[M] (4) Crusader

And G

Germany491 Posts

April 16 2014 12:29 GMT

160 x 160
16 regular bases
4 gold bases
1v1, FFA

EU | NA | KR

Inspired by Whirlwind, Antiga Shipyard and Entombed Valley.

Obligatory disclaimer in case you haven't read the W-sym thread: This map is an axially symmetric four player map, except that one spawn is inverted, so each of the 6 spawning pattern plays out slightly different, yadda yadda yadda. Seriously, read the linked thread if this concept is new to you. Also, if you have any comments/opinions about W-sym in general rather than its execution on this particular map, or suggestions for major design changes that are unrealistic to be made at this stage, e.g. anything that would alter the overall layout, please post them in the W-sym thread.

So what has changed since the last WIP version I posted a few weeks ago? Not a whole lot really. I've added LOS blockers at the bottom of the natural ramps and at the central unpathable area from which I have also carved out a little space for proxy buildings (a pylon plus two 3x3 buildings fit in each pocket) and maybe some small unit tactics (ghosts/HT). I hope to encourage double worker scouting with this but the area may get filled again in a future version since it may just be an annoyance. Also, the ramp to the backdoor third has been widened and some of the unpathable areas have been enlarged.

Nat-to-nat distances are 39, 44, 44, 48, 54 and 57 seconds. The 39 seconds (NE vs SE) are somewhat short and the respective main-to-main distance is only 51 seconds, which also means that the main-to-nat distance is 45 seconds if you know maths. I have gone to considerable lengths to make this less of an issue (watchtower placement, choke close to natural base plus forward ramp, backdoor third away from opponent, and now also an overlord spot right in front of the natural ramp) but if this map turns out to be unplayable in close spawns anyway (which I really, really don't expect) then the backup plan is to move the backdoor rocks to the ramp of the third instead which would then become an alternative natural, Prometheus-style. I hope this won't be necessary since the Prometheus main/nat/third setup isn't really suited for this map.

Here's an angled view of the main/nat/third area on Crusader:

As you can see, there hasn't been done much aesthetic work beyond basic texturing and a few rocks and trees, and the texturing of the main is rather lacklustre. Also, apparently my shadows disappear when zooming out past a certain point. I had planned to sprinkle some small irregular islets with trees and critters into the ocean and maybe add some unpathable terrain near the mains to make the cliff lines there look a little more organic, but quite honestly I don't have any more time to spend on this map if I want my other map to have any aesthetics at all in time for the TLMC. Also, this may be considered "excessive" use of water, and if that turns out to be the case then I'll simply replace the water with sandstorm-like fog, which of course would require a different approach. So while this is not a WIP map in terms of gameplay design, the aesthetics are very much Work In Progress and will be finalized sometime after the TLMC is over.

For shits and giggles, here are some pictures of previous iterations in chronologic order: + Show Spoiler +

GLHF!

(Edit: Fixed the lighting and updated the overview picture.)

EatThePath

United States3943 Posts

April 16 2014 15:55 GMT

That looks pretty! Definitely the best version yet. ^^

Phaenoman

568 Posts

April 16 2014 16:01 GMT

Haha, I was about to say that I know the layout from somewhere, but appearance is totally different. Then I opened previous iterations in chronologic order :D

And G

Germany491 Posts

April 16 2014 16:40 GMT

Yes, I never do serious texturing work before I know the map layout is more or less finished, so for WIP maps I usually just use textures of different lightness to show height levels and unpathable areas more clearly. For example Prometheus: + Show Spoiler +

It's because I'm such a perfectionist, so aesthetics are a lot of work for me since I want every single doodad to line up perfectly in regards to showing pathable and unpathable areas but not obstructing vision, and I hate to do redundant work, i.e. filling an area with doodads/textures once, then changing the terrain geometry or pathing, and then having to redo the whole area. So all my WIP maps look really boring...

EatThePath

United States3943 Posts

April 16 2014 18:15 GMT

^ this is so me

Timetwister22

United States538 Posts

April 16 2014 20:04 GMT

The lighting. My eyes. Where it looks nice in pictures, it really needs to have actually feasible lighting in game. Both Ohana and Cloud Kingdom had lighting issues. CK with bloom, which you use a shit ton of here, and Ohana's brightness, which you also use a shit ton of. Bloom should be very low, if not 0. The brightness should also be reduced by a bit. Though, you should probably just use the Desert World standard lighting since it was made with sand in mind.

And G

Germany491 Posts

April 17 2014 07:39 GMT

On April 17 2014 05:04 Timetwister22 wrote:
My eyes.

Thank you SO MUCH for telling me about this lighting problem! I only have my shitty laptop over Easter holidays so I only checked on low/hybrid settings in-game and did the rest in the editor where the lighting looks okay. I stole the lighting from another map with cool sand-based aesthetics that I had discovered here a few days ago and tweaked it to my liking, and there is a lot of bloom there that is partly responsible for the sand colour. I hope I've now fixed this problem by replacing most of the bloom with a mix of colourisation and contrast, but some bloom unfortunately needs to remain. I don't want this map to be much darker, but I've also turned down the exposure a bit, so it should all look much better now in-game, though I can't really check it.

This is how it looks in the editor now, with the second picture copied from the OP:

+ Show Spoiler +

I've uploaded the new version; if I could get some feedback whether the lighting is now okay on ultra-super-duper settings that would be awesome. I'll do more fine-tuning later anyway, but it might be a good idea to submit an actually playable map for the TLMC...

Ferisii

Denmark199 Posts

April 17 2014 09:47 GMT

It's very dark ingame still. Album of said issue

And G

Germany491 Posts

April 17 2014 12:31 GMT

Should be fixed now. The lighting input levels were shifted for some reason, which resulted in dark textures and shadows being even darker than usual. Hopefully they have a good value now while the lighter areas stay the same.

Thanks for uploading those pictures, they were very helpful.

(Man, those version numbers are increasing quickly...)

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