The Ultimate PVP Game: 12 Rounds of Chaos

I made this PVP game from scratch.

Table of Contents

1. Explanation

2. Making The Game

3. About Me

4. Custom Games

5. Custom Hero Chaos

6. Game Phases

   Phase 1: The Hero Pick

   Phase 2: The Character Points

   Phase 3: The Auction

   Phase 4: The Battle

7. Battle Strategy

8. Computer Stores

9. Companions

10. Money

11. Gambling

12. Hidden Numbers

13. Dazed

14. Fatigue

15. Items + Gemstones

16. Minions

17. Talents

18. Defense

19. True Strike vs Evasion

20. True Sight vs Invisibility

21. Stacks

    Armor Stacks

    Penetration Stacks

    Frenzy Stacks

    Wisdom Stacks

    Regen Stacks

    Survival Stacks

    Mobility Stacks

    Slow Stacks

    Leeching Stacks

    Shield Stacks

22. Visible Ranking

23. Council

24. Overview

25. Leavers

26. Esport

27. Battle Details

28. The Battle Terrain

29. Extra Discussion

30. Work With Me

31. Devices

32. Cellphones + Tablets

33. Disclaimer

34. Advantages

35. Downsides

36. Thievery

37. Monetization

    This System

    Going Premium

    Conclusion

38. Status Resistance

39. Slow Resistance

40. Debuff Resistance

41. Debuff Mastery

42. Conditions

43. Hexes

44. Diminishing Returns

45. Immobilized

46. Break

47. Rerolling Numbers

48. Spell Critical Strike

49. Max Damage Limit

50. Metrics

51. Bonus Points

52. Spell Negation & Reflection

53. Hero Arena

54. Chaos Arena

55. Contact Information

56. Summary

Explanation

I have created “The Blueprint” for a video game called “12 Rounds of Chaos”.

It is a PVP game – where 6 players battle each other over 12 rounds.

It has elements of:

1.  Hearthstone

2.  Diablo

3.  Dota 1 (a custom game in Warcraft 3)

4.  Dota 2 (a MOBA by Valve)

5.  Custom Hero Chaos (a popular Dota 2 custom game with a player base of 700)

6.  MMA Tycoon (this is a MMA management game that I played for many years!)

I have taken the best parts of each game – and put them into one single game.

This game – 12 Rounds of Chaos – is the perfect game for a video game company.

Allow me to explain!

This game would be:

1.  Easy to make

2.  Playable on Mobile, Tablet, Computer

3.  Very fun with lots of PVP combat

4.  Virtually limitless strategies, diversity, customization, and experimentation

5.  Easy to Monetize

6.  Easy to get into as a new player

For many people, like myself, the PVP aspect of any game is the most important part.

Not everyone is like this – but a large proportion of the player base do think like this.

They look at any game and think to themselves: “What does the PVP aspect look like? I’m not going to buy it if the PVP isn’t good”.

This game is pure PVP. Pure excitement. Pure adrenaline. Pure competition.

Every new round is a rush.

But this game is also about strategy. It requires both fast reactions – and analytical skills.

And that is what separates this game from the other PVP games on the market.

When I grew up as a kid – I competed in both table tennis and chess.

This game is a fusion of both those disciplines.

Here is a link to the PDF file. You can also download it here on Substack.

12 Rounds Of Chaos V22

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Making The Game

I have intentionally constructed this game to be easy to make. A small team of 4-5 people – could make this whole game in 6-12 months.

This is what you would need to make:

1.  6 Heroes (Warrior + Archer + Paragon + Elementalist + Necromancer + Mesmer)

2.  120 Skills (each hero has 20 skills)

3.  40 Neutral skills

4.  4 Companions (Warrior + Archer + Elementalist + Summoner)

5.  3 Minions (melee goblin, skeleton archer, dark elf magician)

6.  1 Fighting Area (where the fights take place)

7.  22 Items

8.  22 Gemstones (these can upgrade items)

9.  The Game Interface

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About Me

My name is Theo Alexander Gerken.

I am a 37-year-old:

1.  Blogger

2.  Website Builder

3.  Colon Cleansing Expert

Here is a link to my Swedish Natural Health Blog: www.tarmrening.com/blog

I have built 35 websites over the last 10 years. These websites have generated about 2 million page views, in total. I have been building websites as a hobby for the last 15 years.

I also sell colon cleansing packages that I ship from my home. Every year I hold a 7-day colon cleansing retreat – where people come and stay with me (not at my home) from all over Sweden.

Here are some pictures. I am the guy in the blue sweater. Here is my colon cleansing website: www.tarmrening.com

This is a specific type of colon cleanse where you drive out food that has been stuck in the intestines for many years.

This colon cleanse is done during a fast. You do not eat at all during this time, you only drink liquids (water, tea, fruit juice).

I have been doing these colon cleanses for many years myself, with very good results.

I am also an expert on FMT. Which stands for Fecal Matter Transplants. I help people do these transplants, it is a viable treatment for severe intestinal disorders.

I have written many blog posts about FMT on my Swedish blog.

Here is a link to those: www.tarmrening.com/fmt-coaching

I also have a popular psychology website – where I discuss the personality types of various celebrities. I am very interested in psychology.

The systems I use are “Myers-Briggs” – and the “Personality Enneagram”.

Here is that website: www.personalitytypefamouspeople.com

I even invented a new personality typing system. It is called “The Six Layers of Personality Type”.

Here is a link to that: www.personalitytypefamouspeople.com/six-layers

Apart from that, I listen to way too many audiobooks and podcasts. I absolutely LOVE true-crime shows.

I am very interested in philosophy, psychology, natural health, history, Mixed Martial Arts – and “biohacking”. I have many “health machines” at home – that do different things!

I love Youtube. My Youtube page is filled with videos about MMA – and the Roman Kingdom!

Here is a link to my Steam Profile.

I also wrote a short fiction book called “The Carrot Man”. It ended up getting good reviews (4s + 5s) by five different book blogs.

You can find it here on Goodreads.

You can find it here on Amazon.

It also got strong reviews from a couple professional authors.

But it is a weird book!

It doesn’t really have a plot. It is in the “Existentialist” genre. Here is a link to a PDF file.

Here is the PDF file:

The Carrot Man

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I also publish texts under the Billion Dollar Company brand on Substack and Medium.

Here is my Substack profile.

Here is my Medium profile.

Custom Games

I have played video games since I was a boy. It started with Tetris, Risk, and Nintendo 64.

But my real gaming experience started with Diablo 1 and Starcraft 1. I played constantly. I became obsessed. I thought about it 24/7.

All my friends played, and we talked about it in school. I would sometimes run home from school to gain some valuable playing time.

I had friends who ran home at lunch, just to get to play 25 minutes – then run back to school. This particular guy killed off several of my high level characters in Diablo 2 “hardcore” mode.

When a character died in hardcore mode – it was permanently dead.

It would become a “ghost” on your screen, you would sometimes log in – and remember all the good times you had together.

Yeah.

Starcraft 1 had a lot of fun mini-games. That was my first encounter with custom games.

I spent a lot of time on those games. They were casual fun. But they weren’t deep enough – for you to stick around.

Blizzard must have seen the positive results. Because they did the same with Warcraft 3.

This is how “Dota” was created.

It started as a custom game inside Warcraft 3. The loading time was insane. But it was a popular custom game.

I played it quite a bit.

But back then, it was just another custom game among hundreds of custom games. It just happened to be more fun than the rest.

When this custom game was made, nothing like it had existed before. It was new territory.

I lived in Edmonton, Canada, at the time. I remember a game I played in “hardcore mode” – where every time you died, you got a new hero.

I was Ursa, a ferocious physical damage dealer that does more damage with each strike, I was alone against 3-4 heroes – all my teammates had left me.

I remember killing them, and them coming back as new heroes every time.

I was 16  or 17 years old.

Valve bought the rights to “Dota” from Blizzard. They recruited “Icefrog” – the maker of the original Dota custom game.

This is how “Dota 2” came to be.

Dota 2 is now one of the biggest games in the world. It might be the biggest esport in the world, the competition prices are insane!

The price pool for the biggest Dota 2 competition, “The International”, was 40 Million Dollars back in 2021. 

For one single competition.

Dota 2 also has custom games.

Custom Hero Chaos

One of the most popular custom games right now is called Custom Hero Chaos.

At peak hours, there are about 5000 people playing it. This translates to an active player base of about 500 000 people.

Well.

1.  This game is never updated.

2.  It is horribly balanced.

3.  You cannot even use 80% of the skills in the game (if you want to win!)

4.  You cannot use 80% of the items in the game.

5.  The vast majority of heroes are completely unplayable.

6.  At the higher levels, you see the same heroes every single time.

7.  As a magician, you have to buy the same items every time.

8.  As a physical damage dealer, you have to buy the same items every time.

There are about 15 skills that are so overpowered, that picking them is an automatic win.

That’s fun.

The players try banning them every game. But we only have 8 bans – among 8 players.

It isn’t enough!

I have specifically written them – and told them – they need to increase the bans to 2 bans per player. This would give the players 16 bans each game.

Nothing has happened.

“Bans” are a good mechanism for handling power imbalances in the game. Because anything that is too strong – will get banned!

This takes a lot of pressure off the balancing team, because the players themselves help balance the game.

But you know.

Despite all these shortcomings – that never get fixed, the game is incredibly fun – and highly addictive.

It became one of the most popular custom games for a reason. Trust me – it was not an accident!

So even though the execution is lacking – the player experience is good. This proves to me that the underlying concept, the idea, the premise – is very strong.

Do you know what I’m saying?

If someone just took this custom game, copied it, improved the graphics, and balanced it – they would make a lot of money.

This game would be a big success.

Because a much worse version of it – is already successful!

Right? Am I making sense?

But I want to take this one step further.

I am adding lots of new content into the game. I am borrowing ideas from all the great games I have played over the years.

My game is called: “12 Rounds of Chaos”.

It is played over 12 rounds. The first round has 4 parts. Every round after that has 3 parts.

Let’s go through them in chronological order.

Here is a link to the Steam Page for Custom Hero Chaos.

Here is a link to a Youtube video with 62 000 views – where a guy plays Ursa in Custom Hero Chaos.

Game Phases

For round one of 12 Rounds of Chaos there are 4 Phases.

For every round after that (round 2-12) there are 3 Phases.

Here are the four phases of round one in chronological order.

Phase 1: The Hero Pick

When the game starts, you get to pick one of 6 heroes. 

They are:

1.  Warrior (sword/axe/hammer/shield)

2.  Archer (short bow/long bow/crossbow)

3.  Paragon (melee spears/throwing spears)

4.  Elementalist (fire/earth/sky/water/lightning)

5.  Necromancer (dark magic, summoning)

6.  Mesmer (illusionist)

When two players want to play the same hero, there is a bidding war for that hero. Whoever offers the most money, wins.

This “bidding war” is a brilliant mechanism for adjusting imbalances in the game. Because the better a hero is, the more money players will pay for it!

Each player gets to pick a:

1. Primary hero

2. Secondary hero

3. Tertiary hero

If two players pick the same hero at any point, there is a bidding war for that hero.

So a player build could be:

1.  Primary hero: Warrior

2.  Secondary hero: Archer

3.  Tertiary hero: Elementalist

Yes.

1. The primary hero gives you 3 active skill slots.

2. The secondary hero brings 2 active skill slots.

3. The tertiary hero gives you 1 active skill slot.

This is 3 out of 20. 2 out of 20. 1 out of 20. So 6 slots in total.

COMMENT: The “Hero Pick Phase” only happens in Round 1.

Phase 2: The Character Points

When the hero picks are done, which only happens in the first round, you get your 3 “character points”.

Each players then gets the option to:

1.  Gain all 3 points

2.  Sell 1 of their points (and gain the rest)

3.  Sell 2 of their points (and gain the last one)

4.  Sell all 3 of their points

These points are sold to the computer for a visible price, which is known to the player at the time. This price is randomized each round.

The range could be +15% vs -15% of the average price for a character point. The baseline, the index, is the average price for a character point at that stage of the game.

But the price is also adjusted with each character point sold each round. For every point sold, the prices drop slightly.

For every round a character point is not sold, the price is increased.

Let’s say you sell 1 point to the market in Round 1. You gain 2 points. There is now a character point on the open market.

The other players get to bid on that character point. 

You get a specific amount of gold for selling the point. You then get a commission of 10-20% when that point is bought by another player.

The commission percentage is known to you, when you sell the point to begin with. It varies each round.

If no one bids on that character point, the price is dropped by 10%, and it will be offered the next round.

You now have 2 character points to spend, and some extra gold.

This money comes in handy, for there is an upcoming auction this round (there is an auction every round).

These “character points” can be used for many things:

1.  They can be used to upgrade your hero metrics

2.  They can be used to gain new hero skills.

3.  They can be used to upgrade hero skills.

4.  They can be used to gain neutral skills.

5.  They can be used to upgrade neutral skills.

6.  They can be used to gain new talents.

7.  They can be used to upgrade existing talents. 

Hero “Character Points” can be used for hero metrics, skills, and talents.

