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Elemental: Modding

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Elemental: Modding

from JoeUser Forums

While Element comes packed with its own lore, players and modders can create their own fantasy universe using either the game options (while setting up a normal game) as well as making use of the Workshop for modding.

The mod tools in Elemental are designed to let players design their own worlds in great detail.

The 4 major pieces of the workshop are:

  1. The Tile Editor
  2. The Map Editor
  3. The Item Editor
  4. The Effects Editor

The Tile Editor is used to create new tiles in the world. These tiles can be purely cosmetic or can serve a specific purpose. Every tile in Elemental was created using this tile editor.

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Designing your tile

 

Once a tile is created, the player then can bring it into the game and assign what that tile actually is (or in XML assign it to be a city improvement). Is the tile a sorcerer’s fortress? An evil dragon? A wish giving demon? The map editor is where the two are connected.

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Making your own map

These maps can then be saved and loaded in game.  With it, a player could create their own RPG/like adventure/strategy hybrid and share it with others online.

In addition, solving quests, finding secret locations, loot, etc. all can provide different types of items. Players can use our large catalog of existing art content or they can use their own created content in game.

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Creating your own items

 

Players interested in adding new spells to the game or who want to apply affects to tiles

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Creating your own spell effects and other effects.

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Effects can be placed in a tile to help give it extra pazazz.

242,676 views 67 replies
Reply #51 from Elemental Forums Top

Wow Super!! but no creature, monster, npc editor? no plot editor (conversation, quests, etc), and ummm... Tactical maps can be edited and designed as well right?, Dungeons, caves, merchants, ok ok. I know I want to much but yea please if at all possible would love to be able to edit as much as possible.

 

Thanks so much for the effect editor that is fresh and new can't wait!

Reply #52 from Elemental Forums Top

Quoting TarponCrest, reply 51
Wow Super!! but no creature, monster, npc editor? no plot editor (conversation, quests, etc), and ummm... Tactical maps can be edited and designed as well right?, Dungeons, caves, merchants, ok ok. I know I want to much but yea please if at all possible would love to be able to edit as much as possible.

 

Thanks so much for the effect editor that is fresh and new can't wait!

 

You can make the above things in XML.  We didn't see a pressing need to make a glorified XML editor for the game. :)

Offworld Trading Company
Reply #53 from Elemental Forums Top

Quoting Frogboy, reply 52

You can make the above things in XML.  We didn't see a pressing need to make a glorified XML editor for the game.
Think of the Jet Fuel!!!8O

Expansion Packs will provide.}:)

Reply #54 from Elemental Forums Top

More map making on the stardockgames youtube channel

 

 

 

Edit: Woops it's posted in the June FAQ thread too, oh well :P

Reply #55 from Elemental Forums Top

I've never modded a thing in my life and I don't plan to start now, but it's great for the ones who like that.

 

I wonder....which game will have the strongest modding capabilities....

  • Elemental ?

OR

  • StarCraft II ?

 

This feels like a unique time in the history in PC gaming when both strategy camps get their ultimate game. And BOTH games will have the best modding capabilities so far!    Truly a great time to be a PC gamer :)

Reply #56 from Elemental Forums Top

One question I do have,

Is there any simple way to change the orientation of a tile before plopping it down? Or at least in the tile editor, can you flip the orientation there easily and save it as a diff tile?

Or do you have to recreate tiles from scratch if you want essentially the same thing but facing another direction?

Reply #57 from Elemental Forums Top

Quoting Campaigner, reply 55
I've never modded a thing in my life and I don't plan to start now, but it's great for the ones who like that.

 

I wonder....which game will have the strongest modding capabilities....


Elemental ?
OR


StarCraft II ?
 

This feels like a unique time in the history in PC gaming when both strategy camps get their ultimate game. And BOTH games will have the best modding capabilities so far!    Truly a great time to be a PC gamer

LOL Elemental Hands down. I think that activision has made it quite clear that they intend to milk Blizz's IP's now for as much money as possible. In other words, get ready to pay for mods.

Reply #58 from Demigod Forums Top

Quoting XeronX, reply 57
...I think that activision has made it quite clear that they intend to milk Blizz's IP's now for as much money as possible. In other words, get ready to pay for any good mods.

Fixed that up there for you.

Reply #59 from Elemental Forums Top

Quoting ZehDon, reply 58



get ready to pay for any good mods.

Fixed that up there for you.

While I think you're quite right, I also think Activision/Blizzard will try to milk the money flow with a bunch of Crap Mods as well, and still make gamers pay for them.

 

Reply #60 from Demigod Forums Top

They mentioned that they would be seperating the premium community maps for Starcraft II from the not-so-good ones and allowing map makers to make a little bit of money off of their maps.  Activision Blizzard will, of course, take the lions share of the profits.  I suspect this is how mods would also operate, however you could also be correct.
As the game lacks LAN support in any form, the only coded network solution is to Battle.net meaning they have the ability to do what they did with Modern Warfare 2 and 'certify' content Modern Warfare 2 used P2P connections through IW.Net to remove the ability for custom servers and content from being added into the game.  So in Starcraft II, if the content isn't downloaded directly from Battle.net, then it wouldn't work with the game - this means fan map sites and mod sites can't host files that Battle.net charges for; there is no limit to what they could do.

Reply #61 from Elemental Forums Top

Quoting pigeonpigeon, reply 49

It's got room for snow-capped mountains and forests. It has room for hills. Frankly, I'd like to see the generator have a tendency to surround mountains with hills (foothills). It'd make the world look more believable. Not the end of the world, of course, but it'd be a nice touch.

Definitely agree. Especially since Brad's videos show us that the engine is capable of giving us everything from tiny bumps that barely qualify as hills to Mt. Everest - the capabilities your map editor videos show off are honestly amazing - given that, the lack of ever seeing foothills around mountains in randomly generated maps is strange :P Nitpicking, I admit, but it's a small touch that would make things more believable.

Reply #62 from Elemental Forums Top

What if you released the tile and item editors first as an individual program for free the when you release the game you will have lots of content available, plus people get a taster of part of the game.

Reply #63 from Elemental Forums Top

We need a migration mod. The races that were too small to integrate into the game should be given their own cites by migration. Migration work by having too cities. If you have hired a character that is of a minor race you should then be allowed  to migrate the smallest city to that race by clicking on the migrate population icon. The more race you have hired the more diverse type of cities you should have. Say you have an orc city near a human city you can then migrate the human city to goblin or orks to human and human to elf. The more a race hate the other the long migration should take. So elfs hate orks. But orks like goblins. Elves like halflings but all are neutral to human. Then with a migrated city you should then get the opportunity to get other special spells, units and get cool new buildings. Say one race has bank another race would have a hoard instead or another money lenders and so on. But say the bank pay 2% interest on your wealth or gold. Then with the money lender you deposit the loot and he lends it out and collect interest unil your money doubles. Then you can redouble or take half to double again. Then the hoard the more enemies you kill the more loot you get. There could be some cool possibilities here.

Reply #64 from Elemental Forums Top


Creating your own items
Creating your own items
 

Item workshop!  Any chance this will ever see the light of day?  Sure I could muck around in the xml, but if you already have a tool that does it for me...