Background
So I always loved the gameplay of turn-based strategy.
Ever since the launch of SC2 I'd been in love with the idea of the kind of gameplay Warhammer 40k tabletop offers, combined with the SC2 world and engine.
Eventually I started working on this map and set out to achieve something like that premise, with the following goals;
Squad based, turn based combat
Advanced customization options
Credit/unlocking system
FUN AND BALANCED!
I'd like to think I achieved, or at least nearly achieved, most of those goals. The last one I don't know since I've been in lack of testers.
Mechanics
Turn-based: So I've testing a lot of different things. At first I had each turn seperated into Movement, Shooting and then Close combat. But eventually they all merged into a single turn, to reduce the amount of wait when you're watching the enemies turn. Still, I wanted movement to punish attacking, so this is how I solved it; Each unit may Move, Attack and/or use an Ability. If a unit moves, it will deal 1 less damage on its Attack command that turn. If a unit Attacks, it may not move that turn. Using an Ability does not effect either.
Also, to reduce the turn-timer the timer is calculated through how many units the person on each team with the largest amount of units. (More units, more time-consuming rounds).
Squad-based: When you select a unit, each unit in that squad are automatically selected. This is necessary for units to move coherently. So far the only weaknesses of this is that I have to use a customized Move-command which sadly does not permit *right-clicking*, so you'll manually have to press M or Move each time you move a unit. Also, drag-selecting can not be enabled as it interferes with the script.
Combat: At first I was considering making it a complete warhammer replica, using armor saves, toughness, armor penetration etc. But it all felt too random and like lack of control when the player wasn't holding the actual dice and everything just happened very quickly.
Now I am using a simple and easy-to-understand system with attack damage and armor. Each unit has an attack value and armor value. If the attack value is higher then the armor, hit points are lost according to how much damage is dealt above armor. No damage is dealt to units with equal to or higher armor then the incoming attack, so a low-damaging unit can never kill a highly armored unit such as a tank.
Morale: Energy is Morale. Morale is lost primarily when nearby units die and by special abilities that affect morale. It is slowly recovered but there are other abilities that can recover and boost Morale. When a unit goes below 5 morale, it breaks and deals almost no damage and takes additional damage. These units are tinted into a red color to indicate they're broken.
Credits: Credits are awarded after each game and are used to unlock more advanced units and customization such as portraits.
I'll describe the gameplay using the pictures below:
This is the main screen you see when starting a game.
The map will remember the previously used army for each race, so you can easily switch between them on "Select Army" to the left.
"Manage Army Setup" takes you to each races army setup screen where you can customize a new army type.
The army list you currently have selected is displayed under "Active Army List".
Under "North Team"/"South Team" you get a brief player description with the active players, their races and if they're ready or not.
There will also be a timer here, if you do not select army in time it will use the default one.
To the right you will have portraits for each player, mousing over this portrait will show player stats for this game and total games.
This is what the "Manage Army Setup" screen look like, for terran. You can choose between previously unlocked and starter units, customize squad sizes and choose up to two upgrades to your units depending on which unit it is. (Exampe; Adds a unit in the squad with a heavy weapon, gives the squad a new ability or gives the squad a specific buff). Point costs are shown and the total point restriction is at the bottom left, so you don't exceed the point limit. You are required to have at least 2 Core units, 1 Elite unit and 1 Commander.
When you mouse over a unit, you'll get the description. Here's a brief overview over the stats;
Movement: How far a unit can move.
HP: Hit points
Armor: Only take hit point damage when exceeding this
Morale: Units break below 5. If it's "-", it means that they can not be broken.
Range: Shooting range. If it's a melee unit, it always has 3 range. If it's "-", it means that they can not attack.
Damage: Damage dealt.
Unit Type: Some units deal bonus damage against certain types.
PSI Shields: Unique to Protoss. These regenerate 1 each turn and is removed instad of hit points.
When you click "Save", this army is set as the default army setup for that race (If you meet the point restrictions.)
This is where you spend earned credits on either Portraits or unlocking new units. Cost to unlock units is gradually increased by each purchase you make.
When all players have clicked ready, the game will start. The map will then randomize the following:
Map: There are four different maps with different layouts and overall themes.
Scenario: There are four different scenario types with different objectives, so you'll never know if you'll have to play defensively or offensively.
Rounds: Total rounds before the game ends. Will be between 20-25 in a normal game. (5 is for this test map only)
Starting team: Which team gets the first round.
