Hey again folks, and welcome to the third edition of the Bi-Weekly Testing Thread!
As per an initiative from JayBorino and me, we've set up the Bi-Weekly Testing Thread, or BWTT, with the purpose of testing specific maps made by community members. What does this mean? Simple: editors in need of feedback suggest their own maps (either via PM to me or JayBorino, or by posting it in the intro thread), and we'll pick one that will be used for the BWTT.
Staying somewhat in the background, user Domper and his team have been working on a mod for StarCraft II known as Chronicles of Azeroth, turning the game not just into WarCraft III, but also II and I. Talk about dedication! Recently he has submitted two multiplayer PvP maps for the WarCraft I and II sections of the mod that now need some testing. The first one is called "Black Morass" and can be found by searching for that name on Arcade EU, while the second one is called "Fierce Ocean Combat" and can be found under the same conditions. Alternatively, just search for 'Coa'.
For the next two weeks, see if you can take the time to download this map, give it a go, and post your detailed feedback here. What did you like, what did you not like? What could be improved, and possibly: how?
This thread will stay up for two weeks, until tuesday, May 31, at which point I'll upload thread #4. Up until that point, all suggestions for maps that require testing are welcome - please put them in the general thread found here.
Just to re-iterate, you find this only on the EU Arcade. If you don't live in the EU, you can change your Bnet region from the launcher which allows you access to that region's Arcade when you log in (you'll be prompted to make a new profile). If this is still not clear to you, leave any questions below.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Visit my channel where I showcase custom content! Send me a PM or respond to my YouTube thread if you'd like to see your map/s on my channel (eventually!)
Thank you very much! Also a remainder: The host who create the game can choose between Classic and Modern gameplay mode. Classic is like the original game: selection limit, no building queue, no rally point etc. Modern gameplay mode is like sc2: unlimited selection, 5 building queue, rally point, some spell is autocastable and increased supply/farm.
I have sad news to report :( New Sc2 patch created a huge problem in the wc2 mod. For some reason you can't build oil rigs over the patches. I'm looking for the problem but so far i don't see any changes in the data so it must be the work of the new patch. I'm trying to fix it as quickly as possible as without oil you can't produce naval units
I will attempt to play this with someone today as I'm traveling through the end of this BWTT starting Tuesday. Other folks, please try to give this a shot, you'll need at least 2 people as it is a WarCraft melee map.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Visit my channel where I showcase custom content! Send me a PM or respond to my YouTube thread if you'd like to see your map/s on my channel (eventually!)
Jayborino and I played Fierce Ocean Combat 1v1 last night. The only experience that I've had with Warcraft is playing the WC3 campaign when it came out and watching Jay's WC videos. I've never had any personal experience with WC2 at all or any type of WC multiplayer.
The first thing I noticed was that everything looked nice, graphics wise. The gold mine did seem to be quite large compared to the town hall and other buildings. I would either increase the size of the town hall or possibly decrease the gold mine size.
I would suggest having some tips for the first time players like me. Just very basic things like how to gather oil since it took me a while to figure out what those white dots in the middle of the water on the minimap were.
Stealing this idea from Jayborino - show the full tech tree to players similar to how it is done in the Xeyed custom race. Basically have an icon in the town hall command card that when the player hovers over it, the tech tree will pop up. Watch some of Jayborino's casts of that race to see what I'm talking about.
We both played as humans. Is there a way to play as a different race?
Resource gathering is fast! You acquire a ton of money very quickly but your gold mine is also depleted just as fast. You are definitely forced to move out quickly to get another expansion...
However, when I tried to unload a peasant on another island from a transport ship I encountered a bug. After pressing the unload button and then pressing on land, the ship made its way over to the island but never dropped the peasant off. The cargo spot indicator above the ship went from 1 slot full to all slots empty but the command card still showed the peasant inside the ship. I tried several more times to unload the peasant but wasn't able to.
It is pretty difficult to tell where you can build your docked buildings in the water. The build icon shows green everywhere on the map, even in the middle of the ocean. If you can, make it so the building location icon only shows up green when it is in a possible building location, otherwise have it show up red.
The ballistas do a shit ton of damage. The first group of units that Jay sent over were absolutely destroyed by a single ballista. It also killed some of my own units which I guess is fair. Again, ballistas might have been this strong in WC2, but I have no idea.