The hero “attributes” are called “metrics” in this game. If you keep on reading, it will make sense to you.

Unused character points can be sold on the market in the future. If the price becomes really high, you can put that character point on the market.

You will also get a commission of 10-20% – whenever that character point is bought by another player. This commission percentage is part of the deal when you decide to sell the point.

It does not affect the price for the player that is buying the point. But they will see what percentage you are getting.

Over a game of 12 rounds, you will gain 36 hero Character Points.

You can use those 36 Character Points to learn one hero skill – and upgrade it 35 times.

You can also use those 36 Character Points to learn one neutral skill – and upgrade it 35 times.

You can also use 12 Character Points to learn 6 Hero skills, and 6 Neutral skills.

And use the remaining 24 Character Points to upgrade your Hero Metrics (hero attributes).

Or you could use 12 Character Points to learn 6 Hero skills, and 6 Neutral skills, and then upgrade every single skill two times.

Which leaves you with 12 skills at level 3. This would give you no Hero Metric upgrades, though!

You can sell Character Points on the market. You can buy Character Points on the market.

Are you beginning to see how deep this game is? How many different possibilities there are? This game makes chess look like a Toddler’s Game.

There is no limit.

Phase 3: The Auction

We have picked our heroes. We have gained our Character Points.

Time for an auction!

This auction takes place at the same time every round. This is the last part before the battle takes place. The battle takes place at the end of every round.

The auction is for:

• 1 Item

• 1 Gemstone

• 1 Companion

• 1 Minion

• 1 Item upgrade (works on items + gemstones)

• 1 Creature Upgrade (works on companions, PVE minions, PVP minions)

• 1 Hero Boost (temporary boost for the next 3 rounds)

To speed up this process, the players get 20 seconds to bid on the first four things, and 15 seconds to bid on the last three things. This way, the whole auction is over in 35 seconds.

Each player gets to put a specific amount of money towards a specific item, and whoever offered the most – wins.

Each hero has four item slots.

1. Weapon/Shield

2. Chest

3. Helmet

4. Legs

After each battle, two “transparent” items drop, which has half the power of auctioned items, and lasts for 3 rounds (after they are equipped).

There are 22 transparent items in total. 2 out of these 22 drops after every round, picked at random. These items can be sold back to the computer for about 100 gold (average price).

The price depends on the strength of the item. The strength of these items vary less wildly than auctioned items.

All players get 1000 gold the first round. And then 500 gold per round after that. You get bonus gold for winning your battle.

This gives you a minimum of 700 gold per round – if you do sell the two items that drop.

Phase 4: The Battle

We’re down to the last part!

This is where you get to battle one of the five other players. You get bonus gold for winning.

You also get an increasing bonus for each battle you win in a row. This “consecutive win” bonus increases with each win.

It has no limit.

This puts an emphasis on aggressive builds – that win the early battles.

At the end of the battle, you get a drop of 2 random transparent items.

These items are less powerful than auctioned items, and can be used for 3 rounds – before they disappear.

Keep in mind that your companions have item slots, as well! You can always sell these items to the computer for gold.

The battle itself takes place in a certain area. The hero is controlled just like in Warcraft 3, or Dota 2. But I do imagine the hero to be slightly larger.

On each side is one player, with their hero as the leader.

Each player can have at most:

• 1 Hero

• 2 Companions

• 4 Minions

These Minions are player controlled. You have to buy them at the store, or at the auction.

They are controlled just like your hero. I call these PVP Minions. PVP = Player Versus Player.

If you do not spend gold on buying these Minions before the battle, you will not have minions during the battle.

This is 100% optional.

Your companions and minions will not have skills that you have to activate. They will activate their own skills, and have passive skills.

You just need to move them around, and tell them what to attack.

You will see what active and passive skills they have before you buy them.

On each side of the battle are also computer controlled minions. I call this PVE Minions. PVE = Player Versus Environment.

On each side there is a certain amount of PVE (computer controlled) melee minions, archers, and magicians.

Each round there are:

1.  4-8 melee minions.

2.  2-4 archers.

3.  0-2 magicians.

The numbers vary within the range given above.

But odd and even Rounds – are different from each other. Check this out!

The first round is a “Random-Equal” round – meaning that the minion type – and amount, mirror each other completely.

Every odd Round is an “Random Equal” round.

The second round is a “Random-Random” round. This means that the minion amount is different for each player.

Every even Round is a “Random-Random” round.

One side could have many more minions than the other side.

Each melee minion has 1-3 active skills, and 1-3 passive skills. They do 20-60% the damage of the hero. They have 20-60% the hit points of the hero.

But they are about 20% slower, and are generally “kitable” – meaning that you can run around, and attack them from a distance.

One minion could have low hp, but high damage. Another could have high hp, but low damage. It is different each round.

They also have different skills each round. The melee minions will have at least 2 skills (1 active + 1 passive), and at most 6 skills (3 active + 3 passive).

The archers will give 50% more gold than the melee minions. They have 2-4 active skills, and 2-4 passive skills. Their damage and hp also varies.

The magicians give 50% more gold than the archers. They have 3-5 active skills, and 3-5 passive skills. These minions are computer controlled and use their skills by themselves.

The damage and the hp of the magicians also vary. 

Offensive and defensive attributes also vary, like armor, movement speed, magic resistance, lifesteal, spell lifesteal, damage block, so on.

If you play this game for 10 years, you will most likely never have the exact same minion twice. Because there are so many numbers – and attributes which are randomized every round.

This is by design.

The computer controlled minions that are on your side are upgradable. So are the player controlled minions. And the companions.

They are upgraded separately. They all have the same list of metrics.

They are:

•  Hit points

•  Hit point regeneration

•  Healing & Regeneration

•  Healing & Regeneration reduction

•  Armor

•  Magic resistance

•  Damage block physical (flat number)

•  Damage block magical (flat number)

•  Damage reduction physical (percentage)

•  Damage reduction magical (percentage)

• Movement speed

• Attack damage

• Attack speed

• Attack range

• Projectile speed (for ranged units)

• Critical strike

• Spell critical strike

• Lifesteal

• Spell lifesteal

• Spell amplification

• Casting time

• Casting range

• Slow resistance

• Status resistance (stun, root, fear, dazed)

• Debuff resistance

• Debuff mastery

• Evasion

• True strike

• Critical damage reduction

• True sight range

• Damage reflection physical

• Damage reflection magical

Each minion gets a random number inside a predetermined range. So the “movement speed” range might be 200-400. 

The “true strike” percentage might be 0%-30%. So each minion is completely different from the other. Every single round.

For both players.

The minions spellcasters have 6-10 skills in total, the skills they have will differ, and the level of each individual skill differs.

You battle each other for 30 seconds.

May the best player win!

Next round, please!

 Battle Strategy

Now that you have an overall idea of how the game runs, let’s talk strategy!

Let’s say your opponent goes a physical damage critical strike build. He has massive amounts of physical damage.

Both his hero and his two companions. He has no player controlled minions.

In this case, you might want to upgrade the:

1.  Hit points

2.  Armor

3.  Damage block (flat number)

4.  Damage reduction physical (percentage)

5.  Evasion

6.  Critical damage reduction

–of you PVE minions, to make them a “meat shield” – which provides vision and does damage, and allows your archers and magicians to do damage.

Archers and Magicians need “space” in order to do damage. If they are attacked, slowed, stunned, disabled, and forced to run – they won’t do a lot of damage!

You can even increase the amount of skills slots they have by +1.

This upgrade exists for PVE Minions, PVP Minions, and Companions. The cost varies, but it is very expensive.

You can also “rent” this upgrade for the next three rounds. Which is much cheaper, and a way to get an advantage.

Although this upgrade does not exist for your hero, it is possible to “switch” already learned skills with another skill. 

This allows you to level up a skill that is very powerful in the early game, only to swap in when the mid-game starts.

You will receive a “skill swapping” token on Round 4, and another one on Round 8. It cannot be sold.

This +1 upgrade would give the melee minions 2-4 skills, instead of 1-3 skills. The archers would have 3-5 skills, and magicians 4-6 skills.

The magicians would, in some rounds, have the same amount of skills as your hero!

Your hero could be a melee tank with lots of heal and a giant shield. In the background you could have 4 upgraded skeleton archers (PVP minions) that reign down hell from above.

They could have upgraded attack range, attack damage, and attack speed. Maybe they shoot freezing arrows – which slows the movement speed and attack speed of the enemy.

You could set your 1-2 companions to guard the area around the archers, or the archers themselves (in case they move).

The job of your hero (in this case!) would be to create chaos – and demand the attention of the opponent. Waste his time.

The archer’s job is to do damage – and create pressure. The companion’s job is to disable and attack anybody who attacks the archers.

In this case, the “Damage vs Disable” ratio on your companions could be set to 100% Disable.

This is one possible build, among many thousands.

You could change these orders halfway through the battle. Player controlled units do have simple commands like “follow this unit”, “defend this area”, and even a “default mode” – where it controls itself.

This is for casual players who only want to control one single unit. In this case, the units perform equal to the ranking bracket that you are in.

You could tell your companion to just follow your hero around, disable anybody who attacks it, and do maximum damage to any enemy unit that is about to die.

These player controlled minions will be the same round after round. Once you get them, their attributes and numbers will not change.

Each of their hidden numbers has a 10% chance of revealing themselves, each round.

These minions can be sold back to the open market at a slight loss. This allows a player to buy, use, and sell minions – and companions throughout the game.

This game is forgiving in this regard, because it wants you to try new things and experiment.

I want this game to be one giant scramble for victory. I want to see videos online – with insane risk-taking, and impossible comebacks!

Killing minions brings gold.

This gold is gained even if you lose the battle. So if you kill the opponent’s hero, without losing any of your minions – they will lose gold from that.

These minions create a balance between single target damage – and area of effect damage.

They also create the need for slows, disables, attack damage and attack speed reduction spells.

The quicker you kill a hero each round, the more money you make. So you can ignore their minions completely – and go straight for the hero like an assassin.

This would be an “assassin build”. A “pressure build” would be to battle the whole army – and break it down.

Single target attacks and spells – are better at killing heroes. Area of effect attacks (cleave/splash/bounce) and spells – are better at killing minions.

A physical attack with “cleave” does damage in an area around the target. Ranged attacks can “splash” – and do damage around the target.

Both melee attacks and ranged attacks can “bounce”, and do damage to additional targets. The “bouncing” ability comes from skills, items, gemstones, or talents.

A lot of spells casted from the hero will be “skill shots”, meaning that they can miss – and do nothing, or land and do full damage.

To defend yourself against magical attacks, you have:

1.  Hit points

2.  Hit point regeneration

3.  Magic resistance

4.  Magical damage block

5.  Magical damage reduction percentage

6.  Critical damage reduction

There is also movement speed, slow resistance, and status resistance – which helps you move and avoid getting hit.

There is also “Damage Reflection Magical” – which sends a certain percentage of damage back towards the caster.

There are also skills and items – which can reflect an entire spell back towards the caster.

“Status resistance” is a useful attribute. It reduces the time that you are stunned, rooted, feared, and dazed – from spells or attacks.

I want there to be as many ways of achieving the same goal as possible. I want lots of experimentation and risk-taking.

But the game also has to work for new players, this is extremely important.

You can have “noobie games” vs the computer where everything is slowed down, explained, and on easy mode.

These first 10 games of any player could have longer phases.

The companions have an attack vs defense ratio. Where you can go 80% vs 20% on either side. This means that you can go 80% attack vs 20% defense. 

This increases their attack a lot, but reduces their defensive attributes.

The “attack” also has a ratio. You can choose between “Damage” vs “Disables”. The default will be 50% attack vs 50% defense. And 50% damage vs 50% disables.

You can buy a companion that is set at 30% attack vs 70% defense. And the attack is set at 100% disables.

This will create a companion that is very hard to kill, and dishes out a lot of slows, roots, ensnares, stuns.

It will not do a lot of damage, though!

Companions have four item slots, just like the hero. Weapon/Shield, Chest, Pants, Helmet. Any item can be moved between the hero and the companion at any time.

Standard items for the companions can be bought at the PVE market.

You can spend gold on “upgrading” your companions. You cannot have more than two companions at the 

same time.

You can “rent” mercenary companions at the computer store for a low cost, which will fight for you for 3 rounds. You can get them cheap items – which will also last for 3 rounds.

Computer Stores

To balance out the game, there are decent items, gemstones, companions, and minions at the computer market (store).

These are newly generated every round. These are all bought for gold, and upgradeable for gold.

Any one of these can be upgraded an infinite amount of times. You can buy an item and upgrade it 15 times – if you have the money for it!

There is diminishing returns, which means that the benefit is reduced slightly each upgrade. It has to be this way, for the system to work.

Upgrading a few items many times is a viable strategy. Not upgrading the items at all – is also a viable strategy.

The possibilities are endless.

They all have visible random numbers – and hidden random numbers.

The prices vary each round, but are adjusted after one thing is bought. For every item that is bought from the computer store each round – the price rises that specific round.

