Let's make a map! (Forum Game idea)

[QuillQuickcard]

Like how the first part of the map is meant to give players a series of choices about where they can go and what they can do, the HUB is meant to do the same. My idea was that you'd clear 3 scenarios in the HUB and that would let the player progress, but there would be more than 3 to choose from, and the player could, if they wanted, experience all of them.

The Den of Mystery provides an excellent high reward scenario, but there is still a lot of unused terrain in the HUB, and I want to fill all of it with entrances to scenarios. I plan on adding a water/aquatic themed scenario to the northeast part of the HUB, and also adding a scenario entrance to my crystal vale area in the southwest.


As for the boss, I've always had my own headcanon about this map, as shown with the boss fight against Mercy. In my head, the HUB areas are the dominion of the Living Judgement, Truth, so I wanted to do a fight against him soon. I was thinking of doing something special for that fight. Something very unique, But I'm still working on all the specifics. I can tell you that it won't just be another empty room where you do battle, and it will not reuse any of the mechanics from the battle against Mercy. This will not be a fight of illusion.


DONE

Change Log:

Adjusted items sold by merchant.

Hid some gold coins around the HUB, since the mobs don't give bounty.

Jack now encounters somebody at the start of the HUB. And the dialogue is skippable with the -cinemaoff cheat.



I'll add more later.

 

[Knight of Arsford]

Woaah...a lot has changed. Can someone update the Map Tree? I have no idea what's happening.

 

[QuillQuickcard]

DONE

I have attached an updated scenario map.


Change Log:

Added some new dialogue from Truth when players open up gates in the HUB. These lines reveal more of what has happened to Jack, and why. This dialogue is skippable with the -cinemaoff cheat.

Added a new scenario in the HUB:
The Crystal Vale
This is a small area meant purely as a combat experience for Jack. You kill one big thing, then a bunch of little things, and you're done. Really I just wanted to finally do something with my little crystal area in the HUB. It isn't a great scenario, but it's something. Since it is so small and short, this scenario does not contribute to the opening of the hub gates. It does, however, contain 3 gold coin items.

Fixed Battle Focus so it no longer can buff the samurai's allies.

Adjusted the post-hub merchant slightly. His items now appear in a nice order, and prices are within line for the gold jack can expect to find.

 

[Rex.]

If this map is finished, I suggest you all to post it in the map section. It would be awesome to see a map that is created by everyone.

 

[Cherrymage]

P.S.

By the way the path between resting area and HUB is two-way path.

 

[Leo Akastenix]

Nobody editin'?
Me turn!

 

[Cherrymage]

Wait, I forgot to add something.

When Jack respawns (after the Rest Area becomes accessible of course), you should change the camera bounds to that of Rest Area's, and pan the camera to him

EDIT: Also, I've noticed a bug while playing Spider Caverns.

Whenever I play as my favorite class and completed Spider Caverns -- Black Mage, and has his profession as the one with Blood Curse (and which turns the bloody orb into a flesh golem, forgot their names), the flesh golem (is it Corpus Folomus?) will disappear for good.

 

[QuillQuickcard]

P.S.

By the way the path between resting area and HUB is two-way path.

You are right. My map failed to reflect that.

Oh and your comment on the Spider Caverns, I actually noticed that earlier, too.
I thought I'd fixed it, but I never did test my fix.

Next time I have the map, I'll fix it proper and make sure it works.

I'll see what I can do for the respawn, too.

 

[Leo Akastenix]

Nvr mind, no time

 

[Acutesharpness]

That's a shame ;I

 

[QuillQuickcard]

Surprise update!
Just little fixes, mostly.

Change Log:

Jack reviving at the ressurection stone now adjusts the camera boundaries and pans the camera to him.

The issue of the Black Mage's Corpus Familiaris dissapearing after clearing the spide caverns should now be resolved.

Fixed various tooltips.

