Game Maker: Starting by Healing the Players

In his office, Lucas was simply writing a design concept document for "DOTA."

This concept document was one of the most complex so far because it had to consider different versions and the addition of items.

It could be said that for a game like "DOTA," any subtle change could lead to a completely different game pace. It's truly a case of "one move affects the whole."

For example, if the bounty for kills were increased, the entire game's pace would shift to a GANK-focused direction.

Heroes that would appear more often would definitely be heroes like Queen of Pain, Storm Spirit, Goblin Shredder, and Troll Warlord, whose playstyle focuses on fighting in the early to mid-game.

In contrast, heroes like Medusa and Phantom Elves, traditional late-game carries, would have their pick rates significantly reduced.

Meanwhile, weakening the defense tower mechanics would determine whether heroes that focus on pushing, such as Death Prophet, Shadow Shaman, Chen, and Enchantress, would be picked more or less often.

Combined with changes to hero skills and item changes that increase prices or mana costs, these seemingly insignificant modifications could turn an item into a hot commodity or make it completely ignored. For instance, the purchase of Mekansm by Shadow Fiend in a previous life was a classic example.

As for profitability, Lucas didn't plan to make many changes.

Because "DOTA"'s existing profit model was already quite mature.

With cosmetic items of different rarities like Immortal and Arcana, as well as related items like Battle Passes, "DOTA"'s conversion rate was definitely not low.

What Lucas truly focused on was which aspects of the game's competitiveness and balance to emphasize.

It could be said that "DOTA" had undergone countless version changes, and each major overhaul would lead players to say: "This is not the DOTA I wanted."

For example, increasing the buyback cooldown, the seventh inventory slot, the introduction of neutral items, the removal of Attribute Points in favor of the Talent Tree system, the separate storage for Town Portal Scrolls to avoid situations where a hero, lacking a TP scroll and facing an enemy base raid, had to deliberately die in the enemy fountain to buyback, and the addition then subsequent removal of shrines and fountains.

Some changes were good, and some were bad.

Lucas's decision was to temporarily not include the Talent Tree and neutral item systems, but to retain the attribute point mechanism. The main reason was to avoid an excessive learning curve for players in the early game.

The separate slot for Town Portal Scrolls, however, was retained. This was actually a very user-friendly design.

In its early days, DOTA was built on the Warcraft engine, so many of its settings were quite inconvenient. There were also many compromises made in the game mechanics themselves.

The most direct point was that in early DOTA, many orb effects couldn't coexist.

For example, the armor reduction from Desolator and the slow from Eye of Skadi could only trigger one effect.

In addition, there were some mechanics that benefited supports, including automatic gold gain per second, and supports receiving extra gold if they killed creeps after a pull. There were also free Observer Wards for vision, and a reduced price for Sentry Wards.

Also, each player had a courier to transport items, which would upgrade into a Flying Courrier at a certain level, with an added speed and invulnerability skill. Lucas planned to incorporate these changes.

This change could be said to improve the experience for all five players. After all, in a previous life, seeing a courier carry trees, healing salves, town portal scrolls, and items was simply heartbreaking.

And for most average players, buying a courier or a flying courier had the biggest significance in allowing them to move to the mid lane with more justification.

"I bought the courier, who else is going mid if not me?"

"If you have the guts, don't use the courier I bought!"

Lucas made these changes mainly to better cater to support players, because in the earliest versions, the support experience was truly terrible.

If you really had to describe it, it was worse than living like a dog.

Exhausting yourself in the early game, and by the late game, having even less presence than a siege creep.

Of course, Lucas had no intention of adding items like Disperser, Lotus Orb, and Eternal Shard for now. Instead, he planned to release them gradually in subsequent versions.

The map is also extremely important. Even a single tree creating a path could bring about different variables in professional and high-level matches.

For example, the vision provided by Observer Wards, or the true sight provided by hidden Sentry Wards. Lucas intended to stick with the early map layout for now, with Roshan's lair located in the ancient half of the Scourge side.

Regarding map balance, disputes have indeed been ongoing for over a decade since DOTA's birth.

This is understandable, as DOTA has an asymmetrical map, and one faction will always have a greater advantage. This is also why professional matches use rotations, or roll dice to select factions or pick/ban rights.

The remaining work, besides the formulas for experience and bounty gain, primarily involves the game systems, as well as hero and item settings.

However, this isn't the most core content, as players in this parallel world are not like the seasoned veterans who played DOTA for several years or even a decade in a previous life.

They are essentially a blank slate, so this aspect isn't the most important right now.

What's more critical are the related game systems, such as matchmaking, ranking, and new player tutorials.

The initial draft Lucas has finalized is as follows.

Firstly, ranking and matchmaking will be separate. This is a no-brainer.

Players will have to complete a new player tutorial and one co-op bot match before they can enter matchmaking.

Of course, because DOTA has so much content, the beginner tutorial will primarily focus on basic elements.

This includes hero controls, the release and distinction between targeted and non-targeted skills, the usage of Town Portal Scrolls, Tree Dancing, healing salves, and clarity potions, as well as purchasing items from the shop and the purpose of last hitting and denying creeps.

As for items like Blink Dagger, Black King Bar, and Smoke of Deceit, these are considered advanced mechanics.

And it's not just beginner players. Even after over a decade of DOTA in its previous life and nearly ten years of competitive development,

the most crucial item in the game, 'Smoke of Deceit,' which has never cost more than 100 gold, was essentially unrecognized by players in lower brackets.

Secondly, how to entice players to complete the new player tutorial? The simplest and most direct incentive is:

completing a stage of the new player tutorial will reward players with a Treasure Crate. Furthermore, for the first or second Treasure Crate, players are guaranteed to receive a random Immortal or Arcana item.

As for subsequent Treasure Crates, it will depend on whether they are lucky or unlucky.

It's just like how mobile games offer SSRs after seven days, a system that's been used for over a decade and hasn't changed.

Because you have to admit, this strategy really works.

In addition, the game will also include corresponding item build guides.

While the greatest joy of DOTA lies in choosing items based on different game situations, this is a bit too advanced for newcomers. What they need most is to no longer feel lost.

Furthermore, there will be a beginner hero matchmaking mode, with heroes like Tidehunter, Wraith King, Centaur Warrunner, Omniknight, Phantom Assassin, Bristleback, Lion, Abaddon, Earthshaker, and Tiny…

These heroes are relatively beginner-friendly and allow for significant engagement.

As for heroes like Shadow Fiend for learning skills, Sniper for practicing survival instincts, and Arc Warden for training APM, you can just hear about them.

(End of Chapter)

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