For every round no items are bought, the prices drop.

There are two stores.

There is a “Permanent Store”, where everything you buy lasts the rest of the game. It has items, gemstones, minions, and companions.

There is also a “Mercenary Store” – where everything that you buy lasts for 3 rounds. It has items, gemstones, minions, and companions.

The things bought at this store cannot be sold – once they experience battle. At Round 10, these items will drop in price (there are only two battles left). In Round 11, the price will drop again.

All normal items can be sold back to the computer store for a visible price. If this happens, you get your gold immediately.

This is useful in a bidding war for an important item. It also means you can buy items when prices are low, then sell for a profit further into the game.

If you sell it back to the store, it goes to a certain place that only stores items previously used by players.

This item might now have been around for a couple rounds, and have one – or more – of their hidden attributes revealed.

If they are good, it will be picked up by another player, and you will get a commission of 10-20% from the final sale of that item.

This commission rate is known to you, when you buy the item to begin with.

Once an item reveals good stats, it will become desirable by other players.

For this reason, there will be a good market for used items with good numbers.

Items, gemstones, companions, and minions – all follow the laws of supply and demand. When few people buy, the price drops. When many buy, the price increases.

Whenever there is a new round, new items hit the store. When this happens, every new item has a 5% chance of having one of their hidden numbers revealed.

When a new item hits the store, it has a 5% chance of having one of their hidden attributes revealed.

If this happens, everybody is notified.

1.  This same item now has a 25% chance of having another hidden number revealed.

2.  Should this happen, it has a 50% chance of having another number revealed.

3.  Should this happen, it has a 75% chance of having another hidden number revealed.

4.  Should there be any hidden numbers left, they have a 75% chance of being revealed.

There are 40 New Items every round at the computer store.

20 at the “Permanent Store”. And 20 at the “Mercenary Store”. In each store, there are 5 of each type.

So:

•  5 Weapons & Shields

•  5 Chest armor

•  5 Pants

•  5 Helmets

Statistically speaking, 2 items out of 40 will have one of their hidden attributes revealed.

This might start “the spiral” of hidden number revelation mentioned above.

When an item reveals a hidden number, every player has 10 seconds to make a bid. If more than one player wants to buy it – there is an auction.

We have talked a lot about items.

But remember that melee goblin minions, skeleton archers, and dark elf magicians – are available at the store.

These are newly generated every single round. These can be bought at the “Mercenary Store” (for 3 rounds) – and at the “Permanent Store” (permanently).

Every single one of the metrics listed above will vary with each minion. They will have a different amount of skills, different types of skills, and different levels of each skill.

Every new round has completely different minions at the computer store.

The same applies to the companions. There are new companions of each kind offered every round.

The prices also vary, while being affected by the laws of supply and demand.

There would also be a “Static Store” – which always sold the exact same items.

Here you had a few different items of every type.

Companions

A “Companion” is essentially a mini-hero.

There are the:

1.  Warrior

2.  Archer

3.  Magician

4.  Summoner

The opponent gets a small gold bonus for killing these companions. The companions also give you, the player, a small amount of gold each round.

This gold is increased if the companion did not die during battle, if the other companion (their friend) did not die, and if you won.

Companions make each other stronger, they have a natural ability to share:

1.  Damage (absorbed)

2.  Armor

3.  Magic resistance

4.  Hit point regeneration

5.  Lifesteal

6.  Spell lifesteal

This ability comes with all companions, you do not need a skill for this.

20% of hit points gained through lifesteal, spell lifesteal, and hit point regeneration – is given to the other companion as a bonus.

Once companion also increases the other companions armor and magic resistance by 20%. So one companion has 20 armor, the other companions get +4 armor, for that.

20% of the damage absorbed by one companion – is redirected to the other companion. This makes it more difficult to kill them off quickly.

Your hero also gives bonuses to companions. Your companions usually get half of what your hero has.

If your hero has 30% lifesteal, and 20% spell lifesteal. Your companions get half of that, as a bonus. This gives them +15% lifesteal, and +10% spell lifesteal.

Most attributes give bonuses to companions. Players should be able to use companions effectively without centering their entire build around them.

Many of the things that benefit the hero, also benefit the companions.

Your minions tend to get 25% of what your hero has. So if your hero has 40 armor, your player controlled minions get +10 armor each.

If your hero has 20% status resistance, your minions get 5% extra status resistance.

Your companions get stronger with items.

You can buy them items the following way:

1. At the “Mercenary Store”

2. At the “Permanent Store”

3. At the “Static Store”

4. At the “Auction”

5. At the “Player Store”

You can also equip them with items that drop at the end of every battle.

At the “Player Store” you have items previously owned by players in this game. They were sold back to the system, and can now be bought by another player.

They might have several hidden attributes revealed, which tells you how good it is.

You can also buy Gemstones to upgrade your items. The “Mercenary Store” has Gemstones that last 3 rounds. The “Static Store” always has the same Gemstones.

The “Permanent Store” has Gemstones which will last the rest of the game.

These stores allows you to:

1.  Buy a companion on the market

2.  Buy items

3.  Upgrade them with gemstones

– and fight.

You can do this without ever winning an auction.

The store has new companions every single round. Each companion has a 5% chance of having one of their hidden metrics revealed.

If this happens, there is a 25% chance that another metric will be revealed. This keeps going at 25% chance until it stops.

When this happens, you have 10 seconds to make a bid. If several people want to buy, the higher bidder wins.

The exact same concept applies to PVP Minions. New PVP Minions are generated every single round. They will be different in every regard.

They will have different amounts of skill slots, filled with different skills, of different levels.

Each round, there is a 5% chance that one of their hidden metrics will be revealed. If so, there is a 25% chance that another one is revealed. If so, there is a 25% chance that another one is revealed.

This keeps on going until it stops.

The Companions and Minions presented at the auction are stronger than the ones available at the store.

They also cost more!

Money

You get 1000 gold round 1. Then 500 gold each round after that. This is the baseline. This is minimum.

You make money from killing:

1.  PVE Minions

2.  PVP Minions

3.  Companions

4.  Heroes

You make money from winning fights. The faster you win a fight – the more money you make.

You also get a bonus for consecutive wins. The more wins in a row – the bigger the bonus gets. There is no cap.

You can take out short-term loans from the system, at a high interest rate.

You might  borrow 500 gold, at 50% interest, with a 5 round payback schedule. This means you have to pay back 750 gold – over 5 rounds.

This is 150 gold per round.

This money is automatically subtracted from the money you receive each round, so you have to pay this. It is not optional.

Each round, three new loans are offered to the players.

 They are:

1.  One small loan (100-250 gold)

2.  One medium-sized loan (300-500 gold)

3.  One big loan (550-700 gold)

But for every round no loan is taken, the deals get slightly better.

There are loans available at the “Constant Store” – which are always the same. This is to ensure that players have access to capital.

When you are behind, sometimes the only way out is to take out a big loan – and hope for a big win bonus!

After every round, the fastest finisher gets a bonus. The player with the biggest damage differential also gets a bonus.

The bonuses are visible to everyone.

Every round, there are also three “Investments”. An “Investment” is literally the opposite of a loan.

Every round, three different “Investments” are offered to the players.

They are:

1.  One small investment (100-250 gold)

2.  One medium-sized investment (300-500 gold)

3.  One large investment (550-700 gold)

For every round no investment is made, the deals get slightly better. Both the loans – and the investments – follow the laws of supply and demand.

Gambling

There is also “Gambling” – where you can win anything between the sun and the stars.

There are three types of gambling.

There is:

1. “Low-risk” gambling (frequent payout of weak items)

2. “Medium-risk” gambling (moderate payout of moderately strong items)

3. High-risk” gambling (rare payout of very strong items)

You get to pick whenever you gamble.

If you are far behind? You might decide to take out a big loan, hope for a lucky round, gamble it all – and pray you win big!

Because.

Every new round has a secret “luck attribute” attached to it. It varies between -50% payouts vs +50% payouts.

The payouts the best round is 150% more than the payouts the worst round.

Other players cannot see what you gamble or if you win.

Remember that anything won through gambling can be sold to the market for an immediate payout.

This item is then offered at the player store, and you get a certain commission on that item (if it is bought).

So even if you win an item that is not useful to you, you can convert it into gold with one click.

Hidden Numbers

Every single item, gemstone, companion, minion – has randomized visible – and hidden attributes.

I played an online MMA management game for many years (MMA Tycoon), this was a hardcore game, with very serious players. I was a top 150 manager among 15 000 active players for many years in a row.

This whole game would not have been possible, if it wasn’t for the hidden numbers. Each fighter you created had a bunch of hidden numbers, which made them bad, average, or great.

Yeah!

You had to make a bunch of fighters, quickly test them, get rid of the bad ones, and keep the great ones.

But you never actually knew exactly what their hidden numbers were. This made the whole game exciting. Every single fighter you made was different.

You never made two fighters – who were exactly the same. The numbers varied between 1-150. There were about 10 attributes.

One fighter could have massive knockout power, but an average chin. Another one had no “knockout power”, but a great “chin”, and massive amounts of “heart” – which enabled them to come back from bad positions.

I have applied the same concept to this game.

You could play this game, 12 Rounds of Chaos, for 10 years, and not once get the same:

1.  Hero

2.  Item

3.  Gemstone

4.  Companion

5.  PVP Minion

The diversity and unpredictability is insane.

Because each item will have several numbers which are independently randomized within a certain range.

All numbers will probably never be the same.

To balance the game, every number on every item in the “Constant Store” is visible. These items do not have hidden numbers.

All the other items do.

Dazed

After casting big spells (which cost a lot of mana and have a long casting time) – heroes and companions can be “dazed” for a while.

Usually 0.5-1 second.

You can become “Dazed” as a result of casting a big spell, you will also become dazed if you are interrupted while casting a spell.

Interrupted with a stun, root, or a fear.

“Status resistance” reduces the time you are “Dazed”.

While you are “Dazed”, you cannot do anything. You stand still and take 15% extra damage from all sources. You also have your hp + mana regeneration halted.

After you are “Dazed”, you have 10% reduced status resistance for the next 10% seconds.

Certain skills, items, gemstones – can also cause this effect on the target.

Fatigue

“Fatigue” is a condition.

“Fatigue” makes you:

1.  Move slower

2.  Attack slower

3.  Increases your casting time

4.  Reduces status resistance

“Status resistance” reduces the duration of stuns, roots, fears, and dazed.

“Slow resistance” – reduces the strength of the slow – and increases your movement speed.

“Fatigue” is a condition. The metric “Debuff resistance” reduces the duration of all conditions.

The metric “Debuff mastery” – increases the duration of conditions you cause on your enemies.

The effect “Slow immunity” would take away the movement speed slow part of fatigue, while it lasted.

Items + Gemstones

Items and Gemstones all have randomized visible and hidden attributes.

They can be upgraded a limitless number of times, for the cost of gold.

Every item has 1-3 Gemstone slots. The distribution looks like this:

• 50% of items have 1 slot

• 35% have 2 slots

• 15% have 3 slots

Since every Hero and Companion can have 4 items each, there are 12 item slows if you have 2 companions.

This makes a minimum of 12 Gemstone slots. Probably 15-20.

Which makes Gemstones a highly attractive commodity!

New Gemstones are offered every round at the “Mercenary Store” and the “Permanent Store”.

The “Static Store” also has Gemstones that are the same every game and show all their values.

Any Gemstones that are sold back to the system will show up in the “Player Store”. I sometimes call this the “PVP Store”.

Because the items flow from one player to another player.

Minions can not have items.

Powerful Items and Gemstones – will show up at the auction every round. The highest bidder wins.

These types of items cannot be bought at the store.

Minions

There are three different types of minions.

1.  Melee goblins

2.  Skeleton Archers

3.  Dark elf mages

For the sake of simplicity, I have made the PVE Minions – and PVP Minions the same.

The PVP Minions would need to have a green ring around them in battle, to visually separate them from the other minions.

New PVE Minions are spawned every round for the battle. There are new PVP Minions every round at the market.

1. There are Minions at the “Mercenary Store”.

2. There are Minions at the “Permanent Store”.

3. There are Minions at the “Static Store”

4. There are Minions sold at the “Auction”

5. There are Minions at the “Player Store”

The Minions at the “Static Store” have all their values visible. They are never great, they are never bad, either.

They all have 2 active skills, and 2 passive skills. This is average, since their variation is 1-3.

Both the PVE Minions and the PVP Minions can be upgraded.

Here are their Metrics:

1.  Hit points

2.  Hit point regeneration

3.  Healing & Regeneration

4.  Healing & Regeneration reduction

5.  Armor

6.  Magic resistance

7.  Damage block physical (flat number)

8.  Damage block magical (flat number)

9.  Damage reduction physical (percentage)

10.  Damage reduction magical (percentage)

11. Movement speed

12. Attack damage

13. Attack speed

14. Attack range

15. Projectile speed (for ranged units)

16. Critical strike

17. Spell critical strike

18. Lifesteal

19. Spell lifesteal

20. Spell amplification

21. Casting time

22. Casting range

23. Slow resistance

24. Status resistance (stun, root, fear, dazed)

25. Debuff resistance

26. Debuff mastery

27. Evasion

28. True strike

29. Critical damage reduction

30. True sight range

31. Damage reflection physical

32. Damage reflection magical

Minions give a small amount of gold to the owner every round. The amount is increased if they did not die, and if you won the battle.

