#like yeah there's some jank to it that needs refining

[maintitle]

I might just be dumb, and I don't pretend to be anywhere near even passable at understanding what constitutes good and bad game design, but I'm finding more and more when folks say a game's design is 'outdated' what they actually mean is that it doesn't adhere to the most popular games of it's time.

[flightyquinn]

AI Haters, Please Read to the End

I see people celebrating every time something bad happens in the AI art world, and that makes me very sad. Because I am partially colorblind, and have ADHD, clinical depression, and other health issues that I'm less comfortable talking about. Because I can't work, and rely on family for housing and government assistance to afford essentials. For someone like me, the barrier to entry on art is high. I'm never going to own a drawing tablet, I can't get professional lessons, my focus sucks to the point where it's hard to follow tutorials no matter how much I want to, and even if all of that could be sorted, my own eyes are against me.

But I still have ideas. I still have pictures in my head that want to get out. Characters that want faces, scenes that want to be expressed, and the like. I'm still creative. I just can't properly express that creativity. Nor can I pay someone else to express it for me. However, I can tell an AI what I'm trying to depict. I can tweak the settings, make small changes, spend hours on end generating and re-generating, tweaking and re-tweaking, and making small edits that are within my power to do, until I have a picture that satisfies my need to bring the thing in my head to life. That's not "stealing". It's not pushing a button and letting the computer do the work for me. That's me having my own ideas, and trying to use the tools at my disposal to turn them into something that other people can see.

Plus, there's one other thing I can do. This is a picture I generated with AI that I'm actually quite proud of.

And do you know why? Because it started as this.

I fed my terrible MSPaint rough as hell doodle into an AI, and told it what the picture was supposed to be. And I tried again, and again, and again, until I was able to refine the result into something that I was happy with - which took a whole lot more than just pressing the button again, let me tell you.

This is my idea, from start to finish, and my shitty art became something that actually looks halfway decent. Yeah, I'm aware of the wonkiness and AI jank. I know the jawline's weird, his eyes don't match, and there's something up with his ear. It's not perfect, but it's a whole lot better than what I could do on my own.

Look, when it comes to stopping the commercialization of AI art, I'm right there with you guys. Fuck corporations that want to replace their whole art department. Fuck people who want to impersonate other artists, or take commissions to turn someone's description of what they want into a prompt. Hell, fuck the people who take the first result they're given without trying to refine it at all!

However, I don't want AI to die. AI is an accessibility option. AI is a tool that lets me go from saying for years, "I wish I could have art of my first D&D character, I have so many fond memories of him." to having that one picture. It lets me stop stealing every time I want a character portrait for a new TTRPG that I'm starting up. Because you know what? I don't have the ability to be a "real artist", and I never will. There's too many barriers for entry.

...and my situation is mild compared to what some people have to deal with. Sure, there are people who find ways to make traditional art despite disabilities, but that's an exception. It could be the rule. Why shouldn't it be?

As far as "theft" goes, I have yet to hear one explanation of why it's okay to use references, but not AI, that didn't boil down to "it's different when we do it". And what about collage? Is a collage art, or is it "theft?" What about sculptural works that use reclaimed objects? They didn't create that. They just decided how it would be arranged. Hell, what about pieces like "The Fountain" for that matter? That's a big problem I have with all this hate. If you applied the same standards to other things as to AI, then there's a lot of things that currently are art we'd have to say aren't any more.

If you have a problem with AI, why not work to make it better, instead of trying to deprive people who rely on it for self-expression of a creative outlet?

[dapperkobold]

Hypotheticals of the Storm: Tosh

So, recently it was revealed that the next hero in Heroes of the Storm will be a firebat! I’m excited, because I like firebats! Also, because a while back I told a friend I wanted a firebat hero (hellbat, technically, but that’s a minor detail) and now there’s one coming to the game!

So I figure that I should wish for more heroes! Hypotheticals of the Storm: how I would put a given character into HotS.

I have a few I really want, but we’ll start with something topical given the recent stealth re-work: the head spectre and a very dangerous man, Gabriel Tosh.

Who is this?

Tosh is head of the spectres, a kind of secret sister organization to the Ghosts, which are already a secret organization. The spectres could not be controlled like Mengsk wanted, and so he locked them away until Tosh worked with Raynor to free them and other political prisoners.

Unless Raynor worked with Nova to wipe them out. That’s kind of a funny continuity note. However, to my knowledge the canon is that he helped Tosh, but it is true that in some strains of the story he is very dead.

Well, Tychus still managed to get into HotS, I don’t see why Tosh should get left out because of schrodinger’s assassination.

