- Joined
- Dec 19, 2007
- Messages
- 5
Okay, this is a rather long post, which is a combination of 2-3 posts from another forum, so please bear with me.
the idea is based off of a rather old game called Netstorm, which is freely available for download (and made by Activision), and is a great concept, if somewhat lacking in interface. You are situated on floating islands, because the world has become undone at the seams, and you must fight for control of these islands.
There are 4 elements:
Sun (A general, all purpose element. No strengths, but no weaknesses.)
Wind (Used more for rushing, quick units)
Rain (High endurance, quick to regenerate)
Thunder (High power, leaves little room for defense, needs precise placement)
In general, you have a priest, which is the builder unit, and main unit of your island. He must build a Temple, which enables you to produce Golems, which are collector units. These must collect Crystals from Storm Geysers, which is the currency of the game. Once you have enough crystals, you build a Workshop, which can commission a limited number of units for you to build. Maximum 2, and you have a possible 5-6 units total, for each element.
You definately have to build Generators, which is vaguely reminiscent of the Protoss Pylons of Starcraft. This means that Generators have to be within a certain area of one another, and the same goes for buildings.
From there, you must build bridges. These allow you to access more resources from the floating Storm Geysers, and also allow you to get to your opponent. Here's the tricky (and more fun) part. They are somewhat like Tetris pieces, having a variety of different shapes. You must piece these random bits together to get anywhere. But watch how fast you go, because pieces that replace the ones you have used are temporarily cracked, and anything linking them will fall off. Also, anything not connected to another solid structure (Storm Geyser or land) will weaken and fall off eventually.
So it takes some thinking. *gasp*
Anywho, from there, you have to build your offensive/defensive buildings. The objective is the destroy your opponents Temple, and ultimately, weaken his priest in a brutal game of Capture the Flag, where your Golem comes into play. For example, if the enemies' priest is weakened to almost death, you must build an Altar to sacrifice your enemy to the Gods.
In general, combat is building based. Sun has a tower that can change directions, and small annoying flying units that bomb other towers. Thunder has bad @$$ towers, but they can only fire in one direction for a respectable distance. They also have no air units, but have a good air defense. Rain has regenerative towers and units, but no real offensive towers, and must rely on masses of units. Wind is a quick strike, quick building, with only one Tower, that can fire at angles, and also has a nice air unit.
Seems like a nice concept, if a bit hard to implement.
Heres the link to the official manual, which can explain alot more than I can.
http://www.netstormworld.com/index.php/Book_of_Nimbus
And the official website, if you want to download it:
http://www.netstormhq.com/
I'm no mapper, but I know a little bit, and I couldn't get my head around the concept of making bridges like tetris pieces as crossable structures...
It took place on floating islands... Play the real game, you might like it. The 5th element was Storm, but it encompassed all of them, was kind of like the grandaddy element (wasn't playable)
Otherwise, I can't see how some of that would be coded. It's an idea, but would have to be tweaked into Warcraft code, meaning loss of alot of the original gameplay, unless theres's some way to overcome it. Perhaps...
If things are anything (even vaguely) like my old Starcraft mapping/C++/Java coding, perhaps something like this could be used:
If <building> is made:
place 1 <invisible placer> x units north of <building>
place 1 <> south
#and so on
if <enemy building/unit/etc> comes within x units of <invisible placer>
<building> uses spell
Most of the attacks would have to be spell based, like cannon shots would be Shockwaves that dissipate after one hit, since it goes in a line.
The building would have all the buttons removed, and would autofire once an enemy unit comes near one of the "ranged" invisible placers. The placeholders would be considered the maximum range of that building.
Or give the control to a similarly colored AI, which controls firing of the towers and such. I have no AI coding experience, but I might be able to pick up triggering if its anything like Starcraft or Java (cause and effect type stuff). This would limit the number of players, but may cut down on the number of triggers needed. For the most part, you built the buildings, and didn't have to do anything beyond that.
Of course, I have no prior WC3 mapping experience other than screwing around with some single player maps. So this is all theory for me, based off of other things I've done.
Would anyone know how to code this? At least have a vague idea of how? xD
Or would anyone like to give me an idea of where to get started? I haven't a clue on how to work all but the most basic functions of the editor, but this has created a spark of hope within me, that maybe I can learn it, like I learned Xtra Editor of Starcraft. I know of the tutorials on WC3Campaigns, and the Hive, but I take advice from people better than following a guide.
(for the clueless, Xtra was an editor that allowed alot more things to be done than in the normal one, such as invisible bunkers, bunkers that disappear but still fire from their original place, among other fun little things that made starcraft less boring)
So my questions are as follows:
Where should I start on this new (potential) project?
Would it be more efficient to use AI or Triggers to control the towers/units?
How would I implement a system where you could build things on air, and walk over them?
How would I implement a system where towers would only fire in one direction/straight directions/one area?
Would it be better to use JASS or the "language" in World Editor?
If I were to use an AI, how would I go about coding one? (lol)
Would it be viable to use a normal attack or a spell for the towers?