Adjusted an area of the HUB for another micro area I'll be building later: The Reefs. This will be a small area, like the Crystal Vale, that will not contribute to the opening of the hub gates, but will have its own rewards. I'll do The Reefs at some point later on this week, most likely I'll get around to it by the end of wednesday.

Added a new utility trigger:
Typing "-gates" will immediately open up the hub gates. This also makes the Den of Mystery instantly accessable on the HUB.

Adjusted camera panning when entering/exiting the rest area.

Fewer crystallites now spawn in the Crystal Vale when the big one is killed.

Truth now does a specific animation when summoning the furbolg upon entering the HUB. I think.

 

[Acutesharpness]

Can't really wait for the finalization and load of new heroes ;D

 

[QuillQuickcard]

Can't really wait for the finalization and load of new heroes ;D

I don't know about new heroes.
I'm just trying to make new level content.

 

[Cherrymage]

Looks like I cannot open the new map ingame... Has something gone wrong?

EDIT: Looks like something has gone wrong while I download the map. I've downloaded the map again and now it works.
EDIT 2: Hmm... Should we all extend the max levels of hero abilities? (like raising max of normal levels to Level 4 instead of 3, ultimates to Level 3, etc.)

 

[QuillQuickcard]

I personally think we should not have the hero skills increase further. I'll list my reasoning.

1. Increasing every hero skill by even a single level would only take Jake up to level 14.
2. The level 10 heroes are already approaching a level of power that makes it very difficult to craft encounters at an appropriate level of difficulty, and it varies from hero to hero what kinds of opposition are most threatening. Further leveling would only make this situation worse.


I would propose this: We raise the max hero level cap, and add a single new skill to all heroes: an attribute bonus skill, with 10 levels to it. That way, we have every hero set up to level 20, provide a sink for skill points, but we don't end up overpowering them to a more substantial degree. If we just made it +1 or +2 points per stat per skill level, then you'd have a max of +10 or +20 to each attribute, which is totally manageable.

 

[Cherrymage]

Yeah, applying Attribute Bonus skill is better. But the Black Mage has already 5 abilities...

How about making it +2 only to Jack's primary attribute, and +1 to two others?

For your information, I've already raised the level cap to 20.

P.S. Jake?

 

[QuillQuickcard]

EDITS DONE


Change Log:

The gold coin in the crystal vale hub area is now obtainable, and blocked from easy view.

New Scenario:
The Reefs
This area, accessed from the HUB, is a micro area. It does not serve to open the gates on the hub, but it does provide experience, gold, and treasure.

Each hero now has a new power: Attribute Bonus. This 10-level skill provides stat bonuses. Each level provides +2 in the hero's primary stat, and +1 in the other stats. This means that all heroes now have a skill to learn from every level from 1 to 20.

The "-gates" cheat now correctly displays in the quest menu.




Hello Hive!

It's time for Quill Quickcard's State of the Map update!

It's been a good week for things in the map! The HUB is more lively than ever, and Jack has many new terrors to face. In particular, the new Den of Mystery area provides a substantial challenge. New loot tables also ensure Jack has a steady supply of powerful items at his command.

I've included an updated progression map with this post.

To summarize the state of things, Jack awoke with amnesia next to a ruined ship. He soon after encountered a Lich, who sent him through a series of bewildering and deadly puzzles. Jack encountered a figure who hinted at his forgotten past, at the sins he had committed against his wife and crew. This figure disappeared as quickly as it came. Jack once again encountered the Lich, who revealed that it has been trapped here, and wants Jack to help it escape. He offered Jack great power so he could do this, and let Jack become a great warrior. Jack encountered the mysterious figure again, who introduced itself as the Living Judgement, Mercy, an entity created to serve as warden over the Lich's prison. Jack asked if it could just let him go, but Mercy said that it could not. There was no way out of this prison for anyone. So Jack and Mercy did battle, and Mercy was slain. Following the victory, Jack heard a mysterious voice, and it hinted that the Lich may have had a role in Jack becoming stranded in the first place. Jack pressed on, and has found himself in what seems to be a snowy wilderness, no doubt full of new puzzles and deadly encounters. Here he met the Living Judgement, Truth, who continues to give Jack nuggets of information as he advances.


