[Blog] 25 years of casual map making



the button was somewhere else due to shortness of wire access :D .. at the end of the bed... ..i knew it bothered you.. so i told you the missing bit of code you were missing out on for it to make sense

look it up this in not a dictionary, and don't worry i looked it up myself quite a many times and you will, i swear my life on it, .. be happy you did look it up .. this from different sources claiming to be "dictionaries" ...

a value .. "is" or "has to be equal to" is one piece of most codes, it usually takes 3 or 4 pieces for an order to be complete and can take place properly

machine that processes your input (via mouse/keyboard/eye soon/d ck ...) through a series of lines of code

example:
YOU have chosen to play sc2 melee:
A player has 4 workers and a resource gathering building right spot in the middle of a series of resources nodes, having pre determined one of three races open to choice in a lobby.

This alone requires 10000000 of lines of codes (generated by the engine):
"player "x" start location is assigned randomly from one of "Y" possible start locations predetermined by a "spawn logo" on the map"
environment: User interfaced, the game is generated in real time by

a/the engine that reacts to your pointing and clicking around
b/your pointing and clicking
c/ everyone's heart (I do mean all the people who do the games .. maps or other components for fun (product cost being moot .. you play what is good)

An engine can .. must have limits .. can have limits .. eventually if you ask an engine to try to do stuff it cannot.. it crashes

I suppose I'll get to crashes next time

.. for sc2 it would be called a "galaxy"(blizzard's own vocabulary) .. a map linked with mods intervening on it (so .. one geography map per version.. and potentially any outside source (mpq edited in with care to define a specific image/sets of esthetics to make it different at first glance ; no secrets here .. i want jpegs i crafted myself pasted on the polygons/models)

several different mods apply-able to several geographical maps (chosen/used/discarded from an option menu that allows/dissalows options per number of players (things like filling empty slots by ai computers)

game environment:+ Show Spoiler +

the 1+x (players) vs 1+y vs Zc
as many players as you want allying (and disallowing their alliance(s) through out the game) stemming from/for reasons embedded in the gameplay (not imbedded in the script, or at least an eternally twisting variation deriving from an original script (start conditions and win/lose conditions for each player) played out by player with as wide a range of skills .. deriving from the particular happenstances from players playing this particular type of sc rolling on the floor laughting new crazy type of game

the subject (player) wields 1 / 5 / 13 / 55 / more than 300 units (micro or macro in equal limitlessness)
vs
any type (other players.. other players and computer ai .. vs computer ai)

the player stars with several special units (or 1, depending on the scenario to be played out)
and steals other special units (with one of the starting heroes) or produce units with units or produce units through buildings

star heroes are god like units that (providing diverging needs or requirements or quotas (food/energy/psi/kill count/specific unit in area etc) are met) create high count (some payable, some "free" of payment) ..of units made as meat shield dps attack/defense units..
(these with a wide range of needs/requirements)

the player can build armies available, same as sc2 (all units from campaign/other), from building (and then using) production units

the player has a flagship (moving fortress with production capabilities but not a building, a production facility in itself providing funds are available) .. these units are "identified" from all players by one of the starting units on the minimap

the player has a unit that steals zerg units (from player to player, or from computer ai s)

the special units from terrans and protoss are unique and can only be defeated,
no special unit can be reproduced

Babylone heroes (v2) ... Swamp city heroes (v1)

starting units;
qxc: scanner to kill cloaked enemy heroes, cloaked to harass and snipe heroes

babcock: mind controls permanently zerg units and heroes


zerg heroes will conjure free endless armies (mspyte/idrA/Stuckov etc...)

strategy/game objectives
the point is some players will favor the use of stealing each other the zerg superheroes or units,
while others will insist on destroying infrastructure and specific game turner hero units

players will ally and double cross, losing each some of their units (and therefore certain capacities.. gameplay available)

.. all the while writting a "story" of sorts on distinctively themed "geogrphical" maps' settings

.. every type of gameplay is created / available

So fun to play, i'm actually proud of my sandbox
3 years of tinkering, i know what i want to do..
just lacking a modeler/ui designer and a trigger-er (i don't want to do the mpq side of this editor.. why would i? upkeep of 3 computers is quite enough (i'll probably end up doing it after lotv though, since no one will have been enticed by my project by then))

fail
in the form of a public lynching (still fun, i'm the one being lynched in public)

