Broken Arrow mission editor — how to make your own mod and publish it
A beginner's guide to the Broken Arrow campaign / mission editor: open it, place units and objectives, script events with the node-and-Lua system, test, and publish to the Steam Workshop.
What the editor can do
Broken Arrow ships with a full mission editor — the same tool the developers use for the campaign. With it you can build co-op PvE scenarios, wave-defense maps, skirmish setups and scripted missions, then share them on the Steam Workshop for everyone.
Almost every popular Broken Arrow mod is made in this editor: co-op campaigns, zombie defense, and "test your deck" ranges are all missions, not code mods. So if you can place units and wire a few events, you can publish a mod.
Opening the editor
From the main menu open the editor entry (Mission / Campaign editor). Pick a map, set the playable area and the number of player slots (1–4 for co-op), then choose the game mode your mission is based on — Conquest, Destruction or a custom objective.
The workspace has three core tools: the terrain/zone view, the unit placement palette, and the event graph. You lay out forces and triggers on the map and describe what happens with the event system.
Placing forces and objectives
Drop units for each side, group them, and assign zones — spawn areas, capture points, defense lines and trigger regions. Objectives (capture, hold, destroy, survive N minutes) are set as goals that the event system reads.
For co-op, mark 1–4 player slots and decide what happens to empty slots — most popular missions auto-spawn helper units for slots 3–4 so the mission still works with two players.
Scripting events (nodes + Lua)
Logic is built from event nodes: a trigger (a zone is entered, a timer elapses, a unit dies) fires an action (spawn reinforcements, show a message, change income, win/lose). You wire triggers to actions on a graph — no code needed for the basics.
For deeper control the editor exposes a Lua API: you can script dynamic difficulty, reinforcement waves, AI behavior and hidden objectives. Keep it modular — small named events are easier to debug than one giant script.
Test, then publish to the Workshop
Playtest from inside the editor before every publish, ideally with a friend in co-op — desync and empty-slot bugs only show up with real players. Difficulty tip used by the top missions: the higher the difficulty, the lower the player's income, so waves scale without new units.
When it's ready, publish straight to the Steam Workshop from the editor: set a title, a clear description (player count, mode, language) and a preview image. Then subscribe from a second account to confirm it downloads and loads. Browse the live Broken Arrow mods to see how the top scenarios present themselves.