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Replays:
![[image loading]](http://www.teamliquid.net/tlpd/images/Picon_small.png) prodiG vs ![[image loading]](http://www.teamliquid.net/tlpd/images/Zicon_small.png) Gaius
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+ Show Spoiler +Although I am only bronze/silver and prodiG is platinum/diamond, this was the first non bot match to last more than half an hour, spanning most of the map and all but one expansion.
Rawr vs Gaius
[url blocked]
+ Show Spoiler +Nydus unloads versus warp prism play, and only one player smart enough to figure out what his opponent is doing. Find out who!
buu vs ![[image loading]](http://www.teamliquid.net/tlpd/images/Ticon_small.png) Pholon
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+ Show Spoiler +buu opens with a zergling harass into mutas. Pholon responds with thors and missile turrets, but can he hero hold or will he fall to the swarm?
![[image loading]](http://i190.photobucket.com/albums/z144/harryspanner/bannershot.jpg)
Name: Rising Tides
Gametype: 1v1
Tileset: Xil (Wasteland)
Map size: 208x184 (180x156 playable)
Layout:
+ Show Spoiler +
Main and natural:
+ Show Spoiler +
Island expansion and high yield:
+ Show Spoiler +
Middle:
+ Show Spoiler +
Overview:
My initial idea for this map was to create a lifelike island for 1v1s with the feeling that you and your enemy are stranded somewhere in the ocean and there is nobody coming to help you. You are forced to fight for dominance of the island or die.
I wanted to make many attack paths as well as lots of spread out, challenging to defend expansions to hopefully create a lot of diversity in the games you play on this map. For example, the high ground in the middle of the map has skinnier ramps than the ramps leading through the high yield beach expansions, so if a direct push were too difficult, you could take the long way around or attack the natural. There are two entrances to the natural, but there are also Xel'Naga towers useful for watching backdoor attacks.
I also tried to make the map reaper/colossus and proxy friendly, with the beach extending all the way around the map and some low cliff ledges at the back of the mains.
I'm really hoping for a lot of downloads and a lot of feedback. If you use the map editor to test it, you will spawn at either of the starting locations randomly as a random race against a random computer. Thanks!
Changelog: Edit 3
+ Show Spoiler +v1.1 update
+ Reduced the water level on the north face of the map
+ Worked on making the symmetry imperfect
+ Connected the beaches all around the map
+ Moved the island expansions within blink range
+ Moved the Xel'Naga towers from the high ground to the middle ground and added middle ground ramps on either side of that blue expansion
+ Removed the high ground and tertiary ramp that extended around the edge of the naturals
+ The cliff extensions at the back of the mains felt too cheesy, so I made them more reasonable and functional
+ Heavy doodad and texture work
v1.2 update
+ Map size changed from 208x176 (196x164 playable) to 208x184 (180x156 playable) so air units can't go around the edges undetected
+ Fixed blocked mineral patches
+ All vespene geysers on the map were originally rich due to an oversight by me. All have been changed back to normal geysers with the exception of the geysers at the high yield expansions
+ Increased the width of the path between the gold expansions
+ Added and adjusted doodads to block siege tanks and thors from accessing the thin, tall cliff line behind the high yield expansions
+ Slightly increased the width of the short cuts between the cliffs at the top left and bottom right of the map to allow all units to walk through
+ Decreased the width and changed the angles of the main entrance ramps to the mains
+ Tripled the width of the outer ramps to the center high ground grassy areas
+ Doubled the width of the ramps leading to the blue mineral beach expansions
+ Increased the high ground area of the 12 o'clock and 6 o'clock blue mineral expansions
+ Increased the width of the beach areas leading to the natural expansions by about double
+ In tandem with the increased beach width, pushed the island expansions farther out while still within blink distance. This greatly reduced the amount of air territory around top right and bottom left corners of the map
+ Changed the beach edges from cliffs into sloping sand into the water like a real beach. Where cliffs remain, it's now more like an ocean trench
+ Added a layer of no pathing a few feet out past the waves all around the island
+ Added lots of doodads, especially to the beach areas
v1.3 update
+ Changed the entrances to the main and natural such that the second entrance to the main was removed, and the primary entrance to the main is now just beyond the new second entrance to the natural
+ Added a pool of water to the top left and bottom right of the map in order to reduce cliff walking into the mains and to remove excess beach behind the blue mineral beach expansions
+ Increased the width of the triple wide ramps to quadruple wide
+ Added rain across the entire map
+ Dimmed and greened the lighting to agree with the weather
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makes me think of:
- far cry
- crysis
- warcraft 3
- the second level of Halo 1
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It looks really cool, I like the beach/oasis feel it has for a remote island. Very nicely done.
