Melee Mapping Contest #2 - 1 vs 1

[Mr.Henci]

MELEE MAPPING CONTEST #2

Create a competitive 1v1 melee map that excels in terrain, dynamic, and creativity, but most importantly balance.

• No submission may violate any of the site rules.
• If a submission does not follow the map submission rules the creator will be disqualified.
• All submissions must follow the current theme. If any submission does not fit, a moderator will tell you as soon as possible as to avoid confusion.
  • You must submit your entry before the deadline. To submit your final entry, you must upload the entry's contents as a bundle in the Maps Section, and link to that bundle in this thread confirming the submission.
  • Several screenshots of terrain and gameplay.
  • The file in the appropriate format.
• You must show at least one unfinished preview of your submission, before the deadline, as proof that it’s yours.
• Your submission may not be started/made before the official launch of the contest.
• Judges may not participate.
• Your final submission must be bug free.
• Teamwork is not allowed.
  • Finding testers to help you with your submission is not considered teamwork.
• Imports may (optionally) be used in the map, however they must all be credited. *For melee maps, imports should be of cosmetic use for terrain and decoration use ONLY. Any playable or killable unit should not have/be a custom import.
• Trigers may be used as long as they don't interupt the gameplay.
• Only 1 entry per 1 contestant.
• *For melee maps, any gameplay altering data may not be changed.
• *For melee maps, the game data in the editor must be set to "Melee (latest patch)"
  • You just have to make sure, that all 8 Tavern heroes are present on your map.

Breaking any of these rules may lead to punishment in the judgement score, up to disqualification from the contest, depending on the weight of the issue. In case of doubts towards a certain rule you are very encouraged to discuss it in the contest thread so others and judges may help with sorting it out.

• 1st place: 30 reputation points
• 2nd place: 20 reputation points
• 3rd place: 10 reputation points
• Judges: 5 rep

The three winning entries will receive an award icon, representing the winning entry.

• @Sister She
• ----------

Balance	Is the map balanced for a player vs player 1v1? Are the positions and distance between points of interest fair? Does the map allow the 4 races to be balanced? Consider balance when implementing the pathing, resources, creep camps, and item drops.	50/100
Terrain	Is the map visually pleasing in mediums of terrain, doodad placement, and overall theme? Is the map repetitive? Is the aesthetic well designed but not overly obstructive?	35/100
Creativity & Uniqueness	Does the map bring something new or creative to the table?	15/100
Bugs	Scores may be brought down if there are bug-like issues such as faulty pathing, unusable resources, etc	-

• 80% of the winner shall be determined by the contest's appointed judge(s).
• 20% of the winner shall be determined by the results of a public poll.

• The contest shall begin on August 22 and conclude on September 22, 23:59 GMT

Assigned Moderator: @Naze

 

[Mr.Henci]

Please post if you plan to participate! You may start working on the map any time between the start date (August 22st) and the finish date (September 22nd). There is no penalty for those who join late.

Participant	WIP	Final Entry
1. @Remixer	WIP	Torn World
2. @Knecht	WIP	Logging Camp
3. @Ragnaros17	WIP	Mars Lighthouse
4. @Erkan	WIP	Glowing Doom
5. @Mr.Henci	WIP	Silverwind Clearing
6. @mafe	WIP	Brightwater Oasis
7. @Arrr	WIP	Avoj v1.0
8. @The Panda	WIP	(2)Flooded Waters
9. @RFWH	WIP	Ryukyu
10. @Ascrelle	WIP	Bloodmyst Quarry V1.1
11. @Blood Raven	WIP	Aetherium
12. @PrinceYaser	WIP	(2) Ocean Beyond
13. @Twilight	WIP	The screaming river
14. @Rufus	WIP	Aridity
15. @Avahor	WIP	Forgotten straits
16. @foje tit	WIP	Aesopian Waterway
17. @Rockstar356	WIP	On the edge of the desert
18. @JaleVeliki	WIP	Ruins of Azshara
19. @Isaak	WIP	TheCursedSalesman
20. @nightelfbuilder	WIP	----------
21. @vara	----------	----------
22. @modmoto	----------	----------

DISCLAIMER:
If you decide to drop the contest any time, PLEASE make sure to state it so I can remove your name off the list.

