Multi-player missions offer an interesting perspective on the world of WarCraft II editing. First of all, they blow nearly everything mentioned in the second chapter of this manual to pieces. The problem with designing a multi-player mission using preconceived ideas about game play and how it should work is that the human players that will be opposing each other are not going to follow the same simple rules that the computer prefers to follow.
Now, of course, if you decide to produce a mission in which the human players are pitted against the computer's forces, then the above rules about A.I. still apply. In this situation, just remember that the human players can merely gang up on one computer-controlled color group at a time. You should add some additional defense into a cooperative mission, just to maintain the difficulty level. However, not many people in the gaming community are looking for a cooperative effort. After all, you have to be nice to your friends all day, so when you hook up over the modem or the network, why not try to cleave others' brains out? Competitive missions are the hard ones to deal with.
First, as I've mentioned, the players are not going to follow any specific rules. You cannot edit the terrain in any way that will guarantee the same style of play every time the mission is loaded. Let's say that you intended the players to engage in a wicked sea battle. What happens if they build griffin aviaries and dragon roosts instead? If you want to emphasize a certain style of play, you should let each player start with some units that represent that style (dragons to hint aerial attacks, battleships to hint sea attacks, and so on).
Second, and most devastatingly, you cannot truly playtest a multi-player mission with any intent on improving the game play. The opinions you produce about a multi-player mission are going to be influenced too much by personal preference, rather than objective thoughts of game play . The only way to get good feedback is to let a few dozen people try your mission, get their input, make whatever changes are necessary, and send it back out. Not a fun or quick proposal.
The rules that you should follow in designing a multi-player competitive mission are quite basic. Always try to start the players relatively even in strength. Because a human player will not adhere to any specific building or upgrading guidelines, any excess power you give to them is usually going to be capitalized upon. Separation is also important here, as it keeps the fearless maniac component of the audience from quickly wiping out the defend and horde component. Offhand, you should usually give every player some towers or other defense that will keep him or her from becoming a statistic early in the mission.
One thing you must remember do with every multi-player mission is to indicate, in a text file or something to that effect, whether the mission is cooperative or competitive. The players are going to need to know if they must set themselves as "allies" once the mission starts, or else everywhere that you have placed units of different color groups near each other, they are going to start fighting! Always be sure to include this piece of information with your missions.
Finally, when in doubt, get input from your audience. Unlike a one-player mission which people must come to you to obtain and discuss, a multi-player mission is going to be distributed in groups, as WarCraft fans pass it around to find more people to play with. Wherever you find your mission being distributed frequently, or discussed heavily, introduce yourself and see what the players have to say. Despite all of its information, this manual is not going to play your mission - people are. It is these people that you must use as the meter of your relative success or failure.
