In this RPG players do not run around doing quests, finding chickens, killing a wolf, ect. This RPG is based strictly on running dungeons. Teamwork being the most important aspect; the game can be played solo also. Read on for some good information.
The Story
You awaken in a strange cave with no memory of who you are or where you came from. The few people who are here are a little loopy and don't tell you much. In this cave, there are shadows making shapes on the... err... wrong cave. In this cave are ghastly figures; asking for your help with something. They don't specifically seem to interact with you though.
Seriously, the Story
You run through dungeons which represent a part in the life of the ghastly figure who sends you on the quest. The story lines are intertwined to tell a story of outbreak,invasion, civil war, teamwork, survival and betrayal. Keep in mind, that that player has no faction in this game; so you may end up on opposite sides of the same fight. The story line is not forced at all. Unless you read all of the flavor text and do the missions in order (not required) you wont pick up on the story line. which is fine by me.
Starting a New Game:
Players are able to pick from 1 of 8 hero classes (so far) and may then pick from 3 skills for each of 4 skill slots, to customize their hero. This allows for each class to have 240 possible builds. Realistically, this will be closer to 5 "Optimized builds" per class, and 20 or so "good" builds per class. More details below. There are 5 save slots for each player to save their hero. This may be limiting, but... well... you can delete your least favorite!
Dungeon Points:
This is a currency obtained by players, for playing the game, more or less. Monster kills give points, boss kills give a lot. Completing entire dungeons also gives a large boost to points awarded. Points will scale with "hero level" compared to the instance level; so a level 10 player trying to roll around with some level 50 players, will not be power leveled so easily. Dungeon points are used to purchase hero levels, skill points, stat points, and all varieties of items. Dungeon points can be transferred between a players characters for a percentage fee.
Dungeon Tokens:
Another currency, more for modifying the game than your hero; though you can also mod your hero with them. ultimately they will be used for hero respecs; single-game use buffs, custom skins ect, and other interesting things of the sorts. These may not be transferred between heroes.
Heroes:
I had 8 heroes planned for the alpha release, but will only be making 4 for now. Each hero can select an offensive skill, defensive skill, miscellaneous skill, ultimate skill, and passive class skill. there are 3 skills from each category, for each hero. Skills level to 30 and can be leveled up every other hero level, ultimate skills to 10 and can be leveled up every 6 levels, and passives are a single point skill that dramatically change your hero; they create the caste for that hero. Heroes only level to 60 (So far). Players can purchase additional skill points to fill in the missing skills, if they choose. Stats can increases damage, spell damage, attack speed, life+regen, energy+regen, and armor. All heroes also have a small energy shield which is armorless. Players can purchase items which improve their energy shield if they chose; though no stats can enhance it, the buffs granted by items are quite strong. Honestly, not the most unique stats; but a large enough variety.
Quest of the Day/Daily Events:
There will always be a quest of the day, which increases bonuses from a specific dungeon. It changes out every X amount of time. There is a chance you may not finish a dungeon in time to complete the bonus; or that the bonus may change right before you complete a dungeon. There will also be random world events that will make your life more difficult, or offer great reward.... or minor reward. Or may just make some things sparkle. Who knows? not me, because this is low on my to-do list; but still pre-beta planned.
Party Mechanics:
A death is never a good thing in an partied dungeon, especially since you are sent back to town, to think about what you did wrong. Thankfully, parties are set when an dungeon is started, and anyone in your party can summon you back into the dungeon; or you can run back. While in the dungeon, you can port yourself back to sanctum, to spend acquired dungeon points. Dungeon point rewards are based on the difficulty of the dungeon. The dungeon difficulty is based on the number of players attempting the dungeon, and by a difficulty scale, the party leader is allowed to set; which ranges from 10% to 500% increased difficulty. Not only does the difficulty scale increase the stats of monsters encountered; but the number, and strength of their abilities. Running the easiest dungeon with max players on max difficulty, will make it much more difficult, and rewarding, than the most difficult dungeon, solo, with a 0% modifier. Dungeon points are handed out equally to the team; last hitting will get you no where; you do however need to be close enough to the action to get your share of the goods. The penalty for death is simply that you do not gain dungeon points while you are dead. you will still be able to gamble for items.
The Arena:
In the arena players can fight to the death, solo, in teams, or in uneven teams. Players wager dungeon points against their opponent. A player may wager up to 10% of their total points on a match; and both players must wager the same amount. A player cannot gain more than 20% of their max dungeon points from a single other player though. This is to prevent a high level player from boosting a low level player without taking too large of a hit in their own points pool. In the situation of a 1v2, points wagered are combined from both teams, then divided among the winners. If a single player were to kill 2 others, he could obtain a max of 40% of his total dungeon points. There may also be an option to face bosses in the arena; which will have lower reward compared to their difficulty; and may only be faced a certain number of times per game.
Purchasable Things:
When you start the game, the first NPC you should encounter is an NPC who will offer to transmute your dungeon points into various things. He can give you experience, to level your hero, stat points, to increases the stats of a hero, and gold, to purchase equipment with. When a player gains a level, they are given a skill point, and some stats. This is the only way to increase the max level of your abilities, making it an expensive choice. When buying stat points, which are also rather expensive, you are allowed to invest the points into whichever categories you chose. Items can only be gambled for, and found. Items cannot be sold or traded between accounts. You can trade items between your own characters though.
* Update Potions and Junk * The potion system, which is similar to the item system, has been added and is working properly. You can find any of 3 base potions, which can spawn an additional mod; or 2 additional mods on rare potions. Rare potions are the top tier of potions. You may only carry 2 potions; you cannot hold them in your inventory. When you find a new potion, you are given a screen to compare it to your current potions, and then replace a potion with the new found one. Potions have a cooldown, and a limited cast quantity per instance. When you reset your active instance, you are repleneshed all potion charges.
* Update Items and Junk * Items can roll in 1 of 6 qualities which represents a 20% difference in mod strength per quality point; 1 of 4 rarities; which range from 3-6 item mods, respectively; decreasing by 25% for each additional mod rolled. 6 mod items have a unique mod which is not reduced. There are a total of 15 or so mods that can be rolled for each mod slot.
Item Bidding
It is gonna be a love/hate relationship here. All item drops may be bid on by players no more or less than 10 levels from the level of the item that drops. You cannot see what bids have been placed by other players. Highest bidder wins. there is also a time limit on the bids; and a choice not to bid. Take that information as you will.
