It's "Ignore Terrain Height", a flag in the unit data. When you check this flag, the unit stays at the height defined in its "UI - Height" field.
You can modify the unit height ingame using triggers though, with the "Change Unit Height" event. It sets a new altitude to the unit, using interpolation.
Funny fact: With this event you can change the height of any unit, even those on the ground... Which is pretty good when you want a basic trigger-based jump ability for a ground unit.
The gameplay is something like a final fantasy style game, though it is much closer to the old snes game "chrono trigger".
It doesn't look like FF in any way, IMO. As soon as I watched the video it brought back memories of Chrono Trigger before I even read your description of the project, and I think you shouldn't compare what you're doing with any FF whatsoever. It's a 100% pure clone of Chrono Trigger, obviously, and I think it's better this way. There are so much FF fans that it's getting boring, and there are various FF clones for SC2 already in progress anyway.
With that said, I'm not the only one to think the UI could be better somehow. But as you said, it will be done later. I really loved the 2 or 3 guys combining their force in CT to do massive damage, I'm glad you managed to get it to work in your project. But I don't like how you select a target for your spells right now, it doesn't seem intuitive at all (the whole process of using keyboard to switch/attack target is just... well, it's wrong!).
I don't see the point either of having all these things in the Command Card of your hero, even if it is for WASD movement I think controlling your hero with the mouse is far more than enough (you don't need to dodge anything accurately in a RPG like CT, and even if you do any average player can do it with the mouse). WASD movement will most likely cause issues on Bnet, if you can avoid using it I'd suggest you do.
Maybe you should add a bar on the enemy units to show which are about to attack too... I'm pretty sure there was something like this in CT, you could know which unit was going to attack next, so you could focus on beating it before it does. And enemy units were not standing on a spot, which is interesting IMO because it gives a bit more life in the battle, and stress to the player (when he gets surrounded). I assume you already thought of having surprise attacks too (I mean enemies attacking from behind), with a bonus to their initiative of something like that?
Anyway, it looks very promising so far and I'd love to play a CT clone in SC2 someday... :)
If I remember well, even icons/buttons have a Race parameter (or at least, they have a race Category in the editor, which is pretty much the same). In the case of a button in the Command Card, I assume a Protoss icon will be blue, Terran will be green, Zerg will be red, and Neutrals will be in gray. This is the first thing I can think of. The second being that your button is actually not meeting the requirements for it to be clickable/useable.
I read the huge topic explaining how to create game attributes and use them in the lobby while creating a game, but I'm having a serious issue (besides getting pissed off by this whole lobby thing that seems to never work properly for almost anybody).
I tried:
-using game variants (there is already a difficulty field): It doesn't even show in the lobby, whether I lock it or not, whether I'm the host or not. Seems pretty much pointless anyway, or at least completely bugged.
-using game attributes, I created a menu for the host that lets him choose between each difficulty level.
Ex: When I set the difficulty to Very Easy, it sets the game difficulty for player 1 (the host) to Very Easy. So far, no problem and it seems like the difficulty REALLY is set to Very Easy as I asked (I have a text line displaying the difficulty level and it works right).
But it seems like preplaced units (ie. units placed using the Terrain Editor) do not show properly. In the Terrain editor, you can set at which level units appear or when they don't, but it seems setting the difficulty in the lobby does not change that, whatever I try... It just takes the default difficulty level set in the game attributes (ie. Medium, in that case).
I'm clueless on how to make it so the difficulty parameters chosen in the lobby would actually show/hide units depending on what difficulty level they should appear (or not!).
I searched the forums but couldn't find anyone who even tried to play with the difficulty so far. Is that even possible? How would you do it? It's probably because my map init trigger isn't done well, but I'm not sure what to do...
I think what you're searching for is "Unit - Flags" > "Ignore terrain height", in the unit data.
