Approved
Map Reviewer
- Joined
- Nov 2, 2013
- Messages
- 869
Hello new melee mapper!
Always nice to see new people making maps. Unfortunately there are many pitfalls when making melee maps, and you have fallen for many of the typical "rookie miskates". For example:
1. Any creeps not guarding gold mines must be on stance.
2. Avoid having custom item tables. Even if they were balanced (which on this map, they are not), they just make the map more complicated to learn.
3. Do not put creeps near portals. They might go through the portal by accident and then walk all across the map back to their original spawn point.
4. Do not put creeps in locations where they might accidentially attack player units that might just to pass by. Like on the "brigdes" leading to the central area of the map (but not only there).
5. It's generally a bad idea to have long linear "paths" or dead ends.
6. More generally, the map is way too open in middle, and has many too narrow choke points in the north/south, in particular the aforementioned bridges. Especially in team games, this can lead to both teams camping on either side of the chokepoint, in a weird standoff where neither wants to cross the choke point.
7. There should be no gaps between trees or more generally, between doodads. Check with "CTRL+D" and "P". Otherwise, some units might suddenly work through or into a forest where noone expects it. For example, this might be the case between the lab and merc camp in the southwest. For a 1v1 having "dense" forest is an absolute necessity, a 2v2 map can do without, even though it's still not ideal.
8. Visually the map is quite simplistic. This is not necessarily bad and outland is one of the hardest tileset to work with. But it means that the map can look boring there is little helping the players to get a sense of orientation if large areas of the map look very similar.
9. There are probably some other issues I overlooked for now. Like, the creepcamp compositions.
So what does this mean altogether? Doing a large outland map is definitely one of the more challenging projects one can pick in melee mapping, let alone if it is your first (?) map. And the map certainly achieves what it should do according to the description. So it is not a lost cause, but it should get some major updates with respect to several of the aforementioned issues. Of course, if your intention is to just have a map that is fun for gameplay as you and some friends like it, then it can remain as it is. But to be approved, it needs be more in line with what "normal" melee players expect of a melee map. Therefore map set to Awaiting Update.
Always nice to see new people making maps. Unfortunately there are many pitfalls when making melee maps, and you have fallen for many of the typical "rookie miskates". For example:
1. Any creeps not guarding gold mines must be on stance.
2. Avoid having custom item tables. Even if they were balanced (which on this map, they are not), they just make the map more complicated to learn.
3. Do not put creeps near portals. They might go through the portal by accident and then walk all across the map back to their original spawn point.
4. Do not put creeps in locations where they might accidentially attack player units that might just to pass by. Like on the "brigdes" leading to the central area of the map (but not only there).
5. It's generally a bad idea to have long linear "paths" or dead ends.
6. More generally, the map is way too open in middle, and has many too narrow choke points in the north/south, in particular the aforementioned bridges. Especially in team games, this can lead to both teams camping on either side of the chokepoint, in a weird standoff where neither wants to cross the choke point.
7. There should be no gaps between trees or more generally, between doodads. Check with "CTRL+D" and "P". Otherwise, some units might suddenly work through or into a forest where noone expects it. For example, this might be the case between the lab and merc camp in the southwest. For a 1v1 having "dense" forest is an absolute necessity, a 2v2 map can do without, even though it's still not ideal.
8. Visually the map is quite simplistic. This is not necessarily bad and outland is one of the hardest tileset to work with. But it means that the map can look boring there is little helping the players to get a sense of orientation if large areas of the map look very similar.
9. There are probably some other issues I overlooked for now. Like, the creepcamp compositions.
So what does this mean altogether? Doing a large outland map is definitely one of the more challenging projects one can pick in melee mapping, let alone if it is your first (?) map. And the map certainly achieves what it should do according to the description. So it is not a lost cause, but it should get some major updates with respect to several of the aforementioned issues. Of course, if your intention is to just have a map that is fun for gameplay as you and some friends like it, then it can remain as it is. But to be approved, it needs be more in line with what "normal" melee players expect of a melee map. Therefore map set to Awaiting Update.
