Arena Ideas

Hi everyone. I'm thinking of making an arena map, and i need your ideas and opinions.

-What do you think will make the arena funny to play?
-What terrain would you prefer?
-How many heroes would you prefer?
-How many spells for each hero would you prefer?
-How big should the arena be?
-What special features should be in the arena?
-Would you like to have mini-games? if yes, then how many mini-games?
-All vs All or teams?
-Should there be creeps?

I will begin with the map when i have enough information from you. It will be 100% JASS writen, and i will put custom spells in it, if you like it.

-Funny? A sense of humor. Animals have a lot of potential, but you could go with a theme for a hero too, such as "janitor" or something.

-Terrain? Just good, varied terrain, a bit less flat than the average arena, but not impeding gameplay.

-Number of Heroes? More is better, but quality trumps quantity if the trade-off must be made. Start your first few versions with at least a dozen.

-Spells? At least four, obviously. Maybe make 3 regular, 1 ult, and 1 utility for 5 levelable?

-Size? Largish, but not so big you drown in it.

-Special Features? Use Vex's selection system. Other than that, have a little creativity.

-Minigames? If they're good, and purposeful, sure.

-Mode? FFA, I suppose.

Thanks but about the terrain i didn't mean flatness and so on. I meant like forest terrain, dessert terrain, city terrain? And about special features i meant something about 1 vs. 1, item sets, special bosses ...

Anyway thanks for the quick reply =)

A sense of humor should be easy, but don't be stupid. Comical is ok, but stupid-funny just makes your map look bad.

The terrain should be appealing to the eyes. Make 5 hills. One in the middle and 4 near each corner (not in the corner, but near them). This can give heroes better sight and also give ranged heroes a minor advantage. Also, make some trees or sight/path impediments, just to spice things up. The overall theme?... Go for a city. I haven't seen that yet. You know... roads, bars, houses, bystanders, etc.

Heroes should be limited. Do not go over 18. Also, make sure every hero has some sort of role to them. Synergy is nice too.

For spells, don't get too carried away. 4 is good, and maybe a fifth unique spell you can buy or something. Don't make the spells psycho complicated.

The size, I'd recommend a 128x128 and smaller. Perhaps an even smaller arena and a sidelines (for healing, buying items, etc.)

Special Features... Like stated above, Vex's selction system would look good. Maybe 'team' battles, where people are suddenly forced to ally and fight against another 'team' in a match.

I wouldn't recommend minigames. They won't add much, and might just get in the way.

I would suggest FFA too, but a 2v2v2v2 or something like that would be ok as well.

Thanks for your reply Darkwulfv. I have some ideas in my head about the arena

-It will happen in an arena in some city like dalaran
-I will use ... maybe cityscape tileset
-There will be cliffs so that ranged heroes will have an advantage over melee heroes, therefor i will make melee heroes stronger
-I wont make mini-games, because i think that it ruins the feeling for an arena
-I will make a small place for 1 vs. 1 or 3 vs. 3
-I will have 10 heroes (well in my first version), with 4 abilities and 1 unique (elite?) ability gained at a desired level.
-I will use a creative hero selection system, maybe vexorians
-The spells strenght will grow with inteligence, level, agility and so on ...
-also some creep spawn
-And of course i will add an advanced AI

Please come up with more opinions :D

Cityscape is fugly. If you use it, I would recommend adding a couple forest tiles for grass and stuff. Maybe allow fighting on the outskirts of the 'town' as well?

Don't make melee heroes stronger to counter range heroes. I would experiment first before jumping to the conclusion that because ranged heroes get cliffs, melee heroes will get destroyed.

10 heroes is a good number. You probably should go more than double the amount of players (so if it's a 10 player game, you should have <= 20 heroes.)

Yes, some minor creeps spawns are good. Make sure they periodically grow in strength. Also, don't make them drop too much gold or very strong items. Maybe minor potions and stuff.

Advanced AI is a good idea too if you can make it well.

If i dont make melee heroes stronger they will surely be killed by the ranged ones. The ranged could just stand at the top of a cliff and shoot the melee, and when the melee arrives, they could just run away. Another option is to give all heroes a jump ability, sure i wont damage, just make the hero jump a small distance.

That would be a great idea. Give melee heroes a jump ability.

Yes, you probably want more heroes than players because otherwise the game will just be the same fights over and over between the ten characters. And a city hero arena does sound cool. Maybe there could be computer player guards that will kill you if you fight in certain "off limits" areas or kill a civilian.

Thanks for reply FLUFF.

Okay i have the basic idea of the arena now. Any ideas for heroes? I will make 4 spells for every hero, and 1 unique (elite?) spell. And dont worry, i can also make custom spells. I will make classes like "Warrior, Dark Ranger, Necromancer, Pyromancer etc..." and not classes like "Leader of the Blackrock Clan, Chinese Panda."

Aim for strong, cohesive themes in heroes. Every ability a hero has should tie in to his theme.

Yes, so if you have a hero who is the Pandaren Brewmaster and his class is "Bamboo Warrior", his spells should probably involve either Bamboo or fighting. Don't go having him toss ale or breath fire =P

I'd be happy to give you some hero ideas soon. Once I have some time, that is.

Ok darkwulfv thanks for the ideas. You can just pm me with them once you have time =) I will soon post a picture of some basic terrain to see if you like it. :b

Ok here is the picture of my basic terrain. Critics welcome. I made it in about 2 hours and it's not finish yet. I look forward to hear your meanings.

Neat Terrain. You must have been working pretty industriously to get that so quickly. It seems like it might be fairly large for a hero arena, swallowing up your heroes, but that would have to be evaluated with play-testing.