1.0
And so it begins…
The
very first thing you should do is to draw
your map out. Get a sheet of graph paper (ideally) or a
blank piece of paper and draw a Cartesian x,y graph. Draw out
the major features of your map (as it’s seen from above), put
in all the player starting positions, asteroid clusters and
other points of interest such as derelicts, background planets
and so on. Only a rough outline is needed although you can be
as detailed as you wish, the more detailed, it is the better
it would be to be using proper graph paper.
1.1
On Map Design
What
type of map do you want to build? It would be a good idea to
know what type of game
you want to build a map for. You see, whether you like it or
not, your map will influence the type of game that will pan
out on it. There are Four major map types covering most maps
out there;
1.1.1
The Multiplayer ‘Skirmish’ Map
Small
maps tend to lean them selves to a completely different type
of game from the larger game maps. Strategies all change when
players are going to be virtually on top of one another from
the word go. These maps will tend to involve more fighters and
corvettes being built as each player desperately pumps out as
many ships as possible as all hell breaks loose.
You
will never need much in the way of resources for these maps,
most will be centralised and would draw the players in. These
maps need little in the way of intricate resource cluster design
and enticing Derelicts dotted about, in fact they would even
detract from this map type as everything you add, adds to the
speed and to the lag. Not to scare you off from doing this,
but everything can mount up until you create a dinosaur.
The
most important thing for this map type is the distances the
players start apart. Resources will not be much of an issue
and neither will the starting fleets.
1.1.2
The Multiplayer ‘Homeworld’ Map
Medium
to large sized maps give a completely different type of game;
these games will have the players starting further apart and
in doing so change the game strategies. The game is played out
utilising the full potential of Homeworld; the games will be
played out pretty much as the game can offer. Things like resource
disruption become an issue as players have the time to research
their way up the Research Ladder.
So,
you would want the resources set across wider areas, the possibilities
of how these will look are only constrained by your imagination.
See ‘Jupiter’s Rings’
and ‘Battle Star’
for two contrasting examples, ‘Jupiter’s
Rings’ recreates an actual
space arena with all its resources situated to reflect actual
scenery as opposed to what is fair, and ‘Battle
Star’ uses a geometric design creating a completely level
playing field. Two completely different types of games would
result from each, so you can see the scope open to you. The
single most important thing for these maps are the resources.
Roons
said once; “In most cases you should have at least one cluster
regenerate on the map. Without at least one, its possible for
both sides to harvest the entire map leaving nothing left to:
Fight for control of
Supply resources for people
to rebuild lost ships
Limiting
the size, location, and number of clusters you have on the map
that regenerate will add strategic points to the map. Having
a single medium size cluster near the middle of the map focuses
the fight to the centre.”
But,
you can argue that perhaps a map where everyone does not have
to end up in the centre and fight for resources will offer the
type of game you are looking for. The placement of the resources
will have the effect of influencing how the game is played on
your map. It is the single most important factor of the Multiplayer
Homeworld Map. Starting distances are only secondary, a decent
number for player starting distances to set you off was uncovered
by Senility-OMO who said;
"Errr,
well anyway, I made a little experiment as far as map size is
concerned, you might use this as reference: I took a scout and
placed the opposing MSs so that the distance round-trip was
just enough to run the scout out of fuel. The distance came
to about 270,000 (one MS at 135,000, the other at -135,000)."
1.1.3
The Multiplayer ‘Battle’ Map
This
is where the resource placement becomes a secondary issue and
it’s the starting fleets what count. See ‘First
Battle at Hancock Station’ for an example of exactly what
I’m talking about. The whole idea of harvesting and building
go out the window, you create a scenario,
to be played out to the best of the players ability. Its pretty
much still in its infancy at the time of writing and I’m a strong
advocate for this type of map.
These
maps have entire fleets in place when the map begins, just like
the old tabletop battles where you would set up your fleets
and go at it hammer and tongs. Building new ships becomes unnecessary
and easy to exclude, as’ is changing your Mothership types,
perhaps to a ‘Heavy cruiser’ or even a ‘cryotray’. From small
skirmishes to famous battles such as Trafalgar or Enders assault
on the Hive Homeworld, all are possible.
