Melee Mapping Contest #1 - 1v1[$100 Prize Pool]

[Rufus]

Well, I'm gonna join maybe. Never really tried to make a serious melee map. Good luck to all you contestants!
Here's a wip:

Fissure Fortress Among steep cliffs towering out of the freezing waters of Icecrown, calm isles and an ancient fortress lie concealed from the unforgiving winds of the ocean.

 

[mafe]

Hey all,

here is my first WIP. I did not bother with any terraining yet, everything you see on the map is just for balancing purposes.
Since there is no 1v1 melee map with 3 possible start positions for the TFT expansion, i tried to make a balanced one. It is very hard to balance distances to neutral buildings for this kind of map, since the startpoint of one player is on the mirror plane, but I am confident that I can do it within the time limit of the mapping contest.


Looking forward to get some constructive criticism!

Trying a three player map is interesting, would like to see it succeed. The distances look ok, but frankly, from this image and current state of the map one cannot say much more.

 

[Ascrelle]

@mafe The map looks quite good so far! I particularly like the idea of the random building, though caution should be taken that whatever outcomes it gives it remains balanced.

You might want to reconsider the Dragon Roost as a random option for that building, as that would heavily impact how a game is played by pure chance. There's probably a reason why having a Dragon Roost isn't a standard in the currently common melee maps, and those map designs aren't exactly known for taking risks.

A way to introduce it a bit more reliably might be to put the Roost (without the random building aspect) on the currently rather empty island in the top right, though I can definitely see a reason for removing the island entirely. Although, doing so might render the Laboratories somewhat moot, as the general usefulness (and fun) of using the Goblin Zeppelins declines heavily when there aren't really any natural barriers such as cliffs or water to cross with them.

A more radical option could be to remove the island entirely, change the Laboratories into the random buildings (excluding the Roost), then make the current random building a Dragon Roost. I don't know how that would change the central mechanic of your map, and it might not even be for the better, but it's just a suggestion.

@Forsaker Same goes here with the Laboratories. Though there's less to go off of here in the map's current state, I suggest making sure there's a use for the Zeppelins (or at least the Shredders/Sappers) on your map, or the players won't have much of a reason to fight over access to them.

@Rufus At first glance, it appears that both players' main bases, especially blue's, are very open to attack. Even when the trees around are still standing, it'd be difficult to create a barricade of buildings around your goldmine to keep workers safe from harassment, as is common in 1v1 competitive play. I'd suggest using the trees/cliffs more to create a somewhat more closed in main base, and making sure that there is very little difference between the enclosures that Red and Blue can create, because Red barely being able to wall off their base while it costs Blue much more to do so is rather imbalanced.

Other than that, I really like what you've got going so far. Are those pillars around the expansion gold mines complete pathing blockers? It makes for quite an interesting ring of protection around your workers there if so. Keep it up!

---

As a disclaimer; I'm not very experienced with the competitive melee of WC3 myself so feel free to take my thoughts with a grain of salt.

I myself am considering publishing my 'current' map outside of the contest with a few touch-ups, then starting a new one with what I've learned so far. So, if anyone wants to use my tileset for the contest (More than likely I'll be making a new one), feel free to PM me and I'll gladly send it over to you, in case that isn't considered teamwork by the judges.

 

[shinji]

So, what happens when I join the competition late? Should I just start working on it as well?

 

[Sharkarsh]

just want to notify i'll be working mine on Saturday this week.

 

[RFWH]

Ok after I criticized several others, it's time to back up my talk
Here is a the current status of the map I intend to submit. It is rather likely that I will severely change a few parts, but for now I'm confident that my submission will be based on this version.

I have worked on the gameplay aspects first and not bothered much about aesthetic aspects. I will worry about those later.

The key "new and innovative " aspects which I tried to implement on this map are the following:
-Axial symmetry. Currently all maps in the competitive pool feature rotational symmetry (except for EI), so there are some creepspots which dont "belong" to either player.
-Random building: There are 2 merc camps (lordearon summer), 2 laboratories and 1 shop on the map. And then, there is one random building, which can be either of the following: A market place, a black dragon roost (not on any current map), a second shop, a third mercenary camp (but cityscape variation), or it can be no building at all.
-A contested island expansion (thinking about removing it).
-No items of lvl 4+5, but red camps drop a lvl 6 permanent item (which iirc is only seen on TM out of all current standard maps). This is also so that there will be no auras available at the marketplace.

