map-editor
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Roll your own adventure with the free Age of Wonders 3 level editor
Following the debut of the excellent turn-based strategy game Age of Wonders 3 on March 31, developer Triumph Studios has simultaneously announced and launched a map editor for those who prefer crafting their own worlds to relying on the game's random map generator. "The map making community has been super important to Age of Wonders, they have helped keep the series alive for over 10 years since the release of the previous title," wrote Triumph development director Lennart Sas in this morning's announcement. According to Triumph, the editor will allow players to craft new maps and scenarios using the deep well of content included with Age of Wonders 3. With a bit of extra effort, those more dedicated (or finicky) creators can customize the game even further by importing their own audio and art assets to customize story cutscenes, campaigns and individual heroes. Best of all, the Age of Wonders 3 map editor is now available at no charge. Those who own Age of Wonders 3 will now find a new option in the game's launcher which will fire up the gratis editor. [Image: Triumph Studios]
Lich King easter egg discovered in StarCraft II: Heart of the Swarm
"There must always be a Lich King," Bolvar reminded us, and he really, really meant it. Across all realities, in every Blizzard intellectual property, there must be a Lich King. That's right, take a look at that screenshot up there. Yup, that's the Lich King, buried in a sheet of ice somewhere in the Koprulu Sector. Redditor Aunvilgod laments, "I'm just making a map, and I see this..." I'm not sure it's really any major source of concern, though, considering we have recent confirmation that the Zerg would curbstomp the Scourge in a brawl. Then again, that's only good news if you're Zerg. Terrans and Protoss might have a slightly different perspective. Unsurprisingly, the thread is immediately flooded with cries for a Warcraft 4. I really don't think WoW is going anywhere anytime soon, folks, though I suppose fans can dream.
Far Cry 3 map editor lets you build and burn your own locales
The only thing better than creating something and sharing it with the world is tearing it all down. In Far Cry 3, you can create both multiplayer maps and single-player sandbox environments, populated with your choice of wildlife and landmarks.
New Hotline Miami content will more likely be 'like a sequel, kind of'
Hotline Miami's creators Jonatan "Cactus" Söderström and Dennis Wedin have shared some insight on where the game might be headed next in an interview with Eurogamer, and Söderström says it'll probably be "quite a big project." Instead of smaller pieces of downloadable content, it sounds like the team is aiming for a full followup release. "It will be like a sequel, kind of," says Söderström, "but building on the story."He adds that this possible new game "will probably have more playable characters than the first game did. And a couple of different stories and angles." And Wedin says it might have a map editor as well: "We're looking at if it's possible to do that. I think it would be really cool to let people do their own stages."The first game, says Söderström, took quite a while to develop. But with an engine already built, a new release would primarily focus on adding new content, he says, so the process should be shortened. "We hope it would take no longer than four or five months to make the sequel, but we're not sure at this point." That's fine, Cactus. We'll just don our finest creepy pig mask and wait here patiently for more news.
Certain Affinity developing Halo 4's Forge mode, includes gravity augmentation [Update: now with video]
Halo 4's iteration of the Forge map editor is currently under development at Certain Affinity, the development studio responsible for Age of Booty, Crimson Alliance and Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary's multiplayer. The announcement was made during a presentation at Rooster Teeth's second annual RTX event in Austin, TX.While a wide breadth of changes and additions have been made to the Forge editor, most interesting are the "Player Trait Zones," which allow map builders to modify the characteristics of any players that enter the effected area, changing the height of their jumps, the speed at which they run, etc. It's even possible to reverse the gravity in a given area by using "Grav Volume" field.Enhancements have also been made to the objects that can be placed by users: Elements can now be locked in place, magnetized and more efficiently duplicated. The editor's lighting system has also been overhauled; objects placed now cast and receive shadows normally. Finally, a map editor capable of bringing our upside-down film noir Halo dreams to life.Update: Now with video! Thanks, Austin!
