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Heimdall's Sanctuary 1.3
Everything is done~
Name is from a tropical planet in SC1. Also from Norse mythology like lots of planets~
![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/aPabf.jpg)
- Players: 2 - 1v1 design, 7/1 starting.
- Size: 140x124 playable
- Expansions: 10.
- 8x 8 minerals expansions. 2 gas.
- 2x 6 high yield mineral expansons. 2 normal gas.
- Rush Distance: 49s main to main, 36s nat to nat (blizzard time).
- XWTs: 2.
- Destructible Rocks: Block gold base.
- LoSBs: Reeds blocking vision into the sunken area.
- Servers: EU
Concept: I've been wanting to make an overgrown grotto/cavern kind of map for some time. The middle was a little inspired from destination, but the bridges/chokes turned out to be much further apart than intended, and I'm not sure if this makes it worse or better.
Regardless, the concept is the same. The initial rush distances are reasonably long, but each expansion up to the third/gold brings you considerably closer to your opponent. The chokes, however are tight enough to make any big push difficult to pull off easily,
Overview:
+ Show Spoiler +![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/sZlkz.jpg) Main ![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/srSEN.jpg) ![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/twCFs.jpg) Natural ![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/7yv4v.jpg) Aggressive third ![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/ISfI3.jpg) All together ![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/nbRkV.jpg) Gold, alternate third ![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/LFEab.jpg) South expo ![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/sdF80.jpg) Very open center. ![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/hfPJg.jpg) Very open area outside the natural ![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/vCsQo.jpg) Very open attack route. ...hmm. ![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/0HB12.jpg) Now there's an alternate acess ramp to the gold, for rescuing or trapping workers, harassing if the front is too defended, and just providing a little more movement. ![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/yjEbr.jpg) Entire map, visual shot. ![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/DcyE6.jpg) Entire map, higher res shot.
Map Analysis and Rush Distances:
+ Show Spoiler +
Down until I stop being lazy about renaming the map files into MPQs and extracting them every time I change.
Detail Shots:
+ Show Spoiler [Towers, Creep on water] +![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/dL4uZ.jpg) ![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/dGvef.jpg) Creep is a lot clearer on low detail now that there's sand texture below the water. It's still a little less clear on the edges, unfortunately. Towers are really powerful, I may have to rejig them. They are pretty far apart, though.
Changelog:
- 14/07/2011 - v0.1 - Initial map published!
- 28/07/2011 - v0.9 - Map slightly altered, and fleshed out.
- 01/08/2011 - v1.0 - Moar doodads, thirds moved slightly further away to discourage turtling.
- 18/08/2011 - v1.1 - Few more doodads, naturals made smaller. Tiny rock wall added to compensate for new space.
- 12/10/2011 - v1.3 - Chokes tightened around thirds and the north and south bases, widened around the gold. Back door added to the gold expo.
Concerns:
- That centre is looking really really open, it worries me. Not sure how to play with that to be honest.
- Watchtowers are pretty strong.
Download:
Other maps by me:
(2) Heartstone Canyon
(2) Gaia's Cradle
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It is extremely difficult to identify some of the ramps. If you could texture them in a way that make it more clear, that would help a ton.
Is that center area surrounded by pillars impassable?
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United States10402 Posts
i dont like the rox... makes it too easy to go up to 5 bases and defending only 2 chokes. id say get rid of the high yield or get rid of the 3/9 base and push the high yield a little more back so more room to attack it.
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Those 2 chokes in the middle seem to be veeery narrow. Maybe widen them a bit by making the hole in the middle a bit smaller?
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On July 15 2011 11:56 FlaShFTW wrote:
i dont like the rox... makes it too easy to go up to 5 bases and defending only 2 chokes. id say get rid of the high yield or get rid of the 3/9 base and push the high yield a little more back so more room to attack it.
Whoops!
Yeah, I thought the same, and removed them before publishing this.
My mistake in not updating the top-down images, however.
As for other concerns, I'll address them after I eat. I might the chokes larger towards the centre as that solves something else I was concerned about.
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Is it just me, or are there 4 levels of elevation? (the bottom two look like you can walk between them, but do they still have high/low ground sight properties?)
If so, cool 
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middel chokes are to narrow.
also that small highground behind the third. siege tank heaven?
those 10/11 and 4/5 o clock expansions are way to big. u could make those smaller so the middle gets bigger.
good start good luck.
