0a. INTRODUCTION
In this tutorial I will be showing you how to create a custom race in Warcraft 3 The Frozen Throne. This tutorial assumes you already have a map to create your race on, so bare that in mind when doing the Beta stages.
0b. CONTENTS
press ctrl+F to find certain points in the tutorial
------ ALPHA STAGES ------
1. DESIGN PROCESS
1a. PLANNING
Before you start, ask yourself a few questions about your race:
What is the strengths/weaknesses of your race: If your new race is Invincible, why would people play any other?
What is unique about your Race: If all four races are exactly the same, it will get boring quickly.
Ease of Use: If your race is to hard to use, people wont want to play it, if its too easy they wont want to play it.
Ease of Creation: if your race requires lots of custom data, its going to be hard to create, even if you are a brilliant modeler, you wont want to spend all your time modeling, if your a can make brilliant triggers, you wont want to be creating triggers all the time, even if you did, the file size of the map would be huge!
1b. GETTING STARTED
When you have planned your race you can start to create it, there are three methods:
METHOD 1 - Edit: This is where you take a race, and edit all the unit's, structure's and ability's to create your custom race, useful if you don't need the starting races, as it provides a easy selection method.
(Picture 1)
METHOD 2 - Copy: This is where you take a race, and copy all the units. This is time consuming but is useful for creating more than four races. It requires some form of selection method in game. Requires removal of some melee map triggers.
(Picture 2)
METHOD 3 - Create: this is where you create your race from scratch, this requires the most work, and is not recommended, as it can lead to problems with balancing and tiers. Useful for creating more than four races. It requires some form of selection method in game. Requires removal of some melee map triggers.
(Picture 3)
2. CREATION PROCESS
2a. CREATING THE UNITS
This is the main process, and you will be getting things done quickly, so remember to be organized, otherwise there may be a huge flaw that will cost you time.
Start with editing the Units and Heros, then the Buildings and finally the Worker Unit('s). Don't worry about custom ability's or trigger's yet. After you have done this stage, play test it, and edit the tooltips, buildings, units and so on until its near what you want.
2b. CREATING THE ABILITY'S
Now you have some Custom Units, which is good, but what if you want it better? This is where Custom Ability's come in. Even if its just a name change, it makes a Huge difference, what sounds better for a Red Dragon? Unholy Aura or Dragonic Aura? remember to edit/create the buffs and effects to go with your ability's. Also in this stage create Upgrades and Items, and add them to your Research Buildings/ Shops. Playtest and edit to your satisfaction.
2c. CREATING TRIGGER'S
Renaming and editing current abilities gives you a pretty good race, but if you want to go that one step further, create triggered ability's, these add more distinction to your race, and make them more fun to play. Examples are creating a Morphing unit. Be creative, but don't overdo it, the more triggers you have, the longer it takes to create your race and the map size increases. Playtest and edit.
2d. ALPHA TEST
Play it by your self, create one of every unit, one of every building, and test everything. read every tooltip, get every unit before you upgrade, and make sure everyone upgrades correctly, make sure you can train all units and all the triggers work. Getting someone else to do this as well is very useful.
------ BETA STAGES ------
3a. BETA TEST
Play a match with a few friends, one or two per race, have them play it like a normal map, and tell them if they find any errors to tell you, so you can fix them. After you fix them Redo the Alpha and Beta Test's.
3b. PACKAGING
Now you have your race, you probably want to put the map on the Internet for other people to download and play, if not skip this step, but if you do read on...
First Register to a site that hosts maps, a few are The Helper.net The Hive Workshop and Warcraft 3 Filefront.
After that, you may wish to copy protect your race, if so go here. Remember to back your map up first.
Then, if you wish, you can create a Zipped folder to store your map, a few screenshots, a readme or whatever.
When you have done that you host your map, this differs from site to site, but most follow the same format: a screenshot, description and file are normally required.
4a. YOUR DONE!
Well done,you created your first (maybe) race! you should be proud of yourself, give yourself a pat on the back! :thup:
4b. AFTERMATH
Even after many Beta tests, your race wont be perfect. Read the comments people post about your map and update your race, then re-release an updated version, eventually your race will be 98-100% bug free and anyone who downloads it will have a Brilliant race!
In this tutorial I will be showing you how to create a custom race in Warcraft 3 The Frozen Throne. This tutorial assumes you already have a map to create your race on, so bare that in mind when doing the Beta stages.
0b. CONTENTS
press ctrl+F to find certain points in the tutorial
0a. INTRODUCTION
0b. CONTENTS (you are here)
------ ALPHA STAGES ------
1. DESIGN PROCESS
1a. PLANNING
1b. GETTING STARTED
2. CREATION PROCESS
2a. CREATING THE UNITS
2b. CREATING THE ABILITY'S
2c. CREATING TRIGGER'S
2d. ALPHA TEST
------ BETA STAGES ------
3a. BETA TEST
3b. PACKAGING
4a. YOUR DONE!
