News and Updates

The Campaign Creations Toolbar

We're still busy, don't doubt that. As we work towards upgrading our website for a more pleasurable experience, we decided to release a very Beta feature. The currently codenamed "Toolbar" may seem familiar to most who use social networking sites, but will function a bit different for us for the time being. Use it to quickly navigate between the site, the forum, and our social pages. Included in this toolbar is also an early version of our MP3 of the Week which will be ran be resident staff member IskatuMesk.

Enjoy, we're going back to work on our bigger project for the site!

EDIT: Working on a fix for the forum for Chrome browsers.

StarCraft II Q&A - Batch 53 & 54

Blizzard has just released the next batch of Question and Answers, edition 53 & 54. The following questions were asked:

1. Computer AI - Does the computer's online AI vary from its offline counterpart?
2. Have you considered allowing a post-game lobby for users to discuss the last game, collectively watch replays, or immediately enter into a rematch?
3. Is there any update on additional map features other than the Xel'Naga watch towers, destructible rocks and tall grass?
4. How many different voice actors are needed for StarCraft II, including the unit sounds and campaign heroes?
5. The terrain types in StarCraft II we have seen so far had names like "Bel'Shir (Jungle)". Does this mean that "Bel'Shir" is just an alias for jungle and every terrain is just named after a typical planet using it or are there - to stick with this example - other jungle maps with a different terrain set, something like "Aiur (Jungle)"?
6. Will there be any chance to have more options on pausing the game? In StarCraft: Brood War every player can pause the game three times, but every other player can unpause it. How about a (user editable) time limit before other players can unpause the game?
7. I already knew the map editor would be available to beta testers a while after Beta was released, but this is why I'm asking the bland question, will it also be available to non-participating people?
8. When a unit comes out from a building will there be only 4 exits from the building like in Warcraft 3 or will there be "infinite"?


You can read all about Q&A 53 on our forum here or visit Battle.net's forum here.

1. Does the Zergling vs. Zealot ratio remain at 4:1 or has it changed in the latest builds?
2. In World of Warcraft pvp they found an issue over time that it was "very unsatisfying" to the player when they lost control of their character as it limited their ability to do their job or role. There is a noticeable increase in stuns and immobilization in Starcraft 2, which was barely present in Starcraft 1. From your experience in testing, do you feel abilities, which limit unit control, provide more dynamic game play so far or are you noticing more concern?
3. What is the current status of the Mothership? What niche does it fill at this time, and if the unit were removed, would there be a reason to fill that niche with a different unit or would protoss still be fine?
4. What is your overall goal for the Infestor? The units have had and removed so many abilities, are you trying to focus into a support role, or disruption and harassment, or just to have a wide variety of spells so it can be a quick response unit?
5. Is EMP dodgeable, or there's some sort of indication that it's going to be launched? And does this cause a problem with Immortals?
6. Map/mod to site communication - Will there be support for map/mod makers to bridge a connection between their map/mod to their site? For example, if a person wanted their map/mod to submit scores/results to the site, and vice-versa the map/mod could pull the highest scores from the site and display it in the game. mes, but every other player can unpause it. How about a (user editable) time limit before other players can unpause the game?
7. Launcher support - Will maps/mods be able to have their own "launcher" (ala WoW's launcher), as in shortcut or start icon from the computer outside of StarCraft, and have their own screens, after a Battle.net authenticating screen (ala Twitter's, or Facebook's, application authentication).


You can read all about Q&A 54 on our forum here or visit Battle.net's forum here.

Source: Battle.net

Wanderers of Sorceria Book 5 for Warcraft 3 1.24

The fifth Book of Wanderers of Sorceria is updated for the latest Warcraft 3 patch.

Download it here.

Hobbit Birthday Party

9/24/2009 UPDATE: I've finally gotten the source code to ThunderGraft up in a downloadable package. Also, the crash SF initially found was fixed a few days ago, in build 2009.9.22. Both are available from the Files page on ThunderGraft's SourceForge site.

Well, it's that time of year again, and I've got some presents to give out. First, I released build 2009.09.13 of MPQDraft a couple days ago. While it only fixes bugs, it fixes some major ones - so major I'm amazed nobody told me about them in the last year and I had to find them myself.

The bugs fixed, in approximate order of severity:
-SEMPQs not activating for games specified with relative names
-plugin page not setting the plugin pointer after selecting with Browse, resulting in a crash
-plugin page stops listing plugins after one fails to load
-not saving custom executable names in the SEMPQ wizard
-plugins weren't forced to use proper plugin IDs for their modules, allowing some plugins to get away with bad behavior that didn't work with FireGraft (which forced plugins to use the correct ID)

As with the last year and a half, MPQDraft is open-source on SourceForge. You can get both the binaries and the source from the files page.

