Hi, thanks for coming by, have a seat. There is a thing I want to do – I want to make an RPG map. But the problem is, I don’t know how to. So I would sincerely love to hear everyone’s thoughts on what makes an RPG map, and what you would do if you made one yourself.
It doesn’t have to be in sc2 style – bw/wc3 designs are appreciated just as much (especially since I missed out on wc3 era).
What am I planning to do with the information I receive is that I want to make an RPG map, but I’m well aware of my limits, with regular 8(9) hour daywork, making something “usual” would take a few years minimum, but burnout and abandonment are the most likely results. Since I don’t want it to eat out my life, I’ll protect myself with constraints.
For example: RPGs are traditionally massive, using full maps size, so I’ll cut maps max dimensions in either half (128x128) or even more, and see if I can better focus on stuffs I can cram into limited space.
Also, since I really don’t want it to eat me away, it’s best to make it quickly – development time of 3 months (with maybe additional month cause things always take longer than planned).
After I decide on restrictions I’ll post them here and go on to make the map. To relieve myself of ambitions and pretentiousness map will have a simple name of “Ducks Mini RPG”. It would be fantastic if there was someone else wanting to try this experiment alongside with me, just to compare how different people approach same restraints, but mapmaking scene probably does not have enough people for that.
With all this said, please, share what makes/made rpg maps “tick” to you? Is it the journey from A to B, is it playing map over and over again to get better items, the progressions through multiple difficulties, the item interactions with characters, the quests, the shops, the boss fights, the stories?
Start mapping out the terrain. Don't ACTUALLY terrain it, just map it out. Just open paint and start drawing. Map out the key areas and then how those areas will connect. Here's what my map plans generally look like;
Import your plan into your map under "Assets/Textures/MapTemplate.dds" and place the "Map Template doodad in your map. Choose a theme and build your terrain. This is the brick and mortar of your map. I'd recommend not trying to build an rpg that uses multiple terrain themes. It can work but the 8 texture limit is a real thorn in the side.
Get all the textures in place. Don't bother with doodads or blending until you're 110% sure of your setting. And most importantly, COMPLETE THE ENTIRE PREVIOUS STEP before bothering to add detail, because changing areas is a nightmare after blending/doodads are in.
Trust me, adding in connections between areas is a nightmare without proper planning. Now, blend it up and it's good to go. Don't stress over doodads or making it look pretty. Just make it functional.
Yes this is a PvP map, but the above steps still apply.
Now make a hero. One. A single one. No, don't jump the gun and build like 12. One. What stats do you want in play? What system are you going for? You need to plan this system out before you make your heroes. If it's a simple wc3 style stat system then continue on. If it's a more complicated diablo style stat system then you need to build every ability and weapon to support those stats. Believe me, it'll be a headache later.
Make your hero work. Give him a weapon and make whatever abilities fit. If you need advice on making a hero, then just pick an element (frost, fire, earth), think what the strengths of that element are and design abilities that fit those strengths. Say, fire for instance, deals a lot of damage but is wreckless or expensive. Earth is resistant to damage but slow and cumbersome. Advantages AND disadvantages.
Add items that fit your hero and creeps that will challenge your hero. Add a place to heal, a way to revive and perhaps a place to shop. Make about 15-30min of content.
Upload it. Yes, I'm serious. Get it live. Maps have a nasty tendency to languish in a broken state because often fixing the broken parts is boring as hell. But you've got a working foundation here, and all you need to do is build on it.
Grab a friend. Play it. Listen to their reactions closely. Don't try to put your own point of view in. Just listen to everything. Every question they ask is something your game didn't explain well enough. Also, is it fun? Do YOU find it fun? Why not? Close the editor down. Go for a walk. Something out of the way. Grab a coffee, whatever, just do something where you're nowhere near your map, and think what you'd do to improve it. Develop a vision for it, and work towards it.
Keep it functional at all times. Don't let it slip into a broken state with the intent of "Oh I'll fix that later".
This is how I start my projects.
