What about the terrain? Texturing, pre-placed doodads, maybe even partially pre-placed objectives where there other randomised stuff apear around, lighting, etc?
And the small issue about missiles and ordering a move while the missile flies?
Edit: playing the newest version. It feels much better already.
What about if you kill all enemy in the objective "Destroy the structure" make the game end with a bonus of some kind?
Wooo I've been able to go through and win haha. Would be nice to have something that indicates the number of rounds or obectives/missions to do before winning.
Could you explain this idea in more detail? I'm having trouble understanding what exactly you'd like implemented and what problem this is intended to solve.
The unrestricted movement around the environment is not a bug. That was an intended design decision after many play tests since uploading those videos.
Most, if not all, things in my games are not set in stone. I like a particular game design practice where I butcher my own games which means removing my own work, ideas, mechanics, and just about anything I feel is not adding to the intended vision or design goals of my project at any point during development.
I had no idea randomly deformed terrain was possible until you mentioned it which I'm now keen on learning how to implement. Do you mind sharing some tips on how I could do this, share keywords I could look up in the data/trigger editor, or point me to sc2mapster mapster threads that have done this?
The get in range ability is just a minor suggestion about how to stay as far as possible without using an ability that will end your turn. For example, you want to shoot a unit that is somewhat near you, you move back, and want to see what could be the best far position without shooting... you can't. I guess maybe a simple actor that show the range for every units (like sieged tanks) could be nice instead. So whenever you are targetting something (like when pressing A and ready to click) it will show the range or if using any ability it would show the range of that ability. That's few actors that could help alot.
About the movement restriction... I feel like it was somewhat more interesting, strategic, when you was limited. I think i'd go with a half and half, not unlimited but not too small as well. Maybe something like a range 15-20 could be nice and even, some units could move further than other such as the reaper he could move far away where as a slow beefy marauder could move slighly less. Just so you cannot walk across the map endlessly everyturns it justs doesn't make sens to me for a turn by turn positionning game...
About the Terrain Deformers, it's a type of Actors with some basic modifications and when you create them on the terrain (such as via triggers or even data effect) they will deform the terrain. And when you remove them, the terrain will take back its shape. The only thing I don't know is how it will interact with structures, since these generally make the terrain flat around its footprint. So if half the footprint is in the air, is it going to modify the rest automaticly or simply make a half floating structure... Also, in some circumstances the terrain could remain partially deformed even after removing the deformer if I'm not mistaken.
I want to point out another thing, when beeing hit, it does the death sound (or feels like...) which is quite confusing in wether or not you lost a unit uring that turn. You have to wait and see what remains.
Do you guys mind if I ask some questions in case I don't understand some part of someone's feedback?
Go for it! The more you understand the feedback the better the feedback will be and if you give your point of view on something that is not the same as the feedback, it opens discussion and maybe different perspectives. It doesn't mean one or another is better or worse, getting feedback is more like a personal point of view that you share. So feel free to ask anything, and not only on the feedback itself, you could litteraly ask "What do you guys think of this or that".
The texture play is very minimal. Most likely the terrain is just used as a placeholder for now. With up to 16 textures, doing many interesting designs could be great and adds alot more visual quality to the game since this is what you stare at most of the time.
Doodad
The amount of doodads is minimal as well. I'm pretty sure there could be some pre-placed doodads on the ground such as grass or environment effect like birds, wind, sunrays, plants, underbrush... there is potential to add more stuff there.
Pathing
The pathing is okay. Sometimes the units will act weird because the push and pull is disabled. This could create some minor issue if more units are involved.
Lighting
The lighting could be another thing to play with for visual quality. Since anything you add on the terrain has an impact on the gameplay, you want to try to use things that won't change the gameplay, but change the visual. Having different time of the day, or different "planet" lighting are stuff you could play with.
Other
You could create randomly some Actor that deform the terrain to create small hills here and there dynamicly. It would be less like a plane terrain...
Unit
Model
There are no custom model used. Keeping it simple is great, but again, if maybe you battle against dark protoss, or this round your units uses the korhal models variations... could add more variations, although its not that important here.
Abilities
I like how the control are simple and easy to use. Right click where you want to move, use any ability you wish. Most of those have charges so you have to use them wisely. They are powerfull but not OP. It's great. Sometimes keeping the amount of abilities low is easier to balance but give also more strategic choices as which one using in which condition and when.
Diversity
There is a variation of enemy units. I don't know if the player is allowed more units than the basic one; marine, ghost, medic, firebat and reaper... I guess this could use more diversity in the futur. But for now it's fine considering it's still in progress.
