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New Map Idea: Clock Tower (with pics)

By on July 6, 2009 10:45:24 PM from Demigod Forums Demigod Forums External Link

TheScottish...

Join Date 04/2009
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Since any offical new maps seems like pipe dream right now i'm going to put some mone on the modders of this communitee.  this map for instance would be a very complex, highly time consuming project so anyone who wants to take this on be my guest (i can build some 3ds models for it if you want, but .lua is still out of my league)

 

 


Map Idea: Clock Tower


 

# of Players

6-8 Players (3v3 or 4v4)

Modes

All Modes (might be best for somethig like Slaughter where chasing Demigods becomes important)

Basic

(and yes i know that there are now paths leading to each side but that's where the gear paths come in... so keep reading)

Size

i'm not 100% of the size but i was thinking some where around the size of Exile or maybe a bit smaller.


Appearance

as the name suggests this map would be based around a clock (the tower part is not important).  basicly you play on the gears of a large clock.  there is a solid base to the level where the citadel sits as well as moving paths in the shape of huge gears which rotate around creating and breaking paths leaving island and new escapes/ambush paths.  the colour and background of this would be low lighting with the sound of a ticking clock and the cluncking of gears.  maybe periodicly a chime of bell toll would also be nice.

the gears would move is diffrent directions some rotating smoothly and some rotating in a mechanical ticking motion.  to the side are two pictures of gears as well as rusted textured gears that would be make an amazing visual for the map.


Gears

like mentioned there are gears that rotate around the map  creating paths to the enemy citadel.  bellow is a picture of what the gear paths (in black) would look like):

since arrows and center points are really hard to see since most of the gears overlap here is a gif of the full animation:L

confusing isn't it.  to break it down here are the 3 main sets of gears:

Middle Wheels:   

Here  we have the 3 middle set sof gears.  the outter and middle paths rotate clockwise with the middle paths rotating counter clockwise.  the middle wheel also roates faster than the outer two allowing for more path combinations.

these would move smoothly around with the middle wheel ticking in the oposite direction.

 

 

 

 

 

Large Gear:

Over laping the middle wheels are two large gearsthat spin near the citadel on the top and bottom of the map.  they rotate fairly fast and joing up with the center wheel to create a large path into the middle from the outter edges.

these would move in a ticking motions pobably doing 1/16th turn every 2 muntes or so

 

 

 

Small Gears:

Off to the side are four smaller gears that sit under all the rest.  these rotate the slowest in altinating conter and clockise manners.

Again ticking however at a much slower and larger intival.  say 1/8th every 8 minutes

 

 

 

 

Timing:

so how fast do these rotate?  well this is up for debate but i was thinking something like 1 sec being equal to around 5-8 minutes.  this means the fastest rotating ones would take around 20 mintues to do a full turn.  this would also mean that it would take almost a full hour for the gearsa to fall back into their original posision keeping teams on their toes the whole game.  but again open to suggestions.

 

Here is a complete animation with the correct timing:

currently the timeing is this:  Centre Wheel - 1Sec (15 Degrees)   Middle Wheel - 1 Secs (-15 Degrees)   Outer Wheel - 1 Sec (10 Degrees)   Large Gear - 3 Sec (22.5 Degrees)   Small Gear - 2 Sec (22.5 Degrees)

 

If the file doesn't work cause it might be too big then you can downloaded it (HERE)

 

 

the whole sequence takes about 144 secs meaning if each sec is 5 min then it would take around 12 hours...  so making it a bit faster might be needed.. like 2 min per sec... up for suggestions

 


Grunt Pathing

there would be 3 portals on each side (one in base and 2 on each outter ring) which would send out grunts which would take the shortest route to the enemy citadel.  from staring at the gif for about 20 minute si don't think there is ever a time where the bases are seperate so pathing shouldn't be a problem.  for an example here is the pathing for the grunts when the gears are in default posision:


Building

flags are up for debate with the center done probably housing an artifact shop or maybe a few gold mines.


Creating

I'm up for suggestions on how to create this map... i know a problem comes from the pathing and such... here is what i had so far:

i actually did some thinking about how the pathing and collision would work for this map and its actually quite simple.  the model would have to be animated but the engine should be able to handle that since some of the maps already have animations (like water).  the collision on the other hand is handles by a seperate script so the script needs to be set you can't move too? no?)

as you can see in this picture the red is what the collision would be scripted in as which would match the gears and paths as they move.  rather than move the colision around the match the pathing all you need to do is have all the possible collision (red and black) and then just change where you can't move in rather than where you can.