Onto what I like about RPGs? Strong progression mechanics. Interesting choices. And if it's an RPG, then it needs setting. Even if it's just something as simple and overused as "we're under threat and we need to prepare for the coming invasion" as you ready yourself and your allies for the final battle.
Give me a reason to play it again that doesn't involve my items carrying over (which invariably makes you too strong). This is a minor point from a development standpoint and should come later down the line, but it's important.
Lastly, forget all notions of pretentiousness. Love your projects, and other people will too.
I'm making my own rpg since forever. I have a lot of stuff done in data, i have a few sketched control schemes in triggers, i have few realy complex and fun AI behaviors for ranged and melee NPCs (targeting shots in moving player, like shooting ahead, perfect kiting in groups and solo, etc.). I just left my map in that state and i can't finish it. I did a lot of stuff but when i realized how many more need to be done i just couldn't find motivation to invest that much time in it. Basicaly at start i wanted everything perfect: perfect spells visualisation, perfect controls/UI, AI, etc. I did a lot of test maps and realised that all of my ideas turned out to be amazing but the truth is it takes forever to make such quality content by 1 person. Ofcourse i can group up but it's kind of hard to keep other people motivated to implement YOUR ideas.
I realy suggest you to make accent just on ONE particular feature of your map, for example:
- Quality and visualy appealing abilities
- Dialog system / Quests
- Loot generator
- Boss fights
- 2-3 different endings depending on option that player choose, etc.
I think the best example of what scale of RPG you can achieve in 3 month is very old map "Fate of Hephaestus" on arcade. It realy have a ton of problems and is realy boring but you can take it like a primitive template. Basicaly what you want to make is some story around one particular event that occurs somewhere in sc universe. All being said above is IMHO ofc. I have no succesful experience in that area :)
@TyaArcade: Go
That’s a great amount of experience right there Tya, thank you so much for posting. Also had no idea about the map template thingy, looks handy!
Give me a reason to play it again that doesn't involve my items carrying over (which invariably makes you too strong).
Something like randomization and/or variety of choices to pursue? It does scream “plan ahead”. At first I also was an advocate of major pre-planning before starting work, but then as I worked I discovered that nothing would ever go as planned, things expanded in unforeseeable directions, making me believe that it’s important to start with the core idea – implement it and see where it takes you since 80% of my plans would become outdated. But all of those works were co-op, and none got finished, and above all I was inexperienced and bad.
Feels like I’m getting the gist of it. The driving force behind an rpg is it’s systems. I plan the skeleton, and as I create bones, meat&skin (content based on systems) will come naturally. I’m just feeling that my head will explode if I pre-plan maps layout since it also means preplanning how map plays from start to closure, including all the enemy encounters/items/quests and whatnot.
Solid advices to wrap your head around it for sure.
@Trieva: Go
You mentioned that you like games that you can finish in very short amount of time. Does it mean that you’d enjoy a map that saves your items, since it means that you can go out, kill a monster, get a new thing and call your play session finished since you just had a permanent gain for your time?
Variety of choices comes up again I see. No wonder. Oh and I like challenges too, it’s a beautiful idea.
@abvdzh: Go
I remember seeing the things you’ve mentioned, the intercepting jumping yetis :D And that stone zealot throwing stone pillars is stuff I don’t even dream to achieve. Guess I’m a little bit bad on the technical side of things. Also, since I’m talking to you now, I really wanted to say that I greatly appreciated all those demos you put out on data help threads, I even used the whirlwind demo to make my DT spin like Zeratul. Thanks to your kindness the work on the map I was recently making got greatly sped up! <3
Just replayed “"Fate of Hephaestus” and it’s really a good example of small scope story map. Rather curious.
@Trieva: Go
Yeah, I’ve seen plenty of EC episodes. I can’t help but to feel that their advice is good when you’re engineering games for a particular goal of attracting audience/penny. You research your target demographic, test and receive feedback about how your customers will feel about the product. Iron out the flaws and make sure that the appeal is broad. It’s hard for me to accept the science when I’ve always thought of it being more like magic. Even tho even magic has its rules.
What I’m trying to say is that it appealing to majority isn’t as important for me as it appealing to myself, and just somehow, I’m not sure how, these wisdoms intervene.