I would like to try this again, now that I know the basics. I might try to play with my little brother this evening.
Oh and Jay won for all those curious. It wasn't even close.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Check out my YouTube channel for test playthroughs of custom campaigns as well as editor tutorial videos. Mapmakers, don’t hesitate to PM me if you would like me to test your campaign.
Tips are definitely on the list to do. On the wc1 remake you can already see every unit in the help menu instead of the sc2 ones. Probably i will place a few tutorial helps in-game too. Thank you for the tech-tree tip i will look for it.
Protoss-human, zerg-orc, terran-"random" (mostly add human), its written down in the instructions of the arcade info.
hmm load unload a bit problematic now on this map because of the edges, we are already reworking them. Most likely you tried to unload on a point what he couldn't reach or too close to the edge.
i will try to find out if we can make the placement of naval buildings "red" on wrong places, but basically you can place them on the ocean close to the shore.
Catapult/Ballistas indeed do shit ton of damage, just like in the original games. But they are doing friendly fire and attack point instead of unit, so you can move out of the target zone if you are quick enough. (same apply to the wc1 remake)
You had the selection limits etc because of the classic gameplay mode which emulate the original wc1 conditions aka: 4 unit selection limit, no rally point, no training queue and no autocastable spells. If you are making a game with the create game button as a host you can choose between classic/modern gameplay mode. Modern is exactly like sc2: unlimited selection, rally point, 5 training queue and a few spell is autocastable.
I would be happy if you tried Fierce Ocean Combat too, but be prepared that Wc2 is not as simple game. :) But soon i will add beginner tips to it
I was able to play 1v1 against my brother on Dark Peninsula. We played on classic mode, which was quite a change from what I'm used to. I definitely prefer the modern mode, but that's just my personal opinion.
I noticed that catapults weren't selected with the F2 hotkey and they weren't selected when you boxed in your units. You had to manually click on them to select them. My brother enjoyed the game - his only thoughts were he wished he could queue units and that some of the units were larger than some of the buildings.
Forgot to mention that in modern mode, if you have your workers rallied to a tree, after that tree has disappeared, the rally points resets back to the town hall.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Check out my YouTube channel for test playthroughs of custom campaigns as well as editor tutorial videos. Mapmakers, don’t hesitate to PM me if you would like me to test your campaign.
Thank you for the test. I implemented the gameplay mode for this exact reason. Some people enjoy the modern gameplay stlye that sc2 gives but there are other "veterans" who wouldn't welcome the changes. So the best solution is to give choice to the players.
Sadly i know about the tree rally point disappearance but i don't know any solution to it. I even tried out other mods like WAA and on all of these mods the rally point disappeared the same way.
Few models have this selection issue, i read recently about the solution of attaching hit point globe to them, i will try to do this.
-Added beginner tips (and naval tips for wc2) for the maps
-Corrected the drag selection of the bugged units, you can drag select every unit now.
-removed the problematic edges in Fierce Ocean Combat. We will experiment with other type of edges in the future to see if we can achieve a similar good looking edges without the problems it created.
-Enlarged the sea area on Dark Peninsula to make naval combat more smoother.
Also I plan to implement the tech tree. Just need to find a good way to add it.
Thank you very much for the testing. I'm especially happy that you just started the game without reading any information and shared your experience this way because with that you proven my way of thinking was faulty in one thing: People will read the map description, how to play, tutorial section in the map info. The race selection and many other information are clearly stated in them (some even multiple times). That is why i started the tips for beginners part with: "If you didn't read the tooltip next time you play:...." this part is for those who didn't read the map info, how to play, tutorial. But i will try to change the race selection to have the names.
I added this two tip recently after Deltron's suggestion: "I would suggest having some tips for the first time players like me". They are basically consist info for those who are not into finding out stuff on their own. Many of the info are quiet easy to find out on your own i think so you can ignore them. (Andi f i can implement that tech tree i attached in the previous post it will be even easier) But I implemented it so people have a chance to get info this way too. Those who don't like to read can easily right-click close them.
Naval building errors should have pop up, most likely new patch or previous broke it. I tested it so long ago that i don't know which patch changed it :S This is why this testing weeks are good, telling me things are not working that used to work, also showing the fault in my thinking and expectation of ppl. Giving me ideas how to improve.
And probably i will change the default gameplay mode to the modern, its better for the casual sc2 players and will be played more times most likely.
