Indiana Bones

Indiana Bones 1

Story:
You are Indiana Bones, the most fearless adventurer that has ever lived. Your job is finding rare items and deliver them to Randimar for sale in his shop. Today you have set out on a journey to the old Maztec temple which, it is said, to house The Fabled Treasure of the Maztec Twins.
You finally arrive at the entrance of the temple, after ordering your servants to stand near the entrance you. "Here goes nothing!" you exclaim and dash inside.

Spoiler: Screenshot

Epilogue:
Clambering up the stairs you can only think of one thing: The Treasure, its the only think that is keeping you going. After finally getting to the top, you take a break, you have earned it!
After a few minute's break you start piling all of the gold into a magic bag of holding, which can hold as many items as you want!



Indiana Bones 2

Story:
You are almost done when you feel the platform slide down an inch and hear a quiet *click* you raise your head only too see a dark passageway in front of you! You see an enormous boulder rolling towards you, and picking up speed. You spin around only to see that you have been sealed off and the tombs to the left and right of you are getting lifted, the temple is crumbling! Run!!!

Spoiler: Screenshot

Epilogue:
You tumble out sending one of your servants flying. He drags you back to the wagon and your group return back to the village. Randimar is very pleased to see you and rewards you with a Simmering Sword, one which you have never seen the likes of before!


Please give feedback on these maps and how to make them more balanced. I have beaten both of them at least once so they are possible.

 

Hoping to have time to try these after work, your maps tend to be fun!

 

Thanks

 

5 minutes is too much
2 is too little for slow players
I think 3 is better

 

I really like the idea and the theme of the maps, the second map especially with how it's a mirrored version of the first map, but I'm a bit confused about the actual execution.

For the first map, I could just keep passing until I get Flight Aura and then you can dash from safe spot to safe spot all the way to the victory square, so the map is just waiting to get Flight Aura and then you've won. My other attempts of relying on multiple Dashes or Jump Backs just weren't effective. Is this map supposed to be easier than it seems, or was I supposed to use some combination of Dashes, Elvish Mobilities, Jump Backs and Hard to Pin Downs?

The second map is much more engaging due to the timer, but I think if the match has an actual timer that it doesn't need a turn limit in the form of the spiders on the victory squares. The deck of 36 cards is way too unreliable to impose such a turn limit, on my second try it took me 3 turns just to get rid of the door, while on another try I got past it on turn 1. The fact that the deck is so filled with movement cards makes the Entangling Webs the spiders use very annoying too, if you don't draw your Blocks within enough turns, or they simply fail like they did for me, then the spiders can pin you down for 2 turns and you can't use most of the cards you draw for 2 whole turns, and they don't hesitate to reapply it the very next turn either. That's way too much luck involved to add such a steep 6-turn limit, so I'd suggest using red victory squares rather than yellow ones or increasing the turn limit.

The trapdoors are also all regular terrain on the second map which confuses me, why are they trapdoors if you can just run over them, when in the first map they are difficult terrain? That said, if the trapdoors were difficult terrain, then I wouldn't know how to solve the second map, since I only got past the first map by relying on Flight Aura.

 

If this map is accepted into MM I would ask @Flaxative to take the aura out.
If not then the map becomes easy if you either draw or know that the elf has flight aura (which not many players do).

If there is no turn cap then it becomes too easy for fast players like myself.
The door is easy to pass and I usually pass it in 1 or 2 turns (if I use the right tactic).
About the draws - Card Hunter is very reliant on draw, this map does not exploit that as much as most maps do, what I like about this one is that almost all the cards that you draw, will be useful in this scenario.

You can beat the first map without flight aura, its easy if you use the right tactic.
I new I would have to explain the trapdoors being open terrain, I didnt want to include it in the story because it would sound strange:
"You feel adrenalin run through your veins and charge for the exit, ducking, dodging and dipping to avoid the arcane bolts" - if you have ever watched Indiana Jones then try remembering how carefully he moved to get the the Golden Idol (in the beginning of the first movie) and then how he sprinted back while the arrows flew at him.

But here is a map with Red VP terrain.
Edit: This makes the map basically impossible, also making the spiders charge TOWARDS the massive rock that is rolling towards them and will definitely squish them makes no sense.

 

My record so far took 1:21
I drew Impaler | Impaling Stab | Flight Aura | Hard To Pin Down on the first round so I got to the end very fast - even though I got entangled

 

New record - 1:12 - the ai got 2 VP before I won.
I drew Flight Aura | Hard To Pin Down | Dancing Cut - blocked arcane blast and danced to cover, then spiders didnt entangle me and so I got to VP

 

In 8 attempts, won 3 lost 5. Most of the losses were frustrating in that they happened because of card draw rather than play - one time I drew no attacks for two turns in the opening zone, one time I drew no attacks while one of the spiders was at 4 hp. One time I drew 12 damage when I needed 13, one time I sat at the end drawing no blocks for three turns while the spiders entangled me and I lost. One hilarious time I got Lunging Bash'd by a mummy out into LoS of one of the turrets, and couldn't scramble back. It's got a great, frantic feel - it captures the idea of a chaotic scramble through deadly (laser? lightning?) bolts and lethal guardians very well. But aside from the pratfallish nature of the last one, my defeats felt more like the game saying no than any failing of my skills - and because the match is so fast-paced and absolute (you either win or die almost immediately), it feels very much more like a failing of the game rather than of the self. In the end, there probably aren't enough choices to make it feel like you really had a say in what was happening. You got the cards or you didn't.

