With all the negative reaction to the contest, I guess it's a forgone conclusion that Blizzard won't bother doing another one. Can't blame them if they don't.
I wonder what the outcome would be if this site decided to rate all the entries, and if people would be any happier.
So this was my entry, and it didn't win. Why didn't it win? Because it followed blizzards rules, "new, fun, innovative, blah blah blah". What blizzard really wanted was "Simple and Accessible"
Or it could be because your map isn't as fun?
Regardless, I think Sorcerer's Defense should have won, it is, in my opinion, the best TD thus far for SC2. However, there werent that many class maps submitted it seems. No map was even close to the level of some WC3 maps, such as TKoK, Battleships or even Island Defense.
Regardless, I think Sorcerer's Defense should have won, it is, in my opinion, the best TD thus far for SC2. However, there werent that many class maps submitted it seems. No map was even close to the level of some WC3 maps, such as TKoK, Battleships or even Island Defense.
Nah I found out why it didn't win. The unstated rules of having it to be easy to play and easy to learn, then be able to be played in under 15 minutes. Nice.
So the rules we tried so hard to follow are overshadowed by the simple rules they made after we submitted and never made aware to us.
That doesn't add up. Photon command took about 1.5 hours to finish, though almost all average player would die at the 15 minute marks anyway. Whatever reasons that can possibly be given, none will justify enough for their choice for all 3 maps.
Acemore, what you said really does make sense and for the first time since the contest i think many of us finally have some closure, thank you for going out of your way to tell us what happened with this competition.
As a side note, though the winning entries were not as "original and innovative" as blizzard led on they were looking for, they were very well polished and "fun" which is something i think we as a community haven't been putting enough stock into as we pursue our pipe dreams of creating our own custom maps.
It was important that the player could sit down and immediately understand what was going on and get into the game, having a meaningful experience in the limited amount of time they could play. As such, a lot of the maps which required a lot of explanation/choices and/or wasn't easy to understand right off the bat were removed, as well as maps taking a long time to play. Then there were a lot of maps which bugged out instantly when launching them, which could be because of poor design or that a patch broke them. There were maps which used WASD or other designs which lagged too much and didn't work well in multiplayer/battle.net, and they were also removed.
It would've been convenient if they gave this explanation BEFORE the contest started.
I'm not someone who's a sore loser, but what I am bitter about is that these maps won plus that WASD automatically disqualified a map whenever one of the categories they used as an example was a first-person shooter, which requires WASD movement.
These are extremely careless mistakes, and makes it unfair for everyone who entered the contest...and then they ended up with pieces of bull as the winners due to having hidden criteria which directly conflicted with what they said. I, for one, have had enough with the way Blizzard has treated their mapmakers, and will waste no more time on them.
Blizzard gave three of their mapmakers a total of 15,000$ + round trips with Hilton hotel stay, answered their questions live, keeps patching in new editor features and keeps trying to maintain an official modding forum. I have yet to see such personal, up-close modder support in an enormously populated game from another company. :)
If you guys had a chance to personally meet the guys responsible for the community contests, I assure you that you would be ashamed of the level of grumpiness and hissing on display here. They're really chill and nice dudes!
Nah I found out why it didn't win. The unstated rules of having it to be easy to play and easy to learn, then be able to be played in under 15 minutes.
I think you have quite some illusions of grandeur if you think your map was the best out of all the entries and that the only reason it didn't win was because some hidden rule.
Since you still seems to think so. Why would your map be the best amongst all submitted?
It would've been convenient if they gave this explanation BEFORE the contest started. I'm not someone who's a sore loser, but what I am bitter about is that these maps won plus that WASD automatically disqualified a map whenever one of the categories they used as an example was a first-person shooter, which requires WASD movement.
These are extremely careless mistakes, and makes it unfair for everyone who entered the contest...and then they ended up with pieces of bull as the winners due to having hidden criteria which directly conflicted with what they said. I, for one, have had enough with the way Blizzard has treated their mapmakers, and will waste no more time on them.
