February has come and so does a new competition of Map of the Month. While the January tournament will be casted this thursday and friday (2nd/3rd of February), you can already submit your 2 map submissions for the new contest. You can find all the information in the thread located in the general section: MotM/ESL January, Intel and IEM Sponsor!.
Of course you can also post your submissions in this thread for discussion, just be sure to send the emails and post in the other thread. Submission will close on the 10th. Final adjustments can still be made if your map reaches the top5. Also a hint for the people who are trying to decide wether to submit a new map or one they already sent in last month, if you didn't make top5 last month (which is a necessity to submit anyway) it is very unlikely that it'll make it this month.
But now to some unfinished January business..
Yes yes, it's time for the monthly awarding for outstanding achievement in mapmaking, or various other things that are noteworthy. This month I decided to give out awards to 5 different people from 5 different categories. Please enjoy and don't get mad if you didn't make it this time, there are still many more to come. Also please read the footnote on the bottom before you go bonkers.
Does this map look familiar to you? Yes? Do you wonder why? Well let me tell you about that. The reason you've stumbeled upon this work is probably because we've seen it in every single map contest in the last 3 or 4 months. MotM - check! TL MC - check! IPLwhateverthatwas - check (I think?)! And again, we had the pleasure to judge this map once again. And once again it didn't make it.
I've actually investigated this matter and found out that Back to Back is one of two maps that our winner - chuky500 - has created. I don't know however if he never made any other maps, or just chose to not publish anything anymore. It definitly shows that he is very confident in his work and that he believes that this one map can make it big in the future. We from MotM are very excited to possibly being able to judging it in the future again, maybe after some minor tweaks.
Now would you look at this map? Yes, you are correct. This map has everything that is right about Starcraft 2 maps. Pathable water, Protoss Decals, .. exactly. Everything. I looked at the overview for 2 seconds and I knew, this map is something special. This map will go places. This map will definitly win the whole competition. Unfortunatly I was the only judge seeing this. Probably because it wasn't an island themed map.
But seriously, who cares about strategies, gameplay or racial balance when you can walk.. IN THE WATER? ARE YOU SERIOUS? And look at all the shiny things that are painted around the map. This is not just a map. It's a celebration, no, a wedding of beauty and fabulousness. I really hope we'll see more maps like this in the future. The community needs more optical treats like this. For everyone wondering, the count of Protoss Decals is actually 280, which is not nearly enough if you ask me.
What is the problem on Tal'Darim Altar? Yes, the flat mainchoke. What is the problem on *other-map-with-flat-mainchokc*? Exactly, the flat mainchoke. As you can see here, there are still people out there, trying to fix this issue. On of them is this particular award winner. His solution is to just have a ramp going down, and one going right back up, which is definitly one of the more interesting solutions. I'm not saying that it is perfect, since it also has it's issues. However it was certainly worth a try and maybe we'll even see this being refined in the future.
I think in these times where most mapmakers just use the features that are known to work out, and there is hardly any innovation in tournament maps, it's very brave to try out such unproven concepts and try to bring new things into this game. In my opinion, more people out there should be willing to spend some time to resolve some of the big issues right now, like Circle Syndrome™, Fortress Syndrome™ or F.L.A.S.H. .. wait, what was that again?
Anyhow, congratulations to this award and keep reaching for the stars. For Science!!
Everyone who's reading this should be familiar with the name "prodiG". He goes by a great many nicknames, which I won't name a single one. He was once considered the most sucessful mapmaker outside of Korea. You could even call him the Idra of mapmaking. Well I guess you can still do that now. We also know how important base entrances are for him, at the least since he himself created the dubious "Multiple Penetration Award". And now he's trying to give back to the community by popularizing backdoors into competitive maps.
At this point I'd like to mention that at least one of the 2 maps was very, very close to the top5. Even with backdoor entrances! And why? Because those backdoors aren't completely stupid like the ones on Blizzard maps (and no, Crossfire is not legitimately a Blizzard map!). His backdoors are actually really smart. In fact, they are combined with the layout in a way, that lets you expand through them and take a completely different, but still viable expanding patter, to which I can only take off my hat. Well done sir, once again you showed us that you're not quite ready to rest on your many laurels, but are still able to bring some neat innovation into the mapmaking scene.
Congratulations to your award and we're all looking forward to your next entries.
Get it? Oumanville as in Superouman! Haha isn't that a blast?? But seriously, I don't know what this is all about. Is this guy a fan of Sims or something and wanted to create his own compfy little village for himself and his units? I mean I'm sure you haven't heard of that guy as never as myself. I've searched this whole forum and haven't found a single mapthread, aside from the Oumanville one. It's (obvious from that map) some complete mapmaking newb, calling his first map after himself. How lame is that? And the map is just terrible anyway. Why even send it to a high profile competition, such as Map of the Month?
