I'm happy to announce that StormKeep Alpha has gone live. you can now search for "StormKeep Alpha" on the US server. We are currently working on a way to do releases on the other servers but for now its US only.
Game Overview
Two teams of 5 players each are placed in separate arenas and pitted against one another in a desperate attempt for survival. Each team's objective is simple: survive longer than the other team. As simple as this may sound; the amount of depth provided in StormKeep make it possible for near endless ways to reach this goal.
The Rules
The game begins with players choosing their role either as one of the heroes or the commander. Once heroes and commanders are chosen and the game begins. Heroes spawn first and have a limited amount of time to traverse their arena to a Power Node. After a short period the Commanders primary units: the Evil Eye and Energy Thief are spawned on the opposing team's battlefield. The commander will then also be able to summon units onto the arena. These summoned units are chosen by the commander from the opposing team. At this point the heroes should have found a defensible Power Node and they must survive holding off any enemy units in their respective arenas while draining the Power Node of its valuable resources and charging their Storm Bar. The game ends when all of a team's heroes are killed. After this point they may opt for a rematch or quit out and remake for a change in allies and opponents.
The Player Roles
1. Heroes
The heroes have two functions. The first is to survive by making use of their abilities in order to kill the summoned enemy units. The second is to roam the arena in search of Power Nodes which they capture and hold until they are exhausted of resources.
I. Survival
The Sheer number and strength of the summoned units is not to be under estimated. Taking these forces head on is likely to cause the death of not only your own hero but the death of all the heroes on your team. Working together with teammates to use "hit and run" and "dividing and conquer" tactics will be essential. Having a diverse range of heroes each with unique specializations will also be essential in surviving. To help this process when heroes are first chosen players will be acknowledging certain roles like a support, debuffer, or damager.
II. Power Nodes
At the beginning of every game a Power Node will appear in every room on both sides of the map 6 in total. While the heroes will know where these nodes are they won't know what bonuses are on these nodes. The heroes will want to go to these nodes and protect them while they deplete the resources stored inside. This "depleting" process is handled automatically as long as there are heroes nearby. After a node is exhausted the heroes will move to a new node and repeat the process. Every several minutes the nodes are fully replenished and the bonuses are re-randomized on each node. Going to these nodes is essential for winning the game for two reasons. It fuels the commanders Evil Eye to use offensive abilities on the opposing team. Secondly it helps Charge the Storm Bar which when maxed out initiates the end game mechanics.
III. Hero Revival
In the event that a hero dies, he will be revived after a period of time. The time it takes for a hero to revive is quite lengthy however their is also an instant revival method within the game. The team who's hero has died can choose to instantly bring their friend back onto the battlefield but only if they can afford the cost. To instantly revive a hero a per-determined amount is subtracted from their Storm Bar. Because of this cost it is to be used only in the most dire circumstances.
2. Commander
The commander has two major roles and many tiny support roles. The Commander Summons units and then he must use them to destroy the enemy team. To aid his first role of attacking the enemy heroes and forcing them from nodes the Commander has his Evil Eye, an invulnerable cloaked unit which is flying he can directly control and use to help the summoned troops. His second major role is to siphon Energy nodes from the opponents Resource nodes which allows him to help his team charge their Storm Bar. To do this the commander has a second controllable unit called the Energy Thief. Bouncing between summoning units, His Evil Eye and Energy Thief will be required to winning against the opposing team, but is no easy task pressing the commanders speed and quick reaction time to the limit.
I. Summoning
The first is choosing what units will be summoned on the enemy teams arena. Rather then waves these units can be summoned for a price a custom resource which the commander acquires at a set rate. the summoning system is simple but allows for a tremendous amount strategy. The starting locations, types and quantities of units, and summoning time can all be changed at the commander's discretion.
a. Summon Units
Once The commander summons units the commander will take partial control of these units. He will be able to issue rally points and attack points and issue a retreat command to all summoned units, but he will not have direct control of the individual units. Combined with the skill comboing available to the commander he will use the summoned units to kill the enemy team and/or hinder their goal of collecting energy from nodes.
b. Unit Passives
Each Summoned unit will start with a different passive, these passives can be auras or work on just the individual unit. These passive will be used in conjunction with the Commander's Unit skills in building skill combos. A high level of strategy will be required to build effective skill combos. These skill combos will work not only in just single units but across groups of units depending on how the commander puts them together.
II. Evil Eye
The Evil Eye is the commander's primary unit one part caster, one part summoner, and one part reveler. the evil eye is cloaked from the enemy team and invulnerable but has no direct attacking weapons or moves. instead is can be used to summon a small number of units directly onto the battlefield wherever the Evil Eye is. Next is its power abilities that can be used on nearby enemy heroes and/or his own summoned units.
a. Evil Eye Abilities
Over time the commander will gain ability points which will allow him to learn new abilities on his Evil eye which can be used in unison with his summoned units passives creating a strong comboing system to help him wreck havoc on the enemy team either forcing them from a node or killing a hero. The more powerful the ability the greater the cost. While some abilities have only a cooldown most require energy, which is acquired when the commander's team capture and hold power nodes.
