Is editor sufficient to build a campaign?

Discussion and development of scenarios and campaigns for the game.

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loubardeas22
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Joined: September 20th, 2016, 9:43 pm

Is editor sufficient to build a campaign?

Post by loubardeas22 »

Hello all,

I am new to the Wesnoth forum, been a player and a fan for a while. Sorry If this topic has been discussed in the past (please provide a link if so), but I could not find it.

As a person with no background in coding, I am just wondering how far the current version of the editor will get you in creating a workable campaign without having to write any WML by hand? More specifically I am curious as to how much unique actions are written into each scenario to alter the AIs behaviour.(another way of saying this: Is creating a scenario as easy as building a map and defining a few settings, and then letting the AI loose against players, or are changes to the AI behaviour and other behind the scenes actions crucial to a fun and unique campaign.)

Will be checking out the editor the next couple days, but any feedback from others working on their own projects would be helpful.

Cheers, Loubardeas22
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zookeeper
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Re: Is editor sufficient to build a campaign?

Post by zookeeper »

No, you'll still have to write almost all the WML by hand. The editor pretty much only lets you define the basic side attributes, place starting units (without detailed control over their attributes), define initial village ownership and things like that.
gfgtdf
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Re: Is editor sufficient to build a campaign?

Post by gfgtdf »

even for intial units, the editor will create wrong wml (it will write underlying_id attribute) that must be removed later by hand.
Scenario with Robots SP scenario (1.11/1.12), allows you to build your units with components, PYR No preperation turn 1.12 mp-mod that allows you to select your units immideately after the game begins.
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Gyra_Solune
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Re: Is editor sufficient to build a campaign?

Post by Gyra_Solune »

gfgtdf wrote:even for intial units, the editor will create wrong wml (it will write underlying_id attribute) that must be removed later by hand.
What does the underlying_id attribute do and why is what the editor sets for initial units not going to work for the actual campaign?
loubardeas22
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Joined: September 20th, 2016, 9:43 pm

Re: Is editor sufficient to build a campaign?

Post by loubardeas22 »

zookeeper wrote:No, you'll still have to write almost all the WML by hand. The editor pretty much only lets you define the basic side attributes, place starting units (without detailed control over their attributes), define initial village ownership and things like that.
That's the impression I got from reading the how to's. That is unfortunate... I feel like with a good creation/editing UI, a lot more great add on content would be possible(not that the content now is anything less than amazing :D, I just want more and want to contribute! ).

Is anyone currently working on improvements to the editing tools? Although I do not write code, I do have some experience designing and testing UIs and would definitely love to help out, even if its just testing and logging bugs or something.
**EDIT** Just read the FPIs section of the Ideas forum, this obviously falls under #34. Would be sweet tho :whistle:
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Heindal
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Re: Is editor sufficient to build a campaign?

Post by Heindal »

I'm confident that it is possible to code an editor for campaigns using javascript and html. But this would still be challenge and it would be just an 'island solution', which is not embedded into the project. I'm not quite sure if that is wanted.
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ForestDragon
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Re: Is editor sufficient to build a campaign?

Post by ForestDragon »

well, i prefer making addons by almost fully editing existing ones. there are even addons which are designed as modding templates, such as 'How-to (a Simple Campaign)'(forgot it's name a bit, so it might not be fully accurate) as well as The Final Exam
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White_Drag0n
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Re: Is editor sufficient to build a campaign?

Post by White_Drag0n »

To be frank, I feel like you're making too much of a trouble of it.
WML, just like HTML, is a really simple language, easy to use even if you have no experience in coding. With the WML documentation on wiki.wesnoth.org, making your own campaign becomes really not so hard. Coming up with the ideas, and writing story and dialogues is the hardest, and, besides playtesting, the most time-consuming part of the work.
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