand if you play mine sometime

Tozza said:
Im in for playing a game(beta testing).
Tell me a time and wich GMT plus server and i can check if i can play that time :)

Please send me an email (along with everyone else interested) of when's convenient on the USEAST server for you so I'll be able to easily see who wants to play and when an idea's a good plan
 
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Damnit, I'm from EU server... oh, and if you want, you can send the map trough Hive's pastebin...

Yes, I can already feel your maps are gonna be way different, though the whole concenpt of heavily overcomplicated altered melee is very similar... and I hope yours will also have some diversity in choosing the gamestyle...
 
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Im from EU server to :/ Can you send it to me also, and i can check it out.

/Tozza
 
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tleno said:
Damnit, I'm from EU server... oh, and if you want, you can send the map trough Hive's pastebin...

Yes, I can already feel your maps are gonna be way different, though the whole concenpt of heavily overcomplicated altered melee is very similar... and I hope yours will also have some diversity in choosing the gamestyle...

I'll go ahead and send you two a pastebin link. Let me know if y'all can get on US east sometime; itd be fun.

What game modes would you like to see?
 
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Just tried it out, one word AWESOME :)

This game would pwn playing with friends, a game in my taste.

What i liked about TrekCraft:
The terrain was wonderful, big map and the terrain differs from mountains, icy terrain, and normal terrain.

That youre unit depends on items bought, like Mining Pick, Bow, etc.

Awesome Gameplay.

Building roads for a faster travelling.

and more..

What i didn't like about TrekCraft:
N/A, Cant find anything i didn't like

Need to be fixed: The only thing i noticed was that you can build more then two stables.

!Overall! Great Game, its still in beta and will be much better later on.

Great work, Keep it going!

/Tozza
 
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Game modes? I dont know, I'd like a one where you take over control points and score special points for those, and after scoring enough, you win.

Meh, Idk how I feel about that one. I could make a mode where resources are scarce, making the same zone-control effect.

Tozza said:
Just tried it out, one word AWESOME :)

This game would pwn playing with friends, a game in my taste.

What i liked about TrekCraft:
The terrain was wonderful, big map and the terrain differs from mountains, icy terrain, and normal terrain.

That youre unit depends on items bought, like Mining Pick, Bow, etc.

Awesome Gameplay.

Building roads for a faster travelling.

and more..

What i didn't like about TrekCraft:
N/A, Cant find anything i didn't like

Need to be fixed: The only thing i noticed was that you can build more then two stables.

!Overall! Great Game, its still in beta and will be much better later on.

Great work, Keep it going!

/Tozza

Thanks for the feedback :D good stuff

hmm... stable glitch.... I musta changed that trigger at some point inadvertently *fixes* Mkay, we're good

Let me know if you wanna play it with me sometime.
 
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Meh, Idk how I feel about that one. I could make a mode where resources are scarce, making the same zone-control effect.



Thanks for the feedback :D good stuff

hmm... stable glitch.... I musta changed that trigger at some point inadvertently *fixes* Mkay, we're good

Let me know if you wanna play it with me sometime.

Count me in. :)
 
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Hmm... I'd love to try out the new concept, hope there's some way I could help you with ideas and such too, good luck on the map!
 
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Maybe orc (fel orcs) that focus on towers and defensive, that shouldn't be easy nor hard to play ;)

Just a random idea ;)

Edit: i'll check if i can catch up more ideas when i get home.
 
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I was thinking about beastmen. A mix of Centaurs, Minotaurs, Ogres, Rat- and Wolf- people and such.
Now see, it's a pretty low-tech race. They have a single race type for single purpose, like centaurs for fast ranged combat. Or centaurs as elites. Wolves as average troops.
Their technology is quite primitive and their basic units are really vulnerable and more offencive. But every one of them may be equiped with armors that will immprove their effieciency.
So these would be more like wild, agressive brutes with a very low tech level, but the beastly might of thiers still makes them dangerous.
 