Second, ThunderGraft has been resurrected from the dead. For those who haven't heard about ThunderGraft before, it allows the use of MP3s, Ogg Vorbis, and other sound compression formats in Diablo, Diablo II, StarCraft, and WarCraft II: Battle.net Edition, which give higher audio quality and smaller file sizes than the WAV compression used in those games normally; ThunderGraft also integrates with StarEdit to allow maps to use non-WAV sounds in triggers. I'm calling it a beta version as ShadowFlare just yesterday mentioned a crash that only occurred on her computer, and I probably won't have time to investigate it until at least tomorrow.

And finally, as sort of "present #2.5", ThunderGraft has been open-sourced as well, and it's also on SourceForge. The binaries are available on the files page, but I haven't gotten around to putting a ZIP of the source up yet. Specifically, I really, really need to clean up the directory structure of MPQDraft and ThunderGraft to make it much easier for people other than me (without my directory organization) to compile it. You can still view the source through the source browser, or download it with Subversion or CVS, but you probably won't get it compiled without a bit more info from me; I'll get to that when I have time.

As always, there are two flavors: release and debug. I'd advise using debug for mod development, as it generates log files that are very helpful in fixing bugs, should you find any (but would probably annoy people who download your mod).

Enjoy!

Wanderers of Sorceria Books 1 through 4 for WC3 1.24

The first four Books of Wanderers of Sorceria are updated for the latest Warcraft 3 patch.

Download them here.

Follow Us On Twitter

With BlizzCon closing in, we'll be using Twitter to bring you the latest in updates live at BlizzCon. Follow us @ccorg and make sure to stay tuned as we have our own Twitter contests rolling in soon as well! For now, make sure to follow us to stay up to date on BlizzCon coverage from the Campaign Creations staff.

Wanderers of Sorceria Campaigns Broken

Due to the new Warcraft 3 1.24 patch Books 4, 5, and 6 are currently unplayable. All versions are playable in version 1.23.

All six Books are in the process of being updated, please stay tuned.

StarCraft Campaign and Scenario Competition Deadline

Feels like yesterday that these contests were just announced, and time has tremendously passed since! With the original intended deadline right around our necks, I promised a leniency would be introduced to make sure those last minute polishes would make it through. Besides, no campaign maker wishes to ultimately release their project with bugs and quirks, right? The deadline currently span a remaining average of a little over 22 hours, in hopes those last minute bugs being found are corrected immediately as that is part of a category for judgment.

Good luck to all, check back on this post for more information and updates to the "end" of the contest.

Current deadline: August 2nd, 2009, 11:59PM, PST, GMT-8.

Update: The deadline has been reached! All projects past the 11:59:59 mark on their post time for and edits or updates will now be penalized (excluding special circumstances).

Campaign Creations StarCraft Scenario Contest

Campaign Creations is proud to present their next contest: The StarCraft Scenario Contest. Your prize this time? Well, only one winner will be accountable for this contest, and that winner will get to receive the StarCraft Cinematic Poster. And, naturally, to up the interest:


Once again, thanks to the support of Blizzard Entertainment, they've helped sponsor this contest officially by offering a pair of beta keys for the winner. You think you have what it takes to create the most epic single player scenario map? Then here's what you have to do:

Contest will be a scenario map creation contest, with a predetermined character: Judicator Zilous, where the contestants must portray an event in one map alone with this character as the protagonist to a basic self-determined story. Judgment will be based primary on the complexity and amount of story-driven content contained within the map. In addition, the mapping ability and overall professionalism of the project will also be considered. Additional extras such as music, vocal work, or artwork adjustment will not directly ultimately affect judgment but may aid in the scoring. The contest will be based off a scoring system, where one can acquire up to ten points based on each criteria: Text (Spelling, Grammar, Formatting, Dialogue, etc), Triggers (Complexity, Functional, Usage), Mapping (Categories: Layout and Beauty), and Professionalism (Attention to detail, lore, and presentation).

A few important notes to take into account is that Judicator Zilous operates an Arbiter. Arbiters have been known to have the ability to manipulate space and time to transport personal and supplies, alongside freeze personal in the same manner. This, however, does not limit them from giving themselves the ability to time travel or perhaps even enter other dimensions. Your imagination is your limits in this contest, the only requirement is Judicator Zilous be the main character, however his survival or lack of is in your hands.

You have four weeks from this day to complete a total package campaign revolving around the StarCraft storyline. Let's make your vast knowledge in both triggering and mapping finally come of good use, and show that YOU deserve those keys! Head on over to our forums and visit the contest subforum to get started!

Source: Campaign Creations StarCraft Scenario Contest

Robert Clotworthy Returns to StarCraft

Robert: Yes, I can confirm that I'm working with Blizzard Entertainment to reprise my role as the voice of Jim Raynor in StarCraft II.  I'm looking forward to the release of the game and I hope that StarCraft players will enjoy going into battle with Jim and following his adventures throughout the galaxy.

