(1) The Architect

The Architect
~ HINDYhat

The Architect is a single-player gameplay and story-driven RPG that I started developing a couple weeks ago. It involves many unique systems (yes, really) that make it distinctly different from any Warcraft III map I've ever played. Some features are inspired from the best game of all time, Earthbound/Mother 2, notably some aspects of the battle system.

Summary: The Architect's story revolves around a young hunter named Talus who, gone on a simple search for food, is brought into a new world full of surprises and secrets revealed. The Architect follows the adventures of Talus as he discovers the truth behind the throne, and the consequences of this truth on himself and his fellow people.

Features: As stated previously, a large part of the game will depend on the battle system. I would qualify it as semi-real-time. As in the game Earthbound, you can initiate a battle by contacting enemies in the game world. Depending on the position of contact, and the facing of the involved colliding opponents, a battle will favour one of the sides.
For example, if an enemy sights you and hits you from behind, you will have some sort of a disadvantage in the battle. If you hit an enemy from behind, then the enemy will have a disadvantage in battle. If both you and the enemy are facing eachother in contact, then the battle will be iniated regularly.
Once the battle begins, both colliding entities are ported to a battle zone, at which point there is much more space to roam, and real-time battle is initiated. Each enemy has different techniques and A.I. that make them extremely difficult to defeat when a particular strategy isn't in mind.
It might be confusing when explained like that, but ingame, it's much more concrete and understandable. :P

Here is what I've mashed together so far in what concerns the terrain. This is the forest within the outer-city walls of the city 'Coupe', where the first instances of gameplay take place.

Hidden information:

Team: There is virtually no team involved in the making of this map. The only help I've accepted is by FamousPker49, a good friend of mine, who will/has help(ed) with terrain support, storyline development and concepts.

Progress: - Terrain of the forest outside the main city is complete.
- Battle system is complete.
- Storyline for the first 4-5 chapters is complete.

So, whaddya think? :D

It would've been way cooler if you made the map have similar wit to Earthbound too. I also think it would've been crazy if it were turn based like Earthbound with the music sync fighting that was introduced in the second game. Really glad you think it's the best game of all time, by the way, because I agree. The first and second EBs are my top 2. :P

But outside of the encounter angle thing you mentioned, what's special about it? The story seems a bit dry, I've seen far too many throne, king, discovery, mystery, blah things in my time. Maybe it'll be a bit spicier than it sounds and it's just your description at fault, but I've got a red warning flag raised right now.

Otherwise, good luck and so forth. I'd like to see it completed, or at least to a stage where it's playable. I think 5 chapters, depending if you mean different maps or not, might be a bit ambitious, but who knows? It'll be awesome if you pull through. You've got my support. :)

Heh, well, that definitely would be an interesting way to work with the story. I'll have to think about it, because, honestly, working with such a story is a hassle, and it's very difficult to create a reasonable storyline while avoiding cliche aspects and such. I've never been much of a storywriter though, so yeah if there's something that's taken a major hit with this project, it has got to the be the storyline.

Then again, working with an EB-style storyline can't be that hard. Just throw around some, ahem, people that wear pig masks and want to take over your town while alien flies from the future come to your house on a meteorite to kill you. Oh and don't forget the huge gaseous alien that wants to take over the world from the future and the only way to save humanity is by turning into a robot and going through time with the help of midgets who don't know how to speak, only have legs, and have dangerously long moustaches.

So yeah, the storyline isn't solid yet. What you're suggesting is really intriguing, and I'll think about it definitely.

About the chapters part, it's mostly fractions of the storyline that would be released from the same map, but at different levels of completion.

Thanks by the way :P

EDIT: barley tea. boing. zoom zoom.

Sounds like the Legend of Magnador's battle system to me, though the advantage/disadvantage seems new and could be good banter (or horribly frustrating).

Damn, I didn't know you still made maps. That terrain looks pretty nice, I must say.

The storyline is officially scrapped, and I'm trying to work with something new now. Updates should follow shortly.