Just a small update this time, enjoy! Extract into your main Templars of Kayne directory to enjoy your new seasonal skins.
Merry Christmas,
Phillammon!
Thursday, 19 December 2013
Wednesday, 20 November 2013
Templars of Kayne v0.1.3 Alpha!
Apologies for the radio silence, folks, but rest assured that the project completed excellently! One last page of paperwork left to go, but it's not going to be a problem. Let me take a moment to say thanks to all you guys for supporting and helping Hook&Crook Games throughout this project.
But don't think that means I'm gonna stop working on the Project, just cause it's been handed in, oh no. So, with out any further ado: Here it is, the one you've all been waiting for, the Templars of Kayne v0.1.3 Alpha!
Download it here!
Just extract it into a directory of your choice, then run the enclosed .bat files to start the server or client! For those of you wishing to host a server, you'll need to open communications on port 31337- this may require port forwarding. Other than that, it's exactly the same as hosting any other game's server. For anyone wishing to play on another person's server, open up config using "Client Options.bat", put in your friend's IP address, then run the "Start Client.bat". There isn't currently an objective to play for, but people have been having a lot of fun so far just with going for kills on each other!
Controls:
Templar Selection: Left and Right arrow keys to change Templar, Enter to lock in choice.
In Game: Left Mouse Button to run towards cursor, Right Mouse Button to go away. Q, W, E and R trigger abilities.
Known Bugs:
-Rebecca does not have an ultimate ability. Trust me when I say this doesn't make her any weaker.
-Some tooltips are slightly inaccurate, but nothing noticable
-If a character is dashing when they are struck by the knock component of Bastion's Boulderdash, they may unexpectedly fly halfway around the planet. (I refuse to patch this, due to the hilarity that inevitably ensues)
-Passives do not have tooltips. The correct passives for all Templars are listed at the bottom of this post.
-Animations are not triggering. Or implemented, for that matter.
-Persephone is able to escape the planet's gravitational field if she tries hard enough. Again, not patching it, but not saying how to do it either. Figure it out for yourself.
- If you "miss" a targeted ability, it will go on cooldown without having any effect. Be very careful with how you aim them
If you spot any other bugs, or have any other comments in general, please feel free to leave a comment below or drop us a line at hookandcrookgames@gmail.com
Have fun!
Passives:
Bastion: Rock Solid- Bastion's body is impervious to a great many things, unless weakened. If Bastion is not damaged for a large period of time, he is immune to the damage from the next ability to hit him.
Cordelia: Coup de Grass- Cordelia finishes off wounded foes, dealing increased damage to enemies who are Stunned, Snared, Slowed or Silenced.
Darryn: Safety Second- When Darryn is in the area of effect of one of his own abilities, he deals increased damage with all of his abilities for a few seconds.
Elijah: Carnivore- Elijah feeds off his foes, healing himself for 25% of the damage he deals.
Nathaniel: Last Laugh- Nathaniel won't let anything end the show. Nathaniel can control Exactly What I Aimed For and Trickshot even after death, and while dead, all of Nathaniel's abilities deal tripled damage.
Omoide: Seal the Curse- Omoide seals her foes. When a foe with a Seal set is struck by one of Omoide's abilities, the Seal triggers. The Seal remains set for a few seconds. This time resets if they are struck by another Seal.
Oscar: Conversation- Oscar fights in short bursts. When Oscar deals damage to an enemy or parries an ability with agile riposte, he gains Conversation for a few seconds. During Conversation, all of Oscar's cooldowns are reduced.
Persephone: Two Bodies, One Spirit- Persephone lives her life in two halves. Persephone has a stationary cloudclone of herself, Kore, on the battlefield at all times, who is immune to all abilities, displacement, all damage, and all statuses.
Rebecca: Below the Belt- Rebecca aims for pressure points and nasty blows. When Rebecca deals damage, the damaged enemy is slowed for a brief time.
But don't think that means I'm gonna stop working on the Project, just cause it's been handed in, oh no. So, with out any further ado: Here it is, the one you've all been waiting for, the Templars of Kayne v0.1.3 Alpha!
Download it here!
Just extract it into a directory of your choice, then run the enclosed .bat files to start the server or client! For those of you wishing to host a server, you'll need to open communications on port 31337- this may require port forwarding. Other than that, it's exactly the same as hosting any other game's server. For anyone wishing to play on another person's server, open up config using "Client Options.bat", put in your friend's IP address, then run the "Start Client.bat". There isn't currently an objective to play for, but people have been having a lot of fun so far just with going for kills on each other!
Controls:
Templar Selection: Left and Right arrow keys to change Templar, Enter to lock in choice.
In Game: Left Mouse Button to run towards cursor, Right Mouse Button to go away. Q, W, E and R trigger abilities.
Known Bugs:
-Rebecca does not have an ultimate ability. Trust me when I say this doesn't make her any weaker.