Items may also be purchased from a vendor, however you can only purchase them at the lowest rarity; you can purchase them at any rank (up to the equiv of hero level 90) and select the item type and main 2 mod types; for additional costs. There is also a slim chance that the item will be rolled at a higher rarity; and the quality roll is 2-5 rather than 1-6. You have an equal chance of each rarity value. (EX: vendor roll of 5 is 25%; while item drop is 12.5%)
Dungeons:
While the dungeon content is under wraps (Because I havent started them yet); the theme will be the same. Difficulty is not going to be based simply on numbers. There will be a good deal of both hard and soft counters. A broad party should be able to handle any situation with a little planning. Unique boss fights, mob encounters, and "ohh shit" moments are the firm basis for progression in this game. The more you fight a boss, the more you learn about that boss; and the easier they are to overcome in the future. It may be a while before I reach the level of entertainment I am looking for with boss fights.
I am still getting systems and such in place. I consider myself a patient editor; in that I am not trying to rush through and leave everything half done, just so I can start playing an unmade game. I am currently still creating hero abilities. Which I believe will be the single most time consuming part before the map is playable. 100 skills, 1,500 skill levels. I have the entire hero creation system in place, using dialog boxes. I the heroes all planned out on paper, with their abilities, and I have the knowledge to create them in the editor. Vendors and items will come next. I feel it is important to know all stat potentials before I start adding content; so I will be able to accurately balance content.
I feel as though 2 months is an accurate timestamp for some alpha testing. I try my best to cover all bases as I slowly work through things. Repick systems, making sure there are no possible dialog bugs, abuseable points, ways to trap yourself in a corner, figuratively. Once I have the hero skills, vendors done, and achievements/banks done; I will upload a video to show it off.
As you can see above; I am still looking at some major developmental changes; which I am hoping to have cleared up within a month or so; as I move from this boring editor grinding into some actual content. Anyone who wants to offer some thoughts towards the direction of gameplay or anything; be my guest. If you think "man, I wouldn't want to play that" tell me why. If you really would like to play it, tell me what you wish would be added. I am attempting to appeal to as broad of a spectrum as possible.
So, the only reward you'll ever get is $$, and you purchase items, stats and levels(for ability upgrades) with it. And at the same time it's the only thing that you keep from game to game, so if you reward player with anything else you'd need to transmute it into $$ anyway. Kinda looks awfully restricting. Reminds me of D3 where you play to get gold and then use AH to get upgrades.
I'm really torn. On one hand I understand where you're coming from and what you want to achieve, on the other hand I'm afraid that game won't be exciting when one universal currency is the god of everything. Won't there just be a very few most optimal builds that everyone will reconstruct every single game? With random drops you must improvise and make best use of what you have (there is some fun in adjusting to situations), but with shop it's just a matter of buying most effective setup for $$ you have (an efficiency game which is same every time, which is pretty stale). Maybe you can make it work, it just doesn't feel very compelling to me.
Another thing I'm curious about is items. What item attributes/stats are you planning to have?
There is a line some where in my walls of text where I reference the game "dark souls". Which I believe is the best game ever made... In that, you get "souls" which are a currency for everything, including levels. Though, you can find items in that game; there is only 1 point where you can actually sell items for souls. I do not believe that having an "almighty currency" would be a bad thing in the case of my game. The bad thing about diablo 3 revolving around gold, is that PLAYERS set the value of items; in a fluctuating economy. I do agree that no equipment drops is a little boring. Allowing equipment drops though would severely reduce the value of items though. My only solution to this ATM is to make some "unique" items that drop from bosses and carry over. Very difficult to get though; and not exponentially more powerful than other equipment from that point in the game; but the fact that it carries over is what will make them so valuable.
I also can completely see where you come from with the idea that "players will find the most optimal builds" if they can simply re-create their hero every game. It seems that a lot of people are not thinking that recreating a hero from scratch is the best idea. Do you feel as though saving heroes, and their progress for each player would be a better choice? Giving each player 10 save slots or something, to save the progress and items of 10 heroes. In that situation, the only thing that would carry over between a players heroes, is the bonus they would earn from completed achievements. Thought on the comparison?
For items/attributes/stats I am trying to keep item stats from stacking so directly with hero stats; but that isnt always the probable case. Hero attributes are strength (damage), agility (attack speed), spell power (spell damage), vitality (Life+regen), intelligence (energy+regen), and defense (armor). Items are the only way to improve a heroes shield. Item classes are helm, necklace, weapon, shield, armor, gloves, boots, ring, and trinket. For the most part, items will be reasonably basic and offer only 1-2 types of improvements (attack speed and energy regen, say). Improved items (costing tokens) will be more intricate, and offer abilities that other items do not offer. Every type of item has various forms that are intended to scale from level 5 (where you start) to level 60 (where you end) and as they improve, each stat of improvement costs more per point.
Options on the table then:
1) Remake heroes every game, only unique items drop and carry over between games
2) Remake heroes every game; do away with generic item purchases, and have items gained through drops; and carry over between games.
3) Save heroes and progress through games, everything carries over for that hero; items are purchased through shops; with some unique drops.
4) Save heroes and progress through games, everything carries over for that hero; items gained through drops, not shops. +uniques
In any situation, items cannot be sold; though unique items may be "leveled up" Purchases made are final.
Ah yes, dark souls, I've heard a lot of good about this game. From what I've seen it's an arcady rpg. If your timing are right you can beat enemies without hurting yourself much, while if you try to A-move you'll die horrible deaths time and time again. It's a nice oldschool concept, you either pay attention and learn, or you we don't care about your feelings and kill you off. You sure that an arcady game system will work in your grind rpg map? Well, I guess that depends on how you'll design everything else. We'll just have wait and see =D
About those options I honestly don't know, probably because I'm not the biggest fan of imitating real rpgs in sc2maps. Dislike situations when a high-lvl and low-lvl join same game and feel uncomfortable because even though they are in same game they should be doing different content since their power difference is way too big. It's not an issue since ppl usually arrange private games through channels, but it still leaves a sour taste in my mouth.
But my personal preferences aside, I'd go with drops and shops that are unlocked after you hit some progression milestones. But really, it's hard to talk about how would one specific element works without knowing design of everything else. What kind of monsters players will fight? What sort of spells they will use. Is it gonna be a default sc2 combat where pretty much most of attacks are unavoidable and players rely on protection/healing abilities, or it's gonna be more arcady style where you can even dodge a melee attack? What about map layouts? (Mazes? Arenas? Randomized? All predefined?)
I'm suddenly just wanting to tell you "go with what you think is right, otherwise you'll get lost in everyone ideas and will lose your sense of direction".
