Announcements

• ModCraft, RoC, Shark Tank, Camera Click, LTW

  Posted by vjeux on Fri, 03 Sep 2010 07:16:45

  Some random things

  • You have some nice replay you'd like to share? Check out the sc2replayed contest :)
  • Also if you have questions concerning the Galaxy Scripting language, Motive made a FAQ about it
  • There will be a Custom Live today at 6 PM Paris time. Give your maps :)

  Publishing Limit Increased

  Great news from Blizzard :)

  Quote:

  As part of our ongoing efforts to foster a productive and happy StarCraft II mapmaking community, we recently asked players to share their thoughts and ideas on how the custom map system might be improved. Some mapmakers noted that the current limits placed on custom map publishing felt too restrictive and, as a result, made their mapmaking experience less enjoyable.

  We've taken this feedback to heart and increased custom map upload limits in two ways. Players are now provided with a total of 10 custom map slots and up to 50 MB of total map storage space. Ultimately, we want players to be able to share more maps with the community, and we feel these changes will supply mapmakers the additional freedom they need to better flex their creative muscles.

  We'll be carefully monitoring how this additional storage is used by players and, as always, will continue to seek your feedback for how we may further improve the Battle.net mapmaking and publishing experience.

  ModCraft by Xaragoth and Otixa

  You've probably seen the 3D Studio Max streams by Otixa on the main page. He decided to team up with Xaragoth and make it a regular show: ModCraft. This is going to be a weekly event every Saturday at 6 PM GMT, 1 PM EST, 8 PM CST.

  Quote:

  

  Every Saturday Otixa and I shall present you with interesting Workshops, Tutorials and Discussions centered around Maps, Mods and Tools! We will grab folks from the community, prepare stuff you're interested in and go through all the important steps you need to complete in order to create a good Map. The topics will range from the very basics to advanced things like Nextgen Models, Game Design rules and creating awesome Terrain.

  This week you are going to be taught how to make a crate using 3D Studio Max and Photoshop!

  

  Ring of Creation by Ashbringah

  Ring of Creation is a mix between tower defense and arena. It features some nice terrains and custom interface. In order to polish the gameplay before publishing it, they are looking for europe beta testers!

  Shark Tank by Ababmer

  Did you know that it was possible to make a shark tank with a clever use of water and doodads? It's really impressive but Ababmer wrote a tutorial to cover the making process!

  

  Tutorial: Click with Camera Mouse by Huesy

  Camera mouse is getting quite a lot of fame recently. You can use it to fake building placement or make a shooting mode. Unfortunatly when you are in this mode the unit selection isn't working anymore. Huesy by doing some triggers and data tricks managed to get this ability back :)

  

  Line Tower Wars Beta by Adelios

  I've played Line Tower Wars a huge amount of time on Warcraft 3 and I'm happy to see that Adelios just recreated it for Starcraft 2. It's published on the Europe servers.

  1. 0 comments

• Contest, Data WASD, Headquarters, Thunderhawk, Level Up Bound

  Posted by vjeux on Thu, 02 Sep 2010 09:50:55

  Unfortunatly there are map hackers on Starcraft 2 :( But now with camera informations being stored in the replays it's becoming a lot easier to track them down!

  Contest - Epic Battle Scene

  Long time without any contest! In this new one you are about to make an epic battle fight. It can be made by any known method of creating cinematic (unit manipulation, cinematic cutscene ...). Make sure to follow these rule:

  • Your fights must be scripted, no further user input is required after the fight start (some input for the intro before battle is acceptable).
  • Total video duration must not exceed 2 minutes
  • You must not import any outside video sources into the map.
  • Custom spells, custom weapons, custom units are allowed as long as they're all using the game's assets.
  • Custom UI can be used to support camera technique (grain effect, camera overlay, blood stain, etc..) and is allowed to import external sources
  • You can submit as many entries as wanted as long as they are all differents. Just make sure it is EPIC :)

  What you have to give

  • You have to provide a youtube video. If you can't record, post the map and ask, someone will help you recording it :)
  • If you want to have a music background, you can import and play it in the map, but it is recommended to add it in the video.
  • You have to attach the map used to take the video

  You have 8 days to complete this contest.

  Reward

  The main goal of the contest is to further community development within GalaxyEdit. The rewards can be see as follows:

  • First: 1-year Curse Premium
  • Second: 6-month Curse Premium
  • Third: 3-month Curse Premium
  • Everyone else: 1-month Curse Premium

  

  Lagless WASD Movement by progammer

  WASD Movement is possible with the Galaxy Editor but all the trigger-based solutions are not suitable on Battle.net because of the synchronization lag. progammer found a way to do it within the Data editor only and even if there's still a lag, it is a lot faster than before. This is another proof that you should seriously considering digging through the Data Editor, it is amazingly powerful :)

  Headquarters by Fiftysix56

  Have you ever wondered what it's like to be inside a tower in a TD? Fiftysix56 made a map called Headquarters where you have to shoot the units in your lane. The gold earned will let you send back units to the opponents. A great thing to note is the presence of an AI!

