Name: {Dark Defense} [subject to change]
Size: 96x96 [well-packed, almost stuffy]
Players: 1-5, 4+ recommended
Tileset: Twilight


...ok there isn't one, but I haven't totally ruled it out...the reason why I haven't thrown one in is because nobody actually reads it, unless they really have no clue.


players have two types of money, one buys cannons and the other buys units. In the beginning, you have to build cannons, because every single unit has 0 initial damage. The buildings are on one half, the units are on the other, with the computer players running in a serpentine line around them [see last attachment---units are removed to make the path a lil more obvious].
The halves alternate, with P1 building at top, units on bottom, P2 building on bottom, units at top, etc. The runners are P7 and P8, and start in the top left and top right corners, respectively. They both run to the middle of the map, indicated by a red dot below player 3's area. Both have allied vision with all the players, so that while building the players can still attack. This is achieved by a cliff square between the players and the computers. The last couple of levels are all the boss levels, but I'm probably gonna end up changing that because just now I thought that the 1st boss level will be way too easy... The last 4 or 5 are all fliers, because at this time people should already have been waiting for faster units. Also, I haven't decided on whether or not to give a ban feature, and if so, what type (despotism or democracy)


All the terrain is picked from the tileset index, and the beginning and end portions of the creep (what the runners are gonna be running on) is noticeably different from the rest of the creep. Unit spawns are indicated by a cloaked floor hatch, with a depressed area doodad beneath (ask if you want to know the doodad, I'm too lazy to look right now). If I decide to add something or other, I have a little room to do it without a major overhaul in the terrain, but I don't plan on doing anything but possibly adding the aforementioned ban feature.


There's a hypertrigger in it, and I just finished making sure that the units wouldn't end up coming out all at once [think income D] when they were supposed to spawn. So far, I have everything but the mundane: There's no way to buy units, no way to get minerals, no level other than 1, and no limit to the cannons [I do plan on incorporating that, because the game would freeze otherwise.] But the beacons you can see in the "buy area" attachment are all invisible [thanks to NudeRaider], the hypertrigger has no bugs [yet], the units will correctly move to their owner's crib, and the enemies all come out in a timely and un-clogged manner, a "burning crystal" appears with 4 disabled marines, the final level [interceptor] stays in two places, because there will be one sent from each side, the lights work perfectly, and all the minor stuff works too.


I'm unsure if I will throw anything at the player before the game, such as a story, or if I'll just leave it with the instant switch to the game like I already have. Laziness makes me lean towards the second, but if there's a story I'll throw it in...or if I feel like warning the player of the duality of this map...

Edit: I will probably do something cool with the map name, or my name, and throw in the names of any testers...

5^th Edit: I like [ s ]


I haven't even attempted to balance this anymore than
"all players have 255 ups, player 6 has 1 upgrade automatically for showing the unit's attack, and these techs are allowed and these are not."
Almost every unit still has its default name...the exceptions being the burning crystal, named "www.staredit.net", the photon cannons being "cannon" (woo originality!!) and the pylons being blank.


I always get to this point in a map...where I finish with the hard stuff but I don't want to clean up the easy triggers or unit balancing. Eventually, if no progress is made within a certain period, I abandon it completely. The lives have a different wireframe, but again thats the less well-known stuff...which proves I specialize in finding out how to do something, then completely forgetting the project and moving on...

I will end up balancing it with a deadline of February 1^st. After that, I'll either seek aid or completely abandon the project.

EDIT: the date is being pushed back due to unaccounted-for problems...like not enough time during the week and having approximately 2 hours a night to work on this bitch...

EDIT [no clue what #]: removed all but the running area screenshot...all the others are now outdated and were crappy anyways.

Any comments, questions, complaints, death threats, etc., now that I've taken up a good portion of your time?

Post has been edited 5 time(s), last time on Mar 1 2009, 8:16 am by poison_us.

sounds pretty fun

i'm a fan of defender maps and this sounds like it could be pretty cool

leme know when you start testing, ill help out

By the way, here is the levels I currently have...I couldn't post them in the same post last night, and I didn't feel like editing it (yet, at least).

It goes
1, 2, 3, 4
5, 6, 7, boss
9....and so on

if you want an in-game shot with the broodling and interceptor filled in, just ask.

Post has been edited 4 time(s), last time on Jan 14 2009, 12:27 am by poison_us. Reason: removed level picture

Why should i bother playing this defense over any other defense? What makes this defense different, unique, or extra fun?

If you wanna be that nice, nothing. Other than it will have interceptors in it, and as far as I know nobody has a two-part money system. Oh, and units are completely dependent on upgrades. Initial damage will be 0, but bonuses will make em better than cannons hopefully by the 4th round.

I guess there's gonna be more strategy involved, since the players will be able to mine gas to buy their units [possibly upgrade too], and the longer you mine the better you'll be [obviously]. So the last two or three rows are gonna be especially tough.

If you don't want to play it when it's done, I don't care. If you don't like it [assuming you do take time out of your busy schedule] I would love to have you review it. In fact, I'll make sure I PM you when it's released. It doesn't really bother me if one person comes to me and tells me my map is lame and/or sucks balls. Usually when I'm on B.net, it's the player, not the game. But if you don't like the game when it's done, I would love to see you make one better.

Post has been edited 1 time(s), last time on Jan 13 2009, 5:00 am by poison_us. Reason: made it nicer. No joke.

I didn't mean to sound offensive to you, i was just attempting to push you to make it even better. Bnet is full of D maps, many which are clones of each other or completely lame.

On a side note: I have attached a D map that I created a few months ago. My main thing that I incorporated to make it unique was 1. a trophy system and 2. single person defeat, where your 'couch' has HP.

I'll be glad to review your project. Sorry again if you thought i was trying to insult you.

