We'd love to show you, but the race is just not ready yet. It takes a lot of work to design a race from scratch, let alone implement it and get custom models for it, let alone balancing it.
We decided quite a while ago that we wanted to build 3 prologue missions (Legacy of the Void style) that doesn't include the new race yet. These first few missions introduce how they come to being.
Let me clarify by explaining what we have decided on for the defensive structure so far. One of our design philosophies is to have this race match the other races, in a way that it seems like this race could've been made by blizzard, though you can see the flaws of a custom mod throughout as it won't ever be up to their level of polish. We also already have a projectile in mind for what it launches and that's why it's called the Plasma Slinger. Between the two points of matching the other races and that we already have a projectile in mind, maybe you can see why I wasn't satisfied with your suggestion, though I wasn't directly criticizing you. The whole purpose of revealing the information I did about the project is so that others can see the progress we are making (so that you can see we aren't sitting on our butts, twiddling our thumbs) and they can maybe see hints of the playstyle of the race. Some may get excited while others will be disappointed, but regardless, I still stick to waiting until public testing before taking any suggestions for changes. We'd like to get this thing in there first and tested before tearing it apart, otherwise we could be arguing in this forum forever.
I don't feel that it's fair that you can criticize our design decisions until you've got the whole scope of the race and you've had the chance to experience it yourself. Both you and we can only theorycraft right now, so we don't know what the right call is yet. Perhaps when the mod goes into public testing phase, we can start taking suggestions on changes.
Hi everyone. I like to go by Rook, but on these forums you know me by yuka. You already know I've built a fully functional mission 1. The terrain is nearing completion, I will let you know as soon as it's done and when the full thing is out later. Let's get to it.
Now, a somewhat big announcement is we've changed our minds a bit from what we wanted to do early on. Our original plan was to "attach" the hybrid units to the terran/zerg/protoss tech trees maybe with some kind of hybrid mercenary compound, but that didn't feel right to us. We took a step back and realized there was a lot more we could do and we also realized there was actually a lot here in the editor that we could use for hybrid. We eventually decided to make our own new hybrid race just for this campaign. Templarfreak also plans to continue development on a multiplayer version of it as well. Since we're thinking it's time to really explain what's going on, I'd like to give anyone who reads this a "unit tour", but first, let me explain some of the important mechanics of this race...
First, the race has a special power system to limit their base construction. We decided to take a simple approach for this. Nearly all structures provide a sort of hybrid "power field." All structures, apart from your main building and your gas structure, require power when placed. Although all structures need power to place, they do not need it to be maintained. You can remove the power source and they will remain active, unlike protoss buildings. This makes them have a branching or creeping out kind of way of expanding their base. Currently, the main building which we call the "Source" is the only structure that doesn't require power to place, but provides power though we have ideas for maybe adding another.
The next mechanic is the shield mechanic. Hybrid supply structures, which we call "Terrazine Vaults", have a secondary function; they act as a hybrid "moon well" from wc3. These "Terrazine Vaults" passively recharge the shields of nearby allies. This means you can retreat with your army and quickly restore some of their life total so they can get back in the fight. We think this will create some interesting dynamics that we'd certainly like to test ourselves and see if we like it.
Now, for the unit tour!
