StarCraft II Editor

Blizzard has always given us games with the best quality possible, and most of them include a map editor to create and design your own maps.

I was amazed with all the variety of scenes that appear in the campaigns, but that is just a sample of all what you can do with this editor.

It is quite similar to its predecessor, the World Editor included in WarCraft III, so if you already know it, you will find that the Galaxy editor of StarCraft II looks familiar somehow. At first, Blizzard wanted to make a fully customizable interface, but then they decided not to make interface modding available, because this leaves the program open to conflicts. However, you can personalize your maps, campaigns, and missions in any way you like, and it is even possible to build a shooter like the canceled "StarCraft: Ghost".

All files can be modified, allowing you to make true any crazy idea you may have. Each unit is available for customization, even those not seen in the campaigns or in other playing modes. You can modify them as you please (health, weapons, upgrades, and everything else, including appearance), thus adding custom upgrades ones to the known ones. It is even possible to combine units - for instance, a spore that launches banelings would be lethal against melee units. As seen in the campaigns, heroes can hold items for later use, but there are more slots than the six allowed in WarCraft III, and they are also customizable. Finally, it is so good that it is allows you to create your own 3D models and import them into the game.

The tile sets included are the same as those in the editor of the original StarCraft plus some new ones, such as the city tile. I found the possibility of blending different tiles a nice feature, allowing a slow transition in between tiles. The maximum size is 256 x 256 and the minimum is 32 x 32. You can start with a big map for a big mission, to scale down later by handling camera views.

The trigger editor is so good that it is not necessary to learn the scripting language to create complex and personalized features. You can create libraries, functions, and triggers that can communicate to each other to handle special events.

To me, the best thing is the possibility to create a shooter, like Ghost. Some years ago, I had this idea about a game that would combine a shooter and a real time strategy game. Having seen that most games are viewed from above, I started thinking about the greatest commanders of all time - Alexander, Joan of Arc, Hannibal, Caesar, Richard the Lionheart, and others - who risked their lives by staying in the middle of the battlefield as a common soldier. I wanted that point of view, as I have always wanted to feel like a great general.

With the script editor, you can create the Artificial Intelligence, or AI, and it is similar to C. Basically, it is a matter of modifying objects from both the game and custom, but it is not C++ or object-oriented, which is contradictory. I have no idea why, as with object-oriented languages came a true revolution in thinking and software design. C++ is powerful, flexible, and compact, and my favorite language. It would have been a better choice to implement the object-oriented approach.

I wish the editor had been granted with more support, more examples, with a tutorial to learn how to use it, though the “trial and error” approach will also help you find nice things. StarCraft II Map Editor, or Galaxy Editor, gives you plenty of tools to create maps, just as with the well-known "Defense of the Ancients" or DotA. In time, we will surely find tons and tons of creative maps to extend the fun we already have with StarCraft II.