Also, it’s difficult for me to “Get players into your game as early and as frequently as possible”, as it means stealing away from the initial discovery. If I invite someone to test my rpg when it’s only say 35% done, they will never experience the rush of discovery from 0% to 100%, since you know, there is no time like the first one. I don’t want to have that regret ;_; So I invite testers only when I think it’s more or less complete.
About the deadlines and worry, well, you could say that I believe that there is growth to be acquired when working under restraints. And insight. I spent about a year working on a roguelike rpg map only to face distress and burnout, because it turned out that while random items, randomly generated floors and secrets are all good, I had utterly no idea about how to create good combat. Couldn’t make it work, spent following year maniacally playing a competetive sc2 map because I just couldn’t touch editor at all after that failure. (some of my former playmates would surely say #copingReasons)
So now I crave experience. And am impatient, cause I realize my lack of insight on things can only be acquired by work.
But yea, kinda funny, I speak earlier about how I’m not hunting for mass appeal and yet this might be just the thing I’ll think about trying out because of RtC, especially since this time I’m eligible. I suppose it's a good time to visit that EC channel, see what's new..
This sure is a long post. Why did I type so many letters when the only thing I meant to say was “thanks for coming by guys, your experiences really stimulate thinking”.
First decide on the scale because if you want to make a big rpg you can overcome the map size limitations to an extent by shrinking all doodads and units and then zooming the camera in closer.
Make all the game systems functional and bug free first then do the applications.
Also avoid issues that would require bank resets.
There are opposing preferences with rpgs as seen in the above posts some like a long hard session while others like quick sessions. For those that like the total reset item wise maybe have an option when creating a character.
With quests consider having quests requiring other quests to be completed first but once you have unlocked the quest once you can go straight to it on the replay?
Some RPGs have item crafting/combination systems.
As stated above story is very important
Power scaling with levels so early monsters do not become jokes at higher levels while tougher monsters still remain tough. Maybe have monster stats have a gain based on your level with some sigmoidal or tangential gain function.
Abilities must scale with your stats to stop situations where your normal attack makes using abilities pointless because your weapon does infinitely more damage than the abilities.
NPC participation/dynamics can add a lot of character. Ally forces that follow you or expand as you clear or enemies that do not stand still waiting to be killed but flank and hunt you or retreat if alone.
Heroes should try to avoid sharing the same skills or similar feeling skills where possible
Avoid having an unkillable map maker avatar boss because those are just annoying.
Also consider your terrain textures used because the right combination can create a large range of environments using the same tile set especially when combined with texture plastering doodads.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Contribute to the wiki (Wiki button at top of page) Considered easy altering of the unit textures?
I'd like to add to this as the RPG topic is very tempting for me. Honestly it's the only type of games i ever enjoyed playing. WC3, Dota and somewhat SC have few rpg elements thus included in my list.
Also a bit confusing to see the people above realy equiping you for the trip on MARS when you want just a bicycle ride on a picnic.
So as you want some realy simple RPG i suggest your planning starts from shaping out the area where the story takes place.
Here is some of my thoughts about it:
1) Player's Character survived the crash on some hostile planet. As character proceeds through the area he encounters different types of enemies and collecting usefull items (for example this is not actual items rather unlocking abilities) from a dead members of a crew. Not so far from the starting point, player will find the aircraft and a few or one survivor as himself. This will be like town for a classic rpg map. For example you can make so the survivor is the technician or a captain who knows how to fix the resque pod from your ship but he needs some spare parts that you could found in wreck area. After player finishing few quests team of survivors finding their way to salvation.
This is good setup for day/night hero defence like left2die. You see, its realy difficult to setup good combats in a small maps, i tested this dozens of times, it's mostly because any interesting combat mechanics in a top-down view like sc implies kiting/dodging skillshots, knockbacks, pathing manipulation, etc. And if you have a fast enemies or will increase the character speed with some stat bonuses that improve combat the map will immediately shrinks from small to tiny with no place to disperce. So to solve this in best way you can put player's character build to the trial just by sending waves of enemies on him. This map/story setup is providing you with that possibility: at some point you can trigger the onslaught of beasts on camp of survivors.
