Ethereal

By: Nathanial Strickland The Universe is full of magical things, patiently waiting for our wits to grow sharper. ~ Eden Phillpotts ~

Razor Statement: Elder Scrolls Mages meet crafting magical skills. Goal: Ethereal is a fantasy PC RPG that will be played in a third person view. It is a strictly Magician RPG. This game is not about the basic RPG leveling archetypes but rather becoming a master spell weaver in this world of Magicians. Ethereals premise is based on the fact that Wizards and Magicians dont just copy spells and reuse them, they innovate and fashion new ones. In Ethereal you will weave, alter, and combine new and existing spells to make them your own. Tone: Ethereal is intended to be enchanting, and filled with invention. At certain times Ethereal should feel like a lucid dream. It should consist primarily of fantasy lore, imagery that promotes wonder and fascination, with powerful graphical representations of magic and interactions alike. It is filled with vivid imagery while giving the player control over the world and spells. Ethereal should feel enchanting, concocting, and innovative. Game Mechanics: The main goal of Ethereal is allow you the player the ability to weave and alter spells through the use of the Arcane Forge a mythical temple to fit their own play style and in game needs. RPG General Features: Ethereal will be played like a standard RPG for the most part. The characters will have common stats including power, armor, hit points, mana, and UI similar to that of Guild Wars or World of Warcraft. They will be able to equip varying items such as armor and weapons that will boost your characters abilities and spell strengths. Ethereal will also utilize the standard cast time, regeneration time, mana costs, damage/healing, effect, effect time, and area of effects. The main distinction that Ethereal will have is the ability for the players to create, modify, and hone their own spells and chains through the spell editor, spells that are casted will affect the opponents UI, gameplay, and world around them, and the environment itself will offer the you additional modifiers that will in turn strengthen and allow for spells to be activated faster. Arcane Forge The Forge itself can be thought of as a level editor of sorts. The magician can then access the spells which they already know and can then choose to weave, engineer, rename, incorporate or chain together with other spells and effects.

Each spell will have the seven common RPG properties about them (See Standard RPG Features), and three unique physical properties, a particle effect, a casting animation, and a color palette. Once your magician selects a foundation spell another new window will display the spells current properties in a combination of slider values and drop down menus. The magician can then choose what the desired spell properties can be. Example: You have a foundation fireball spell. You walk into the Arcane Forge and begin to engineer the time it takes to cast the spell making your ability to cast it faster but at a cost of lowering the damage, effect, mana cost, and recharge of the spell. The newly engineered spell will be weaker but a prime candidate for weaving or chaining additional spells. o Spell Economics: When weaving spells the magician must balance the cost of each property. In short how long it takes to cast, its lasting effects, and the intended damage of each spell. The Magicians cannot just combine three powerful spells and make a god spell, due to mana restrictions. They can however engineer these powerful spells properties to be more mana efficient. Example: Total Mana 75 N/A o Insight: In addition to mana efficiency there is also the consideration of casting time and effect duration. The magicians must engineer their spells so that desired effects and durations can be applied to enemies. Example: If you want your opponent to be blind for 3 seconds while you attack and then teleport to safety then you better consider the casting and effect timings of each chained spell. If the blinding spell takes .5 seconds to cast, and the blind effect lasts 3 seconds, then the fireball attack would cost 1.5 seconds of casting, and to teleport away from the battle the Magician would cast their time teleport spell which takes 1.0 seconds. In total the cost equals the duration of blind. Original Mana Cost Spell1 : 45 +30 Mana Modified Mana Cost Spell1: 20 +55 Mana Damage Original: 370 Modified: 295

