Methods, steps and details of making your own Warcraft map

Introductory tutorial on making maps for "Warcraft III"

WarCraft III World Editor (WE for short) is a powerful map editor included with Blizzard's masterpiece "Warcraft III". Many map making experts in the world have used WE to create World of Warcraft versions of classic games such as "Counter-Strike", "Diablo", "Thunderbolt", and "Monopoly". It can be said that there is nothing you can't think of and everything you can't do with WE. . WE is so powerful that it's actually not difficult to master, because Blizzard has made it as "foolish" as possible. When you decide to use it to create a map, what you have in front of you is just a lot of "building blocks". As long as you use your creativity, you can place them into a world of your own imagination. Can’t wait anymore? Let’s start WE quickly to create a stage play of your own!

WE consists of four main editors and a powerful Object Manager. The four major editors are divided into Terrain Editor, Unit Editor, Trigger Editor, and Sound Editor. The relationship between the four is as shown in the figure, among which the Terrain Editor and trigger editor are the most powerful. This article will introduce WE as the main line of the four major editors, and take the production method of the official RPG map WarChasers as an example to explain the ideas of constructing a Warcraft map from shallow to deep. (Note: The software used in this article is the English version of WarCraft World Editor version 1.05)

Building a stage scene - Terrain Editor

One of the basic elements of WE. You can create a simple battle map using the terrain editor alone. Because it is designed to be "dumb-friendly", even novices can operate it very easily, just like Windows Sketchpad.

After running World Editor through the Warcraft shortcut program group, you will see the interface shown in Figure 1. This is the most basic terrain editor.

①The upper part is the menu bar, which is similar to other Windows software. All command operations of WE can be performed here.

②WE's main editing window, through which you can see the full picture of the edited map.

③The auxiliary window will help you edit the map, but it will affect the speed.

④The tool panel is equivalent to a huge material library, which can easily add objects to the map.

⑤The status bar records additional information including the mouse position and the name of the object selected by the mouse.

After looking at the structure of the terrain editor, let's learn how to draw the basic scene of the map. Step 1, create a new map (File → New) (as shown in Figure 2), then you will see the grid - a guide line designed by Blizzard to facilitate players to arrange the map structure reasonably, similar to the guide lines of some image editing software (can be Eliminate it via View→Grid→None). First, we use the Terrain Palette of the Tools Panel (Figure 3) to create some natural landforms such as mountains and water. Part A is used to adjust the terrain texture and draw dividing lines. Part B adjusts cliff, seawater and surface types, but please note two points here: First, it can only be used between terrains with a height difference of 1, a width of at least three medium-sized grids, and a length of more than five medium-sized grids. Create a ramp (Ramp); secondly, do not use two cliff types (Cliff Type) at the same time in a small area, as this may cause surface mapping errors. After completing the terrain texture design and cliff adjustment, use the terrain height option in Part C to make the terrain more natural. When adjusting the height, it is recommended to use the brush option in Part D to adjust the brush to the maximum, which can save a lot of effort (Figure 4).

Are you satisfied with the terrain you created? It doesn't look good when it's bare. If you want to add some decorations like trees, birds, and waterfalls, you need to use the Doodad Palette. Click the selection box above the tool panel or click Layer→Doodad to switch to the Doodad Palette ( Figure 5). When you create an object similar to an archery target, you will find that the size and direction are random. At this time, you can either cancel the random size and random direction of the four parts, and then add the decoration again, or you can adjust the decoration by double-clicking and then entering Numeric values ??to change size, direction and type. If you just want to adjust the direction roughly, use Ctrl + left mouse button click/drag (Figure 6).

Hey, the next step is to add vitality to your map. Use the same method to switch to the Unit Palette. I believe that Warcraft players will be familiar with this. You can add any troops and units at will. Build the building onto the map (Figure 7), but be aware that when preparing to create neutral creatures or build enemy bases, don’t forget to change the player above (the default is Player1 Red). You can also change the owner by double-clicking an established unit. You can also use mouse frame selection or Shift + left mouse button to select multiple units for batch modification.

In addition to the owner, there are many differences between the unit's property panel and the equipment's property panel. The skill bar can activate the skills of the edited unit, and the dropped item bar is mostly used to set the items dropped by neutral creatures when they die. . Of course, the game map needs to have a starting point. Find the starting point (Start Location) in the last column of Buildings in the unit panel, and then create it anywhere on the map. Don’t forget that as a battle map, there must be at least two starting points. The next thing you need to do is to add some small modifications to your battle map: click the menu Scenario→Map Description. In the Description column, you can modify the map name, number of players, and map description. Sign your name in the author column ( Figure 8). Finally, test the map (Ctrl+F9) and save it.

Isn't a simple battle map coming out?