It will keep the unit at the height you set in the "UI - Height" field, wherever it is placed on the map. Be warned though, if your unit fly at height 4 and you have cliffs at this height, it will fly through as if there was nothing to avoid. You may lose your unit under the ground pretty fast, so be sure to give it a flying height high enough to avoid any cliff, ground, or even obstacles.
You're right, the Inheritance options are actually last in the list of fields. It's in Properties - Inherited Properties. About the events to hide shadows of the diving unit actor, you need to add an event "Set Cast Shadows" to Disable/Enable when the behavior is toggled ON/OFF.
Thanks for the help, another problem solved!
Ikari Warriors v1.0 will be out very, very soon now. :D
I'll add you to the "many thanks goes to" list.
There are development kits, just like any console. Nintendo kits are a bit more complicated to get (it's a matter of policy between Nintendo and the game developers), but it's pretty much the same as for any console.
I almost forgot to tell about Braid and Osmos... These 2 games are good. Braid is really hard to finish, Osmos is pretty much the contrary but it's really cool anyway. Beat Hazard (available on Steam) is also kind of fun (if you don't fear having seizures and burning your eyes)... There is also a flash game I like (actually, 2... though they're not really indie games) which is named This Is The Only Level.
Actually, if it's only a matter of lobby not showing all the players, it could also be a Game Variants problem...
It's in the Map menu > last option, named Game Variants. You find a bunch of parameters here that are used mostly for defining the lobby elements.
It'sa bit complicated to explain in details (mostly because I don't know how everything works in this thing) but I searched the forums and there are a few good topics about Game Variants if needed.
Thanks SoulCarveRR, but I think I'll stick to BorgDragon's method since it does exactly what I wanted (it just fits better in this project).
There are still a few things to modify though. It seems the attached model inherits its opacity from the unit. So when my unit dives, the Tetrahedron shows but its opacity is the same as the unit. I tried adding an event to reset the opacity of the shape to 1 but no dice, it seems to be linked to the opacity value of the unit. I also see the shadows of the invisible unit and the tetrahedron, I wonder if there is an event that can hide them too... Aside from that, it's exactly what I wanted. I still have to add a few other things in the behavior in order to fit my expectations (ex: reducing line of sight + disabling weapons) but I already know where it's done so that's no big deal. I'm much more worried about hiding the shadows and having the Tetrahedron show properly...
I'll try it tomorrow and see how it goes. I was pretty sure there was something simple to do, I wasn't expecting the opacity would be in the events of a behavior but it's obvious now... I tried multiple times to understand how the attachment methods work too, it's my peeve since I opened the SC2 Editor for the first time... Which is probably why I HATE having to edit anything in these fields... By the way BorgDragon, the part where you explain how to attach a model to a unit using Data will probably be useful in my Sandworm Survival game too. I was using 4 useless actions in a trigger to attach effects to my worm.
I wasn't sure where to put my topic but since it's most likely a problem in Data (animations references), I'll ask here.
In my Ikari Warriors project, units can cross a river. When they're in deep water I want them to either be invisible (even to their owner), or to replace the model of the unit to illustrate that the unit is not over the surface (with a shadow blob over its head or something like that).
I tried the Hide Unit action, which would have been a good start if it allowed to keep control of the unit. But it doesn't. Let's drop this.
I tried to replace the model of the unit by a Tetrahedron, which is kind of perfect (because you actually see where you're going, you keep control of the unit, and you still understand you're under the surface).
But when I restore the original unit model (dark zealot, OR marine, depends on which unit is in water) it seems to have lost its stand/walk animations. When the unit starts attacking the animation is still here, but any use of the stand and walk animations seems broken after switching the model and restoring it afterwards. It is most likely because a Tetrahedron doesn't have a stand/walk animation, I guess...
Maybe there is a way to apply a behavior that will do all of this without screwing with the animations? If you know how, please tell me. I'm pretty sure there is a way to either keep the animations references somewhere or restore them through triggers when the unit comes out of water. But so far, no luck.