o Merging Spells: The Forge will allow the Magician to merge up to three different spells by dragging the known or engineered spells into a queue to form one exotic spell type. Example: Freezing Rain, Electrify, Powerful Gust. (Electric Icicle Storm) In doing so the Forge will implement the properties of each spell and determine the appropriate property values for the new spell according to the foundation spells values. The physical attributes of the new spell will contain one property from each of foundation spells. o Chaining Spells: The Arcane Forge will allow up to five different chaining combinations. A chaining combination in Ethereal is a combination of similar or different spell properties to eliminate or affect your opponent in a desired manner. Example: There is a Dark Wizard that is stronger than you. To effectively engage him the Magician (you) will need to create a combination that blinds an opponent to both sight and sound, thus eliminating his ability to react and giving you the opportunity to strike. Combining skills like Solar Flare, Sonic Boom, and Thunderbolt may give this outcome. o Altering Spells: The Forge allows for the altering of effects, and physical appearances of the spells themselves. The Magician can choose from a list of predefined effects, such as burning, paralyze, teleport etc. As for the appearances of the spells players can go within the spell animations and select the casting animation and sound cue, color and particle effects that there player will play during the casting and use of their spell. It is worth noting that certain effects are only made available to certain spell types fire does not create a freezing effect, and that spells cannot be multitudes of colors but rather colors from a specific colors palette. Example: A magician can cast a lightning bolt spell, in doing so the Magician reaches for the sky and storm clouds and thunder could be heard then several smaller yellow lightning bolts come down to the player then he throws a large yellow flash of lightning at the opponents and when it hits or is used the lightning bolt electrifies all that it touches with smaller yellow flashes. This is one way that the animation could be setup and used, the magician could have also chosen to gather the

electricity from within and made the lighting a color and particles blue if they wanted to. Attunements: These are focuses of magic that a player can use within the game. Each attunement presents its own pros and cons, and strategies for use. Each attunement is based off of real world uses and constraints (cause and effect). o Fire: Ethereal Fire Magic is the most powerful standalone magic in the game. Being this powerful means that cast time and manna costs for such high effecting/damaging abilities are much higher and the user must plan accordingly. Fire Effects: Burning Ignites an enemy with flames and causes damage per second Explode Causes greater damage and knocks the player back. Singe Scalds the players and slows their movement and spell cool downs. o Water: Water is the element of life in both Ethereal and the real world. Waters main abilities are to counteract fire and to heal players and allies alike. These abilities are at the midlevel of mana costs and cast times. Water Effects: Rejuvenate Lays a large puddle of water that heals allies within it. Freeze Freezes the enemy in their place and causes damage over time Corrode Shower the enemy with acidic rain that makes the opponents armor rating decrease. o Earth: Earth in Ethereal is the primary defensive magic used to buffer players, and shield them from other elements. Earth is the most abundant element within the Ethereal world making its mana costs and casting times really low. Earth Effects: Encase Surrounds the player with rock armor for several seconds Quake Shutters the ground slowing the opponents physical movements.

Blind Causes dust storms to blind the opponent for several seconds

o Air: Air is the element of force and change. Air alone in ethereal allows the player to call upon the wind and manifest lighting strikes and storms, it also has the ability to enhance fire abilities, and transform water abilities to that of ice through the use of spell combinations. Airs mana costs are mid-level on their own, but when paired with other attunements it becomes variable depending on the spell combination that you are seeking. o Air Effects: Shock Casts a small electrical field that inhibits magicians movements Confuse Magician becomes disoriented and spell controls become incomprehensible. Haste - Magicians movement and casting speed drastically increases Moves like the wind. Spell Acquisition: As you progress and use your basic or root spells such as fireball and thunderbolt you will level up your attunements. As your attunements knowledge grows newer more powerful effects and spells become available to you. Essentially using the strong foundation approach the magician will learn the fundamentals of the spells given to them and they will continually build upon their foundation with newer effects and spell types. Environment The Environment within Ethereal should follow the real world as far as rules and should be dynamically changing based on what spells and enemies are within the area. Simply stated in the real world a fire or freezing effects should in fact freeze and or scorch the immediate area that the effect is occurring. A water effect should promote growth of vegetation, and an earth spell should change the landscape. The Magicians spell properties should be able to be conveyed and translated to the world around them. Example: Burning down a tree with a fire spells burning area effect. Additionally the spells should interact with each others properties. In the real world water conducts electricity, water extinguishes fire, and wind blows dirt.

