Hi mapsters! I wasn't sure what forum section this actually belonged in, so I threw it here. Hope that's okay :).
[Edit]: It seems that my thread was moved to the Map Feedback section...I never would have thought to make it here.
I'm slowly chipping away at a new game I'm designing, but I've got alot of stuff on the go at the moment and I'm struggling with Protoss ability ideas. You will receive credit if/when the game goes live. Usually I just take a look at the animations available for each unit, and find abilities that fit into the animations nicely, but the Protoss units really don't have many interesting anims.
Here's a little background info without giving too much away:
This is a RTS game, which means I'm not looking for abilities with multiple levels or stages. Any ability needs to be capable of being used by many units at once in massive battles. Ideally, I'd like all abilities to be either passive, area of effect based, or auto-castable. Targeted abilities can work, but have some slight complications I'd rather avoid. Buffs can also cause some issues..I know this seems restrictive, but my game layout is very unusual. The protoss are more sinister than in standard SC2. They all use their 'dark protoss' model variants and I'd like them to inspire a feeling of dominance over the other races. Their units tend to take more resources/supplies than the other races, but can each cut devestating swaths through enemy ranks. The Protoss are the hunters of the galaxy and should be depicted as such.
I need additional abilities for each of the following units:
Archon
Sentry
Void Ray
Phoenix
Units that once needed suggestions but are now done:
Immortal
Colossus
I already have some done or planned, but the above units are the ones that aren't finished yet.
Some that I already have planned or have created:
Ripfield (High Templar): creates a small ripfield at a targeted location, which damages all units without shields over time.
Barrier (Sentry): creates a psionic wall across the terrain for as long as the sentry remains channeling. Any units that pass through this wall take severe damage.
Sunder (Zealot): increases Zealot damage vs shields.
Templar Training (Zealot): Zealots are cloaked while moving.
Phase Shift (Stalker): Stalkers can dodge 20% of incoming ranged attacks (neat effect associated with it too ^_^)
As you can see, they don't need to be too complex. I just ask that they feel futuristic in some way to help the Protoss feel distinct. Also, try and keep in mind that I want the abilities to be visual in some way. I want users to be able to see that their abilities are working, even if they're passive.
Here is some ideas
Archon :Power Overwhelming: Unleashed massive amount of Damage around the archon..Takes 150 shields from the archon.
Sentry :Speed Shield:Creates a large shield around the sentry.Increases ally units speed that are in the shield.
Immortal :Mega Shield: Creates a shield around the immortal *kinda like defense matrix: that deflects all incoming damage for 10 seconds.
Void Ray :Booster *idk about name*: Increases the Void Ray's speed by 0.75 for 8 seconds.
Phoenix :MegaLift *again I cant think of a good name*: Lifts up all ground units around the phoenix and drops them down dealing decent damage.
Colossus :HolyBeam: The Colossus beam turns blue and does 100 damage for 30 seconds.*So the colossus attack does more damage and changes color:
I hope my ideas are useful need any more just ask!
The Archon and Colossus ones I can definitely work with. The Sentry one is possible, but I think I'll need to get further into development to decide whether or not it fits with the protoss. For gameplay reasons I'd rather not get into here, speed bonuses are probably not the best course of action for the Protoss.
For the same reasons, I don't think the Void Ray one will work, although speeding up their beam charge time could be possible.
The Phoenix and Immortal options are similar to the Sentry one. I'll keep them in mind, but I can't say for sure whether or not they'll be used. The Phoenixes could cause a potential imbalance because air units are very rare in my game, which would mean they'd have the ability to completely nullify nearly every combatant on the field. It could also potentially run into the speed issues I mentioned earlier.
I do really like the Immortal one, I just need to make sure it fits without being too similar to my Stalker abilities.
Thank you for taking the time to toss some ideas my way.
