Tennis for One
Tennis game’s single player modes, such as in Rockstar’s Table Tennis and Sega Superstar Tennis, have been letting me down lately. Matches become tedious and occasionally super hard. To me, shot assistance is the central issue.
Shot assistance comes means automatic position and timing “lock-on” when pressing the shot button as the ball inbounds. So long as you’re reasonably close to the trajectory, the character gets in position and hits at the appropriate time. I liked this at first, as it makes huge rallies happen right away, but it undermines the skill involved in this basic action.
Without shot timing, smaller things such as movement and shot selection become all-important. This is OK in multiplayer, but the AI can do these things trivially: if the AI can get to the ball, it will. Only pulling the AI out of the position will consistently work. The other way to win, unfortunately, is to continue a rally until the AI completely gaffes and lets by a free point. These points feel really frustrating, like I’m just grinding away at each match.
The structure of the single player modes in these games contributes to the tedium. Much of the content takes the form of arbitrary “tournaments” where win streaks are all that matter. Especially in Rockstar’s Table Tennis, a tournament can take over an hour and losing a match makes all that time feel wasted. I did enjoy some of the minigames and bonus content outside the tournaments, but it doesn’t replace a good single player progression.
These games, like other casual sports games I’ve played, seem to exist in a deadzone between good party games and good single player games. They are neither as ubiquitous as Wii Tennis nor as skill-intensive as Virtual Tennis. Ultimately, my dissatisfaction with the single player modes made the games feel incomplete. I picked them both up used, and I can recommend them for that price.
Introducing Invade the Ruins, my Warcraft 3 project
Hey everyone, this is a post to explain what I’ve been doing with my days for the last few weeks and on and off for many years now. I work on an add-on adventure for the Warcraft 3 game called Invade the Ruins. Normally Warcraft 3 is a strategy game, but my project is a cooperative action game. It’s meant to be played online with 3 other people through Battle.net, which is built-in to WC3.
I’m working on an update to Invade the Ruins, and I want to make the best version of my map I’ve ever released. To do that I need feedback from you about your experiences with it. The focus of “Update 1″ is on the Hero characters and their abilities. Are they fun? Interesting? Useful?
Download and try out the new beta release, read about the hero changes, and leave me some feedback on the forums!
Hey, Some Forums
Invade the Ruins now has Forums!
Stay on Target
The Dune Strider revamp completes the hero overhaul for Update 1 of Invade the Ruins. She’s an archer meant to pump out damage but also heal allies occasionally. Her low health means she must use her healing, invulnerability, and teleportation spells to evade danger. Her design has always been one of the weaker ones, which is a shame given how popular archer characters are. Here are her spells:
- Sand Slash: Hits two nearby enemies for good damage. Maybe the best way to turn excess mana into killing. Great for emergencies.
- Glass Barrier: Invulnerability bubble. Extra ranks decrease the cooldown. Sorta lame.
- Sand Surgeon: Summons a spirit that pulses heals to nearby allies. Can dismiss the spirit early to reclaim some mana. For a variety of reasons, she’s the worst group healer.
- Tearing Winds: Teleport to an allied unit, including special “Shop Wisps”. Unique and well-loved by players. A perfect 2-rank spell.
- Searing Sun: Adds big fire damage to each arrow attack. Not an impressive ultimate, though it has fun synergy with her mid-dungeon bouncing shots upgrade.
General spell tuneup: Faster heals from Sand Surgeon, no more “Dismiss” option, lower base mana cost. Sand Slash grants a temporary attack speed buff, providing Searing Sun synergy. Glass Barrier moved from 6-rank to the “boss reward” slot, replacing her old lame ability there.
Searing Sun is too boring to be an ultimate OR a 6-rank spell, but fire shots fits her too well to trash it. I’m unable to do a pure “exploding shot” for technical reasons, though my compromise might be just as good. When enemies are killed by Searing Sun, they create a spirit which explodes and hurts other nearby enemies.
These explosive “Sunsparks” proved fun in early playtests, so I added a chain explosion effect. Anything killed by a Sunspark also forms a Sunspark. Her Sand Surgeon will also turn into a Sunspark when it’s done, giving her more ways to set up a big combination explosion. Her Ultimate will take the concept even further, giving her an on-demand way to deal area damage.
Bathe in Heat, her new Ultimate, creates a spread of Sunsparks which explode in succession. When cast on a pack of enemies, it generally kills a few enemies outright, who form Sunsparks, which explode for more damage. It can be really satisfying when it chains out several times.
This represents a huge improvement to her options and interactivity, so I also want to improve her spell names. Sand Slash becomes Sandstorm. Sand Surgeon becomes Desert Oasis. Glass Barrier becomes Mirage. It’s a little thing, but making the names more distinct should help players learn the different spells more easily.
Thanks for reading! The next article up will cover some general game changes. After that, a post about the Beta release of the map! Stay tuned.
An even better match of Magic: Duels of the Planeswalkers
A few months ago I talked about Duel Decks. They’re a cheap way to play good Magic. The next step up came out: Duels of the Planeswalkers, out on Xbox 360. You get eight theme decks for the price of one, for $10, and it’s packed with features and modes.
