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Mapping Challenge #1 Asymmetric Maps
August 17th - September 18t
Challenger: FlopTurnReaver
Challenge: Make a map that is everything else but mirrored or symmetric in any way but still is as balanced as possible.
Rules: Any number of spawnpoints and any overall map size allowed. Focus is on unique layouts and balanced gameplay, but well placed doodads and good texturing is a nice and welcome addition.
No rotationaly symmetry or axial symmetry is allowed. That incompasses partly mirrored maps, e.g. a rotational 3 player map that is mirrored on 60° axis that meet in the map's centre.
+ Show Spoiler [What we are looking for] +We are looking for maps that offer different situations and ask the players for specific descisions in relation to their position on the map. Maps should provide equal chances to have fun and win the game.
This is not about visuals, but nobody really enjoys playing completely untextured maps.
Map submission: Submit your map by posting author name and map title (preferable EU and US), the map's overview (flat or angled) and if possible an analyzer image (summary) as well as the rush distances (nat2nat in numbers) in this thread until Sunday, September 18th 12pm CET
Judges: FlopTurnReaver, Monitor, Samro225am, WniO
Feel free to post work in progress shots to get feedback or just to show off  (using the spoiler tags)
We invite everyone to play these maps and provide feedback.
Have fun!
+ Show Spoiler [What is the Mapping Challenge?] +
The Mapping Challenge is a series of monthly mapping events to try out new things in melee mapping.
The tournament is complementary to other mapping related organizations or tournaments like MotM and want to generate discourse on mapping and wants to emphasize more experiemental approaches.
The Mapping Challenge wants to make the better and more experienced map makers share their ideas and show intersting, but probably less polished stuff, create discussions and allow new, talented guys with less experience to join in the competition with one great idea and step up their mapping skills.
Maybe one of us stumbles over something that later shows to be a great idea and can be developed into a really good map.
Map makers challenge the community to build a map following a specific rule and have to provide a map, too. Together with a changing board of judges the challenger has to award "special prices" and a commentary to every map submitted.
While the person challenging has to submit a map, judges are allowed to do so. We will not "judge" about the best map overall, but about the success of the individual concept.
This is all about experimenting and discussing map making.
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Awww yeah. gl guys, should be fun.
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I may want in. Looks fun.
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Here´s an early concept:
Overview:+ Show Spoiler +
Analyzer:+ Show Spoiler +
3 player map with wildly different main/nat setups.
10 o´clock is Bel´Shir Beach-like with same level main & nat with a high ground pod @ main choke.
2 o´clock is a standard main/nat with a Tal´Darim style 3rd.
8 o´clock has a Crevasse-like setup with a very difficult 3rd, but close to gold and the expo behind it.
I wonder if it is at all possible to balance this concept to a playable state, but I will continue to nudge stuff around and get as close to balanced as possible.
edit: I need to increase distance between 10 o´clock and 8 o´clock - not yet published
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Wow johanez, that looks pretty damn good and balanced. Yet another reason why i think your the best mapper we've got. I think balance wise as long as the chokes around the map and nat are the same per base, it helps be balanced as each alternate base in your map can do a fairly safe fast expo. The only gripe i have is with the thirds location for the top right base - regardless of where your opponent spawns the third is always in the way or on the path to the main especially if you think of air travel like drops ( ie opponents at the top left or, bottem bases will have easy access to the third base for the top right base.)
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This sounds great. I can't wait to see what everyone comes up with.
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On August 18 2011 19:29 hobbidude wrote:+ Show Spoiler +
Wow johanez, that looks pretty damn good and balanced. Yet another reason why i think your the best mapper we've got. I think balance wise as long as the chokes around the map and nat are the same per base, it helps be balanced as each alternate base in your map can do a fairly safe fast expo. The only gripe i have is with the thirds location for the top right base - regardless of where your opponent spawns the third is always in the way or on the path to the main especially if you think of air travel like drops ( ie opponents at the top left or, bottem bases will have easy access to the third base for the top right base.)
He he, thanks Hobbidude, but I have yet to create a successful map 
Btw, did I tell u I implemented ur landing light idea on Green Harvest? Pretty cool
On August 19 2011 06:28 Barrin wrote:If I spawned at 2 and my opponent at 10 I would have a huge bananagrin if he didn't kill me early. Late-game potential of the 10 o'clock position is almost non existent in that situation I was *almost* digging it until I realized you could spawn at 10 :D
Thanks Barrin, that´s exactly the kind of feedback I was looking for, but u forgot to mention what should be done to make 10 o´clock work late game. Do you mean easier access to bases beyond 3rd?
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I think the main problem is that you can contain the 10 o'clock position really easily from the 2 o'clocks third. This gives you a free gold and 7 bases total against 6 (of which you could rather easily cut off 3).
If you increase the distance from 10 to 8 you could probably make sure that you can acces the 3 natural bases of the 8 position more easily without getting cut off which gives you at least 6 bases to work with.
I would personally try to increase the middle space to make these sorts of contains more difficult. (I also just like wide open maps so I'm biased )
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Awesome, cant wait to see what people come up with.
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I'm not sure I like that map.
First off - the mains are basically just copy-pasted from Temple/Bel'Shir/Crevasse.
Secondly - attack paths are too limited and contains seem like thay are a bit too easy (exept against 2 o'clock). Everything seems to funnel though the middle and a few tanks around the watchtower would lock down basically all movement by ground.
The more I look at this map - the more I think its scewed towards the 2... Easiest 3rd, easiest gold, and if player at 2 holds the middle he basically just wins.