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Honestly I really like this map and all the different styles of gameplay it can open up.
I dunno how balanced it would be but I would for sure play it to find out.
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Dear god colossi will rape on this map..
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Very pretty map; very impressive. Gameplay-wise, it doesn't remind me strongly of any map I've seen for SC2 (or really for SCBW for that matter) and that makes me pretty excited to see what games would be like on this map. I really appreciate that it's big and with all the narrow terrain and cliffs and such, I might think it could really make positional play that much more important. (Not that I have a very informed opinion; I'm terrible at SC in all its forms.) But I'm really excited to try playing it--thanks for posting!
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I really like it. It's beautiful, and looks pretty fair. It seems like in terms of gameplay it would be a little similar to match point from SC:BW (certainly not a bad thing, Match Point was awesome), but aesthetically it's completely different. I think that sob3k may be right about coloxen here.
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ah, time to relax on the beach... nice map!
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This map looks awesome and I do like the use of multiple heights. I have a question though, how large is that little short cut that goes around to the back of the main? Is it too small for tanks to get through? If it isn't, then I think that it should be so that the tanks have to go all the way around the cape. Good work :D
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Thanks for the warm reception guys. 
Canucks, the design I had in mind for that choke was that all units could fit through, but if ever there were a battle there it might be smart to take the long way to avoid those ever so narrow chokes. At the same time, if you always took the short cut you might miss a proxy barracks or pylon hidden on the longer path.
While I was making the map I made sure that Colossi and Ultralisks could fit through single file, but I just checked for siege tanks and thors and it turns out that on both sides of the map, they can only fit through from the expansion side and can't quite fit where the cliffs meet on the back side. Depending on feedback, I might change that or leave it as is.
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Im a mapmaker 2 and I love ur map!!
Super good job
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This looks amazing dude, keep them coming!
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Looks like desert oasis at first, but the rush distances are a lot shorter and this map has a lot of choke points. Taking and holding expos will be easy against ground, probably a map where air will dominate
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I really like the idea of this map. Beach fights ftw. This would be a very strategical map.
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it's very pretty, i just don't know what zerg would do on it.
you have to remember: toss always has t2 colossi and terran always has t2 tanks. zerg has units that get owned by cliffs
i'm not saying it's impossible to balance a cool map like this, but usually the more cliffs, the less fun zerg is going to have.
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beautiful map. i dont play SC2 but i think it would feel fresh to play on it.
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Great map, can't wait to play it.
I think Zerg will have to use mobility on this map. Since there are allot of chokes and edges on this map. As a Protoss players I would take the high ground in the middle as soon as I could with Stalkers and Colossus. A Terran could probably turtle pretty hard and perhaps grab 1-2. Zerg has a really safe natrual and will proborly fast expand there.
Any imbalance will make itself clear when we can play it.
This is the only player made map that I actually would like to play. The best one I have seen so far.
Keep up the good work.
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Very awesome looking map!
One thing that immediately struck me as looking imbalanced was the small choke and huge cliffs in the middle by the middle I mean the two raised levels in between the two gold expos). Zerg would have a very very hard time breaking a tank heavy terran army or a collosus/sentry heavy protoss army.
My suggestion is making the choke in between the two ramps considerably bigger and reducing the amount of space atop the highest level. Keep the cliffs for sure, they are sexy and I could see lot's of cute tactics happening on them, just try to find a way so that area isn't zerg's worst nightmare :D
Again, I would like to say that this is my favorite community made map so far!
EDIT: I really think this map could become one of the most played maps of StarCraft 2. Just keep taking in community feedback and adjusting the map accordingly.
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Looks like a real solid map with a few question marks(cliff walking units and the middle). I'm looking forward to trying this map out. Seems like drop and nydus will be very effective on this.
My suggestion is to place some doodads in either main, nothing excessive but perhaps some broken tech from either P or T. In the other main some broken protoss tech(if you went with T in the other main) or zerg carcass/skeleton, just to accentuate that feeling which OP described.
Great map, gw!
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On June 14 2010 10:21 Tiazi wrote:
makes me think of:
- the second level of Halo 1
God damn I loved that level, best of any fps.
Really nice map, loving the look and feel and the possibilities of games. Colossus and mass stalker ftw on this map!
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very nice map, utterly different from what i've seen before both in sc1 and sc2
i also can't spot any abusable tactics from any race, but i might be mistaken
the idea and the implementation is absolutely breathtaking, after a couple of games will be played on this and a couple of polishing will be done, this will be one of the best maps
there is also (edit* couple more) more suggestions:
-make the island expansions with more land, so that expanding terrans can't defend am island expo too easy
-remove the water on the edges where there is just water (kinda redundant), since alot of air will come from that and will be too much to scout - make that area unplayable, add borders, remove it, copy-paste and make smaller map, just fix that
-map needs more doodads
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Fired up the map in the editor and played around on it. Turns out that alot of the mineral lines have one mineral patch(I think one or two expansions had two patches that were affected) that sort of lies behind other patches so the worker has to go around the other ones to get to that one lonely patch in the back. Might be a concious decision but imho it should be fixed. Otherwise the map looks solid. Really feels like being on and island.
