Basically, you may have seen my thread mentioning I want to edit again. Here is my actual plans for the new version.
In my opinion, the biggest problem with Island Defense before was the incentive to not do anything, and that a player can get by doing nothing. You can build a lumber base, go afk, and rebuild the lumber base if you have to. After that, all you have to do is build your base and you can probably win. This works in just about all games, unless Titan is fed to a really high level.
There are plenty of ways to solve that. The two probable solutions I can think of is either granting the titan a better overlook on the builders, which would allow him to keep up a chase more effectively... or force the builders to expand to various points on the map to increase their lumber. One method to do this is greatly diminishing lumber income but removing food cost on workers.
Many flawed methods exist, feel free to pick the one you are most comfortable with.
Let's take a minute to look at a game like DotA. Ever gone AFK for half an hour, and come back to win a game of DotA against other people at your skill level? Probably not. I'm going to implement shit to make Island Defense more fast paced, more fun, more exciting, and most of all, more involved.
But then again, ID differs in that hiding is the purpose of a builder rather than boldly moving around. The luxury of staying afk for periods of time because there is a lack of action is understandable though. If you are going to increase the pace, keep the degree within a certain limit or you would risk going overboard with it.
Rune System
The first and most important change will be the Rune System. Any builder from the Easy Tavern will be able to get a bottle from their research center. They cost 2000 lumber, so it will set you back a bit for your lumber base, and you need to get the lumber in the first place so you can't rush it. Then it's just a matter of wandering the map. The only units that can carry bottles are the main builder units. Runes spawn around the map. The titan can destroy a rune by attacking it for a little EXP and a bit of gold. Builders can use the bottle item to bottle the rune.
Lets assume there are runes on the map. Any builder from the easy tavern: Murloc, Troll, Makrura, Draenei and henceforth... Will all be given the option of acquiring a bottle flask from the Research Center at a cost of 2000 lumber. Including the cost of walls and income rate, this would be acquired somewhere 3-6 minutes into the game. Your income will probably default back to square 1, but you now have a bottle enabling you to wander the map and collect these runes.
Q1. Is a builder capable of pooling their bottle to any other builder?
Q2. How Many runes would be present on the map at any given time?
Q3. Will the runes be able to provide defensive, offensive, combat and resource benefits?
(Im assuming you will only be allowed to have 1 rune at a time in the bottle)
Bottled runes are one use items. None of them are just for ha-has, they all have valid uses. They encourage you to wander the map searching, instead of turtling in your base.
If you consider the odds for a weak *easy* builder for wandering the map, including running into titans, risking exposure and being killed... those runes would have to be worth the time looking for. Since they would eat up your attention from everywhere else, you'd be exposed looking for these things unless they spawn in certain locations, as you mentioned below.
Runes spawn randomly around the map, two per every two minutes. A rune lasts for 45 seconds. After 40 seconds, it will begin to flash in another color, before disappearing and the two minute timer begins again.
Interesting place-holders you have here Sickle. So the rune will begin to flash 5 seconds before it vanishes to warn the players, while at the same time giving them some confirmation the rune wont just vanish right as they try to grab it.
Im going to assume the 120 second timer is the respawn rate of these runes. It would be perfect if not for just 1 inconvenience:
45 seconds? Are you serious? The map is large, the respawn locations can be on the opposites end of the map and not only does a builder have to find this thing, *he also has to get there before 45 seconds have passed or its just waiting for the next rune to appear, that could appear anywhere on the map?
With these place-holders providing the example, you'd have to get the rune to spawn next to you. And even then, the rune should be about as much as a pleasant surprise. Hardly a convincing method to get players to roam the map is it? Make the rune last about 4-5 times as long. You have to account for what a builder player has to do to even get a shot at picking one up, including the competition if the gain is seriously worth considering the 2000 early expense for.
No specific details on what runes do are available yet.
Ogre
Ogre builder will be redone, he needs it. He will get separate units for his catapults, and separate units for his towers. I'm also going to want him to have something so he doesn't become Draenie with ogre models.
I'm toying around with different ideas. I'd like him to have a pet dog unit so that he can sniff out the Titan, and use fog in an interesting way so that you can catch the scent of a Titanic Hero, and then try to follow it. The dog needs the ogre near him to command him, or else he goes wild and becomes a critter. You can get him back in control by finding him. Dogs feed EXP and 5 gold.
The other cool thing about Ogre could be his workers. I like the idea of his workers somehow contributing to his final army, kind of like the Call To Arms in melee for the human peasants. The workers would become very low feeding units, but would still overwhelm a minion.
Rebuilding his concept from scratch would be the best idea, but I have little to suggest as where to start. At best, I would consider to encourage building the towers and then move them into position.
Despite being the fat turd the Ogre is, the upgrade damage was a good twist.
Anti-maphack
The map will definitely have an anti-maphack script, that I will spend most of my time developing it to be specific to Island Defense. Neco, of course, will be free to use it too. It will prevent users from giving themselves gold and revealing the entire map.
So you will be sharing your resources between one another, give and be given?
Nightly Builds
There will be nightly builds. A nightly build will be released during the school year every Sunday night at the least, more often if I want. The nightly builds will have general interesting concepts, ideas I am toying with, and maybe even bug fixes. Example Nightly Builds:
* A new playstyle for a builder, for example I might try making radioactive towers act like ogre catapults and be movable, or I may try making faerie workers be able to det and do 10 damage, just things that would probably never make it to an official version but are still noteworthy.
* Cool new item concepts. For example, a piano for the builders, or an item for the titan to let him jump ten feet forward, or maybe I could make a Titan item that makes his attacks stun. These are more things that would never make it into a version but are still interesting.
* Integral parts of the game changing. Make builders 2x2 and give them a blink with no cooldown and 1.5 second casting. Make orc style builders really slow so they have to wall walk if they want to get anywhere, and give them a unit that builds slowly to make it easier to hit Esc in time for the noobs. Make gold harvest twice as fast.
Sounds like you will be braving a new concept to a rather strong degree. The runes will be solid enough for a start, but you could always hint at the Nightly Build being in the works. Although, I shouldnt be the one to be saying "braving" exactly...
Pretty much, nightly builds force me to think outside of the paradigm. I have to think of things I never would... this in itself can make my versions better. Island Defense creates a paradigm. People are taught to think in a certain way. We don't think of new things, we try to base new content on older content. Nightly builds help me break out of this horrible cycle while still giving cool stuff out thumbs up
Nightly builds is an addition that throws the builder into a different perspective at the game during "night period" right? If a mode I can see the pleasant approach. Forced, the public might not agree as much. The public is largely a lazy builder concentrated mass anyway. Any buff that nerfs builder affects this majority.
Thinking outside the regular cycle is always a respected idea, one everyone tries to do whenever building on a concept.
