Starbow mapmaking contest.

Xiphias

Norway2223 Posts

May 06 2014 22:08 GMT

We now have the winners of the first Starbow mapmaking competition!

There were feedback on most maps from players/casters and spectators during the tournament. I will note down all the feedback I can remember here so the mapmakers can get that important information.

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Frozen Forge:
- Third was too open, and the whole map seemed to be much closer to a SC2 map than a Starbow map.

Prison Camp:
- Third base very hard to hold unless you went for another natural base.

Noah's ark:
- Promoted turtle play maybe a tad too much with the many easily hold able bases.

Char's history:
- Nothing that comes to mind.

Rose of Dream:
- The bridges might be too narrow.

Jagged Star:
- The middle seemed a bit chokey. Perhaps make the middle high ground area a bit smaller.

Fern Valley
- Nothing that I can remember.

Circle of life:
- Some bug at a cliff. (I will try to fix).

Batteling Wills:
- Although the very low cliff level in general was pretty cool, some players were complaining about it. Maybe becasue the units became so small and made them harder to control.

Valhalla Residium:
- Perhaps too much dead space.

Fallen Empire.
- Cool 2v2 map but too big for 1v1 in Starbow.

Fossil Quarry.
- It seemed very easy to block your own natural with a bad wall-in. Perhaps extend the cliff around the natural base.

Honorable mentions
These are maps that almost made it into the top 3 and may be considered for the Starbow ladder pool down the line:

Fern valley by Xiphias
Fossil Quarry by Meavis
Char's history by Teddybear
Frozen Forge by Big J
Rose of Dream by Superouman.

No. 3

Jagged Star by The_Templar

No. 2

Noah's Ark by Superouman

No. 1

Circle of Life by Xiphias

These three maps will be added to the map pool of the Starbow ladder in not too long. IeZeal will do some aesthetic work on Jagged Star and perhaps Circle of Life. Noah's Ark is already super pretty. If Superouman or The_Templar wants to make any changes before I start messing with them to get them ready for ladder maps then let me know. Congrats to all the winners, we will definitely do this again in not too long!

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(By order of submitting dates)

(2) Starbow - Frozen Forge
by Big J

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(4) Starbow Prison Camp
by Teddybear

(2) Noah's Ark
by Superouman

(4) Starbow - Chars History
by Teddybear

(2) Rose of Dream
by Superouman

(2) Jagged Star
by The_Templar

(2) Fern Valley
by Xiphias

(4) Starbow - Circle of life
by Xiphias

(4) Battling Wills
by ChopTheHassan

(2) Valhalla Residuum
by AmnesiA

Pictures here: http://starbowmod.com/forum/showthread.php?tid=414&pid=5126#pid5126

(4) Fallen Empire 1.2
by Meavis

(4) Fossil Quarry
by Meavis

Here we will judge the maps with the following points:

Aesthetics (maps do not need to be 100% super pretty as IeZeal will make the winning map more pretty).
Layout
Creativity

Each worker brings back 8 minerals per trip and 8 gas.
Starbow focuses on space-control.
No force fields, so ramps does not have to be FF blockable.
Third bases can be further away than SC2 counterparts.
50% high ground miss chance. Ramps and cliffs are even more important. (Units attacking other units from a cliff will become visible for a short time.)
The distance from choke of natural base to choke of natural base should be around 100 (Measuring tool int he Editor)
No Xel Naga towers
You can put in destructible rocks and collapsable rocks on the map but they do generally appear less frequent in Starbow than SC2 maps.
Natural choke should be about 4-5 pylons wide.

Details on how to publish the map:

+ Show Spoiler +

How to add the Starbow Mod into a map

1. Open the editor.
2. Log into B.net via the editor and search for the file StarbowBeta. It should be available on all regions.
3. Save it to your computer.
4. Open the map that you are working on.
5. Go into File > Dependencies.
6. Delete the standard dependencie called Swarm (Mod).
7. Click on Add Other and search for StarbowBeta that you saved on your computer.
8. Click OK and save your map.
9. Make sure your map locale is set to "enUS" and not "enGB" no matter where you live.
10. Make sure you set locale to "enUS" when you publish as well (if you forget these two steps the hotkeys in game will be messed up).

All data from Starbow are now used in the map.

How to make the map visually correct for the tournament

1. Download the following image: http://i.imgur.com/kpVroD7.png
2. Import that image via the "F9" importer.
3. Go to: Map -> Battle.net info -> General and add this image as Thumbnail.
4. Do not name your map "Starbow - Your map name here", rather just name it "your map name" for now.

If your map get's selected as a Starbow map for the ladder pool then we will need to add more stuff to it. This can either be done by me, which means I publish it, with a "map made by: you". Or you can do all the ladder preparations yourself.

No 100% BroodWar Ports (that means you can make a map based on an actual BroodWar map but should not be the same at any means, if you do this please write down what changes that you made and what have you improved over the old map).
You can only submit 2 maps made for 1v1 play.
You may submit team maps and FFA maps as well, but they will not be used in the tournament. They may be uploaded freely as Starbow currently needs more of these types of maps.
No stealing other’s map.
It must be complete.

