MOR WAR PLZ - Shrink the Maps.

from Demigod Forums

Shrink the maps and turn DG into Dota-Arena.

I've been an avid Dota player for years and cannot deny that DG feels a lot like Dota. There are subtle differences, but for the most part they are very similiar.

In my opinion the biggest difference is that DG occasionally feels like an actual "War." This tends to happen mid to late game on smaller maps with more players than the map is supposed to support. For example 5v5 on Prison. Mid-game there are dozens of creeps all over the map and with 10 players, it is total chaos. This kind of anarchy almost never occurs in Dota (if it ever occurs in Dota, it is minutes before a match ends when the other team has infiltrated the base).

If DG embraced this "War" gameplay more often, it could offer something that is missing from Dota. Right now, most people will tell you the key difference between Dota and DG is that the heroes in DG are more complex. However, I don't think this is really accurate. The DG skill-tree isn't THAT complex and the multitude of items in Dota more than make up for the lack of a skill tree.

Shrinking the maps is probably the easiest way to ensure every DG match will feel like a War. You could increase the creep spawn rate, but that may have more unintended consequences that shrinking the map. It also wouldn't cut the travel time for heroes. One of the reasons Prison is so fun is it doesn't take 30 seconds just to walk out into the main arena.

MOR WAR PLZ.

demigod
9,965 views 4 replies
Reply #1 from Demigod Forums Top

Yah, give us a map shaped like the letter "I" with one short lane, minimal towers, and default fast spawn grunts.  Strip out the distractions.  Two guys tied together by the left hand and slashing away with the knives in the right.  It would be a quick and brutal way to figure out who had better micro - macro be damned...

Reply #2 from Demigod Forums Top

Actually, making maps a lot smaller doesn't much help micro either, in my opinion.  Just serves to remove any of the strategy from the game that happens to be in it (which isn't a whole heck of a lot).  That's why I'm not a huge fan of Prison, though many people seem to love it.

 

Smaller maps won't increase conflict that much, either, because mobility is already such an easy thing to attain with the prevalance of teleports.  People are already popping from one point on the map to another left and right.

Sins of a Solar Empire II
Reply #3 from Demigod Forums Top

Quoting PossiblyImpossible, reply 2
Actually, making maps a lot smaller doesn't much help micro either, in my opinion.  Just serves to remove any of the strategy from the game that happens to be in it (which isn't a whole heck of a lot).  That's why I'm not a huge fan of Prison, though many people seem to love it.

Smaller maps won't increase conflict that much, either, because mobility is already such an easy thing to attain with the prevalance of teleports.  People are already popping from one point on the map to another left and right.

Right - strategy was the "macro" part that a map like this would be designed to specifically ignore, so that you could win or lose based mostly on micro and team dynamics.

Mobility wouldn't really be a factor, I'm basically picturing Prison with one lane, about half the neutral territory between bases, and no side areas.  You have very little room to maneuver before you are in their base or yours.  Basically a duelling map for games that will last less than 15 minutes, guaranteed.  

Since the art assets are some of the strongest points of the maps so far, you could frame this map as taking place on a Vikingesque ship (being rowed by skeletal warriors), the edge of a massive sword, on the surface of a giant, narrowed eye, etc. - any surface that is narrow, short, and likely to lead to quick and brutal battles with little chance of escape that doesn't also lead to massive disadvantage.

Reply #4 from Demigod Forums Top

I was not arguing for a one-lane map. Stop it.