Hero Development Work-in-Progress: Druid #1
Posted on August 11, 2011 by s2nome
Typically I write my blogs after a hero is finalized, but this time I’ll try something new. Those of you who follow my Twitter may recall that I began work on a “Druid” character last week (August 3rd, 2011), which I quickly drafted and scripted in two days. The hero will likely be receiving plenty of iteration, so as she changes I’ll be documenting the thought processes that were involved, as well as posting a continuing changelog of her progression. Art, names, abilities, and just about everything else is temporary and subject to change.
Earlier this year I had a short stint playing World of Warcraft. The two or three months I played it was engrossing, but at some point I realized that I’d regressed to farming Savage Leather more than I was actually enjoying the game’s end-game content, so I haven’t gone back since. In hindsight, it ended up being more of a lesson in video game design than personally enjoyment as I find myself analyzing my experience more than I do reminiscing about it. How this pertains to the subject at hand however, is that I was more than impressed with the flexibility of the Druid class, which I found to be a particularly interesting design choice in game that heavily emphasized class role.
Thus far, form-based heroes in the genre have largely be relegated to a single duty. Multi-role heroes obtain their versatility from holding a useful, generalized overall skillset rather than holding individual abilities that tailor to individual roles. Valkyrie/Priestess of the Moon is the classic example here, since she’s able to provide team support, gank, and eventually carry, with all of her skills aiding each of the aforementioned functions. The goal with the Druid was to create a hero that could theoretically hold multiple roles depending on the active form. The danger here, and generally with all archetypal form heroes, is that such a design runs the risk of making one form better than the others, either by way of poor numerical balancing or lack of overall utility. To fix this, I decided very early on the following design goals:
Two forms total. A melee DPS and a ranged caster. A druid that transforms into more forms is awesome, but the simple dichotomy of melee DPS and a ranged caster delineates a very clear distinction in role and usefulness through the various stages of the game. However, having two useful forms should not necessitate that each individual form feels lackluster; rather, the hero should be designed such that each form was a complete, fun hero, each with its own weaknesses.
High incentive to switch forms. This was simple; one form would hold more utility, while the other would deal more damage. However, to get the most out of the hero, the abilities would need to be designed such that you would want to use an ability in one form, then switch to the other to follow up. As mentioned previously, each form should be self-sufficient and fun enough such that a player could feel complete without switching; new players could pick a form and stick with it the entire game, but such a practice would, by design necessity, peak less than a playstyle that involves active use of both forms. To fix this, players wil be granted a temporary bonus on switch, further providing incentives to play dynamically.
Simplicity. Form-switching automatically adds a layer of depth, and I have been reading the forums and noting the criticism for increasingly muddled abilities. I paid special attention to step back and avoid unneeded complexity; sometimes this involved scrapping conceptually cool ideas, but there’s certainly a powerful allure towards simple, effective abilities. The lofty goal here is to create a hero that new players could utilize effectively and enjoy, but experienced players can exploit to produce impressive plays.
She’s coming along fairly well right now, and just entered the semi-public (SBT) testing phase earlier this week. Here’s a quick look at her temporary art that will be used through the iteration process. More on her later!
