Part 1: What’s happening right now?
If you have read previous issues of the Developer Diaries, you probably know that we are now actively working on the next update. We've told you a lot about it, so today we're going to introduce you to one of the aspects of the game you are interested in: the editor.
The ability to create user modifications has already become a traditional feature of the Blitzkrieg game series.
In order to see how functional and convenient the scenario editor interface is, our map designer has been using it for a month to create the Siege of Sevastopol mission. As he was working, he analysed all the editor functions available and came to the conclusion that it lacks some critical capabilities. To keep players from facing the same problem, we are working hard to improve the editor.
As for that mission, you'll be able to check it out very soon, as soon as update 0.9 is released.
Let us know if you like it! :)
To heighten your interest, we've decided to draw back the curtain a bit. Look at this screenshot, and then at this key (which describes each item in the screenshot).
What do the numbers and arrows on the editor screenshot mean?
1. Blueprint start: the blueprint allows you to focus on creating logic without needing to worry about syntax and other aspects of programming languages. But in any case it is important to understand what a variable type, boolean value, method, or loop is if you want to make something more complex than just moving a unit from A to B;
2. The blueprint has determined that the player's units are present in a given sector;
3. An additional blueprint is launched to calculate the average position of the unit in the zone;
4. One of the coast artillery batteries has been ordered to engage fire on the player's units.
This schematic shows the logic of coast artillery tower behaviour:
As you see, our work on the new visual interface is in full swing. In the future we will actually use it to create all of our new maps and scenarios. We hope you'll like them!
Part 2: “Player Suggestions”
In anticipation of your questions on the players' editor, we'd like to share our thoughts on it with you.
There are several reasons why we are not yet able to provide an editor to mode creators. First, we have to separate the editor from the engine. Another thing we have to do is make it possible to work with videos, maps, unit locations, and unit settings in the editor.
We are planning to create a separate application for making new scenarios.
The editor allows you to create new maps and change the characteristics of units and some textures as desired. After the game is released we will enable mod support via the Steam Workshop.
See you on the battlefield, officers!