That said, the quick playtime of the map means you can easily play it until you DO win.

Giving the player choices - more than one path through the turrets, for example, or options about which way to leave the room (right now, the bottom most door is just a strictly superior option), or a slightly longer way to approach the spiders that might offer protection from their webs until you're actually within stabbing range of them - would make you feel more in charge of your own defeat, so to speak, which I think would improve the feel of the map. That said, I could easily see feature bloat ruining the quick-and-dirty feel of the thing, so who knows.

Thanks for another exciting map!

 

What? That never happened to me and I played it about 20 times (if not more) sorry for your frustration
Edit: No I am wrong, this happened once - I was not drawing any attacks and I was entangled while a spider on 3/4/5 HP lost me the game.

Thanks, I would have preferred it to be arrows fired rather than arcane energy - you can think of it 1 of 2(3) ways:

1. This temple is of 2 great magicians.
2. The arcane bolts is the Card Hunter equivalent to action movies.
3. (I wish I could have had arrows but the only other option would be is to have live archers shooting from the walls - it would also insure that the player doesnt die - just damaged.)

Any tips/ideas on how to make it more skill based, which I of-course would prefer to card-draw.
I am planning on submitting this map to MM, and unless I get help with improving it, this map would become one of those MM maps where its more "fun" than skill-based.
Because the player is restricted by time, it would be more fun to try and use your skills while having little time.

First of all, about the doors, personally I destroy the middle door first and then one of the side ones.
I like the idea of having more than one ways to pass the traps and mummies - I will get to work on that!
I would like to keep the spider part as it is - it punishes the player if they spent too long, and it lets them draw the cards they need to kill off the spiders, even if it loses them the game.

Thanks for the help

 

Like I said, I think your best bet is giving the player multiple paths to try and pursue. Then, even if it isn't strictly skill-based, the player feels like they are making a decision that affects the outcome of the match, rather than simply playing cards in the most effective way possible and winning or losing on the merits of their draw. Spreading out the original starting position a little bit more so that you have to choose between three doors as opposed to one set of three doors in a row might help a bit. Or you could do something where there are two paths through the "arrows" that could be taken, instead of just one spot that you have to make it to in order to get past. It could be that one of the options has two points where you would be safe, but takes an extra move or two to make it through, where you make multiple short hops as opposed to two long dashes. Maybe take out a few trapdoors and replacing them with yawning pits of impassable terrain, like bits of the floor have fallen out, to make the path more interesting?

 

I really like your feedback on the traps part, but I am afraid of making it bigger because, @Flaxative might get picky and just disqualify it.
I will try anyway.

 

I'm heading into work at the moment, but I'll take a look at it sometime over the next day or two, see if I can work out any specific designs that address that concern. I really like this map, and would love to see it go into the MM.

 

MM doesn't have a size limit like ranked boards do. Still, don't go overboard. (hurrhurr)

 

Question:
The traps are spaced out 1 trap - 1 wall - 1 trap - 1 wall - 1 trap - 1 wall and facing 1 wall - 1 trap - 1 wall - 1 trap - 1 wall - 1 trap
Should I do that or should I make the traps face eachother? like:
1 trap - 1 wall - 1 trap - 1 wall - 1 trap - 1 wall against 1 trap - 1 wall - 1 trap - 1 wall - 1 trap - 1 wall

 

I made a quick terrain mock-up of of how I might make the middle section a bit more decision-y. Not sure if it's actually better - I haven't tested it out at all, as I've got work looming in my future. But maybe the ideas contained within will spark something.

Sorry for lack of image.

 

Sorry for the wait, I suddenly because very busy for the last few days - here are the maps
Ink - I made your terrain plot into the map
My map - Created a longer version of my original map, if you think its good then I will create the version too

 

Playing through your rendition of my idea made me realize how much I liked your version D:
Oh well, that's why you test things.

 

Will make v2, once I have time - still very busy and probably will be for the next day-month (maybe more, maybe less - I might finish everything I have to do today)

 

Still very busy but I had to do this to tick it off of my to do list.
Beat both first try, might have gotten lucky draws.

Spoiler: Dont read before downloading and playing the maps

What do you guys think about my decision on changing the totems?
I think this works MUCH better because the player has time to move before betting very badly hurt.