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looks a little like peaks of beakdu or whatever that map was called
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hmm... Whats this dark spot in my shorts...
+ Show Spoiler +really nice map! Anytime i wanted to throw an idea in there, i would notice it is already in there.
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On June 14 2010 10:48 palanq wrote:
ah, time to relax on the beach... nice map!
Not if my seige tanks can help it!!!!
The tileset really reminds me of Warcraft 3. I'm almost expecting murlocs to pop out of the sea and harass my workers.
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I really like it. Only possible problem I can see is Terrans controlling that middle high ground... I'm not sure I like the idea of having to run up to high ground to get to your enemy. I suppose you could use those side paths, but can Terran cover the way to the side path from that high ground? Dunno, just may be worth looking into
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Danl9rm, I share your concerns about zerg but more broadly because the way to go about balancing a map racially isn't obvious to me. I designed the map with some general balance ideas in mind but otherwise had my fingers crossed. I'm hoping that some veterans will be able to point out and explain specific problem areas and potential fixes while beta is down, and when beta comes back up maybe we can get some demonstrative replays that reveal areas that need fixing.
UmmTheHobo, in previous versions of the map the alley in the middle was skinnier and the headlands were larger and more imposing, so I'm definitely still trying to feel out the best width and would consider making it yet wider and the high ground maybe smaller. Again, concerns for zerg noted.
Farbror, I have a destroyed battlecruiser and a destroyed carrier in the water pool on the left of the map, a destroyed barracks on the top left beach, a destroyed command center in the bottom right seabed, and another destroyed protoss ship against the cliff face below the right main. Since this is my first map, I don't want to doodad too excessively like you said. I don't think I want to put any broken tech on the high ground; the amount of broken tech on the map so far feels about right, like there have been battles here in the past but not many. I'll probably steer clear of zerg skeletons. I kind of like that the only bones on the map are from one prehistoric fossil that gives the map a sense of ancient history as well.
As for mechanical considerations, the blocked mineral patches were definitely not intended. I'll see to that as soon as I can.
MindRush, my thinking for the small size of the island expansions was that there wouldn't be too much room for any race to fortify on them, much like the island expansion in Scrap Station. Please feel free to clarify if my logic is exactly backward. As for the sea edges around the map, the playable edge is moved in as far as possible without intruding on the beach areas. I could definitely look into pathing blockers to bring air in a bit closer to land.
Subversion, terran can't cover the side paths leading to the naturals from the middle high ground even with siege tanks behind the los blockers. They can defend the wide ramp from the gold beach expansion leading to the main, but I'm ok with that because they can't cover the other two ramps leading to that same middle ground. My hope is that turtlers putting too many eggs in one basket will find their bases under attack from other angles.
As soon as I post this I'm going to add a working changelog to the OP.
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Wow, great map, best user created map I've seen so far.
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looks like a almost exact replica of the tide born island on perfect world. and oddly enought the expansion for the tide born is also called rising tides. u play pw by any chance?
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Lots of expansions, balanced layout and aesthetically pleasing, I think this is easily one of the top melee maps created thus far. My favorite part is that it's your own original design instead of just remaking a BW map.
A+, people seriously need to pay attention to this one. My sole complaint is that the middle is a little choke heavy. Honestly I think the middle should be more open and easier to storm.
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Sweden33719 Posts
Please tell me the water will actually rise and it will be an island map half the time :D!?!?
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On June 15 2010 00:48 FrozenArbiter wrote:
Please tell me the water will actually rise and it will be an island map half the time :D!?!?
That would be so cool!!!
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Sweden33719 Posts
Seriously, please please please make a version like that haha
I love the way this map looks, and it's like tailor made for that feature!
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On June 14 2010 10:21 Tiazi wrote:
makes me think of:
- far cry
- crysis
- warcraft 3
- the second level of Halo 1
makes me think of mario kart , koopa beach race lol.
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Ballistixz, I've never even heard of perfect world, guess that's just a neat coincidence. 
Sorry to disappoint Jinro, but I don't have any idea how to do that stuff. My suspicion is that might make the map worse anyway.  In previous versions I had the terrain level decreased ever so slightly on the left/top side of the map so the water covered the sand by a few inches. However, that led to some trouble as the minimap didn't show the sand at all under the water, which came all the way up to the cliff edges, and on high and ultra graphics settings the water is so clear, like real water, that you couldn't really tell you were wading in water in the first place.