The first run at the campaign doesn’t impress: the starting deck is a green stompy deck without much in the way of instants or strategy. If you draw Blanchwood Armor, you’ll probably win.
Once decks start getting unlocked, though, the real fun starts. Like Street-Fighter-Every-Matchup-Is-Different-Fun. As the wins roll in and cards start unlocking, each deck morphs into something new. The white deck starts as a weenie deck and adds huge air threats. The black deck starts as a discard and bleed, then adds strong control. The Jund (Black Red Green) deck starts as an almost tournament-style removal deck and adds huge burning dragons. Matchups change as new cards are unlocked and each deck is analyzed in detail.
Unlocked cards can be added but the base cards can’t be removed, meaning new power cards also the deck fatter. Each card asks the question “Is it better to draw this than another card in the deck?” Deckbuilding isn’t a process of picking the best 10-12 cards in a set, adding 3-4x of each of them, and ignoring the rest.
Online and Cooperative modes work great, which, given the rarity of good online and coop, must be harder to pull off than I’d think. The AI is also better than expected and can make optimal attacking, blocking, and removal decisions, though it can’t bluff and it blows counterspells early. Anything involving the current turn is accurately judged, but the AI will never go into desperation mode and line itself up for a game-winning topdeck.
Now the developers need to milk the hell out of the game. I’m dying to give them more of my money. If I could pick the way to have my money leeched from me, here is what it would be:
- $2 decks (standard 60 card decks with 15 unlocks)
- Each deck adds one new unlock to each of the other decks
- Seamless integration with campaign
- No “Gain 1 life each time a black spell is cast” cards
Wishlist aside, Duels of the Planeswalkers is a perfect bite-size game to play once or twice a day. Now my Gamefly subscription, on the other hand… that’s just addiction.
Knight Writer
The Dusk Knight is the second-to-last hero in Update 1 of my Invade the Ruins map project. She’s a tough tank character who deals damage through counterattacks but is a little dull to play. I’m looking to give her a few more attacks to choose from. Here are her current skills:
- Stinging Blades: Hits enemies surrounding her and taunts them to hit her. Her rank 6 attack spell synergizes with her other abilities, which benefit from her taking damage.
- Astral Jaunt: Blinks a short distance and heals her in the process. Allows for strategic maneuvering but I need more incentive for players to rank it up.
- Razormail: Increases her passive armor and reflects a portion of damage dealt to her back at the attacker. An appealing 6 rank ability but one that isn’t interactive!
- Raven Reversal: Damages enemy units, heals her, and provides allies with an armor boost. All effects become stronger when her health is lower. A good 2 rank ability that could be more.
- Paralytic Poison: Deals big damage to nearby enemies and slows their attack and movement speed to a crawl. A good ultimate that is a little simple but also fun and useful.
First, Razormail gets the Words of Reassurance treatment. I’m moving it to the item ability slot, replacing her Shadowmeld ability, and removing the armor bonus. I’m also pruning the temporary armor boost from Raven Reversal. Her base armor goes up by 4 and she gets more agility per level, leaving her in mostly the same place her armor was before.
This makes room for a new attack ability. I want to stay true to the Warden revenge theme and her cold-hearted fighting style. Her other niches are close-range area-effect damage and regaining life. I’m OK with a little redundancy, especially if each ability has different synergies with every other ability. This new ability is going to deal close range area damage as well as two additional effects. I’ve wanted to give her a little crowd control to let her help allies, which a warstomp-style stun will accomplish. I also want to give her more control over her mana, so we’ll return mana when it’s used. It’ll be on a moderate cooldown so I’m not worried about either of these effects getting out of control.
Even though I have a design I like, there’s a lot of work to fit it in her repertoire. I don’t think stuns make for good 6 rank abilities, so I’ll need to rework Raven Reversal to be 6 rank. The essence of Reversal is to deal lots of damage at low health and heal a portion of her missing health. I’ve simplified the damage scaling and the tooltip is clearer. Now, it “deals up to triple damage when close to death”, which is a lot clearer than the old “deals 100-600 damage”.
With Raven Reversal converted to 6 rank, I can lock down the mechanics of the new spell:
- Quelling Rift: Turns her skin into an Astral rift, unleashing a blast of maelstrom and mana. Stuns nearby enemies for 3 seconds. Also, channels up to 20% of her health into damage and restores up to 100 mana.
Damage dealt is based on the level of the spell, converting 25% of health lost at rank 1 and 50% of health lost at rank 2. At 1000 max health, typical starting health, this will deal 50 damage at rank 1 and 100 damage at rank 2. At 4000 health, typical late-game health, damage increases to 200 and 400. I think these numbers are reasonable along with stunning and restoring mana.
Behind the scenes, the life drain effect scales down when the player would kill herself or come too close to killing herself. When she’s below 20% health, it only stuns nearby enemies. If she’s between 20% and 40%, it will drain her down to 20%. Over 40 will drain the full 20%. The mana she gets back is based on whether or not she unleashed a full blast.