-Some tooltips are slightly inaccurate, but nothing noticable
-If a character is dashing when they are struck by the knock component of Bastion's Boulderdash, they may unexpectedly fly halfway around the planet. (I refuse to patch this, due to the hilarity that inevitably ensues)
-Passives do not have tooltips. The correct passives for all Templars are listed at the bottom of this post.
-Animations are not triggering. Or implemented, for that matter.
-Persephone is able to escape the planet's gravitational field if she tries hard enough. Again, not patching it, but not saying how to do it either. Figure it out for yourself.
- If you "miss" a targeted ability, it will go on cooldown without having any effect. Be very careful with how you aim them
If you spot any other bugs, or have any other comments in general, please feel free to leave a comment below or drop us a line at hookandcrookgames@gmail.com
Have fun!
Passives:
Bastion: Rock Solid- Bastion's body is impervious to a great many things, unless weakened. If Bastion is not damaged for a large period of time, he is immune to the damage from the next ability to hit him.
Cordelia: Coup de Grass- Cordelia finishes off wounded foes, dealing increased damage to enemies who are Stunned, Snared, Slowed or Silenced.
Darryn: Safety Second- When Darryn is in the area of effect of one of his own abilities, he deals increased damage with all of his abilities for a few seconds.
Elijah: Carnivore- Elijah feeds off his foes, healing himself for 25% of the damage he deals.
Nathaniel: Last Laugh- Nathaniel won't let anything end the show. Nathaniel can control Exactly What I Aimed For and Trickshot even after death, and while dead, all of Nathaniel's abilities deal tripled damage.
Omoide: Seal the Curse- Omoide seals her foes. When a foe with a Seal set is struck by one of Omoide's abilities, the Seal triggers. The Seal remains set for a few seconds. This time resets if they are struck by another Seal.
Oscar: Conversation- Oscar fights in short bursts. When Oscar deals damage to an enemy or parries an ability with agile riposte, he gains Conversation for a few seconds. During Conversation, all of Oscar's cooldowns are reduced.
Persephone: Two Bodies, One Spirit- Persephone lives her life in two halves. Persephone has a stationary cloudclone of herself, Kore, on the battlefield at all times, who is immune to all abilities, displacement, all damage, and all statuses.
Rebecca: Below the Belt- Rebecca aims for pressure points and nasty blows. When Rebecca deals damage, the damaged enemy is slowed for a brief time.
Friday, 27 September 2013
Aaaaaand HOLD IT!
Templars of Kayne is now in feature freeze.
This is not technically the case. Technically, this is beyond feature freeze and is outright code freeze. In short, no more development until I unfreeze it. This will likely be *after* the deadline for the Extended Project, so I have some time to complete the required paperwork. Once that's done and handed in, there will be a short delay of a couple of weeks, and then, with any luck, there will be an initial public release.
So, wish me luck, folks!
Signing off,
Phillammon
This is not technically the case. Technically, this is beyond feature freeze and is outright code freeze. In short, no more development until I unfreeze it. This will likely be *after* the deadline for the Extended Project, so I have some time to complete the required paperwork. Once that's done and handed in, there will be a short delay of a couple of weeks, and then, with any luck, there will be an initial public release.
So, wish me luck, folks!
Signing off,
Phillammon
Friday, 20 September 2013
An update of sorts
In an effort to keep this blog remotely up to date, here we go:
-Asset Creation has remained difficult. There is now a system in place for animations to be handled, however there's no actual animations to put in there yet. I intend to film myself to put together some animation references at some point in the near future.
-Similarly, I'm still waiting on my composer for BGM- there is placeholder music in place, but it's not mine, and there would be copyright issues with attempting to release it in its current form
-Sound effects and voice acting are on hold until I have animations and BGM in place, as they take higher priority
-The arena system has been implemented.
-I feel like this bears repeating. The entire engine underlying the game has been successfully rewritten, and as such the arena system has been implemented
-Six Templars have been retooled for the arena system and implemented. These are Bastion, Cordelia and Elijah, along with three newcomers you haven't met yet, those being Ingenia Magnus, Jedediah Opum, and Tyr Cyrikold. More on them later.
-75 Templars total have had their kits revamped and prepared for the arena system, and are ready to roll out pending testing.
-People have been recruited for Preliminary Testing. Once everything has been finalized, it's ready to go pretty much instantly.
-Work has continued on completeing the paperwork for the Extended Project (Y'know, the thing that this was originally in aid of?). So far, most of the work has been focused on explaining why I have no secondary sources- something I explained in detail earlier.
-Time could have been handled significantly better on this one, I admit. As college has restarted and a significant number of deadlines have started hitting simultaneously, The deadline for this project is drawing closer and time available for the project is dwindling.
So that's what's going on at this end!
-Asset Creation has remained difficult. There is now a system in place for animations to be handled, however there's no actual animations to put in there yet. I intend to film myself to put together some animation references at some point in the near future.
-Similarly, I'm still waiting on my composer for BGM- there is placeholder music in place, but it's not mine, and there would be copyright issues with attempting to release it in its current form
-Sound effects and voice acting are on hold until I have animations and BGM in place, as they take higher priority
-The arena system has been implemented.