This is the main building; we call it the "Source". Each Source produces workers and acts like any other normal main building. It acts as a hatchery for the hybrid as it doesn't require power to be placed and produces power on its own. http://i.imgur.com/XDs90P9.jpg?1
Next is the basic worker called the "Drudge". The drudge is the hard working mindless worker of the hybrid and has a beacon that allows it to link to their XelNaga ship which they'll steal early on in the campaign. They use this link to tear a hole through the void and into the ship, allowing passage of anything on the ship and sometimes from the void as well. This allows it to summon temples, shrines, and pillars from the void to be used by the hybrid. Some of those portals linger, forming the production of the hybrid. http://i.imgur.com/WT5wnRQ.jpg?1
Now for the "Terrazine Vault". (Don't worry, we'll recolor the crystals to be purple) The vault stores terrazine that the hybrid use to restore, clone, and maintain themselves without amon and is a precious resource to the hybrid. The vault not only increases their maximum supply, but also acts as a hybrid shield battery, restoring shields to nearby allied units. http://i.imgur.com/Hp5xosd.jpg?1
The three production buildings for the hybrid are the "Breach" (Tier 1), "Rift" (Tier 2), and the "Fissure" (Tier 3). These are maintained void portals that continue to summon your hybrid units after being formed. http://i.imgur.com/8B5BwzI.jpg?1
Here we have the "Plasma Slinger". This familiar and probably overused turret fires an orb of plasma. We haven't fully decided exactly what it does, but imagine something like the photon cannon, but more hybrid-y. http://i.imgur.com/o9sA4pQ.jpg?1
Now for some military units. This is the "Enforcer", a big and powerful tier 1 unit. It costs 200 minerals and is nearly as big as an archon! This starting unit really represents just how large and powerful the hybrid are in comparison to the other races. It's big, tanky, and hits with slow but powerful punches. It can eventually get an upgrade which reduces the armor of enemies hit by its attacks, making it very lasting into the late-game. http://i.imgur.com/kJ3srwW.jpg
For the second military unit, we have the "Executioner", a long ranged sniper type tier 1.5 unit. This guy has the same range as defenses like the photon cannon and missile turret, but it gets better, it can be upgraded to also out-range defenses entirely. It fires several projectiles in a row, making it a little more vulnerable to armored enemies, but combined with the enforcer's armor reduction passive, it can shred through enemies with its high dps. This creates a close relationship between these two units. http://i.imgur.com/hiFQ07N.jpg
The "Hunter" is a tactical anti armored unit; it uses soulfilcher's hybrid hydralisk model. It's very squishy for its cost and its damage is also weak against anything other than light enemies, but it has two special abilities that makes this thing strong. For one, it has blink, allowing it to close in on longer ranged enemies. Also, it has a passive right from the start which makes it take 50% reduced damage for a second after being hit. Though this has a lengthy cooldown, this makes it very strong against large groups of burst attack enemies. http://www.sc2mapster.com/media/attachments/50/93/HybridHydralisk.jpg
With a little reskin, the "Prowler" will look the part as a menacing stealth harassment unit. Although it'll have other applications, the Prowler moves while burrowed and fights while unburrowed, though it can no longer move while unburrowed. It also has an ability to quickly tunnel to a nearby location, like blink. This allows it to avoid pretty much any obstacle and has many opportunities to escape. If you can't manage to catch it, just a few of these guys will shred your mineral line. http://i.imgur.com/V1DQ3Vr.jpg
We've decided to use the "Thrasher" for the race and we've figured out what to do with it. It'll act like a hybrid siege tank, but in a slightly different way. While uprooted, it can move and attack in small areas, dealing low damage, but hitting several targets at once. While rooted, the Thrasher has siege tank range, but only hits single targets with high damage attacks. This creates a unique spin on the siege tank and we expect to see something similar to the siege tank, but perhaps we'll see it in uprooted form a lot more. http://i.imgur.com/8Ua4Xrs.jpg
The last one for this tour is an interesting one, not only the model choice, but also the unit design itself. The "Oppressor" is a lot like what it sounds like. It's a flying harassment unit, though it cannot cloak. Its toughness allows it to take a beating before it goes down, unlike many other air units of its tier. Its attack is a long ranged anti light bolt that it fires from a distance, meant to be more of a poke type attack than an actual long battle type attack. However, its real strength is in its ability. The Oppressor has limited energy, though it regenerates it very quickly. The Oppressor spends this energy at an extreme rate to fire a beam straight down below it, disabling its ability to fight, but otherwise not hindering it in any way. The beam deals devastating damage to groups of enemies below it. Combine all of this together and you have a pretty decent harassment option for the hybrid. http://i.imgur.com/kZLiSj5.jpg
You can see that the race has a lot going on so far. We've got 12 total military units, 3 production structures, 6 tech structures, and more. Although I can't promise anything, we'd also like to add in units specifically for the campaign as well. We've also designed how the race's campaign mechanics will work (Zerg strains, kerrigan progression, terran research, spear of adun progression, selectable protoss units, etc...except for the hybrid) though we won't announce exactly how that'll work just yet. (Still figuring it out)
We've been in the dark so far, but the project just got a whole lot more ambitious and we've been hard at work. For those of you who doubt this'll ever get done, we'll see you at the finish line!