Eternal Battle Grounds Ethereal not only wants you the Magician to create different spells to be used against NPCs but also hone your skills and spell creations against others online through the use of the Eternal Battle Grounds. The Eternal Battle Grounds is a place where your magician goes to test their spells through magician versus magician combat. Doing so allows you to see each of their own spells effectiveness but also allows for player magical convening to share and promote knowledge and tactics. Within the Battle Grounds Magicians will placed within two separate factions that will be pitted against each other over the defense and capture of the magical Nexus, a gate of immense magical power. If the magicians have crafted their spells well they will be victorious otherwise they will be nothing but dust in the wind. Depending on the role of the magician certain spells may be effective while others are completely mundane and illsuited for the task at hand. It is up to the player to develop the spells necessary to achieve Eternal Glory.

Effect Interaction When the Magician is within The Eternal Battle Grounds or Ethereal combat the attacks that are casted against each other will deal damage and cause effects on to each character respectfully. Just like normal RPGs would indicate this by reducing the players stamina, health or showing some sort of camera cinematic. However within Ethereal when the player suffers an effect from a spell the player and environment in which they are standing and viewing dictates accordingly. Example: Suppose your Magician was just hit by a spell that freezes you for three seconds. Well it is one thing to say it but what if the UI, area surrounding your character, and your character themselves gloss over with newly formed ice. By doing this Ethereal will allow the player to experience a sense of greater immersion interaction and strategy.

Example: Your magician was hit by a spell utilizing the confusion effect, your magician becomes confused and the entire spell placements user interface fluctuates as your disorientation continues. Doing this will allow you personally to feel the burning, frost bite, or confusion that youre magician is experiencing, giving a higher sense of urgency and concern. Technical Details: When creating an Ethereal prototype or pre-production viewing artists, designers, and programmers should use the following in regards to afore mentioned features and mechanics. The prototype is based on a level 3 Magician. Arcane Forge Mechanics: Forge Location:

The Arcane Forge can be accessed within any of the major cities throughout the Ethereal realm. Players can and will be prompted to use the editor constantly to create spells that can and will accomplish their current missions. Forge Looks:

The Forge itself is a powerful mystical device. The editor portion however is similar to a common character or level editor/creator but specifically for the creation and alteration of the spells. When the player interfaces with the editor they should be given 3 initial choices, Altering, Merging, and Chaining. They can then progress to the next layer of the editor where sliders, textboxes, and buttons for saving altering or

naming their spells will be given. Forge Progression:

As the player selects his or her desired editor functions the editor will then proceed to the spell library where the entire player created and discovered spells are available for them to choose from. Once this library has been selected and the player has chosen what spell to engineer the editor will then proceed to the spell detail level where additional adjustments, chains, or merges may be done. 1. Altering(Changing known spells) Once Figure 1: Common Spell Editor not Final Version there spell selection has been made the editor will then list all of the properties (See Forge Math) of that given spell with corresponding adjustable sliders, spell naming box, animation and particle effect boxes. and a create button allowing for their spell to be created. 2. Chaining (Linking spells in succession) When the player chooses this function of the editor the player will be prompted to choose up to 5 spells to be chained together. The editor itself will show the users mana bar and will subtract the Mana cost for each added spell. Spells requiring more Mana than the user has remaining will be grayed out and locked from the user. Once the user is satisfied the user can then press the merge button and the spells are now chained in succession. 3. Merging (Merging known spells) When this function is chosen the player is prompted to combine up to 3 known spells. The editor will then take the 3 spells properties i.e. damage, casting time, and mana cost, and will take the average of these properties that will in turn be the new spells stats. Spell effects can be countered, boosted, or complimented depending on the spell.

