[Due to various people asking me to release the game code to the public, I have done so. After three months of testing, I am excited to share it.]
Actual RPG is based on the original RPG mode but reworked to create a more realistic sense of playing an RPG game. Everything from the shop to the progression system has been reworked to be more closely related to an actual RPG game. [I was frustrated with the old RPG mode, where half of the game was sitting in shop and “buying” upgrades. At some point, players would get so ridiculously strong that it became more of a game of whose numbers were higher. Furthermore, player entities (like Torbjorn’s turret, Symetra’s buildings, B.O.B, etc.) could be instantly destroyed once a player was powerful enough, rendering them useless. Overall, the game just felt like it didn’t live up to its name. I wanted to bring back a certain level of skill back into the game mode, and also a sense of accomplishment for reaching the ‘end game state’.]
The game loop for this game-mode goes like this -> Start off weak -> gain XP to level up -> level up to get “skill points” -> Use “skill points” to get stronger.
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The first major feature is the levelling system. Every new player starts off at Level 1. Whenever a player levels up, 4 things will happen. The player’s max health (+12.5%) and damage (+2%) increases by a small percentage. The player earns skill points as well. The number of skill points earned increases each level. Player abilities are unlocked at the following levels: (Ability 1 - LVL 2) (Ability 2 - LVL 5) (ULT - LVL 10). —
In order to level up, the player has to gain XP. Actions that give XP: doing damage, participate in eliminations, dealing the final blow. Killing a higher level target than you rewards with more XP, and vice versa. Behind the scenes, there is also a passive XP generator and skill points generator. All these scales to the player’s current level. This means that the higher the player’s level is, the more XP is needed to level up. [Overall, this system should make the game friendlier to new-comers. It is easier for low levels to gain skill points than higher levels. Situations like ganging up on a higher level player should happen more often as the game rewards such behaviour. Higher level players bullying low levels should happen less often and instead, target mid-levels who can pose a threat as they are rewarded more.] -
The Shopless Shop. The shop is now no longer tied to a specific place, but rather a player can access it anytime anywhere. This means that the game mode is no longer rooted to one map (Lijiang Garden) but rather all the maps. (Although some maps are disabled either because of size or inability to commit suicide to change heroes).
To use the shop, hold down the interact button (default: f). After three seconds, the player enters shop form. IMPORTANT: Even in shop form, continue pressing the interact button. Releasing it exits the player out of shop form. This is not a bug, but intentional. When in shop form: Right Click = Changes upgrade options, Left click = buy.
The options include:
- Health: adds 12.5% to max health. ($^)
- Damage: adds 5% to max damage dealt. ($^)
- Attack Fast (Projectile Speed): adds 5% to max projectile speed. ($^)
- Defending Damage (Defense): subtracts 5% to incoming damage. Max = 30%. ($^)
- Healing / Sec: adds 0.5 to HP/s ($^)
- 30% Healing on Attack: 30% of damage dealt becomes healing.
- Ultimate Ability Upgrade: Adds 20% ultimate charge every 5 seconds.
/$^ = option’s price increases by 1 each time each option is purchased. This simulates a skill-tree-like experience./
[The reason why the physical shop was replaced was initially because of the entity limit. A physical shop plus all the new HUD elements quickly filled the entity limit of 64 entities. Although the recent patch increases that limit to 128, it still causes the following problems. Any player above Slot 7 would have no HUD. Level tags would disappear. That meant that the game mode originally only allowed 7 people to play at once. With this NEW shopless shop system, max players of 12 can be reached, all with a working HUD, albeit a bit more confusing to use.]
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Balancing. Firstly, as all players start off with low health and low damage, this meant that heroes with healing (passive or otherwise) were far superior in survivability. To even out the playing field, all such heroes have their healing dealt/received reduced. Secondly, player buildings like Torbjorn’s turret and Symmetra’s buildings do not scale with players stats. That means that a 250HP turret would always remain at 250HP no matter what level the player is. Overwatch does not have any settings that can change these currently, but this means that certain heroes are better at farming XP than others. Additionally, player entities are still useful. Yay B.O.B
[Balancing this game mode was a damn pain.] -
Bugs. Although I have done countless of testing, there are still some bugs left unresolved. The number one bug is Sombra’s level tag. Whenever she uses her ability 1 (invisibility), the level tag still remains above her head, making her location very visible despite her model remaining invisible. Even though some people have helped me try to resolve this bug, it still persists as the rules in place are not flexible enough for various player situations like: spawning in as Sombra then changing to another hero, spawning in as another hero then changing to Sombra, etc… [This was one of the reasons why I wanted to share this game mode with everybody. More heads are better than one. Hopefully, someone better than me can help fix this.]
Overall, thank you for reading this far. The code is A4JBP. Have fun!
-FoxFlummox