First impressions are very important, especially considering what the SC2 playerbase is. If the animations or actors or w/e arent that big of a problem it should be fine. However if they arent and you put it out people will play it once and assume its crap, give you a bad review and never play again. Even in this case every 6 months or so if a map has been unplayed long enough it can come back to life giving you another chance, but youd need to find a way to wipe your bad reviwes by republishing under a differnt name.
And making your game an open beta will mean absolutly nothing to anybody. These are 13 year old kids playing your games not developers, they arent going to go oh its beta its got a few problems but itl be fixed in the future, its the same to them as if you had full blown released it.
Im a map maker and im currently working on my second map. My first map, at the height of its popularity was ranked #2 on battle net. This new game will be played by people, possibly alot of people, but i need 2-3 hours of your time to help make this happen. I have i believe around 21 units that i have "made" by using the WoW model editor, and editing the textures slightly just to add some team color. I do not have 3ds Max, and the plugin does not work for the latest version last i checked (bones dont import properly). So i need someone who has 3ds max to load up the models and attach things like weapons, shoulder pads, helmets and what not to each model. Thats it really, and of course turn on show team colors. Youll get modling credit and all that with the map, and bare with me i obviously know almost nothing about modeling.
So ya, if your willing to help me out here send me a PM, ill get in touch with you within the next few days to get you the needed files and what not and discuss anything else that needs be discussed. Alternativly if anyone knows of a blender how to guide on how to do this or could make one for me that would work too, again i know almost nothing about modeling.
yea some pretty good points made, ill continue my work :) altho im not as motivated as i originally was. plus the whole WoL/HotS mixup probably isnt gona go so well.
what do u guys thing about that? because there are players that play only ladder/melee, then u got ur strictly customs ppl, and ur more versatile players that just do whatever the mood directs. are the players that dont play so much melee even gona care to get HotS? honestly why get HotS when u alrady got all the customs u love u to play. or are they gona have shared custom lobbies between WoL-HotS?
basically, is this "expansion" (i put it in quotes cuz from what i understand its an entirely different game) going to split up the SC2 community making it even more difficult to create full lobby games? also making it difficult to decide which SC2 version to create on?
I dont know the answers to those questions for sure, but i would assume there wouldnt be too big of a problem. Id assume active players would purchase the expansion, and blizard should be capable of having a map run on both versions despite any differences. Even if you had two versions it would be as simple as republishing unless you were using units and what not.
But the point is you should be taking the time to make the map because you enjoy making it, not because of the reward (recognition) you believe you will receive for it. 95% of maps or more that are published never really get played by more than a few dozen people. You shouldn't expect your map to get played, but just make it because its a fun thing to do. If you have to motivate yourself to do it because you don't enjoy it then maybe you shouldn't do it.
Besides even if your map is popular its not like you recieve much recognition for it. At one point my map was ranked #2 on battle net and i could join a game that had 11 other players in it and 80% of the time no one would even notice i was there. And then there is the occasional crazy person who friends you, waits for you to get on, and then spams you about how you should change this and that all while calling you a faggot every 3 seconds (yes this happened to me).
I dont know what your map is about but i thought i saw you post something about heros. If your going to make a map that etiehr is or is very similar to many other maps out ther elike dota or w/e its unlikely you will be able to create a variant that is as high a quality as others further reducing the chance anyone will play it. Being a new map maker your map wont likely be of high quality, so you must come up with an original idea that has no analogs. That is maybe the only way people would play it, not to mention people really like new games and concepts.
im learning editor but now im worried that even if i make a really good map, nobody will play it because nobody knows it exists. yea i could show it to friends of my own and maby they could tell some people if its good enough. It just seems that most SC2 players dont look further than "top played" and the ammount of plays thoes games have are RIDICULOUS because they came out on like day 1, making them impossible to pass... even tho alot of thoes games kinda suck (in comparison to what could be getting played).
yea i might make a couple maps for me and friends but is this a realistic reason for quitting editor? is there like an underground group of ppl that actuly play a wide variaty of games? does anyone know if "top played" is alltime or just like a reflection of the past 7 days or what?
i really do enjoy creating maps, and im not looking for for like a huge reward, but to create a map and it get less play time than it takes to make it is kinda demoralizing.
Basically all good maps tend to get discovered eventually. Its not a coincidence that the best ones are almost always the most popular.
Ive always been curious about teams. I dont work in teams myself as i like to have control over and dictate everything about my map. In a team of a few players how do you decide what map to make or what to do where, do you have a team leader or something who decides all that and everyone else takes orders from him? Also i assume you work on the map at separate times or something.
I agree with the reviews, for the past year and a half i haven't played starcraft much, but when i do i play Mafia, its the only custom game on SC2 Ive ever liked.
