The 10th slot is there because if you have 9 characters you've been working on a lot and want to play with some low level friends or test something out, you should not have to delete a hero to create a new one. It's an expendable slot.
It's also there for UI symmety and not wasting the dialog space.
Zooming out is not possible to add, since locking the camera for players to avoid scrolling around etc also disables zoom, and there's no way to enable just that feature. It can be done with key events but that causes insane lag issues. Furthermore, casters are not limited by casting range, they can cast anywhere they can see. Allowing them to zoom out would be rather broken.
Had another job interview today, it seems probable they will hire me. So I don't really know how much more work I'll be doing on this map.
If there are any current issues that could be solved quickly, feel free to post them. I might look into that Spectre zoom out some time during next week.
I'm sort of considering if it's worth handing the project over to someone else if I can't really work on it, but that person would need to be a pretty advanced mapper and be able to understand my code in order to not break the map and make it worse. I don't really know who that person would be.
Yeah I might give the Spectre a wider battlefield view. I'll have to test it out and see how it looks.
Medic UI bug still doesn't make sense. The buttons are generated based on the highest ability level enabled for your hero when you join an arena. So unless you level up your abilities after joining arena, I don't see why it wouldn't work.
Information about what is required to unlock kittuns is intentionally not listed, since it makes more interesting and unique to have one. Rather than just reading what to do, you then either have to strive to improve your account stats and be rewarded eventually, or ask someone who has kittuns. Gives that "Oh I got a kittun for that? Awesome!" or "OMG you have a kittun, where did you get that?" effect. Given enough time, they will lose their uniqueness of course, since how to get them will be well known and many people will have them already. But for now, it's sort of an easter egg/secret.
You don't have to level up Blink Strike first, I often ignore certain skills when I level, because others are more useful. Some I never put a point in until the last levels before 20. The issue is if they are useful at level 20 and above, when you have all skills. Before that, anything is optional.
I've made the Shadowstride change, I don't think DT should get ANOTHER AoE skill though, since it's supposed to be a single target class, and when you have Voidstride too, groups are quickly decimated.
I am aware of Soul Harvest and PvP, but PvP is not a priority feature.
Without the auto-attacking disabled, the whole positioning and defensive aspect would be useless, yes. What I'll try at some point later is disable collision of DT, and add a button that appears only while Shadowstride is active, in the same slot with same hotkey, which forces DT to attack closest enemy, thus removing the targetting annoyance. So you can get into position, hit hotkey again, and BAM! I think the Dark Templar is one of those classes which still has room left on command card.
Shadowstride dealing area effect damage in the first place is a rather new addition, which was made post-release, so it's not perfect. I try to play all classes to get an idea of what's annoying, poorly balanced etc. Hence why Shadowstride is no longer single target in the first place, or why the Spectre having a "hard" Hold Position to prevent misclicks that make you lose Deploy bonuses, or why the Medic UI was updated with buttons.
It's a work in progress. I do consider it a beta, and treat it as such, making many small changes often based on playing experience and player input.
I don't find Blink Strike useless at all. You lose DPS whenever you have to move to reach enemies, since then you are dealing no damage. I use it as an opener against a new wave, then follow up with Crippling/Soul Harvest or Shadowstride if wave is full of weak enemies.
Death Mark not useful? It makes your first hit against any enemy deal (assuming level 26+) 60% more damage. And that's not 60% of base damage like Offense/Deploy works, it's 60% of TOTAL damage. Your second hit deals 156% more damage. This bonus also affects all your abilities, and all ALLIES' abilities. I'd say it's one of the most potent passives. Maybe even too potent.
The only reason for the 20% book is so people who have partial levels can make use of those without having to play another lower tier game, and buy themselves up to a level without having to have the money for a full level. That is why I added it. It doesn't need to be different. It shouldn't cost more. It's there to let you top off your partial levels, while still paying the same per XP as for the regular book.
Stuns can be avoided. Omegalisk stuns with Stomp, when you see it casting that, move away from it. Engineer uses Flash Grenade, there's a target indicator that tells you where he's shooting, move out of the area. Stone Zealot only stuns in melee, if you move around it's not an issue.
