Being able to customize maps and scenarios is one of the reasons why players love RTS games. Age of Empires IV now has that feature with Content Editor. This is still in beta, so don't expect too much for now. But it's good to know this feature is now in the game and today, we look at what it can offer so far.
In a post, the development team revealed that the Content Editor serves as the one-stop-shop for custom play. This beta release of the Content Editor allows everyone to play around with some of the customization options.
One of the things players can do with the Content Editor is to come up with their own custom maps through Crafted Maps. These can be used for multiplayer, skirmishes, or custom games. This is by far the easiest tool to use and it features terrain elements, wildlife, resources, units, and even scripted events.
The next is the Tuning Packs. It has a difficulty level of Intermediate, meaning that it's not going to be that easy to use. Basically, this tool allows players to modify the unit cost, speed, toughness, and attacks. Pretty much anything that affects unit behavior.
A bit higher are Generated Maps, which need more experience. This mode allows players to generate maps that follow a set of rules of their choice. There are templates and documentation available for those who want to see how this works and the team assures everyone that there will be variation each time players play using the map generator. Those who have experience can immediately put their programming skills to good use and create complex maps.
By the way, Generated Maps allow players to create randomly generated maps for skirmishes or multiplayer. The main difference between this one and Crafted Maps is that players can "nudge" the random map generation to a direction that they choose.
Finally, the most difficult, and likely the most fun, is the Game Mode. It's seen as the ultimate way to script matches. Considering the level of difficulty, this is for expert modders. That's because it needs knowledge not only in Lua but also SCAR.
What do you think? Ready to create your own content? Age of Empires IV is available on PC.