Recommended Resources:
Hive - How To Create Melee Maps
Hive - Competitive Melee Map (Balancing Melee Maps)
Hive - Terraining Guide Megathread
Melee mapping - The reasons behind common aspects of competitive 1v1 maps
The Helper - Professional Melee Mapping Guide
r/wc3 - What Goes Into Making A Good 1v1 Melee Map?

 

[Remixer]

I think I'll hop into this one.

 

[WolfFarkas]

I want to participate in this contest.

Good luck to everybody

 

[Knecht]

Count me in, we'll see how this one goes. GL to all.

 

[Erkan]

I would love to participate. Good luck everybody and have fun.

 

[mafe]

I am in.

 

[Arrr]

Hoy, I'm in

 

[Panda]

Entering.
Map Name: Flooded Waters

 

[nightelfbuilder]

Count me in.
Map name: Black Temple (Subject to change)

 

[Mr.Henci]

Entering.
Map Name: Flooded Waters

Count me in.
Map name: Black Temple (Subject to change)

There is no need for map name. The only thing we need is a WIP picture of your work, where we check your progress towards final product.

 

[Naze]

Alright everyone! This contest has officially begun.

This thread has been moved to the main lobby now. I'll ask for additional notices and etc regarding this.

 

[Daffa]

Maybe It'll be nice if I can join. Can I join now?

EDIT :

Joining.

 

[RFWH]

I`m in.

 

[Ascrelle]

I would like to participate.

 

[Panda]

There is no need for map name. The only thing we need is a WIP picture of your work, where we check your progress towards final product.

Well there's no rule that says I cant so I just wanted to reveal my name so no one else has the same one.

 

[Blood Raven]

Count me in.

 

[Mr.Henci]

Well there's no rule that says I cant so I just wanted to reveal my name so no one else has the same one.

Ok, seems reasonable. (I just wanted to say, that you may change it in the future and there is no need for it right now, but if you have decided, than it's great for letting us know.)

 

[WolfFarkas]

Well, since the contest started, I want to submit what will be my first WIP (in a very early stage).

Well I used this time, since the thread was created to get inspiration, see fan arts, youtube videos, and noted cool ideas to do...
I had many ideas noted (in a note pad), a couple of WOW areas, one Lord of the rings Area, A Skyrim area , and like 3 golden sun saga areas.
So today I decided wich idea execute. I want to do a Golden sun area called Mars Lighthouse and thats the title of my map.

history: there are 4 Lighthouses Mars (fire), Venus (Earth), Jupiter (air), Mercury (water) yup seems like Sailor moon...XD
I was going to do Mercury Lighthouse (that is in a snow region), using ICC tileset, maybe mixing with undergroun tileset, a blue map lets call it.
Those who know me, know that I like blue maps.

Then I changed the idea, another blue map.... meh I did that to much...
so I was thinking in Mars Lighthouse that also is located in a snow region (cool thing).

So I tested to mix 4 dungeon tile sets, with 2 ICC tilesets, 1 Northrend tile set, 1 village tile set. And I said yes!!!, here I have fire-ice theme
Also I will use green water (dungeon red water is very limited), so I am gonna use the deep green water for poison swamps and some swallow water to do some shore parts and some icy waterfall areas. I will use lordaeron winter trees (those mushrooms doesn´t fit)

Tile set selection

tile mix

Map general layout

Map General Layout Numbers explanation:
1) Tavern in the middle
2) Poison Swamps to put green creeps
3) Area to put green creeps
4) Near expanding goldmine.
5) Goblin markets
6) Goblin labs
7) More far expanding, and it will be better defended
8) Mana fountain (to counter balance the market place and make that corner interesting). There I will do a town, like the game.
I moved the mana fountain more near to the 12, but well screen already taken.
9) Dungeon Mercenary camps
10) Mars Lighthouse area, and marketplace that must be reached with zeppelings (thats my initial idea for now)
11) An outland mercenary camp, better defended than the dungeon.
12) An Lordaeron summer mercenary camp, better defended by the dungeons

The good thing is that I can make changes in the neutrals positions if I want, for now, I think they will be like this, I still have to chrono the distance from bases and that stuff.
Probably I will put the center up the cliff to have more than 1 cliff level.

