Question - Not sure where this belongs..

[Darkshooter1986]

I've been struggling with focusing on just one project when I have many ideas for many other maps and stuff... I am not very skilled yet with the World editor. How do you guys do it? My other biggest problem is that, though I am new to map making, I have big ideas that are mostly out of my field of experience when it comes to using the world editor... Never know what to invest my time in or how to choose which project is within my capabilities...

 

[Uncle]

I've been struggling with focusing on just one project when I have many ideas for many other maps and stuff... I am not very skilled yet with the World editor. How do you guys do it? My other biggest problem is that, though I am new to map making, I have big ideas that are mostly out of my field of experience when it comes to using the world editor... Never know what to invest my time in or how to choose which project is within my capabilities...

Finishing a project is very difficult to do, regardless of skill level, but the payoff is almost always worth it.

If I were you I would continue trying to master the Trigger Editor since that is what will enable you to achieve your big ideas.

I suggest learning how to use/do the following:

• Array variables.
• If Then Else statements.
• For Each loops.
• Unit Group variables for managing different Player's units (Array versions of these require extra steps).
• Player Group variables for managing different teams of Players (Array versions of these require extra steps).
• Create a solid foundation for your map that makes triggering easy. "Oh, I already have a variable for that, perfect." <- That should be your motto. Otherwise, create a variable for it to save yourself trouble in the future.

Possibly try some more advanced methods. These help with storing data for any number of units/players and creating unique spells/triggers:

• Hashtables.
• Unit Indexing. <-- This one is very easy to learn and extremely powerful!
• Dynamic Indexing.

^ I have links for some of those in my signature.

I also suggest that you start out fresh with a lower scope map idea, IE: A simple Tower Defense, a basic Arena map with waves of enemies, etc.

Start with creating the foundation for this type of map. Setup a nice Initialization process, for example let's say it's a Tower Defense map:

• Tower Defense Map Init
  • Events
    • Time - Elapsed game time is 0.00 seconds
  • Conditions
  • Actions
    • Trigger - Run Player Init (ignoring conditions)
    • Trigger - Run Enemy Init (ignoring conditions)
    • Trigger - Run Tower Init (ignoring conditions)
    • Trigger - Run Multiboard Init (ignoring conditions)

These Triggers would contains Actions for setting up important variables and getting things started. This design allows you to easily control the order of how things are executed. For instance, you know that the Players have been initialized before you've run the Multiboard Init trigger, which is important because the Multiboard relies on Player Group variables that were setup in Player Init.

Those four triggers and a simple enemy spawning system would get you 80% of the way there for a Tower Defense map. The towers themselves can be basic Guard Towers that upgrade into "better" Guard Towers, nothing fancy. Then once you have things working without issues you can begin expanding on the idea or transferring what you've learned over into another type of map. Gradually increase the scope with bigger and grander ideas, giving yourself an opportunity to experiment and learn new triggering techniques. Eventually, you'll know enough and have the skills to create what you actually want to make.

I have many examples scattered around this site if you're confused on how to make a certain type of trigger, just google search "Hiveworkshop Uncle SUBJECT" to find what you're looking for. I hope this helps, good luck.

 

[A]mun]

Big question is:
Singleplayer (campaigns mostly) or Multiplayer?
SP is much easier to do (don't have to worry about multi unit instanceability (mui) and you can even get away with leaving leaks in many cases).

I am in the same league,
probably started 20 projects over the years, got some to 50%, but most maybe to 20%.
Sometimes getting frustrated with limitations:

• not adviced to have more than ~80-100 units per player, or the pathfinding gets laggy
• can only select 12 units at any time, sure there are workarounds like Mass Selector/Mass Commands (age old starcraft bunker map even had that)
• map size limit of 480x480, in sp you can access the mapcache for multiple maps (e.g. Rexxar campaign), but for mp feels pretty limiting
• if choosing a size past 256x256 (what was considered legendary before reforged) undead blight gets dysfunctional past the original 256x256 square

But, that's all pretty idealistic really - this editor is still extremely powerful and pretty easy to get used to.
And we don't suffer from that hideous 4 MB limitation anymore!
Also there are powerful systems, which have matured quite a lot, making triggering much easier and convenient even.
(damage engine, gui spell system, unit event/unit indexer - well yeah, i'm a little Bribe fan)

I came to realize, that struggling with focus is not necessarily a detriment, same goes for procrastination.
You can try to embrace it and work "chaotically" (at least how straight-shooters would describe it).
With the former, you can move your project's progress forward very carefully (and from many angles).
With the latter, introspection comes naturally at many steps, giving your subconscious time to entertain new angles.

Then there is also overthinking, so i should stop now.
Maybe you want to share more details too?!

