It’s the first original map since 792 days; this is SK Telecom Starcraft II Proleague 2016 Season – 3rd Round new map, New Gettysburg.
'New Gettysburg' is famous for being a core region on Tarsonis of planet where Sara Kerrigan was taken by the Zerg, and ‘Gettysburg’, a motif of 'New Gettysburg' was a ferocious battlefield of the Civil War.
Later on, Gettysburg became the watershed of the Civil War. This map is named as such to hope for great matches reminiscent of the cutthroat battles of the Civil War.
I release production note of ‘New Gettysburg’ for the first time. I want to show the processes and intentions in making an official map. Perhaps, a map may seem very simple but it needs constantly thinking and improvement to complete it.
This Column may be heavy, I write to ease understanding at most. I hope to be interesting for Starcraft II officials, community users and map freaks.
#1 Understanding the map-meta. Acting as an official map creator, I have made many maps to show for new and fun match. But not all maps were good. Among the maps, I recently made ‘Sky Shield’ which is also hard to be remembered as a good map.
Record of Sky Shield’ used by 2016 GSL Season 1. It is bad balance except for ZvP.
Upon this problem, I need to think more about ‘Legacy Of The Void’’s map.
Recently, Blizzard has used large maps such as ‘Lerilak Crest’ and ‘Dusk Towers’ in ladder pool. Early in LOTV, we couldn’t watch smooth games. On ‘Lerilak Crest’, players used aggressive strategy, since natural was wide open, ‘Central Protocol’ was the same. But ‘Dusk Towers’ showed different results.
Early in LOTV, the Starcraft II map community didn’t prefer the map liked ‘Dusk Tower’. Large map is hard to do SimCity and to arrange troops. But as time went by, it showed a good balance and varied matches. I thought it was suitable for LOTV to analyse a few maps for my next map.
#2 Analysing ‘Dusk Towers’
First, through analysing ‘Dusk Towers’, I focus on showing more stable and fun matches. Its core level design elements are as below.
The natural of ‘Dusk towers’ is large like that of ‘Lerilak Crest’, but not unstable. It has the backdoor natural. When player gets the natural, it is enough to produce troops.
But the natural must not large in maps where player has to get the natural first. Otherwise, it thickens the aggressive tendency as ‘Lerilak Crest’ showed.
Central outpost expansions have been used. In other words, It is bad balance, since for Terran it is easy to defend and to attack. However, ‘Dusk Towers’ also has central one, but it is away from main battlefield. So it is hard to act as outpost.
It is actually close direction, you have to across narrow path if you go to the shortest distance. In late game, it is tough for large-scale troops are to cross the shortest route. Thus, it has an effect that troops bypass by way of wide path.
Being close in late game, player uses wide path frequently. Therefore, player can attack and defend expansions are located outline naturally. Map being used widely is indication of good flow.
Player can secure next expansion selectively after getting the natural, and there is made to be advantage and disadvantage for each. Central expansion is close to defend easily from the natural but it adjoins to a harrassable hill. The other is farther from the natural than central one but it is farther from enemy than central one.
Extruded terrain to the enemy’s main direction on rich expansion is probably to encourage using Swarm Host. (‘Rogue’ introduced it : [SPL2016] Rogue(Jin Air) vs Dark(SKT) Set1 - 11:50~)
It is important to spread units due to the addition of the Liberator, Disruptor, Lurker, etc. that can range attack in LOTV. So ‘Dusk Towers’ is designed to be a large battlefield.
Large fly zone behind the natural gives a chance for the opponent to harrass the backdoor natural. This design prevents boring matchs where players just get the natural and the third to concentrate on gathering resources.
#3 Analysing ‘Ulrena’
I think the only remaining season 1 ladder maps, ‘Ulrena’, along with ‘Dusk Towers’ also needs analysis. Generally, many strategic games through the short route occurs in this map, and so it presents another fun aspect where small troops fight each other fiercely.