No seriously, this is just pathetic. He's acting as if he made the first map to be played internationally or something. Ridiculous. I'm sure I speak for all the judges if I say that he should probably just stop making maps, because this is gonna go nowhere, I can definitly say that with all certainty. Maybe if he'd emulate something from the other mapmakers that actually made it into this months top5, like Grebliv, Ragoo, Neobowman, Lefix and that other guy I always forget the name of. That'd maybe help in most cases, probably not in this one though. Seems like a lost cause to me.
Nevertheless I congratulate you to this fine award and wish you all the best for everything you do in the future, aside from mapmaking.
Alright, that's it for this month. Thank you for reading and please support MotM in the future. For instance you could follow us on Twitter or just watch the broadcast of our January tournament, casted by Bitterdam on ESL TV. Also don't forget to post and discuss your maps here.
Footnote: Please don't take the awards too seriously, I'm not trying to attack anyone personally or make fun of any maps, this is just for entertainment purposes. I like all of you and have (almost) no personal issues with anyone.^^
i like oumanville, even though it may not play like a tourney map. i DO think the cars should be destructible, tho idk if it's even possible.
didn't he make cloud kingom? how awesome is that? never make more maps? THAT SH*T'S IN GSL! it has everythihng the OP liked about aquamarine except the water, but i love that fog!
Few weeks ago I was watching a movie with my girlfriend when I recognised the actress from somewhere, but couldnt really place where I knew her from. Kept telling my girlfriend that I knew her and that it was killing me I didnt know where from.
Then it hit me that it was Sasha Grey. She could see I remembered who the actress was and asked me. I said somethign like 'dont think of me weirdly now but its Sasha Grey'. My girlffriend didnt know who she was still, proceeded to redtube her
Now would you look at this map? Yes, you are correct. This map has everything that is right about Starcraft 2 maps. Pathable water, Protoss Decals, .. exactly. Everything. I looked at the overview for 2 seconds and I knew, this map is something special. This map will go places. This map will definitly win the whole competition. Unfortunatly I was the only judge seeing this. Probably because it wasn't an island themed map.
But seriously, who cares about strategies, gameplay or racial balance when you can walk.. IN THE WATER? ARE YOU SERIOUS? And look at all the shiny things that are painted around the map. This is not just a map. It's a celebration, no, a wedding of beauty and fabulousness. I really hope we'll see more maps like this in the future. The community needs more optical treats like this. For everyone wondering, the count of Protoss Decals is actually 280, which is not nearly enough if you ask me.
Thanks for the Rick Astley award for Back to Back. I wasn't quite expecting it. I've made a few other maps but the reason I don't keep making new ones is because : 1) Nobody plays them so it's a big waste of time 2) Mapping contests only pick the most standard maps and never try novelty so why bother trying new things. I played in this month tournament and imo the first map shouldn't have been picked as a finalist. And what the guy I played said about the second map was it sucked too. So I don't how judges pick their maps (probably a mix between name dropping (bonus points if your maps has the ESV or TPW tag) and conservatism, what they know work) but they should start trying new things.
@chuky500 The reason it's mostly TPW and ESV is that they have the most experienced mapmakers and they communicate a lot, and while new mapmakers have some cool ideas, the overall execution of the map (also in terms of aesthetics) is mostly lacking a bit. Also the reason you don't see the rly weird maps (like Oumanville) making it in top5 is simply that MotM doesn't have the players and time to actually test maps properly. They can only theorycraft and judge from experience, play 1-2 game and look how it all feels. But they can't rly test the shit out of a map like GSL can , or how Kespa did it in SC:BW. That's a big problem!
Nice awards btw, you seem to be a very funny person Flop.
On February 02 2012 23:47 chuky500 wrote: Thanks for the Rick Astley award for Back to Back. I wasn't quite expecting it. I've made a few other maps but the reason I don't keep making new ones is because : 1) Nobody plays them so it's a big waste of time 2) Mapping contests only pick the most standard maps and never try novelty so why bother trying new things. I played in this month tournament and imo the first map shouldn't have been picked as a finalist. And what the guy I played said about the second map was it sucked too. So I don't how judges pick their maps (probably a mix between name dropping (bonus points if your maps has the ESV or TPW tag) and conservatism, what they know work) but they should start trying new things.
I'd say they did pretty good this month picking maps with elements we haven't seen much of in current-gen tournament maps. While they aren't revolutionary maps, each time we recognize a map with a new unique feature it expands upon what could be considered acceptable in tournament maps.
Loki: In-base nat, unique center, no towers. Discord: Gold mineral block to third. Blitzkreig: 1-unit choke in fastest route blocking massive unit movement.
Vulture and CK are both a little more typical, but they are both extremely well designed and it would be a crime to ignore them.
In regards to your map it suffers from some pretty rough proportion issues. I'd take a look at adjusting the sizes of chokes/bases and adjusting the distances between bases (both friendly and enemy).
You might also want to take a look at Metalopolis and realize the main/natural are practically back to back, so its not a unique concept.