Dark souls is my inspiration in terms of how they created difficulty in a sense of "You learn the fight, and you win easily.. or you die 300 times because you get too eager" I am not going to attempt to recreate that style of game though; it is going to be a sc2/wc3 over the head, normal camera angels and such game. I had thought about how neat it might be to make an up close, camera changing point of view style RPG; but they are always clunky on sc2; I consider them a disgrace to what most RPG game really are.
The plan in this is that any group of players can start any instance that no one has already started. Humor me and pretend it is popular. There are a group of (imaginary level) 200 players, who are good at the game, and advanced. there is also some new players who have no clue what is going on. The new players can go run through low level content, while the high levels go do other content; and they wont be bothering each other. I plan to make it so that when a player starts a dungeon; they become the leader and can invite other players to that dungeon. More players=more difficulty. they can bring a nooby with them if they want, but the nooby cannot force themselves into it.
I actually plan to design the bosses and monsters after I finish the base classes and all of their skills; so I can design the dungeons around the heroes. The basis of the game though is that there are a series of tunnels; which have portals throughout them. the portals are what take you into dungeons. It isnt like you are wandering through fields with random mobs, then entering a cave you found. Also, dungeons reset when they are completed; or if the party leader and all members cancel the dungeon. Dungeons increase in difficulty with more players, and the party leader can increase the difficulty if he chooses; up to 500% (which is taken into account AFTER an additional 30% per player in the group). Those level 200 players might get their asses kicked in the same dungeon that a level 5 was just soloing. this is my way of trying to keep as much content open to players as possible.
Mechanics are sc2 mechanics. Attacks generally hit; and a lot of the game is based on damage mitigation, heals, crowd controls, ect. Some classes will have options for dodges/blocks though. I plan to incorporate for bosses more intricate fights and systems that will leave very few fights as "tank and spank" fights. Doing some minor math on my plans; there should be 100 or so boss fights in the game; with difficulty that can stretch up to 12.5X the base difficulty. Unique item drops from bosses will be scaled based on the difficulty of dungeon when the boss is killed.
Map layouts will be predetermined; and every dungeon will be different. There will be 13-15, depending on how much space I have; and they will have 2-4 bosses each. there will also be a PvP arena; and a "monster challenge" arena.
The 4 options above, with heroes and stats; I came into making this map knowing that those would be the most difficult concepts to get figured out. Each one has its own strengths and weaknesses. though my first idea was to remake heroes every game; I have since then, really moved towards saving hero progress game to game. Items I would still rather not save though; with exception to boss drops.
Here is my first tank class unit, so you may have an idea for heroes(with short descriptions):
Grendal - short ranged armor tank
(Select 1 of each)
Class skills:
Juggernaut: each stat point invested in defense increases life also.
Metalhead: When the hero is attacked, he has a chance to gain a stacking buff which increases his max life by 2% (50% max)
Fist Kill: The heroes attack range becomes melee, but he gains 10% life steal from attack damage.
Offensives: (25 levels)
stormpedo stomp: Deals spell damage and stuns in a small area around the hero
Sunder Shock: greatly reduces the armor of a single unit
Robotic Strength: increases all damage types and armor (a little) for a target friendly unit
Defensive: (25 levels)
Defense Drones: Summons 4 drones who are good at taking hits, but dont deal much damage
Stone Form: Greatly increases the armor of the hero, but lowers his movement speed
Cover: gives all allies a boost to their movement speed, shield, shield armor, shield regen, and life regen for a short time.
Miscellaneous: (25 levels)
Cripple: Stuns an enemy for a short duration every second for X seconds.
Demoralizing Ward: Plants a totem which lowers the attack damage of all nearby enemy units.
Optical Implants: Increases the attack range of the hero for a time.
Ultimate: (12 levels)
Bloodlust: Increases max HP by a large % for a short time
Overwhelming power: Increases all damage types, armor, and life for a while.
Rally Cry: Greatly increases the life and energy regen of all nearby allies for a while.
Not the most advanced skills in the world; but it allows player to go in quite a few directions with their build; rather than being stuck with set hero builds. You can be a tank based on team support; damage, damage reduction, stuns, or through summonables. I am trying to make sure there are as many viable build types for each hero as possible.
yes; but it keeps your hp % the same. If you are at 10% HP and increase your max HP by 100%; your current HP will be increased 100% also (equal to 10% of its current value, or 20% of its normal value). I had considered adding a heal too it; but thought that it would be too powerful. Once the game is being played, I can add healing to it if I need to.
I have since then, really moved towards saving hero progress game to game. Items I would still rather not save though; with exception to boss drops.
You save $$ from game to game, in the beginning of each session regular items you've had are replaced with $$, yet stat choices you've made are permanent and are not rolled back?
I put some thought into it this week, and came to what I would consider a great idea.
Take my original "everything resets except progress" concept; and apply it to each class individually; and save items. So you can level each class separately; and repick the builds on that specific hero each game. Items carry over game to game; but only for that hero. (the items found on your tank, will not be on your healer; and 10,000 dungeon points on your tank, will not transfer to your healer) However, you can build your healer class in a more damaging type of healer if you feel you will be playing alone, or with only a single ally; or you can build really healy-based for a game, if you are playing with competent friends.
In this situation, items purchased will subtract from your total dungeon points; however all items carry over; you may want to keep a few sets of items on your healer, to support various build styles.
I feel this will allow for the "trying different builds" thing on each class, while maintaining the potency of items; and allowing for more general progress through the game to be saved from game to game.
Topic of this short weekend has been ITEMSSSSS! And I finally have a solid idea of how items will be done. The important factors being that items will carry over between games on a character, items cannot be purchased (with the exception to some unique items) and that items will be randomly generated with prefix/suffix mods. Oddly enough, I was thinking of this, then found the library and system for it that someone made. The system is a bit more than I want or need though; so have been making my own. The framework for it is up and running, I just need to test it to make sure it progresses in a way that I want; without lagging.
Item progression:
Items will be internally marked in "tiers". Players will be unable to equip items that are more than a single tier above their current player level (which is determined by total dungeon points). The reason there is no hero level requirement on items; is that I do not want to pressure levels as the most important "stat". If you would rather invest a million dungeon points into stat points than any into levels; will, that is your call; keep items out of it!
Items will have a "base stat" which that item type will always have. For example, body armor will always give a boost to life. On top of that, body armor is given 1 random prefix and suffix. In this case it is possible to get "Godly armor of the Whale" (c wut i did thur?) which would be lifemod, lifemod, lifemod. Item stats each equare to 1/4th of a hero stat point. As the tier of an item increases, the base stat increases, and the prefix and suffix mod increase.
