Okay there is a map I really love called Custom Hero Defense that the author has already said he will no longer work on and its been over a year since he said that and it appears to be more than true. I REALLY was hopping to find a way to get my hands on the map but it appeared to be impossible. So looks like I have to recreate it from scratch
So where should I start?
Like I could start with the terrain but then not sure where to go from there what would be the best thing to tackle first?
0. Learn the very basic stuff about editor, like "wtf all this". There are some vids on youtube that are like "this is terrain editor, here you draw your map, and this is data editor, here you do stuff" and so on.
Then just obvious steps:
1. Get a list of features that should be implemented in your map
2. Learn every feature from that list one by one.
3. Create a shitty map, implement each feature, make sure everything works, upload to bnet, test it a little.
4. Finally start creating the map you wanted to create.
For example, when I started mapmaking, I decided to recreate an old zone control game named Z. So I was like: ok, I want units to touch neutral buildings to capture them. And I want buildings to autospawn units.
I asked here on forum alot of stupid questions, watched some tutorials, created a shitty map, and when I felt I know everything I need, started creating that game.
It's good to start simple and build from there. Make basic things in your map in each area (ex: make a basic terrain layout, make a new unit, make a trigger to spawn your unit, etc.). Don't try doing everything at once, especially when you are new. You will learn how to do things better as time goes on and you will want to change things around as you build your map. Starting a map can be daunting but once you learn the basics you can do almost anything you want!
It is important you get your mechanics working first. Having beautifully sculptured terrain is pointless if you find out what you wanted to do is not possible.
Do not simply try to re-create a map, improve upon it or give it a "twist" or something that makes it stand out. After all why should people play your alpha/beta version map when there exists already a highly polished one.
In the case of a custom hero defence map you would want to try and create a hero with 1-2 working skills with 1-2 options or something of the sort to make sure your core mechanics are working. Then it is a lot of grunt working adding new content.
Content creation itself is difficult. If I remember that map at least 50% of choices were unusable since there was always better. That is an inherit problem with that sort of map but you would want to minimize it maybe by locking out incompatible choices or streamlining to some extent. Try and make each ability different in the situation it is used so that everyone does not do the best simply by spamming out damage and debuffs etc.
A big problem you will encounter is the standard SC2 armor mechanics. If you have enough armor you could end up taking only 0.5 damage from attacks while if you give the enemies too much damage even the tanks will fall fast. Consider migrating to a WC3 style armor system (% more equivalent HP per point) or one which scales better.
Avoid statistic hyper inflation. Sure you want your final waves to be tough, but that does not mean they need 1000 times more stats than the first wave.
Design your save mechanics right first time. It is not something you want to re-design post release as it will really annoy a lot of players. The author of the map you mention failed to do this so repeatedly wiped everyone to the point at least 70% of people quit.
Be realistic about content acquisition. Difficulty unlocks are ok if the difficulty is reasonable to win (no "requires mega super impossible god mode to be beaten"). "Grinding" unlocks should also be reasonable to acquire (20-40 hours max for everything) with reasonable spacing (avoid unlocking everything at start then expect the person to play an extra 20 hours to unlock the last thing). Do keep in mind that your map is one of many in SC2 so it is not reasonable expecting them to play it for hundreds of hours such as a stand alone game like Diablo III does.
start with terrain editor but do not create the full terrain yet, just a playable basic one. then create your first hero and then the first waves (w/e it is in your map). basically create a prototype of your map with minimalistic content. when you get there and you are still motivated (most aren't but at least they created a fency terrain) you should iterativly add content based on your concepts.
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Okay there is a map I really love called Custom Hero Defense that the author has already said he will no longer work on and its been over a year since he said that and it appears to be more than true. I REALLY was hopping to find a way to get my hands on the map but it appeared to be impossible. So looks like I have to recreate it from scratch
So where should I start?
Like I could start with the terrain but then not sure where to go from there what would be the best thing to tackle first?
IMO:
1) terrain 2) impotant data (like the heros) 3) start most triggers 4) touch up terrain and finish data/ triggrs
0. Learn the very basic stuff about editor, like "wtf all this". There are some vids on youtube that are like "this is terrain editor, here you draw your map, and this is data editor, here you do stuff" and so on.
Then just obvious steps:
1. Get a list of features that should be implemented in your map
2. Learn every feature from that list one by one.
3. Create a shitty map, implement each feature, make sure everything works, upload to bnet, test it a little.
4. Finally start creating the map you wanted to create.
For example, when I started mapmaking, I decided to recreate an old zone control game named Z. So I was like: ok, I want units to touch neutral buildings to capture them. And I want buildings to autospawn units.
I asked here on forum alot of stupid questions, watched some tutorials, created a shitty map, and when I felt I know everything I need, started creating that game.
It's good to start simple and build from there. Make basic things in your map in each area (ex: make a basic terrain layout, make a new unit, make a trigger to spawn your unit, etc.). Don't try doing everything at once, especially when you are new. You will learn how to do things better as time goes on and you will want to change things around as you build your map. Starting a map can be daunting but once you learn the basics you can do almost anything you want!
It is important you get your mechanics working first. Having beautifully sculptured terrain is pointless if you find out what you wanted to do is not possible.
Do not simply try to re-create a map, improve upon it or give it a "twist" or something that makes it stand out. After all why should people play your alpha/beta version map when there exists already a highly polished one.
In the case of a custom hero defence map you would want to try and create a hero with 1-2 working skills with 1-2 options or something of the sort to make sure your core mechanics are working. Then it is a lot of grunt working adding new content.
Content creation itself is difficult. If I remember that map at least 50% of choices were unusable since there was always better. That is an inherit problem with that sort of map but you would want to minimize it maybe by locking out incompatible choices or streamlining to some extent. Try and make each ability different in the situation it is used so that everyone does not do the best simply by spamming out damage and debuffs etc.
A big problem you will encounter is the standard SC2 armor mechanics. If you have enough armor you could end up taking only 0.5 damage from attacks while if you give the enemies too much damage even the tanks will fall fast. Consider migrating to a WC3 style armor system (% more equivalent HP per point) or one which scales better.
Avoid statistic hyper inflation. Sure you want your final waves to be tough, but that does not mean they need 1000 times more stats than the first wave.
Design your save mechanics right first time. It is not something you want to re-design post release as it will really annoy a lot of players. The author of the map you mention failed to do this so repeatedly wiped everyone to the point at least 70% of people quit.
Be realistic about content acquisition. Difficulty unlocks are ok if the difficulty is reasonable to win (no "requires mega super impossible god mode to be beaten"). "Grinding" unlocks should also be reasonable to acquire (20-40 hours max for everything) with reasonable spacing (avoid unlocking everything at start then expect the person to play an extra 20 hours to unlock the last thing). Do keep in mind that your map is one of many in SC2 so it is not reasonable expecting them to play it for hundreds of hours such as a stand alone game like Diablo III does.
Without data skills you wont be able even to create a new unit from scratch.
start with terrain editor but do not create the full terrain yet, just a playable basic one. then create your first hero and then the first waves (w/e it is in your map). basically create a prototype of your map with minimalistic content. when you get there and you are still motivated (most aren't but at least they created a fency terrain) you should iterativly add content based on your concepts.