I like what emerges with each combination of skills. Stinging Blades and Quelling Rift combine to form a potent tanking lockdown. Rift and Astral Jaunt allow her to zip around and save allies. Rift and Reversal deal a lot of damage and keep health high. If she invests in both healing spells, she can go all-out absorbing damage and keeping herself up. Her abilities are interesting and unique among all of the characters. Stay tuned for the last hero post and for the release of the Update 1 beta!
To the Ends of the Earth
Today I’m talking about the Earthtalker, the third-to-last hero to be renovated in my Invade the Ruins update. He’s generally underpicked as a hero but a favorite of those who do play him. I’m hoping to add a little synergy as well as giving him something to help his party. Here’s his current skill lineup:
- Flarefist’s Inscription: Plants a magical tag on the ground which sizzles for 6 seconds, then explodes, dealing damage to enemies nearby. One of his bread-and-butter 6 rank spells.
- Soulhoof Stomp: Deals damage to nearby enemies which is multiplied based on how many enemies he hits. Dares him to wade into melee, which is unusual for a caster. His other 6 rank attack spell.
- Scarfur’s Aegis: Reduces the damage taken by melee attacks by a large amount. His final 6 rank ability which has great synergy with Soulhoof.
- Ghosteye’s Salvo: Causes his ranged attack to occasionally deal massive bonus damage to buildings. His 2 rank utility spell.
- Deadhorn’s Firebrand: Surrounds him with a burning aura that does massive damage to enemies near him but also drains a lot of mana until cancelled. His ultimate power and a fun one to use, especially in a combo with his other abilities.
His item ability is Boulderback’s Rage, which is a frenzy ability, increasing his attack speed temporarily. I added Boulderback in the last update and it’s a lot of fun, but it also overlaps and stacks too well with Ghosteye’s Salvo. Salvo is the type of passive ability I’m cutting in the new version, and removing it will make room for a new party-friendly power.
Every player wants more mana. Mana-granting abilities unfortunately tend to be simultaneously balance-breaking yet dull to use. Alternatively, attaching a mana bonus to an existing ability can be a great way to add a little mana here and there and encourage the use of those abilities. I’ve wanted to add some sort of catch-up ability that helps players stay together. Often one player will run back to a store or to the garden and players get bored during the return trip. Here’s my idea:
- Ghosteye’s Huntstone: Summons a stone which draws in all distant allies to it and then restores mana to all nearby allies. 180 second cooldown.
It costs no mana to activate. Restores 50 mana at rank 1 and 100 mana at rank 2, just enough to cast one more spell and get through one more battle. It should also allow the Earthtalker player to smooth out his own mana usage.
The other ability I’ve wanted to improve upon is Deadhorn’s Firebrand. Spells which give the player a chance to spend a lot of mana often means overdosing and causing frustration from no mana. The mana-cost-over-time portion of Firebrand just doesn’t mesh well with the mana-hungry design of the map.
One of my “pivot points” for this ability is the startup cost versus the over-time cost. Currently it costs 15 to start up and 15 per second after that. A high startup price discourages smart on-and-off control. Pricing the over-time cost any lower feels like a lame, slow leech. Unless I really change it up, budging on price is tough. What if the over-time price could be zero and there was some way to keep the Earthtalker from using it forever?
Here’s my idea: big upfront cost, zero over-time cost, and the spell lasts until he casts another spell. Doesn’t include items or Boulderback Rage. The synergies and choices change depending on the spells the player invested in. Throw down a flame tag and wade into melee for a while, perhaps risking some damage. Stomping and burn aura can alternate, but not too many times, with the mana cost being clearer than the 15-mana-per-second drain “Where did my mana go?” problem. Carry the aura into the next fight or drop the huntstone and get a chunk of mana back? I hope these changes and more will make Update 1 the best version of the map yet! See you soon with more articles.
Under the Sea
Today I’ll be talking about the Trident Beast, the next hero to be reworked in my Invade the Ruins update. The naga tends to be a fan favorite and has a variety of fun abilities. I’ve had a couple small tweaks in mind for him as well as one big change. Here are his current abilities:
- Cleanse Our Wounds: Bouncing chain heal. Works well with his minions. Cheaper than the other heals but also markedly weaker. Definitely a useful 6-point ability but you’d need another source of healing in the group.
- Watery Minions: A pair of murlocs who attack fast and learn a couple spells. These little guys are fun but the spells could be a more straightforward.
- Clobber: His melee hits also hits nearby enemies for a percentage of that damage. Such a fun ability for melee. I’ve been trying to add extra punch to passive abilities like these and I have an idea for this one.
- Scent of Blood: Greatly increases his and his minions’ attack speed at the cost of health over time. Extremely powerful and great synergy with all of his other spells. The health cost isn’t nothing (about 500) but it’s small compared to his health.
- Gift of the Tides: Self-resurrection on a long timer. I like that he bends one of the biggest rules of the map: that battle is dangerous and death is permanent. Sort of a bummer to have two passive spells, though.
