Valve is in the midst of a massive overhaul of its most popular game, and in doing so has brought Dota around to the beginning. Dota 2 will soon be launching the open beta for Dota 2 Reborn, and it will be including a custom game mode for players to experience. These custom games will allow people to create new game modes for Dota 2, much in the same way that Dota began as a custom map for Starcraft.
There isn’t much point in allowing custom games without giving players the tools to build the games. With this in mind, Valve will be releasing a set of developer tools to allow player to mess around with how Dota 2 works. The editor provides players with everything from level editing, to particle effect editing, to game scripting with Lua.
Custom games will appear appear in their own hub, which allows players to save their favourite games to make it easier to find again. Valve will also be making new games easier to find with a suggested game windows cycling through custom games that are trending or receiving positive votes from players. The idea is to make it easier to find new ways to play Dota 2, which is a very interesting prospect; at least for casual players.
Valve will begin populating the Custom Game section with its own in-house games when the beta is launched, at least until other developers play around with the tools and begin letting their own imaginations run wild. The first Valve-authored custom game is a map known as Overthrow: which essentially turns Dota 2 into a team deathmatch level. Players race to score as many kills as they can before the timer runs out, and that’s all there is to it.
Dota 2 is going through a transition at the moment, with Valve trying to bring new features to the game. Not that the world’s second most popular MOBA needed new features, but it is comforting to know that Valve is not simply cruising on the esports aspect of Dota 2 and is catering to the casual crowd and enthusiast crowd once again.
[Source: Dota 2]