Do you know of any way to make it look like a unit is diving? I'm kind of lost here because I don't know how I could actually show that the unit is underwater... Everything I try just seem to blow the whole thing up, so I'm probably doing it wrong. If you need more info (screenshot of the trigger maybe), just ask. :)
Events
Game - Player AnyPlayer types a chat message containing "/icheatlikeanoob", matching Exactly.
Actions
Unit - Create 1 UberUnit for player (Triggering Player) at ThePointWhereYouNeedItToSpawn facing WhatEverYouWant (No options)
If you are sure to be the host (player 1), you can change the event to be "Player 1 types a chat message", so that nobody else but the player 1 (which should be you) can spawn the unit. The player "Triggering Player" in the Action can be found in the Functions tab when modifying the field properties.
Can you add screenshots of your trigger and the text of the error? We can't guess with so few details... I already used this action a few times and it always worked for me, so I assume one of your triggers is messing with the action somehow. An error message is most likely because the reference of the model and/or attachment points can't be found, or you are looping an action which is using a wrong/inexistant reference at some point. But, again, we can't guess with so few details.
Yes, you finally found out there are plenty lame coders in the world. Plenty guys who also don't have a clue of what creating a map is like, some who don't even know how to do a terrain (even though it's basically painting). Almost each action that needs to be triggered only once require a "turn current trigger OFF" as the first action, so that it can't be executed more than once unless you toggle it ON again. In case it's a menu option, a boolean with an array equals to the number of players is the easiest way, as you mentioned. People mostly forget that when your map is online, lots of people will play it and lots of them will "stress" your code to the maximum... A few days ago I just tested my minigame online. Everything I expected to bug didn't, but I found out something totally unexpected was wrong. Always expect the unexpected, especially when you're doing your first steps in map editing.
0
It's "Ignore Terrain Height", a flag in the unit data. When you check this flag, the unit stays at the height defined in its "UI - Height" field. You can modify the unit height ingame using triggers though, with the "Change Unit Height" event. It sets a new altitude to the unit, using interpolation.
Funny fact: With this event you can change the height of any unit, even those on the ground... Which is pretty good when you want a basic trigger-based jump ability for a ground unit.
0
It doesn't look like FF in any way, IMO. As soon as I watched the video it brought back memories of Chrono Trigger before I even read your description of the project, and I think you shouldn't compare what you're doing with any FF whatsoever. It's a 100% pure clone of Chrono Trigger, obviously, and I think it's better this way. There are so much FF fans that it's getting boring, and there are various FF clones for SC2 already in progress anyway.
With that said, I'm not the only one to think the UI could be better somehow. But as you said, it will be done later. I really loved the 2 or 3 guys combining their force in CT to do massive damage, I'm glad you managed to get it to work in your project. But I don't like how you select a target for your spells right now, it doesn't seem intuitive at all (the whole process of using keyboard to switch/attack target is just... well, it's wrong!).
I don't see the point either of having all these things in the Command Card of your hero, even if it is for WASD movement I think controlling your hero with the mouse is far more than enough (you don't need to dodge anything accurately in a RPG like CT, and even if you do any average player can do it with the mouse). WASD movement will most likely cause issues on Bnet, if you can avoid using it I'd suggest you do.
Maybe you should add a bar on the enemy units to show which are about to attack too... I'm pretty sure there was something like this in CT, you could know which unit was going to attack next, so you could focus on beating it before it does. And enemy units were not standing on a spot, which is interesting IMO because it gives a bit more life in the battle, and stress to the player (when he gets surrounded). I assume you already thought of having surprise attacks too (I mean enemies attacking from behind), with a bonus to their initiative of something like that?