Also worth noting is his Ensnaring Nets item power, which lets him immobilize enemies. Item powers are abilities that occupy the sixth spell slot but are grey and inactive until the character finds a particular item. Immobilize isn’t actually very good and nobody uses it, so I want to replace it. Shifting one of his current abilities into the item ability slot might be a step in the right direction. The three candidates are Clobber, Scent of Blood, and Gift of the Tides.
Clobber would fit well as an item power (he’d get a new trident or something). It also matches my goal of reducing the number of passive abilities in the game. The other route to go with Clobber would be to improve its synergy with Cleanse Our Wounds and Watery Allies in some way. Possibly, he could have some sort of mana bonus like with the Feral Diabolist’s Rippling Sinew.
Scent of Blood, a percentage-based ability, would reduce easily from two ranks to one. I have a few reservations, though. I don’t like charging mana for item abilities and I don’t think SoB makes for a good use-it-on-cooldown type spell. It would also be really abstract as an item ability. Lastly, SoB is just a fun and satisfying spell to pick, cast, and upgrade. Great skills are hard to design and I want players to savor this one.
Gift of the Sea also makes for an abstract item ability, but at least its name could directly reference a gift of the sea. Making it an item ability would also solve the problem of what to upgrade in a self-rez ability (I can only adjust the cooldown of the spell). I haven’t shifted a spell from ultimate to free before, but that won’t stop me!
With that resolved, I had to come up with a new ultimate. Which is hard… so I stalled by fixing all of his other abilities to make more sense. Here’s the breakdown:
- Cleanse Our Wounds’ heals more on the main target and scales better with rank to keep up with his huge health pool.
- Watery Minions only learn Abolish Magic, but at rank 1, and deal more damage at high ranks. Their other spells were more distraction than benefit and now these pets are clearly counter-debuff.
- Clobber now integrates his Carnivorousness hidden ability and improves it. The Trident Beast has a hidden power where he gains a small tick of health and mana so long as he’s landing killing blows. Clobber is now the face of this ability as well as a way to upgrade it higher. This gives the naga a synergy that combines Sarcomany and Rippling Sinew’s ideas.
- Scent of Blood burns more health to offset the buffs to Cleanse and Clobber/Carnivorousness and to encourage judicious use.
With all of his other abilities shaped up, I spent almost an entire afternoon trying to come up with a good new ultimate. I stepped through every ability in WC3 and even looked up what all World of Warcraft naga abilities were. My favorite take-away was using totems for something. Special totem abilities are tough to script but it would be worth it if I had a great idea. WC3 totems heal, trap enemies, and scout, so nothing there fit, especially as a war-loving naga’s ultimate. Most WoW totems are passive buffs, though there are some emergency elemental-summoning totems. I don’t like the idea of adding another creature, but I do like the emergency idea. Then I remembered one WC3 hero spell I hadn’t used: Big Bad Voodoo. Say it with me now: invulnerability totem. His is called “Tidal Post”. You can cast in when the beta version of Invade the Ruins is released! Join me soon for more articles.
Swashbuckling Derring-do
The Swashbuckler is the next hero overhaul in my Invade the Ruins update. I have to admit, the Swashbuckler has always been a bit of a bastard child for me. He’s very popular on the selection screen, but I had neither the will nor the ideas to make him a hero I truly enjoyed playing. With some of the new ideas and methods I’ve learned, I’m determined to find a fun new playstyle for him. Here are his current abilities:
- Hidden Blade: Instant damage and additional big damage over time. A lot of damage to a single foe, but occasionally feels like it isn’t worth the time it takes to target and cast.
- Cunning Distraction: Puts all the enemies around him to sleep and gives him invisibility. Big damage on the first attack from the shadows. This 6 rank spell has always been somewhat unpopular and is a good example of the sort of spell that would be incredible in melee WC3 but just doesn’t feel as powerful as some damage abilities.
- Soused Swagger: Increases attack and movement speed based on rank. For when you just want to beat up a lot of guys and have a good time, here’s your 6 rank frenzy spell. Numbers-wise this spell is amazing but it usually just gets the Swashbuckler killed when he runs ahead of the party, slashing like mad.
- Daring Parry: Puts up a shield that absorbs damage at the cost of mana. A cool spell that is really efficient but players often run out their whole mana pool using it. A solid 2-rank spell, but one which is often misused.
- Attack from All Sides: Creates several extra illusionary forms that deal damage but can be dispelled. This Ultimate ability is a home-run and everyone’s favorite part about him. It lets him focus damage on a particular target, occupy an entire enemy flank, or serve as a distraction as everyone retreats. I want the rest of his abilities to be as cool as this.
Swashbuckler is the best example of a hero with really solid numbers but without some of the spice that would make him a fun brawler. Players have a hard time using his abilities at the right time. On the other hand, the flavor of his abilities is great and preserving his move-set makes sense. His abilities just need to have clearer methods of usage.
