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Map Reviewer
- Joined
- Feb 19, 2011
- Messages
- 2,113
Review - Uncharted
(Version December 26th 2022)
Synopsis: Uncharted is a two-player melee map featuring a split map layout: an island region, where the main bases are, and an additional ruins dungeon accessible through the Waygate system. The additional depth adds more flavor to the map, though from a standard melee gameplay perspective, the execution leaves room for improvement. As of now, the map does not meet the standard melee gameplay criteria.
Map Aesthetics: The maps are visually acceptable. The visual clarity is mostly good (when it comes to Reforged assets) though some decorative choices have been made through neglect of playability: gaps between objects and some props are placed in front of creep camps making them hard to access. There are a lot of gaps between trees, which need to be fixed for this to play properly as a melee map as they allow small units to walk into the forest, out of reach of larger units - also wisps can harvest for lumber too securely within the gaps.
Map Layout: The map is large - huge even, for just two players, and that's without mentioning it has two split regions to play on - too large perhaps for its own good. Nevertheless, it seems mostly balanced due to proper mirroring. The central area could perhaps be more enclosed, as it is currently very open. The split region is sweet, but I wonder how necessary it is on such a large map with little gain accessible (the main area already has everything apart from a Marketplace).
Neutral Objectives: Creep camp placement is mostly good, though their micro placement needs some improvement: you usually don't want any creep camps to aggro onto players who are just passing by, and I think that's bound to happen with the Merchant camp, while creeps guarding a Gold Mne should cover a large guard-range (at least one creep not in Camp-mode). Not a huge fan of having a Shipyard only for one singular purpose (one expansion island) - the random crates dropping loot is not very recommendable. Item drops from the creep camps need fixing. Try to make item sets correlate to specific level and item classes, rather than "Wands" or "Potions" as they are highly differential in value, and you want the item drops to be consistent in strength. It's also a bad practice to choose specific items as drops, as the levels of specific items may change between game versions, which means that the map functions as intended only on the very version it has been made on. Thus try to fix the item drops and link them to specific Levels and Classes, and if you wish not to do that, at least balance them (and update with each version).
Map Gameplay: Currently the map does not meet standard melee gameplay criteria due to gaps between trees (and other objects) as well as poorly executed item drops from creep camps. The inconsistency leads to the map being hard to read and predict, which becomes frustrating. Visually the map is decent and has a lot of potential if the flaws are fixed.
Recommendations:
Fix the gaps between trees and improve overall visual clarity (make it clear where the creep camps are and which path is walkable without aggression, don't have invisible/unseeable gaps between some objects that the player can't say for certain without trying).
Fix the item drops and their correlation to creep strength.
(Version December 26th 2022)
Synopsis: Uncharted is a two-player melee map featuring a split map layout: an island region, where the main bases are, and an additional ruins dungeon accessible through the Waygate system. The additional depth adds more flavor to the map, though from a standard melee gameplay perspective, the execution leaves room for improvement. As of now, the map does not meet the standard melee gameplay criteria.
Map Aesthetics: The maps are visually acceptable. The visual clarity is mostly good (when it comes to Reforged assets) though some decorative choices have been made through neglect of playability: gaps between objects and some props are placed in front of creep camps making them hard to access. There are a lot of gaps between trees, which need to be fixed for this to play properly as a melee map as they allow small units to walk into the forest, out of reach of larger units - also wisps can harvest for lumber too securely within the gaps.
Map Layout: The map is large - huge even, for just two players, and that's without mentioning it has two split regions to play on - too large perhaps for its own good. Nevertheless, it seems mostly balanced due to proper mirroring. The central area could perhaps be more enclosed, as it is currently very open. The split region is sweet, but I wonder how necessary it is on such a large map with little gain accessible (the main area already has everything apart from a Marketplace).
Neutral Objectives: Creep camp placement is mostly good, though their micro placement needs some improvement: you usually don't want any creep camps to aggro onto players who are just passing by, and I think that's bound to happen with the Merchant camp, while creeps guarding a Gold Mne should cover a large guard-range (at least one creep not in Camp-mode). Not a huge fan of having a Shipyard only for one singular purpose (one expansion island) - the random crates dropping loot is not very recommendable. Item drops from the creep camps need fixing. Try to make item sets correlate to specific level and item classes, rather than "Wands" or "Potions" as they are highly differential in value, and you want the item drops to be consistent in strength. It's also a bad practice to choose specific items as drops, as the levels of specific items may change between game versions, which means that the map functions as intended only on the very version it has been made on. Thus try to fix the item drops and link them to specific Levels and Classes, and if you wish not to do that, at least balance them (and update with each version).
Map Gameplay: Currently the map does not meet standard melee gameplay criteria due to gaps between trees (and other objects) as well as poorly executed item drops from creep camps. The inconsistency leads to the map being hard to read and predict, which becomes frustrating. Visually the map is decent and has a lot of potential if the flaws are fixed.
Recommendations:
Fix the gaps between trees and improve overall visual clarity (make it clear where the creep camps are and which path is walkable without aggression, don't have invisible/unseeable gaps between some objects that the player can't say for certain without trying).
Fix the item drops and their correlation to creep strength.
