SC2Mapster

Quote from QueenGambit: Go

• What made you join SC2mapster?
• Did you have any map making experience prior or played previous blizzard games?
• How was your galaxy edit learning experience from Dec 2010, (I see you actively answering everyones map edit questions)
• What were some of the fun moments/memories in SC2 or SC2mapster you like to share?
• What are some drama/stressful/toxic situations did you enounter as a mod
• What do you like to do besides SC2mapster (if willing to be personable, what to you do irl, other hobbies, etc)
• What do you hope SC2mapster or SC2 to achieve in the future?

• I joined SC2mapster because at the time it was the only community that had forums with more than a single response per week (at the time the hive workshop was still a WC3 only site) and I found I could answer many of the questions being left unanswered. Back then a lot of the basics of the editor were not common knowledge.
• I first used the editor of Age of Empires II and Empire Earth but those did not allow for much unit customisation. I played a lot of WC3 (built up quite the library of beta maps including those that evolved into DOTA and SWAT Aftermath) but did not publish any maps although I did mess around with the editor.
• Disappointing. Seems I am and always have been one of the few people who actively try to discover unknown editor functionalities. My first question (about duping spine crawlers) was unanswered for months and I eventually had to answer it myself after discovering the Action actor consistently failed to dupe properly. Only Kueken531 and BorgDragon were truly inspirational. Most of what I knew at the time I got from looking at all units, actors and abilities from the Liberty campaign and replicating them or systematically disassembling the originals until I understood them. Since then I just pick an unknown functionality or untried use and experiment (often over several weeks) until I get it to work or prove it is impossible with that method.
• All editors have their own personal triumphs. My first major one was when I figured out how to reverse engineer the texture swap used by the dark protoss units (https://www.sc2mapster.com/forums/development/data/18456-how-do-i-use-texture-select-by-id/). Previously map makers would use Set Tint Color to make roaches garish primary colours or use a complicated export, edit and import method which resulted in all units using the model being modified. Although MudSud (now RCIX) beat me to a technical demonstration by about a week the tutorial made by me and BorgDragon was more reliable and had less swearing.

Inspired by the Terratron video by blizzard () and this thread: https://www.sc2mapster.com/forums/development/map-development/807-how-to-make-terratron/#p17 , I began investigating how to make better composite units. Kueken531 made a breakthrough with his crate () by finding that attaching actors onto the overhead attachment point of an invisible actor that changes size with the Set Scale event action could be used to push and pull actors. Based on this concept I began investigating if it is possible to rotate actors with this method. After several experiments (see picture) and collaborations this was the result https://www.sc2mapster.com/forums/resources/project-workplace/24854-experimental-toss-a-tron-terrorize/#posts . As this method was not dynamic enough I began messing with booms and joints which led to my autoharvester (map currently being maintained due to patches breaking it but here are some pics of the development). Finally a moment of inspiration came looking at the attack of the lurker used in liberty and I combined the attachment methods used by the lurker attack with a tentacle. The result was a tentatcle that was able to use a missile to attack the ground and then rehost itself onto the target point. When made to have 0 opacity this allowed me to get a sphere model to periodically jump. From this I was able to make my walker after overcoming simple technical problems like how to determine what direction a unit is turning in.

Another memorable moment was how me and Zolden figured out how to get the render to texture trigger to work. The results of that collaboration can be seen here: https://www.sc2mapster.com/forums/development/artist-tavern/62145-proof-of-concept-true-pip/#posts

• As a moderator the spam is always a pain with me having to typically ban/delete 10-20 accounts and 1-2 ip addresses a day. Then there was the situation with Taintedwisp where he was helpful and polite in some forums and made contributions to map making but turned into a troll in the general and off-topic forums. Fortunately some other moderators made the decision to ban him.

• I read scientific papers, play video games and do sericulture. During the summer I also look for insects and other invertebrates outside.

• What I hope SC2mapster or SC2 to achieve is 100% editor documentation. People with an SC2mapster account can edit the wiki (http://wiki.sc2mapster.com/SC2Mapster_Wiki) but nobody ever does.

@Hockleberry: Go

My brother seems to call himself ImperialGood these days on some accounts.

@SoulFilcher: Go

Well there was a lot of lore discussion but no one ever contributed any assets but me. Since LOTV failed to deliver on the hybrid race it might be worth while reviving.

@QueenGambit: Go

Yup.

@Hockleberry: Go

He is now the maps curator. The bug with the Learn ability pretty much killed it though.