Trigger
Effecient
The triggers seem to be working fine. However, there are some gap that allow movement even after shooting. I think an ability such as "Get in range" would be nice so the unit get as far as possible but still in range of the enemy, without shooting right away. The turn by turn is great, the AI doesn't mess with you very long... he charges and just rekt you if you do nothing...or even when trying sometimes there is just too much. So no lag, seems simple and effective.
Visual landmark
In the version found on the arcade, there were no limits to where you can move so you could take your turn move across the map entirely, gather all the minerals and place your units to shoot optimally. It would be nice if, in the defending the structure there was more visual around it to know THIS structure is the one you must defend and maybe even give the player some ability to help him achieve this specefic objective like a repair kit or something...
Objectives
Objectives in this map are custom ui and does not use the default objective system, which is great as it's refreshing visually. Although, the ui feels a little bit big. Seems to work fine, nothing much to say about it.
UI dialogues
The buttons rotating around the units are annoying, seriously. And it caused me to miss clicks on it. I also miss right clicked items on the ground which in the end simply passed my turn... Annoying and game changing... Other than that, it would be nice a UI with all the units you control on the side of the screen which you can click on to center view, see their HP and see if their turn is finished. Think of Hero bar. ( http://i.imgur.com/dF83mgU.png )
Cutscenes
Set up
There is a basic cutscene showing the medivac picking up the units and moving away, transitionning into the other map, arriving at the deposit point and then going away. A couple things could be made to make the whole thing better. First, making sure you do not see the unit/structure disappear instantly, so removing them after changing terrain would be great. When the medivac is leaving, either make it moves offscreen then remove, or if this is not possible send an actor message to make the medivac kind of fade away when going away. That would be much better than just disappearing instantly.
Camera
There is pretty much no camera play here. Most likely a placeholder as well. But when you will put time into this, you could make the camera go closer to the medivac and then unzoom to normal view when arrived. I wonder if there is a way to show the unit fall down the medivac as they land. That's minor visual, but details make things much greater. There could be as well an overview of the generated terrain to show the enemy, the objective and the side objectives like where are the heals, the bombs, etc.
Depth of field
I'm someone that very likes Depth of field from cameras as it adds alot of depth to the view and kind of force the eyes of the person looking onto something specefic, such as the medivac, or the units landing, or the enemy...
Gameplay
Originality
I've seen similar gameplay...or maybe I just played it once a long while ago... but either way, it's very original and fun to play. It's more relaxing but still someone real time strategy as you have to think to what you have to do and you are partially limited in time (i guess there is or should be a timer) and movement.
Easy to learn
It's super easy to get into it. Very simple, maybe some Tips to show what you are going to find on the terrain like the commands, turn mechanic, bombs, the heals, the enemy and their abilities, etc would be nice, just to make sure you know everything you need right when entering the game.
Replayability
It's pretty cool to play and it is designed to be replayable. It's all short battles so you can play one in a couple minutes (at least against AI as vs human it could take longer).
Fluidity
It's pretty fluid. Make your units / upgrades, get transported to the terrain, accomplish your objective, repeat. I guess there could be dead moments when waiting for other players to play... and until you see where they move, you can't really anticipate what you are going to do completly, so you gotta wait.
Bug proofed, Fool proofed
I found two things, first you can move anywhere which is not the case in the demo videos... So I'm suspecting this to be a bug? And second, you can queued commands on units for them to move slightly after doing another action such as shooting. For example, you could use the ghost ability on an enemy and enter the bunker in the same turn. I believe this is cause by how the triggers are set up that it waits for damage or something...but not at the good ability stage. Instead of executing at the end of the ability, it should execute when it starts launching it. This way even if it's a missile that take time to travel, you won't be able to move during that gap.
Fun rating
It's fun. But it gets repetitive after a couple games even with randomly generated terrains and different objectives. It needs a little something more.
Other
Loading Screen
Of course this is like just an image... but it needs a good loading screen and hide the map screen / players from the loading to have a clean screen with maybe instructions or something cool to show off.
Game lobby
The game lobby is based on the game mode; single player or coop. I personally never liked having to select the game mode before creating the lobby. I always prefered if it was detected in-game as; "only 1 player was detected so its a single player" or "more than 1 player was detected so its coop". Or have it picked from the game lobby. This way you don't have to worry; did i picked the good mode?
Sound effect
There are some sound effects when the next level is ready and when mouse over UI buttons. It can gets a bit annoying, but overall I find it okay. The ability sounds are correct.
Music
There is no music at all, even if it was just WoL good'old campaign soundtracks, that would add a little bit more good feelingsss when playing, without actually adding weight to the map files.