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+ Show Spoiler +On August 18 2011 18:56 Johanaz wrote:Here´s an early concept: Overview: + Show Spoiler +Analyzer: + Show Spoiler +3 player map with wildly different main/nat setups. 10 o´clock is Bel´Shir Beach-like with same level main & nat with a high ground pod @ main choke. 2 o´clock is a standard main/nat with a Tal´Darim style 3rd. 8 o´clock has a Crevasse-like setup with a very difficult 3rd, but close to gold and the expo behind it. I wonder if it is at all possible to balance this concept to a playable state, but I will continue to nudge stuff around and get as close to balanced as possible. edit: I need to increase distance between 10 o´clock and 8 o´clock - not yet published
aside from what the others have said about the 2, I was certain the 5:30/6 was a main until I saw the map analyzer, and Im not a big fan of the watchtower, it should be much less centrered to emphazize the non-symmetric theme. as it is it kind of feels symmetric with itself if you know what I mean, also the way I see it holding the watchtower is super important in every spawning position as it is.
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Hi TL, this is my first post in the TL sc2 custom maps forum.
Here is an asymmetric map I have been working on. it's still a work in progress and I'll be working on it for a while to try to make it more balanced.
+ Show Spoiler [overview] +
+ Show Spoiler [analyzer summary] +
+ Show Spoiler [analyzer rush distances] +
It's a three player map partly based on Metalopolis. The map should play very different depending on where the players spawn.
for a game between 8 and 5 o'clock, the map should play like metalopolis close air game.
for a game between 1 and 5 o'clock, the map should play a bit like scrap station, with a long rush distance that shortens dramatically when the rocks are destroyed.
for a game between 8 and 1 o'clock, the map should play like metalopolis cross spawns game
I have a few concerns right now, especially about the vulnerability and number of expansions of the 8 o'clock spawn compared to the other spawning locations.
If you want to play this map, it is published under the name "Galactic HQ" on the NA server.
edit: Galactic HQ now has it's own map thread, please direct any feedback or comments you might have there. Thanks!
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On August 22 2011 12:07 Namrufus wrote:
Hi TL, this is my first post in the TL sc2 custom maps forum.
Here is an asymmetric map I have been working on. it's still a work in progress and I'll be working on it for a while to try to make it more balanced.
If you want to play this map, it is published under the name "Galactic HQ" on the NA server.
there is some really interesting stuff going on here I think, but you should try to get better balanced expansions layouts done somehow. the 10 has four bases secured rather easily, while the other two mains have to go longer pathes to get access.
do you think it balances out, because the two bases in south east can expand into the other main base and are close to the gold?
@johanaz: the base at 11 is to weak! third are impossible, cause you have to move out early on to take one
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I like this map - the expanding seems logical, the spawns seem rather balanced untill late game, and the use of rocks are quite creative.
Only thing I don't like is the similarity with Metalopolis. Start working on making this map more unique.
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On August 22 2011 12:07 Namrufus wrote:Hi TL, this is my first post in the TL sc2 custom maps forum. Here is an asymmetric map I have been working on. it's still a work in progress and I'll be working on it for a while to try to make it more balanced. + Show Spoiler [overview] ++ Show Spoiler [analyzer summary] ++ Show Spoiler [analyzer rush distances] +It's a three player map partly based on Metalopolis. The map should play very different depending on where the players spawn. for a game between 8 and 5 o'clock, the map should play like metalopolis close air game. for a game between 1 and 5 o'clock, the map should play a bit like scrap station, with a long rush distance that shortens dramatically when the rocks are destroyed. for a game between 8 and 1 o'clock, the map should play like metalopolis cross spawns game I have a few concerns right now, especially about the vulnerability and number of expansions of the 8 o'clock spawn compared to the other spawning locations. If you want to play this map, it is published under the name "Galactic HQ" on the NA server.
5 o' clock has no real way of expanding away from 1 o' clock after the rocks are destroyed.
Also I don't know the real sizes, but it looks like there are a ton of chokes.
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Thanks for the feedback!
@Samro225am:
do you think it balances out, because the two bases in south east can expand into the other main base and are close to the gold?
yeah that was the general idea, I gave the west spawn a inbase half-expansion and an island to make up for the fact that there are simply less expansions on the west side of the map (I can't really put another base after 8's 4th because that would favor the 1 o'clock player in games between 1 o'clock and 5 o'clock). This is how I am hoping the map will work:
+ Show Spoiler +
In the late game either of the east players will be able to protect 5-6 bases by defending along the blue line. the west player will be able to protect 4.5-5.5 bases by defending along the red line.
that said, I do see that the east player can expand to four bases quickly, while the west players must break a rock to get to their fourths... maybe I could block 10's 4th with a rock?
@Zaphod Beeblebrox:
Only thing I don't like is the similarity with Metalopolis. Start working on making this map more unique.
The look I was aiming for was a kind of cleaner version of metalopolis with some xel-naga themed highlights. idk what I could do to differentiate it more from the original, I might add a few more protoss-y doodads.
@Baseic:
5 o' clock has no real way of expanding away from 1 o' clock after the rocks are destroyed.
This is one of my thoughts as well. I will probably add an expansion on the path between the 5 and 10 o'clock mains, though this won't really solve the problem completely... As for the map size, the path widths are comparable in size to metalopolis's.
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There is one general region that has the effect of just making this map seem like a copy (even though its probably an improvement) of metal - the gold bases. If you can twist those so they have another shape, and the watchtower platform is changed a bit too, I think it would seem more unique.
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there is a problem with your setup. one player just has to occupy so much more space, thin out his forces due to a narrow path, etc.
also the 11o'clock is played pretty much exactly like meta + the relative save island.
![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/GHBCu.jpg)
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