(WIP) Curse of River's End

[invalidnick]

Been a while since I posted anything...
Core is still going strong with somewhat 30' subscribers, and we are super eager to fix all the issues we have found so far!
If you haven't checked it out, here is the link to the workshop: http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=381995351

This is the list of issues and bugs we've got so far:

Bugs:
- Music stops when the game starts
- Top lane does not meet exactly in the middle
- Bottom lane does not meet exactly in the middle
- Buildings near top camps (by the cliff) needs FoV blockers
- Mid T2 Radiant tower is destroyed by a few hits
- Can see outside the map at a few places along the border
- Ward spots need to be tweaked (right now they are pretty useless)
- Trigger_no_wards does not work
- No water sound/effects when walking in the water

Suggestions waiting to be implemented:
- Increase size of team bases
- Move top T2 towers closer to T1
- Create custom minimap
- Update night lighting (too dark)
- Delete a tree near Secret in Radiant base (should only require 1 tango to access Secret Shop)
- Add homeshop trigger to ESEX mailboxes in the town
- Clean up some goddam trees
- New models for grave stone
- New signs for town-shops (blacksmith etc...)
- Remove/move skylight above Secret on Radiant side

Future (wish list):
- Animate Lamarr
- Animate G-man
- Custom soundtrack
- Custom skybox
- Custom creeps
- House/ground destruction when destroying towers
- Secret event (secret)

Some of the issues seems to be out of our reach, but we will do our best to clean up as much as possible!

Also, wanted to share a little update on our next project, which still is in it's creative cradle, when we are ready to start working on it I'll most probably create a new thread, and keep this thread for CORE
Here is a early material and setting test by Daskaren

 

[Arhowk]

Ooh i like it, gives me a diablo-esque feel. Maybe we can finally get what Diablo 3 should have been?

 

[invalidnick]

1 hour time lapse movie combining (almost) all raw footage I've captured during the development of CORE

 

[invalidnick]

Sooo...milords,

We are back in business, hopefully we will have a pretty decent update of core_dota this weekend, here are some things that we have worked on,

Iterated on the layout, especially around the graveyard, it felt a little cramped. Moved the secret shop and added some more ancient camps, in addition G-man is now (also) a secret shop reachable by blink or similar ability, the esex mailbox is now a side shop,
Updated the (previously useless) ward spots, they can now be used as intended,
Increased the team bases and added some new art for grave stoned and town signs, also fixed a bunch of scripting bugs with the towers...

Stay tuned

 

[invalidnick]

CORE dota Update #1

New content:

Added some more variations to the gravestones, in time I hope to add some destruction to these objects, might be "fun"

The Alchemist has a new sign, when we get time we will add some proper joints to the new (and old) signs to make them sway,

The town Armory has been updated with a new sign,

The Blacksmith house has been updated with a new sign,

Gameplay updates:

The G-man is now a secret shop, at some point in the near future we will add some small idle animation to him

The ESEX mailbox in the town now serve as a proper Side shop

The Secret shop has moved (replaced by Ancient camps on each side)

Wider space at the crossing near middle, also a little re-shuffle in the graveyard area, mostly cleanups,

A big issue in the previous release was the poorly made ward spots, all of them have been updated, these are the new ward spots:

Dire side - middle T2 ward spot, removed the neutral camp is this area and cleaned up some trees

Dire side - bottom T2 ward spot, secret shop has been removed and replace with a Ancient camp

Radiant side - middle T2 ward spot, removed the neutral camp in this area, also cleaned up a few trees

Radiant side - bottom T2 ward spot, cleaned up some trees, moved Secret shop and replaced it with a Ancient camp,

Additional updates:

- Increased size of team bases - or rather, pushed back the Ancient closer to team fountain,
- Tweaked placement for T1 and T2 top and middle (both teams)
- Cleaned up some trees and unnecessary decals around in the map, will hopefully make movement more smooth
- Fixed health bug with Radiant middle T2 tower (only had 150hp)
- Tweaked brightness during night (was too damn dark)
- Removed ceiling and lowered the walls around Roshans pit (might need to be lowered even more)
- Various material tweaks on the ground
- Fixed a few issues with Fov blockers at top
- Fixed some pathing issues around in the map
- Fixed a few areas where the camera could see outside the map
- Changed the spawning properties to random in all Neutral camps

The most obvious bugs left to fix:

