Defineable map edge.

[smoth]

Ok, we can do a 20X20 map.. lets say that we want to take 2 on all sides and make that no mans land, a border as it were. Making our 20X20 a 16X16 with a 2X edge on all sides that cannot be built on units will not be able to go there and for all intents and purposes would be the map border:



SO the playable area would be the center with the little outside edge being unusable.

One of my favorite level design tips was to always give the player an edge with stuff that looks neat and let them want to go there but don't give them it all.

Now a full 2x strip is a bit much but it is just an example. It would be a neat feature to be able to set the play area.

[Argh]

One of my favorite level design tips was to always give the player an edge with stuff that looks neat and let them want to go there but don't give them it all.

But how do we show players that? I mean, you can already define "no go" zones... and with World Builder, there would be other ways to achieve this, without an engine change. The issue I see with this is that it needs to be done in a way that suspends disbelief, imo.

[smoth]

That is the mapper's problem argh. I was going to use red tint along the edge.

As far as no-go zones, do they act as the actual map edge.. ie units do not get stuck in it, they cannot get pushed into it, they cannot be built on it?

[Argh]

I would think that they should prevent most problems, yeah. Dunno about pushing, but I could do stuck / built, for sure, with World Builder objects it'd be trivial tbh. Oh, and they could also show a visible border, or OpenGL could be used to do the same. The map Gadget I wrote could be converted for that purpose really trivially tbh.

[smoth]

yep. all I was requesting was the ability to say, take the map edge and make it X distance from the edge. so yeah your edge lua would be fine.

[AF]

Define a border and a set of heights. Block all commands with parameters specifying orders outside the area, prevent the user from issuing them in the first place if possible. If a unit other than a flying aircraft finds its way outside the border, show a little 'poof' animation and make the unit disapear, transport it to the nearest valid location and make it appear back in the game.

All doable in lua gadgets as far as I am aware.

However a means for games to override the visual aspect of this would be useful. Perhaps by implementing the logic as a gadget and the visual part as a widget which can be overriden by the game to customize the aesthetics.

[imbaczek]

this isn't a bad idea, but it has to be optional, because the overhead for big maps will be huge (remember that some 1v1 maps are 8x8 - that is, several could fit completely in your proposed margin space).

This needs engine support at the very least for aircraft, because I don't think there's a typemap for "don't land". If there is, map gadgets should suffice, sans choosing of start positions, I think.

[smoth]

8X8 is barely usable for my project. This would be a map option so the person doing the map would set it as part of the map. Not say as part of a server option.

It may be doable in lua, probably is, but you would be killing a fly with a cannonball covering all of the stuff. Somewhere in the code the engine defines a play area, by changing that we would get all the lockout features and maybe some performance increase as the area outside of of the play area could forgo pathing calculations as it is only rendered but not checked for collisions etc. That is why I am asking for it as an engine feature.

[AF]

The current area of play is 'the size of the map', and thus many assumptions are made in support of that.

[Forboding Angel]

It will still suck. What do you think the edges of the map (not the playable area, but the map as an entity) will look like?

[smoth]

I know it will look good.

[KDR_11k]

Company of Heroes does it.

[imbaczek]

in the engine, it's mostly a matter of replacing some 0's with map start width/height and map widths/heights with end widths/heights; those zeroes are the problem, they may be hidden in a lot of places.

[smoth]

well, it is just a request. I will not get upset if no one adds it, I was just thinking someone might. I don't mean to sound demanding and I hope I do not sound that way imbaczek.

[imbaczek]

kk, not interpreting this in that way, we know we all are busy people.

I'll take a look at this when I've got time after this release, which may be a while...

[smoth]

hey man, if you want to take it up, cool I will not be upset one way or another. I just wanted to toss the idea out, so hey if you can get to it, that would be great!

[Warlord Zsinj]

Rome Total War did this too. It's both good and bad - landscapes look a lot more realistic and interesting, but I always got frustrated in RTW when a unit had moved to the edge of a map, and was all of a sudden unflankable, or you wanted to move out there to occupy a hill, etc.

Random vaguely-related thought for the day: imagine a map that dynamically increases in size as more units appear on the map, so that you start on an 8X8, but when the unit count hits a certain size they expand to reveal 10X10 around the map, etc, etc... You could play an entire game that only takes place on the small map because it only needs too, or you could play a game that chokes up and escalates to a mid-sized map, etc [/musing]

[AF]

Like the campaign maps in supreme commander? That would be extremely useful especially if non playable regions of the map were obscured.

[BaNa]

Random vaguely-related thought for the day: imagine a map that dynamically increases in size as more units appear on the map, so that you start on an 8X8, but when the unit count hits a certain size they expand to reveal 10X10 around the map, etc, etc... You could play an entire game that only takes place on the small map because it only needs too, or you could play a game that chokes up and escalates to a mid-sized map, etc [/musing]

pls maek new request thread for this as it is a very cool idea and merits discussion.

[Crayfish]

Viewable inaccessible map could maybe be alright. The expanding map idea is awesome!