This tutorial will cover the creation of customizable abilities. I will not be covering the creation of the abilities themselves, but the mechanic I use to allow a player to have more choices in the way his characters abilities develop as he levels.
This is a medium level tutorial as it expects you to have already created abilities and assumes you know how to manipulate various Data fields.
For the purpose of this tutorial, I will be creating the upgrades for abilities on my character Aldris in my map Lane Runners. This process is a little repetitive so be ready to do a lot of copying and pasting.
Buttons
We will begin with Buttons.
Create a button for your ability; one for the learn ability, and one for each upgrade. Do this for all of your abilities.
Pulse Ability; Pulse Learn; Upgrade 1 – Increased Range; Upgrade 2 – Reduced Cost; Upgrade 3 – Reduced Cooldown
I like to change Icons for the different upgrades, but there is no harm using the same ones as long as you make sure and change the tooltips. I also like to use color icons for the Abilities and Learn abilities and monochrome for the upgrades.
Requirements
You will need to make a requirement for each upgrade that requires the skill be learned first. This will prevent players from using points upgrading a skill before they have the ability.
LearnDash –
* Use: And, Count Ability: Dash Complete At Unit, Constant: 1
LearnRail
* Use: And, Count Ability: Railgun Snipe Complete At Unit, Constant: 1
LearnPulse
* Use: And, Count Ability: Subsonic Pulse Complete At Unit, Constant: 1
Effects
Create 5 effects Effect Type: Issue Order and leave all the fields defaults. Name them UpgradeLearn1-5.
Abilities
If you already have a level up ability for your hero that statically increases the aspects of your abilities, you’re going to want to get rid of that.
For each of the upgrades you doing, you need a dummy ability. For Hypersonic Dash create the abilities Effect – Instant: Dash CD (Dummy); Dash Speed (Dummy); Dash Damage (Dummy)
Add UpgradeLearn effects 1-5 to the Effect Field. Do this for all dummy abilities for all abilities.
Level Up Ability
This is where the creativity begins. Level up abilities only have 20 slots available, however, for 3 skills to upgrade 3 different attributes 5 different times each, you’re talking 54 learn abilities. This is why we make dummy abilities, so we can put those in the learn ability and apply the upgrades with triggers.
Ability – Points Per Level: 1
Flags – Hide Maximum Level
Ability Info +
Learn 01
* Count Max: 1
* Default Button: Dash Learn
* Ability: Dash
Learn 02
* Count Max: 1
* Default Button: Railgun Learn
* Ability: Railgun Snipe
Learn 03
* Count Max: 1
* Default Button: Pulse Learn
* Ability: Subsonic Pulse
Learn 04
* Count Max: 5
* Requirement: LearnDash
* Default Button: Dash – Reduce Cooldown
* Ability: Dash CD (Dummy)
Learn 05
* Count Max: 5
* Requirement: LearnDash
* Default Button: Dash – Upgrade Damage
* Ability: Dash Damage (Dummy)
Learn 06
* Count Max: 5
* Requirement: LearnDash
* Default Button: Dash – Upgrade Speed
* Ability: Dash Speed (Dummy)
Continue for the additional 6 respective dummy abilities.
Unit
Ability – Abilities +
Add all of your dummy abilities along with your new hero learn ability
Ability - Command Card +
I use the bottom right corner of the command card for my learn ability.
Command Card 1
Button: Level Up
* Command Type: Submenu
* Command Card: 2
* Learn Ability: Level UP
Command Card 2
I like to put the 3 skills to learn along the left of the command card and each upgrade to the right of the skill. I will list the buttons starting with Top Left.
Button: Dash Learn
* Command Type: Ability Command
* Requirements: None
* Ability: Level Up
* Ability Command: Dash Learn
Button: Dash – Reduce Cooldown
* Command Type: Ability Command
* Requirements: Learn Dash
* Ability: Level Up
* Ability Command: Dash – Reduce Cooldown
Button: Dash – Upgrade Damage
* Command Type: Ability Command
* Requirements: Learn Dash
* Ability: Level Up
* Ability Command: Dash – Upgrade Damage
Button: Dash – Upgrade Speed
* Command Type: Ability Command
* Requirements: Learn Dash
* Ability: Level Up
* Ability Command: Dash – Upgrade Speed
Continue this for the rest of your abilities and cooldowns. Don’t forget to put a submenu cancel button.
Upgrades
Now for the meat as this is where you actually change your spells, with the upgrades. Once again, 3 spells, 3 upgrades per spell, 5 levels per upgrade equals 45 upgrades per character.
Upgrade: Dash CD 1
* Affected Unit Array: Aldris
* Effects – Data Reference: Ability – Dash: Cost – Cooldown – Time Use
* Effects – Operation: Set
* Effects – Value: 18 (Default 20 sec.)