  Thunderhawk by Infrisios

  A texture reskin, some data editing and you can transform a flammer into a thunder trooper!

  

  Level Up Bound Commentary by ApolloStarcaft

  ApolloStarcaft commented the map Level Up Bound, featured this week on Battle.net. You are a zergling and have to move through a chessboard with slots exploding based on scheme. The real interest in this map is a large amount of different explosion paths.

  1. 11 comments

• Popularity List, Structure Placement, City Sky, Corsair Reaver

  Posted by vjeux on Wed, 01 Sep 2010 08:27:51

  Glomby is getting a moment of fame! His video of a World of Warcraft-like terrain is being featured by many websites including Blizzard (Starcraft Facebook / Twitter, Warcraft Facebook / Twitter, Escapist Magazine and Kotaku). The video already has 150k views :) Congratz

  

  Combined Popularity List by Gimpexe

  Gimpexe started a nice forum post where regularly people will post the popularity listing on the various regions. This will let you see what are the maps played around the world :)

  

  Simulated Structure Placement by Trylobot

  Trylobot is working on Mock Battle a Unit Tester map and wanted to let the player make buildings using custom dialogs. Therefore he had to rewrite the whole structure placement algorithm using many tricks. For example since you can't get the mouse position, he found a workaround by using a camera trigger to keep the mouse centered. This is an impressive work!

  City in the Sky (With Diamonds) by acidragoon

  The lighting editor is a new addition of the editor and so far has only been used to make dark maps. acidragoon found out that it's possible to use it to make a "City in the Sky" effect.

  

  Corsair and Reaver Models by mParfait and UltiDrgn

  Yesterday I told you great models were on the way! Here are two units that didn't make through the final game recreated by mParfait and UltiDrgn: the Corsair and Reaver.

  

  Infested Arena Commentary by ApolloStarcaft

  Another great game commentary by ApolloStarcaft on the map Infested Arena.

  1. 1 comment

• RPG UI, Kerrigan, Orbital Decay, Wc3 Armor

  Posted by vjeux on Tue, 31 Aug 2010 10:41:42

  RPG Interface by Sweepingzero

  It's been a long time since I didn't news any cool interface. Sweepingzero is working on a RPG and has done a pretty good job at recreating from scratch the whole interface. He is looking for talented people in order to work on the map :)

  Kerrigan Model by Underp4ntz

  This is the first released edited model! Take nova, put some hairs and glows and you get Kerrigan :) The model tools are becoming a lot more evolved and stable, you should now be able to work on custom models without too much problem!

  

  Melee: Orbital Decay by BoomStevo

  Orbital Decay is a 4 player melee map developed toward 1v1 by BoomStevo. I really don't know what else to say ... Play it, it looks well made! (I'm sorry, I'm not really good when it comes to melee maps ...)

  

  Warcraft 3 Armor Reduction by KorvinGump

  I'm pretty sure that a lot of you are tired of units in Starcraft 2 dying like flies. You want tough units like in Warcraft 3! KorvinGump made a one-trigger system that lets you implement the Warcraft 3 armor reduction. As a result, there will be less units on the battle field and it'll lag less :)

  1. 1 comment

• Tournament, WoW-like, Destructible Island, Terrain Showcase

  Posted by vjeux on Mon, 30 Aug 2010 10:17:03

  Custom Live Tournament - Nexus Wars

  

  Since the last tournament had to be cancelled Tinman decided to launch a new one, and with $300 prizes!

  The tournament will be in two weeks, just to give people time to set up teams and practice. The date will be September 11th at 4 PM Paris time (7 AM San Francisco, 10 AM New York). The tournament will be casted live by yours truly on the Custom Live stream.

  I hope this will bring more interest in custom maps, so everyone who can should sign up.

  Game Mode

  • Map: Nexus Wars by Lipschitz
  • 4 vs 4

  Prizes

  • First: $250.00 and 1-year Curse Premium
  • Second: $50.00 and 6-month Curse Premium
  • Third: 3-month Curse Premium
  • Participation: 1-month Curse Premium

  Entry

  • You have to have an available EU account.
  • Your team must be registered 6 hours before the tournaments starts.
  • You need to be online 30 minutes before your match.
  • Register here

  Map Preview

  Here is a map preview by HuskyStarcraft, this is of a older version of the map so most bugs have been sorted out, this video just explains what is the goal.

  World of Warcraft-like terrains by glomby

  glomby managed to make a Starcraft 2 map that has the look & feel of World of Warcraft. I won't say more, just look at the video and be impressed :)

  Destructible Island by Molsterr

  Did you know that it was possible to change the terrain with actors? Probably ... But what about making destructible island with it! It's a cool trick that I am sure you will find a great gameplay to go with.

  Terrain Showcase by CheddaCheeze

  This is really impressive what's possible to do with only some doodads! Check out this terrain showcase by CheddaCheeze. As a side note, he wants to find a great project to terrain on it :)

  

  1. 2 comments