Beige Regions

[Remixer]

Review - Sandstones
(Version June 1st 2023)
Description: This map does not meet standard melee criteria or quality.
Terrain: The terrain, while thematically consistent, leaves a little unpolished impression. The city cliff parts are very symmetric and synthetic looking and could benefit from variation and facelift with decorative props. The other hilltops look quite barren with only trees decorating their tops and surroundings. Perhaps you'd like to take a look at other melee maps and try to see how they carry out decoration. The biggest issue regarding terrain however is the placement of trees, with small and big gaps between and behind the tree lines everywhere - this must be fixed. Overall your terrain could use a lot more visual engagement, but also make sure it does not become cluttering or visually overwhelming. Also, try to avoid having the black map border directly exposed to the players as it is very immersion-breaking.
Layout: The layout itself is fine, though it offers little strategic points. The bases positioned on high ground can be an interesting approach and perhaps something you could further emphasize on the map, making the map play out more like a hold-the-fort kind of melee map. Apart from the bases, the map is very open. The expansion sites, Mercenary Camps, and Tavern are contestable objectives as they are not split for each player.
Creeps: The creeps thematically fit the map and create plausible camps to take. The positioning of the creeps does not support a very logical creeping route, the two weakest camps being on opposite sides of the base. The item drops for many of the camps could be stronger (especially Power Up is quite a weak drop), but getting a Level 1 Permanent item from a Level 11 creep camp is not quite as rewarding as it should be. You could take a look at other melee maps and see their creep camp-item drop ratios and try to mimic them or take a look at melee mapping tutorials to get a better understanding of how the item drops should correspond to the creep and objective strength.
Gameplay: The gameplay can work for a match between friends, but overall the map feels and looks unfinished. The gaps between trees and somewhat awkwardly placed creep camps, with inconsistent item rewards, can feel frustrating and do not serve the typical melee progression.

Recommendations:
Fix the gaps between the trees to prevent small units from entering into the tree lines, and also remove large gaps between them, since for example, Humans could build Farms for the safety of the trees, thus giving an unfair advantage. You should also adjust the item drops of the creep camps, perhaps also reposition some of the creep camps to give a better flow to the creeping: think how players would need to move around the map to kill the camps in a logical order to power up their heroes and change accordingly, you can also look at other melee maps for reference. The terrain works but is quite lacking and is something you might want to put more work into.

 

[AGKRegal102]

Here's an update. Hopefully, you'll get a better review.
v1.1

• Terrain and doodads improved.
• New map description.
• Changed the main gold mine to 13000.
• Changed Skeletal Orc Grunt's item drop to a Level 2 Charged.
• Changed Ogre Mari's item drop to a Level 2 Charged (added with Level 1 Power-Up).
• Changed the Stormreaver camp item drop to a Level 1 Power-up.
• Changed Ogre Warrior's item drop to a Level 1 Permanent.
• Changed Rock Golem's item drop to a Level 3 Permanent.
• Changed Forest Troll High Priest's item drop to a Level 2 Permanent (added with Level 1 Power-Up).
• Positioned the Mercenary Camp near and far from the Tavern.

 

[Remixer]

Review - Beige Regions
(Version January 6th 2024)
Description: Beige Regions is a ruins-themed melee map that features narrow passages, creating a hue of capture-the-flag and hold-the-fort type of gameplay. In its current state, it however suffers from walkable spots that are traditionally unreachable, allowing mechanics that are not healthy for the gameplay.
Terrain: The terrain is improved from the previous iteration, with more color hues getting used and mixed. Nice job. There seems to be more going on, giving the environment a rhythm, while not becoming cluttered or claustrophobic. Still, one of the main issues of the previous version remains: small gaps between trees and pathable spots on hilltops. This is an area you need to fix (see attached image).
Layout: The layout, like the terrain, has received changes and is more engaging now than before. The two walls give structure to the otherwise quite open map. The Mercenary Camps have been pushed towards the edge of the map which results in reduced contestability of these objectives. For the two large walls, I'd recommend placing Pathing Blockers on top of them to prevent landing units on the wall - imagine dropping Mortar Teams there and bombarding the enemy base to oblivion. It would also be possible to use Pathing Blockers that prevent Air Movement to make the walls restrictive, but that can be too strong an element in the map (if flying units can pass over the walls the Zeppelin can play a major role).
Creeps: The changes done to the creeps are nice and the item drops seem to better correspond to the camp strength.
Gameplay: The walls give an interesting element to the gameplay. While the map's layout and flow do not fit competitive melee it is a very interesting map for fun melee gameplay with your friends or even against a Computer. The narrow passages past the walls can act as control points, while the expansions, which are located on the unsafe side of the walls, can turn the walls into a prison rather than defensive structures.

Recommendations:
Fix the gaps between the trees to prevent small units from entering into the tree lines. The larger gaps seem to be gone, but the narrow gaps are still an issue. I attached an image below from the editor view, with Pathing View enabled (P) and Terrain View disabled (Control + T). Also, fix the pathability on cliffs and the large walls: players should be able to focus on clearly reachable areas of the map. Right now a player can drop units on top of a cliff and even directly build there - place more objects (or cliffs) on top of cliffs and where necessary you can also use Pathing Blockers if you want to keep the hilltops barren-looking.

For future reference, try to avoid changing the map's name unless something major happens that drastically changes the map and requires the name to be changed. Of course, you can change the name if you want, but it can be confusing for other users when the same map or nearly the same map can be found with different names.