The stats on items are created within a "range"; so tier 1 item may give 2 to each stat, 3 to each stat, or 2 to 1 stat, and 3 to another. As the tiers increase, the range also increases. For balancing purposes; the idea is that items will go up a tier every 7 levels or so. The final 2 tiers are for max level players who are really pushing content. Stats cap at 60 per stat on an item. Having 8 "perfect" items would net you almost 1500 item stats; the equal of 425 hero stat points. The idea here is to have that type of system where you are searching for gear that is high quality and reflects your build choices.
There will also be unique items; which will improve based on the tier level of their drop. If you are fighting a tier 1 boss on 10X difficulty; it may drop it's unique item as a tier 5 equivalent.
Because of this item system; I now need to create a dialog based inventory system... Which is what I am working on now. I am gonna be away for a while, on storm duty for Sandy; so there wont be progress for a while. Not an abandoned project though!
After some thought, and work... I am re-starting this project. That is, continuing. I thought of some ways to better implement a lot of features I was unsure about. I have about half of the base systems in place; and once I have them all set up, so that the work will be based more around adding content, than grinding the editor; I plan to recruit a partner who has a mind for data, skills, instances, bosses, ect.
+ stats items sound boring , try to add some fun artifacts that adds some active/passive skills and visuals. Whould be cool idea to make some totaly random surviving dungeon map where you starting as a group of dumb heroes with 1 skill max and all the skills and items you get further would be drops from mobs
Randomly generated stats values based on the item "rank", random stat types (Well, like 15 stat rolls). There will be unique items that drop from instance bosses. Those items will be upgradable. Key point on "unique" though. They will be build changing, and difficult to obtain. They will not be "teh winnars wit lazers n junks from eyez naruto ninja numb 1 !!1!!111" ...just to clarify. My goal is to allow for the maximum number of potential builds; both through skills and unique items.
As there is a save/load system in this; and a new hero would start at level 1, and there will be a "gauntlet" based purely on survival; I guess the scenario you are considering is technically possible. Though it will not be a specific game mode or anything. Item drops will be far from frequent; and you must bid dungeon points (the currency for most things) to win the items. When you finally get that item with the 2 mods you are most longing for; you will feel warm and fuzzy inside. ...Then you will have to find one of a higher rank!
Anyway, video is about to be put on the first page; showing my progress with all of the various systems. Only 2 systems remain... the party system, and the dungeon difficulty system.
Just an update: I have put a good deal of time into making my dialogs spiffy. Not revolutionary, but pretty solid; using the ones in the video as a baseline. I have the inventory working in every way needed, item dropping, ect. I got the item gambling/purchasing system in place. to explain:
When you are item shopping, you can buy items of any rank up to 20 (The max rank being higher than that, should you progress far enough into the game); the price increase pretty exponentially. You can choose from "any" item type, "any" prefix, and "any" suffix. You can also chose a specific item type, prefix, and suffix. If you want something specific on your item, it increases the cost of the item. The more specific you want your item to be; the more it costs for each specific demand. The short hand, gambing for an "any" item is 2/5ths the cost of picking the type and mods. Item prices range from about 320-180,000.
I am working on getting the first dungeon done; so I can set the systems in place for all future dungeons. Importantly, this will including the difficulty setting modifier that players will be able to select. Each dungeon has a base difficulty; and can be increased by up to 500%; this will allow for a max dungeon level of 360; technically, if I were to level dungeons on their own up 60 (the max hero level). My plan is to have dungeons racked up to level 40 or so though, making the max dungeon level 240; which would allow for items of rank 80 to drop (about 6X stronger than level 20 items). This was not an intentional design aspect at first; but my system is endless; so as long as players are looking for higher levels, with the press of a button, they can be upped pretty limitlessly.
Once the basic dungeon system is in place; I plan to get my next 3 heroes pumped out. I have been waiting because I dont want to have to rebalance skills and such if I find that content and skills are not staying lined up; I have already had to do this quite a few times with the items vs stats ratios; in relation to price VS gained.
Rambling now... Anywho; should have a video up once I get the stuff on this list done. gimme 2 weeks!
Hahahaha, a month later I reply; if that is a sign of anything. I have been working out of state 7 days a week for the past 2 months; and will continue to do so until the new year. Though I have no time for my project, I am not abandoning it. Every few months I come back and grind out a hundred hours of editor time.
My last "updates" were getting the basic dungeon system going; and getting a degree of balance to the way the dungeons are auto created. I think I outlined most of it in my "game page" http://www.sc2mapster.com/maps/dungeon-runners-rpg/
I have difficulty reasonably well scaled from levels 1-60 (which are the normal game and hero levels) in a way that the content is always more difficult than previous levels when compared to your hero and equipment; ect. Early levels, the game is pretty well cake walk; while going to level 100+ (60 is the cap for heroes) makes it very difficult for solo play without top end gear. Currently I have only tested to level 360 rated content; which is 20 million times more difficult than level 1 content; and by most standards; should not be achieved by anyone but a no-lifer. I believe that after that; hit points wrap around to zero, because reals suck and blizzard is goofy.
Errr, I am still really looking for a partner with a mind towards terrain, data, and dungeon design. If you have always wanted to design your own raids; and have the proper know-how (I will do any triggering needed for said raid) well; you should look into this project. The framework is mostly together, and I have no problem sharing creative rights to the game past the core concepts; which are already in place.
Dungeon Runners RPG
In this RPG players do not run around doing quests, finding chickens, killing a wolf, ect. This RPG is based strictly on running dungeons. Teamwork being the most important aspect; the game can be played solo also. Read on for some good information.
The Story
You awaken in a strange cave with no memory of who you are or where you came from. The few people who are here are a little loopy and don't tell you much. In this cave, there are shadows making shapes on the... err... wrong cave. In this cave are ghastly figures; asking for your help with something. They don't specifically seem to interact with you though.
Seriously, the Story
You run through dungeons which represent a part in the life of the ghastly figure who sends you on the quest. The story lines are intertwined to tell a story of outbreak,invasion, civil war, teamwork, survival and betrayal. Keep in mind, that that player has no faction in this game; so you may end up on opposite sides of the same fight. The story line is not forced at all. Unless you read all of the flavor text and do the missions in order (not required) you wont pick up on the story line. which is fine by me.