Cool stuff right there! Definitly going to check this part and try it. Once every 2 weeks is enough to find some time ;) And I really feel like I need to explore new maps so, I'll the the opportunity.
Mozared, do you think you can make a main thread like for the WTE that will list all the threads for this project? So you can easily bookmark in your explorer? Thanks.
@Trieva: Go
What about the terrain? Texturing, pre-placed doodads, maybe even partially pre-placed objectives where there other randomised stuff apear around, lighting, etc?
And the small issue about missiles and ordering a move while the missile flies?
Edit: playing the newest version. It feels much better already.
What about if you kill all enemy in the objective "Destroy the structure" make the game end with a bonus of some kind?
Wooo I've been able to go through and win haha. Would be nice to have something that indicates the number of rounds or obectives/missions to do before winning.
Working on projects:
@Trieva: Go
Feeling like a good 1st testing thread to me. :D
Working on projects:
The get in range ability is just a minor suggestion about how to stay as far as possible without using an ability that will end your turn. For example, you want to shoot a unit that is somewhat near you, you move back, and want to see what could be the best far position without shooting... you can't. I guess maybe a simple actor that show the range for every units (like sieged tanks) could be nice instead. So whenever you are targetting something (like when pressing A and ready to click) it will show the range or if using any ability it would show the range of that ability. That's few actors that could help alot.
About the movement restriction... I feel like it was somewhat more interesting, strategic, when you was limited. I think i'd go with a half and half, not unlimited but not too small as well. Maybe something like a range 15-20 could be nice and even, some units could move further than other such as the reaper he could move far away where as a slow beefy marauder could move slighly less. Just so you cannot walk across the map endlessly everyturns it justs doesn't make sens to me for a turn by turn positionning game...
About the Terrain Deformers, it's a type of Actors with some basic modifications and when you create them on the terrain (such as via triggers or even data effect) they will deform the terrain. And when you remove them, the terrain will take back its shape. The only thing I don't know is how it will interact with structures, since these generally make the terrain flat around its footprint. So if half the footprint is in the air, is it going to modify the rest automaticly or simply make a half floating structure... Also, in some circumstances the terrain could remain partially deformed even after removing the deformer if I'm not mistaken.
I want to point out another thing, when beeing hit, it does the death sound (or feels like...) which is quite confusing in wether or not you lost a unit uring that turn. You have to wait and see what remains.
Working on projects:
Go for it! The more you understand the feedback the better the feedback will be and if you give your point of view on something that is not the same as the feedback, it opens discussion and maybe different perspectives. It doesn't mean one or another is better or worse, getting feedback is more like a personal point of view that you share. So feel free to ask anything, and not only on the feedback itself, you could litteraly ask "What do you guys think of this or that".
Working on projects:
For map: Blitz Fire
Terrain
Texture
The texture play is very minimal. Most likely the terrain is just used as a placeholder for now. With up to 16 textures, doing many interesting designs could be great and adds alot more visual quality to the game since this is what you stare at most of the time.
Doodad
The amount of doodads is minimal as well. I'm pretty sure there could be some pre-placed doodads on the ground such as grass or environment effect like birds, wind, sunrays, plants, underbrush... there is potential to add more stuff there.
Pathing
The pathing is okay. Sometimes the units will act weird because the push and pull is disabled. This could create some minor issue if more units are involved.
Lighting
The lighting could be another thing to play with for visual quality. Since anything you add on the terrain has an impact on the gameplay, you want to try to use things that won't change the gameplay, but change the visual. Having different time of the day, or different "planet" lighting are stuff you could play with.
Other
You could create randomly some Actor that deform the terrain to create small hills here and there dynamicly. It would be less like a plane terrain...
Unit
Model
There are no custom model used. Keeping it simple is great, but again, if maybe you battle against dark protoss, or this round your units uses the korhal models variations... could add more variations, although its not that important here.
Abilities
I like how the control are simple and easy to use. Right click where you want to move, use any ability you wish. Most of those have charges so you have to use them wisely. They are powerfull but not OP. It's great. Sometimes keeping the amount of abilities low is easier to balance but give also more strategic choices as which one using in which condition and when.
Diversity
There is a variation of enemy units. I don't know if the player is allowed more units than the basic one; marine, ghost, medic, firebat and reaper... I guess this could use more diversity in the futur. But for now it's fine considering it's still in progress.
Trigger
Effecient
The triggers seem to be working fine. However, there are some gap that allow movement even after shooting. I think an ability such as "Get in range" would be nice so the unit get as far as possible but still in range of the enemy, without shooting right away. The turn by turn is great, the AI doesn't mess with you very long... he charges and just rekt you if you do nothing...or even when trying sometimes there is just too much. So no lag, seems simple and effective.
