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| Why is Rune Dream's controls taking so long!? | |
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| Tweet Topic Started: Mar 19 2013, 05:08 PM (191 Views) | |
| HeartCard | Mar 19 2013, 05:08 PM Post #1 |
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The God Damn HeartCard
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I think for the most part, no one quite understands WHY Rune Dream is so challenging to make as a map maker, nor why it pushes the limits of Warcraft3's engine. So allow me to explain why this is so hard to do as I am doing and why it has to be done in that overly complicated way: And incase you've never played Warcraft 3: It's basically LoL but you control more than 1 unit(dozens~hundreds). Other than that, it plays exactly the same. Imagine this as a simple Question&Answer corner. 1. Movement Q: So doesn't Warcraft3 already has a movement system? Of course. But we need it to be usable by the keyboard, not mouse clicking. Because Action game. Q: Okay, so can't you just make it so going left/right on the keyboard tells the unit to do that? That would be issuing the unit an order every 0.02 seconds. This makes the movement choppy and sluggish beyond allowance. Instead, the unit is instantly moved a massively minor amount every 0.02 seconds(avoids the delay of starting a movement) using the Arrow Keys. 2. Controls Q: Arrow keys? I haven't used those since MapleStory. Why not WASD? Certainly the game could be programmed to move with the WASD keys, but it wouldn't be as sensible to do so for a few reasons: 1. That would mean all the hotkeys for your attacks would be spread out between the F1~F5 keys, WASD keys, and JKL: key areas, along with most of the numpad. This would basically scatter all the commands all over the keyboard. If we put all the action keys on the left side as well, then they clutter up the movement(WASD) keys, it also would make your right hand useless since everything but enchants are on your left side. It would just be one big mess. 2. Unlike any other key in the game, Warcraft3 is designed to receive both "Press" and "Release" signals from the arrow keys. What this means is that, unlike any other key in the game, you can hold them down to move and release to stop moving. Without that ability, you would need to rapidly tap the crap out of them. Tapping a key 50times per second is unreasonable, so it'd make movement horribly slow. If we lower that number so that you'd only need to press it 1~2times per second, movement becomes way too clunky and sends you too far or too short when you need to be somewhere. Q: Why the F1 through F5 keys for Summon Commands? Why not the num-row keys above QWER? Unfortunately, Warcraft3 innately reserves the Numrow keys for user custom groups in the middle of a game. This is so that you can, say, Click Annie&Tibbers at the same time and put them in Unit Group 3. This makes it so that whenever you hit numrow 3 you automatically select Annie&Tibbers at the same time. Warcraft3 itself features no ability in map-making to override user custom groups. So basically all the numrow keys are dead and useless to this map. However, the F1~F5 keys are NORMALLY hotkeys to select one of your heroes. Either your first hired hero(F1), your second hired hero(F2), and so on until your...8th hired hero I think? I think it goes up to F8. Q: Okay so why stop at F5 if it goes up to F8? Can't you just make more unique commands? I could, but most ergnomic keyboards split between the (F5,numrow6,TGB) and (F6,numrow7,YHN) keys. Since we have the enchants on the numpad and arrows for movement, this means your right hand is tied up and out of reach for F6~F8. And your left hand can't reach F6~F8 either, because it's on the left side of the keyboard with F1~F5. Q: Why the numpad for enchant abilities? Why not something else like YUIO, TGB, or something? There are a few reasons for this. But most importantly: Buttons. A unit can only have 12 buttons, period. You can get around this by using Spellbooks, but then you'd have to press an ability to open up the spellbook. So instead of just hitting Numpad1, you'd have to hit C then Q. Doing it this way would also mean that I'd have to get rid of one of the 12 existing buttons as well. So it just made no sense. The numpad keys are automatically assigned to any non-passive items in that unit's inventory such as Potions, Wards, and so on. The button you press is dependent on which item slot it's in. If it's in the top left slot, you hit numpad1. If it's in the bottom right, you hit numberpad2. Because of this, the items themselves don't actually have hotkeys, but it works out the same way because you'll always have that specific item in that specific item slot. Q: Okay so why only 6 keys then? There 9 numpad keys, why not use them all Simple: Units have a maximum inventory of 6 items. They cannot hold more than 6 in any possible way. You can circumvent this by having a customized inventory storage system, but we don't need that. In Rune Dream those six "items" aren't items are all, they're just 6 more ability buttons. Q: Okay I played WC3 and I messed with the map maker. Heroes can't have 12 abilities, only 7. The other five are already taken up spaces. A unit can only have up to 12 abilities. Five of these are automatically taken up due to the basic Move/Stop/Hold Position/Attack/Patrol abilities. However, you can get past those easily: 1. A unit that has no attack damage whatsoever has the attack ability removed by default. 2. A unit that is a building has all four of the other remaining abilities removed. 3. Attacking: Q; Wait what? But I thought this unit can attack? Aren't you using WC3's attack? Works for LoL just fine. It works on a strategic basis only. Warcraft3&LoL's melee system is actually just a constantly used projectile with almost no range. This is why the concept of "Splash" is so impressive, despite the fact that it's a standard in any real action game like DMC/RE/GoW/etc. Likewise in those games, if a PROJECTILE has splash or the ability to bounce off/pierce through enemies into other enmies, it's impressive just like Splash is in WC3/LoL. Q: Okay so why not just give the protagonist a splash attack like that? Because then it's still only one attack used over and over and over. Imagine if God of War or Soul Calibur only let you use your first Square button attack and nothing else, it'd get kinda boring, right? Q: So instead pressing [R] makes the protagonist...do what exactly? Well the protagonist itself doesn't do anything. The player actually controls a unit off to the side. This unit constantly has it's Health changed to match the Hero's amounts. Mana isn't an issue, since only this "Operator" unit has mana. The players ONLY ever have this operator as their currently selected unit actually, and it's a building with no attack damage(removes all 5 default commands). I think that answers any major question on WHY everything has to be done the way it is. If you can think of another one, feel free to say so. |
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2:45 PM Jul 11