Some ideas for Special Maps

[Centurion_13]

Hey, I was talking to Mythos_Ruler and he told me that 0ad is going to have two types of RMs, historical ones like the nile and central mediteranean etc and specialty ones just for fun. He says your low on ideas for the specialty maps so I have a few sugestions.

Centurion_13

king of the hills:

a large resource abundant plain with plataus with special "Citadel centres" on them which must all be captured or each one held for a certaain amount of time, the more held the more time. so it doesnt give the snowball efect like a blood creating a choice of shall I try and hold one for a short time or hold many for a long time

Capture the flag:

Each team starts with a large and well defended base, They have a special unit which doesnt fight but steals flags, has covert skils making him hard to see and high health but slow spead. the first to the specified amount of flags or the same amount of killed enemy flag catchers win

forgoten lands:

scatered ruins litter this map with low resources (because of a previous city) and many gaia buildings which can be captured

Total War:

make some maps like them total war ones, mostly blank with a few embellishments here and their, start with heaps of pop and resources all out battle

Australia:

add a map of australia in there, like any other rm but it goes in there because its not really related to the game (yes im just plugging my country but hey its the best one out there)

World Map:

Im sure you know what this is.

Insanity

100% random. no rules could be desert and icefield right next to eachother.

Maze:

symetrical maze. players start in corners and you go through a maze to get to other players.

any other sugestions can get posted here as well I suppose and I'll put them in the list.

So what do you guys think?

[Mythos_Ruler]

I take no responsibility for the forthcoming insanity.

Carry on...

[Centurion_13]

why would you be responsible? just because this was your Idea I post them

UPDATED:

I added more maps etc

[Aeros]

It's a joke, Centurion

Nice ideas

I know I'll be trying my hand at a world map eventually (I do with every RTS game I design for), that'll be my test for the 0AD editor to see what it's capable of If it can make a scenario seem like an RMS, then I've done my job well.

[Auron]

will OAD have its own world map like? if so, you can make it a RM script about it.

[Aeros]

Making a world map out of a random map script would be impossible or atleast very hard.

But we could blur the line between RMS and Scenario, and make a scenario that functions like an RMS or make a RMS that functions like a scenario.

[Phoenix-TheRealDeal]

0ad is going to have two types of RMs, historical ones like the nile and central mediteranean etc and specialty ones just for fun.

Somewhat of a misstatement, so let me clarify.

1. All maps will be fun to play, some moreso for some folks and some moreso for others.

2. There are no RMS maps to be developed that are "historical" in the strictest sense of that word. The entire game being developed has a historical basis and most of the categories of RMS maps will support that to the extent that they reflect some degree of accuracy with respect to the geophysical attributes of the terrain and "biomically" with respect to what part of the gameworld they 'depict'. So, this is to say that within a given category of RMS map, you will see something of the flora, fauna, and geological formation characteristics that existed regionally 2,000 years ago.

We hope to have so many different entities that can be placed upon the maps that the biomic packeting of them along with certain physical relevances will indeed permit one category from looking exactly like another. Biomic packeting restricts the number and individual entities that can be loaded to a type map, also preventing the overloading of it so that the game just won't run. Those entities have been spec'd, it remains for them to all be artistically rendered and the programming developed to support the generation of the maps. That's work in progress. It will take time. We are not at this time adding to that list; building the game is like building a skyscraper, you don't change the architectural drawings once you have the building half way built and specialist everywhere working according to the specifications.

3. The RMS maps to be supplied with the game as a matter of being done 'up front' for release with the game, WHEN ready for that, fall into 9 categories that are tied to what we call "biome packeting" as mentioned in 2., above. These are such as "Temperate", "Steppe", "Desert", etceteras. All of these biome packeted maps have a relevance to 'places', geographical regions, that were to be found as the historical homelands of the 6 civilisations we are featuring in the game, with exception to 2.

One of those 9 is "Polar" and the other "Tropic", though for the latter we can do a bit of a stretch by knowing that the Carthaginians visited tropical Africa during the voyage of Hanno, and probably via trader caravans; Polar is included because we've known since time immemorial that people have wanted it. Remember, unless you don't know, that this game has been being worked on for well over two years now. NOTHING about it remains in its infancy.

