Some opinions please!

I'm making a map, which is my first one. I don't expect alot from it. However, I'd like some people's opinions on it before I go and continue to devote long periods of time to the map.

1. I'm not using JASS. Period. Nothing. Just the world editor. And I can't say I'm very good at it. Good or Bad?

2. All my spells are just edited WC3 spells. Good or Bad?

3. It's a melee style map, but sort of a hero arena mixed in. In other words, heroes are a big part of the game.

4. Because the heroes can eventually reach lv 20 and gain a 3-lv ultimate, should I make an ability for normal units to have like a boss crit? Or maybe just larger, more powerful units should have the crit?

5. Because computer art of any sort is NOT my strong point, I may have to use a program like photoshop, etc. to scan, cut, and stick to make custom icons, should I do so. This means that I'll have a medly of icons. Computer, WC3, scanned drawings. Will this look stupid?

6. The map's heroes (except for the also custom tavern heroes) are all based on my friends (Me included) How should I clear up who these people are in the map?

7. I don't have a team. Only one of my friends know's how to use the World Editor. Could this doom my game to begin with?

8. Back to the part about introducing my friends. I hope for this map to be on Battle.Net someday. This is why a cinematic is out of the question. Any ideas on a different way?

9. I'm writing music w/ a program that allows me to save it in .Mp3 format. I plan on this being IN the map, played as music at certain intervals, via triggers (along with quieting sound effects, etc.) I've got alot of songs planned, but I really should only pick 2-4, to prevent serious lag/ load time. Is even this a good idea?

Ok, this one is a question. How do I make a spell that does 2 effects? (like a sleep w/ poison) If such a spell doesn't exist?

This one is also a question. I need an ability that overlaps 2 orb skills. Fire and Frost. How do I do that, let alone get the ability on the hero in the first place?

Ok, I'm done rambling. If I get enough CONSTRUCTIVE criticism that will help me suceed, then maybe I'll be able to get a couple beta testers, and then who knows? Maybe it'll become as popular as DoTA (or... maybe not...)

1) Because GUI is converted into JASS anyway, its obviously going to be slower. Not to mention its inability to deal with leaks and use of BJ functions...

2) Your map will lack the "WOW"ness which is usually what makes a game interesting.

3) Undecided

4) Huh?

5) Answered your own question. Anytime you use multiple mediums, it would look odd without style continuity. I would recommend touching each one up to make them look similar.

6) Answered in 8

7) Depends. If you are motivated and willing to learn, you'll be fine. This is the perfect site because (most) everyone is willing to help you if you have any questions. There are many tutorials here too!

8) Maybe when a hero is chosen, you put a short filter on the player stating their allusions. If you are creative enough with it, it could be really cool.

9) I would really suggest you NOT use any music files for online maps. They are quite large and the only way to make them usable is to compress them really well (thus losing quality).

~Harsha~

Describe the skill. Attached to an attack? A spell?

Also, I suggest doing something unique, or your map will not stand out. Especially without the use of JASS spells.

Ok, thanks for the feedback. Allow me to elaborate a little on some stuff. The hero crit. Is a researchable upgrade for units only. It only works against heroes (set by possible targets) and is probably going to be available later in the game (like after a 30m. period or making a trigger saying that a hero reaches lv 11, this upgrade becomes available). It will cause like a 5x crit or something, thus making it easier to kill a hero, so that you dont just have a hero walk into your base and shatter it no matter how big of an army you have. The ultimate for heroes can be upgraded twice after it has been learned (it levels up, like lv1 divine shield, lv2, etc.)

Can Harshateja please repeat what he said about 1.? I'm a noob to the editor, so all i understand is the leak, which is when the game progressivly gets slower. Sorry that I can't use Jass . I know that the spells won't be intresting, but I don;t have the time or the attention span to go through and learn Jass till summer break rolls around. I asked recently if anyone could make custom Icons for me (just for these unique items that every hero (other than tavern heroes) posses, that cannot be dropped), and nobody responded, so I ended up thinking of doing it myself. I'll probably just use computer images (from google of course ). Thank you for the encouragement. At the moment, I won't be able to learn much about the editor, its the end of the school year coming up for me, and that means final exams (oh boy )

@Kingtofu. I plan on it being a spell (ultimate) that is activated. Every attack drains mana. I'm assuming (although I could be terribly wrong, remeber I'm a noob) that it would be attatched to the attack. Basically, it's like flaming arrows. I just need it to overlap 2 abilities, the frost and flame orbs (splash and slow) How would I do this? I know that due to my lack of JASS, My map probably won;t stand out much. But arent there alot of like TD's out there that don;t use JASS that stand out? Mine (at least IMO) is pretty unique, but i could be wrong. Thanks again for the feedback.

Oh, and I won;t use the music files for the map, although I'm glad I only got one done, otherwise it would have been effort wasted.