False. Don't hate on the players, hate on the game. Almost every game issue that players complain about can be solved through hard work or clever design changes.
I've played Squadron TD many times and I agree that it's too hard to learn (took me about 3 plays to fully grasp all the concepts). The loading screen is completely wasted - as most loading screens are. It's bloated with version and patch info that nobody cares about, where it could be used to instruct new players about the game's basic rules (I haven't played recently, maybe it's different now). The game could also have hints floating over buildings and units, which would disappear when you successfully complete a task or maybe not appear at all after you've won your first game. I have this hint feature in my map, and I've gotten tons of comments about how easy it is to learn. My point is that I think the STD authors are either lazy and/or uncreative and/or apathetic about teaching the game to new players. I don't the community should settle for less - STD could be a lot better than it is.
And to contribute to this thread, I found this review for my map:
"The best fucking shit that ever ate shit and then shit out the shit which continues the cycle once again. In short this shit is awesome."
Ya a major challenge is helping the players to understand the game. My map is very simple and there is really only one basic thing to know for the most part. That is to upgrade your economy at the engineering bay. In the how to section of my map i the main picture tells you how to upgrade your econ with a caption below it, on the loading screen in bright text there is a short instruction that tells you how to upgrade your economy, and when the game loads there is text that pops up telling you to type -help for information on how to play the game and tips as well.
Despite the simplicity of the game and me giving players THREE opportunities to just read the instructions and id say in maybe 100 of my 1,600 reviews people are saying they didn't understand how to play the first time cause they didn't know how/where to upgrade econ, when i tell them THREE times. I even have a kick feature where the emperor can kick 1 insubordinate vassal a game which i was worried about people abusing, but in the year and a half the game has been around ive never once seen it used because no one knows about it because no one reads the directions/bright green text on the loading page. It also bugs me that people have the nerve to post stuff like i didnt understand how to play or it didnt make sense, if you didnt read the how to play in arcade before playing the first time its 100% your fault if you dont know how to play.
I cant imagine how bad it must be for games that are actually complex and take some time to learn. The only way i think you could get the 13 year old player base to read a few simple instructions is to make your loading screen a naked lady and write the game instructions on her boobs. For me personally and i hope for most people i don't play a game without looking at the games how to play section in arcade. Your solution of using a database (or bank w/e it is) to identify a new player and put abunch of tooltips and hints in is interesting but seemingly way to much work because the player cant take 30 seconds to read something.
If I have the agria lighting on my map how do i change it to another tilesets lighting? Also what attribute controls how much sun reflects off of the surface?
If I have the agria lighting on my map how do i change it to another tilesets lighting? Also what attribute controls how much sun reflects off of the surface?
Hi does anyone know how to get your unit you make to show faction color? I know the existing sc2 units are black in areas were the color shows up, does the texture have to be that shade of black and then the players faction color will show up?
Hi does anyone know how to get your unit you make to show faction color? I know the existing sc2 units are black in areas were the color shows up, does the texture have to be that shade of black and then the players faction color will show up?
Hey, ive imported my own terrain textures, not the normals yet though. Any ways on the map im testing it out on when i use the texture bright light shins up from it. However when i import it to another map that someone else made that also has imported textures, the texture works perfectly fine no bright lights. Ive looked at it a bit and it would seem there must be some sort of lighting setting resonsible for this, anyone know how i can get this light to stop coming up through my textures, its a common problem that no one seems to answer.
Ive heard something about lowering the base alpha but is that a setting in the map editor.
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First impressions are very important, especially considering what the SC2 playerbase is. If the animations or actors or w/e arent that big of a problem it should be fine. However if they arent and you put it out people will play it once and assume its crap, give you a bad review and never play again. Even in this case every 6 months or so if a map has been unplayed long enough it can come back to life giving you another chance, but youd need to find a way to wipe your bad reviwes by republishing under a differnt name.
And making your game an open beta will mean absolutly nothing to anybody. These are 13 year old kids playing your games not developers, they arent going to go oh its beta its got a few problems but itl be fixed in the future, its the same to them as if you had full blown released it.
0
Im a map maker and im currently working on my second map. My first map, at the height of its popularity was ranked #2 on battle net. This new game will be played by people, possibly alot of people, but i need 2-3 hours of your time to help make this happen. I have i believe around 21 units that i have "made" by using the WoW model editor, and editing the textures slightly just to add some team color. I do not have 3ds Max, and the plugin does not work for the latest version last i checked (bones dont import properly). So i need someone who has 3ds max to load up the models and attach things like weapons, shoulder pads, helmets and what not to each model. Thats it really, and of course turn on show team colors. Youll get modling credit and all that with the map, and bare with me i obviously know almost nothing about modeling.