When the game starts your units will be placed automatically (My intention is to have players place units, but that's a future project...). So this is my custom UI. To the left you'll have turn/round-information, as well as current match point status. At the bottom you'll have portraits for all your living units (Max 12). My intention is that empty slots are removed and the portraits pile together, but this is what it looks like currently. Also notice that the view is more of an overview angle then the standard SC2 view, this feels necessary to make it easier to tell squads apart in messy situations.
This is what you see when you click on a squad, or highlight a squad. The selected squad will show the red circles (Indicating attack range) and green circles (Indicating movement range). The whole squad is able to attack or move to any target within a circle.
Highlighting a unit shows a brief summary of that units stats.
(This image is slightly glitched...) When the rounds are over, total credit distribution is shown in a window. I intend this window to show more detailed match information, like the MVP player and sorts.
The green double-circle next to the Hybrid unit indicates a cover area. Units standing here will get +1 to armor
I'm posting this to see what you think of the concept and design. I haven't been working on it for a few months, but would love to have it finished. Mostly I'm just wondering if it's worth all the effort, it's quite the time consuming design and I'm not sure if the map will actually be fun in the end.
Maybe I'll find someone interesting in helping me test it as well?
Love the idea. Sounds cool and good to see it takes advantages of SC2 rather than trying to be an exact clone.
Only thing that I don't like the sound of is the increasing cost of units per purchase, as I like to try a lot of different units and hate being punished for it. The map also looks a little plain.
Love the idea. Sounds cool and good to see it takes advantages of SC2 rather than trying to be an exact clone.
Only thing that I don't like the sound of is the increasing cost of units per purchase, as I like to try a lot of different units and hate being punished for it. The map also looks a little plain.
I'd love to test it.
Thank you for the response!
That's true and something I've considered. The reason I want the gradual cost increase is simply because I want the first unlocks to be basically free/super cheap, but would still want a potential player that plays a lot to work for unlocking everything. The increase might just be very gradual, barely noticeable.
The unlock system is a bit different as you do not unlock a select particular unit type. Instead, you select a unit slot (5 core slots, 3 elite slots, 3 heavy slots and commander slot) and unlock the next unit in that particular slot. This is because of trigger-related reasons and I'm not sure I could set it up in another way.
The maps are a bit plain, this is for several reasons:
It's a very early build thus I have not put too much attention on the aesthetics of the map
I want the map to be open, as a clutter of doodads would mess seriously with the pathing in regards to the squad system
Having different levels of height will also mess with the squad and attack system quite a lot.
I've also made a move to create a turn based game within Sc2, but I have very strict time limits on turns in order to keep things moving along at a nice pace.
I have also developed a table top version of it, and I hope to soon be rolling it off my in-house assembly line (3D printers)
Morale: Energy is Morale. Morale is lost primarily when nearby units die and by special abilities that affect morale. It is slowly recovered but there are other abilities that can recover and boost Morale. When a unit goes below 5 morale, it breaks and deals almost no damage and takes additional damage. These units are tinted into a red color to indicate they're broken.
Background So I always loved the gameplay of turn-based strategy. Ever since the launch of SC2 I'd been in love with the idea of the kind of gameplay Warhammer 40k tabletop offers, combined with the SC2 world and engine. Eventually I started working on this map and set out to achieve something like that premise, with the following goals;
Mechanics Turn-based: So I've testing a lot of different things. At first I had each turn seperated into Movement, Shooting and then Close combat. But eventually they all merged into a single turn, to reduce the amount of wait when you're watching the enemies turn. Still, I wanted movement to punish attacking, so this is how I solved it; Each unit may Move, Attack and/or use an Ability. If a unit moves, it will deal 1 less damage on its Attack command that turn. If a unit Attacks, it may not move that turn. Using an Ability does not effect either. Also, to reduce the turn-timer the timer is calculated through how many units the person on each team with the largest amount of units. (More units, more time-consuming rounds).
Squad-based: When you select a unit, each unit in that squad are automatically selected. This is necessary for units to move coherently. So far the only weaknesses of this is that I have to use a customized Move-command which sadly does not permit *right-clicking*, so you'll manually have to press M or Move each time you move a unit. Also, drag-selecting can not be enabled as it interferes with the script.
Combat: At first I was considering making it a complete warhammer replica, using armor saves, toughness, armor penetration etc. But it all felt too random and like lack of control when the player wasn't holding the actual dice and everything just happened very quickly. Now I am using a simple and easy-to-understand system with attack damage and armor. Each unit has an attack value and armor value. If the attack value is higher then the armor, hit points are lost according to how much damage is dealt above armor. No damage is dealt to units with equal to or higher armor then the incoming attack, so a low-damaging unit can never kill a highly armored unit such as a tank.