If you are looking at this for the first time, or if maybe you have followed the work but not yet contributed, you may be thinking, "but what can I do to help? The thing has gotten so complicated now that I have no idea where to start!"

Well, fear not!

First of all, we need testers, people to play the map, and report any issues they find. Let us know what is fun to you, so we can make more of it. Let us know what isn't fun, so we can make less of it.

Second, we can always use people who are willing to just liven up the existing terrain and decorate it some.

Third, we still have room for more classes if anybody wants to develop them! There are clear, step by step instructions listed in the comments in the Scenario 10 Class Change folder that will guide you effortlessly in integrating your new class into all the existing material.

Fourth, we need new scenarios! They can be big or small, sweeping or simple, short or long. What we want is variety and new, interesting things to explore. Currently, new scenarios can be added to the HUB, the huge snowy, wilderness area, or they can be built beyond the rest area immediately after the HUB!

To all the community out there: We are still eagerly awaiting any who want to join The Great Work!

Come and post on this project if you have ideas but are unsure. We welcome all, and we want this to be as lively as possible!

 

[Acutesharpness]

Quill I think hoping for testers is not right because the audience here just gone..

 

[QuillQuickcard]

Holiday season. Expect fewer peeps working on this.

I'm actually messing around with a new class idea, it should be fun.
The Totemic. A melee strength hero.
It would drop totems (think world of warcraft shaman).
The first would be a healing totem.
The second would be a totem that granted a powerful thorns aura.
The third would be an offensive totem that attacks multiple enemies.
The final power would, in addition to whatever activated function it has, enable an extra power for each totem. The healing totem would gain abolish magic, the thorns totem would gain taunt, and the offensive totem would get some kind of debuff.

 

[Spellbound]

Are you working on the map rn Quill?

 

[QuillQuickcard]

Nah. I'll always mark it clearly if I am. I'm just theorycrafting.

 

[WhiteFang]

Three questions

Did this turn into a serious/complicated thing?Last time I checked it was just for fun
Any rules except not being a asshole?
Must the change be serious?

 

[Spellbound]

It sorta became serious as far as I can tell. Dunno about complicated (I'm assuming you're talking about the plot). Any addition you want to add to the map can be light-hearted, but avoid getting ridiculous. The best way to know would be to play-test it yourself

That being said, EDITING IN PROGRESS...

EDITING DERPED
Well not all ventures work out the way you hope they would
Thankfully what I'm doing can easily be imported since it's mostly code, so edit away. I'll resume my stuff tomorrow or on Sunday.

 

[WhiteFang]

Ok,I'm afraid I won't take part in this.Sorry

 

[Spellbound]

Well I guess I'm back on track, then.

EDIT 1: Taking a break. Edit if you want meanwhile. I'll carry on when no one's editing.

EDIT 2: BREAK OVER EDITING...

EDIT 3: So this is taking me a lot longer than anticipated. Here's the map with my incomplete work in it (it's a surprise, so don't go snooping around the triggers or post spoilers). If anyone wants to edit meanwhile, feel free. I'll resume work once other editor(s) are done with their own edits.

 

[QuillQuickcard]

DONE

Change Log:

New class added:
The Totemic

The Totemic is a summon-focused strength melee hero.

His abilities are as follows:
Flamehunt Totem: Summons a totem that can attack multiple enemies with its fire. It can use Melt to reduce enemy armor if Jack has learned Tribal Fury.

Soulsoothe Totem: Summons a totem that can heal jack. It can use Abolish Magic to dispel and damage summoned units if Jack has learned Tribal Fury.

