Ben, would it be at all possible to make some sort of editor-placable indestructable block? I realize this would mean recoding the game AND the editor, which will be a huge pain the <redacted>, but ultimately I think it would really add to the gameplay.

As it is now, everything is destrucable. That can be fun, but griefers can quickly ruin the whole thing by levelling entire buildings, mountains, fortresses, etc.

With Pyspades, all preexisting blocks can be made indestructable. This protects structures somewhat better, but the cost in terms of fun is immense. No tunnels, no dug-in bunkers, and no trenches makes for a run-of-the-mill shooter. Alternatively, tunnels, bunkers, and trenches can be pre-built, in which case they're indestrucable and thus overpowered.

Imagine, however, that map creators could make building frames indestructable, and then add destruable walls. This way, map creators could make maps where core mechanics remain unchanged throughout the server's runtime. Mountains with a thick layer of dirt over impenetrable rock could put an end to the dreaded "levelled" maps. Castles with solid rock walls, and skyscrapers with solid, ungriefable frames are just a few possibilities.

This could add a bit of realism to the game, since standard real-world entrenchment tools have their limits as well. It may or may not be worth the trouble to implement, but I'm just throwing this idea out there for consideration.

I've been tinkering with a new windows GUI map editor instead of voxed and was after some comments on people's views before I put any more work into it. (Thanks for Sean Barrett/nothings for the description of the file format - saved some time porting over to C# :-)

Unlike voxed, this map editor is "2d" in that you see the slices of the map on screen and can move up and down the layers (i.e. from the water to the sky), clicking where you want to add new cubes and so on, you can then preview the 3d in voxed as usual

To explain, this image shows an early alpha of the code having loaded the map saved via F1 from an in progress game of the excellent Bridge Wars maps.

http://i.imgur.com/vJCFL.png

Its kinda cool to go down a few layers from that image and being able to see "in" to the map and see those tunnels that people having been making :-)

Do people think that this sort of 2d approach is going to be usable? Is 2d good enough? What are your thoughts?

What maps do you guys think some of the map editors out there should create?

Here's what I think:
-CARGO TAKEOVER - A map that is pretty much covered in water but has a large cargo ship in the middle. There is a coast on each side of the map where the blue + green bases are situated (so they each have their own small coast) and both have bridges that lead to the cargo ship.
-LAVA FLOW - A map with a large volcano in the middle. There are orange blocks to simulate lava inside of it and running down it. At the crater of the volcano are sniper towers. Around the actual volcano are trees.
-SPADE CITY - A map that is essentially a big city. There are skyscrapers (with sniping areas on top) and a park area (think Central Park) in the direct middle of the map where it is essentially flat, aside from a few trees and small hills.

I think these would be a bit hard to create but, if made, they would be awesome. What do you guys think?

Just read the instructions below, and you can be customizing your ironsights in less than 15 minutes. Its really easy to do, and having a personalized crosshair is way underrated:

- Go to http://www.serif.com/free-graphic-design-software/ and download the program DrawPlus. Its not a huge program so your download shouldn't take more than a few minutes.

- Open the .semi file in the Ace of Spades folder using the program.

- The gun in game is aligned along the middle of the image and about 15 pixels down from the top. Try making red dot scopes, crosshairs, or whatever you want.

- To export the file (essentially just saving it), go to File -- Export -- Export as Image. Make sure the image is 400x400 pixels, as that is the size of the original ironsights. Also, make sure to save the image as semi.png, and replace the file in the AOS folder with your new one.

- Enjoy it! It took me only about 15 minutes to get the accuracy spot on, just keep moving the center of your crosshair until you get it right.

I have been tinkering around with the voxed editor, and I was wondering if anyone has figured out a way to copy a group of voxels and paste them onto a different part of the map? I've looked through the help file a few times over, and have tried to use the "duplicate box" function, but that doesn't really seem to do anything.

I also noticed that you can insert .KVX and .VOX files directly onto your map, but I haven't the foggiest idea how I would use that to copy and paste voxels from one part of the map to the other.

Could someone assist please?