So me and Fluff were on Skype talking about the layout of missions when I hatched an idea...
Mission Layout Editor

As the name suggests, what this will allow you to do is create your own mission layouts and maybe even test them out in Campaign Mode. Obviously, some limitations will be implemented if this gets added to prevent any exploits such as having a mission where you just collect 10 loot crates without battling anything.

How this will work is by typing out a layout, for example...


Spaces are to allow lowercase letters.

Note: Choosing 'Hard' or 'Insane' difficulty in the editor will change the appearance of some sprites, changing their colours from green to yellow or red etc.

Legend
Some of these legends will have an 'x' after them, this is because they have variants. To choose a specific variant, add a lowercase letter to the corresponding sprite that you desire. Do not add anything to a capital letter if there are no variants available to choose from.

/ - Empty Space
↑→↓← - Entrance Point to Map for Player Mech
═║╔╗╚╝ - Boundaries/Indestructible Walls
─│ - Destructible Walls/Gates (Destroyed at Start)

P - Sand Bag Pile (Indestructible, used to funnel the player)

M - Enemy Mech

T - Enemy Tank

J - Enemy Buggy/Jeep

L - Loot Crate

Bx - Buff Crate

Sx - Structure (All Destructible)

Images were provided by Fluffeh/PoTaeToh.

Thinking about it further, there is probably a more elegant way to do this. However, let's not run before we can walk.

EDIT
A few points I would like to add
• Should this feature be unlocked at the start or at levels 15 or 30?
• After rationalising it in my head, I have come to the conclusion that the items used by the AI in these custom missions should not be chosen by players as they could be exploited by players setting the AI level to 1-5 while being level 30.

Great idea!

I think this could have exploitation (as you mentioned) but within boundaries (as you mentioned) this could be very fun! Maybe you could edit what the mechs you battle have. This could cause maybe a "heat level" or a "pro level".

But I'm voting yes on this one

Oh you want to vote? Let me just add a poll then.

I vote yes i want to fight 12 buggies xD but maybe liran will vote no because he is SuperMechs Developer xD

Honestly, if he did that I wouldn't be at all surprised. I mean, implementing a whole editor sounds like something which takes a wall of code just to get working properly.

Creating a sandbox for other's to create off of takes a bit of time, but at the same time, it allows you to sit back without having to create any creative content yourself and gives the players EXACTLY what they want to keep themselves entertained. Retain your player base attention and they keep playing/paying.

But what's the payoff for doing such a thing? Just a little extra entertainment, or is it entertainment where you can create a masterpiece and challenge other's to try to take it on! Then you run into the issue of trying to ensure such things aren't abused. It'd definitely be hard to implement, but if thought out well and thoroughly, it could be an amazing addition

Well, you could either...
• Limit the amount of Loot/Buff Crates you can add in one mission, maybe down to 2-3 or...
• Enforce a Risk/Reward Ratio for example: 1 Mech = 1 Loot Create or 2 Buff Crates.

The second option probably needs tweaking though...

Voted yes. Sandbox levels for a game are always awesome

Maybe there could be a 'Test' Mode which doesn't have any limits however rewards gained are not registered and in order to put it in campaign mode it has to be balanced so to make the risk/reward ratio fair.