Archon-Psionic Overload(Archon uses all it's psionic energy to create an explosion 10 times that of a nuke(damage doesn't have to be that but it's got to be huge)
Sentry-Protective Shielding(Sentry has the darkblinkin animation play whenever hit, protective barrier like hardened shields but it activates at lower levels and not higher ones(so strong units are good against it instead of weak)
Immortal-Cannons Charges(Immortal charges his cannons for 5 seconds and they will cause more damage for 2 minutes before causing him to have to cooldown and become immobile. Can use psioniclashchargeup for the charging of the cannons
Void Ray-no idea(but I think using the arcademothershipbeam might look good on it)
Phoenix-just recreate overload or whatever it's called from beta(they fire loads of missiles all around and then become unpowered for a few seconds)
Colossus-give it a powerfield so units can be warped underneath it(if you are using warp in though)
An area of effect (or auto-cast) ability restoring nearby units shields by draining the Archon's shields.
An auto-cast ability making the Archon cloaked as long as it doesn't move or attack. (you'll probably need to add a Hold Fire command similar to the Ghost)
Sentry
An auto-cast ability that pins the closest enemy down for 20 seconds. (ie. targeted unit can't move but can still attack... you'll have to find a way to disable any warping abilities, or it will probably bug)
An area of effect ability making all enemy units blind. (vision range set to a low value... something like 2 for ground, or 4 for air units)
Immortal
An auto-cast ability similar to the Thor barrage, but weaker and faster to execute. (ie. more or less a "fast salvo" spell)
An auto-cast ability that makes the Immortal share its Hardened Shield with nearby allied Protoss units (ie. the Hardened Shield is shared on units, but each hit on these units will make the Immortal lose a bit more of its own shield... when the Immortal has no more shield, the ability stops)
Void Ray
An auto-cast ability that makes the Void Ray go straight on its target and die in an explosion of psionic energy, also affecting ground units. (ie. "Kamikaze" ability)
Ability that lets the Void Ray restore its shields by draining/attacking any unit's shields. (ie. "Leech Shield" ability)
Phoenix
An area of effect ability that slows down the Phoenix, and all enemy units and their attack speed in the area.
An auto-cast ability that sends the enemy projectiles back to their casters.
Colossus
Ability to load/unload 2 units (ie. 4 slots)
An area of effect ability protecting ground units staying under the colossus from air projectiles. (ie. more or less a Point Defense Drone ability that follows the Colossus, and only protecting ground units from air attacks)
Loving these abilities guys. Some of them won't work...as I said the systems in place in my game are quite restrictive. However, I can see potential in a lot of these.
Phoenix
...
An auto-cast ability that sends the enemy projectiles back to their casters.
Please, please, teach me how to do that. I've wanted to do something like that for a long time, but I've never been able to figure out how to do it, aside from potentially giving missiles negative speed or just transfering the damage to the attacker. I tried searching for any existing threads on abilities like that and found nothing.
There are two definite themes I'm sensing here. One is that everybody seems to want Archons to explode in some way, or effect units in close proximity to them. The other is that people want the Colossus to affect units that are beneath it (great concept).
They will definitely make it into the game. I still want more suggestions! :)
For future suggestions though, let's try and stick to more passive abilities for non-casters, like void rays. For Sentries, I'm fine with more active abilities, auto-casted or otherwise.
Well, from a design perspective, I think the best approach is to just look at what's already in the game for inspiration. There are currently many spell effects in the game, many of which can be implemented in more ways than currently done. Right off the top of my head, I can think of a few that would suit some units:
Archon: Allow them to passively/constantly generate a slowing field around them. This would prevent enemies from running away and give ranged units more time to snipe enemy melee fighters
Void Ray: Its attack has the added effect of immobilising the enemy in place (a la Fungal Swarm but only for one unit at a time), but with a Charge-like cooldown (so the player can't just simply use/abuse Void Rays as stun bots).
Also, if creating fun/interesting gameplay is the aim, the abilities don't have to be big and impressive spectacles to achieve this. Just removing some of the unit's handicaps would present just as much a change. For instance:
Immortal: Gains the ability to target air units. I'm sure you can easily imagine how this would pretty much feel like a new passive ability in terms of usefulness.
Darn lol, that is one of the only things in the editor that I simply haven't been able to pull off. I haven't even been able to find a solid workaround for it.
I finished the Immortal yesterday, so I don't need any more Immortal abilities.
