World of Warcraft is a MMORPG where players choose a class, race, and faction for their hero then explore the world experiencing wondrous adventures. Players can complete quests, dungeons, high level raids, or fight each other in PvP matches.

Details
  • Based on: World of Warcraft
  • Team Size: Solo Project
  • Engine: Starcraft II Galaxy Editor
  • Game Mode: Single Player
Responsibilities
  • Concept & documentation
  • Designed abilities, level, & quests
  • Scripted abilities, events, dialogue, & AI
  • Optimization & balance
  • Prototyping & playtesting
Overview

Savior of the Horde is a five man dungeon for World of Warcraft set in the Caverns of Time. In this dungeon you lead a party of players who will travel to the past to experience the events that took place between Grom Hellscream and the demon Mannoroth. This dungeon will teach any current WoW players who had never played Warcraft III about Grom and how his legacy affected his son Garrosh through interactive gameplay.

I made this dungeon entirely in the Starcraft II editor using only Warcraft III art assets. I went out of my way to recreate skills and abilities from Warcraft III so that players who played the original game would get their nostalgia kick. I did have to change the level and dialogue to match WoW's 5 man dungeon system, but I think I stayed true to the story.

My Role

I built the quest system that tracked and updated objectives, spawned units, and revealed portions of the map. This allowed me to set the pacing in my level by tuning when and where events and dialogue would be triggered. I also recreated Warcraft III behaviors and abilities for units to make the combat more interactive. During playtesting, I realized that having abilities on every hero was extremely hard to use for players not accustomed to Starcraft II. To make these abilities easier to use, all Active Powers were moved to the hero Thrall, and all other abilities were removed or set to autocast. This allowed my players to focus on the quest and experience rather than micromanaging their units.

One major goal I had for this map was "show don't tell" and "play don't show". To achieve this I removed mandatory cutscenes that took away control from the players which allowed them to continue playing during dialogue. I also used the environment to tell my story: the Horde and Alliance show tension as their bases and leaders stare each other down, the demon Archimonde stands in the ruins of a night elf town that he obliterated, the bloodthirsty Warsong Orcs are actively sacking a city when you meet them. These helped breathe life into my world in ways that text could never do.

Here you can see Thrall's Chain Lightning ability and Grom's Bloodlust ability. These let heroes standout from other troops and make them more fun to play.
By showing the enemy boss in the ruins of a burning town, I am able to convey their villainous nature before either of them speak.
Easter eggs like Mannoroth's blood tainted fountain have been hidden for lore lovers to find and enjoy.
Bosses will taunt players as they fight. This along with special abilities helps bring them to life.
Cinematics are still used during critical moments. Here I use one to convey how important Grom's actions were and how he has saved the Horde.
An overview map of the level. You start and end in the bottom left. Each major quest region is highlighted in blue.
To better achieve the goal of 'Play, dont tell' I removed mandatory cutscenes that took away control from the players. Allowing players to continue playing during dialogue.
Combat with limited unit types felt repetitive. I ended up creating abilities for bosses and Hero units to make them stand out and be more interesting to play as and fight against.
The quest objective system. Including Triggers and dialogue.
Level Design Document version 1.0. At first I had two starting bases, one the the Horde and one for the Alliance. The idea was to show that while they were working together, neither faction trusted each other. What really happened, was that players got stuck in a dead end by going to the wrong base, or just never saw the other faction.
Level Design Document version 4.0. I ended up combining the bases right at the starting zone, but have them in a faceoff against each other. This created the tension I was looking for while improving my map's flow.