Hey, Overwatch players. Good news, bad news: A map editor is happening, but not anytime soon.
Fans of Overwatch may have something to look forward to in the future as none other than game director Jeff Kaplan himself said that the map editor feature may soon be part of the game.
Currently, the developers of Overwatch are busy with their latest hero Orisa. And as the new season approaches, players can expect more changes to come.
Map Editor: Part Of The Plan
A fan of the game posted a topic on the official Overwatch forums asking if there is going to be a map editor for making custom maps. To everyone's surprise, Kaplan responded on the thread.
He said that the company is "extremely open-minded" about the idea of a map editor for Overwatch. But given the technical limitations of the game's new engine, it will be a big task and it may not happen in the near future.
"We have this on our long-term road map and believe heavily in user-made content. But there are many challenges ahead of us and it will be a very long road before our editor can be made available to the public," Kaplan wrote.
A Modder's Happy Place
The map editor is a staple feature of many Blizzard games such as StarCraft and Warcraft. It is basically what it says on the label: A feature that lets players edit or create maps by adding terrains, units, and other elements. The editor can set scenarios by dictating the flow of the game, movements of the elements, and rules of the map.
A map editor is a perfect place for aspiring game designers to test their chops in the industry. It is also a gold mine for the gaming industry to find new ideas and talents. In fact, the popular game Defense of the Ancients - or DoTA - started out as a custom map of Warcraft III. The game became a massive hit as it popularized a new game genre: the multiplayer online battle arena, or MOBA. In fact, Overwatch takes inspiration from the MOBA genre.
'Overwatch' Watching Community Feedback
This response to a community query is part of developer Blizzard's healthy tradition of getting the players' feedback. Kaplan's post is similar to his answer to a post in 2016 when a player asked about the possibility of making custom games open to the public, like a server browser. Kaplan responded that the studio is very interested in the concept of making this.
True enough, Overwatch released Game Browser mode on Feb. 28. Players can create their own games, set the rules, and basically treat it as a playground set in the Overwatch universe.
"You can toggle switches and adjust sliders for game modes, hero abilities, movement speed, health, damage, and much more. Not only that, once you've crafted your ruleset, the Game Browser lets you open it up to anyone, giving players from all over your region the chance to experience," wrote Blizzard.