 

[Fleck]

I think it's fine to have many projects, helps prevent burnout personally for me. Also give me eureka moments with ideas for the current map or other maps.
I started by editing my favorite altered melees and looking at their triggering.
It would be best by starting small like replacing default green orcs models with chaos ones like that to accumulate experience and slowly do more advanced things.
Just do it and don't overthink too much to actually make progress. Hopefully the finer details will come to you naturally as you work.
Do things at your own pace to prevent burnout.
Perhaps you could write your ideas down in a txt file or trigger comments to help you remember when you come back from extended hiatuses.

World Editor Help Zone usually have the answers you are looking for. You can search with google sensei or the site search system.

I also recommend using systems you can found under the Spells section. My personal recommendations are Physical Damage Detection for GUI v1.3.0.0 [looking_for_help], [GUI] Effect Over Time System 2.3.1 [Wietlol] (for buffstacking below patches 1.31), Unit Indexer [Bribe], GUI Knockback 2.5D v4.2.5.0 [Bribe], Shockwave/Carrion Swarm System v1.1 [xyzier_24], Jass NewGen Pack [Official] (world editor with higher doodads limit, more tilesets, vJASS, etc)

 

[Chaosium]

Start with something simple. Everyone wants to create the next best ORPG/mega campaign when beginning, but don't bite more than you can chew. Get an easy concept, maybe an mini-game or something of the sort, and try to see what you can accomplish with triggers, then expand gradually toward more complex stuff

 

[Pyrogasm]

I've been struggling with focusing on just one project. ... How do you guys do it?

I say that for humor, but truly the vast majority of projects never even approach completion. We all have fun making small parts of big ideas in the editor and sometimes that's all we ever do.

 

[Darkshooter1986]

Finishing a project is very difficult to do, regardless of skill level, but the payoff is almost always worth it.

If I were you I would continue trying to master the Trigger Editor since that is what will enable you to achieve your big ideas.

I suggest learning how to use/do the following:

• Array variables.
• If Then Else statements.
• For Each loops.
• Unit Group variables for managing different Player's units (Array versions of these require extra steps).
• Player Group variables for managing different teams of Players (Array versions of these require extra steps).
• Create a solid foundation for your map that makes triggering easy. "Oh, I already have a variable for that, perfect." <- That should be your motto. Otherwise, create a variable for it to save yourself trouble in the future.

Possibly try some more advanced methods. These help with storing data for any number of units/players and creating unique spells/triggers:

• Hashtables.
• Unit Indexing. <-- This one is very easy to learn and extremely powerful!
• Dynamic Indexing.

Thank's for the advice, Uncle. I am searching for array tutorials but not sure where to find the right ones

 

[Darkshooter1986]

Big question is:
Singleplayer (campaigns mostly) or Multiplayer?
SP is much easier to do (don't have to worry about multi unit instanceability (mui) and you can even get away with leaving leaks in many cases).

I am in the same league,
probably started 20 projects over the years, got some to 50%, but most maybe to 20%.
Sometimes getting frustrated with limitations:

• not adviced to have more than ~80-100 units per player, or the pathfinding gets laggy
• can only select 12 units at any time, sure there are workarounds like Mass Selector/Mass Commands (age old starcraft bunker map even had that)
• map size limit of 480x480, in sp you can access the mapcache for multiple maps (e.g. Rexxar campaign), but for mp feels pretty limiting
• if choosing a size past 256x256 (what was considered legendary before reforged) undead blight gets dysfunctional past the original 256x256 square

But, that's all pretty idealistic really - this editor is still extremely powerful and pretty easy to get used to.
And we don't suffer from that hideous 4 MB limitation anymore!
Also there are powerful systems, which have matured quite a lot, making triggering much easier and convenient even.
(damage engine, gui spell system, unit event/unit indexer - well yeah, i'm a little Bribe fan)

I came to realize, that struggling with focus is not necessarily a detriment, same goes for procrastination.
You can try to embrace it and work "chaotically" (at least how straight-shooters would describe it).
With the former, you can move your project's progress forward very carefully (and from many angles).
With the latter, introspection comes naturally at many steps, giving your subconscious time to entertain new angles.

Then there is also overthinking, so i should stop now.
Maybe you want to share more details too?!

Hey, sorry for the late replies, i got all kinds of ideas both multiplayer and single player including campaigns... Some of my best ideas are too far out of my experience with the world editor atm. So im trying to go back to basics and build my way up to hopefully create some excellent content to put on display.

 

[Uncle]

Thank's for the advice, Uncle. I am searching for array tutorials but not sure where to find the right ones

[Trigger] - Loops and Arrays tutorial

Loops and arrays tutorial (also containing some information about leaks) - Loops and arrays - A loop is basicly what it sounds like, a circle that never ends, or in our case, it ends when we order it to end. A loop in the World Editor would look like this For each (Integer...

www.hiveworkshop.com

Or you can google it, Arrays aren't exclusive to Warcraft 3. It's a very basic concept in programming that is used almost everywhere.