Hi guys, my name’s Ingo. I used to be an active fan designer for Age of Empires and Age of Kings. I haven’t designed in many years but AoE: DE has inspired me to give the editor a try.
And what can I say? In spite of all the bugs and the frustrating lack of developer support, I love the editor of Age of Empires: Definitive Edition. 
Why? Because the DE editor has some exciting new features that were not possible with the old editor: New terrains, new terrain items, new heroes. It is not only easy to use, but also extremely powerful. Also, many more things are possible with this editor than meets the eye: Hedges, flower gardens, swamps, new types of bridges, overlapping units and buildings, trees growing into water, burning cities… A lot of this knowledge is already familiar to AoE/RoR designers, but likely new for you if AoE: DE is the first time you have played this game.
Not many people are designing with AoE:DE these days. Which is a shame because I find Single Player with AoE: DE a lot of fun. This community of single players should get more material to play! And this game, with all its bugs and imperfections, very much deserves a dedicated little community of fan designers.
To get you inspired, I have written a Map Design Article for AoE: DE, which has just been posted at AoE Heaven: http://aoe.heavengames.com/siegeworkshop/map-design-tricks-for-aoe-definitive-edition/
Check it out, I hope it inspires you. We need to see more material here, and at AoE Heaven.
Ingo