-I feel like this bears repeating. The entire engine underlying the game has been successfully rewritten, and as such the arena system has been implemented
-Six Templars have been retooled for the arena system and implemented. These are Bastion, Cordelia and Elijah, along with three newcomers you haven't met yet, those being Ingenia Magnus, Jedediah Opum, and Tyr Cyrikold. More on them later.
-75 Templars total have had their kits revamped and prepared for the arena system, and are ready to roll out pending testing.
-People have been recruited for Preliminary Testing. Once everything has been finalized, it's ready to go pretty much instantly.
-Work has continued on completeing the paperwork for the Extended Project (Y'know, the thing that this was originally in aid of?). So far, most of the work has been focused on explaining why I have no secondary sources- something I explained in detail earlier.
-Time could have been handled significantly better on this one, I admit. As college has restarted and a significant number of deadlines have started hitting simultaneously, The deadline for this project is drawing closer and time available for the project is dwindling.
So that's what's going on at this end!
Thursday, 4 July 2013
Nothing is happening
So, nothing is obviously happening at the moment, and I thought I'd show you guys why. Essentially, there are enormous problems emerging simultaneously in every department. To whit:
Coding:
The entire engine needs reworking to support arenas.
Polygon collision is hard.
The event stack is breaking due to me trying to change things around to reduce dependence on resource intensive modules.
Asset Creation:
Art is hard.
Sound is hard.
Animation is really really hard.
Design:
Bastion's Boulderdash needs to be reworked to work with arenas.
Rebecca's *EVERYTHING* needs to be reworked to work with arenas.
The 58 Templars designed so far all need arenas.
A bunch of those need at least one ability reworked too.
So, that's why not much is happening on this blog, but rest assured that things will pick up soon enough!
Coding:
The entire engine needs reworking to support arenas.
Polygon collision is hard.
The event stack is breaking due to me trying to change things around to reduce dependence on resource intensive modules.
Asset Creation:
Art is hard.
Sound is hard.
Animation is really really hard.
Design:
Bastion's Boulderdash needs to be reworked to work with arenas.
Rebecca's *EVERYTHING* needs to be reworked to work with arenas.
The 58 Templars designed so far all need arenas.
A bunch of those need at least one ability reworked too.
So, that's why not much is happening on this blog, but rest assured that things will pick up soon enough!
Wednesday, 26 June 2013
Let's talk about circles
Elijah, the Bloodied Butcher, looked out upon the arena. He was hungry. Far too hungry. And he needed something- no, someone- to eat. And fast.
There. Her. Cordelia Strange, standing a fair way off. A tad green for his liking, but a bit of salad never hurt anyone, eh?
He started towards her, cleaver in hand. Building up into a sprint, he charged down at her. Noticing him, she reacted in kind, running away from him at the same pace, flinging thorns at him as she ran.
He paid them no heed, at first. But slowly, surely, as they ran, he realized what the thorns were doing to him. Realizing too late, he turned to run but found himself rooted to the spot. Looking down, he saw that this was literally the case. Thick vines knotted around his legs, rendering him immobile.
Behind him, the Grovemother smiled. Her children would eat well tonight.
So there's a problem that's been turning up in testing. It seems pretty obvious when you think about it, but I'd somehow managed to miss it throughout development. Essentially, any fight between a ranged Templar and a melee Templar in the current system will be won by the ranged Templar. Why? Because the melee Templar will die before they get in range, while they're trying to chase down the ranger. Obviously enough, this poses a problem.
So there's several ways we could deal with this, but all of them have their downsides. I'm going to spoiler slightly in describing these, but think of it as a teaser for what is to come.
Oscar DuBain, the Adroit Duelist, looked out upon his adversary. Persephone stood opposite him, trying to judge when he'd make a move. A tense silence descended over the battlefield.
Oscar flinched forwards. A mere feint, but enough to goad his foe into action. With a rush of air, Kore formed behind him as Persephone held her distance. Just the chance he'd needed. In a deft movement, Oscar lunged forwards, closing the distance between them in mere moments, skewering Persephone on his rapier.
The Mage staggered backwards, breathing ragged. A hole in your lung tends to do that to you. In a last ditch attempt, she raised her hands, muttering an arcane chant. But he'd anticipated her. Turning, he raised his rapier, blocking and deflecting the orb of energy Kore had flung towards him, then lunged forwards once more, raising his blade for a vicious diagonal strike. As he'd anticipated, Kore had faded, leaving a surprised Persephone where she had stood moments before.
His blade descended.
The Storm Maiden fell.
The first method: Instant movement. By giving melee Templars a means of quickly closing the gap between them, the melee Templar evens the odds slightly. Unfortunately, this doesn't help poor Elijah, who's not quick or magical enough to dash or blink, and it poses other issues, like making Beatsticks less relevant, due to forcing everybody to be more mobile, taking away their unique point, and making it harder to play pure cannons due to it being impossible to kite people.