I added a new version which:
-Added custom race selection to the lobby, you can choose your race as Orc, Human and Random now.
-Fixed the alert massage when you try to place naval structures on land
-changed modern gameplay mode to the default one.
-Fixed the upgrade price of Keep/Stronghold and Castle/Fortress in wc2 mod.
"I should be able to change that setting regardless of whether I picked "Play" or "Create" when opening a lobby.": Actually you should be able to change gameplay mode as a host whether you pick play or create as the game attribute is clearly made this way. But I did a little search for the problem on Sc2mapster and found the truth: Thanks to Blizzard game attributes are bugged and can not be changed when you click play game instead of create game. If it worked correctly there is a little box you can check: locked in public. That would decide if you can change them or not when you click play. Look on the ordinary default game attributes, you can't change them either. They didn't fix it since 2014....
About the tips: What way would you imagine these informations? It looks like map description, how to play etc isn't a good way as people doesn't read them . Nor the button description and ui descriptions. One good example to it is the train oil tanker description: "Harvester ship. Can build Oil Rigs and harvest oil from them." The build oil rig says: "The Oil Rig needs to be built on oil patches in order for oil to be harvested and refined. Tankers are used to build these Oil Rigs as well as transport loads of oil from the Oil Rig to the nearest Shipyard or Oil Refinery. ". When you select build oil rig it even highlight the oil patches you can build them on like the Refineries do on vespene geysers. Yet i got one review that he had hard time to find out how to harvest oil. At the moment this beginner tips icon is the only idea i have as a solution to this. Many of the tips are about basic strategies on the map anyway that you can find out on your own.
i will thinking about ways to help people learn the game. I'm sure the tech tree i shown will be a good step toward it. Also I'm thinking about adding a tutorial map which could help learn the basics or adding a tutorial on/off option as a player attribute in the lobby. If it turned on i would add these highlights, messages etc. you say. Thank you for sharing your opinion.
Anyway guys as the 3rd bwt is close to end I want to thanks for all who shared his review. Those who didn't have a chance yet and would like to i still waiting for opinions, playtests etc even after the event's end. If you like what we are working on you can follow us on the following places: sc2mapster threadmoddb pagehiveworkshop thread
Howdy, I was on vacation and just got home! I played this with Deltron before leaving and it really looks like he covered pretty much all of our joint thoughts about possible bugs/ideas, though I wanted to reply to let you know I did play it and enjoyed it a lot. I am almost always unhappy with island hopping, but I really love the emphasis on navy battles, which really made the experience change from tedious to very fun for me. You've done very well transitioning this to something very playable in the SC2 engine!
Visit my channel where I showcase custom content! Send me a PM or respond to my YouTube thread if you'd like to see your map/s on my channel (eventually!)
I didn't read previous comments so I might be repeating stuff...
My first strategy ever played was "Centurion - Defender of Rome" followed by "Dune" to finally come to majestic "Warcraft 1 Orc & Humans" and I plyed it for a long time and a lot of hours :-)
I have just played Black Morass but unfortunately only me and 3 AI's
First look at the game is fantastic, the buildings, units tooltip icons just fantastic!! Well done, you definitely got talent. I really enjoyed playing it "on my own :-(" and I will try and give you some constructive feedback.
Problem what I find with remakes is that if literally everything is copied from original it becomes bland and people do always expect something new even if they don't know it. I will try to explain - when I was a kid climbing a hill behind my building was a massive achievement because it was so big, long and hard to climb, but if I go now to that hill when I am much older it is just a little bump I walk up in few steps. Meaning people remember everything even games in better "colours" because it was a big event back then and that is how it stay in their mind, as a big great thing. Remember I am just giving my view and constructive feedback :-) Although you have really stuck to the original WC 1 sounds and almost complete game play, that just might not do it for me. I would suggest implementing a little tweak on things just to spice it up. For example Impact sounds and spells... Leave the original impact sounds + add more of them and change them slightly, just add a twang or something on some of them. Units sounds, yeah it might be hard but they should be unique to each unit with same "dark" voice for Orcs and tough voice for humans. And spells definitely need some spicing up.I would suggest to leave the main cast sound but add on it to continue or merge it to extra sound that fits the spell the best. Buildings are absolutely amazing I wouldn't change anything there.