Example: When merging three fire ball spells that all have a burning effect, the burning effect will then in turn be enhanced. Forge Math:

When Altering a spell the player is presented with 4 sliders representing casting time, mana cost, effect duration, regeneration time, and 2 drop down box, and 1 color palette under real-time viewing windows allowing the player to select their casting animations, spell particle effects and colors. 1. Casting Time The time in seconds it takes a magician to cast a spell. 2. Mana Cost The whole number mana cost of the given spell. 3. Effect Duration The length of time in seconds that an enemy or opposing player is affected by an effect. 4. Regeneration Time - The time in seconds it takes for a recently used spell to come become available. 5. Casting Animations How the players character will look when casting the selected spell. In this drop down menu at least 5 pre rendered and animations will be able to be selected played within the view port for the players to see and make their selection 6. Particle Effects and Colors- How the spells look when being casted. Player must utilize the drop down menu to select a particle effect type, then they may select a color within the color palette for further customization. Each slider directly affects the total damage of the given spell as well as each slider. Example: A player opens an Icicle spell and they immediately begins to lower the mana cost. By doing so the editor proportionally affects the casting time to that of the mana,

regeneration, and effect duration. If the mana cost is lowered by 10 units i.e. 40 to 30 then 0.5 seconds is then subtracted from the casting time, regeneration time and its effect time, and the total damage done by the Icicle will additionally be lowered. Numeric Values: Values that should be calculated and created within the editor should be as follows. Damage/Mana Cost/Effect Duration = Whole positive integers. Casting/Regen times = should be calculated to the nearest 0.5 seconds. Attunement Mechanics: Numeric values represent a Level 3 Magician. Attunement and Spell Progression: Attunement and spell knowledge grows as the player uses each. Essentially the players choice and usage of attunements and spell types should be logged and as the player continues to use these spells he or she will reach bench marks for the attunements where newer spells are unlocked, and attunement proficiencies of 1% are given to increase the damage, and effects of the spell types, while lowering the mana cost and casting times. Fire: Numeric Damage: A level 3 Magician should be able to perform Fire Spells that can cause between 180 250 points of damage depending on critical hits, weapon and armor attunement boosts, player defined spells, and the oppositions current level. Fire Effects: Burning Ignites an enemy with flames and causes 13 damage per second. Explode Causes greater up front damage and knocks the player back. Level 3 Magicians should be able to do an addition 45 damage. Singe Scalds the players and slows their movement and spell cool downs by 0.5 seconds.

Water: Numeric Damage: A level 3 Magician should be able to perform Water Spells that can cause between 110 125 points of damage depending on critical hits, weapon and armor attunement boosts,

player defined spells, and the oppositions current level, and between 70 90 points of healing. Water Effects: Rejuvenate Lays a large puddle of water that heals allies within it by 8 points. Freeze Freezes the enemy in their place and causes 7 points of damage over time. Corrode Shower the enemy with acidic rain that makes the opponents armor rating decrease by 10%.

Earth: Numeric Damage: A level 3 Magician should be able to perform Earth based Spells that can cause between 135 - 150 points of damage depending on critical hits, weapon and armor attunement boosts, player defined spells, and the oppositions current level, and between 125 points of damage absorption. Earth Effects: Encase Surrounds the player with rock armor granting +10 armor. Quake Shutters the ground slowing the opponents physical movements for 1.5 seconds. Blind Causes dust storms to blind the opponent for several seconds 2.0 seconds.

Air: Numeric Damage: A level 3 Magician should be able to perform Air based Spells that can cause between 125 - 140 points of damage depending on critical hits, weapon and armor attunement boosts, player defined spells, and the oppositions current level. Air Effects: Shock Casts a small electrical field that inhibits oppositions movements for 3.0 seconds. Confuse Opposition becomes disoriented and spell controls become incomprehensible for 1.5 seconds. Haste - Magicians movement and casting speed increases by 20% for 3.0 seconds.

