Melee Mapping Contest #3 - Results

[Mr.Henci]

MELEE MAPPING CONTEST #3 - RESULTS

Create a 4v4 melee map that excels in balance, terrain, dynamic, and creativity, while beeing suitable for the Warcraft III Reforged.

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

• @WTii
• @W3Sour

Participant	Entry	Wtii Score	W3Sour Score	Poll	Malus	Final Score
1. @JaleVeliki	Nerubian Passage	80	89	15	0	74,9170
2. @Arrr	Northmarsh Ruin v1.1	90	77	12	0	72,6536
3. @mafe	Northern Felwood	63	93	18	0	71,1804
4. @XanderD	Golden Oases	68	70	13	0	61,5414
5. @Restor	Desert Mirage	66	70	4	0	57,1512
6. @Ragnaros17	Frostfloe Deep	51	68	11	0	52,9658
7. @Rockstar356	Cold Butterfly	45	70	12	0	51,8536
8. @Loner-Magixxar	Arctic Dream	43	73	10	0	51,2780
9. @Knecht	Legion's Demise	37	76	11	0	50,5658
10. @DuckDuckGoose	Taken City	61	57	5	0	49,6390
11. @Khaldaiel	Scar of Northrend	52	60	8	0	48,7024
12. @mmtt	Frozen Peak	48	71	8	-5	46,5024
13. @Ascrelle	Treacherous Waters	26	63	7	0	39,0146
14. @fostaa	Burning Steppes	31	45	9	0	34,7902
11. @sentrywiz	Underground Fortress (8)	17	20	4	0	16,7512

Final score = [(j1 + j2)/200]*80 + (p1/pT)*20
j1 = @WTii ; j2 = @W3Sour ; p1 = Poll Score ; pT = No. of users who voted

• 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.

Spoiler: Judge Review by Wtii

Click here to dowload a PDF file.

Spoiler: Judge Review by W3Sour

Click here to dowload a PDF file.

First Place Nerubian Passage by JaleVeliki	Second Place Northmarsh Ruin by Arrr	Third Place Northern Felwood by mafe

Contest thread | Poll thread You can download all the contest entries in the ZIP file here. Assigned Moderator: @Naze

 

[Vinz]

Congratulations, everyone! Looks like it was a repeat for the winner.

 

[W3Sour]

Unfortunately it was too late to send my revised version, but I have made
slight adjustments to some scores and ranks of some of the maps.
I also forgot to include the introductory paragraph for Frozen Peak. Also fixed score number errors.

Here is my updated review:

W3Sour 4v4 Map Reviews.pdf

 

[Loner-Magixxar]

Congrats to the winners. Their maps were definitely much superior than mine. To be honest, I wasn't happy with my creation at all
It was an unfun and excruciating experience making that map. I realized melee mapping does not match my skillset and mindset. It is not for me apparently. That's why I tried to quit in the middle of the contest. But again, It feels good to make something, no matter how bad or good it is (Thogh not always, especially when it turns out far on the bad side )

Anyways, enough rambling!
Seems like my map had a small loot-wise mistake in it. I should go fix it now.

PS: Thanks to the judges who spent a lot of time reviewing 15 melee maps.

 

[Naze]

Congratulations for the winners and everyone involved!

Participants, judges W3Sour and WTii, and also Mr.Henci for being the host and doing the "paperwork" stuff.

@W3Sour thanks for the judge review! However the results have already been published and we can't include this new updated judging of yours =P

 

[W3Sour]

Yeah I know. it's for the participants, and for peace of mind

 

[XanderD]

Thanks again to everyone who participated in any way in this contest, be it with a map, as a judge, as a host (Mr. Henci) or by voting in the poll! Let's see if we can get some of these maps up on the ladder pool. Also the next contest is already in discussion ( Next Melee Mapping contest Pre-disscusion ).

 

[JaleVeliki]

Congratulations everyone, another great contest and hopefully many more to come!

Many thanks to organizers and moderators Naze and Mr.Henci, judges W3Sour and Wtii, as well as other mapmakers and the Hive community!

 

[deepstrasz]

Could we not have Judge #1 and Judge #2 in the table and have their usernames instead? Even the poll is public so...

 

[WolfFarkas]

thanks to the judges, congrats and thanks to the participants.

Congratulations for @JaleVeliki and @Arrr for get first and second place.... again.
Melee Mapping Contest #2 - Results

ROAR!!! , we have to put more efort and defeat those guys in the 4th contest, can´t allow them to sit in the 1st and 2nd place for ever. (Just kidding)

it was a really hard contest, a lot of solid maps, and also a lot bugs, is nice way of learning a lot of things.

It was really fun

 

[deepstrasz]

Also, would be better instead of contestant usernames, to have map names (with links to them) because people voted the maps not the users.

 

[Khaldaiel]

Thanks a lot to everyone for their time and making this contest possible !

