Chat Sim

So, here I have made a chat-room quasi-simulator. You don't actually type your responses, but simply pick from three different options when prompted. The idea is that you have ventured into this chatroom in the hopes of getting an answer to a question about programming in Java. See if you can get an answer out of these typical internet denizens.

The Sim

The Story So Far...

"So far?" you ask? Well, I haven't exactly got it all worked out yet...and even once I do, I don't want to give it all away now do I? Anyway, here is what exists of the story thus far, as a paragraph (as opposed to the cinematic sequence that will appear in the game):

After a long and perilous trek through a dangerous jungle into a lost city, a team of explorers, researchers, and colonists have made camp. But to their dismay, a rival team has made a camp of their own on the opposing end of the city. Both are in search of the many secrets and treasures held within the ancient walls of the city, including the mysterious artifact that lies at its heart. In the hopes of gaining rule over the city and all the glory such a position holds, they have enlisted the aide of heroes and mercenary armies. Who will succeed?

Following that is the point where the player will take control: they will select their hero and begin their career starting from the home camp of whichever team they belong to. From this point, there are many possibilities, both for the player and the story, all intertwining with one another dynamically (that's my way of getting out of explaining the rest of the story by saying "it can change during the game anyway, so why explain it?"). Ideas, constructive criticism, and recommendations are welcome.

Feature Feature

As promised, here is a post discussing the features to be found in my custom map. I suppose this works best when organized into categories (but in no particular order):

Heroes/Items:

• Custom All-new Heroes with unique spells and characteristics
• Expanded Hero leveling: Heroes can reach up to level 50, with upgrades for every level
• Fallen Heroes produce a Ghost, which can then proceed to a Resurrection Stone to revive be brought back to life
  
• New items, with new abilities

World:

• New units, both friend and foe
• New stores and "neutral" buildings to purchase from
  
• Detailed and custom-tailored terrain to create a unique landscape
• Detailed indoor and lush outdoor environments
  
• Custom doodads to enhance scenery
• Day/Night cycle with more profound effects (you don't want to be outside of the city at night, trust me)
• Teleport Obelisks to provide quick and safe transport
• Full 256x256 map to explore, if you dare
  

Technical

• "Force-checking" on Teleport Obelisks, so only allies may pass through eachother's Teleporters
• Context-Sensitive Camera: cinematic angles and movement of the camera to facilitate both easier control and more cinematic gameplay

Story

• A variety of quests to accomplish, complete with objectives and rewards
• Over-arcing plot that is affected by both teams simultaneously, resulting in multiple possible "endings," as well as various possible events occurring during gameplay
• Uncover the mystery of the city's past, or simply run around killing everything in sight: the plot depth is there for the taking, or the ignoring
• Cinematic sequences to develop the plot and key events with a little flare

Well, that's all I can think of at the moment (I haven't exactly formalized this after all...), but if I think of anything else, I'll be sure to add it to the lists. Oh, and uh, sorry, no screen shots at the moment, maybe some other time.

So Whatcha Makin?

As this is the first post, I think it should be more of an introduction than anything else. Thus, I think a good place to start is with self-titled question of this post: so what am I making? Well, I am making a custom map/game mode for the popular RTS Computer Game Warcraft III, using the good'ol Blizzard World Editor (and maybe a few other tools).

Thus far, I have only worked out a few concepts for the game, which I will likely cover later in a "features" post, but for now, the short version is this:

Players will cooperate to form two competing teams, with the goal of completing a series of progressively larger, more complex, and more challenging quests, finally culminating in a full-scale battle between the two teams. This will all take place inside a giant lost city and its surrounding jungle. Of course, there will be more to the city and the jungle than there seems, including secrets, traps, and plenty of "inhabitants" to deal with.

Finally, to add a little spice to this post, here are some screen-shots of the terrain thus far:

Just outside one of the city gates.


Inside the city, by that very same gate.


A small marshy-grove inside the city.


A staircase leading down to a main plaza.

Well, that's all for now. More soon to come (I hope)