Starting a New Game:
Players are able to pick from 1 of 8 hero classes (so far) and may then pick from 3 skills for each of 4 skill slots, to customize their hero. This allows for each class to have 240 possible builds. Realistically, this will be closer to 5 "Optimized builds" per class, and 20 or so "good" builds per class. More details below. There are 5 save slots for each player to save their hero. This may be limiting, but... well... you can delete your least favorite!
Dungeon Points:
This is a currency obtained by players, for playing the game, more or less. Monster kills give points, boss kills give a lot. Completing entire dungeons also gives a large boost to points awarded. Points will scale with "hero level" compared to the instance level; so a level 10 player trying to roll around with some level 50 players, will not be power leveled so easily. Dungeon points are used to purchase hero levels, skill points, stat points, and all varieties of items. Dungeon points can be transferred between a players characters for a percentage fee.
Dungeon Tokens:
Another currency, more for modifying the game than your hero; though you can also mod your hero with them. ultimately they will be used for hero respecs; single-game use buffs, custom skins ect, and other interesting things of the sorts. These may not be transferred between heroes.
Heroes:
I had 8 heroes planned for the alpha release, but will only be making 4 for now. Each hero can select an offensive skill, defensive skill, miscellaneous skill, ultimate skill, and passive class skill. there are 3 skills from each category, for each hero. Skills level to 30 and can be leveled up every other hero level, ultimate skills to 10 and can be leveled up every 6 levels, and passives are a single point skill that dramatically change your hero; they create the caste for that hero. Heroes only level to 60 (So far). Players can purchase additional skill points to fill in the missing skills, if they choose. Stats can increases damage, spell damage, attack speed, life+regen, energy+regen, and armor. All heroes also have a small energy shield which is armorless. Players can purchase items which improve their energy shield if they chose; though no stats can enhance it, the buffs granted by items are quite strong. Honestly, not the most unique stats; but a large enough variety.
Quest of the Day/Daily Events:
There will always be a quest of the day, which increases bonuses from a specific dungeon. It changes out every X amount of time. There is a chance you may not finish a dungeon in time to complete the bonus; or that the bonus may change right before you complete a dungeon. There will also be random world events that will make your life more difficult, or offer great reward.... or minor reward. Or may just make some things sparkle. Who knows? not me, because this is low on my to-do list; but still pre-beta planned.
Party Mechanics:
A death is never a good thing in an partied dungeon, especially since you are sent back to town, to think about what you did wrong. Thankfully, parties are set when an dungeon is started, and anyone in your party can summon you back into the dungeon; or you can run back. While in the dungeon, you can port yourself back to sanctum, to spend acquired dungeon points. Dungeon point rewards are based on the difficulty of the dungeon. The dungeon difficulty is based on the number of players attempting the dungeon, and by a difficulty scale, the party leader is allowed to set; which ranges from 10% to 500% increased difficulty. Not only does the difficulty scale increase the stats of monsters encountered; but the number, and strength of their abilities. Running the easiest dungeon with max players on max difficulty, will make it much more difficult, and rewarding, than the most difficult dungeon, solo, with a 0% modifier. Dungeon points are handed out equally to the team; last hitting will get you no where; you do however need to be close enough to the action to get your share of the goods. The penalty for death is simply that you do not gain dungeon points while you are dead. you will still be able to gamble for items.
The Arena:
In the arena players can fight to the death, solo, in teams, or in uneven teams. Players wager dungeon points against their opponent. A player may wager up to 10% of their total points on a match; and both players must wager the same amount. A player cannot gain more than 20% of their max dungeon points from a single other player though. This is to prevent a high level player from boosting a low level player without taking too large of a hit in their own points pool. In the situation of a 1v2, points wagered are combined from both teams, then divided among the winners. If a single player were to kill 2 others, he could obtain a max of 40% of his total dungeon points. There may also be an option to face bosses in the arena; which will have lower reward compared to their difficulty; and may only be faced a certain number of times per game.
Purchasable Things:
When you start the game, the first NPC you should encounter is an NPC who will offer to transmute your dungeon points into various things. He can give you experience, to level your hero, stat points, to increases the stats of a hero, and gold, to purchase equipment with. When a player gains a level, they are given a skill point, and some stats. This is the only way to increase the max level of your abilities, making it an expensive choice. When buying stat points, which are also rather expensive, you are allowed to invest the points into whichever categories you chose. Items can only be gambled for, and found. Items cannot be sold or traded between accounts. You can trade items between your own characters though.
* Update Potions and Junk * The potion system, which is similar to the item system, has been added and is working properly. You can find any of 3 base potions, which can spawn an additional mod; or 2 additional mods on rare potions. Rare potions are the top tier of potions. You may only carry 2 potions; you cannot hold them in your inventory. When you find a new potion, you are given a screen to compare it to your current potions, and then replace a potion with the new found one. Potions have a cooldown, and a limited cast quantity per instance. When you reset your active instance, you are repleneshed all potion charges.
* Update Items and Junk * Items can roll in 1 of 6 qualities which represents a 20% difference in mod strength per quality point; 1 of 4 rarities; which range from 3-6 item mods, respectively; decreasing by 25% for each additional mod rolled. 6 mod items have a unique mod which is not reduced. There are a total of 15 or so mods that can be rolled for each mod slot.
Item Bidding
It is gonna be a love/hate relationship here. All item drops may be bid on by players no more or less than 10 levels from the level of the item that drops. You cannot see what bids have been placed by other players. Highest bidder wins. there is also a time limit on the bids; and a choice not to bid. Take that information as you will.
Items may also be purchased from a vendor, however you can only purchase them at the lowest rarity; you can purchase them at any rank (up to the equiv of hero level 90) and select the item type and main 2 mod types; for additional costs. There is also a slim chance that the item will be rolled at a higher rarity; and the quality roll is 2-5 rather than 1-6. You have an equal chance of each rarity value. (EX: vendor roll of 5 is 25%; while item drop is 12.5%)
Dungeons:
While the dungeon content is under wraps (Because I havent started them yet); the theme will be the same. Difficulty is not going to be based simply on numbers. There will be a good deal of both hard and soft counters. A broad party should be able to handle any situation with a little planning. Unique boss fights, mob encounters, and "ohh shit" moments are the firm basis for progression in this game. The more you fight a boss, the more you learn about that boss; and the easier they are to overcome in the future. It may be a while before I reach the level of entertainment I am looking for with boss fights.
New Video Updated 2/17/14
Skype: [email protected] Current Project: Custom Hero Arena! US: battlenet:://starcraft/map/1/263274 EU: battlenet:://starcraft/map/2/186418
Sounds like it will be fun. How far in development are you?