You read right, folks, Jim Raynor's original classic famous voice has returned to the scene. Robert Clotworthy, voice of Raynor, is currently working with single-player team of StarCraft II on recording his script lines. Could this mean we can look forward to a reprisal of other infamous actors such as Glynnis Talken, the voice of the one of the most well-known female game characters, Sarah Kerrigan?

Wc3NewbieMapper-to-Wc3CompetentMapper v0.64a released!

Download here.
Content list here.

As a quick remainder, this is a newbie-minded Warcraft 3 tutorial map pack to learn the Trigger Editor. Play first, open the map later to learn how it was done with lots of comments and explanations.

Chapter 5 is intended to be a cinematics chapter in progress while Chapter 6 is campaign-related.

Here's the latest additions :

-> Episode 4-3 - Learn how to make quests
** Include creating/updating/failing quests.

-> Episode 5-XX1 - Camera Values
** Allows fooling with the game camera and shows camera values. Technical-based.
** Also include a first and third person view camera setup.

-> Episodes 6-1 and 6-2 - Game cache
** Load/save with the game cache.

-> Tutorial Campaign File
** Specifics related to War3 campaigns (difficulty use, loading next campaign map, etc.)

StarCraft II Q&A - Batch 52

Blizzard has recently released the next batch of Question and Answers, edition 52, Map Maker Series. The following questions were asked:

1. Does it still use the JASS language, or perhaps an upgraded version of JASS?
2. Is the language event-driven or object-oriented?
3. In comparison to the Warcraft III Editor, how much more, if any, can the GUI of the game be edited (it was extremely limited in Warcraft III)?
4. Are there new noteworthy functionalities in the Starcraft II Editor, or will the new editor just have general improvements?
5. Will the ability to communicate among triggers, for instance via actions or conditions, be improved in the new language?
6. SHow does "Hero" support differ from the Warcraft III Editor? Or is it practically identical?
7. Will there be a public API for the programming language?
8. Will there be improvements on the "Garbage Collector" for the new language? For example, in JASS all local variables need to be set to null at the end of their use, and certain data-types need to be removed from the game (such as Locations) at the end of their use to avoid memory leaks.


You can read all about it on our forum here or visit Battle.net's forum here.

Source: Battle.net

Ascension of Duran: Dark Purposes released!

It's finally here! After a lot of work and late nights I proudly present to you Ascension of Duran: Dark Purposes. This is the second Ascension of Duran campaign in the series and has custom sound, graphics and challenging game play.

Official site: http://www.campaigncreations.org/starcraft/ascension_of_duran/dark_purposes

Campaign Creations StarCraft Campaign Contest

Campaign Creations is proud to present their next contest: The StarCraft Campaign Contest. Your prize pool this time? Third place receives an outstanding StarCraft poster, second place receives the greatly reviewed StarCraft: Novel Trilogy Set, and first place receives an epic copy of StarCraft: The Board Game. Want more!?


That's right, we're offering TWO (2) Beta Keys for first, second, and third place each! Thanks to the support of Blizzard Entertainment, they've help sponsor this contest officially by offering a pair of beta keys for each winner. Think you can handle the ultimate accomplishment in StarCraft mapping? Then here's what you have to do:

Contest will be a campaign creation contest, with no limits other than using lore; to present a story as to what occurred four years between the Brood War and StarCraft 2 storyline. It may be portrayed through one, two, or all three of the races. Style can be crafted in any sequence, such as episodes, intertwining, etc. and may revolve around main characters or spin-off fan-created characters. Judgment will be based on ability to portray story via in-game text and triggers, mapping ability, and overall professionalism of the project. Additional extras such as music, vocal work, or artwork adjustment will not directly ultimately affect judgment but may aid in help of a tie, as well as how early you announced your project and how many updates you perform in your thread. The contest will be based off a scoring system, where one can acquire up to ten points based on each criteria: Text (Spelling, Grammar, Formatting, Dialogue, etc), Triggers (Complexity, Functional, Usage), Mapping (Categories: Layout and Beauty), and Professionalism (Attention to detail, lore, updates, and presentation).

You have eight weeks from this day to complete a total package campaign revolving around the StarCraft storyline. Let's make your vast knowledge in both lore and mapping finally come of good use, and show that YOU deserve those keys! Head on over to our forums and visit the contest subforum to get started!

Source: Campaign Creations StarCraft Campaign Contest

Armageddon Onslaught Released!

Famed modder IskatuMesk has done it again. After months of hard work, he has created his next complete mod. Armageddon Onslaught is a testament to all mod makers that anything truly is possible with patience and knowledge. A quote from Iskatumesk states his thoughts on the mod:

Armageddon Onslaught is a proof of concept and a technical demonstration. Pitting 7 Terran and Protoss players against a single computer-controlled Armageddon race, the battle for survival begins! AO 3.0 introduces a wide variety of stunning new effects and mechanics over the old release and should provide a far greater challenge.

