SC2Mapster

After a short test session with three classes I've a few things I'd like to point out.

• Zealot
  • Needs to be buffed in general
  • The increased damage skill behaves like a berserk skill which is ok. But the Reaper has a similar skill that also increases damage, is ranged and doesnt result in increased damage taken. I felt it was a little bit off.
  • The charge currently behaves like the charge in a normal melee game. I'd rather see that the charge initializes from the spot the zealot is at when the order is issued, rather than to walk into range and then charge. This would make the skill feel both more funny and useful.
• Reaper
  • What can I say, I loved this one!
  • Needs better visual feedback for the spiky skill (#2)
• Medic
  • Overall really funny to play, although it felt a little redundant to have a healer in the current state. But gameplay-wise and skill-wise I really enjoyed this one.
• General gameplay changes
  • First, the health bar should really be visible above the allies when holding ALT key, it takes too much focus from the game to look at the health bar on the left side and then find that unit in the battle in order to heal. Chances are the unit will die before you've finished the procedure.
  • I'd like to have a non-static camera, or a camera that shows more of the battlefield. This is something I did however only feel was necessary when playing the reaper. When using the 'Death from above'-skill I were unable to jump behind the enemies on the test arena (in the chokes). It was sometime possible if I moved against them and got vision this way, but when playing the reaper, chances are you're already dead by then!

Overall I enjoyed the test and I'm looking forward to what new features you come up with next!

Regards, HPX

General

• Cross-server upload

Triggers

• getplayername as string
• getplayerhash (unique) as string
• gettime in milliseconds (realtime, not gametime, I wanna be able to get dates out of this one)
• ability to set the seed value for the random number generator (useful for dungeon generation / Procedural generation)

You could download and check this one: http://www.sc2mapster.com/maps/lordabyss-trigger-specials/

@Terhonator: Go

If you want to give those who download the maps the rights to do whatever they want, then yes. Public domain would be the way to go. Then you have GPL,which requires me to share any changes I do to your work if released (you might want to look at GPL3 for that as I'm not sure if GPL2 would apply).

I am unsure for the other ones such as BSD, Academic, Apache etc. Someone else hopefully have info on them.

Quote from Molsterr: Go

@HPX: Go

no, it still shows as linked in the data editor, its very very obvious that its still there.

Haha, yeah I know. That's what I meant ^{But the skill looks to be gone for the player since the commandcard is gone although the ability itself remains active until the ability is removed, I was tired and didn't really read through before posting that yesterday. :p}

Quote from progammer: Go

@HPX: Go

But what is the sentry autocast? <</quote>>

Probably macro code to make a group of sentry cast ff on the ramp every 15s (in the game he only hotkey that group of sentry, but never order them to)

Ah, ok. Didn't watch the replay so didnt note that. Thanks.

Molsterr, it's probably just some old ability they forgot to remove since it appears to be gone once you remove the command cards.

Quote from Molsterr: Go

What strikes me of amazing is the game has only been out a month, and people already know what packets to send to the server to use ability X, impressive tbh.

would be tricky to fix.. I mean they have to keep it so we can use a hidden ability... I guess in league games, have the sever check if its hidden, if its hidden in a league game, it cant be used, no matter whats sent.

Well, removing the Immortal Warp In ability from the warpgate would probably solve that problem. Same for the increased range since the game will then just refuse to warp an immortal in / research the skill.

But what is the sentry autocast?

I approve, really catchy. :D

StarCraft 2, StarCraft 2, I quit my job because of you.
StarCraft 2, StarCraft 2, I LOVE yoouuuuuu!

I assume you have unit X and want it to move against point Y?

The basic concept to move a unit is Unit - Order (Triggering unit) to ( Move targeting (Center of TargetRegion)) (Replace Existing Orders)

And to pick a unit in a region and issue order I would use:

Unit Group - Pick each unit in (Any units in Region owned by player Any Player matching Excluded: Missile, Dead, Hidden, with at most Any Amount) and do (Actions)

Actions

Unit - Order (Picked unit) to ( Move targeting (Center of Region)) (Replace Existing Orders)

Now, for the latter one, it will move all units in a region to center of chosen region. You can specify a certain player here aswell so that it doesnt move both the enemies and your units for example.

Note, to change from the default order which is without a target point, click the red ( (marked above in Unit - Order action) and change to Order Targeting Point.

Reply with a little more details if I misinterpreted you. :)

So I've been playing around with the editor for awhile and I'm starting to notice some stuff I'm missing (or have yet to find a good solution for). Feel free to post things you feel is missing, the more the merrier? I will keep the first post updated with the requested features.