Since aggressive play occurs at high frequencies due to short rush distance, the map is designed such that players can easely defend their expansions. The natural and the third are close together, and afterwards there are series of expansions.
If troops of medium-size attack the enemy through the rush route, they’ll be destroyed one by one. So ‘Ulrena’ encourages the players to use the terrain on the right side after the mid game. Also, players can block the short distance perfectly by building cheap buildings such as ‘Supply Depot’ and ‘Pylon’.
Xel`Naga Tower on the rush route highlights the importantance of the short distance in the mid-late game. When player secures it, he or she can detect enemy troops in the short air route.
Most of all, we can watch dynamic matches not seen in other maps.
‘Ulrena’ showed many strategic games to suit its concept, but couldn’t avoid a few negative results.
Because of its short rush distance, aggressive strategies were frequent. Thus, many players couldn’t defend the enemy despite the fact that they knew about the attack. So this map was stressful for some.
The island expansion has rich mineral fields, but it is structured such that players can’t secure it in practice. It is very close to enemy’s main and player can see the creep of hatchery in it though the Xel’Naga Tower.
Troops of mid-size or more use wide path, not short one. However, players only used the middle path after destroying the destructible debris, instead of using the east of this map. This is bad because only part of the map was used.
However, like ‘Dusk Towers’, ‘Ulrena’ is pretty successful map . It demonstrated which map design is suitable. Currently, Blizzard has a policy of using maps of various styles, ‘Ulrena’ is suitable for this.
#4 From the Player’s Point of View
While some like new maps, other don’t, because of excessive concept and imbalance, it is hard for players to adjust through normal play styles. For example, in the recently excluded ‘Korhal Carnage Knockout’, If a player isn't familiar with the map, he or she would not know the starting position of the enemy. Rock tower and shared main to main base also confuses players.
Map creator may think that the general player can easly adjust to a concept map, but not everyone is professional about map design. Some may say that ‘This map is very complicated’. Not all Starcraft II players are ‘diamond’, ‘master’ and ‘grand master’ rankers; new and novel map may require a lot of time to player to adjust to it. We play game for fun, not to study. Even progamers need time and lots of games to familiarize to the maps.
So I made goal for my next to be to 'reflect the existing elements well'. If novel element is added in the map, I think they should be intuitive to players and clear. However, existing elements should be maintained.
#5 Participating TLMC (TeamLiquid Map Contest) Some maps of TLMC Finalist are selected as ladder maps. The 7th TLMC was the first map contest of LOTV. In other words, It was an opportunity to have the first ladders maps for LOTV.
I had been making tournament map for progamers. However, this time, I participated in TLMC to make the ladder map that all Starcraft II players enjoy.
Process of Making ‘New Gettysburg’
Early Version of TLMC#7
Personally, ‘Ulrena’ is very appealing, but it gives negative experiences to players. Since it has a very short rush distance, its positive elements are forgotten. For example, the army movement in the early game created a tense atmosphere which is enjoyable for payers and viewers alike.
To complement these disadvantages, I decided to apply the advantage of ‘Akilon Wastes’. In HOTS, this was the map which set an example as a late game map. So, I applied the advantages of ‘Ulrena’ and ‘Akilon Wastes’ to ‘New Gettysburg’.
Strategic Element of ‘Ulrena’
Close distance between The Naturals: Closer than a macro map, but farther than 'Ulrena'. This induces nail-biting games.
Island Expansion: Used four island expansions (Now two.). Used 'Air-Blockers' for ease of defense.
Fly Zone behind The Natural: Allow for more strategic playstyles.
Economic Element of ‘Akilon Wastes'
Connected Expansions and Large Battlefield: Applied to allow for easily securable expansions and effective battles.
Simple Rush Path, Easy Defence: Intruduce general elements to be familiar for player. Easy defence induces the stable flow in both strategic and economic games.
Elements for Prolonged Games: Secureing the third induces economic game, since it is harder to harrass the natural and the main base.
