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[Mesa]

Progress update on forum MOBA:

- I have some basic lore going on but it needs some extra fleshing out still

- I only have one character done mostly for general "testing" (as in trying to figure out a good template) purposes
- Characters have 8 stats (health, physical damage, special damage, physical armor, special armor, speed, initiative bonus), each of which can be increased by items
- Characters have a unique basic attack, two regular abilities and an ultimate ability - there are no secondary resources like mana (right now - some characters might be centered around having a unique resource but nothing in that regard)
- Characters start out with all their skills (ultimate included), and certain aspects of their skills scale with their stats

- Characters can hold up to 4 items which increase their stats and possibly provide other unique bonuses
- Items can be bought at the base with gold, which is gained passively each turn, collected from around the map and from killing enemy minions and heroes
- There's no crafting system - however, certain items can be bought multiple times (without taking up an extra slot), giving extra stats this way

- The main base splits up into 3 lanes (hallways/corridors), each containing two smaller chambers
-- Characters can use teleport pads at the base to teleport to their team's chambers
-- Chambers are guarded by two golems each (one ranged and one melee) which are confined to the area of the chambers
-- Chamber golems have relatively low health compared to towers in actual MOBAs, however once they're down to 0HP, they will revive themselves a few turns later
-- To prevent the golems from respawning, players have to destroy generators present in the corners of the chambers - each golem has their own generator that needs to be destroyed
-- The main base contains 4 golems with their own 4 generators - destroying the generators and enemy golems guarantees victory
--- Upon destroying a base golem, a bridge will rise, leading to a platform containing its appropriate generator

Spoiler: ASCII Imagery (click to show/hide)

A base, containing golems in the middle, generators in the corners, teleporter pads on the left, pitfalls and exits.

Chambers (standard and cornered layouts), containing golems, generators, pitfalls and teleporters.

A tunnel.

A game map. (4x4 squares representing bases, 2x2 being chambers and gray tiles being tunnels, with a neutral area in the middle of the map)

(I may drop the special/physical damage split for the sake of simplicity though, among other things but I'm definitely open for ideas here.)

Here be the thread for OOC/meta discussions and my pseudo-development posts.

I'm not sure when the games will begin, but probably soon, seeing as all I have to do now is to get a few characters and items done, and maybe polish up the lore a little bit.

Anyway, some changes since my last post:

- Armor reworked. Damage scaling is now based on "power minus armor" calculation and if the power is below negative then the damage effectively gets reduced (still scaling with the attack's appropriate percentage). (can't go below 1 but I don't think anyone will ever reach such an extreme disparity).
- There are 3 item types - consumables (single-use active items with no passive stats that are, well, consumed on use, they don't scale with item stages), passives (self-explanatory, they provide passive stat buffs, auras and the like) and actives (they have one or more activated abilities and provide some stat bonuses). Actives and passives scale with item stages (usually in terms of the stat bonuses or damage scaling but it depends)
- I have 2 characters finished now. The roles I'm aiming for the first round are:

- fighter (done)
- assassin (done)
- tank
- support
- area denial
- pusher

- As far as the item count goes:
3 active items
6 consumables
7 passive items

I also need to work on guardians, minions and summons' kits and stats.

If you're curious what I'm brewing up, I can share my design docs for the items and characters later, but inevitably you'll have to run a game or two to see how things stand in terms of balance and fun. (because I can only brainstorm for so long)

It may seem like a lot of micromanagement but I tried to minimize it the best I can while still keeping MOBA-like depth and diversity. What will come out of it, I don't know.

[Khaiel]

It seems interesting. I have some files in my computer about a forum MOBA, but I never got to finish it (the graphic part was too much for me). ASCII seems perfect for it.

PTW

[IamanElfCollaborator]

PTW

[Mesa]

It seems interesting. I have some files in my computer about a forum MOBA, but I never got to finish it (the graphic part was too much for me). ASCII seems perfect for it.

PTW

Would you mind sharing them? I do have a solid idea myself but I'm always hungry for new idea and it'd be a shame to see your concept go to waste (or rather, not go anywhere at all...).

[Khaiel]

I would have to look for them (my computer is a complete and utter mess, and for some reason I can't remember how I named the files), but the basics were taken from a mixture of LoL and HotS.

Heroes would have 6 abilities, 2 passives and 2 ultimates. Before the match, they would have to choose one passive, and at the first 3 levels, they would have to choose 3 of the 6 basic abilities. at level 6 they would have to choose one of the 2 ultimates (I made the game go for 18 levels like LoL just to use something I was already familiar with).

Of course this made designing balanced characters incredibly difficult, but because I was using characters from an already created setting (the Spanish RPG Anima Beyond Fantasy and its miniature game Anima Tactics) it was easier than it seemed. For calculating damage, armor/resistance was substracted from the max damage, and all other modifiers were applied after it (like damage reduction or critical damage).

Heroes had Action Points, so moving half the maximum distance was 1 AP, while moving the max distance was 2 AP, for example. I believe most heroes had something like 6 AP per turn (because abilities sometimes consumed not only resources but also AP)

[Mesa]

I would have to look for them (my computer is a complete and utter mess, and for some reason I can't remember how I named the files), but the basics were taken from a mixture of LoL and HotS.