- The trigger_no_wards does not work (so players can place wards in areas where it's not intended), think it might be a SDK related issue
- There is no water sound/effect when walking in the water (might be related to a issue where custom blend materials does not create walkable collision - or its something else that I yet haven't found)
- The music stops when the game starts, super annoying since I love the dota2 music, kills the immersion for me, but might be considered a small issue,
- The creep waves does not meet perfectly in the middle, a tweaking issue I will fix when I manage to find where the properties are set for the lane creep spawning - might be hard coded


Waiting to do a few more run-troughs of the map before it will be pushed out, also need to update the overview images, hopefully I'll have time to update the workshop version Monday night,

If anyone in my friends list on steam want's to take it for a spin; you find the latest version of the map here: http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=377641582

Sorry for the low res pictures and poor graphics settings, I'm on my potato computer,

Have a nice weekend!




...ooh, almost forgot! Had a friend help me update the lore to CORE, here it is:

The Curse of River’s End

The monastic town of River’s End had always been quiet, even after the fall of the Mad Moon. From time to time, merchants brought news of skirmishes and bandits, but they seemed always to be far from the sleepy township. Instead, life in River’s End revolved around the production of the beers and cheeses that had made the town famous.

The processes responsible for Brother Dom’s pungent cheeses and Brother Tom’s potent ales had been honed over generations. The two were enjoyed by the natives and visitors alike, and the village at River’s End had become slowly grown into a town. As demand increased, the nearby Freeman’s Inn sprang up to accommodate merchants all year round.

At the height of its popularity, River’s End played host to a visit from the Secret Shop itself, its lone attendant hawking rare artefacts like none the townsfolk had seen. The Secret Shop attracted the attention of heroes from far flung regions, searching for ways to augment their strange powers and unnatural strengths. Far away, curled in his rocky nest, Roshan sensed the gathering power and stirred.

Reaching River’s End in the dead of night, Roshan found the Secret Shop unattended, its wares strewn hither and thither across the countertops. Buried among the relics, there pulsed an ancient power. He raked a claw across the treasures, scattering swords and precious stones, revealing the Aegis of the Immortal. Satisfied with his theft and with the sun rising, the ancient beast retreated to the basement of the town’s chapel, where the cool stone walls reminded him of the pit he was spawned in.

As the sun rose, the secret shopkeeper rose and repacked his bedroll, readying himself for another day of explaining basic economics to the Ogre Magi. When he saw that the shop had been plundered while he slept, he flew into a rage and cursed the town of River’s End. He swore on any gods that would listen that he would strike down whoever had raided the shop.

The sky darkened as he made his oaths, a thick layer of cloud dimming the morning sun. Thunder pealed and lightning rent the air, but he continued, invoking names and creatures that none of the townsfolk had heard from, calling on debts and favours in languages long since extinct.

The gods answered his prayer, a vast blade fell from the sky, tongues of flame creeping up its leading edge. The sword cleaved through the chapel, missing the sleeping Roshan by inches. Though he escaped crushed by the blade, he was bound to it, destined wait in the shattered chapel for death to find him.

Despite their innocence, the curse left none of the inhabitants of River’s End untouched. A tide of avarice turned friends and neighbours into enemies as looting and pillaging swept the town.

As a wandering hero, you spawn outside River’s End…

Shopkeeper:

“Ahhh, a new customer.”

“Welcome to River’s End, the journey to your hero starts here.”

“The creature Roshan has stolen something precious to me... “

“Retrieve it, and I will see that you are properly rewarded.”

 

[Noya]

Now take 5 minutes to add stats before you release

 

[invalidnick]

Now take 5 minutes to add stats before you release

Yeah will try and add that today

 

[invalidnick]

Yaaaaaaay...The update is live!

http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=381995351

 

[invalidnick]

After some serious play testing we collected some serious feedback, most of will hopefully make it into the next update, here are some preview pics...

During our play test we saw that much of the team fights gravitated towards the bridges, if you are on a opponent team you can cross the bridge without having the tower shoot at you, the bridge is now high ground:

Added high ground to areas behind the houses overlooking the bottom rune spawner:

Added high ground to team bases, outside every tower there is a decent area for team fight:

Special thanks to Team Leviathan!

 

[invalidnick]

Small preview, while the vanilla Dota2 rocks are super cool and awesome we wanted to add our own touch

Might need some additional cleanup/and -or fixes, this is just a preview of the mesh, it looks way better when they are placed properly in the map

Daskaren has been trying out some cool tools to generate models from photos, will need a little cleanup, but it looks good!