Basic Ideas

Tosh would clearly be a ranged stealth assassin. Yeah, I think that it might be nice to have a stealth support or something, too, but we work with what we have. However, unlike Nova I figure that Tosh should be a sustained damage assassin, focused more on solid damage over time than Nova’s ranged combo burst damage playstyle. Based out of the abilities of Tosh and the spectre unit from Starcraft 2, I think I’ve thought of a good combination of powers.

Core Mechanic Ideas

Trait: Permanent Cloak a lot like Nova’s. Increased move speed while cloaked (for what it’s worth, given that I’m not sure if the cloak move speed boost stacks with being mounted and a lot of the time spent cloaked you also spend mounted). A nice twist on it might be to give bonus damage if you use a basic attack to break the cloak.

Health will likely be higher than most of the other stealth heroes, but not by too much. The core damage of the basic attack should be pretty good. The basic attack will likely be the basis of his damage, with abilities acting as some bonus damage, control, and survivability.

Tosh’s main limiting factor should be Mana, as even without being a burst assassin he’ll be using his abilities fairly commonly. Fine details will need to be refined, of course, but this is the basic idea.

Basic Ability Ideas

Here’s where I pulled pretty strongly from the Tosh hero unit. There’s some solid abilities there and in the spectre unit, and I think I’ve put them together into a nice kit.

Ability 1: Mind Blast A circular AoE skillshot that does some damage (about the same as a basic attack) and stuns enemies in the area. Ideally the AoE size will be about the right size to catch about half a minion wave (the caster and the ranged or melee line), maybe a little smaller. Perhaps the stun would be shorter on Heroes? That would really seal the ability as a waveclear ability, but even a short stun on a enemy hero (or heroes) can be very good if used well.

Ability 2: Shredding Round A click ability, similar to Nova’s Pinning Shot but with a different goal. It does about the same damage as a basic attack (remember, this is not a burst assassin, this is a sustained assassin). More importantly, it decreases armor on impact. -30% or -40% or something fitting. This isn’t a power from Tosh or the spectre, but it is related: while Ghosts in Starcraft 2 gained bonus damage against light units (infantry, fleshy zerg, vehicles plated with tin foil) spectres has bonus damage against armoed units (vehicles, chitinous zerg, buildings, infantry in particularly large amounts of armor). From that point of view, giving Tosh an anti-armor power makes a lot of sense to me.

Ability 3: Psychic Shield A power from Tosh in the campaign, by pressing the button a sizable shield appears around Tosh for a brief time. This would be a fine option to have to avoid burst damage and horrible death. As a shield effect it would be prone to various shield-breaking powers, but that’s the cost. The goal isn’t for this to be a solid stay-in-the-fight power or a solid escape power: It’s flexible. Maybe throw it up to avoid burst damage so Tosh can counter with his own sustained damage, maybe throw it up to buy some survival when fleeing for your life. Of course, if you’re still in a bind when that shield vanishes, or if you’re in a big enough bind that your shield melts, you’re still basically dead. Likely also on a fair-sized cooldown and/or an expensive mana cost to drive home knowing WHEN to use it over just using it.

Heroic Ability Ideas

Heroic 1: Psionic Lash An unlocked power for the spectre in Starcraft 2, an actual burst damage power! I figure I’ll give him one, there’s no need to limit him to only sustained damage. In Starcraft, it’s a simple click power that does straight up damage. I figure it should be a little more interesting for HotS.

What if it is an accurate click power, but it has a kind of homing projectile that moves at a regular rate? This gives the enemy a chance to react and possibly use a protection power. In addition, what if that projectile does the damage to the first enemy hero (and only enemy heroes!) hit? This opens the option for brave tanks to dive in and rescue the target, or humorous accidental collateral damage. It’s a bit more complex than it arguably needs to be, but it would open opportunities for interesting plays while giving Tosh a fairly reliable burst damage option if the need arises.

Heroic 2: Consume Consume is a moderately common power in Starcraft 2, found on a few different psionic units with a dark bent including Tosh. I took it out of his core kit to give him a bit of solid gameplay, but it would by no means be a bad power in HotS.

Suppose that Consume gives Tosh a lot of mana back, but he must target an allied minion, taking half of the minion’s maximum life. It becomes a choice: mana management is always tempting (and often important!), but weakening a minion wave might be the wrong choice. In addition, this wouldn’t be a bad option for a power that he can use and keep stealth, given that every stealth hero seems to have one of them.

Playstyle Ideas

It doesn’t seem all that complicated here: You stealth up to the enemy, appear and start pop pop popping away with your gun. Mind blast is for waveclear, stopping a fleeing enemy, or just to give you some breathing room. Shredding Round will decrease armor on warriors and other high priority targets so you can pop pop pop  more efficiently. Psychic Shield then is a pretty typical survival power, used when things get a little too hot to handle.

