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Tag Map Creation

Level 13
Joined
Mar 14, 2008
Messages
848
Making A Tag v1.1

Tutorial By: Spiky (WarLuvr) [I take no credit for this guide]
Chapters



I. Introduction
II. AI or Controlled?
III. Creating The Game
IV. Triggers
V. Buildings
VI. Abilities
VII. Terrain
VIII. Balancing
IX. Conclusion


I. Introduction


This is a tutorial created by Spiky (WarLuvr). I have made 3 tags in the past and only 1 has been successful. I haven't seen a Tag tutorial, so I guess I should post one.

Many people have played the popular tags: Kodo Tag, Tree Tag, & Sheep Tag. All of these tags may seem the same, but they aren't. Kodo Tag has automated taggers, Tree Tag has player controlled taggers and must hide in the trees, and Sheep Tag has player controlled taggers and the terrain is very open, meaning more defenses are needed than Tree Tag. The general concept of a tag map is that there is 2 teams, Runners and Taggers. The runners have to run away from the Taggers and they build defensive bases to prevent them from being captured. There is a time limit that Runners have to survive to win. The taggers have to kill all the Runners before the time runs out to win. In every single tag map, captured runners are represented as black ents or a flag and are saved when they are attacked or another runner runs to the center. Here's a list of characteristics that people like about these 3 tags.

-Kodo Tag-
Pros:

- Friends and Players are able to be on the same team, everytime
- Newb players can choose their type of difficulty as newbs
- Gameplay is overall easy depending on how many newb players there are
Cons:

- The game is very easy to beat, haven't been in a losing game
- The AI may get bugged and the game is ruined
- The AI tends to follow 1 person until they die, so 1 player can just hide in trees while the other people build

-Tree Tag-

Pros:

- Friends can be put against each other, increases competition
- Pros can have trouble winning if the taggers are pros too
- Players tend to like the whole tree idea
- Newbs can be on the runners and still win
Cons

- People tend to leave games with player controlled taggers because they want to be the runners
- Most people favor the runners because it's way more fun
- A game is easily won if the taggers are newbs

-Sheep Tag-
Pros:

- The game is more challenging because the terrain is more open
- Pro players have even more trouble with pro taggers
- Vision for the Taggers is much more wider than Tree Tag
- The concept of the map is way different than the other tags
Cons:

- I've noticed in the newer versions, Sheeps have different abilities, this makes people like a certain sheep then leave if they don't get what they want
- Heroe's abilities are getting godly due to map hijackers

All these maps share 1 ultimate con...they aren't protected. If you were to download every single version of these tags, your computer would be leaking information because there are a lot people who open these maps and modify them. This can also be a pro because multiple people's ideas are put into maps and gives the game a more playful taste. I myself like to protect my maps because I hate hijackers.

II. AI or Controlled?


Okay, first off, you want to think what kind of tag map you want to create, AI or Controlled? You saw up above the pros and cons of each. The main pro of AI is that players are always on the same team. The main con about AI is that it's usually programmed to target one player until they dead, allowing them to run around while the other players build. The main pro about Controlled is that players have a more of a challenge depending on the player. The main con is that if people aren't the side they want, they will leave during the countdown, trust me, this has happened to me lots of times.

III. Creating the Game


Let's start with the Runners. In the popular tag map, Tropical Tag by Karawasa, you are able to pick the type of Runners you want, this is optional. Start out by creating a new custom unit based off the Acolyte. As an undead, builders are able to summon buildings instead of having to first contrust a building then move to the next one. Change their vision to 1800/1800. Set their health to a very low number, they should be able to be killed in 1 hit unless you have a Runner type that can withstand more than 1 hit. Set their movespeed to a speed under 400 and above 300, you want them to be able run to the location of their base location fast so they can start building. Armor should be set to 0. Now for attacks, we don't want runners to be able to attack the taggers but be able to destroy their towers. Set the targets enabled to just structures and their attack to 2000+. Set the model file to whatever you want.

For the abilities, it varies from what kind of gold structure/ability that you use in your game to receive gold. If you plan on using gold mines, give them the ability to harvest gold/lumber. If you plan on using resource storages, disable all abilities. Again, if your using runner types, I'd suggesting giving them the abilities that their type specializes in.

Now the Taggers depend on what kind of type of Tag Map you want to have. Go to the section which is the type of map your going to have.

