Hive Cup 2021: Melee Mapping Contest #8

[Riki]

Create a brand new 1v1 melee map, or nominate an existing one of yours. Any entry must not have been used for any previous Hive contest.

At least top 5 submissions will be featured in the qualifier rounds and the final cup, as with last year. Let your creativity reign while ensuring the map is balanced for competitive play.

The tournament will be played on Legacy/Classic/SD graphics, so you should aim for best performance in SD. Previews and screenshots in Reforged are not encouraged.

Helpful Links: Melee mapping - The reasons behind common aspects of competitive 1v1 maps, Competitive Melee Map

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• Your submission must follow the site rules and map submission rules.
• All submissions must follow the current theme.
• You can nominate one of your already finished maps, as long as it has not been used for any previous Hive contest.
• The submission must be posted in the map resource section and linked in the contest thread before the contest ends.
• If the judges are unsure about ownership, they may ask you for to provide a link to an approved map on this site, a post containing a WIP, a WIP file, or screenshots of one.
• Your final submission must be bug free.
• The map must satisfy the "Melee Map: Yes" condition as determined by Warcraft 3.
  • No custom imports are allowed.
  • Triggers are not allowed.
• Only one entry per contestant.
• Judges may not participate.
• Teamwork is not allowed.
  • Finding testers to help you with your submission is not considered teamwork.
  • You may not base your submission off any map by Blizzard or anyone else.

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• 1st place: 750 experience points
• 2nd place: 600 experience points
• 3rd place: 450 experience points
• 4th place: 300 experience points
• 5th place: 150 experience points
• Judge: 25 experience points per entry

The five winners will receive an award icon representing the winning entry.

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• Dise
• MisterWinner

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Layout	Do creeps have proper aggro? Are neutral buildings and expansions placed properly? Is there adequate spacing?	/35
Creeps	Is the creeping fair for all races? How is the creeping flow? Are the item drops balanced?	/35
Terrain	Is the map visually pleasing in terms of terrain, doodad placement, and overall theme? Is the map repetitive? Is the aesthetic well designed but not overly obstructive?	/10
Creativity & Uniqueness	Does the map bring something new or creative to the table?	/20
Technical	Bugs and other technical issues will negatively impact the score of a map.	/-
Total		/100

We are trying something new this year: there will be 2 phases of judging. The first phase is 30% public poll + 70% judges scores. After this, at least 5 maps are selected to be played in subsequent tournament, Hive Workshop Cup #3, as well as the qualifiers for it. After the tournament ends, the pro-player participants will have to submit scores for the maps that were played (exact format to be announced at a later date) – this is the second phase of judging. Final contest results will be calculated as 30% first phase +70% second phase.

Results calculation

FinalScore = ((30*Reached_Votes/POSSIBLE_VOTES) + (70*Average_Judge_Score/POSSIBLE_SCORE) * 0.30) + ((Average_ProPlayer_Score/POSSIBLE_SCORE) * 0.70)

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Start date: 20 October 2021 GMT.
End date: 19 November 2021 GMT.

Extension: - - -

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Assigned Staff: @Riki

Previous Contest | Poll | First Phase Results | Second Phase Results

 

[Nightmare2077]

Hi all! I'm happy to sponsor our annual event Hope it all runs smoothly! Let me know what you think about this new format of 2-stage judging

Big thanks to Riki and Frostwisper for their help!!

Good luck to all map-makers

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Contestants	Progress	Entries
@INSEKT	1 | 2	Déjà Vu
@Kaer#2460	1 | 2	Rusty Creek
@Zucth	1 | 2	Throne of Tides
@WolfFarkas	1 | 2	Northwestern River
@StrickEagle	1 | 2	SnowMelt
@FAB0213	1 | 2	Ice Forest
@Damage	1 | 2	Corrupted Flow
@Resyak	1 | 2	Ancient Blood
@btp|Lancer	1 | 2	Bay of Storms
@Z-Machine	1 | 2	Sludge Fen
@Blood Raven	1 | 2	Separated Worlds
@SaveOrcas	1 | 2	Spring Melt
@Kino	1 | 2	Wurmspine Wood
@Mr.Henci	1 | 2	Full Moon
@Meerel	1 | 2	Fairy Tale
@Folderz	1 | 2	Rune Maul
@Knecht	1 | 2	Crystals Below
@Arrr	1 | 2	Fifth Virtue

 

[INSEKT]

I think I will submit my Déjà Vu. Now, after ramps are removed, map seems playable

 

[Kaer#2460]

Count me in. I'd like to try finishing an old draft of mine.