One final question: Now I've submitted a preview; but I could still change my mind and submit a completely different map, right? Of course then I would also have to submit another preview.

hi mafe,
I guess you didn't solicit comments but since I think the map is good, I will post some anyway.
The map looks very professional, in general, the layout, tileset, aesthetic etc. look very blizzlike and I could see this map fitting in with the rest of ladder.
That being said there are some bugs:
I like the watery passageways and use of crops tiles, but for one the main base is VERY restrictive. I've honestly never seen a blizzard map with such tight tree cover. I know you say this protects the workers but I really think this is overdoing it. However the abundance of trees on the map is a good thing in general.
Second of all the tree placement and ramp size on the bottom left two expansions is a bit imbalanced: I suppose you will fix this.
As for buildings, there are a lot but I think this works, the map is very open and good for ambushes. Mercenary camps are fun I guess but I'm not sure how often they are used. (especially when each player has one)
We'll just have to see how the random building works since I've never considered using that!
Actually now that I see the island expansion I think the zeppelin buildings is definitely a good addition.

Anyway, good luck on finishing it and finding a catchy name

Well, I'm gonna join maybe. Never really tried to make a serious melee map. Good luck to all you contestants!
Here's a wip:

Fissure Fortress Among steep cliffs towering out of the freezing waters of Icecrown, calm isles and an ancient fortress lie concealed from the unforgiving winds of the ocean. View attachment 282582

It's hard to see what those buildings are all over the map but for a melee map it's really looking good. Definitely the right idea. And... I was going to make a zul-drak level one day!

Hey all,

here is my first WIP. I did not bother with any terraining yet, everything you see on the map is just for balancing purposes.
Since there is no 1v1 melee map with 3 possible start positions for the TFT expansion, i tried to make a balanced one. It is very hard to balance distances to neutral buildings for this kind of map, since the startpoint of one player is on the mirror plane, but I am confident that I can do it within the time limit of the mapping contest.


Looking forward to get some constructive criticism!

Looks big. I like the tileset though (Felwood or Ashenvale?) and I'm looking forward to see how it turns out.
I suppose, though, you'll have to "forsake" mirror symmetry for C3 rotational symmetry, otherwise that wouldn't be very balanced or fun at all. I'm sure there's a way though, through tileset/aesthetic variation, to make the three positions look unique.

 

[forsaker]

@mafe
@Ascrelle
@RFWH

Despite uploading just this one Picture I got some great suggestions. Thank you for that!
The tileset is Ashenvale. Regarding the symmetry: I want to use the rotational symmetry for pathing, so it does not get too boring, but i felt like the mirror symmetry would be best for balancing.

 

[L8man]

Hello everyone! I'm super stoked and excited to present you my 1v1 melee map called "Decapitated Village"! (WIP)

I used the Lorderon-Fall tileset just because I think it's super awesome and way underused in the current ladderpool. Other than that I was focusing on making a thoughtout and a good map that works for all races, creates dynamic and long games and also being quite open for numberous strategies + life up to todays map standards. Humans will have a decent time fast expanding but not so you cant contest it. There are many paths that can be used - The six goldmines on this map will give large amounts of variations and ways that games can develop. To this point I tested alot of buildung placements, travel distances and build orders to get an idea of what I still have to work on. There are two fountains of healing which can be used carefully without aggroing creeps. I like maps where you can mico your hurt units to fountains to make them heal back up during battles. Also there are, like on some other competitive melee maps, runes of the obsever at the two goblin shops, which make them importent points of interesst for items mapcontroll and will force players move out of their half of the map and create contested these spots. Another unique feature is the rockwall infront of the red creep spots. This way it will take more time to finish these, so they are not just grabbed lategame in 30 secs. I want these to be a commitment.

Preview of creep positions:

With the design, I took my time and thought about every tree and doodat I placed during the creation and couln't help myself but to add some little storytelling the in fitting areas. It was alot of fun so far to create this map and I'm looking forward to all of your critique, feedback, replays and comments! Thanks to everyone, to the Jury and sponsors of the contest! Much love to B2W!

It took me about three full days of work to get where I'm at and I'm still balancing and testing. If anyone would like to play and help me with this just let me know - i'd be more the greatful!

Cheers and good luck to everyone!

L8man

 

[Kaer#2460]

Another WIP. Similar approach as mafe. Trying to design a dynamic and fresh map through the rarely used axial symmetry.
Beside the contested Shop, Merccamp and 2 lategame Goldmines, each player has a natural expansion and a Laboratory

Btw, if I don't deliver a final contribution until November 6th, you can cut me from the contest. I am going abroad and won't have any spare time to work on this.
But I'm pretty sure I will manage to finish the map before I leave.