Thanks for the detailed review and the comments, I'm eager to try again in the next contest and to do better !

 

[mmtt]

Congratulations to everyone who participated.

I used this editor for like 9 years and this was my first melee map.
Looking forward next contest, now that i have some idea of what i am actually doing, i am going for a rematch.

Also W3Sour in your review you said "as I think a map like this also deserves some marketplace fun." but i have 2 marketplace's you want me to add more?

Any way i updated my map Frozen Peak if is anyone interested, fixed some things.
Meanwhile i will be working on my undead campaign, will update you when i get something done.

 

[DuckDuckGoose]

Congratulations to the winners!!! Had a blast doing my map as well as testing everyone's map.

Thank you reviewers for taking the time to review all the maps.

 

[DuckDuckGoose]

Found a small mistake in W3Sour review: in the summary at the beginning my map Taken City is given a score of 55 due to a -2 bug but in the actual review below I have a score of 57 due to there being no bugs reported

 

[Mr.Henci]

@DuckDuckGoose yeah, it seems so. Sadly, even when taking 57 into consideration, you wouldn't move from the current ranking, as your score would jump from 48,8390 to 49,6390. Will change the numbers once the @W3Sour says, which one is corect. Hope you find enough feedback for your map, would love to see mappers actually implementing some of the proposed changes into their maps.

Congrats to everyone! Really glad we had so many entries, many of the beeing top-notch maps, Blizz sure does have enough options to choose from. Thanks everyone, namly judges @WTii and @W3Sour , our lovely mod @Naze who is helping us get this things rolling, as well as @mafe who helped me with spreading the word and general organizing. Hope to see you all creating something for the next one as well. Keep on mapping!

 

[JaleVeliki]

would love to see mappers actually implementing some of the proposed changes into their maps.

Would be cool to see updates; judges themselves have said it as well - lots of maps can have great potential after couple (small) changes.
I'm actually frequently updating my maps with improvements and will be pumping out new maps regardless of contest(s), so be sure to stay tuned!

 

[sentrywiz]

You know I take pride in being the anti-hero of the contest. #blacksheepwall

@W3Sour - hey thanks for your fun way of expressing both the good and bad of the map. Enjoyed reading it.
Sharing my favorite parts with everyone else:

Creativity/Uniqueness: The map is almost too unique that it hurts. Yes, it shows great creativity in trying incorporate RPG dungeons and dragons elements into a Warcraft 3 map, but the execution is not there at all. 9/15

Balance: Does not work in any shape or form. Way too chaotic and cluttered and the item drops/creeps are severely imbalanced. 1/50

@WTii - Loved your review of the map.

1/10 Creep camps, and Item drops? = This is the craziest item drop list i've ever seen, so chaotic & the creeps themselves are bonkers!

2/15 Map visually pleasing in mediums of terrain, doodad placement, and overall theme? = This is the best RPG map i've ever seen, all joking aside, I'm perplexed at the overly complicated design... such utter chaos!

1/10 Aesthetic well designed but not overly obstructive? = If the map didn't have green colours I'd rate it even lower... even then the green is quite sickly.

2/10 Does the map allow the 4 races to be balanced? = Air, Air, Air! This is an absolute nightmare for ground armies

I just wanna say to both reviewers about the alliances and not spawning around team mates.
I had alliances sorted out into two teams, but then the editor told me my map wasn't melee anymore.
So that's why I removed the alliances. Each player can set their team to some team number, play 4v4
that way OR play FFA. I thought it was beneficial that a map can be both FFA or Team vs Team.


I dare anyone to gather 7 friends and play this to win!

 

[mmtt]

I just wanna say to both reviewers about the alliances and not spawning around team mates.
I had alliances sorted out into two teams, but then the editor told me my map wasn't melee anymore.
So that's why I removed the alliances. Each player can set their team to some team number, play 4v4
that way OR play FFA. I thought it was beneficial that a map can be both FFA or Team vs Team.

aliances are not for melee maps use ally priorities for that

 

[DuckDuckGoose]

@DuckDuckGoose yeah, it seems so. Sadly, even when taking 57 into consideration, you wouldn't move from the current ranking, as your score would jump from 48,8390 to 49,6390. Will change the numbers once the @W3Sour says, which one is corect. Hope you find enough feedback for your map, would love to see mappers actually implementing some of the proposed changes into their maps.

The score thing is fine its just if there is a bug in my map I want to fix it.

The feedback is great, I even have already done some of the recommended changes and I will try to make the rest when I have the time.

 

[W3Sour]

It's actually interesting because the maps that placed top 4. (Nerubian Passage, Northmarsch Ruin, Northern Felwood & Golden Oases)
are the ones that I believed had the most potential to be ladder maps when I was doing the reviews, so I guess the scores did end up bring pretty spot on.
The first 3 are pretty much ready to go, but Golden Oases needs to fix up a few things. Desert Mirage & Frozen Peak aren't too far off either.

