I'm going to rant and talk to myself, asking questions and pointing out the obvious to get them out of the way. Hopefully it'll inspire some intuitive thoughts. I feel I point out some major things that could help.
To recap known resources in current Blizzard games:
- Fury and Rage.
- Energy.
- Mana.
- Runes and Runic Power.
Assuming that we all know the function of each, if not, I'll explain below, it's safe to say that most these resources are a derivative from Mana.
Also, for a resource to be meaningful it must come with an underlying feature that restricts the player from abusing it. Usually, it's been the LACK of the resource that restricts the player... but what about being too bountiful in a resource?
___________________
- Rage/Fury is almost the opposite of mana.
The restriction is you must build up rage/fury by hitting enemies, or by being hit yourself. It doesn't regenerate like mana does, instead of degenerates; the amount decreases over time until it is set back to 0(be it globes, or rage points). Fury is claimed by the Barbarian.
___________________
- Energy is a fixed mana pool size. The only way to increase it's size is through spending talent points. It regenerates at a quick rate, but skills require a large percentage of Energy to use.
The restriction is you must wait for it to regenerate before being able to use additional skills.
___________________
- Mana is the most common resource. Every character in Diablo 1 and 2 uses it. In World of Warcraft, every character uses it EXCEPT the Warrior, Death Knight, and Rogue. It regenerates slowly over time, and each skill requires a certain amount of it. The mana pool is not set at a fixed number and increases as your character levels and from the equipment you wear.
The restriction is it's slow regeneration and if you run out, you'll have to wait to get it back. Mana is claimed by the Witch Doctor.
___________________
- Runes are separated into three groups. Blood, Frost, Unholy; Death Runes are omni-runes that count as any type of rune, in order to have a death rune, you must first turn one of the three runes into one. Once you use a rune, the rune is put on a cool-down and cannot be used until it's refreshed.
The restriction is you only have 2 of each type of rune. Once a rune is used you must wait a short period of time before using it
- Runic Power is secondary resource that is accumulated after using a spell which requires a Rune source; Blood, Frost, or Unholy. Runic Power is used by certain spells that do not require a Rune to use.
The restriction to this is that it's only gained through the usage of Runes, and it also degenerates like Rage/Fury.
Now that we got that part out of the way it's time to think about other variations of resources coupled with a restriction to prevent abuse.
A major point that I really want to publicize is that the resource should be wrapped around the character and NOT the other way around.
Since the only hint we were given for the Wizard's resource is 'Volatile', we've assumed something much like a Fury system however the end result is something Explosive.
On that note, I think we're on the right track since Blizzard likes explosions, but it seems like we're taking that too literal, and not figuratively.
But first, lets take a step backwards and figure out what Fury is, and the intent Blizzard has behind it.
Fury is gauged by 3 orbs stacked vertically. As the barbarian hits and get hit, he will build up more and more fury, when a certain amount of fury is built up it will trigger the first globe usable and etc up to three globes.
As we know it, some skills require a certain amount of globes (up to a maximum of three, minimum being one). There are some skills that do not require Fury to be used, but instead they either have a cool-down, are slow casting, or just something that just isn't necessary to spam repeatedly.
Blizzard wants it to feel powerful, they want it to have meaning and value, not just some little orb in the bottom right that is just there and whoopty-ping-fizz. No.
They also want you to use it. It's there to use and hording it is practically useless, unless you're going for that skill that uses all three orbs of course.
But as far as value goes, I think they're doing good. Each class has their own unique source of power, they'll each play differently and so on. So hopefully we can apply this thought process to our own.
To me, the building up of resource through the casting of spells, followed by a big bang celebration when you max it out seems too controlled and external for it to be a viable resource. It's cool no doubt, but it's that part where I think we're getting lost at for it to work in Diablo.
Introducing debuffs that are applied to the character is not good. Debuffs to your resource however, is probably more viable. Keeping things internal. I.E, if it's coming from the resource, it should stay with the resource.
It has to be fast, simplistic, effective, and new. Regaining fury seems pretty fast. It's simple: three globes - you get more globes the more you hit things. Effective because it's easy to understand. It's new because we've never seen (visually) something like it before, outside of red, green, and yellow traffic lights.