Anyway, it looks very promising so far and I'd love to play a CT clone in SC2 someday... :)
0
@dudeim: Go
If I remember well, even icons/buttons have a Race parameter (or at least, they have a race Category in the editor, which is pretty much the same). In the case of a button in the Command Card, I assume a Protoss icon will be blue, Terran will be green, Zerg will be red, and Neutrals will be in gray. This is the first thing I can think of. The second being that your button is actually not meeting the requirements for it to be clickable/useable.
0
I read the huge topic explaining how to create game attributes and use them in the lobby while creating a game, but I'm having a serious issue (besides getting pissed off by this whole lobby thing that seems to never work properly for almost anybody).
I tried:
-using game variants (there is already a difficulty field): It doesn't even show in the lobby, whether I lock it or not, whether I'm the host or not. Seems pretty much pointless anyway, or at least completely bugged.
-using game attributes, I created a menu for the host that lets him choose between each difficulty level.
Ex: When I set the difficulty to Very Easy, it sets the game difficulty for player 1 (the host) to Very Easy. So far, no problem and it seems like the difficulty REALLY is set to Very Easy as I asked (I have a text line displaying the difficulty level and it works right).
But it seems like preplaced units (ie. units placed using the Terrain Editor) do not show properly. In the Terrain editor, you can set at which level units appear or when they don't, but it seems setting the difficulty in the lobby does not change that, whatever I try... It just takes the default difficulty level set in the game attributes (ie. Medium, in that case).
I'm clueless on how to make it so the difficulty parameters chosen in the lobby would actually show/hide units depending on what difficulty level they should appear (or not!).
I searched the forums but couldn't find anyone who even tried to play with the difficulty so far. Is that even possible? How would you do it? It's probably because my map init trigger isn't done well, but I'm not sure what to do...
0
I'm clueless... Isn't there any topic here about negative regions and how they work? I'd suggest you take a look, if you haven't already.
0
I think what you're searching for is "Unit - Flags" > "Ignore terrain height", in the unit data.
It will keep the unit at the height you set in the "UI - Height" field, wherever it is placed on the map. Be warned though, if your unit fly at height 4 and you have cliffs at this height, it will fly through as if there was nothing to avoid. You may lose your unit under the ground pretty fast, so be sure to give it a flying height high enough to avoid any cliff, ground, or even obstacles.
0
@BorgDragon: Go
You're right, the Inheritance options are actually last in the list of fields. It's in Properties - Inherited Properties. About the events to hide shadows of the diving unit actor, you need to add an event "Set Cast Shadows" to Disable/Enable when the behavior is toggled ON/OFF.
Thanks for the help, another problem solved!
Ikari Warriors v1.0 will be out very, very soon now. :D
I'll add you to the "many thanks goes to" list.
0
@wOlfLisK: Go
There are development kits, just like any console. Nintendo kits are a bit more complicated to get (it's a matter of policy between Nintendo and the game developers), but it's pretty much the same as for any console.
I almost forgot to tell about Braid and Osmos... These 2 games are good. Braid is really hard to finish, Osmos is pretty much the contrary but it's really cool anyway. Beat Hazard (available on Steam) is also kind of fun (if you don't fear having seizures and burning your eyes)... There is also a flash game I like (actually, 2... though they're not really indie games) which is named This Is The Only Level.
0
@zeldarules28: Go
Actually, if it's only a matter of lobby not showing all the players, it could also be a Game Variants problem... It's in the Map menu > last option, named Game Variants. You find a bunch of parameters here that are used mostly for defining the lobby elements. It'sa bit complicated to explain in details (mostly because I don't know how everything works in this thing) but I searched the forums and there are a few good topics about Game Variants if needed.
0
@SouLCarveRR: Go
Thanks SoulCarveRR, but I think I'll stick to BorgDragon's method since it does exactly what I wanted (it just fits better in this project). There are still a few things to modify though. It seems the attached model inherits its opacity from the unit. So when my unit dives, the Tetrahedron shows but its opacity is the same as the unit. I tried adding an event to reset the opacity of the shape to 1 but no dice, it seems to be linked to the opacity value of the unit. I also see the shadows of the invisible unit and the tetrahedron, I wonder if there is an event that can hide them too... Aside from that, it's exactly what I wanted. I still have to add a few other things in the behavior in order to fit my expectations (ex: reducing line of sight + disabling weapons) but I already know where it's done so that's no big deal. I'm much more worried about hiding the shadows and having the Tetrahedron show properly...