A minion will give its owner about 1/12 its own cost in gold every round. A little bit more if the minion does not die, and have friends who also did not die.

The longer a minion goes without dying, the more gold it generates. For every battle you win, where a Minion does not die, the gold it generates increases by 10%.

There is an additional 1% for every other Minion in the battle (their friends!) who also did not die. So 13% increase at the most.

Minions get a 25% boost from (most) Metrics of the Hero. Making your hero strong, will strengthen both your companions and your minions.

This boost is only applied to PVP Minions.

The PVE Minions can be upgraded with gold by improving their metrics.

Your PVP Minions also share attributes. They give each other a boost.

They will share:

1.  Damage (absorbed)

2.  Armor

3.  Magic resistance

4.  Hit point regeneration

5.  Lifesteal

6.  Spell lifesteal

20% of the damage absorbed by a minion – will be spread out across all other Minions.

If you have two Minions, and the first one has 20 armor? Then the other Minions get 20% of that as a boost. It gets +4 armor. If it had 20 – now it has 24 armor.

Minions will also share lifesteal, magic resistance, hp regeneration, and spell lifesteal.

Every Minion gives every other Minion a 2.5% boost in all Metrics. That is a 10% boost – if you have 4 Minions. Towards every single one of their 32 Metrics.

That’s a lot of points!

It is a viable tactic to only have 1 or 2 Minions. It should also be a viable tactic to have 3 or 4 Minions.

Minions should be played at the:

1.  Casual level

2.  Moderate level

3.  Hardcore level

4.  Pro level

Minions are boosted by your hero, and by each other. 

You can upgrade each of their Metrics separately, or all at the same time.

Talents

The introduction of “Talents” was a big thing in Dota 2. It added a level of complexity that was highly needed for hardcore players.

For a while there, they would only add 2-3 new items a year – things were getting stale! We had been playing the same game for too long!

12 Rounds of Chaos would have 6 levels of talents. Round 2, 4, 6, 8, 10, 12. In every level, four different talents would be offered.

There would be:

1.  One offensive talent

2.  One defensive talent

3.  One that gave mobility

4.  One that generated gold

In Dota 2, the talents are so strong – that you have to pick them. It is just a matter of which one.

This removes the option of choice. The talents in this game would be good, but not so good that you have to pick them.

Picking a talent takes a valuable “Character Point”. This point could have been spent on learning a new skill, or upgrading a new skill.

It could also have been spent on improving your hero Metrics. Which will boost both your Companion – and your Minions.

Every single Talent can be upgraded a limitless number of times.

1.  The first upgrade might be an 80% improvement.

2.  The second might give you a 70% improvement.

3.  The third might give you a 60% improvement.

4.  The fourth might give you a 50% improvement.

5.  The fifth might give you a 40% improvement.

It depends on what the talent is doing, each talent has to be scaled according to its effect on the game.

Upgrading talents should be a viable strategy. Not picking any talents should also be a viable strategy.

That is the goal.

We want as many different pathways to victory as possible.

I can imagine a future, when the pro scene is shocked by new players winning competitions with completely new builds.

In Dota 2, which I love, you have 3 Attributes.

In this game, you would have 40 Attributes.

This game would function very well as an esport. There is no game like it on the market.

Defense

There are a lot of options when it comes to defense.

Let me explain!

You got:

1.  Armor

2.  Hit points

3.  Hit point regeneration

4.  Magic resistance

5.  Damage block flat number physical

6.  Damage block flat number magical

7.  Damage reduction percentage physical

8.  Damage reduction percentage magical

9.  Lifesteal

10. Spell lifesteal

11. Status resistance (reduces stun, root, fear, dazed)

12. Evasion

13. Critical strike reduction flat number

14. Critical strike reduction percentage

15. Healing & Regeneration (increases all healing & regeneration)

16. Slow resistance (reduces effectiveness of slows)

17. Debuff resistance (reduces the duration of debuffs)

18. Damage reflection physical (reflects a percentage of damage back to the attacker)

19. Damage reflection magical

20. Max damage limit per second (caps the damage a unit can take)

The “Max damage limit per second” is a Metric that sets a limit to how much damage your unit can take over one second.

This limit can be defined as a “fixed number” (like 500 damage), or as a “percentage of your max hit points” (like 10% of max hp).

This Metric could limit your hero damage to 10% of you max hp every single second. This way, it would take at least 10 seconds to kill your hero, if it started with full health.

In terms of both “Defense” and “Offense” – your Companions get 50% of your hero Metrics, and your player-controlled Minions get 25%.

There are effects which regenerate 1% of your max hit points every time you take damage or are affected by a spell. This effect would normally have a 1-3 second cooldown.

This effect is very useful in longer, drawn out fights.

This effect can be paired with the Metric that sets a limit to how much damage you can take in one single second.

There is a whole system when it comes to “Evasion” (nr 12 on the list) – and “True Strike”.

This is discussed below!

True Strike vs Evasion

“Evasion” in this game functions like evasion always does. You evade physical attack a certain percentage of the time.

You can also have a skill, item, or gemstone – which gives you 100% evasion on the first attack that comes in every 2-5 seconds.

This is very useful when a powerful Hero or Companion is targeting you. As one of those avoided strikes could have been a big critical strike.

It is also very useful when running away, as you will be absorbing fewer strikes.

“True strike” is exactly what it sounds like. It counters “evasion” whenever it is applied. A weapon, skill, or talent – might give you “true strike” 50% of your attacks.

If your opponent has 100% Evasion, then you will land 50% of your attacks.

If they have 50% Evasion, then you will land 75% of your attacks.

But wait – there is more!

Since I want there to be as many different pathways to victory as possible, I have reinvented this system.

So while “True Strike” counters “Evasion”, another level of “Evasion” – will counter that “True Strike”.

This would, in the game, be called “Double Evasion”, or “Evasion 2x”.

Now, the attacker can now get another item which brings “True Strike”, which will make it “Double True Strike” – or “True Strike 2x”.

And on it goes.

It is a battle of who can amass the most amount of “True Strikes” vs the most amount of “Evasion”.

There could be a point where the attacker has “Trie Strike 3x”, and the defender has “Evasion 4x”. This attack would be evaded.

This little meta-game goes on forever, there is no set limit.

You could have 7x True Strike vs 7x Evasion – and all those attacks will land.

But wait – there is more!

There is something called “Undeniable True Strike”, this is a strike which counters all levels of Evasion (no matter what number!).

A really powerful item fitted with rare gems might give you “Undeniable True Strike” – 50% of the time. If the opponent has 30% Evasion, 85% of your strikes will land.

They will still avoid 15% of your strikes.

In the same vein, there is something called “Undeniable Evasion”. This type of Evasion trumps all levels of “True Strike” – no matter what number.

A really powerful item fitted with rare gems, might give you 50% “Undeniable Evasion”.

The only thing that penetrates this evasion is “Undeniable True Strike”. All other forms of strikes get evaded.

If you have two separate items which give you “True Strike” 20% of the time.

You will have one level of “True Strike” 36% of your attacks, and you will have “Double True Strike” – 4% of your attacks (20% of 20% = 4%)

True Sight vs Invisibility

The exact same concept is applied to “True Sight” and “Invisibility”.

“True Sight” makes “Invisible” units visible.

But if your opponent has two things that make him invisible, then he has “2x Invisibility”, or “Double Invisibility”.

This will be shown on the screen as a “2x” on top of the invisibility icon.

Your opponent now has you activate two things (skills, items, talents, gemstones) that generate “true sight” – in order to see the hero.

If you have several items and skills that give you invisibility – and run around with “5x Invisibility” – this makes you really hard to see!

You would need “5x True Sight”, in order to see this person!

To counter this, there is something called “Absolute True Sight”.

“Absolute True Sight” counters all forms of invisibility.

“Absolute True Sight” has a limited duration, and a limited range. It does not make invisibility useless.

In the same vein, there is something called “Absolute Invisibility”. This trumps all forms of “True Sight” – except for “Absolute True Sight”.

Is this making sense?

Attacking or casting spells brings you out of invisibility instantly.

All invisibility items – and skills – do have a cooldown.

Every single thing in this game, without exception, is going to have a counter.

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Stacks

In Dota 2, which I have played for 3400 hours, in total, there are a couple skills which generate “stacks”.

There is something nefariously fun about building “stacks” – of any kind! It hijacks the “progress” part of our brain.

We want to see how high we can go. And it is definitive – you can visually see the number increasing, and the result in the game.

There is a hero called “Slark”, who generates the attribute “Agility” (brings attack dmg, attack speed, and armor for him) with every single strike.

This hero is actually really strong in Custom Hero Chaos. I have been completely dominated by this hero several times in the duels.

It was not pretty!

This ability is called “Essence Shift”. Because he actually steals this attribute from the heroes he strikes. In Custom Hero Chaos, you can use this ability with any hero.

There is another ability called “Reactive Armor”, where you gain a “stack” of armor and hp regen – for every single time you are attacked.

Without stacks – you’re a nobody. Fully stacked – you are unbeatable!

Each type of stack has a specific visual icon on the screen. The number on top of that icon – tells you how many stacks you have.

For some stacks, there is a max limit. For other stacks, there is not. But all stacks have a certain duration. Each stack has its own timer.

As you might have guessed – by now – I want “Stacks” to be a big part of this game.

The ability to build “stacks” becomes available with:

1.  Items

2.  Gemstones

3.  Active skills

4.  Passive skills

5.  Talents

There are two types of stacks.

1. You can build “stacks” on your hero, which makes you stronger.

2. You can also build “stacks” on your opponent, which makes them weaker.

The first stack is a boost, the second stack is a debuff.

Armor Stacks

In this case you have a defensive hero, and you pick a skill which makes you build “Armor Stacks”.

You get one stack every single time you take physical damage from any source. Each stack lasts for 15 seconds.

1.  The first 1-20 armor stacks gives you +1 armor each.

2.  Stack 21-40 gives you +1 armor each, but it also gives you +1% evasion each.

3.  Stack 41+ give you +1 armor each, +1% evasion each, and +0.5% “absolute evasion” per stack.

So having 60 armor stacks – will give you 60 armor, 40% evasion, and 10% absolute evasion.

“Absolute Evasion” works against “True Strike”.

In order to counter this, the attacker must gain “Absolute True Strike” on their attacks.

A strong item might give you 20% “Absolute True Strike” on your attacks. These attacks will counter any amount of evasion.

As you can tell, the “Stacks” gain another quality every 20 stacks. Stack 21 provides a new benefit, and stack 41 provides a new benefit.

This is by design.

Most stacks work this way, but there are stacks which give the same benefit the whole way.

The metric “Debuff Mastery” – will increase the duration of your stacks.

The metric “Debuff Resistance” – will decrease the length of the stacks – that they have on you.

The term is exactly what it sounds like.

“Debuff Mastery” makes the stack better. “Debuff Resistance” makes it weaker.

Penetration Stacks

There is also something called “Penetration Stacks”.

They are applied to your opponent each time you attack them with a physical attack.

They last for 15 seconds. Each stack has its own duration.

1. Stack 1-20 gives -1 armor each.

2. Stack 21-40 gives -2 physical damage block each

3. Stack 41+ give -1% physical damage reduction

Here are some examples:

1. So 20 stacks gives the opponent -20 armor.

2. 40 stacks gives the opponent -40 armor, and -40 damage block on each absorbed attack.

3. 60 stacks give -60 armor, -80 damage block, -20% physical damage reduction.

If they had 30% physical damage reduction, they now have 10%.

These can go into negative numbers, which will cause physical damage amplification. Armor can become negative. Damage block can also become negative.

Since this is a debuff applied to the opponent, it will amplify all other physical attacks on that opponent.

It will increase the physical damage of:

1. Companions

2. Minions

3. Summoned units

This is why building stacks is so powerful.

For every 20 stacks, the stacks gain a new quality.

The opponent’s metric “Debuff Resistance” – will decrease the duration of your stacks on them.

This metric will fight against your metric “Debuff Mastery” – which increases the length of your stacks.

If you have 20% “Debuff Mastery”, and they have 15% “Debuff Resistance”? Then, the duration of each stack will increase by 5%.

Frenzy Stacks

There is also “Frenzy Stacks”. These stacks are applied to your own hero as a boost.

They make you stronger.

1. Stack 1-20 gives you +2% attack speed each. 20 stacks = +40% attack speed.

2. Stack 21-40 gives you +2 damage each. 20 stacks = +40 damage.

3. Stack 41+ gives you +2% lifesteal each. So stack 41-60 gives you +40% lifesteal.

“Lifesteal” is applied whenever the damage is physical. “Spell lifesteal” is applied to all magical damage.