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I was thinking about beastmen. A mix of Centaurs, Minotaurs, Ogres, Rat- and Wolf- people and such.
Now see, it's a pretty low-tech race. They have a single race type for single purpose, like centaurs for fast ranged combat. Or centaurs as elites. Wolves as average troops.
Their technology is quite primitive and their basic units are really vulnerable and more offencive. But every one of them may be equiped with armors that will immprove their effieciency.
So these would be more like wild, agressive brutes with a very low tech level, but the beastly might of thiers still makes them dangerous.

This was a damn good idea that shud be added to the game, much better then mine idea.

+rep for an awesome idea :)
 
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I was thinking about beastmen. A mix of Centaurs, Minotaurs, Ogres, Rat- and Wolf- people and such.
Now see, it's a pretty low-tech race. They have a single race type for single purpose, like centaurs for fast ranged combat. Or centaurs as elites. Wolves as average troops.
Their technology is quite primitive and their basic units are really vulnerable and more offencive. But every one of them may be equiped with armors that will immprove their effieciency.
So these would be more like wild, agressive brutes with a very low tech level, but the beastly might of thiers still makes them dangerous.

Excellent in concept XD

I might make a race- "The Alliance" - which is a bunch of creatures that work together (Centaurs, Minotaurs, Gnolls, Pegasae, Satyr)

That is a good idea for another race. Right now, Im picturing a bunch of base units (like serfs) with only a few outfits (3ish) that work universally.

Satyr and Gnoll units would be early tech, Centaurs would be mid tech, and the others would be late tech and would come in few numbers.

Whatcha think?
 
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Well I was thinking... firstly I'd recommend calling the race "Beastman Aliance" or "Tribal Alliance". Since this race would be based on different beastman tribes, allied into a one faction...
Now about the the, I was thinking about something like this: To unlock some new race-type beastman, you have to make diplomatic pacts with their tribes. Like at begining you could all with gnolls and satyrs (Making a pact is like researching a tech), and the overall tier level would be researched with tech instead of upgrading, too.
So see, you research a tier tech, after which you get to make a pact with some creatures, after what you get to train them in specific building or build new kind of buildings and train those there... of course, you shouldn't really mix the different tier units in one building...
 
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Well I was thinking... firstly I'd recommend calling the race "Beastman Aliance" or "Tribal Alliance". Since this race would be based on different beastman tribes, allied into a one faction...
Now about the the, I was thinking about something like this: To unlock some new race-type beastman, you have to make diplomatic pacts with their tribes. Like at begining you could all with gnolls and satyrs (Making a pact is like researching a tech), and the overall tier level would be researched with tech instead of upgrading, too.
So see, you research a tier tech, after which you get to make a pact with some creatures, after what you get to train them in specific building or build new kind of buildings and train those there... of course, you shouldn't really mix the different tier units in one building...

As usual, awesome ideas. I'll recommend this!

Btw, how its going SuperMJ, looking forward for a new release soon + maybe an arranged beta test. :)
 
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Well I was thinking... firstly I'd recommend calling the race "Beastman Aliance" or "Tribal Alliance". Since this race would be based on different beastman tribes, allied into a one faction...
Now about the the, I was thinking about something like this: To unlock some new race-type beastman, you have to make diplomatic pacts with their tribes. Like at begining you could all with gnolls and satyrs (Making a pact is like researching a tech), and the overall tier level would be researched with tech instead of upgrading, too.
So see, you research a tier tech, after which you get to make a pact with some creatures, after what you get to train them in specific building or build new kind of buildings and train those there... of course, you shouldn't really mix the different tier units in one building...

I'll send you a draft of your idea later; when I'm completely done with the goblin team. If you have a chance, play them (hint, rush to get a second queen with starting minerals). Give me ideas for units/upgrades for that team for now.


Btw, how its going SuperMJ, looking forward for a new release soon + maybe an arranged beta test. :)

Im unable to work quickly with so much going on in this part of the year, but I am getting things done. Recently, I've just done more graphical things, but Im about to do some more goblin team work.

