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Map Inspiration:
This has to be the worst example of a map when it comes to explaining its creation. It was originally inspired entirely by the new tileset from Heart of the Swarm. That's it. Seeing the cool new textures and cliffs made me just start doing things. However...
After I hashed out its initial iterations I started to get some good ideas for the actual gameplay of the map. First, I wanted to take the frowned-upon notion of even pathing, and use it in a way that makes the map play in a very specific way. Daybreak is the most extreme example of a map that uses it, but on this map it's less extreme, since the path is shorter than on Daybreak, and the central towers watch over both central paths. In the end, something potentially interesting has happened, where the even pathing diverts attention away from the center, but the towers put attention back on it again, so even though the 2 corner expansions are quite far away the dynamics of the center help to force some action their way.
If you want to get real meta though, knowing your opponent probably has a watchtower will push you away from the center again if your plan is to launch an un-spotted attack. The overall result is that several aspects of the map reward a more aggressive, map-controlling player(the high-ground pods by the natural also act to accentuate this). A careless player will always have a hard time against someone who takes advantage of the map here. Also, due to the even pathing, simply 1-A'ing your army is liable to put you into a base trade scenario. In most circumstances I would agree it's bad, but I've taken it and made it part of the map here. Controlling one of the watchtowers becomes extremely important, as well as managing your army as it traverses the map. The map, then, attempts a lot of things that few other maps do, but one that hopefully strikes that careful balance of innovation, where it forces you to play to the map, without doing anything too extreme. In that sense, this map feels like Cloud Kingdom, which pulled off a similar trick but with choke points. Overall, I liked how the map played in MotM, though for those things I didn't like I've made changes accordingly.
+ Show Spoiler [Xel'Naga Tower Radii] +
+ Show Spoiler [Close-ups] +
Textures - Phaeton
Lighting - Custom
Other Data:
Playable 144*
Nat-Nat Distance ~ 165
Expansion Count: 10 normal
Xel'Naga Towers: 2
Recent changes include:
-The map has been converted to HotS beta! Small balance tweak: rock towers added. Because why the hell not.
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Hey. Cool map. I think the reaper paths are probably fine, as going reapers is a bit of a gamble to begin with so there should be some sort of reward possibility there. (With reapers looking stronger in HOTS it might need to be revisited at that point) I think whether or not something makes blink stalkers too strong is much more important than reapers.
We can't know until games are played on it (hopefully some people do blink stalkers in the tourney so we can see), but I think this map is not as bad as at least 2 or 3 of the current ladder maps as far as blink stalkers go. The surface area for blink is large but the way the main is shaped helps make it a little easier to defend since you don't really have to go that far to get to each point they could attack from. If that made any sense.
Hope we see some good games on it in the tourney. Break a ramp :-O
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I wouldn't worry about the reaper path at all. Any race can defend a reaper harrass unless they go some stupid build without scouting, in which it's a player flaw not a map flaw. Keep it in.
Heart of the swarm on the other hand will make reapers much more powerful ad do you may need to adjust it (smaller path) or remove it to compensate, but no one can really say that will be required or not until release and everything is final.
Good map was definitely my favorite in the motm.
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On September 25 2012 10:39 eTcetRa wrote:
I wouldn't worry about the reaper path at all. Any race can defend a reaper harrass unless they go some stupid build without scouting, in which it's a player flaw not a map flaw. Keep it in.
Heart of the swarm on the other hand will make reapers much more powerful ad do you may need to adjust it (smaller path) or remove it to compensate, but no one can really say that will be required or not until release and everything is final.
Good map was definitely my favorite in the motm.
tyty :D
But yeah, it's definitely something I'll keep an eye on, since I have that luxury this time. With HotS coming up map design will no doubt change, but until then(OR UNTIL I GET THE DAMN BETA) I'll be pushing to make kickass WoL maps.
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Possibly my favourite top 5 map! This map, for me, is like a Blizzard map except everything went right. (What we should have had all along.) Which is a great achievement! The best part is how the tower vision informs the expansion pattern and the whole set of lategame planning. It truly brings everything together. This is the kind of map coherence that usually happens as an "accident" of proper application of general principles to creative ideas. Which is to say, I'm not sure if you were ever conscious of it, but it's awesome!
