DOTA DEMIGOD! MAKE IT HAPPEN!
Now just hold on one goddamn second.
THIS, is a great idea.
DOTA DEMIGOD! MAKE IT HAPPEN!
Now just hold on one goddamn second.
THIS, is a great idea.
I think the barrier to entry due to scripting and such will kneecap any chance it has at really taking off in the way that SC or WC3's map-making scene did, but it would sure be nice if it did anyways. It also depends a lot on how Valve plans to monetise the custom maps and how they're going to policing IP infringement/stolen assets/etc within the community.
Thinking back, SC and WC3's custom map output would be entirely different if infringement were restricted; DotA itself might never have taken off, being vaguely based on Starcraft and Dynasty Warriors UMS games made in Brood War, and clearly inspired by the traditional MOBA set-up pioneered by infringement city Tides of Blood in Warcraft 3, which had such MOBA luminaries as Leto Atreides starring in it. And of course, the Phantom Lancer (FFX's own Kimahri) would not exist in his current form, or perhaps at all.
As it stands, I see it being close to SC2's map making scene, where only semi-professional map makers stand any chance of making a functional game out of the thing. This will drastically reduce the output, which will reduce the community around it, which will in turn make it wither down into nothing but a small community hovering around a competent-yet-uninspired map or two, with many more that have no community whatsoever.
I don't think the tools were the problem. Some of the games were great.
It was just at that time, real games taken over. When I was playing WW2 custom games on Starcraft, there was nothing like it, but now, there are dozens of games I could play that are like it.
I'm talking about less assets unless Valve is going to make like 50 new units, flying units, tons of tile sets. DotA 2 has WAY less than Starcraft 2.
It won't happen.
Many of the people who were making Warcraft 3 custom maps are working in the games industry now. I worked with quite a few of them at Riot, and I know of several others at indie or major developers.
It used to be that the only way you could easily publish a game was to mod another one. Now there's a million different ways to show off your skills and actually make money on it. We can expect some pretty cool stuff, but don't expect Warcraft 3-level awesomness.
It's time for Wintermaul.
If a kid is good enough to script a Dota 2 mod, it means he's also a few simple lessons away from being good enough to script a Unity3d game instead. And between making a mod shackled to a game and making game that can be freely distributed, most people will prefer the second option.
Yea I'm not sure why someone would make a mod for a game with 10 million monthly players when they could create their own game and having to source all their own assets.
i'm cautiously optimistic. Valve needs to release a lot of extra art assets to work with, i have this strange fascination with official art assets and i feel that as talented as the community is, the artistic style that valve's created for the game will be muddled/polarizing when the community starts making their own building/unit models. it can already be seen with a lot of the (imo) unfitting sets they've come out with for the heroes. it's a pretty trivial complaint but i know it will be something that will irrationally bother me to no end. still crazy excited for all the possibilities.
Yea I'm not sure why someone would make a mod for a game with 10 million monthly players when they could create their own game and having to source all their own assets.
If anything Dota 2 is the perfect place to test your gameplay ideas for a full fledged game. Not having to worry about multiplayer coding and infrastructure will save a lot of time.
also down the line it's likely valve will allow you to monetize the mod, which might be controversial but still another incentive for modders.
I think you severely underestimate how many proficient computer scientists play Dota 2. How quickly someone who has never coded in their life can come up to speed with scripting when it's within a singular runtime environment. How many young kids made amazing things with the old Source tools. How many adults and professionals contribute to mod communities as an after work hobby. How just a few people can make really impressive things, and just how large the Dota 2 community is to drive all of this.
i'm cautiously optimistic. Valve needs to release a lot of extra art assets to work with, i have this strange fascination with official art assets and i feel that as talented as the community is, the artistic style that valve's created for the game will be muddled/polarizing when the community starts making their own building/unit models. it can already be seen with a lot of the (imo) unfitting sets they've come out with for the heroes. it's a pretty trivial complaint but i know it will be something that will irrationally bother me to no end. still crazy excited for all the possibilities.
I would absolutely love this if it becomes a thing. Tower Defense, evolves, DBZ rpgs, Cat and Mouse hold a special place in my heart. Blizzard dropped the ball hard when they didn't capitalize on this for SC2.