Edit:
Perhaps I'll leave a rising water alternate version as a possibility. I'll add that to the changelog. I'm not sure what would happen if ground units got caught on the beach when the water rises -- would they drown? Water rising quickly enough to drown a scouting speedling before it could make it back to land might be a bit silly.
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Looks really cool.
Things to change imo:
1) 2 entrances into main are not ok.
2) too little space in the middle
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now, you should make a battlestar galactica map... like have the entire map be on the back of the wounded battlestar
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I like the map...Mineral Patches need some adjustment, some of the patches cause a worker to have to go around the back side to mine.
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Sweden33719 Posts
Perhaps I'll leave a rising water alternate version as a possibility. I'll add that to the changelog. I'm not sure what would happen if ground units got caught on the beach when the water rises -- would they drown? Water rising quickly enough to drown a scouting speedling before it could make it back to land might be a bit silly.
Yeah, there'd need to be some discussion about what exactly would happen :p Probably shouldn't rise too fast, and the areas between land should be short-ish so you don't get trapped and lose a ton of units :D
But something like every 5 minutes it starts to rise/sink, takes a minute/30 seconds before it rises completely or something like that.
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The map looks great!!! Very enjoyable atmosphere in it. But I'm a little bit concerned about ZvT, the lack of space makes tanks and mech really powerfull on that map I think. Anyway great work.
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This map is nice looking and... THE MOST BALANCED MAP EVER. No one choke leading to 2483279523 bases,high ground covering another 242356235 bases making it super easy for Terran to hold. Big amount of ramps and paths opens different tactics and makes Zerg shine with Nydus and Protoss with Proxy Pylons. Terrans? PROBLEM TERRANS,MAPS NOT FAVORED FOR YA?
Still,this map has cool high grounds,must have the middle high ground as Terran. I'd like to see more maps like that. A ladder must have. Totally <3
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Very cool looking map. Keep up the good work!
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Is this map going to have issues with siege tanks on the low ground behind the mains? That'd be my concern, but otherwise it looks like a very well done map
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Man I need to have my eyes checked, indeed there are quite alot of doodads around the map. my bad :D
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Holy crap thats awesome. Seriously blown away by this. WTB beta back so I can play it.
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Plz don't kill me now but this reminds me of some of the CnC:Generals maps. =P
Can't wait to try it out though! Keep up the good work!
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how come almost every map in sc2 have ramps?
Why not have flat or open bases, to get some age of empires like game play where you can easily harass the economy.
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This map looks really great and would be a lot of fun to play.
If you're trying to take advantage of new mechanics, do you think there are any other cute places you can stick weeds in all that space? I only noticed one (mirrored) use.
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Jinro, something like that sounds reasonable. I'll save that project for a rainy day.
Logo, I'm not sure how much terror the paths behind the mains will cause, but your concern is definitely noted. We'll see what happens if people test it enough when beta gets back up.
Crais, you can still test the map against the computer while beta is down. Just open it in the map editor and click this button:
+ Show Spoiler +
Nicksa, I really like the two spots I have los blockers now and I'm not sure if more are necessary. You'll note I didn't use destructible rocks anywhere on the map either, just going with what feels right. 
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This is a beautiful map and it seems fairly balanced. However, I think the top and bottom edges (around the 12 and 6 o'clock expansion) could use more open space. Right now the middle is narrow so it is good for siege tanks, but I'm afraid if you manage to siege up the 12 and 6 o'clock expansion, you might have easy and total map control. If those areas would have more moving room, it would be a little bit for balanced. I'm fine with Terran controlling the middle, but not with the whole map. Possibly widen the ramps to that expansion and just add some more low ground (sand) to make armies more maneuverable against siege tanks.
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Even if you can't get the water to visually rise, maybe as a stand-in you could add a trigger to switch between high and low tide every five minutes, coloring the sand blue (can you do that? I've seen some custom map with color-changing terrain,) and applying a 75% slow effect in the shallow water.
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On June 15 2010 00:05 Gaius Baltar wrote:
Subversion, terran can't cover the side paths leading to the naturals from the middle high ground even with siege tanks behind the los blockers. They can defend the wide ramp from the gold beach expansion leading to the main, but I'm ok with that because they can't cover the other two ramps leading to that same middle ground. My hope is that turtlers putting too many eggs in one basket will find their bases under attack from other angles.
Ahhh yes, I see that you can get out the side there from your natural, and skip that middle ground altogether. That definitely shouldn't be any kind of a problem then.
Nice map, can't wait to play it One of the best-looking I've seen so far, love this tileset.