Download Armageddon Onslaught via this link, or the menu. Check out his official release thread, including a teaser of the unreleased intro video, over at our forums as well.

Campaign Creations Podcast Online

Campaign Creations has gathered up a roundtable of staff members for your ears. With a brand spanking new player, we bring back the return of our podcasts; expect to hear more up-to-date info and news through our forthcoming episodes. Join in on our first episode, alongside Dread, Lavarinth, IskatuMesk, and Whiplash as they discuss a short list of topics, including StarCraft Team Fortress, Armageddon Onslaught, and Ascension of Duran. They also take a moment to share their thoughts on StarCraft 2's Map Editor, and shed a bit of light on the upcoming Campaign Creations Contests alongside a quick look into BlizzCon.

So take a listen, and feel free to share your thoughts and opinions on our forum.

E-Sports News Online

Campaign Creations recently struck an agreement with SC2GG to relay each others news. As we all know, StarCraft is split between two major communities: Modding and E-Sports. In both of our efforts to cover the entire product and all it has to offer, we have partnered up to display each other's feeds in our respective sites. You can stay updated on our site in news relating to E-Sports by checking out our E-Sports tab in the front page.

SC2GG is currently undergoing adjustments before they provide a feed to Campaign Creations. Enjoy this small additional feature, as there are many more to come.

BlizzCon 2009 - Sold Out!

The final allotment of tickets for BlizzCon 2009 has now been sold out. Thousands of tickets sold within minutes, astonishing. If you weren't able to get tickets, we'll make sure to keep you updated via upcoming features to the site to alert you of the latest Blizzard news come BlizzCon. Coverage of the gaming festival will also be offered by DIRECTV as a Pay Per View event, available both via satellite and Internet stream. For those of you have managed to get tickets, let us know, we'd like to hear from you, if not meet up with you!

StarCraft II Q&A - Batch 51

Blizzard has just released the next batch of Question and Answers, edition 51. The following questions were asked:

1. Add an option in the menu to disable the windows key, and same thing goes for ALT-TAB? And add an EASY way to squelch your opponent. When their name "IllIIlIIlIIlIIlllI" (L & i), it's a little difficult.
2.  StarCraft 2's terrain properties such as Xel'Naga towers, destroyable barriers and Brush have a significant effect on gameplay and appear to create specific points of interest/advantage on the map. Are there plans to introduce additional terrain buffs/effect to the battlefield?
3. Since there are/were plans to integrate voice communications into multiplayer, will StarCraft 2 replays be able to include Audio, as well as chat?
4. You have talked a bit about replay functions lately and since patches will come up definitely former replays won't work if the system sticks with SC1 or W3. Do you plan on making changes here so that players can view older replays ever after patches occur?
5. The interface we see in Battle Reports - is this interface available for Observers during a live game (in real time), or only while viewing replays, or both?
6. StarCraft II is a package consisting of single player/campaign, multiplayer (+replay viewer), map editor and Battle.net. All four are complex and without a doubt require testing and patching. Has it been decided which of the above components are planned to be included in public beta testing?


In addition, they also have their occasional "Chat with the Devs" relating to death animations. In all their glory, each unit eventually faces its death and due to the nature of varied weaponry, they have multiple and varied death animations. You can check them out over at the StarCraft II Death Animations page!

You can read all about it on our forum here or visit Battle.net's forum here.

Source: Battle.net

Article and Tutorial Submissions

Campaign Creations is looking to update their articles, StarCraft and WarCraft tutorials. With today's new age in modding, it's no surprise that tutorials for Emerald StarEdit and StarDraft are collecting dust and have faded away. Ten years later the tools have improved, as has the complexity. If you have a tutorial you have written up on working in StarEdit, StarCraft's modding tools, WorldEdit or WarCraft's modding tools, give us a call. E-mail us a link to your copy, or post it in this thread, and we'll review it for posting on our growing list of tutorials. Consider something as simple as "hyper triggering" to even something as complex as allowing players to stack units in game. None of this is readily documented in a simple-to-access area, and that's what we're here for. Know how to model WarCraft 3 units and implement them into the game? Same thing goes, let us know and we'll post up your guide.

Alongside tutorials, we're looking for your creative writing. Our Articles section is designed to vary from something such as an interview to reviews or complex theories as to why StarCraft II will forever live on as long as StarCraft. Anything goes in the articles so long as we approve it.

Note that we're working on a more complex submission system to more easily get your tutorials and articles online, however currently this is the method used, and we encourage everyone to toss in their two cents to make this site  the database for all things mapping and modding related.