25 replies to this topic

[Fingulfin]

"The Hill of the Gods" is my latest project. It is a map for BFME II, but I will port it to RotWK when I get the time. I got the inspiration for this map from an old game I used to play, called "Celtic Kings". In this game there was a map (I don't remember what it was called) where you have a few soldiers and archers on a hill. You are charged by a spirit to gaurd the sacred relic that rests on the hill for a certain number of weeks. If your men leave the hill, they suddenly drop dead. Each "day" several enemies come to the hill to try to destroy you. After you have cleared the hill of enemies, you were granted a "blessing" (or favor, or whatever it was called...). Pretty much, you got to choose between three options. Some of them were healing powers, most were reinforcments. Some of them were really odd and would let you do things like summon a bunch of uncontrollable archers who would stand on the edge of the ring and take care of your enemies for you! It was a great map, and recently I got the inspiration to bring it to BFME II! I have almost finished the first week (approximately 3 will be made). One thing I can say about it is this: Its HARD! 1/3 times I play it I lose! The odd thing is, I've been playing the same 6 days over and over again! The finished product will include 3 modes, Easy Medium and Hard. But for the initial release, just one. I am currently finished with Week 1 Day 6.

A few Screens: (that don't do the map justice)

Shot 1
Shot 2
Shot 3
Shot 4

Trailer coming soon!


So why am I posting info about the map now? I am recruiting Testers! Why? I want to know how hard my map really is! To join, send me a PM or post in this thread! I expect to have week 1 BETA done in a few days

-Fin

[Rob38]

I wouldn't mind testing the game. I myself am working on a complex map so I am interested to see what this map is like. Just let me know what I need to do

[Fingulfin]

Sit back and relax! In a few days I'll have the Beta for week one complete. I need testers so I can attain a good feel of difficulty. I want it to be hard, but not too hard!

[Hearach]

If you accept, I'll be a tester. This map looks really cool. Good job Fin.

[Fingulfin]

Ok, your in! As soon as I have had my fill of RotWK, Ill finish off the first week.

[Hearach]

Great Can't wait to play

[Fingulfin]

Just finished day 6. During the now hundreds of times I have played the map, I have found several sure to win strategies. With too many easy ways to beat them, in the Medium and hard modes I will script the enemies so they counter all the strategies I have come up with. I might (if all goes well) have the beta ready by Tuesday

[Hearach]

Dang, the day i'm back in school

[Fingulfin]

Nevermind, I finished it Tonight I just need to Test and make a few adjustments. I am not going to be on tomorrow, so I'll release it on Monday

[Hearach]

Ha Ha, Good Good

[Fingulfin]

Nevermind again, I finished it tonight A little rough around the edges, but it should do for a beta. The Beta Testers have been contacted and sent the map. Be sure to read the readme I included in the .RAR.

Have fun!

[Rob38]

Hey Fin! I downloaded your map and I'm looking forward to playing it. The only problem is I'm working on my finals in college so I have no time this weekend. I will however have time on Monday and I will gladly play(test) it then. Can't wait to see how hard it is!

One other quick thing. How do you block people from opening your map file with worldbuilder? I want to learn how so when I finish my map, I can use it. Thanks.

Edited by Rob38, 03 December 2006 - 08:28 AM.

[Fingulfin]

I don't think you can do that ... It would be a really good safegaurd against map pirates (got to hate the map pirates :-/), but I don't know of any way to get that to work :( Sorry.

[Hearach]

Wow, it is hard
So far I can't get get past week 1, day 5 because of the troll in the previous day.
one thing though. I think it would look better if there were overall more troops fighting for the player and enemy.
Great Work

[Fingulfin]

I thought of that while making it, but the one thing I cannot get past is the fact that in BFME II nobody cares about unit conservation. You lose a horde or two, who cares? In this map, losing units is a really big deal. I'll think about how I could incorporate more units... Remember, each week will have its own unique spellbook. That means that week two and three could be composed of entirely different amounts of units...

I have a really good strategy for the troll wave, if you want it just ask It involves losing all the Gondor Archers you might have left, but with no other casualties!

Edited by Fingulfin, 03 December 2006 - 09:43 PM.

[Rob38]

I don't think you can do that ... It would be a really good safegaurd against map pirates (got to hate the map pirates :-/), but I don't know of any way to get that to work :( Sorry.

Wait a minute! Then why can't I open your map with worldbuilder? I receive this error when I try to open it:

================================================================================
EXCEPTION_ACCESS_VIOLATION:
The thread tried to read from or write to a virtual
address for which it does not have the appropriate access.
Access address 0x00000001 was read from.

