Commenting from the video because there's no way I can watch this live . Also, I'm mostly concerned about how the maps look, because I leave the game-making potential to be evaluated by better players than I.
Thunderbird looks incredibly boring. The texturing is extremely uniform, and the first interesting setpieces seem to be in the pits between the natural and the third, with bits of vegetation clinging to the cliffsides, or the cliff between the natural and the fourth. That's too late in the progression of the game, and underdeveloped anyway.
Disco Bloodbath is certainly interesting. It's novel and eye-catching, with its neon borderlines and Super Mario Kart Rainbow Road blocks. It doesn't seem to have that much going on behind the gimmick though, so I can imagine myself getting bored with it.
Black Baroque was one of the maps I was most excited about when I first saw the map pool, because of its colour choices. But even in the first seconds of the game, I like the texturing of the mains better than the previous two maps. The transparency on the columns when units get near is somewhat off-putting though. The setpieces seem a bit underwhelming. Actually, for a map with 'baroque' in its name, it could use some extravagance.
Mungyeong Saejae. Oh, I really like my first second looking at this map. The colours are very pretty. The texturing of the mains has some story to it. There's some nice decoration along the outside of the map, which is good when drops happen, but it could do with a bit more elaborate setpieces in that core where the main, natural and third meet. The darker, earthier tones for the lowest level of the map are a nice difference, a small contrast, not drawing too much attention to itself. Also like the use of water further out. All in all, probably my favourite map this season.
Neo Tokyo Turbo Cruise '84 has the same neon borderlines as Disco Bloodbath, but the plunging cityscape, while not as immediately eye-catching as the Rainbow Road blocks will probably be better in the long run.
Bandwidth. I didn't think I'd like it, but the yellow doesn't feel as overused as I thought it would, and it has some nice setpieces. The general look of the map makes the blue forcefields in the pits really pop out. The more I watch this game the more I like it. It's got a nice atmosphere.
Heatwave looks good, but I don't really know what to say about it. Somewhat like King's Cove in the current pool, it's pretty much what I'd expect to see.
Break Out is another boring looking map. Pretty uninspired texturing. Minimal setpieces. The green at the bottom level of the map is a welcome relief, but not enough to actually change my opinion of this map. Decoration on the edge of the map is all well and good, but the camera doesn't spend a lot of time there in the course of a game.
Operation Lockdown. The colours pop out immediately. The textures are interesting, not as much of a fan of the decoration. Actually, this map makes no sense to me. It feels like a bunch of stuff jammed together. The Terran and Protoss architecture fused together, on top of the uniquely coloured rock base and that skybox, there's just too much going on for me. WAIT, I thought those were tiny Zerg flying in the distance, but is there just foliage in the skybox? Is that supposed to be intentional or was it just not cleaned up?
Acropolis is nice. I like the texturing to make the curved edges of the plaza at the lower level. Some understated decoration. Despite what I said in some previous entries, extravagant setpieces aren't necessary, the green grass and trees are enough of a contrast to the structure to keep the area around the natural interesting.
Winter's Gate I really like. Year Zero I find quite exhausting in its unrelenting, Angelfire-themed red and black, but adding the snowy areas really keeps it from being overwhelming. I also like the decoration a lot, the bare, white trees, the red Tal'darim crystals and vegetation and the menacing black rock spires all work together surprisingly well. I also like the windows at the expansion locations. An easy favourite for me. Don't know why it has Dark Templar geysers though.
Rest Calm doesn't look too interesting. All it has going for it is the yellow/teal colour scheme, and it's been done better in maps like Echo.
Loss Aversion. Speaking of not much going on, this map is ridiculously barren. It's got an extremely severe black/white colour contrast and just... emptiness. It's surreal. I shouldn't like it, but I kinda do?
Collision Course reminds me of Operation Lockdown in that it doesn't feel like it has a wholly coherent theme, but it's not as out there, so it's more fun-weird. I like the decorating, even if I have no idea what's going on. It's good.
Ephemeron is like Heatwave in that it's good-looking but doesn't have much novelty. I like the attention put into decorating around the naturals, I've realised that in most games, the observing camera spends a lot of time in that area. It also has some gorgeous setpieces.
Ranking based on these first impressions:
1- Mungyeong Saejae 2- Winter's Gate 3- Ephemeron 4- Bandwidth 5- Heatwave 6- Collision Course 7- Acropolis 8- Neo Tokyo Turbo Cruise '84 9- Black Baroque 10- Loss Aversion 11- Disco Bloodbath 12- Operation Lockdown 13- Thunderbird 14- Rest Calm 15- Break Out
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