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if a unit is in the water we should just assume that can still touch because it is the beach. wading in the water should just cause 1/2 to 1/3 movement just like what happens when wading in water.
also if the tides are not actually going to rise i suggest a name change.
how about
-Lord of the Flies.
-castaway.
-stranded.
-survivor.
-lost.
-enemy within.
-unrising tides.
-tease of tides.
-have a nice day island. (smiley face at 11 o'clock)
i would also like to suggest some easter island heads or a parody there of the heads as some cool map artifacts.
also would like to say that you are doing good work. it looks really good.
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Wow! Every time I look at this it amazes me how balanced it seems.
You really captured how I imagine Starcraft 2 to feel like when you play it.
Really inspired me to make maps that feel this way!!! Thanks
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I love the look of this map. Hands down the best *looking* player made map I've seen on teamliquid. will download it to play around on. cheers.
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thats Koopa Beach Race from Mario Kart lol
looks nice.
On a side note, I really hope somebody makes a decent Mario Kart mod (better than those which appeared soon after teh editor was launched). I'd get addicted to that.
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so just got done playing around with it for 20 minutes. here are a few things I noticed right off.
This mineral patch infuriates me. The SCV's have to travel all the way around the backside of the mineral line to mine from it. I am not entirely sure if this is a "balance" issue, because it appears the left side spawn point has an equally infuriating mineral cluster but I would personally change this unless you're terribly attached to it being this way.
+ Show Spoiler +
Secondly, there is a cute little tank-able ridge right under the starting area on both sides. This is probably intentional, but I just wanted to point it out on the off chance you weren't aware of it. Could cause some balance issues, not sure.
+ Show Spoiler +
all in all pretty awesome looking map. the beach area's seem a little... bland? when playing on them, as does the water. Maybe throw some doodads on/around/in these areas to make it look less monotone. Edit: Very minor complaint however and I may be in the minority in this opinion,
Edit: This little section of terrain hurts my eyes for some reason. I don't know if it's because its 1:40am or what but my brain keeps trying to process the texture of the high-ground directly up the ramp near the SCV as elevated when it is most certainly not. Perhaps smooth this out.
+ Show Spoiler +
Hope this feedback helps!
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Looking at it a second time I really really think you should either get rid of one of the main's ramps or put some rocks at it.
Having 2 ways into a main is basically a death sentence for Protoss players. They need to be able to block off their ent if that's their build. As it stands the protoss player will get hurt pretty hardcore by any sort of ling pressure since they can't possibly wall fast enough 2 ent.
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Whole, noted. I think that's an issue that won't become clear until a decent amount of testing after beta is back up.
Xylon, the name is more of a metaphor for impending combat represented by the island and the actual tides. I would argue that the ground in Blistering Sands doesn't hurt your troops, so even if my water levels are static I think I'll keep my map name too.
Cyo, FarbrorAbavna pointed out that mineral patch mistake as soon as he played as well.  It's on the changelog to be fixed in the next version. The ledge behind the main was more intended for reapers. A tank can only get there if dropped, and I think a team of hydras, marines, or stalkers could deal with that pretty quickly, so I'm ok with it. What I'm more worried about is colossi, since they could retreat all the way down to the beach, be almost completely safe most of the time, and then come back up to attack whenever they like. We'll see if that's an issue too. I didn't have enough creativity initially to make the beaches a bit more interesting to look at, I'll try to think of some ideas. One thing about putting doodads underwater is the water appears very foggy on high and ultra graphics settings and you can't see to the bottom. Maybe it's just the type of water I used and that can be changed too. I'll see about blurring some textures on that patch of ground for the next version.
A big thanks to you Cyoadventure for all that feedback and to anybody else who is testing the map with the editor, and thanks to everyone posting such encouraging comments. At this rate I should be able to iron out a lot of kinks before beta returns and publish a really strong version of the map.
Edit:
On_Slaught, I guess I was taking a fairly large risk when I decided to split the entrances to the main and natural, but I was willing to because I think the long rush distance should give enough time to set up defenses. I'm thinking a protoss could wall at the main ramp and have some zealots ready to defend the natural ramp by the time he stationed a probe at the Xel'Naga tower to watch for backdoors. We'll see what happens after more testing.
Madkipz, thanks for the tip. I'm driving my little sister to the beach today so I'll get on that when I get back.
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You might want to publish it more officially than just here. http://www.sc2mapster.com/ is perfect both for uploading and for updating.
map looks great, except that the backdoor ramps feel VERY big I had to use two supply depoes and two raxxes to wall it off entirely, same with the other ramp. not that i dont like it, because it adds incentive to not wall off at all. It just dosnt work outside of protoss warping in 4 pylons and a gateway just for ONE entrace xD.
oh yea and that mineral bug probably exists somewhere within the other expansions as well, i will be checking for it next game.