2) The whole map is a city (korhal?). The story is all about conspiracy and intrigues. The key feature for such kind of map may be custom dialog system with lots of dialog options for player to choose (4-6). This could be like a good text rpg. If you want to complicate the things you could add some stealth elements, or maybe you will figure out interesting gameplay mechanic with the road traffic in the city...
Same type of dialog based rpg could take place in prison.
3)The whole map is divided by 2 area types. 1st is exterior (low ground), some mysterious wastelands. 2nd is interior (high ground) it is some science facility (moebius?) where player's character being send as a merceneary to coop with a scientist(s) which performing dangerous research. So basicaly you take quests from scientist(s) and go in wastelands to accomplish the task. This could lead to few different endings whenever you choose to mess with experiment and blow up the facility or do the job and take your money. As a progression system for such map you can choose the combat suit approach, where after few quests you will be able to choose from few different suits like firebat/marauder/sniper each with unique abilities.
As i mentioned in a previous post, choose just one area to focus on be that triggers, data or cinematics. Because even making a fully functional, bug free hero unit with a fully custom made 4-5 multi level skills is already quite a challenge.
---------------------------------------------
Also create a thread with your project as you will start it. Doesn't matter you finish it or not it will be still interesting to watch your progress. gl.
The third idea is pretty neat! I initially thought about Diablo2 styled multiplayer minirpg, but now I'm beginning to think that a single-player mission driven game might be more insightful. Also would help me develop my non-existent storytelling skill (God, after hating on blizz for murdering sc lore I'm gonna do even worse :<).
But right now I'm hesitant, the RtC contest has put my thoughts into disarray. I kinda adore contests, so will have to try to make something at least half decent in upcoming 3 months (what can you make in 3 months anyway :0).
Hi, thanks for coming by, have a seat. There is a thing I want to do – I want to make an RPG map. But the problem is, I don’t know how to. So I would sincerely love to hear everyone’s thoughts on what makes an RPG map, and what you would do if you made one yourself.
It doesn’t have to be in sc2 style – bw/wc3 designs are appreciated just as much (especially since I missed out on wc3 era).
What am I planning to do with the information I receive is that I want to make an RPG map, but I’m well aware of my limits, with regular 8(9) hour daywork, making something “usual” would take a few years minimum, but burnout and abandonment are the most likely results. Since I don’t want it to eat out my life, I’ll protect myself with constraints.
For example: RPGs are traditionally massive, using full maps size, so I’ll cut maps max dimensions in either half (128x128) or even more, and see if I can better focus on stuffs I can cram into limited space.
Also, since I really don’t want it to eat me away, it’s best to make it quickly – development time of 3 months (with maybe additional month cause things always take longer than planned).
After I decide on restrictions I’ll post them here and go on to make the map. To relieve myself of ambitions and pretentiousness map will have a simple name of “Ducks Mini RPG”. It would be fantastic if there was someone else wanting to try this experiment alongside with me, just to compare how different people approach same restraints, but mapmaking scene probably does not have enough people for that.
With all this said, please, share what makes/made rpg maps “tick” to you? Is it the journey from A to B, is it playing map over and over again to get better items, the progressions through multiple difficulties, the item interactions with characters, the quests, the shops, the boss fights, the stories?
Thanks! :>
Plan. Plan. Plan.
Start mapping out the terrain. Don't ACTUALLY terrain it, just map it out. Just open paint and start drawing. Map out the key areas and then how those areas will connect. Here's what my map plans generally look like;
Import your plan into your map under "Assets/Textures/MapTemplate.dds" and place the "Map Template doodad in your map. Choose a theme and build your terrain. This is the brick and mortar of your map. I'd recommend not trying to build an rpg that uses multiple terrain themes. It can work but the 8 texture limit is a real thorn in the side.
Get all the textures in place. Don't bother with doodads or blending until you're 110% sure of your setting. And most importantly, COMPLETE THE ENTIRE PREVIOUS STEP before bothering to add detail, because changing areas is a nightmare after blending/doodads are in.
