Have you ever wondered how maps go from concept, to design, to play testing, to potentially the blizzard ladder pool? Have you ever asked yourself how balance changes and game design affect map design? Or possibly you just would like to know what makes some maps stand apart from the rest? Well I know I did, and that curiosity has lead me to create this one hour format show so that you all can learn and get your questions answered along with me.
Topics discussed in this show will include but not be limited to...
- Discussion about map design and game changes - Projects our hosts / guests are working on - Tips on map creation - Map design process (Concept>>>Design>>>Testing>>>Release) - Game changes and how that will affect map design - Q&A from viewers tuning in or leaving questions in this thread
Get Involved!!!
Leave Questions / Feedback here in this thread, or tune in live to have questions answered during the show!
Want to be a guest?
Be you a map designer, player, or personality in the Starcraft II community if you would like to be a guest on the show feel free to contact me via PM on TL.
In no particular order I give you our hosts of the show!
- Commentator for MLG Orlando 2011 - Commentator for MLG.tv / Arena Qualifers - Commentator for Midwest Meltdown Live Event - Regular Commentator for z33k 2v2 Masters Weekly - Guest on several occasions for 'Shifting Gears'
Past Hosts
***Josh "prodiG" Folland*** Liquipedia Entry Episodes 1 through 6 : 3/21/12 to 4/25/12
I enjoyed the show. I am really glad they talked about the 6 mineral maps. I dislike the idea of fewer gases and bases with no gas. I like how the hosts talked about it being imbalanced.
Everyone is so polite on the show. It felt like and interview with one map maker for ten minutes then switching to the next map maker. I would like it if people put their thoughts in more often, and made it feel more like everyone was having a discussion. Seems like everyone except Tyler is always trying to get a word in on State of the Game, well mostly Day 9 and Incontrol. I am sure people will get more comfortable with the format in future shows.
I look forward to the next show, and I followed everyone on twitter.
On March 22 2012 12:40 gn1k wrote: It felt like and interview with one map maker for ten minutes then switching to the next map maker. I would like it if people put their thoughts in more often, and made it feel more like everyone was having a discussion. Seems like everyone except Tyler is always trying to get a word in on State of the Game, well mostly Day 9 and Incontrol. I am sure people will get more comfortable with the format in future shows.
We're comfortable already, but remember that this is the first show. Before we started, we all briefly discussed and understood that the first show is more about "okay, how to improve from here?" rather than acting like it's a presidential speech. We're definitely aware, don't worry We'll be a lot more casual, and i'll stop wearing glasses.
It was really nice to get some insight into how the other map makers view this movement towards less resources per base, and the impact it will have on the game.
And its great that Blizzard may be open to the idea and to its mass implementation if it is deemed popular.
The real question though is, exactly how popular and community supported must this idea be for Blizzard to implement it ladder wide?
Thanks barrin I appreciate it, btw check your PM's soon. Far as moving the thread, i'd be on the fence about that just because I want to get these guys exposure to the parts of the community who maybe don't know them as well as they know their maps
I would most definitely like to see Barrin come on the show soon and chat with us ^_^
@Barrin, every week we will have a new topic. If you have ideas of things we could talk about, PM nerski about it. We could always use more discussions :D
Hey guys, I just watched the first episode vod. I dug it overall, but a couple items of feedback:
Sorry Superouman, it was hard to understand you, mostly due to the mic issue. I hope maybe we can get an upgrade there to get more of your insight.
Also, what was with the timing of the show? When talking about the thread on minerals, it seemed that just as the conversation was starting to evolve into an interesting roundtable discussion, Nerski cut it off and moved onto the next topic.
Overall I am into the show and will check out the next episode for sure. I hope it just gets better.
On March 23 2012 18:03 TheAmazombie wrote: Hey guys, I just watched the first episode vod. I dug it overall, but a couple items of feedback:
Sorry Superouman, it was hard to understand you, mostly due to the mic issue. I hope maybe we can get an upgrade there to get more of your insight.
