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The original plan was to break down our submissions into 8 maps for this phase, but since there was an unforeseen amount of submissions we have chosen 12 maps to move into this round, giving opportunity to multiple new comers to really shine with their efforts.
What will happen now? 1) We present to you the top 12 maps of the contest.
2) We ask for your feedback on these maps on how you think each one can be adjusted appropriately, from a players or observers perspective. To be clear, we are not asking for your votes, yet!
3) Map makers are given two weeks to complete and polish their maps to further completion. (All submissions must be posted in this thread by May 11, 20:00 CET).
4) We will launch a public vote on TL to decided our final four maps in a future post in ~2 weeks.
5) The final four maps will be featured in four exciting map test tournaments, each focusing on one map, involving top foreign progamers exclusively casted by  Team Think Quick &  RemastrTV.
6) Public voting on TL will select the winner of the final four maps in a public poll.
7) Top voted map created by a "new map maker" will be awarded 20% of our Map Makers
prize pool.
Massive shout out to DarkMatter for releasing Titan Reactor just in time for our map contest and helping us get these awesome 3d overviews of our map contestants.
Disqualifications and Why:
+ Show Spoiler +Here is a screenshot of our data coming out of our recent voice conference to select these twelve maps. ![[image loading]](https://i.imgur.com/tIj0Syd.png) *x in scoring = mapper cannot vote for themselvesAs you can see we jumped round a little bit regarding the last few maps we selected. We talked back and forth about the last few maps since the scoring was so similar. Reasons for skipping some maps: Eurydice: CrystalDrag already had multiple submissions in the finals and we wanted to give opportunities to new mappers. Carver: We wanted HeMsK to be able to focus on dialing in Vertebrae and not have to worry about juggling maps since we though Vertebrae is his most solid submission. Largo: This map is unfortunately a 'back burner' map that was submitted and has little chance of being updated or adjusted. This competition rewards contestants for their efforts. Serenity: Since this map is plain and boring, we would rather give opportunities to new mappers. I also would rather put my time into adjusting Turbine & Sanctuary. The Dark Knight: This is an older map that was submitted with minor modifications that had some buggy issues. Asphalt is so hard to see burrowed units on. Lay-out wise this map is ok but the naturals and thirds are very wide open. The high ground of the side of the building deco can be confusing to someone who doesn't know what their looking at. The map has a neat theme. Static: We selected this as our 12th map since it had a very high public rating and can become a promising one on one map with some adjustments and decoration. Mystery Box: tba Scarabee: tba Chandelier: tba Abyss of Remains: tba Belt of Faith: Non-Standard DQ Pearl: Non-Standard DQ Gold Treasure: Non-Standard DQ Dodgy Dunes: Non-Standard DQ Midnight Crossing: Author removed. Trinity: Author removed. Cellular Automaton: Author removed. Angelmaker: Author removed. If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to ask.
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Congratulations to all of the contestants who made it into this phase, and thank you everyone for your awesome new world creations!
We were happy with so many great submissions and look forward to launching the next map contest a few weeks after this one is complete.
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For the most part, the systematic, democratic and meritocratic method used to select the top 12 maps took into consideration votes from four groups of evaluators:
1) TL users who listed their favourite maps in the submission thread (including high ranking players who may participate in the play test tournaments);
2) mapping contestants themselves (who were asked not to list their own maps in their top 8 lists) who privately shared their lists with me and their votes were recorded anonymously; except for two or three mappers who had already posted their lists publicly in the previous thread.
3) Koget who did an extensive review of all maps on his stream;
4) a three member impartial veteran evaluation committee.
The selection process involved cross referencing the map votes and scores of all these different groups while in a few rare cases, other factors were considered as Minerals noted.
For anyone interested, this document shows in detail the scores and votes of each group separately as well as total score averages across the different evaluation groups.
Designing and executing a map contest is extremely difficult and tricky but I think this is a democratic/inclusive, transparent, systematic, impartial and meritocratic method given what we had to work with. Big thanks to the veteran map makers who have been providing all the contestants with feedback in the BWMN discord since maps were submitted, and who were continuously re-evaluating those maps for their own selection purposes.
