This summer my job at NASA Langley Research Center was to build SC2 maps. I gained much insight from the SC2Mapster community as I built my maps this summer, and now I want to give you the chance to see what I've come up with. Check out the or play the maps by searching for "LunarHarvest" maps online when creating a game in SC2.
As the series is now, here are the maps available to play:
Lunar Harvest: Base Operations (1 player campaign);
I have tried out your single player campaign and there is a bug with the '3 research items objectives'. The items themselves are not obvious so i tried to gather every clickable item on the map (after clearing out all hostiles). Nothing seems to work. I tried using workers as well as combat units but there's no interaction. And I don't understand why there's beacons when the beacons don't do anything.
Aside from all that, good job on the tutorial. I like it.
Hey caparosmith, thanks for your response. I just went online and checked out the bug you mentioned. The three main items I've placed seem to work, so let me ask: did the items you're talking about have a blue "protoss beacon" under them? If so, and if this is what you're talking about when you say that the "beacons don't do anything" then I'd suggest ordering any ground unit of yours to walk around the protoss beacons until they trigger...I've set the beacons to disappear and trigger item collection when a ground unit of the player has entered within a small area around them. If you aren't talking about these protoss beacons then I don't know what to tell you, except that you should look for doodads marked by protoss beacons.
I hope this helps.
Also, thanks for the nice words. If you have any other comments about my maps, I'd love to hear them!
I see... you definitely appear to have run into a bug from the look of your screenshots (which are sweet, btw). I don't have the same problem when I try the maps out online, but I'm trying to tinker around to figure out what might be causing the problem for you. At the moment I can't upload any updates until I figure out why I suddenly started getting "Gateway_Down" errors when trying to publish :-/ That said, I can try a few things once I can publish again and see if that helps you out - I'll get to it as soon I can. Sorry for the inconvenience, buddy, and thanks for taking the time to show me the issue. Also, it looks like you were wrecking from the screenshots...what do you think of the difficulty settings?
Well, I can't really comment on that as I played this out on the 'piece of cake' difficulty. Yeah, I wanted to finish it as quickly as possible (played it twice, still the same bug). I cleared out all enemies by the 23rd minute. The marine marauder attack was easily dealt with by cloaked banshees (would the AI use scan on 'normal' or higher difficulty if it gets attacked by something it can't see?).
But it could just be due to the difficulty setting. I would have liked to see some aggression from the south base as well, and get a few medivacs and vikings to go along with the main marine marauder attack.
I'll try out the map again. Maybe I won't encounter the bug again cuz it seemed to work fine for you. btw if I add AI to the melee maps will the AI play out normally?
Thanks for the helpful remarks concerning attack waves. At the moment, each difficulty level has specific attack waves associated with it, and each difficulty also has different upgrades unlocked for enemy units. I'll definitely add some more air aggression, and even an attack from what you call the "south base" outside the crater rim, but not for the easiest setting - "piece of cake" is meant to be more of a tutorial and demonstration tool than anything else.
Also, I've figured out that the problem I've been encountering when trying to re-publish maps is my internet connection...I'll have to wait until I get to school in little over a week to be able to publish any updates.
Thanks for bearing with me in this transition period - I appreciate it, caparosmith. In the meantime, please let me know if you have any other suggestions for my Lunar Harvest maps, or if you find you can pick up scientific items when you try "Base Operations" again. Hope you had a fun weekend.
Like SkrowFunk said, if you are hired by nasa to make a map about space, I hope we at least learn some space thing from it :O
Is their isn't or if there is only a small amount, I suggest to add a lot of em.
AND as you are on a moon, I HIGHLY suggest you to have a day/night cycle which influence gameplay. As the temperature of a moon is incredibly cold at night and hot at days, water deposite could be inomperable at night. Unit could also be slower at night and have decreased sight+weapon range.
This would make more strategic gameplay and LOT more fun.
I HIGHLY suggest you to import a lot of technology and research in your map. Like Plasma technology, MacroWave tanks (anti-infatry vehicule that require MacroWave tech), ect,ect. There could even be an upgrade to the Water Deposite to allow it to harest at Night time.
