EPT(BTW if there are any translation mistakes I apologize in advance)
(JackyPrime on left, LSPrime on right)
Q: Nice to meet you two, please introduce yourself briefly
Jacky : Hello, I am JackyPrime and my name is Geun-Ho Park and 19 years old living in GwangJu
LSPrime : Well, I am Jong-Hyun Joo and using LSprime as my nickname. Am also 19 years old and living in Seoul.
Q : First of all, you two became known in the scene with new GSTL maps, how do you feel about that?
Jacky : I can't believe that they are using my maps. This all happened so quickly and I need some time to believe this is happening. I didn't expect all this to happen as everyone probably knows I thought those maps only be used in Gisado Tourney (*BTW I am still wating for Gom's permission to sub them) but i never expected them to be used in the actual league
LSPrime : I am with him on that one, I thought that Gisado Tourney would be the furtherest maps would viewed on.
Q : There had been so many feedbacks, can you think of any particular feedbacks you've got?
Jacky : Crossfire SE that had been used in Gisado was modified version of original Blizzard map. On the original first expo area was constantly pressured due to terrain - it had a narrow entrance, there are two entrances to the centre area with two block size and three block size each. Also behind resources there is enough space for Terran to build a Missile Turret and the tile size on that space was different from the rest. I basically equalized all those bumpy spaces. The original tile used is 'Aiur' and I changed this to 'Belsir'.
As for Cravasse, I got an inspiration from Jungle Basin where your natural expo could be easily taken. From BW there are maps where you can take your natural expos while solidly defending the base. All ladders maps on SC2 have flat areas and that made battles less interesting so I added many hills and so on.
Q : LSPrime, what about you? I mean where did the inspiration come from when making Terminus and Taldarim Altar?
LSPrime : Commentator Hwang (Korean GSL Commentator) modified the original Terminus map first by adding natural expo was called Terminus G. He kept testing and ran games on that game and he found that it was interesting how games were played on that map. But he was not an expert when it came to using the map editor so he asked me to fix couple of stuff that and the result came out to be Terminus RE (Remake)
For Taldarim Altar, I noticed that current Blizzard ladder maps do not have natural expo on the same ground level as the starting point so I asked myself why not make them on the same ground level. Turns out both bases were on the flat ground it makes defending the natural harder so I narrowed the entrance into the natural expo from the centre. However this made it hard to break through Terran's containment so I added side ways and 2nd natrual expo.
Q : Did you have any interesting episodes while creating the maps?
Jacky : As many people know Crossfire was the remake of Shin-Beak-Du-Dea-Gan from Blizzard. As I worked on the Blizzard map I put SE behind on my modification meaning Second Edition. Cravasse have many snow tiles as you've noticed. The tile name is also called 'snow' However this tile is not visible in the map editor but on this foreign website called 'Mapster' this custom map called 'TeamLC' had snow tiles and the team who created that map taught me how to bring up Blizzard's abandoned tiles in the map editor. One tile that I found in it was Ripple hime (terrible translation here), so you can actually see a cracked icebergs as the name of the tile suggest. So I named it Cravasse.
Q : What about you LS? Have you got any episodes?
LSPrime : I was going to name Taldarim Altar as Amorous which is a flower kind. Overall tiles used on that map were bright. But since Starcraft 2 was fully translated into korean it had been suggested that naming map in Korean would look good so I asked on community and they suggested Taldarim Altar which works out well with the marking on the centre.
Q : You guys are the first mappers who were able to put your maps out on the big tournament like GSL but they did not run any mapping competitions. But they used your maps on GSTL and will use them again on GSL, did you get paid for it?
Jacky : I wasn't thinking of asking them for some money but GomTV mentioned about the payout. We thank them very much. I mean we created them for fun as a hobby. But we are getting paid for it. I really appreciated them mentioning about the pay.
Q : Have they decided how much they will pay you guys? I assume you can't tell us the exact amount? (laughs)
Jacky : Before you mentioned this on last Friday (18th) we have discussed couple of things but the exact amount has not been decided yet. But I do not care how much I get paid. (laughs)
Q : You created a content and you are getting paid for them using your content, how do you feel?
Jacky : It is good for us. I mean they are using out maps. Some people point out that Gisado is bit biased for using our maps only but then I think there will be mapping competitions in the future, well I hope. Prize money would be pretty nice but I think passion and having fun comes before making money, that's how I see it.
LS : In the future if there are any mapping competitions I think people should participate with passion of creating good maps. They shouldn't take this thing too easy there are so many modifications to be done on the map before they balance out.
Q : Foreign forums had few compliments on your maps as well? how were they?
Jacky : I read many posts on TeamLiquid.. they were pretty much /dance, /praise
Q : As a mapper how long do you think new maps should be used?
Jacky : I would say about 3 seasons, players need to adjust to new maps and that's how long it should take develop entertaining strategies for the viewers.
LS : Apart from tournaments I wish that the maps are used elsewhere as well.
Q : What do you think about Blizzard's ladder maps?
LS : I think our maps got attentions because we suggested ways how ladders maps should be. We developed the maps by improving the current ladder maps. Short distances between the bases and small battle grounds were the problems. When you watch real games you could see that each race have terrains that favours them and how they use them changes the battle. Blizzard indeed had creative designs and structures however I think their biggest mistake was on deciding the size of maps.
Jacky : Gameplay in Starcraft had changed over ten years. For me there were restrictions making BW maps. However in Starcraft 2 natrual expo is very large for an example Xel'naga cavern and Metropolis. If mappers from BW make SC2 maps if they reference those maps they would easily notice some differences and make creative maps.
Q : There are new mappers out there who started making maps looking at you guys, any advices for them?
LS : I have seen few people making maps but they don't end up making a finished one. If you study Blizzard ladder maps, despite many negative feedbacks, there are many things that you can learn from. If you study them and locations of each structures and terrains it would help you alot.
Jacky : Unlike BW, Starcraft 2 is fully 3D and graphics quality had improved very much. As they have better graphics you should design your maps so you could take advantage of enhanced quality of graphics. That way viewers would see more entertaining games on better picture maps. Also equalizing balance is very important if the map favours the one particular race it wouldn't be popular. Try making different maps rather than focusing on balancing the game too much through maps.
Q : Are there any new projects that you are working on?
LS : I am making a map that lava emerges time to time, players would need to think about lava affected areas and where to pick a battle.
Jacky : Currently working on making 3 player map, there are many around so it was hard to collect examples. Another map I am working is like map Plasmas in BW where only harvesters can go through this way blocked by 'eggs'
Q : I am looking forward to your new maps in the future, any last words?
LS : GSTL showed games that Protoss won against Zerg and Terran however it is not the time to say that the new maps favour Protoss just yet. They only started to play on new maps and many builds are coming up to counter Protoss builds. So take your time and watch how things change in the future
Jacky : I agree with him. It had been only used in GSTL so far and judgement on the new maps can be made later. I think Starcraft 2 allows more flexible builds compared to BW I believe that games would come up with builds that counters Protoss build. I thank all PlayXP members who encouraged us and I will bring out more good maps in the future.
![[image loading]](http://imgur.com/tbYn8.jpg)
![[image loading]](http://sc2prime.com/img/clan_member.jpg)
![[image loading]](http://sc2prime.com/img/team_member.jpg)
