The ages of Warcraft 3

[Tal'Rarity]

I hope this is the correct section because if not could a moderator please move it to where it belongs besides graveyard?

Anyone feel like sharing their knowledge of the past here? Feel welcome too because I will share mine somewhat. If some of it is wrong hopefully someone will tell me. =)

The beginner age of mapmakers was such fun, thousands of bad maps entered the game. 2002-2005 then the age of true mapmakers begun and is ongoing now.

For GUI'ers it was harsh from 2002-2009 due to nobody actually realizing how to MUI without JASS then came the JESP when finally GUI'ers started doing that too. Of course we still have to use JASS to leak-clean but in reality we're using JASS to GUI. I don't really understand the past because it's just that stupid, not to mention what Vexorian said about trackables.

Funny stuff, so much proven wrong and right. Too bad a lot of veterans left and can't see how great wc3 is now.

The great roleplay age of 2006-2010. The great loap age of ? - 2009, I am not sure exactly when it started, I am pretty sure it was around 2005 though.

The secretive age of mazing 2004-2011 - Lots of bad maps there, only like 4 good mazes ever went public.

TD/Tower Defense age 2006-2013 I am pretty sure.

The epic age of GUI is ongoing! 2002-?

Whos the killer age from ? - ongoing ; lots of people loved the mutations from that original map such as Metastasis and parasite and several more. Sorry I don't know when it started.

The age of RPG/ORPG 2007 - 2013 Not many people play these anymore, some but not as intense.

No use of mentioning dota though, sadly it hasn't ended.
Though thanks to dota lots of people became known and famous and made good games out of the genre dota created which is an AoS which later was stupidly renamed into MOBA.

I would cover more but I want to let others have fun revealing info too. I have been here for a while I guess.

I don't think the other genre's got a spotlight like these did, maybe I am wrong though.

Reason why I made this thread was to document our great gaming history, I am sure I am not the only one who spent years in this great game and communities.

Edit:

Spawned based strategy maps and Hero defence/arena maps 2004 - now

 

[Ezekiel12]

Your effort is welcome but those dates seem based on your vague guesses and some of them are certainly not correct. Dont tell me to make it better though, because I cant. Been with wc3 nearly from the start and played quite all known maps but as most people I never paid special attention to information that would be valuable in a later chronic.
To make a real chronic of map making you would have to question a lot of people, many of which have disconnected from the wc3 world and can not be reached.

 

[Vinz]

That MOBA thing though. I agree it's stupid as a name. I mean, anything can be multiplayer, online, and be a battle arena, so why replace the term AoS?

 

[Ezekiel12]

so why replace the term AoS?

Because AoS was a) never the name of the genre in the first place
and b) even in the DotA world it was never a widely known term. Some people knew that Aeon of Stife was the first map to use this concept but thats about it. AoS was just a small shadow of what DotA 1 was, with much less features and gameplay elements and also never was big compared to DotA.
The DotA community did just not need a name for the genre. There was only DotA, millions of people were playing it, that name was enough to classify your gaming interest.
The reason the term MOBA is accepted by a lot of people is because Riot (did I mention the obligatory "Doom to Pendragon! May his milk turn sour and may the crops wither on his fields." ?) chose it for the genre.
Does the name suck? Yes.

 

[Vinz]

I kinda agree too though, the name AoS is mostly only known to modders.

 

[Theoden of KoMe]

I disaggre with mostly you said.Spawned based strategy maps and Hero defence-arena are the top elementes of wrc3 bnet games.Lotr clans are since 2004 till today and so are broken alliances clans.

 

[Tal'Rarity]

I disaggre with mostly you said.Spawned based strategy maps and Hero defence-arena are the top elementes of wrc3 bnet games.Lotr clans are since 2004 till today and so are broken alliances clans.

Thanks for the contribution

 

[chobibo]

For GUI'ers it was harsh from 2002-2009 due to nobody actually realizing how to MUI without JASS then came the JESP when finally GUI'ers started doing that too.

Nope, nah uh. There were people who can do multi-instanceable spells in GUI back in '06 when I just started scripting, there was even a tutorial for it, from the guy who also compiled the first jass tutorial I used. The thing is, back then, if a spell isn't MUI, it didn't make it to the resource section. Some guys even considered it non-functional for not being MUI, may it be written in jass or GUI. Also, the JESP manifesto was a guideline to the coding format/practice to be used in jass for ease in sharing.

This is the JESP standard document, if a map contains this document it means that there are
 spells that follow this standard.

 Spells of this map that follow the standard:
 ¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯
 - "Spell1"
 - "Spell2"
 ...
 - "SpellN"
 (must change this part to mention the spells)

 Advantages of the Standard
 ¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯
 - Implementing spells that follow the standard is relatively easier than implementing JASS
 spells that don't follow the standard.