Map is 128x128, I am planning to make good borders, and I have to work the neutral position (they are in a very early phase yet, so simetry has still to be worked).

I am planning to use Hive models as doodads.

Golden Sun screens

Proof I started today

In green I marked the creation date of the wc3 file, I started mapping today. Spanish PC: "Agosto" = August, "Creado" = Created.

Overall:
Map name: Mars Lighthouse

Tile set: 4 dungeon tile sets, with 2 ICC tilesets, 1 Northrend tile set, 1 village tile set + green water.

Neutral positions: mainly defined but still need to adjust them with more accuracy.

Here I put a pastbin with the map file so far as proof too.

https://www.hiveworkshop.com/attachments/2-mars-lighthouse-w3x.305045/

(The good thing is that a pure Dungeon or a pure ICC tilesets maps won´t be similar to what I am doing)

 

[vara]

Hello There! I'm in as well, looking forward to this!

 

[PrinceYaser]

Pretty interesting! Count me in.

 

[Abovegame]

Count me in as well !

 

[Mr.Henci]

Whoa! That's a lot of people. I'm really intrested in what you guys can come up with.

 

[Deleted member 238589]

A lot of maps for a single judge. I'll probably join in later on, I have some college stuff coming up.

 

[mafe]

Just asking, should we spread the word the word about the contest or leave it as a more internal one? I'm thinking about posting on reddit and maybe a few discord channels. Or would be 20+ participants too much for our so far only judge @Sister She ? What do you guys think about it?

 

[Mr.Henci]

From PM with @Sister She :

"I can see the need for a limit though. I will say 30, like last time for now. If more people are willing to join, you can contact me again. I'm flexible in upping that limit, depending on how many extra people are eager to join. If only 3 more, I can say sure, if like 10 more, I might start saying naahh. But there's not even 30 yet as far as I'm aware, so let's go with that for now."
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
Spread the word if you want, but we are looking for the best melee mapers in this community, but perhaps some random fellow from W3 reddit can suprise us.

 

[WolfFarkas]

Just asking, should we spread the word the word about the contest or leave it as a more internal one? I'm thinking about posting on reddit and maybe a few discord channels. Or would be 20+ participants too much for our so far only judge @Sister She ? What do you guys think about it?

From PM with @Sister She :

"I can see the need for a limit though. I will say 30, like last time for now. If more people are willing to join, you can contact me again. I'm flexible in upping that limit, depending on how many extra people are eager to join. If only 3 more, I can say sure, if like 10 more, I might start saying naahh. But there's not even 30 yet as far as I'm aware, so let's go with that for now."
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
Spread the word if you want, but we are looking for the best melee mapers in this community, but perhaps some random fellow from W3 reddit can suprise us.

edit: (message deleted, changed my mind).

Agree with @Sister She and the 30 limit thing.

 

[mafe]

My WIP:

 

[WolfFarkas]

My WIP:
View attachment 305174

I like your current layout. I imagine 2 creeping routes

1) Hit the goblin lab, and then the goldmine to boost my army with twice gold and goblin machine to have lumber.
2) Hit the market and boost the hero buying items.

I like the cliffs and the multiple paths.

It seems you are gonna mix... sunken ruins with barrens tile sets!! nice one!

Edit: WIP 2

Some of my progress in the map

areas

map layout

marketplace area

Overall Progress

1) Worked enviroment.
2) Defined two creep routes.
3) Defined bases layouts (Red player). I will mirrow later.

4) Marketplace area explanation: I don´t want players to reach the marketplace without goblin zeppelings, A warden can´t teleport.
If both players reach the marketplace and fight, and one need to retire but It doesn´t have teleport scroll and their zeppeling was destroyed. The waygate allow you to go to the center of the map, but you can´t return. Also if you are shopping in the marketplace and your base is under attack you can use the gate to return more fast and no need of micro, (return to the zeppeling and then unload in your base.
No orthodox thing, it can be good or bad,, but I think is cool, and hope to gain some Uniqueness points .

5) There is a quest with title credits with the credits of the models I use.