I'd love to do a beta test. What time zone are you all in? (so I can set up a good, convenient time.) PM me the answer, and I'll PM y'all the when/where
 
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Oh, I finally got time to test the map... I'm a bit disappoint... I mean, you should add more fun and intresting touches... also i'm not sure about just training the troops, I mean, they should then take much more time to be trained, so it would always be faster but more microing skill consuming to train units by yourself...
And terrain is a bit dull, it needs some more objects like plants and trees...
 
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Oh, I finally got time to test the map... I'm a bit disappoint... I mean, you should add more fun and intresting touches... also i'm not sure about just training the troops, I mean, they should then take much more time to be trained, so it would always be faster but more microing skill consuming to train units by yourself...
And terrain is a bit dull, it needs some more objects like plants and trees...

What kind of touches are interesting?

You only just train troops in tier 2 and it's inefficient. It's much faster having one Keep and three houses producing serfs, which requires the micro you were mentioning. Those buildings are really only in the game for building forward operating bases, helping you reenforce an army across the map.

The terrain would be nicer if I add custom doodads, but I thought it was decent. Did you check out the entire thing, or just build in the desert? (Which is a very barren place i dont know how to improve without it no longer looking like a desert)
 
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Well, you can like add some small bushy plants to your desert... or dead trees...

Intresting Touches? Well I don't know, maybe so like instead of forging all equipment, you forge only the weapons, get magic stuff from universities or whatever, and use lumver mill for all the harvesting and such?

Also, some more intresting resource gathering ways would be cool. Like you could build a farm that would build croops around itself for free, and some when the croops would be complete, they would give you food and die, and you could build another farm. The croops would be really vulnerable (1-50 hp) and would be passable but take a lot of space...
Another thing about gathering, you should change the icon for one of picks. To be less confusive. Like you can replace it's icon with Return Resources icon or with one of editor's hidden icons... you should go to tutorials section and find a tutorial about hidden resources in world editor, I recall there are lots of icons you won't find in editor any other way and those icons are really useful...
You can immprove the map terrain by adding some interactable objects, like shall we say some special captureable structures that give you some kind of bonus or allow to use some spcial ability, like shall we say regrow trees...
 
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Well, you can like add some small bushy plants to your desert... or dead trees...

Intresting Touches? Well I don't know, maybe so like instead of forging all equipment, you forge only the weapons, get magic stuff from universities or whatever, and use lumver mill for all the harvesting and such?

Also, some more intresting resource gathering ways would be cool. Like you could build a farm that would build croops around itself for free, and some when the croops would be complete, they would give you food and die, and you could build another farm. The croops would be really vulnerable (1-50 hp) and would be passable but take a lot of space...
Another thing about gathering, you should change the icon for one of picks. To be less confusive. Like you can replace it's icon with Return Resources icon or with one of editor's hidden icons... you should go to tutorials section and find a tutorial about hidden resources in world editor, I recall there are lots of icons you won't find in editor any other way and those icons are really useful...
You can immprove the map terrain by adding some interactable objects, like shall we say some special captureable structures that give you some kind of bonus or allow to use some spcial ability, like shall we say regrow trees...

Outfits are bought at the forge, equipments can be bought at tech buildings. Lumber mills can serve as a drop off point.

The Farm's a good idea. I'ma figure out a way to do that

And if I'm going to make intractable objects on the map, they're going to be like the watchtowers in sc2 and just give vision. Regrowing trees presents too much opportunity for turtling
 
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I dont think anything involving renewable resources is a good idea, making farms not too good of one either unless they constantly charge you of one resource.

So anyone actually wanna set up a game?

Edit: also, if anyone will protect it for me, I'll attach the newest version to this thread
 
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Yes, the only way I can think of implementing them is to make them take like 50 materials every 10 seconds in exchange for collectable food to appear

The only other problem with this is I have no more space to put the structure. Do you know of a way to make two building menus?

There is one way. Give Builer unit an ability to morph/get replaced by same worker unit, just with different buildable buildings. GolluM has similar system on his map Lords of Middle Earth...
 
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