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[Minigame] Zuluhed's Challenge

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*Map has now been released! Go check out the latest version in the 'maps' section.



ZULUHED'S CHALLENGE

A 2-player chessboard game of elemental proportions

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The Horde is at a crossroads. The venerable shamanism of the orcish ancestors, expounded by elders like Ner'zhul and Zuluhed, is being rapidly usurped by fel magiks, wielded with terrible efficiency by their former apprentices, Gul'dan and Nekros. Now, they test their powers of command against each other, demons vs elements, in a battle of strategy and wits!

THE GAME

Gameplay

Classic Mode

Prizefight Mode

Mercenary Mode

AI Mode



ZC04.png


Zuluhed's Challenge is a 2-person turn-based strategy game. Each player controls an army of 12-16 minions, which can perform one move and one attack each turn, with the aim of wiping out the enemy army.

These armies are overseen by a powerful hero. Your hero cannot attack directly, but he will determine the units available, and has a powerful, unique spell that can turn the tide of battle in your favor. Heroes can also obtain magic items to boost your forces, hamstring the enemy, or build hazards across the playing field!

There are four gameplay modes available, which modify the game dynamics (while maintaining the same rules and objectives).



A stripped-down strategy game. In classic mode, there are no heroes, no extra spells, no magic items. With only your army units, you must bring down the enemy.

Classic games play more slowly, and reward foresight and planning.



In Prizefight Mode, heroes are rewarded with a random magic item every turn. These can include nets to keep enemy players from moving, landmines to damage unsuspecting units, uber-powerful summonables that will serve in your army for a limited time, or any of a dozen other items.

Prizefights are meant to be more chaotic and random. They should play more quickly, and hold an element of chance.



Mercenaries collect a salary in gold for every turn, and a bounty in wood for every enemy piece destroyed. Heroes can spend gold in their base's gold shop to acquire general magic items, while stronger and more specialized items can only be bought from the wood shop.

Mercenary games introduce an additional level of strategy. Shop items can drastically alter play strategy; these games may play fastest or the most drawn-out.



Playing the game single-player gives you access to AI mode, a version of classic mode that allows players to acquaint themselves with the general mechanics of Zuluhed's Challenge.

This is not a true AI, more of an attack algorithm created exclusively for this mode. This lacks most of the game's features, and should be seen more as 'practice' than as a genuine game mode.



THE PLAYERS

Warlocks vs Shamans

Gul'dan

Nekros

Ner'zhul

Zuluhed



Players can elect to play as a warlock, commanding a demonic cadre, or a shaman, leading a battalion of elemental allies.

Elements

Elemental units focus on outlasting and outranging opponents. Their support unit can heal friendly targets.

Elemental Solid: Medium Unit, 15 hp. 1 move range, 1 attack range, 5 damage.
Elemental Spray: Support Unit, 15 hp. 2 move range, 1 target range, 5 healing.
Elemental Squall: Light Unit, 19 hp. 2 move range, 3 attack range, 7 damage.
Elemental Cinder: Heavy Unit, 20 hp. 2 move range, 2 attack range, 19 damage.

Elemental units can level up by killing enemy pieces, gaining up to +2 bonus attack range


Demons

Demons focus on damage and shutting down opponents. Their support unit can silence enemies, preventing a particular unit from attacking for the duration of its next turn.

Imp: Light Unit, 11 hp. 1 move range, 2 attack range, 6 damage.
Succubus: Support Unit, 12 hp. 1 move range, 2 target range, silence ability.
Felhound: Medium Unit, 18 hp. 2 move range, 2 attack range, 10 damage.
Voidwalker: Heavy Unit, 30 hp. 2 move range, 1 attack range, 15 damage.

Demon units can level up by killing enemy pieces, gaining up to +5 bonus damage



Different units have different strengths

Heavy units do + 2 damage to medium units, but have a -2 penalty against light units.
Medium units do + 2 damage to light units, but have a -2 penalty against heavy units.
Light units do + 2 damage to heavy units, but have a -2 penalty against medium medium.



Gul'dan is a warlock hero, leader of the Shadow Council and Ner'zhul's former apprentice.

Volcano: (100 mana) deals 8 damage to up to four units in a target area.



Nekros Skullcrusher is a warlock hero, the master of Grim Batol and Zuluhed's insubordinate lieutenant.

Dominate: (70 mana) takes control of an enemy unit for a single turn.



Ner'zhul is a shaman hero, chieftain of the Shadowmoon Clan and Warchief of Draenor.