I started by thinking about the combos I had begun to build into other heroes. What is the Swashbuckler spin on this concept? What sort of mechanics would tie into the ideas of fencing pirates and gleeful rum-guzzlers? The key idea for me came as twist on the “stance switching” concept in other games. By encouraging him to move between all of his states (invisible, parrying, drunk), I could encourage players to loop around his four abilities. Here’s how I’m structuring that loop:
- When drunk from Soused Swagger, he may “snap out of it” by activating Daring Parry, which heals 40% of his health.
- When overwhelmed in Daring Parry, Cunning Distraction will get him out of there, and also restore a good chunk of mana.
- If his sneak attack from Cunning Distraction is a Hidden Blade instead of a normal attack, the bonus damage is doubled.
- After a successful use of Hidden Blade, the Swashbuckler may “share a round” with his party with Soused Swagger, getting everyone drunk instead of only him.
If a Swashbuckler player has invested in the full array of his powers, he always has a hint on what he can do next. Did he charge recklessly into combat with Soused Swagger? Activate Daring Parry and recover that health. Is he tanking more than he should and needs to get back to an outside melee position? He can use Cunning Distraction for the price of “cheaper than free”. Does he see a juicy, full-health target that just entered the fight? The bonus damage on a sneak attack Hidden Blade will kill all but the strongest enemies. After that crucial kill, he can boost his allies and help finish the fight off.
The Swashbuckler’s “combo loop” plays off of how Swashbucklers naturally tend to play, and gives them more and more clever options as they work through the game. I like how this new playstyle looks and I hope to you enjoyed reading about my process. There will be four heroes more and there are lots more changes along the way!
Xbox Live Thumbs Up: Worth a Taste
One of the underrated parts about online-connected consoles with easy demo access are the 10-15 minute tastes of games that wouldn’t be otherwise worth the purchase. Sure, it might miss out on a few of the weapons or last bosses, but most B-movie action games just don’t justify the $60 entry fee. Here are a bunch of games with fun demos.
Outrun Online Arcade (Arcade)
Like putting a few quarters into an arcade cabinet, this demo has some fun racing and cool stuff to see. Great frame rate, good controls, nice visuals. If you get suckered in, you might find yourself dropping the $10 for the full game. Definitely feels like a perfect arcade throwback with the music, menus, and sound effects. I like the “girlfriend” character that rides along in the car, her dialog makes the game feel so retro.
Wheelman (Retail)
Vin Diesel stars in this great GTA-style mission demo. I’m sure the rest of the game doesn’t have this much polish, but this tutorial-as-epic-getaway is packed with awesome action and corny lines. Get VD on your Xbox!
Space Invaders Extreme (Arcade)
Another one of those retro remakes biting off a piece of the Geometry Wars style. Takes the (now somewhat dull) classic SI gameplay and makes you many times more powerful and encourages combos, while also keeping up the heat for dodging bullets and watching where you move. Definitely worth playing a few times and possibly worth the cash.
Wolverine (Retail)
We had fun watching Wolverine get ripped up and then regenerate his flesh in combat. He’s finally as deadly as he should be after so many games where his slashes were slaps. The Lunge power is also fun to use. Demo quits just before the magma boss or else this would be a perfect cheesy demo!
Afro Samurai (Retail)
Like Wolverine, but with Afro Samurai!
Crystal Defenders (Arcade)
Final Fantasy Tower Defense. Anyone with a soft spot for Square characters should enjoy this cutesy demo. It’s hard to believe that this game is worth the money, given the handheld-looking graphics and price point twice what it was for iPod, but the taste of gameplay here is nice!
Red Faction (Retail)
Some mediocre 3rd person shooting and then OMG I AM IN A MECH AND I AM THRASHING WHOLE BUILDINGS WITH MY ROBOT ARMS OF DESTRUCTION! Then I’m shooting a gun from the back of a truck. Well, for 30 seconds this is one of the most awesomely destructive game I’ve ever played. I wish it wasn’t padded with 10 minutes of poo!
Xbox Live Thumbs Down: Out of Control
Any game released today has some redeeming value. Even the worst franchise cash-in titles can pass the time, even though there might be twenty other games more fun than it. What, then, makes a game a thumbs down? Generally, the difference-maker is the controls. If the controls don’t feel right, they distract from every other part of the game.
Halo Wars (Retail)
I’m a big fan of the recent attempts at bringing RTS games to consoles. The gameplay isn’t quite there, but each release brings one or two innovations towards the goal. Halo Wars’ trick is the Y button, which quickly uses that unit’s special abilities such as throwing grenades or using special weapons. Quick and definitely console-like. Not fully thought out, though, as the game gets very confused once you’ve selected a whole army. The Y button ends up using everyone’s special at once! This oversight makes it hard to break out of the “round up the army and throw them all at the enemy” mold of other mediocre RTS games.
