Version History All to often when designing new heroes we need to iterate over an idea. This can be hard without the ability to store our current progress, make changes and compare the results.
Visibility The user should have the ability to share there unfinished work with others for review before it is made public. Also hero design should be able to be retired.
Base Stats While the primary, range, damage and what not is important it no less or more import then regen, attack timing, cast duration, or missile speed. We envision something closer to https://liquipedia.net/ hero panel.
Level Changes With a little understanding of data and some basic math you can provide a view of how the stats expand over the level changes. General this is done at 1, 15, & 25 but I feel this would be better at 1, 6, 10, 15, 20, & 25. Since these are the primary timing and choice points of most heroes.
Recommended Roles The user should have the ability to recommend how the hero should be played. We have the following list of roles.
- Carry
- Nuker
- Initiator
- Disabler
- Durable
- Escape
- Support
- Pusher
- Jungler
Also should be able to rank 1 to 3 stars for the complexity of those roles.
- ■■■ Advanced
- ■■ Moderate
- ■ Straightforward
Also should be able recommend a position for the hero as well. I am still auguring with myself over if it should label as 1 to 5 or safe, off, mid, etc.
Talent Tree The users should be able to extend the talent tree summaries with more details through a tool-tip. Users should also be able to link any new abilities granted, but it should also be made clear that is not a normal ability and one granted by a talent. This would be similar to Aghanim's Scepter unlocking a new ability.
Aghanim's Scepter It should be simple for the user to highlight Aghanim's Scepter change in other abilities. Also if Aghanim's Scepter unlocks a new ability it should be easy and cleanly identified that is ability is extra and unlocks by Aghanim's Scepter.
Abilities The user should be able to flag options for common features. This includes standard things like Targeting, Affects, Damage Type, Cast Range Cast Point, Cool Down, Mana Cost but is not limited to them. It should also include flags for Pierce Spell Immunity, Blocked by Linken's Sphere, Echoed by Lotus Orb, Disabled by Break, Usability by Illusions, Dispellable. All these flags should have the ability to be turned off as not all of them apply to every ability. As well as space for the main description, lore, and notes.
As well the user should have an action to quickly add an icon. http://game-icons.net is licence under CC v3.0 and I also maintain a export from Dota at https://github.com/HighGroundVision/Hyperstone so you could use their or the Dota's icons to display some quick options to the user with the ability to supply their own if they wish. Anything is better then all the heroes with same default icons... I often though a few default hero images would be nice too, I was thinking just a silhouette based on the primary type / range combination. I would be happy to share these with you if Soupffle ever finishes them for me.
Modifiers Often the user talks about a skill adding a modifier to the hero, its allies, or enemies. The user should have a area to identify these modifiers and its effects. As well as a clear link back to the ability that creates the modifier.
Summons / Extra Units Summon units need base stats, abilities, modifiers, etc. like heroes. To that end a summon is basicity a subset of hero. But the summons have some additional properties that need to communicated like, Controllable, Damage Type, Armor Type, Duration, etc. Also the user should be able to create multiple summons for a hero. Also, even summons from summons (like in the case of Broodmother)
Recommended Build The user should be able to outline which abilities would be skilled at which levels. Basically recommending how skill points should be spent on the hero. A placeholder for the talents should also be available.
Recommended Items The user should be able to create some recommended items for the hero. We broke it down into the following timings with a limit of 6 items each:
- Starting Items
- Early Game
- Mid Game
- Late Game
Change Notes The user should have the ability to display a summary list of the changes. This could be done manually or be parsing the version control.
Social Users should have the ability to shared their creations easily with others. Integrate with Reddit, Twitter, etc.
Search Users should have the ability to search for heroes or creators.
User Hero Galleries Add a hero gallery to the users profile. Show the user who created the concept, when clicked redirect to that user's hero gallery. To highlight other work done by that user.
Favorites Gallery A user should be able to flag heroes as their favorites and view a gallery of them.
Hero Spotlights Give moderators or admins the ability to flag and award heros based on contests, being accepted in CHIP, well known author, etc.