I'm waiting on the official release of the Galaxy editor to start working on the map. For now, I'm writing down all the details of the game I have in mind to test them mentally.
Demon Day - Note
Game dynamic: Players start in a central location on the map. They are surrounded by a maze of walls that form pens. The players controls a single unit called the 'engineer' which is capable of constructing buildings and barricades. The first thing to do is find a pen to defend during the game. A pen can be defended alone or in team. The player has a few minutes to move to the desired location and start building walls and defence. The wall they build is their only protection and they must keep it alive if they want to win the game. They can also build attack towers, but these have a low amount of health and cannot be used as walls. Waves of creatures will try to kill the players. The strength and abilities of the creatures will improve as the game draws to an end. If the walls are not upgraded in time, the base will fall. The game will last around 40 minutes. At the end of this timer, the players must be able to defeat the last boss within a time limit, otherwise they lose automatically.
Resource:
Power (minerals): Power is obtained from power plants. Power can be used to upgrade building and build units.
Token (gas): is obtained from killing creatures. It can be used to buy special units or special upgrades. This is a very limited resource, and players will most often only be able to purchase 1 or 2 special items. This is to promote killing creatures instead of letting them bash on the wall.
Space: Space will be a limiting factor. Each building will take 1 square of space. An average pen will have 1 square entrance for 15 square of space. A larger pen allows for more buildings, but is also proportionally harder to defend. This also forces the player to choose carefully which building to use.
Time: The player must spend adequately the time of his engineer. His build order will influence how fast he can get upgrade or whether his is capable of holding off the creatures at his door. Time must be managed carefully.
Supply: The player will be able to create mobile units later in the game. The number of units and which units he produces is limited by his supply. Supplies have a set limit.
*Possible addition; certain location on the maps may have passive bonus*
OutlineThere are 3 archetype of walls; mechanical, biological and psionic. Each archetype work differently, have strengths and weakness. The power plant is the only way to gain energy and it can be upgrades five times. As of now, there are six types of attack tower.
Mechanical walls:
These build quickly, but need an extensive amount of upgrade to become good. They can be repaired by 'Repair units' or 'Repair annex". They require a great deal of passive upgrades and building upgrade to be optimal. Thorn upgrade can be researched. These will be particularly useful when a player wants to delay creatures with cheap structure, or when the player has many entrance, these become an economic solution.
High health
High armor
Normal repair
Returns damage
Biological walls:
The biological wall will be zerg like structure that takes medium time to build. It's advantage is to regenerate quickly by itself. They cannot be repaired normally, however. The only to regenerate health on biological wall is to wait for the passive regeneration or build a nursing unit that can transfuse health. Biological walls will not have many passive upgrade, but it will have many expensive evolutions. This will be best to block small pens with few entrances.
Fast regeneration
Health transfusion
Medium armor
Psionic walls:
The psionic wall will be the structure with the longest build time. It has the hardened shield that reduces high amount of damage, a thorn effect that returns damage and it's very high on the threat list. It has very little life, but a high amount of shield that can regenerate when not attacked. This is also the most expensive structure. The shield can be regenerated by annexing a 'power coupler' building, that consumes energy to boost the shield of the psionic wall. It also has several evolution to increase the maximum shield, upgrades to hardened shield and thorn. This is idea for players with strong income looking for a spicy defense.
Gun tower
Gun tower is the basic defensive tower. It builds quickly and can be used to back-up basic barricades to delay the initial attacks. The tower does light damage and requires several evolutions to deal decent damage.
light damage
medium range
slow attack
Fire tower
The fire tower attacks at close range with a line of fire. It has a medium cost and is especially useful against swarms of small creatures. It begins with a short range and evolves to a medium range. This is a moderate building time tower.
light damage
short range
fast attack
line damage
Voltage tower
This is an expensive tower that attacks slowly with an electric arch. The electric arch has the ability to bounce between targets, dealing damage. This is a slow building tower and expensive to upgrade.
