Hmm, I was thinking, but not sure if it'd be hard to implement or if it'd be unfitting...how about something like a calendar for maps? Authors could mark important dates, like release dates of (major) patches, or organize events, test playthroughs, etc, similar to the calender/event system they announced at BlizzCon.
I think thats a pretty cool idea! It should be added to the ingame Arcade, too.
I would love to see a better Custom Campaign feature on an Arcade Website. I just learned about the Mass Recall Campaigns like 6 months ago because of HuskyStarcraft, then Gradius' Subjection and now I'm onto Amber Sun. I just love playing through a story and I know from the SC2 forums that there is a sizable group of people who enjoy the lore and playing in a campaign like setting. In the Arcade, Blizzard list Subjection as "Other" and that just make no sense. Lots of people buy Starcraft because of the story and being able to play a custom campaign seems like such a cool feature to the game. I know Custom Campaigns wouldn't have the replay-ability as a TD or Undead Assault like games, but hey it would be a sizeable group who, like myself, would want to make their own!!
@Hockleberry: Go It would be pretty awesome if Blizz someday implemented campaign support for the Arcade, at least after LotV/HotStorm, when they won't have anything "major" to work on. Or something like the Custom Campaigns feature from WC3:TFT, maybe?
A whole lot more categories for the genre of map than what the arcade currently has. I've been wanting a category for single player/mission style for quite some time xP
The purest and simplest of answers: More LotR and Diplomacy/Space Conquest maps. But not just that. They must be decent. Feel like if they were put effort on it, feel like if it was an actual company of dedicated people from Blizzard, not mappers, that made them.
And, what I mean on that, I mean on the quality of terraining, how fluid is the triggering and how energizing is the gameplay. These are the three minimum requirements, IMO, for such a mapping. I'll give you, as an example, a sample of what I'm making now, at least on terraining terms. No, I don't work for Blizzard, much less I intend on working for them, as they'd severely limit my creative efforts out of pure jealousy, but the quality of the terraining alone suggests so.
Looking at this picture, alone, would give you a feel that this is not a map made by a modder, but it is. Because it was made with simplicity, elegance, and professionalism you'd expect out of a modern industry, instead of the laziness you'd see on the HotS missions' terraining, like the Daelaam spaceship mission. Terraining, there, was absolutely horrible, all in an effort to make it fit in a starship scale that didn't make sense and was casualized for the sake of a role (That didn't make sense, either). Sorry, but it's true. As well as the urban designs Blizzard did for Korhal in both WoL and HotS campaigns. Their urban design is exceptionally messed up, on street design, city planning and messy building placement, all for the sake of space for players to build on, instead of players having to adapt to the few space available. Of course, Blizzard could've made those buildings destructible, to add to the fun and make it feel like you're making your room, but they preferred to keep it as doodads, instead.
But, let's get back to the topic, because I'm way waving off track and I just wanted to give an example. This thing, this screenshot, is but a sample of that LotR/RTS mutable hybrid I commented days ago of. Yes, there'd most likely be comments that this would be too heavy or too cluttered to allow actual LotR battles, because you'd want it to make it as empty and as low computer friendly as possible. That's why most of the maps in current Arcade are rushed, save for the exceptions like the Tug-o-Wars that Desert Strike and Nexus Wars are, because they were designed that way (Though poorly), and SotIS/AoS, that can't apply, because it's a DotA and doesn't have that many numbers unlike LotR maps should have. It's small waves upon small waves.
But, as you can notice, having to rush or making the maps 'clean' doesn't mean you have to be lazy about it. Allow some plastic to come up and cover up the flaws and let the terrain attract players instead of the other way around. Terrain is what will deliver the first impressions, and something poorly designed on that matter will make people often forget it, even if it's energetic and the concept is attracting. That's what make Diplomacy maps or defense maps like Heaven Besieged and Battle for Helms Deep rarely played. This and a number of concepts that needed revision before they were all rushly upped to the Arcade library.
Then, there's gameplay, that must feel simple, but energetic. Energetic, IMO, means there's always something you can do, you have a multitude of options available and you can think on how to overcome your human opponent. Desert Strike and Aeon of Storms would be good examples, as you must pay attention on what you do and when, either on building stuff to feed your waves or focus on getting that spell that'll let you damage your opponent's hero. There's one factor, however, that plays against both. Hard Counters. Yeah, that thing IskatuMesk likes to bitch about. Because this always means you must always follow a damn pattern to win, no matter how many options you have because, if he has option A, you must have option B, because option C is freaking useless. And expensive, often. That explains many heroes in AoS being forsaken, as well as many structures but the OPed ones in Desert Strike. This and the fact their spells and units don't look so attractive, like terrain.