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It's going to be insanely hard to pick only four maps from these remaining in the final 12.. Crazy high quality contest.
Will we see the remaining eight in some of the tq showmatches maybe? That would be cool 
Thanks guys & cheers 
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I'm happy to see Static made it.I didn't get the chance to make a voting submission in the previous thread but from all of the maps it seems like this one has the most potential for the highest level of competitive Starcraft.
I would suggest working on the concept a bit (optimizing resouces, making some of the backdoor pathways a bit tighter etc)
In my opinion this is like a better Matchpoint and it would be great if this was forwarded/submitted to the Korean scene in some way with hopes of having this adjusted and accepted for competitive play.
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On April 28 2021 03:16 M3t4PhYzX wrote:It's going to be insanely hard to pick only four maps from these remaining in the final 12.. Crazy high quality contest. Will we see the remaining eight in some of the tq showmatches maybe? That would be cool Thanks guys & cheers
Thanks for your interest and engagement as always.
Yes we were considering organizing at least one 9-game live showmatch between two top foreigners on those 8 maps that won't unfortunately make it to the top 4 (and adding another map that didn't make it to the top 12, to those 8 maps).
There will be another (but with a different focus) map contest in the future (which mappers can submit their maps to) and we are hoping to continue and improve upon the same format, which involves engagement from map makers, the public and players. It has the potential to become a really new, fun and exciting BW series that actively encourages the participation of different groups so everyone feels like they have a stake. It can also showcase wonderful new maps by Koreans and foreigners, which different leagues/events can consider adding to their own map pools.
Thanks oxKnu for your generous compliment about Character's map Static. While mappers always appreciate constructive criticisms, I think endorsements like yours go a long way towards raising their spirits and encouraging them to continue mapping.
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On April 28 2021 03:36 oxKnu wrote:
In my opinion this is like a better Matchpoint
I'm not seeing it, could you elaborate please?
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Updates:
-Added an additional tight bridge to each quadrant. Scouting units will now travel through two small bridges from main to main. (see spoiler)
-Removed bridge going to 3rd gas base, replaced with spine ramp.
-Added rocky high ground spots to reduce some chokes a bit.
-Added more decoration.
-Reduced main size.
+ Show Spoiler +
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On April 28 2021 07:13 Eidolonic wrote:Show nested quote +On April 28 2021 03:36 oxKnu wrote:
In my opinion this is like a better Matchpoint I'm not seeing it, could you elaborate please?
Maybe because it is 2 player dual map on space tileset.
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On April 28 2021 05:32 ox.tQ wrote:Show nested quote +On April 28 2021 03:16 M3t4PhYzX wrote:It's going to be insanely hard to pick only four maps from these remaining in the final 12.. Crazy high quality contest. Will we see the remaining eight in some of the tq showmatches maybe? That would be cool Thanks guys & cheers Thanks for your interest and engagement as always. Yes we were considering organizing at least one 9-game live showmatch between two top foreigners on those 8 maps that won't unfortunately make it to the top 4 (and adding another map that didn't make it to the top 12, to those 8 maps). There will be another (but with a different focus) map contest in the future (which mappers can submit their maps to) and we are hoping to continue and improve upon the same format, which involves engagement from map makers, the public and players. It has the potential to become a really new, fun and exciting BW series that actively encourages the participation of different groups so everyone feels like they have a stake. It can also showcase wonderful new maps by Koreans and foreigners, which different leagues/events can consider adding to their own map pools. Thanks oxKnu for your generous compliment about Character's map Static. While mappers always appreciate constructive criticisms, I think endorsements like yours go a long way towards raising their spirits and encouraging them to continue mapping.
Sounds excellent! Hopefully it will come to fruition.
This is a very good idea.
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Updated thread with 3d images from Titan Reactor.
I recommend map makers use this program to snap some fancy shots of your maps with your updates. 
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On April 28 2021 07:13 Eidolonic wrote:Show nested quote +On April 28 2021 03:36 oxKnu wrote:
In my opinion this is like a better Matchpoint I'm not seeing it, could you elaborate please?
Sure.
