Overwatch

Overwatch: Der Workshop wurde enthüllt und auf den PTR aufgespielt

azurios 25. April 2019

User Rating: 4.8 (1 votes)

Zur Überraschung ihrer gesamten Fangemeinde enthüllten die für Overwatch verantwortlichen Mitarbeiter von Blizzard Entertainment im Verlauf des gestrigen Abends ein brandneues Feature für diesen beliebten Hero Shooter, welches mittlerweile bereits vollständig auf dem öffentlichen Testserver dieses Titels vorhanden sein sollte. Bei dieser Neuerung handelt es sich um den sogenannten Workshop, der einen neuen Aspekt des Game Browsers darstellt und es Spielern im Grunde ermöglicht komplett eigene Spielmodi für Overwatch zu erschaffen. Wer viel Zeit in den Workshop investiert und sich ein wenig mit der Erschaffung von Computerspielen oder dem Schreiben von Programmiersprachen auskennt, der kann durch dieses Feature eine Vielzahl von sehr interessanten Ideen in die Tat umsetzen und diese neuen Spielmodi dann über den Game Browser direkt mit der restlichen Community von Overwatch teilen. Ein Beispiel des Entwicklerteams für solch einen Modus trägt den simplen Namen „Molten Floor“ und läuft einfach nur darauf hinaus, dass alle Helden am Boden dauerhaft Schaden erleiden und sich somit ind er Luft fortbewegen müssen. Zusätzlich zu diesem Beispiel sind auch noch eine Vielzahl von anderen Spielmodi möglich.

Um möglichst viele Spieler auf die anstehende Veröffentlichung dieser Neuerung zu informieren und Spielern einen ersten Eindruck von dem kommenden Workshop zu vermitteln, veröffentlichten die Mitarbeiter von Blizzard Entertainment gestern Abend auch noch ein brandneues Entwickler-Update mit Game Director Jeff Kaplan auf ihrem offiziellen YouTube Kanal. In diesem Video erklärte Jeff Kaplan unter anderem, wie diese brandneue Tool eigentlich genau funktioniert, warum die Entwickler solch eine Neuerung überhaupt geplant haben und welche Spieler dieses Tool vermutlich am ehesten auf eine optimale Weise verwenden können. Dabei legt Jeff Kaplan in seinem Video viel wert darauf mehrfach zu betonten, dass der Workshop eher ein Feature für einen sehr kleinen Teil der Spielerschaft ist und Neueinsteiger oder Gelegenheitsspieler vermutlich nicht mit den komplexen Textstellen und den Besonderheiten der Regulierungen zurechtkommen werden.

Wer jetzt gerne mehr über den Workshop erfahren möchte, der sollte sich das folgende Bildmaterial unbedingt anschauen.

Introducing the Overwatch Workshop

Create games in ways previously unimaginable with the Workshop! The Workshop is a simplified game scripting system that expands the customization features available in the Game Browser. Within the Workshop, you’ll create a Script to add Rules and unique play Conditions on top of the established Overwatch game modes you already know and love. Rules can do many things, like change how a hero’s movement and abilities work, modify how players are damaged or healed, or even display text under certain circumstances.

One hot game mode you can create is Molten Floor, where your hero will catch on fire if they’re on the ground:

Accessing Workshop

To access Workshop, click Play > Game Browser > Create > Settings > Workshop.

Creating a Script

To create a Script, you must:

Once you do this, you can add as many Rules, Conditions, and Actions as you have room for.

Adding a Rule

Rules are highly customizable pieces that make up your Script. Each Script must have one or more Rules.

Each Rule has an optional comment and contains:

Event: Defines when the Rule will be executed. For more information, see Selecting an Event.
Conditions: An optional list of things that must be true for the Rule to apply. For more information, see Adding a Condition.
Actions: A list of things that happen when the Event and Conditions are met. For more information, see Adding an Action .

To add a Rule, click Add Rule.

Selecting an Event

An Event defines when the Rule will be executed. When an Event happens in-game, an Instance of the Rule is created. Each Instance evaluates Conditions and executes Actions independently of other Instances.

Once a Rule is created in the editor , an Event is automatically added. You must specify what type of Event you’d like.

