Scenario / Map editor enhancements

[1869_Flame]

Scenario / Map editor enhancements
Something i would really love would be more features in the scenario/map editor.
Features that will enable players to make campaign-like maps, or even real campaigns where the next lvl can only be unlocked by completing the previous.

Some of the features that i think would be great to have in the editor:
- Marked areas --> Mark areas in the editor for later use in editor functions (see below)
- Marked objects --> Name objects like biters nests, crashed planes, and so on for more flexible use (see below)
- Set states on objects --> Be able to set the state of named objects, for example "invisible = true" that can later on be triggered to false. (more examples isActive/isInvulnerable/...)
- Trigger areas --> Be able to paint areas on the map (invisible in play mode) that can have certain triggers.

• Example triggers:
• When player enters/exits this trigger area the first time, spawn # (number) of type #(enemy type) in area # (one of the Marked areas)
• When player enters/exits this trigger area, do (something) every # (example:)4th time
• When player enters/exits this trigger area, change state of these objects "...." (select new state per object)

- Set overall gameplay triggers

• Example triggers:
• After X play time, change state of these objects (for example, make some biters nests active)
• When player builds the first building of type "..", trigger someting

Im sure there are many more things that could be added to this
My hope is that these arent proving to be very hard to build into the editor/game, as they will be a great addition for the game.
I actually thing this will also increase the replay value of the game too, as the community would be able to also make some cool scenarios and/or even whole campaigns, adding new and additional story modes to the game.

[1869_Flame]

some thing to add:
it would also be great to have those text balloons in the editor (the ones we see in the current campaign) that can be triggered at certain moments, so we can make custom missions and such with some more story to it.

[Kevin94]

All the triggers you suggested are already possible with lua code. Writing a custom Campaign with multiple levels and a long story line is also possible. Marking Objects as undestroyable can be done via lua and MapEditor, deactivating them is also possible with lua, only making them invisible is afaik not possible.

If you have an idea for a scenario/campaign and want to realize it you only have to learn lua, look in the code of the dev's campaings (the wiki is very incomplete regarding lua functions), and copy/modify it.

[ssilk]

I think he knows that and he wants some GUI, which writes that code.

[1869_Flame]

I think he knows that and he wants some GUI, which writes that code.

yea just some nice interface around it in the editor, so it would be more easy for the community to generate more content for the game, increasing the replay value greatly.

[Kevin94]

Story line as UML statechart, hmm...
Looking at the limited level and configurability of existing gui elements i don't think this will happen in game. Maybe someone will write an standalone programm combined with a mod to acomplish this (i'm thinking about an eclipse plugin for example )

[ssilk]

I think to some lib which can read something like a "storybook". It generates a world, and the triggers for the events, simplify the creation of "dialogues" etc. does all the mentioned stuff, but you can overwrite internal methods with extra lua calls.

And the creation of such a storybook could be done by a mod: it generates on key press a mod, with all needed stuff included.