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Crawling Shallows

Crawling Shallows

a 1v1 melee map by mafe.

It features a tileset which is half barrens, half sunken ruins. The layout of the starting positions is somewhat unusual and difficult to attack, but given the large resources available on the map, camping in your base is not a longterm option.

Total creepcamps:
-10 green
-11 brown
-3 red

Neutral buildings:
-4 goldmines for expansions, including one "natural" expansion for each player
-1 golbin merchant
-2 goblin laboratories
-1 Merc camp (barrens)
-1 tavern


Over the years, I've been occasionally making some melee maps, partly as an expression of my frustration of the competitive wc3 mappol being virtually unchanged for ages. This one is a relatively recent project. Hope you guys like it, and hopefully this post is following the guidelines, as this is my first map uploaded here. If interested, I might upload some of my other maps.
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Crawling Shallows (Map)

Reviews
deepstrasz
I think the Makrura camp should not have such a short camping range as they can just stand and look at the player's units without engaging them even though normal (nonneutral) units would engage at that range (below 600). Might be because they cast...

deepstrasz

Map Reviewer
Level 68
Joined
Jun 4, 2009
Messages
18,706
I think the Makrura camp should not have such a short camping range as they can just stand and look at the player's units without engaging them even though normal (nonneutral) units would engage at that range (below 600). Might be because they cast Frost Armour.
For some reasons there are many Tome of Agility drops. Might just be a coincidence.
Not sure if Watcher Wards are such a good idea since they're permanent, invulnerable (and cannot be dispelled).

A nifty melee map with tileset variation mix and big enough to make rushing hard.
I don't think mixing tilesets should be considered altered melee.

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Last edited:
Level 32
Joined
Apr 2, 2013
Messages
3,953
hmmm... as far as I know combining terrain palettes makes your map no longer "melee" at least for the editor. Does this rule apply outside the editor though? @MysteryMaze what are your thoughs?
Technically melee? No. This will indeed change the file type.
Melee? Still melee.

Melee stays true to melee gameplay. Changes in visuals (such as use of edited tile sets, custom doodads) doesn't force us to set it to altered melee.

Anyhow, I love the use of the tile set here. It's unique :]
 

mafe

Map Reviewer
Level 24
Joined
Nov 2, 2013
Messages
869
Thank you for your feedback everyone.
Indeed, the map is quite large for a 1v1 map, and as of now maybe a bit too large. I have some ideas for redesigns to make distances smaller. I will adress this and the other points you made in more details when I have more time.

Ok so here little more:
Regarding the size of the map, there are two major points for me. First I dont like the fact that many small maps (TS, EI, AI) often limit strategical possibilities: By lategame, there are no creeps left, only one expansion per player, scouting isnt really essential anymore. Yes it may actually make the game more balanced, but I found myself vetoing these maps whenever possible just because I find them to be boring.
Second, for this particular map I wanted to have unusual starting positions with a "back-door" area and a second "wrap-around" entrance to the main bases. I originally tried to fit this idea intoa 96x96 map and I found that these base layouts were already taking away half of the map, which I didnt like.
However, you are right that the map is too large. I will hopefully find time and motivation to do a redesign of the corner areas, which should reduce the effective playing size.

@deepstrasz : My idea for the watcher ward is to serve as something the players are supposed to fight for. However, I will probably scrap it if I move the bottom left gold mine closer towards the center, as then the ward might be too powerful. I will also do the same for the red makrura camps, as right now they seem to be too far away from the places where I found most of the action take place. Then if there is a higher chance of trespassing player units, their reduced aggro range also makes sense once again.

I'm happy you like the tileset :)
 
Last edited:
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