 


Conclusion

so that the map.  let me know what you think and if there are any talented modders out there who want to be famous they can give me a shout and i'll try help with what i can.  and questions or comments feel free to post up

 

EDIT: Added in complete animation as well as section on ideas for creating this.

 

 

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July 8, 2009 7:52:15 AM from Demigod Forums Demigod Forums

I love the idea... but, on top of the Engine issues...

 

><

 

Pathing.

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July 8, 2009 8:32:33 AM from Demigod Forums Demigod Forums

I would like that map better than originals !

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July 8, 2009 8:33:07 AM from Demigod Forums Demigod Forums

Little mobs dont get to citadel, this map maybe players 5v5, but not less, if gas powered will made new engine for arenas with 6v6 or 10 v 10 that will be great, more player more meat

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July 8, 2009 5:55:40 PM from Demigod Forums Demigod Forums

Quoting justMK,
Little mobs dont get to citadel, this map maybe players 5v5, but not less, if gas powered will made new engine for arenas with 6v6 or 10 v 10 that will be great, more player more meat

Just imagine the simspeed issues... But the chaos would be so worth it.

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July 8, 2009 6:05:23 PM from Demigod Forums Demigod Forums

Tower Rook on that map would be absolutely hilarious,

I'd love to see it done, but it would sure be difficult.

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July 9, 2009 7:44:12 AM from Demigod Forums Demigod Forums

[quote who="Mr. Haze" reply="5" id="2294752"]Tower Rook on that map would be absolutely hilarious,

I'd love to see it done, but it would sure be difficult.[/quote]

Rotating towers = hilarity ensues.

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July 9, 2009 6:23:35 PM from Demigod Forums Demigod Forums

OMG MAKE THIS MAP IT IS AMAZING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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July 10, 2009 12:42:02 PM from Demigod Forums Demigod Forums

Quoting pseudomelon,
Rotating towers = hilarity ensues.

It could be like a spinning gear of death.  Tower, tower, tower, tower, ROOK OMFG HAMMER SLAM, tower....

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July 10, 2009 8:11:55 PM from Demigod Forums Demigod Forums

It could be like a spinning gear of death. Tower, tower, tower, tower, ROOK OMFG HAMMER SLAM, tower....

 

LMAO... i had it visioned that you'd be chasing some poor QoP into some deadend with 3 other DG buddies on hand just to have the enemy team ambush you from a gear that just came around the corner.  serious team would all have to have an autistic genius calculating the math for where the grunts and dg's should be going. 

thank for all the possitive feed back, always love to see an idea really take root

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July 10, 2009 10:57:05 PM from Demigod Forums Demigod Forums

Quoting cwsault,

Quoting pseudomelon, reply 6Rotating towers = hilarity ensues.
It could be like a spinning gear of death.  Tower, tower, tower, tower, ROOK OMFG HAMMER SLAM, tower....
\

Duck...Duck...Duck.....Duck......FIRST BLOOD!

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July 10, 2009 11:20:15 PM from Demigod Forums Demigod Forums

That's some impressive work; I'd love to play on that map! 

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July 11, 2009 1:25:50 PM from Demigod Forums Demigod Forums

Wow; absolutely amazing!

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July 13, 2009 9:32:00 PM from Demigod Forums Demigod Forums

awesome map. most awesome idea.

 

 

only thing, the name "Clockwork" fits better into demigod. All one word map names, all kinda wierd mystical sounding...

 

just my opinion.

 

edit: why does the smiley face look like he is on crack? or speed?

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July 14, 2009 5:27:38 PM from Demigod Forums Demigod Forums

I love the idea. The only problem is that a design like this would encourage an over-reliance on teleport scrolls and the amulet of teleportation favor item.

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July 14, 2009 6:42:44 PM from Demigod Forums Demigod Forums

Quoting Enraged_Camel,
I love the idea. The only problem is that a design like this would encourage an over-reliance on teleport scrolls and the amulet of teleportation favor item.

 

its about time that favor item got some loving. lol

 

a teleport map would be more inetersting. there isnt a map that really makes you work to get where you want to.