1/ + Show Spoiler +
2/ + Show Spoiler +
3/ a channel of sorts .. about photon cycles.. to celebrate my third year on photon cycles hosting in the dead of nights

qxc; cliff hanging cloaked scanning eyrie eerie snipping machine
+ Show Spoiler +

this future "step by step"

I will be back + Show Spoiler +

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Start / options going with it
Player properties (map ->pl propt) needs to be set (example: 1v1 requires 2 USER)
Game variants and team settings need to be done in conjunction with your NEW custom dependencies in order to implement pre determined game custom settings.
You need to unlock the default setting and configure every setting accordingly (even if you wish to change just one of them from melee default).

mod or map:

choose mod for configuring something you will end up "linking" as a dependency to 1 map (or multiple maps), like setting up all your "new" units or a custom "gameplay". It is good to classify and test stuff to know if your mod will function with any "default" maps

choose map when designing a map (you can still import settings from prior maps into new ones)
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Dialog box
There is a dialog box that will appear whenever you are making a status change to your map. It will always display why your map was labeled as custom or other... it appears automatically whenever the status changes. You can also check it in Map Status. Anything might make your map a custom map, that does not foreclose it's ability to be used as a melee map. The greatest example being where to spawn in different locations, it will be a pre set game that will still allow all melee specific in game data to remain functional.
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About textures
Work the map the way you like it ... gameplay layout blablabla…
Save this sketch version.
Save as a second version, get wild and try out crazy coloring.. while “schematically” coloring stuff to get terrain structures in sync with each other and according to your taste ..
You can replace the textures one tileset at a time, with another. So, in a sense you can mix and match tilesets from different "base" (group of texture regrouped under a single heading) style (and just testing them all out is long as my ... euh.. well it's long). Beware of not doing this right, it wrecks galaxies + Show Spoiler +
Just save and then close your galaxy+ Show Spoiler +, reopening the map should resolve any display bugs like the miimap not displaying your "changes".
When the map looks awful because you took no care in the precise coloring ( details, order in textures or what not), bin map.

Re open the sketch version.
Resave as to test some more, while trying to color "more into the lines"
(get flashback of your first coloring books).

Rinse and repeat until you feel that you've found the mix for each type of terrain high or low ground, edges ramps unpathable and whatever else you could have thought of... area around mains, xelnaga watch tower areas or any other shite...
In short, don't be afraid to "save as" whenever you get to an interesting stage (just remember to bin all useless versions when you're done).

Finally , resave as for the final version, get your textures in order before anything and then start coloring ..
Remember you can turn the map to color otherwise unreachable sections and all that, start with large brushes and finish with details, … always trying to get all the textures to blend into one another to your advantage.
iGrok mentioned that you can draw the layout with textures before changing the layout (according to said drawing), I find that this is an excellent advice, but due note that usually it’s “easier” to get a final perfect version by building textures and layout from top to bottom (since galaxy will bug frequently while you’re using it to correct manute details (simply save close and relaunch galaxy whenever said overwhelming bugs bug you)
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blizz grand theft map
Click the "use for all locals" setting when publishing a map originally from blizz
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Fog
Playing with Black or Grey mask to configure fog gameplay
Map -> Options -> Unexplored Areas -> set your fog data

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Showcasing
Edit your map on low graphics settings and showcase pictures on high, ultra just slows thing down with no recognizable improvements, while most player never change their settings (not even to watch replays most of them) from low, since that's the only way to play online and not be called out for lag... This is set in the preference menu, the "test document" function being the one displayed in galaxy. Set to "game settings" or high or whatever your preference goes since it cannot effect the actual way other players will play the map (still "drawing" in low is a must since that's what players favour).

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Dependencies
file->dependencies
At the start of your new map you have to decide what you wish, among this data are the dependencies, by default it's melee type of access, add or choose "campaign" if you wish to access extra units or other objects... the most sought after usually...
Furthermore this is where you will add your new custom data that you wish to implement in your map for "prior to game start" and also ingame effects...
or a place where
you will suppress prior dependency in order to regain melee status (you must not "harbor" another one "overwriting" the dependency you wish to act as template).The campaign dependency while it grants units and other specific additional content, will have (for instance) a different tech tree... )

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Order
The order in which you develop your mod matters because the editor will self duplicate objects needlessly and it will confuse you needlessly from the start, plus mass deleting is an usual "no no" when it comes to avoiding future bugs.
For a unit for instance, you'd start with it's actor coupled with it's model, then create the unit. (you'll probably do it every which way until you get the hang of it however sometimes stuff requires to be done simultaneously and it's very easy to overlook a dependency or an attachment).