High damage
medium range
slow attack
Bouncing attack
Kinetic tower
The kinetic tower targets an enemy with a beam of energy that slows down its function. The target will have reduced attack speed and movement speed. The tower deals little, but constant damage to the target. It is slow to build.
Light damage
channelled attack
medium range
slowing effect
Rocket tower
The rocket tower is a medium to long range tower that has the ability to stun the unit it attacks. It is slow to build and has a high cost to upgrade.
Medium damage
average attack
medium range
stun effect
Siege tower
The siege tower has a long range to attack. It deals decent damage at a slow speed. However, it is also slow to build and expensive to upgrade.
Medium damage
slow attack
long range
Pulse cannon
The pulse cannon has a short up to medium range and deal decent damage to a single target at an average speed. It's a basic attack tower with an average build time.
The power plant is a key building in defending the base. It provides energy to the player to upgrade walls and purchase units. The basic power plant can be upgraded to improve its energy production. Building a power plant does take time, so the player has to choose between building support buildings, attack towers and energy plants.
Level 0 Wind Mill
10 hp
Build time: 30 sec
Ability: Produces 1 Energy every 60 seconds
Upgrade: Solar Plant (2 energy, 15 seconds)
-
Level 1 Solar Plant
20hp
Ability: Produces 1 Energy every 40 seconds
Upgrade: Combustion Plant (6 energy, 30 seconds)
-
Level 2 Combustion Plant
40hp
Ability: Produces 1 Energy every 20 seconds
Upgrade: Nuclear Plant (18 energy, 45 seconds)
-
Level 3 Nuclear Plant
60hp
Ability: Produces 1 Energy every 10 seconds
Upgrade: Fusion Core (40 energy, 60 seconds)
-
Level 4 Fusion Core
80hp
Ability: Produces 1 Energy every 5 seconds
Upgrade: Star Forge (200 token, 60 seconds)
-
Level 5 Star Forge
100hp
Ability: Produces 3 Energy every 5 seconds
-
I'd like to mention, 'Demon Day' is inspired by the WC3 game 'Fortress Survival'. I was interested in developping a direct sequel to his mini-game, but due to a lack of answer, I plan to develop it by myself. If anyone is interested in joining in though, I'd be very grateful. Until the Galaxy editor is released, I'm not sure what will give me trouble to create, but I expect to confront a few issues.
I am very careful with the balance of the game though, and I intend to make all alternatives options share a common tension.
I'm trying to figure out a way to make a building production give vespene (for the power mills). I'm thinking either a production that directly increases vespene, or one that creates a unit that is then turned into vespene by a trigger. So far, I haven't found a working method.
Edit: Alright, so I found a work around.
I set my building with a research ability that cost -1 vespene. I make the research something that has no effect and has an infinite amount of upgrade. It's odd though, because the player receives the vespene at the start of the production.
Does anyone know how to make the AI roam the map and attack the players?
So far, the Ai just waits for someone to attack it before doing anything.
Edit2: I'm also trying to figure out how to make the 'research' auto-cast.
I'm trying to figure out a way to make a building production give
vespene (for the power mills). I'm thinking either a production that
directly increases vespene, or one that creates a unit that is then
turned into vespene by a trigger. So far, I haven't found a working
method.
Anyway, the latest info on the campaign showed an upgrade for refineries that made them collect without SCVs.
I'm waiting on the official release of the Galaxy editor to start working on the map. For now, I'm writing down all the details of the game I have in mind to test them mentally.
Demon Day - Note
Game dynamic: Players start in a central location on the map. They are surrounded by a maze of walls that form pens. The players controls a single unit called the 'engineer' which is capable of constructing buildings and barricades. The first thing to do is find a pen to defend during the game. A pen can be defended alone or in team. The player has a few minutes to move to the desired location and start building walls and defence. The wall they build is their only protection and they must keep it alive if they want to win the game. They can also build attack towers, but these have a low amount of health and cannot be used as walls. Waves of creatures will try to kill the players. The strength and abilities of the creatures will improve as the game draws to an end. If the walls are not upgraded in time, the base will fall. The game will last around 40 minutes. At the end of this timer, the players must be able to defeat the last boss within a time limit, otherwise they lose automatically.
