In the comments to the previous post I was told about a problem with asymmetrical gameplay – some players prefer to play only one role and don't want to play other roles, so sometimes it can be difficult to complete a team with a full complement. This is a very serious problem, and later I realized it. But I want to tell about the evolution of my gameplay in order, including all the mistakes I made. I can't say that I didn't see this problem at all, I just had what I thought was a simple solution – when a player queues up to play, he can specify whether he wants to be a hero or a builder (or no matter who). The matchmaking algorithm takes this into account when compiling teams. If suddenly there are so many people in the queue who want to play exclusively for the builder that it is impossible to put them into teams (remember, only one builder is needed for a team), the game offers such players to play 1-on-1 duels without heroes. Similarly if there are too many heroes, only in this case they can even be grouped into teams, just without a builder.
Another important point. Since I anticipated finding the right gameplay through trial and error, I didn't initially consider the current outcome as a finished game. I defined this stage as working on a game prototype. The goal was to ensure that the resulting gameplay would indeed be engaging. And only after finding such gameplay would I start creating the actual game. The prototype was made directly within Force of Nature 2. For this, I created a separate version of the game on Steam, which features a PvP game mode. I didn't focus much on the user-friendliness of this mode, as I planned to develop a separate game for the final version. This new game would only include the essential code from FoN. I intended to create entirely new character models and environments to give the game a distinct visual appearance. However, for now, it was just a separate mode in Force of Nature 2. Incidentally, the code architecture in FoN proved to be quite effective, allowing for easy and rapid addition of various new mechanics that were not originally planned.
Now, let's move on to the implementation of the MOBA + Building idea.
Here's the general plan:
- Implement the MOBA in its pure form.
- During testing, balance it to a state where it is enjoyable to play. (At this stage, I am simply replicating the successful experiences of other games.)
- Add the builder hero.
- Balance the builder so that his contribution to the team is proportionate to that of regular heroes, making the game even more engaging.
To implement the MOBA itself, quite a lot needed to be done:
- Redesign the map. Place the foundations for bases and towers, and create a road between the bases.
- Add a portal that periodically generates mobs.
- Implement mob movement – they should follow the road and attack any enemy they encounter. If they stray from the road, they should return to it and continue their path.
- Add towers.
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Implement heroes. Heroes in MOBA differ somewhat in leveling up from what is present in FoN.
- There should be an option to choose one hero from several at the start of the game.
- The hero should not be able to gather resources, build, or work at the base.
- The hero should have unique spells/abilities available from the beginning, which can be leveled up.
- Upon death, the hero should enter a respawn timer and then reappear at the base.
- Configure several different heroes.
Map Redesign
I decided to limit myself to just one road (lane) between the bases – for the prototype, this was sufficient. Additionally, initially I had only three testers besides myself, so we usually played 1v1 or 2v2. This lane divides the entire map into two halves, giving each team its own forest for resource gathering.
As you can see, besides metal and stones, there is also obsidian in each forest on the map. However, it is guarded by a neutral tower that automatically shoots at anyone it sees. This makes gathering obsidian dangerous – you either have to destroy the tower or use someone as a distraction to draw fire while the builder gathers obsidian.
Towers
Towers line the road and shoot at any enemies that come into their line of sight. Their behavior is fairly simple: if they don't have a priority target, they scan the area around them every 0.1 seconds for enemies, select one as their priority target, and start attacking. If they already have a priority target, they will continue attacking it until the target leaves the tower's attack range. As in other MOBAs, if the tower is attacking a minion but a hero enters its attack range, the tower will continue targeting the minion and not the hero. However, if a hero starts attacking another hero, the tower will immediately switch its priority target to the attacking hero. The models for the tower were hastily assembled from fragments of existing FoN constructions.
Portal and Mobs
For spawning mobs, I used a ready-made portal model from the tropical world. Implementing the logic to spawn several specific mobs every 30 seconds was not difficult at all. Implementing mob behavior also didn't take much time. The entire lane is divided into several checkpoints. Every second, the mob determines the nearest checkpoint. If it's close enough, it determines the next checkpoint along the path and moves towards it. If the nearest checkpoint is far away, it means the mob has deviated from the path, so it moves towards that checkpoint to return to the lane as quickly as possible. The mob periodically scans for enemies around it, and as soon as it detects them, it begins to attack.
I used monster models initially created for Force of Nature 2 but ultimately not included in it as models for the mobs (yes, I have about a dozen of those).
I'll stop here for now and continue next time.
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