Finally, the concept, and here's the root of everything. My idea is simple and basic. Make a LotR that you can mutate to an RTS, although this will take time. But I can evolve from these fundamentals, introducing DotA like heroes (Without inventory) that can level up to 20, a mercenary system, as well as upgrades and a slightly possible chance of a trading system (Just an idea, I don't mean like this will happen. There's still too much work for me to do). The idea is simple. Yet it's tempting, as you let the mind brew on how cool or energetic it'd be. Then the final gameplay comes out, like it is with many maps out there, and... where is it?
That's the final question. How to translate what people wish onto your map. Well, you don't know how, but it's like Poker. You must have the right hand. And getting it requires effort.
And, so far, when it concerns mapping, there was only one map that could nearly accomplish all three, IMO. And it's not either LotR or Tug-o-War, or even DotA. Tower Defense Tycoon.
This map, even though I didn't even *think* about it, was one that was a big surprise for me, for the multitude of factors that weighted on it's favor. It had a modern design for a Tower Defense map. It had multiple options and tempting upgrades. It had a creative storyline that you wouldn't expect out of an Arcade map, and the story, even though it's comedy, isn't as silly as Blizzard-pushed material. Then two factors ruined it. The intro, which can't be skipped unless everyone chose to skip it, and the dependency on machine gun towers, because they're cheap, yet, when massed, because their damage wasn't checked up, could lop off most waves, even heavier ones. Like marine mass in HotS matches.
Still, despite those two factors, the fact is this map is my favorite and I consider it superior to the whole bunch of Tower Defense maps out there now, especially Squadron Tower Defense. Why? Pace is brisk, it challenges players, valueing rematch, and there's always something to do, other than building/upgrading towers (Researching for park bonuses, building facilities for extra bonus/stun, relocating, and stuff.). Squadron Tower Defense, no matter how worked it is, is poorly worked and dependant. Worse, it's pace is dragging and there's always plenty of time to prepare something as you wait with the patience of a turtle for the enemies to arrive, that'll give you big bonuses and make gameplay boring. That's the killing word for gameplay. Boring. And, weren't for the intro, I'd consider the underrating of TD Tycoon for that unbelievable casual mess of a Tower Defense map the greatest injustice of our modern time. Sad but true.
The only other map that'd ever come close to these qualities would be Warships, by Tya, weren't for the fact it's largely unfinished and it's rather easy to OP the opponent once you knew what exactly to pick and how to use it. Still, it's a pretty attractive game, and one that'd deserve attention. One that still deserves attention, on how effort was being put on it.
That is something I wish to awaken the LotR map industry with my map. To make it attracting, modern, energetic and appealing. To make a map that is memorable and even fun to play, and make people want to come back for more and more, try the tempting options. Something that I'd want out of not just LotR, or TD, or Dota or Tug-o-War maps, but ultimately, of every map known in Starcraft arcade. So it can not only shine the mapping and modding quality of SC2, but also remind Blizzard of the shine it held in the glory days of Brood War, before the success of WoW blinded them and destroyed their concept of quality.
collect everything about the arcade maps (youtube vids, forum, homepage etc) and link it there.
Feature small maps and review them. (and only the small ones, everybody knows the popular maps, same as 3 years ago).
Maybe arrange games for certain maps on your site.
Group them by their purpose, not the category (fast game, play with noob friends, play with pro friends, ... ) or both somehow.
I would love a place that could be used to get players involved in my map.
For example i would like to be able to upload a .psd file of say a generic body texture
Then seeing if the players want to design their own armor textures or icons and loading screens
since some players might have artistic flair but they might not want to do all the editor work
So mostly an area that players can interact with the map creator
also i would want to be able to remove reviews that don't add any value
I find that this happens a lot on the Arcade where players just dont leave any usefull feedback
often they will say "Has bugs" or "Buggy" but never anything else
Also a suggestions section or Form of some type players could fill out to provide additional feedback
I also wish their was a way to remind players that these are not Maps made by companies, but by regular people
so their will be bugs and patches will not be constant or timely
If there is to be a website about this, these are the things that come to mind that I might want out of it as a map maker and a player. I would like a rating system kind of like what you described above where you can rate maps. In addition to that, on the same part as the map rating, I think it would be nice to have a bug report section, and a discussion section, so all of the negative things are somewhat filtered out of the general discussion. That is really all I have besides what you have mentioned above so far for the structure of the site.
