As an advocate of nearly all blizzard games and a long time player of the tower defense genre I have been designing the foundations for a new type of SC2 custom defense game.
This will be a game in which team, small team, and ffa strategies will all mesh. There will be multiple ways to win and each method will reflect a distinct strategy. No longer will one noob/troll ruin a team. No longer will pros feel the need to lash out on noobs. Each can play their own way.
First, I feel that many of the tower defense games available have great intentions, but seem to lack in both end game content and getting their "noobs" to understand the game flow without other more skilled players "trolling on them". This leads to frustration on both ends because newer players get discouraged and quit, while long time pros constantly are bored and looking for an actual challenge.
Secondly, many of these games only reward a player for either excessively playing the map or learning a method to abuse the system. Again I believe the incentives of the maps are misguided because they are focusing on time played rather than challenge and accomplishment.
Keeping these two notions in mind my mod involves all of the normal functions found in tower defense games, such as teamwork, fixed income/resource management, and a wave system, but I have a few twists in strategy and winning conditions which modify the game.
- Please read to the end because the twists are there, HOWEVER skipping portions of this may not put you in the proper mind set to understand them.
The map, generally-
1. Consists of TWO Large bases (on a 1x elevated hill) on opposite ends of the map. Each base will house exactly half of the players on the map leading to two "teams".
2. At each Base there is one Large entrance where the creeps can enter. They will spawn in the middle of the map.
3. The spin is that Each larger base actually consists of 4-8 (doesn't matter) Smaller bases which are one the HIGHEST ground possible and the furthest from the middle. IF a player loses HIS base he is eliminated from the game. Each base has 3-5 mineral fields (depends on balance) to keep mineral counts low and balanced, for the beginning.
A) The goal is to make the game balanced such that the players MUST work as a team to survive the initial waves by defending the LARGER opening. As the game progresses teams / players can then decide how they wish to proceed. On the path to a players base there will be several choke points which will make it advantageous to WORK with other players to defend not only YOUR base, but theirs.
1) This is a good system because it will help noobs not die in the first 5 minutes bc of forceful teamwork. It will evolve the player base quite rapidly. Further, since the object is for YOU not to die one bad player cannot ruin a game, which is so common these days.
Another twist in the game is being able to send aura units as well as UPGRADE the creeps. However, the drawback is that those aura units could end up attacking you or your team. AND the upgrades affect EVERY neutral monster, so if you upgrade too early you could screw yourself.
4. WINNING THE GAME - 2 methods. 1 - Survive all 30 waves (however many we decide) "teamwork" 2 - Be the last player alive. "solo/kill em all"
The strategy will involve deciding whether to play as a team and defend a much larger choke, team up smaller within your base to defend advantageous "smaller chokes", Or just defend your own base (which is not viable until later). Further, depending on how you want to win the game - Survive the waves, or eliminate all the other players, you will manage your base accordingly. The fun is that it will allow multiple people to attempt different paths to victory. 1-2 ppl might try upgrading the creeps and turtle and try to kill everyone else first. Some people might team up and try to survive the 30 waves (not going to be an easy task)
This is just in the beginning stages, but I already have a map layout in mind. I am also open to other ideas as this is essentially just a concept and has not yet evolved into formation. I think that the premise stated is a great one and I hope that you do to.
Other concepts I wish to incorporate -
-Gas is a very scarce resource and even a handful of vespene can unlock upgrades. You can also build an entire "tier" of defense with gas OR can upgrade neutral creeps/send monsters to increase income. Balance is key.
-Doing away with the "tier" system and making each unit upgrade to a useful unit. Games which involve massing the "highest tier" over and over get old.
-Voting on modes before the game, such as Team v team, Smaller teams/ffa's, Straight up solo.
-Some sort of constant statistic tracking on kills/wins (not games or losses ppl dont like that)
-Constant hero which levels up. Leveling up will unlock certain things, but I do not want it to give s distinct competitive advantage - Players should not simply be rewarded for time spent playing.
