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A LOT of ideas for the big next RTS
I was introduced to StarCraft: Brood War when I was a child by my older cousin. I’ve been playing RTS games since then (more than 20 years). Games I’ve played and liked: StarCraft I & II, WarCraft II & WarCraft III, C&C: Red Alert 3, Age of Mythology, Age of Empires II & III, Northgard and I am willing to try Dwarfheim soon. Following are my thoughts and ideas for the next big RTS.
I’ll start with heroes since WCIII is the first RTS I’ve really invested myself into. I’d like to see heroes in your game, with or without a leveling system, but I wouldn’t like the fact you can win a game with only heroes and buildings (like Grubby in WCIII), else I’d play DotA. Maybe items, maybe not, but don’t make heroes the most important mechanic of the game, like one hero per player like Northgard. They’d have abilities without autocast so beginners can micro only their hero while their army fight on their own. I’d like to see original heroes with great stories.
As for units, I’ve always felt that there are too many units in SCII, mostly since LotV. I’d like each nation to have between 7 and 10 units (excluding worker(s) and hero(es)) with easy-to-learn mechanics (damage and armor types, hitpoints and energy) and no hard-counters like in Age of Empires. I kind of like the mechanics of WCIII but feel they are overcomplicated compared to SCII mechanics.
As for upgrades, I really liked the caster upgrades of WCIII; each tier would add an ability and energy points to the caster unit. Don’t forget to add upgrades for buildings too! As time is a resource for me, I think upgrades should be quick and cost a lot of resources OR cheap and be long to research.
Speaking of resources, I really didn’t like the high upkeep in WCIII. The low upkeep could be good when you reach more than half of the supply cap, which should be 200 according to me (with most units taking up to 1-5), but I don’t think the upkeep mechanic is required. I’d like to see a customizable supply cap for custom games (like Age of Empires) and different gathering mechanics for each nation, like in WCIII. I would really dig the concept of having 3 different resources and 3 tiers of play, each new tier requiring a new resource as suggested in the Pylon Show.
As for nations, I think the sweetspot is 3 or 4 nations. 3 is easier to learn and balance, while 4 adds diversity and balances divide in the community. 1 is not enough, 2 creates too big of a polarization (Good vs Evil like in WC: Humans vs Orcs) and 5+ is too hard to memorize and balance. I think each nation should be original and different, in contrast of games like Age of Empires and Northgard which I consider as 1-nation games with tweaks to civilisations/clans.
For buildings, I think each nation should get 10-12 buildings, no more; 1 (maybe upgradable) town center, 3 unit production facilities, 1 upgrade building, 3 upgrades to facilities for advanced units (like Ghost Academy and Fusion Core in SCII, or extensions to Barracks/Factory/Starport) and 2 different towers. I really like walls even though I’m not a big Age of Empires player. I wouldn’t like the one-building-per-unit style of Protoss/Zerg though, as I prefer the upgradable Town Center to delimit tiers.
I was really interested with the idea of autocast abilities for units with like 70-80% efficiency, like explained by Beastyqt in his open letter. It would greatly benefit newer players as much as micro-intensive players compared to SCII. I wouldn’t like to see 2 units with very similar abilities (a bit like InfestoViper even though I’m a Zerg player), and I’m mixed about M.U.L.E.-Chronoboost-Larva Inject-like abilities. Like Beastqt said, I think it would benefit the game if there was a possibility to autocast them as well.
As for maps, I really liked the concept of creeps in WCIII and miss them a lot in SCII. It adds life to the game and makes the game less action-focused. I also like the randomness factor of Northgard, like how the resources are distributed amongst players without giving the upperhand to one team. All of this could be customizable for custom games or could be integrated in the ladder as well, like Super Smash Bros Ultimate integrates your preferences while searching for opponents to match you with players having similar preferences.
For the setting of the game, I feel tired of medieval games; maybe it’s because I have not played any good medieval RTS since WCIII, and Reforged was my biggest deception for 2020. I’m also not particularly a fan of contemporary/sci-fi games, but appreciate the gameplay of games like SCII. I’d really love to see a game set in the Renaissance period, maybe extending to the Victorian Era (Steampunk), blending chivalry, magic and technology (not far of WCIII!), like Humans (Alliance) vs Natives (forest dwellers, Elves/Orcs) vs Aliens (in the sense of invaders, not actual extraterrestrial beings; Scourge/Legion/etc.).
The gameplay of StarCraft II is undoubtedly marvelous, I love to be able to select all my army and the integration with control groups. The pace of SCII is a bit too stressful for me, I’d like most games to last around 30 minutes like Northgard. I’d totally play history-oriented campaigns, like SCII and WCIII, I think they gather newer players while helping them learn the mechanics of RTS games. I could totally see your game replace SCII in eSports with great support for 1v1 and 2v2, and I’d also be interested in 3v3, 4v4 and FFA, though the balance wouldn’t need to be perfect for these mods. The Coop and Archon modes of SCII were also great ideas since you could alleviate the burden of controlling everything by sharing with another player. I really miss the custom map editor of WCIII; it was so good and simple while allowing you extreme customization through the JASS scripting engine. As a programmer myself, I’d love to see a very good custom editor using a known language, like C# or JavaScript. Using the editor yourself to create maps and mods would certainly help to create this wonder.
As for extensibility, the game may expose some REST APIs helping the community to create more content and analyze the game. They should expose the maximum amount of information while being secure and simple, with interfaces like Swagger to help developers learn and use them.
For the pricing, I strongly agree with Beastyqt ideas. The game should be free-to-play and I’d love to pay for the campaigns and mods created by your studio (2-10$ per mod). The tutorial, ladder (ranked or not, solo and teams) and custom games should be free. I’d love to see a shit ton of skins, portraits, voice packs and lots of customizations while sharing the revenue with content creators like streamers, professional players and commentators. I’d suggest having 10% of the campaigns free, and having to buy the remainder (like free 20 first levels in WoW). I wouldn’t mind a subscription-based game if the game is extremely good and if the subscription gave me access to 100% of the game contents.
Finally, thanks for your passion, love and dedication. I’m very hyped by the values and directions your company is taking and I’m happy to share my thoughts and suggestions. I miss the good old Blizzard of my youth and looking forward to see new game studios bloom while producing top-quality games and listening to their community.
submitted by
GoldenBoi94 to
FrostGiant