Colours - I remember WC1 to be very dark and gloomy and I would suggest darkening all colours a bit including tooltips and icons add more blood effects in fighting and on death units (make dead models last longer) - Less PG
Trees - Give them some life (make them sway) while standing still and shake while being chopped. Also desquare their placement so it is more random.
Peons - Very visibly slowing down as SCV's before doping off or collecting resources. In WC1 you could fit as many peons in the gold mine as you wish while here it can be just one at the time. Image of Gold mine on UI is vespin geyser and once it is emptied is says in Zaggara voice: "Vespin Geyser are exhausted" make them Implode and give them sound when you click on them?!
Terrain - I would lift the base out of the swamp and make swamp area not buildable
Catapult - Firing attachment point is not at right place, make the bowler much slower and with larger arc path with slower and larger impact effect model
Units - Some impacts have sounds before they actually hit the target eg Woolf rider. Also I would suggest slowing down and animate more casting times of spell casters.
Walls!!! mate where are the Walls!!! :-O
Roads - Love them, but again add something to it nothing much just to spice it up. Example add 1x1 square road option and make units walk 5% faster on the road and upgrading road make units walk 10% faster.
Town Hall - I would suggest adding possibility to expand to another base (Maybe with some kind of store house, not with TH?)
Defense - Add towers mate that you need to man with spearman?
Good example of what I really loved is the fact you made Invulnerability spell cot half of units life. Thing like that are really benefiting from a tweak from original
I would add Day and Night Cycle with torches coming on in night along side of the road. I believe that more animated details like that give players more things to get them self immersed in the game.
If you are making Campaign make it hard not like today's easy games. That was one thing with WC1 it was bloody hard!!
Resources: Now this is a tricky one I don't have an idea but if I think of one I will inform you. I am not keen on large numbers of 100 gold per trip of Peon. Maybe more Peons you have less gold they bring 20 gold per peon -1 per each extra peon you have?!
I would also give more upgrades on units. Example health boost, attack speed, max mana ... ect
Now said all that above I know you are making a remake and you did amazing job. But I personally don't think I would play a campaign if it is a copy paste from original because I already did and I know what to expect. (By the way I have dosbox and WC1 installed and I did play it few months ago). In Campaign I would suggest adding story quest and side quests with rewards ...
The way it is now I might play one or two games with my Bro but that will be it.
I am not saying something is wrong, everything is very very well done and it is stunning!! But there is always but. I will try to put this in perspective: would you sit in a spanky new car that was build in 1800's with installed modern leather seats, suspension, tyres and steering wheel. Yes, I would but once and it would be enough. I would be looking at it admiring and praising the maker. But if it head wider tyres bigger engine more power, closed roof, although is not exact copy of original I think I would drive it more times.
I hope you are getting what I am trying to get across because my wife never does :-/
Basically to wrap everything up. I believe if it stays the way it is it will be a beautiful masterpiece remake that people will admire, show their friends but not touch a lot. While if you want people to play it make a Tweak.
And remember this is a constructive feedback! ;-)
Sincerely yours
Thundraf
P.S. Don't make tutorial get players to explore by themselves.
Hey again folks, and welcome to the third edition of the Bi-Weekly Testing Thread!
As per an initiative from JayBorino and me, we've set up the Bi-Weekly Testing Thread, or BWTT, with the purpose of testing specific maps made by community members. What does this mean? Simple: editors in need of feedback suggest their own maps (either via PM to me or JayBorino, or by posting it in the intro thread), and we'll pick one that will be used for the BWTT.
Staying somewhat in the background, user Domper and his team have been working on a mod for StarCraft II known as Chronicles of Azeroth, turning the game not just into WarCraft III, but also II and I. Talk about dedication! Recently he has submitted two multiplayer PvP maps for the WarCraft I and II sections of the mod that now need some testing. The first one is called "Black Morass" and can be found by searching for that name on Arcade EU, while the second one is called "Fierce Ocean Combat" and can be found under the same conditions. Alternatively, just search for 'Coa'.
For the next two weeks, see if you can take the time to download this map, give it a go, and post your detailed feedback here. What did you like, what did you not like? What could be improved, and possibly: how?
This thread will stay up for two weeks, until tuesday, May 31, at which point I'll upload thread #4. Up until that point, all suggestions for maps that require testing are welcome - please put them in the general thread found here.
Good luck and have fun to all!