I used a new element : ‘Air Blocker’ to make island expansion easier to defend and to encourage strategic use. To make it easily recognizable, I paint them red to highlight that it is not passable. When I applied them, I approach the island expansion to patch its disadvantages so that player can easily adapt to it.
#6 Change of View
Explanation of ‘New Gettysburg’ introduced 'TLMC7 Finalists Announced'
‘New Gettysburg’ entered the finalists of TLMC. The total of 15 maps is chosen by four categories (Macro, Rush, New and Gold)
Chosen 15 maps were used in the Map Test Tournament by BasetradeTV to test their balance through Starcraft II Progamers. This is arranged so that map creators could watch their map played and to alter balance or bugs before the final vote.
The best match of ‘New Gettysburg’ shown by Lambo(Z) vs. Beastyqt(T)
When the finalists are opened, ‘New Gettysburg’ was seen as a failed candidate. Looking at the overview, it looks monotonous, and a simple economic map. People thought that players wouldn’t take the island expansions. But through 9 times games in ‘New Gettysburg’, it was shown that the island expansion with ‘Air Blockers’ was not only enough to become a strategic element but also was able to show ecomomic games.
From the overview, it looked bland, but many people recognize the possibility of ‘New Gettysburg’ through Map Test Tournament and…
#7 Win the Map Contest
‘New Gettysburg’ won the map contest by the 7th TLMC opened.
#8 Closing the Column Later on, ‘New Gettysburg’ was altered to reduce boring elements and it was chosen to be used as SK Telecom Starcraft II Proleague 2016 Season – 3 Round map. Starcraft II Balance Team also seem to view the map positively, so I look forward to the map in the future.
Through this map making process, I got the foothold about element of LOTV’s map in the future and it becomes a good opportunity to be recognised by others.
Actually, it was possible to suggest several candidate maps internally to become an official map. Yes, if an official map creator did not even place in the contest, his or her status will nosedive. But I thought that familiar and comfortable environment would make me lazy. if I want to make better maps. It becomes valuable experience to be for a 1st-generation Starcraft II map creator to be recognized even till now.
Finally, I would like to sincerely thank the Starcraft II balance design team, Rifkin, and KeSPA MisoPri(Donggu). Also, I want to also thank the voters and foreigner mapmakers who saw the possibilities of my map voted for it.
On July 09 2016 01:59 BronzeKnee wrote: It is good to see so much thinking put into maps. I do wonder how much thinking was put into maps like Slag Pits.
"hey david, the new ladder season starts tomorrow, but we've only got 6 maps right now. what should we do?"
"hmm... didn't we just get a new intern a couple days ago? why don't we let him take care of it?"
"you mean bob? he's doing software QA for WoW, i'm not sure he's even played starcraft, let alone touched the editor..."
"no problem, just show him a few of our maps, and i'm sure he'll be ok"
Personally i have no issue with the short rush distance on Ulrena, the problem for me as a protoss player is walling in in PVZ. Because of the small natural, large ramp and proximity of the gases to the ramp, its very difficult to wall in properly on that map.
As a result of the large ramp and the awkward building placement, it is hard to make a good concave at the top of the ramp which gives a zerg player an advantage when attacking the protoss player. This is especially true when the Zerg uses a ravanger roach rush timing
Just sad that your map does not work. It is not your fault, but Blizzards pathfinding does not deal well with air blockers. Which means every map that does use them has a problem and should not be in a pool which is the basis for every high level tournament. And lets be clear, that is a bug, not a feature. If i give air units a move command, i expect all units to reach their target, no matter where i want them to go.
There is also the problem of the idea that maps like Ulrena open up "new and fun strategies". They do not. All they do is to lock players in a very narrow range of strategies which are clearly superior to others. While every map favors certain strategies, good maps keep the difference small enough to allow for the widest range possible. But here is Gettysburg not the worst offender, considering the horrible Desan Station and (after the chances Blizzard did) Galactic Process. In fact i thing Gettyburg damps down the early rush potential enough to allow for longer games, if you are good in defending.