Mana can be fit into each of those 4 too, with the exception of 'New'. But really, it's fast because you have a large quantity of it, it's simple because the more things you cast, the more you lose; it regenerates at a slow rate. It's effective in it's simplicity. And though it may not be 'New', it's something we all understand.
These are just some examples.
Hopefully I've left you thinking. I know I'm greatly anticipating what types of resources the other 3 classes will be using. I'm sure we could expect a couple of these already known sources, but of course with a new twist to them, delivering that uniqueness and power Blizzard wants to transfer through them.
I made this in 2 hours only using the brush with blending mode set to darken with 7% opacity and an Auto Contrast button that I clicked while experimenting.
I hope this is sort of what DragoonWraith was referring to as how the screen shot lacked depth and looked much like an oil painting.
I hope, if it's good enough and people like it, Blizzard can pick out things they like.
A breakdown as to what I added shadows to:
Rocks - Added shadows where the grass blended to smoothly with the rocks. Making so the rocks and grass aren't smooshed together. Also made some cracks darker and the shadows on them darker, and also the grass behind the rocks darker because the opaque Object A, at least how I learnt it, restricted light to Object B, casting a shadow or making it darker.
Some clumps of grass, and random patches to make the grass look thicker in some areas.
Shadows under the scavengers.
Added a ditch.
Shadows under the leaves.
Shadows on the bushes.
Darkend the tree's shadow.
That's it really. I was going to add highlights too, but the Auto Contrast option pretty much did that for me and it got rid of that strange green/orange hue that bugged me. Haha
There may look like there's too much shadowing, but I just wanted to cast(pun intended) an example of what a difference it can make.
Oh yeah, and the shadows on the scavengers aren't accurate... I got frustrated and I forgot where my light source was coming from and how the shadow would look... so slowly I resorted to just making grey blobs and blurring them. Yey!
Post your thoughts here to discuss about how you like it edited, or you can discuss at DragoonWraith's thread. Thanks guys.
<3 shadows
0
I'm going to rant and talk to myself, asking questions and pointing out the obvious to get them out of the way. Hopefully it'll inspire some intuitive thoughts. I feel I point out some major things that could help.
To recap known resources in current Blizzard games:
- Fury and Rage.
- Energy.
- Mana.
- Runes and Runic Power.
Assuming that we all know the function of each, if not, I'll explain below, it's safe to say that most these resources are a derivative from Mana.
Also, for a resource to be meaningful it must come with an underlying feature that restricts the player from abusing it. Usually, it's been the LACK of the resource that restricts the player... but what about being too bountiful in a resource?
___________________
- Rage/Fury is almost the opposite of mana.
The restriction is you must build up rage/fury by hitting enemies, or by being hit yourself. It doesn't regenerate like mana does, instead of degenerates; the amount decreases over time until it is set back to 0(be it globes, or rage points). Fury is claimed by the Barbarian.
___________________
- Energy is a fixed mana pool size. The only way to increase it's size is through spending talent points. It regenerates at a quick rate, but skills require a large percentage of Energy to use.
The restriction is you must wait for it to regenerate before being able to use additional skills.
___________________
- Mana is the most common resource. Every character in Diablo 1 and 2 uses it. In World of Warcraft, every character uses it EXCEPT the Warrior, Death Knight, and Rogue. It regenerates slowly over time, and each skill requires a certain amount of it. The mana pool is not set at a fixed number and increases as your character levels and from the equipment you wear.
The restriction is it's slow regeneration and if you run out, you'll have to wait to get it back. Mana is claimed by the Witch Doctor.
___________________
- Runes are separated into three groups. Blood, Frost, Unholy; Death Runes are omni-runes that count as any type of rune, in order to have a death rune, you must first turn one of the three runes into one. Once you use a rune, the rune is put on a cool-down and cannot be used until it's refreshed.
The restriction is you only have 2 of each type of rune. Once a rune is used you must wait a short period of time before using it
- Runic Power is secondary resource that is accumulated after using a spell which requires a Rune source; Blood, Frost, or Unholy. Runic Power is used by certain spells that do not require a Rune to use.
The restriction to this is that it's only gained through the usage of Runes, and it also degenerates like Rage/Fury.
