Monsters! - Battle for the Powerstones

[LED ZEPPELINER]

the oreange monster doesn't have any glow (the others do)

[dolomite13]

I have been kicking around how to handle the connections to and from the wizards. I believe that having the connection from the wizard to the landing point monster be one way is a good idea. However figuring out how to get back to the wizard was bothering me. Then it hit me while playing a game of "New World", the landing point monster would be one way attack back towards the wizards shield and the shield would be one way attack to the wizard. The shield would be a 4 or 5 army auto reset each turn.

This still left me with the problem of possible stalemates. So I believe we need a large bonus objective that would make it hard to turtle up on your wizard. Here are some concept ideas for that. Please read the concepts below and feel free to comment.

Dolomite

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Concept 1: Wizard Bonuses
- Wizards autodeploy 3 armies per turn.
- You get +2 bonus per wizard you control.

Concept 2: Monster Superiority
- If you control all landing point monsters you get +15 bonus armies per turn.

Concept 3: Power Stone
Back when this map was first envisioned I wanted to have some sort of crystal or orb the wizards were in the dungeon to get control of. Maybe there could be a large crystal in the middle of the map. It could be 5 or more individual territories and give bonuses.

- Bonus of +2 per crystal territory.
- Bonus of +10 for holding all crystal territories (+20 total for holding whole crystal).
- Crystal is an island of territories.
- The outer territories of the crystal can be attacked (one way) from any wizard.
- Crystal territories loose 1 army per turn attrition

Concept 4: Hybrid Concept
Some of all 3 of the above concepts would be adopted.

I put together a connection map for what the game currently has for connections.

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3536/319 ... d3a0_o.png



Here is the connection map for the power crystal concept.

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3400/319 ... 73db_o.png

[dolomite13]

bump

[sailorseal]

I like the idea but here are a few changes...
1. Make it clearer which monsters touch which
2. The wizards are to easy to hold
3. No real bonuses

I like the concept and the graphics but game play needs work.

[gimil]

your orange ghost is missing a glow.

On another note I would like to see some variations on ghosts. Different shapes and sizes to add a little character to the map. What you have right now thou is crisp and clear though.

[LED ZEPPELINER]

id say that all of the wizards should be facing their monsters, becuase it doesn't make sense if their back ist turned to them

[mibi]

Someone along the line this map took a wrong turn down banal street.

As the version below will show, this map was once alive, colorful, cute, it just looked fun. The bonuses and movement were simple. An easy map to jump into and play with monster.

Now the color has been sucked out, the simplicity has been removed and it looks cluttered and cramped. The monsters are all the same size and color. They look like angry wads of toilet paper. This map started with some of the most promise I have seen in a while. Not it is really nothing spectacular.

The best version is this one.

Click image to enlarge.

[edbeard]

I agree with mibi

gameplay wise though, it's going to be impossibly hard to figure out how to get these wizards to work. honestly none of the versions done so far lead me to believe they'll be anything but trouble from a stalemate sense.

Like I've said before, I'd rather the map be all monsters and you can have everything from the drop.

if you REALLY want the wizards, instead of just having 8, treat them a little better and put them into regiments ala the monsters. you can strategically prevent continents from the drop by having the "special" monsters and wizards (ones with horns) start neutral.

[dolomite13]

I am considering trying two map versions oit ... one would be the map with the majority of neutral monsters and the second would be a map with colored monsters like my original idea. I will update in a few days as I have to go out of town on business this weekend so I should have something before I leave.

[LED ZEPPELINER]

you still have not added glow to the orange monster

[MrBenn]

Judging from the lack of comments, it would appear that there is not a great deal of support for the map as it currently stands.

I'm not sure whether it's the idea or the implementation of it that isn't grabbing people though

Personally, I would prefer a map with some sort of backstory that I could associate with - I think you should settle on the story that you're trying to tell, and run with that.... there are too many versions wit/without crystals/wizards/monster-groups.... I'm not too sure what exactly you're trying to achieve here, and am starting to wonder whether you may be better off applying your talents to a different project?

