Incoming AoS/MOBA-inspired gameplay options

I took an interest in AoS/MOBAs recently, but I don't have anywhere near the time required to actually learn to play one. So instead I added the features I found interesting to Card Hunter

The following features have all been added independently of each other so that creative scenario builders can mix and match them to find their own fun:

Team-based Victory Terrain
I've added two new terrain types which only act as victory terrain when occupied by a character from a particular team. I've also added new red and blue overlays for these so you can mark them out appropriately. The overlays match the terrain layer colours - please try to be consistent here, for the sake of the players!

Respawn Waves
If you specify a respawn period then a resurrection phase is added to the start of each battle round. The respawn phase either announces the number of rounds remaining until the next respawn event, or resurrects dead characters and awards them full health. Defeating all opposing characters will not automatically end a battle when respawn waves are active. To activate respawn waves specify any of the following scenario tags:

• respawnPeriodOne - A respawn event occurs at the start of every round
• respawnPeriodTwo - A respawn event occurs at the start of every second round, starting from 3 (rounds 3, 5, 7, 9...)
• respawnPeriodThree - A respawn event occurs at the start of every third round, starting from 4 (rounds 4, 7, 10, 13...)
• respawnPeriodTriangular - The period between each respawn event increases by 1 each time, following the pattern of triangular numbers starting from 3 (rounds 3, 6, 10, 15, 21...)

By default all dead characters are resurrected, however you can control this using respawn filters. If respawn filters are specified then only characters that pass every filter will be respawned. Respawn filters can be specified with the following scenario tags:

• respawnFilterMinion - Only characters from minion groups are respawned
• respawnFilterNonMinion - Only characters that are not in minion groups are respawned
• respawnFilterPlayer0 - Only characters belonging to the first player are respawned
• respawnFilterPlayer1 - Only characters belonging to the second player are respawned

Kill Point Removal
You can set the number of victory points received for a kill to zero via the following scenario tags:

• noKillPoints - applies to all characters
• noMinionKillPoints - applies to all minions
• noNonMinionKillPoints - applies to all characters that are not minions

Shuffle Monsters
The new shuffleMonsters tag shuffles the order of all monster groups. A simple use would be to simply change who spawns where while still keeping minion groups together. A much cooler use would be to set up a scenario with many monster groups, but only supply spawn points for some of them. Then when the battle starts only a random subset of the groups will appear. @tuknir and @Kalin have been doing some awesome work in this area with randomised adventures, and I figure this'll mean they won't have to wall off unused characters in a bench area.

I'm submitting these changes to the codebase right now, so hopefully they'll be in the next test build. I certainly hope so anyway - I haven't played this new mode against anyone other than Gary yet, and he's a bit useless.

Enjoy!

EDIT: Added details of new tags suggested in subsequent discussion

 

Yeah... that's a bit of a pain I agree. P0/P1 vs P1/P2 is a pretty common issue - indexing from 0 is very convenient in code, so usually you just add 1 when the number becomes player-facing. Unfortunately that line becomes less distinct when we open up APIs and editor tools, hence the confusing mess there. Red vs Blue vs White vs Black is also tricky since Black or White could match Blue or Red, depending on the perspective you're viewing the board from. I think the best way forward there is just to add a bit of CTF style themeing with red and blue bases etc.

Yep, every player who uses fixed monsters. It does not affect constructed parties.

 

Off the top of my head I can only think of quickDraw and noShuffle. I'm not sure if noShuffle affects just the initial shuffle or also subsequent reshuffles though. If the latter it might be possible to build deterministic scenarios, which could be cool.

EDIT:
Okay I have to share this. I just won an epic 73 round 2v3 quick draw MOBA-ish battle against Gary. By the end of it respawns were 11 rounds apart, and I was hanging out for every single one. At one point Gary walked his dwarf wizard - the only character remaining at the time - up to the victory square and sat on it for three rounds, bringing his score up to 4 of the 5 needed to win.

My wizard and priest respawned, and with a lucky Gusts Of War I was able to flip my priest onto the victory tile, thereby preventing the final cap. Gary's dorf wiz didn't last much longer, but his other two wiz had respawned and were advancing down the middle. I decided to try a mad dash along both outside lanes, hoping to distract Gary and leave enough space for at least one character to get through and score my final point. Some unlucky Whirlwind Enemies kept my priest locked inside the difficult terrain around the victory tile, but my wizard broke free and tore up along the outside to cap the final point four rounds later.

Okay, maybe that isn't the most amazing story you've ever read - but it was pretty darned awesome to play. Oh and in case you're worried, no, games don't usually last that long. I just made some very silly choices in the drafting phase.

 

Adding resurrection makes for some interesting new victory conditions (which has been a pipe dream for a long time) - Could it possibly be made to set for 1 team only? That opens up for a "capture and hold" agenda vs respawning minion hordes in sp.

 

Ha, like I said I'm just learning about these now. Have fixed the thread title for you guys

 

Yep, exactly. I figured that would cover most of the uses people were interested in.
I'll try to find time for more respawn options too (eg minion-only, and different periods other than triangular numbers)

 

Haha. If you ask Jon he might tell you stories of the time before computer games.

 

I've also noNonMinionKillPoints - Rudolpho is having a few issues today and might miss a few things.