It's a lot of suggestion, but when making a strategy game like yours, the more things you adds, and the better your map is. We love to feel the ''Whole New Game'' type of map.
AND as you are on a moon, I HIGHLY suggest you to have a day/night cycle which influence gameplay. As the temperature of a moon is incredibly cold at night and hot at days, water deposite could be inomperable at night. Unit could also be slower at night and have decreased sight+weapon range.
The moon is tidally locked with the earth, which means that the same side is always facing the earth, which means that it takes a whole rotation around the earth for a lunar "day" to occur IE. "Days" on the moon are a month long.
I learnt a lot about space technology from the help menu, as well as about the process of landing and establishing a base on the moon, and a bit about the conditions on the moon.
@ BoldlyGo
I understand the story for this mission is to establish a lunar base but what story would you use to explain the presence of the already well established hostile bases on the moon?
by days on the moon, you mean a rotation on it's own axis? When the moon is located behind the earth, which happens often, the sunlights can't reach it, such it's all darkened. When it's on the side of the sun, more than half of it's surface is lightened. Such, we could say it's a day/night cycle depending on the position towards earth to sun.
caparosmith, I'm so glad you learned something about space technology and the process of establishing a lunar base! As for your question about the hostile forces in Lunar Harvest: Base Operations, I can only say that they represent other interested parties that want to collect as much water and Helium-3 as possible for themselves - you didn't necessarily find the best landing spot first...
mnadeau1992, thanks for your insightful suggestions for upgrades to my maps. If I were better at using the map editor, I'd love to incorporate your suggestions, especially those concerning ability modifications for daily cycles. I'd also love to successfully import models, textures and animations to make the units of my maps look more like their NASA-counterparts, but that'll have to wait for future maps. I'll see what I can do as time goes by.
If I were better at using the map editor, I'd love to incorporate your suggestions, especially those concerning ability modifications for daily cycles. I'd also love to successfully import models, textures and animations to make the units of my maps look more like their NASA-counterparts, but that'll have to wait for future maps. I'll see what I can do as time goes by.
That's great, thanks BasharTeg! The WoW model import tutorial is awesome... I haven't yet had time to try it out completely, though I look forward to it. The Day/Night cycle tutorial page is also good, and I've used one of the tutorials included in that post (in particular, one). With that said, I don't know how to set up triggers with respect to those day/night cycles to get the cool night-effects on units and gameplay...
@BoldlyGo: Go
When you change the lighting of the map between day and night you could apply or remove custom made upgrades or buffs from every unit on the map. Or at least ones that would be affected by a day/night cycle. For a more incremental effect you could use stacking buffs and increase/decrease the amount stacked in accordance with the time of day. Behaviors (like the buffs) can also be linked to actors, so you could do things like add flashlight actors to vehicles during the night which extinguish themselves when it becomes day.
@BoldlyGo: Go When you change the lighting of the map between day and night you could apply or remove custom made upgrades or buffs from every unit on the map. Or at least ones that would be affected by a day/night cycle. For a more incremental effect you could use stacking buffs and increase/decrease the amount stacked in accordance with the time of day. Behaviors (like the buffs) can also be linked to actors, so you could do things like add flashlight actors to vehicles during the night which extinguish themselves when it becomes day.
Exactly :D
Dunno if you played the campaign, but Tychus Findlay had that flashlight linked to it's weapon. While opening a map in the editor, you can switch to CAMPAIGN maps and search for some stuff in there. Much stuff to learn is from already made maps.
If I understood right you spent ten weeks for that project?
Amazing work compared to time spent. Especially if you are not very experienced mapper already when you started. I have spent one year to get basics of editor. Ofcourse I don't spent like 8 hours a day. But I still think that you have done good job in ten weeks. Did you get any aid from other people?
I haven't played your maps yet. Just seen screenshots / trailer.
Improve tips:
In trailer that help sceen was really good. Especially that video. I think this best way to share knowledge about NASA technology and space. So make that gameplay just fun and that "real information" can be found from help screens.
By the way... Does NASA support your project some way in future? And can you get some models of NASA or something similiar for your project in future? And ofcourse do you continue to improve this map series without being paid employee of NASA?
