Sheep Tag Community

Sheep Tag Standalone!

I'm working out some finer details on making an standalone Sheep Tag and was curious as to your input on how it should look!

Right now I'm leaning towards sticking with the Sheep vs Shepherd, but would like to change up some of the skins, while making sure it still feels like Sheep Tag. I want to give the game a more mythical twist.

For Sheep I plan on leaving them like a Sheep.

For Shepherd I was going to remove the "Raider" qualities, and actually make them a Shepherd. That means no Orcs* mounting a wolf and no sword. Instead it would be more of a Centaur Half-Human hybrid with a giant Shepherd Cane. Think more so like Keeper of the Grove minus the Night Elf traits.

For Golems/Iron Golems I like the idea of going with a 2-legged Satyr type creature. With a curved blade.

For Wisp I'm going to make it more 'Sheep Soul-ish' possibly a floating fat sheep or sheep in a bubble.

The main reasons for these decisions is that although raiders, wisps, and golems feel like they belong they really don't lol. The only reason it feels like they do is because it is on Warcraft 3. These changes although they seem drastic are really just aesthetically different.The Shepherd is still a quadruped, the Golems are still bipeds, and Wisps are still round. Which means everything should still interact as you'd expect.

If you guys have any ideas or input on this please let me know! Nothing is close to set in stone, and the main goal is to make a game the community will all enjoy!

i think u should keep the current wolves to keep the game as original as possible and more recognizable. Just my opinion though, in regards to the wisps ye i agree with your idea. Like kyle I would love to test and show support.

Thanks for the responses guys! They will be noted. As for the designs we do have to be careful not to be a look-alike as we all know Blizzard loves taking people down.

I'll continue with how I have it, and if it is too much of a change, then maybe I will pull back. NMCDO does bring a good point that Golems are in fact pretty damn magical.

I felt the Satyrs would fit well with the Centaur. As a Satyr is basically a centaur with 2 legs lol.





That was the type of creature I had in mind. I think they fit the "darker" theme quite nicely.

These questions are jumping a bit ahead, but I will answer them to the best of my ability. Also, I like the enthusiasm!

What kind of ST physics are you going to keep? All of them?
Are you going to tamper with any of the physics? I.e. the distance of a mirror jump.

In a perfect world I would love to keep every Physics aspect the same, but that is just not going to happen. A LOT will act the same, but minor discrepancies might happen. Meaning maybe you have to stand closer to an edge for a jump to work, or build a farm at different position on-top the sheep to get that right angle. If you ever played some rounds of 'Sheep Tag Puzzle' where Physics were really pushed to their limits, you'll understand the minor details I'm talking about. However, the aspects of jumping and mirroring will still all apply! Also, when it's done people may find new physics things that were never in Sheep Tag, hopefully they will be minor, but yet still cool and will bring that feel of being a pioneer back! I do not plan on removing them unless they are seriously game breaking.

Are you going to keep things like redirect?

Yes, I think having an option for it will be good. But will remove it if community does not like it.

Are you going to make a new map?

I'm going to attempt to re-create the Wc3 terrain editor. The ultimate goal being a terrain editor where people can make any ST map they want upload it and play. So yes Revo terrain and any other terrains you can imagine will be possible! I'd like to have a set of "approved" terrains for competitive play as well, Revo will be one of them. Maybe community contests for new ones would be excellent way to handle which maps are approved. Revo will be the initial map in the game. Granted I cannot use the Warcraft 3 tiles, textures, etc. So the aesthetic of the map will look different.

Old demonstration of play: http://imgur.com/a/YnGjx

Sheep: (Pupils will be changed this is still a work in progress!)


I'll upload more art assets as they come to the thread over here: http://sheeptag.createaforum.com/community-discussion/sheep-tag-remake-models/msg5989/?topicseen#new

Cheers!

Thanks for the quick responses, Beer.
A few random thoughts:

I believe for controversial topics like the stack farm you should add it to the game, have people try it out over a time, and have community votes
as to which direction the community would like.

Why not just have the ability to choose a mode, with or without stack farms?