I'm not insinuating that you should drop this now, but I'd urge a bit of caution in case this does turn into a dead horse

[dolomite13]

I'm back from vacation and will have a concrete idea on how I would like this map to proceed later today or early tomorrow ... I believe that the neutral monster map is the one I would like to pursue first and will be open to alternative monster maps after I complete this one.

[dolomite13]

I have decided I want this map to follow the mostly neutral starting monsters format and to have some sort of victory condition that does not necessarily mean defeating all of the wizards or that grants a big enough bonus by capturing a certain set of monsters or items on the map that a stalemate would be impossible.

I have added 8 more small monsters and an orb. The rob in the center marked with an "X" is one way attack into it. It allows you to reap an increased bonus from controlling the colored monsters "Z" (or mini orbs if I decide to change them). A possible bonus structure would be as follows.

Base + is listed as well as the total units from bonus in parenthesis.

Z = +2 (2)
X = +2 (2)
X+Z = +1 (5)
X+Z+Z = + 3 (9)
X+Z+Z+Z = + 5 (13)
X+Z+Z+Z+Z = + 7 (17)
X+Z+Z+Z+Z+Z = + 9 (21)
X+Z+Z+Z+Z+Z+Z = + 11 (25)
X+Z+Z+Z+Z+Z+Z+Z = + 13 (29)
X+Z+Z+Z+Z+Z+Z+Z+Z = + 15 (33)

I still want to autodeploy 3 to a wizard each turn and to do a reset of shields to 15 that are player controlled.

As for a backstory... I believe that the wizards have gone into the monsters lair to try and recover the orbs of power. The orbs will help their kingdoms defeat the other kingdoms.

Please let me know what you think. I will have a nice mockup map done in a few days based on this model.

Connection Map

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3492/325 ... f872_o.png

[dolomite13]

OK the official map name is now..

Monsters!
Battle For the Powerstone

As a powerful wizard you have volunteered to go into the lair of the monsters to retrieve the legendary "Powerstone" to help your kingdom defeat your enemies. This won't be easy as each kingdom has heard of your quest and is sending their own wizard to retrieve the stone as well.

I have settled on a single powerstone in the center of the map and the connection map in the previous post.

Any future maps will be more polished versions of this one.

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3385/325 ... 802c_o.png



When I have completed this one I was thinking of doing a "Monsters Classic" using the classic connection scheme and bonuses.

--Dolomite

[sailorseal]

Very nice but can you make it clearer how each monster attacks each other. Could you add it to the legend?
Great map!

[LED ZEPPELINER]

how are you supposed to tell which monster is which

[the.killing.44]

how are you supposed to tell which monster is which

The glow, no?

.44

[dolomite13]

I will be adding names to the monsters as well as some way to show attack paths, it is pretty obvious which are adjacent to each other but the colored ones being able to attack the wizards that match their color it is about the color aura/glow.

[dolomite13]

I can't get the poll creator to work. So I am adding the poll here for now.

How should the monsters be named?
1) 3 letter names like "Ago" "Zox" "Ead"
2) 2 letter names like "Ag" "Zo" "Ex"
3) Numbers like "21" "22" "23"
4) Other (I will post my idea to this thread)

[sailorseal]

I like non-real place maps. I would like to see the variety of colors used on the power stone, toned done because it makes it hard to look at. Could you make it much clearer which monster attacks what? I can tell for most of them but a few are so so. I would make something bombard something.
Very nice map and great graphics...

[Joodoo]

I have a suggestion for an objective:
Hold the colored orb, 4 wizards of any color, and it's 4 corresponding monsters for one round to win!

[dolomite13]

My photoshop died on me (corrupt file) and I finally found my install disk so I will have an update for the map this week sometime. Just wanted to provide some status so the map doesn't get marked as dead =)

[yeti_c]

One of the monsters should definitely be called 'Dave'

C.

[LED ZEPPELINER]

you should have bob, bobby, bobo, bobster, bobiest, and mark

[dolomite13]

not zep, zeppy, zepo, zofo, zoso?