Elven Kingdom Template

[Rufus]

You surely have some great ideas, and you are making those templates brilliantly in some areas, such as the golden elf statue, but I can't shake the feeling that you are rushing your maps.
This is strengthened by that you only had a few days between your uploads. Are you updating the two that you already have now?
In this map too, there were some pretty ugly uninhabited areas, that could have been made much better.

A general tip would be to try to break the strict lines through your templates. Make it look more natural and curvy instead.

Also, I forgot to check that in your last map, but this maps filesize is really large, and not really suitable for a templete because of that.
If I wanted to use your template, I would back off as soon as I asaw the filesize, as no one wanna add that much to their project all of a sudden.

 

[PrinceYaser]

How can I reduce the map size??

 

[Rufus]

In this case, since it is a template, the only way to do that is to remove some of the imported material.
You had one "Azura.mdx" for example taking 4000 kb by itself. You should consider removing those.

 

[Rufus]

Things like you did in the south-east cornor with the tower surronded by pillars and such are looking good. I'd like to see more of this kind of creativity in the future.
As your other map, there are hidden gems in some places, but there are still a few ugly open areas that needs more care. It works as a template, but it should be Noted, that the filesize is a quite big.
I'd say the map is approvable, but then I hope that you keep developing those two already approved maps rather than doing a new one.

If you do a new one, I think you should do it smaller, more concentrated and less imported doodads.
A great challange (according to me) is to use blizard only materials in a template. Perhaps two or three imported small models, but not much more.
I would love to see you try that.

Map Approved.

 

[Emm-A-]

wow, I never saw these great tree models before. Did you make them yourself? They could be improved a bit but they got a lot of potential. I think the template is pretty creative otherwise..

 

[PrinceYaser]

Thank you, mate!
Which tree are you saying?? Show me with the picture!!

 

[Emm-A-]

the big trees to the sides of that bridge in the 10th screenshot of yours. It is called GreatTree.mdl according to import manager list.

edit: I mean the world tree look-alikes

 

[Rufus]

Damn, that's right!
You have no credits list on either of your maps!

You have to add this asap, or I'll have to reject both of them.

 

[Alok]

There are many good aspects of your map, but here I'll primarily focus on the bad ones so you could improve them:

1 - While those units you added on the map look nice, units are not desireable and unnecessary in a template map, because they take up a lot of file size, and they are possibly gonna be removed anyway by the people who use this map for their projects. Your map already surpasses the 8mb limit required for multiplayer on Battle.net, so if you want people to use your template, you should probably reduce the file size by deleting any unnecessary/less useful/unused resources and anything that has to do with units, their imported models, icons, textures, and the units themselves.
2 - Trees don't grow out of the pavement, try adding the ground/grass beneath them everywhere you can, since it doesn't look nice, like in your first screenshot.
3 - Hovering doodads/destructibles shouldn't happen:

Hidden

4 - The number of trees/destructibles used exceeds their limit in the normal World Editor. When the limit is exceeded, the map cannot be saved, and since most people are still using the normal editor, you should probably reduced their number, especially the number of trees by rarefying them, since there are a lot of them cluttered in certain places, so more people would use your template.
5 - Big trees don't grow so cluttered, like trunk to trunk (like in your first screenshot), you should rarefy them, which could also help you with the point 4 I've mentioned. Maps should strive towards realism too.
6 - Calculate the shadows. Go File > Calculate Shadows and Save Map. This will make your map look much nicer, as it adds shadows to everything and removes any misplaced shadows you currently have in your map. Many people don't know about this or skip this step, but it is absolutely necessary if your want your map to look more beautiful.

 

[PrinceYaser]

Map updated with changes and size of it reduced!

 

[Alok]

Nice.

 

[PrinceYaser]

Can you tell me your ideas about this map of me: Icy Kingdom Template??

 

[Alok]

Ok, I'll take a look.

 

[Rence Kristoff]

Another Great Template.

 

[PrinceYaser]

Another Great Template.

Thanks man! Are you looking forward to my templates?

 

[Rence Kristoff]

Yep, specially those with themes I love.

 

[PrinceYaser]

Yep, specially those with themes I love.

What kind of template themes do you love?

 

[Rence Kristoff]

Night Elven(Or any Elven) Realistic, Fantasy.

 

[Excalibrs]

Great terrain