* Duplicate this 5 times, reducing the Effects – Value: each time.
Upgrade: Dash Damage 1
* Affected Unit Array: Aldris
* Effects – Data Reference: Effect – Dash (Damage): Amount
* Effects – Operation: Set
* Effects – Value: .8 (Default .6)
* Duplicate this 5 times, increasing the Effects – Value: each time.
Upgrade: Dash Speed 1 – This one is complicated. In order to make the unit run faster, I apply a buff, however, for Buffs, upgrades will only effect duration. Therefor to get multiple speeds, I had to create multiple buffs and change the Apply Behavior Effect to apply the different speed buffs.
* Affected Unit Array: Aldris
* Effects – Data Reference: Effect – Dash Speed: Behavior
* Effects – Operation: Set
* Effects – DashSpeed1
Duplicate this 5 times, setting Effects – Behavior: each time.
Repeat this process for the other 2 spells
Triggers
Start with an Integer Array Size [3][9] – Dash Upgrade Array where the first variable is the 3 different upgrades and the second is the different players.
Copy and paste this trigger for each upgrade. You will have 9 triggers and 3 variable arrays when finished.
Closing
Now you should be able to go in game and have customized spells. This system is great for keeping a game fresh. If you don’t give the player enough skill points to max everything out, they can have a different experience every time they play.
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In-Game Customizable Abilities
This tutorial will cover the creation of customizable abilities. I will not be covering the creation of the abilities themselves, but the mechanic I use to allow a player to have more choices in the way his characters abilities develop as he levels. This is a medium level tutorial as it expects you to have already created abilities and assumes you know how to manipulate various Data fields. For the purpose of this tutorial, I will be creating the upgrades for abilities on my character Aldris in my map Lane Runners. This process is a little repetitive so be ready to do a lot of copying and pasting.
Buttons
We will begin with Buttons. Create a button for your ability; one for the learn ability, and one for each upgrade. Do this for all of your abilities.
Ability 1 – Hypersonic Dash
Dash Ability; Dash Learn; Upgrade 1 – Reduce Cooldown; Upgrade 2 – Increase Speed; Upgrade 3 – Increase Damage
Ability 2 – Railgun
Railgun Ability; Railgun Learn; Upgrade 1 – Increase Damage Area; Upgrade 2 – Reduce Cooldown; Upgrade 3 – Reduce cost
Ability 3 – Subsonic Pulse
Pulse Ability; Pulse Learn; Upgrade 1 – Increased Range; Upgrade 2 – Reduced Cost; Upgrade 3 – Reduced Cooldown I like to change Icons for the different upgrades, but there is no harm using the same ones as long as you make sure and change the tooltips. I also like to use color icons for the Abilities and Learn abilities and monochrome for the upgrades.
Requirements
You will need to make a requirement for each upgrade that requires the skill be learned first. This will prevent players from using points upgrading a skill before they have the ability.
Effects
Create 5 effects Effect Type: Issue Order and leave all the fields defaults. Name them UpgradeLearn1-5.
Abilities
If you already have a level up ability for your hero that statically increases the aspects of your abilities, you’re going to want to get rid of that. For each of the upgrades you doing, you need a dummy ability. For Hypersonic Dash create the abilities Effect – Instant: Dash CD (Dummy); Dash Speed (Dummy); Dash Damage (Dummy) Add UpgradeLearn effects 1-5 to the Effect Field. Do this for all dummy abilities for all abilities.
Level Up Ability
This is where the creativity begins. Level up abilities only have 20 slots available, however, for 3 skills to upgrade 3 different attributes 5 different times each, you’re talking 54 learn abilities. This is why we make dummy abilities, so we can put those in the learn ability and apply the upgrades with triggers.
Ability Info +
Unit
Ability – Abilities +
Add all of your dummy abilities along with your new hero learn ability
Ability - Command Card +
I use the bottom right corner of the command card for my learn ability.
Command Card 1
Command Card 2
I like to put the 3 skills to learn along the left of the command card and each upgrade to the right of the skill. I will list the buttons starting with Top Left.
Upgrades
Now for the meat as this is where you actually change your spells, with the upgrades. Once again, 3 spells, 3 upgrades per spell, 5 levels per upgrade equals 45 upgrades per character.
Triggers
Start with an Integer Array Size [3][9] – Dash Upgrade Array where the first variable is the 3 different upgrades and the second is the different players.
Copy and paste this trigger for each upgrade. You will have 9 triggers and 3 variable arrays when finished.
Closing
Now you should be able to go in game and have customized spells. This system is great for keeping a game fresh. If you don’t give the player enough skill points to max everything out, they can have a different experience every time they play.