I'm currently developing (2)Snow Defense for SC1 and I am interested on a context.

Basically, the main idea of all games of this series is the traditional tower defense mood: gather money, build up your defenses and survive by not letting many wave units to leak. I want to give a reason to all this by making a plot.

I am thinking about making the maps in ascending order of num. of players. This way there would be a single-player map to be the beginning of everything, then (2)Snow Defense as the second part of the story, then a 3-player-map and so on.

I would really love if you leave suggestions below to help me construct an at least tolerable story.

Thanks!

Current plot (very nebulous and incomplete, may be submitted to major changes):
^[1]I am not sure if "counselor" is appropriate. I suck at diplomatic ranks

Current issues:

• How has the regime became powerful among three races in conflict and for what reason are they part of the same society? (This reminds me of apartheid)
  
• It's needed to highlight the conflict between the races of this society in the story.
  
• ... and all the rest.
  

 

Post has been edited 7 time(s), last time on May 10 2010, 1:11 am by adeon.

I tried your map and I found it to be very solid in all respects from gameplay to aesthetics. To help you come up with a history or context, I have a few thoughts. Because the units don't attack as they pass through, it feels like they aren't heading through the pass to attack something. I almost get the sense that they're on an exodus from wherever they're coming from to wherever they're going. There's a feeling that they're desperate to get there and they don't care if they die trying. If this were the case, it might be interesting to slowly reveal what it is that is causing them to flee as the players go from the first map in the series to the last. The races could be united in trying to escape whatever terrible thing is coming, and the last part of the series might lead to a confrontation with that unknown quantity.

Sorry you haven't been received with the proper respect and support! I read your production thread in addition to this one, and it's embarassing how these people have treated you. I, for one, happen to enjoy defense maps, and yours is well made. To hell with the haters.

Post has been edited 1 time(s), last time on May 7 2010, 7:59 pm by Excalibur. Reason: Removing flames.

Qpk ANGRY! QPK SMASH.

Maybe have it that the waves are thieves or something, and you're defending some object (lives maybe?) from them. I haven't played the map due to extremely limited computer time but it sounds pretty good so far.

You could possibly have it that you're the bad guy, stopping people from getting away from some disaster. OR, you're prison guards, stopping hordes of escaping prisoners.

@qPirateKing I really appreciated your response, thanks a lot
I also liked your ideas. Having them running away from something terrible and facing this unknown threat in the last map sounds really good and gives more sense to a defense game. I will think about that.

It's true that most of the wave units don't attack at all, but after some progress of the game, you get attacked sometimes (I made this to avoid players having too many units and becoming overpowered). I think this could be used to tell that the leader(s) of the races are aware that someone is in their way (the players) and the attacks are their response to that.

Hmm... I also want to put some drama into it. I thought about having someone relevant to your race being threatened by your enemies in Snow Defense. As it depends on how the history develops in the first map, I guess I'll have to pause the making of SD.

@Jack Thanks for your response I honestly don't think a history of killing thieves would be interesting XD but being the bad guy sounds interesting

Post has been edited 1 time(s), last time on May 8 2010, 7:51 pm by adeon.

It could be that the hostiles are infected with a virus or something, and to save themselves, they must infect, say, five more people?

If you want to have it dramatic, with you needing to protect something important, you can have scenarios where some hostiles have broken through... Perhaps a damaged city (in Desert?), where the hostiles take multiple paths, running through streets and through buildings, killing the occasional civilian?

Or you could be the villain, killing innocents as they flee from a repressive regime.

I did think about suggesting zombies, but it wouldn't make sense if they didn't attack you. Maybe if they were Zerg trying to get to a psi emitter?

So, here're some ideas...
I am tired of representing "the justice" in every game I play. I think it's more interesting to be kind of "in the middle" - not the dark nor the bright.

Players could be a small nation only fighting for their own existence. Then, in the first map, the wave units are the races running away from "the terrible thing" and their passage, for some reason, could inflict something bad to the players' race. Due to that, they attack. Pulling here my idea of having some drama in (2)SD, the result of the first map could be having someone important being kidnapped and for such reason the conflict officially begins. And threats are made made to this person in the second map.

What do you think?

Nice one. I plan to make the third map with desert terrain. I'll think about the design to bring some drama as you said

Hmm... the psi emitter could make sense, but the problem is that there are not only zergs, but terrans and protoss as wave units.

Thanks for everyone's posts.

Post has been edited 3 time(s), last time on May 7 2010, 11:13 pm by adeon.

If the player controls a "small nation fighting for their own existence", then it's possible that the masses of people could be fleeing a repressive regime, and they just so happened to be headed to the player's civilization. They could draw the regime's attention, and the player's nation could end up paying for it. (If the regime happens to love carpet-bombing rebels, for example...) Kill the civilians or get all your own civilians bombed to death.

David, this is a really interesting idea. The three different races decided to cease the hostility between each other to together run away from a tenebrous repressive regime... this concept is not only interesting but also solves a lot of aspects.

... been thinking about that... Killing civillian running away is just nasty. I want to hold this idea, but it better be smooth and less "anti-ethical".
Let's say you're part of a small and independent nation. The players represent the only military force of this nation, and each one commands a clan of this force.

Suppose there's a leader above all players, a single person who administrates all clans at the same time.

The desperate races contact their nation's government and the "supreme leader" agreed to host them in the city. But the clans admin disobeys, afraid of the trouble it could make, and order the players to create defenses to stop the horde.

Something like that... this way we would still be the bad guys but in a more subtle way.

Furthermore, we can develop more complexity to the story: the only military forces of "the nation" is not following the government's wish, and the hordes, allies in the beginning, become hostile and another conflict raises, which is evidenced once they kidnap someone relevant in the end of the first map of the series.

About this "somebody relevant", I'm thinking about making a unit using the same color of yours which has total autonomy the whole game, guided by triggers. And somehow he/she is taken away in the end.

What do you think?

Post has been edited 1 time(s), last time on May 8 2010, 4:32 pm by adeon.

That's quite interesting, When I saw the video of this map, I got surprised that there is only 2 players involved, which means if one screws up, the others pay at the end.


The thing that puzzles me is if they are zombies, how the hell do they drive tanks, planes, and carry a gun? (My logic, sorry Jack )

If the zerg tried to get to a psi emitter, maybe the protoss are the ones who is trying to stop the zerg, but at the same time trying to destroy the psi emitter. It's going to be challenge how protoss and zerg are put together in this 2 player defense.

I suggest taking an alternate route. Rather than taking it really seriously and giving it a legit plot (I mean hey, it IS a defense map - you're trying to appeal to the evolves-loving public), you should make it random and/or humorous.

Kittens and walruses ftw.

Hey, thanks!
This zombie thing... I didn't like that much. Also, I don't want the plot to be necessarily related to the SC story, so using the psi emitter thing is a little inviable.

Uhmmm... no but thanks anyway.