Pastebin of the map

https://www.hiveworkshop.com/attachments/2-mars-lighthouse-w3x.305175/

 

[nightelfbuilder]

My first WIP

 

[Ascrelle]

@mafe I'm liking the layout on this one. I don't know the exact distances for this to be dangerous, but having a Goblin Laboratory too close to a player's main base allows for easy Sapper access by opponents, which can be problematic especially with something like an Orc Scroll of Speed.

@Ragnaros17 the ice&fire combination looks pretty cool. Do keep in mind that the Marketplace items are based on those dropped by creeps, so this could become a balance concern if not implemented properly.

@nightelfbuilder Curious to see a circular map design!

Here are images of my WIP map:

Spoiler: WIP images

Overview

View media item 122111
WIP image


View media item 122112
Screenshot

View media item 122113

 

[mafe]

@mafe I'm liking the layout on this one. I don't know the exact distances for this to be dangerous, but having a Goblin Laboratory too close to a player's main base allows for easy Sapper access by opponents, which can be problematic especially with something like an Orc Scroll of Speed.

@Ragnaros17 the ice&fire combination looks pretty cool. Do keep in mind that the Marketplace items are based on those dropped by creeps, so this could become a balance concern if not implemented properly.

@nightelfbuilder Curious to see a circular map design!

Here are images of my WIP map:

Spoiler: WIP images

Overview

View media item 122111
WIP image


View media item 122112
Screenshot

View media item 122113

Hey, goblin laboraties near main bases havent prevented TS or AZ from succeeding In any case according to 1.30 patch notes, speed scroll does no longer apply to sappers.

Also, if some of you want some tests/feedback for your maps, feel free to PM me, though I cant promise that I will have as much time for that as during the last contest.

 

[Abovegame]

Wow you work fast guys! : ) I've just made a sketch on how my map would look like. Good luck!

 

[Ascrelle]

Hey, goblin laboraties near main bases havent prevented TS or AZ from succeeding In any case according to 1.30 patch notes, speed scroll does no longer apply to sappers.

True, though I do recall TS being changed in a recent patch to fix the Laboratory issue

Anyway, I've uploaded my WIP map for testing purposes here:
Bloodmyst Quarry - Warcraft 3 Maps - Epic War.com

Feel free to give it a try!

 

[WolfFarkas]

@mafe I'm liking the layout on this one. I don't know the exact distances for this to be dangerous, but having a Goblin Laboratory too close to a player's main base allows for easy Sapper access by opponents, which can be problematic especially with something like an Orc Scroll of Speed.

@Ragnaros17 the ice&fire combination looks pretty cool. Do keep in mind that the Marketplace items are based on those dropped by creeps, so this could become a balance concern if not implemented properly.

@nightelfbuilder Curious to see a circular map design!

Here are images of my WIP map:

Spoiler: WIP images

Overview

View media item 122111
WIP image


View media item 122112
Screenshot

View media item 122113

Thanks Ascrelle. Of course I am well aware that there are items that must not be in the gameplay. If you check my item tables (I did item tables)
I don´t put power up level 2, because in my map there can´t be tome of experience and then themarket place will sell it.
Same goes for the charged level 5 and 6.
Also I don´t use all charged level 4 (Anhk of rencarnation and book of the deads)
And I use some permanent level 5 (not all of them) and I don´t use any permanent level 6.
(Of course I am gonna test the marketplace, and with the results I will modify the item tables if I need to.

About your map Ascrelle I really like you put the expanding golmines in the middle, so players will have to domain the center of the map.
Nice combination of tilesets, and those red cristals shure they are beauty and shinny.

Glad you liked my theme, I didn´t put fire elements yet, but here is a start the Mars Lighthouse, a combination of 2 models

Blue Dragon Nexus by MatiS (changed color to Red)
Chaos Citadel by HappyTauren

Mars Lighthouse

Wow you work fast guys! : ) I've just made a sketch on how my map would look like. Good luck!

Good luck too.

My first WIP

Agree with Ascrelle, interesting the circular layout!!


Edit: My item tables have gone bug: that means if I put a table called permanent level 5 to a red creep, then it changed to permanent level 3 and so on, so is all a mess, gonna do it in the old ways.

True, though I do recall TS being changed in a recent patch to fix the Laboratory issue

Anyway, I've uploaded my WIP map for testing purposes here:
Bloodmyst Quarry - Warcraft 3 Maps - Epic War.com

Feel free to give it a try!