Spoiler: WIP

 

[Zucth]

Count me in!
Map name: Throne of Tides
WIP: (but may change the layout later)

 

[WolfFarkas]

I didnt map anything since the 4v4 contest, I need to reinstall the wc3 editor.
Hopefully, I aim to do better than my last 1v1
Count me in.

 

[StrickEagle]

Hello , count me in too

 

[Knecht]

Might submit a map if I find the time. No joke map this time

 

[WolfFarkas]

WIP one, neutral positions layout. I feel I am going to be a little wild.

 

[WolfFarkas]

Wip 2

 

[StrickEagle]

wip2

 

[WolfFarkas]

wip 3, Map name will be Northwestern River

 

[Zucth]

WIP2

 

[FAB0213]

I want to participate!
Map - Ice Forest

Ice Forest

Available commands and new icons by w3c on the minimap Neutral Building: 1 Laboratory 1 Market 2 Shops 2 Mercenary camps 4 Goldmines Creep Camp: 8 Green 10 Orange 2 Red

www.hiveworkshop.com

 

[Renkariii]

Is 128x128 a valid map size for this competition?

 

[Damage]

I think I'll give this a go.

My first ever contest entry, and my first attempt at making a melee map.

First work in progress image:

Image

Always thought that the Felwood Tileset was under utilised.

 

[Resyak]

Well, this is my contribution, isn't nothing special but actually I haven't time to create a new map

Ancient Blood - Melee Map 1v1

 

[Renkariii]

Hello everyone! I wanted to post an early work in progress photo here. I hope this demonstrates a method that can applied to the symmetry of any map design. I am thinking of a name for the map currently but Flower Town sounds cool. Might change to breathe of fresh air.

View attachment 388990

 

[Damage]

Alrighty, here's my entry:

(2) Corrupted Flow

 

[btp|Lancer]

I would like to join the contest with a crazy map.
Bay of Storms

Good luck to all contestants.

 

[mafe]

Similar to previous melee mapping contests, I would again like to invite everyone to join the melee mapping discord server (check link in my signature).
It's a good place if you want to get feedback on your maps, which imho is particularly useful for people who are relatively new to making melee maps, since there are many not-at-all-obvious pitfalls that virtually every mapper falls for at least once. For example, having only camp-stance creeps at a goldmine makes the map immediately inviable for competitive wc3, and it's usually very easy to fix

 

[WolfFarkas]

Wip 4 and probably my last wip

 

[Z-Machine]

WIP1

 

[Zucth]

WIP1

don't use the tinker factory things I have trouble before in contest#6 you can take a look back.
player say it make them confuse for a other player units.

 

[Z-Machine]

don't use the tinker factory things I have trouble before in contest#6 you can take a look back.

It's a tent skinned to be a pocket factory.

 

[Zucth]

WIP3
if nothing goes wrong I probably not change the map.

 

[Blood Raven]

I'm too lazy to make a new map, so I'll just nominate my Separated Worlds
Good luck lads and gals! <3

 

[Z-Machine]

WIP2. Name will be Sludge Fen.

Spoiler: image

 

[Zucth]

My last WIP... map link: (2)Throne of Tides

 

[Mr.Henci]

Not sure about the map yet, but I would like to participate as well.

 

[WolfFarkas]

Northwestern River

Map playable, I still need to finish the decorations.

 

[Alan_]

sorry, but i dont understand - can i use import models or not?

 

[WolfFarkas]

sorry, but i dont understand - can i use import models or not?

check the rules. It means no.

• No custom imports are allowed.

 

[Z-Machine]

Just submitted my map Sludge Fen.

 

[Blood Raven]

Ever since these melee map contests started a couple of years ago, I've noticed that the quality of competitively-viable melees made in and outside these contests has increased dramatically, which is really nice, although I feel like I can no longer keep up. I've never played WC3 competitively and so I don't know what strategies to optimize my maps for, so being the artist soul that I am, I focus way too much on the aesthetics and try to achieve some outlandish non-meta creative never-before-seen gameplay mechanics that don't sit well with the competitive scene.

Still, I had fun with my over-the-top maps, and I hope you have fun with yours too. I just hope someone comes along who can combine crazy aesthetics with competitive viability in one map, because (and that's just my opinion) most competitive and ladder maps are kinda boring and vanilla in the aesthetic department.

