StarCraft II Official! (Pictures)

[Hercanic]

To summarize: Can you make a mod in SC2 that can be played on any map? For instance, a mod that adds the Xel'naga race? Will this mod be transmittable over Battlenet to new players, like with maps?

[IskatuMesk]

To summarize: Can you make a mod in SC2 that can be played on any map? For instance, a mod that adds the Xel'naga race? Will this mod be transmittable over Battlenet to new players, like with maps?

Presumably this is what Karune meant by a mod loader.

[Lavarinth]

Yes.

Including all DotA heroes, making that mod aspects in a map. >)!]i]

[IskatuMesk]

oh come on if you're gonna add heroes, add goku

[Dread]

The reason Blizzard now defines mods and maps the same is because they are. I spent all BlizzCon alongside Herc and Dread in argument against that possibility until I realized I'm just being stubborn.

Eh, I think I whispered to Lav that the argument was moot during one of the panels. I was never towing the line that the difference was immense and vast between them. Although I admit I was swept up at the time amongst the people who were stressing the difference. : P

Still interesting to see some people avidly fight for their belief on the topic though.

Let the ranting and raving continue!

Yeah.. uhm beta this month. Confirmed in Conference Call.

Tomorrow... or the tomorrow after that- or after that. : )

Can't wait!

[Hercanic]

Can you call DotA a map? Yes. Can you call it a mod? That's what Blizzard wants.

Can you call my Xel'naga race example a map? No. Can you call it a mod? Yes, what else can you call it?

Words are used to convey concepts and act to differentiate. A campaign is different from a map, is it not? The term tells us that it involves multiple maps with a connecting storyline. The different terms give us information about what to expect. Why confuse the matter by labeling custom maps as mods?

[Lavarinth]

Maps (Arthas) meet Mods (Lich King) at Icecrown (SC2):

Warcraft Lore 9: Arthas BecomesThe Lich King

[Hercanic]

The fact that there is a "Mod Loader" to begin with indicates a technical difference between mods and custom maps.

They've made mention of supporting an additional race and resource. I wonder, why the limitation to begin with? What, then, would be involved with adding more of either?

We'll see how wide the chasm of separation is when Blizzard releases its editor.

[The Oracle]

Lav,

How does that video relate to this thread.  "Does the hand motion over the head *whoosh*"

[IskatuMesk]

They've made mention of supporting an additional race and resource. I wonder, why the limitation to begin with? What, then, would be involved with adding more of either?

Blizzard engines are rife with their love for hardcode. I expect sc2 to be no different.

[Lavarinth]

What? No one likes my "we are one" joke? Yeesh! Pfft- Jedi me, will ya?

[Marco]

Blizzard engines are rife with their love for hardcode. I expect sc2 to be no different.

Maybe, but I dunno.  I predict a lot more flexibility in the hard coding.  Just because they understand now exactly how creative their community could be even with the limitations of the WC3 editor.

[IskatuMesk]

It'll be flexible because (hopefully) it won't be a tremendous hackjob like wc3 was. But I'm fully expecting to discover something absolutely retarded and silly first day into the editor.

[Marco]

Maybe it'll be needlessly convoluted and hopelessly complex so I can give up on Celestial Reverie day one.  Although figuring out the WC3 editor within a week, cake.  So I probably won't find the excuse to trash my project.  :O

[IskatuMesk]

Eh. It could be complex or it could be simple.

Complex yet powerful; Supreme Commander - good luck getting a serious project done in a year. There has yet to be a real total conversion for this game containing anything besides kitbashes. Many were attempted, but the difficulty and complexity of modding a game exclusively coded in lua cannot be exaggarated.

Simple yet powerful; Diablo 2. The most basic yet powerful game I can think of is diablo 2. Accessing most of its softcoded features is very easy, but because of the scale and power at your command, it still takes a tremendous amount of time to do stuff. There is no easy or fast way of doing anything.

Extremely simple yet moderately powerful; Age of Wonders 2. Seriously, this game is so easy to mod but you can make some really basic yet enjoyable mods in it. Too bad the editor has the potential to corrupt mods, like my project that took over a year to get where it was at.

Sc2 will be powerful if only because of the data editor. The data editor alone leaps the engine ahead of wc3 and into the realm of Sins of a Solar Empire. If the editor is intelligently and intuitively designed, you could be looking at Supcom-level power.

In Supreme Commander you can do stuff like have projectiles swerve around a shield and hit things behind the unit with the shield.

[imgwh 450x155]http://gickr.com/results4/anim_b0a03836 ... 4e3782.gif[/imgwh]

But make no mistake, regardless of how powerful or how limited sc2 will be, it will take exponentially more time and effort to make a serious project than wc3. It takes time to sort things out and find the best possible solution to something. Modding is problem solving, having power is great, but also complicates your potential paths to take regardless of your familiarity.