Make a spell/passive attack that only targets missiles
event: unit dies
if (dying unit is missile) and (killing unit/behavior is Reflect Spell) then
create (dummy caster) at (position of missile)
order (dummy caster) to attack (origin of missile)
Where dummy caster is a unit without a model that has that attack. Better yet, just add the weapon to the unit based on what type of missile it was.
Anyway, some ideas:
Archon
Psionic Cloud - The archon has the same effect that brushes/smoke has; it blocks land units' vision in an area around it. Allows for a more deceptive protoss army, and multiple Archons can be positioned around the army to completely hide it, or around no units at all to give the impression that there's an army. Maybe you want to keep Colossi and air units behind the cloud visible, up to you.
Final Metamorphosis - Two Archons (yes Archons) morph together to create a massive Psionic Storm. They are consumed in the process.
Warp Guidance - If the Archon kills two units within a second or so, it regenerates some shields. Making it more effective on the front lines against Zerglings and Marines.
Colossus
Point Defense Laser - Similar to the Raven's spell, but is basically an additional attack the Colossus has that can block one missile every 2 or so seconds.
Pointy Feet - A negative passive ability. Basically, the Colossus moves slowly/gets stuck when walking in certain types of terrain, like sand. This could be either very easy or very hard to implement, depending on your map's terrain.
Thermal Lance - Every X attacks, the Colossus' attack fires in a different pattern, e.g. a circle, and the ground burns for a few seconds. You could also make this an activatable that will allow you to create "fire walls" to alter the flow of units during a battle.
Overshield - While it has shields, the Colossus absorbs all damage done to units directly beneath it. In the cast of AoE effects like the Siege Tank's attack, the damage is only dealt once, and the protected units receive none. This is especially useful if you want to keep your High Templar alive.
Void Ray
Booster - When not busy attacking, and in range of a Void Ray that is busy attacking (or a chain of them, with an enemy target at the end), a booster beam is fired at the other Void Ray, improving its damage or booster beam. Think the Link Gun from Unreal Tournament.
Photon Shot - The Void Ray charges for a few seconds, and then fires a single, powerful shot. Basically a blue Yamato Cannon.
Feign Death - If the Void Ray loses its shields, it plays a death animation and is disabled for a few seconds. Changes the attack priorities of any units that were attacking it. Enemy players can still manually re-target the Void Ray.
Overwhelming Attack - While attacking, the Void Ray takes reduced damage from sources in front of it. Or, if you want to take it the other way round, it takes increased damage (because it has to keep an opening in its shield for the attack or something)
Sentry
Psionic Sand - Target an area of terrain, giving it the "powered" effect of Pylons, and improving energy/shield regen to all protoss unit within. Lasts X seconds.
Emergency Shields - If a nearby unit is about receive fatal damage and the Sentry has full shields, it can automatically give X shields to that unit.
Mana Flare - From warcraft 3's Faerie Dragon. Channels an aura that damages enemies within range if they cast spells.
Manipulation - Changes the appearance of a unit. Basically, if the sentry summoned an illusion on a unit. Expires when the unit takes damage, but not if it attacks. More protoss-style deception.
Phoenix
Many Hands - Several Phoenixes can work together with their Graviton Beam to lift heavier targets; e.g. 4 Phoenix for 1 Ultralisk.
Graviton Beam mod - Allow it to target allied units, giving them the ability to attack air. I mean, can you imagine the awesome of a Zealot ripping Mutalisks apart with his Psi Blades?
Cloaking Field - Causes the Phoenix and 1 or 2 additional units to not appear on opponents' minimaps. Either drains energy, or reduces Phoenix speed.
Combo Moves
Phoenix + Void Ray - If a Phoenix casts Graviton Beam on a Void Ray, the Void Ray changes to a unit that aims downward, its attack becoming an area-effect beam like the Mothership had it beta. The Phoenix can move while channeling, and it costs X mana per second. Or you could make this a Void Ray spell that simply lasts X seconds.
-Enrage - The zealot takes a darker form than his original self and slowly loses life over time, which is critical. However, he attacks 100% faster and moves 50% faster.
-Warp Blade Strike - The zealot takes his two blades and strikes 20 times in a second at the target unit. Deals splash and lots of damage.