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Units
This with the ability is by far the longest thing to showcase (mapmaker's interests and potential wise) so bear with me...

In galaxy, you cannot change a unit per say, you will duplicate it.
Choose wisely the "base" of your new unit since some of it's characteristics will remain unalterable (it helps in predefining your unit anyway).
Extensively configure it right after "cloning" (even ticking all the original "traits" when duplicating can still bug or simply not give it all the right settings), double check every setting while the original is still right over it in the listing + Show Spoiler + and
...finally replace it in the tech tree in the original's stead for it to appear in game (and this can require different or several modifications of several different object types).
For example, if you want to turn a critter on your map to an invisible critter, copy it (check thoroughly) rename it, give it the "permanently cloaked" ability and replace the actual critter on the map with yours (setting it to the in build (last) hostile player controller (on the unit in the map)).+ Show Spoiler + Your invisible zealot, to be more on topic, will have to be implemented in your "new" gateway and "new" warpgate instead of the original zealot for your unit to be accessible in game.. i hope you get the picture. (which unit is trained or warped in those 2 is just a setting in a list in either the "train" or "warp" ability the gateway and warp gate respectively have, so in this case there are no new version of gateway and warp gate per say, you just changed the data of the ability they possess).

Original units, like many things from galaxy, require changes over objects' linked with multiple inter dependencies, which is a sh..load of work to master.

Most "simple"units have their own actor, model, behaviors... Simple? Yes, for understanding how things have been implemented by blizz, and therefore what you can in turn play with...
Any cool new unit should be original and will have taken o so many hours days or months to create because of this. Check sc2bw for tl's premiere mod with NEW sc2 ingame models from sc1 (not present originally in the editor), therefore NEW units (of course they are not new to everyone).

Not all units have their own model (model is "shared" and might have an unrelated name (again hard is the path to enlightenment)).

A unit can "carry" several actors through "behavior" or even without, with varying degrees of success. The dark templar have two models (one or the other), but one can also produce a "double" simultaneous actor (both are displayed simultaneously ingame with varying results).

The same unit can be "spawned in an array of different sizes (max scale and minimum scale in the unit's actor data).

As in all prior blizz editors, the units have less in build (unalterable or not) features and "potential" than the heroes.

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i'll be back for more on the unit front, right after i plant drones and pylons, need to macro.

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Ability
This is everyone's favourite, cause it's quick and painless!
Well not really quick. All abilities are nicely showcased... Duplicate and change it, then give the ability (in the unit's data) to your unit.
However (and it's still easy+ Show Spoiler +) each ability calls upon a new dependency in a cascading style... and although most are easily recognizable easy to find and duplicate and reassign objects... you have to mind not to forget any of those secondary and third "ability derived objects" in your duplicating, reassigning and finally (ze best part) toying with the data (more damage, less array, more delay...) endlessly. You are starting to smell something tediously long and "easy to forget" type of love hate relationship + Show Spoiler + It is very long (and surprisingly easy) to implement/develop complex original new abilities, and implementing them (unto your unit) is quite easy once you get the hang of it.
Abilities encompass more than you'd think: attack spells but also stuff like creep growth, turning drones into buildings, training units and return gold or collect it... it's definitely "where it's at" for units!

Implementing abilities require to create a button, for in game use.
Just deploy the same tactic as done for the units, duplicating the original button for learning and discipline purpose, check, rename, find your own rarely used graphic to showcase your "new" ability and then make it replace the button in the second ability line in the unit data, so as to properly configure the unit's menu (unit menu ingame)! How cool is that?
Do use the "editor only" prefix or suffix to never loose sight of what when and where, since the search function's reliability is truncated by objects being in several folders.

Also, in order to use an ability that has in build (often melee recognizable) dependency, you must account for it (ie to get the friggin hunter seeker you gotta change the dependency otherwise you'll need to research it, having build the tech lab on a starport ingame. Simply access the ability, duplicate it, duplicate the proper linked dependencies and change what needs to happen (ie nothing (instead of "have the ability researched in starpor"t) for it to be "available") reassign your new dependency to your ability (ie your new one which sets it as available from the start).

Of course this is first step, abilities should be dependent on buildings, timings and such (delaying dts is a good thing (doing it "à la blizz" sucks though)) a real fun part of the player's strategy depends on how well you've thought it through (again blizz ladder showcases a melee type sensible "arborescence" or tech tree, that should always be relied on, dare i say it: emulated.

