MOBA Environment - Tyranid Themed Dominion Map

Hello ,
This project is one of my university modules, I’m completely new to this and don’t really know what I’m doing, so any constructive feedback would be appreciated.
The premise for this project is as follows:

Produce a MOBA game environment that demonstrates applied games industry research using the universes of either Starwars or Warhammer.

We are marked on:
Application of Game Design Theory - Expected to use a good application of theory presented in the prototype with recent theories correctly setup. Blueprint is both functional and commented well.

Efficiency of Game Prototype - Expected to present an excellent product that runs appropriately for the determined platform (PC). The prototype functions in demo and has a few bugs. The prototype functioning is clear to the player.

Presentation of Game Prototype - Expected to have Industry level presentation skills, explain all elements clearly with appropriate visual aids.

This project is also based upon some initial research to be presented in a literary review, this should shows excellent technique discussion with up to date research supporting your claims, and excellent evaluation with detailed relation to industry using accurate data.

It is my intention to first develop and then improve my skills within Unreal Engine 4 with the ultimate goal of being able to develop my own games, as such any advice is greatly appreciated.

Hi Bloodselene,

I definitely like the idea of your project, the main thing I would recommend is to break down each portion into manageable chunks as opposed to trying to do everything at once. Additionally, make sure to use the resources available to you to your advantage! We have many tutorials on both our documentation pages and wiki, which I have linked below. Good luck with your project, I look forward to seeing what you come up with!

Preliminary ideas for Advanced Games Environment Design and Research

Chosen Universe – Warhammer
Inspirational Race – Tyranids
Basic MOBA template – League of Legends Crystal Scar Map

  1. Dominion

“The Crystal Scar is the flagship map of the Dominion game mode, in which two teams of five
champions compete to capture and hold a series of control points. Holding the majority of
these points will slowly damage the opposing team’s nexus, bringing you closer to victory”
League of Legends (2014) The Crystal Scar [Online]

  1. Ascension

“Ascension is the latest feature game mode where two teams of five square off to rip the
Ascension buff away from the Ancient Ascendant Xerath and use its power to conquer the
Crystal Scar”

League of Legends (2014) Ascension – Your Time to Rise [Online]

Map Objectives

  1. Defeat the Norn Queen at the centre of the map (Victory Condition)
  2. Capture each Tyranid nursery spire around the map (minion spawn points)
  3. Keep the enemy team from achieving objective one and two

Neutral Map Mechanics

‘Healthy’ ground will regenerate player health (preliminary 0.1% total health per second)
Team spawn points restore health (preliminary 5 seconds to full)

Mechanic Idea 1

Timed game – Narrative driven
Each Tyranid spire is a spawn point for various Tyranid minions each with a different
skillset. Whilst the spire is neutral the minions spawned will attack both teams and a slow
area of decay will occur around the spire, this slows the players and prevents player health
regeneration.

Each time a player is directly killed by a Tyranid minion or by the Norn Queen the area of
decay around the Norn Queen increases, should the area of decay cover the entire map the
game is lost and both teams lose.

Mechanic Idea 2

Attainable Buffs – Player Choice
When defeated each spire grants the victorious player a buff (each spire has a different buff).
These buffs last for the duration of the capture (preliminary 5 minutes) unless the player
is transported to the Norn Queen where they will keep the buff until they are defeated.
The spawning minions will also fight for the team that controls that spire. Whilst captured
the ‘decayed’ land around the spire no longer slows the team that hold it, it applies a
temporary speed buff to controller team players who run through the area of effect.

Mechanic Idea 3

Player Sacrifice – Alternative Currency
When defeated, the Tyranid spire ‘traps’ the player that dealt the killing blow, when all the
spires have ‘trapped their prey’ the incarcerated players are transported to the Norn Queen.
Spires only trap their prey for a certain length of time (preliminary 5 minutes).
For each player left on the surface the Norn Queen’s stats reduce by 20% for that team only.
E.g. if red team secures 3 towers and blue team secures 2, the Norn Queen with have reduced
stats of 60% for the blue team, and 40% for the red team.

@Bloodselene I am interested in how you set up your control points if you would be willing to share? I am currently setting up control points for my project.