Stalker:
-Void Blink - This is slightly different from blink. It teleports the stalker, but also gives it cloak for 3 seconds.
Sentry:
-Gravity Blast - Blows nearby enemies in a range of 3 away from the sentry, but then pulls enemies toward the sentry a lot more slowly for 3 seconds in a range of 6.
-Chrono-Shield Aura - Slowly depletes energy like ghost cloak and recharges shields much more quickly in a small range.
High Templar:
-Warp Ritual - Makes high templar immobile and cannot use abilities. However, the high templar creates his own pylon power for warping in troops and such.
Dark Templar:
-Shadow Clone - Spawns a nearby dark templar that has -50% life, shields, and damage. Has 120 seconds of timed life.
Observer:
-Self Destruct - Gives its life to explode and deal 50 damage to nearby ships.
Warp Prism:
-Shuttle Transformation - (Only usable in transport mode) Allows the warp prism to carry 16 slots of troops instead of 8. (Permanent)
-Warp Transformation - (Only usable in warp in mode) Creates a bigger radius of pylon power. (Permanent)
Immortal:
-Short Range Bombardment - Blasts target area and deals heavy splash.
Colossus:
-Weapon Swap - Takes 10 seconds and immobilizes the colossus. Switches to anti air, or back to anti ground lasers.
Phoenix:
-Warp Field Overload - Disables phoenix, but fires a ton of shots everywhere (Ground and Air) and deals minimal damage each. (Kinda likes the old ability from sc2 alpha)
Void Ray:
-Hyper Beam Boost - Sets beam to attack the 3rd and max dmg dealer beam phase at start, but ability drains shields over time, and takes 5 seconds to recharge after ability is canceled or ends.
Carrier:
-Self Destruct Order - Orders all interceptors to self destruct. Same ability as observer. Almost.
Archon:
-Energy Drain - The Archon drians energy over time from a unit that has energy. The Archon takes that energy and transfers it to shield on the Archon.
Mothership:
-Chrono Field - Creates a time bubble which slows all units and bullets inside it.
-Planet Cracker - Obvious.
Thats about it. I have a lot of ideas right there.
I know you finished some units already, but if you don't need some, you can just take the ideas. :D
Thanks guys, this is great. I've almost finished off the Colossus thanks to you guys. I'm thinking I'll do the Archon next.
Quote:
Some pseudo-code for reflecting missiles:
Make a spell/passive attack that only targets missiles event: unit dies if (dying unit is missile) and (killing unit/behavior is Reflect Spell) then create (dummy caster) at (position of missile) order (dummy caster) to attack (origin of missile)
Where dummy caster is a unit without a model that has that attack. Better yet, just add the weapon to the unit based on what type of missile it was.
I thought of that as well. It's possible, but it would look really awkward. Nullified missiles travel past the location they were killed at, making recreating the missile in the same location extremely difficult. Plus you'd have a delay for the dummy unit's attack and you'd have launch effects coming out of thin air.
Actually making a missile turn and go back the way it came seems to be impossible (as far as I can tell).
[Edit]: Colossus is done. Keep ideas coming for the others ;).
Immortal
-Stomp Blast: Immortal charges its cannons for 2-3 seconds, both cannons flip over behind to aim at ground and blast the ground once together stunning enemies in range for a few seconds.
Archon
-some sort of self destructive wave damage effect when it dies would be cool
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Hi mapsters! I wasn't sure what forum section this actually belonged in, so I threw it here. Hope that's okay :).
[Edit]: It seems that my thread was moved to the Map Feedback section...I never would have thought to make it here.
I'm slowly chipping away at a new game I'm designing, but I've got alot of stuff on the go at the moment and I'm struggling with Protoss ability ideas. You will receive credit if/when the game goes live. Usually I just take a look at the animations available for each unit, and find abilities that fit into the animations nicely, but the Protoss units really don't have many interesting anims.
