Hey, I'm brainstorming a map called Infestation. If you've ever played Dark Deeds for WarCraft III, it will be similar in concept to that, but also very different.
The premise is that the players are crew members aboard a space station which has been infested by the Zerg. A number of the crew members have also been afflicted with a parasite which has taken complete control of them and seeks to eliminate the rest of the Terrans on the station. The players must survive and hold off the infestation long enough for rescue to arrive, while some players will attempt to sabotage their efforts.
Every player gets the same basic character, with the same capabilities as any other character, but they are customized through a variety of skills. Skills make you perform certain actions more effectively, but almost never grant you exclusive access to any special abilities (for instance, someone with no engineering skill can still build, but it will take them an extremely long time).
Right now, the skills I have in mind are Engineering, Biology, Perception, Toughness, and Command. Depending on how you distribute your skills, you can orient yourself towards being a combat character or support character.
Engineering allows the player to create and repair structures throughout the station. Structures include lighting (without which players have limited vision and move very slowly), atmosphere generators (without which players lose health and may not heal through any means), hatches, surveillance systems, etc. Skilled engineers can build more quickly, spend fewer resources on repairs, and can buff or sabotage structures.
Biology allows the player to heal himself and others, traverse creep with fewer penalties, can "radar" detect Zerg (i.e. Terran Sensor Tower) and can even do a blood test to try to detect the parasite in another player (the test is lengthy and not completely accurate, especially with low skill). Biologists can also buff, which work particularly well on Zerg units and is incentive for infested players to specialize in Biology.
Perception helps the player use weapons effectively, particularly at range (there will be a chance to miss for attacks which increases with distance), improves their sight and detection, especially in darkness, and can place debuffs on targets.
Toughness is pretty self-explanatory. It gives you more health and helps you survive longer without atmosphere generators. It also helps you use certain equipment without suffering penalties, and you can pry open hatch doors.
Command allows the player to manipulate NPCs aboard the station as well as keep tabs on the other players. I haven't got a very good concept of this skill yet but I definitely want a skillset that emphasizes interaction with NPCs.
Success requires some amount of multitasking. Players have to be aware of threats as they are occurring, but they need players to emphasize combat to deal with the Zerg, and emphasize Support to deal with failing systems. Either of these situations may be made worse by an infested player using their skills to do harm
This is still early in the planning stages so a lot of things are subject to change. I don't intend to get a lot of work done on the map itself until SC2 is released (so I have full access to all of the assets and data). In the mean time, I'm mainly making myself familiar with the editor and brainstorming.
What I really need is:
-Playtesters! I'm looking to make this a 12 player map so the more the merrier. This is looking to be a pretty involved game and I want people who can look out for bugs and give me feedback on balance issues. If you want to playtest it, let me know, but remember it will be some time before a playable version is available.
-Ideas! I'm definitely open to suggestions.
-Possibly someone who wants to do Terrain. I CAN do it myself but I'd really rather not. I'm sure someone else is more talented than me and I'd rather devote my efforts to triggers and data editor.
Count me in on the playtesting - that sounds like a blast!
If you give me a layout, I could give a shot at terraining. Would this be a 3rd person or overhead camera?
Right now the intention is overhead camera. Since the Command skill allows players to potentially control multiple units (and the infected players may be able to control the Zerg units in some fashion) the standard RTS view is ideal.
There will be mechanics that are inspired by 3rd person games and utilize new capabilities of the StarCraft 2 editor. For instance, the data editor allows one to specify "Detection Arc" and "Radar Arc" which I will likely be taking advantage of. Basically, units will only be able to detect hidden enemies if they are in front of them (of course, the range at which they detect is related to their Perception attribute), and the biologist's "zerg radar" will likely follow this principle as well.
I'll playtest for you, I have a lot of friends that I know for a fact will playtest too, we've got another forum that's deticated to Dark Deeds, come visit and make a topic there.
http://z6.invisionfree.com/ClanDDG/index.php?act=idx
I know for sure that you can get atleast 5 playtesters that will play often there.
This sounds more like Zerg Infestation or Parasite. Dark Deeds is different as it's more macro-based 'who is the murderer' whilst Zerg Infestation and parasite are more micro-based.
