EPTFor full details look here
I wanted to pull one of them out to comment on specifically as a fairly outspoken person involved in the SC2 mod community.
"Use Map Settings"
This show will highlight popular/interesting UMS games and give IPL Subscribers a chance to play with Kevin, Doa, and other pros and IPL staffers!
I will try to keep it brief, but this could be a much bigger deal to us then realized. Maybe the intent was to play some rounds of Nexus Wars, or Marine Arena (the offerings out there now).
But what I would love to see is this show become integrated into the IPL content for a longer period of time.
If they do so, it would fantastic if they could get in touch with the community a bit more and try to play and spotlight in development projects with potential, that are not successful through the native Blizzard popularity system.
Doing this would create a platform the community has for a long time sorely needed to give an incentive for working an actually well done UMS/mod. Due to the lack of justice in the popularity system, nothing like this currently exists. At least nothing that can be reliably counted on. (Some community figures have supported things on occasion)
Without wanting to sound rude, the games out there do not reflect the potential that I see in the community members to any notable degree. The quality of the current offerings is dismal, and could be far exceeded by just the talent working in this space now if they could be enabled properly.
As to why a general audience should support this.
Well I firmly believe the growth of custom games could literally double or triple the active population of casual players on SC2 BNet and feed tons of interest into pro gaming. It is SO important. The flawed custom system is as damaging to Starcraft culture and user experience right now as a lack of LAN.
On the production side they might have to deal with rougher concepts, cruder games that are still being developed. But to seed these creators with interest, point people towards their testing channels, get them feedback would be absolutely huge.
I can confirm the show will be more interesting to the average viewer as well. The popular customs out there are well exposed enough, most are remakes of classic Brood War/WC3 concepts. There is much more interest below the surface.
Even just mixing a spotlight of popular games with more in development projects could be so helpful from a big source like IGN/IPL, and a worthy compromise. The ideal way would be to cycle through a few in development things per show, in a variety format or even talk to creators. Then you can pad out the episode with something more substantial, a more developed custom which can properly support a few games. (if nothing unexposed is available)
It would be great if this idea could get some support here to catch their eyes.
If they need help directing this effort, I would suggest hitting up the mods SC2mapster.com forums, or if they need a direct guide feel free to PM me and I can help to put them in contact with the right individuals.
If you need examples of the type of promising projects which have struggled from a tenuous Blizzard Arcade incorporation cycle and a tepid BNet popular system then check out the following. (click titles for relevant links)
Subsistence
- Total Conversion for SC2 based around a sci-fi single player campaign
- moved to iPad dev for the foreseeable future
Fields of Glory
Relevant Screenshot.
- an Action-RTS game featuring medieval takes on Starcraft units
- still in dev but little communal support, basically radio silent currently
Smashcraft
- a 3v3 Powerstone style arena fighting game
- the original unjustly couldn't even stay on the popularity list prompting creators to work on a sequel which looks like it has lost momentum
Not to mention 100s of other projects from Tower Defences to Starcraft Pokemon which wilted and died due to the environment around these things.
So please IPL, do this right!
Summary; IPL creating a new show based around UMS maps. They have an opportunity to seed the mod/custom map community with some public interest, I hope they attempt it. Show you care by giving this idea some support.
