Webwing Posted December 5, 2007 Share Posted December 5, 2007 This is a long post. In proportion with my enthusiasm with the Builder. Last week I received an e-mail from MadMatt inviting me to take a look at the new builder that is included in the upcoming patch. I have been away from TOW for a while but the idea of the builder has already got me excited the first time I heard about it from my friend SlapHappy. Being able to check it out in its beta form before release was really cool. It was hard to control my anxiety while it was being downloaded! At this point most have already checked out the video showing some of the features/tools that are found in the Builder. If you haven’t, get it now! You’ll be amazed. I was planning to post some screens of a portion of a map I planned to make with it but I had an issue with the rotation in the Builder that I only managed to solve yesterday - remember this is still a beta version I tested. I do plan on posting some images and possibly a video soon, as time permits. We’ll see. Now, my first impressions are this, after playing with it for a few days: This is a very powerful tool. Extremely powerful. A designers dream come true really. I never expected it to be that thorough. A lot of control and subtleties and detail put into it. Now I understand why the landscape looks so good in TOW. You can say it is a game in itself. It is a full program. To be only used in TOW but still complete and thorough. Want to play a scene from Band of Brothers, Saving Private Ryan, or any other film about WWII? Now you can reproduce those maps here. I was already a big fan of the tools that came with TOW, the mission editor ( I did some video tutorials for it ), and later the map editor. Now with this builder the package is complete. You have features of Photoshop and 3DsMax/Maya in one single program. Only customized for TOW. You don’t have to learn a complex and expensive 3D software to make a map for TOW, like with so many other games. I think the release of this Builder is somehow unprecedented. I have been involved with game MODing/editing on and off for quite some time. Even games that are from the start planned to be MODed don’t release tools like this. They leave this responsibility to the community. The most recent exemple I can remember is rFactor, the racing sim. There are some tools to make a track for it but made by members of the community and mind you, they charge for it! And, rightly so. But this only makes the release of this patch and Builder even more extraordinary. Months and months after the release of TOW and we keep getting fixes, new features and now this Christmas present!!! Keep in mind though that it takes some skill and patience to use it. Easy to play, difficult to master. You read this a lot in game reviews. This is probably the case here. You can make something that resembles the surface of an alien planet easily and it is tempting to do so as you are using it the first few times. To do something more like what is in the game though takes more patience and practice. Still all the tools are there. The map will be as good as it’s designer’s ability permits. And there are a lot of very talented people in the community. Besides, it’s YOUR map and now you can do ANYTHING with it! Thanks for the Christmas present 1C and BF!!! -- [ December 05, 2007, 02:52 AM: Message edited by: Webwing ] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stoppelhopser Posted December 5, 2007 Share Posted December 5, 2007 Thanks for your interesting post. Seeing the video its a very impressive tool. Reminded me a lttle of a video about the Cryengine2 map editor presentation. Hearing of a full map editor I was expecting to see something about reworking bw images or such for height maps with an image editor. Getting something like a full grown 3D WYSIWYG editor I find fascinating. Looking forward to this and all the improvements and fixes. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bruce90 Posted December 5, 2007 Share Posted December 5, 2007 It looks fantastic. I think we all owe a vote of thanks to Sneaksie who has quietly kept this Forum simmering with information and polite, informed answers to questions. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
War RaVeN Posted December 5, 2007 Share Posted December 5, 2007 Thanks Webwing for your info about it and for sure it’s looking great! Can’t wait for it! Regards Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Webwing Posted December 5, 2007 Author Share Posted December 5, 2007 Originally posted by Stoppelhopser: I was expecting to see something about reworking bw images or such for height maps with an image editor. That's what i thought too! Never expected anything like that. I remember the first time I did a map for Close Combat II, many years ago. It was like that, a big image and then another image where you specified the hight and surfaces. This one is totally real time interactive joy! There is a tool where you can paint with the grass! The beauty of it is that it doesn't look like flat textures applied to a surface but layers one on top of the others. Besides all that you can add your own textures or modify the ones that come with it in Photoshop. Endless possibilities really. -- Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bus Posted December 5, 2007 Share Posted December 5, 2007 Well I have a little problem, I can't wait. I want it now Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Reichenberg Posted December 5, 2007 Share Posted December 5, 2007 Thanks Webwing for your informative post. I just have to wait a few hours until I am home to check out the video. So far everything sounds very promising. Uwe Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Webwing Posted December 5, 2007 Author Share Posted December 5, 2007 Originally posted by bus: Well I have a little problem, I can't wait. I want it now Use the time for some research. Make a sketch of what you like to build, etc. Based on the maps in TOW you can have a good idea of the elements you can use. But now you can have steeper hills! Patience! Easy for me to say, I know! -- Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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