 

[Michael the Boombringer]

Where can I find the maps?

 

[Svetli]

Where can I find the maps?

The Origin of Light - This is my map.

 

[mafe]

Thanks for the feedback everyone, I will address it in detail when I have more time.

Another WIP. Similar approach as mafe. Trying to design a dynamic and fresh map through the rarely used axial symmetry.
Beside the contested Shop, Merccamp and 2 lategame Goldmines, each player has a natural expansion and a Laboratory

View attachment 282626


Btw, if I don't deliver a final contribution until November 6th, you can cut me from the contest. I am going abroad and won't have any spare time to work on this.
But I'm pretty sure I will manage to finish the map before I leave.

I like it. A few points which I think could be adjusted:
-Any creep but those at goldmines usually have they acquisition range reduced. If there is a good reason, you can change that.
-Shop creeps dont drop any items?
-Laboratory creeps look asymmetric. Maybe it's just the screenshot.
-It is easy to knock down the trees behind the expansion so that it can be attacked from behind. Even if it is a feature, it might be seen as a bug.
-For nightelf convenience, maybe add a few trees for wisps near tavern.
-Some players might feel that the distances between the mains wll be too short, but for me it is ok. Cant really judge it from a screenshot.

 

[Ascrelle]

@Kaer#2460 Your map looks good so far! What I mentioned for Mafe's map regarding the Laboratories counts here as well, but your version of the island seems more fleshed out, as well as the rest of the map having some more natural barriers in the form of water, so I guess that's perfectly fine.

Two minor issues, though: 1) There aren't a lot of trees very close to both players' main bases, especially Red's, which might make players run out of trees to chop very quickly unless they're using Wisps. I suggest adding some more, especially for Red.
2) At first glance, not all creeps are blue (which means that they're not considered a creep camp and will go out of their way to attack anything nearby) and not all creep camps seem to have items. Unless you have very strong reasons for either of those, I'd suggest changing that, but doing so is very easy, so yeah, this is just some nitpicking on my part.

Fix those and the map should be fine!

And, for people looking for ways to test their maps, I have two suggestions:

-As a group of mapmakers we can decide on a Private Chat Channel on a certain Battle.net server that people can join whenever they want their maps tested or have time to help test others' maps in return. Whenever you join the channel, you'd get a quick overview of whoever might be willing to help test your map and give feedback. I suggest the name "Hive 1v1 Melee Map Contest" on the Northrend (Europe) server so we can all join the same channel, though the name doesn't really matter as long as we all join the same one.

It'd also be a good idea to gauge how many people would be interested in doing this, as well as their timezones to get an idea of when best to join this channel and have our maps tested.

-Alternatively, for testing your map against the AI that handles more like an experienced player would, I suggest downloading and using AMAI system that you can find at the Advanced Melee AI . It is more difficult than the standard AI, and also uses common 1v1 player tactics such as using militias for creeping, more use of neutral heroes, and specific unit combinations like Raiders+Spirit Walkers. You can also use the LAN function with observers enabled to watch 2 of these AI fight each other while you observe.

 

[aeman]

my head is fucking empty right now

 

[borissuworov]

My map is a tribute to one of Mortal Kombat stages:

Spoiler

It has:
2 High-ground bases (15000 gold)
2 nearby low-ground expansions (12500 gold)
1 Tavern
2 Goblin Merchants
2 Goblin Laboratories
2 Teleports (1 Teleport way).

6 green creep camps
8 orange creep camps
4 red creep camps

Balanced item-drops and creep-sets.
There are no blocked pathways. Unguarded tavern in the middle of the map.
New retextured models of warriors (stone-statues) doddads.
Also you can see some recolored tilesets, yellow fog and light rain.

Today I completed only 60% of work. You can download it from sendspace: Warrior Shrine 0.6.w3x (800.40KB) - SendSpace.com

Screens:

Spoiler

 

[Kaer#2460]

Thanks for the feedback everyone, I will address it in detail when I have more time.

I like it. A few points which I think could be adjusted:
-Any creep but those at goldmines usually have they acquisition range reduced. If there is a good reason, you can change that.
-Shop creeps dont drop any items?
-Laboratory creeps look asymmetric. Maybe it's just the screenshot.
-It is easy to knock down the trees behind the expansion so that it can be attacked from behind. Even if it is a feature, it might be seen as a bug.
-For nightelf convenience, maybe add a few trees for wisps near tavern.
-Some players might feel that the distances between the mains wll be too short, but for me it is ok. Cant really judge it from a screenshot.