First of all my comparison was not related to the obvious features of a map: main/nat base layout, direct path to opponent's main, layout of center of the map etc.
At this point, anything related to those features has been explored in some way or the other, it's just the combination of them that really sets a map apart these days along with the play-ability of the map in the mid-game and/or late-game.
For our example: Matchpoint is a terrible late-game map. I've literally seen some games between pros with early GG with equal supply in TvP. Similar income, similar number of mining bases etc but at some point it becomes almost impossible to maintain that split-map scenario.
So it seems like the maps that get the most usage out of all manage to maintain enough play at all stages of the game. Gone are the donkey maps of the mid 00s and novelty acts like we used to see in the pro-era of SC1.
One example that I think is telling is Eclipse. Probably the best 2-p map of all time, it offers a variety of ways to approach the mid-game and the early game: you can do aggression into macro-game, defend your third well enough to transition into late-game. There are multiple platforms to do dual fork attacks into opponents 4th or 5th, there are solutions to getting out of contains etc.
Everybody at first look of Eclipse started whining (oh my god it's not symmetric, how dare you?!?) but when it came to actual play it turned out to be incredibly well balanced and resourceful strategically.
So in my opinion Static presents the most potential from that point of view.
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On April 29 2021 03:32 oxKnu wrote:Show nested quote +On April 28 2021 07:13 Eidolonic wrote:On April 28 2021 03:36 oxKnu wrote:
In my opinion this is like a better Matchpoint I'm not seeing it, could you elaborate please? ... So it seems like the maps that get the most usage out of all manage to maintain enough play at all stages of the game. Gone are the donkey maps of the mid 00s and novelty acts like we used to see in the pro-era of SC1. One example that I think is telling is Eclipse. Probably the best 2-p map of all time, it offers a variety of ways to approach the mid-game and the early game: you can do aggression into macro-game, defend your third well enough to transition into late-game. There are multiple platforms to do dual fork attacks into opponents 4th or 5th, there are solutions to getting out of contains etc. Everybody at first look of Eclipse started whining (oh my god it's not symmetric, how dare you?!?) but when it came to actual play it turned out to be incredibly well balanced and resourceful strategically. So in my opinion Static presents the most potential from that point of view.
I really appreciate you going into detail about this. It is particularly helpful to understand as a contestant what people are looking for. I'm curious if you feel this way at all about the other 2 player maps Vertebrae or Clock Strikes? What might be lacking from them which sets your opinion lower than Static?
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Okay, I will post my thoughts on the selection of maps that made the cut.
Augustgrad 5.0
Quite visually appealing, however I think this suffers from the curse of Escalade. A map that at first looks fine and very much playable that turns out to be dreaded by pretty much every race.
Too much high-low ground disruption that will affect effective army control. Mixed armies of air + ground will also have trouble making their worth in engagements simply because it's not easy to maintain a clump of units from enough angles in the center tiles of the map.Very zerg favored in ZvP,, Z is incentivized to harass in early to mid-game while building up eco into big drop in late game. Protoss will have a hard time defending 3rd and 4th while effectively finding openings with their deathball in the middle of the map. Terran is will have problems against Arbiters here and generally is disadvantaged by the disruptive terrain features.
Main improvement: consider tightening the side middle bases and merging the ridges into at least one big platform in the center.
Bridging the Gap 0.81
First impressions are: too poor in resources for a large map, will probably end up in static games. Too easy to camp on 3 bases.
Possible improvement: creating a backdoor path between the mains and the 9 and 3 o'clock bases, re-adjusting the middle slightly to fit in some mineral patches in the middle of the map for very late game scenarios.
Clock Strikes
Mains are too big for this type of base orientation. I like that it offers good options for third expo and incentivizes players on establishing a strong middle defense position that in turn will allow for nice counter-play in drops or harass to 4th (or 3rd) depending on situation.
Improvements: Hard to say but I think the middle should be more refined somehow, maybe inverting the wings in the centre and relocating mineral patches?
GOOD NIGHT 1.2
On first glance it might look quite OP for Terran but I think that is fixable by adjusting the layout of 3rd and 4th bases. The early game on this might turn out to be quite bland on the regular which in turn might lead to a lull towards the mid-game.
