Looking For Builders

Titan Land has had many versions over the years. Overall, the maps have greatly improved over their predecessors, slowly building up new features and making use of the new map size limits to harbor an unprecedented number of custom models. However, some potentially good things have been lost in the transition to a more sandboxy environment, and I think that it's a worthwhile endeavor to try and bring them back to the genre in Lands of Plenty.

One of the most annoying issues that players deal with are games where everyone is just building for an hour of two, and when the time comes to RP, the game is quickly over. This is especially annoying for Freelancers, who many times depend on other people having built large bases in order to actually start RPing, even though they are the first to become ready to roleplay.

In older versions of Titan Land, one could find many pre-built bases scattered across the map. For people who were mostly builders, these bases could, a lot of the time, prove to be very annoying, as they were frequently in the way of builds. However, for others, they were a very welcome sight, as they could be used as either a hub for freelancers to RP in, or as a mold or inspiration for a custom base. Basically, one could say that they, while they were very useful for newer players, they were not flexible and thus very limiting for veterans who wanted to push the map to its fullest potential.

Over time, with the greater focus on the building and the sandbox elements of Titan Land, the the lack of flexibility was the winning factor, and these bases vanished from KoT and were also not added to LoP. Of course, I don't personally think this was a bad decision, as it was definitely inline with a lot of player feedback and with the direction that Titan Land had been moving towards. However, that doesn't mean that it was the best possible course of action, and, with the help of a little a bit of hindsight and a few years of experience, I think a better solution can be reached.

A new way forward

As LoP continues to evolve, I have devised a system which I think could end up bringing us the best of both worlds. Pre-built bases would exist, but they would also be completely removable, unlike their old incarnations. This way, the map will remain as flexible as it currently is for builders (with the small added annoyance of having to remove the default builds, which won't take more than a few seconds, and may even be integrated with the save system eventually), while becoming more attractive for new and inexperienced players (something that is desperately needed) and for freelancers.

Previously, this was only possible if the builds used units. However, having a lot of units scattered across the map would increase lag and, since most games would only use a few of the available pre-built bases, it would be a waste of processing power and a source of unwanted lag. However, with the new unselectable decoration system introduced in LoP, it is now possible to create pre-built bases that work practically the same as old pre-builts in every aspect, except that they are removable.

Pre-built bases in the current landscape of roleplaying maps

I think the biggest example of a map that is somewhat like Titan Land, but features a lot of pre-built bases, is Kacpa2's Azeroth Roleplay. I've asked around, and it seems most people prefer it when they are seeking a RP which they can start quickly, without a lot of build-up. A lot of current maps, like Fantasy Life or Life of a Dragon, are a lot more Freelancer friendly (since they are built around freelancers) than TL. If pre-built bases were made, I'm sure Titan Land would become a lot more attractive for players of these maps, which would help unite the WC3 RP community even more, while also increasing the player base of the map and, thusly, the number of hosted games.

Seeking help from the community

As you might already know, I am the sole developer of LoP. Which means I work on everything from adding new units and decorations, implementing new systems and features, creating new abilities and even terraining. This doesn't leave a lot of development time for other things. Because of this, I'm reaching out to you guys, the players, for help. Since many of you are already accustomed to making huge builds in LoP for hours and hours, I'm sure this will not be hard at all for you.

So, if you are interested in making your work a persistent part of the map, which may be used by many players, new or old, freelancer or builder, alike, please get in contact with me! This may be your opportunity to leave your mark on the map and on the community as a whole.

Thank you for your time reading this,

~SonGuhun