As far as keeping people interested and really helping out popularity, I think it would be cool to have a featured section of the website and maybe an upcoming section where you find really good maps, or maps that are worth playing but need some improvement, and tell a little bit about them. Similar to what Blizzard is doing on their own website with the Arcade Workshops, but maybe for some deserving lesser known games that would most likely go un-noticed. Also, It would be good to have an arcade night where people get together and play a bunch of games.
I do like the idea and I have stated what I thought would be interesting to have, but I don't know that this would be enough to make me continue to use your site. I may use it once to see how it is, but otherwise, I'm better off just using sc2mapster and then going from there. I know I don't speak for others when I say this, but that's how it is for me.
A whole lot more categories for the genre of map than what the arcade currently has. I've been wanting a category for single player/mission style for quite some time xP
Quite true. Dunno why blizz didn't have this single player genre.
I would like a rating system kind of like what you described above where you can rate maps. In addition to that, on the same part as the map rating, I think it would be nice to have a bug report section, and a discussion section, so all of the negative things are somewhat filtered out of the general discussion.
As far as keeping people interested and really helping out popularity, I think it would be cool to have a featured section of the website and maybe an upcoming section where you find really good maps, or maps that are worth playing but need some improvement, and tell a little bit about them. Similar to what Blizzard is doing on their own website with the Arcade Workshops, but maybe for some deserving lesser known games that would most likely go un-noticed. Also, It would be good to have an arcade night where people get together and play a bunch of games.
I wholeheartedly support the idea of having different sections for map discussion, bug reports, perhaps even a tutorial section for newbies.
A featured section for lesser-known maps would be great too. It would definitely help these maps get the attention they need as well as a chance to make it to the top of the popularity list. It would breathe new life into the Starcraft 2 arcade.
So mostly an area that players can interact with the map creator
also i would want to be able to remove reviews that don't add any value
I find that this happens a lot on the Arcade where players just dont leave any usefull feedback
often they will say "Has bugs" or "Buggy" but never anything else
A more detailed review system is a must. We need ways to prevent nonsense reviews from dominating the reviews page. Useful feedback is welcome but it needs to be detailed.
I think thats a pretty cool idea! It should be added to the ingame Arcade, too.
Hey guys,
I would love to see a better Custom Campaign feature on an Arcade Website. I just learned about the Mass Recall Campaigns like 6 months ago because of HuskyStarcraft, then Gradius' Subjection and now I'm onto Amber Sun. I just love playing through a story and I know from the SC2 forums that there is a sizable group of people who enjoy the lore and playing in a campaign like setting. In the Arcade, Blizzard list Subjection as "Other" and that just make no sense. Lots of people buy Starcraft because of the story and being able to play a custom campaign seems like such a cool feature to the game. I know Custom Campaigns wouldn't have the replay-ability as a TD or Undead Assault like games, but hey it would be a sizeable group who, like myself, would want to make their own!!
For the Story! Hockleberry
@Hockleberry: Go It would be pretty awesome if Blizz someday implemented campaign support for the Arcade, at least after LotV/HotStorm, when they won't have anything "major" to work on. Or something like the Custom Campaigns feature from WC3:TFT, maybe?
A whole lot more categories for the genre of map than what the arcade currently has. I've been wanting a category for single player/mission style for quite some time xP
What I'd like to see out of an Arcade website?
The purest and simplest of answers: More LotR and Diplomacy/Space Conquest maps. But not just that. They must be decent. Feel like if they were put effort on it, feel like if it was an actual company of dedicated people from Blizzard, not mappers, that made them.
And, what I mean on that, I mean on the quality of terraining, how fluid is the triggering and how energizing is the gameplay. These are the three minimum requirements, IMO, for such a mapping. I'll give you, as an example, a sample of what I'm making now, at least on terraining terms. No, I don't work for Blizzard, much less I intend on working for them, as they'd severely limit my creative efforts out of pure jealousy, but the quality of the terraining alone suggests so.