Will be included in the next update!

 

[invalidnick]

every now and then I post stuff out of topic...this is one of those posts

tried to import a simple heightmap, 16384x16384 units in hammer, 4096 heightmap, 4096 texture overlayed texture (to use as ref)

 

[DarkSider684]

Great work here, keep it up! I hope valve will release official custom map support soon

 

[Fang]

I almost fooled I thought this is a Wc3 map
So, its DotA 2

 

[invalidnick]

I almost fooled I thought this is a Wc3 map
So, its DotA 2

Yep, all the stuff in this thread is Dota 2

We have a new version of CORE coming soon, here is a short summary of whats included:

- Updated layout of Radiant and Dire bases, it's now placed on high ground
- Updated layout in the town, new high ground area around the bottom rune
- Added a easy neutral camp to the Blacksmith and Herbalist house
- Updated layout near Ancient camps
- Moved the Church to the top part of the map, in addition the entire top part of the map has been remade from scratch
- Added two new ward spots, updated the old ward spots
- Made bridges in the graveyard high ground
- Moved top rune
- Tweaked distance between top and middle lane
- Fixed issues with Super/Mega creeps (did not spawn properly before)
- Fixed some issues with a few of the Towers
- Replaced "old" rocks with new custom rocks
- Fixed issues with trees outside the playable area of the map
- Tweaked fog distance
- Clustered up trees around the map (less single trees, now has more juking)
- Various pathfinding tweaks
- Polish on ground textures
- Polish on various models

If possible I will try to record our next playtesting session and include a commentary

 

[Fang]

Is this a normal melee game or adventure game?

Edit: Hmm... The mountain and the trees doesn't attach well you should fix it.

 

[invalidnick]

Almost ready to push the new updates, this is the current (old) layout:

This is the updated layout, notice how the top part has changed, the church is now located in the top most corner of the map:

 

[invalidnick]

With the new updates around the map I recently realized that the current layout of the town felt a wee bit weak, so decided to update it, here is a few renders:

The town square around the fountain is now highground, contesting this area is essential for anyone running the bottom lane, can also be used for setting up early ganks and controlling the neutral camps in the surrounding area

New neutral creep spawn in the town (broken houses), also added a highground in between the two camps to balance the risk/reward of contesting the camps

 

[invalidnick]

This is the updated layout in the next version of CORE

At some point we will make a fancy-version of this minimap (similar to the regular Dota 2 one), the white trees draws too much attention and it needs to be more overall simplified,
I also want to experiment with tinting highgrounds so it's easier for player to see, in addition the Dire area is too damn dark...

Until then,

 

[invalidnick]

The new version of CORE is live!

http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=381995351

Update (core_dota v0.3)

- Updated layout of Radiant and Dire bases, it's now placed on high ground
- Updated layout in the town, new high ground area around the bottom rune
- Additional updated to the town, a few new houses and some high ground
- Added a easy neutral camp to the Blacksmith and Herbalist house
- Updated layout near Ancient camps
- Moved the Church to the top part of the map, in addition the entire top part of the map has been remade from scratch
- Added two new ward spots, updated the old ward spots
- Made bridges in the graveyard high ground
- Moved top rune
- Tweaked distance between top and middle lane
- Fixed issues with Super/Mega creeps (did not spawn properly before)
- Fixed some issues with a few of the Towers
- Replaced "old" rocks with new custom rocks
- Fixed issues with trees outside the playable area of the map
- Tweaked fog distance
- Clustered up trees around the map (less single trees, now has more juking)
- Various pathfinding tweaks
- Polish on ground textures
- Polish on various models

Some screens:
New top lane and ward spot

New highground outside town

 

[Fang]

Okay, those screenshots are Great!

 

[invalidnick]

Okay, those screenshots are Great!

Thanks mate,



Small update v.0.3.5

- Fixed a few missing quads
- Updated the layout in the town
- Tweaked the minimap border
- A few navmesh fixes
- Added fov blocker around some of the camps

Some new screens:

Team bases are now placed on highground

The secret entrance to the Dire base (Radiant also have one)

New neutral camp in the town

New highground in the town

New highground overlooking the bottom lane

Top side rune spawn

New highground overlooking top lane

New rosh arena

Bottom rune spawn, now surrounded by two highgrounds

 

[Fang]

Can you put it on Hidden tags?