I wouldn't want these hybrid to act like babies, so I'm avoiding the newborn idea, but I am allowing for a sense of naive nature. These characters don't understand the cultures or factions of others, only that they're friendly or unfriendly. In terms of speech especially, these guys are at the same level as any other species out there, just look at Maar.
Personally, I think the hybrid should gather allies instead and use them as the source of macro and the hybrid could come from the main structure or some separate structure that produces hybrid specific units. Obviously some of the hybrid will be given to the player instead, but it's up to future contributors. I, personally, enjoy playing and making commando/installation missions the most and that's what I've studied and it's what I excel at. If I were to contribute with additional levels, I'd make those.
So far with the way that I've taken the story and how I think it'll influence future contributors is that the hybrid, no longer under the control of Amon, now have a sense of freedom. With their newly discovered freedom, I think the hybrid feel the need to maintain that feeling and I doubt they would enslave another race any time soon. Some among them may have lingering Amon culture, so it's Subject 1115's job to keep them in line, but who knows how long that will last...
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Team's kept this project alive while I was away.
If things go well, I'll have more to say.
There was no secret beacon this time around. You got everything. :)
We'd love to show you, but the race is just not ready yet. It takes a lot of work to design a race from scratch, let alone implement it and get custom models for it, let alone balancing it.
We decided quite a while ago that we wanted to build 3 prologue missions (Legacy of the Void style) that doesn't include the new race yet. These first few missions introduce how they come to being.
We just released the first mission for testing on the project page.
http://www.sc2mapster.com/maps/amap01campaign/
We'll definitely have something to show in the next few days.
Nothing to show yet, but we are still alive.
Let me clarify by explaining what we have decided on for the defensive structure so far. One of our design philosophies is to have this race match the other races, in a way that it seems like this race could've been made by blizzard, though you can see the flaws of a custom mod throughout as it won't ever be up to their level of polish. We also already have a projectile in mind for what it launches and that's why it's called the Plasma Slinger. Between the two points of matching the other races and that we already have a projectile in mind, maybe you can see why I wasn't satisfied with your suggestion, though I wasn't directly criticizing you. The whole purpose of revealing the information I did about the project is so that others can see the progress we are making (so that you can see we aren't sitting on our butts, twiddling our thumbs) and they can maybe see hints of the playstyle of the race. Some may get excited while others will be disappointed, but regardless, I still stick to waiting until public testing before taking any suggestions for changes. We'd like to get this thing in there first and tested before tearing it apart, otherwise we could be arguing in this forum forever.
I don't feel that it's fair that you can criticize our design decisions until you've got the whole scope of the race and you've had the chance to experience it yourself. Both you and we can only theorycraft right now, so we don't know what the right call is yet. Perhaps when the mod goes into public testing phase, we can start taking suggestions on changes.
Hi everyone. I like to go by Rook, but on these forums you know me by yuka. You already know I've built a fully functional mission 1. The terrain is nearing completion, I will let you know as soon as it's done and when the full thing is out later. Let's get to it.