Pain. Pain is good. Pain means that you're still alive. Raul was able to take some consolation in this as he staggered to his feet, debris from the last blast settling around him. And of course, the Mad Bomber himself, Darryn King, laughing from the other side of the newly formed crater. Yeah, that's right, keep laughing while you still can.
Raul started to run forwards. Gathering his thoughts, he focused in on his hands. Darryn continued gloating, oblivious to the danger barreling towards him. Swiftly, Raul threw out his hand, snapping his fist open. Out of it blossomed a crackling wave of ice, surging out towards the Demolitionist. To Raul's relief, it struck the Bomber, entombing him in the ensorcelled frost.
Magically conjured materials aren't generally that tough, and don't generally last too long, but Raul didn't need it to. He just needed to get one good hit in. Closing the rest of the distance, Raul jumped up, pick raised overhead, and brought it down into the frozen Templar.
Darryn shattered messily across the ground.
The second method: Crowd control. If melee characters are given a way to stop ranged Templars running from the fight, such as a ranged stun or snare, they'll be able to catch up without needing to jump massive distances. Unfortunately, this still doesn't help Elijah, who hasn't any means of stunning or snaring people outside of melee range which fits flavour, and if they're already in melee range, that makes the crowd control moot point. So it's back to the drawing board.
Elijah, the Bloodied Butcher, looked out upon the arena. He was hungry. Far too hungry. And he needed something- no, someone- to eat. And fast.
There. Her. Cordelia Strange, standing a fair way off. A tad green for his liking, but a bit of salad never hurt anyone, eh?
He started towards her, cleaver in hand. Building up into a sprint, he charged down at her. Noticing him, she reacted in kind, running away from him at the same pace, flinging thorns at him as she ran.
The chase continued a short distance, thorns slowly wearing away at Elijah, when Cordelia stopped abruptly.
In front of her stood the arena walls.
The Grovemother turned to face her would-be predator, deadly blooms blossoming over her body. She wasn't going to go down without a fight.
The third method: Terrain. I know that people have been asking for this since the project began, but I never realized how vital it is. From giving people vantage points to shoot from, to creating choke points for strategic combat, to giving areas to ambush from, if need be, terrain solves a lot of the problems postulated above on its own. The issue is, it's hard to add that sort of terrain to a featureless ball. Hence, a change of direction is needed, once again.
Say goodbye to the planetoid, say hello to the Arena system. It's still in development, but here's the concept. Each Templar, in addition to their four unique abilities, bring a unique arena into the fray. In general, they'll be laid out in a fashion similar to one of the following, with their own unique thematic artwork.
...=======... ............. ......+...... .............
............. .....===..... ......+...... .............
===...+...=== ..=...+...=.. ....=====.... ......+......
......+...... ..=...+...=.. ....=====.... ......+......
============= ============= ============= =============
For Fighters For Bruisers For Novas For Cannons
With = being platforms, . being air, and + being a pylon, which, just as before, are the winning conditions for the game, but function slightly differently to their previous iteration. Rather than capturing all the pylons in an arbitrary order, the arenas for each Templar in a team are put into a line, horizontally, and the pylons must be captured moving forward. To explain better, here's a diagram, starring a Red Team consisting of Cordelia, Elijah and Darryn, and a Blue Team consisting of Bastion, Rebecca, and Persephone. When play begins, the map looks like this:
|...=======...|...=======...|...=======...|.............|...=======...|...=======...|...=======...|
|.The..Forest.|The..Abbatoir|TheLaboratory|.............|The..Statuary|.The.Barroom.|..The.Storm..|
|===...R...===|===...R...===|===...R...===|......+......|===...B...===|===...B...===|===...B...===|
|......+......|......+......|......+......|......+......|......+......|......+......|......+......|
|=============|=============|=============|=============|=============|=============|=============|
There. Her. Cordelia Strange, standing a fair way off. A tad green for his liking, but a bit of salad never hurt anyone, eh?
He started towards her, cleaver in hand. Building up into a sprint, he charged down at her. Noticing him, she reacted in kind, running away from him at the same pace, flinging thorns at him as she ran.
He paid them no heed, at first. But slowly, surely, as they ran, he realized what the thorns were doing to him. Realizing too late, he turned to run but found himself rooted to the spot. Looking down, he saw that this was literally the case. Thick vines knotted around his legs, rendering him immobile.
Behind him, the Grovemother smiled. Her children would eat well tonight.
So there's a problem that's been turning up in testing. It seems pretty obvious when you think about it, but I'd somehow managed to miss it throughout development. Essentially, any fight between a ranged Templar and a melee Templar in the current system will be won by the ranged Templar. Why? Because the melee Templar will die before they get in range, while they're trying to chase down the ranger. Obviously enough, this poses a problem.
So there's several ways we could deal with this, but all of them have their downsides. I'm going to spoiler slightly in describing these, but think of it as a teaser for what is to come.
Oscar DuBain, the Adroit Duelist, looked out upon his adversary. Persephone stood opposite him, trying to judge when he'd make a move. A tense silence descended over the battlefield.