What NMCDO said. You can't just have features because you can. That is bad game design. You have to pick and choose especially for a competitive game. Take a look at how Wc3 ladder is, you can't just take out Hero Altars, and still play Ranked. At most they let you veto a couple maps, which may be an option to look into, but actually modifying game mechanics for a ranked match is a big no no in design. It divides the community into stack players and non-stack, it makes balancing the game near impossible, ruins the entire ladder/ranked system, and will ultimately never work. So this is most definitely not a choice, and it is a bad designers cop out to a problem they can't mechanically solve. This isn't an app with features we are making, it's a game

Also, NMCDO you're jumping ahead a bit much yet again^^ but I'll try to answer anyways.

A guide to introduce a few basic concepts to new players would be cool, giving them a insight on what professional ST can be like.

Tutorials will be provided on the important aspects and core concepts.

A larger map! Warcraft 3's players have been squinting at the map for far to long, it shouldn't have to be utterly painful to look at it all the time.

Are you talking about the minimap? If so yes, that will be scalable to the players choosing.

A hotkey you can press as sheep that identifies to your team your are going to be or are isolated!

This is cool I like it.

Have ranked and non ranked games - for ranked games have things like kills, time survived, and other stats recording to help create ranking / comparative values for players. OFC have Shepard's and Sheep stats be separated.

Yes, all of those things will hopefully happen.

Keep up the trend of having Shepard's and sheep named after players! Make it so individuals will want to contribute as much as they can, and potentially make it to the list. (Could be based of performance or / community contribution.)

I mean the Shepherds name will probably just be your username... Lol. I don't plan on having the HUD at the bottom.

Edit: Another thought, keep misses in the game! Misses will be sniping in Halo 3 for ST!

Misses are super awesome, and always make everyone die laughing when executed perfectly. I see no reason not to so long as it's done well.

Think about smaller design type questions! For instance should we stick to 5v5? What do you think is the max number of wolves vs sheep before either wolves or sheep insta win. How fast should gameplay be and what should the timer be? Most of your questions are feature related, let's knock out core mechanics and gameplay. How can we make the game more inviting to newer players.

Also, thoughts on what should be in the HUD?
Should players be able to physically click build, and then farm?
Should button options for Attack/Move/Hold Position/Patrol be a thing?
Should patrol even be a thing?
Should shift building be allowed? Should it be instant?
Are we sticking to one set of build options? If so is there even a need for pressing B? Should just pressing F bring up a farm?
Should sheep be able to attack farms/save with a right click? Or should they require pressing A then left click. Or should they not be able to attack farms in general? Should all players farms be controlled as if it is a being shared as in they can destroy another sheeps farm by selecting it and press D.

I think there should be match making modes
-2v4 last 6 minutes
-3v5 last 12 minutes
-5v5 last 20 minutes
And then the open lobby version for any mode you want, just like we have on wc3.
No we don't need patrol.
Hold position, attack, and move should be kept.
I think shift build should be another community vote... not sure about that one.

1. Should players be able to physically click build, and then farm?
2. Should button options for Attack/Move/Hold Position/Patrol be a thing?
3. Should patrol even be a thing?
4. Should shift building be allowed? Should it be instant?
5. Are we sticking to one set of build options? If so is there even a need for pressing B? Should just pressing F bring up a farm?
6. Should sheep be able to attack farms/save with a right click? Or should they require pressing A then left click. Or should they not be able to attack farms in general? Should all players farms be controlled as if it is a being shared as in they can destroy another sheeps farm by selecting it and press D.

1/5. I think it would be best to keep the build menu, unless you're removing at least a few farms, just to save hotkeys
2/3. I'd keep attack and hold position, probably drop move and patrol (or maybe make patrol only break  if a sheep comes within range, for golems).
4. Definitely keep shift for shepherds, but I was very much not a fan of instant shift build in SC2 (it made massing feel less like a game and more like a chore, not to mention faster/easier), so I'd say drop it or keep it slow.
6. Save with right click, but stick with A+left click for farms... right clicking a farm is pretty common to walk to it/change pathing and it'd be annoying to have to stop an attack, and I'd have to TK so many people if I could select their farms and destroy with D.

I agree with sticking with sheep tag 2.

I think it would be interesting to slow the game (movement speed, maybe turn rate) down a bit, maybe like 10-15%. It would hopefully be enough to reduce some luck, like jumping out of farms and just running, hoping shepherds can't click your sheep in time, and mass speed, making positioning/thinking ahead a bit more important, while still keeping the game reasonably fast paced. I'd also like to see some sort of progression, or at least increased gold options, for sheep.


Anyway, I think the real question on everyone's mind is: when is CTF coming?