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i love the middle but i am unsure how far fifth and sixth are to the sides. i really do not like the "one entrance" fifth though and i am unsure about the losb running cross the centre.
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On September 25 2012 16:37 Samro225am wrote:
i love the middle but i am unsure how far fifth and sixth are to the sides. i really do not like the "one entrance" fifth though and i am unsure about the losb running cross the centre.
The 5th's and 6th's are quite far - the idea being that once you go past 4 bases you really need to step up your presence on the map and take control of it, or you'll lose out to a better player. A lot of things on this map are a bit strange though, that's part of the point. I want to see how stuff like this fares in competitive play, and I get a bit of a chance to do that.
Oh and...
On September 25 2012 11:38 EatThePath wrote:
This map, for me, is like a Blizzard map except everything went right. (What we should have had all along.)
that description fits my mapmaking philosophy better than you perhaps realize.
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Barrin's disease has spread, stupid quote button...
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Justice bump, loosely related to MotM. Any thoughts/comments/concerns before the tournament, or in general will be appreciated! 
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Now this is a very interesting map that combines a lot of different ideas. I've seen high grounds above the natural like that to secure a choke, but I've never seen one used for an alternative entrance. A Pylon placed up there could allow you to warp in on the other side of the rock, and flank an army attacking into your natural, which would be a great use of this interesting feature.
I really like how the fifth and sixth expansions are really undefined in terms of which player they belong to. Late game on this map could unfold in so many different ways.
The tower locations are well thought out. They are uncontested, yet can be denied from either of the high grounds. Speaking of those high grounds, you used LoSBs in a way that I haven't really seen in a competitive map. I am mainly talking about the long one right through the middle of those areas.
Overall, I would really love to see some high level gameplay on this map! 
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the map layout reminds of those maps from mereel (or was it meltage) with two different cross-spawn configurations. that is, you'd have to change the NW/SE corners into a more proper main-nat layout. just an idea.
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On October 06 2012 08:35 a176 wrote:
the map layout reminds of those maps from mereel (or was it meltage) with two different cross-spawn configurations. that is, you'd have to change the NW/SE corners into a more proper main-nat layout. just an idea.
heh, i'm not sure the expansion progression would work for that :p
Thanks for the comments so far doods I'm planning on doing another aesthetic update, before a certain mapmaking contest gets announced. The thing that annoys me is that I fixed the textures to make sense, now they all blend together x.x
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I just realized that this map has the same expansion pattern as Cloud Kingdom.
Obviously, it's nowhere near the same map, but I was just trying to picture in my head how people would expand on this map, and then looking at the positioning of your 4th vs your opponents 5th, I figured it would play out similar to Cloud Kingdom, and then all the sudden I realized that every base is in almost the same position as Cloud Kingdom.
Though obviously the rest of the map is entirely different.
EDIT: just realized that the 4th and 5th are on opposite sides than generally taken on Cloud Kingdom, and my comment is significantly less insightful. :/
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On October 07 2012 06:23 Mullet_Ben wrote:
I just realized that this map has the same expansion pattern as Cloud Kingdom.
Obviously, it's nowhere near the same map, but I was just trying to picture in my head how people would expand on this map, and then looking at the positioning of your 4th vs your opponents 5th, I figured it would play out similar to Cloud Kingdom, and then all the sudden I realized that every base is in almost the same position as Cloud Kingdom.
Though obviously the rest of the map is entirely different.
EDIT: just realized that the 4th and 5th are on opposite sides than generally taken on Cloud Kingdom, and my comment is significantly less insightful. :/
I totally get what you're saying, as a general observation I spotted this too.
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Map update(yay)!
Changes include:
-The main has been moved slightly, and made smaller. It was rather big before.
-The high ground by the natural has been extended slightly.
-The entrance to the 3/9 o'clock base has been tightened some.
-The cliffs connecting the 2 corner expansions have been trimmed.
-Total texture overhaul, made to better distinguish cliff levels, and just look better.
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Map has been converted to the HotS beta, see:
![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/LUkf4.jpg)
Rock towers have been added, because they're awesome, and I found a couple cool places for them. Lemme know what you think!
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EPT![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/ak5WI.jpg)
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