Oscar flinched forwards. A mere feint, but enough to goad his foe into action. With a rush of air, Kore formed behind him as Persephone held her distance. Just the chance he'd needed. In a deft movement, Oscar lunged forwards, closing the distance between them in mere moments, skewering Persephone on his rapier.
The Mage staggered backwards, breathing ragged. A hole in your lung tends to do that to you. In a last ditch attempt, she raised her hands, muttering an arcane chant. But he'd anticipated her. Turning, he raised his rapier, blocking and deflecting the orb of energy Kore had flung towards him, then lunged forwards once more, raising his blade for a vicious diagonal strike. As he'd anticipated, Kore had faded, leaving a surprised Persephone where she had stood moments before.
His blade descended.
The Storm Maiden fell.
The first method: Instant movement. By giving melee Templars a means of quickly closing the gap between them, the melee Templar evens the odds slightly. Unfortunately, this doesn't help poor Elijah, who's not quick or magical enough to dash or blink, and it poses other issues, like making Beatsticks less relevant, due to forcing everybody to be more mobile, taking away their unique point, and making it harder to play pure cannons due to it being impossible to kite people.
Pain. Pain is good. Pain means that you're still alive. Raul was able to take some consolation in this as he staggered to his feet, debris from the last blast settling around him. And of course, the Mad Bomber himself, Darryn King, laughing from the other side of the newly formed crater. Yeah, that's right, keep laughing while you still can.
Raul started to run forwards. Gathering his thoughts, he focused in on his hands. Darryn continued gloating, oblivious to the danger barreling towards him. Swiftly, Raul threw out his hand, snapping his fist open. Out of it blossomed a crackling wave of ice, surging out towards the Demolitionist. To Raul's relief, it struck the Bomber, entombing him in the ensorcelled frost.
Magically conjured materials aren't generally that tough, and don't generally last too long, but Raul didn't need it to. He just needed to get one good hit in. Closing the rest of the distance, Raul jumped up, pick raised overhead, and brought it down into the frozen Templar.
Darryn shattered messily across the ground.
The second method: Crowd control. If melee characters are given a way to stop ranged Templars running from the fight, such as a ranged stun or snare, they'll be able to catch up without needing to jump massive distances. Unfortunately, this still doesn't help Elijah, who hasn't any means of stunning or snaring people outside of melee range which fits flavour, and if they're already in melee range, that makes the crowd control moot point. So it's back to the drawing board.
Elijah, the Bloodied Butcher, looked out upon the arena. He was hungry. Far too hungry. And he needed something- no, someone- to eat. And fast.
There. Her. Cordelia Strange, standing a fair way off. A tad green for his liking, but a bit of salad never hurt anyone, eh?
He started towards her, cleaver in hand. Building up into a sprint, he charged down at her. Noticing him, she reacted in kind, running away from him at the same pace, flinging thorns at him as she ran.
The chase continued a short distance, thorns slowly wearing away at Elijah, when Cordelia stopped abruptly.
In front of her stood the arena walls.
The Grovemother turned to face her would-be predator, deadly blooms blossoming over her body. She wasn't going to go down without a fight.
The third method: Terrain. I know that people have been asking for this since the project began, but I never realized how vital it is. From giving people vantage points to shoot from, to creating choke points for strategic combat, to giving areas to ambush from, if need be, terrain solves a lot of the problems postulated above on its own. The issue is, it's hard to add that sort of terrain to a featureless ball. Hence, a change of direction is needed, once again.
Say goodbye to the planetoid, say hello to the Arena system. It's still in development, but here's the concept. Each Templar, in addition to their four unique abilities, bring a unique arena into the fray. In general, they'll be laid out in a fashion similar to one of the following, with their own unique thematic artwork.
...=======... ............. ......+...... .............
............. .....===..... ......+...... .............
===...+...=== ..=...+...=.. ....=====.... ......+......
......+...... ..=...+...=.. ....=====.... ......+......
============= ============= ============= =============
For Fighters For Bruisers For Novas For Cannons
With = being platforms, . being air, and + being a pylon, which, just as before, are the winning conditions for the game, but function slightly differently to their previous iteration. Rather than capturing all the pylons in an arbitrary order, the arenas for each Templar in a team are put into a line, horizontally, and the pylons must be captured moving forward. To explain better, here's a diagram, starring a Red Team consisting of Cordelia, Elijah and Darryn, and a Blue Team consisting of Bastion, Rebecca, and Persephone. When play begins, the map looks like this:
|...=======...|...=======...|...=======...|.............|...=======...|...=======...|...=======...|
|.The..Forest.|The..Abbatoir|TheLaboratory|.............|The..Statuary|.The.Barroom.|..The.Storm..|
|===...R...===|===...R...===|===...R...===|......+......|===...B...===|===...B...===|===...B...===|
|......+......|......+......|......+......|......+......|......+......|......+......|......+......|
|=============|=============|=============|=============|=============|=============|=============|
While playing, you may only exit an arena if the pylon in it, or in the room you are moving to, is your team's colour. This effectively means that the only arena that both teams can enter is the central, unnamed arena. A messy initial fight occurs, after which, let's say, Team Blue has the upper hand, and successfully captures the pylon in that arena.
