Q&A Batch 39 MapMakers Series Released!

 
This month's Q&A deals heavily with the development of the
Starcraft 2 Map Editor in all it's glory.  All the questions center
around the map editor as well. Quite a few community questions in
here.  Enjoy!

 



As development for StarCraft II moves forward, so
is the Map Editor for StarCraft II. We have no doubt that there will be
countless awesome mods created for StarCraft II, so we want to make
sure your Map Editor questions are definitely not left out of the
Q&As. Keep the questions pouring in!



Also, in Batch 38, it was mentioned that Sunken and Spore colonies
could move and plant off of Creep while also taking damage when not on
Creep. To update, Zerg defenses will not be able to plant off of Creep.





Chat with Devs: Batch 39 focuses on the
development of StarCraft IIs Map Editor and I got a chance to chat with
our Map Editor Designer, Brett Wood. Brett was able to answer quite a
few of our community map editors below. Furthermore, he wanted to also
add that the StarCraft II Map Editor will improve upon the World Editor
from Warcraft III in every way, with several new features such as
having all abilities in the game being data driven. Brett Wood
elaborates here on what it means for all data in the game to be data
driven:





[Brett Wood] Lets say you have a cool idea
for an implosion type of ability that will rapidly shrink down a
targeting unit, then cause an energy shockwave that damages all nearby
units within a certain area. Since there is no standard ability with a
shrink-down effect, in Warcraft III youd have to resort to some fancy
trigger work to achieve this effect. In StarCraft II, this kind of
effect can be set up completely in the data files, and you could make
the entire ability without having to use any triggers or scripting at
all. Generally speaking, setting up abilities and effects will be
easier through data customization than using triggers, although there
will definitely be a learning curve there as well.



As always, feel free to give the Dev Team and I a w00t if you are enjoying the Q&As! 

---StarCraft II Q&A Batch 39: Map Maker Series---





1) Will the new map editor support placing of traps, doors, and
other things commonly referred to as doodads in unorthodox situations?
(ie doors, auto guns, wall traps in a jungle map)





Yes, any object defined in the data files can be placed on the map, regardless of which tileset it is normally associated with.





2) Will the new map editor support extended upgrade values? (ie, 30 upgrades)





Yes, upgrades are arbitrarily extendable, as they
were in Warcraft III. In addition, upgrades will now be downgradeable
via triggers as well (by using a negative value), which was a very
common request in Warcraft III.





3) Will the new editor still support all the other ideas currently implemented in StarEdit?





This question is a bit vague. As far as I know, everything the original StarCraft could do, StarCraft II can do.





4) What additional features will the new editor have?





How much time have you got? Very broadly
speaking, the biggest improvements over Warcraft III will be found in
the data editor, where literally every game database file is exposed
for modification, and in the trigger dditor, which now features the
ability to define custom functions and libraries. That said, virtually
every aspect of the editor has at least some improvements over Warcraft
III/StarCraft.





5) Do you plan to take ideas from third party programs and update
the editor frequently to meet the demands of the map making community?





Absolutely. We are very much committed to
supporting the map/mod community as much as possible, and well be
keeping an eye on the forums and updating the editor as often as we can
to incorporate new suggestions.





6) Will be a tool to transfer WC3 models to SC2? (battle.net) -Ragnarok_X





No, there will not be, as StarCraft II is built with a totally new engine.





7) Given that we know the Roach regenerates faster than normal, will
players be able to change the regeneration rates for Zerg units?
(battle.net) DrakeClawfang





Yes, all regeneration rates can be easily changed.





8) Will players be able to give units Protoss shields or Zerg
regeneration that don't normally have them? ie, a regenerating Zealot,
a Ghost with shields, etc. (battle.net) DrakeClawfang





Yes, you could create a Roach-Zealot hybrid if you would like. Many passive abilities can be interchanged similarly.





--End of Transmission---

 

Why did you delete the original posts?

 

OMG I so posted this first.
lol Just kidding, thanks for the professional post

Edit You should post the front page baner, it says Q&A 31 on the picture

 

sounds like i'm going to have fun with the editor

 

Well this isn't a big one for me because I suck at map editing I have never had the patience. however I would like to see some interesting combinations of abilities.

 

I can just imagine the shoop da whoop and nuke mods that will arise from this. Sounds awesome!

 

the graphics is wrong friend its Batch 39 not 31 ;-)

 

I'm not home ATM so I can't use photoshop to fix the image. It's just a placeholder. Chill

 

Considering all the skilled Warcraft III map makers out there, I think we can expect some really cool, well made maps. To be able to really make your own abilitys, thats gonna rock so hard.
Awsome work Blizz. Keep it up.
Nice post!

/cheers

 

Wow, hearing about what is going on with the map editor, this is such great news! What I would LOVE to see, is Blizzard finish up the Map Editor like a month prior to SCII release, then release the Map Editor for some people to play with and get used to it...Think of the awesome maps that can be created now!

 

just looking at the chance to swap ability gives me goose bumps, lol, im trying to imagine how hard "can you kill just one unit" is going to get now.

lets see, very fast regeneration, 9999 health, 9999 armor, 9999 shields, harden shield, blink, charge(to improve its speed or some upgrade like that like that), fast regeneration of shield, am i missing something?, i think i am

oh, cloak, and moving while burrowed, is there anything else?

 

Modding is a definite factor towards longevity, and I'm already dreaming.

 

I LIKE THIS Q&A ALLOT!

1 question?
can we like make our own units with there unique abilities,neutral buildings which can do special abilities.

 

Nice, i can imagine how cool those defend UMS games will be xD

 

I LOVE this batch! The only reason I couldn't make good maps in WC3 was because I was too lazy to mess with all those triggers, but now that you can actually use the data files, it's going to be AWESOME.

 

Perhaps they can give an early release of the map editors to the professional map makers out there!... btw does Q&A mean that you cant custumize a units apperance or create one? i dont quite get it with the answer of having different engines?

 

Awesome. I'm so looking forward to playing around with this and seeing what others come up with. Just the amount of possibilities are staggering.

I never had the patience with SC1's click based trigger editor. I'm hoping for a text based option for SC2, just so I can copy-paste, easily edit, etc.

 

Another question,
can i like take a unit from for example:
from warcraft3,
and bring it into starcraft2,is that possible? and to make units be trained from a barracks like:
battlecruiser,peon,probe.
hmm????if so...
then...











































I LOVE STARCRAFT2!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

^ I believe so.

Hell it sounds like you can make your own RTS, not as a mod but a UMS game.

 

I don't know if they should impliment something like that, giving a unit other race abilities... UMS games would get kinda messy without some limitation.
I'm all for changing any value of the current unit, but not crazy things like giving a Zerg blink and cloak, although you can perma-cloak any burrowable unit in Sc1 already so, you know.