Crucible was a competitive, objective based ARPG that focused on PvEvP rather than straight PvP. As much Diablo as LoL, each map featured a unique win condition that centered around environmental interactions, rather than destroying the enemy's core. I worked primarily on said maps, handling everything from the scenarios, mob and boss encounters, and layout to asset placement.
The Frozen Docks is a fairly confined map designed for fast paced games. In it, players must capture and maintain control of objective points (located on the eponymous Frozen Docks, the King's Seat, and the Keep), earning control points over time in a manner that's instantly familiar. The close quarters and nature of stationary zones lends itself to explosive pushes, but there's always another approach for those looking to sneak around the lines.
Brisk.
The King's Seat is exposed and harder to defend, but is worth the most control points for those up to the task.
The warmer orange shadows of the upper area help to delineate it at a glance from the starker white light of the exposed center and cooler blue-green lighting of the docks.
In the Gruntling Mines players need to help a feuding gruntling chieftain win out over his rival by claiming more silver from the abandoned mines their tribe calls home. Each side regularly sends out mining crews to gather ore from the many rich seams that dot the mines and, as only the gruntlings can mine and transport the silver, it is up to the heroes to protect their own miners while "disrupting" the operations of their opponents. Slain gruntlings, after all, gather no silver.
In addition to the danger posed by roving bands of murderous players, a truly unfortunate number of monstrous spiderlings lurk in the darkened tunnels, snatching up unlucky gruntlings and generally making a menace of themselves. Gruntlings rescued from the spiderlings, by either beating off an ambush or freeing them from webbing cocoons, repay their saviors by joining their side in the conflict as additional miners.
I'm sure they're just on lunch.
In the Catacombs of Kar'varn, the players race to recover ancient dwarven relics lost when the catacombs were overrun by trolls in ages past. The heroes must contend not only with each other, but with fiendishly clever traps left behind by the dwarves, massive trolls that still roam the halls, and the unquiet dead that haunt their own tombs.
No relics are left unguarded, so it is up to each team to decide whether to split up and cover more ground at the risk of getting in over their heads or group up and take on more powerful enemies protecting more valuable relics but risk getting outpaced by a more flexible team.
He won't mind. It's not like he's using it.