|...=======...|...=======...|...=======...|.............|...=======...|...=======...|...=======...|
|.The..Forest.|The..Abbatoir|TheLaboratory|.............|The..Statuary|.The.Barroom.|..The.Storm..|
|===...R...===|===...R...===|===...R...===|......B......|===...B...===|===...B...===|===...B...===|
|......+......|......+......|......+......|......+......|......+......|......+......|......+......|
|=============|=============|=============|=============|=============|=============|=============|
|.The..Forest.|The..Abbatoir|TheLaboratory|.............|The..Statuary|.The.Barroom.|..The.Storm..|
|===...R...===|===...R...===|===...R...===|......B......|===...B...===|===...B...===|===...B...===|
|......+......|......+......|......+......|......+......|......+......|......+......|......+......|
|=============|=============|=============|=============|=============|=============|=============|
At this point, the members of team Red start respawning in Cordelia's arena, The Forest. At the same time, team Blue start pushing into Darryn's arena, the Laboratory. Both teams can now enter both the Laboratory and the central arena, leading to more fights and a clear attack and defense mechanic- Blue is trying to capture the pylon in the Laboratory, whereas Red is trying to take the central pylon, so they can push into the Statuary, Bastion's arena. Let's say that Blue continues winning, and takes the Laboratory. The progression is fairly obvious:
|...=======...|...=======...|...=======...|.............|...=======...|...=======...|...=======...|
|.The..Forest.|The..Abbatoir|TheLaboratory|.............|The..Statuary|.The.Barroom.|..The.Storm..|
|===...R...===|===...R...===|===...B...===|......B......|===...B...===|===...B...===|===...B...===|
|......+......|......+......|......+......|......+......|......+......|......+......|......+......|
|=============|=============|=============|=============|=============|=============|=============|
|.The..Forest.|The..Abbatoir|TheLaboratory|.............|The..Statuary|.The.Barroom.|..The.Storm..|
|===...R...===|===...R...===|===...B...===|......B......|===...B...===|===...B...===|===...B...===|
|......+......|......+......|......+......|......+......|......+......|......+......|......+......|
|=============|=============|=============|=============|=============|=============|=============|
|...=======...|...=======...|...=======...|.............|...=======...|...=======...|...=======...|
|.The..Forest.|The..Abbatoir|TheLaboratory|.............|The..Statuary|.The.Barroom.|..The.Storm..|
|===...R...===|===...B...===|===...B...===|......B......|===...B...===|===...B...===|===...B...===|
|......+......|......+......|......+......|......+......|......+......|......+......|......+......|
|=============|=============|=============|=============|=============|=============|=============|
|.The..Forest.|The..Abbatoir|TheLaboratory|.............|The..Statuary|.The.Barroom.|..The.Storm..|
|===...R...===|===...B...===|===...B...===|......B......|===...B...===|===...B...===|===...B...===|
|......+......|......+......|......+......|......+......|......+......|......+......|......+......|
|=============|=============|=============|=============|=============|=============|=============|
By now, two interesting things are happening. First, since team Red are respawning in The Forest, which is an arena fighting is happening in, they can be back in the fight almost immediately after dying. However, team Blue, respawning in The Storm, 5 arenas away, have to run a long way before they can rejoin the battle if they die. This acts as a natural balancing mechanic. Of course, this doesn't stop our hypothetical team Blue, who capture The Forest's pylon, and win the game! Go them!
Got it?
Time for some fun stuff, then.
Each arena has a unique passive effect on it or on people inside it. Nothing massive, mostly, and they affect everyone in them reasonably equally. However, as I've demonstrated above, not everybody wants the same things. For example, let's take the Forest, Cordelia's arena. In the Forest, every time a Templar uses an ability, they have a tiny amount of health restored. Obviously enough, on people with enormous cooldowns, such as Bastion and Persephone, over in team Blue, this is not beneficial. However, on people who fire off abilities like there's no tomorrow, such as, say, Cordelia herself, it is a much more tangible benefit. All arenas have been designed in such a way to make their passive effects very beneficial to their respective Templars- it's up to the players to find synergy to make it beneficial to their entire team.
So, that's the arena system, and that's an ENORMOUS wall of text.
Class is over. Any questions?
Friday, 31 May 2013
Character Design: Rebecca Peake! (Or, Less a punchline, more a line of punches)
"So what happens if I agree?"
"Well, Miss Peake," said the venerable man, sitting back in his chair, "If you should agree to our proposition, it will have transpired that when this awful young man came at you with a knife, there was-"
"Wait, he didn't have a-"
"I would strongly advise you not to challenge the course of events, for your own sake." continued the older Templar, a hint of annoyance entering his voice. Rebecca took the hint.