Improvement: Maybe double ramp at 6 and 12o'clock bases. Making the mineral-only less chokey might favor some much needed harassment by the looks of it.
Mayday 0.93
I like the look of it, but out of all might be one of the hardest to see playing out well. The layout of the middle platforms favors armies avoiding each other since it's very easy to have a large army broken up (imagine a few control groups of hydras getting stormed in those bridges while they're trying to merge from rally points.
Improvement: To he honest I don't know. It feels like it's 2 maps into one. So maybe simplify it somehow?
Sanctuary 0.97
Although it might seem that it's a bit more open than something like Fighting Spirit I think it will end up playing quite similar in the end. The variations don't affect the regular play in most match-ups imo. PvZ might be a bit more difficult in the first 10 minutes of the game than FS.
Improvement: I think it's a decent map from a technical point of view. I've never been a fan of FS-like maps.
Static 0.13
My favorite out of the bunch. Review is in my first post.
Terraform 0.57
Feels like a redesign of La Mancha with some variations. I mean La Mancha is a pretty good standard map so this might turn out to be good if it gets any play.
Improvement: I would reduce the artifact buildings in the middle and around the middle. Too cluttery.
Tundra 0.95
Cool design. I like the placement of all expansions here but unfortunately this will still end-up being too imbalanced in PvZ even though there's a safe ramped third. The safety in the early game for P will be traded for a significant disadvantage in the late game. Clean map from a technical point of view.
Improvement: Don't know if for this map, but I'd like to see this base layout explored more. As in different orientation, air space exposure etc.
Turbine
A normalized version of Blockchain in some way. But maybe that's a stretch. Generally I think it's good, a little bit Protoss favored and maybe lacking some more features to make it stand out more. It's difficult to anticipate where the counter play could from when employing a macro strategy.
Improvement: I can't think of a good one. A drastic one that I would think of is pushing the mineral only expansions in the very middle, but leave the separator where it is now.
Vertebrae
Similar opinion to Augustgrad. Way too disruptive for large army control. I like the third and 4th placement, It could lead to some cheeky plays.
Improvement: same as Augustgrad.
Wavelet
Nice clean map. Obviously very similar to CB. Probably my second favorite out of all.
Improvement: I would add resources at 6 and 12 o'clock. Wild idea would be to add a gas there (maybe with a few mineral patches, maybe just gas).
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You're a saint oxKnu! Be careful giving such thoughtful feedback! Map makers will never leave you alone
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On April 29 2021 08:04 oxKnu wrote:
Okay, I will post my thoughts on the selection of maps that made the cut.
...
Thank you, sir!
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On April 28 2021 05:32 ox.tQ wrote:Show nested quote +On April 28 2021 03:16 M3t4PhYzX wrote:It's going to be insanely hard to pick only four maps from these remaining in the final 12.. Crazy high quality contest. Will we see the remaining eight in some of the tq showmatches maybe? That would be cool Thanks guys & cheers Thanks for your interest and engagement as always. Yes we were considering organizing at least one 9-game live showmatch between two top foreigners on those 8 maps that won't unfortunately make it to the top 4 (and adding another map that didn't make it to the top 12, to those 8 maps).
BWCL is considering using projects like this for upcoming seasons. Be it ordinary league procedure or other events like the King of Kings.
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On April 29 2021 10:54 Eidolonic wrote:Show nested quote +On April 29 2021 08:04 oxKnu wrote:
Okay, I will post my thoughts on the selection of maps that made the cut.
...
Thank you, sir!
No problem.
Forgot to mention this but usually by base layout I mean: main + nat + 3rd. The most convenient combination of the three for the map.
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On April 29 2021 15:18 GeckoXp wrote:Show nested quote +On April 28 2021 05:32 ox.tQ wrote:On April 28 2021 03:16 M3t4PhYzX wrote:It's going to be insanely hard to pick only four maps from these remaining in the final 12.. Crazy high quality contest. Will we see the remaining eight in some of the tq showmatches maybe? That would be cool Thanks guys & cheers Thanks for your interest and engagement as always. Yes we were considering organizing at least one 9-game live showmatch between two top foreigners on those 8 maps that won't unfortunately make it to the top 4 (and adding another map that didn't make it to the top 12, to those 8 maps). BWCL is considering using projects like this for upcoming seasons. Be it ordinary league procedure or other events like the King of Kings.