Controlled Taggers


Controlled Taggers should be heroes with 3 regular abilities and 1 ultimate. These controlled taggers shouldn't be ranged attackers, nor have any long range abilities like shockwave. In my tag map, Tauren Tag, my Taurens have 4 regular abilities and 1 ultimate, the only ranged abilties that do damage are warstomp (100 unit range) and earthquake (dmg only to buildings). Ensare is a popular ability but create an item or a runner type that can escape nets, because lots of players tend to complain about ensnare. Vision should be 1800/1800 and their health should be above 2000, even 3000, Runners shouldn't be able to kill Taggers in the beginning of the game. Armor should be in the range of 5-7 and damage should be able to destroy the most primary blocker in the game, which will be explained later.

AI Taggers


AI Taggers shouldn't have any abilities, but the only ability to attack. They should have 1800/1800 vision with FULL VISION of the whole map. Health should be 2k-3k+, armor 5-7. AI games tend to be easier to make because a very simple unit is needed and that's it, very basic.

In most tag games, the Taggers are usually faster than the Runners. If the Runners are pros, they can easily manuever away from them. But be careful, if Taggers are way too fast, and your terrain is very open, your game will become imbalanced. In Tauren Tag, Taurens are generally slower than Runners but they are able to buy items that make them faster than Runners. Just make sure that if your going to make taggers faster than runners, that the runner has some sort of ability or have trees and doodads to be able to get away from those taggers. For example: Storm Bolt, Sprint, gaps in the trees where Runners could run through.

IV. Triggers


This is the most tedious part of a tag map, Triggers. I'll use the triggers from my tag map to put them here. To detect the amount of Runners and Taggers are, I use unit groups. The intialization should distibute the starting resources, remove any Runners not controlled by a Player or Computer, set the Unit Groups, food cap, etc. The following trigger code contains all the things needed to get the game going, your are free to add whatever you want to it, just make sure that it's in the game.