I was able to contact Kam last year and get Swamped Temple, Northern Ises and Synergy on the mappool, which is awesome.
I'll be looking to do the same again with the top 4 placed maps here, as I believe they have the most potential to have a spot on the ladder.
I'll go over again just quickly what I think could be touched up before I send a suggest a 4v4 mappool to Blizzard.

- Northern Felwood: Needs no changes. @mafe

- Nerubian Passage: Potentially the skeleton creeps do something about the aggro. I also noticed, but didn't mention in the initial review that some of the entrances around the main bases have too much trees. Look into opening it up a bit more and making it less chokey. @JaleVeliki

- Northmarsch Ruin: The items aren't a major deal that I mentioned in my review, but could be improved. I still think the creeps at the shop should sleep though.
The main thing for me is the trees and tight spacing around the main bases and fountain area. Could and should be a lot more open, including the entrances on side. Also the natural expo moved back. Although the -2 for the no borders was probably a little harsh in retrospect. Kam who represents Blizzard refused to take Synergy into the mappool initially because there was visible borders, so in order to get it onto the mappool there needs to be no borders. It's basically Blizz's rule. @Arrr

- Golden Oases: Biggest thing here, that Wtii also touched on, is the trees around the main bases - just completely open it up. We both noted too many air camps. Remove top and bot fountain and place in mid. Replace those with 2 additional goblin shops. and switch the creeps to ground. Some of the items need revision too as I discussed.
@XanderD


If those things are are looked at, and can you keep improving and revising it in other ways, before I send my suggestions to Kam, would be great.




@DuckDuckGoose Yeah sorry I apologize, there is a mistake there. Your score is supposed to be 57, not 55. I don't think I found any bugs there.
@mmtt Haha, I totally overlooked that, I did see it initially but must have forgot about it as I did some the reviews on different days when I was mid-way through them.
Also, good job on the changes so far. Definite improvement already. There is still some things I would change, I will private message you about particular details.

 

[JaleVeliki]

What about Legion's Demise? Could be improved into proper 4v4.

 

[Knecht]

What about Legion's Demise? Could be improved into proper 4v4.

Nah, it could be made into a 3v3 map with 8 spawns. The main problem is the layout though, it might work better if I turned the map "inside out" with things facing towards the middle instead of outside since there's not much that would keep the mid interesting as of now. There's a lot to be done on that map, terrain, creeps and items - basically an overall overhaul.

 

[XanderD]

- Golden Oases: Biggest thing here, that Wtii also touched on, is the trees around the main bases - just completely open it up. We both noted too many air camps. Remove top and bot fountain and place in mid. Replace those with 2 additional goblin shops. and switch the creeps to ground. Some of the items need revision too as I discussed.
@XanderD

I'm always willing to improve this map. Although the thing with the base entrances I actually did on purpose to make it unusual. But nevermind, it was an idea that didn't fully work out. I did read what you wrote about the creep camps in your review and I would like to contact you next week about this, if you're willing. This weekend I'll be too busy - there's a wedding party tomorrow and I'm the maid of honor.

 

[XanderD]

@WTii is reviewing the maps on his stream right now: Twitch

 

[WolfFarkas]

@WTii is reviewing the maps on his stream right now: Twitch

Will he upload it to youtube??, because he has a youtube channel

 

[XanderD]

Will he upload it to youtube??, because he has a youtube channel

For sure.

 

[WolfFarkas]

What about Legion's Demise? Could be improved into proper 4v4.

Agree with you but, with that criteria, what about the other 4 maps that got more score than Legion Demise (because Legion Demise is in 9th post)
Probably Blizzard doesn´t need that much amount of 4v4 and is fair that the top 4 earns the recomendations.

 

[Restor]

Wau, I didnt expect that I will be on 5th spot.

Honestly, I see more and more flaws in my map each time I play or view it. Reviews from judges are great, with many very specific things which can be improved. I personally will try to update my map on the grounds of those reviews.

 

[mafe]

Thanks to all of you who made this contest a great joy and success! In particular the organinzers, judges and also the participants.

I havent really found time to read through all of it yet, but I am impressed how much work you put into analyzing the maps, @W3Sour and @WTii .
Again, I think the overall quality of the maps has once again increased from the previous contest.

 

[WolfFarkas]

A poll about teamwork in the 4th contest.

4th melee contest may allow optional teamwork?

 

[Restor]

 

[WolfFarkas]

thanks!!

 

[Fang]

Congratlualtions to all participants! I might join this contest later ^^

 

[Twilight]

Congrats to the winners and well done to all the contestants!! All your maps are amazing and well made!! Keep up the great work people! Best of luck in further contests!

 

[mafe]

Next edition of the melee mapping contest is about to begin:
Melee Mapping Contest #4 - 2v2
Would be great to see you guys again!