Call of Champions Chronicle - Issue 3
Call of Champions Chronicle
~Issue 3~
- Introduction:
Hey guys! I'm Vystirch, a long time Spacetime player and forum junkie. I am an Alpha Titan for Call of Champions and the writer of this Chronicle. In today's Chronicle I will be discussing the gameplay behind the towers. Towards the end of todays issue there will be an interview with Cinco and a "Pro Tip." If you missed earlier Call of Champions Chronicle Issues then you can find them here.
- Gameplay Foundation: Towers
Towers give a team a defensive advantage. They do this by dealing
massive amounts of damage to enemy champions who are in range. Defend
your towers well and siege the enemy's successfully and you will find
yourself winning more games. This is because towers are the first
statistic that decides a winner if time expires. The team with more
towers still up or with more health wins after a full five minute match.
There are two towers in both the top and bottom lane for each team. Each
of these lanes has an outer tower and an inner tower per team. You can
not damage an inner tower until your team takes down the outer tower
beforehand.
Towers are fairly straight forward in how they target enemy champions
and deal damage. When first assaulting a tower they will always target
the first champion who gets within range. It will not change targets
until that champion either dies or moves out of the tower's range. In
both these scenarios the tower will then target the next champion that
it is closest to.
Both defenders and attackers can use this knowledge of how the tower
chooses and swaps targets to their advantage. DEFENDERS can focus the
champion who is taking tower damage, if they kill that champion then the
tower will target another champion in range. By doing this you can burst
down multiple targets fairly quickly under tower range. I would not
recommend targeting a tank with full health who has drawn the tower's
agro. Instead take out the mages, fighters, and assassins and leave the
tank alone. Because they will do more damage to the tower than the tank
will. By the time you can turn on the tank his health will have been
whittled down by the tower, making him easier to kill. ATTACKERS can
also use the towers targeting system to their advantage. Say your team
just won a team-fight and your 2 teammates are at 10% health and you are
almost at full health. All three of you can still help push down the
tower! All you do is enter within range of the tower first, taking all
the damage so your whole team can quickly destroy a tower. Or if instead
your team won the team-fight but this time everyone had only 30% health.
You can then juggle the tower's agro! You and your teammates would take
turns being the target of the tower, leaving its range whenever any of
you got to 5-10% health. By leaving its range remember that it will then
target whoever is closest to it, so make sure it is whoever has the most
health on your team. This way you can all still stay around to deal
damage to the tower, even though you are all low.
All the towers deal damage by shooting a laser periodically. This laser
does a set amount of damage to enemies with every shot. You can however
decrease a tower's damage to your team. The main way you will do this is
by pushing an orb right to its base. A few other ways you can decrease a
towers damage is by having the defense power or receiving defensive
buffs from champions skills.
Towers give defender's all the bonuses, but a good attacking team can
minimize the damage they receive by playing smart.
- Chronicle Interview: Cinco
[Vystirch] Hi Cinco, it is great to have you
today for the Chronicle.
[Cinco Barnes] Thanks for having me!
[Vystirch] Cinco is one of the founders of
Spacetime Studios and is currently the design director for Call of
Champions. What is the job of a design director?
[Cinco Barnes] My main responsibility is to
keep a clear vision of the game in terms of play mechanics, features,
fiction and feel. I consult with the Lead Designer, Art Director, Lead
Programmer, QA Lead and Producer on a regular basis to ensure that
everything is moving in the right direction.
[Vystirch] How did you get introduced to video
games?
[Cinco Barnes] The first video game I ever
played was a coin-op 'Space Invaders' at the local bowling alley in my
home town. That summer, we got an Apple ][ computer for the house and I
fell in love a text game called 'Adventure.' Later that year I started
writing my own games...
and have been addicted to game-making for the decades that followed :-)
[Vystirch] How did you translate this love into
a career in the gaming industry?
[Cinco Barnes] My first job in the industry was
in the Customer Service department of Origin Systems right around the
time EA bought them. While working there, I met up with (Spacetime
co-founder) Anthony Sommers and made some really fun games. These games
were never released; but they paved the way for us.
[Vystirch] Lets discuss Call of Champions. I'd
like to talk about the development of a champion. How do you start?