Now that we got that part out of the way it's time to think about other variations of resources coupled with a restriction to prevent abuse.
A major point that I really want to publicize is that the resource should be wrapped around the character and NOT the other way around.
Since the only hint we were given for the Wizard's resource is 'Volatile', we've assumed something much like a Fury system however the end result is something Explosive.
On that note, I think we're on the right track since Blizzard likes explosions, but it seems like we're taking that too literal, and not figuratively.
But first, lets take a step backwards and figure out what Fury is, and the intent Blizzard has behind it.
Fury is gauged by 3 orbs stacked vertically. As the barbarian hits and get hit, he will build up more and more fury, when a certain amount of fury is built up it will trigger the first globe usable and etc up to three globes.
As we know it, some skills require a certain amount of globes (up to a maximum of three, minimum being one). There are some skills that do not require Fury to be used, but instead they either have a cool-down, are slow casting, or just something that just isn't necessary to spam repeatedly.
Blizzard wants it to feel powerful, they want it to have meaning and value, not just some little orb in the bottom right that is just there and whoopty-ping-fizz. No.
They also want you to use it. It's there to use and hording it is practically useless, unless you're going for that skill that uses all three orbs of course.
But as far as value goes, I think they're doing good. Each class has their own unique source of power, they'll each play differently and so on. So hopefully we can apply this thought process to our own.
To me, the building up of resource through the casting of spells, followed by a big bang celebration when you max it out seems too controlled and external for it to be a viable resource. It's cool no doubt, but it's that part where I think we're getting lost at for it to work in Diablo.
Introducing debuffs that are applied to the character is not good. Debuffs to your resource however, is probably more viable. Keeping things internal. I.E, if it's coming from the resource, it should stay with the resource.
It has to be fast, simplistic, effective, and new. Regaining fury seems pretty fast. It's simple: three globes - you get more globes the more you hit things. Effective because it's easy to understand. It's new because we've never seen (visually) something like it before, outside of red, green, and yellow traffic lights.
Mana can be fit into each of those 4 too, with the exception of 'New'. But really, it's fast because you have a large quantity of it, it's simple because the more things you cast, the more you lose; it regenerates at a slow rate. It's effective in it's simplicity. And though it may not be 'New', it's something we all understand.
These are just some examples.
Hopefully I've left you thinking. I know I'm greatly anticipating what types of resources the other 3 classes will be using. I'm sure we could expect a couple of these already known sources, but of course with a new twist to them, delivering that uniqueness and power Blizzard wants to transfer through them.
0
http://www.battle.net/forums/thread.aspx?fn=d3-general&t=366724&p=1&#post366724
Pic:
http://i219.photobucket.com/albums/cc168/tissueboxs/editedcopy.jpg
I made this in 2 hours only using the brush with blending mode set to darken with 7% opacity and an Auto Contrast button that I clicked while experimenting.
I hope this is sort of what DragoonWraith was referring to as how the screen shot lacked depth and looked much like an oil painting.
I hope, if it's good enough and people like it, Blizzard can pick out things they like.
A breakdown as to what I added shadows to:
- Rocks - Added shadows where the grass blended to smoothly with the rocks. Making so the rocks and grass aren't smooshed together. Also made some cracks darker and the shadows on them darker, and also the grass behind the rocks darker because the opaque Object A, at least how I learnt it, restricted light to Object B, casting a shadow or making it darker.
- Some clumps of grass, and random patches to make the grass look thicker in some areas.
- Shadows under the scavengers.
- Added a ditch.
- Shadows under the leaves.
- Shadows on the bushes.
- Darkend the tree's shadow.
That's it really. I was going to add highlights too, but the Auto Contrast option pretty much did that for me and it got rid of that strange green/orange hue that bugged me. HahaThere may look like there's too much shadowing, but I just wanted to cast(pun intended) an example of what a difference it can make.
Oh yeah, and the shadows on the scavengers aren't accurate... I got frustrated and I forgot where my light source was coming from and how the shadow would look... so slowly I resorted to just making grey blobs and blurring them. Yey!
Post your thoughts here to discuss about how you like it edited, or you can discuss at DragoonWraith's thread. Thanks guys.
<3 shadows