Post by TLI-Inferno on Sept 25, 2010 9:02:26 GMT -5
This is a guide for anyone who visits these forums to read... I decided to make this guide because I am sick of seeing hundreds of ORPGs that are very poorly made, most of them looking almost exactly the same as each other.
Firstly, you have to make a good terrain. Go to www.hiveworkshop.com and download models for trees and such, which can make the job somewhat easier. Also, never use cliffs to make cliffs. Raising terrain and applying the rock texture, and then using pathing blockers to make it actually behave as a cliff, is much more attractive.
Secondly, try to keep the classes distinct. Try to keep your total amount of classes no less than 5 and no more than 15. If you include any more than 15 classes, then your classes will begin to become repetitive; many of the classes will have almost the same role. For example, I often see a Rogue, an Assassin, a Thief, and Bandit class... These are all nearly the same thing. I also often see a Swordsman, Knight, Warrior, and Soldier class, which are all nearly the same thing. I am also very annoyed at seeing Hunter, Archer, and Ranger all included as classes. You have to keep your classes distinct. If you want to have different types of archers, use either a ranking system or choose-able abilities.
Also, make sure to keep grinding out of the game, fighting the exact same creep for a long amount of time can become very boring. You have to either include different types of creeps in each area or lessen the level gap from one area to the next.
Make sure to always have several abilities for each hero. Any ORPG in which the heroes have only 4 abilities when maxed becomes very boring. Make sure that you have at least 5 abilities to choose from, preferably 7, if not using a skill book. If you do use a skill book, then at least fill the book up with a maximum of 11 abilities.
Make sure that all abilities are useful the moment you obtain the abilities. There is no point in even putting a point into an ability if it starts out dealing less damage than your physical attacks. Make sure to keep abilities powerful enough to be useful. Also, try to keep passives useful. I have noticed, in many games, passives start out giving the hero a 1% chance to deal 1.1x dmg, or even 1x damage... Start your passive out as at least a 5% chance to deal 1.5x damage, so as to keep the ability somewhat useful. If you plan on having 20 levels or more for the ability, simply have the levels not increase it as much. For example, the level 2 may be a 7% chance to deal 1.6x damage. If you have the skill give both a doubled chance and a doubled amount of damage, then the ability will either start out useless and become balanced, or start out balanced and become overpowered.
Also, try to use triggered abilities occasionally in your map. There are plenty of tutorials at www.hiveworkshop.com to help you create your triggered abilities.
Try to have quests in your ORPG. By quests, I do not mean a quest that you spend 5 seconds triggering, such as Kill 10 Wolves. Make a real quest that actually has an objective other than what players will already do, such as defending or escorting a person, or killing a specific boss unit, or obtaining an item from a creep by slaying the creep and its bodyguards. It is okay to use slaying quests, but if every quest is as boring as Kill 10 Wolves, Kill 20 Orcs, Kill 15 Trolls, Kill 10 Tauren, Kill 15 Skeletons, then the game will not be as interesting.
Follow these guidelines and your ORPG will not be one of the next boring games which is almost an exact copy of the other terrible ORPGs recently existing on Battle.net.
Firstly, you have to make a good terrain. Go to www.hiveworkshop.com and download models for trees and such, which can make the job somewhat easier. Also, never use cliffs to make cliffs. Raising terrain and applying the rock texture, and then using pathing blockers to make it actually behave as a cliff, is much more attractive.
Secondly, try to keep the classes distinct. Try to keep your total amount of classes no less than 5 and no more than 15. If you include any more than 15 classes, then your classes will begin to become repetitive; many of the classes will have almost the same role. For example, I often see a Rogue, an Assassin, a Thief, and Bandit class... These are all nearly the same thing. I also often see a Swordsman, Knight, Warrior, and Soldier class, which are all nearly the same thing. I am also very annoyed at seeing Hunter, Archer, and Ranger all included as classes. You have to keep your classes distinct. If you want to have different types of archers, use either a ranking system or choose-able abilities.
Also, make sure to keep grinding out of the game, fighting the exact same creep for a long amount of time can become very boring. You have to either include different types of creeps in each area or lessen the level gap from one area to the next.
Make sure to always have several abilities for each hero. Any ORPG in which the heroes have only 4 abilities when maxed becomes very boring. Make sure that you have at least 5 abilities to choose from, preferably 7, if not using a skill book. If you do use a skill book, then at least fill the book up with a maximum of 11 abilities.
Make sure that all abilities are useful the moment you obtain the abilities. There is no point in even putting a point into an ability if it starts out dealing less damage than your physical attacks. Make sure to keep abilities powerful enough to be useful. Also, try to keep passives useful. I have noticed, in many games, passives start out giving the hero a 1% chance to deal 1.1x dmg, or even 1x damage... Start your passive out as at least a 5% chance to deal 1.5x damage, so as to keep the ability somewhat useful. If you plan on having 20 levels or more for the ability, simply have the levels not increase it as much. For example, the level 2 may be a 7% chance to deal 1.6x damage. If you have the skill give both a doubled chance and a doubled amount of damage, then the ability will either start out useless and become balanced, or start out balanced and become overpowered.
Also, try to use triggered abilities occasionally in your map. There are plenty of tutorials at www.hiveworkshop.com to help you create your triggered abilities.
Try to have quests in your ORPG. By quests, I do not mean a quest that you spend 5 seconds triggering, such as Kill 10 Wolves. Make a real quest that actually has an objective other than what players will already do, such as defending or escorting a person, or killing a specific boss unit, or obtaining an item from a creep by slaying the creep and its bodyguards. It is okay to use slaying quests, but if every quest is as boring as Kill 10 Wolves, Kill 20 Orcs, Kill 15 Trolls, Kill 10 Tauren, Kill 15 Skeletons, then the game will not be as interesting.
Follow these guidelines and your ORPG will not be one of the next boring games which is almost an exact copy of the other terrible ORPGs recently existing on Battle.net.