Mark of Vengeance: When jack is attacked in combat by a melee attack, deals damage back to the attacker.

Tribal Fury: Gives the totemic additional health, damage, and spell immunity at the cost of armor for 30 seconds. In addition, learning this skill enables the extra powers of the totems.


An intro area for the Totemic has been added. The totemic can now be started at the hub using the cheat "-hub7". All relevant triggers have been updated.





@Spellbound: Thorns aura and its offshoots don't seem to be functioning, so the Totemic's Mark of Vengeance isn't working properly. I was hoping you could take a look. I initially had the aura attached to a totem that Jack could summon, but I couldn't get the aura on the totem to affect Jack half the time, which is why I just changed it to an aura skill. If you know how I could put it back on a summoned totem and have it work, I'd appreciate it.

 

[Spellbound]

Sure, I'll take a look, but I hope you don't mind if I change it to not just be thorns aura and make it something a little more... exciting? xD It'll still be some form of return damage though, don't worry.

EDITING...

 

[Silva]

Three questions

Did this turn into a serious/complicated thing?Last time I checked it was just for fun
Any rules except not being a asshole?
Must the change be serious?

Yo, from my perspective, the map became complicated with all the classes and triggers. BUT I don't like the idea of it being too serious. Nor too silly.

Any editor should add their on touch to the map. That's how the map started. (also after the expansion, it became huge. so any effort in filling it should be welcomed)

The latest changes to the story is.. Jack is still searching for clues to find more about his past, he reaches a point where he can empower himself into a certain class. And then he continues his journey through yet more scenarios.

 

[Leo Akastenix]

Anyone has a scenario with a clue in it?

 

[Acutesharpness]

I did a play through with Samurai, skip some load at the start as I already done then before, the next few scenarios can be a little faster to quicken up the pace ;p, the dryad was sexy

 

[Spellbound]

God this thing is taking me FOREVER @_@

I'm still not done, but I doubt I can do anything more for the time being. Here's the map with my current progress. I'll pick it up again at a later date. Maybe on Tuesday.

Again, don't go snooping around, and no spoilers

@Quill: I haven't touched the totemic's passive-that's-not-supposed-to-be-passive yet. Will do when I resume work on map.

 

[QuillQuickcard]

@Spellbound: No prob. And feel free to play with the mark of vengeance how you like. The storm totem and its icons are already imported, so if you have something, just use those and make it a new totem.
The original idea was the Vengeance Totem which would have the thorn aura, and that when Jack learned Tribal Fury, the vengeance totem would gain Taunt, allowing it to be a quick tank and really dish out some damage with that aura. I'm not super attached to that though. If you have other ideas, go ahead.


@Knight: Yeah, I was really surprised to find that the Dryad model was that attractive when scaled up.

@Leo and Silva: I've been dropping bits in the hub about Jack, why he's here, and what the scenario at large is.

 

[Spellbound]

Would you be interested in using the Sylvan Enchantress model for Truth? I've always wanted an excuse to use that model, but she might be a bit too decked out if Truth is supposed to have a pure-nature look. Alternatively, Flower Dryad exists as well

 

[QuillQuickcard]

Would you be interested in using the Sylvan Enchantress model for Truth? I've always wanted an excuse to use that model, but she might be a bit too decked out if Truth is supposed to have a pure-nature look. Alternatively, Flower Dryad exists as well

Sylvan Enchantress is a great one to use. I hadn't seen her, though I'd seen and passed on Flower Dryad. Truth isn't necessarily supposed to be nature themed. I picked a dryad just because I wanted it to be very different than Mercy, but I fell in love with it once I saw it. Sylvan enchantress takes everything I love and just makes it more regal. An excellent suggestion.

 

[QuillQuickcard]

Here's a Quill Promise:
By sundown on Sunday, Jack will have a second boss to fight.
But no, I'm not editing right now.

