AoE4 Map Editor or Content Editor

Hello there,
i was wondering if there will be a Map Editor ingame, like in AoE 1 or 2. They were easy to handle if you just wanted to create some Maps with Units etc. The new Mod-Tool is extremely complicated, even more then the Editor of Warcraft 3, and I dont have time and motivation to learn enough, just so that i can add some hills, trees and units.
Sure, its great for modders or people who want to get deep into scenario-editing, but i think most players just want to play around and have fun with easy mapmaking for themselves.
I started playing when the game was released and was really sad, there was no editor. Then i read it will come in the future and was happy again. I waited patiently only to get this disappointment.
I really like AoE4, buy without an easy Editor, me and my friend will go back to AoE2 and enjoy our own maps there.
I REALLY hope, there will be an easier way to create some funny maps in near future.

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I don’t know, but I would guess a second map editor isnt high on the priority list. But who knows, I’m sure this game will be updated for years to come.

I was intimidated by the interface too, but if you take a little time to get familiar with it, you can ignore most of the buttons and drop your units once you know where they are.

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I also hope there will be an easy ingame editor like in previous Age of Empires. Then more people could add maps which would results in more content and probably more players. Hopefully they will add this in the future.

The problem here is: older Age games are simpler. They can get away with simpler editors.

I’m all for more and better documentation, video guides, etc, but there’s a limit to how far things can be made accessible. These are the tools the developers themselves use.

Which is not the answer. If your claim is that they are incapable, then I agree.

There is a distinct lack of awe in AoE4 which you may not have experienced from past Age games. And that is the joy of having fun with it. Understand that most Age players are not whelmed by only having the ability to queued into multiplayer, fight against a subpar AI or alternatively, experience an underbaked campaign.

Where all of those three elements were expertly executed in say, AoE2, it also had an additional feature which many of us spent countless of hours on. And that was a baked-in map and content editor.

AoE4 did deliver on that part, but let me ask you this; if you sent your car into the shop asking for a new coat, only for it to be returned months later with paint only covering half of it, would you be satisfied? Probably not. In fact, you’d likely ask for an entirely new coat. Because as it is, not only was it not what you asked for, it was likely unusable for your purposes.

Sure, maybe some clever git could paint the rest himself–that person represents the very few dedicated modders who can make due with the current editor. However, majority of players who asked for an editor, did not want a mini developer editor. In case you never utilized an editor in this manner, let me explain that, for many of us, a content editor was a playground as opposed to a strict tool for creating content. It was a place to try new things, express yourself creatively by creating scenes or scenarios or just generally mess about.

It is safe to say that AoE4 completely missed the mark on this, and that, in fact, they should NOT be able to ignore it forward and say “well, we did make an Editor so we’re moving on now”. No.

It needs to be revisted if they have any shred of respect for the people who purchased the game and who believed their statements about them releasing an editor post release. Because as it stands, the editor is lower than the bare minimum.

I try to not be too negative on the developers when it comes to their product. The AoE4 content editor however is one of the few places where I personally think, was not only done extremely badly, but in fact, resonates with lack of will and interest for the sake of players and the faith they have in their own game.

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The majority of players do not understand the difference between creating tools for a game twenty years ago, and creating tools for a game now. I don’t blame them. Gamers shouldn’t have to be software engineers to play the game, or even want to modify the game. But it’s still an important point to make when someone starts to rant about the developers “lack of will and interest”.

I get that you’re frustrated with the product, I get that you think it does various things badly, and I get that you consider the current editor hard to use / has an inherent barrier to entry.

And? So what?

I get the argument. It’s a popular argument. I argue against it a lot. I argue against it because I sincerely believe we don’t need the equivalent of something that came out a couple of decades ago. I believe we need our dedicated and passionate modders need the existing tools to be supported and improved on. I believe releasing a completely different set of tools is a waste of effort and will completely kill support for the existing tools that we’re already struggling to get additions to.

The modding community has some fantastically-talented folks in it. What they need is not to be restricted to the degree they currently are. Because then they can make the playgrounds, the scenarios, the whatevers, that casual enthusiasts can experiment with. The tools are powerful enough that, if the right things were improved / implemented / unlocked, we could make maps that would let people create that playground you’re asking for. This is why I believe that improving the current tools is the way forward.

By popularity, “most” players (of this game) enjoy the game. This is something that people who spent too long criticising the game tend to forget, and it’s a damn shame because - like you here - you tend to get pidgeonholed into speaking to this greater (invisible) mass of people that apparently agree with you personally on everything you find wrong with the game.

(edit - I’ve updated the rest of this post because I went all-in on your claim of “most Age players” before realising you were maybe trying to invoke the entire franchise fanbase)

We can’t count never-weres and never-wheres. We can’t count the people that no longer play the game, unless they happen to post on the forums (and some do). We can only determine the impression it leaves, by reviews, forum threads, and so on. And the forum is a miniscule subset of the entire playerbase, in that regard.

If your argument is that “most Age players” across the franchise are apparently underwhelmed by the game, then that applies to Age III (including the DE version) and people should stop recommending it (over Age IV at times, even). I would argue that’s a silly thing to believe, and I’m not at all sure that’s what you meant. But maybe you do. Maybe you believe each version needs to completely supercede past versions to the extent that it then completely supplants them. By that logic, I can absolutely understand your claim.

I believe the Age games (well, maybe not Age I) can exist alongside each other. Age II has a multiplayer history that stands by itself. Age III has a design that stands by itself. Both have relatively modern DE releases that cater to those specific communities. And Age IV is a modern incarnation that also stands by itself. I of course want Age IV to do well, but the RTS space is complicated (and niche, compared to genres like FPS, 4x strategy / grand strategy, ARPGs and so on). It’s contentious.

That doesn’t mean Age IV doesn’t need improvement (far from it), but hey, developers are still trying to improve II and III. That’s still going on. Is that because the original games were bad? Hardly.