Ok, after having a glance over a great many maps in the past 2 hours, i have some things i would like to share with the map making community.
First of all, for those that do not know me, i am, also, a map maker. I love brood war, and i love making maps. I also know that it can be a damn hard thing to do. I spend more time on my maps than the typical map maker (i think) with all of my released maps taking between 14 and 26 hours to complete. I know it can be a bitch.
However, i have some things i would like to impress upon you.
1) STOP USING MINERAL WALLS. IT WAS A GOOD IDEA ONCE. MAYBE TWICE. BUT THE IDEA IS FINISHED. On the occaisonal map, it might really be quite the thing to top off the map, but if that is the case, all of you, so far, have failed to realize that moment. Since the making of Coulee, i have not enjoyed a single mineral wall.
2) Before incorporating new unique ideas into your map, think about the strategy aspect of this game before making your final decision. Your thought process cannot only consist of 'oh this is cool and has never been seen before, im going to do it!'. New unique ideas are a fundamental of map making, but only because they improve strategical gameplay. If your new fancy idea is not balanced for all 3 races, its a bad idea.
3) When you do come across a good/new idea, do not exploit it to the point of excess! And do not exploit your map by making every feature on it a new idea! You need classic straight forward elements on your map to make it playable. If you do not have 1 spot on the map that is open, and covetted for strategical reasons, you're going to have a boring map!
4) Free expansions are not all they're cracked up to be. I'm not talking about natural expo's that need defense. I'm talking about free-expo-behind-the-base-like-bladestorm-make-me-gag expansions. Again there are exceptions to the rule, but these exceptions are so rare that i'm really reluctant to even mention that there are exceptions at all. Unless that free expo behind your main adds a fun and/or necessary element to the gameplaydo not bother.
5) Double, Triple, and Quadrouple choke points make me want to choke. I am shocked and appalled at how many choke points people feel are neccessary to make their map whatever it is they're feeling it should be. I've come across more than 1 too many maps today where they have a mainbase - chokepoint - expansion - choke point - 2nd nat - chokepoint - middle of the map - 4 exitting choke points. Do i really need to explain this one?
6) If you are going to have a single path leading to an expansion, do not make any more expansions along that same path. Taking an expansion should be it's own reward. You do not need to give a 2nd and/or 3rd expansion to that player for free after taking the first one. hello?
Thats all i have to gripe about at the moment. Not all map makers fall into this category, and if you don't, good on you. Keep up your map making. And to the rest of you who do fall into this category, just try to spend a little more thought and/or time on your map(s). Try to take a look at the most popular maps, and figure out why they are popular. You do not need to (and should not) make clones of these maps, but by figuring out fun aspects of the map/game, you can incorporate your own ideas around those concepts.
Good luck to all in your future map making endeavours. Especially to those contestants in the BlizzCon contest. (i did not submit a map).
Imbroglio of Mishap is, although it has a gay name (:D), the best map I've seen in a very long time. Map makers, take these tips for granted, this guy knows how to make a good map
On August 15 2005 12:57 Carnac wrote: i think that for example the mineral blockades on neo forte add a good strategical element...
Agreed. I love that they are only "pathway-thinning-strips" rather than complete blocks. It allows cool stuff like toss early expo PvZ, where you can block up the hole entirely and rather than that being a dead giveaway for sair/reaver you can eat away at one or 2 patches a little later and let the army you've massed with your 7 gate break out without killing your own buildings, etc. Or if you're contained you can chew out the mineral block and give yourself a larger area to break out from.
I'd like to add that Mora has been an essential part, along with Bill, for the creation of 2 of my maps which made league map pools. My newest map, Barren Realm fuckin ownz tho and needed no mora help (just joking). I'm gonna talk to mora about it later and fix it up some even tho a shittier version was submitted to blizzcon.'
btw mora, the map i submitted to blizzcon had a couple faults i didnt realize, I fixed them an resbumitted =\
i want the stupid git to get hit by a bus for stealing my name. 'Verisimilitude' is patented by none other than myself. It is my favourite word and i have been saving it for a map that really suits the name. But he used it first. And the map does not suit the name whatsoever. And for some reason i think i've seen the map before, which means the little bugger knows me, and heard the word from me in the first place.
I think my wish may have been a little off-kilter.
1) agree, we had enough mineral walls for a century. mineral blocks preventing terrans from taking fly-only expands should be used with care, too. 2) Imo, you just need to try. If your map is imbalanced because of a new feature (and it really is, not just a few tankophobics crying because you can hit something from somewhere with tanks or anything), you and others might learn from it for their next map. It is not like every map ever made will get serious playing exposure anyway. 3) Maps should allow more than one strategy, therefore you need certain spots where one strategy has an advantage, and others where other strategies are preferable. agree. 4) I agree. Free expansions kill gameplay imo, you. It is not fancy anymore. 5)It depends on the map, but having more than one choke point might help balance some matchups. Do you have any example for a map with a lot of choke points following each other? Can't think of any. 6) you mean like on azalea? It is quite annoying, but good map makers don't do that very often imo.
The thing with mineral blocks (with a significant number of minerals) is that although you introduce a new element into the gameplay -- the decision of whether or not to mine it away -- you also take away elements from the gameplay by restricting when and how that path can be used. Forcing a player to mine it away first can greatly restrict the times and situations in a game when that pathway can be mined clear advantageously. So ultimately it might be better to just leave the pathway open and allow players to utilize it freely at any point in the game.
With smaller mineral blocks (e.g. 8 or 16 mins per patch), you have to ask yourself: are there any significant benefits to leaving these paths closed? If not, then why should you force players to waste time mining away the blocks, time that they could otherwise spend harassing their opponent or doing something fun.
Just because a player has a choice of whether and when to open a path, doesn't necessarily mean the map is going to have a greater depth of gameplay, or encourage more creativity, or be more fun to play.
That may be true Bill, but it's like anything else. If overused it becomes annoying, but used properly it adds something new and cool to the map that wouldn't be there otherwise.
EPT
Very cool map.