The stuns are really only an issue if you solo, and aren't paying attention to casting indicators or get yourself trapped in a corner. So I don't share your views there.
I see map finally got posted on front page!
Also I uploaded a bigger update today. While I've done a lot of small updates over time, this one adds levels 21-30 as well as tier 6. Since I can't add more learnable abilities beyond 20, I added a very powerful ability to each class that's gained at level 25. You still improve your passive and gain attributes too.
NA version might be updated soon, just want to make sure this update is working as intended first.
A brief list of additions (not bugfixes/balance changes/minor tweaks) since release that I can think of right now:
Levels 21-30.
Another ability gained at level 25.
Tier 5 and 6.
Endless mode, try for a record for how long you survive.
Kittun, non-combat pet gained from Tier 5 & 6.
Angry Kittun, combat pet gained from Endless.
Medic UI that allows easier healing/buffing of allies.
Can gain 20% of levels for playing arenas 1 Tier below yours.
I've seen the upgrade today. Great for Medic :) But the Shieldbutton doestn seem to work for me. Maybe another one for the energyregeneration?
Have a nice day!
I added Synergy Link buttons today. Don't know why shield doesn't work for some people. More information would help. Are you sure it's not on cooldown? What level of it are you using? Is it only on certain players? Is the player not incapacitated? Does the shield ability still work if you cast it manually?
That must be some old information. I haven't done any special bank magic, just saving integers mostly. I think banks used to be very limited though, but that was later fixed. Clearly it works.
Well, except for that battle.net bug that drops you and deletes your bank... Remember to backup your bank file, Frontline.sc2bank, so if it happens to you, you don't lose all your heroes. Fortunately it seems to be rather rare.
Well, thanks for the input. I think the map could be better, things can always be better, but it's still good, I'm rather pleased with it.
I have some job angles going. Hopefully I'll still have time and energy to work on map, though probably won't be making many major changes when I have to work 8 hours a day etc.
I thought The Last Stand was a horrid, poorly designed map, personally.
I don't agree with your points. If it's boring, well, that's entirely subjective. Strategy is needed more on higher tiers, not so much tier 1 which is intended to be easy.
Yes, it's hard to balance options, but they are options. If you find them too hard do not use them. And while making specific combinations instead of randomly generated content might be interesting, at least the first few times you play, the workload is much greater. And after enough times playing it it turns routine anyway.
Heroes are intentionally not designed to use any sort of tree, where you have to invest points, as people will end up investing points in something and find they don't like it, thus being stuck with a gimped character. At level 20 you have all the abilities, your character may be less unique but it's also not gimped because you made a bad choice at level 1. This relates to my design philosophy and is not something I intend to change.
I don't think I put in too much, and I have no intention of redoing half my work. I've had a lot of time during summer, but I need to get a job, and having a enormous mapping workload is not an option.
I don't mind constructive criticism, though I don't always agree with it. I have my design goals and my time constraints.
Frontline has just been released on EU servers, under the name "Frontline EU".
Brief Description
Frontline is a class based cooperative Hero Survival/RPG where you play a persistent hero character in short battles (around 15 minutes) against waves of AI enemies in different arenas.
To goal in each arena is to survive the waves and then defeat the boss. What enemies and boss you will face is determined randomly, and how many waves and strength of enemies depends on settings for the game in that arena.
By successfully completing games in arenas, your hero will gain levels, improving in different ways and being able to learn new abilities.
Features
Persistent hero characters which are saved and can be resumed at a later time.
Flexible length; play a short game or stay for several depending on available time and preference.
Designed to place focus on combat and teamplay, not distractions.
User friendly no-nonsense UI which shows relevant information, and only that.
Randomization of enemy attack waves to ensure no games are ever identical.
Different game settings available to provide further variety.
Numeric features
9 unique hero classes, each with different niche and playing style.
6 class-specific abilities; 5 usable and 1 passive per hero class.
15 arenas, all thematically distinct and highly detailed.