Morale: Energy is Morale. Morale is lost primarily when nearby units die and by special abilities that affect morale. It is slowly recovered but there are other abilities that can recover and boost Morale. When a unit goes below 5 morale, it breaks and deals almost no damage and takes additional damage. These units are tinted into a red color to indicate they're broken.
Credits: Credits are awarded after each game and are used to unlock more advanced units and customization such as portraits.
I'll describe the gameplay using the pictures below:
This is the main screen you see when starting a game. The map will remember the previously used army for each race, so you can easily switch between them on "Select Army" to the left. "Manage Army Setup" takes you to each races army setup screen where you can customize a new army type. The army list you currently have selected is displayed under "Active Army List". Under "North Team"/"South Team" you get a brief player description with the active players, their races and if they're ready or not. There will also be a timer here, if you do not select army in time it will use the default one. To the right you will have portraits for each player, mousing over this portrait will show player stats for this game and total games.
This is what the "Manage Army Setup" screen look like, for terran. You can choose between previously unlocked and starter units, customize squad sizes and choose up to two upgrades to your units depending on which unit it is. (Exampe; Adds a unit in the squad with a heavy weapon, gives the squad a new ability or gives the squad a specific buff). Point costs are shown and the total point restriction is at the bottom left, so you don't exceed the point limit. You are required to have at least 2 Core units, 1 Elite unit and 1 Commander.
When you mouse over a unit, you'll get the description. Here's a brief overview over the stats;
This is where you spend earned credits on either Portraits or unlocking new units. Cost to unlock units is gradually increased by each purchase you make.
When all players have clicked ready, the game will start. The map will then randomize the following:
When the game starts your units will be placed automatically (My intention is to have players place units, but that's a future project...). So this is my custom UI. To the left you'll have turn/round-information, as well as current match point status. At the bottom you'll have portraits for all your living units (Max 12). My intention is that empty slots are removed and the portraits pile together, but this is what it looks like currently. Also notice that the view is more of an overview angle then the standard SC2 view, this feels necessary to make it easier to tell squads apart in messy situations.
This is what you see when you click on a squad, or highlight a squad. The selected squad will show the red circles (Indicating attack range) and green circles (Indicating movement range). The whole squad is able to attack or move to any target within a circle. Highlighting a unit shows a brief summary of that units stats.
(This image is slightly glitched...) When the rounds are over, total credit distribution is shown in a window. I intend this window to show more detailed match information, like the MVP player and sorts. The green double-circle next to the Hybrid unit indicates a cover area. Units standing here will get +1 to armor
I'm posting this to see what you think of the concept and design. I haven't been working on it for a few months, but would love to have it finished. Mostly I'm just wondering if it's worth all the effort, it's quite the time consuming design and I'm not sure if the map will actually be fun in the end. Maybe I'll find someone interesting in helping me test it as well?
Thanks for reading!
Love the idea. Sounds cool and good to see it takes advantages of SC2 rather than trying to be an exact clone.
Only thing that I don't like the sound of is the increasing cost of units per purchase, as I like to try a lot of different units and hate being punished for it. The map also looks a little plain.
I'd love to test it.
Thank you for the response!
That's true and something I've considered. The reason I want the gradual cost increase is simply because I want the first unlocks to be basically free/super cheap, but would still want a potential player that plays a lot to work for unlocking everything. The increase might just be very gradual, barely noticeable. The unlock system is a bit different as you do not unlock a select particular unit type. Instead, you select a unit slot (5 core slots, 3 elite slots, 3 heavy slots and commander slot) and unlock the next unit in that particular slot. This is because of trigger-related reasons and I'm not sure I could set it up in another way.
The maps are a bit plain, this is for several reasons:
I've also made a move to create a turn based game within Sc2, but I have very strict time limits on turns in order to keep things moving along at a nice pace.
I have also developed a table top version of it, and I hope to soon be rolling it off my in-house assembly line (3D printers)
Morale: Energy is Morale. Morale is lost primarily when nearby units die and by special abilities that affect morale. It is slowly recovered but there are other abilities that can recover and boost Morale. When a unit goes below 5 morale, it breaks and deals almost no damage and takes additional damage. These units are tinted into a red color to indicate they're broken.
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