• General
  • Be able to change the mouse pointer (I need this one for selecting at which angle a unit is to be attacked).
  • Track mouse movement on the screen (Same as the pointer)
  • Map localization in one file where you define fields like enUs, enDe etc
  • Chat feature in the Editor.
  • Ability to browse all assets without needing to add dependencies, OR let us individually remove them from the data browser
  • Advanced mirroring system

• Events
  • Unit gains behavior

• Actions
  • TextToString function

• Requests where solutions are available
  • When returning the UnitType, it gets returned as Text rather than String which imo is a pain since I can convert from String -> Text but not the other way around. - Solution: Use Convert gamelink to string instead since unittype is language specific whilst gamelink isnt.

Edit: 8/9/2010 Updated with more suggestions. Also linked to posts that are a lil longer in order to save space in this post.

Having the same problem here, it seems like the attach text tag doesn't work as intended. Anyone have a workaround to this? Would be great.

Edit: It seems like attach to point doesnt work. Attach to unit worked fine.

Now, what would a map editor be without the terrain editor? Here we will take a look at the things that can be done using it.

Terrain

Here is a great example of what some terrain editing together with doodads might look like when it's done.

Control Lightning

The ability to control lightning is a really cool feature, just take a look at the results and you will see for yourself!

Cinematic

This is a sample of the cinematics you will be able to create using the editor.

Doodads

With clever use of doodads we can create amazing scenery such as this.

Roads

Roads, everybody use them. Now they can easily be placed on your maps aswell. The video below will show you a finished racing map with roads, terrains, doodads triggers and a really nice result!

The Data Editor is the tool that differs most compared to the previous editors released by Blizzard, and it truly is powerful.

Actors

An example of a spell created using only the data editor.

Terrain deformation

Here is a great example of what you can do with just the data editor, manipulating the terrain on the fly during the game.

Heroes, skills and levels

Just like in WarCraft III we can create heroes, implement levels, experience and learnable skills. This all through the data editor.

Inventories, Powerups & Custom weapons

Powerups, items and inventories are other useful stuff you can make with just the data editor.

Shops

We can also make shops, much like the ones in WarCraft III.

Note: The above video is an entire tutorial, for the part in the video where the shop is shown,

Custom units

Now, last but not least with the data editor. Many of you have probably seen the Überlisk. Well, we had a contest not long ago and had many awesome entries, and here is the winning entry, 28b-x.

For the rest of the entries, check the creature contest.

StarCraft, Warcraft 3, StarCraft II Trigger Comparison

The Trigger Editor has greatly improved over the games. At first, in Starcraft, it was just a small box with rudimentary tools. In Warcraft 3 the interface improved a lot and it capabilities too. Starcraft 2 did not make any major changes to the design but added a lot of improvements like libraries.

Keyboard Handling

It is possible to intercept any keyboard input (up and down) and mouse click. This gives the ability to make First Person Shooter style maps and more funky ones like this:

Dialogs

Here we see a great example of dialog usage which differs from a normal custom map.

Mouse look

Also, we can now freely move the camera with the mouse and use the editor to make our own FPS.

Bank

You can save data across game using banks

Quote:

Bank - Open bank <name> for <player> - Opens a bank with the name specified by the name parameter, for the chosen player.

Bank - Preload and synchronize bank <name> for <player> - Preloads and synchronizes bank data for all players when the game loads.

Bank - Restore <Key> of section <Section> from bank <bank> for <player> at <position> facing <degrees> - Restores a unit contained in the chosen bank at the specified key of the specified section. The unit will be created for the specified player, at the specified position, facing a specific angle.

Bank - Save bank <bank> - Saves the specified bank file, allowing you to access stored values later.

Bank - Store boolean <Value> as <Key> of section <Section> in bank <bank> - Stores a boolean value to the specified bank. The section and key parameters determine where the value is stored in the bank file, and must be used to load the value later.

As for storing values, there exists other types we can store, such as real, integer, string, text, point and unit. The syntax for these are the same as for store Boolean.

Map transitions

We can move between maps and retain the hitpoints, levels etc using the banks.

Sprite animations

Using text tags we are able to have animated sprites ingame.

@X21: Go

I'd suggest that you take a look at Hati's tutorial on this subject. I don't know of any other tutorial but this one should give you an idea of what editing needs to be done and help you on your way: http://forums.sc2mapster.com/development/tutorials/895-data-terrain-actors-how-to-do-live-otf-terrain-deformation/#posts