Also, the geysers are high yield yet there are pairs of vespene for every expansion. What do you wish to accomplish with this and why did you make them high yield?
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it feel so empty, so often map are surcharged, here it's the opposite !
you need more texture work. far to empty, you see tiling at every level.
i like the layout, maybe add more doodoads like some trees, LOS blocker and of course, some fish !
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Asthetically pleasing, but like every other map people seem to make it's filled with unnecessary chokes and too much unused space at the edges.
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On June 16 2010 06:03 FabledIntegral wrote:
Asthetically pleasing, but like every other map people seem to make it's filled with unnecessary chokes and too much unused space at the edges.
There really isn't that much unused space... When you account for the map boundaries (vs the edge of what is shown in the screenshot) there's not much space. The most unused air space is around the island expos, but you want that.
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I went ahead and uploaded the map at sc2mapster.com like you suggested. And Madkipz, I didn't actually notice I put down rich vespene instead of normal, that was a complete mistake. :noo: I fixed that for the next version, but I kept rich vespene geysers at the gold mineral expansions since I expect those bases will be damn hard to hold and deserve the reward. That and the width of the backdoor ramps are subject to change. I guess there won't be significant enough testing until beta returns for me to make well informed decisions on making changes.
ZedrOne, if you look quite carefully there are fish swimming around the sunken command center and a shark off the northeast beach. I'll add more fish in the next version and I have some ideas for beach doodads that won't have footprints.
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I had all my wisdom teeth taken out three hours ago, so I should have a lot of downtime this week to work on the map.
If anybody has more tweaks to suggest, that would really help me kill some time and try to forget about my awesome new headset. Thanks!
+ Show Spoiler +
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In hopeful anticipation that beta will return soon, I've update the OP with a new download, new screenshots, and a changelog for v1.2.
Here I'll illustrate and explain the major changes.
Center map:+ Show Spoiler +v1.0 + Show Spoiler +v1.1 ![[image loading]](http://i190.photobucket.com/albums/z144/harryspanner/midbefore.jpg?t=1277911623) v1.2 ![[image loading]](http://i190.photobucket.com/albums/z144/harryspanner/midafter.jpg?t=1277911687) The path was widened and I reduced the high ground area to curtail the power of terran turtling and make it easier for zerg armies to move through.
Main entrances:+ Show Spoiler +v1.1 ![[image loading]](http://i190.photobucket.com/albums/z144/harryspanner/mainentrancebefore.jpg?t=1277912273) v1.2 ![[image loading]](http://i190.photobucket.com/albums/z144/harryspanner/mainentranceafter.jpg?t=1277912304) It didn't seem very sensible to have two chokes leading to each grassy high ground area in the middle of the map, so I increased the width of the outer ramps to facilitate troop movement. The new angle and smaller width of the main ramp should make it easier to defend. It can be walled off by a single barracks with an addon and one supply depot as well as with a gateway, a pylon, and a zealot.
12 o'clock and 6 o'clock expansions:+ Show Spoiler +v1.1 ![[image loading]](http://i190.photobucket.com/albums/z144/harryspanner/hillexpobefore.jpg?t=1277912945) v1.2 ![[image loading]](http://i190.photobucket.com/albums/z144/harryspanner/hillexpoafter.jpg?t=1277912964) I widened the ramps to the blue mineral beach expansions because there was no need for them to be so skinny, and I increased the high ground area at the expansions to allow a more reasonable amount of space to build on.
Island expansions:+ Show Spoiler +v1.1 ![[image loading]](http://i190.photobucket.com/albums/z144/harryspanner/islandbefore.jpg?t=1277913514) v1.2 ![[image loading]](http://i190.photobucket.com/albums/z144/harryspanner/islandafter.jpg?t=1277913594) If zerg is still having trouble with the middle of the map, the newly wide paths to the naturals should play to their strengths. And by expanding the beach there, the island expansions needed to be pushed back, which greatly decreased the huge uncontested airspace at those two corners of the map.
Beach edges:+ Show Spoiler +v1.1 ![[image loading]](http://i190.photobucket.com/albums/z144/harryspanner/beachbefore.jpg?t=1277914074) v1.2 ![[image loading]](http://i190.photobucket.com/albums/z144/harryspanner/beachafter.jpg?t=1277914158) This change is purely cosmetic, but I felt like it was pretty necessary since I've never been to a beach that immediately dropped off nine feet. There is a layer of no pathing a few feet beyond the water edge, so the playable area hasn't changed. My hope is that since now the beaches extend regularly, the places on the beach that end in cliffs will look like ocean trenches.