This is not a test: Portal 2 sales top 4 million, map editor DLC out today
Portal 2 has sold more than 4 million units worldwide since its launch on April 18, 2011, and Valve is slowly but steadily (mostly slowly) supporting it with new content, such as today's batch of DLC, the Perpetual Testing Initiative. The Perpetual Testing Initiative offers players a map-editing tool, which looks a lot like this, so fans can make testing chambers to rival GLaDOS'. And make maps shaped like penises, probably.The map editor in today's DLC is accessible for new players, yet robust enough to satisfy hardcore ones, Valve tells NeoGamr. Valve's first attempt at fan-made maps, the Hammer editor, is tech-heavy and complicated for most people to get a hang of, most likely because it's Valve's in-house map creation tool – still, players have created more than 400 maps with Hammer. However, without a standardized way to share the maps, most of these have gone unnoticed by the larger community.The Perpetual Testing Initiative's puzzle maker allows users to export their creations in Hammer's native format and continue building with the more powerful tools, if they so choose. The simple map editor is "incredibly powerful for all of its simplicity and can easily reproduce pretty much every puzzle from Portal 2," Valve said.
Rumble Between the Junglers: How the DotA fight began
Pop law abounds in The Lawbringer, your weekly dose of WoW, the law, video games and the MMO genre. Mathew McCurley takes you through the world running parallel to the games we love and enjoy, full of rules, regulations, and esoteroic topics that slip through the cracks. Defense of the Ancients is a genre all unique to itself. Sure, the concepts are not brand new and the bulk of the original game was created using the Warcraft III World Editor, but the lasting appeal and standing reverence of the DotA genre continues today and shows no sign of slowing down. Part tower defense, part real-time strategy unit movement, this game type has experienced astounding growth all over the world over the last decade. As the genre grows, Defense of the Ancients-style games, or MOBAs (multiplayer online battle arenas), or ARTS (action real-time strategy), or... wait... what are we calling this genre? My initial reaction to the entire naming fiasco was wonderfully summed up by Joystiq's own JC Fletcher: "Which giant company has the rights to the fan-created, community-promoted word 'Dota?'" He's right to be cynical -- justice will be meted out over a word that was born in the Blizzard maps community because of the actions of two super-huge gaming companies. That's not all there is to the story, however. Therein lies the crux of the hot topic of the day -- Blizzard has finally thrown in its opposition of Valve's attempt to trademark the name Dota for its upcoming release of DOTA 2, a literal successor to the original DotA throne. The problem is that there are a whole bunch more facts, people, and anecdotes in this story than most people know. I wrote a short post on the Dota trademark issue a few days ago that served as the basic of basics, what the news was about. Here's the short version: Valve is attempting to trademark a name that many gamers (and companies) consider to be a general term for the genre rather than the proper name for the game that spawned the genre. Hell, it could be both.
Portal 2's second DLC is an 'in-game editor,' arrives 'early next year'
Valve has just unveiled plans for the second downloadable content package coming to this year's big sequel, Portal 2: an "in-game editor!" According to a PR statement from the company, the next DLC is currently "in development and targeted for release early next year." Apparently some form of community functionality will be attached to player creations, allowing other users to "view, play, and vote" on various levels. Outside of some cursory details -- the editor will allow players to create and share both single-player and co-op levels -- little is known about how editing will work, or if the DLC will arrive on both PC/Mac and consoles. With Steam support on all but one console, the Xbox 360, we wouldn't be surprised if the second Portal 2 DLC doesn't arrive everywhere. But then Valve head Gabe Newell indicated differently in a recent interview, so we just can't be sure. We've reached out to Valve for some clarity.%Gallery-137276%
RuneScape's Clan Citadels puts game design in the hands of players
Last week, we brought you the news that browser-based fantasy MMO RuneScape would be introducing clan citadels in its next expansion. We heard that these customisable castles in the sky would feature a tier-based progression system, but until now we didn't know what the actual castles would look like or if any kind of new gameplay would come with them. Jagex has just revealed that the expansion's gameplay element is potentially as huge and revolutionary as their massive Dungeons of Daemonheim update. The new floating castles act as meeting places for clans, and will contain exclusive skill-training areas for woodcutting, mining and other skills. Working on the clan's skill plots will add resources to upgrade the castle and pay for its upkeep, but may provide slightly less experience gain than traditional skill-training areas. Customisable clan battlefields provide a sandbox map editor tool, letting clans design and build their own battlegrounds and minigames. Players will be able to design their own arenas and gameplay for the first time in RuneScape's ten year history, creating anything from capture the flag style matches and monster hunts to basic clan versus clan PvP battles. Perhaps the most exciting part of the feature is the ability for clan members to invite other players to try their games and challenge rival clans to competitive battleground matches. The expansion launches on 26th July. Skip past the cut to watch the official clan citadel trailer and get a sneak peek at the castle's in-game visuals.