Resource:
Power (minerals): Power is obtained from power plants. Power can be used to upgrade building and build units.
Token (gas): is obtained from killing creatures. It can be used to buy special units or special upgrades. This is a very limited resource, and players will most often only be able to purchase 1 or 2 special items. This is to promote killing creatures instead of letting them bash on the wall.
Space: Space will be a limiting factor. Each building will take 1 square of space. An average pen will have 1 square entrance for 15 square of space. A larger pen allows for more buildings, but is also proportionally harder to defend. This also forces the player to choose carefully which building to use.
Time: The player must spend adequately the time of his engineer. His build order will influence how fast he can get upgrade or whether his is capable of holding off the creatures at his door. Time must be managed carefully.
Supply: The player will be able to create mobile units later in the game. The number of units and which units he produces is limited by his supply. Supplies have a set limit.
*Possible addition; certain location on the maps may have passive bonus*
Buildings:
Outline There are 3 archetype of walls; mechanical, biological and psionic. Each archetype work differently, have strengths and weakness. The power plant is the only way to gain energy and it can be upgrades five times. As of now, there are six types of attack tower.
Mechanical walls: These build quickly, but need an extensive amount of upgrade to become good. They can be repaired by 'Repair units' or 'Repair annex". They require a great deal of passive upgrades and building upgrade to be optimal. Thorn upgrade can be researched. These will be particularly useful when a player wants to delay creatures with cheap structure, or when the player has many entrance, these become an economic solution.
Biological walls: The biological wall will be zerg like structure that takes medium time to build. It's advantage is to regenerate quickly by itself. They cannot be repaired normally, however. The only to regenerate health on biological wall is to wait for the passive regeneration or build a nursing unit that can transfuse health. Biological walls will not have many passive upgrade, but it will have many expensive evolutions. This will be best to block small pens with few entrances.
Psionic walls: The psionic wall will be the structure with the longest build time. It has the hardened shield that reduces high amount of damage, a thorn effect that returns damage and it's very high on the threat list. It has very little life, but a high amount of shield that can regenerate when not attacked. This is also the most expensive structure. The shield can be regenerated by annexing a 'power coupler' building, that consumes energy to boost the shield of the psionic wall. It also has several evolution to increase the maximum shield, upgrades to hardened shield and thorn. This is idea for players with strong income looking for a spicy defense.
Attack towers:
Gun tower Gun tower is the basic defensive tower. It builds quickly and can be used to back-up basic barricades to delay the initial attacks. The tower does light damage and requires several evolutions to deal decent damage.
Fire tower The fire tower attacks at close range with a line of fire. It has a medium cost and is especially useful against swarms of small creatures. It begins with a short range and evolves to a medium range. This is a moderate building time tower.
Voltage tower This is an expensive tower that attacks slowly with an electric arch. The electric arch has the ability to bounce between targets, dealing damage. This is a slow building tower and expensive to upgrade.
Kinetic tower The kinetic tower targets an enemy with a beam of energy that slows down its function. The target will have reduced attack speed and movement speed. The tower deals little, but constant damage to the target. It is slow to build.
Rocket tower The rocket tower is a medium to long range tower that has the ability to stun the unit it attacks. It is slow to build and has a high cost to upgrade.
Siege tower The siege tower has a long range to attack. It deals decent damage at a slow speed. However, it is also slow to build and expensive to upgrade.
Pulse cannon The pulse cannon has a short up to medium range and deal decent damage to a single target at an average speed. It's a basic attack tower with an average build time.
Power Plant
The power plant is a key building in defending the base. It provides energy to the player to upgrade walls and purchase units. The basic power plant can be upgraded to improve its energy production. Building a power plant does take time, so the player has to choose between building support buildings, attack towers and energy plants.