Agreed. I'm not working on maps until Premium Maps exist, and we get more then 50% of the income.
Look, it was better than 2 of the 3 that won, and 1 of the 3 was not eligible. I'm disappointed that the winners wouldn't have beaten me. If I said otherwise I apologize, there were better maps than mine. However I think I had a good chance for 3 spots.
Look, it was better than 2 of the 3 that won, and 1 of the 3 was not eligible. I'm disappointed that the winners wouldn't have beaten me. If I said otherwise I apologize, there were better maps than mine. However I think I had a good chance for 3 spots.
Since I've not played all the entries (and likely never will), it is not possible for me to judge if you would in fact have ended up in the top 3. However, I will say that I agree upon the fact that Blizzard should have states the conditions for the map in the rules or otherwise have written it down in some instructions. Such as that the map has to be enjoyable and understandable if you are just playing for 15 minutes.
Blizzard gave three of their mapmakers a total of 15,000$ + round trips with Hilton hotel stay, answered their questions live, keeps patching in new editor features and keeps trying to maintain an official modding forum. I have yet to see such personal, up-close modder support in an enormously populated game from another company. :)
If you guys had a chance to personally meet the guys responsible for the community contests, I assure you that you would be ashamed of the level of grumpiness and hissing on display here. They're really chill and nice dudes!
Sure their huge attention for mapmaker is what make people disappoint the most when it failed and did not live up to the expectations. Given the huge prize pool, (compare those with the prize pool for their actual melee game's tournament) more attention should have been given to the contest, I or any mapmaker entered the contest with their time and devotion for 2 results. 1: They win, they get the prize, be happy with blizzard and the custom scene or 2: we lost, we see an incredibly awesome, original and creative map that more worth the prize pools, we happy with blizzard and the custom scene.
Unfortunately, the second options does not exists, which is why everyone is disappointed by how the contest was handled.
I do not bash any winners, everyone participated and devote a large chunk of time into their works, and should be rewarded. My rewards of seeing a more awesome, fun, creative map that gave me a "Damn it I'm so close" satisfied loss isn't there to be found.
I agree mostly. Rocket Arena looked well made. Photon command, although fun for a bit, was fairly boring. I bet its cuz blizzard was going for "noob friendly" like they stressed so much at blizzcon.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Feel free to Send me a PM if you have any questions/concerns!
I agree mostly. Rocket Arena looked well made. Photon command, although fun for a bit, was fairly boring. I bet its cuz blizzard was going for "noob friendly" like they stressed so much at blizzcon.
Exactly, I'm completely content with not winning, sure 5,000 dollars and a trip to blizzcon would have been nice, but some sort or recognition from the judges and or blizzard would have been nice. Like Progammer said, The second option doesn't exist, which is what the large majority of us had expected. If a map was to have beaten mine I wanted it to be because it was far superior to mine, a great new idea that was unheard of, a polished map that by anyones standards was over the top, a balance beyond any other, and above all... playability and fun. This is what blizzard asked for, and what they gave us via winners in return not only doesn't match this by comparison but it doesn't even make sense.
Now to clarify, I'm not trying to say the people that won did a poor job of this, or that they didn't have good ideas or that it wasn't polished. etc etc. You've already won, no one can take that from you, our beef and mine is with blizzard not you. Keep making maps and expand your ideas and your knowledge. Congratulations to you.
I think I'm going to end up just making maps for private play until the premium system is in place. Does anyone have any information about the premium map system that they talked so much about. It seems that they may have abandoned it considering the fact that I didn't hear anything about it at BlizzCon. Did anyone else hear anything?
@zeldarules28: Go
I think I'm going to end up just making maps for private play until the premium system is in place. Does anyone have any information about the premium map system that they talked so much about. It seems that they may have abandoned it considering the fact that I didn't hear anything about it at BlizzCon. Did anyone else hear anything?
In the Q&A they said it won't be released before Heart of the Swarm. So expect it to take at the very least another year.
