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I had a blast making my submissions for this contest. Good luck to everyone!
My submissions:
+ Show Spoiler [Obsidian Depths (Standard)] +Standard layout but with a twist; 2 extra island bases than the normal 8 bases. One island can be taken as early as a natural base. The other will be much later, unless you choose to sneak an early island base. The islands are easily reachable by long range ground units, and are very harassable.
+ Show Spoiler [Blindside Basin (Standard)] +NOTE: Cross spawns only (Left+Right, Top+Bottom). An exposed but pocket gold base is available as a natural option. Main bases will open up in the midgame by breaking rocks to access rotating expansion patterns. Promotes diverse strategies and expansion patterns.
+ Show Spoiler [Shattered Sands (Standard)] +A standard layout featuring a fissure running through the center of the map splitting the aesthetics in two. Xel'Naga towers help secure the forward 4th and triangle 4th.
+ Show Spoiler [Bear's Den (Macro)] +Macro map with diverse expansion layouts. Can take forward bases or line bases.
+ Show Spoiler [Outsider (Standard)] +Outsider features a harassment path wrapping behind both the triangle and line 3rd bases. Destroying a key rock tower on the side reduces mobility on this path. In exchange, the natural choke is small and easy to defend.
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My submissions:
10000 Feet 124x136 + Show Spoiler +
Torches 128x144 + Show Spoiler +
Wrath 140x140 + Show Spoiler +
Killer's Mile 144x132 + Show Spoiler +
I was expecting some more maps that use worker paths, zerg rocks or destroying minerals, but we got some very refined standard maps in the mix. Judges are gonna have it tough this time too. Glhf to all the mapmakers.
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consolidated list of maps posted up until this point if its helpful
+ Show Spoiler +
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So many great maps dropping! Cool seeing the "crop" concept on Bear's Den, really distinguishes it in the lineup.
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On January 29 2025 14:15 Cygnus wrote: So many great maps dropping! Cool seeing the "crop" concept on Bear's Den, really distinguishes it in the lineup. I love maps with strange dimensions! I'm a tad worried that the triangular fourth is doing this map a disservice but it's hard to tell
Some very interesting submissions in general! Can't wait to look closer at some I *suspect* are standouts except can't actually reasonably confirm without rush distance (not everybody has been uploading the rush distances which is far more relevant to reading maps these days imo than the dimensions smfh)
Without full info though, I gotta say one of the more "emergent" designs that doesn't depend on any new mechanics, "holdover freshness" due to outdated meta, or other trickery for me would be music's Storm Surge. The balance is likely very chaotic to determine from overview with this sort of design but also it's so cool. Being able to leapfrog up the map using those small ramps with tanks sounds so interesting. Love it (as well as the aesthetics which he always nails)
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On January 29 2025 20:17 volumin wrote: Tokamak Arctic Fall Killswitch Old Republic Rusty Anchor Tokamak looks too much like Alcyone imo, during iteration it should have one of its trims changed colour imo (maybe replace one of them with purple or red)?
Love the aesthetic of Arctic Fall tho
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On February 01 2025 12:28 SC2Sole wrote:Submissions: Voidhaven Station + Show Spoiler +Caverns of Time + Show Spoiler +It's been a blast to participate. Best of luck to everyone.
I'm ngl, I did not have Xel'naga Caverns remake on my TLMC bingo card.
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Here's my top 16 predictions in no particular order based on the maps that we know of.
1. Continuum by Monitor 2. Incorporeal by Monitor 3. Persephone by Patches 4. Talisman by Patches 5. Storm Surge by Music 6. Pylon by Music 7. Antimatter by Music 8. Torches by Killersmile 9. Rusty Anchor by Volumin 10. Tokamok by Volumin 11.Botanical by Avex 12. Diffusion by Avex 13. Ruskaletto by Legan 14. Eldeyja by Legan and the last two are probably some ego-brained ass picks especially considering I haven't had a finalist since tlmc 17 but... 15. Sandwyrm by me 16. Flowering Night by me
gl to everyone who entered, and I hope to see some good tlmc tournament games on some fresh maps.
Also I wish I could put 3/4 player maps into my prediction list, but they're usually not favourable among the judges which is enough to tank their score, but I'll give Motherboard by Monitor an honourable mention because I think it's a cool 4 player map.
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I'm ngl, I did not have Xel'naga Caverns remake on my TLMC bingo card.
Haha, thanks. You're actually one of my biggest influences. I really liked your TLMC19 maps. Thanks for pushing boundaries and trying new things.
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On February 02 2025 06:07 SC2Sole wrote:Haha, thanks. You're actually one of my biggest influences. I really liked your TLMC19 maps. Thanks for pushing boundaries and trying new things.
Oh, thank you. I'm ngl I would never have expected that I would influence somebody that way from my maps. Though to be honest, I'm not sure going as out there as my TLMC 19 maps is the way to go. In hindsight I feel I sort of pushed concepts to too much of an extreme or had too much going on at once, I've never really been good at executing on freestyle concepts in a coherent way without taking things too far. Which is why this time around Sandwyrm is just kind of a much more standard version of Dragon Teeth, though maybe to too much of a degree. They might be fun crazy maps, but will probably never do well in a tlmc. My advice would be that unless your map is really well executed, 1 lighter twist that sets your map apart is better than one or many larger ones.
I would also say to master making boring standard maps before you put the twist on them, but that's totally up to you. Just as long as they're slightly more modern maps that figured out 3 building walls as naturals, but if you're simply making maps that you think would be fun with your friends, then get as carried away as you want. Really depends on what you're goals are. Either way, happy mapmaking.
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On February 02 2025 06:35 CharactR wrote: Though to be honest, I'm not sure going as out there as my TLMC 19 maps is the way to go. In hindsight I feel I sort of pushed concepts to too much of an extreme or had too much going on at once, I've never really been good at executing on freestyle concepts in a coherent way without taking things too far. Relatable. I think in a lot of my designs both in past contests and this one I’m trying to bend the rules past what anybody is capable of predicting the outcome for so even if I pass the unlikely hurdle of not breaking the game it’s still a waste of my own time
If I end up submitting to the next contest, I will definitely be trying to hit a more even distribution… hopefully attempting some multi-spawn maps to try and placate the ever-present ADHD itch to throw new stimulus at the wall
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Lots of great maps! When will voting be?
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My Predictions (In no particular order)
Torches by KillerSmile Wrath by KillerSmile Flowering Night by CharactR Incorporeal by monitor Canopy by monitor Persephone by me (cope) Talisman by me (double cope) Arbiter by Music Pylon by Music Diffusion by Avex Cenotaph by Avex Nightvision by MayOnFire Amethyst Colony by Legan Killer's Mile by KillerSmile Rusty Anchor by volumin Killswitch by volumin
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I think in a lot of my designs both in past contests and this one I’m trying to bend the rules past what anybody is capable of predicting the outcome I finally got some time to test out the submissions, and I walked away really impressed with the ideas you came up for this round. Like the gold minerals on Abacus is actually genius. It's so simple and such an efficient use of space. I could easily see that becoming a standard feature in future maps.
Guckton is what I thought TLMC19 was going to be; and, Abacus, in its concepts, is what I was expecting for TLMC20. I think it's hard to fully appreciate the intricacies of the maps with just the top down perspective. There's a lot of maps this round that feel totally different in game.
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