[Miscellanous / Other] Returning Mapmaker (Questions)

[Nemesis DSGB]

Hi guys!

I love making maps, yet I'm overwhelmed by the amount of time it takes.
I'm familiar with trigger GUI extensively and have made many many modes on Overwatch Origins (similar gui scripting)

12 years ago I was a child, 14 years old and making maps with great functionality (poor art and design/models)
Now in the opposite sense i find myself making maps that are aesthetically pleasing but I'm having kind of "writer's block" with my creativity on what to make.

I was wondering:

-Is there an easy way to find which maps are acceptable to edit, and bring classics to the 24player 480x480 size maps

-Is it stealing if I edit classic popular maps and upload

-Is there a resource type where i can find terrained out templates, that are ready to script?

-Are there rules against this? and if so can i bypass these rules by acknowledging "i wasn't the first mapmaker"

and finally
-Which type of creation do you find the most fulfilling: Creation from Scratch, or Making an existing map even better

 

[Clubbies]

Rather than looking for a pool of maps that are open source, I'd suggest starting with a few maps you already are familiar with and enjoy and checking if they're open source from there. You can always try reaching out to a developer and ask for an open source version.

It isn't stealing if the project is open source but you should mention credit to the original creator. Developer(s) will almost always say what they are and aren't okay with on their respective map posts.



Fresh map design from scratch is most fulfilling, even if you're making use of assets created by others. The custom scene could stand to see more new original games these days.

 

[Nemesis DSGB]

Fresh map design from scratch is most fulfilling, even if you're making use of assets created by others. The custom scene could stand to see more new original games these days.

I agree, however I guess i'm just feeling really overwhelmed with my knowledge as an adult vs my 14 year old self..

I was so confident, and to be fair people liked my maps but WC3 was mainstream then..
But i probably had memory leaks for days.. and my terrains were so aesthetically bland.
i made very functional maps, and fun, and to be honest many were remakes of similar maps, but i was 14.

I guess this is why i'm "stuck"
-I know how much i didnt know
-i wonder if theres enough people out there to even get 24 to play with
-i feel unmotivated (causes slow progress) because of the dying/deadish community (wc3 not hive)

All that said i'm making some progress.
I've got a 480x480 map, finished the terrain and pathing, needs doodads&trees
Needs scripted with waves of ai enemies
needs tiers of buildings/units edited in object editor and some added (thanks to hive i have tons of models)

long story short im recreating a mode i used to love with 24players (or solo if you like)

idk the old modes name but i call Fortress Defense
you choose an area strategically (like tower defense)
build a village, upgrade it to town and then City
various units, heroes, and structures are available to the player to defend from the monsters and players
control points to increase income
(description of the mode im recreating)

my twists:
-Players can form alliances
-buildiing walls (aka pathing blockers on nonbuildable&buildable pathing) Requires food
-food is renamed: Tech Level
-Tech level is required to build and maintain walls, towers, and other advanced defenses
-tech level is increased when you upgrade your village
-different tech levels allow different tech similar to the civilzations style games
-when players die they become the infected (aka the computer ai)
-all 23 other players can make decisions for the infected AI when they die (player 24 starts as infected AI if no computer is slotted)


these are just notes off the top of my head lol, so you can see why im kinda feeling overwhelmed... rip