III. Energy Thief
Energy Thief is a secondary unit for the commander which has a duel purpose of slowing down the enemy teams ability to charge their storm bar and conversely helping charge his own teams bar.
a. Energy Draining Mass
Energy Thief can spew out a huge mass onto an enemies power node, while on the power node it begins draining the node like a normal hero would. During this process the Energy Thief is unable to move or use other abilities. Now while the Energy Thief is invulnerable and invisible the Energy Draining Mass is not so enemies heroes will most likely send a hunting party to come and kill the Mass.
3. Storm Bar
The Storm Bar is a primary factor in wining the game. Always present at the top of the screen it shows both teams progress to completely filling the bar. The bar is charged by capturing and holding Power Nodes. Once fully charged the Storm Bar activates the Storm Tower which adds a stacking bonus the activating team's summoned units continually making them stronger. While it does not immediately end the game it will be a good indicator of the likely winning team.
Updated the rules and explanation of StormKeep since lots of the overall dynamics have changed slightly. Added some new screenshots as well. Also BloodLX99 added our first look video. While it is lengthy it goes into a lot of detail on our first hero the ACM and is pretty awesome if I do say so myself.
We appreciate the feedback greatly! One thing I've seen so far is people say that our terrain isn't that good. If possible, if you also don't like the terrain, could you explain why and how we could make it better? Much appreciated.
about your terrain, well, there are many a things we can say about it, what are you shooting for? a cave? a city? a jungle? even good arena maps if nor very specific on location has signs that battle has taken place. the terrain i saw here was just..well...to empty throw some story into your terrain, put a doodad here and there make a building, a crash, a sort of battle that had taken place with courses and destroyed buildings, tell a story and immerse your player in that place. if you need a good terrainer then there are a couple good ones lurking here and about. i would terrain but i just don't have any time to myself unless its the weekend.
Obligatory terrain comment since I'm the terrain mod was already made by Joecab.
That said, looks awesome, plus, your voice is probably the first I've seen in any kind of mod/project for SC2 that I could actually take serious and didn't sound off in some way. Lucky you!
To the terrain, everything here is in a pretty rough alpha form so, a lot is subject to change. However that said none of us are terrain artists nor do we really care to be. Hopefully as time goes on we can get enough feedback from the community and/or get another person on board who does do good terrain to help us.
Regardless thanks for the feedback guys, we have put a lot of work into this project and will continue to do so. I am really excited to get a beta release into the hands of players even though that may be quite some time from now.
Alright, that's good. There is actually a reason for that. Originally, the idea behind the name, Stormkeep, was that we were going have this really awesome weather system where different weather effects (Snow, Wind, Rain, Firestorms, Etc) were going to happen, and each of the room represented a different element that had some kind of effect on that system. In the end, we had SOOO much going as it was, that we decided we couldn't handle all the work that would be required to make it happen and decided to leave it out of the first release.
The other thing about the terrain is, we don't have anyone who is really good at it, plus, our previous project attempt (A Hero Line Wars) would run sooooo horribly bad (and Alderis / NCSwireframe has a monster computer, too) that we thought that skimping on the Terrain would allow us to do more of the awesome spell effects that we love so much without making people's computers cry in pain.
If someone who is a really good terrain designer wants to help us out, who could make it look pretty and not make the game lag too much I'd be all for it. But, as of right now, we're doing a lot of tasks (and we work on this 5-8 hours a day, 5 days a week) and we're really trying to get only the bare necessities done so we can get into alpha testing.
Not really much of an excuse, but thought I'd throw it out there.
That said, looks awesome, plus, your voice is probably the first I've seen in any kind of mod/project for SC2 that I could actually take serious and didn't sound off in some way. Lucky you!
BloodLX99 is somewhat of a perfectionist he did about a million takes of each sound clip so that it would turn out good. He was sweating bullets too because he actually hates the sound of his voice, which is ironic cause just about everyone else loves it.
StormKeepAlpha
I'm happy to announce that StormKeep Alpha has gone live. you can now search for "StormKeep Alpha" on the US server. We are currently working on a way to do releases on the other servers but for now its US only.
Game Overview
Two teams of 5 players each are placed in separate arenas and pitted against one another in a desperate attempt for survival. Each team's objective is simple: survive longer than the other team. As simple as this may sound; the amount of depth provided in StormKeep make it possible for near endless ways to reach this goal.