Looking at this picture, alone, would give you a feel that this is not a map made by a modder, but it is. Because it was made with simplicity, elegance, and professionalism you'd expect out of a modern industry, instead of the laziness you'd see on the HotS missions' terraining, like the Daelaam spaceship mission. Terraining, there, was absolutely horrible, all in an effort to make it fit in a starship scale that didn't make sense and was casualized for the sake of a role (That didn't make sense, either). Sorry, but it's true. As well as the urban designs Blizzard did for Korhal in both WoL and HotS campaigns. Their urban design is exceptionally messed up, on street design, city planning and messy building placement, all for the sake of space for players to build on, instead of players having to adapt to the few space available. Of course, Blizzard could've made those buildings destructible, to add to the fun and make it feel like you're making your room, but they preferred to keep it as doodads, instead.
But, let's get back to the topic, because I'm way waving off track and I just wanted to give an example. This thing, this screenshot, is but a sample of that LotR/RTS mutable hybrid I commented days ago of. Yes, there'd most likely be comments that this would be too heavy or too cluttered to allow actual LotR battles, because you'd want it to make it as empty and as low computer friendly as possible. That's why most of the maps in current Arcade are rushed, save for the exceptions like the Tug-o-Wars that Desert Strike and Nexus Wars are, because they were designed that way (Though poorly), and SotIS/AoS, that can't apply, because it's a DotA and doesn't have that many numbers unlike LotR maps should have. It's small waves upon small waves.
But, as you can notice, having to rush or making the maps 'clean' doesn't mean you have to be lazy about it. Allow some plastic to come up and cover up the flaws and let the terrain attract players instead of the other way around. Terrain is what will deliver the first impressions, and something poorly designed on that matter will make people often forget it, even if it's energetic and the concept is attracting. That's what make Diplomacy maps or defense maps like Heaven Besieged and Battle for Helms Deep rarely played. This and a number of concepts that needed revision before they were all rushly upped to the Arcade library.
Then, there's gameplay, that must feel simple, but energetic. Energetic, IMO, means there's always something you can do, you have a multitude of options available and you can think on how to overcome your human opponent. Desert Strike and Aeon of Storms would be good examples, as you must pay attention on what you do and when, either on building stuff to feed your waves or focus on getting that spell that'll let you damage your opponent's hero. There's one factor, however, that plays against both. Hard Counters. Yeah, that thing IskatuMesk likes to bitch about. Because this always means you must always follow a damn pattern to win, no matter how many options you have because, if he has option A, you must have option B, because option C is freaking useless. And expensive, often. That explains many heroes in AoS being forsaken, as well as many structures but the OPed ones in Desert Strike. This and the fact their spells and units don't look so attractive, like terrain.
Finally, the concept, and here's the root of everything. My idea is simple and basic. Make a LotR that you can mutate to an RTS, although this will take time. But I can evolve from these fundamentals, introducing DotA like heroes (Without inventory) that can level up to 20, a mercenary system, as well as upgrades and a slightly possible chance of a trading system (Just an idea, I don't mean like this will happen. There's still too much work for me to do). The idea is simple. Yet it's tempting, as you let the mind brew on how cool or energetic it'd be. Then the final gameplay comes out, like it is with many maps out there, and... where is it?
That's the final question. How to translate what people wish onto your map. Well, you don't know how, but it's like Poker. You must have the right hand. And getting it requires effort.
And, so far, when it concerns mapping, there was only one map that could nearly accomplish all three, IMO. And it's not either LotR or Tug-o-War, or even DotA. Tower Defense Tycoon.
This map, even though I didn't even *think* about it, was one that was a big surprise for me, for the multitude of factors that weighted on it's favor. It had a modern design for a Tower Defense map. It had multiple options and tempting upgrades. It had a creative storyline that you wouldn't expect out of an Arcade map, and the story, even though it's comedy, isn't as silly as Blizzard-pushed material. Then two factors ruined it. The intro, which can't be skipped unless everyone chose to skip it, and the dependency on machine gun towers, because they're cheap, yet, when massed, because their damage wasn't checked up, could lop off most waves, even heavier ones. Like marine mass in HotS matches.
