I wonder how many of you have considered making an RPG? I feel as though a campaign and RPG are very similar in concept, with the RPG focusing much more on a single unit, or team. It would require more trigger and data work, but really not that much more.
Making an rpg map is my pipe dream. However i spent 12 hours (3 days /4 hours) just to make that marine hero with 4 levelable abilities and augments from my demo map i put in data assets. That's also because i know exactly what i want to do and how to implement it. If you will take a trial and error approach this could easily take a weak of your spare time or even more if your'e total noob.
Rpg require at least some custom units with abilities made from scratch to represent enemies and be interesting to play, because in rpg youre cutting off the fun from army management, and grinding mobs wich are just using regular attack is not fun at all, better stick to campaign with regular sc2 gameplay in that case.
It's pretty much only data which stops a vast variety of maps from being created.
Multiplayer games require balance, which requires many testers, which are impossible to get. Furthermore the more players it requires to start a game, the harder it will be to break past the currently popular maps on bnet, to get people to actually play it.
Many player maps popularity can be achieved with sand box boosting lobby popularity, id be curious, anyone has done it?
And i dont see why make a project here as there isnt much traffic, instead ive got a forum.
I am happy to see all of the comments, quite insightful, I've never considered making a campaign, likely because my lore writing is shyt.
I wonder how many of you have considered making an RPG? I feel as though a campaign and RPG are very similar in concept, with the RPG focusing much more on a single unit, or team. It would require more trigger and data work, but really not that much more.
Not trying to sway anyone, just curious. RPGs tend to do well in the arcade, even poorly made ones. I'm yet to play an RPG with a more immersive story than tower defense tycoon. I see a lot of the great campaign work on here (which isn't my cup of tea) and want to play it more, but it just ain't for me.
The difference is making a campaign vs an RPG is the scaling.
A campaign can be built incrementally, one level at a time. Furthermore, many parts of a level can be iterated and expanded upon after the release (side missions, cutscenes, voice work).
An RPG is an all or nothing, to have even a semblance of an RPG requires the following systems be constructed
1) Skill system
2) Inventory System
3) Item system
4) Progression system (which can tie into any of the above systems)
5) Enemy skill mechanics
That's the foundation, that doesn't cover any actual game scripting, or game logic.
Furthermore, to add anything to the game (Item, Hero, Enemy, Story) requires modification of multiple systems.
I won't even go into balancing issues.
A level in an campaign lacking voice work will appear shoddy if all the other levels have it, but it won't break the gameplay, just the game flow. RPG is far less forgiving and requires every system be present or the gameplay comes apart pretty quickly.
Can confirm. It's taken me about a year of "casual" editing to get a decent RPG/item/hero system and a sizeable ability library. You can see it live in Hero Line Wars on the arcade. I wouldn't envy someone who wanted to start an RPG from scratch... and if they absolutely must, I'd definitely recommend using/adapting as many default sc2 systems as possible to minimize work.
Those of us who has been here since the beginning remember the shortage of quality campaigns offered. There was nothing to be inspired by, and no community to encourage further creations. I was lucky enough to be inspired by this, and not discouraged, as I saw it as opportunity to more easily stand out. But most people just didn't see the point. There was a lot of "Why aren't there more campaigns?" threads, with the answer usually being "People don't want to create something that isn't played on the Arcade".
After the quality of campaigns began rising, people had things to get inspired by, and we got a bandwagon effect: more people wanted to join because more people wanted to join (a positive feedback loop). The growth of quality campaigns was therefore exponential: slow in the beginning, then faster and faster. sc2mapster became the campaign hub the Arcade wasn't capable of being.
After a while, people's demands got higher too. Once the standard was set, creating work that didn't live up to it was futile. What is interesting, though, is that this had an encouraging effect. Expectations became higher, and people responded by meeting these expectations.
Jayborino also helped. He gave the campaigns exposure, but also had a lot of personal and productive passion.
Making an rpg map is my pipe dream. However i spent 12 hours (3 days /4 hours) just to make that marine hero with 4 levelable abilities and augments from my demo map i put in data assets. That's also because i know exactly what i want to do and how to implement it. If you will take a trial and error approach this could easily take a weak of your spare time or even more if your'e total noob.
Rpg require at least some custom units with abilities made from scratch to represent enemies and be interesting to play, because in rpg youre cutting off the fun from army management, and grinding mobs wich are just using regular attack is not fun at all, better stick to campaign with regular sc2 gameplay in that case.
It's pretty much only data which stops a vast variety of maps from being created.
Many player maps popularity can be achieved with sand box boosting lobby popularity, id be curious, anyone has done it?
And i dont see why make a project here as there isnt much traffic, instead ive got a forum.
The difference is making a campaign vs an RPG is the scaling.
A campaign can be built incrementally, one level at a time. Furthermore, many parts of a level can be iterated and expanded upon after the release (side missions, cutscenes, voice work).
An RPG is an all or nothing, to have even a semblance of an RPG requires the following systems be constructed
1) Skill system 2) Inventory System 3) Item system 4) Progression system (which can tie into any of the above systems) 5) Enemy skill mechanics
That's the foundation, that doesn't cover any actual game scripting, or game logic.
Furthermore, to add anything to the game (Item, Hero, Enemy, Story) requires modification of multiple systems.
I won't even go into balancing issues.
A level in an campaign lacking voice work will appear shoddy if all the other levels have it, but it won't break the gameplay, just the game flow. RPG is far less forgiving and requires every system be present or the gameplay comes apart pretty quickly.
Can confirm. It's taken me about a year of "casual" editing to get a decent RPG/item/hero system and a sizeable ability library. You can see it live in Hero Line Wars on the arcade. I wouldn't envy someone who wanted to start an RPG from scratch... and if they absolutely must, I'd definitely recommend using/adapting as many default sc2 systems as possible to minimize work.
It's a network effect.
Those of us who has been here since the beginning remember the shortage of quality campaigns offered. There was nothing to be inspired by, and no community to encourage further creations. I was lucky enough to be inspired by this, and not discouraged, as I saw it as opportunity to more easily stand out. But most people just didn't see the point. There was a lot of "Why aren't there more campaigns?" threads, with the answer usually being "People don't want to create something that isn't played on the Arcade".
After the quality of campaigns began rising, people had things to get inspired by, and we got a bandwagon effect: more people wanted to join because more people wanted to join (a positive feedback loop). The growth of quality campaigns was therefore exponential: slow in the beginning, then faster and faster. sc2mapster became the campaign hub the Arcade wasn't capable of being.
After a while, people's demands got higher too. Once the standard was set, creating work that didn't live up to it was futile. What is interesting, though, is that this had an encouraging effect. Expectations became higher, and people responded by meeting these expectations.
Jayborino also helped. He gave the campaigns exposure, but also had a lot of personal and productive passion.
I think it has a lot to do with SC1 and the campaign editor, campaigns are big projects so, a lot goes into making it turning it into a hobby.
that's at least my take on it.