Portal: (60 mana) create portals on the game board lasting 3 rounds. Any unit can move through a portal to instantly appear at its partner.



Zuluhed is a shaman hero, chieftain of the Dragonmaw Clan and the last shaman serving in the Horde.

Spirit Drake: (80 mana) summons a spirit drake, a temporary unit lasting 3 rounds. The Spirit Drake has 20 hp, unlimited move range, 2 attack range, 12 damage.



ABOUT

Model Credits

Author Notes

Future Features



All models from Hive Workshop

Ramza-------------------Imp
HappyTauren------------Lava
SuPa---------------------Magma Elemental
Grendel------------------Necromagus
alfredx_sotn-------------Air Elemental
Mc !----------------------Fire Elemental
Tauer--------------------Guldan
Hayate------------------Pitfall
UgoUgo-----------------Shadow Assault
Shyrony----------------Spirit Dragon Missile

And an extra special thanks to Stefan.K, who created the Zuluhed model for me from scratch.



This originated as a puzzle from one of the unreleased levels from my campaign Legacy of the Master. Technical difficulties along with IRL stuff left that sort of indefinitely postponed, but I thought this was probably my strongest puzzle from the game, and it would be a shame if it never saw the light of day. I haven't seen a map like this on Hive before (maybe I'm not looking hard enough), so I decided to doll it up, create a couple game modes, special mechanics, etc.

The original campaign puzzle is there in AI mode (accessed by playing the game single player), but it's much simpler (and probably more boring) than the gameplay for multiplayer mode.

I considered a few different gameplay modes for this. One idea was a 'Deathmatch,' where your hero is actually one of the game pieces, and the object is to kill the hero, rather than eliminate the army. In that case, the heroes would also have a couple more special abilities. Another idea I had was a 'skirmish' mode, which, instead of turn-based strategy, would give players so many seconds to put down mines, barricades, traps, unit generators, etc, then generate so many units automatically onto the playing field and see who came out on top. I thought this could make a good palette-cleanser for the realtively slow gameplay of a turn-based strategy, but I ultimately decided against it, as there are already heaps of maps like that.

Perhaps, if folks enjoy this, I'll go back and add a couple new modes.



Not a promise, but just some ideas I had

Additional Armies

Draenei, consisting of~
Weak: Broken (light) - special ability, stealths after attacking
Average: Rangari (med)
Strong: Vindicator (heavy)
Support: Anchorite - casts light of the naaru, dealing 2 healing OR damage every turn, four turns
---
Experienced units can gain reduction to incoming damage

Orcs, consisting of~
Weak: Grunt (heavy)
Average: Spearman (med)
Strong: Raider (light)
Support: Wardrummer - no target ability, but passively increases attack of all friendlies in 1-square radius
---
Experienced units can gain increased move range

Additional Heroes

Orgrim Doomhammer: cast lava lash, burning target unit and all adjacent units by X amount every turn for three turns

Rend Blackhand: cast fel aging, permanently upgrading a unit to the next tier (weak->support->average->strong). One strong unit can be upgraded to Warlord Maim.

Prophet Velen: cast redemption, restoring a random slain unit to life at the target square

Akama: cast shade, creating an immobile unit that lasts until it is destroyed or does X damage

Additional Game Modes

Conquest: Units 'capture' squares by landing on them (players can capture their opponent's squares). Four special squares generate resources that can be spent in shops (gold, lumber) for the corresponding player as long as they have a piece occupying the square. First player to capture 40 squares wins.

King of the Hill: Players have a 'pawn' unit in one corner of their board, which can only move one square at a time, no attack. The goal is to be the first to move their pawn to the center of the board (it respawns in the corner if it is destroyed).

Additional Items

Pipe Bomb: cast on friendly unit. On death, it will damage all nearby enemies
Mirrormask: Use to switch the location of one friendly unit with another
Windsock: when paired, will create a cyclone that moves across the board to the other windsock, damaging all in its path - regardless of which player placed it
Earthbind totem: decreases attack range of all adjacent units
Enfeebling Poison: halves target unit's damage for 3 rounds
Reinforcements: weak mercenary unit that can be purchased in king of the hill, conquest mode.