So ya, if your willing to help me out here send me a PM, ill get in touch with you within the next few days to get you the needed files and what not and discuss anything else that needs be discussed. Alternativly if anyone knows of a blender how to guide on how to do this or could make one for me that would work too, again i know almost nothing about modeling.
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I dont know the answers to those questions for sure, but i would assume there wouldnt be too big of a problem. Id assume active players would purchase the expansion, and blizard should be capable of having a map run on both versions despite any differences. Even if you had two versions it would be as simple as republishing unless you were using units and what not.
But the point is you should be taking the time to make the map because you enjoy making it, not because of the reward (recognition) you believe you will receive for it. 95% of maps or more that are published never really get played by more than a few dozen people. You shouldn't expect your map to get played, but just make it because its a fun thing to do. If you have to motivate yourself to do it because you don't enjoy it then maybe you shouldn't do it.
Besides even if your map is popular its not like you recieve much recognition for it. At one point my map was ranked #2 on battle net and i could join a game that had 11 other players in it and 80% of the time no one would even notice i was there. And then there is the occasional crazy person who friends you, waits for you to get on, and then spams you about how you should change this and that all while calling you a faggot every 3 seconds (yes this happened to me).
I dont know what your map is about but i thought i saw you post something about heros. If your going to make a map that etiehr is or is very similar to many other maps out ther elike dota or w/e its unlikely you will be able to create a variant that is as high a quality as others further reducing the chance anyone will play it. Being a new map maker your map wont likely be of high quality, so you must come up with an original idea that has no analogs. That is maybe the only way people would play it, not to mention people really like new games and concepts.
0
Basically all good maps tend to get discovered eventually. Its not a coincidence that the best ones are almost always the most popular.
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@ZombieZasz: Go
Is this doable in blender, how so?
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Ive always been curious about teams. I dont work in teams myself as i like to have control over and dictate everything about my map. In a team of a few players how do you decide what map to make or what to do where, do you have a team leader or something who decides all that and everyone else takes orders from him? Also i assume you work on the map at separate times or something.
0
I agree with the reviews, for the past year and a half i haven't played starcraft much, but when i do i play Mafia, its the only custom game on SC2 Ive ever liked.
0
Ya a major challenge is helping the players to understand the game. My map is very simple and there is really only one basic thing to know for the most part. That is to upgrade your economy at the engineering bay. In the how to section of my map i the main picture tells you how to upgrade your econ with a caption below it, on the loading screen in bright text there is a short instruction that tells you how to upgrade your economy, and when the game loads there is text that pops up telling you to type -help for information on how to play the game and tips as well.
Despite the simplicity of the game and me giving players THREE opportunities to just read the instructions and id say in maybe 100 of my 1,600 reviews people are saying they didn't understand how to play the first time cause they didn't know how/where to upgrade econ, when i tell them THREE times. I even have a kick feature where the emperor can kick 1 insubordinate vassal a game which i was worried about people abusing, but in the year and a half the game has been around ive never once seen it used because no one knows about it because no one reads the directions/bright green text on the loading page. It also bugs me that people have the nerve to post stuff like i didnt understand how to play or it didnt make sense, if you didnt read the how to play in arcade before playing the first time its 100% your fault if you dont know how to play.
I cant imagine how bad it must be for games that are actually complex and take some time to learn. The only way i think you could get the 13 year old player base to read a few simple instructions is to make your loading screen a naked lady and write the game instructions on her boobs. For me personally and i hope for most people i don't play a game without looking at the games how to play section in arcade. Your solution of using a database (or bank w/e it is) to identify a new player and put abunch of tooltips and hints in is interesting but seemingly way to much work because the player cant take 30 seconds to read something.
0
If I have the agria lighting on my map how do i change it to another tilesets lighting? Also what attribute controls how much sun reflects off of the surface?
0
If I have the agria lighting on my map how do i change it to another tilesets lighting? Also what attribute controls how much sun reflects off of the surface?
0
Hi does anyone know how to get your unit you make to show faction color? I know the existing sc2 units are black in areas were the color shows up, does the texture have to be that shade of black and then the players faction color will show up?
0
Hi does anyone know how to get your unit you make to show faction color? I know the existing sc2 units are black in areas were the color shows up, does the texture have to be that shade of black and then the players faction color will show up?
0
Hey, ive imported my own terrain textures, not the normals yet though. Any ways on the map im testing it out on when i use the texture bright light shins up from it. However when i import it to another map that someone else made that also has imported textures, the texture works perfectly fine no bright lights. Ive looked at it a bit and it would seem there must be some sort of lighting setting resonsible for this, anyone know how i can get this light to stop coming up through my textures, its a common problem that no one seems to answer.
Ive heard something about lowering the base alpha but is that a setting in the map editor.
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One bad.
And one good.
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They need a scrolling list like wc3 had so that everyone sees all the games available, this list appears to be stagnent.