The Rules
The game begins with players choosing their role either as one of the heroes or the commander. Once heroes and commanders are chosen and the game begins. Heroes spawn first and have a limited amount of time to traverse their arena to a Power Node. After a short period the Commanders primary units: the Evil Eye and Energy Thief are spawned on the opposing team's battlefield. The commander will then also be able to summon units onto the arena. These summoned units are chosen by the commander from the opposing team. At this point the heroes should have found a defensible Power Node and they must survive holding off any enemy units in their respective arenas while draining the Power Node of its valuable resources and charging their Storm Bar. The game ends when all of a team's heroes are killed. After this point they may opt for a rematch or quit out and remake for a change in allies and opponents.
The Player Roles
1. Heroes
I. Survival
II. Power Nodes
III. Hero Revival
2. Commander
I. Summoning
a. Summon Units
b. Unit Passives
II. Evil Eye
a. Evil Eye Abilities
III. Energy Thief
a. Energy Draining Mass
3. Storm Bar
Update
4/7/2011
Posted the first picture of our completely redone UI. Even the autocast animation has been replaced. Complements to our artist BloodLX99.
Very nice idea. I love how you are adding the Mining Nodes. Adds some extra depth to the rounds.
I look forward to seeing some screenshots.
Here is a first look at our map. This video gives a tour of the UI, one of the menus, and the first Hero.
@BloodLX99: Go
Off topic, but when can I hire your voice? XD haha. Interesting map, though.
I take cash
Update
9/26/2011
Updated the rules and explanation of StormKeep since lots of the overall dynamics have changed slightly. Added some new screenshots as well. Also BloodLX99 added our first look video. While it is lengthy it goes into a lot of detail on our first hero the ACM and is pretty awesome if I do say so myself.
@alderis: Go
you've got the right idea about UI. shiny
@PirateArcade | I make games | Ask me things on Discord
WOW. The orb system was, no kidding, EXACTLY what I had in mind for an old map of mine. lol.
Good job :D
We appreciate the feedback greatly! One thing I've seen so far is people say that our terrain isn't that good. If possible, if you also don't like the terrain, could you explain why and how we could make it better? Much appreciated.
Reminds me of a hero line defense but a smarter setup..
The map is beautiful.. The UI looks amazing the first 15 seconds of the video and i could already tell you put much work into it!
I hope to see more projects that has custom UI I hope your map can set a standard :)
about your terrain, well, there are many a things we can say about it, what are you shooting for? a cave? a city? a jungle? even good arena maps if nor very specific on location has signs that battle has taken place. the terrain i saw here was just..well...to empty throw some story into your terrain, put a doodad here and there make a building, a crash, a sort of battle that had taken place with courses and destroyed buildings, tell a story and immerse your player in that place. if you need a good terrainer then there are a couple good ones lurking here and about. i would terrain but i just don't have any time to myself unless its the weekend.
Obligatory terrain comment since I'm the terrain mod was already made by Joecab.
That said, looks awesome, plus, your voice is probably the first I've seen in any kind of mod/project for SC2 that I could actually take serious and didn't sound off in some way. Lucky you!
To the terrain, everything here is in a pretty rough alpha form so, a lot is subject to change. However that said none of us are terrain artists nor do we really care to be. Hopefully as time goes on we can get enough feedback from the community and/or get another person on board who does do good terrain to help us.
Regardless thanks for the feedback guys, we have put a lot of work into this project and will continue to do so. I am really excited to get a beta release into the hands of players even though that may be quite some time from now.
@joecab: Go
Alright, that's good. There is actually a reason for that. Originally, the idea behind the name, Stormkeep, was that we were going have this really awesome weather system where different weather effects (Snow, Wind, Rain, Firestorms, Etc) were going to happen, and each of the room represented a different element that had some kind of effect on that system. In the end, we had SOOO much going as it was, that we decided we couldn't handle all the work that would be required to make it happen and decided to leave it out of the first release.
The other thing about the terrain is, we don't have anyone who is really good at it, plus, our previous project attempt (A Hero Line Wars) would run sooooo horribly bad (and Alderis / NCSwireframe has a monster computer, too) that we thought that skimping on the Terrain would allow us to do more of the awesome spell effects that we love so much without making people's computers cry in pain.
If someone who is a really good terrain designer wants to help us out, who could make it look pretty and not make the game lag too much I'd be all for it. But, as of right now, we're doing a lot of tasks (and we work on this 5-8 hours a day, 5 days a week) and we're really trying to get only the bare necessities done so we can get into alpha testing.
Not really much of an excuse, but thought I'd throw it out there.
yeah function first, pretty it up later i see :) .
BloodLX99 is somewhat of a perfectionist he did about a million takes of each sound clip so that it would turn out good. He was sweating bullets too because he actually hates the sound of his voice, which is ironic cause just about everyone else loves it.
@alderis: Go
TBH, it seems like most people dislike their own voices, myself included.
I don't "hate" it, it's not what my voice sounds like in my head. Also, I look nothing like I sound. I'll leave it at that.
Now start talking more about how awesome our map is =D
@Nebuli2: Go
Well most people do except those who are particularly vain like me. I mean everyone should have someone as awesome as me on their team! =P