 

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Level 14
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We played this with my friend. We had fun but we found some issues with it. I hope you are gonna improve the map :)

Here are the notes I took while playing :
-Light units have only 1 move range while Heavy units have more move range ? Doesn't make sense.
-We played: zuluhead vs neckros on classic mode
-Doesn't need to show damage when selected, should put the information somewhere else (same for move range). You could make the all the units hero units and use the stats to display that
-Turn are going too fast. wea reonly 2 players, let us take our time. We had to skip turns when one of us didn't have time to move.
-I suggest you add a global timer for phase. No point to have a move timer then an attack timer. If someone miss his move he probably wasted his turn anyway
-Tagret selection sometimes produce erros :"you must select a valid target". Sometimes you have to select twice the same unit to validate the attack
-Balance should be improved : elementals are way better with higher range and movement. succubus is useless (silence is a big joke)
-Range is very strong because you aren't using manhattan distance. You don't have to use it but you have to consider it is very strong that way.
-Very low diversity on units making it seems like chess but less interesting (onlye one unit with abilty and their movement pattern is the same)
-On defeat, the game continues (defeated player start its turn).
 
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Thank you so much, Wareditor! That is some fantastic feedback, and I've taken it to heart.

I updated the map. Units now have different armor types, which provide bonuses and penalties in damage, depending on the armor type of their opponent. Basically, Heavy>Medium>Light>Heavy. This should make unit choice more meaningful.

I also fiddled with the numbers to give demons a better chance, and I added an experience mechanic. As a unit ranks up kills, it can gain (up to 2) levels. This gives a bonus to damage for demons, and attack range for elementals. I figures these would be the focuses for these races, and make gameplay a little more distinct between them.

I'm thinking of maybe adding a couple new races, too.

Turns are longer, and the 'dead' time has been tightened up. Though I think I still prefer to use separate phase timers over a global timer. I also cleaned up some bugs I found in my own multiplayer tests.

I'm not sure if you have any inclination to try this map again, but if you do decide to take a peek at the update, I'd love to hear your thoughts on Mercenary mode. That's where a lot of the more unique gameplay and lateral strategy come in - Classic mode is fairly barebones.

@Chaosy, I do appreciate the comment. Since this map is very small, and the gameplay all takes place on an 8x8 grid, there's not a ton of space for very eye-catching terraining. Still, I'd love to hear any suggestions you might have, or examples you might point me towards, to make the map more attractive!
 
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I and Wareditor played two games of Zuluhed's Challenge again today (one classic and one mercenary). Thanks for the update, overall this is a much nicer play experience than before, everything feels more responsive and snappier :)

However, I do have one thing I don’t like: the Succubus is almost completely useless as it stands. Even if it had infinite range and infinite movement, it would almost always be a bad idea to use it. Using it means sacrificing your entire action phase, while your opponent will still be able to act on their next action phase, even though they can’t attack with the unit you silenced. The only use I see for the succubus is in the endgame, when your opponent has only one strong unit left and it’s a summoned creature (such as a spirit drake or Fel elemental), so silencing it every turn is useful to keep it from attacking until it disappears. By the way, that mechanic didn’t work when we tried it (the spirit drake stayed in the game despite three turns being elapsed – maybe that was due to it having a seal of restoration equipped).

Second, to compare the balance of the various units, I made four graphs summarizing the attack power of all units in terms of the number of attacks it takes to kill. I hope you will find them useful. Looking at those graphs, one thing I noticed is that in the Elemental vs Demon matchup, Voidwalkers have about the same attack power as Cinders (the difference of 4 attack points doesn’t change anything in terms of #shots to kill, although it would make a difference when attacking an enemy unit with several allied units), and almost the same durability (the only difference is the Voidwalker gets 3-shot by the Squall whereas the Cinder gets 2-shot by the Felhound), but the Cinder has one more attack range. This means that the Cinder is much more powerful than the Voidwalker. I feel like the voidwalker should therefore be buffed. I'll come back if I have more analysis.

Hope this is useful to you.
Thanks for the fun mod, cheers!
 

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Level 14
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Overall I think you improved the game however there are still issues with the map as of right now. The mercenary mode is definitely more interesting but a bit frustrating

Here are the notes I took while playing with @Nathra :
- Testing classic mode again to see how it changed.
- In the quest menu, the player is displayed the two "Your Army" quests, you should only display the right one to the player. You do so by creating both of them and then displaying one of them locally. Unless you want them to be both presented to the player then rename them to the factions' names.
- You should display the max hp of the unit in the quest tab too/
- You need to update your thread with the new stats.
- No way to know the damageg or range of units without looking into quest or waiting for attack phase.
- Experience system encourages to use only a few units and it lead to some snowballing effect. As soon as the cinder got his experience status the match was finished.
- Should use the actual nicknames of the players and not just Red or Blue
- Elementals are still overpowered in my opinion
- You should change gold and lumber tooltips.