The biggest question for his playstyle is ‘why stealth’? Sure, it lines up with the character’s canon, but what does it do to his playstyle? I think it’s still a notable addition, but instead of burst damage appearing out of nowhere it’s a complete alteration of the current fight: sustained damage assassins don’t have that same kind of “Surprise!” element to them, but they instead force the enemy to rapidly re-evaluate the situation. While a burst Assassin can change the flow of the game in a single amazing play, sustained assassins change the flow of the game by supplying steady pressure. A stealth sustained assassin would then get more advantage from stealth hiding the player’s presence on the minimap, as the enemy would know where to expect pressure and the player would have some time before the enemy team can appropriately react to the change in situation.

Talents can include various basic attack Talents (Executioner in particular springs to mind) and Talents to improve Mind Blast’s control effects and Shredding Round’s damage output. There will likely be one level that’s just three Psychic Shield talents, too. I could feasibly build a full tree if people really wanted it, but for this level of pondering I don’t feel a need. Ideally, Auto attack, Mind Blast, and Shredding Round would all be potential focuses for builds (with Psychic Shield talents scattered around fairly modestly). Also possibly viable are talents that improve Stealth’s map usage, such as requiring a certain threshold of health to be lost to lose stealth. As a result, if an enemy uses a fast AoE to try and reveal a passing Tosh and doesn’t score a solid hit, the Tosh isn’t revealed and therefore the greater team doesn’t know his whereabouts or destination. However, that might be flying too close to the sun.

Problems

First of all, both the attack powers proposed are pretty solid powers that are straightforward to use without a lot of actual interaction. In addition, they’re both fairly reliable. While simple, that is boring. Boring will not do. See: Raynor, a perfectly usable hero but not at all fun because he’s just boring to use. Now, the Tosh plan I’ve set up here is certainly more complex than Raynor, but it could still use a wobble to it to add a little challenge.

On a related note, while I do think that a stealthy sustained assassin is possible, I also acknowledge that all the Assassins currently in the game have some way to capitalize on stealth, either with their huge scary high damage combo or some other kind of sudden edge. In short, if you’re playing Nova you come out of stealth and go into pinning shot and snipe, or use Holo Decoy if you want to play mind games. If you’re Valeera you have a whole set of stealth abilities. My Tosh idea doesn’t really have a setup other than “enter combat from stealth! Surprise!”

And while I do feel that the surprise would have an impact, it simply doesn’t have the same impact as “You take a bunch of damage and can’t use abilities! Surprise!”

Possible ways, therefore, to jank up Tosh’s abilities include:

1. Adding a casting time and obvious area warning to Mind Blast. Give enemies a chance to avoid or escape the area, meaning that the Tosh player needs to be intelligent about where it’s placed and who it targets. However, several other caster characters already use this gimmick. Plus, those mobile heroes are who Tosh wants to hit the most.

2. Making the range of Mind Blast very short. Not melee range short but still short enough that it’d be risky to get close enough to use. Unless, of course, you use stealth to get that close.

3. Make Shredding Round into Shredding Ammo, which causes Tosh’s attacks to apply an armor penalty for a short time. If this is usable without breaking stealth it also works with the idea of using a basic attack to break stealth for bonus damage. However, this undermines the idea of using Shredding Round against a single strong target.

4. Make it so that Shredding Round applies a damage boost and anti-armor penalty to only the next basic attack made, similar to Artanis’ Twin Blades or Arthas’ Frostmourne Hungers. The problem with those example abilities, though, is that there’s no reason to avoid casting them off cooldown, they may as well apply their effect automatically. Shredding Round would need a cooldown and mana cost that makes it clear that it is not meant to be spammed: it is meant to be used wisely to apply a steep armor penalty to a single hard target. This would also mesh with the ‘bonus damage from basic attacking from stealth’ idea.

Clearly, any of the complications presented above would need the raw numbers re-balanced from the basic types I first proposed. My bias is to apply the second idea to Mind Blast and the fourth to shredding round: Tosh then has the option to exit stealth while applying a normally tricky to land AoE stun or exit stealth with a sharp damage spike (bonus from Shredding Round and bonus from leaving stealth) and armor penalty. Both are good options that would be used in different situations.

As far as overlap with other heroes goes, there aren’t any big ones that leap to mind. Psionic Lash is similar to a few other heroics (Triple Tap from Nova or Pyroblast from Kael’thas), but I think I’ve well voiced how it would be different. At the same time while there’s a few self protection effects they aren’t the kind of thing which you really lean hard on in terms of redundancy. However, I’m by no means a HotS expert and there’s likely some other hero that does something similar (AoE stun effects in particular are seen on occasion in Heroic abilities, part of why I proposed that Mind Blast have a reduced effect on heroes) but I don’t think there’s as of now any hero that works like this.