StarCraft 2 Editor - Wish List

Steel

Software Engineer
Reaction score
109
The leap from the original SC editor to the WC3 editor was a giant one. I'm assuming the same thing will occur from WC3 to SC2. Not much is being disclosed about what is inside the mystery of the World Editor. I have a number of things I've been hoping they add into the game to enhance the Map Maker's field of creativity.

New! 11) Better Comments / Documentation - Provide better documentation to some of the functions. Some major issues with using functions provided was using them incorrectly and causing a game to desync. Some functions are very self explanatory but some are quite complex and are not very easy to pick up and use. Examples would be great for more of the complex functions, but not necessary on all of them. Perhaps a user's guide or manual that lists functions and features, I'm sure if Blizzard doesn't do this that the community will take it upon themselves and make their own.

New! 10) Store / Retrieve Data - Allow map makers the ability to store some data on the player's computer in a special folder that can be retrieved later. World of Warcraft does this with the use of the WTF folder, it allows addons to save data to be used and loaded later. This would allow continuation of maps and the ever popular ORPG maps to flourish. Another idea using this outside of the ORPG scene would be an AoS map that would record some of your items to carry over to your next game. Swat Aftermath uses something like this with a save / load code, which this tends to get very annoying. The only issues that could be seen here is the data in the special folder would have to be encrypted so players could not manipulate the data on their own.

New! 9) OOP - Whatever the language they are going to use it should have some ability of object oriented programming in it. If you know what OOP is I won't go into detail about it.

New! 8) Keystroke Events - The ability to detect if the user has pressed a key, the list could be limited to the basic alphabet and restrict the use of the F# keys for security / safety purposes.

7) Garbage Collection - A lot of people have been talking about Memory leaks and fixing them. Blizzard should code in a simple Garbage Collect via a Heap and let the game automatically recycle data.

6) Debugging - Real Time debugging like DDD (Linux users should know what I mean) or Eclipse's debugger with its step in and step over functions. This would allow you to pinpoint particular problems with 99.9% certainty.

5) Preloading - This may be too far out there, but for a map that uses numerous models the loading of these models may be quite looming. Why not create a function much like the Preload of WC3 that would preload before the game is actually being loaded. Example: If you are on SC2, and you join a game through battle.net and you are sitting, waiting for people to join, the game could load up the models from the map in the background as you wait. If you leave the game, simply flush all the data.

4) Control over the physics engine - You could have a lot of fun mapping if you are given full utilization of the physics engine. MaDOS created his own physics system for his dodgeball map which was very innovative. Imagine a Pinball game with that Zergling Egg model bouncing around all over the place.

3) Map Optimization - Again, another tool written by the community to improve maps. Vexorian's Optimizer is a program many people use to shrink the size of their map and improve performance. Mike Pitzer's Widgetizer is another program that optimizes load times.

2) Map Protection - In WC3 we have relied on tools made by others to protect our maps, why not have Blizzard offer the feature? Have a simple prompt ask you for a password. With the AES as secure as it is, it would be nice to have this feature in SC2.

1) Addons - We have seen this done on the WC3 WE through various "hacks." Grimoire for example is a great tool that was written to dramatically improve the ability to debug code. Any game, system, or program that allows the community to build on their own code can only yield beneficial results.

TESH is another great "hack" that many people use.
 

SFilip

Gone but not forgotten
Reaction score
633
Only one: making it fully open source (the editor).
Too bad it's not going to happen :(
 

SFilip

Gone but not forgotten
Reaction score
633
You are aware WC3's Preload does exactly what you described when used on Map Initialization? :rolleyes:
Also, that's not an Editor thing, it's part of the engine.
 

Steel

Software Engineer
Reaction score
109
You are aware WC3's Preload does exactly what you described when used on Map Initialization? :rolleyes:
Also, that's not an Editor thing, it's part of the engine.
It doesn't load them as you join the game and are sitting waiting for others to join. Preload loads the models when you are at the actual loading screen of the map, not before you actually select to play the map. If you look at the Memory Usage of WC3 on a map that has many Preloaded files compared to one that does not, the difference is apparent. But again, if you are sitting waiting for more players to join, why not load models there?
 

SFilip

Gone but not forgotten
Reaction score
633
There is a certain function in the .j file which is ran when you select a map in the list. You could, in theory, put your preloads in it and hope for the best.
 

PurgeandFire

zxcvmkgdfg
Reaction score
509
If I do get SC2, I'd love to see some stuff that lets you add/remove damage, armor, max HP/MP or let you refer to a unit's damage/armor. Maybe something to detect projectiles (attack or ability) in flight as well, that'd be useful :)

@Steel: What's JESH? Do you mean TESH?

You can already do that, pretty much. Except that the "Unit is Attacked/Damaged" events are retarded.

And yes, he means TESH, I think.

To elaborate on your stuff:
  • You can add damage with the unit damage action thingy, and you can heal units
  • Armor can be increased by adding tomes or something
  • I think Blade.dk developed a system to increase Max HP or MP, otherwise you can use tomes prolly'
  • And you can receive armor from Daelin's system

But doing it with just natives would be great.
 

Lord_Phoenix

Dogs are fuzzy
Reaction score
69
There's no way you'll be able to get your hands on the physics engine... They're using HAVOC, so I doubt they'll release it open source... you never know though.
 

Varine

And as the moon rises, we shall prepare for war
Reaction score
803
I want a better unit/skill making system that isn't so limited.
 

Flare

Stops copies me!
Reaction score
662
* You can add damage with the unit damage action thingy, and you can heal units
* Armor can be increased by adding tomes or something
* I think Blade.dk developed a system to increase Max HP or MP, otherwise you can use tomes prolly'
* And you can receive armor from Daelin's system

I meant something like a simple action that does "Unit - Add X(min) to Y(max) damage to <unit>" or "Unit - Add Z armor to <unit" rather than having to go through the whole boring process of damage detection stuff :S. It would be so much simpler than using systems.

@Varine: What exactly do you find limiting about it?

EDIT: Lol, just noticed this part of your post, Purgeandfire :p
But doing it with just natives would be great.
 

2-P

I will work hard tomorrow
Reaction score
325
Built in map protection has already been confirmed.
 

Exide

I am amazingly focused right now!
Reaction score
448
I want a function, which I can't name, and I realize it could be difficult or even impossible to actually add.

Anyway, the function I want is one I saw in the Doom3 Editor. -It let's you check what your map looks like, when you're still in the editor (so you don't have to start the map.)
-I want a function like that! :p
 

Kenito

I Helps Most Goodly
Reaction score
42
I hope the SC2 editor will be like WC3's, in that the file format the editor works on is the same as the map file format (in WC3's case, w3m and w3x). I map and mod for Half-Life, and I tell you, it's not fun working on a .rmf and then having to go through a lengthy (and buggy if you're not too good at it) compile process to spit out a playable file, .bsp.
 

Seannny

Why GUI when you can Jass?
Reaction score
46
Being able to not worry about blizzards falty programming, and having to fix leaks.
 
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