Now, a somewhat big announcement is we've changed our minds a bit from what we wanted to do early on. Our original plan was to "attach" the hybrid units to the terran/zerg/protoss tech trees maybe with some kind of hybrid mercenary compound, but that didn't feel right to us. We took a step back and realized there was a lot more we could do and we also realized there was actually a lot here in the editor that we could use for hybrid. We eventually decided to make our own new hybrid race just for this campaign. Templarfreak also plans to continue development on a multiplayer version of it as well. Since we're thinking it's time to really explain what's going on, I'd like to give anyone who reads this a "unit tour", but first, let me explain some of the important mechanics of this race...
First, the race has a special power system to limit their base construction. We decided to take a simple approach for this. Nearly all structures provide a sort of hybrid "power field." All structures, apart from your main building and your gas structure, require power when placed. Although all structures need power to place, they do not need it to be maintained. You can remove the power source and they will remain active, unlike protoss buildings. This makes them have a branching or creeping out kind of way of expanding their base. Currently, the main building which we call the "Source" is the only structure that doesn't require power to place, but provides power though we have ideas for maybe adding another.
The next mechanic is the shield mechanic. Hybrid supply structures, which we call "Terrazine Vaults", have a secondary function; they act as a hybrid "moon well" from wc3. These "Terrazine Vaults" passively recharge the shields of nearby allies. This means you can retreat with your army and quickly restore some of their life total so they can get back in the fight. We think this will create some interesting dynamics that we'd certainly like to test ourselves and see if we like it.
Now, for the unit tour!
This is the main building; we call it the "Source". Each Source produces workers and acts like any other normal main building. It acts as a hatchery for the hybrid as it doesn't require power to be placed and produces power on its own. http://i.imgur.com/XDs90P9.jpg?1
Next is the basic worker called the "Drudge". The drudge is the hard working mindless worker of the hybrid and has a beacon that allows it to link to their XelNaga ship which they'll steal early on in the campaign. They use this link to tear a hole through the void and into the ship, allowing passage of anything on the ship and sometimes from the void as well. This allows it to summon temples, shrines, and pillars from the void to be used by the hybrid. Some of those portals linger, forming the production of the hybrid. http://i.imgur.com/WT5wnRQ.jpg?1
Now for the "Terrazine Vault". (Don't worry, we'll recolor the crystals to be purple) The vault stores terrazine that the hybrid use to restore, clone, and maintain themselves without amon and is a precious resource to the hybrid. The vault not only increases their maximum supply, but also acts as a hybrid shield battery, restoring shields to nearby allied units. http://i.imgur.com/Hp5xosd.jpg?1
The three production buildings for the hybrid are the "Breach" (Tier 1), "Rift" (Tier 2), and the "Fissure" (Tier 3). These are maintained void portals that continue to summon your hybrid units after being formed. http://i.imgur.com/8B5BwzI.jpg?1
Here we have the "Plasma Slinger". This familiar and probably overused turret fires an orb of plasma. We haven't fully decided exactly what it does, but imagine something like the photon cannon, but more hybrid-y. http://i.imgur.com/o9sA4pQ.jpg?1
Now for some military units. This is the "Enforcer", a big and powerful tier 1 unit. It costs 200 minerals and is nearly as big as an archon! This starting unit really represents just how large and powerful the hybrid are in comparison to the other races. It's big, tanky, and hits with slow but powerful punches. It can eventually get an upgrade which reduces the armor of enemies hit by its attacks, making it very lasting into the late-game. http://i.imgur.com/kJ3srwW.jpg
For the second military unit, we have the "Executioner", a long ranged sniper type tier 1.5 unit. This guy has the same range as defenses like the photon cannon and missile turret, but it gets better, it can be upgraded to also out-range defenses entirely. It fires several projectiles in a row, making it a little more vulnerable to armored enemies, but combined with the enforcer's armor reduction passive, it can shred through enemies with its high dps. This creates a close relationship between these two units. http://i.imgur.com/hiFQ07N.jpg