Exit 2 (Arcade)
Classic games like Lemmings, Lost Vikings, old Prince of Persia, are generally too creaky and unplayable to be fun these days. This is what xbox arcade is for: bringing back old, simple gameplay except revamped and modernized. Punishing, time-limit-based gameplay can be thrilling and fun, but when it turns into frustration just in the span of a demo, something is wrong. The wonderful art style and tricky levels of this puzzle game are, like the first Exit, once again completely wasted on terrible controls. Simply jumping, moving up and down, ordering around the people you need to rescue are all sluggish and slow. It doesn’t make me feel like the crafty, agile Mr. ESC.
Ninja Blade (Retail)
Ninjas are rabid creatures with incredible powers. Make me feel like a powerful ninja! The setup cutscene involves jumping out of a helicopter and you must quicktime hit buttons or repeat the scene! After killing 6 enemies mid-fall with one slash in the cutscene, the demo begins with loads of grunt mutants that take 12 katana slashes to kill. How does a katana travel through a body without maiming it? The controls might not be so bad, but it feels so tedious to fight helpless enemies that never die.
Bionic Commando Multiplayer Demo (Retail)
Gone are the tough but simple controls that made the Bionic Commando Rearmed remake so fun. Instead, aim your cursor all around the screen and hope there’s something to lock on to! Without good controls, BC is useless. A terrible misstep.
Skate 2 (Retail)
What do Skate players want in their open-world, free-flowing skate game? Cutscenes with jackasses talking about your time in prison. The demo for Skate 1 was perfect: pure gameplay, lots of time to try things out, easy but deep controls, and more. Skate 2 adds really janky walking and pushing-stuff-around controls and the aforementioned cutscene. Even a few playthroughs haven’t made the new gameplay familiar enough to be fun.
Virtual-On Oratoria Tangram (Arcade)
One of the games from old Sega assumed to be a classic, modern players probably won’t be able to enjoy this game at all. Without the arcade sticks, this game is a terrible third person arena shooter. Turning is so sluggish, and thus suicidal, that it’s easier to try to move around and face the opponent without turning.
Star Trek DAC (Arcade)
Take or leave the Star Trek license on this game, my focus is the top-down deathmatch gameplay. The camera is so tight that ships appear on-screen less than a second before it’s “ramming speed”, leading to terrible close range combat. Hard to aim or do anything intentionally. One of those games that fizzle out after about two minutes of demo play.
Windy Work
Today’s update on Invade the Ruins is about the Skyknight. The SK has long been the “control group” for hero design, having several really basic spells: a direct target heal and a direct target damage. The trickiness with him is in designing his third spell. Let’s look at his full spellbook:
- Lightning Flash: Shocks three targets with lightning. Efficient damage, great for taking down key targets, scales well. A really consistent spell that may be simple, but it works.
- Refreshing Breeze: Heals a friendly target for a large amount. Can not heal himself. All of the other heals in the game are group heals, making this heal unique in its ability to pinpoint allies that need saving.
- Form of Wind: Damages and banishes a group of enemies. Spreads damage out more than his other spell, but also banishes the targets. Banished enemies in WC3 take double damage from spells, so there’s a lot of combo potential for this spell.
- Wind Gate: Teleports the Skyknight a long distance. As one of only two heroes with a “blink”-style ability, he’s got a lot of mobility and can search out secrets.
- Maelstrom: Deals heavy damage to an area over 7 seconds. Ultimate spell, huge damage.
Except for some numbers tweaks, Lightning Flash, Refreshing Breeze, and Wind Gate have stayed the same since his initial design. Maelstrom has barely changed as well. The problem child for the Skyknight has always been Form of Wind. Initially “just” a cheap, fast-castable Banish, it proved to be an unpopular spell, and still wasn’t popular when I made it an area Banish. Such a spell would be amazingly good in regular WC3, but it just didn’t get any takers in my map. I improved it to also deal damage, making it deal roughly equal total damage to Lightning Flash, but it is still his least popular spell.
In many ways, Form of Wind is a superior spell to Lightning Flash, yet it’s less popular. There aren’t enough skill points to invest heavily in both, and players pick Lightning Flash. It has taught me that balancing numbers isn’t the key factor in making appealing spells. I want to use some of the techniques I’ve learned since the initial designs to create a new ability. The revamp of Sarcomancy and its synergies gave me ideas for an active version of that skill. Also, the name “Form of Wind” made me think about a shape-shift which changes how his spells work.
My first draft of this new Form of Wind is a spell which, when clicked, gives the Skyknight an attack speed boost for 15 seconds. Additionally, if he casts any other spells during Form of Wind, Form of Wind ends and that spell gains an additional trait:
- Lightning Flash – A second bolt of lightning, this one a chain lightning, streaks out starting at the main target. This increases the total damage of the spell by about 60%.
- Refreshing Breeze – Pulls the healed hero to the Skyknight. A great way to save an ally from a swarm of enemies.
- Wind Gate – Banishes all of the enemies near his starting point. Replicates some of the combo-potential of the old Form of Wind by setting him up for big damage.
- Maelstrom – Recharges the Skyknight’s health over the 7 seconds of Maelstrom’s channeling. Lets him survive a bunch of hits as he’s blasting foes with lightning.