[Cinco Barnes] Story. To me, character is story
and I need a compelling story to develop a Champion properly. It's
comparatively easy to follow-through on a champion's role / purpose, kit
and strategies if you know who they are. If you're unclear on the
character, you wind up not making clear decisions about how they behave
in-game.
[Vystirch] How do you develop a champions kit
(skills)?
[Cinco Barnes] Once we know the character we
can then determine how they approach their combat role. Questions of
character-consistent behavior come to mind at first so that we
understand how the Champion makes decisions. Then after we have a clear
concept of how their kit comes together and the key strategies we want
them to employ, we move quickly into play-testing. Where story was the
driving force to originate the Champion, fun-factor takes over as the
all-important guiding principle when we're doing internal tests. Story
is revised to accommodate the most fun abilities and combat strategies.
Feel and fun-factor continue to drive Champion development from this
point forward.
[Vystirch] What requirements does a champion
need to meet before it is released?
[Cinco Barnes] Champions go through three
distinct phases of development. The first phase involves movement, basic
attack, and core functionality for all abilities. Here is where we
determine the actual kit and get the first taste of fun-factor. Kits are
modified during this phase to eliminate any fun-factor risks and to
ensure compliance with the Champions' desired role. The second phase
involves timing, visual effects and initial balance. Ability actions and
their associated animations are tuned to the frame on client and server.
Play tests dredge up issues and concerns with the Champion that must be
immediately addressed. Once all the issues are hammered-out, we can move
to the third phase: visual effects, sound effects, and balance testing
in context. This third phase is where our alpha test group gets to see
the Champion. The Champion is played in a much less controlled
environment and the real business of Live game balance begins.
[Vystirch] Thank you for describing the process
of creating a champion. What has been your favorite champion in CoC?
Why?
[Cinco Barnes] I adore playing Violet and I
play her a lot in tests and office league games. Her story is my
favorite and her kit and strategies are really consistent with who she
is. That said, I'm also a huge fan of 'Faera' (unreleased
pet-controlling mage from the Realm of Nature) because her cute little
face looks a lot like my wife!
[Vystirch] Can you share any funny bugs that
the staff has run into while developing "Champs"?
[Cinco Barnes] A Champion's first internal
play-test can be somewhat messy. Scorch, for instance, had a very rough
time being brought into the world 'cause he constantly got stuck as a
fireball: constantly spinning like a tornado, burning out of control.
Other times, you'll get things like when I added a strong push-back to
the tower blasts at full power. Pushing the Orb into range against a
tower that kept knocking you back one step for every two you took... not
exactly a bug; just a dumb decision on my part that made the game
ridiculous for a while.
[Vystirch] Thank you Cinco for all you have
shared, it has been a pleasure having you.
- Pro-Tip: Roaming
Roaming is essential to being successful in Call of Champions. To roam
basically means to move around the battlefield. But if you just walk
from lane to lane and through the jungle without a goal then you are
missing the point of roaming. So here are some tips:
- First you must recognize when your should leave your lane and
roam. This means you need to watch your minimap like a hawk. Looking for
when buffs re-spawn, how your teammates in the other lane are doing,
where the orbs are, what your enemy is doing and much more. - Second you have to understand when it is appropriate to leave your
lane and roam. Never ever leave your lane if it is under pressure from
the enemy team, otherwise you are giving them a free tower! And also
don't leave your lane unless you can gain an advantage by doing so. Such
as picking up a buff and distributing it to your whole team using the
altar, or if your other lane wins a fight and are low on health roam bot
and tank the turret for them so you both can do damage. - Third use roaming to counter your opponent. For example if you notice
they have 3 people pushing bot then counter with 2 and have your third
split push top. Another example is if you haven't seen an enemy player
for awhile then they may be in the jungle about to distribute a buff, go
interrupt them!
To summarize roaming it is how you and your team
can control the map and objectives. Do it effectively and you can carry
your team to victory just with your presence.
- Conclusion:
Thanks for reading the third issue of the Call of Champions Chronicles.
The Call of Champions Video contest is over, giving us
18 new t2 alpha legends!
Congratulation to them, as well as the new t2 alpha legends who got an
invite from the 8-bit stream. I can't wait to play with you and maybe
land interviews with some of you.
To find Youtube and Twitch media for Call of Champions visit this
thread.
Check back Friday the 22nd for issue 4, where I will talk about the
gameplay foundation of the base wall.
-Vys
