Ideas for an RPG map.

I've got an idea for a type of RPG (no story or objective yet, just characters) in which the heroes have many phases of levels and many different skills, and the AI controls certain units as well. I'll explain with a few examples:

1) The Paladin -

Starts out as a Peasant, and after becoming level 3, changes into a Militia (but keeps all stats and skills, just changes the model). Again after gaining three levels the model changes into a Bandit, into a Footma, Captain, Knight, Bandit Lord, Arthas, Uther, and finally into Sir Gregory. So we have 10 models, each with 3 levels. Thus giving you 30 levels per character.

Now, for skills, remove all the icons (move, attack, patrol, etc) except for the Hero skill button (the plus) which is moved to the bottom right position (where the ultimate will ultimately go). The character can choose from 3 skillas at the beginning, and at each new model add a skill. So a Footman (4th model) has 6 skills available (each with the normal three levels), and Sir Gregory has 12 skills (all with three levels minus the ultimate).

2) The Druid -

The above is the same as far as levels and skills, but the Druid would have two skills at model 1, and one additional skill at levels 3, 5, and 7, and the ultimate at model 10.

The difference is that the Druid can summon creatures. Now, instread of having the player control all the creatures, have the AI control them. I'm not sure how this would work, but I think that some triggers with an area around the player and a few behavioral settings could work). This way a Druid could run around with a few wolves and a wisp that has an aura. These units are gained at certain levels, and when they die, they would have a timer before they could respawn or be resummoned. A timer from when they died, not from when they are summoned.

3) The Summoner -

The same for above applies to the Summoner, excapt that his creatures work like normal summons (timer from casting). As he gains levels he gets bigger and better summons, which are all AI/trigger controlled. The summons are his skills, so a model 5 can have 7 different things he can summon (in theory, it depends on the point attributed by the player).


There are a few other classes, but the classes stated above would cover all those except for one (a secret character).

The only thing that sucks is that to do this a lot of skills will need to be added and modified, which means that the abilities.slk needs to be modified, which means that it would require an Patch file. If anyone knows a way to do this without needing to modify the abilities.slk please tell me.

Also, if this is something that sounds interesting to you that you would like to work on, post here. I would need some heavy trigger help, a terrainer, and a story/dialogue/quest person. I have about 8 classes mapped out with skills and models. I might also need a skinner and possibly a little help on model and special effects editing (I read Cookies tutorial but have yet to get anything to work).

Feedback and critiquing would be helpful as well =)


Edit: Also note that all the skills need to be Hero skills with 3 levels each (possibly even the ultimates, not sure). This is, of course, unless the skills can be done with straight triggering (or unless the expansion allows for the abilities to be in the maps; wouldn't that be nice).


Cyclone Jack

how do they attack/move/patrol, and how do u plan on 12 skills

How often do you ckick on the attack button, just hit 'A', 'M' for move, etc. Just make the players use the hotkeys. As for skills, there are 12 icons available in the little icon are (toolbar?). The bottom right would be the where the ultimate goes, and when you get the last skill, the 'Plus' ('Learn Hero Abilites' i think) button goes away.

Crap. Now that I think of it, without the Attack button, I don't think the hotkey will work. Damn. Damn. Damn. So you would need an Attack, Move and Hold Position. Unless, you can trigger the hotkeys to when the player hits the 'A' button it does an attack, 'M' move, etc. I'll have to test that. Good point! Thanks!

But the 12 (9 if the above gets in the way) skills shouldn't be too hard (just a lot of .slk editing). The summoning could all be done with triggers, but as far as keeping track of skill levels and tooltips, etc. it could end up being a real hassle. Which is why I'm thinking that a patch.mpq would be required, unfortunatly.

Cyclone Jack

are u gonna have 12 1 level hero abilities, im sure that max level is 10, and would rather not have to edit my mpqs to play it unless its the best thing since ice cream (mmmmmm ice cream) and most people would not like there to be buttons missing. removing buttons may also cause errors.

Will, I thought about that, which is why I am changing the player every three levels or so. Lets take the Path of Paladin for an example.

Level 1 = Peasant. They have three skills to choose from: Defend, Bash and Critical Strike. As soon as they reach level 4, the player turns into a Militia, and gain the ability to learn Bloodlust (Self). Which means that they now have 4 skills to choose from and they have spent 4 skill points. Once they reach level 4 with the Militia, they change into a level 1 Bandit and gain the Endurance Aura. They have 5 skills to choose from and have spent a total of 7 skill points. (I hope this is making sense).

Once they reach Sir Gregory, they would have a total of 11 skills to choose from and 28 skill points have been used. Now, when thay get to level 3 of Sir Gregory, they have the Ultimate become available, and at this point the character is 'maxed' out. they have 12 skills to choose from and 30 points to spend on skills. which means that a player will never be able to max out all of their skills.

Edit:

Yes, I to do not wish to modify the MPQs unless its something awesome (New Races, Jaded Veil, Hell in Chaos (shameless plug)). For a multiplayer bnet map, I would ideally like all the changes to be in the map. This means that it may be a 99% trigger map.

Also, it may be that all the 'slills and abilities' are in a leader board that is player specific. This would show all the skills available and their level as well as a highlighted letter for a hotkey. This would remove the need for icons (except for the level up screen) and I could leave all the current buttons there. This would require even more trigger work. Perhaps I should start learning some advanced triggering techniques =)

Cyclone Jack