I am still getting systems and such in place. I consider myself a patient editor; in that I am not trying to rush through and leave everything half done, just so I can start playing an unmade game. I am currently still creating hero abilities. Which I believe will be the single most time consuming part before the map is playable. 100 skills, 1,500 skill levels. I have the entire hero creation system in place, using dialog boxes. I the heroes all planned out on paper, with their abilities, and I have the knowledge to create them in the editor. Vendors and items will come next. I feel it is important to know all stat potentials before I start adding content; so I will be able to accurately balance content.
I feel as though 2 months is an accurate timestamp for some alpha testing. I try my best to cover all bases as I slowly work through things. Repick systems, making sure there are no possible dialog bugs, abuseable points, ways to trap yourself in a corner, figuratively. Once I have the hero skills, vendors done, and achievements/banks done; I will upload a video to show it off.
As you can see above; I am still looking at some major developmental changes; which I am hoping to have cleared up within a month or so; as I move from this boring editor grinding into some actual content. Anyone who wants to offer some thoughts towards the direction of gameplay or anything; be my guest. If you think "man, I wouldn't want to play that" tell me why. If you really would like to play it, tell me what you wish would be added. I am attempting to appeal to as broad of a spectrum as possible.
Skype: [email protected] Current Project: Custom Hero Arena! US: battlenet:://starcraft/map/1/263274 EU: battlenet:://starcraft/map/2/186418
@GlornII: Go
Sent you a PM
So, the only reward you'll ever get is $$, and you purchase items, stats and levels(for ability upgrades) with it. And at the same time it's the only thing that you keep from game to game, so if you reward player with anything else you'd need to transmute it into $$ anyway. Kinda looks awfully restricting. Reminds me of D3 where you play to get gold and then use AH to get upgrades.
I'm really torn. On one hand I understand where you're coming from and what you want to achieve, on the other hand I'm afraid that game won't be exciting when one universal currency is the god of everything. Won't there just be a very few most optimal builds that everyone will reconstruct every single game? With random drops you must improvise and make best use of what you have (there is some fun in adjusting to situations), but with shop it's just a matter of buying most effective setup for $$ you have (an efficiency game which is same every time, which is pretty stale). Maybe you can make it work, it just doesn't feel very compelling to me.
Another thing I'm curious about is items. What item attributes/stats are you planning to have?
There is a line some where in my walls of text where I reference the game "dark souls". Which I believe is the best game ever made... In that, you get "souls" which are a currency for everything, including levels. Though, you can find items in that game; there is only 1 point where you can actually sell items for souls. I do not believe that having an "almighty currency" would be a bad thing in the case of my game. The bad thing about diablo 3 revolving around gold, is that PLAYERS set the value of items; in a fluctuating economy. I do agree that no equipment drops is a little boring. Allowing equipment drops though would severely reduce the value of items though. My only solution to this ATM is to make some "unique" items that drop from bosses and carry over. Very difficult to get though; and not exponentially more powerful than other equipment from that point in the game; but the fact that it carries over is what will make them so valuable.
I also can completely see where you come from with the idea that "players will find the most optimal builds" if they can simply re-create their hero every game. It seems that a lot of people are not thinking that recreating a hero from scratch is the best idea. Do you feel as though saving heroes, and their progress for each player would be a better choice? Giving each player 10 save slots or something, to save the progress and items of 10 heroes. In that situation, the only thing that would carry over between a players heroes, is the bonus they would earn from completed achievements. Thought on the comparison?
For items/attributes/stats I am trying to keep item stats from stacking so directly with hero stats; but that isnt always the probable case. Hero attributes are strength (damage), agility (attack speed), spell power (spell damage), vitality (Life+regen), intelligence (energy+regen), and defense (armor). Items are the only way to improve a heroes shield. Item classes are helm, necklace, weapon, shield, armor, gloves, boots, ring, and trinket. For the most part, items will be reasonably basic and offer only 1-2 types of improvements (attack speed and energy regen, say). Improved items (costing tokens) will be more intricate, and offer abilities that other items do not offer. Every type of item has various forms that are intended to scale from level 5 (where you start) to level 60 (where you end) and as they improve, each stat of improvement costs more per point.
Options on the table then:
1) Remake heroes every game, only unique items drop and carry over between games
2) Remake heroes every game; do away with generic item purchases, and have items gained through drops; and carry over between games.
3) Save heroes and progress through games, everything carries over for that hero; items are purchased through shops; with some unique drops.
4) Save heroes and progress through games, everything carries over for that hero; items gained through drops, not shops. +uniques
In any situation, items cannot be sold; though unique items may be "leveled up" Purchases made are final.
Skype: [email protected] Current Project: Custom Hero Arena! US: battlenet:://starcraft/map/1/263274 EU: battlenet:://starcraft/map/2/186418
Ah yes, dark souls, I've heard a lot of good about this game. From what I've seen it's an arcady rpg. If your timing are right you can beat enemies without hurting yourself much, while if you try to A-move you'll die horrible deaths time and time again. It's a nice oldschool concept, you either pay attention and learn, or you we don't care about your feelings and kill you off. You sure that an arcady game system will work in your grind rpg map? Well, I guess that depends on how you'll design everything else. We'll just have wait and see =D
About those options I honestly don't know, probably because I'm not the biggest fan of imitating real rpgs in sc2maps. Dislike situations when a high-lvl and low-lvl join same game and feel uncomfortable because even though they are in same game they should be doing different content since their power difference is way too big. It's not an issue since ppl usually arrange private games through channels, but it still leaves a sour taste in my mouth.
But my personal preferences aside, I'd go with drops and shops that are unlocked after you hit some progression milestones. But really, it's hard to talk about how would one specific element works without knowing design of everything else. What kind of monsters players will fight? What sort of spells they will use. Is it gonna be a default sc2 combat where pretty much most of attacks are unavoidable and players rely on protection/healing abilities, or it's gonna be more arcady style where you can even dodge a melee attack? What about map layouts? (Mazes? Arenas? Randomized? All predefined?)
I'm suddenly just wanting to tell you "go with what you think is right, otherwise you'll get lost in everyone ideas and will lose your sense of direction".
ohhh, good timing to check this, a replyyyy.
Dark souls is my inspiration in terms of how they created difficulty in a sense of "You learn the fight, and you win easily.. or you die 300 times because you get too eager" I am not going to attempt to recreate that style of game though; it is going to be a sc2/wc3 over the head, normal camera angels and such game. I had thought about how neat it might be to make an up close, camera changing point of view style RPG; but they are always clunky on sc2; I consider them a disgrace to what most RPG game really are.