Thanks for your detailed look at the map. Most of that is certainly planned. At the moment, nothing but the rough layout is finished. Every strategic feature is where I want it to be, but all the doodad placement and terrain work has to be done yet.

The distance between bases is not as short as it looks, because the direct path is blocked. You either have to take the Tavern path, or the Shop path, which are equally long. A militia needs about 4/5 of it's duration, which I think is perfectly fine.

 

[mafe]

@L8man Very nice map, maybe a bit too large. However it seems you did not register to the contest in time? Also pathing issue due to non-dense forest. Some itemdrops are assymmetric: Easiest to check by pressing F11 and going to the items tab. If your map has rotational symmetry, items should only appear in even amounts. Unfortunately, fountains aer frowned upon for 1v1 nowadays.

 

[Adney]

Hey guys!

I have started to create my map, and this is it so far. I have three exams in this week, so I have to stop for a while. Have good days until then!

Endgame in Nether World
The Burning Legion has fulfilled its destiny. The deamons have freed the Old Gods from the depths of Azeroth and brought doom to the world. After the ground has torn to its pieces, it has been teleported into the Twisting Nether. Only a few has survived, and the endgame has already begun. It is up to you now, what your people's fate will be...

Picture 1

Picture 2

 

[L8man]

@mafe
First off, thanks alot!
I think I can still join the competition as I understood it. @Mods: Can you confirm or deny?
Wondering why mods would have approved my post otherwise.
Besides that: Thats good critique, forests should be updated. I like the size tho, and traveldistance from base to base isn't that much really. But I see your point.
Wells could be removed depending of how people think of it. If many say "Nay" I will get rid of em.
Thanks for the item hint!


Hope I'm in, would be really sad if not..

Cheers!

 

[Abovegame]

@L8man check out the first page to see who is currently a participant.

 

[RehcraM]

Tough competition, which is so great to see, guys! Here the WIP picture of my 1v1 melee map: Taiga's Hegemony. I am confident the winning map will be absolutely awesome to play on!

 

[L8man]

@Abovegame well, then my map goes directly to the trash can. sad.

edit: Is there a possibility to get into the wait list still? Would be awesome if a mod could enlighten me about my situation right now! :/ Thanks alot!

 

[StoPCampinGn00b]

Added @Krazykid @Rufus and @L8man to the waitlist.

Basically, anyone on the waitlist can start on your maps, but there's no guarantee that there'll be enough space. However, it's likely that more than 5 (or even 10) people who claim to be participating won't show up (in contests it's always around 20%+ that drop out), so if that happens, then your guys' maps qualify.

I'll also do the best I can to see who hasn't submitted anything long into the contests runtime, and ask
if they're going to drop out.

 

[Mads Buus]

Here is a first look at my map - calling it Blizz city, will post more updates later

Let me know if any input!

Blizz City: Blizz CIty

 

[L8man]

@StoPCampinGn00b Thank you so very much! I will build the most polished map I'm able to! Good luck to everybody again! LET'S GOOO!

 

[Shar Dundred]

It is funny how 100 bucks can give so much life to a contest.
Then again, it is a mapping contest, the number of entries would be lower for modelling or texture contests.

I am just passing by, not going to participate myself.

 

[deepstrasz]

It is funny how 100 bucks can give so much life to a contest.

I don't think this is the sole reason. There's been some time since a melee mapping contest and many people suddenly appeared this year and in the last 3 months who uploaded maps with the theme at hand.

 

[Kyrbi0]

I don't think this is the sole reason. There's been some time since a melee mapping contest and many people suddenly appeared this year and in the last 3 months who uploaded maps with the theme at hand.

I don't know about you guys, but I'm here for the money. I never make "normal" maps; heck, I don't even play melee. : D

 

[Svetli]

I don't know about you guys, but I'm here for the money. I never make "normal" maps; heck, I don't even play melee. : D

The money are the largest idol in the world.

 

[Shar Dundred]

I don't think this is the sole reason. There's been some time since a melee mapping contest and many people suddenly appeared this year and in the last 3 months who uploaded maps with the theme at hand.

In the end, all things end up being about money.

 

[Kyrbi0]

The money are the largest idol in the world.

And the love of money, the root of all evil.

*Grabs cash anyway*

 

[Maxwell]

Hello there guys, here you can see some screens of completed work:
(Colors are overpowered somewhat)

Hidden

 

[mafe]

Ok it is getting past the point where I cannot "en detail" on every new map shown here. If someone is interested in more feedback (which aims towards the competitive balance/playability), please write me a message. I will just write a few cents here for now

@borissuworov Interesing layout, but I think it might work. That bandit lord will attack buildings near the small ramp (lvl 7+ have a higher aggro range for building than lower creeps iirc). Small ramps might create pathing issues. That bandit lord also drops a too item imho, as creepspot is only lvl 17 in total.