4b. AFTERMATH
0b. CONTENTS (you are here)
------ ALPHA STAGES ------
1. DESIGN PROCESS
1a. PLANNING
1b. GETTING STARTED
2. CREATION PROCESS
2a. CREATING THE UNITS
2b. CREATING THE ABILITY'S
2c. CREATING TRIGGER'S
2d. ALPHA TEST
------ BETA STAGES ------
3a. BETA TEST
3b. PACKAGING
4a. YOUR DONE!
4b. AFTERMATH
------ ALPHA STAGES ------
1. DESIGN PROCESS
1a. PLANNING
Before you start, ask yourself a few questions about your race:
What is the strengths/weaknesses of your race: If your new race is Invincible, why would people play any other?
What is unique about your Race: If all four races are exactly the same, it will get boring quickly.
Ease of Use: If your race is to hard to use, people wont want to play it, if its too easy they wont want to play it.
Ease of Creation: if your race requires lots of custom data, its going to be hard to create, even if you are a brilliant modeler, you wont want to spend all your time modeling, if your a can make brilliant triggers, you wont want to be creating triggers all the time, even if you did, the file size of the map would be huge!
1b. GETTING STARTED
When you have planned your race you can start to create it, there are three methods:
METHOD 1 - Edit: This is where you take a race, and edit all the unit's, structure's and ability's to create your custom race, useful if you don't need the starting races, as it provides a easy selection method.
(Picture 1)
METHOD 2 - Copy: This is where you take a race, and copy all the units. This is time consuming but is useful for creating more than four races. It requires some form of selection method in game. Requires removal of some melee map triggers.
(Picture 2)
METHOD 3 - Create: this is where you create your race from scratch, this requires the most work, and is not recommended, as it can lead to problems with balancing and tiers. Useful for creating more than four races. It requires some form of selection method in game. Requires removal of some melee map triggers.
(Picture 3)
2. CREATION PROCESS
2a. CREATING THE UNITS
This is the main process, and you will be getting things done quickly, so remember to be organized, otherwise there may be a huge flaw that will cost you time.
Start with editing the Units and Heros, then the Buildings and finally the Worker Unit('s). Don't worry about custom ability's or trigger's yet. After you have done this stage, play test it, and edit the tooltips, buildings, units and so on until its near what you want.
2b. CREATING THE ABILITY'S
Now you have some Custom Units, which is good, but what if you want it better? This is where Custom Ability's come in. Even if its just a name change, it makes a Huge difference, what sounds better for a Red Dragon? Unholy Aura or Dragonic Aura? remember to edit/create the buffs and effects to go with your ability's. Also in this stage create Upgrades and Items, and add them to your Research Buildings/ Shops. Playtest and edit to your satisfaction.
2c. CREATING TRIGGER'S
Renaming and editing current abilities gives you a pretty good race, but if you want to go that one step further, create triggered ability's, these add more distinction to your race, and make them more fun to play. Examples are creating a Morphing unit. Be creative, but don't overdo it, the more triggers you have, the longer it takes to create your race and the map size increases. Playtest and edit.
2d. ALPHA TEST
Play it by your self, create one of every unit, one of every building, and test everything. read every tooltip, get every unit before you upgrade, and make sure everyone upgrades correctly, make sure you can train all units and all the triggers work. Getting someone else to do this as well is very useful.
------ BETA STAGES ------
3a. BETA TEST
Play a match with a few friends, one or two per race, have them play it like a normal map, and tell them if they find any errors to tell you, so you can fix them. After you fix them Redo the Alpha and Beta Test's.
3b. PACKAGING
Now you have your race, you probably want to put the map on the Internet for other people to download and play, if not skip this step, but if you do read on...
First Register to a site that hosts maps, a few are The Helper.net The Hive Workshop and Warcraft 3 Filefront.
After that, you may wish to copy protect your race, if so go here. Remember to back your map up first.
Then, if you wish, you can create a Zipped folder to store your map, a few screenshots, a readme or whatever.
When you have done that you host your map, this differs from site to site, but most follow the same format: a screenshot, description and file are normally required.
4a. YOUR DONE!
Well done,you created your first (maybe) race! you should be proud of yourself, give yourself a pat on the back! :thup:
4b. AFTERMATH
Even after many Beta tests, your race wont be perfect. Read the comments people post about your map and update your race, then re-release an updated version, eventually your race will be 98-100% bug free and anyone who downloads it will have a Brilliant race!