  • Intialization
    • Events
      • Map initialization
    • Conditions
    • Actions
      • For each (Integer A) from 1 to 8, do (If (((Player((Integer A))) slot status) Equal to Is playing) then do (Player Group - Add (Player((Integer A))) to <Player Group (Prevents a player to play a game by him/herself)>) else do (Do nothing))
      • For each (Integer A) from 9 to 12, do (If (((Player((Integer A))) slot status) Equal to Is playing) then do (Player Group - Add (Player((Integer A))) to <Player Group>) else do (Do nothing))
        • Player Group - Pick every player in <Runner PG (Player Group)> and do (Player - Set (Picked player) Food cap to 5)
      • Player Group - Pick every player in <Tagger PG> and do (Player - Add 300 to (Picked player) Current gold) <== I have shops in my game, you should too.
      • Game - Display to <Runners PG> for 10.00 seconds the text: <Text that explains that the taggers are coming.>
      • Game - Display to <Tagger PG> for 10.00 seconds the text: <Text that explains that they will spawn in X seconds>
      • Player Group - Pick every player in (All players) and do (Visibility - Create an initially Enabled visibility modifier for (Picked player) emitting Visibility across <Center of Map, where players save the captured> <gen>)
      • Wait 60.00 seconds
      • Player - Turn Gives bounty On for Player 1 (Red) <==In my game, Taurens get money for killing units owned by players.
      • Player - Turn Gives bounty On for Player 2 (Blue)
      • Player - Turn Gives bounty On for Player 3 (Teal)
      • Player - Turn Gives bounty On for Player 4 (Purple)
      • Player - Turn Gives bounty On for Player 5 (Yellow)
      • Player - Turn Gives bounty On for Player 6 (Orange)
      • Player - Turn Gives bounty On for Player 7 (Green)
      • Player - Turn Gives bounty On for Player 8 (Pink)
      • Player - Turn Gives bounty On for Player 9 (Gray)
      • Player - Turn Gives bounty On for Player 10 (Light Blue)
      • Player - Turn Gives bounty On for Player 11 (Dark Green)
      • Player - Turn Gives bounty On for Player 12 (Brown)
      • Game - Display to Runners the text: <Text that the taggers spawned>
      • ***The Trigger Below Spawns the Taggers***
        • If (All Conditions are True) then do (Then Actions) else do (Else Actions)
        • If - Conditions
          • (Player 9 (Gray) slot status) Equal to Is playing
        • Then - Actions
          • Camera - Pan camera for Player 9 (Gray) to (Center of Spawn 1 <gen>) over 0.00 seconds
          • Unit - Create 1 Tauren for Player 9 (Gray) at (Center of Spawn 1 <gen>) facing 270.00 degrees
          • Wait 0.50 seconds
          • Special Effect - Create a special effect at (Center of Spawn 1 <gen>) using Abilities\Spells\Orc\WarStomp\WarStompCaster.mdl
        • Else - Actions
          • Unit - Create 1 Tauren for Player 9 (Gray) at (Center of Spawn 1 <gen>) facing 270.00 degrees
          • Game - Grant shared vision and full shared unit control of Player 9 (Gray) units with his/her allies
      • If (All Conditions are True) then do (Then Actions) else do (Else Actions)
        • If - Conditions
          • (Player 10 (Light Blue) slot status) Equal to Is playing
        • Then - Actions
          • Camera - Pan camera for Player 10 (Light Blue) to (Center of Spawn 2 <gen>) over 0.00 seconds
          • Unit - Create 1 Tauren for Player 10 (Light Blue) at (Center of Spawn 2 <gen>) facing 270.00 degrees
          • Wait 0.50 seconds
          • Special Effect - Create a special effect at (Center of Spawn 2 <gen>) using Abilities\Spells\Orc\WarStomp\WarStompCaster.mdl
        • Else - Actions
          • Unit - Create 1 Tauren for Player 10 (Light Blue) at (Center of Spawn 1 <gen>) facing 270.00 degrees
          • Game - Grant shared vision and full shared unit control of Player 10 (Light Blue) units with his/her allies
      • If (All Conditions are True) then do (Then Actions) else do (Else Actions)
        • If - Conditions
          • (Player 11 (Dark Green) slot status) Equal to Is playing
        • Then - Actions
          • Camera - Pan camera for Player 11 (Dark Green) to (Center of Spawn 3 <gen>) over 0.00 seconds
          • Unit - Create 1 Tauren for Player 11 (Dark Green) at (Center of Spawn 3 <gen>) facing 270.00 degrees
          • Wait 0.50 seconds
          • Special Effect - Create a special effect at (Center of Spawn 3 <gen>) using Abilities\Spells\Orc\WarStomp\WarStompCaster.mdl
        • Else - Actions
          • Unit - Create 1 Tauren for Player 11 (Dark Green) at (Center of Spawn 1 <gen>) facing 270.00 degrees
          • Game - Grant shared vision and full shared unit control of Player 11 (Dark Green) units with his/her allies
      • If (All Conditions are True) then do (Then Actions) else do (Else Actions)
        • If - Conditions
          • (Player 12 (Brown) slot status) Equal to Is playing
        • Then - Actions
          • Camera - Pan camera for Player 12 (Brown) to (Center of Spawn 4 <gen>) over 0.00 seconds
          • Unit - Create 1 Tauren for Player 12 (Brown) at (Center of Spawn 4 <gen>) facing 270.00 degrees
          • Wait 0.50 seconds
          • Special Effect - Create a special effect at (Center of Spawn 4 <gen>) using Abilities\Spells\Orc\WarStomp\WarStompCaster.mdl
        • Else - Actions
          • Unit - Create 1 Tauren for Player 12 (Brown) at (Center of Spawn 1 <gen>) facing 270.00 degrees
          • Game - Grant shared vision and full shared unit control of Player 12 (Brown) units with his/her allies
      • Wait 0.01 seconds
      • For each (Integer A) from 9 to 12, do (Hero - Make (Player((Integer A))) Heroes gain 1000.00% experience from future kills)
      • Countdown Timer - Start GameTimer as a One-shot timer that will expire in 1800.00 seconds <==The game timer that marks the end of the game and the victory for runners.
      • Countdown Timer - Create a timer window for GameTimer with title Grunt Win In:
      • Countdown Timer - Show (Last created timer window)
      • Trigger - Turn on <Trigger that lets Tauren's Win the game (Will be explained later.><gen>


Winning Condition Triggers


The following triggers checks if the game is over or if all the Runners are dead.

  • Runner Win
    • Events
      • Time - GameTimer expires
    • Conditions
    • Actions
      • Player Group - Pick every player in <Runner PG> and do (Game - Victory (Picked player) (Show dialogs, Show scores))
      • Player Group - Pick every player in <Tagger PG> and do (Game - Defeat (Picked player) with the message: YOU FAILED TO DESTR...)


  • Tagger Win
    • Events
      • Time - Every 2.00 seconds of game time
    • Conditions
      • (<Unit Group that holds the runners that are alive> is empty) Equal to True
    • Actions
      • Player Group - Pick every player in <Tauren PG> and do (Game - Victory (Picked player) (Show dialogs, Show scores))
      • Player Group - Pick every player in <Runner PG> and do (Game - Defeat (Picked player) with the message: THOSE TAURENS DESTR...)
      • Trigger - Turn off (This trigger)


Runner Dies and Saved


These are the triggers that changes the Runners into flags into the center of the map and saved when someone saves them. The unit groups are to mark the Runners that are Alive and Dead.