You submit a map by posting in this thread with the following before June 5th:

Full overview picture of the map.
Analyzer picture (optional).
Size of the map.
Your ideas behind the map.

Some help for doing these maps:

For mineral placing, please check the following picture : http://i.imgur.com/OViOlWU.jpg
For more guidelines, you can visit, this forum post : http://starbowmod.com/forum/showthread.php?tid=176

If there are too many maps submitted for the tournament Xiphias, Kantuva, TeddyBear and the Starbow dev team will do a rough cut of some of the maps.

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Format: Round robin with only new maps as map pool.

All players can sign up

Prize pool: 50 $

Date/time: Saturday, Jun 07 4:00pm GMT (GMT+00:00)

After the tournament all the player will vote on their top 3 maps. The result of that voting will lead to the final result.

Reward for the map maker:

Top three maps will be added to the Starbow ladder map pool. Other good maps might be rotated into the ladder map pool at a later time.
IeZeal going to refurbish your map if needed.

Happy Mapmaking!

Sikian

Spain177 Posts

May 06 2014 22:16 GMT

Yay!
So much people to follow Kantuva's steps :D

The_Templar

your Country52798 Posts

May 06 2014 22:16 GMT

I might try something. Thanks for this even though it's not exactly sc2

NapNap

United States15 Posts

May 06 2014 22:23 GMT

Nice! Can't wait to see what kind of maps are created. Seeing as Starbow map design is much less restrictive than SC2's, I expect to see some crazy stuff submitted.

Budmind

Germany2 Posts

May 06 2014 22:27 GMT

It's a celebration! Looking forward to some creativity and the tourney aswell.

AldarisGCE

United States20 Posts

May 06 2014 22:30 GMT

No ports......kk.

The_Templar

your Country52798 Posts

May 06 2014 22:58 GMT

Curious about a few things. You say you are judging based on creativity but the 'map features' include a closer nat-to-nat than main-to-main, specific size natural chokes, etc. Are these requirements? Also, is there a way I can add the star bow stuff into the map from the editor? (I've never done this before)

Uvantak

Uruguay1381 Posts

May 06 2014 23:12 GMT

Here Templar take this, it's the key for your victory!

The_Templar

your Country52798 Posts

May 07 2014 00:28 GMT

On May 07 2014 08:12 Uvantak wrote:
Here Templar take this, it's the key for your victory!

Thanks, still doesn't answer my second question though. I should clear that one up, I worded it badly.
How do I make my map cooperative with the Starbow mod; i.e. minerals and gas return 8, 50% high ground miss.

Also very glad if this means what I think it means:

IeZeal going to refurbish your map if needed.

Does this mean my aesthetics don't have to be good?! :D

Kabel

Sweden1746 Posts

May 07 2014 00:48 GMT

#10

Uvantak

Uruguay1381 Posts

May 07 2014 00:56 GMT

#11

The starbow dependency is uploaded and ready to be downloaded, you need to add the starbow dependency and then remove the HotS one, and you are done.

And regarding the aesthetics, Yes!

blacksheepwall

China1530 Posts

May 07 2014 01:36 GMT

#12

This should be super fun.

Looking forward to it.

The_Templar

your Country52798 Posts

May 07 2014 02:02 GMT

#13

On May 07 2014 09:48 Kabel wrote:
How to add the Starbow Mod into a map

1. Open the editor.
2. Log into B.net via the editor and search for the file StarbowBeta. It should be available on all regions.
3. Save it to your computer.
4. Open the map that you are working on.
5. Go into File > Dependencies.
6. Delete the standard dependencie called Swarm (Mod).
7. Click on Add Other and search for StarbowBeta that you saved on your computer.
8. Click OK and save your map.

All data from Starbow are now used in the map. So if you test your map, the workers should return the proper amount of resources, etc.

Let me know if any of the steps are unclear and I will try to explain it in more detail.

On step 7 I keep getting an error message:

"[5/6/2014 10:01:39 PM] Warning: Cutscenes: Command was thrown out due to data being invalid"
Is this a problem?

Also, is there an answer to this question?

On May 07 2014 07:58 The_Templar wrote:
You say you are judging based on creativity but the 'map features' include a closer nat-to-nat than main-to-main, specific size natural chokes, etc. Are these requirements?

Xiphias

Norway2223 Posts

May 07 2014 06:02 GMT

#14

"Map features" is just a general guideline on how maps in Starbow might differ from maps in SC2 as a guide to help you make a map. For example, your map does not need to be 100 distance from nat to nat in order to qualify, but if you radically change the norm you need a good reason to do so.

A good map will ultimately biol down: Leading to fun and interesting game play and should be balanced between the races. The features gives you a starting point and some ideas of what is the norm in Starbow. I guess we can try to rephrase some of this post.

Also, your maps aesthetics do not have to be super-good, that is the point of IeZeal potentially refurbishing your map if needed. But please, try to make your map(s) look as good as possible.