60 Frenzy stacks would give you: +120% attack speed, +80 damage, +40% lifesteal.

Wisdom Stacks

“Wisdom Stacks” are applied to your hero as a boost. They used by magicians and spellcaster.

1. The first 20 stacks give you +1% spell amplification each.

2. Stack 21-40 gives you +1% spell lifesteal each.

3. Stack 41+ gives you -2% casting time each.

So 60 stacks would give you: +60% spell amplification, +40% spell lifesteal, -40% casting time.

Almost all spells have a casting time.

The bigger the spells, the longer the casting time. A normal casting time for a normal spell is 0.3-0.5 seconds (300-500 milliseconds).

If you get interrupted during this time, the spell will not be casted. You can get interrupted through stun, root, fears, and dazed.

Really big spells can have casting time of 1-3 seconds.

Whenever a spell is interrupted, it goes on cooldown with half the cooldown. The mana is used.

There is a condition called “Dazed” which has the same duration as the casting time of the spell. 

A “Dazed” unit cannot do anything – and take 15% increased damage from all sources.

A “Dazed” unit will lose 3% status resistance for every 0.1 seconds that they were “Dazed”. This debuff will last for 10 seconds.

“Debuff Resistance” will reduce this time by whatever percentage.

If a Hero gets interrupted while casting a 0.5 second spell, they get “Dazed”for 0.5 seconds, and lose 15% status resistance (5x3=15) for the next 10 seconds.

“Status Resistance” reduces the time that you are “Dazed”.

Regen Stacks

There is also something called “Regen Stacks. These give various forms of hp regen.

1. Stack 1-20 gives you +1 hp regen per second.

2. Stack 21-40 gives you 0.1% of max hp as regen per second.

3. Stack 41+ increases your max hp by +1%

So 60 stacks would give you: +60 hp regen per second, 2% max hp regen per second, +20% max hp.

Your “Healing & Regeneration” Metric will increase the power of these heals.

If you have a 15% increase, the numbers above will be increased by 15%.

This Metric also increases the power of healing auras, and healing of other friendly units.

Survival Stacks

“Survival Stacks” are defensive and applied to your hero.

1. Stack 1-20 gives you +2hp every time you take damage (has a cooldown of 0.1 second).

2. Stack 21-40 gives you +0.5 armor and +0.5% magic resistance each stack.

3. Stack 41+ gives you +1% physical and magical damage reduction per stack.

So 60 stacks would give you: +120 hp every time you take damage, +10 armor and +10% magic resistance, 10% damage reduction.

Mobility Stacks

There is something called “Mobility Stacks”. They are a boost and are applied to your hero.

1. Stack 1-20 gives you +1% movement speed increase each. 20% in total.

2. Stack 21-40 gives you 2% slow resistance each. 40% in total.

3. Stack 41+ gives you a 350 radius slow aura – which reduces movement speed by 2% each.

So 60 stacks would give you: +60% movement speed, 40% slow resistance, 40% slow aura to enemies nearby.

Slow Stacks

“Slow Stacks” are applied as a debuff on the opponent.

1. Stack 1-20 reduces enemy movement speed by 1% each.

2. Stack 21-40 reduces enemy “slow resistance” by +2% each.

3. Stack 41+ reduces the movement speed of every enemy unit on the map with 1%.

So 60 stacks will give the target: 60% reduced movement speed, 80% reduced slow resistance, 20% movement speed reduction of all enemy units.

Leeching Stacks

There is also something called “Leeching Stacks”. They are a debuff applied to the opponent.

They always work the same.

Every single stack makes the opponent lose 0.1% of max hp – and max mana, every second. This is given to the enemy, and evenly spread out among units within a 350 radius.

1. 20 stacks will make the opponent lose 2% of max hp, and 2% of max mana every second. This will be given to nearby opponents.

2. 40 stack will make them lose 4% of max hp and mana every second.

3. 60 stacks will make them lose 6% of max hp and mana each second.

Lifesteal and spell lifesteal works on this type of damage. Regeneration amplification also amplifies the heal.

Spellcasters can also build “leeching stacks on the opponent”.

A normal spell will yield 2 stacks. A bigger spell will give 3 stacks. The really big spells will give 4 stacks each.

The same concept applies to “Slow Stacks”, “Frenzy Stacks”, and “Penetration Stacks”. Spellcasters can also build these types of stacks.

Single-target spells generate 50% more stacks to that specific unit. Area of effect spells generate 50% less stacks to the affected units.

You can build stacks with both single-target spells – and area of effect spells.

Building stacks should be good, but not overpowered.

You should not have to build stacks, in order to win, or compete at the higher levels.

I want to see a large variation of strategies and tactics in every single part of the game.

I remember playing Diablo 3, which is a great game! 

But there was one single build each season that you HAD TO GO – in order to do the higher rifts.

For physical damage dealers you HAD TO go crit builds. You just had to. For any other build did not even come close in damage.

I remember thinking to myself “How fun would it be if there were 5, 10, or 15 viable builds at the highest level?”

The answer: A lot of fun!

Shield Stacks

A “Shield Stack” is a buff that sits on your hero.

Shield stack works the same no matter how many stacks you have. Just like “Leech Stacks”.

A “shield stack” will reduce all incoming damage by 5. Any type of external damage that does more than 1% of your max hp – will generate a shield stack.

Shield stacks last for 15 seconds, just like any other stack. The effect has a cooldown of 0.5 seconds.

1. For the first 20 stacks = you get 100 damage reduction for incoming damage.

2. 40 stacks gives 200 damage reduction.

3. 60 stacks gives 300 damage reduction.

A normal spell in this game does about 300 damage.

This damage reduction works on both physical and magical damage.

If an enemy unit has 40-60 shield stacks? You can ignore them – and kill everyone else.

However!

There are items/gemstones/skills/talents that reduce the CURRENT stack count of an enemy by 50%.

There are also effects that limit the enemy hero from building new stacks. They do, however, get the benefit of the stacks they already have.

If you wait 5-10 seconds, they will have lost half the stacks they had. You can wait them out.

There are counters to stacks.

Stacks are good – but not overpowered!

Visible Ranking

In the Dota 2 custom game Custom Hero Chaos – every single player has a clearly visible ranking displayed before each game.

I have 3800 at the moment, which might be in the top 5-10% of players. The highest I have seen – is low 5k.

This is appropriate for a pure PVP game, and takes away the pressure of choosing between “ranked” and “unranked”.

You can always play against the computer to practice. Players within the same range will be matched against each other.

A visible number that represents your current playing skill – awakens the competitive instinct in PVP players.

Council

If I ran this game, I would have a “Council” of the top players, where they would give feedback – and vote on changes in the game.

You could have a special “Council” for the top 1% of players. Another one for the 2-10%.

This would prevent discontent from building in the player base, while the game makers isolated themselves from all the criticism.

If these players actively contributed to the game, I would not mind paying them a symbolic fee.

If possible, I would also institute a “salary” for the Top 100 players of each region. Where they actually got money each month for staying so high in the rankings.

This would generate a positive feedback loop, and the original cost would not be that high.

It might be 50 dollars a month for a player ranked 100, and 500 dollars a month for player 1.

It would just be a really cool feature.

It would help set the foundation for turning this game into a big esport.

Overview

PHASE 1: So first you have the hero pick phase, where your primary, secondary, and tertiary hero is picked, and bidded for at the auction (if someone else also wants that hero!).

PHASE 2: You then have the character point phase. This is where you gain – or sell – one or several of your character points.

PHASE 3: Now is the auction phase. Now you get to bid on one item, one gemstone, one companion, one minion, one item upgrade, one creature upgrade, and one hero boost.

Each of these things have randomized visible and hidden numbers.

PHASE 4: Then you have the battle phase. This is where you fight against another player and their computer controlled minions. This player might have a companion and minions won at the auction – or bought from the computer store.

If each phase takes 30 seconds.

ROUND 1: The first round has 4 Phases – and will take 2 Minutes.

ROUND 2-12: Every round after that will have 3 Phases and will take 90 Seconds.

Each 12 round game will take 18 minutes and 30 seconds.

Leavers

If someone leaves, then one player would skip battle every round. This player would get a normal amount of gold for that round.

If another person leaves, then the four people that are left – will simply fight each other on rotation.

There would be a punishing system for abandoning games.

Where each warning makes you unable to play the game for a certain amount of time.

It could look like this:

• Warning 1: 30 minutes

• Warning 2: 3 hours

• Warning 3: 24 hours

• Warning 4: 72 hours

• Warning 5: 2 weeks

The warnings would be reset every third month.

Esport

This game would do well as an esport.

All successful esports are PVP games. There are no single player games which are esports.

This game is pure PVP. Pure competition.

If this game was well made, ran smoothly, without bugs – and major issues?

It would become the biggest esport in the world.

You have now read a large portion of this document, do you agree?

Battle Details

You make money for every minion, companion, and hero you kill during the battle.

The faster you kill the hero, the more money you make.

Each battle is 30 seconds.

This is to encourage aggressive playstyles.

If no hero is killed during this battle, it is about who’s hero has the highest hp, as a percentage of max health.

If both hero’s are at 100% it is about who did the most hero damage.

The Battle Terrain

Since every battle takes place in an identical area, you only have to make one single space.

In this regard, this game is extremely easy to make. You don’t have to make an entire world from scratch.

No.

In the Dota 2 custom game Custom Hero Chaos – each battle takes place in a small open area with trees around the edges.

That’s it. The ground is flat and unmarked.

There is no grass, no cliffs, no animals, there is nothing but a thin line of trees along the edges of the fighting square.

And the duels that take place on that surface is the most exciting part of the entire game!

Yes.

If this fighting area is the centerpiece of the most popular Dota 2 custom game, let’s imagine what a well made game could be like?

Shall we?

Taking something that already works, and making it much better, is the absolute best way to ensure success.

This is what I am doing with this document.

Let’s imagine a fighting area with grass, old trees with sprawling branches, waterfalls, flowers, nymphs – and old abandoned statues from forgotten civilizations.

And an artistic backdrop to that.

I don’t want the terrain to be a big factor in the battle, but I would like it to be a small factor.

It should be possible to win a battle through clever positioning – and intelligent use of the terrain.

Arrow and spears should have 15% true strike, +25% projectile speed and +10% range – while on a hill. That makes sense.

Units behind a cliff should also be somewhat protected from projectiles. That also makes sense.

There could be a slight movement speed slow while crossing the river.

For every round, there should be a big number in the background.

This could be “Round 1”, or it could be just the number, as in “1”.

It would be a nice visual.

I would also like to have a timer that counts down every phase. And maybe a voice counts down the last 5 seconds.

5, 4, 3, 2 ,1 – BATTLE!

Extra Discussion

Each Hero has 20 skills. 6 Heroes. That’s 120 skills. 

There are 40 neutral skills. That makes it 160 skills.

• Each melee minion gets their skills from a pool of 20 skills.

• Each archer minion gets their skills from a pool of 30 skills.

• Each magician minion gets their skills from a pool of 40 skills.

You only have to make 90 kills for these minions to present an endless stream of variation.

The passive skills they have could be similar to the neutral skills the hero’s have.

1. How many skills they have varies.

2. The level of the skill also varies.

3. And what skill it is, also varies.

The level of each skill varies from level 1-5.

Then you have the randomized hp and damage attributes (80% max vs 20% min)

Companions have 4-6 active skills, 4-6 passive skills. The level of each skill varies from level 1 to level 5.

There are four types of companions:

1. Warrior

2. Archer

3. Elementalist

4. Summoner

The Companion skills could be drawn from the hero pool, which saves a lot of work.

I do think a team of 4-5 people – could make this game in 6-12 months.

Work With Me

If you decide to move forward with this game, I would like to be a part of this process.

I need someone who has money, connections, and who has capacity to make a video game.

I need someone who can handle the business side of things.

I could be taken on as a consultant on the game. To make sure it moves in the right direction.

One way to completely kill this game? Is to make the battles turn-based. I’ll make sure that doesn’t happen!

Did you know Diablo 1 started as a turn-based game? It started as a picture game! You were just shown a bunch of pictures!

Crazy.

I want to be a part of the whole journey. Refining the concept. Making it. Testing it. Balancing it. Communicate with the players. Make new content. Turn it into an esport.

Who would have a better understanding of this game, than the person who created it?

That’s a rhetorical question. I can admit that.

I have spent 30-40 hours a week playing Custom Hero Chaos, in order to master the game.

I want to truly understand what makes this game work. When so many other games failed.

I would be prepared to fly down to Nigeria, or any other country. I would be prepared to move, if that was required.

I do have other skills.

I have been building websites as a hobby for 15 years. 

I have made 35 websites –which have gotten about 2 million page views over the last 10 years.

I grew up with a Canadian stepfather. I lived in Canada for many years. I am fluent in English. I can write at a professional level.

I could help with the writing, as well.

But I think I would have the most impact as a consultant on the game from beginning to when it is released.

I want to be the “Lead Designer” of this game. Just like “Icefrog” is doing with Dota 2.