Trust me, adding in connections between areas is a nightmare without proper planning. Now, blend it up and it's good to go. Don't stress over doodads or making it look pretty. Just make it functional.
Yes this is a PvP map, but the above steps still apply.
Now make a hero. One. A single one. No, don't jump the gun and build like 12. One. What stats do you want in play? What system are you going for? You need to plan this system out before you make your heroes. If it's a simple wc3 style stat system then continue on. If it's a more complicated diablo style stat system then you need to build every ability and weapon to support those stats. Believe me, it'll be a headache later.
Make your hero work. Give him a weapon and make whatever abilities fit. If you need advice on making a hero, then just pick an element (frost, fire, earth), think what the strengths of that element are and design abilities that fit those strengths. Say, fire for instance, deals a lot of damage but is wreckless or expensive. Earth is resistant to damage but slow and cumbersome. Advantages AND disadvantages.
Add items that fit your hero and creeps that will challenge your hero. Add a place to heal, a way to revive and perhaps a place to shop. Make about 15-30min of content.
Upload it. Yes, I'm serious. Get it live. Maps have a nasty tendency to languish in a broken state because often fixing the broken parts is boring as hell. But you've got a working foundation here, and all you need to do is build on it.
Grab a friend. Play it. Listen to their reactions closely. Don't try to put your own point of view in. Just listen to everything. Every question they ask is something your game didn't explain well enough. Also, is it fun? Do YOU find it fun? Why not? Close the editor down. Go for a walk. Something out of the way. Grab a coffee, whatever, just do something where you're nowhere near your map, and think what you'd do to improve it. Develop a vision for it, and work towards it.
Keep it functional at all times. Don't let it slip into a broken state with the intent of "Oh I'll fix that later".
This is how I start my projects.
Onto what I like about RPGs? Strong progression mechanics. Interesting choices. And if it's an RPG, then it needs setting. Even if it's just something as simple and overused as "we're under threat and we need to prepare for the coming invasion" as you ready yourself and your allies for the final battle.
Give me a reason to play it again that doesn't involve my items carrying over (which invariably makes you too strong). This is a minor point from a development standpoint and should come later down the line, but it's important.
Lastly, forget all notions of pretentiousness. Love your projects, and other people will too.
I'm making my own rpg since forever. I have a lot of stuff done in data, i have a few sketched control schemes in triggers, i have few realy complex and fun AI behaviors for ranged and melee NPCs (targeting shots in moving player, like shooting ahead, perfect kiting in groups and solo, etc.). I just left my map in that state and i can't finish it. I did a lot of stuff but when i realized how many more need to be done i just couldn't find motivation to invest that much time in it. Basicaly at start i wanted everything perfect: perfect spells visualisation, perfect controls/UI, AI, etc. I did a lot of test maps and realised that all of my ideas turned out to be amazing but the truth is it takes forever to make such quality content by 1 person. Ofcourse i can group up but it's kind of hard to keep other people motivated to implement YOUR ideas.
I realy suggest you to make accent just on ONE particular feature of your map, for example:
- Quality and visualy appealing abilities
- Dialog system / Quests
- Loot generator
- Boss fights
- 2-3 different endings depending on option that player choose, etc.
I think the best example of what scale of RPG you can achieve in 3 month is very old map "Fate of Hephaestus" on arcade. It realy have a ton of problems and is realy boring but you can take it like a primitive template. Basicaly what you want to make is some story around one particular event that occurs somewhere in sc universe. All being said above is IMHO ofc. I have no succesful experience in that area :)
@TyaArcade: Go
That’s a great amount of experience right there Tya, thank you so much for posting. Also had no idea about the map template thingy, looks handy!
Something like randomization and/or variety of choices to pursue? It does scream “plan ahead”. At first I also was an advocate of major pre-planning before starting work, but then as I worked I discovered that nothing would ever go as planned, things expanded in unforeseeable directions, making me believe that it’s important to start with the core idea – implement it and see where it takes you since 80% of my plans would become outdated. But all of those works were co-op, and none got finished, and above all I was inexperienced and bad.
