Map Editor Mayham

The map editor is now complete! We just finished testing the Player AI editor and even we were amazed with how dynamic and easy it is to create simple to complex AI.

Within the next couple of weeks we'll be releasing the map editor beta. 

Here is a list of map editor features:

• Place Objects(Structures, Ground Units, Air Units)
• Place Obstacles
• Player Starting locations
• Paint the map
• Specify Territory (Occupied and Unoccupied area for ground units to navigate around)
• Resources (Specify starting resources and resource quota for each player)
• Camera (Fog and Orthographic mode to create 2d rts games)
• Teams
• Player Factions
• Player Colors
• Player AI
• Loading Screen
• Start Menu (Such as an objectives briefing screen)
• End Menu (Such as a scoring screen)
• SkyDome Texture
• Sun-flare
• Objectives (Survive Mode, Timed Game, Objects to Destroy, Objects to Protect and any variation)

Our next focus is on the main editor. We have a lot left to do but we're still aiming to release the complete beta on December first. Stay tuned!

A Better Way To AI

We want to give as much control as possible when it comes to designing AI.

To make this possible we decided to rewrite the current AI interface.

Now it's possible to define precisely the logical actions of the player AI. Some examples of whats possible include:
(where X is a variable number)
- If Enemy Has X Number of Units Do Action
- If Enemy Has X Number of Structures Do Action
- If Team Has X Number of Air Units Do Action
- If Team Has X Number of a Specific Object Do Action
- If Enemy Builds Specific Object then Do Action
- If Team Builds Any Object then Do Action

Actions include
- Going to a Rally Point
- Attacking Nearest Enemy
- Attacking Nearest Specific Unit or Structure
- Defending Specific Unit or Structure
- Changing AI "Stage" or conditions to act on
- Build Structure or Unit

There's lots of variation as to what's possible and using the Map Editor designing AI is extremely simplified.

New Website

We thought we'd give a status update to those who have been following the development of RTS Creator.

In the last half a month we've been developing an entirely new website. The website has a forum, chat, blog system, and lots of other extras that make it the perfect platform to deliver RTS Creator.

The website will be up soon, and along with that, a video demonstration of what the RTS Creator map editor is capable of!

Stay tuned!

Map Edit This!

Seeing the map editor near completion couldn't have us more excited!

With the map editor you have full control over your levels. You can place structures, obstacles, specify occupied and unoccupied areas, define enemy player AI, define objectives, texture the level and more!

Development on the map editor has been moving very quickly and we've run into minimal bugs. We believe we've nailed the perfect balance of flexibility and simplicity with the design of the map editor.

Map Editor Menus

Development for the Map Editor has been progressing! All of the menus are now and place and all that's left is to add the remaining functionality.

The Map Editor is about 80% complete, once finished we'll be focusing on the Creator Development Environment, which is the last component to be completed before the initial release of RTS Creator.

Map Editor!

With the Engine currently undertaking beta testing, it's time for us to progress to the next step! The map editor!

The previous map editor gui was based on an internal opengl rendering system that was slow if the user was working with more the a hundred objects. The new editor uses the systems(Windows, Linux, Mac) UI to render the controls.

Because the new map editor has the same functionality as the old map editor, development should be relatively fast.

Tightening the Bolts

As we're getting closer to the Beta release our focus has primarily been on tightening the bolts; making sure things run smoothly and as expected.

We have big plans for all of the features we plan on implementing into RTS Creator but we don't want "feature creep" to delay the initial release. Not only do we want lots of features, we also want the "right" features, which means keeping an open ear and listening to what the users want. 

At the end of this month we'll be releasing the first "Game" made with RTS Creator. The game is very much a prototype and example of some of the capabilities of RTS Creator. 

Its taken us 2 years to get to where we are now, 35,000 lines of code later this has turned out to be a much larger project than we initially anticipated, and coming upon the first release we couldn't be more excited.