Just to re-iterate, you find this only on the EU Arcade. If you don't live in the EU, you can change your Bnet region from the launcher which allows you access to that region's Arcade when you log in (you'll be prompted to make a new profile). If this is still not clear to you, leave any questions below.
Visit my channel where I showcase custom content! Send me a PM or respond to my YouTube thread if you'd like to see your map/s on my channel (eventually!)
Thank you very much! Also a remainder: The host who create the game can choose between Classic and Modern gameplay mode. Classic is like the original game: selection limit, no building queue, no rally point etc. Modern gameplay mode is like sc2: unlimited selection, 5 building queue, rally point, some spell is autocastable and increased supply/farm.
I have sad news to report :( New Sc2 patch created a huge problem in the wc2 mod. For some reason you can't build oil rigs over the patches. I'm looking for the problem but so far i don't see any changes in the data so it must be the work of the new patch. I'm trying to fix it as quickly as possible as without oil you can't produce naval units
Okay, i managed to fix the problem, you can build oil rigs now. Pls those who tested the game when the bug occurred play again with the fix :)
I will attempt to play this with someone today as I'm traveling through the end of this BWTT starting Tuesday. Other folks, please try to give this a shot, you'll need at least 2 people as it is a WarCraft melee map.
Visit my channel where I showcase custom content! Send me a PM or respond to my YouTube thread if you'd like to see your map/s on my channel (eventually!)
Its on my list!!
I can host a few games now.
@Trieva: Go
Hello
Well the maps are made for multiplayer games so there is no ai, but of course if you want to play around with no threat you are welcome :)
If anyone would like to test with players but afraid to not find some send me a pm and I send you my battle.net profile.
Jayborino and I played Fierce Ocean Combat 1v1 last night. The only experience that I've had with Warcraft is playing the WC3 campaign when it came out and watching Jay's WC videos. I've never had any personal experience with WC2 at all or any type of WC multiplayer.
Oh and Jay won for all those curious. It wasn't even close.
Check out my YouTube channel for test playthroughs of custom campaigns as well as editor tutorial videos. Mapmakers, don’t hesitate to PM me if you would like me to test your campaign.
@deltronLive: Go
Thank you very much for the testing!
@Trieva: Go
Thank you for the testing. Glad you liked it.
You had the selection limits etc because of the classic gameplay mode which emulate the original wc1 conditions aka: 4 unit selection limit, no rally point, no training queue and no autocastable spells. If you are making a game with the create game button as a host you can choose between classic/modern gameplay mode. Modern is exactly like sc2: unlimited selection, rally point, 5 training queue and a few spell is autocastable.
I would be happy if you tried Fierce Ocean Combat too, but be prepared that Wc2 is not as simple game. :) But soon i will add beginner tips to it
I was able to play 1v1 against my brother on Dark Peninsula. We played on classic mode, which was quite a change from what I'm used to. I definitely prefer the modern mode, but that's just my personal opinion.
I noticed that catapults weren't selected with the F2 hotkey and they weren't selected when you boxed in your units. You had to manually click on them to select them. My brother enjoyed the game - his only thoughts were he wished he could queue units and that some of the units were larger than some of the buildings.
Forgot to mention that in modern mode, if you have your workers rallied to a tree, after that tree has disappeared, the rally points resets back to the town hall.
Check out my YouTube channel for test playthroughs of custom campaigns as well as editor tutorial videos. Mapmakers, don’t hesitate to PM me if you would like me to test your campaign.
@deltronLive: Go
Thank you for the test. I implemented the gameplay mode for this exact reason. Some people enjoy the modern gameplay stlye that sc2 gives but there are other "veterans" who wouldn't welcome the changes. So the best solution is to give choice to the players.
Sadly i know about the tree rally point disappearance but i don't know any solution to it. I even tried out other mods like WAA and on all of these mods the rally point disappeared the same way.
Few models have this selection issue, i read recently about the solution of attaching hit point globe to them, i will try to do this.
We released a small patch based on your reviews:
-Added beginner tips (and naval tips for wc2) for the maps
-Corrected the drag selection of the bugged units, you can drag select every unit now.
-removed the problematic edges in Fierce Ocean Combat. We will experiment with other type of edges in the future to see if we can achieve a similar good looking edges without the problems it created.
-Enlarged the sea area on Dark Peninsula to make naval combat more smoother.