There are a lot of things going on here that may not be apparent. The first is timing. A saavy player can use the attack buff for 10 seconds or so and then burn the buff at the end. Someone ready for danger can put up FoW knowing that they’ll soon want to use a pull-heal or a blink-and-banish.
The next level to this spell is mana efficiency. If you want to turn mana into damage, casting FoW before the Lightning Flash improves your efficiency. Or, you can banish a bunch of enemies for cheap and then cast either LF or Maelstrom for double damage.
The final level is skill point efficiency. Say your favorite spell is Lightning Flash. You can improve your damage equally by either putting points in Lightning Flash or in Form of Wind! The scaling of FoW enables players to keep improving their damage while also getting additional utility. Additionally, the extra attack speed helps him get more kills and rounds out his usual weakness (low killing blow count).
I expect to work on one more hero and then release a playable alpha version for testing. I’m glad you read my article and I hope you stay tuned for more!
Infernal Research
I worked on the Feral Diabolist today as part of working on my Warcraft 3 map, Invade the Ruins. The Diabolist already has a few interesting things going on with his development and I felt like he could be a good next step in figuring out my vision with this new version. He’s a melee hero that relies on spell casting to deal damage. Let’s break down what his current spells do:
- Rippling Sinew: Greatly increases his damage and armor and grants him spell immunity for 8 seconds. One of his two 6 rank attack spells. Good for making a big dent in a boss, cracking open a spawner building, or helping him escape from trouble.
- Bloodbath: Summons and immediately explodes a demon, covering foes in acidic blood and bile. His other 6 rank attack spell, this one is a mob killer. It’s cheap to cast and hits a big area.
- Sarcomancy: Alters all of his other spells, improving them in some way. Longer duration on Rippling Sinew, lower cooldown on Bloodbath, lower mana cost for Havoc, and a special spiked carapace for Cursed Carrion. Also a passive boost to his attack damage. His final 6 rank spell.
- Havoc: Drains a quarter of the health of all nearby enemies and heals him and his allies for 5% of their health for each opponent drained. His 2-point spell and a strong one, useful in emergencies against the largest hordes of enemies. Costs a big chunk of mana.
- Cursed Carrion: Summons a large, powerful insect that accompanies and fights for the Diabolist. Can also carry items.
Sarcomancy intends to enable a “jack-of-all-trades” style by providing mini-skill points to a variety of abilities. This doesn’t quite happen as his spells are mana intensive and he isn’t an Intelligence-based hero with high mana regeneration. His cooldowns also tend to be pretty long, making him a hot-or-not damage dealer. By working on him, I hope to improve the synergy between his abilities and give him a more exciting playstyle.
As you might remember from the previous article, powers that have great numbers can be mistaken for powers that are fun to use. Initially, I wanted to simply pump each bonus Sarcomancy grants so its effects were more noticeable on screen. I ran into problems with this avenue, though, as the max ranks of Sarcomancy reach really high (or low) numbers. Improving Sarcomancy-as-designed any further isn’t possible. “Sarcomancy spec” isn’t viable.
While testing out various Sarcomancy settings with Rippling Sinew, I had a different idea. Rather than trying to strengthen Sarcomancy’s direct tie to other spells, I could improve synergy between the other spells to the point that Sarcomancy would enable special combos. The first change causes any spells cast during Rippling Sinew restore 20 mana. This reduces the effective cost of Bloodbath from 55 to 35 while in Sinew. Also, since Sarcomancy reduces Havoc’s mana cost, Havoc can become quite inexpensive with a few points in Sarcomancy.
The real synergy here emerges when the player has invested those points in Sarcomancy. Rippling Sinew normally lasts 8 seconds and Bloodbath has a 12 second cooldown, so you can’t cast Bloodbath twice during Rippling Sinew. After one point, RS goes to 10 and BB 10, which is just barely too slow to get off two BBs. Once you spend 2 or more points in Sarcomancy, it becomes possible to cast 2 or more discounted BBs in a row. In this way, a player can heavily invest in Sarcomancy and, without many other points, can harness a flexible and potent playstyle.
I also wanted to tie Havoc and Cursed Carrion into Sarcomancy using this kind of indirect synergy. I felt like his carrion creature would be the sort of thing he’d sacrifice at a moment’s notice, if it suited him. So, when the Diabolist casts Havoc with a Carrion Beast out, the Beast will be sacrificed and the power of Havoc amped up significantly. Going from dealing 25% (of each creatures health) to 35% damage is a huge amount when multiplied by the 5-10 creatures hit by the spell. Making the “OH SHI-” button, your emergency button, more powerful is a lot of fun. If the player has conserved mana using Sarcomancy-related combos, this combo can be used frequently and to big effect. By putting the “mana game” in players’ hands, the Diabolist gains a great deal of interactivity and I expect him to be a lot more fun going forward.
Stay tuned for more articles and for an alpha version of the map!
Working on Invade the Ruins
I’m jumping back into working on my Warcraft 3 mod, Invade the Ruins. I feel this itch every once in a while and it’s always a lot of fun. My first order of business (besides looking more at that crash bug) is reconsidering the Heroes and how I could make them more fun. Since there was a patch since the last release, I fired up a private game to see if anything was clearly broken. I picked the Howling Druid, and as I did that, I had some realizations about his playstyle. I got to work right away on capturing that bolt of thought.