 

[Spellbound]

Well I have an hour or so before I need to sleep, so I'll see if I can wrap my what I was working on.

EDITING...

Well at least some progress was made
Will probably finish my edits the next time I take the map. Use the version attached here for your edits.

 

[QuillQuickcard]

EDITING DONE


Change Log:

Fixed a couple rest area triggers related to entry and exit.

Uploaded the Sylvan Enchantress model to use for the Living Judgement, Truth.

Added Tomes for purchase to the rest area merchant.

The merchant in the rest area now has a hero glow to increase visibility.

The Ice Key in the Den of Mystery now has a special effect when it spawns to increase visibility.

Adjusted camera action when Jack respawns to improve aesthetics.

There is now a respawn stone in the HUB.


NEW SCENARIO:
Boss Fight 2

This boss fight is accessed from the rest area by going through the western gate. This is an extended, multi-phase fight against Truth, the 2nd living judgement. Depending on the class being used, this fight varies greatly in difficulty, however, I've scripted it to have checkpoints between phases, so even if the player dies, they get to start back at the phase where they died. That should hopefully cut down on annoyance.

UPDATE: I have come at this thing every way I can think of, but still, sometimes, when Jack resumes the fight after dying, the triggered abilities for that phase do not become active. I have tried to fix this for the past 2 hours with only some success. I cannot account for this error, but at this point, I'm willing to let it slide. Hell, what's wrong with letting the fight get a bit easier if people are dying on it?

Later this weekend I'll add some event dialogue, boss loot, and such. For now, at least, things function. Or at least they function 95% of how I want them to. Good luck on the new boss, guys!




ISSUES TO BE FIXED:

The "disabled" versions of the Totem icons used for the Totemic's abilities are not using a proper import path, and I'm too damn exhausted to fix it right now.

The Samurai class does not have a properly working portrait.

The Samurai class's Wind Blades power does no function at Rank 2. Ranks 1 and 3 work properly, just not rank 2.

 

[Acutesharpness]

the map file ;p

 

[QuillQuickcard]

Things I still have to do:

Build loot for the boss the drop.
Build dialogue for the boss fight.
Have buddies who can join you for the boss fight depending on Jack's choices in the first part of the map- the fighter, the riddler, the warden, or the demon hunter.

 

[Cherrymage]

Have buddies who can join you for the boss fight depending on Jack's choices in the first part of the map- the fighter, the riddler, the warden, or the demon hunter.

Then those who go for the Torture Room (aka Hard Choice) are going to have a hard time fighting Truth...

Good luck for players who choose Hard

 

[QuillQuickcard]

Then those who go for the Torture Room (aka Hard Choice) are going to have a hard time fighting Truth...

Good luck for players who choose Hard

I can personally attest that every class is able to beat this without aid by level 10. But it definitely sucks more for some than others.


FINALLY AND TRULY DONE!

CHANGE LOG:

Adjusted some floating text in the spike maze to stop an overlap. Added some blue and red fire to match this new text.

Regular old Jack now has a Hero glow.

Truth now drops loot.

Player's now gain a buddy to help them during the fight against truth depending on the path they took through the first part of the game. The buddies are Fighter, Riddler, Warden, and Demon Hunter.

Truth now meets Jack in the Rest area for an introduction. This dialogue is skippable with the -cinemaoff code.

There are now bits of dialogue during the Truth boss fight. Since this is non-cinema dialogue, it is not skippable.

UPDATE!

Fixed a couple bugs in the boss 2 area.


THERE! NOW my work is done. Phew!!!

 

[Acutesharpness]

Spellbound fix the Samurai =_=

 

[Spellbound]

I thought I did that already? Someone must have edited an older version... or I'm imagining things. But anyway, it's a really easy fix. I'll take the opportunity to finish what I've been working on as well.

EDITING...

 

[QuillQuickcard]

Can't wait, Spellbound.