Also: Thumbs up for your project. Don't mind those negative comments in some posts =)
Hey All,
This summer my job at NASA Langley Research Center was to build SC2 maps. I gained much insight from the SC2Mapster community as I built my maps this summer, and now I want to give you the chance to see what I've come up with. Check out the or play the maps by searching for "LunarHarvest" maps online when creating a game in SC2.
As the series is now, here are the maps available to play:
I'm planning on updating these maps, so any feedback would be awesome.
Thanks! And I hope you enjoy...
I have tried out your single player campaign and there is a bug with the '3 research items objectives'. The items themselves are not obvious so i tried to gather every clickable item on the map (after clearing out all hostiles). Nothing seems to work. I tried using workers as well as combat units but there's no interaction. And I don't understand why there's beacons when the beacons don't do anything.
Aside from all that, good job on the tutorial. I like it.
@caparosmith: Go
Hey caparosmith, thanks for your response. I just went online and checked out the bug you mentioned. The three main items I've placed seem to work, so let me ask: did the items you're talking about have a blue "protoss beacon" under them? If so, and if this is what you're talking about when you say that the "beacons don't do anything" then I'd suggest ordering any ground unit of yours to walk around the protoss beacons until they trigger...I've set the beacons to disappear and trigger item collection when a ground unit of the player has entered within a small area around them. If you aren't talking about these protoss beacons then I don't know what to tell you, except that you should look for doodads marked by protoss beacons.
I hope this helps.
Also, thanks for the nice words. If you have any other comments about my maps, I'd love to hear them!
The following screenshots demonstrates the issues I'm experiencing:
And I don't know what these other protoss beacons do:
Is there something I'm doing wrong?
I see... you definitely appear to have run into a bug from the look of your screenshots (which are sweet, btw). I don't have the same problem when I try the maps out online, but I'm trying to tinker around to figure out what might be causing the problem for you. At the moment I can't upload any updates until I figure out why I suddenly started getting "Gateway_Down" errors when trying to publish :-/ That said, I can try a few things once I can publish again and see if that helps you out - I'll get to it as soon I can. Sorry for the inconvenience, buddy, and thanks for taking the time to show me the issue. Also, it looks like you were wrecking from the screenshots...what do you think of the difficulty settings?
Well, I can't really comment on that as I played this out on the 'piece of cake' difficulty. Yeah, I wanted to finish it as quickly as possible (played it twice, still the same bug). I cleared out all enemies by the 23rd minute. The marine marauder attack was easily dealt with by cloaked banshees (would the AI use scan on 'normal' or higher difficulty if it gets attacked by something it can't see?).
But it could just be due to the difficulty setting. I would have liked to see some aggression from the south base as well, and get a few medivacs and vikings to go along with the main marine marauder attack.
I'll try out the map again. Maybe I won't encounter the bug again cuz it seemed to work fine for you. btw if I add AI to the melee maps will the AI play out normally?
Thanks for the helpful remarks concerning attack waves. At the moment, each difficulty level has specific attack waves associated with it, and each difficulty also has different upgrades unlocked for enemy units. I'll definitely add some more air aggression, and even an attack from what you call the "south base" outside the crater rim, but not for the easiest setting - "piece of cake" is meant to be more of a tutorial and demonstration tool than anything else.
Also, I've figured out that the problem I've been encountering when trying to re-publish maps is my internet connection...I'll have to wait until I get to school in little over a week to be able to publish any updates.
Thanks for bearing with me in this transition period - I appreciate it, caparosmith. In the meantime, please let me know if you have any other suggestions for my Lunar Harvest maps, or if you find you can pick up scientific items when you try "Base Operations" again. Hope you had a fun weekend.
@BoldlyGo: Go
Maybe you can get NASA to convince Blizzard to increase the publish time-out duration to something over 2 minutes ;)
@caparosmith: Go
But did you learn anything about space????
Like SkrowFunk said, if you are hired by nasa to make a map about space, I hope we at least learn some space thing from it :O Is their isn't or if there is only a small amount, I suggest to add a lot of em.