In my opinion though, the restriction on imports seriously hurts the aesthetic creativity when it comes to map design. Imports can be used without triggering the "melee map: no" switch, so I don't see the problem there, as long as they're used within reason. I hope the contest hosts would revoke this restriction for creativity's sake. Not that it matters for me, since I'll not be making a new map for this contest.

Cheers, and keep the maps coming chaps!

 

[StrickEagle]

My last wip! There is still a test battery and a little more decorative aspect, but that should have more of a big change!
Its name: SnowMelt

 

[WolfFarkas]

Ever since these melee map contests started a couple of years ago, I've noticed that the quality of competitively-viable melees made in and outside these contests has increased dramatically, which is really nice, although

yup cool.

I feel like I can no longer keep up. I've never played WC3 competitively

I never played competitive, but still my maps are improving, and now they are in such level that are serious entries worthy of this types of contest.

and so I don't know what strategies to optimize my maps for,

get out of your confort zone and go to the unknow, take notes in an excel file, to gain knoledge, study. Look the winning entries, watch competitive melee plays, go to hunt new info.

so being the artist soul that I am, I focus way too much on the aesthetics

cool

and try to achieve some outlandish non-meta creative never-before-seen gameplay mechanics that don't sit well with the competitive scene.

if you want new gameplay mechanichs, the altered melee focus on that.
melee is just standard melee, this is the only space for standard melee.

Still, I had fun with my over-the-top maps, and I hope you have fun with yours too. I just hope someone comes along who can combine crazy aesthetics

usually mappers dont go with crazy aesthetics, you risk to not be understood by the judges, the map has a tittle, like paints, that tittle must represent the map, abstract art is like a 2 edge sword.

with competitive viability in one map, because (and that's just my opinion) most competitive and ladder maps are kinda boring and vanilla in the aesthetic department.

well, many ladder maps were made in 2003, with slowly few aditions of the comunity maps

In my opinion though, the restriction on imports seriously hurts the aesthetic creativity when it comes to map design.

there should be no imports, Blizzard doesnt want them for ladder, you have other types of contest to use imports, like terraining contest or minimap contest.

Imports can be used without triggering the "melee map: no" switch, so I don't see the problem there,

again, no. Blizzard lines and rules. Everybody wish to get the map in Blizzard ladder,

as long as they're used within reason. I hope the contest hosts would revoke this restriction for creativity's sake.

against the revoke, since that rule was set, melee maps are better, pro players want pro maps, to have a prize money contest, when they play, they dont even have the time to look the enviroment (I also have that feeling, and cant to check everything in one play), unless is obstructive distracting enviroment wich is a minus for gameplay.
it also helps users to be more focused on gamplay, enviroment and aesthethics are having less score value on each contest (10 score in this one). Ideally maps should be perfect for gameplay, like sports you need the field perfect to the players to play.
It also helps judges to judge fair, in such way everybody has the same condition (not things like he found better models than he, or he edited the models with a model editor to make them more cool)

Not that it matters for me, since I'll not be making a new map for this contest.

yup, you said that already.

Cheers, and keep the maps coming chaps!

thanks

I needed to reply because IMO, some ideas, are falling a bit out of the recipient, with all respect.

 

[SaveOrcas]

Hi guys. Count me in too.

 

[Zucth]

Ever since these melee map contests started a couple of years ago, I've noticed that the quality of competitively-viable melees made in and outside these contests has increased dramatically, which is really nice, although I feel like I can no longer keep up. I've never played WC3 competitively and so I don't know what strategies to optimize my maps for, so being the artist soul that I am, I focus way too much on the aesthetics and try to achieve some outlandish non-meta creative never-before-seen gameplay mechanics that don't sit well with the competitive scene.

Still, I had fun with my over-the-top maps, and I hope you have fun with yours too. I just hope someone comes along who can combine crazy aesthetics with competitive viability in one map, because (and that's just my opinion) most competitive and ladder maps are kinda boring and vanilla in the aesthetic department.

In my opinion though, the restriction on imports seriously hurts the aesthetic creativity when it comes to map design. Imports can be used without triggering the "melee map: no" switch, so I don't see the problem there, as long as they're used within reason. I hope the contest hosts would revoke this restriction for creativity's sake. Not that it matters for me, since I'll not be making a new map for this contest.

Cheers, and keep the maps coming chaps!