Still, despite those two factors, the fact is this map is my favorite and I consider it superior to the whole bunch of Tower Defense maps out there now, especially Squadron Tower Defense. Why? Pace is brisk, it challenges players, valueing rematch, and there's always something to do, other than building/upgrading towers (Researching for park bonuses, building facilities for extra bonus/stun, relocating, and stuff.). Squadron Tower Defense, no matter how worked it is, is poorly worked and dependant. Worse, it's pace is dragging and there's always plenty of time to prepare something as you wait with the patience of a turtle for the enemies to arrive, that'll give you big bonuses and make gameplay boring. That's the killing word for gameplay. Boring. And, weren't for the intro, I'd consider the underrating of TD Tycoon for that unbelievable casual mess of a Tower Defense map the greatest injustice of our modern time. Sad but true.
The only other map that'd ever come close to these qualities would be Warships, by Tya, weren't for the fact it's largely unfinished and it's rather easy to OP the opponent once you knew what exactly to pick and how to use it. Still, it's a pretty attractive game, and one that'd deserve attention. One that still deserves attention, on how effort was being put on it.
That is something I wish to awaken the LotR map industry with my map. To make it attracting, modern, energetic and appealing. To make a map that is memorable and even fun to play, and make people want to come back for more and more, try the tempting options. Something that I'd want out of not just LotR, or TD, or Dota or Tug-o-War maps, but ultimately, of every map known in Starcraft arcade. So it can not only shine the mapping and modding quality of SC2, but also remind Blizzard of the shine it held in the glory days of Brood War, before the success of WoW blinded them and destroyed their concept of quality.
collect everything about the arcade maps (youtube vids, forum, homepage etc) and link it there. Feature small maps and review them. (and only the small ones, everybody knows the popular maps, same as 3 years ago). Maybe arrange games for certain maps on your site. Group them by their purpose, not the category (fast game, play with noob friends, play with pro friends, ... ) or both somehow.
I would love a place that could be used to get players involved in my map.
For example i would like to be able to upload a .psd file of say a generic body texture
Then seeing if the players want to design their own armor textures or icons and loading screens
since some players might have artistic flair but they might not want to do all the editor work
So mostly an area that players can interact with the map creator
also i would want to be able to remove reviews that don't add any value
I find that this happens a lot on the Arcade where players just dont leave any usefull feedback
often they will say "Has bugs" or "Buggy" but never anything else
Also a suggestions section or Form of some type players could fill out to provide additional feedback
I also wish their was a way to remind players that these are not Maps made by companies, but by regular people
so their will be bugs and patches will not be constant or timely
If there is to be a website about this, these are the things that come to mind that I might want out of it as a map maker and a player. I would like a rating system kind of like what you described above where you can rate maps. In addition to that, on the same part as the map rating, I think it would be nice to have a bug report section, and a discussion section, so all of the negative things are somewhat filtered out of the general discussion. That is really all I have besides what you have mentioned above so far for the structure of the site.
As far as keeping people interested and really helping out popularity, I think it would be cool to have a featured section of the website and maybe an upcoming section where you find really good maps, or maps that are worth playing but need some improvement, and tell a little bit about them. Similar to what Blizzard is doing on their own website with the Arcade Workshops, but maybe for some deserving lesser known games that would most likely go un-noticed. Also, It would be good to have an arcade night where people get together and play a bunch of games.
I do like the idea and I have stated what I thought would be interesting to have, but I don't know that this would be enough to make me continue to use your site. I may use it once to see how it is, but otherwise, I'm better off just using sc2mapster and then going from there. I know I don't speak for others when I say this, but that's how it is for me.
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Quite true. Dunno why blizz didn't have this single player genre.
I wholeheartedly support the idea of having different sections for map discussion, bug reports, perhaps even a tutorial section for newbies.
A featured section for lesser-known maps would be great too. It would definitely help these maps get the attention they need as well as a chance to make it to the top of the popularity list. It would breathe new life into the Starcraft 2 arcade.
A more detailed review system is a must. We need ways to prevent nonsense reviews from dominating the reviews page. Useful feedback is welcome but it needs to be detailed.
+1. Ideally your site would be the one-stop shop for everything you need to know about an arcade map.
So was anything ever done with this website idea, or did the dream just die out?
Blizzard basically co opted the idea (I don't personally mind).
See here: Arcade Site
@DeltaCadimus: Go
TL;DR, but +1 for better terrain.
But they have spotlight there too, and their forums link with sc2 forums, so I hope this website is still going to be released.
@ArcaneDurandel: Go
At the moment it's not much of anything but links to already existing stuff... Are they going to be doing more with it?
@MaskedImposter: Go
Yeah, I was really disappointed by that. I was like, wow, are they going to actually do something for the Arcade?
NOOOOOPE.