Attunement Chart:

Attunement Effect Name Fire Burning Explode Singe Water Rejuvenate Freeze Corrode Earth Encase Quake Blind Air Shock Confuse Haste Magician Attributes: Hit Points (HP) The amount of damage a player can take before dying. For level a level 3 Magician this should be in the range of 1000 1200. This value is a range because armor (see Weapons and Armor) has the ability to boost a magicians health points. This value should increase by 50% with each new level gained. 13 DPS

Damage and Time

+45 Damage +.05 Seconds Opponent Regeneration 8 HPS (Healing Per Second) 7 DPS -10% Armor Rating +10 Armor Rating 1.5 seconds 2.0 Seconds 3 seconds 1.5 seconds 3.0 seconds

New Hit Points = Old Hit Points + (Old Hit Points * 0.50)

Mana Units The amount of magical energy a Magician possesses to cast spells. This value regenerates at a rate of 3 units per second. This value can be increased or decreased through the use of weapons, armor, or spell effects. As player progress this value should increase by 30%. New Mana Points = Old Mana Points + (Old Mana Points * 0.30)

Example: A level 3 Magician is brandishing a Mace of Mending which increases the users health points by 100 points, and grants an addition 2 mana regeneration bringing their total regeneration to 5 mana points. Armor Rating Is the amount of damage nullification given to the Magician through the use of Earth Spells, and in game armor. A level 3 Magician should maintain an armor rating of around 15 20. Again this is totally dependent on what the Magician is wielding and or casting. Armor: Armor within Ethereal serves two purposes. Firstly to give players attunement, mana, and HP boosts, and secondly to make each player unique and visually appealing. The types of armor classes are as follows. Armor Classes: Light The introductory armor that all new Magicians start with. It is light and offers little to no protection from enemies. It includes cotton based attire, and simple robes. It can only contain 1 stat or attunement boost on it at a time. Medium Medium class armor is by far the most versatile as it offers much better protection than its light counterpart, and it has the ability to give 2 player boosts. This includes cloaks, and studded robes.

Heavy This is the heaviest of all armors and is suited for the most battle hardened Magicians in Ethereal. It can house up to 3 player boosts, and is by far the most ornate sets of armor in Ethereal. This armor class includes chainmail, plate armor, and heavy cloaks. Level 3 Magicians should in fact have parts of both light and medium armor sets. Armor Chart: Note: Numeric values represent a level 3 character. Boost increase HP, Mana and attunement values by 10% Armor Type Light Medium Heavy Weapons: Weapons in Ethereal are not used for Melee damage but rather for focusing the players attunements and unleashing them upon their opponents. Weapons fall into three categories. Two handed Weapons, One handed weapons, and off handed weapons. Two Handed Weapon: Staffs Staffs allow attunements to reach their full potential and are the longest ranged weapons a magician can use to cast his or her spells onto opponents. They offer the most attunement bonuses and boosts, as well as the most outright damage. However this damage comes at a price of increased casting time and mana costs. A level 3 Magician should be cautious when utilizing this staff because they do not have a high armor rating so taking any damage could prove costly. One Handed Weapons: Wands Wands offer the shortest casting times, and must be done within a close proximity, but like the staff have proportional stats. The wand while fast in casting spells in fact weakens players spells the most. It offers quick and constant damage to opponents, but will not immediately take a players life to 50%. The wand can be thought of as a chisel that slowly breaks the opponent down while allowing the Magician to remain mobile. Armor Rating 35 50 65 Number of Boosts Allowed 1 2 3

Scepters Scepters are by far the most versatile weapons in Ethereal. They can conduct medium levels of damage at medium ranges. They contain singular attunement bonuses. Their casting times are firmly in between the staffs and wands. Off Hand Weapon: Focus While not necessarily a weapon this item is capable of being duel wielded with a scepter, or wand. It uses powerful magical boosts, to increase the magicians battle effectiveness of the player, their spells, and attunements alike. It is important to note that level 3 magicians can choose to utilize whichever weapon they want. The defining factor for weapons selection is that of their attunement levels, and spell designs. If the player wants high damage then he or she would want to utilize staffs etc. Weapons Chart: Note: Level 3, Boosts will be + 10% for each on certain attunements. Weapon Type Two Handed One Handed Off Hand Environment: Ethereal is primarily comprised of outdoor environments. Visually speaking these environments range from sprawling plains, to visually scared earth, to snowy mountainous peaks, in all the environment of Ethereal should in most ways be similar to that of real life. Environment Feel: Players and designers should feel encompassed and affected by the environments. When a player is conducting a mission on scarred earth the environment should in fact read and make the player feel as if this place has gone through hell, like wise with sprawling plains. Players should feel small and yet eager to discover the magic behind the next bend. The environment of this world is meant to be dynamic. Enemies, lakes and new rock formations may be formed through player interaction and spell consumption. Weapon Staff Wand Scepter Focus Number of Boosts 3 0 1 1

