I decided to teach myself the editor by making a co-op squad-based campaign that's been kicking around in my head for some time (Think something like Republic Commando). Yes, I know it's an ambitious project but I figure even if I don't finish, I'll be able to publish the maps with my data editing work and maybe do a tutorial for new weapons and effects, so it's a win/win. Here's the general idea:
4 player co-op map/campaign, following a specialized group of Terran soldiers as they do super cool special shooty things to take down the big bad guy. Controls will likely be standard, I don't think WASD will work as well with what I have planned. I'd like to have 1 of each role in each party to make it easier to balance (to guarantee players will have X ability at their disposal for Y encounter). Classes would be something along the lines of :
Heavy Mech: Explosives and tough tanking character. Will have some form of big cannon attack, and depending on how far I get with data editor, incendiary grenades, along with an offensive cooldown similar to stimpacks.
Covert Ops: Basically what you'd expect. Ghost with cloak and some high-tech attacks. I will probably replace EMP with something a bit more fun, but sniper shot and cloak open up too many possibilities for mission objectives to toss out.
Engineer: Manages construction and maintenance of special Drone units, as well as vehicle repair and technical objectives. Default weapon will be a blow torch. Drone summons planned so far are an auto-turret and (through quest) a shield emitter that greatly raises the party's armor, but has limited range and is immobile.
Medic: Won't directly autocast heals in combat, as that would be boring. Default weapon is a modified surgical laser with +damage to biological units. Secondary attack will be an area-stunning polymer grenade that immobilizes groups of units. There will likely be some form of group healing ability with a high cost and/or long cooldown, mainly for patching people up after a fight. Also will have a revive ability that is unusable in combat (when enemies are within X yards).
(NOTE: the listed abilities may get spread around or added to more generic items to keep every class interesting. I don't want everyone to fight over playing 1 class every game)
I want to do the medic and engineer first, partly because they will have new abilities that require the most testing, and the biggest potential to be boring or under-powered if done wrong. That's where you guys come in. I need some feedback on the ideas so i know where to direct my work in the editor.
What are your thoughts on the unit concepts? What sounds boring or trite? Is there anything you've wanted to see done but didn't fit a unit until now? Am I terribly boring and do I need to stop talking? Don't answer that one.
As things progress I plan on designing a testing zone map to drop the units into and play around with. Until then though, feel free to post your ideas/concerns/blatant ridicule.
Hopefully some of these ideas will spark something.
Engineer sounds pretty solid.
Drone Ideas:
Hellfire Drone - [Might seem redundant.] A drone that flys over-head lobbing missiles/grenades in a straight line.
Suppressant Drone - A drone that fires extremely fast but does little damage and snares units. [Though might also be redundant due to Med's stun-grenade.]
Beacon - MULE drop pod land and dispenses four marines with low HP/low attack.
Medic also sounds very solid, however the revive ability may come out a little glitchy if there was enemy units on top of a hill or something that you couldn't clear to till later. [I do like the revive ability, though.]
The group heal is a good idea, but perhaps you could give the medic a small summon that could run around and heal before depleting? [Or will all units have a slow regen, like zerg units?]
Covert Ops - I know this kind of a tricky unit that can bleed cliche. EMP -> Bear Trap. EMP -> Spear [Scorpion from MK, use the Zerg Infestor mind control animation. Hey, just tossing ideas at this point.] EMP -> Mind Control ?? EMP -> Profit.
Heavy Mech - Sounds good.
Overdrive Thrusters - Burns out thrusters for increased speed that can trample ground units for X seconds before engines fail, causing the Mech to be immobile for X seconds [and perhaps causing X damage.].
The hellfire drone is an interesting idea. I'm leaning towards giving the engineer a permanent drone pet that's leashed to him somehow, but has different attacks that the player can set to active. It'd be like having a small flying reaver from SC1 with different ammo types.
Using something like the neural parasite effect to make a tentacle or tractor beam that pulls targets to you... that would be brilliant.
Good ideas, I'm off to play in the editor and see if I can make use of them. Thanks for the reply :)
I wonder if destructable environments can be blended with units, so you can have structures that units can walk on (kind of like doodads) and can be destroyed.
I wonder if anyone made a bridge yet that is possible to destroy.
Actually I think you can do that by copying the doodad and setting it to destructible, and defining some death actors for it. Not sure how pathing and being able to walk on it would work though. If someone got that working it'd be interesting, like have a long bridge with repair shacks at either end that could rebuild it when you left an SCV inside for long enough.
I haven't seen anything that indicates destructible bridges would be possible, but I'm sure someone will prove me wrong eventually.
Hi all.