(If you haven’t played Invade yet, you will probably get a lot more out of this article if you try it first.)
Quickly, a rundown of his spells:
- Song of Renewal: A “tranquility”-style healing spell where he stands still for 12 seconds and continuously heals nearby allies. His “main” spell.
- Battle Commands: A furious shout that increases the attack damage of all nearby allies for 30 seconds. One of his other two major (6-rank) spells.
- Thunderous Bellow: A shout that sends a powerful shockwave out, blasting all foes in front of him. His other major spell.
- Words of Reassurance: Key words of insight and resolute support, improving an ally’s attack speed and defense. His “minor” (2-rank) spell.
- Cry of the Ancients: Terrifying howl which instantly reduces enemy attack power while healing all nearby allies. His “ultimate” (requires level 8 ) spell.
Words of Reassurance is a spell that, I see now, is fun “in concept” but not as fun “in practice”. I’ll explain this further in a minute. Anyhow, for anyone familiar with WC3 mechanics, the numbers on WoR are clearly really solid (10%-20% attack speed boost and 5-10 armor) and definitely worth the skill points. A lot of players cite it as part of why they like the Howling Druid. He’s got a lot of good support abilities and timing his Song of Renewal is fun and takes skill. He makes the party better.
One of my goals for the ItR update is improving choices in terms of character builds. I want there to be more “flavors” of each hero. The Earthtalker actually embodies some of this idea currently: he is equally strong as either as a long range caster who times his explosive inscriptions carefully or as a thunderclapping, thick-skinned basher.
In trying to bring these options to the Howling Druid, I’ve targetted Words of Reassurance as a spell that does not add enough flavor to a druid player’s playstyle. In other words, while it may be a numerically sound buff, its additions are not perceptible: 10% faster attack speed or 15% more damage resistance does not make battles look any different.
One technique I have learned from recent World of Warcraft development is that weak/unfun spells can be “baked in” to other abilities or into the rules of the game. Rather than having to spec for increased threat generation (something every tank would have to do), extra threat was “baked into” the threat caused by tanking abilities. In an application of this concept, I’m replacing Words of Reassurance. I’m “baking in” the bonuses of WoR into the druid in the following ways:
- Song of Renewal heals for 20% more but costs 6% more mana – With less armor, the Howling Druid’s allies will be taking more damage and thus need more healing. So his heal is better. Also, without having to continuously sustain WoR, he’ll have a bit more mana.
- Battle Commands grants slightly more attack power up front and much more attack power at high ranks – BC grants flat attack damage whereas WoR grants percent damage, meaning it takes only a little bonus to compensate at low levels but a larger bonus to compensate at high levels.
- Thunderous Bellow and his basic attack deal more damage – Also picking up for the loss of attack damage are his own attack abilities. TB’s base and scaling damage is changing to make it better at high levels. His base attack speed is increasing slightly to keep his “get a few swings in between spells” rhythm going.
Gaby is probably my most experienced ItR tester. One thing she advocates is the “Make skill training affordable!” idea. By this she means that most players won’t hit rank 5 or 6 of their abilities, so make the effect of each rank noticible. By removing WoR as a “required buff”, players will have more points to make important training choices. Which leads into (the first version of) his new ability:
- Charge Order: Greatly increase the movement speed of nearby allies for 15 seconds.
Simple, huh? Flavor-wise, he speaks out a few wise and shrewd battlefield commands. If you’ve played ItR, you can imagine all of the ways the druid will save his allies from trouble. Which is exactly what a good support character does. Though simple, I think this inspires a lot of good teamwork for the druid his teammates. If a druid player wants to play “stand and fight” style, though, he can instead specialize in the other existing spells and have more straightforward but more powerful skills. I’ve even got a few ideas on how to make sure this doesn’t overlap too much with the “Runes of Speed” in the game!
I hope you’ve enjoyed this article and I look forward to writing more!
Achievement Review: Fable 2, Bioshock, Lego Indiana Jones
Fable 2 - Good use of minor achievements for the social parts of the game. Gave me a lot of ideas for how to mess with villagers. Solid “see the content” achievements, including quick co-op and online achievements. A game with this much breadth gets a lot of legs from good achievements. A great example of achievements providing additional gameplay.
Bioshock – Mostly “pokemon” achievements: you gotta catch ‘em all. Upgrade all weapons, find all tonics, take every photoWeapon upgrades, tonics, photos, diaries, etc. Encourages exploration, but a few of the achievements are faq-ish. You’ll probably never find the diaries without a guide, and it’s quite possible to be unable to buy the last one or two tonics without knowing ahead of time what to buy.
Lego Indiana Jones – Almost all typical achievements but with a few genuinely funny secret achievements. Some of the “Whip Swing X Times” achievements are really high numbers, requiring dull grinding. The style of game where 1000g is well within reach and only requires spare patience and time.