  • Runner Dies
    • Events
      • Unit - A unit Dies
    • Conditions
      • Or - Any (Conditions) are true
        • Conditions
          • (Unit-type of (Dying unit)) Equal to Runner
    • Actions
      • Unit Group - Pick every unit in (Units owned by (Owner of (Dying unit))) and do (Unit - Remove (Picked unit) from the game)
      • Unit - Create 1 Flag for (Owner of (Dying unit)) at (Random point in <Region Where the Flags go> <gen>) facing Default building facing degrees
      • Unit Group - Remove (Dying unit) from AliveRunners
      • Unit Group - Add (Dying unit) to DeadRunners
      • Camera - Pan camera for (Owner of (Dying unit)) to (Center of Region Where the Flags go> <gen>) over 0.00 seconds


  • Save Captured Runners
    • Events
      • Unit - A unit enters <Region where other runners must enter to save the captured runners><gen>
    • Conditions
      • Or - Any (Conditions) are true
        • Conditions
          • (Unit-type of (Triggering unit)) Equal to Runner
          • (Number of units in (Units of type Flag)) Not equal to 0
    • Actions
      • Game - Display to (All players) the text: ((Name of (Owner of (Triggering unit))) + ( has saved all the captured runners for a + ((String(((Number of units in (Units of type Flag)) x 50))) + gold bonus!!!)))
      • Player - Add ((Number of units in (Units of type Flag)) x 50) to (Owner of (Triggering unit)) Current gold
  • ***The Triggers above displays the name of the person who saved the Runners and the amount of gold they get for saving them.***
    • Unit Group - Pick every unit in (Units of type Flag) and do (Actions)
      • Loop - Actions
        • Camera - Pan camera for (Owner of (Picked unit)) to (<Region where saved Runners Respawn) over 0.00 seconds
        • Unit - Create 1 Runner for (Owner of (Picked unit)) at (Center of <Saved Runner Respawn Region>) facing 270.00 degrees
        • Unit Group - Add (Last created unit) to AliveRunners
    • Unit Group - Pick every unit in (Units of type Flag) and do (Unit - Remove (Picked unit) from the game)


Player Leaves


I've noticed in most maps that there are 12 individual triggers to display that a player left, I only used 2, for both teams, here are the codes.

  • Runner Leaves
    • Events
      • Player - Player 1 (Red) leaves the game
      • Player - Player 2 (Blue) leaves the game
      • Player - Player 3 (Teal) leaves the game
      • Player - Player 4 (Purple) leaves the game
      • Player - Player 5 (Yellow) leaves the game
      • Player - Player 6 (Orange) leaves the game
      • Player - Player 7 (Green) leaves the game
      • Player - Player 8 (Pink) leaves the game
    • Conditions
    • Actions
      • Unit Group - Pick every unit in (Units owned by (Triggering player)) and do (Unit - Remove (Picked unit) from the game)
      • Player Group - Remove (Triggering player) from <Runner PG>
      • Game - Display to (All players) for 20.00 seconds the text: ((Name of (Triggering player)) + from the |cff00ff00Runner Team|r has left the game!)


  • Tagger Leaves
    • Events
      • Player - Player 9 (Gray) leaves the game
      • Player - Player 10 (Light Blue) leaves the game
      • Player - Player 11 (Dark Green) leaves the game
      • Player - Player 12 (Brown) leaves the game
    • Conditions
    • Actions
      • Game - Grant shared vision and full shared unit control of (Triggering player) units with his/her allies
      • Player Group - Remove (Triggering player) from <Tagger PG>
      • Game - Display to (All players) for 20.00 seconds the text: ((Name of (Triggering player)) + from the |cffff0000Tauren Team|r has left the game!)


Other Optional Triggers


Here's a list of links to other triggers you can put in your map that aren't really required. I do not take credit for these tutorials.

Quests (Help Menu)
Dialogs (Picking Runner Types)
Chat Commands (Admin Kick, Cheats)
AI Tutorial (AI Controlled Taggers)

V. Buildings


The purpose of buildings for a Runner is to defend against Taurens. The 3 most important buildings in a Tag map is the main castle, blocker and a Tower. Be creative, don't just copy the Ideas from Sheep Tag and Kodo Tag. The other buildings are up to you. Let's start with the Blocker. The most basic blocker should have 1 armor and should have the amount health to be killed by a Tagger in 3-4 hits, nothing too strong because they are basic. Making able to be destroyed quickly prevents Runners from massing them up and winning the game by massing blockers. The castle should be able to be killed in 1 hit. Another common idea is allowing the Runner to train units that can carry gold like peasants. If you plan to do this, make them 200+ gold and you must add a food adding structure like a burrow or a farm. The tower should have a very low damage as basic. It should take quite a while for a tower to destroy a Tauren. The blocker and the tower should be upgradeable to stronger blockers/towers so they can protect the Runner more. Another popular idea is having a building to make Runners invisible, meaning that the Taurens must have an ability or an item that allows them to see invisible units.