 

[invalidnick]

Can you put it on Hidden tags?

Hmmm...not sure what that is mate D:

 

[invalidnick]

Updated the overview image to reflect the changes that has been made to core,

 

[Fang]

Hidden Tags is like this

The BB Code

dhwdfjewpfdudowqeeruiwpk

If you want to know the code Quote this Message

 

[Archipelago]

This looks really great honestly. A question though, are there jukepaths in patches of trees and that kind of stuff?

 

[invalidnick]

This looks really great honestly. A question though, are there jukepaths in patches of trees and that kind of stuff?

Thanks!

That's a good questions, the blue circles indicates areas where you can juke, these areas have been updated with every version and lately I've been adding some more trees here and there... but it is by no means the "final" version

As you can see the town part does not have as many trees, the houses block the fov and there is also a number of highgrounds

In a few weeks we will hopefully see a integration of custom games into the Dota 2 client, then playtesting should become easier,

If you have any suggestions I'd be happy to look into it!

 

[invalidnick]

Just pushed a new version of CORE (core_dota v0.3.5),

- Added Ancient camp bottom
- Added/tweaked jukespots around the map <---- Archipelago
- Added broken stone floor models
- Added rubble model
- Tweaked textures for various models
- Added speccular to window
- Fixed various pathfinding issues
- Tweaked some ground materials
- Updated overview picture to show recent changes

In addition: I've started to make some destruction for various parts of the map, time will tell if this can be translated into gameplay (which I hope it might!)

 

[Fang]

Almost the final release?

 

[invalidnick]

Almost the final release?

The map is playable with no real bugs, but we will continuously work on updating the assets and add new things,

We have a backlog of new features we want to implement...the biggest one is destructible environment, which we have started to R&D

 

[Fang]

How is this now?

 

[invalidnick]

So with the summer and all that the cookie factory is more or less closed, despite of vacation and everything else we have some upcoming updates, one of which I will share here today,

Some new cover art made by Daskaren, this will be our new loading screen and will hopefully look cool with some simple animations, enjoy

 

[invalidnick]

just did a complete read through of this thread, thought it was time for a small update,

...for the past ~10 months Daskaren and I have been fairly busy, releasing mad max, just cause 3 (...and everything around it) etc etc,
anyways, it's a new year,

when we started this mod - a few years ago, we didn't really know what to make, things have started to crystallize over the past few months and we picked up the brainstorming, ...joining us for the next chapter of CORE is Draken, a good friend and college - and far better at C++ than me

in a few weeks we will (hopefully) be ready to release the pvp-mode of CORE for you all to test, and I would be forever grateful if you would like to partake in; finding bugs, provide feedback and/or your honest opinion...about anything and everything!

Here is a quick overview of the game:

4-10 (recomended) player, objective PVP-pve
Game time: 10-20 minutes
Radiant vs. Dire (or any team if you want to do single player)
All dota2 heroes are valid

Main objective:
Kill Roshan and bring the aegis back to the Shopkeeper
- first team to deliver the aegis claims Champions of River's End and wins the game
- Roshan spawns after 8 mins

Stage 0 Hero Selection
- pick good-team-fighting heroes (or strong PVE heroe if you are doing it single player)
- force staff (and blink) should be core items on all heroes (not in sp)

Stage 1 (day) 0-4min
- explore the map and find items (consumable items respawn, regular items does not respawn)
- kill camps to gain extra experience and gold

Stage 2 (night) graveyard event 4-8min
- all players are teleported to the graveyard
- have your cooldowns ready, it will be a ganking fiesta
- Nightstalker does not increase day/night cycle

Stage 3 kill Roshan 8-12min
- Roshan spawns and can be killed
- Roshan drops the Aegis on death

Stage 4 deliver the Aegis to the Shopkeeper
- first team to deliver the Aegis to the shopkeeper wins the game

(Stage 2) Will repeat every 4 minutes until the game is won,
- Couriers can't win the game
- Roshan regen life over time,

Notes:
-considering making it possible for couriers to win the game
-considering making Nightstalker night ability trigger stage2
-considering making all players start on lvl6

I will post a workshop link when its ready to go!

 

[invalidnick]

have been working on a load screen for core, sliced and diced Daskarens loading screen and made this, test done quick,

currently a 10 sec clip ment to be looping, it has some particles but they are very subtle---probably too subtle to see in a small window

its 1080p at ~2,5mb as webm

 

[Arhowk]

Any updates?