Exception occured at
7c342829 MSVCR71.dll+0x2829, strchr+0x18.

Version: internal

EAX:0x00003a00 EBX:0x0000003a ECX:0x00000001
EDX:0x00000001 ESI:0x0a755f48 EDI:0x0a6caca0
EIP:0x7c342829 ESP:0x0012bde8 EBP:0x0012c6a8
Flags:%00000000001000010000001000000010
CS:0x001b DS:0x0023 SS:0x0023
ES:0x0023 FS:0x003b GS:0x0000

CW:%0000001001111111
SW:%0100000000100000
TW:%1111111111111111
ErrOfs:	  0x5ad729be ErrSel:  0x02e9001b
DataOfs:	 0x0012e8dc DataSel: 0xffff0023
Cr0NpxState: 0x00000000
ST(0) 9339364447000000ffff -1.#IND00
ST(1) 0000000000000000ffff -1.#IND00
ST(2) 00000000000000ff0640 255.000000
ST(3) 00788253c31f71f7fe3f 0.966570
ST(4) 00000000004808b907c0 -370.064697
ST(5) 0000000000c0c8c60440 49.696045
ST(6) 000000000000a0ff0240 15.976563
ST(7) 00000000000ad7a3f93f 0.020000

7 addresses:
(unknown)(0): MSVCR71.dll+10281 strchr+24
(unknown)(0): WorldBuilder.exe+8331720 GameClientRandomVariable::getValue+330088
(unknown)(0): WorldBuilder.exe+8331050 GameClientRandomVariable::getValue+329418
(unknown)(0): WorldBuilder.exe+2820113 Matrix4D::Matrix4D+2768167
(unknown)(0): MFC71.DLL+72039 (unknown)
(unknown)(0): MFC71.DLL+71544 (unknown)
(unknown)(0): USER32.dll+197735 DeregisterShellHookWindow+463

Bytes around EIP:
7c342809 24 04 c3 8d 42 ff 5b c3 33 c0 8a 44 24 08 53 8b $.ÍBÿ[Ã3ÀŠD$.S‹
7c342819 d8 c1 e0 08 8b 54 24 08 f7 c2 03 00 00 00 74 15 ØÁà.‹T$.÷Â....t.
7c342829 8a 0a 83 c2 01 3a cb 74 da 84 c9 74 51 f7 c2 03 Š.ƒÂ.:ËtÚ„ÉtQ÷Â.
7c342839 00 00 00 75 eb 0b d8 57 8b c3 c1 e3 10 56 0b d8 ...uë.ØW‹ÃÁã.V.Ø
7c342849 8b 0a bf ff fe fe 7e 8b c1 8b f7 33 cb 03 f0 03 ‹.¿ÿþþ~‹Á‹÷3Ë.ð.

Once I get done with my finals, I will finally be able to test your map.

Edited by Rob38, 04 December 2006 - 09:26 AM.

[Fingulfin]

Because I have an STR in the file YOu can't open a map if the STR is still in the same folder

[Bart]

never had that problem. that was with bfme 1 though

anyway, i'd like to test

[Fingulfin]

Only happens with BFME II. Me and Don had a discussion on that in one of the first topics in this forum. You want to beta test this map? Sure!

[Rob38]

I have played your map Fin and I'm impressed. I love how you created the demon uruks! Here are some changes and errors that I found while playing.

1. Make the time limit between each day much shorter. It will speed up the game a lot more. Try making it only 15-25 seconds instead of 45.

2. Are sentinals suppose to attack you? If they are, make it a little bit more clear that they can hurt you. Also, move them back a little bit more from the center. They sometimes can hit my units even when I'm on the top of the hill. Finaly, tell the player that they have a time limit.

3. Make both the gondor soldier and gondor archer summon stronger. They're not very useful in their current state. Either have more of them to summon or make the units stronger.

4. The wright has a little bit too much health and too strong of armor. Lessen it so the enemy can kill it easier.

5. I would make both the heal ability and veterancy blessings be available after each day. It gives he player more opportunity to choose what they want.

6. Tell the player that if they don't use a blessing when time expires, then they lose the chance to use one. I learned that out the hard way.

7. When I got to week 1 day 7, I did not receive a blessing for it. You need to fix that because I can't beat it without the blessing.

8. I would make the tower guard summon have 4 units instead of three. It will make the game more balanced.

Those are the things I noticied so far. Hopefully, this will help you out with your map.