Remember to be creative, don't make it so similar to Sheep Tag or Kodo Tag. If you just do the Lordaeron Summer grass all over your map, your players are going to think that you just copied from Sheep Tag. Give your players a reason to play your map.

VI. Abilities


Let's start off with the Taggers. They should have an ability that allows them to run faster, since Runners are intially faster than Taggers. They should have an ability to Ensare. If you add this ability, when you start to add level up upgrades, make the range the same and the cooldown lower. The general duration of the net should be 2-3 seconds, nothing too big. Another good ability is like a type of very short ranged ability like a very very short shockwave, which allows Taggers to capture runners that camp in the trees. Remember, you can create any abilities you want, just make sure it's fair, like an ensare that lasts 12 seconds or a shockwave that can run through buildings can capture a Runner in his base is cheap. The ultimate should be able to destroy buildings like Earthquake. Make sure the ultimate is actually ultimate, not another regular ability.

Runner Type abilities are also a good way to make your map unique. In my map, I have 5, Rage, Speed, Stealth, Escape and Stun. The rage is able to take more than 1 hit from a Tagger, the speed is able to sprint making him way faster than a tagger, a stealth runner is able to change into a tree making him harder to find, the escape is able to use an ability to free him from a net, and the stun is able to throw a stunning hammer stunning a tagger for 3 seconds. Remember, these are my ideas and you should be creative and create your own in your own way. Make sure they are fair.

VII. Terrain


I cannot stress this as much as my clan leader Ragingspeedhorn did. Terrain is a big part of your map. People don't want to be staring at a green ground the whole game. Pick a tileset that has a lot of options, like Sunken Temple. It's a Ruins tileset AND it's an Island tileset. The Lordaerons are very limited and their doodads aren't as spread out as the other ones. Make sure you have at least 2 base tiles switchin together across the map, I'm not the best but I will link you to terrain tutorials. Again, I do not take credit for these tutorials.

Snow Terrain
Volcano Island
Rivers
Waterfalls
Advanced Terraining

VIII. Balancing


Okay, this where it gets tough, balancing. You want to make sure your game is VERY balance and yet fun to play at the same times. If your runner has an ability which makes you invulnerable for 10-20 seconds, with a low cooldown will make your map = poop. So here are a few abilities that you don't want your Runners/Taggers to have:

Runners
- NO Invulnerability, that's really imbalanced because it hinders your runners abilities to get killed
- Speed Building, this would be a good idea but it's WAY too imbalanced, because it allows someone to get a BIG advantage against the taggers and it may seem impossible to win when someone has all his towers and stuff up
- Blink, never, very imbalanced, if you were able to blink, you can blink to places where taggers couldn't reach. If you have a blink, make sure your taggers have an ability to silence

Taggers
- Long lasting disable, 1 word, imbalanced. You don't want this because it ruins your runners chance to escape even though they shouldn't. This should last 3-5 seconds MAX.
- Mega speed is great for short time, but if it lasts from 15-20 seconds, it's WAY too long. Even though taggers should be faster, they shouldn't be so fast that the runners can't juke the taggers
- Location changing spells like Dash because they can just do it right through trees or cliffs allowing the runner's defenses to be useless.
- Shockwave is another spell that's imbalanced, it goes through trees and up on cliffs which could potentially kill a runner from a distance away

XI, Conclusion


Well, this now ends the tutorial on how to make Tag Maps. It took me roughly 1 hour to do. Please post any suggestions/typos/comments/constructive critisizm on this thread. Please rate it so we can try to move it to the Tutorial Section. Thank you for reading my Tutorial and I hope you can make successful tags! This tutorial will be updated regularly so everything can be pointed out and fixed. Please reply!

Created by Spiky (WarLuvr) . Brought to The Hive Workshop by StasMaN
I take no credit for this guide
 
Last edited:
Level 17
Joined
May 6, 2008
Messages
1,598
You might want to explain the triggers. Giving newbs big ass triggers is usually a bad idea.

Oh and have you asked for permission to copy and paste this guide?
 
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