I played your map is very good. It has good Ancient of War routes. I build the first one near the market and then go to the goldmine, and the second near the mercenary camp.
Played NE angainst NE in insane, hard battle I had to reload many times, because of mistakes. So no replay.
but I have the savegame.

Played against NE in normal to show you a complete replay.
the map is very balanced and entertaining.
to see the savegame, change the extension of the bb file from w3x ---> to w3z (Pastebin can´t upoload w3z

https://www.hiveworkshop.com/attachments/normal-replay-w3g.305241/

https://www.hiveworkshop.com/attachments/bb-w3x.305242/

see ya

 

[Remixer]

First WIP image:

Image

 

[nightelfbuilder]

my WIP lol, I've encountered issues with the circular design so i changed it.

 

[PrinceYaser]

Soo, I made a quick sketch on how my map would look like:

Trying to represent this image into a map (not bad for now):

Hidden

 

[Blood Raven]

Love the WiPs guys, keep it up :]
Here's mine aswell:

 

[Abovegame]

What's up with the Barrens tileset ? : )

 

[WolfFarkas]

First WIP image:

Image

It remembers me some area of Outland, like Blade Edge Mountains, very nice !!!

View attachment 305255my WIP lol, I've encountered issues with the circular design so i changed it.

!!! great newform

Soo, I made a quick sketch on how my map would look like:

Trying to represent this image into a map (not bad for now):

Interesting!!

Love the WiPs guys, keep it up :]
Here's mine aswell:

Now thats something I never saw!!!

What's up with the Barrens tileset ? : )

We have 3 Barrens?

1) One has the outland void.
2) Has a pond only in the middle and a mix with a sunken ruins tile
3) It has water everywhere. And it seems its gonna have bridges.

The 3 maps are very differents in layout, but it would be cool that from now on other tile-sets appear. I am waiting the Ashenvale, Sunken Ruins, Lordaeron summer tilesets.

I think this part were everybody shows their WIPS is fun, I mean I see designs I never think.

WIP 3

layout

Minimap

new areas

Overall Progress:

1) Creeps defined, with their loot.
2) Player 2 area defined.
3) Some new areas here and there.

The map can be played now (all creeps are in position). I still need to do beta tests.
I am working the enviroment.

Pastebin with the map.

https://www.hiveworkshop.com/attachments/2-mars-lighthouse-w3x.305299/

 

[Panda]

Just 2 WIP photos.

 

[Epic Producer]

~Joining without hesitation~

 

[nightelfbuilder]

WIP #2

 

[Twilight]

Well, Count me in. Currently I got lots of stuff to do irl (Collage, driver's license, test, ect ect), so I might be slow in the process. But yeah, Count me in the contest and best wishes and luck to everyone!

Few questions:
1. I know teamwork isn't allowed, but can I have someone write the description or the background of the map (This is for the hive part)?
2. Does it have to be strictly 2 players? Or can I make it a 3 or 4 player map?
3. Probably the most dumbest question I usually ask, (And mainly because i'm a bit lazy) but, can I have the link to the BB-codes?

Thanks in advance and best wishes to all!

 

[Epic Producer]

BB Codes | HIVE

 

[PrinceYaser]

3. Probably the most dumbest question I usually ask, (And mainly because i'm a bit lazy) but, can I have the link to the BB-codes?

Next time, you just need to add a "/help" phrase to the Hive home address, and you'll have a list of all things you need including BB Codes.

 

[Mr.Henci]

~Joining without hesitation~

Nice, nearly 20 people!

1. I know teamwork isn't allowed, but can I have someone write the description or the background of the map (This is for the hive part)?

Why would melee map need an excelent story/backround, if you have trouble with BB codes, send me PM, but teamwork should be striclly prohibited. If we allow you this, somebody else would want to have a little help over there and so on . . .

2. Does it have to be strictly 2 players? Or can I make it a 3 or 4 player map?

You can have an 8 player map if you wish, but it has to be balanced for 1v1 gameplay. (4 player Turle Rock for example, which can be played in 1v1 scenario)

 

[Abovegame]

I think that there are 6 player maps as far as 1v1 goes. So i guess that's okay too. : )

 

[Panda]

Last image for awhile.