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Hey, I'm brainstorming a map called Infestation. If you've ever played Dark Deeds for WarCraft III, it will be similar in concept to that, but also very different. The premise is that the players are crew members aboard a space station which has been infested by the Zerg. A number of the crew members have also been afflicted with a parasite which has taken complete control of them and seeks to eliminate the rest of the Terrans on the station. The players must survive and hold off the infestation long enough for rescue to arrive, while some players will attempt to sabotage their efforts.
Every player gets the same basic character, with the same capabilities as any other character, but they are customized through a variety of skills. Skills make you perform certain actions more effectively, but almost never grant you exclusive access to any special abilities (for instance, someone with no engineering skill can still build, but it will take them an extremely long time).
Right now, the skills I have in mind are Engineering, Biology, Perception, Toughness, and Command. Depending on how you distribute your skills, you can orient yourself towards being a combat character or support character.
Engineering allows the player to create and repair structures throughout the station. Structures include lighting (without which players have limited vision and move very slowly), atmosphere generators (without which players lose health and may not heal through any means), hatches, surveillance systems, etc. Skilled engineers can build more quickly, spend fewer resources on repairs, and can buff or sabotage structures.
Biology allows the player to heal himself and others, traverse creep with fewer penalties, can "radar" detect Zerg (i.e. Terran Sensor Tower) and can even do a blood test to try to detect the parasite in another player (the test is lengthy and not completely accurate, especially with low skill). Biologists can also buff, which work particularly well on Zerg units and is incentive for infested players to specialize in Biology.
Perception helps the player use weapons effectively, particularly at range (there will be a chance to miss for attacks which increases with distance), improves their sight and detection, especially in darkness, and can place debuffs on targets.
Toughness is pretty self-explanatory. It gives you more health and helps you survive longer without atmosphere generators. It also helps you use certain equipment without suffering penalties, and you can pry open hatch doors.
Command allows the player to manipulate NPCs aboard the station as well as keep tabs on the other players. I haven't got a very good concept of this skill yet but I definitely want a skillset that emphasizes interaction with NPCs.
Success requires some amount of multitasking. Players have to be aware of threats as they are occurring, but they need players to emphasize combat to deal with the Zerg, and emphasize Support to deal with failing systems. Either of these situations may be made worse by an infested player using their skills to do harm
This is still early in the planning stages so a lot of things are subject to change. I don't intend to get a lot of work done on the map itself until SC2 is released (so I have full access to all of the assets and data). In the mean time, I'm mainly making myself familiar with the editor and brainstorming.
What I really need is: -Playtesters! I'm looking to make this a 12 player map so the more the merrier. This is looking to be a pretty involved game and I want people who can look out for bugs and give me feedback on balance issues. If you want to playtest it, let me know, but remember it will be some time before a playable version is available. -Ideas! I'm definitely open to suggestions. -Possibly someone who wants to do Terrain. I CAN do it myself but I'd really rather not. I'm sure someone else is more talented than me and I'd rather devote my efforts to triggers and data editor.
@MasterDinadan: Go
Count me in on the playtesting - that sounds like a blast! If you give me a layout, I could give a shot at terraining. Would this be a 3rd person or overhead camera?
@Adorielen: Go
Right now the intention is overhead camera. Since the Command skill allows players to potentially control multiple units (and the infected players may be able to control the Zerg units in some fashion) the standard RTS view is ideal. There will be mechanics that are inspired by 3rd person games and utilize new capabilities of the StarCraft 2 editor. For instance, the data editor allows one to specify "Detection Arc" and "Radar Arc" which I will likely be taking advantage of. Basically, units will only be able to detect hidden enemies if they are in front of them (of course, the range at which they detect is related to their Perception attribute), and the biologist's "zerg radar" will likely follow this principle as well.
I'll playtest for you, I have a lot of friends that I know for a fact will playtest too, we've got another forum that's deticated to Dark Deeds, come visit and make a topic there. http://z6.invisionfree.com/ClanDDG/index.php?act=idx
I know for sure that you can get atleast 5 playtesters that will play often there.
This sounds like.... Infestation from Warcraft 3, actually.
This sounds more like Zerg Infestation or Parasite. Dark Deeds is different as it's more macro-based 'who is the murderer' whilst Zerg Infestation and parasite are more micro-based.