Obithrawn
has created ‘Duel of the
Fates’ a map where you can settle the argument from the
manual between the Admirals Riif-sa and Paktu. Hellhawk666 has
created a map along the lines of ‘The Battle of Midway’ in ‘Planetary
Wars’. Randix went the other way and produced ‘Megafleets
War’ where you start the map with pretty much everything
you would expect to finish with, not quite the ideal of a Battle
Map, but certainly a nod in its direction.
1.1.4
The Multiplayer '1v1' maps
Designed specifically for 1v1, can be geometric (re: Relic/Drakebirds
'Minebase Defence') or scenic (re: Relics 'Subjugate') or even
a battlemap (re: Andrew Robbs 'Taskforce') the size will be
important as too big you will have far to long a game to hold
long term interest for the community, too small and you create
a swarmer fest where non swarmers are at an immediate disadvantage.
1.1.5
The Multiplayer 'Giant'
Maps
After
some consideration I decided to assign these their own category.
Giant maps could easily be left under the Multiplayer heading,
but the type of game that will pan out on a giant map will be
completely different. Much longer games will happen, obviously,
and this forces the players to look at long term strategies
rather than build the biggest fleet first. Take a look at any
of my own 'NGC' or 'Galaxy' maps or the classic,
TAKER's 'Genesis 24-OD', or even MouseDD's 'Deepspace'.
1.2
Directory Structure
All
‘skirmish’ or ‘multiplayer’ maps are stored in your ..\Sierra\Homeworld\Multiplayer
directory. Homeworld won't just let you create a single directory
for a 2-8 player map, you have to create a separate directory
for 2 players, 3 players, 4 players and so on. Maximum number
of players is 8, giving a possible total of 7 directories. Each
sub-folder that makes up the map is named after the map followed
by the number corresponding to the number of players that version
of the map is made for.
The
name of the *.Level file and the folder it resides in, have
to be EXACTLY the same. CaSe matters. So first make sure if
you capitalise the first letter of the map, the folder is the
same, and so on. Also the map names have
to end up in the number of players the map is intended for and
the *.level file contains the name of the folder, if you are
missing either, the map won’t
show up in the game.
This
is more fully explained as we go on, its enough that you realise
that the map name is all important at this stage.
1.3
Directory Content
Each
directory of your map has to be able to be used independently
and therefore means that each directory must contain all the
files that are used to make up your map. In each folder there
will be available all the files you have used in your map. There
are five basic file types used to make a map. They are;
1.3.1
The Description file
-
(e.g. Description.txt)
This file gives the description of your map viewable in the
game it also allows you to deal with the options that are available
within the Homeworld game itself, in the Multiplayer/Skirmish
Vs CPU settings screen. There will never be more than one per
folder and all must be identical.
1.3.2
The Level file
-
(e.g. Revelation2.level)
This file contains all the basic information about your map.
It contains the name and race of all the starting ship files,
the name of the resource file, the universe size, the lighting
type, the background type, the sensor manager zoom sizes, the
default song to be played and any ship restrictions. There will
never be more than one per folder and all will contain only
minor changes between folders of the same map.
1.3.3
The Mothership files
-
(e.g. Mothership_0.missphere)
Mothership files contain
all the player starting fleets and the starting location of
those fleets. The most important aspect of these files is the
fact that these files are named in the level file and the game
will seek out these named files, if they are not included as
listed in the level file (case and spelling!) then the game
will crash.
1.3.4
The ResourceSphere file
-
(e.g. ResourceSphere_1.missphere) This file contains every single
resource element that we want to use in the map including asteroids,
dust clouds and particles. When ships are placed in the ResourceSphere
they go under AI control, even when playing with no computer
players. There will only be more than one of these if it becomes
bigger than 64k.
1.3.5
The Distribution file
-
(e.g. Asteroid.dist) This file contains the information
on the size and amounts of each size of the resource
you have in a cluster. They are very simple files giving the
relative sizes of asteroids/dustclouds of the resources named
in the Resourcesphere file. There can be any amount of distribution
files in the folder.
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