9 bosses, 3 for each race, with different special abilities.
Video
Notes
As this is a beta, there may still be a few bugs or balance issues. Please report these in this thread or via forum messages.
The map will be published on NA at some point soon. Other regions are yet undecided, it depends on finding suitable maintainers.
I can be contacted on Battle.net using my character code or in channel Frontline, if you wish to play or have questions.
0
The 10th slot is there because if you have 9 characters you've been working on a lot and want to play with some low level friends or test something out, you should not have to delete a hero to create a new one. It's an expendable slot.
It's also there for UI symmety and not wasting the dialog space.
Zooming out is not possible to add, since locking the camera for players to avoid scrolling around etc also disables zoom, and there's no way to enable just that feature. It can be done with key events but that causes insane lag issues. Furthermore, casters are not limited by casting range, they can cast anywhere they can see. Allowing them to zoom out would be rather broken.
0
Had another job interview today, it seems probable they will hire me. So I don't really know how much more work I'll be doing on this map.
If there are any current issues that could be solved quickly, feel free to post them. I might look into that Spectre zoom out some time during next week.
I'm sort of considering if it's worth handing the project over to someone else if I can't really work on it, but that person would need to be a pretty advanced mapper and be able to understand my code in order to not break the map and make it worse. I don't really know who that person would be.
0
I just disabled all selection types for all players.
0
Yeah I might give the Spectre a wider battlefield view. I'll have to test it out and see how it looks.
Medic UI bug still doesn't make sense. The buttons are generated based on the highest ability level enabled for your hero when you join an arena. So unless you level up your abilities after joining arena, I don't see why it wouldn't work.
Information about what is required to unlock kittuns is intentionally not listed, since it makes more interesting and unique to have one. Rather than just reading what to do, you then either have to strive to improve your account stats and be rewarded eventually, or ask someone who has kittuns. Gives that "Oh I got a kittun for that? Awesome!" or "OMG you have a kittun, where did you get that?" effect. Given enough time, they will lose their uniqueness of course, since how to get them will be well known and many people will have them already. But for now, it's sort of an easter egg/secret.
0
@clad0: Go
I don't keep a changelog for beta, I make changes too often. Mostly just Zealot nerf, DT tweaks and confirm dialog for hero deletion last update.
0
@clad0: Go
You don't have to level up Blink Strike first, I often ignore certain skills when I level, because others are more useful. Some I never put a point in until the last levels before 20. The issue is if they are useful at level 20 and above, when you have all skills. Before that, anything is optional.
I've made the Shadowstride change, I don't think DT should get ANOTHER AoE skill though, since it's supposed to be a single target class, and when you have Voidstride too, groups are quickly decimated.
I am aware of Soul Harvest and PvP, but PvP is not a priority feature.
0
@clad0: Go
Without the auto-attacking disabled, the whole positioning and defensive aspect would be useless, yes. What I'll try at some point later is disable collision of DT, and add a button that appears only while Shadowstride is active, in the same slot with same hotkey, which forces DT to attack closest enemy, thus removing the targetting annoyance. So you can get into position, hit hotkey again, and BAM! I think the Dark Templar is one of those classes which still has room left on command card.
Shadowstride dealing area effect damage in the first place is a rather new addition, which was made post-release, so it's not perfect. I try to play all classes to get an idea of what's annoying, poorly balanced etc. Hence why Shadowstride is no longer single target in the first place, or why the Spectre having a "hard" Hold Position to prevent misclicks that make you lose Deploy bonuses, or why the Medic UI was updated with buttons.
It's a work in progress. I do consider it a beta, and treat it as such, making many small changes often based on playing experience and player input.
I don't find Blink Strike useless at all. You lose DPS whenever you have to move to reach enemies, since then you are dealing no damage. I use it as an opener against a new wave, then follow up with Crippling/Soul Harvest or Shadowstride if wave is full of weak enemies.
Death Mark not useful? It makes your first hit against any enemy deal (assuming level 26+) 60% more damage. And that's not 60% of base damage like Offense/Deploy works, it's 60% of TOTAL damage. Your second hit deals 156% more damage. This bonus also affects all your abilities, and all ALLIES' abilities. I'd say it's one of the most potent passives. Maybe even too potent.