I decided to teach myself the editor by making a co-op squad-based campaign that's been kicking around in my head for some time (Think something like Republic Commando). Yes, I know it's an ambitious project but I figure even if I don't finish, I'll be able to publish the maps with my data editing work and maybe do a tutorial for new weapons and effects, so it's a win/win. Here's the general idea:
4 player co-op map/campaign, following a specialized group of Terran soldiers as they do super cool special shooty things to take down the big bad guy. Controls will likely be standard, I don't think WASD will work as well with what I have planned. I'd like to have 1 of each role in each party to make it easier to balance (to guarantee players will have X ability at their disposal for Y encounter). Classes would be something along the lines of :
Heavy Mech: Explosives and tough tanking character. Will have some form of big cannon attack, and depending on how far I get with data editor, incendiary grenades, along with an offensive cooldown similar to stimpacks.
Covert Ops: Basically what you'd expect. Ghost with cloak and some high-tech attacks. I will probably replace EMP with something a bit more fun, but sniper shot and cloak open up too many possibilities for mission objectives to toss out.
Engineer: Manages construction and maintenance of special Drone units, as well as vehicle repair and technical objectives. Default weapon will be a blow torch. Drone summons planned so far are an auto-turret and (through quest) a shield emitter that greatly raises the party's armor, but has limited range and is immobile.
Medic: Won't directly autocast heals in combat, as that would be boring. Default weapon is a modified surgical laser with +damage to biological units. Secondary attack will be an area-stunning polymer grenade that immobilizes groups of units. There will likely be some form of group healing ability with a high cost and/or long cooldown, mainly for patching people up after a fight. Also will have a revive ability that is unusable in combat (when enemies are within X yards).
(NOTE: the listed abilities may get spread around or added to more generic items to keep every class interesting. I don't want everyone to fight over playing 1 class every game)
I want to do the medic and engineer first, partly because they will have new abilities that require the most testing, and the biggest potential to be boring or under-powered if done wrong. That's where you guys come in. I need some feedback on the ideas so i know where to direct my work in the editor.
What are your thoughts on the unit concepts? What sounds boring or trite? Is there anything you've wanted to see done but didn't fit a unit until now? Am I terribly boring and do I need to stop talking? Don't answer that one.
As things progress I plan on designing a testing zone map to drop the units into and play around with. Until then though, feel free to post your ideas/concerns/blatant ridicule.
@Ghrabthaar: Go
Hopefully some of these ideas will spark something.
Engineer sounds pretty solid.
Drone Ideas:
Hellfire Drone - [Might seem redundant.] A drone that flys over-head lobbing missiles/grenades in a straight line.
Suppressant Drone - A drone that fires extremely fast but does little damage and snares units. [Though might also be redundant due to Med's stun-grenade.]
Beacon - MULE drop pod land and dispenses four marines with low HP/low attack.
Medic also sounds very solid, however the revive ability may come out a little glitchy if there was enemy units on top of a hill or something that you couldn't clear to till later. [I do like the revive ability, though.]
The group heal is a good idea, but perhaps you could give the medic a small summon that could run around and heal before depleting? [Or will all units have a slow regen, like zerg units?]
Covert Ops - I know this kind of a tricky unit that can bleed cliche. EMP -> Bear Trap. EMP -> Spear [Scorpion from MK, use the Zerg Infestor mind control animation. Hey, just tossing ideas at this point.] EMP -> Mind Control ?? EMP -> Profit.
Heavy Mech - Sounds good.
Overdrive Thrusters - Burns out thrusters for increased speed that can trample ground units for X seconds before engines fail, causing the Mech to be immobile for X seconds [and perhaps causing X damage.].
All I got for now, GL.
The hellfire drone is an interesting idea. I'm leaning towards giving the engineer a permanent drone pet that's leashed to him somehow, but has different attacks that the player can set to active. It'd be like having a small flying reaver from SC1 with different ammo types.
Using something like the neural parasite effect to make a tentacle or tractor beam that pulls targets to you... that would be brilliant.
Good ideas, I'm off to play in the editor and see if I can make use of them. Thanks for the reply :)
Name your map:
Starcraft 2: Bad Company
LOL!
I wonder if destructable environments can be blended with units, so you can have structures that units can walk on (kind of like doodads) and can be destroyed.
I wonder if anyone made a bridge yet that is possible to destroy.
Actually I think you can do that by copying the doodad and setting it to destructible, and defining some death actors for it. Not sure how pathing and being able to walk on it would work though. If someone got that working it'd be interesting, like have a long bridge with repair shacks at either end that could rebuild it when you left an SCV inside for long enough.
I haven't seen anything that indicates destructible bridges would be possible, but I'm sure someone will prove me wrong eventually.