Feels like I’m getting the gist of it. The driving force behind an rpg is it’s systems. I plan the skeleton, and as I create bones, meat&skin (content based on systems) will come naturally. I’m just feeling that my head will explode if I pre-plan maps layout since it also means preplanning how map plays from start to closure, including all the enemy encounters/items/quests and whatnot.
Solid advices to wrap your head around it for sure.
@Trieva: Go
You mentioned that you like games that you can finish in very short amount of time. Does it mean that you’d enjoy a map that saves your items, since it means that you can go out, kill a monster, get a new thing and call your play session finished since you just had a permanent gain for your time?
Variety of choices comes up again I see. No wonder. Oh and I like challenges too, it’s a beautiful idea.
@abvdzh: Go
I remember seeing the things you’ve mentioned, the intercepting jumping yetis :D And that stone zealot throwing stone pillars is stuff I don’t even dream to achieve. Guess I’m a little bit bad on the technical side of things. Also, since I’m talking to you now, I really wanted to say that I greatly appreciated all those demos you put out on data help threads, I even used the whirlwind demo to make my DT spin like Zeratul. Thanks to your kindness the work on the map I was recently making got greatly sped up! <3
Just replayed “"Fate of Hephaestus” and it’s really a good example of small scope story map. Rather curious.
@Trieva: Go
Yeah, I’ve seen plenty of EC episodes. I can’t help but to feel that their advice is good when you’re engineering games for a particular goal of attracting audience/penny. You research your target demographic, test and receive feedback about how your customers will feel about the product. Iron out the flaws and make sure that the appeal is broad. It’s hard for me to accept the science when I’ve always thought of it being more like magic. Even tho even magic has its rules.
What I’m trying to say is that it appealing to majority isn’t as important for me as it appealing to myself, and just somehow, I’m not sure how, these wisdoms intervene.
Also, it’s difficult for me to “Get players into your game as early and as frequently as possible”, as it means stealing away from the initial discovery. If I invite someone to test my rpg when it’s only say 35% done, they will never experience the rush of discovery from 0% to 100%, since you know, there is no time like the first one. I don’t want to have that regret ;_; So I invite testers only when I think it’s more or less complete.
About the deadlines and worry, well, you could say that I believe that there is growth to be acquired when working under restraints. And insight. I spent about a year working on a roguelike rpg map only to face distress and burnout, because it turned out that while random items, randomly generated floors and secrets are all good, I had utterly no idea about how to create good combat. Couldn’t make it work, spent following year maniacally playing a competetive sc2 map because I just couldn’t touch editor at all after that failure. (some of my former playmates would surely say #copingReasons)
So now I crave experience. And am impatient, cause I realize my lack of insight on things can only be acquired by work.
But yea, kinda funny, I speak earlier about how I’m not hunting for mass appeal and yet this might be just the thing I’ll think about trying out because of RtC, especially since this time I’m eligible. I suppose it's a good time to visit that EC channel, see what's new..
_______________________________________________________________________
This sure is a long post. Why did I type so many letters when the only thing I meant to say was “thanks for coming by guys, your experiences really stimulate thinking”.
Aaand that sounds creepy. Oh well ,_,
I really do mean well, thanks!
@DuckyTheDuck: Go
First decide on the scale because if you want to make a big rpg you can overcome the map size limitations to an extent by shrinking all doodads and units and then zooming the camera in closer.
Make all the game systems functional and bug free first then do the applications.
Also avoid issues that would require bank resets.
There are opposing preferences with rpgs as seen in the above posts some like a long hard session while others like quick sessions. For those that like the total reset item wise maybe have an option when creating a character.
With quests consider having quests requiring other quests to be completed first but once you have unlocked the quest once you can go straight to it on the replay?
Some RPGs have item crafting/combination systems.
As stated above story is very important
Power scaling with levels so early monsters do not become jokes at higher levels while tougher monsters still remain tough. Maybe have monster stats have a gain based on your level with some sigmoidal or tangential gain function.
Abilities must scale with your stats to stop situations where your normal attack makes using abilities pointless because your weapon does infinitely more damage than the abilities.