The only reason for the 20% book is so people who have partial levels can make use of those without having to play another lower tier game, and buy themselves up to a level without having to have the money for a full level. That is why I added it. It doesn't need to be different. It shouldn't cost more. It's there to let you top off your partial levels, while still paying the same per XP as for the regular book.
0
@morphman220: Go
Stuns can be avoided. Omegalisk stuns with Stomp, when you see it casting that, move away from it. Engineer uses Flash Grenade, there's a target indicator that tells you where he's shooting, move out of the area. Stone Zealot only stuns in melee, if you move around it's not an issue.
The stuns are really only an issue if you solo, and aren't paying attention to casting indicators or get yourself trapped in a corner. So I don't share your views there.
0
I see map finally got posted on front page! Also I uploaded a bigger update today. While I've done a lot of small updates over time, this one adds levels 21-30 as well as tier 6. Since I can't add more learnable abilities beyond 20, I added a very powerful ability to each class that's gained at level 25. You still improve your passive and gain attributes too.
NA version might be updated soon, just want to make sure this update is working as intended first.
A brief list of additions (not bugfixes/balance changes/minor tweaks) since release that I can think of right now:
0
I added Synergy Link buttons today. Don't know why shield doesn't work for some people. More information would help. Are you sure it's not on cooldown? What level of it are you using? Is it only on certain players? Is the player not incapacitated? Does the shield ability still work if you cast it manually?
0
That must be some old information. I haven't done any special bank magic, just saving integers mostly. I think banks used to be very limited though, but that was later fixed. Clearly it works.
Well, except for that battle.net bug that drops you and deletes your bank... Remember to backup your bank file, Frontline.sc2bank, so if it happens to you, you don't lose all your heroes. Fortunately it seems to be rather rare.
0
Well, thanks for the input. I think the map could be better, things can always be better, but it's still good, I'm rather pleased with it.
I have some job angles going. Hopefully I'll still have time and energy to work on map, though probably won't be making many major changes when I have to work 8 hours a day etc.
0
@RodrigoAlves: Go
It's at 716 hours, page 1 of Custom category, so I'd say it's popular.
@Morkph: Go
I thought The Last Stand was a horrid, poorly designed map, personally.
I don't agree with your points. If it's boring, well, that's entirely subjective. Strategy is needed more on higher tiers, not so much tier 1 which is intended to be easy.
Yes, it's hard to balance options, but they are options. If you find them too hard do not use them. And while making specific combinations instead of randomly generated content might be interesting, at least the first few times you play, the workload is much greater. And after enough times playing it it turns routine anyway.
Heroes are intentionally not designed to use any sort of tree, where you have to invest points, as people will end up investing points in something and find they don't like it, thus being stuck with a gimped character. At level 20 you have all the abilities, your character may be less unique but it's also not gimped because you made a bad choice at level 1. This relates to my design philosophy and is not something I intend to change.
I don't think I put in too much, and I have no intention of redoing half my work. I've had a lot of time during summer, but I need to get a job, and having a enormous mapping workload is not an option.
I don't mind constructive criticism, though I don't always agree with it. I have my design goals and my time constraints.
0
No, you can't do much with the BehaviorBar (atleast if you don't want the game to crash half of the time).
And there aren't many maps like this because they take 3 months to make.
0
Frontline has just been released on EU servers, under the name "Frontline EU".
Brief Description
Frontline is a class based cooperative Hero Survival/RPG where you play a persistent hero character in short battles (around 15 minutes) against waves of AI enemies in different arenas.
To goal in each arena is to survive the waves and then defeat the boss. What enemies and boss you will face is determined randomly, and how many waves and strength of enemies depends on settings for the game in that arena.
By successfully completing games in arenas, your hero will gain levels, improving in different ways and being able to learn new abilities.
Features
Numeric features
Video
Notes
Credits
Nash - Lead Developer
Dresnia - Level Design
Hawker - Level Design