Meanwhile my brain is already plotting ideas for new scenarios...
Mostly because that damn hub of mine still has some unused space.

 

[Spellbound]

Well, I give up. This damn hero is refusing to work correctly and there's NO reason why it should be bugging like a royal moron. The problem is probably very simple, but I'm too damn fed up to care anymore.

Maybe I'll try to fix it eventually, but as it stand right now, the hero I was working on will remain in development limbo.

---------------------

I changed Totemic's Mark of Vengeance to the Vengeance Totem, which taunts nearby units (that doesn't seem to work so w/e) and when it dies, it deals 70% of its nearby health to nearby units. Tribal Fury gives it 15 dps on everything around it.

Samurai's shurikens should be fixed.

PS: Sorry for the salt.

 

[QuillQuickcard]

It's all good, man.

Thanks for the Totem update.


UPDATE!

I couldn't get the Taunt on Vengeance Totem to work, either, so instead I've given it a modified spirit link. This one works properly upon summon, linking Jack and the Vengeance Totem together. This serves the purpose of damage mitigation and continues the theme of a defensively focused hero very well. The Vengeance Totem's death explosion's range has been increased to account for the fact that this thing might not be surrounded by enemies. Will get around to creating a new skill to replace the AoE it gains from tribal fury, now that it will no longer be expected to be a taunt magnet.

Please throw me some ideas.

It needs to be an ability thematically appropriate to a vengeance totem, whose purpose is to soak damage until it explodes.

 

[Spellbound]

I could make the skill to be entirely coded, like create the totem with triggers so that you have full control on how to connect it to Jack (and thus make damage transfer easy), but I'm not really feeling it right now + it's more work than just using an ability like serpent ward to create the totem. I guess I could always use water elemental or smthng, idk.

PS: For taunting, there may be some connection to the unit's priority field in the object editor but I've never understood how it worked.

 

[QuillQuickcard]

I could make the skill to be entirely coded, like create the totem with triggers so that you have full control on how to connect it to Jack (and thus make damage transfer easy), but I'm not really feeling it right now + it's more work than just using an ability like serpent ward to create the totem. I guess I could always use water elemental or smthng, idk.

PS: For taunting, there may be some connection to the unit's priority field in the object editor but I've never understood how it worked.

I had the same thought and fiddled around with the priority field and also with the unit type and classification. No combination of these things worked. This is the exact same problem I ran into when I tried to get the damn thing to have a working thorns aura.

As for the spirit link, it works exactly as intended in the current build, distributing 50% of damage. That works great, because now you want the totem to NOT be attacked, which wasn't happening anyway.

Why not just have the totem's Tribal Fury power be a buff? Either a useable skill, or one it puts on Jack when it dies. That fits the theme well, it should be relatively simple, and it means that we would have a damage/debuffer totem, a healer/dispeller totem, and a tank/buffer totem. That's a pretty solid build.

 

[Spellbound]

With Tribal Fury, you could make it so Jack reflects damage back on the attacker when the Totem is active, or he gets the reflect damage buff for X second when the Totem dies. Or just cast Inner Fire on Jack or something, I'm feeling rather lazy to try to make that work

 

[QuillQuickcard]

With Tribal Fury, you could make it so Jack reflects damage back on the attacker when the Totem is active, or he gets the reflect damage buff for X second when the Totem dies. Or just cast Inner Fire on Jack or something, I'm feeling rather lazy to try to make that work

I think the simplest, most straight-forward way is for when the totem dies to add a passive, non-hero ability to Jack, then remove it after X seconds.

I've considered this idea for a while and have come up with a few final options I think are perfect for this:

Option 1: 20 damage a second to every nearby unit for 15 seconds.
Option 2: A damage reduction of 15 down to a minimum of 5 for 20 seconds.
Option 3: +5 armor, 35% damage returned for 20 seconds.
Option 4: 20% chance to deal 2x damage, 20 chance to dodge for 20 seconds.