To specify an Event type:

Click the drop-down next to Event.
Select one of the following:Event Types
If necessary, specify the Team or Player that should be impacted by this event. The options are:
Team Player

Adding a Condition

After you’ve added a Rule and an Event, you have the option to add one or more Conditions. Conditions are a list of things that must be true before the Rule can execute its list of Actions. If the Condition belongs to a Rule with an Event type of „Ongoing – Global“ or „Ongoing – Each Player,“ it’s checked continuously to see if it’s true. If it belongs to a Rule with any other type, it’s checked whenever the specified Event occurs. If a Rule has no Conditions, the Action list will attempt to execute as soon as the Event occurs. Each Condition is made up of two Values, which use an Operator to compare and check to see whether or not they are True. See Values for more information.

To add a Condition:

Click Add next to Conditions.
Fill in the Value fields.
- Note:When a Value itself has an Input (such as the „Hero Of“ Value, which needs to know the player from whom to acquire the hero), then the Input for that Value will show up indented below it.
Select an Operator. The Operators are:
- == Equals
- != Doesn’t equal
- > Is greater than
- >= Is greater than or equal to
- < Is less than
- <= Is less than or equal to

Examples

This checks whether or not the number of all players in the game is equal to the number of players that are alive.

Value: „Number of Living Players“, Checks for the total number of players who are alive
- Team: Team, Checks all players on a team
- Team: All, Checks all players on all teams
Operator: ==, Means the first Value must be equal to the second Value for this Condition to return True
Value: „Number of Living Players, Checks for the total number of Living Players
- Team: Team, Checks all players on a team
- Team: All, Checks all players on all teams

Other Examples

IsFlagBeingCarried(Victim) == False: The player that was killed must not have been holding the flag
IsCrouching(Event Player) == True: The player that the event is active on must be crouching
NumberOfFinalBlows(Attacker) > 10: The player who’s attacking has more than 10 final blows

Adding an Action

An Action is something that modifies the game. They are executed in order from top to bottom. For the list of Actions to start executing:

The Event associated with the Rule must have occurred
All Conditions of the Rule must be true (or there are no Conditions)
- If the Event type is „Ongoing – Global“ or „Ongoing – Each Player,“ the list of Actions will execute when every Condition passes for the first time. Whenever the list of Conditions fails and then passes again, the Actions will attempt to execute again.

With the exception of the Wait Action (see Wait Action for more information), all Actions execute and finish immediately. Each Action is made of zero or more Inputs, which describe how the game is modified. Each Input is given a Value, which is a piece of information or an instruction on how to get information. For more information, see Values.

To add an Action:

Click Add next to Actions.
Select an Action, which describes how the game will be modified.
Select a Value in the drop-down for each new Input that appeared.
- Note:Some Actions will create an object or ongoing behavior. Such Actions may have an Input called „Reevaluation.“ This Input determines whether the other Inputs for this Action are fixed (leaving the object or ongoing behavior unchanged) or dynamic (changing the object or ongoing behavior as the Value assigned to the Input changes).

Debugging Your Script

Once you’ve created a Script, you can use the Workshop Inspector to view your Script executing in-game, see what Actions and Conditions are active, and view any issues with your Script.

To access the Workshop Inspector:

Begin a game with the Script you created.
Press Esc.
Press Open Script Debugger.
Press Enable. This feature is not enabled by default.

The Workshop Inspector is composed of a few things:

Entry: The Entry lets you know what is happening
Comment: This displays the comment associated with the Rule.
Condition: Lists what Conditions need to pass in order for Actions to execute
Action: Lists what Action executed
Timeline Scrubber: The Timeline Scrubber allows you to move forwards or backwards in time through the game’s progress.

Sharing Your Script

Once you’ve created an awesome Script, you can share it with the world (or just your friends) for the next six months. The scripts you create can be used on any platform, regardless of which platform you made it on.

To share a Script:

Click Play > Game Browser > Create > Settings > Share .
Click Copy.
Send the link to others!

Opening a Script

If someone has shared a Script that you’d like to use:

Click Play > Game Browser > Create > Settings > Import .
Enter the link.
Click OK.

Tips and Tricks

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!