Attachments:

it's alright, I was having a rough day and I was in a pissy mood...
whats the single person defeat?

EDIT: random idea just popped up...having an "easy" and a "hard" mode...of course I would have to think about how I would make it easier/harder, but that's after I actually start with the balancing. And the levels are gonna be different, now that the unit speed list thingy is up and running...I'll get back with the "finalized" levels as soon as possible.

EDIT v2.0: Levels have been updated, so now its [a little] more organized by speed than by "hey i feel like this guy needs to go here!!" So the levels look like this



since I took this in ScmDraft on 66% zoom [to get it all in one shot], the two blank spots are...blank. They are filled by triggers with a broodling and interceptor, respectively.

Post has been edited 2 time(s), last time on Jan 19 2009, 5:50 pm by poison_us.

sounds fun. add me as a beta tester
lets beat it!

...k...but since I dont even have anything so far as buying units or getting monies, and the first level is all that's being sent so far, I think I've got some work before I can release even an alpha...

Sounds pretty interesting man, keep me updated on your progress

By midnight I'll have the triggers set up for buying your units [including "not enough minerals" and sounds] and spawning the runners.
I also might update with a playable version <--screw that, that's not happening any time this week, I still need massive balancing...and to possibly re-think the money thingy


THIS IS CURRENTLY ON HOLD DUE TO MY COMPUTER HATING ME.

sorry, but for some reason or another I'm now unable to open the map in scmdraft, when I've only saved it in scmdraft.
I got this error last night, and now it says this...

Post has been edited 1 time(s), last time on Jan 21 2009, 4:14 am by poison_us.

Hey, poison_us this is really wired and sad Have you used something besides SCMD to edit the map? What was the last thing before this had happened?

The last thing I did was try to use trigedit to copy & paste triggers because I had forgotten to include something and it was messing with the map...and trigedit didn't save, so I got pissed and saved the map. Oh, I also changed the name of one switch, but I made it reset the name, so that shouldn't matter... I came on here to upload a screenshot, re-opened the map (or tried to) and I got that bullshit. No, I've only opened it with scmdraft.

P.S. I love the school computers...they're so much faster than mine

EDIT: THIS IS A GLORIOUS MOMENT!! I HAVE FINALLY MADE MY COMPUTER SUBMIT TO MY WILL AND GIVE ME A COPY OF MY MAP!! I have no clue as to what the last change of the map is, but it sure kicks the sh!t outta having to make it from scratch

P.S. [again]: I raped my computer into submission. BE HAPPY FOR ME!!

EDIT v2.0: At this moment in time, the percentages stand at:
Terrain--100% [yay!]
Triggers--60% [will probably be 100% by midnight, I only have to fix 1 thing then copy/paste and edit about 30 things...assuming, of course, that my vicodin continues to not work ]
Briefing--²/₀ % [yes, that is possible for me]
Unit Balancing--0% [everything in due time...mainly after game-crucial triggers are ok]
Figuring out a way to make it completely protected--100% [again, that is possible for me. I had to save it as a different filename, then try different things all day, but I finally got it to open in SC but not in any editor. Yeah. Beat that.]

EDIT 3.OMFG: Will someone please post so I can stop editing this without phear of Nude's ever-watchful eye seeing t3h double postage??? In other news, all previous attachments and images are [obviously] no longer accurate. If you'd like more recent updates, ask.

EDIT 4nothing: Just finished with the terrain [again]. Now it's even darker, and the corners of the walls blend, and I got an erection looking at the smoothness [jk]. If anyone wants the raw terrain, just ask. Or do anything to make it so I can post. All this editing is giving me blue balls [no jk]

Post has been edited 5 time(s), last time on Jan 26 2009, 12:22 am by poison_us.

posting because you clearly requested it also, if you need someone to test just ask.

Sounds like a fun map. Hopefully you can knock down and surpass the hundreds of other defenses that are out there on starcraft. If you need a tester just find me on west, I'll gladly test it

Just remember to add the little things, it's what makes a good map a great one.

Ok, it's been a long time but I've finally gotten everything sorted out--until balancing. Between wrestling and the power-out because of the ice last week, I didn't really progress like I had hoped


ANYWAYS, I'll balance the game as much as I can by myself, but I'll be opening testing by Wednesday next week. So far I've got the HP for the first 4 levels and the cannons' attack set. Ask if you want progress details.

EDIT: I also am having some difficulties with the interceptors not running like they should. Actually, the problem I'm having is this: one gets moved to the display [good], and 9 get moved to a hidden location [also good]. They stay there via hypertriggs and "move" command [still good]. Yet when I turn off the "move", and in the same trigger move 5 to one starting place and 5 to the other, they disappear. Instantly. [bad].
I'm willing to just have the carriers moved to have the interceptors try to return to them, instead of the AI scripting that can control the interceptors. When I tried that, they still disappeared. I'm at a loss...nothing has worked, and now I'm either going to have to replace the interceptor level or figure out just wtf is going wrong.
[I just now realized this is a huge edit].

Update: due to...health problems...I'm not going to be working on this map anymore. I'm indefinitely postponing the map, merely because I can't concentrate long enough to balance the units right now. Chances are also pretty good that I will have lost interest after I'm all better. If you want to finish this baby up, contact me via PM. I'll have to clean it up and possibly fix one or two things, but if you're interested, everything except interceptors and balancing is done.

EDIT: It's the 1^st of March, and still nothing to show.
I'm going to announce the semi~permanent cancellation of this project. [like any of you read this in the first place]
The "semi" part is because I might resume work on this with a friend [namely silented1[dht]]. But as for the foreseeable future, u can call this b!tch done.

Post has been edited 4 time(s), last time on Mar 1 2009, 8:21 am by poison_us.