Map Developer Glossary

Developer Glossary

Autocast Ability: Autocast abilities are a type of active abilities which, if set as 'autocast' by the player, will cause its caster to perform the ability automatically, like the healing ability of the Terran Medivac Dropships. Autocast abilities can be 'deactivated' so that the caster unit in question will not use the ability and thus save up on energy.

Point-Target Ability: Point-Target abilities are similar to Target abilities to the exception that they require you to target an area or point on the terrain for it to trigger (like Psionic Storm) instead of an object. Point Target abilities can be restricted by terrain, like those than summon a unit that cannot travel over/in water will only be performable on solid ground.

Target Ability: Target abilities require you to define a 'victim', like a unit, structure or destructible doodad. The 'caster' unit will then perform the ability on the target.

No Target Ability: No Targets are abilities that trigger the moment they are clicked (like Stimpack).

Passive Ability: Passive abilities cannot be actively used, in that clicking on them will not cause anything to happen. Passive abilities are either chance-based or bestow permanent bonuses on those that have them. For instance, a developer might creat a passive ability which give the unit that has it a bonus of 50 hit points. This lasts forever. Another way a passive ability works is like X unit gains 15% chance of inflicting double damage on each attack. Without this ability, there would be no chance of critical strike.

Active Ability: An active ability is an ability that must be actively used by the player for it's effect to be triggered, that is, the player must click on it. There are 3 types of active abilities: No Target, Target, and Point-Target. No Targets are abilities that trigger the moment they are clicked (like Stimpack). Target abilities require you to define a 'victim', like a unit, structure or destructible doodad. The 'caster' unit will then perform the ability on the target. Point-Target abilities are similar to Target abilities to the exception that they require you to target an area or point on the terrain for it to trigger (like Psionic Storm) instead of an object. Point Target abilities can be restricted by terrain, like those than summon a unit that cannot travel over/in water will only be performable on solid ground.

Doodad: A doodad is a decorative terrain object. There are two types of doodads: normal ones and destructibles. The normal doodads cannot be destroyed, but some do have a 'death animation', which can be accessed through triggers. Destructible doodads, on the other hand, are made to be destroyed, like destructible rocks that block an ulterior pathway to an enemy's base, for example.

Object: And 'Object' is a interactive element in the game. For example, a unit (like a Marine) is an object. A building (like a Nexus) is an object. A doodad is an object. There are other elements whic are objects, such as abilities, ability effects (nicknamed 'buffs') and upgrades, but these form part of a second category of objects (think 'concrete' and 'abstract').

Action: And 'Action' is what happens when an event is triggered, given it passes the set condition(s). If you want a High Templar to perform Psionic Storm after 5 seconds of the start of a game, it goes as follows: Event: 5 seconds have passed since game started Condition: none Action: Make High templar cast Psionic Storm

User Interface (UI): The User Interface is an aggregate of means by which the user interacts with a system. In StarCraft 2, the UI would be the panel where the portrait of the unit is, the minimap, all the 'move', 'attack', 'patrol', (and so on) commands are found.