AND as you are on a moon, I HIGHLY suggest you to have a day/night cycle which influence gameplay. As the temperature of a moon is incredibly cold at night and hot at days, water deposite could be inomperable at night. Unit could also be slower at night and have decreased sight+weapon range.
This would make more strategic gameplay and LOT more fun. I HIGHLY suggest you to import a lot of technology and research in your map. Like Plasma technology, MacroWave tanks (anti-infatry vehicule that require MacroWave tech), ect,ect. There could even be an upgrade to the Water Deposite to allow it to harest at Night time.
It's a lot of suggestion, but when making a strategy game like yours, the more things you adds, and the better your map is. We love to feel the ''Whole New Game'' type of map.
Thank you a lot TheBigMike 844
The moon is tidally locked with the earth, which means that the same side is always facing the earth, which means that it takes a whole rotation around the earth for a lunar "day" to occur IE. "Days" on the moon are a month long.
@SkrowFunk: Go
I learnt a lot about space technology from the help menu, as well as about the process of landing and establishing a base on the moon, and a bit about the conditions on the moon.
@ BoldlyGo
I understand the story for this mission is to establish a lunar base but what story would you use to explain the presence of the already well established hostile bases on the moon?
@Pkol: Go
by days on the moon, you mean a rotation on it's own axis? When the moon is located behind the earth, which happens often, the sunlights can't reach it, such it's all darkened. When it's on the side of the sun, more than half of it's surface is lightened. Such, we could say it's a day/night cycle depending on the position towards earth to sun.
Hey, thanks for all the comments.
caparosmith, I'm so glad you learned something about space technology and the process of establishing a lunar base! As for your question about the hostile forces in Lunar Harvest: Base Operations, I can only say that they represent other interested parties that want to collect as much water and Helium-3 as possible for themselves - you didn't necessarily find the best landing spot first...
mnadeau1992, thanks for your insightful suggestions for upgrades to my maps. If I were better at using the map editor, I'd love to incorporate your suggestions, especially those concerning ability modifications for daily cycles. I'd also love to successfully import models, textures and animations to make the units of my maps look more like their NASA-counterparts, but that'll have to wait for future maps. I'll see what I can do as time goes by.
And BasharTeg, I wish I could :-P
You've come to the right place.
Day/Night cycle tutorial
Model import tutorial
The model tutorial is for WoW models but you should be able to adapt what you learn there to import just about anything.
@BasharTeg: Go
That's great, thanks BasharTeg! The WoW model import tutorial is awesome... I haven't yet had time to try it out completely, though I look forward to it. The Day/Night cycle tutorial page is also good, and I've used one of the tutorials included in that post (in particular, one). With that said, I don't know how to set up triggers with respect to those day/night cycles to get the cool night-effects on units and gameplay...
@BoldlyGo: Go When you change the lighting of the map between day and night you could apply or remove custom made upgrades or buffs from every unit on the map. Or at least ones that would be affected by a day/night cycle. For a more incremental effect you could use stacking buffs and increase/decrease the amount stacked in accordance with the time of day. Behaviors (like the buffs) can also be linked to actors, so you could do things like add flashlight actors to vehicles during the night which extinguish themselves when it becomes day.
Exactly :D Dunno if you played the campaign, but Tychus Findlay had that flashlight linked to it's weapon. While opening a map in the editor, you can switch to CAMPAIGN maps and search for some stuff in there. Much stuff to learn is from already made maps.
If I understood right you spent ten weeks for that project?
Amazing work compared to time spent. Especially if you are not very experienced mapper already when you started. I have spent one year to get basics of editor. Ofcourse I don't spent like 8 hours a day. But I still think that you have done good job in ten weeks. Did you get any aid from other people?
I haven't played your maps yet. Just seen screenshots / trailer.
Improve tips:
By the way... Does NASA support your project some way in future? And can you get some models of NASA or something similiar for your project in future? And ofcourse do you continue to improve this map series without being paid employee of NASA?
Also: Thumbs up for your project. Don't mind those negative comments in some posts =)
@BoldlyGo: Go
Have you come to some updates after 25th august? I don't see nowhere to find them :(