The plan in this is that any group of players can start any instance that no one has already started. Humor me and pretend it is popular. There are a group of (imaginary level) 200 players, who are good at the game, and advanced. there is also some new players who have no clue what is going on. The new players can go run through low level content, while the high levels go do other content; and they wont be bothering each other. I plan to make it so that when a player starts a dungeon; they become the leader and can invite other players to that dungeon. More players=more difficulty. they can bring a nooby with them if they want, but the nooby cannot force themselves into it.
I actually plan to design the bosses and monsters after I finish the base classes and all of their skills; so I can design the dungeons around the heroes. The basis of the game though is that there are a series of tunnels; which have portals throughout them. the portals are what take you into dungeons. It isnt like you are wandering through fields with random mobs, then entering a cave you found. Also, dungeons reset when they are completed; or if the party leader and all members cancel the dungeon. Dungeons increase in difficulty with more players, and the party leader can increase the difficulty if he chooses; up to 500% (which is taken into account AFTER an additional 30% per player in the group). Those level 200 players might get their asses kicked in the same dungeon that a level 5 was just soloing. this is my way of trying to keep as much content open to players as possible.
Mechanics are sc2 mechanics. Attacks generally hit; and a lot of the game is based on damage mitigation, heals, crowd controls, ect. Some classes will have options for dodges/blocks though. I plan to incorporate for bosses more intricate fights and systems that will leave very few fights as "tank and spank" fights. Doing some minor math on my plans; there should be 100 or so boss fights in the game; with difficulty that can stretch up to 12.5X the base difficulty. Unique item drops from bosses will be scaled based on the difficulty of dungeon when the boss is killed.
Map layouts will be predetermined; and every dungeon will be different. There will be 13-15, depending on how much space I have; and they will have 2-4 bosses each. there will also be a PvP arena; and a "monster challenge" arena.
The 4 options above, with heroes and stats; I came into making this map knowing that those would be the most difficult concepts to get figured out. Each one has its own strengths and weaknesses. though my first idea was to remake heroes every game; I have since then, really moved towards saving hero progress game to game. Items I would still rather not save though; with exception to boss drops.
Here is my first tank class unit, so you may have an idea for heroes(with short descriptions):
Grendal - short ranged armor tank
(Select 1 of each)
Class skills:
Juggernaut: each stat point invested in defense increases life also.
Metalhead: When the hero is attacked, he has a chance to gain a stacking buff which increases his max life by 2% (50% max)
Fist Kill: The heroes attack range becomes melee, but he gains 10% life steal from attack damage.
Offensives: (25 levels)
stormpedo stomp: Deals spell damage and stuns in a small area around the hero
Sunder Shock: greatly reduces the armor of a single unit
Robotic Strength: increases all damage types and armor (a little) for a target friendly unit
Defensive: (25 levels)
Defense Drones: Summons 4 drones who are good at taking hits, but dont deal much damage
Stone Form: Greatly increases the armor of the hero, but lowers his movement speed
Cover: gives all allies a boost to their movement speed, shield, shield armor, shield regen, and life regen for a short time.
Miscellaneous: (25 levels)
Cripple: Stuns an enemy for a short duration every second for X seconds.
Demoralizing Ward: Plants a totem which lowers the attack damage of all nearby enemy units.
Optical Implants: Increases the attack range of the hero for a time.
Ultimate: (12 levels)
Bloodlust: Increases max HP by a large % for a short time
Overwhelming power: Increases all damage types, armor, and life for a while.
Rally Cry: Greatly increases the life and energy regen of all nearby allies for a while.
Not the most advanced skills in the world; but it allows player to go in quite a few directions with their build; rather than being stuck with set hero builds. You can be a tank based on team support; damage, damage reduction, stuns, or through summonables. I am trying to make sure there are as many viable build types for each hero as possible.
Skype: [email protected] Current Project: Custom Hero Arena! US: battlenet:://starcraft/map/1/263274 EU: battlenet:://starcraft/map/2/186418
For bloodlust does it increase your current HP too?
yes; but it keeps your hp % the same. If you are at 10% HP and increase your max HP by 100%; your current HP will be increased 100% also (equal to 10% of its current value, or 20% of its normal value). I had considered adding a heal too it; but thought that it would be too powerful. Once the game is being played, I can add healing to it if I need to.
Skype: [email protected] Current Project: Custom Hero Arena! US: battlenet:://starcraft/map/1/263274 EU: battlenet:://starcraft/map/2/186418
Well, looks nice, not exactly the flashiest setup, but I foresee it being fun with the variety of options you're providing.
You save $$ from game to game, in the beginning of each session regular items you've had are replaced with $$, yet stat choices you've made are permanent and are not rolled back?
I put some thought into it this week, and came to what I would consider a great idea.
Take my original "everything resets except progress" concept; and apply it to each class individually; and save items. So you can level each class separately; and repick the builds on that specific hero each game. Items carry over game to game; but only for that hero. (the items found on your tank, will not be on your healer; and 10,000 dungeon points on your tank, will not transfer to your healer) However, you can build your healer class in a more damaging type of healer if you feel you will be playing alone, or with only a single ally; or you can build really healy-based for a game, if you are playing with competent friends.
In this situation, items purchased will subtract from your total dungeon points; however all items carry over; you may want to keep a few sets of items on your healer, to support various build styles.
I feel this will allow for the "trying different builds" thing on each class, while maintaining the potency of items; and allowing for more general progress through the game to be saved from game to game.
Skype: [email protected] Current Project: Custom Hero Arena! US: battlenet:://starcraft/map/1/263274 EU: battlenet:://starcraft/map/2/186418
Topic of this short weekend has been ITEMSSSSS! And I finally have a solid idea of how items will be done. The important factors being that items will carry over between games on a character, items cannot be purchased (with the exception to some unique items) and that items will be randomly generated with prefix/suffix mods. Oddly enough, I was thinking of this, then found the library and system for it that someone made. The system is a bit more than I want or need though; so have been making my own. The framework for it is up and running, I just need to test it to make sure it progresses in a way that I want; without lagging.
Item progression:
Items will be internally marked in "tiers". Players will be unable to equip items that are more than a single tier above their current player level (which is determined by total dungeon points). The reason there is no hero level requirement on items; is that I do not want to pressure levels as the most important "stat". If you would rather invest a million dungeon points into stat points than any into levels; will, that is your call; keep items out of it!