"As I was saying, " he went on, irritation slowly leaving his voice, "it transpired that there were no witnesses to your self-defence, and it's your word against his over what happened. You will opt for trial by jury, things won't look good for you, but then, just before judgement is made..."
He paused, leaning forward over the table towards Rebecca, hands arched together, "He will stage a miraculous recovery from his wounds, make a written statement from the infirmary confessing his attempted murder, he will opt for trial by combat, and he shall be killed in prison two days before his trial. No-one will question his death."
A silence descended over the room.
"And what if I say no?"
"Then it will turn out the bar was full of witnesses to your assault on the man, that he died from his wounds on the way to the infirmary, and there is no question as to your guilt. Your trial will be a mere formality in the face of overwhelming evidence, your... contraptions, " he said, gesturing vaguely towards the brass gauntlets that Rebecca had been forced to surrender at the start of the meeting "...will be taken to our resident Techmaturgist for analysis, and you shall be sentenced to death for your crimes"
A silence descended upon the room once again.
"The choice is yours.", he said, leaning back again.
Another pause. Rebecca's stare remained level, scrutinizing the Head Templar's face. His expression remained stony, betraying nothing to her.
"...I accept."
"Congratulations. Welcome to the Templars, Rebecca Peake"
Rebecca Peake, the Barroom Brawler, is a Beatstick with focus on single target lockdown and multitarget crowd control. Her kit is based around either taking on and blocking a single opponent from taking any actions, or striking the whole enemy team at once at the cost of dealing less damage.
Passive: Below the Belt- Rebecca aims for pressure points and nasty blows. When Rebecca deals damage, the target is slowed for a brief time.
This has a use for both parts of Rebecca's kit. When she's against a single opponent, slowing her enemy stops them getting away from her as easily. Against multiple, it stops them chasing her as easily. Win win!
IMPORTANT NOTE: GO READ HER R NOW, OR NOTHING WILL MAKE SENSE.
Q: Right Hook/ Running Toss- Rebecca punches the foe in front of her, dealing significant damage. With Unstoppable Force active, the next enemy Rebecca hits takes significant damage and is knocked into the air.
Right Hook is Rebecca's main single target ability. It deals a fair amount of damage pretty quickly, so no real downsides apart from needing to stay in close quarters to use it.
Running Toss is similarly just a light "help your allies" tool. If you're coming up to an enemy who's trying to run from one of your teammates, hitting this could help your friend catch up, but it's not much.
W: Forceful Blow/ Explosive Punch- Rebecca punches with incredible force, dealing moderate damage in a short wide cone and knocking back struck enemies. With Unstoppable Force active, the next enemy Rebecca hits takes significant damage, and all enemies in a small radius around Rebecca take significant damage, including the struck target
Forceful Blow is a major part of what makes Rebecca a pain in single combat. By knocking foes away, she stops them aiming their abilities as easily and in general puts them in places that they don't want to be. In combination with Dynamic Entry (see below), this doesn't even stop her being in range either.
Explosive Punch is what will be dealing most of Rebecca's damage while Unstoppable Force is up. It deals a fair amount of single target damage, but deals much better overall damage when used on a cluster of enemies, so it's pretty obvious how to use this.
E: Dynamic Entry/ Outta the Way!- Rebecca closes down a foe, dashing to them and dealing significant damage. With Unstoppable Force active, the next enemy Rebecca hits takes moderate damage and is knocked behind Rebecca.
Dynamic Entry is a handy tool for making sure nothing can get away from you ever. Essentially, hit this if there's a foe escaping, dash to them and apply your passive, and they can't do a thing about you. On the other hand, you could use it on a foe you already caught, after knocking them away with Forceful Blow, in order to do bursts of damage between Right Hooks.
Outta the Way is sort of the opposite of Running Toss, in that it's used to disrupt people from chasing your allies more than catch them. That said, it's pretty much exactly what it says on the tin. Not much complexity to it.
R: Unstoppable Force- Rebecca hurtles forward at massive speed, dealing significant damage to enemies she passes. With Unstoppable Force active, the next enemy Rebecca hits takes moderate damage, and Unstoppable Force ends.
Read it. Right, now read it again. This is important. I'll wait.
Done? Good. So, this turns Rebecca from a single target powerhouse to a multitarget threat. While it may look good as an escape on paper, it really isn't for a number of reasons- One, it only stops when you run into a foe, which may just make matters worse, and two, it's interrupted by snares, slows, knockups, any of that lot. Beyond that, this works how you think it does- run through a crowd of enemies, use your other abilities to disrupt them, turn off Unstoppable Force when you get to a flimsy foe, then punch them to death. Simple enough, right?
Watch this space, by the way. Relatively big announcement coming soon!
EDIT: For character development reasons and not being one dimensional reasons, Rebecca's backstory has been changed. Enjoy!
"Well, Miss Peake," said the venerable man, sitting back in his chair, "If you should agree to our proposition, it will have transpired that when this awful young man came at you with a knife, there was-"
"Wait, he didn't have a-"
"I would strongly advise you not to challenge the course of events, for your own sake." continued the older Templar, a hint of annoyance entering his voice. Rebecca took the hint.
