First of all, I would like to make it clear that this game was created for personal use and that the copyright for the characters and the Valoran region belongs to Riot Games, while the copyright for the Warcraft III's characters belongs to Blizzard.
Resume
Le portail de valoran is a tactical rpg that I created on rpg maker before my studies at Brassart. The reason I'm talking about it here is because I still think there are elements and even game mechanics that are interesting for this type of game in my opinion.
Mechanics
The battle
The most important thing I have brought to fighting is the choice that is given to the player. There are many ways to play.
Items and skills: Preparing weapons and armour brings skills. These have magical and physical stats, and can even have special abilities such as double attacks or backlash.
States: I have introduced a huge number of states, such as 'Drunk', which increases attack power but reduces accuracy. Statues allow a fight to be based around a unique mechanic. Some statues are common to all and others are unique to the character or even the enemy.
The Formation: This allows you to swap heroes once every three turns, as only four heroes can be in battle at any one time. You should choose carefully who will take part in the battle, as some heroes work well together but others may not be effective against a particular enemy.
Puzzles and challenges on the map
Here is an example of the view as the character moves around the map. This is the first village in the game.
The battlefield challenge: The battlefield challenge: During a quest, you will have to dodge lasers. This mini-game has been added to give a bit of rhythm to the map part of the rpg and vary the gameplay. It's pretty tough, but it is still a bonus for the player to get through. What is more, dying in it just means starting the mini-game all over again, so it is still a low-pressure distraction.
The puzzle of the ice cave: He finds himself having to pass through rooms strewn with very high walls. That is why you have ice golem. At first, they only push you down. But as soon as you obtain a special object, they listen to your commands and can follow you, expelling you in four directions or, later, moving towards a specific point.
The puzzle of the cave of darkness: You arrive in a very dark room with the intrepid Allan. In this place, there is a series of three ticks followed by a larger one. When this happens, the room becomes very bright and the tiles of light become glowing. It is up to the player to match their rhythm to the tics. However, these tics do not have the same tempo in relation to the room in which the player is.
Level design
Below are a few examples of level design that I have produced.
A village
The village below is composed from bottom to top. I have created the map in such a way that the player reaches all the interesting points in a village, such as the shop or the inn, before going to hand in his quest.
What is more, when the player reaches the chief's house, they can take a grand tour of the village through the snow to visit the surrounding area and find the hidden bonuses.
The village also contains two locked houses that are essential to the storyline. They are used to tell the player whether or not there is anything left to do here.
Les cartes d'exploration
The battlefield map is the largest in the game. So I have filled it with fog of war and set up a multitude of cliffs to make the map a bit more like a corridor and guide the player.
In order not to lose the player, the idea is not to make too many repeating motifs and to make certain impotent points on the map recognisable. That's why the points of interest are so far apart.
The map is built around the battle between the fort on the left and the fort on the right. The player has the choice of completing the series of quests for one of the two camps, which will win the battle. To distinguish the two camps, I have made a central point on the map with a colour that stands out from the rest (the grass in yellow).
Finally, there may be some gameplay in certain map navigations. This is the case with underwater maps where the heroes cannot breathe. They then hold their breath for a maximum of thirty seconds until they find a bubble that allows them to breathe.
The map has been designed with simple navigation in mind, taking into account the breathing time constraint. The bubbles are clearly arranged along the route, because the aim here is not to find the bubbles but to move forward.
