If Fire Emblem added a Map Design Feature

[Diortem]

Here's a question for you fans of Fire Emblem out there: Would you like a Map Design feature in Fire Emblem, ala Advance Wars' version of the feature?

I personally would, since it would add replayability, and it'd be interesting to make one's own map, maybe even down to the smallest detail.

[Melonhead]

That would be awesome. Although I could see where it would make fire emblem "different" althogh I don't really see how it would be as gimmicky as FE11's wifi battles.

[Anouleth]

The map design feature in AW works because it lets you copy popular competitive maps (such as Mind Trap). In AW4 there was even a way to hack out the regular map selection (which could be used to remove awful maps like Fist Peninsula or Swan Cove from the rotation).

[Integrity]

I don't really see either a place or a purpose for a map editor in Fire Emblem.

[Samias]

A map editor is by no means an essential must-have feature, but there isn't really any harm to the franchise in adding a map editor, especially if player made maps became free downloadable content through the magic of the internet. The way I see it, you could send maps to friends, or you could also download the top maps from a service run by Nintendo, much like Brawl's approach to their stage maker. That way, you at least would know that you're not going to see a flood of dick-shaped maps or something. I feel like it would be much more satisfying to construct a difficult map to send to a friend than to fight against them in direct combat, due to the nature of character balance in Fire Emblem. I think the grid-based nature of Fire Emblem just makes it easy to envision how a map editor would work, though I admit this would have been easier to implement in the games that have tilesets and not 3D terrain.

[Anacybele]

I think a map editor sounds cool. Like Samias says, you could make maps to share with other players. And true, it would've been easier to make maps using the tilesets from the GBA games, but for the 3D ones, I was thinking that a map editor for them could work similarly to how you can make maps in Age of Empires II, a PC game, since we could use a stylus and the screen on a Wii U controller like a drawing pad. In AoEII, you could paint different terrain as well as trees. Buildings, walls, and other objects were placed one by one or section by section. Mountains and cliffs were the same, but in FE's case, you'd use a brush to create those so they're more natural (no two mountains look exactly alike in a 3D FE game, after all). AoEII, I believe, also uses a grid system, so yeah.

This is just my idea though.

Edited October 19, 2012 by Anacybele

[Prax]

Yes, since it will bring me closer to getting a Fire Emblem maker made that I can use easily. XD

One layer for terrain. One layer for objects (walls, houses, bushes, trees, mountains), and one layer for your units, enemy units, and respawning points.

It'll be easier for 2D tilesets, but also doable for 3D ones, I think.

They just have to implement it so that the terrain properly meshes or procedurally generates, like it does in Sims, but even more simplified.

That's all that's really needed. Fans will hack that and make it even more moddable.

[Snowy_One]

I feel it would be a great feature to have. Could even help to balance out the classes a bit as players could make maps that couldn't be roflstomped by fliers/riders.