NPC participation/dynamics can add a lot of character. Ally forces that follow you or expand as you clear or enemies that do not stand still waiting to be killed but flank and hunt you or retreat if alone.
Heroes should try to avoid sharing the same skills or similar feeling skills where possible
Avoid having an unkillable map maker avatar boss because those are just annoying.
Also consider your terrain textures used because the right combination can create a large range of environments using the same tile set especially when combined with texture plastering doodads.
Contribute to the wiki (Wiki button at top of page) Considered easy altering of the unit textures?
https://www.sc2mapster.com/forums/resources/tutorials/179654-data-actor-events-message-texture-select-by-id
https://media.forgecdn.net/attachments/187/40/Screenshot2011-04-17_09_16_21.jpg
I'd like to add to this as the RPG topic is very tempting for me. Honestly it's the only type of games i ever enjoyed playing. WC3, Dota and somewhat SC have few rpg elements thus included in my list.
Also a bit confusing to see the people above realy equiping you for the trip on MARS when you want just a bicycle ride on a picnic.
So as you want some realy simple RPG i suggest your planning starts from shaping out the area where the story takes place.
Here is some of my thoughts about it:
1) Player's Character survived the crash on some hostile planet. As character proceeds through the area he encounters different types of enemies and collecting usefull items (for example this is not actual items rather unlocking abilities) from a dead members of a crew. Not so far from the starting point, player will find the aircraft and a few or one survivor as himself. This will be like town for a classic rpg map. For example you can make so the survivor is the technician or a captain who knows how to fix the resque pod from your ship but he needs some spare parts that you could found in wreck area. After player finishing few quests team of survivors finding their way to salvation.
This is good setup for day/night hero defence like left2die. You see, its realy difficult to setup good combats in a small maps, i tested this dozens of times, it's mostly because any interesting combat mechanics in a top-down view like sc implies kiting/dodging skillshots, knockbacks, pathing manipulation, etc. And if you have a fast enemies or will increase the character speed with some stat bonuses that improve combat the map will immediately shrinks from small to tiny with no place to disperce. So to solve this in best way you can put player's character build to the trial just by sending waves of enemies on him. This map/story setup is providing you with that possibility: at some point you can trigger the onslaught of beasts on camp of survivors.
2) The whole map is a city (korhal?). The story is all about conspiracy and intrigues. The key feature for such kind of map may be custom dialog system with lots of dialog options for player to choose (4-6). This could be like a good text rpg. If you want to complicate the things you could add some stealth elements, or maybe you will figure out interesting gameplay mechanic with the road traffic in the city...
Same type of dialog based rpg could take place in prison.
3)The whole map is divided by 2 area types. 1st is exterior (low ground), some mysterious wastelands. 2nd is interior (high ground) it is some science facility (moebius?) where player's character being send as a merceneary to coop with a scientist(s) which performing dangerous research. So basicaly you take quests from scientist(s) and go in wastelands to accomplish the task. This could lead to few different endings whenever you choose to mess with experiment and blow up the facility or do the job and take your money. As a progression system for such map you can choose the combat suit approach, where after few quests you will be able to choose from few different suits like firebat/marauder/sniper each with unique abilities.
As i mentioned in a previous post, choose just one area to focus on be that triggers, data or cinematics. Because even making a fully functional, bug free hero unit with a fully custom made 4-5 multi level skills is already quite a challenge.
---------------------------------------------Also create a thread with your project as you will start it. Doesn't matter you finish it or not it will be still interesting to watch your progress. gl.
@DrSuperEvil: Go
Thank you for the input!
@Trieva: Go
Fair enough!
@abvdzh: Go
The third idea is pretty neat! I initially thought about Diablo2 styled multiplayer minirpg, but now I'm beginning to think that a single-player mission driven game might be more insightful. Also would help me develop my non-existent storytelling skill (God, after hating on blizz for murdering sc lore I'm gonna do even worse :<).
But right now I'm hesitant, the RtC contest has put my thoughts into disarray. I kinda adore contests, so will have to try to make something at least half decent in upcoming 3 months (what can you make in 3 months anyway :0).
Man, what a bad timing on my part.