Dawn of Fantasy MMORTS coming in June
RTS fans have relatively slim pickings when it comes to massively multiplayer versions of their favorite games. Dawn of Fantasy, a new MMORTS developed by Reverie World Studios, looks to add another option to that mix when it releases on June 3, 2011. The new title takes place in the war-torn world of Mythador and supports persistent economic, trading, development, and diplomacy systems, as well as three racial choices (elves, men, and orcs) and a detailed historical background. Dawn of Fantasy also features low system requirements but still manages to render thousands of units and objects during its large-scale battle scenarios. Players will also be able to design custom scenarios using the game's map editor. "In what we feel is an underrepresented genre, we're confident that Dawn of Fantasy will have what it takes to stay in the hearts of MMO, RTS and fantasy fans for a long time to come," said Ralph Pitt-Stanley of publisher 505 Games. Check out our Dawn of Fantasy gallery below and an older interview with Reverie World, and don't forget to view the new trailer after the break. %Gallery-79066%
StarCraft 2 map editor turns supply depots into Tetris blocks
If you need further proof of the StarCraft 2 map editor's versatility, look no further than a map, recently designed by Battle.net user ArcadeRenegade, titled "Supply Depot Tetris." As you might imagine, the map bends the rules and controls of Blizzard's uber anticipated strategy game, turning it into a fairly simple (albeit a tad buggy) version of Alexey Pazhitnov's blocky brainchild, Tetris. Check out a video of the map from YouTube user HuskyStarcraft just past the jump. We're looking forward to getting our hands on the map -- you know, so we can take breaks from SC2 -- for which we lack the strategy and reflexes required to play adequately -- and play a few rounds of Tetris ... for which we lack the strategy and reflexes required to play adequately. Oh well.
Map editor coming to StarCraft 2 beta this week, Mac beta a few days later
Tired of all that free StarCraft 2 beta you've been playing lately? Blizzard's upcoming patch should help to stir you from your pit of doldrums, adding the "Galaxy Editor" (read: map editor) for beta users. According to a report at Shacknews, we could be seeing the release by as early as today and as late as this Friday. Three or four days after the patch's release, lead producer Chris Sagaty says, the Mac Beta client will become available. Unlike in the retail release of SC2, beta users won't be able to upload their maps/scenarios to Battle.net 2.0 for sharing with other users. However, maps created during the beta will presumably be sharable when the game arrives on PCs and Macs sometime in the first half of 2010. [Via BigDownload]
Bungie acceptance video teases new Halo goodies
Bungie could have strutted all the way back to home base with the "2nd Annual Halo 3 award for Interactive Innovation" without saying a word, but the developer was graceful enough to record an extremely cool acceptance video taped somewhere within the Halo universe. And it looks like it's filled with some new Halo goodness.Are these some teasing tidbits about a possible Map Editor? Check out that last shot when our soldier pal lobs a plasma grenade towards the camera. Verrrrrrrry interesting. It's definitely a lot more robust-looking than Halo 3's Forge editor. Also, those look like new AI models of past cast members ... including Cortana. Playable models? In-game NPCs that'll be on your squad? Cats and dogs, living together? Who knows. What's for sure is that Bungie is saying "the ride isn't over yet."
New ProStroke Golf: World Tour 2007 screens released
I'm not very familiar with ProStroke Golf, which recently had a name change from World Tour Golf, but it released today in Europe and will release in a few months here. The game focuses on "the perfect swing above all else. The game lets you alter all aspects of your shot, from your position on the ball to the path of the club, allowing you to play shots exactly as you would in real life," according to Gamespot.Developer Gusto Games added in real golfers like Ian Woosnam, Sergio Garcia, and Mark O'Meara and a total of 18 different courses."All versions of the game will include four-player multiplayer modes, though, including the PSP version over ad hoc wireless. Also, if you've created a map and want to play it with your friend, the PSP will stream the map over to them so that they can try out your designs," said Struan Robertson, ProStroke Golf's producer.Sweet! I'm a sucker for map editors, especially when I can share them with friends.(Via FCS Publishing/Gamespot)