I don't know about the quality you talking about because I'm quite new here. but if you talking about aesthetic and weird terrain there are some of them lol. We(discord MMC group) already have a small talk about go crazy and stop using ogre lord or rock golem lol. Present new things is nice but make sure that the creeping route are working. Also I've never played WC3 competitively as well, my guide would be look at the competitive match/map strategy, how pro player play and ask the walking Warcraft 3 competitive wiki(aka. Knecht).

about combine crazy stuff, competitive having such a high difficulty in making them cause of many stuff. It's just about think over and over again and push your luck for it, many mapper have done that before and lost to the one who have done the well basic. Welp I wasn't try to being terrorist here lol but just try to say one fact about being lucky is a skill. You can try I wish you good luck! There are some restrict(like what people complain about red tile and mushroom trees) that you should follow in 1v1, but if it was a 4v4 competitive you could have go crazy as you want. I wish you should have join us in the last 4v4 contest, it would be nice to see more crazy stuff.

About importing stuff I would go for a no... just like wolf said.

which everyone a good luck!

 

[Kino]

Jumping in to this one.
Making a spirtual sequel to one of my maps (which has never been used a contest entry)

 

[Blood Raven]

@WolfFarkas @Zucth Thanks for the replies guys, I'm glad I managed to spark up a discussion.

I see the point about imports, I hadn't thought about Blizzard's requirements. Even without imports, there are SO MANY things that are actually designed for melees and never get used - like outland creeps, fountains, waygates, etc... because everyone is familiar only with, say, lordaeron summer creeps and merc camps, so nothing else ever gets used in a melee. Why? Wasn't variety the spice of the universe or whatnot? Because either blizz doesn't want to balance them for competitive gameplay properly, or players don't want to adapt their strategies to what the map offers. Or both. It honestly gets a little stale for me with these maps.

I appreciate your advice and urging to try again, but melee mapping has become somewhat of a chore for me the last few times I tried it. Before I did it for fun, to try new crazy things that were never before seen in a melee. Here I feel so restricted in what is "allowed", that basically every map is nearly indistinguishable from the others - it's all intertwined open pathways through trees and sometimes water. All the artistic freedom we have for these maps really comes down to what tileset and trees you choose. Researching what is and what isn't acceptable for a competitive melee is like a job in itself and it just isn't fun for me to through so many hoops just to design a melee that it nearly identical to so many others. Not to mention I have a diploma thesis to work on, so even less time to research the WC3 meta. I'll leave it to people who actually understand this competitive scene, because I sure don't.

Again, I don't mean to sound rude or throw shade, I'm simply expressing my feelings and opinions on the matter without any ill intent or hard feelings. Sorry if I accidentally offend someone, I don't mean to.
In order to leave things at a positive note, that's a really neat tileset combination, @Kino :3

 

[Kino]

More WIP

 

[Mr.Henci]

Finally got some time on my hands, here is a sneak peak of my concept. Calculating those angles is pain in the ass, but hopefully it will be worth it. Good luck everyone, only 2 weeks left!

 

[Meerel]

oho mr.henci

its a tough competition but i will join aswell

 

[StrickEagle]

Ah that's it, elite mapping guys are signing up!
Will be level, we will all lose one or two places in the final ranking lol

 

[WolfFarkas]

oho mr.henci

its a tough competition but i will join aswell

yeah tough indeed. Good luck!

Ah that's it, elite mapping guys are signing up!
Will be level, we will all lose one or two places in the final ranking lol

Agree, by looking the wips and maps so far, I will be very thanfull if I manage to reach the 9-10th place. Gonna be fun to have such olympic level.

 

[Zucth]

yeah tough indeed. Good luck!

Agree, by looking the wips and maps so far, I will be very thanfull if I manage to reach the 9-10th place. Gonna be fun to have such olympic level.

lol, I start to regret to go crazy middle and portal. At least tenshi decide not to join up this contest. In term of balancing it found olympic level indeed after saw Kaer, meeral, Mr.Henci, Arrr, Mafe, FolderZ.
But in term of craziness I would scare of Knecht, what will he go for this time I wonder, like Thawing Snow 2.0?

 

[Zucth]

Also I think gonna make a new one, felt regret after saw these people appear lol...

 

[Meerel]

done

Fairy Tale

Entry for Melee Map Contest #8 I wasnt really involved much anymore for the last couple of month but the new Mapping Contest sparked some motivation in me. Since days are getting short its the perfect time to come back and get creative again while its cold outside. Fairy Tale is a map that i...

www.hiveworkshop.com

 

[Kaer#2460]

Spoiler: WIP#2