What wonderful and exciting news! This is a great way to stimulate the foreign map making scene and add a little novelty to the experience of watching or playing games in foreign events. Big shout out to all the organizers, both past and present, who have featured newer or different maps in their map pools.
I understand there is some ambivalence towards newer maps on the part of players sometimes and of course organizers take those concerns seriously. But I think if the map is of sufficient quality (meaning it is well designed, balanced, standard enough with a new twist, aesthetically and technically developed), then it should deserve some consideration. While the definition of such a map may be a contentious issue and topic of debate (and a very interesting/productive one!), I think it is still possible for a newer map to achieve popular acceptance and approval. This has happened to some degree with the map contest submission called Wavelet for example.
I am particularly interested in seeing the creation and/or adoption of a foreign made map that is widely accepted and preferred by most players. Kind of like a new and different yet equivalent version of say a Python, Fighting Spirit, Circuit Breakers, Eclipse, Neo-Sylphid, etc. which were all made by Korean map makers. It would be nice to see a similar foreign made map with a long life span.
But regardless of the desired contents of the map, I think it can be more easily achieved by creating an open dialogue between map makers and players and the public. Feedback really helps map makers and any opportunities to have their maps featured in events (if they are deemed worthy/acceptable) certainly goes a long way toward motivating them to continue on a tradition that has survived on the margins of BW for far too long.
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EPT![[image loading]](https://i.imgur.com/gmg8lzn.png)
![[image loading]](https://i.imgur.com/cfrewZU.gif)
(2)Clock Strikes ![[image loading]](https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/831414389868331029/836887724010635314/unknown.png)
![[image loading]](https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/798461447486963763/836382229419786311/cs13.jpg)
![[image loading]](https://i.imgur.com/tdfNltH.gif)
(2)Static 0.13 
![[image loading]](https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/831414389868331029/836887770613284884/unknown.png)
![[image loading]](https://i.imgur.com/XzzUSh9.jpg)
![[image loading]](https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/831414389868331029/836887449241780234/unknown.png)
![[image loading]](https://i.imgur.com/4MFEmIn.jpg)
![[image loading]](https://i.imgur.com/etCZvsH.gif)
(3)Tundra 0.95 
/ 
![[image loading]](https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/831414389868331029/836887499858771998/unknown.png)
![[image loading]](https://i.imgur.com/O7q7rwn.jpg)
![[image loading]](https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/831414389868331029/836889124329357322/unknown.png)
![[image loading]](https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/815494968592039937/815860725666414611/Untitled_design_26.png)
![[image loading]](https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/831414389868331029/836887591956774972/unknown.png)
![[image loading]](https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/815494968592039937/826238141912055828/QOAxQEL.png)
![[image loading]](https://i.imgur.com/geQ6sr2.gif)
(4)Bridging the Gap 0.81 ![[image loading]](https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/831414389868331029/836887819209277460/unknown.png)
![[image loading]](https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/815494968592039937/831147209503932426/Bridging_the_Gap_0.80.jpg)
![[image loading]](https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/831414389868331029/836887624810496020/unknown.png)
![[image loading]](https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/798461447486963763/836400170266656778/12.jpg)
![[image loading]](https://i.imgur.com/8yz4ed7.gif)
(4)Mayday 0.93 ![[image loading]](https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/831414389868331029/836887657337585684/unknown.png)
![[image loading]](https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/815864488825716766/836245496103829504/Mayday0.93.jpg)
![[image loading]](https://i.imgur.com/3J3Sgmh.gif)
(4)Sanctuary 0.97 
/ ![[image loading]](https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/831414389868331029/836887695371665448/unknown.png)
![[image loading]](https://i.imgur.com/jNXDZbD.jpg)
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![[image loading]](https://i.imgur.com/xJVDouX.jpg)
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