Also I plan to implement the tech tree. Just need to find a good way to add it.
@Trieva: Go
Thank you very much for the testing. I'm especially happy that you just started the game without reading any information and shared your experience this way because with that you proven my way of thinking was faulty in one thing: People will read the map description, how to play, tutorial section in the map info. The race selection and many other information are clearly stated in them (some even multiple times). That is why i started the tips for beginners part with: "If you didn't read the tooltip next time you play:...." this part is for those who didn't read the map info, how to play, tutorial. But i will try to change the race selection to have the names.
I added this two tip recently after Deltron's suggestion: "I would suggest having some tips for the first time players like me". They are basically consist info for those who are not into finding out stuff on their own. Many of the info are quiet easy to find out on your own i think so you can ignore them. (Andi f i can implement that tech tree i attached in the previous post it will be even easier) But I implemented it so people have a chance to get info this way too. Those who don't like to read can easily right-click close them.
Naval building errors should have pop up, most likely new patch or previous broke it. I tested it so long ago that i don't know which patch changed it :S This is why this testing weeks are good, telling me things are not working that used to work, also showing the fault in my thinking and expectation of ppl. Giving me ideas how to improve.
And probably i will change the default gameplay mode to the modern, its better for the casual sc2 players and will be played more times most likely.
@Trieva: Go
I added a new version which: -Added custom race selection to the lobby, you can choose your race as Orc, Human and Random now.
-Fixed the alert massage when you try to place naval structures on land
-changed modern gameplay mode to the default one.
-Fixed the upgrade price of Keep/Stronghold and Castle/Fortress in wc2 mod.
"I should be able to change that setting regardless of whether I picked "Play" or "Create" when opening a lobby.": Actually you should be able to change gameplay mode as a host whether you pick play or create as the game attribute is clearly made this way. But I did a little search for the problem on Sc2mapster and found the truth: Thanks to Blizzard game attributes are bugged and can not be changed when you click play game instead of create game. If it worked correctly there is a little box you can check: locked in public. That would decide if you can change them or not when you click play. Look on the ordinary default game attributes, you can't change them either. They didn't fix it since 2014....
About the tips: What way would you imagine these informations? It looks like map description, how to play etc isn't a good way as people doesn't read them . Nor the button description and ui descriptions. One good example to it is the train oil tanker description: "Harvester ship. Can build Oil Rigs and harvest oil from them." The build oil rig says: "The Oil Rig needs to be built on oil patches in order for oil to be harvested and refined. Tankers are used to build these Oil Rigs as well as transport loads of oil from the Oil Rig to the nearest Shipyard or Oil Refinery. ". When you select build oil rig it even highlight the oil patches you can build them on like the Refineries do on vespene geysers. Yet i got one review that he had hard time to find out how to harvest oil. At the moment this beginner tips icon is the only idea i have as a solution to this. Many of the tips are about basic strategies on the map anyway that you can find out on your own.
@Trieva: Go
i will thinking about ways to help people learn the game. I'm sure the tech tree i shown will be a good step toward it. Also I'm thinking about adding a tutorial map which could help learn the basics or adding a tutorial on/off option as a player attribute in the lobby. If it turned on i would add these highlights, messages etc. you say. Thank you for sharing your opinion.
Anyway guys as the 3rd bwt is close to end I want to thanks for all who shared his review. Those who didn't have a chance yet and would like to i still waiting for opinions, playtests etc even after the event's end. If you like what we are working on you can follow us on the following places: sc2mapster thread moddb page hiveworkshop thread
Howdy, I was on vacation and just got home! I played this with Deltron before leaving and it really looks like he covered pretty much all of our joint thoughts about possible bugs/ideas, though I wanted to reply to let you know I did play it and enjoyed it a lot. I am almost always unhappy with island hopping, but I really love the emphasis on navy battles, which really made the experience change from tedious to very fun for me. You've done very well transitioning this to something very playable in the SC2 engine!
Visit my channel where I showcase custom content! Send me a PM or respond to my YouTube thread if you'd like to see your map/s on my channel (eventually!)
Hi Domper,
I didn't read previous comments so I might be repeating stuff...
My first strategy ever played was "Centurion - Defender of Rome" followed by "Dune" to finally come to majestic "Warcraft 1 Orc & Humans" and I plyed it for a long time and a lot of hours :-)
I have just played Black Morass but unfortunately only me and 3 AI's
First look at the game is fantastic, the buildings, units tooltip icons just fantastic!! Well done, you definitely got talent. I really enjoyed playing it "on my own :-(" and I will try and give you some constructive feedback.
