I have custom hardware that, in theory, will make a player's APM twice as effective for certain micro intensive scenarios. However, theory is not good enough, so I am seeking to create a demo to both test and showcase the hardware's performance.
Therefore, I am seeking a team to create a marine splitting mini game with a heavy emphasis only on the player's control. Real SC2's marine splitting depends upon the player's timing, decisions, and stutter stepping. Since this mod is to showcase the effect the hardware has, the mini game's mechanics will diminish the effects those three factors have on marine splitting.
I have divided the project into five stages to outline the final design, and the project will be starting from scratch. The project has a lot of freedom for whoever volunteers, so long as the mini game's focus remains on the player's control in marine splitting.
Overview
The mod will begin as a single player offline experience. Online leaderboards and other online features are optional, but not required nor suggested. The mod's difficulty will scale by increasing and decreasing the game speed, and changing the length of the mini game. Each game will record how many waves were survived, the time survived, average APM, and the peak APM.
Starting up the map, the player will be prompted with a menu similar to the one below (partly made in SC2 editor, partly with image editing):
The player will be able to select the number of starting marines, the game speed (difficulty), and whether they are using the hardware or standard PC and mouse interface & controls. After selecting the mode, the map will give the player complete control. The waves of enemies will start once the player presses the start key. This allows the player to get in the groove of microing the marines and creating unit bindings before starting the mini game.
The player will control a number of Marines of 50, 100, 150, or 200. An enemy wave will be released every 5 seconds. Each enemy wave consists of two enemies: a Baneling and an Ultralisk. The Baneling is released first and 2.5 seconds later the Ultralisk will be released. Banelings are immune to damage meaning at least one Marine is guaranteed death each wave. Ultralisks have enough hp that all living Marines have to attack it, else the Ultralisk will kill additional Marines. Hence, the player will have to split a portion of the Marines against the Baneling, and then regroup the Marines together to be within range of killing the Ultralisk.
The Marine
The Marines may be better represented as Ghosts, as they will not have stim and will have a slow rate of fire. Each Marine will only be able to shoot once per 4 seconds, meaning Ultralisks will rampage through the Marines if a single Marine is out of range. The Marine's attack range will also be a function of the number of Marines currently alive. The reasoning for this is to allow the player to only micro around 50 Marines at a time and force the player to constantly change their selected and hot keyed marines. The mod will indicate to the player what Marines will be out of range of the Ultralisk.
Health: 1
Speed: 2.0 relative to the others
Damage: 1 (4 second cooldown)
Range: function(number of Marines alive)
Movement: No-clip while in movement; first Marine standing still in a place cannot be budged
Attack Move: Can attack while in movement
The Baneling
The Baneling is released first for each wave, and is what ensures that the game will draw to an end. The Baneling is immune to damage and being targeted. It's splash radius is just enough to force the player to be precise with his/her Marine placement. The Baneling will have AI that makes it target the Marine where it will kill the most Marines. However, the Baneling will need some AI conditions to prevent the player from kiting it, so after 4 seconds the Baneling will lock on to its target.
Health: immune
Speed: 5.0
Damage: 1
Splash Radius: 2.5x Marine size
AI: Targets largest Marine crowd with a factor of distance; locks its target after 4 seconds
Movement: No-clip
The Ultralisk
The Ultralisk is the tool to force the player to regroup the Marines. Like any other Ultralisk, it likes chopping Marines into a fine salad. Its health is equal to the number of Marines. Since only Marines who have already attacked would ever be within range, when a Marine dies to an Ultralisk it's current hp remains the same but total hp is reduced.
Health: function(number of Marines alive)
Speed: 3.0
Damage: 1
Splash Radius: 2.5x Marine size
AI: Targets nearest Marine
Movement: No-clip
The Map
The playing field for the mini game is within an enclosed valley with some doors leading off screen where the enemy units spawn. The ideal Marine splitting locations are marked with any kind of prop such as lights. Marines are unable to enter the area around the doors (creep).
The following example image has some additional grid lines to show roughly how the Marine's varying ranges come into play:
Stage 2 is advanced balance testing and updating the UI to give as much information as possible.
Balance Marine attack range (make the ranges roughly equal difficult at each number of Marines)
UI indicator of current Marine attack range (visual indicator of what Marines may or are out of range)
UI indicator of Marines with attack off cooldown (visual indicator that a Marine is ready to fire)
Stage 3: Leaderboards & Testing
Stage 3 is advanced difficulty testing and integration of personal and/or online leaderboards.
Request testing by a pro player (determine if the max difficulty is correct, determine if the mini game feels genuine)
Create local leaderboards (record: time, # of waves, average APM, peak APM over 10 seconds; online optional)
Stage 4: Hardware Compatibility
Stage 4 is taking the hardware's output and putting it to use in SC2.
Extract the hardware's XML inputs
Perform any necessary calculations
Use inputs to manipulate unit control & selection
Stage 5: Hardware Advanced UI
Stage 5 is creating the advanced UI for the hardware.