 - Configuring/Balancing spells that follow the standard is relatively easier than
 implementing JASS spells that don't follow the standard.

 - Users may do the following procedure to make a new ability that uses the spell's script :

 * Create a new Trigger with a name (case sensitive)
 * Convert that trigger to custom text.
 * Copy the spell's script to a text editor like Notepad or your OS equivalent.
 * Replace the spell's Code name with the name you used on the trigger.
 * Copy the new text to the new trigger
 * Duplicate the Spell's original objects to have new ones for the new spell script.

   You are now able to use that new version of the spell.

 - In case two guys give the same name to 2 different spells, there are no conflict problems
 because you can easily change the name of one of them

 [B]What is the JESP Standard?[/B]
 ¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯
   [COLOR="DarkGreen"][I]The JESP standard was designed to make spell sharing much better. And to make sure [B]JASS[/B]
 enhanced spells follow a rule, to prevent chaos.[/I][/COLOR]

 What does JESP Standard stands for?
 ¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯
 JASS
 Enhanced
 Spell
 Pseudotemplate

 Requirements for a spell to follow the JESP Standard
 ¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯
 - The spell is written in JASS
 - The spell is 100% multi instanceable.
 - The spell script is ready to support spells of any number of levels.
   (default config header is not required to support all of them)

 - The Spell has an specific code name.

 - The Spell's trigger must have the spell's codename as name

 - The Spell's InitTrig function must be named: InitTrig_<CodeName>

 - The spell has a configuration header.

 - It is mandatory that rawcodes of objects are configurable in the header.

 - All the spell's specific code is inside the spell's "Trigger" (Trigger== that custom text
   slot that world editor calls Trigger, the spell may use as many 'trigger' OBJECTS as needed)

 - Every spell-specific single identifier or key works in such a way that reproducing the
   spell's trigger but after performing a text-replace of codename with another name (and thus
   renaming the cloned trigger to the new code name) it won't cause compile errors / conflicts
   when playing the map.

 - There is no code inside the spell's "Trigger" that is not specific to the spell.

 - There are no requirements for GUI variables that are specific to the spell. If a system
   used by the spell requires GUI variables the code for the system must be outside the "Trigger"

 - Eyecandy and spell's balance have to be easy to configure

 - The name of the author should be included in the spell's script.

 - The reason to exist of this standard is spell sharing. This document should be included
 within the map. And it should specify which spell follows the standard, in the top list.

Source

 

[StoPCampinGn00b]

I dunnno, it seems like since Azothan started his channel there's been a lot more epic strategies and various risks, mostly Azeroth Wars ^_^

Though, Castle Fight and Legion TD might have more players.

 

[PurgeandFire]

JESP was a JASS standard. It was meant to serve as the "ideal" style for a JASS spell in both configurability and documentation. GUI isn't really related to it though. But it is true that back then, GUI was rarely ever MUI. If it were an instant cast spell, or if it involved waits + locals, then it was MUI. But for timed spells/periodic spells, sometimes people would just submit it as it was (more of a *concept*). That is why JASS was so enticing to learn--you wanted to be able to access the power of MUI so that your maps' spells wouldn't bug out.

But it was a different story for different sites. There was always a bit of rivalry between the three big modding websites: hiveworkshop, thehelper, and wc3c. They all had different standards. wc3c was almost entirely composed of JASS scripts, the hive had a bunch of systems (but with a less-strict moderation), and thehelper had a mix of GUI/JASS resources (a lot of awesome spells), but no real "resource" system like we have here. It was just: post a thread, hope that people download it or comment. The lack of strict GUI moderation is probably why so few felt enticed to make their spells MUI, and those who felt enticed wouldn't know how.

The tale of map making is a large one, and it is very multi-faceted. It has had its ups and downs--some people actually thought wc3 was dying in 2005, but the constant player base has kept it alive. It took a pretty large beating when Sc2 was released. Even though a majority of our modders stayed with wc3, a lot of players moved on to Sc2--and even more to LoL/DotA 2. But I'm happy to know that wc3 is still trudging along. We still get new users every day, and that is rather surprising for a game this old (thank goodness for the large number of wc3 rips and the popularity of garena/custom servers). But I'll welcome that fact with open arms!

 

[Vinz]

Either DotA 2 or HotS would replace Wc3 in the modding scene.

 

[Ezekiel12]

some people actually thought wc3 was dying in 2005

cough..DotA...cough..

It took a pretty large beating when Sc2 was released. Even though a majority of our modders stayed with wc3, a lot of players moved on to Sc2--and even more to LoL/DotA 2. But I'm happy to know that wc3 is still trudging along. We still get new users every day, and that is rather surprising for a game this old

Indeed surprising and also makes me happy. Don't get me wrong though, I won't be miserably unhappy in 30 years when I'm the only one fiddling with wc3 .