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July 15, 2009 2:41:19 AM from Demigod Forums Demigod Forums

Well, I think as a level design it is probably Interesting(nose tap). I'm not sure if it would be fun to play on though, but would at least be an interesting arena to create and play around in. Sadly, the DG engine very likely can't support this:

  • Dynamic Grunt paths sounds like a real pain.
  • Dynamic pathing in general is going to be a trick.
  • Inevitable bugs like Erebus batswarming to a location on a gear... which doesn't exist after he arrive.

 

Other than that though, I applaud the thought you put into the piece. I would suspect you'd make a good level Designer if you had 3D skillz.

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July 19, 2009 2:25:07 AM from Demigod Forums Demigod Forums

trig this is a insane idea but  by the looks of it it can be pulled of   the only  problem is the developers

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July 19, 2009 2:32:17 AM from Demigod Forums Demigod Forums

Quoting si1foo,
trig this is a insane idea but  by the looks of it it can be pulled of   the only  problem is the developers
Would you stop flamming the developers on Scottish's map threads???

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July 21, 2009 4:27:28 PM from Demigod Forums Demigod Forums

Quoting Zechnophobe,
Well, I think as a level design it is probably Interesting(nose tap). I'm not sure if it would be fun to play on though, but would at least be an interesting arena to create and play around in. Sadly, the DG engine very likely can't support this:


Dynamic Grunt paths sounds like a real pain.
Dynamic pathing in general is going to be a trick.
Inevitable bugs like Erebus batswarming to a location on a gear... which doesn't exist after he arrive.

 

Other than that though, I applaud the thought you put into the piece. I would suspect you'd make a good level Designer if you had 3D skillz.

Dynamic pathing isn't too hard. There are lots of algorithms that can quickly determine the shortest path to your destination like A* and Best First. The path calculation could be refreshed every second or so , so that the minions don't fall off the map or something by trying to take a path that was good a second ago, but has since changed. Also, not every creep has to find a path for himself. Only one creep per wave needs to calculate the path, and the others can follow him.

And bugs like that erebus thing can be fixed. All bugs should be fixabile. Like if erebus accidentally teleports off the map, he is teleported to the nearest surface he can stand on, which is not hard to program.

The real problem is the game engine which I am not sure will be able to handle this map without some core modifications. And I'm not sure GPG will be to thrilled about core modifications...

But anyways, great map ideea .

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July 24, 2009 10:31:18 PM from Demigod Forums Demigod Forums
Amazing map. Good work! The only problem I can see is pathfinding, it could be a nightmare for the computer. This kind of map would put a premium on teleport abilities.
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July 25, 2009 11:00:25 PM from Demigod Forums Demigod Forums

moving map pathfinding...might be tough. but i am sure that some person somewhere on the internet has done it before.

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July 25, 2009 11:36:21 PM from Demigod Forums Demigod Forums

well their are only 144 diffent combos of gears so technicaly it would be a case of making a 144 diffrent paths for the grunts to follow and then set accordingly.  even for when a gear moves before the grunts get it, all that means is when they make the 144 diffrent paths some of them have to make sure that they take into consideration future movements of gears.

and thatd the hard way to do it.  if someone witha  bit of lyua script know-how did it i'm sure they could make pathing pionts and then script in equation for the computer to figure out so they knwo which piont to walk towards.  something like:

if distance <= 20 then point 1 elseif 60 >= distance < 20 then point 2 elseif etc etc

 

but i'm definately no lua genius so someone else wil have to do that thinking

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July 26, 2009 7:22:08 AM from Demigod Forums Demigod Forums
It's not that hard, as I said before. You only have to calculate a path every second or so, so that the creep wave won't fall off the map. Using heuristical pathing algorithms, it should not be hard or really time consuming at all. The host could do the actual calculations and then send them to the other players. The problem is that I don't know how well the engine will handle moving parts. Maybe they will be more like animations, like when the citadel upgrades itself.
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July 26, 2009 10:45:13 AM from Demigod Forums Demigod Forums

Cool idea! Even if they don't go with the motiff, a map that moves would certainly be welcomed.

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July 27, 2009 6:59:02 PM from Demigod Forums Demigod Forums

Wow, this map concept is amazing. If I had any modding skills I'd be on it right now. Hopefully somebody can pull it off one day. Even if the gears didn't rotate I would still like to see something similar.

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