I want to be the “Icefrog” of the upcoming esport: 12 Rounds of Chaos.

Devices

At the beginning of this document, I said that this game is playable on:

1.  Mobile

2.  Tablet

3.  Computer

–which is true.

But the game would have to be altered – in order to be played on tablets and cellphones.

Cellphones + Tablets

It is not possible to control 7 different characters (1 hero + 2 companions + 4 minions) on a cell phone. It cannot be done.

It lacks a mouse and the ability to give precise directions.

When played on a cellphone, you would remove the player controlled minions. You would have just your hero and your companions.

The companion(s) could be fighting, on your side, with instructions given before and during the battle.

While In battle, you would control your companions through a panel with 10-20 simple commands.

• “Stay close to the hero”

• “Protect the hero”

• “Target the enemy companion”

• “Target the enemy hero”

• “Do maximum damage”

• “Disable enemy hero”

• “Disable enemy companions”

• “Target the minions”

You could also click a button where they fought completely by themselves.

When your companions fight for themselves, they will perform at an average level for your current ranking bracket.

Your focus should be your 6 Active Hero skills, and moving around the map. 6 skills + moving about – is not too much for a cellphone!

That is 100% manageable.

I would put the tablet and the cell phone in the same category. A small tablet is only slightly bigger than a big cell phone.

People on cellphones and tablets would be fighting each other. The people playing on a tablet would have an advantage over the people playing on a cell phone.

It is easier for them to see what is happening – and give direct instructions. The screen is bigger, and you can click your spells better.

And land those skill shots!

It is very important to tap into the cellphone gaming market. It stands for 60% of ALL money made from games.

This number takes into account all gaming consoles (Xbox, Playstation, Nintendo), and all computers (PC, Mac).

There are a large number of people who’s only gaming experience is mobile games. Women are overrepresented in this category.

It is important to reach them by offering a solid mobile game.

This game would be simple enough to get going, but deep and complex enough for people to stick around!

Right.

There is a new custom game on Dota 2 called “Autobot Heroes” – it has 100% automatic battles. You literally do not do anything.

Nothing.

You just lean back and watch – and let the computer battle the other person’s computer.

This flaw in game design should have been discovered at the concept stage.

It was not.

The more options and “skill shots” you have, the more fun a game becomes.

I spent about 15 hours playing “Autobot Heroes” – just to learn what not to do.

Playing a game with no active component, is kind of like watching a movie where nothing happens.

Disclaimer

DISCLAIMER: Anything I say, or write, in this document could be completely wrong – I am open to change my mind.

These are my thoughts at this point in time, I am sure a lot of things would change if this game came into development.

I am not an expert on video game development, I have been experiencing them from the player perspective for many years.

I would be 100% open to change anything mentioned in this document.

As long as you communicate honestly with respect – any issue can be solved.

I just wanted to put that in there!

Advantages

There are 5 (!) clearly defined advantages when it comes to this game.

Advantage 1: This game would not require a large amount of resources to be made. It could be made rather quickly, and the “risk” taken on by the game development studio, or investors, is rather small.

This is the first advantage.

Advantage 2: The second advantage is that it is based on a concept that we know works. A much simpler (and worse!) version of this game is currently up and running in the Dota 2 custom game lobby.

I know you already know this, but I still need to say it!

Advantage 3: The third advantage is that there is a large gap in the market for this type of game. Once this game is made, and becomes popular, this will become apparent to everyone.

I am sure a bunch of “clones” will be released a couple years later!

Advantage 4: The fourth advantage is that I have added a lot of new content. This is not something that can be done “mechanically” – it has to come from a creative person.

Advantage 5: The fifth advantage is that this game will work for all devices. It would work for mobile, tablets, and computers.

It could even be released on consoles.

Downsides

In the section above I outlined five main advantages with this game.

So why don’t we discuss its downsides, as well?

One potential downside, is that new players are “overwhelmed” with the amount of options in the game.

The possibilities are endless.

There are so many new items available each round with new attributes. There isn’t time to go through them all.

The first few games are the most important.

I have never played a game with an “auction” element to it – have you?

One solution is to slow down the first 5-10 games a player plays. These could be called “Noobie Games” – where every single phase is 60 seconds – instead of 30 seconds.

I would construct a “Training Zone” – where you play against the computer on easy mode. 

In this mode, you can take as much time as you want. Helpful tips show up on the screen every now and then. In this mode, the player would have to click a “Next Phase” button for the game to move on.

You could also direct new players to a well-made Youtube video – where a person explains the game in a simple manner.

Controlling many units is overwhelming for a casual player. The PVP element brings a level of stress.

All player controlled companions and minions should come with a “default” option where they control themselves – and perform at an average level.

You can access a panel where you can direct your companions and minions with simple commands.

Playing against the computer on easy mode, without a time limit, where you cannot die, is the best way of learning a new game.

It takes away all the pressure, and allows you to learn how the game works.

This should be encouraged for all new players.

Dota 2 and League of Legends – are trendsetters when it comes to these types of games.

Anything that mirrors one of these games, is going to be easy to understand by the player.

Thievery

I would like “thievery” to be a part of this game.

It should be possible to “steal” hit points, armor, magic resistance, status resistance – or any other attribute.

These can be stolen for a short time, like 5-15 seconds, for several gaming rounds, or for the rest of the game.

Skeleton archers could have a skill where they steal movement speed and armor with every hit – from their opponents.

Every hit might steal 3 movement speed, and 2 armor for the rest of the battle. So 10 hits = 30 movement speed + 20 armor stolen.

Active skills, passive skills, items, gemstones – could all give this effect.

This mechanism does exist in Dota 2, but it is extremely rare. I can think of 3-4 skills – that have this mechanism to any degree.

There are 124 Heroes in Dota 2. They all have 4 skills each. That is 496 different skills.

It would be an interesting mechanism if a magician, who specialized is disables (stun, root, fear) – also stole status resistance with each spell!

A single target spell might steal 4% Status Resistance, and an area of effect spell might steal 2%. A passive skill could generate this type of result.

Stealing Metrics is a similar mechanism to building stacks, in that you work to increase a specific number.

In Dota 2, there is a skill which steals gold from the opponent. It is a weak critical strike with a 3 second cooldown on max level.

Monetization

“Game Monetization” is from – a business perspective – the most important thing.

A company has to make money.

I have experienced “Game Monetization” from the players perspective since I was a boy.

I am fairly conservative with how I spend my money, in terms of computer games.

I think I have figured out how to monetize this game in a smooth, efficient, and likable way.

The fastest way to ruin a PVP-game is to have “Pay-to-Win”. Since this removes the skill aspect of the Player vs Player battle.

Do not fall into this trap!

“Pay-to-Win” also prevents this game from ever becoming an esport.

We don’t want that!

This System

In order for this system to work, you would need to establish two things:

1.  A store for skins to heroes and items

2.  A drop system for rare skins to heroes and items

A STORE: This “store” is accessible from the game interface itself. It is run by the game makers. Most skins in this store cost 1-5 dollars.

The skins in this store generate income, depending on how popular the skin is.

Dota 2 and League of Legends – both have stores like this. It works! It is a nice income that requires very little cost and upkeep.

I would like there to be an option for players to submit skins to the store, then make a 20% commission on that skin for the next 5 years.

After a while, there would be hundreds of different skins in this store.

It is a win-win. Everybody is happy.

A DROP SYSTEM: The other thing I would introduce is a drop system for more rare skins.

These skins are (generally speaking) better made, more beautiful, with more details, and can only be gained through game drops.

This makes them rare.

These skins can be sold, and bought, in a special marketplace for players. In this store, the sellers and buyers are human players.

In this marketplace, the buyers pay real money for their items. Remember: “items” in this scenario means skins.

At the end of every game, there is a 3% chance that there will be a game drop.

The visual looks like this.

There is a shining chest at the top of a hill, on an isolated tropical island. An extremely beautiful woman in rags walks towards that chest – she wants to open it!

She succeeds 3% of the time.

This happens at the end of every game. The sequence runs for 1-6 seconds, decided at random.

At second 6, she opens the chest, and there is loot!

The loot is distributed like this:

• Winner: 45% of the time

• Second place: 25% of the time

• Third place: 16% of the time

• Fourth place: 8% of the time

• Fifth place: 4% of the time

• Sixth place: 2% of the time

The drop will be 1-6 items.

The item distribution mirrors the player distribution. 1 item is dropped 45% of the time. 6 items are dropped 2% of the time.

If 6 items are dropped – there is a roll for another item drop. Should there be 6 items again, there is another roll.

Here’s the thing: The items that drop from this chest are always worth money. Most drops will be worth 1-5 dollars.

I would like there to be a limited set of extremely rare skins, specially made by a skillful artist.

You can limit the drops of this item to 100, or 1000. This will drive up the price for this skin – and give the fans something to chat about, and give the newspapers something to write about!

You can sell these skins instantly to the game – and get 80% of market value.

You can also sell them at the player-run marketplace. The starting value will be 50% of market value. The marketplace will take a 15% commission on every transaction.

This money goes to the gaming company.

You can withdraw your money from the game when you have at least 15 dollars.

When you make money from selling a skin, you get a 20% discount on everything in the store for 24 hours.

If you make 5 dollars on a skin, you get a 25% discount for 24 hours – until you’ve spent your money. The first day every month, this discount becomes active again, for the money sitting on your account.

This drives the money back into the game maker's hands. While the player feels like they get a good deal.

A skin might change owner over time. You can read on every skin who previously owned it, when they sold it, how much they sold it for.

Each auction will last for 72 hours. The minimum price for an item on this market is 1 dollar.

Winning is the best way to get loot.

But wait.

There is another way!

Spending money at the store. For every single dollar you spend at the store, you get a +1% drop chance for the next year.

Spending 20% dollars – will give you +20% more drops for the next year.

This creates a strong incentive to buy things at the store. The skins sold at the game makers store are sold for pure profit.

It is a digital product.

If you play this game enough, buying things at the store for the increased drop-rate – will actually be a type of “investment”.

If you win a lot of your games, this would actually make you money in the long run.

The return for the skins sold at the market will be higher than the money you spent at the store.

For 50% dollars you get a +50% increased drop rate. For the next 50% dollars – you get a +40% increased drop rate.

There is a diminishing return. It reduces by 20% every 50 dollars. This keeps on going.

Spending 90 dollars would increase the drop rate by 50% + 40% = 90%.

Here is a summary:

The gaming company has a store full of skins that they sell for pure profit. Spending money in this store increases the drop rate.

The gaming company also hosts a player-run marketplace, filled with rare skins, and takes a 15% commission on every transaction.

Going Premium

Going “Premium” is a well known method of monetization.

It is not disliked by the user base. It is effective as long as both the Free + Premium product is strong.

Because you do need a free version – and a paid version – for this to work.

If this game gets popular, you could make an “expansion package” – which is unlocked for 10 dollars a month.

The successful online game Guild Wars monetized in this way.

This “Expansion” or “Premium Package”, could consist of 6 new heroes, 12 player games, 10 new skills to each hero pool, and 20 additional neutral skills.

You could add more:

1.  Items

2.  Gemstones

3.  Minions

4.  Companions

A person would unlock all of this by going “Premium”.

Conclusion

When you increase the drop-rate for spending money, there is a direct – and concrete – benefit to spending that money.

We are wired to favor randomness and unpredictability. It hijacks certain structures in our brain.

We just keep on going – until we win!

Diablo 1-3 – wouldn’t have been any fun without the unpredictable item drops. The whole game revolved around farming, getting new items, and improving your character.

Many games have moved in this direction for this very reason. It is highly lucrative!

Blizzard’s “Hearthstone” uses this mechanism successfully.

But the absolute first step to making money – is to make a good game!

Status Resistance

“Status Resistance” is a very important thing in Dota 2. It reduces the amount of time that you are stunned, rooted, feared and disabled.

15% “Status Resistance” – would reduce the time that you are stunned by 15%. This is a passive effect, it does not have to be activated, and it has no cooldown.

Dota 2 used to have this problem.

The entire game was centered around stuns.

The whole game was about having vision, then jumping in – and chain stunning the enemy – until they were dead.

It was all about who got the jump. The game was unplayable for the team without stuns. At the casual level, at the mid-range level, and at the pro level.

Yep.

Dota 2 handled this problem by reducing the length of ALL stuns in the game by 20%. Every single stun in the game was affected by this.

It drastically improved the game.

It made it possible to come back, after you got jumped, and chain stunned.

Everybody loves a comeback!

In 12 Rounds of Chaos – “Status Resistance” would function in a similar way.

20% status resistance would reduce the amount of time that you were:

1.  Stunned

2.  Rooted

3.  Feared

4.  Dazed

–by 20%.

A unit that is “Feared” will be silenced, muted, and run in a random direction at its own movement speed.

A unit that is “Rooted” cannot move, and cannot attack, but can cast spells and activate items.

A unit that is “Stunned” – cannot do anything, but it does benefit from its passive abilities, like evasion and damage block.

In 12 Rounds of Chaos, “Status Resistance” exists as a Percentage, and a Fixed Number.