I will still not play a single game on this map, as long as Blizzard does not fix it's pathfinding.
Didn't realize the islands were back to two, I suppose it's better for less air-blocker problems through the center of the map but I'm excited to try out this iteration! You did an excellent job and you can tell from your explanation how much thought went into it. We can feel this when we play it. Thanks for all your work.
On July 09 2016 18:44 Turi wrote: Just sad that your map does not work. It is not your fault, but Blizzards pathfinding does not deal well with air blockers. Which means every map that does use them has a problem and should not be in a pool which is the basis for every high level tournament. And lets be clear, that is a bug, not a feature. If i give air units a move command, i expect all units to reach their target, no matter where i want them to go.
There is also the problem of the idea that maps like Ulrena open up "new and fun strategies". They do not. All they do is to lock players in a very narrow range of strategies which are clearly superior to others. While every map favors certain strategies, good maps keep the difference small enough to allow for the widest range possible. But here is Gettysburg not the worst offender, considering the horrible Desan Station and (after the chances Blizzard did) Galactic Process. In fact i thing Gettyburg damps down the early rush potential enough to allow for longer games, if you are good in defending.
I will still not play a single game on this map, as long as Blizzard does not fix it's pathfinding.
I respectfull disagree with all your statement.
1- the path thing is not an issue. To give you an example, every terran had some day a game where they are wrecking their opponent, outmacro, outmicro, better decision making, but the guy does not die and after a while you're like why the F this game is not over and you go to your factos and see 15 tanks (or 10 thors) stuck in corner cause the turret you added 10 mins ago blocked their way out. Every terran had this. Then they learnt and got this in a corner of their mind : "I must build my base so big units can get out"
With New Gettysburg it the same. Every player will have a game where a bunch units are goofing in the air blocker. And tehn we'll learn to babysit units and check minimap, and it will never happen again. We will even have better control on other map too cause we'll keep in mind that there is something between our base the opponent's and maybe we should pay attention to what happens to our units in this space.
2 - Ulrena was a decent map, with actually some long macro games, but as Jacky pointed out it caused stress to people to be under the threat of their opponent right from the very early game. But it was a good map, esp in the way bases 4, 5, 6, 7 were set.
So it was not a narrow set of strategies, just a very caustious early game into whatever style you like.
3- you haven't played glactic process with blizard changes, it's not available. If were not so fast to judge maybe it would have occured to your mind that 12 pool gling won't be in your base much beofre 2'15, and that speed lings will need 30 seconds to cross the whole map. To me there are reasonable possibilities taht T and P will be able to find a proper way to defend.
This change from blizzard could even be a good thing for this map which was very closed in early game.
To be honest I'm not a fan of this map and I can already point out a few flaws.
The island expansions for instance. I can totally get why island expansions are in the game, but to put two of them directly between both main bases is quite stupid. Ulrena had this exact problem; nobody would expand on the island because an island expansion could be very easily harassed and destroyed with minimal effort. Island expansions are meant to reward subtlety for the player choosing to take these expansions, and reward good scouting for the player trying to hunt them down. By placing an island expansion between a common drop path, you are therefore removing the element of stealth.
Personally, I would have replaced the island expansions at the 5 o'clock and 7 o'clock positions with a high ground island at the 6 o'clock position accessible by ground from the centre of the map complete with a few Neutral Hostile missile turrets. I would have also added a Xel'naga Watchtower which could be used to detect whether the turrets have been destroyed or not.
That way, it delays drop play in the early game unless you send a ground force to eliminate the turrets first. It also rewards the player capturing the tower with scouting intel to tell them if drop play is imminent or if they're safe.
The third base also looks pretty tough to defend for a macro map and is quite disconnected from the main and natural expansion. In between the natural and third you have two wide open 'chokepoints' on the lower ground concealed only by a small pillar, and then you have to worry about a very huge ramp leading to your third base further north.