Environment Interactions: As mentioned in the pitch portion of this document, spells and attunements that are used by both the players, and the NPCs can and should affect the appearance of the environment. The environment should carry a list of properties that interact with each attunements properties. Example: Grass, Trees, and bushes should all have the property of flammable. When a fire spell is launched on or near by these environmental objects they should in turn catch fire and begin to smolder to an eventual heap of scarred ash and earth. Environment Properties: Flammable: This property allows the environment and assets within the environment to be caught on fire, take damage, and eventually turn into ash. Or even melt snow. Freezable: This property as its names suggest allows for objects to be frozen. This would include water, rain, and even portions of earth. Destructible: This property allows the immediate destruction and breaking of environment assets such as rocks, and trees through the use of Earth attunements. Deformable: This property allows the player to actually alter the terrain for a short period of time. Example: The player summons a wall of stone from the ground to shield them from the opponents incoming fiery blast. Essentially all environment objects should have the ability to have one if not more of these 4 properties attached to them. Once these properties are given to environment objects, simple animations and destruction events can then be tied to the affected area. Environment Points of Interest:

While exploring the world of Ethereal the player will traverse the expansive allencompassing world of Ethereal that has a combination of lightly and heavily populated towns, settlements, and ruins. Towns will offer the armor and weapon upgrades and repair, and access to the Arcane Forges power. Settlements will offer one service type to player. Ruins will offer exotic pickups from fallen enemies, as well as the best opportunities for attunement advancements, and bonuses.

Ruins Example: Venturing into the ruins of Balthazar will grant the players a +2% fire attunement because he is the god of fire and war.

User Interface (UI): UI Appearance: Ethereal User Interface should be reminiscent of the most RPG/MMORPGS. It should convey the Magicians HP, and Mana levels. When players are casting spells the spell name or image should be shown along with a progress bar that fills showing its casting time to the player. Below the HP and Mana Bars there will be 8 spells slots that the player can outfit and utilize during combat. In the top right corner a world map should be shown. It should resemble figure 2. UI Operation: Like most common MMORPGs players will have the ability to click spells that are present on the spell bar. In addition Figure 2 Guild Wars/Ethereal UI lay out

to just clicking the spell icons the player may also press the 1-8 keys that will then activate the corresponding spell placed on that slot number. UI Effect Interactions: Effect interactions do more than just lower attributes, and cause damage. In Ethereal the effects will actually alter the user interface appearance to effectively confirm he condition the player is suffering from. Examples: Burning This effect will ignite the players interface i.e. the spells slots, map, player avatar, edges of the screen, and even the hp and mana bars will be engulfed in flames. Freeze This effect will not only freeze your character in a solid block of ice but all of the UI elements will be glossed over with a layer of ice. As time progresses and the freezing effect fades the ice will melt away. Blind This effect will cause the players view of the game to suddenly go black. Confuse Finally this effect will cause the players UI to be become fuzzy effectively showing a dazed like state. Not only will this be done but the spell icons themselves will be shifted around randomly to confuse the players reactions which in turn may cause them to cast the wrong spell.

It should be noted that the effects themselves cannot consecutively be applied. Otherwise a player may be blind or on fire at all times. The UI effects should take place between every 3rd or 5th attack. Below is an example of a freezing effect on a user interface.

A possible way to accomplish this effect would be the creation of animated UI skins that will lay over the UI, and effectively turning down the brightness of the monitor.