ESV Discord has a backdoor where you can make a pylon and warp directly in the base, that's the main feature (and it should be considered for the backdoor award). Sure it replaced rocks with minerals but it's hardly a feature (or it deserves a simili-Dustin Browder award). I'm glad you liked Metalopolis, at least it shows it can be done.
the biggest difference between mineral blocks and destructible rocks is that the mineral blocks are pretty much only taken down by the expanding/defending player. other than that i don't think the warpin possibility isn't that bad as it is only the natural, not the main base
Now would you look at this map? Yes, you are correct. This map has everything that is right about Starcraft 2 maps. Pathable water, Protoss Decals, .. exactly. Everything.
Man. People getting defensive. AR, you have a lot to be proud of with that map. It was a mess when you first posted it and you really worked hard to make something pretty decent.
On February 02 2012 19:59 ihasaKAROT wrote: Sasha Grey award was fun No more dustin browder award tho?
Unfortunatly there haven't been any good contesters for either the Dustin Browder or the Baskersville award :/
On February 02 2012 20:33 TehTemplar wrote: Jungle, it was.. so.. close....
Yep, about 140 more decals and it'd have been yours
On February 02 2012 23:47 chuky500 wrote: Thanks for the Rick Astley award for Back to Back. I wasn't quite expecting it. I've made a few other maps but the reason I don't keep making new ones is because : 1) Nobody plays them so it's a big waste of time 2) Mapping contests only pick the most standard maps and never try novelty so why bother trying new things. I played in this month tournament and imo the first map shouldn't have been picked as a finalist. And what the guy I played said about the second map was it sucked too. So I don't how judges pick their maps (probably a mix between name dropping (bonus points if your maps has the ESV or TPW tag) and conservatism, what they know work) but they should start trying new things.
I think I explained the ideal mix between standart and original plenty in past motm discussions, but yeah, it's definitly about the mapteam names. I usually just ignore any maps that aren't made by a team, so if you want better chances, just add like 3 capital letters before the mapname and you'll most certainly make it at least into the top20. Also I'd like to say that almost every judge thought about at least 1 map that it shouldn't have made it into the top5. So you see, it's not that easy to please everyone.
On February 03 2012 00:07 Ragoo wrote: Nice awards btw, you seem to be a very funny person Flop.
Took you long enough to figure out :s
On February 03 2012 04:51 ArcticRaven wrote: About the awards... I didn't feel it was funny. Please refrain next time.
Pathable water forever <3
Yeah I felt a bit bad writing that one in particular, however seeing those features in so many maps in the last ~6 months helped tremendously
On February 03 2012 02:56 lefix wrote: the biggest difference between mineral blocks and destructible rocks is that the mineral blocks are pretty much only taken down by the expanding/defending player.
It can favor the attacker even more than destuctible rocks. I think this design is just flawed.
On ESV Discord it takes 1:30 to break the gold minerals with only 2 workers (counting the time it takes to build the gas,+1 worker for terran and zerg), while it takes 2:00 to break destructible rocks with 6 zerglings. If you dropped a gas with your scouting worker it just takes 1:05 to break the golden wall.
On February 03 2012 02:56 lefix wrote: the biggest difference between mineral blocks and destructible rocks is that the mineral blocks are pretty much only taken down by the expanding/defending player.
It can favor the attacker even more than destuctible rocks. I think this design is just flawed.
On ESV Discord it takes 1:30 to break the gold minerals with only 2 workers (counting the time it takes to build the gas,+1 worker for terran and zerg), while it takes 2:00 to break destructible rocks with 6 zerglings. If you dropped a gas with your scouting worker it just takes 1:05 to break the golden wall.
The only viable reason to do this would be ZvT or ZvP... and even in both of those matchups, I can't imagine it making a big difference except super early against a forge FE. That's worth looking into though.
Wow, I hate to rehash old news, but I figured I ought to say something. Thanks so much for the award! I know these are part joking/part award, but really I am honored to have recieved in the category I did. Every map of mine might turn out to be a Frankenstein's monster, but with every map I make I try to leave some interesting ideas and some useful information on the elements used. I would not be so proud as to assume anyone has been intentionally using any of those ideas to date, but I have noticed certain maps employing certain similar features that I cannot help but wonder if I might have subconsciously influenced them. In any event, For Science!
On February 04 2012 03:39 SidianTheBard wrote: I always hope I one time get a sweet award from Flop. Unfortunately it never happens...
Screw this, even the map awards are rigged!!!!!!!! ONLY TPW & ESV?!?!?! ...wait a minute......
I am not on a map making team, nor are chuky500 or ArcticRaven (at least, they don't appear to be on either TPW or ESV rosters). You just need to find out how to be a more interesting newb like me I guess.
Most likely there will be no motm in march. But don't worry, we are already preparing for the next. Also, with IEM WC just having finished, there is hope that ESL will finally have time for Jan and Feb motms :D
EPT![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/oWyXC.jpg)
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Twitter or just watch the broadcast of our January tournament, casted by Bitterdam on ESL TV. Also don't forget to post and discuss your maps here.
No more dustin browder award tho?
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