Terraining Tips and Techniques

[darc_Chief]

Alright, I'm back after having my computer reformatted because it wasn't working so great. I have no idea where to place this as there is no section called "Terraining" so I thought I'd place it in the maps section . I've come to share with you all (and learn many) terraining tips and techniques. By searching upon google, I found a neat post about terraining with very interesting techniques:

http://www.warcraft3.com/idealbb/view.asp?forumID=32&topicID=34266

Also, if you look closely, Blizzard likes to mass a whole bunch of doodads in random areas instead of completely spreading them out. I also discovered that Blizzard makes their campaigns interesting by throwing in many cinematics and by adding interesting things. Example: In the Frozen Throne, Human Campaign, Blizzard added a simple tower defense. In the Undead Campaign, Blizzard made the Nerubian Labyrinth a mini-bound. The other thing that makes a campaign interesting is by altering the map to make it that you must build a base to seige. By playing with just a single character, it gets boring. That was changed by Darky's RotD, where you get allies and THEN building a base. Blizzard also throws in a whole bunch of custom units once in a while, such as the Arcanite Golem or the Bloodfeast.

What brings campaigns to life is the voices. The voices in RotD were splendid. Don't get a cheap microphone, get a good one and just use the normal Sound Recorder program. That way, the voice quality goes down just a bit.

And last but not least, I will be proud to start working on a Modification for Warcraft III, in the middle of the school year (yes, I have that much time), seeing as I am a bright child (I'm not bragging, it's a plain fact,) I will get things done quicker. The modification will consist of adding two new races to the present four! I am proud to announce, the Naga and the Blood Elves! Seeing that the Blood Elves have units in the alliance, I would rather replace the alliance units by dwarves. As for the Naga, I'll just throw in some custom units and some more Mur'Guls (seeing as the Naga only use a Mur'Gul Reaver.) If anyone wants to add anything, please do so.

And so my time with you all draws to a close once again.
I leave you with the knowledge that should you have questions begging to be answered within your mind, and within your heart, then you may always turn to darc_Chief, and let my wisdom shine upon you like the sun on a warm summer day. And so, until next time we meet,

Strength through Warcraft!

darc_Chief

 

[ragingspeedhorn]

Intresting post

Though I think instead of doing a Blood Elves race you should consider doing another one that doesent mess up one of the allready existing races! Like a Ogre race maybe? Ogres were very important in both wc1 and 2. Just to bad they werent in wc3, therefor it would be cool if someone made them as a race

But ofc its your choice.

 

[darc_Chief]

I also pay alot of attention to the campaign. I watch the cinematics and listen. It seems that ogres and trolls were once part of the horde. But then that would mean making something similar to the Horde. Seeing as the Horde are a mix of trolls, orcs and taurens, it would be the same thing with the old one. As for an ogre race, they are also like the horde. I would be to mix a whole bunch of clans together to make the "Ogre Horde".

But your suggestion has made me see a new point. I think I should just add units to each race and create a new one.

 

[ragingspeedhorn]

Thats true ogres wouldent really do as a only ogres race, they would have to be alot of other races too and no races actually like ogres. Also I see your point with it being very similar to the Horde.

Well good luck with your project

 

[darc_Chief]

Alright. If anyone else has anymore questions or suggestions regarding the modification, please post a reply. I also encourage you all to add some terraining tips and techniques. This was, the original thread idea.

 

[darc_Chief]

Alright, I've counted the amount of buildings and units each original race has:
NE:B14, U16
UD:B18, U16
HU:B16, U15
OR:B12, U15

I have decided that the base number of buildings for the Naga should be 15. As for the units, you can see that the two new races each have 16, I think it's only fair that the naga, which will be a new race, will have 16 units. It is right in the centre of them all, therefor, balancing the scales. Now my next question is, which units I will use. This does not concern models or skins. I was merely asking myself the question of: How many spell-casters?, or How many air-units?.
My next post will consist of the races buildings and units in comparison with each other.

 

[darc_Chief]

UD Buildings:3 Base Upgrades, a wood gathering building, an upgrade centre, 2 towers, an altar, a food building, a spell-caster building, a normal unit building, a shade building(advantage of the undead?), a slaughter house (similar to the night elf ancients of wind/lore), item building and a bone yard (very similar to the Tauren Totem).

UD Units:1 worker, 7 normal (ghoul, cryptfiend, abomination, etc.), 3 spell casters(including obsidian statue), 1 seige, 3 air (including destroyer) and a shade (undead advantage?)

NE Buildings:3 Base Upgrades, upgrade centre, 1 tower, an altar, a food building, 2 random buildings (random=air, melee, spellcaster, etc.), normal unit building, item building and a chimera roost(very similar to tauren totem and boneyard.)

NE Units:1 worker, 7 normal units, 5 air, 2 spell casters and 1 siege.

HU Buildings:3 Base Upgrades, normal unit building, random building (2 siege, 1 air), spell caster building, an air building, food building, upgrade centre, a lumber gather building and 4 towers.

HU Units:1 worker, 6 normal, 2 siege, 3 air and 3 spell caster.

OR Buildings:3 Base Upgrades, normal unit building, spellcaster building, food builing, 1 tower building, lumber gather building, upgrade building, random building and Tauren Building.

OR Units: 1 worker, 7 normal, 1 siege, 3 spell caster, 2 air and 1 tauren (associated with the frostwyrm and the chimera).

I am a bit tired right now and I will compare a bit later.

 

[darc_Chief]

So I've decided.

3 Base Upgrades, an altar, a normal unit building, a spellcaster building, an upgrade centre, a lumber gather building, a random unit building, a food building and a special unit building.

The units are going to take a while to think of. I have thought of original Naga units and I thought of something like this:

HQ Upgrade
1=Temple of Tides
2=Shrine of Seas
3=Obelisk of Oceans

Altar=Altar of the Depths
Normal Unit Building=Spawning Pool
Spell-Caster Building=Shrine of Azshara
Food Building=Coral Bed
Tower=Tidal Guardian
Upgrade Centre=Ocean Armory
Lumber Gathering Building=Coral Storage
Random Unit Building=Dangers of the Depths
Special Unit Building=Royal Guard's Reef

Units coming soon!

 

[darc_Chief]

C'mon people, this post is important and vital to all you young terrainers. It's also the new modification HeadQuarters!

 

[Telorin]

ok, some tips

Tips! Perfect place for my first post

If you want to make great terrain heres some great tips:

-Minimum map size: The smaller the map the nicer the terrain will normally be, alot of blizzards maps were 96X96, though the only reason the smaller maps are better is you dont get discouraged as fast.

-Working Order: I reccomend working in this order: Water levels, cliff's, hills, texture, then last and most important doodads.

-World Editor Unlimited: I highly reccomend it. As the no doodad limit means you can really spice up some of ur maps, but remebmer the more doodads the more processor power/ram needed.

-Forests: Forests can make some maps REALLY ugly. It's normally best to make a tunnel effect BUT dont use large brush tools, it will cluster more trees than needed.

and thats about all I can say, Terraining just comes with practice. Oh and dont forget symettry can help alot.

 

[darc_Chief]

World Editor Unlimited is quite usefull if you know how to use it, that is. As soon as my graphics card problem gets fixed, I'm back to warcraft 3 and my beloved world editor unlimited. Let's just hope good old darc comes back before the evil school starts!

 

[Telorin]

Wow with all the double posting

Why do you continue to double post? just edit but I got a good tip:
- Pre plan: Dont start making terrain. Draw it out on paper, or in paint/paint shop pro. That way you know you get the results you were looking for.