Combat: Combat within the world of Ethereal is comprised of Area of Effect damage/healing, and Direct damage/healing. Players will craft their spells and utilize them in a fashion that bests fits their current scenario. It will be similar to that of World of Warcraft and Guildwars. Area of Effect (AOE) This type of combat or damage deliverance consists of spells that cause damage within a certain vicinity. They will commonly use effects such as Explode, Rejuvenate, Quake, and Shock. AOE Procedure: Player selects an AOE spell from the spell list. Then a circular reticule will then replace the cursor icon and the player must then click where he or she would want to cast this effect. Once casted an environment interaction/animation should be played.

Example: An allied player is fighting a group of 3 enemies. You decided to cast Lava Pool which causes a fissure of lava to erupt and form a pool of damaging lava where you tell it too. You then click the skill and the cursor icon now changes to a targeting icon and you click where you would like to cast the spell. Area of AOE: The effective range or area of an AOE is determined by 3 factors. 1. Attunement Level. 2. Attunement Bonuses or Boosts. 3. Spell Alteration. 4. Direct Attacks: - This type of healing/damaging spell delivers direct HP/Mana points to the targeted ally or enemy. Direct Damage Procedure: Player will select their enemy or ally by clicking them or pressing the [Tab] key. The player then only needs to press the spell icon they wish to cast. Direct/AOE Meld: Some single direct attacks will offer limited AOE abilities. Example: Using the Earth Attunement the player casts Stalagmite, which launches a giant sharp boulder at one enemy. Any enemies that are within 3 meters of the target will also receive proportional damage. Eternal Battle Grounds: The Eternal Battle Grounds is the Player verse Player (PvP) portion where players test their spells in a competitive forum where the players will fight to defend and retake the Nexus. Rules of Eternal Battlegrounds:

The goal of the Eternal Battle Grounds is to defend and or retake the Nexus, a powerful dark portal of magic. Matches are between 2 teams consisting of 8 Magicians each. Each team starts within or outside the Nexus Fortress. Attacking players must assault and capture control points to be able to respawn closer to the Nexus. While Defenders must ward off the attackers advances and reduce their spawn counter while maintaining control of the Nexus. Eternal Battle Grounds Time: Matches within Eternal Battlegrounds should last approximately 30 Minutes, but this can be variable depending on how quickly the Attackers spawn count is reduced by the Defenders. Spawn Count: Spawn count refers to the total number of team respawns allowed within a Battle. This number is decreased each time an attacking player is defeated. This number is shown in the top middle portion of the screen. This counter should be around 50 points. Win Condition: 1. Attackers successfully capture the Nexus. 2. Defenders deplete the Attackers Spawn Count to 0 3. An entire team leaves the Match. Battle Grounds Environment: A standard map for Eternal Battle Grounds should consist of the following. 1. A Two Level fortress (A fortress with an outer and inner wall) with 3 gates (multiple places of weakness), and walkable walls allowing defenders to move in and out freely while causing damage from a above. 2. At least 2 Bridges leading to the castle, these can offer choke points away from the fortress. 3. Finally at least three capture points for Attackers to respawn from. 4. See Figure 3. For rough layout.

Figure 3 Level Design

The art and terrain style of the environment should represent map specific locations and decorations. Example: A Battle taking place on the plains should be filled with partial ruins; small ponds, rubble, green and brown grass, and are mostly flat with a few drops and several village structures. The Fortress itself should be on the highest point on the plains and contain several communal structures as well. Please see the following image for reference.

Figure 4: Fortress and surrounding aesthetics.

Joining the Battle: Players join the Battle Grounds by pressing the [B] key that will then ask if the user wants to queue up for the battle grounds> The queue then separates and matches players with a similar Battle Ground ratings together. Ranking in Eternal Battle Grounds: To gain rank within the Eternal Battle Grounds players must gain battle points. Battle points are gained by accomplishing the following. 1. 2. 3. 4. Killing Opposing players. Defending or Capturing Control Points. Killing multiple players within 3 seconds of each other. Capturing or Warding off attackers from the Nexus.