@Adney I'm afrid this is another case of a map that puts visuals over gameplay. The layout is too linear too fit anywhere to competitive map pool. If you dont care about that, then you can of course ignore my comment.

@Mads Buus from the layout this looks fine. Expansions are very close to main bases, creeps there should be not too weak so expanding doesnt become too easy. Lordaeron summer, I guess there is a reason why most established maps are of this tileset, but many people, including myself, would like to see different tilesets. Analysing creeps or itemdrops isnt possible from this screen obviously.

@RehcraM Nothing wrong at first glance. I suppose you will add items, some trees/other doodads into the so far empty plains? For my liking, the expansions could be more clearly "belong" to either player, as expanding doesnt look to attractive if you cant expect to get there any sooner than the enemy.

@Rufus Can you confirm that is possible to place building like town halls near the expansions? From the screenshot it appears to me thats not possible. The basic design/layout looks good to me, though again, fountains are commonly not liked much on 1v1 maps. Also trees are non-dense.

 

[Paillan]

well well well, who would believe you would see me actually do stuff.
Anyway, first pic, there's plans for imported doodads.
I am concerned with the fact the map is not classified as melee, even though the only thing I changed was that all creeps have camp vision instead of normal vision.

 

[aeman]

@Maxwell where am i? emerald nightmare?

 

[moyackx]

First WIP:

 

[Maxwell]

@Maxwell where am i? emerald nightmare?

If you have recognised it, I'm doing well.

 

[aeman]

is aesthetic decoration like waterfall and etc necessary?

 

[Paillan]

25% importance.

 

[aeman]

why my tree isnt showing but showed after being 'attacked'?
same like svetli

 

[Paillan]

You probably forgot that custom trees only have variation 1.

 

[Svetli]

why my tree isnt showing but showed after being 'attacked'?
same like svetli

Why me?

 

[deepstrasz]

In the end, all things end up being about money.

I don't know about you guys, but I'm here for the money.

It's working hard for the money:

 

[aeman]

@Svetli sorry about mentioning your name but i see you use palm tree and i tested mine with different custom tree but well, nothing happen...

 

[Svetli]

@aeman Nothing to worry. And yea, that was in my WIP map.

 

[deepstrasz]

By the way you guys, could there be an exception for custom neutral passive units as long as they don't look like other original non-neutral passive game units?

 

[Maxwell]

By the way you guys, could there be an exception for custom neutral passive units as long as they don't look like other original non-neutral passive game units?

You mean critters? Yeah, It's problem for me, standart Wc3 Critters aren't suitable for my color theme.

 

[Ascrelle]

By the way you guys, could there be an exception for custom neutral passive units as long as they don't look like other original non-neutral passive game units?

If you mean custom neutral buildings or neutral heroes, those definitely wouldn't be allowed.

It was confirmed earlier that custom murloc hut-type decorations (which are decorations but filed under neutral passive) are allowed.

And, for critters, though they are mostly decoration, they do serve a gameplay purpose as they provide corpses. So I'm not sure if you would be allowed to make a custom critter. I think flying critters don't drop corpses, so would it be different for those?

On the subject, are fog generation tiles allowed? That is, tiles that block ground vision from one side of the tile to the other but can be walked over, like in many Starcraft 2 melee maps? The only default tiles that can do this are line of sight blockers that can't be walked over, so creating those sight blockers isn't possible without editing the pathing of the sight blockers, which could be considered gameplay-altering data?

 

[deepstrasz]

If you mean custom neutral buildings or neutral heroes, those definitely wouldn't be allowed.

custom neutral passive units

And, for critters, though they are mostly decoration, they do serve a gameplay purpose as they provide corpses. So I'm not sure if you would be allowed to make a custom critter. I think flying critters don't drop corpses, so would it be different for those?

What!? What does it matter then if they're custom or not if the death result is the same?

so creating those sight blockers isn't possible without editing the pathing of the sight blockers, which could be considered gameplay-altering data?

That would change the gameplay, wouldn't it.

 

[StoPCampinGn00b]

No customized / imported killable or playable units at all (unless they're strictly decorations). Sorry about that guys, but it's to keep consistency in gameplay as much as possible. Like ascrelle said, critters do affect gameplay. And if in a competitive game a player who usually utilizes critters does not recognize some custom units as critters, that's a changed gameplay factor.