Updated the map: The only change is that I compressed "To Far Away Times" from 6.60MB to 2.66MBs. This makes the map's filesize much smaller.
Now, to respond to every complaint so far.
I thought it was overall pretty good, but there werent enough 1st lvl things to kill in order to gain a few levels without dieing... I killed the spiders and it took a really long time for them to respawn. I'd say lower the respawn time of regular mobs by a little bit.
Errr, you aren't really supposed to stick around to wait for creeps to re-spawn. The recommended thing to do in the beginning of the game is to join the Life Guardians, since their opponent's units give a lot of XP. Not to mention the importance of keeping the LGs alive. Also, play on easy mode, your starting Hero can take on Level 5 units on easy straight from the start.
Don't forget to practice the usage of the Avoid ability - it's crucial to your survival in the beginning.
>-Kobas- 's post<
Music, I already addressed. Note that, if I compress the custom music any further, the quality will suffer
greatly, so I think they are fine as they are.
Terrain, honestly, I have to be blunt: if I were to do what you say, I would be seriously hampering the game for no reason at all other than eye-candy.
The goal of this map was to provide a diverse, non-linear, single player experience.
General terraining solutions seem to amount to nothing more than "Download this program to fix this!" or "Spam doodads everywhere!".
I have an old computer, so spamming doodads is out of the question because it would just hamper the framerate.
As for foreign programs to improve the map, well, when I started the project, I told myself that I would not resort to use any customized stuff until I expended every in-game resource. Eventually, I used custom music, but only since version 0.99 have I started using custom programs to improve this map in new ways.
But really, I'm just wasting time discussing this: because I can
assure you that I will
NEVER improve the terrain of this map to your standards. It would achieve nothing gameplay-wise, which, as I said before, is the main goal of the map. Moreover, though, is that it would be a waste of resources. I would rather spend time refining the various AI's I made.
Sorry if I disappointed anyone with that last paragraph, but this map is huge. Addressing the issue of terraining is simply too much for my time. If I make a new map, I would gladly listen to your complaints of terraining, but for this one, it is far too much of an effort for so little of a reward.
Triggers, well, while your idea is fine, I do not think the "talking" triggers are so big that they need a refinement. Besides that, I am 99% sure that every trigger is leak-less, which was my main concern when making them.
>Meat Factory's post(s)<
Loading screen, for this and any future version, I wanted a completely original piece using only drawings. Admittedly, I have fallen short on that aspect, but I don't regret my attempt at all. I will improve the loading screen when I have the time, which I currently don't have.
Music, well, it's all opinion, so there was no way I could please everyone. If it bothers you that much, you can just replace the music files with ones of your choice, since this map is open-source.
And as for terrain, I already addressed this in Kobas's post.
perhbas im only too stupid, but how to leave if u pay the 300 gold for dunno what name it was lifebringer or such, where u fight against the undeads. i found all the battle completely surrounded by cliffs and water, the only teleporter was between the battlegrounds, i couldnt do anything after killing the undead force... couldnt find the "old man" how to get back???
There is a gate south-west of the Life Guardians' faction that brings you out. It's mentioned in the Life Guardians' description.