Last month I wrote that custom maps were triggers only, and that if the block you needed didn't exist, you couldn't write it yourself. That's no longer true. Maps can now carry their own JavaScript or TypeScript.
How it works
- Open Scripts in the Forge and choose Add script. JavaScript runs as written, and TypeScript is compiled when you save.
- Scripts can spawn units, change resources, end the game, change damage as it lands, cancel orders and run any trigger action.
- Whatever a script stores survives saving and loading.
- They work in multiplayer. Every player's game runs the same script and gets the same answer, just like triggers.
- A map that doesn't need multiplayer can run faster, up to 120 updates a second, for arcade-style games.
- Those faster maps are single-player only, and the Forge and the launch screen both say so.
- Test Map shows what each script is doing: its errors, timers and stored values.
Aces and Drop are built with it
Aces of Stone and Drop of Stone now run on exactly the same scripting that any map maker gets. In Custom Games, Edit this example in the Forge opens either one as an ordinary map you can change: aircraft, weapons, formations and bosses in Aces, and peg layouts, bumpers and scoring in Drop. There are 39 editable examples in all.
It's sandboxed
Scripts run in a sealed box. They can't touch your browser or your files, and a script that runs away is stopped after a fixed amount of work, however fast your computer is. A map whose scripts fail to load refuses to start with an error, rather than half working.
Also new in the Forge
- An asset browser with real model previews and texture swatches.
- Import your own 3D model into a map.
Start with Your first script, and the API reference has the rest. The thinking behind the custom games is in Building custom games on an RTS.
Adam