"As I was saying, " he went on, irritation slowly leaving his voice, "it transpired that there were no witnesses to your self-defence, and it's your word against his over what happened. You will opt for trial by jury, things won't look good for you, but then, just before judgement is made..."
He paused, leaning forward over the table towards Rebecca, hands arched together, "He will stage a miraculous recovery from his wounds, make a written statement from the infirmary confessing his attempted murder, he will opt for trial by combat, and he shall be killed in prison two days before his trial. No-one will question his death."
A silence descended over the room.
"And what if I say no?"
"Then it will turn out the bar was full of witnesses to your assault on the man, that he died from his wounds on the way to the infirmary, and there is no question as to your guilt. Your trial will be a mere formality in the face of overwhelming evidence, your... contraptions, " he said, gesturing vaguely towards the brass gauntlets that Rebecca had been forced to surrender at the start of the meeting "...will be taken to our resident Techmaturgist for analysis, and you shall be sentenced to death for your crimes"
A silence descended upon the room once again.
"The choice is yours.", he said, leaning back again.
Another pause. Rebecca's stare remained level, scrutinizing the Head Templar's face. His expression remained stony, betraying nothing to her.
"...I accept."
"Congratulations. Welcome to the Templars, Rebecca Peake"
Rebecca Peake, the Barroom Brawler, is a Beatstick with focus on single target lockdown and multitarget crowd control. Her kit is based around either taking on and blocking a single opponent from taking any actions, or striking the whole enemy team at once at the cost of dealing less damage.
Passive: Below the Belt- Rebecca aims for pressure points and nasty blows. When Rebecca deals damage, the target is slowed for a brief time.
This has a use for both parts of Rebecca's kit. When she's against a single opponent, slowing her enemy stops them getting away from her as easily. Against multiple, it stops them chasing her as easily. Win win!
IMPORTANT NOTE: GO READ HER R NOW, OR NOTHING WILL MAKE SENSE.
Q: Right Hook/ Running Toss- Rebecca punches the foe in front of her, dealing significant damage. With Unstoppable Force active, the next enemy Rebecca hits takes significant damage and is knocked into the air.
Right Hook is Rebecca's main single target ability. It deals a fair amount of damage pretty quickly, so no real downsides apart from needing to stay in close quarters to use it.
Running Toss is similarly just a light "help your allies" tool. If you're coming up to an enemy who's trying to run from one of your teammates, hitting this could help your friend catch up, but it's not much.
W: Forceful Blow/ Explosive Punch- Rebecca punches with incredible force, dealing moderate damage in a short wide cone and knocking back struck enemies. With Unstoppable Force active, the next enemy Rebecca hits takes significant damage, and all enemies in a small radius around Rebecca take significant damage, including the struck target
Forceful Blow is a major part of what makes Rebecca a pain in single combat. By knocking foes away, she stops them aiming their abilities as easily and in general puts them in places that they don't want to be. In combination with Dynamic Entry (see below), this doesn't even stop her being in range either.
Explosive Punch is what will be dealing most of Rebecca's damage while Unstoppable Force is up. It deals a fair amount of single target damage, but deals much better overall damage when used on a cluster of enemies, so it's pretty obvious how to use this.
E: Dynamic Entry/ Outta the Way!- Rebecca closes down a foe, dashing to them and dealing significant damage. With Unstoppable Force active, the next enemy Rebecca hits takes moderate damage and is knocked behind Rebecca.
Dynamic Entry is a handy tool for making sure nothing can get away from you ever. Essentially, hit this if there's a foe escaping, dash to them and apply your passive, and they can't do a thing about you. On the other hand, you could use it on a foe you already caught, after knocking them away with Forceful Blow, in order to do bursts of damage between Right Hooks.
Outta the Way is sort of the opposite of Running Toss, in that it's used to disrupt people from chasing your allies more than catch them. That said, it's pretty much exactly what it says on the tin. Not much complexity to it.
R: Unstoppable Force- Rebecca hurtles forward at massive speed, dealing significant damage to enemies she passes. With Unstoppable Force active, the next enemy Rebecca hits takes moderate damage, and Unstoppable Force ends.
Read it. Right, now read it again. This is important. I'll wait.
Done? Good. So, this turns Rebecca from a single target powerhouse to a multitarget threat. While it may look good as an escape on paper, it really isn't for a number of reasons- One, it only stops when you run into a foe, which may just make matters worse, and two, it's interrupted by snares, slows, knockups, any of that lot. Beyond that, this works how you think it does- run through a crowd of enemies, use your other abilities to disrupt them, turn off Unstoppable Force when you get to a flimsy foe, then punch them to death. Simple enough, right?
 |
| I'm not going to bother saying it. |
Watch this space, by the way. Relatively big announcement coming soon!
EDIT: For character development reasons and not being one dimensional reasons, Rebecca's backstory has been changed. Enjoy!
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