0
@BorgDragon: Go
Thanks to you 2. :)
I'll try it tomorrow and see how it goes. I was pretty sure there was something simple to do, I wasn't expecting the opacity would be in the events of a behavior but it's obvious now... I tried multiple times to understand how the attachment methods work too, it's my peeve since I opened the SC2 Editor for the first time... Which is probably why I HATE having to edit anything in these fields... By the way BorgDragon, the part where you explain how to attach a model to a unit using Data will probably be useful in my Sandworm Survival game too. I was using 4 useless actions in a trigger to attach effects to my worm.
0
I wasn't sure where to put my topic but since it's most likely a problem in Data (animations references), I'll ask here.
In my Ikari Warriors project, units can cross a river. When they're in deep water I want them to either be invisible (even to their owner), or to replace the model of the unit to illustrate that the unit is not over the surface (with a shadow blob over its head or something like that).
I tried the Hide Unit action, which would have been a good start if it allowed to keep control of the unit. But it doesn't. Let's drop this.
I tried to replace the model of the unit by a Tetrahedron, which is kind of perfect (because you actually see where you're going, you keep control of the unit, and you still understand you're under the surface).
But when I restore the original unit model (dark zealot, OR marine, depends on which unit is in water) it seems to have lost its stand/walk animations. When the unit starts attacking the animation is still here, but any use of the stand and walk animations seems broken after switching the model and restoring it afterwards. It is most likely because a Tetrahedron doesn't have a stand/walk animation, I guess...
Maybe there is a way to apply a behavior that will do all of this without screwing with the animations? If you know how, please tell me. I'm pretty sure there is a way to either keep the animations references somewhere or restore them through triggers when the unit comes out of water. But so far, no luck.
Do you know of any way to make it look like a unit is diving? I'm kind of lost here because I don't know how I could actually show that the unit is underwater... Everything I try just seem to blow the whole thing up, so I'm probably doing it wrong. If you need more info (screenshot of the trigger maybe), just ask. :)
0
@Ezera: Go
Events
Game - Player AnyPlayer types a chat message containing "/icheatlikeanoob", matching Exactly.
Actions
Unit - Create 1 UberUnit for player (Triggering Player) at ThePointWhereYouNeedItToSpawn facing WhatEverYouWant (No options)
If you are sure to be the host (player 1), you can change the event to be "Player 1 types a chat message", so that nobody else but the player 1 (which should be you) can spawn the unit. The player "Triggering Player" in the Action can be found in the Functions tab when modifying the field properties.
0
Can you add screenshots of your trigger and the text of the error? We can't guess with so few details... I already used this action a few times and it always worked for me, so I assume one of your triggers is messing with the action somehow. An error message is most likely because the reference of the model and/or attachment points can't be found, or you are looping an action which is using a wrong/inexistant reference at some point. But, again, we can't guess with so few details.
0
Yes, you finally found out there are plenty lame coders in the world. Plenty guys who also don't have a clue of what creating a map is like, some who don't even know how to do a terrain (even though it's basically painting). Almost each action that needs to be triggered only once require a "turn current trigger OFF" as the first action, so that it can't be executed more than once unless you toggle it ON again. In case it's a menu option, a boolean with an array equals to the number of players is the easiest way, as you mentioned. People mostly forget that when your map is online, lots of people will play it and lots of them will "stress" your code to the maximum... A few days ago I just tested my minigame online. Everything I expected to bug didn't, but I found out something totally unexpected was wrong. Always expect the unexpected, especially when you're doing your first steps in map editing.