- Terrain: I can be pretty picky about this sometimes. I'm pretty sure the idea making a lot of the map just sand is apart of the "aesthetic", but, I do think you could have done it a little better (1). I don't think I'm a fan of it all that much, but it's not outright ugly... I think you could make the boarders have something there, so your NPC does not just walk into sudden darkness due to the boarder of the map.
- Destructibles: It's odd that you held shift and decided to clamp a bunch of trees together (2) the way you did. I think you shouldn't do that for a melee map unless it's altered-melee. It's a bit nit picky for sure, but I stay true to that.
- Hero Tavern: Another thing that could be considered odd to point out. But I feel as though the red dragon camp is too far from the tavern (3). If you would make it closer, that would be nice. What would be nicer is if you replaced it with a dragon tavern and have the red dragon positioned in-front of the tavern.
- Four vs. Four (4): Not sure if it's a design choice... I did play this with 4 other players and we all agreed it would be great to have goldmines elsewhere and not just where player starting zones are. Maybe use the desert area? (5) Or where the centaurs are, and get rid of the tavern they're guarding.
The design of the map itself is fairly nice. I just think a lot of the aspects of it that I mentioned above are really bringing it down. As a melee map it would be cool to have the best of both worlds good game-play and terrain. I'd give it a 2.5 if I could, but I'll be giving it a 2/5. Keep on mapping though, I think you're talented enough already to make something great, you just need to put more time and thought into what you're making.
Score: [2/5]
(1) Agree at 60%, terrain is fine, it could be better, terrain always can be better, but this is not a terrain template, is a melee map, terrain is secondary in melee play, you won´t even pay atention to the enviroment when you are playing really hard.
(2) Agree at 50%. Still is much better than having gaps between trees where wisps can hide.
3) Not agree, the red camp should not be more close to the tavern area. Tavern area is an empty place to resurrect the hero and even maybe build some towers to avoid the other player to reach it.
4) Not agree, the user need this map for a 1vs1 competitive melee play contest.
5) Not agree, those areas will make the players more far away, the idea is that players get close each other, not go to the corners, corners are no-playable area that will got you far away from the enemy and out of a good strategic position,.
By reading Filmting tutorial of the competitive melee play, many points would be visible, I am not going to review or copy paste competitive melee theory here, but yes to link it and say: that the major aspects of the game are: creeps (types,level, camp mode), items tables, creeping routes, walking distances, neutral buildings positions, trees positions, even critters for Undead creeping routes.
Terrain is a secondary aspect, balance is much more important.
The Hive is overwhelmed of beauty and umbalanced maps (including my maps).
Competitive Melee Map
see ya
Approved