Heroes would have 6 abilities, 2 passives and 2 ultimates. Before the match, they would have to choose one passive, and at the first 3 levels, they would have to choose 3 of the 6 basic abilities. at level 6 they would have to choose one of the 2 ultimates (I made the game go for 18 levels like LoL just to use something I was already familiar with).

Of course this made designing balanced characters incredibly difficult, but because I was using characters from an already created setting (the Spanish RPG Anima Beyond Fantasy and its miniature game Anima Tactics) it was easier than it seemed. For calculating damage, armor/resistance was substracted from the max damage, and all other modifiers were applied after it (like damage reduction or critical damage).

Heroes had Action Points, so moving half the maximum distance was 1 AP, while moving the max distance was 2 AP, for example. I believe most heroes had something like 6 AP per turn (because abilities sometimes consumed not only resources but also AP)

That certainly sounded like a balancing nightmare...I think I'll stick with my kit system.

I might experiment with an AP system but considering the already big amount of micromanagement I will inevitably need to do I'm not sure if I'll implement it.

To give you an idea of where I'm aiming for with the heroes, here is a document for the first character I've made. Meet Anne, the Mercenary Queen. (totally not a reference to a Guntarctica character)
Also the list of current passive items. A few more might come in later, but that's probably enough for the first version of the game.

[Khaiel]

One thing you could to reduce micromanagement is to keep the numbers low. Like, in your case, dividing by 5 all numbers for example.

As for the items:
The Plasma Flamethrower is OP as it stands. Damage overtime is one of those things that are difficult to balance, because they give their users an incredible edge in laning (you deny the enemies sustain so easily...). Maybe increase the base value and take out the scaling. Like damage being 15/25/35 int the different phases. However when compared to the hero's health, that seems like a lot. Of course damage has to be higher than in a normal MOBA (because turns take more time).

The other items seem much better (generic in their names, but that's normal at this stage).

[Mesa]

I'm kind of accustomed to this sorta number model though, since it's mostly based on the one that Awesomenauts use. (with character health values ranging in the 115-190 range, and damage almost never exceeding 100)

I'll tone down the 'thrower a wee bit and see how things go. Until then, I'll leave you with a little obscure teaser of what I'm currently working on:

[IamanElfCollaborator]

Paint related character who has an ult involving turning the arena into his canvas.

I thought the MOBA would be more LoL-like (health/mana in the thousands, damage can exceed 1k, six items, a passive). Ah, well, still willing to give this a try.

[Mesa]

I thought the MOBA would be more LoL-like (health/mana in the thousands, damage can exceed 1k, six items, a passive). Ah, well, still willing to give this a try.

I might implement passives later down the lines since they're a pretty fun idea but for now I want to test the waters with how a MOBA on a forum plays out and if people really want it.

[Khaiel]

Paint related character who has an ult involving turning the arena into his canvas.

I thought the MOBA would be more LoL-like (health/mana in the thousands, damage can exceed 1k, six items, a passive). Ah, well, still willing to give this a try.

Because in a forum game there is not a server to make all the calculations, it is usually better to have smaller numbers. It simplifies things.

Also some sacrifices have to be made to make games not take 300+ turns.

EDIT: DarkDXZ, you damn ninja XD. If this gets interest, I might take my time this summer to bring back to live my own MOBA. Just one question, what are you using to make the maps? Please tell me it's not paint/photoshop/something similar

[Mesa]

Paint related character who has an ult involving turning the arena into his canvas.

I thought the MOBA would be more LoL-like (health/mana in the thousands, damage can exceed 1k, six items, a passive). Ah, well, still willing to give this a try.

Because in a forum game there is not a server to make all the calculations, it is usually better to have smaller numbers. It simplifies things.

Also some sacrifices have to be made to make games not take 300+ turns.

EDIT: DarkDXZ, you damn ninja XD. If this gets interest, I might take my time this summer to bring back to live my own MOBA. Just one question, what are you using to make the maps? Please tell me it's not paint/photoshop/something similar

It's REXPaint, actually. Hey look, the creator even gives me a shoutout in the  main post!

Anyway, the current character has went through 3 major reiterations already but I think I'm on a good track now and should have it finished soon.

[Khaiel]

Paint related character who has an ult involving turning the arena into his canvas.

I thought the MOBA would be more LoL-like (health/mana in the thousands, damage can exceed 1k, six items, a passive). Ah, well, still willing to give this a try.

Because in a forum game there is not a server to make all the calculations, it is usually better to have smaller numbers. It simplifies things.

Also some sacrifices have to be made to make games not take 300+ turns.

EDIT: DarkDXZ, you damn ninja XD. If this gets interest, I might take my time this summer to bring back to live my own MOBA. Just one question, what are you using to make the maps? Please tell me it's not paint/photoshop/something similar

It's REXPaint, actually. Hey look, the creator even gives me a shoutout in the  main post!

Anyway, the current character has went through 3 major reiterations already but I think I'm on a good track now and should have it finished soon.

A drawing tool even I can use. This must be a dream.

Anyway, good luck with this. I'll try to watch and give my opinion of the new things you introduce. This really looks like something with a bright future.

[BlitzDungeoneer]

PTW
This seems fairly interesting.

[IamanElfCollaborator]

Can we has champ template plox?