Problem what I find with remakes is that if literally everything is copied from original it becomes bland and people do always expect something new even if they don't know it. I will try to explain - when I was a kid climbing a hill behind my building was a massive achievement because it was so big, long and hard to climb, but if I go now to that hill when I am much older it is just a little bump I walk up in few steps. Meaning people remember everything even games in better "colours" because it was a big event back then and that is how it stay in their mind, as a big great thing. Remember I am just giving my view and constructive feedback :-) Although you have really stuck to the original WC 1 sounds and almost complete game play, that just might not do it for me. I would suggest implementing a little tweak on things just to spice it up. For example Impact sounds and spells... Leave the original impact sounds + add more of them and change them slightly, just add a twang or something on some of them. Units sounds, yeah it might be hard but they should be unique to each unit with same "dark" voice for Orcs and tough voice for humans. And spells definitely need some spicing up.I would suggest to leave the main cast sound but add on it to continue or merge it to extra sound that fits the spell the best. Buildings are absolutely amazing I wouldn't change anything there.
Colours - I remember WC1 to be very dark and gloomy and I would suggest darkening all colours a bit including tooltips and icons add more blood effects in fighting and on death units (make dead models last longer) - Less PG
Trees - Give them some life (make them sway) while standing still and shake while being chopped. Also desquare their placement so it is more random.
Peons - Very visibly slowing down as SCV's before doping off or collecting resources. In WC1 you could fit as many peons in the gold mine as you wish while here it can be just one at the time. Image of Gold mine on UI is vespin geyser and once it is emptied is says in Zaggara voice: "Vespin Geyser are exhausted" make them Implode and give them sound when you click on them?!
Terrain - I would lift the base out of the swamp and make swamp area not buildable
Catapult - Firing attachment point is not at right place, make the bowler much slower and with larger arc path with slower and larger impact effect model
Units - Some impacts have sounds before they actually hit the target eg Woolf rider. Also I would suggest slowing down and animate more casting times of spell casters.
Walls!!! mate where are the Walls!!! :-O
Roads - Love them, but again add something to it nothing much just to spice it up. Example add 1x1 square road option and make units walk 5% faster on the road and upgrading road make units walk 10% faster.
Town Hall - I would suggest adding possibility to expand to another base (Maybe with some kind of store house, not with TH?)
Defense - Add towers mate that you need to man with spearman?
Good example of what I really loved is the fact you made Invulnerability spell cot half of units life. Thing like that are really benefiting from a tweak from original
I would add Day and Night Cycle with torches coming on in night along side of the road. I believe that more animated details like that give players more things to get them self immersed in the game.
If you are making Campaign make it hard not like today's easy games. That was one thing with WC1 it was bloody hard!!
Resources: Now this is a tricky one I don't have an idea but if I think of one I will inform you. I am not keen on large numbers of 100 gold per trip of Peon. Maybe more Peons you have less gold they bring 20 gold per peon -1 per each extra peon you have?!
I would also give more upgrades on units. Example health boost, attack speed, max mana ... ect
Now said all that above I know you are making a remake and you did amazing job. But I personally don't think I would play a campaign if it is a copy paste from original because I already did and I know what to expect. (By the way I have dosbox and WC1 installed and I did play it few months ago). In Campaign I would suggest adding story quest and side quests with rewards ...
The way it is now I might play one or two games with my Bro but that will be it. I am not saying something is wrong, everything is very very well done and it is stunning!! But there is always but. I will try to put this in perspective: would you sit in a spanky new car that was build in 1800's with installed modern leather seats, suspension, tyres and steering wheel. Yes, I would but once and it would be enough. I would be looking at it admiring and praising the maker. But if it head wider tyres bigger engine more power, closed roof, although is not exact copy of original I think I would drive it more times.
I hope you are getting what I am trying to get across because my wife never does :-/
Basically to wrap everything up. I believe if it stays the way it is it will be a beautiful masterpiece remake that people will admire, show their friends but not touch a lot. While if you want people to play it make a Tweak.
And remember this is a constructive feedback! ;-)
Sincerely yours Thundraf
P.S. Don't make tutorial get players to explore by themselves.