The "Hunter" is a tactical anti armored unit; it uses soulfilcher's hybrid hydralisk model. It's very squishy for its cost and its damage is also weak against anything other than light enemies, but it has two special abilities that makes this thing strong. For one, it has blink, allowing it to close in on longer ranged enemies. Also, it has a passive right from the start which makes it take 50% reduced damage for a second after being hit. Though this has a lengthy cooldown, this makes it very strong against large groups of burst attack enemies. http://www.sc2mapster.com/media/attachments/50/93/HybridHydralisk.jpg
With a little reskin, the "Prowler" will look the part as a menacing stealth harassment unit. Although it'll have other applications, the Prowler moves while burrowed and fights while unburrowed, though it can no longer move while unburrowed. It also has an ability to quickly tunnel to a nearby location, like blink. This allows it to avoid pretty much any obstacle and has many opportunities to escape. If you can't manage to catch it, just a few of these guys will shred your mineral line. http://i.imgur.com/V1DQ3Vr.jpg
We've decided to use the "Thrasher" for the race and we've figured out what to do with it. It'll act like a hybrid siege tank, but in a slightly different way. While uprooted, it can move and attack in small areas, dealing low damage, but hitting several targets at once. While rooted, the Thrasher has siege tank range, but only hits single targets with high damage attacks. This creates a unique spin on the siege tank and we expect to see something similar to the siege tank, but perhaps we'll see it in uprooted form a lot more. http://i.imgur.com/8Ua4Xrs.jpg
The last one for this tour is an interesting one, not only the model choice, but also the unit design itself. The "Oppressor" is a lot like what it sounds like. It's a flying harassment unit, though it cannot cloak. Its toughness allows it to take a beating before it goes down, unlike many other air units of its tier. Its attack is a long ranged anti light bolt that it fires from a distance, meant to be more of a poke type attack than an actual long battle type attack. However, its real strength is in its ability. The Oppressor has limited energy, though it regenerates it very quickly. The Oppressor spends this energy at an extreme rate to fire a beam straight down below it, disabling its ability to fight, but otherwise not hindering it in any way. The beam deals devastating damage to groups of enemies below it. Combine all of this together and you have a pretty decent harassment option for the hybrid. http://i.imgur.com/kZLiSj5.jpg
You can see that the race has a lot going on so far. We've got 12 total military units, 3 production structures, 6 tech structures, and more. Although I can't promise anything, we'd also like to add in units specifically for the campaign as well. We've also designed how the race's campaign mechanics will work (Zerg strains, kerrigan progression, terran research, spear of adun progression, selectable protoss units, etc...except for the hybrid) though we won't announce exactly how that'll work just yet. (Still figuring it out)
We've been in the dark so far, but the project just got a whole lot more ambitious and we've been hard at work. For those of you who doubt this'll ever get done, we'll see you at the finish line!
The first level is nearing completion. Is anyone interested in working on the second level?
We've got a nice group here so far that helps each other out, provides feedback, and can help polish up your map. We just need more mappers.
Awesome idea, love it.
The internal testing phase of level 1 have begun. It is 100% functional. Only testing and polish phases remain.
I wouldn't want these hybrid to act like babies, so I'm avoiding the newborn idea, but I am allowing for a sense of naive nature. These characters don't understand the cultures or factions of others, only that they're friendly or unfriendly. In terms of speech especially, these guys are at the same level as any other species out there, just look at Maar.
Personally, I think the hybrid should gather allies instead and use them as the source of macro and the hybrid could come from the main structure or some separate structure that produces hybrid specific units. Obviously some of the hybrid will be given to the player instead, but it's up to future contributors. I, personally, enjoy playing and making commando/installation missions the most and that's what I've studied and it's what I excel at. If I were to contribute with additional levels, I'd make those.
So far with the way that I've taken the story and how I think it'll influence future contributors is that the hybrid, no longer under the control of Amon, now have a sense of freedom. With their newly discovered freedom, I think the hybrid feel the need to maintain that feeling and I doubt they would enslave another race any time soon. Some among them may have lingering Amon culture, so it's Subject 1115's job to keep them in line, but who knows how long that will last...