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Okay, map should be clearer now! Texturing this is going to be a nightmare though, I forgot how to get a good mossy look. D:
Anyway - yeah Yoshi, if I can work out how to sort out LOS like that, it will be the plan. Otherwise, it's just a visual height difference and you can walk over it. It's a good deal clearer ingame than the overview picture suggests.
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Huuuuuuuuge update!
Textures, doodads and prettyness added! Check it out and critique!
Centre divide has now been made smaller and put in 2 areas instead of 1. Distant high ground areas tidied up a little.
An entire map tour's worth of screenshots added.
Only real gameplay concern I have left is whether or not I should reduce the size of the dead space next to the golds - deep water surrounded by pillars.
Edit: Oh, I could use a better name. Cave of Life sounds so uninspired. Ideas? I really can't get anything imaginitive working.
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i like some of the areas alot texture wise and others not so much, as for the name, keep it simple.
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I feel much the same way, hence the disclaimer. 
I might make all of the second level have the same texture style as the distant areas, and move the sandy style to the mains.Then I just have to work out how to make the really mossy areas look more natural and nice.
The water is plain texture at the moment because I don't really know what to do with it. If I get too flashy it becomes harder to distinguish creep.
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looks a hell of alot better then the new season 3 maps!
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Cave of life eh? This gets my imagination going ^__^
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Call it....
Heart/Soul (more alliterative) of the Subterrane?
J'larre Fen
Formica Lowlands
(both planets in the Starcraft universe. :D)
Maybe one of those will stick. we'll see.
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That sand in the main with the light is way too bright. That's not eye candy but eye cancer for players^^
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damn, it looks pretty sexy.
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Gasp, after repeatedly retaking/reuploading images, I think I'm done for now.
Thirds were exposed a little more - it was too convenient to defend them. To compensate, the middle dead space has been extended slightly. Overall, it's more open in that route however.
New name is Heimdall's Sanctuary
(J'larre Fen sounded cool, but I wanted it to sound more peaceful/undisturbed than murky)
![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/4ullO.jpg)
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My only beef is the extreme length of the LOS blockers in the middle. As it stands, they seem kind of clunky. I would suggest that they just be from the outcropping by the close third to the nearest sinkhole.
Otherwise, this is a beautiful map that seems relatively balanced. I will have to play a couple games on this! ^^
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How do you do those cool lighting highlights? o.O' They're cool. =D
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your Country52798 Posts
10/10 in aesthetics in MotM 8. I'm calling it right now.
Wait, you submitted this, right?
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On August 09 2011 04:52 Pax wrote:
My only beef is the extreme length of the LOS blockers in the middle. As it stands, they seem kind of clunky. I would suggest that they just be from the outcropping by the close third to the nearest sinkhole.
Otherwise, this is a beautiful map that seems relatively balanced. I will have to play a couple games on this! ^^
You raise a really good point, there. I've been a little uncomfortable about it for a while, and it's really only necessary for the bases.
@Badger:
A doodad called "Sunrays". I added a couple of generic yellow lights under them.
--
Edit: Yeah I did.
Doubt it'll be 10 though, only 500 doodads : (
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@LunaSaint:
I probs sound like an idiot, but is that the light omni color lights? If so, how do you see them? xD I can't see them when I try to place them... =(
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Yeah that's the one.
There's an option somewhere to make markers. View -> Show Helper Models. It's like shift+.
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Hmmm... I'm still having trouble, although it may just be that my graphics can't support it and I therefore can't see it. I can see the marker that shows where it should be, but in game I can't see it at all. =(
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Oh !
Lighting effects like that don't show except on higher graphics settings.
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Gotcha. Thanks for all the info! And I really really like your map (especially the lighting effects, hence me asking about them)! Too bad my comp can't support shaders on any high than medium. =(
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Update~
Naturals made smaller, tiny rock wall added.
![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/J15pC.jpg)
Also, resources in expansions past the third reduced shortly.
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i dont like that white sand at all with the other mix, but your other eye candy shots look really good, always great to see new atmospheres.
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I really like this map's layout: the way one can chose between the third and a more vulnerable gold, the way the fourth is quite 'takable', but stretches defenses thin. Nice.
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your Country52798 Posts
I am convinced this map is awesome like no other.
9.5/10.
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Significant updates been made to this, including some changed specifically for the Blizzard/TL contest.
Map still feels Zerg favoured, but I'm not convinced I can really make this map particularly playable, wheras I'm much more comfortable with Gaia's Cradle and Heartstone Canyon.
Big update coming up for Gaia's Cradle (99% less eye cancer!), next. Will post that a bit later.
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EPT