Also, what was with the timing of the show? When talking about the thread on minerals, it seemed that just as the conversation was starting to evolve into an interesting roundtable discussion, Nerski cut it off and moved onto the next topic.
Overall I am into the show and will check out the next episode for sure. I hope it just gets better.
The first show for anybody is always "what can we improve on from here?" Things will gradually get better with the more shows we do. If you look at Day9's first few casts on his show, he was more quiet, stern, analytical, and serious/logical... and now he's so comfortable that he'll just randomly tell jokes.
We'll get used to it, the first couple shows are always "sit up straight and smile"
Updated OP so long as everything goes to plan, Barrin will be on the show for a follow up segment near the start of the show on his topic "Breadth of Gameplay in SC2".
Will be discussing other topics as well as always, thanks everyone who is continuously giving us feedback on the show we appreciate it. VOD as always should be up a few hours after show #2 ends, and I'll update the OP once it has been posted.
lol such a fun episode... ran into cam difficulties cuz skype demands premium now to use video chat, and so we tried google video chat and it appears to have a 1-hour limit on that, so we had to use wacky pictures... still a great vod though, lots of laughs! good discussion!
VOD for episode 2 added, should be finished processing shortly and view able. Thanks everyone who tuned in and had questions live! Also thanks to barrin for being a guest.
Added in a preview for the next upcoming episode so people have an idea what will be talking about on the next show each week . This next episode will feature discussion on the season 7 map pool.
Thanks again to everyone who has been tuning in live or watching the vods.
What a great show today. Nerski delayed the start time by 20 minutes because he had a flat tire, superouman was really sick so he didn't attend, and prodig and I lost some sleep, but we had a great discussion, and there's plenty of humour!
Discussion for this week updated, will be looking more in depth to the actual design process of mapping. We won't hit all of it this week as eventually will go over the entire process, this week will focus on the initial stages.
On April 10 2012 15:07 Nerski wrote: Discussion for this week updated, will be looking more in depth to the actual design process of mapping. We won't hit all of it this week as eventually will go over the entire process, this week will focus on the initial stages.
VOD for episode 5 added had rendering issues, there is one part with tech problems. Didn't want to wait to render them out to get the episode up. It's towards the end for just a few minutes.
I feel like map testing needs to be a topic for next weeks show(or something related).
We have had 2 scandals with maps this week, both of which comes down to improper testing.
First one was metropolis being pulled from ladder mid-season due to extensive latency issues. It is only the second time a map was pulled from ladder mid-season(Jungle basin was the first).
And the second scandal was of course ESV Vicious which had a crucial bug that wasn't found until the dreamhack finals. I guess this is going to be a hard one for prodiG but i don't think this topic should be avoided.
I would like to know more what goes into testing a map before releasing it too.
Excellent episode. Special shoutout to TPW Archvilee for joining us! Talking about Map of the Month and Team Maps was a wonderful topic that had to be discussed.
It is a pretty good show. My wishes for the show is for Nerski to spend less time restating things that people have said. For example on the 7th episode someone asks a simple questions about new visual map themes and he spends 40 seconds restating this question. Also I wish I breaks were edited out of the VOD. Listening to the talk about getting your map out there was kind of depressing. I think ironman has a lot of interesting things to say and superouman has good points, if only he said more.
On May 08 2012 18:01 gn1k wrote: It is a pretty good show. My wishes for the show is for Nerski to spend less time restating things that people have said. For example on the 7th episode someone asks a simple questions about new visual map themes and he spends 40 seconds restating this question.
I think he did that because Ironman did not understand what I was asking with my question.
Nailing down if or if not will have the show back tomorrow now that things have settled down in my world a little bit after a week off. Do however have the next discussion topic preview posted. I'll update this, my twitter, and on reddit once I know if we are a go tomorrow.
EPT![[image loading]](http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a189/spatial/mappersheader-1.jpg)
![[image loading]](http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a189/spatial/mappershost.jpg)
![[image loading]](http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a189/spatial/mappersstreamvods.jpg)