There are two lines that need be used (in the proper order) so that your ability will work.
First line : the ability your unit needs to have (it displays all abilities currently in the galaxy you own)
and then the second line: the unit's menu, is where you implement the buttons
+ Show Spoiler +
Do it in that order and your ability button conjunction (liaison/link) will work (the button list will display your new ability on the top of it's menu...just select it (and configure "extra" traits of the ability in this "new" menu according to your previous implementing done in the "first" menu.

Many abilities will cost mana/energy, you need to equip said unit with this detail... or at least take it into accunt.
Favour "copying" the stats of pre existing units ; the great examples are: the high templar or even more the carrier (even though it's technically a weapon, the interceptor's most important stats are 1/max carrier hangar count (behavior or ability?!?both) 2/build time/cost (an ability defined "object"), + Show Spoiler +.

So in a sense, the ability defines the unit much more than the actor (both work in conjunction or in opposition.
You get the idea, melee units need stealth or speed or something suited to the fact that they are melee + Show Spoiler +. Like huge tanking damage and slow to protect the aoe ranged casters ... blizz has done a great job on this "balancing front" (f..k no lan for the foreseeable future though) and therefore using them as references will permit you to understand how to "measure" the ability (spawning level and regen time are key, but so is cost (in game time as well as resources)), everything is doable, not everything CAN work, even if implemented (again do not sacrifice a map, sacrifice a "saved as" in order to test quirky untested implementation, ready to take a step back with galaxy on the previous version where you'd re implement "back to default"what you just tried to change, in order to salvage it's no bug efficiency.

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of course this is also a bare dusting for this one two...
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behaviors ...my behavior has been repeatedly said to "disturb the chi cultivated on tl"

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Behaviors
These encompass the finer things. And therefore deserve respect.
From the time it takes to spread creep to the ability to wander off "out of your control" (that's so cool for a unit!), the behavior is applied to units or even actors... + Show Spoiler +
The most famous is the ability to speed up (reactorchronocreeping would be a nice way to put it). The reactor changes the abilities the barracks have, chrono on p buildings too, creep increases all zerg ground units and allows z building placement / creation ingame / taking damage when not bathed in creep...).
+ Show Spoiler +
So if you wish to remain within the safe confines of the melee type of mod, you must tread carefully, since changing behaviors usually means that you'll radically change the game (and that's fine, but you have to accept that fact, plus you'll need that much more testing and populating issues for your mod)...
The melee carcan allows you to keep the blizz ai for computers (real helpful in pre testing your map for one) while still ADDING to the behaviors. Creating units with amazing potential is rarely good with vanilla type ai's for cp use only... and most importantly most people want to play with other players, which is the soul of rts anywho...

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Lighting
+ Show Spoiler +.
Just paste light emitters according to your texture layout.
Like textures, there are two "strata":
the general (the one defining "general" lighting regrouping a bunch each time (based on the ladder maps sort of) but with lot's of "identical" light emitters AND specific ones you cannot find in other "groups")
and
each individual light emitter (or other).. these act as doodads or just as virtual (no "unit" but a dotlike light source...)
These light emitters can be played with when placed on your map... (if you want a bunch of the same variation of one of the Light object, just (for instance) make it's scale bigger and then copy and paste until your done... you don't need to change it in the editor, saves time).

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Bugs ...I like to help fixing them and seeing invested people happy.

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Testing
Always use the insane level for cp testing of your map.

Before implementing a proper energy count, time of research or cost or whatever... test that the ability works with low cost/research time first. You do not need the grief.


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Areas
These are what I'd like to master properly
+ Show Spoiler +

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Triggers
trigger me softly
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Saving the galaxy
Note that you should always try to publish your map (if you change "important" settings) because otherwise it might be reduced to offline only play (this limits the play of your map to a 1 player downloaded map) and this after countless changes and hours of passionate work, which might amount to anything usable (chalking it up to experience is not what it's cracked up to be in that moment).
Try your change on an easy default "empty" map (and stomach), if it gets published, you can go on spending months on the proper map/mod.

Certain implementing experiments change your editor, galaxy in many ways (types) does not have a general reset to default, because in some (many some would say) cases you are changing the software you are using. You will have a "changed" galaxy onward (until reinstall), so be careful what you wish for.
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[center]Questions:
+ Show Spoiler +
Answers: + Show Spoiler +
if you have a question, wish to help by correcting this rant, it'd be my pleasure
to help if I can, just pm me

+ Show Spoiler +: "Doctor, figure out what will kill me and then back it up a little bit".

Either me or the world...