Here's a little background info without giving too much away:
This is a RTS game, which means I'm not looking for abilities with multiple levels or stages. Any ability needs to be capable of being used by many units at once in massive battles. Ideally, I'd like all abilities to be either passive, area of effect based, or auto-castable. Targeted abilities can work, but have some slight complications I'd rather avoid. Buffs can also cause some issues..I know this seems restrictive, but my game layout is very unusual. The protoss are more sinister than in standard SC2. They all use their 'dark protoss' model variants and I'd like them to inspire a feeling of dominance over the other races. Their units tend to take more resources/supplies than the other races, but can each cut devestating swaths through enemy ranks. The Protoss are the hunters of the galaxy and should be depicted as such.
I need additional abilities for each of the following units:
Units that once needed suggestions but are now done:
I already have some done or planned, but the above units are the ones that aren't finished yet.
Some that I already have planned or have created:
As you can see, they don't need to be too complex. I just ask that they feel futuristic in some way to help the Protoss feel distinct. Also, try and keep in mind that I want the abilities to be visual in some way. I want users to be able to see that their abilities are working, even if they're passive.
Here is some ideas
Archon :Power Overwhelming: Unleashed massive amount of Damage around the archon..Takes 150 shields from the archon.
Sentry :Speed Shield:Creates a large shield around the sentry.Increases ally units speed that are in the shield.
Immortal :Mega Shield: Creates a shield around the immortal *kinda like defense matrix: that deflects all incoming damage for 10 seconds.
Void Ray :Booster *idk about name*: Increases the Void Ray's speed by 0.75 for 8 seconds.
Phoenix :MegaLift *again I cant think of a good name*: Lifts up all ground units around the phoenix and drops them down dealing decent damage.
Colossus :HolyBeam: The Colossus beam turns blue and does 100 damage for 30 seconds.*So the colossus attack does more damage and changes color:
I hope my ideas are useful need any more just ask!
The Archon and Colossus ones I can definitely work with. The Sentry one is possible, but I think I'll need to get further into development to decide whether or not it fits with the protoss. For gameplay reasons I'd rather not get into here, speed bonuses are probably not the best course of action for the Protoss.
For the same reasons, I don't think the Void Ray one will work, although speeding up their beam charge time could be possible.
The Phoenix and Immortal options are similar to the Sentry one. I'll keep them in mind, but I can't say for sure whether or not they'll be used. The Phoenixes could cause a potential imbalance because air units are very rare in my game, which would mean they'd have the ability to completely nullify nearly every combatant on the field. It could also potentially run into the speed issues I mentioned earlier.
I do really like the Immortal one, I just need to make sure it fits without being too similar to my Stalker abilities.
Thank you for taking the time to toss some ideas my way.
Archon
Sentry
Immortal
Void Ray
Phoenix
Colossus
Loving these abilities guys. Some of them won't work...as I said the systems in place in my game are quite restrictive. However, I can see potential in a lot of these.
Please, please, teach me how to do that. I've wanted to do something like that for a long time, but I've never been able to figure out how to do it, aside from potentially giving missiles negative speed or just transfering the damage to the attacker. I tried searching for any existing threads on abilities like that and found nothing.
There are two definite themes I'm sensing here. One is that everybody seems to want Archons to explode in some way, or effect units in close proximity to them. The other is that people want the Colossus to affect units that are beneath it (great concept).
They will definitely make it into the game. I still want more suggestions! :)
For future suggestions though, let's try and stick to more passive abilities for non-casters, like void rays. For Sentries, I'm fine with more active abilities, auto-casted or otherwise.
Well, from a design perspective, I think the best approach is to just look at what's already in the game for inspiration. There are currently many spell effects in the game, many of which can be implemented in more ways than currently done. Right off the top of my head, I can think of a few that would suit some units:
Archon: Allow them to passively/constantly generate a slowing field around them. This would prevent enemies from running away and give ranged units more time to snipe enemy melee fighters
Void Ray: Its attack has the added effect of immobilising the enemy in place (a la Fungal Swarm but only for one unit at a time), but with a Charge-like cooldown (so the player can't just simply use/abuse Void Rays as stun bots).
Also, if creating fun/interesting gameplay is the aim, the abilities don't have to be big and impressive spectacles to achieve this. Just removing some of the unit's handicaps would present just as much a change. For instance:
Immortal: Gains the ability to target air units. I'm sure you can easily imagine how this would pretty much feel like a new passive ability in terms of usefulness.