I'd be really happy to read any feedback on the new version. Hopefully if there are any glaring flaws I can fix them quickly before beta returns so I can publish a competent version right away. My main concern is whether or not it is possible to build defenses at the two entrances to the main quickly enough to be able to confidently defend rushes. The rush distance is long, but I'm still antsy about that, so any feedback about that issue would be especially appreciated.
Thanks again!
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You know what would really make this map awesome? To make the water rise (that's initially what I thought you did with the map).
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On July 01 2010 02:06 Pandonetho wrote:
You know what would really make this map awesome? To make the water rise (that's initially what I thought you did with the map).
I don't think you can add trigger in a melee map (without making it custom).
The map looks awesome, and the changes look good but it still needs to be tested online.
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Netherlands6142 Posts
Looks good
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IMO if your goal was to make your third and fourth expansions harder to control you could have done a lot better. The fourth base has a relatively small choke. The third had a lot of wasted space behind its mineral line and also appears easy to defend.
The naturals have no nearby cliffs for harassment options
You might to consider adding those.
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I would say that the 3rd and 4th were already difficult to control before I made changes because of the layout of the map. Given how spread out they are from your main and natural, and considering that you'll be even more spread out when it comes to offense, my goal was not to make them harder to defend.
Actually my goal was to make a handful of slight adjustments to make them about the same difficulty to control, relative to each other, so that you'd have to decide which would be your third and which would be your fourth. The high ground expansion has the obvious advantage of the high ground, and now it has a little more room to build defenses. The low ground expansion already has tons of space to build defenses and is closer to your main if you're making air units to defend, so I feel like they're probably on pretty even footing now. You may even decide to completely wall off your main entrance and expand to your opponent's high ground expansion from your natural for your third. You may be feeling a little ballsy and note that the high yield expansion is a little closer to your main than the hill and blue mineral beach expansions, and take that as your third instead.
If you can get into the main, you have a long cliff line from which to harass the natural. I think reapers could go pretty nuts there, actually. Another thing to consider would be using the area behind the los blockers as a staging ground for drops on the natural. And I would say that even if the naturals do prove hard to harass, they should still be easier to attack than the average natural since they don't share an entrance with the mains.
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I've been toying around with an alternate version of the natural, for which there are now two entrances, but the second entrance to the main is removed.
+ Show Spoiler +
I think it might play a little like the Desert Oasis natural, except the second entrance to the natural is a small ramp instead of a very wide choke. What do you guys think?
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LOL This reminds me of Koopa Troopa Beach from Mario Cart lol. Looks likes a good map, I would like to try a few rounds on it to see how it feels. Not sure this is really important or not but the terrain used below the Main bases, "the Middle Level Teir" the greyish terrain kinda throws me off. Maybe show some different terrain or something to make the main "All green" seem a little more lively. A transition or maybe throw some beach sand on the main area or something to make the terrain less of a odd transition. It just needs something else to make it seem complete.
Thats my input gl with your map 
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I think with the new macro mechanics any island map will he heavily toss favoured.
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On June 15 2010 00:48 FrozenArbiter wrote:
Please tell me the water will actually rise and it will be an island map half the time :D!?!?
I like this idea. Unfortunately units can move around underwater if there is land for them to move on, so some other trigger that destroys units or something would be necessary.
I had on early on in the beta about making a map where you destroy a destructible rock that acts as a damn and floods a portion of the map, narrowing a choke or something. This would work sort of similarly.
Also, dunno why, but I really like the name of this map....
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I want to try this map out so bad because I want to see what happens when a unit goes into the water
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On July 04 2010 11:24 Tazza wrote:
I want to try this map out so bad because I want to see what happens when a unit goes into the water
Nothing. They move around on the ground under the water as though there isn't any water.
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nice map man, i tried fiddling with the map editor and failed miserably so i really do appreciate this! kind of like when you first watch snooker its boring as hell but then u go and try and play and you suck you go back watch a game and your amazed of whats going on! maybe thats just me ^_^ nice map any how!
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On July 04 2010 11:25 RisingTide wrote:Show nested quote +On July 04 2010 11:24 Tazza wrote:
I want to try this map out so bad because I want to see what happens when a unit goes into the water Nothing. They move around on the ground under the water as though there isn't any water.
Tazza, there are no effects like being slowed down or drowning when walking in the water, like RisingTide said. + Show Spoiler +I've been stalking you for some time now. Do be worried, it's rather sinister.
Since I put a layer of no pathing just beyond the waterline, units wouldn't be able to walk deep enough to drown anyway. This is as far out into the water units can walk.
+ Show Spoiler + Also note the minimap: the playable bounds hug the farthest beach edges quite tightly, so the amount of underwater beach is much less than what you see in the layout screenshot.