Items will have a "base stat" which that item type will always have. For example, body armor will always give a boost to life. On top of that, body armor is given 1 random prefix and suffix. In this case it is possible to get "Godly armor of the Whale" (c wut i did thur?) which would be lifemod, lifemod, lifemod. Item stats each equare to 1/4th of a hero stat point. As the tier of an item increases, the base stat increases, and the prefix and suffix mod increase.
The stats on items are created within a "range"; so tier 1 item may give 2 to each stat, 3 to each stat, or 2 to 1 stat, and 3 to another. As the tiers increase, the range also increases. For balancing purposes; the idea is that items will go up a tier every 7 levels or so. The final 2 tiers are for max level players who are really pushing content. Stats cap at 60 per stat on an item. Having 8 "perfect" items would net you almost 1500 item stats; the equal of 425 hero stat points. The idea here is to have that type of system where you are searching for gear that is high quality and reflects your build choices.
There will also be unique items; which will improve based on the tier level of their drop. If you are fighting a tier 1 boss on 10X difficulty; it may drop it's unique item as a tier 5 equivalent.
Because of this item system; I now need to create a dialog based inventory system... Which is what I am working on now. I am gonna be away for a while, on storm duty for Sandy; so there wont be progress for a while. Not an abandoned project though!
Skype: [email protected] Current Project: Custom Hero Arena! US: battlenet:://starcraft/map/1/263274 EU: battlenet:://starcraft/map/2/186418
After some thought, and work... I am re-starting this project. That is, continuing. I thought of some ways to better implement a lot of features I was unsure about. I have about half of the base systems in place; and once I have them all set up, so that the work will be based more around adding content, than grinding the editor; I plan to recruit a partner who has a mind for data, skills, instances, bosses, ect.
Skype: [email protected] Current Project: Custom Hero Arena! US: battlenet:://starcraft/map/1/263274 EU: battlenet:://starcraft/map/2/186418
+ stats items sound boring , try to add some fun artifacts that adds some active/passive skills and visuals. Whould be cool idea to make some totaly random surviving dungeon map where you starting as a group of dumb heroes with 1 skill max and all the skills and items you get further would be drops from mobs
Randomly generated stats values based on the item "rank", random stat types (Well, like 15 stat rolls). There will be unique items that drop from instance bosses. Those items will be upgradable. Key point on "unique" though. They will be build changing, and difficult to obtain. They will not be "teh winnars wit lazers n junks from eyez naruto ninja numb 1 !!1!!111" ...just to clarify. My goal is to allow for the maximum number of potential builds; both through skills and unique items.
As there is a save/load system in this; and a new hero would start at level 1, and there will be a "gauntlet" based purely on survival; I guess the scenario you are considering is technically possible. Though it will not be a specific game mode or anything. Item drops will be far from frequent; and you must bid dungeon points (the currency for most things) to win the items. When you finally get that item with the 2 mods you are most longing for; you will feel warm and fuzzy inside. ...Then you will have to find one of a higher rank!
Anyway, video is about to be put on the first page; showing my progress with all of the various systems. Only 2 systems remain... the party system, and the dungeon difficulty system.
Skype: [email protected] Current Project: Custom Hero Arena! US: battlenet:://starcraft/map/1/263274 EU: battlenet:://starcraft/map/2/186418
Just an update: I have put a good deal of time into making my dialogs spiffy. Not revolutionary, but pretty solid; using the ones in the video as a baseline. I have the inventory working in every way needed, item dropping, ect. I got the item gambling/purchasing system in place. to explain:
When you are item shopping, you can buy items of any rank up to 20 (The max rank being higher than that, should you progress far enough into the game); the price increase pretty exponentially. You can choose from "any" item type, "any" prefix, and "any" suffix. You can also chose a specific item type, prefix, and suffix. If you want something specific on your item, it increases the cost of the item. The more specific you want your item to be; the more it costs for each specific demand. The short hand, gambing for an "any" item is 2/5ths the cost of picking the type and mods. Item prices range from about 320-180,000.
I am working on getting the first dungeon done; so I can set the systems in place for all future dungeons. Importantly, this will including the difficulty setting modifier that players will be able to select. Each dungeon has a base difficulty; and can be increased by up to 500%; this will allow for a max dungeon level of 360; technically, if I were to level dungeons on their own up 60 (the max hero level). My plan is to have dungeons racked up to level 40 or so though, making the max dungeon level 240; which would allow for items of rank 80 to drop (about 6X stronger than level 20 items). This was not an intentional design aspect at first; but my system is endless; so as long as players are looking for higher levels, with the press of a button, they can be upped pretty limitlessly.
Once the basic dungeon system is in place; I plan to get my next 3 heroes pumped out. I have been waiting because I dont want to have to rebalance skills and such if I find that content and skills are not staying lined up; I have already had to do this quite a few times with the items vs stats ratios; in relation to price VS gained.
Rambling now... Anywho; should have a video up once I get the stuff on this list done. gimme 2 weeks!
Skype: [email protected] Current Project: Custom Hero Arena! US: battlenet:://starcraft/map/1/263274 EU: battlenet:://starcraft/map/2/186418
So, how are you doing this fine day?
@DuckyTheDuck: Go
Hahahaha, a month later I reply; if that is a sign of anything. I have been working out of state 7 days a week for the past 2 months; and will continue to do so until the new year. Though I have no time for my project, I am not abandoning it. Every few months I come back and grind out a hundred hours of editor time.
My last "updates" were getting the basic dungeon system going; and getting a degree of balance to the way the dungeons are auto created. I think I outlined most of it in my "game page" http://www.sc2mapster.com/maps/dungeon-runners-rpg/
I have difficulty reasonably well scaled from levels 1-60 (which are the normal game and hero levels) in a way that the content is always more difficult than previous levels when compared to your hero and equipment; ect. Early levels, the game is pretty well cake walk; while going to level 100+ (60 is the cap for heroes) makes it very difficult for solo play without top end gear. Currently I have only tested to level 360 rated content; which is 20 million times more difficult than level 1 content; and by most standards; should not be achieved by anyone but a no-lifer. I believe that after that; hit points wrap around to zero, because reals suck and blizzard is goofy.
Errr, I am still really looking for a partner with a mind towards terrain, data, and dungeon design. If you have always wanted to design your own raids; and have the proper know-how (I will do any triggering needed for said raid) well; you should look into this project. The framework is mostly together, and I have no problem sharing creative rights to the game past the core concepts; which are already in place.
Skype: [email protected] Current Project: Custom Hero Arena! US: battlenet:://starcraft/map/1/263274 EU: battlenet:://starcraft/map/2/186418
@GlornII: Go
Ah, I'm glad it's not dead, that's all I wanted to know =)