Visual landmark
In the version found on the arcade, there were no limits to where you can move so you could take your turn move across the map entirely, gather all the minerals and place your units to shoot optimally. It would be nice if, in the defending the structure there was more visual around it to know THIS structure is the one you must defend and maybe even give the player some ability to help him achieve this specefic objective like a repair kit or something...
Objectives
Objectives in this map are custom ui and does not use the default objective system, which is great as it's refreshing visually. Although, the ui feels a little bit big. Seems to work fine, nothing much to say about it.
UI dialogues
The buttons rotating around the units are annoying, seriously. And it caused me to miss clicks on it. I also miss right clicked items on the ground which in the end simply passed my turn... Annoying and game changing... Other than that, it would be nice a UI with all the units you control on the side of the screen which you can click on to center view, see their HP and see if their turn is finished. Think of Hero bar. ( http://i.imgur.com/dF83mgU.png )
Cutscenes
Set up
There is a basic cutscene showing the medivac picking up the units and moving away, transitionning into the other map, arriving at the deposit point and then going away. A couple things could be made to make the whole thing better. First, making sure you do not see the unit/structure disappear instantly, so removing them after changing terrain would be great. When the medivac is leaving, either make it moves offscreen then remove, or if this is not possible send an actor message to make the medivac kind of fade away when going away. That would be much better than just disappearing instantly.
Camera
There is pretty much no camera play here. Most likely a placeholder as well. But when you will put time into this, you could make the camera go closer to the medivac and then unzoom to normal view when arrived. I wonder if there is a way to show the unit fall down the medivac as they land. That's minor visual, but details make things much greater. There could be as well an overview of the generated terrain to show the enemy, the objective and the side objectives like where are the heals, the bombs, etc.
Depth of field
I'm someone that very likes Depth of field from cameras as it adds alot of depth to the view and kind of force the eyes of the person looking onto something specefic, such as the medivac, or the units landing, or the enemy...
Gameplay
Originality
I've seen similar gameplay...or maybe I just played it once a long while ago... but either way, it's very original and fun to play. It's more relaxing but still someone real time strategy as you have to think to what you have to do and you are partially limited in time (i guess there is or should be a timer) and movement.
Easy to learn
It's super easy to get into it. Very simple, maybe some Tips to show what you are going to find on the terrain like the commands, turn mechanic, bombs, the heals, the enemy and their abilities, etc would be nice, just to make sure you know everything you need right when entering the game.
Replayability
It's pretty cool to play and it is designed to be replayable. It's all short battles so you can play one in a couple minutes (at least against AI as vs human it could take longer).
Fluidity
It's pretty fluid. Make your units / upgrades, get transported to the terrain, accomplish your objective, repeat. I guess there could be dead moments when waiting for other players to play... and until you see where they move, you can't really anticipate what you are going to do completly, so you gotta wait.
Bug proofed, Fool proofed
I found two things, first you can move anywhere which is not the case in the demo videos... So I'm suspecting this to be a bug? And second, you can queued commands on units for them to move slightly after doing another action such as shooting. For example, you could use the ghost ability on an enemy and enter the bunker in the same turn. I believe this is cause by how the triggers are set up that it waits for damage or something...but not at the good ability stage. Instead of executing at the end of the ability, it should execute when it starts launching it. This way even if it's a missile that take time to travel, you won't be able to move during that gap.
Fun rating
It's fun. But it gets repetitive after a couple games even with randomly generated terrains and different objectives. It needs a little something more.
Other
Loading Screen
Of course this is like just an image... but it needs a good loading screen and hide the map screen / players from the loading to have a clean screen with maybe instructions or something cool to show off.
Game lobby
The game lobby is based on the game mode; single player or coop. I personally never liked having to select the game mode before creating the lobby. I always prefered if it was detected in-game as; "only 1 player was detected so its a single player" or "more than 1 player was detected so its coop". Or have it picked from the game lobby. This way you don't have to worry; did i picked the good mode?
Sound effect
There are some sound effects when the next level is ready and when mouse over UI buttons. It can gets a bit annoying, but overall I find it okay. The ability sounds are correct.
Music
There is no music at all, even if it was just WoL good'old campaign soundtracks, that would add a little bit more good feelingsss when playing, without actually adding weight to the map files.
Working on projects:
@Mozared: Go
@JayborinoPlays: Go
Cool stuff right there! Definitly going to check this part and try it. Once every 2 weeks is enough to find some time ;) And I really feel like I need to explore new maps so, I'll the the opportunity.
Mozared, do you think you can make a main thread like for the WTE that will list all the threads for this project? So you can easily bookmark in your explorer? Thanks.
Working on projects: