Heroes of the Storm Mastery

• Based on: Heroes of the Storm
• Team Size: Solo Project
• Engine: Starcraft II Galaxy Editor
• Game Mode: Single Player

• Concept & documentation
• Designed abilities, level, & quests
• Scripted abilities, triggers, dialogue, & AI
• Optimization & balance
• Prototyping & playtesting

Overview

I made Heroes of the Storm Mastery in the Starcraft II editor over several months. This Heroes of the Storm map pits you against the AI to teach you the basics of a HotS match. You control Muradin against the AI’s Sylvanas in a one-on-one death match. You will level up, learn and use abilities, fight minion waves, and challenge the opposing hero.

The design goals of this map are to teach Starcraft players how to play Heroes of the Storm. To best achieve this, I piggybacked off the player's existing Starcraft knowledge. Every enemy minion, attack, and special ability are from the Starcraft universe so players already know what they do. But I also tapped into what makes Heroes exciting by giving your hero all the custom abilities that are mobile and fun. This piggybacking allows players to learn the new mechanics at their own pace, and helps prevent them from being overwhelmed.

My Role

I used the data editor to create new behaviors, effects, abilities, and models for this map. I designed a veterancy system to allow the heroes to gain levels and increase their attributes and learn new hero powers with multiple ranks. I also created a series of triggers that act as the AI. The AI Hero will stand and fight the player, but when attacked by minions or towers would kite and use her abilities more aggressively. This encourages epic fights, while preventing the player from overwhelming the AI with too much backup. I chose Muradin to be the star hero because his abilities focus on healing, evasion, disruption, and damage. These ability archetypes will teach the core concepts for most abilities found in the full game and were easy to learn.

To ensure that players are always heading toward the action (and the fun) I used a few level design tricks. I placed your base southwest of your starting position, blocking that path, and created a dirt path out of the forest to the northeast to guide you to your goal. I also immediately spawn a minion attack wave and have them charge to the northeast. These minions should catch the player's attention and guide them to the action. If the player decides to ignore these guides, they can go exploring in the jungle but they will find the only exit deposits them right where the two minion armies will clash.

After playtesting, I implemented some quality of life changes. I attached giant glowing auras to the heroes to make them easier to spot while they were in the middle of combat, and I also removed the increasing death timer because it felt like I was punishing the player for dying which was inappropriate for a map aimed at complete beginners.