Actually, I don't know how. But there's no reason it can't be...
Darn lol, that is one of the only things in the editor that I simply haven't been able to pull off. I haven't even been able to find a solid workaround for it.
I finished the Immortal yesterday, so I don't need any more Immortal abilities.
Some pseudo-code for reflecting missiles:
Make a spell/passive attack that only targets missiles event: unit dies if (dying unit is missile) and (killing unit/behavior is Reflect Spell) then create (dummy caster) at (position of missile) order (dummy caster) to attack (origin of missile)
Where dummy caster is a unit without a model that has that attack. Better yet, just add the weapon to the unit based on what type of missile it was.
Anyway, some ideas:
Archon
Colossus
Void Ray
Sentry
Phoenix
Combo Moves
Zealot:
-Enrage - The zealot takes a darker form than his original self and slowly loses life over time, which is critical. However, he attacks 100% faster and moves 50% faster.
-Warp Blade Strike - The zealot takes his two blades and strikes 20 times in a second at the target unit. Deals splash and lots of damage.
Stalker:
-Void Blink - This is slightly different from blink. It teleports the stalker, but also gives it cloak for 3 seconds.
Sentry:
-Gravity Blast - Blows nearby enemies in a range of 3 away from the sentry, but then pulls enemies toward the sentry a lot more slowly for 3 seconds in a range of 6.
-Chrono-Shield Aura - Slowly depletes energy like ghost cloak and recharges shields much more quickly in a small range.
High Templar:
-Warp Ritual - Makes high templar immobile and cannot use abilities. However, the high templar creates his own pylon power for warping in troops and such.
Dark Templar:
-Shadow Clone - Spawns a nearby dark templar that has -50% life, shields, and damage. Has 120 seconds of timed life.
Observer:
-Self Destruct - Gives its life to explode and deal 50 damage to nearby ships.
Warp Prism:
-Shuttle Transformation - (Only usable in transport mode) Allows the warp prism to carry 16 slots of troops instead of 8. (Permanent)
-Warp Transformation - (Only usable in warp in mode) Creates a bigger radius of pylon power. (Permanent)
Immortal:
-Short Range Bombardment - Blasts target area and deals heavy splash.
Colossus:
-Weapon Swap - Takes 10 seconds and immobilizes the colossus. Switches to anti air, or back to anti ground lasers.
Phoenix:
-Warp Field Overload - Disables phoenix, but fires a ton of shots everywhere (Ground and Air) and deals minimal damage each. (Kinda likes the old ability from sc2 alpha)
Void Ray:
-Hyper Beam Boost - Sets beam to attack the 3rd and max dmg dealer beam phase at start, but ability drains shields over time, and takes 5 seconds to recharge after ability is canceled or ends.
Carrier:
-Self Destruct Order - Orders all interceptors to self destruct. Same ability as observer. Almost.
Archon:
-Energy Drain - The Archon drians energy over time from a unit that has energy. The Archon takes that energy and transfers it to shield on the Archon.
Mothership:
-Chrono Field - Creates a time bubble which slows all units and bullets inside it.
-Planet Cracker - Obvious.
Thats about it. I have a lot of ideas right there.
I know you finished some units already, but if you don't need some, you can just take the ideas. :D
Thanks guys, this is great. I've almost finished off the Colossus thanks to you guys. I'm thinking I'll do the Archon next.
I thought of that as well. It's possible, but it would look really awkward. Nullified missiles travel past the location they were killed at, making recreating the missile in the same location extremely difficult. Plus you'd have a delay for the dummy unit's attack and you'd have launch effects coming out of thin air.
Actually making a missile turn and go back the way it came seems to be impossible (as far as I can tell).
[Edit]: Colossus is done. Keep ideas coming for the others ;).
Immortal -Stomp Blast: Immortal charges its cannons for 2-3 seconds, both cannons flip over behind to aim at ground and blast the ground once together stunning enemies in range for a few seconds.
Archon -some sort of self destructive wave damage effect when it dies would be cool