These maps then represent the extent of our "game world" regionally, though in fact players recognise the greater truth that the game world is being anything presented to them in the GUI and at the keyboard or by sound. So, it's merely a matter of definitions for the purposes of design specifications.

4. Each of the RMS map categories has spec'd for development at least one each of a "land map" and one of a "water map", for it, some more than others; and each of these maps are given a name that generally depicts what they 'are' and the region they represent. Thus, "Nile River" is but a 'sub-category' of "Desert--Water map" because it has some major extent of water upon it and the designed characteristics overall lend to certain aspects of gameplay affecting players strategies and tactics on that map. And while each as a randomised map will 'come up' differently, they will always have those characteristics that relate it to that particular region of the 'game world' in a more-or-less recogniseable fashion to the player... helping him to get his 'head into' the Nile River and adjacent lands. By design, merely one of many aspects of the game we define as enhancing "player immersion" into it during a gaming session.

5. In addition to the 9 categories just mentioned there is a 10th category that has but a single map spec'd to it. This is the one wherein we said "just for fun" because it indeed bear NO relationship nor historical relevancy to the 'regional game world'. The generation of this ONE "specialty" RMS map by the team prior to release is merely to give a single 'example' of what ANY fan, mapscriptor, scenario designer, campaign developer, or modder... might want to do him- or herself once the game is released and in their own hands.

So, you see we are not short on specialty maps.... and Michael is not one of the game designers who've written the specifications for the work to be done, but a graphics artist who has currently been working with me to "mock up" some marvelously good visual 'representations' of those map types specified.

The Scenario Editor will provide the tools that provide for that, for making up many different and wonderful maps and stuff limited largely only to the creativity of the fans. That's one of the principal goals we are working towards, say, coming under the term of "great moddability". Now then, if anyone wants to design (at that time) a world map such as AlexanderTheGreat3 did for AoK & AoC, or an Australia map that is 'good' such as others did (both FAR exceeding the scope of our game-relevant game world), they can certainly do that... and we hope that we'll be making it easier for you than has typically been before. You can go into competition with Bobbo for making of an even better World Map.

OK, I hope that'll give you a little bit of a 'better idea' where we are going wrt RMS maps.

And that's about all I can say on the subject at this time because all is yet a work in progress, we have much yet to get on with, governed by milestones for accomplsihment as needs be, except that some of what has been proposed here in fact are game types rather than map per se, some are already 'in there', and some are simply not relevant to our development effort at this time... BUT YOU will be able to make them then as relevant as you, yourself, want to... when we get the game done to the point when that becomes possible FOR you.

I take no responsibility for the forthcoming insanity.

why would you be responsible? just because this was your Idea I post them

Because he knows, in light of recent developments with respect to the team organisation and effort, that he may have 'spoken a bit out of turn', and doesn't now want to take any 'heat' for it. I think, he did. And hope, I haven't. But I didn't want you left 'hanging' here once started the thread, especially in view of how I suspect it came about. Soooooooooo.....

You see, there is a 'New Sheriff in town', goes by the name of the PR Department, has certain responsibilities they are working on toward getting ya'll better informed, and some of us are just going to have to get used to the fact that they are the ones who are charged with disseminating information about the game's development and progress. Good idea, really, as it will cut down on the amount of misinformation that 'gets out and about'.

[Centurion_13]

well Im not going to read all that but im guessing it bassicaly says that your not hort of ideas and this thread is more or less pointless.

[Phoenix-TheRealDeal]

Welll... maybe someone will whisper it in yor ear so that you know what it really sezzz. That is if I interpret "hort" correctly.

But I'll 'condense it for ya, pardner.

=> It says that we really are not low on ideas for specialty RMS maps, and that we are gonna make a certain kind of RMS maps (script 'em for release with the game).

=> It says that WE aren't gonna make more than one RMS specialty map, and that we are gonna leave the making of MORE of them to you guys when the came comes out.

=> It says that some of the ideas you've listed you will see as already being done when the game comes out, and some not, but that I'm not at liberty to go into detail about ALL of that at this time (nor is Mythos_Ruler, for that matter).