 

[invalidnick]

Any updates?

The custom pvp version here:
Steam Workshop :: Champions of River's End - Playtest

wee crude at the moment,

 

[Arhowk]

Uhm... Okay.. Best of luck in the future.. I'm still incredibly wary of how your gameplay will appeal to the custom game community but I remember voicing my opinions earlier to no avail. (it just kills me that such a beautiful map will forever be with no active players due to gameplay when gameplay is so easy and mapmaking is impossible)

E/ to clarify, this is a very different enviornment than say CSGO or TF2, it doesn't matter how pretty you make a map because this is not a MAP workshop this is a MOD workshop. When users download a map in CSGO they expect a map to play CSGO on and when users in dota 2 download a MOD they expect a MOD to play a game thats either severely derived from DotA 2 or completely different. Keeping default, untouched gameplay is not going to get you alot of popularity. (It may not be your primary concern to make a popular map but I don't, I love popularity (and more than 1 $4 patreon contributor), I just see it as wasted potential)

 

[invalidnick]

Uhm... Okay.. Best of luck in the future.. I'm still incredibly wary of how your gameplay will appeal to the custom game community but I remember voicing my opinions earlier to no avail. (it just kills me that such a beautiful map will forever be with no active players due to gameplay when gameplay is so easy and mapmaking is impossible)

E/ to clarify, this is a very different enviornment than say CSGO or TF2, it doesn't matter how pretty you make a map because this is not a MAP workshop this is a MOD workshop. When users download a map in CSGO they expect a map to play CSGO on and when users in dota 2 download a MOD they expect a MOD to play a game thats either severely derived from DotA 2 or completely different. Keeping default, untouched gameplay is not going to get you alot of popularity. (It may not be your primary concern to make a popular map but I don't, I love popularity (and more than 1 $4 patreon contributor), I just see it as wasted potential)

I respect your honesty...after reading your response I think you might be confusing me with somebody you know,
I find your response not contributing as in; negative...you make it sound like you are sitting on a great deal of wisdom and experience (yet to be reviled) <- y/n
I can't recall any specific feedback from you, but I'm sure it was on-point and super useful (but I must have missed it...ohh..well...)

Saw that you are using our assets in your mod, please feel free to keep 'em in your mod -- absolutely royalty free!!! you have my permission! <3
((so if nothing ever happens to core, then at least we know they will live forever in your mod!! ~~~~))

I've also updated the CORE custom game:

-tweaked gold/experience on graveyard spawns
-changed boss health and armor
-updated models for the crystals
-added bones for esex shop keepers
-updated end-game camera
-fixed a few pathfinding bugs
-removed a few items from the shop

You find it here: Steam Workshop :: Champions of River's End - Playtest

 

[Arhowk]

I respect your honesty...after reaPding your response I think you might be confusing me with somebody you know,

First page

It's a shame that you're only using the default dota 2 game mode but the map itself looks incredible!

I guess I complained alot more to Noya on the IRC than I did on here. (I suppose thats a little bit unhelpful for you isn't it...)

I find your response not contributing as in; negative...you make it sound like you are sitting on a great deal of wisdom and experience (yet to be reviled) <- y/n

Eh I'm 18 take it or leave it.

I can't recall any specific feedback from you, but I'm sure it was on-point and super useful (but I must have missed it...ohh..well...)

My sarcasm radar is totally off right now I've been doing homework for like 5 hours straight... i would've said this is 100% sarcastic because of the "oh... welll..." but your next sentence totally contradicts that

Saw that you are using our assets in your mod, please feel free to keep 'em in your mod -- absolutely royalty free!!! you have my permission! <3
((so if nothing ever happens to core, then at least we know they will live forever in your mod!! ~~~~))

Well, thanks. We'll keep that in mind (I like them but my art guys are a bit picky for that sort of stuff)

I've also updated the CORE custom game:

-tweaked gold/experience on graveyard spawns
-changed boss health and armor
-updated models for the crystals
-added bones for esex shop keepers
-updated end-game camera
-fixed a few pathfinding bugs
-removed a few items from the shop

You find it here: Steam Workshop :: Champions of River's End - Playtest

Progress is progress. I hope you guys are able to get this to something that you're proud to have made! (if it isn't already )