“Status Resistance Fixed Number” works the following way.

Just like “Damage Block” reduces a specific amount of damage from each attack, “Damage Reduction” – reduces the damage with a certain percentage.

The first is a specific number. The second is a percentage.

If you have a certain value of “Status Resistance Fixed Number” – then you will reduce each incoming disable with 0.5 seconds.

Each stun, root, fear, daze – will be reduced by exactly 0.5 seconds – no matter how long the disable was to begin with.

If you have a “Status Resistance Percentage” of 25%, then each disable will be reduced by 25%.

If you have both types of Status Resistance, then the fixed number will be applied first, and then the percentage.

So a 1.5 second stun will be 1.0 second after the 0.5 second reduction. The remaining 1 second will be reduced by the percentage of 25% – which makes 0.75 seconds.

The 1.5 second stun was reduced to 0.75 seconds.

This might sound a bit complicated, but this all happens automatically in the game.

You will just see the results.

You will be busy inventing builds – and winning battles!

Slow Resistance

“Slow Resistance” does exist in Dota 2 – but it is almost impossible to come by.

When you do manage to come by some “Slow Resistance”, it is often so little – that you don’t even notice it.

What is a 10% “Slow Resistance” going to do? Seriously?

“Slow Resistance” is a rare effect – because it was added in the later stages of the game.

When the game was released – “Slow Resistance” did not exist.

In the popular custom game Custom Hero Chaos – there is no good way to deal with slows. Slows are severely overpowered in duels.

In some cases, with some skills, it is an automatic win – and there literally is no way to counter it!

That’s a shame!

That violates my holy principle – there should be a counter to everything. There should be as many pathways to victory as possible.

The reason game makers shy away from giving players all these options – is that the game becomes unpredictable, and difficult to balance.

I think this is the wrong mentality.

When you look at games that succeed, they tend to have a lot of items, a lot of options, a lot of skills, big talent trees – so on!

Back to the slow.

A “slow” can exist as a fixed number, or as a percentage. A 20% slow will reduce the target's overall movement speed by 20%.

A 20 point slow will reduce the target's movement speed by 20 points.

“Slow Resistance” only exists as a percentage.

But this percentage is applied to both the:

1. Effectiveness

2. Duration

–of the slow.

Yes.

“Slow Resistance” will reduce both the strength of the slow, and the length of the slow.

Let’s say you have a 50% “Slow Resistance”. The enemy applies an 50% 8 second slow to you. After reductions, this slow becomes a 25% – 4 second slow.

SUMMARY: “Slow Resistance” will reduce both the effectiveness and duration of all slows applied to you.

You can gain “Slow Resistance” from:

• Items

• Gemstones

• Active abilities

• Passive abilities

• Talents

• Auras

• Hero Boosts

As with most other Metrics, your Companion gets 50% of your numbers, and your PVP Minions gets 25%.

A 40% “Slow Resistance” gives your Companion +20% and your Minions +10%.

Debuff Resistance

In 12 Rounds of Chaos, there is something called “Debuff Resistance”.

“Debuff Resistance” – will reduce the duration of all debuffs.

Like:

1.  Damage Over Time Spells

2.  Conditions

3.  Hexes

4.  Stacks

In this case, we are talking about “stacks” that your opponent puts on you, to make you weaker.

“DOTS” or “Damage Over Time Spells” – are simply magical spells that stay on you – and do damage over time.

They frequently also have secondary effects, like slow, root, silence, and more.

“Debuff Resistance” reduces the duration of all debuffs. Since they do damage gradually, over time, this will reduce the damage that they do.

If you have 20% “Debuff Resistance”, then all debuffs will last 20% short. This will reduce the damage they do by 20%.

This magical damage also has to pass by:

1.  Magical damage block (fixed number)

2.  Magical damage reduction (percentage)

3.  Magic resistance

–before they do damage.

If the spell is a Critical Strike, then your “Critical Strike Reduction” Metrics also applies.

Your opponent can increase their magical damage with the Metric “Spell Amplification”. This will increase the damage of all spells which do magical damage.

“Spell Amplification” is shown as a percentage. You might have 50% “Spell Amplification”. Your spell which originally did 300 damage? Now does 450 damage.

Yeah? I hope this isn’t too confusing!

“Debuff Resistance” also reduces the duration of “Conditions”. “Conditions” are applied through physical attacks (melee, ranged), and are physical in nature.

They mostly cause physical side effects.

“Hexes” are cast by magicians. “Debuff Resistance” reduces the duration of hexes. Hexes usually do magical damage.

You can negate the damage of hexes with:

1.  Magical damage block (fixed number)

2.  Magical damage reduction (percentage)

3.  Magic resistance

4.  Debuff Resistance

“Debuff Resistance” reduces the duration of all “Stacks”. This percentage is applied to each individual stack.

Debuff Mastery

“Debuff Mastery” is the opposite of “Debuff Resistance”.

“Debuff Mastery” increases the duration of:

1.  Damage Over Time Spells

2.  Conditions

3.  Hexes

4.  Stacks

Although a stack that you build to boost your hero is technically not a “Debuff” – it falls under this umbrella.

Simply put:

• “Debuff Mastery” increases the duration of all “Stacks” which are good for you.

• “Debuff Resistance” reduces the duration of all “Stacks” which are bad for you.

So “Armor Stacks”, “Frenzy Stacks”, and “Wisdom Stacks” – would last longer with “Debuff Mastery”. 

When your opponent lands a spell on you which does magical damage over time, their “Debuff Mastery” goes against your “Debuff Resistance”.

If they have 20% “Debuff Mastery”, and you have 15% “Debuff Resistance” – then that spell will last 5% longer on you (20-15=5).

Does that make sense to you?

Conditions

A “Condition” is a  debuff applied to the opponent with a physical attack.

A physical attack might be using a:

1.  Sword

2.  Axe

3.  Hammer

4.  Spear

5.  Short bow

6.  Long bow

7.  Crossbow

–or some type of magical staff.

Since a “Condition” is caused by a physical attack, it mostly causes physical side effects.

Like:

1.  Slow

2.  Weak

3.  Sickness

4.  Fatigue

5.  Confusion

6.  Poisoning

–and so on.

I played a lot of Guild Wars 1.

In Guild Wars, there was something called 4 vs 4 Random Arena. Your teammates would be random, and your opponents would be random.

But if you won, you stayed together, and fought another team.

My most successful run (29 wins in a row!) in this “4 vs 4 Random Arena” was with this team composition:

1. 2 Warriors

2. 1 Ranger

3. 1 Healer

I was an axe warrior, with a pressure damage build.

My job was to do as much damage as physically possible. I would make the target run around the map, do damage, and occupy the healer.

The ranger would also do damage and interrupt the healer's most important spells. These were skill shots, not everybody has the ability to do this!

This ranger was really good!

Since we were all physical damage dealers, we all applied conditions on our targets.

We would pressure the opponents with physical damage – and many different conditions.

You could call this “Condition Stacking”.

The enemy healer only has one skill for removing conditions, and even that skill was interrupted sometimes!

In 12 Rounds of Chaos – I want “Condition Stacking” to be a viable strategy.

But it would function in a different way.

It would be possible to apply the same condition to the same unit over and over again. The effect would strengthen over time.

The first application would just be called “Poison”. When you applied it a second time, it would now be “Double Poison”, or “2x Poison”.

This would make the effect 50% stronger. In this way, you could build the momentum of individual conditions.

It would then be “3x Poison”, and so on.

There is a condition called “Sickness” – which reduces your max hp by 10%.

1.  The first time it would reduce max hp by 10%.

2.  The second time that condition was applied – it would become 15%.

3.  The third time it would become 22.5%. 

4.  The fourth time it would become 33.75%.

5.  The fourth time it would be 50.625%.

6. The fifth time it would be 75.9375%.

At that point, you could kill the unit easily.

It would require a specific build – to put this many applications of “Sickness” on the same target.

“Stacking” the same condition should be a viable strategy.

Using many different conditions should also be a viable strategy.

Not using any conditions at all, should also work at all levels of the game.

Hexes

“Hexes” are simply magical spells that stay on the enemy as a debuff.

They always cause some type of negative effect for the enemy, usually 2-3 different things.

The effects can be both physical and magical. But a “Hex” will sit on the enemy as a debuff.

They are affected by “Debuff Mastery”, and “Debuff Resistance”.

Mesmers and Necromancers use hexes a lot.

1. “Mesmers” are manipulators of the mind, and illusionists.

2. “Necromancers” are dark magicians with summoning ability.

There are Active and Passive abilities that remove hexes from a unit, or from a group.

One passive ability could be:

1.  1 Hex or 1 Condition is automatically removed from this every 10 seconds.

2.  If there is nothing to remove, a Hex or Condition will be removed from a friendly unit on the battlefield.

Diminishing Returns

In this game, there is no limit to how many times something can be upgraded.

Here is a list of things that can be upgraded without a sealing:

1.  Active skills

2.  Passive skills

3.  Talents

4.  Items

5.  Gemstones

6.  Hero Metrics

7.  Companion Metrics

8.  PVP Minions

9.  PVE Minions

Item 1-3 costs Character Points.

Item 3-8 costs Gold.

You can trade one for the other, on the open market.

But in order for this system to work, there has to be “Diminishing Returns”.

Everytime you upgrade something, the gain is slightly reduced. It might be reduced by 5-10%, or even less.

It has to be this way, for the system to work.

Many things in Dota 2 increase with diminishing returns.

• Evasion

• Magical resistance

• Armor

• Critical strikes

–all stack with diminishing returns.

This game works the same way. This is necessary to balance the game.

For example.

If you have two items that give 20% evasion each, then you would have 36% evasion.

The first item gives 20% evasion. The second item gives +16% evasion.

Immobilized

There is a condition in this game called “Immobilized”.

This is both a good – and a bad thing!

When a unit is “Immobilized” – it stands still and cannot do anything, but also takes 50% reduced damage from all sources.

If the enemy throws a big spell combo on you, and you “Immobilize” yourself before the first spell lands, you will take 50% reduced damage from all those spells.

You will survive the combo, and be able to fight back!

Break

In Dota 2, there is an effect called “Break”.

“Break” inactivates all passive abilities on the opponent for a short amount of time.

In Dota 2, there is just one single item, and 2-3 skills which cause “Break”.

This makes strong passive abilities overpowered. Because this “Break” effect – is virtually impossible to come by!

Yeah.

In Custom Hero Chaos, passive abilities are severely overpowered – there is no way to deal with them in battles.

There are a couple passive abilities that – with high attack speed, stun the opponent permanently.

That isn’t fun for anyone!

In 12 Rounds of Chaos, there would be many different ways to cause “Break”.

Rerolling Numbers

What if you get a bad roll of numbers? Are you just screwed for the rest of the game? Huh?

Nah.

Let me explain.

In the Dota 2 custom game Custom Hero Chaos – you actually get served a “skill retraining book” – depending on how well you do.

The worse you do, the less money you have, the more duels you lose – the more skill retraining books you get served by the game!

This is an automatic process based on some kind of algorithm set up by the game creators. The game would not work without this mechanism.

Let me say that again: The game would not work without this mechanism.

Because it allows players with bad builds, to change their skills – and come back.

Are you winning every single duel? You will not get any “skill retraining books”.

I have not seen another game with a similar type of mechanism.

Have you?

In Custom Hero Chaos, there are two types of books.

The first book retrains a random skill. The second book allows you to retrain a specific skill.

The first one costs 1200 gold in the store. The second one costs 2900 gold in the store.

The first book can be sold for 600 gold. The second book cannot be sold.

When you are really struggling, the system gives you 2 books of the first kind (retrains a random skill), and 1 book of the second kind (retrains a specific skill).

When you aren’t doing well, you might be getting this “package” every 10 rounds or so. This game runs for at least 50-60 rounds.

Now.

In 12 Rounds of Chaos, there is a similar mechanism. But this mechanism is automatic, and not based on how well you are doing.

Every few rounds, you will get a “Metric Rerolling Token” – which allows you to reroll your Hero Metrics.

In Round 3, 6, and 9 – you will get:

• 4 Random Rerolling Tokens

• 2 Specific Rerolling Tokens

The “Random Rerolling Tokens” allows you to reroll a random Metric from Level 1, or Level 2 – with 3 exceptions.

You get to exempt your best 3 values from this rerolling operation.

The “Specific Rerolling Tokens” allows you to reroll any Hero Metric number.

This is about the visible numbers, not the hidden numbers.

You get these 6 “Rerolling Tokens” on Round 3, Round 6, and Round 9.

Okay?

It is also possible to buy “Random Rerolling Tokens”, and “Specific Rerolling Tokens” at the store.

The “Random Rerolling Tokens” costs 200 gold each.

The “Specific Rerolling Tokens” costs 500 gold each.

At the start of every game, you get a 50% discount on the first book you buy of each kind.

Which cuts down the price to 100 vs 250.

You will also have a 25% discount on the second book you buy of each kind.

There is something else.

At three completely random rounds in the game, everybody gets a 8/10/12% discount on the books they buy.