In essence, its less efficient. I don't know if you plan anything really revolutionary that will push the engine to its limits but most spells, triggers, and systems can only benefit from the use of JASS. Though if you don't feel like learning it, no problem. Most things can still be done in GUI. In fact, its better to work with GUI in some cases (coding wise) because it produces global variables for you. Though, many people just delete the GUI after they copy the global variables to their clipboard.

1) JASS is part of the game, its built-in the world editor the same way GUI is, you just use tools cause its easier to edit this way.
JASS is not really neccecary to make a map, however it can be very helpful to make a good map. You just have more control over everything, some editor mods can serve as a substitute, but generally they add unnececary code which increases lag/space.

2) Depends on the role of spells, if heroes are importaint part of the map (You said your map has some elements from hero arenas) then just using edited spells may make the map boring.

3) See #2.

4) I dont understand this, you want to give ultimates to normal units? obviosuly only importaint units and bosses should have ultimates.

5) Some people submit icons/skins which have been scanned, I dont think it will be noticable if you scan them.

6) Put description in the quest menu, loading screen or ingame message. Or you can put it in the hero description.

7) You dont need a team to make a good map, actualy teams often screw the whole thing up because they dont cooperate or arent availible when you need them.

8) See #6.

Well, if I think of it over summer break or anytime I may have before then, I'll run through Vex's JASS tutorials a couple hundred times. Maybe then I'll work to my fullest. Can you use JASS and GUI? Like do something with JASS that would be hard in GUI, and Vice Versa?

@Shadow1500 allow me to explain what I meant. I stated this earlier, but I'll do so again to clear things up. The heroes become very powerful at lv 20, and have a 3-lv ultimate. What I was thinking of was giving units (either all or just the bigger and better ones) A hero crit. (A critical strike designated towards heroes, so that someone can't just walk into your base and smash it no matter how great your army is) I may even give the towers like anti-hero auras (slow attack, slow speed, etc.)

Doing complex stuff in JASS is easier/faster than with GUI, doing 3 line triggers in GUI is easier/faster than with JASS.

Ok, I wasn't sure if JASS was some whole different area then GUI(I still don;t know what that is, I'm just assuming it's the world editor). It makes a little more sense now. But, how does JASS work? What I mean is how is it put in the game, and a bunch of other questions that are probably clearly answered in Vex's JASS tutorial.

GUI is JASS, just with icons and sentence structured text.

OOooo.. OK makes sense now : )

What are the odds. Anyhow, the skill Feedback could be used (see Arcane Towers and Spellbreakers), but it doesn't stack with Orb of Fire initially, or cleave either (Just tested both).

Woops! I just read my entry over again. By drain mana, I meant each attack drains mana from the HERO, who uses it, not the enemy. Sorry for the confusion,(and wasted time testing) I see where you got the mix up from though. I should have been more specific. I thought that by mentioning the flaming arrows, it would make sense (each shot fired drains some mana) Perhaps I'll implement mana burning. I don't have that for any of my heroes... BTW, do you happen to know how to make an ability do 2 things? Like a sleep that poisons at the same time? Is it possible to begin with for 2 orb abilities to stack?

Darkwulfv, I dont know if I really understand, but I think you just mean frost arrows... that does bonus damage and slows... Oh wait, nevermind, you want it to splash as well. Hmm... you would probably need to trigger it, unless you wanted to make it passive. Then you could base it off of the item lightning orb ability, and change the spell to frost nova. That would work, but it wouldnt be an arrows. Thats where the triggering might come in. Although, it would be easier to just trigger it so that when the spell (the arrows) is cast on a unit you make a dummy unit that casts frostnova on the target. That should work just fine.

Anyway, to answer your preliminary questions, I dont think you need JASS. JASS is really useful for complicated spells, and I'm rather bad with it, but it doesnt stop me from making maps. I would suggest some attempt at learning it, however, as it can be quite useful.

Edited WC3 spells are fine. A lot of maps think it is very important to have big fancy flashy spells (I probably needed comas in there, but meh), but they arent necisarily that important. Normal spells are fine, they are as flashy as many triggered ones, you're just used to them as apposed to the JASS/GUI ones.

Uh, Heros being important is a common aspect of TFT, so sure, use it. As for the Crit thing, I dont know if you need it. Depends on how it changes the flow of the map. 5x crit is big and powerful, so it's hard to say.

Okay, about the Heros based on friends things, meh. Whatever floats your boat. I doubt anyone will mind it. And as for the team thing, try and introduce your friends if you want, but a team isnt a requierment for a good map. And also, as for introducing your friends to the editor, it worked with one of my friends. Me and my other mapmaking budy introduced him, and hes hooked on it.

As for the art, as long as you are consistent and your stuff doesnt look like crap, it will be fine. And the music part, if you must have it, I suggest MIDI files, as they are much smaller.

Erm, long, but I hope it helped you in some way.

Just use object editor. Take frost arrows, remove the move speed reduction and the buffs and increase the area of effect as needed. Should work. Editing Searing arrows should yield the same effect, and probably is more practical anyhow.