And finally, how would I make it so a spell damages a building (or unit), but stops at that building (and passes through the unit).
Thanks for your help
the idea is based off of a rather old game called Netstorm, which is freely available for download (and made by Activision), and is a great concept, if somewhat lacking in interface. You are situated on floating islands, because the world has become undone at the seams, and you must fight for control of these islands.
There are 4 elements:
Sun (A general, all purpose element. No strengths, but no weaknesses.)
Wind (Used more for rushing, quick units)
Rain (High endurance, quick to regenerate)
Thunder (High power, leaves little room for defense, needs precise placement)
In general, you have a priest, which is the builder unit, and main unit of your island. He must build a Temple, which enables you to produce Golems, which are collector units. These must collect Crystals from Storm Geysers, which is the currency of the game. Once you have enough crystals, you build a Workshop, which can commission a limited number of units for you to build. Maximum 2, and you have a possible 5-6 units total, for each element.
You definately have to build Generators, which is vaguely reminiscent of the Protoss Pylons of Starcraft. This means that Generators have to be within a certain area of one another, and the same goes for buildings.
From there, you must build bridges. These allow you to access more resources from the floating Storm Geysers, and also allow you to get to your opponent. Here's the tricky (and more fun) part. They are somewhat like Tetris pieces, having a variety of different shapes. You must piece these random bits together to get anywhere. But watch how fast you go, because pieces that replace the ones you have used are temporarily cracked, and anything linking them will fall off. Also, anything not connected to another solid structure (Storm Geyser or land) will weaken and fall off eventually.
So it takes some thinking. *gasp*
Anywho, from there, you have to build your offensive/defensive buildings. The objective is the destroy your opponents Temple, and ultimately, weaken his priest in a brutal game of Capture the Flag, where your Golem comes into play. For example, if the enemies' priest is weakened to almost death, you must build an Altar to sacrifice your enemy to the Gods.
In general, combat is building based. Sun has a tower that can change directions, and small annoying flying units that bomb other towers. Thunder has bad @$$ towers, but they can only fire in one direction for a respectable distance. They also have no air units, but have a good air defense. Rain has regenerative towers and units, but no real offensive towers, and must rely on masses of units. Wind is a quick strike, quick building, with only one Tower, that can fire at angles, and also has a nice air unit.
Seems like a nice concept, if a bit hard to implement.
Heres the link to the official manual, which can explain alot more than I can.
http://www.netstormworld.com/index.php/Book_of_Nimbus
And the official website, if you want to download it:
http://www.netstormhq.com/
I'm no mapper, but I know a little bit, and I couldn't get my head around the concept of making bridges like tetris pieces as crossable structures...
It took place on floating islands... Play the real game, you might like it. The 5th element was Storm, but it encompassed all of them, was kind of like the grandaddy element (wasn't playable)
Otherwise, I can't see how some of that would be coded. It's an idea, but would have to be tweaked into Warcraft code, meaning loss of alot of the original gameplay, unless theres's some way to overcome it. Perhaps...
If things are anything (even vaguely) like my old Starcraft mapping/C++/Java coding, perhaps something like this could be used:
If <building> is made:
place 1 <invisible placer> x units north of <building>
place 1 <> south
#and so on
if <enemy building/unit/etc> comes within x units of <invisible placer>
<building> uses spell
Most of the attacks would have to be spell based, like cannon shots would be Shockwaves that dissipate after one hit, since it goes in a line.
The building would have all the buttons removed, and would autofire once an enemy unit comes near one of the "ranged" invisible placers. The placeholders would be considered the maximum range of that building.
Or give the control to a similarly colored AI, which controls firing of the towers and such. I have no AI coding experience, but I might be able to pick up triggering if its anything like Starcraft or Java (cause and effect type stuff). This would limit the number of players, but may cut down on the number of triggers needed. For the most part, you built the buildings, and didn't have to do anything beyond that.
Of course, I have no prior WC3 mapping experience other than screwing around with some single player maps. So this is all theory for me, based off of other things I've done.
Would anyone know how to code this? At least have a vague idea of how? xD
Or would anyone like to give me an idea of where to get started? I haven't a clue on how to work all but the most basic functions of the editor, but this has created a spark of hope within me, that maybe I can learn it, like I learned Xtra Editor of Starcraft. I know of the tutorials on WC3Campaigns, and the Hive, but I take advice from people better than following a guide.
(for the clueless, Xtra was an editor that allowed alot more things to be done than in the normal one, such as invisible bunkers, bunkers that disappear but still fire from their original place, among other fun little things that made starcraft less boring)
So my questions are as follows:
Where should I start on this new (potential) project?
Would it be more efficient to use AI or Triggers to control the towers/units?
How would I implement a system where you could build things on air, and walk over them?
How would I implement a system where towers would only fire in one direction/straight directions/one area?
Would it be better to use JASS or the "language" in World Editor?
If I were to use an AI, how would I go about coding one? (lol)
Would it be viable to use a normal attack or a spell for the towers?
And finally, how would I make it so a spell damages a building (or unit), but stops at that building (and passes through the unit).
Thanks for your help
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