Level 0
Wind Mill10 hp
Build time: 30 sec
Ability: Produces 1 Energy every 60 seconds
Upgrade: Solar Plant (2 energy, 15 seconds)
-
Level 1
Solar Plant20hp
Ability: Produces 1 Energy every 40 seconds
Upgrade: Combustion Plant (6 energy, 30 seconds)
-
Level 2
Combustion Plant40hp
Ability: Produces 1 Energy every 20 seconds
Upgrade: Nuclear Plant (18 energy, 45 seconds)
-
Level 3
Nuclear Plant60hp
Ability: Produces 1 Energy every 10 seconds
Upgrade: Fusion Core (40 energy, 60 seconds)
-
Level 4
Fusion Core80hp
Ability: Produces 1 Energy every 5 seconds
Upgrade: Star Forge (200 token, 60 seconds)
-
Level 5
Star Forge100hp
Ability: Produces 3 Energy every 5 seconds
-
Gun Tower
Level 0
Gun Platform I10 hp
Build time: 1 second
Ability: 1 damage, 3.0 sec delay, 3 range
Upgrade: Gun Platform II (5 seconds)
-
Level 1
Gun Platform II12 hp
Ability: 2 damage, 3.0 sec delay, 3 range
Upgrade: Gun Platform III (10 seconds)
-
Level 2
Gun Platform III16 hp
Ability: 2 damage, 2.5 sec delay, 3 range
Upgrade: Gun Platform IV (15 seconds)
-
Level 3
Gun Platform IV18 hp
Ability: 2 damage, 2.5 sec delay, 3 range
Upgrade: Gun Platform V (20 seconds)
-
Level 4
Gun Platform V20 hp
Ability: 3 damage, 2.5 sec delay, 3 range
Upgrade: Gun Turret I (1 Energy, 25 seconds)
-
Level 5
Gun Turret I30 hp
Ability: 4 damage, 2.5 sec delay, 3 range
Upgrade: Gun Turret II (1 energy, 30 seconds)
-
Level 6
Gun Turret II40 hp
Ability: 5 damage, 2.5 sec delay, 3 range
Upgrade: Gun Turret III (3 Energy, 35 seconds)
-
Level 7
Gun Turret III60 hp
Ability: 6 damage, 2.5 sec delay, 4 range
Upgrade: Gun Tower I (5 Energy, 40 seconds)
-
Level 8
Gun Tower I80 hp
Ability: 9 damage, 2.5 sec delay, 4 range
Upgrade: Gun Tower II (8 Energy, 40 seconds)
-
Level 9
Gun Tower II100 hp
Ability: 18 damage, 2.5 sec delay, 4 range
Upgrade: Gun Tower II (12 Energy, 45 seconds)
-
Level 10
Gun Tower III80 hp
Ability: 32 damage, 2.5 sec delay, 4 range
-
I'd like to mention, 'Demon Day' is inspired by the WC3 game 'Fortress Survival'. I was interested in developping a direct sequel to his mini-game, but due to a lack of answer, I plan to develop it by myself. If anyone is interested in joining in though, I'd be very grateful. Until the Galaxy editor is released, I'm not sure what will give me trouble to create, but I expect to confront a few issues.
I am very careful with the balance of the game though, and I intend to make all alternatives options share a common tension.
Here's the map look so far
That looks really good, TD, :).
wow. Impressive write-up and map. Can't wait to see this in action.
I'm trying to figure out a way to make a building production give vespene (for the power mills). I'm thinking either a production that directly increases vespene, or one that creates a unit that is then turned into vespene by a trigger. So far, I haven't found a working method.
Edit: Alright, so I found a work around. I set my building with a research ability that cost -1 vespene. I make the research something that has no effect and has an infinite amount of upgrade. It's odd though, because the player receives the vespene at the start of the production.
Does anyone know how to make the AI roam the map and attack the players? So far, the Ai just waits for someone to attack it before doing anything.
Edit2: I'm also trying to figure out how to make the 'research' auto-cast.
Anyway, the latest info on the campaign showed an upgrade for refineries that made them collect without SCVs.
Has this project died? Any status updates?