Barnzy, I know just what you mean. I had never used the editor before I made this map, and it shows.
+ Show Spoiler +All I can advise is keep your head down, keep trying, and eventually you'll figure out what you're doing one discovery at a time. That way, you can look back at your first attempts and take pride in your own improvement.
I should have version 1.3 ready soon. After I adjusted some terrain, the water edges became jagged again so I just have to go back and smooth them out.
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It looks like I finished version 1.3 right on time. Updated the changelog, screenshots, and download in the OP.
The big changes, primarily to the main and natural, should all be visible in this comparison:
+ Show Spoiler +v1.2 ![[image loading]](http://i190.photobucket.com/albums/z144/harryspanner/main-natural.jpg?t=1278563238) v1.3 ![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/tnsjo.jpg)
I removed the second entrance to the main and instead added a second entrance to the natural. The entrance to the main now extends into the natural in a position to defend its new entrance. The two entrances to the natural are very close together compared to the split attack paths needed to pressure both at once, and both entrances are quite thin, so I don't expect defending the natural should be too difficult.
I felt that the cliffline for colossus and reapers along the main was too long, and I didn't like all the extra beach area behind the blue mineral beach expansions, so I added a pool in each location to fix both of those problems.
In order to better suit the name of the map and its intended atmosphere, I added rain and dimmed the lighting and tinted it slightly green to match the weather. Ideally, I would like to be able to assign weather probabilities to the map. For example, 70% of the time you load the map, it's raining, and the other 30% it's nice and sunny. For now, I'll stick with the rain unless the popular reaction to the new lighting and weather is horrified disgust, in which case I have a sunny version saved.
I'm going to try to publish now, but any feedback is still much appreciated!
Edit: Can't seem to host the map publicly. If there is anybody who wants to try the map, I can friend you on battle.net and invite you that way. Ideally, if two people would like to do that, I'd be happy to spectate.
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ummmm i just think it could use alot of texture work to make it look and feel morealistic, if you need help im here
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Hey guys, I managed to publish the map properly on my third attempt. It is available for play in custom games under join a game, however it is nearly at the bottom of the popular list at about 3 games in last hour.
I'd recommend using create a game and searching Rising Tides 1v1. The category is "custom, melee" so you will be able to open the game lobby to the public or invite a friend to play against.
If you have any fun games, please post your replays.
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very nice designed map with many possible ways to succeed
looking forward for balancing (tank/colossi range, width of each entrance etc)
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Updated the OP with a replay section and information about finding the map in custom games.
There have been several small updates between v1.3 and what is on battle.net, shown here:
![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/QxLLl.jpg)
I updated the texture on the stretches from the mains to the gold expansions, as I wasn't happy with the dark and gray texture scheme from before. I also added a handful of critters to the map, you can see one next to the tree.
![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/Xrruz.jpg)
I moved the ramp a little closer to the primary entrance to the natural so it's easier to defend both at the same time. I also made it thinner and changed the angle to it's easier to wall off. Thirdly, I added a few more ancient cliff edge pillars to the beach so you can micro around them.
Again, please post your replays!
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I'll be in Florida all next week, but before I leave tomorrow I wanted to post a rather significant, though unpolished, update I've been working on that you guys can munch on before SC2 is released.
I received some feedback from buu and others that I agreed with and wanted to address. What buu had to say was that the area around the entrance to the main, the chokes leading to the natural, and the centerpiece of the map felt very congested. In games I spectated, I observed that players were having a difficult time defending their main and natural base at the same time, despite their close proximity.
To try to fix this, I expanded the playable map bounds from 180x156 to 212x156 so I could allot the extra width where needed. Here is a comparison of the map prior to the size increase and after, with more detailed pictures to follow.
+ Show Spoiler +v1.3 ![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/Jr5rv.jpg) New version ![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/spkTO.jpg)
As you can see, there is much more room to maneuver in the new version. Now for the specifics.
Center map width changes
+ Show Spoiler +v1.3 suggestions ![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/7iZlA.jpg) New version ![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/L5HqD.jpg)
However, the added width for the center of the map meant lots of unused space around the edges, so I added a backdoor path to the blue mineral beach expansion and I changed the hill expansion to be two way.
+ Show Spoiler +
One of the major changes I am considering is adjusting the waterline around the map so that you can't walk behind the main base or behind the hill expansions. This is largely because I feel those paths are somewhat cheesy and they have become almost redundant with the addition of new, parallel paths. To explain what I mean, the blue lines in this picture are the new water line, the red are the old paths that would become unpathable, and the green are the new paths that do their jobs.
+ Show Spoiler +
What do you guys think about the changes? And like the water change I am pondering, what would you guys change further? Thanks!
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EPT![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/3rlBR.jpg)
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