As for the other expansions... forget it. They'll get sniped very easily. I can certainly understand why the central expansions should be, but surely there has to be SOME incentive for capturing the northern bases rather than having a huge army attack them from the high ground?
Maps like Metropolis and Akilon Wastes worked as late game macro maps because of how interconnected expansions were and how many chokepoints there were to exploit. This map simply won't work at all in LotV.
Post is a little long and borders on masturbatory, (a lot of it could have been reduced to simply: "I took the Ulrena concept and adjusted it to have more normal map/base proportions") especially since it may be too early to celebrate as we don't know if the map will ultimately be successful both as a fun map or in win %s.
But all that aside it's still a fun read, just because I love talking about maps and we get so little of that. And Jacky is one of the better mapmakers so it's not coming from left field.
I still think the air blockers should simply be removed. They don't really do that much and they're buggy as hell. We tried air blockers years ago and found that the engine doesn't support them - this is why you don't see them in anyone else's maps. I hope at least that this will spur Blizzard to implement support for air pathing in a future patch though Cuz oh boy the possibilities if we could actually use them in full force.
On July 11 2016 10:23 Clbull wrote: The island expansions for instance. I can totally get why island expansions are in the game, but to put two of them directly between both main bases is quite stupid. Ulrena had this exact problem; nobody would expand on the island because an island expansion could be very easily harassed and destroyed with minimal effort. Island expansions are meant to reward subtlety for the player choosing to take these expansions, and reward good scouting for the player trying to hunt them down. By placing an island expansion between a common drop path, you are therefore removing the element of stealth.
The islands have already been taken in professional games, Stats based an entire game in Proleague around using them, a bit early to call them a failure.
On July 11 2016 10:23 Clbull wrote: The island expansions for instance. I can totally get why island expansions are in the game, but to put two of them directly between both main bases is quite stupid. Ulrena had this exact problem; nobody would expand on the island because an island expansion could be very easily harassed and destroyed with minimal effort. Island expansions are meant to reward subtlety for the player choosing to take these expansions, and reward good scouting for the player trying to hunt them down. By placing an island expansion between a common drop path, you are therefore removing the element of stealth.
The islands have already been taken in professional games, Stats based an entire game in Proleague around using them, a bit early to call them a failure.
Right? Some of this stuff might apply if it didn't have the air blockers, but they make the bases much more defensible.
Just saw this thread for the first time, can't believe it only has 2 pages. Bears reading at the end of 2016 for some good retrospective on current map predicaments.
On November 08 2016 17:43 EatThePath wrote: Just saw this thread for the first time, can't believe it only has 2 pages. Bears reading at the end of 2016 for some good retrospective on current map predicaments.
Yeah, though it's less of a retrospective and more of a prospective considering this was before the bulk of New Gettysburg's tournament play. I'd love to see a retrospective of the maps in a ladder pool at the end of each season. Maybe someone can convince Uvantak to get on that.
On November 08 2016 17:43 EatThePath wrote: Just saw this thread for the first time, can't believe it only has 2 pages. Bears reading at the end of 2016 for some good retrospective on current map predicaments.
Yeah, though it's less of a retrospective and more of a prospective considering this was before the bulk of New Gettysburg's tournament play. I'd love to see a retrospective of the maps in a ladder pool at the end of each season. Maybe someone can convince Uvantak to get on that.
Well, I mean retrospective exercise for us now (and I only came to it now). But I really admire how Jacky assembled his thoughts and effectively planned out a map that plays pretty much as intended.
EPT![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/K5q05p5.jpg)
![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/EEsyviL.png)
![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/vZZcieF.jpg)
![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/L2Eig5a.jpg)
![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/PWIamdd.jpg)
![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/uwZgfPx.gif)
![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/zcdIgyP.jpg)
![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/r3Z6dOt.jpg)
![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/htcTJSJ.jpg)
![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/FgXM7ZF.png)
![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/JD8t1p9.jpg)
![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/39e2xCf.png)
