Need for Map Editor on Alpha Branch

[Aura (Zaffa)]

Even though private servers are still very far off, it will take an incredible amount of time for players to create the maps necessary to fill up those servers. This player created content will ultimately be the life blood of the game once private servers go live in a year.

As the devs themselves have acknowledged, it takes upwards of three weeks to create a scene. While I understand that not everything on the editor may be where the devs ultimately want it to be, the fact is that there is already some form of map editor available. This is evidenced by the devs being able to create their detailed maps in single player.

Please release this editor on the alpha branch so people can put the time between now and private servers to good use (especially with so many people being in quarantine). It is very hard to imagine any potential harm that would come from releasing the map editor that outweighs the significant amount of lost development time by mappers that would occur by waiting to release it.

 

[leewong]

This TIMES 1 million. Please, for the love of everything holy and good.

 

[Younes]

I see the benefit of having a scene editor so early on. But i think taleworlds should focus on having a proper singleplayer ready and stable before focusing on other things. But its not a bad idea to have some early feedback about it.

Also if i remember correctly its a bit a pain in the ass to release the scene editor as a different module. Since all modding tools are combined together into one tool. I recall callum or some developer saying that.

 

[부부를 넘어서 가자]

If they can't even host a password protected server they're months away from releasing a map editor.

 

[Askey]

How long would it take for them to finish the map editor if they redirected time and resources to prioritise it?
If this can't be answered, I feel we can't really make a proper answer on how important it will be.

 

[Aura (Zaffa)]

Also if i remember correctly its a bit a pain in the ass to release the scene editor as a different module. Since all modding tools are combined together into one tool. I recall callum or some developer saying that.

That is interesting. I hadn't heard that before. Still, I would think they could just disable the other modding tools to the extent they didn't want people to access them. At the very least, the editor is advanced enough for them to make and continue to edit maps.

If they can't even host a password protected server they're months away from releasing a map editor.

Well, we know they have one else they wouldn't have been able to make all their maps.

 

[schubertt]

As much as I'm looking forward to trying out the editor, I don't think that it should be any kind of priority until late into - or at the end of - Early Access. The game's most ubiquitous maps will always be the ones that Taleworlds creates, so, for any attention payed to mapmaking at the moment, those should be the absolute focus.

 

[Brandis.]

Quite sure that a map editor needs to be a on a near-final and very stable version of the game.

Honestly I think the current mirror maps are pretty boring, but offer a good place to test since they're at least balanced. I'd rather see other aspects of MP worked on first. (Weapons / Animations / Responsiveness / Faction balance)

 

[Aura (Zaffa)]

As much as I'm looking forward to trying out the editor, I don't think that it should be any kind of priority until late into - or at the end of - Early Access. The game's most ubiquitous maps will always be the ones that Taleworlds creates, so, for any attention payed to mapmaking at the moment, those should be the absolute focus.

You see, I don't understand this statement.

It is an objective fact that in warband, 99 perfect of maps, both in casual and competitive play, were user generated. This is because Taleworlds' maps were wildly imbalanced for multiplayer. However, even if Taleworlds could create balanced and fun maps to play, this development effort would be better spent in other areas.

By delaying the map editor, you not only risk the stagnation of multiplayer, but you are ensuring that mods will take much longer to develop, the competitive scene will take longer to develop, and private servers will be filled with a lot of rushed maps when they release.

 

[schubertt]

You see, I don't understand this statement.

It is an objective fact that in warband, 99 perfect of maps, both in casual and competitive play, were user generated. This is because Taleworlds' maps were wildly imbalanced for multiplayer. However, even if Taleworlds could create balanced and fun maps to play, this development effort would be better spent in other areas.

By delaying the map editor, you not only risk the stagnation of multiplayer, but you are ensuring that mods will take much longer to develop, the competitive scene will take longer to develop, and private servers will be filled with a lot of rushed maps when they release.

I fully agree that Taleworlds' Warband maps weren't up to standard, but with adjustments by the community some of those maps were greatly improved, and it's a shame that Taleworlds didn't spend time to do those updates themselves so that the improvements could be available on every single server. Hopefully Taleworlds dedicates time to updating their maps according to feedback, so that any server, casual or competitive, can launch using their well-made maps, and thereby save wretches like me who have been forced to spend an unholy amount of time playing on Arena.

 

[Aura (Zaffa)]

I fully agree that Taleworlds' Warband maps weren't up to standard, but with adjustments by the community some of those maps were greatly improved, and it's a shame that Taleworlds didn't spend time to do those updates themselves so that the improvements could be available on every single server. Hopefully Taleworlds dedicates time to updating their maps according to feedback, so that any server, casual or competitive, can launch using their well-made maps, and thereby save wretches like me who have been forced to spend an unholy amount of time playing on Arena.

And my question to you is why are you valuing maps made by Taleworlds over those made by the community? If the community can pump out maps and do quality control at a quicker or even similar rate as Taleworlds, wouldn't it make more sense for Taleworlds to focus their attention on things that the community is unable to create themselves?

 

[schubertt]

And my question to you is why are you valuing maps made by Taleworlds over those made by the community? If the community can pump out maps and do quality control at a quicker or even similar rate as Taleworlds, wouldn't it make more sense for Taleworlds to focus their attention on things that the community is unable to create themselves?

The only reason that I would value the quality of Taleworlds' maps more is that, unlike community-made maps, they will be available via matchmaking and be included by default in every server's files. Unless Taleworlds will use community-made maps in the base game before the full release - and given the number of maps in the files right now (there are 13 maps there tagged as mp_skirmish_map_) I find that unlikely - then I think that the quality of the Taleworlds maps will be most important for the next couple of years. That said, I fully share your enthusiasm for the release of the map editor and would love to see it soon, but I don't think that it will be a priority of the developers for quite a while.

 

[EbdanianAdmiral]

Map editor is mandatory for any hope of a community.

 

[Proton]

Why does everyone act like Taleworlds is a tiny company with very little employees? Imagine a company that has differen't branches working on different areas of the game.. Figure.

Other stuff can be developed whilst bugs and improvements are being ironed out. They could easily release custom servers this month, but decide to keep releasing small updates daily. Launch week is over, at this point they should be releasing bigger bug fixes on a weekly basis, not daily.
Why does this matter when it comes to mod tools being released? Realistically I was expecting it all to be released within launch week, considering they've had a few years to prepare.