Now then , looking at your sig and seeing that your are a modder extraordinaire and 0ad fanatic, and looking at your list, I see some GREAT ideas... so the point of the thread is in listing WHAT you guys think you will be wanting to do YOURSELVES... and in that case it is not pointless.

I just wanted to clear up a few points for you because I thought that it would help your understanding of what you can expect... but if you aren't going to read it... *shrug* someone else probably will.

[Centurion_13]

Well It looks like I may be becoming a WFG staff soon anyway and doing textures on 0ad anyway so I can find al that secret stufff out soon enough (hopefully) anyway.

and I did read half of it.

well goodluck anyway

[Phoenix-TheRealDeal]

Same to YOU, pard.

It is not so much that it is "all that secret stuff" as it is that a lot of that stuff just ain't really ready to 'show off' yet. And if it is not ready, then the showing of it misinforms rather than enlightens people who see it. We are sensitive to that because people who find out they've once been told something that turns out to not be true are often turned off by that... and we really don't want that to happen with respect to the game we are making, eh?

At the same time, we've all made some mistakes along the way, it's been a big learning process. We hope we are getting better as we learn together.

[Mythos_Ruler]

Well, if you really want to know the genesis of this thread I was just brainstorming on some ideas for the current "Specialty map" we have listed. When Centurion came up with some good map ideas my response was, "go post it on the 0 A.D. forum. It couldn't hurt."

First and foremost I just want to see some more discussion on this forum. Secondly, whether or not we are short on ideas it never hurts to have more. It doesn't mean we have to implement them. As RealDeal said, no idea listed here is "wasted" even if we don't implement them, because we hope to make it easy for our fans to implement the ideas themselves.

[Phoenix-TheRealDeal]

That is true.

[Centurion_13]

was just brainstorming on some ideas for the current "Specialty map" we have listed

and we got some good ideas too. Too bad it would have been impossible or too comlicated to do all of them.

First and foremost I just want to see some more discussion on this forum

Yep its very quit around here compared to most of the other forums I visit.

Same to YOU, pard.

Thanks

And I started doing my trial texture, its looking pretty good so far In my opinion, but I'll just have to see what you guys think when its done.

[Phoenix-TheRealDeal]

We'll be looking forward to seeing what you are able to come up with.

[Centurion_13]

well I'd post a pic of what i've done so far but I wont for the following reasons

1 - I cant be bothered

2 - I'm probably not ment to

(you know all the reasons you said above about the secret stuff)

3 - the .psd file is 2.1 megs, so I have to convert it to a jpg or gif to make it alright for viewing and I cant be bothered.

[Mythos_Ruler]

LOL... fair enough I 'spose.

[Aeros]

And I started doing my trial texture, its looking pretty good so far In my opinion, but I'll just have to see what you guys think when its done.

As a tip, we'd be more interested in seeing what skills you have. Actually it won't be that bad to make a few textures to show off all (or a good deal) of what you can do. We'd rather see alot of decent and skilled work than one really amazing texture.

[Centurion_13]

well I believe wijit said to do just this one guy from this reference of an iberian warrior so I'll do that but I might make some others. ofcourse you could look at some of my aom mods.

particularily

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v257/Cen...13/Hoplites.jpg

That armor is completely drawn in gimp and the helmet is hand edited etc.

and

it's cinamtic

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v257/Cen...on13/cinhop.jpg

which I partly hand drew but mostly compiled from various sources.

and the attached fur which I drew I was going to use on my texture because apparently he is wearing fur or something but decided against it because it's too close I think

[Phoenix-TheRealDeal]

do just this one guy from this reference of an iberian warrior

I will be particularly interested in seeing that.

[Sam]

Nice shield textures, you make those yourself? I could have sworn I've seen those somewhere! Oh yeah, there Ryan's!

[irishstag]

What's more, he's using them with my full consent

[Mythos_Ruler]

Yeah, kudos to Mr. Stag! Centurion's texture mod is awesome, and made even better by "the Stagger's" shields!

[Centurion_13]

Well I wouldnt want to plagerize now. And his shields are so good I got his consent to use them (saved me a whole bunch of time)

[Argalius]

Yeah, they really are good