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Also feedback and comments are welcomed! If you are interested in talking further about this idea and/or possibly creation of a map let me know...
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As an advocate of nearly all blizzard games and a long time player of the tower defense genre I have been designing the foundations for a new type of SC2 custom defense game.
This will be a game in which team, small team, and ffa strategies will all mesh. There will be multiple ways to win and each method will reflect a distinct strategy. No longer will one noob/troll ruin a team. No longer will pros feel the need to lash out on noobs. Each can play their own way.
First, I feel that many of the tower defense games available have great intentions, but seem to lack in both end game content and getting their "noobs" to understand the game flow without other more skilled players "trolling on them". This leads to frustration on both ends because newer players get discouraged and quit, while long time pros constantly are bored and looking for an actual challenge.
Secondly, many of these games only reward a player for either excessively playing the map or learning a method to abuse the system. Again I believe the incentives of the maps are misguided because they are focusing on time played rather than challenge and accomplishment.
Keeping these two notions in mind my mod involves all of the normal functions found in tower defense games, such as teamwork, fixed income/resource management, and a wave system, but I have a few twists in strategy and winning conditions which modify the game.
- Please read to the end because the twists are there, HOWEVER skipping portions of this may not put you in the proper mind set to understand them.
The map, generally-
1. Consists of TWO Large bases (on a 1x elevated hill) on opposite ends of the map. Each base will house exactly half of the players on the map leading to two "teams". 2. At each Base there is one Large entrance where the creeps can enter. They will spawn in the middle of the map. 3. The spin is that Each larger base actually consists of 4-8 (doesn't matter) Smaller bases which are one the HIGHEST ground possible and the furthest from the middle. IF a player loses HIS base he is eliminated from the game. Each base has 3-5 mineral fields (depends on balance) to keep mineral counts low and balanced, for the beginning.
A) The goal is to make the game balanced such that the players MUST work as a team to survive the initial waves by defending the LARGER opening. As the game progresses teams / players can then decide how they wish to proceed. On the path to a players base there will be several choke points which will make it advantageous to WORK with other players to defend not only YOUR base, but theirs. 1) This is a good system because it will help noobs not die in the first 5 minutes bc of forceful teamwork. It will evolve the player base quite rapidly. Further, since the object is for YOU not to die one bad player cannot ruin a game, which is so common these days.
Another twist in the game is being able to send aura units as well as UPGRADE the creeps. However, the drawback is that those aura units could end up attacking you or your team. AND the upgrades affect EVERY neutral monster, so if you upgrade too early you could screw yourself.
4. WINNING THE GAME - 2 methods. 1 - Survive all 30 waves (however many we decide) "teamwork" 2 - Be the last player alive. "solo/kill em all"
The strategy will involve deciding whether to play as a team and defend a much larger choke, team up smaller within your base to defend advantageous "smaller chokes", Or just defend your own base (which is not viable until later). Further, depending on how you want to win the game - Survive the waves, or eliminate all the other players, you will manage your base accordingly. The fun is that it will allow multiple people to attempt different paths to victory. 1-2 ppl might try upgrading the creeps and turtle and try to kill everyone else first. Some people might team up and try to survive the 30 waves (not going to be an easy task)
This is just in the beginning stages, but I already have a map layout in mind. I am also open to other ideas as this is essentially just a concept and has not yet evolved into formation. I think that the premise stated is a great one and I hope that you do to.
Other concepts I wish to incorporate -
-Gas is a very scarce resource and even a handful of vespene can unlock upgrades. You can also build an entire "tier" of defense with gas OR can upgrade neutral creeps/send monsters to increase income. Balance is key.
-Doing away with the "tier" system and making each unit upgrade to a useful unit. Games which involve massing the "highest tier" over and over get old.
-Voting on modes before the game, such as Team v team, Smaller teams/ffa's, Straight up solo.
-Some sort of constant statistic tracking on kills/wins (not games or losses ppl dont like that)
-Constant hero which levels up. Leveling up will unlock certain things, but I do not want it to give s distinct competitive advantage - Players should not simply be rewarded for time spent playing.