Rising Tides - The Journey?

So, new blog series. Not story-related, thank God.

I've recently gotten back into Warcraft III, what's not to love! As in the past, I've gravitated towards the World Editor for making my own maps. This is where Dota started, and while I am certainly not following in Icefrog's footsteps there's no reason I can't make an RPG!

Hence the blog.

My latest project, started only yesterday, is a single-player RPG called 'Rising Tides'. It follows in the footsteps of the half-elven Augur Rogue Anya Sundancer. (Augur Rogue is a Hero class that basically combines elements of the rogue and the mage - think TA cross OD. No spoilers on the story yet, as I have only a vague idea of where it's heading, but this is going to be a long campaign over multiple maps, where we follow the lovely Anya's battles with various evil forces and dark conspiracies.

Already this thing has raised numerous challenges. The trigger editor is making my head literally hurt. The terraining is taking forever due to the detail I'm putting in. I have made other maps before, but this is easily the most complex, overtaking the 'dungeon crawler' style Black Ice Chrysalis (which I haven't finished due to a lack of inspiration and being at a loss for new boss mechanics) by a long mile, both in terrain and triggers.

Rising Tides will, when completed, feature a large number of cinematics (which may or may not have voice acting), AT LEAST three but probably far more maps and zones, lots of quests, an intricate storyline plunging you into the bowels of politics and schemes which make Arash Vespender's Ancient War look like a half-***ed election campaign.

This is going to be a learning process for me. I am utterly rubbish at the Trigger Editor, so I'll have to do a LOT of research and ask for a lot of help to get this done. Will I bite the bullet and recruit help? Who knows. Hopefully not, I want to feel the accomplishment of doing this myself.

I think that about covers it for the intro. Now, I will document my ideas and concepts behind this map, as well as my oncoming progress, in these blogs. They will be posted sporadically, as this is a hell of a lot of work with a lot of complicated things to do.

The Concept

I wanted to create a single-player RPG campaign that had echoes of traditional Warcraft III and other games I've played - Dota, WoW, Diablo... I play a lot of Blizzard games, don't judge me!

To this end, the player will control between one and three Heroes, plus some simple non-Hero units. Difficulty-wise, it's going to be punishing. I like difficult games, so even the early stages have risks of dying associated with them. As for the micro, this is probably on the level of Chen or Visage.

The Story

Anya Sundancer, a half-elven Augur Rogue, wakes on the outskirts of a farm in a place she does not know. She can remember nothing, save her name, and vague memories of long-lost times flashing through her mind, glimpsed indistinctly before they fade away forever. She knows not how she got here, where she came from, WHY she is here... only the emptiness is with her.

The amnesic half-elf still has her powers, however - arts of stealth and deadly magics. Now it is up to her to find the cause of her amnesia. But in the process, she may discover things best left forgotten...

The Levelling

Rising Tides has 30 levels. Each Hero has three normal abilities, one ultimate, and a passive that upgrades their abilities, this usually being levelled last. Normal abilities have seven levels, the ultimate has four, and the upgrading passive five.

Anya Sundancer the Augur Rogue
Tel{e}lightning - Calls forth a cone of lightning to damage enemies.

E{c}lectic Pulse - Unleashes a whip of energy that combusts the mana of the target, displacing it and causing damage equal to the mana burnt.

En{v}enom - Anya poisons her target at close range, inflicting minor damage instantly and a large amount of damage over time. Also cripples the target.

{B}lood Coil - Anya hurls a lance of life essence at the target, doing damage based upon her Intelligence. The blast restores part of her life based upon her Agility. Has an interrupt attached.

A{r}cane Arts (Upgrade, Passive) - Enhances Anya's skills and sorceries with inner power. Reduces the mana cost of Telelightning, increases the range of Envenom, increases the mana burn of Eclectic Pulse and causes Blood Coil to ministun the target.

These abilities are all fairly simple - save Blood Coil. As it stands, I've got it to deal the damage based upon her Int, but haven't even TRIED to combine that with the lifesteal mechanic.

Of course, Anya isn't the only Hero you'll come across - early into the game, you'll meet a Paladin who'll join you, and let's not forget Anya's dog Fluffles, who you can purchase in the first town you come across. Although not a Hero, Fluffles fulfills an important role in the game, acting as a mobile bank or courier.

The Map

I will be posting screenshots on here shortly (expect an edit in a day or two), to show you what the areas look like. For now, picture an idyllic, remote country town in Autumn. There are farms, there is a forest up ahead (which unfortunately is infested with bandits). All very lovely.

While this is not, I repeat NOT, my work or indeed a part of the game at all, I used this as a guide to what the village looks like, and this should give you some idea:
A cobblestone road leads out from the village, skirting around the aforementioned forest. This leads up to... well, no spoilers, because it's somewhat important! Here, you meet your Paladin buddy, who unlike Omniknight, mans up and hits things HARD.

Progress

In the future, this will be what I have done since the last blog. For now, I'll go over all I've done at the moment:

-Created our protagonist and her spells!
-Triggered most of Blood Coil.
-Finished the terrain for the first few zones/5-10 minutes.
-Established the first part of the story.

I plan on leaving the cinematics for later, given how frustrating I anticipate they will be. Whether or not they will be voice acted depends on if I can recruit anyone to the job (I sure as hell can't voice Anya!).
______________________________

That's all for now. Expect updates soon, perhaps with pretty pictures :) And if anyone can suggest custom models I should use, would be much appreciated!

Resources Used
http://fc02.deviantart.net/fs70/i/2012/103/0/a/warcraft_iii_map_by_yoskan-d4w17ul.jpg
http://www.thehelper.net/threads/attribute-scaling-abilities.157901/ - Made Blood Coil possible!