- Mercenary mode test now
- Display damage of wood item (impaler egg)
- Using items during the others turns shouldn't be possible - very frustrating
- Make heroes stand on the side and
- Searing caldera useless? Can't put on the board
- Spirit drake was staying for an infinite amount of turns until I killed him (twice because of resurrection item :<)
- You can see mines of the enemy being placed so it's kinda useless.
- The end game is very tedious. You should think of launching some events after a certain numbers of turn have been reached to accelrate the end.
 
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BTW, when Wareditor says "You need to update your thread with the new stats.", he's referring to a mistake I found in your thread above where you wrote that the Imp is a light unit and the Felhound a medium, when actually it's the opposite. I don't believe there are other stats missing from the thread.

So I made another graph when I was bored today (attached) and wanted an opportunity to learn Graphviz. This one is more complex than the previous 4 because it includes all four matchups in one figure (as before, the heavy-medium-light mechanic is taken into account). Underneath the name of each unit are both their sums (the first one is the sum of the values of arrows going from that unit, the second is the sum of the values of arrows going to the unit - The lower the first number, the deadlier the unit. The higher the second number, the more resilient the unit).

The graph makes it clear which units can be one-shot and which don't: there are exactly four units that can be one-shot (support and medium units) and the rest can't. Only heavy units are able to one-shot enemies.

I don't really have any conclusions to draw from this graph, only observations. I mostly did it for fun, but I am posting it here anyway in hopes that it will be useful to you :)

PS. I'm also attaching the python source file in case you want to reuse it (had to add a .txt extension because .py isn't supported by the site).
 

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Thank you guys so much for all your fantastic notes and your efforts testing this map! @Nathra, I am humbled that you would put so much effort and produce such professional-looking resources in aid of my project. Your spreads have helped me immensely, and given me a different paradigm for thinking on balance that I've implemented going forward. Previously, I was using the (pretty flawed) formula of Blue average hp/(red avg atk*red avg range) = Red avg hp/(blue avg atk*blue avg range). Your match-ups have given me a much better sense of what's practically viable, and I've adjusted accordingly.

I've updated the map - biggest update so far, and probably the last before I 'release' it in the maps section. Some highlights:
-Two new objective-based game modes
-One new race with two new heroes
-Custom screens, descriptions, and music
-'Level' ability that makes snowballing veteran units riskier, more of a trade-off
-Sudden death in mercenary and prizefight modes, damaging units each turn at endgame
-Forfeit available
-AI mode usable for all heroes (computer always plays Zuluhed)
-'Silence' prevents action for two turns
-Bug fixes, including many relating to mana and unit & buff duration
-heroes cannot act on opponent's turn (I had deliberately allowed the use of items and certain spells in off-turns, to add some real-time elements and let observant players sabotage their enemies, but your frustration tells me this was a flawed move, and detracts from the design of what should be a turn-based game)

The things I plan to add for release
-Draenei race, with Akama and Velen heroes (will focus on stealth and damage-soaking)
-icons to display attack and range on units
-Earthbind totem (gold item), reducing range of adjacent units
-Additional 'flavor' interactions between particular heroes


I don't want to impose on you guys to work through all this again (especially when another major update is on the horizon), but I do deeply appreciate all your notes.
 
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Okay! Just uploaded what may well be the final version of this map. As soon as I get in a couple of multiplayer tests, I'll publish it.

I don't have time to update the main description right now, but here are the highlights
-New Draenei race with Velen and Akama heroes (resurrect units and skip opponent's turn, respectively)
-18 unique conversations for lore-significant hero matchups
-new items that temper the advantage provided by attack range
-(slightly) improved AI in AI mode
-a whole mess 'o bug fixes

If anyone is willing to try this sucker out, or if you have a snazzy idea for a better name, please let me know!

EDIT: Got in some testing, a couple significant bugs found. Landmines cause desyncs, Spirit Drake not expiring, and Conquest mode makes several abilities buggy. Working on fixing those now.

EDITEDIT: Some more testing reveals the issue is not conquest mode but abilities for blu player. I think this is because of different variable arrays, and not giving them the appropriate default value. Working on this now!

EDITEDITEDIT: After several more playtests, I was unable to find any more bugs. While there are probably a couple hiding in there, and more abuses of imbalanced matchups than two people could reasonable explore of an evening, I feel confident enough in this to call it a release candidate, and I've posted it to the regular 'maps' section. Thank you, Wareditor and Nathra, for your help!
 
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