Dawn of War II Gets Map Editor

[Keane Ng]

Dawn of War II Gets Map Editor

Dawn of War II's official map editor World Builder will be released later this summer as part of the game's "There is Only War" update.

Fans of Relic's Dawn of War II can stop complaining about maps and start making them for themselves later this summer when the developer releases World Builder [http://community.dawnofwar2.com/blogs/?p=709], the official map creation tool that will let players design, edit and publish their own Dawn of War II maps.

"World Builder lets you add victory points, power nodes, and requisition points under Urban, Desert, Tyrannoformed, and Jungle map tilesets," Relic said. "You can deform terrain, place cover objects, choose the weather, and define the size of the map. Maps can be released for two, four, or six players."

It doesn't look too intimidating to use - I'm sure anyone with the devotion and time can figure the tool out using the samples and documentation Relic is supplying. Unsurprisingly you'll need some reasonably powerful hardware to use the World Builder. Relic recommends using a PC that can run Dawn of War II on high or ultra settings.

"The tool is being released to further open Dawn of War II to the modding community, to give fans the ability to contribute new content and increase the longevity of multiplayer," Relic said. "We here at Relic are looking forward to see what you have to contribute, and can't wait to get pwnd while playing on some awesome community-created maps."

World Builder will go into beta early next month along with the rest of the "There is Only War" update, and will release later this summer when the update makes its official debut. I, for one, am looking forward to being able to lose on a greater variety of maps.

Permalink

 

[Abedeus]

Careful there, I'm starting to regret NOT buying the game, despite playing the beta a lot (even if I crashed a lot because of all the problems).

 

[Archaon6044]

nice. i'd sooner have another race or two, or an extension of the campaign, or the same camapign from the 'nids POV

 

[MasterSqueak]

From the jungles of *name* to the streets of *name* I shall fight in the name of the Emperor.

For teh emprah.

 

[cainx10a]

Careful there, I'm starting to regret NOT buying the game, despite playing the beta a lot (even if I crashed a lot because of all the problems).

I curse thy name for not buying this game. I hope you will turn into a sheep who can't go "bah bah bah" but "oink oink oink".

This game kept me entertained for a while, but the fact that I can't play on live thanks to my router being unsupported (I can play online if I connect to my router, I could do that right now, but I'm too lazy to do it).

The latest patch not only made the AI, my bestest of best friends, a little more challenging and may I add, intelligent, but also brought me back into the game.

A lot of people cried, or thought about crying about the lack of maps, but unlock building a full mod, creating a map is much easier, and we can already imagine how the amount of decent alternatives to the maps we have, will extend the longevity of this game's life.

Thank you Relic, and uh, Second. Best. News of the day.

 

[Abedeus]

Careful there, I'm starting to regret NOT buying the game, despite playing the beta a lot (even if I crashed a lot because of all the problems).

I curse thy name for not buying this game. I hope you will turn into a sheep who can't go "bah bah bah" but "oink oink oink".

I blame Poland's high prices.

A game costs half the price of a 500-600GB HDD. That's kinda lot. And I'm not that into strategy games to begin with. I liked Warhammer 40k games because of the setting, and I like the sequel because it was more of a tactical game... But hey, I still've got time.

 

[Mackinator]

If only all the games in the world had simple map editors...

 

[AceDiamond]

Oh hell yes. Finally something to revitalize my interest in this game.

 

[scotth266]

Wait, this didn't come with the game? That's an odd choice, but whatever. At least now the 40k fans can look forward to a really nice update.

 

[RollForInitiative]

Wait, this didn't come with the game? That's an odd choice, but whatever. At least now the 40k fans can look forward to a really nice update.

Tools used internally are rarely in such a shape as to warrant release to the community. It can take a lot of effort to turn them into something that's user-friendly to people that haven't been working with it for a couple of years.

 

[AceDiamond]

Wait, this didn't come with the game? That's an odd choice, but whatever. At least now the 40k fans can look forward to a really nice update.

Tools used internally are rarely in such a shape as to warrant release to the community. It can take a lot of effort to turn them into something that's user-friendly to people that haven't been working with it for a couple of years.

Exactly. Bethesda didn't have the GECK Editor for Fallout 3 released immediately, they had to make sure the average developer could handle it as well. Although apparently since people who are familiar with it gain an advantage in getting a job at Bethesda, it stands to reason that it might not even be that different.

 

[RollForInitiative]

Exactly. Bethesda didn't have the GECK Editor for Fallout 3 released immediately, they had to make sure the average developer could handle it as well. Although apparently since people who are familiar with it gain an advantage in getting a job at Bethesda, it stands to reason that it might not even be that different.

Honestly, a lot of the time is probably spent ironing out the crashes so that it's acceptable as end-user software. Tools blow up in your face pretty often during development, so developers just learn what not to do. You can't release anything in that condition and not expect to be crucified by your community.

Stability aside, I would expect the tools to be fairly similar all-in-all.

 

[teisjm]

If they make a map editor with as much kick to it as Warcraft 3 had, they've got themselves a solid comunnity that'll stick around many years from now.

 

[TsunamiWombat]

*whines* Mannnn why does my PC suck so much.

I can't wait to fight for the emperor on a Penis shaped map.

 

[FURY_007]

Meh. For DoW 1 I'd have more interest, but with how much I dislike of DoW2, a map editor still can't sell me on it.

I agree with you 100%

 

[KenzS]

Is this a good RTS game? I have to know!

 

[Disaster Button]

Anyone know what else is gonna be in this update, like a new race or something else snazzy?

 

[Samman]

If only all the games in the world had simple map editors...

NO. Map editors must be as loaded with features and ridiculously complex as possible. No sarcasm at all. The more flexibility given to the players, the better the maps will be and the longer the game lives.

Love me some SC and WC3 custom games. In case you've never played SC or WC3 on bnet, the custom maps are games of their own. Especially in WC3 where the possible map customization was ramped up to a million. TBH, DOTA and other popular customs is probably the only reason WC3 has so many people still playing it.