It has just been announced that Blizzard Entertainment’s team shooter, Overwatch, will be receiving a new Workshop Mode. In the Workshop, players will be able to create various types of game modes that they can play with friends, much like Fortnite‘s Creative Mode. Blizzard described the new mode as a “simplified game scripting system that expands the customization features available in the Game Browser.”
When you create a mode within the Workshop, you are creating a script. This script adds on to the already established Game Modes within Overwatch. You can then add rules to that script to dictate things like how a player moves, which abilities they can use, whether or not text displays, or even to change the ways in which players are healed or damaged. Blizzard used the Molten Floor option as an example of one type of game mode you could create using the Workshop Mode. Molten Floor will make it so any players on the ground will receive fire damage over time.
Players will no doubt find creative ways to make some interesting game modes using this new feature, and I am excited to see just what people come up with over time. One of the great things about a Workshop Mode in a game is that the only limitation is the creator’s imagination.
Blizzard provided players with a tips and tricks section to help them wrap their head around some of the more complicated elements included in the Workshop. The list of tips is as follows:
- It’s easier to access the Workshop Inspector if you set a keybinding for it. To do this, click Esc > Options> Controls. Scroll down until you see Open Workshop Inspector and bind a key.
- Workshop Inspector will not only tell you what happened, but also what didn’t happen (and why)!
- Don’t forget about the preset games! There may be certain settings already provided that you can use instead of coming up with a new solution by hand.
- If an Event isn’t firing as expected, your Event Player may already be executing the list of Actions. Take a look at the Wait Action(s) in your Rule, especially if any are set up to ignore Conditions.
- To pick a specific location on the map, use the “Vector” Value and click the Camera icon.
- The “Has Spawned” Value is useful if you only want logic to run after a player has a hero in the game.
- If you only want your Rules to execute after the Setup and Assemble Heroes phases of the game, use the “Is Game In Progress” Value.
- Assigning a Value to a Variable and watching it in the Workshop Inspector is often the easiest way to understand what the Value is returning during gameplay.
- You can store the last created effect or icon into a Player Variable using the “Last Created Entity” Value. This lets you reference the entity later for destruction.
- Combining Filtered Arrays with Values such as “All Players On Objective” or “Players Within Radius” allows you to easily filter players who meet certain criteria (dead, alive, status effect, etc.).
- If you need branching behavior, you can use the “Skip If” Action to skip any number of Actions if a given Condition is true. If you do this, the skipped Actions may need to include an “Abort” Action to prevent both branches from executing.
- You can filter through the drop-down lists by typing.
- If your Value expects an Array as a parameter but doesn’t receive one, it will cast the Input into an Array of size one.
- The same goes for the reverse. If your Value expects a single piece of data but receives an Array, it will use the element in the 0 position of that Array.
- Splitting your work into multiple Actions or Conditions will help you more easily figure out what is going wrong.
- If you’re unsure what an Action, Value, or Input does, you can mouse-over it on PC or choose “Show Details” on console to see an explanation.
- Always fill out the Comment section so you remember what your Rule is doing!
- Test often!
The entire step-by-step creation process is detailed on Blizzard’s website, so if you need more specific information on the inner workings of Overwatch‘s Workshop once you start creating, be sure to check it out! It may be wise to brush up, as the mode is already available on the PC version’s PTR.
Will you be trying out the new Workshop for Overwatch? Let us know in the comments below!
[Source: Blizzard Entertainment]