Create new UI to appear over the default UI when toggled
Update the UI to correspond to the inputs
(unlikely) Stage 6: Implement Hardware to Standard SC2 Multiplayer
Stage 6 will only occur if the hardware can work for online mods. If it works, then it will be attempted to take the UI from Stages 4 & 5 and implement them into standard SC2 gameplay, adding compatibility for the rest of the units and buildings.
Contact
If you are interested in volunteering, send me a PM for specific details on your selected Stages. Each stage can be broken up even further, so more than one person may volunteer. If you have any general questions or concerns, post them here.
Prologue
I have custom hardware that, in theory, will make a player's APM twice as effective for certain micro intensive scenarios. However, theory is not good enough, so I am seeking to create a demo to both test and showcase the hardware's performance.
Therefore, I am seeking a team to create a marine splitting mini game with a heavy emphasis only on the player's control. Real SC2's marine splitting depends upon the player's timing, decisions, and stutter stepping. Since this mod is to showcase the effect the hardware has, the mini game's mechanics will diminish the effects those three factors have on marine splitting.
I have divided the project into five stages to outline the final design, and the project will be starting from scratch. The project has a lot of freedom for whoever volunteers, so long as the mini game's focus remains on the player's control in marine splitting.
Overview
The mod will begin as a single player offline experience. Online leaderboards and other online features are optional, but not required nor suggested. The mod's difficulty will scale by increasing and decreasing the game speed, and changing the length of the mini game. Each game will record how many waves were survived, the time survived, average APM, and the peak APM.
Starting up the map, the player will be prompted with a menu similar to the one below (partly made in SC2 editor, partly with image editing):
The player will be able to select the number of starting marines, the game speed (difficulty), and whether they are using the hardware or standard PC and mouse interface & controls. After selecting the mode, the map will give the player complete control. The waves of enemies will start once the player presses the start key. This allows the player to get in the groove of microing the marines and creating unit bindings before starting the mini game.
The Units
The player will control a number of Marines of 50, 100, 150, or 200. An enemy wave will be released every 5 seconds. Each enemy wave consists of two enemies: a Baneling and an Ultralisk. The Baneling is released first and 2.5 seconds later the Ultralisk will be released. Banelings are immune to damage meaning at least one Marine is guaranteed death each wave. Ultralisks have enough hp that all living Marines have to attack it, else the Ultralisk will kill additional Marines. Hence, the player will have to split a portion of the Marines against the Baneling, and then regroup the Marines together to be within range of killing the Ultralisk.
The Marine
The Marines may be better represented as Ghosts, as they will not have stim and will have a slow rate of fire. Each Marine will only be able to shoot once per 4 seconds, meaning Ultralisks will rampage through the Marines if a single Marine is out of range. The Marine's attack range will also be a function of the number of Marines currently alive. The reasoning for this is to allow the player to only micro around 50 Marines at a time and force the player to constantly change their selected and hot keyed marines. The mod will indicate to the player what Marines will be out of range of the Ultralisk.
The Baneling
The Baneling is released first for each wave, and is what ensures that the game will draw to an end. The Baneling is immune to damage and being targeted. It's splash radius is just enough to force the player to be precise with his/her Marine placement. The Baneling will have AI that makes it target the Marine where it will kill the most Marines. However, the Baneling will need some AI conditions to prevent the player from kiting it, so after 4 seconds the Baneling will lock on to its target.
The Ultralisk
The Ultralisk is the tool to force the player to regroup the Marines. Like any other Ultralisk, it likes chopping Marines into a fine salad. Its health is equal to the number of Marines. Since only Marines who have already attacked would ever be within range, when a Marine dies to an Ultralisk it's current hp remains the same but total hp is reduced.
The Map
The playing field for the mini game is within an enclosed valley with some doors leading off screen where the enemy units spawn. The ideal Marine splitting locations are marked with any kind of prop such as lights. Marines are unable to enter the area around the doors (creep).
The following example image has some additional grid lines to show roughly how the Marine's varying ranges come into play:
Stages
Only Stage 1 serves as a prerequisite to any other stage.
Stage 1: Mod Creation
Stage 1 consists of creating the base mod with all the essentials. All other stages will require Stage 1 to be near completion.
Stage 2: Advanced UI
Stage 2 is advanced balance testing and updating the UI to give as much information as possible.
Stage 3: Leaderboards & Testing
Stage 3 is advanced difficulty testing and integration of personal and/or online leaderboards.
Stage 4: Hardware Compatibility
Stage 4 is taking the hardware's output and putting it to use in SC2.
Stage 5: Hardware Advanced UI
Stage 5 is creating the advanced UI for the hardware.
(unlikely) Stage 6: Implement Hardware to Standard SC2 Multiplayer
Stage 6 will only occur if the hardware can work for online mods. If it works, then it will be attempted to take the UI from Stages 4 & 5 and implement them into standard SC2 gameplay, adding compatibility for the rest of the units and buildings.
Contact
If you are interested in volunteering, send me a PM for specific details on your selected Stages. Each stage can be broken up even further, so more than one person may volunteer. If you have any general questions or concerns, post them here.