This discount stacks with the early book discount of 50% and 25%.

I have just outlined three different mechanisms to come back from getting bad numbers.

Here is a summary:

1.  You get FREE re-rolling tokens at Round 3, 6, and 9.

2.  You get a 50%/25% discount on the first two books you buy.

3.  Three rounds in each game will have an additional discount of 8%/10%/12%.

Spell Critical Strike

In Custom Hero Chaos – which I love – magical spells can crit. But only if you buy a specific item.

Damage over time spells DOTS – cannot crit. But any spell that does its damage immediately when you throw the spell – can crit.

I think that magical spells should have a chance to do double damage. It is exciting!

Dota 2 uses something called “Pseudo-Random Distribution” – to reduce the impact of chance. This spreads out the critics more evenly, than if you just rolled a dice.

I prefer to roll the dice. It is fun! This game does not use “Pseudo-Random Distribution”.

Have I told you that everything in this game has a counter? Yes! Of course!

Well.

Let me show you what I got.

There is a mechanism that reduces all critical strikes, both physical damage and magical damage.

This Metric is called:

1.  Critical strike reduction flat number

2.  Critical strike reduction percentage

They are exactly what they sound like.

They reduce Critical Strikes with either a “Flat Number” – or a “Percentage”.

If the first number is 50, and the second number is 10%. Then a 100 damage critical strike – will do 45 damage. 100-50=50. 50-10%=45.

That is how it works.

This is one method of dealing with critical strikes.

Max Damage Limit

There is another way of dealing with big critical strikes, and that is the “Max Damage Limit” Metric.

This Metric limits how much damage a unit can take over 1 second. The damage is measured as a percentage of maximum hit points.

If your “Max Damage Limit” is at 10%. Then you can at most take 10% of your maximum hit points in damage over one second.

The damage that comes in is first reduced by every relevant mechanism, it is damage after reductions that count towards this.

If the lowest possible value is set at 1%. You can at most take 1% of your maximum hp as damage, every single second.

This is a way of dealing with powerful spells, big combos, and huge crits.

This is a counter to getting “jumped” by 1 Hero, 2 Companions, and 4 Minions.

Here is one example.

1.  Your hero absorbs a 1000 damage physical strike.

2.  After armor reductions it is 600.

3.  You have 100 in damage block, that makes it 500.

4.  You have 25% in damage reduction, that makes it 400.

5.  Your “Max Damage Limit” is set at 300 hp/second.

6.  Only 300, out of that 400 damage, will be absorbed by your hp pool.

Makes sense?

You can counter very large crits with the Metrics:

1.  Critical Damage Reduction

2.  Max Damage Limit

Metrics

I call the “Attributes” of each Hero “Metrics”. 

When you see what they are – it will make sense to you!

These “Metrics” have two levels. I will first show you Level 1. Then Level 2.

LEVEL 1

The first level has 23 Metrics.

They are:

1.  Attack damage

2.  Attack speed

3.  Attack range

4.  Projectile speed

5.  Armor

6.  Evasion

7.  True strike

8.  Hit points

9.  Hp regen

10. Mana regen

11. Critical strike

12. Spell critical strike

13. Spell damage

14. Magic resistance

15. Lifesteal

16. Spell lifesteal

17. Casting time

18. Cast range

19. Movement speed

20. Slow resistance

21. Damage block physical

22. Damage block magical

23. Regeneration & Healing

You would need to center your hero build around how these numbers turn out for your hero.

The minimum starting value of “spell amplification” would be 0%. The maximum value might be 50%.

Spells do damage by themselves, “spell amplification” amplifies that damage.

The minimum movement speed might be 250 (in Dota 2 terms), maximum might be 400.

You would have to set a proportionate minimum and maximum value – for each metric.

The minimum cast range might be 200, and the maximum might be 400.

These numbers can, of course, be improved as you play the game. We are talking about the very first round here.

Then, as some of your hidden values reveal themselves, you can adjust your build accordingly.

Remember, each round, each hidden value has a 10% chance of revealing itself.

This means you will get an average of 2.3 hidden numbers each round from these 23 metrics.

“Slow resistance” might vary between 0% and 25%.

“True strike” might vary between 0% and 25%.

This is what you get from your hero, you would then add items, gemstones, active skills, passive skills, auras from companions and minions.

The second level looks like this.

LEVEL 2

The second level has 17 metrics.

1.  Damage reduction percentage physical

2.  Damage reduction percentage magical

3.  Damage reflection percentage physical

4.  Damage reflection percentage magical

5.  Critical strike reduction flat number

6.  Critical strike reduction percentage

7.  Status resistance flat number

8.  Status resistance percentage

9.  Debuff resistance flat number

10. Debuff resistance percentage

11. Debuff mastery flat number

12. Debuff mastery percentage

13. True sight range

14. Mana burn per attack

15. Mana burn per spell

16. Max damage limit (per second)

17. Regeneration & Healing reduction

You gain access to this level by spending 1 Character Point. This enables you to upgrade all these Metrics.

Remember the Re-rolling Tokens you got at Round 3 + 6 + 9?

You can use them on Level 1 Metrics. You can use them on Level 2 Metrics.

You can use them however you want.

The Metric “Regeneration & Healing Reduction” reduces regeneration and healing of enemies attacked by you. This attack could be physical, and it could be magical.

The effect is reduced by 50% for area of effect spells. It is increased by 50% for single-target spells.

In total we are talking about 40 different metrics, that are going to have a:

1.  Visible Randomized Number

2.  A hidden Randomized Number

You will discover an average of 4 hidden numbers each round. So after just 3 rounds, you will have discovered (statistically speaking!) 12 hidden numbers.

When you decide to upgrade these Metrics with your Character Point? You get a certain amount of points – and you can spend them however you want.

You can put it all into one single Metric. You can spread them out between 4-5 different Metrics. There are no rules.

You have to “Unlock” Level 2 with a Character Point – in order to upgrade those Metrics.

Dota 2 has 3 Attributes and 4 Skills.

This game has 40 Attributes and 12 Skills.

Add the:

1.  Random numbers

2.  The secret numbers

3.  The items

4.  The gemstones

5.  The companions

6.  The player-controlled minions

7.  The computer-controlled minions

–and you have quite a game!

Bonus Points

When you created a new fighter in the MMA Management game MMA Tycoon – you could boost three hidden values of that fighter.

For strikers I would boost “KO Power” + “Chin” + “Learning Ability”. 

Well.

This game has the same thing!

The “Metrics” in this game are divided into two categories. Level 1. And Level 2.

There are 23 Items on Level 1. There are 17 Items on Level 2.

So 40 Items, in total.

You’ve picked your hero, you’ve gained your character points, time to boost some Metrics!

You get to pick 5 Metrics in Level 1, and boost them with 10-50 points.

You get to add:

1. 50+ points

2. 40+ points

3. 30+ points

4. 20+ points

5. 10+ points

–to one Metric each.

This boost will usually be based on the value that is already known to you. Because you want to center your build around values which are high.

If your hero has very high casting range and very low casting time – maybe they should be a spellcaster!

Since Level 2 only has 17 Items, you get to boost 4 Metrics in this level.

You get to add:

1. 45+ points

2. 35+ points

3. 25+ points

4. 15+ points

–to one Metric each.

In total you get to boost 9 Values out of 40.

That’s 22.5%!

Any Metrics which have low values can be re-rolled at Round 3, 6, and 9. You get 4 Random Tokens, and 2 Specific Tokens, each of those rounds.

Let’s talk numbers.

When a new Hero is made, each Metric first gets a visible value of 0-50. It then gets an invisible (hidden) value of 0-50.

The lowest possible value at this point is 0, and the highest possible value is 100.

The boost will add 10-50 points to any Metric. 9 values out of 40 will be affected.

The lowest possible value is now 0. The highest possible value is 150.

Each Character Point gives you 100 points to spend on Metrics. These will improve specific attributes of your hero.

If you put all of your Character Points towards Metrics, then you will have 300 points to spend.

Spell Negation & Reflection

In this game, it is possible to gain:

1.  Spell Negation

2.  Spell Reflection

“Sell Negation” will simply negate a specific single-target magical spell thrown at you.

An item might give you one “Spell Negation” every 15 seconds. The effect will go on cooldown for the opponent, use mana, but do no damage.

“Spell Reflection” is even more powerful.

It sends the single-target magical spell back to the opponent. The spell will use mana, go on cooldown, and cause the damage (and whatever disable) on the opponent.

An item might give you one spell reflection every 30 seconds.

Area of effect spells cannot be “negated” or “reflected”.

The “Damage Reflection” Metric would, however, still apply its effect.

There are two “Damage Reflection” Metrics:

1.  Damage reflection physical percentage

2.  Damage reflection magical percentage

So a 15% “Damage Reflection Magical” would send back 15% of the damage from that spell.

Hero Arena

There was a really fun Warcraft 3 custom game called “Hero Arena”.

In this game, you got to pick among all the Warcraft 3 heroes – maybe 60 – and go fight in an arena.

This “arena” was shared by all the players, maybe 10 of us. This arena has computer controlled minions that you “farmed” for gold.

But you would also run into enemy heroes, who competed for the best “Farming Spots”.

You were Fighting and Farming – at the same time! Just like Dota 2. Just like League of Legends.

It was cool.

The minions that you killed in the area dropped items. But you could also buy items in a store.

When I think about it, “Hero Arena” might have been the precursor to Custom Hero Chaos.

Custom Hero Chaos is essentially an upgraded version of “Hero Arena” – but with Dota 2.

Because.

Every once in a while, two heroes would duel each other. While this happened, all the other players watched!

It was epic.

In Custom Hero Chaos, you can actually bet on the winner – and make a lot of money that way.

Betting is a very effective way to make money in Custom Hero Chaos.

But in order to be right, you have to have a very deep understanding of the game. You have to know how heroes line up against each other.

In “Hero Arena”, whenever there was a duel, the highest ranking hero would fight the lowest ranking hero.

• Nr 1 – would fight Nr 10.

• Nr 2 – would fight Nr 9.

• Nr 3 – would fight Nr 8.

–and so on.

This matchup system was an incentive to do well. Because if you were strong – you would face a weak hero with a low ranking.

You would win this duel. You would make a lot of money. This allowed you to farm faster, and win the next duel!

It was a very strong concept.

It had PVE and PVP elements intertwined with each other. It was a popular game. I only played it about 20 times.

If someone had taken this concept, and turned it into a real computer game (like they did with Dota 2!) – it would have been a big game today.

I am sure of it.

Chaos Arena

I have a game concept that is a fusion of Hero Arena and Custom Hero Chaos.

I would call this game: Chaos Arena.

So you pick a hero with a specific set of skills. You get some starting gold to buy some items.

Each round has three phases.

• Phase 1: You vs Minions

• Phase 2: You vs Minions & Heroes

• Phase 3: You vs Hero

In Phase 1, you are inside a small open area with a bunch of computer controlled minions. The faster you clear these – the more gold you get. The slowest person gets the least gold.

In Phase 2, you are in an open area with lots of terrain and computer controlled minions. Now you get to farm minions, gank other heroes, or run away as fast as you can! This part is both PVP and PVE. You could focus on farming minions, on ganking heroes – or both!

In Phase 3, you battle another hero to the death. The duel takes place in a confined space. The winner gets lots of gold to improve their hero.

For every round, the minions get stronger.

The difficulty just keeps on going until there is one person left.

That person wins!

I decided to develop this concept in another text. It is published here on Substack.

Here it is: The Ultimate Mobile PVP Game: Chaos Arena

Contact Information

1. Name: Theo Gerken

2. Physical Address: Hjalmar Söderbergs Väg 16 B

3. City: Stockholm

4. Country: Sweden

5. Facebook Profile: www.facebook.com/theo.gerken

6. Telephone Number: 0046 73 503 57 55

7. Email: theo.gerken@gmail.com

8. Signal: +46 73 503 57 55

9. Telegram: @TheoGerken

Don’t be a stranger!

Summary

This document contains a “Blueprint” to a video game destined for success.

I need to establish contact with someone who has resources and the capacity to make this game.

If you are this person, do contact me.

Do you know somebody who might be this person? Then send them this document!

I am highly motivated, and I am easy to work with.

I am willing to move to a different part of the world, if a good opportunity presented itself.

This game is perfect for a small – or mid-sized – video game production company.

This game would, without doubt, become a well-established esport that competed with the big boys.

Assuming it was well made, and well managed – to start with.

I would like to be a part of this process. From beginning to end.

I am the “Icefrog” of 12 Rounds of Chaos.

Let’s do this!

Want More?

I actually wrote a similar text about Starcraft 2: Billion Dollar Strategy Game: My Starcraft 2 Revamp

I actually wrote a similar text about Dota 2. It is called: Billion Dollar MOBA: My Dota 2 Overhaul

Here is a text about a mobile version of this game called Chaos Arena.

I also publish texts on Medium under the Billion Dollar Company name.

Here is a link to all my published articles here on Substack.

Here is a link to my Facebook profile.

This text was written by Theo Alexander Gerken.

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