Autumn Forests

[Zucth]

Definitely an improve after a lot of mafe and other mapper feedback. Let's only talk about melee map and not competitive melee map.
1. The starter position is a little too far. u better put it as close to the goldmines as possible as long as it wasn't incorrect.
2. Seem like u haven't fix your habit of the trees gap just yet. click "p" for checking the doodad/cliff-ramp gap.
3. Critter is missing.
4. Item level for a camp seem to go a bit wrong. the only collect here that I see would be p1 for 2-2-2 troll. maybe try to read this, it was from mafe a long time ago when he talk about how to implement itemdrop. It also take me a long time to fully understand it. (6)Tropicold

 

[Remixer]

Review - Autumn Forests
(Version June 1st 2023)
Description: Autumn Forests is a fall-themed melee map that is functional, but does not quite meet standard melee criteria or quality.
Terrain: The terrain is visibly clear and functions very well for melee gameplay. The use of the Raise / Lower -tool is adequate, though its synergy with tile usage could be improved (more pathed roads are typically lowered), whereas here the height variation looks more randomized, while tile variation itself is decent. The terrain could use a more consistent placement of props and decorative objects as now, despite having some props, there are large areas without any decoration, leaving a very barren look once the trees are cut out.
Layout: The layout is a classic ring layout with an intersecting road through the middle featuring a Tavern. The Tavern and expansion mines act as contestable objects as well. Good job. The pathing of the map consists of long corridors with little points of maneuverability, which could be improved by opening up some pathways and forested areas, but this layout can function for a melee map, though it can end up very streamlined.
Creeps: The second green creep camp is placed a little awkwardly far away from the starting positions, but then again it gives yet another point of contesting, which can be good, however in this map, where the pathing and strategic options are quite limited, it might give unwanted balance impact between races. The other camps are quite strong: there's a big jump in creep strength from the green camps to the orange ones, and especially the expansion sites are heavily guarded for such a linear map. Regarding the item drops I second Zucth's comment - take a look at how the item drops should be balanced around the creep and objective strength and make changes accordingly. The green camps seem to be fine, other camps seem to drop weak items considering their combined strength. The ogre camp drop is okayish. You could add a Power Up drop to the camp.
Gameplay: While the map functions, it is not suitable for quality melee gameplay due to an imbalance of item drops as well as other errors already pointed out by Zucth.

Recommendations:
See Zucth's comment and make changes accordingly. Starting positions, creep-item balance, and also the gaps between the trees. The critters have been added, which is good, though their placement could be better. Read the comments on terrain and layout in case you want to further improve the map.

 

[AGKRegal102]

Here's an even better one.

v1.3

• New terrain than the old one.
• Doodads and units improved.
• Added one more orange creep camp (also adding the red one).
• Gold mines amount changed: the main one (14000), the expansion one (12000).
• Replaced Goblin Laboratory to 2 fountains.

 

[Remixer]

Review - Autumn Forest
(Version March 12th 2024)
Synopsis: Autumn Forest is a fall-themed map for two players. The narrow corridors give the map a slightly claustrophobic feel. The visually pretty map can offer battlegrounds for a simple melee game.
Map Aesthetics: The map aesthetics are nice and I'd say pretty close to a traditional Blizzard style. The perfect alignment of the trees is a little unnatural looking and not the best for gameplay impact as Wisps can reach the trees diagonally and become unreachable for melee units. The tile usage is good, though it could benefit from more contrast - then again seeing the vibrant orange being so abundant is a nice effect for a change.
Map Layout: The map layout is a lot better than the previous iteration of this map - which is very different from the old one. Good job. The layout offers multiple pathways to tread on and the cliff-level variation gives a chance for strategic play without being obnoxiously present. The creep camp placement is annoying however - the narrow corridors in combination with creep camps placed in very close proximity can result in creeps aggroing on player units without the intention to do so.
Neutral Objectives: Creep camps thematically fit the surroundings and neat little decoration has been placed around each of them to give the surroundings more depth. The item drops seem adequately balanced around the creep camp strength. The macro placement of the creep camps is quite off though: the green creep camps are placed on opposite sides of the map, forcing players to travel across the map (twice) to reach them. Many of the creep camps are also placed so that auto-pathing will collide with them - sending a Peasant to the Tavern will cause it to run directly into a creep camp, which is not recommended practice in melee maps. The Extension Gold Mine creep camp is a good example of this: the camp will aggro on the players' units if they just try to walk by. To prevent this, the map layout would need to be adjusted so that this issue is not as prevalent, or the creep camps' micro placement adjusted so that they won't aggro on the players unless intended to do so.
Map Gameplay: The visually beautiful map offers a melee match for two players, while some issues remain, the map is still playable, although not of notably high quality. The creep camp placement is unconventional leading to a very slow gameplay flow. On the other hand, the map features strong creep camps (with fountains) so delayed gameplay might be feasible in some scenarios.

Recommendations:
Fix the creep camp macro and micro placement. Macro placement is where and how the creep camps are located on the map (far away from players and how the player would travel around the map to move them - most important for the first creep camps players are meant to fight). Micro placement refers to how the creep camp functions with its immediate surroundings: is it easily accessible, is it near an important path, and how reasonably the possible Neutral Passive objectives are placed in its vicinity).
I can see you like leaving open hilltops in your maps and I won't force you to fix them. I would like to remind however that they are an unhealthy gameplay element (though in this case there is no Goblin Laboratory).