Struggle for Zethos Peninsula

Struggle for Zethos Peninsula ~ I Am Spam

Summary:
-Players on teams are placed on parallel fields with monsters assaulting them. They must fight, using their chosen heroes, up to a goal location and then hold it for a little while. The twist is that their enemies (called hires) are summoned by the opposing team, and it is imperative to kill them as quickly as possible and with minimal injury in order to win the round. By winning rounds the team gains points, and by gaining points they achieve victory, but not before a climactic showdown!

Features:
-Different races to choose from with vastly different offensive and defensive styles.
-Each round players not only hire ordinary units to attack, they may also employ mighty avatars that they can control and fight with directly or call upon offensive or defensive power-ups.
-A field layout and terrain that changes each round, demanding new strategies.
-Third parties who would rather that neither team lived to conquer Zethos.
-Truly unique and defining specials for each race.

More Generalized Goals:
-Accessible gameplay; easy to learn, hard to master
-Cutthroat, dramatic competition that facilitates comebacks and demands vigilance even if a side seems to be dominating.
-Under 1 MB map size: Yeah, it’s painful to say this when there are so many great resources on the Hive, but it’s so that people can DL it without hassle.
-Game Length of 30-60 minutes: This is kind of fluid, and will require an actual product to perfect, but too long a game is too hard to play. Perhaps multiple modes for multiple styles/lengths of play, though those would come later.
-Measured pacing: Players and their strengths will avoid the exponential growth that you see in many TDs or footmen wars to maintain relative parity between players. Additionally, the gameplay will try to strike a fair balance as far as reflex demands, staying shy of the DotA end of that spectrum.
-Polish and Playability: Smooth play, clear instructions, and crisp presentation should all be priorities.


Team:

*I Am Spam

Note: I'm mainly looking for comments, but if you're interested then you should definitely mention it. Just say what you think you could contribute and most likely you'll get to do it.


Progress:
Idea/Planning Stage

Misc.:
Here's some ruminations on the map:
I'm attempting to make a game that's different, but if you take Hero Line wars or Creep Wars as points of reference, you won't be too far off. The main elements that differentiates SZP from those are the struggle towards the goal, and the round-based structure. I chose a this, somewhat unusual for a B.Net Map, because I felt it would make it more competitive and exciting during play, with various game mechanisms meant to bring the playstyle away from something like hero line wars and make it more cooperative and measured. Basically, I'd be really pleased if I could produce something with the essense of competitive Zombie Assault.
Here are the specifics of gameplay:
Beginning
-There are two equal teams (probably 5 each max, conceivably six)
-Each player chooses a race, which determines what heroes, hires and upgrades are available to them. Each race also has a special asymmetrical ability (totally unlike any other race) to further distinguish it.
-Each player picks a hero
Pre-Round Prep
-Player upgrade/buy items for heroes using lumber, purchase units using gold and food, and purchase power-ups using food and a special resource (henceforth, Srez) uniquely named for each race.
-Players may also buy special hires, avatars, which they control directly (as opposed to normal hires that are like the spawns in an AoS). Avatars are generally quite strong, but only with some degree of intelligent use and micro. They have variegated talents and effects on the battlefield. They require the aforementioned Srez.
Round: FIGHT!
-Each team is placed in an identical but separate field, usually taller than it is wide, and must fight to a goal point on the opposite side.
-To capture the goal, the team must wipe out most of the hires on the field as well as moving to the location.
-Each round, the map’s terrain changes – walls and barricades will change locations, as will the goals.
Post-Round clean-up/evaluation
-The winning team is the one that captures its goal fastest, and gains a hefty gold bonus. However, other factors like hero survival and difficulty of the enemies killed also have their own bonuses – thus, it’s not just a mindless rush for the goal.
-The winning team gains a point. After a team reaches a certain number of points, the game goes into Final Battle mode, wherein the teams compete directly, much as a conventional AoS, and the team with higher points must eliminate their opponents to win.
Miscellaneous
-Sometimes special rounds will include twists on the formula, these could take many forms…
-Certain special units are unlocked only by having a certain number of points as a team, while others unlock automatically with round progression (to measure the pace of the game)
Resources
-Gold is gained through end-round bonus and creep-kill
-Lumber is gained based on the performance of your hires
-Food is measured out in fairly set amounts each round, though the player can do certain things to affect how much they have.
-Srez is gained through a variety of ways, including a meagerly allowance that arrives every round, special bonuses for superb defense or offense, and some other means, especially during the special rounds.

Sounds interesting =)