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Two small places

This bundle is marked as awaiting update. A staff member has requested changes to it before it can be approved.
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This is my first Melee map ..... that i am proud of :D.

Its a 2 Player Map with mirrored superstructure. For each side it has 4 easy and 7 strong Creepcamps. There are on each side 4 shops, one Mercenary, one Merchant, one Market and one Lab; in the middle of the map there is a tavern. The gold mine is quite heavily guarded, so players are expected to have a late expansion. The map offers wide and close areas for skirmishes.
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Two small places (Map)

Reviews
Remixer
Review - Two small places (Version August 7th 2022) Description: Two small places is a fall-themed 1v1 melee map suitable for quick one-on-one matches. Terrain: The terrain is quite average. The tile variation could be better - try to break the large...

Remixer

Map Reviewer
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Feb 19, 2011
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1,954
Review - Two small places
(Version August 7th 2022)
Description: Two small places is a fall-themed 1v1 melee map suitable for quick one-on-one matches.
Terrain: The terrain is quite average. The tile variation could be better - try to break the large continuous areas of one tile type. The current tiling is also quite heavy on the Dirt, Rough Dirt, and Cobble Path, making it quite monotone for darker greys. The more vibrant orange grass here and there could help break it and give more depth. Visual clarity is a little weak in places heavily decorated - in melee try to aim for visual clarity with decoration. Especially in the village areas, this is apparent as there are spots where you can walk between or behind the houses, without it being visually clear. Use pathing blockers if need be (though it is better to avoid creating invisible walls). There are also areas where you have forgotten to use the raise/lower tool, making the areas stand out from areas where it has been used. Try to smoothen the ramps in the middle, the are visually distracting.
Layout: The map is not correctly centered - the Tavern is further away from one player than the other, and due to this the right side of the map is actually larger with bigger distances than the left side. Please fix this. The layout is quite simple yet functional: it offers multiple routes to approach your enemy and pathways between the routes. The central area has a Tavern and multiple creep camps offering incentives to explore that area as well. The Goblin Merchant camp should be pushed farther from the road as the creeps stand dangerously close to the pathways as of now. I would encourage you to widen up at least one of the pathways to the enemy base to differentiate between them - at the moment they are all very similar. I'd recommend you open up the Goblin Laboratory to allow easier access to fight the creeps there.
Creeps: Creep camps are thematically suitable for the map and their power level is quite nice. I do find the creeps guarding the Goblin Laboratory a little strong however - it is the strongest camp on the map and quite high on level, making it harder for players to utilize the Goblin Laboratories early in the game. The green camps near the Tavern could be changed to use only two races of creeps - I find it weird that they feature Sea Giants, Crabs, and Makruras - perhaps you could use two Makruras, just a minor detail though. The item drops seem to be thematically fitting as well, although I would recommend having one camp drop item from only 1 Level, if needed, from two adjacent Levels, check the creep camps and make sure there are no inconsistencies with this logic Marketplace creeps can drop Level 0 or Level 3 item, making the reward feel inconsistent and unfair. Overall, it seems like you have placed the item drops first and then you have changed the version to the Latest Melee Version - This causes the items to change their levels and power, for example, Rings of Armor lose some power in more recent versions - try to check this again. In addition the later versions have certain items removed from the default item pool - and for a reason.
Gameplay: The gameplay is quite generic as the map has no special features or strategic strong points. One could enjoy a typical melee match on the map. The heavily guarded Goblin Laboratories are not available early in the game, and instead, the early game focuses on the middle area as the weaker orange camps are placed in the area's vicinity, possibly creating a contesting situation between the players. The extensions are very close (on) the pathways, making it hard to expand there without catching attention. They're also relatively open, making it hard to defend them. The map suffers from imperfect mirroring that should be adjusted.

Recommendations:
First of all, I would recommend fixing the improper mirroring of the map - it is not centered and with areas of interest, such as expansions, neutral buildings, and choke points you want to pay extra attention to fair mirroring and balance between the players. Gameplay-wise check the creeps' item drops and fix the inconsistency caused by the version change. The Goblin Laboratory creeps are quite strong, and it combined with the weaker creeps found in the middle, which are most likely ones to be contested, the game pace can be quite fast - will the players even reach the level to challenge the laboratories? Also, pay attention to visual clarity with shrubs and grasses - when you bunch a lot of them up you typically want to make that are unwalkable or place them to the side so it does not matter as much. Another point with visual clarity that impacts gameplay is gaps between trees - there are a lot of them. Smaller units can enter gaps and it is not healthy for Melee gameplay, as the units also become unreachable by larger units. Please remove the amount of gaps in the forests.

Player 1 (Red)'s starting location is placed too close to the gold mine, making the map classified as non-melee. This is also caused by using the version selected in gameplay options.

Please change the map's name to Two Small Places, as each word should start with a capital letter. The file name written preferably without spaces.
 
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