May I ask why the SC2 mod scene never took off? I wasn't into that game after launch but I saw some decent stuff like Starship Battle.
May I ask why the SC2 mod scene never took off? I wasn't into that game after launch but I saw some decent stuff like Starship Battle.
I agree with this.
But on the other hand, how did it work with Brood War and Warcraft 3? Weren't those P2P connections that switched hosts dynamically when the host would leave mid-game?
It was definitely never an issue in Brood War. AFK hosts were rare, and a host leaving mid-game didn't kick everyone else out.If the switching existed, it always failed that I forgot it's even there, and it suffered the same problems that DOTA suffers from now, it was always bad, but bad didn't stop it from being fun.
Yesterday I spent a couple of hours just to try to play 1 decent custom match and I just gave up, I literally got stuck in a loop of afk hosts for a total of 30+ minutes.
If it spawns a new wave of rts games this will be the ultimate meta. Exciting times.
eh don't really agree with this, how does it matter if an asset is official or not? I'm a hobbyist 3d modeler since 15 years and I'm thinking about making some tilesets and general purpose model packs that stay consistent with dota 2 in style. I'm sure there are many others like me.
I understand where you're coming from, but I don't think you need to worry too much. Valve looks to be all in when it comes to supporting this burgeoning custom games scene, so I think we'll see even more official assets added to the editor in the future. We're only in beta, and there are already tons of unique assets to work with that aren't part of mainline DotA.
no doubt there will be great modelers out there that adhere to valve's style but having art assets come directly from valve's in-house artists is something i'd prefer. it's world building from the source. again, it's not that big of a deal but inconsistency (in this case, art assets) can distract from a game at times. anyways these are custom games after all, the most important part is if it's fun! (i played some skillshot wars and survival co-op last night which were pretty fun despite the connection/bug setbacks)
I highly recommend Enfo's Team Survival as well. Two 5-man teams defend against increasingly difficult waves of creeps on separate sides of the map. The first team to succumb to the horde loses. It's pretty fun.
And of course Overthrow is great as well. And Bomberman.
i've got enfos downloaded but wasn't able to get into a match, hopefully tonight i'll have better luck. what i'm really looking forward to are the RPGs that come out of this (which i imagine will be a while from now.)
Yeah, same here. So far Warchasers is the closest you're gonna get.
I think months down the line we'll start seeing some more fully developed RPG maps, though, and I can't wait. RPG maps were always my favorite in Brood War. I snatched up and collected every one I ever came across.
wow, that warchasers map looks pretty neat, i'll have to download that one later. SC RPGs were also some of my favorites, i really enjoyed the Diablo Acts that came out; although finding them hosted or to even download was very rare, but awesome when i was able to.
Is there a functioning Footman Frenzy map out there? The one we tried yesterday, which is just called Footman Frenzy, was buggy as hell. All creeps looked the same, creeps didn't attack heroes and could in fact be controled by enemy players and the teams got all mixed up.
Yea I'm not sure why someone would make a mod for a game with 10 million monthly players when they could create their own game and having to source all their own assets.
Yea I'm not sure why someone would make a mod for a game with 10 million monthly players when they could create their own game and having to source all their own assets.
Definitely to be expected this early on. It'll take some time before we start seeing more finished, polished custom games. At least Valve plans on releasing more of their own in the coming weeks.My main problem with this at the moment is that a lot of the custom games (even ones on the front page) are blatantly unfinished, and many of them will just randomly crash. It's to be expected I suppose.
My main problem with this at the moment is that a lot of the custom games (even ones on the front page) are blatantly unfinished, and many of them will just randomly crash. It's to be expected I suppose.
Yea I'm not sure why someone would make a mod for a game with 10 million monthly players when they could create their own game and having to source all their own assets.
~end of 2014
If you liked that I highly recommend Reflex. It's very polished and unique.Skillshot Wars is my jam. I haven't played a normal dota match in a while just strictly playing custom games.
It'll come, but it will take a while. The beta editing tools just went live a few days ago, so it'll be months before we start seeing more robust, polished custom games.The time spent in WC3 custom games was some of the most fun I've ever had with a game. If this can capture even just a piece of that magic it should be a lot of fun.
Where's Wintermaul?