Ugh. I'm almost glad I gave up making my custom map that I was going to submit. I would have been SOOO dissappointed if I did. I guess I am without submitting anything, but It seems like a joke how much Blizz doesn't care about us when we're half of their foundation. :(
Hey guys, why don't we start a SC2Mapster community vote on blizzard map contest submissions?
It would what maps should have been the real winners...
Progammer do you want to start a thread about this?
Hey guys, why don't we start a SC2Mapster community vote on blizzard map contest submissions?
It would what maps should have been the real winners...
Progammer do you want to start a thread about this?
If I wasn't on the other side of the fence, I'd say someone's having a hard time letting go!
In all seriousness though, it's been quite a few weeks since the contest submission deadline. Some might have done lots of improvements to their maps, while some haven't done anything, so it wouldn't be the same contest.
It probably would be better to simply host a new contest with clear rules and a deadline that doesn't stress people out.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
To post a comment, please login or register a new account.
With all the negative reaction to the contest, I guess it's a forgone conclusion that Blizzard won't bother doing another one. Can't blame them if they don't.
I wonder what the outcome would be if this site decided to rate all the entries, and if people would be any happier.
Or it could be because your map isn't as fun?
Regardless, I think Sorcerer's Defense should have won, it is, in my opinion, the best TD thus far for SC2. However, there werent that many class maps submitted it seems. No map was even close to the level of some WC3 maps, such as TKoK, Battleships or even Island Defense.
Nah I found out why it didn't win. The unstated rules of having it to be easy to play and easy to learn, then be able to be played in under 15 minutes. Nice. So the rules we tried so hard to follow are overshadowed by the simple rules they made after we submitted and never made aware to us.
@Anonymoose: Go
That doesn't add up. Photon command took about 1.5 hours to finish, though almost all average player would die at the 15 minute marks anyway. Whatever reasons that can possibly be given, none will justify enough for their choice for all 3 maps.
@Acemore: Go
Acemore, what you said really does make sense and for the first time since the contest i think many of us finally have some closure, thank you for going out of your way to tell us what happened with this competition.
As a side note, though the winning entries were not as "original and innovative" as blizzard led on they were looking for, they were very well polished and "fun" which is something i think we as a community haven't been putting enough stock into as we pursue our pipe dreams of creating our own custom maps.
It would've been convenient if they gave this explanation BEFORE the contest started. I'm not someone who's a sore loser, but what I am bitter about is that these maps won plus that WASD automatically disqualified a map whenever one of the categories they used as an example was a first-person shooter, which requires WASD movement.
These are extremely careless mistakes, and makes it unfair for everyone who entered the contest...and then they ended up with pieces of bull as the winners due to having hidden criteria which directly conflicted with what they said. I, for one, have had enough with the way Blizzard has treated their mapmakers, and will waste no more time on them.
Blizzard gave three of their mapmakers a total of 15,000$ + round trips with Hilton hotel stay, answered their questions live, keeps patching in new editor features and keeps trying to maintain an official modding forum. I have yet to see such personal, up-close modder support in an enormously populated game from another company. :)
If you guys had a chance to personally meet the guys responsible for the community contests, I assure you that you would be ashamed of the level of grumpiness and hissing on display here. They're really chill and nice dudes!
I think you have quite some illusions of grandeur if you think your map was the best out of all the entries and that the only reason it didn't win was because some hidden rule.
Since you still seems to think so. Why would your map be the best amongst all submitted?
Agreed. I'm not working on maps until Premium Maps exist, and we get more then 50% of the income.
@Paladia: Go
Look, it was better than 2 of the 3 that won, and 1 of the 3 was not eligible. I'm disappointed that the winners wouldn't have beaten me. If I said otherwise I apologize, there were better maps than mine. However I think I had a good chance for 3 spots.
Since I've not played all the entries (and likely never will), it is not possible for me to judge if you would in fact have ended up in the top 3. However, I will say that I agree upon the fact that Blizzard should have states the conditions for the map in the rules or otherwise have written it down in some instructions. Such as that the map has to be enjoyable and understandable if you are just playing for 15 minutes.
At least I have the satisfaction of knowing that that braggart Bravetarget was lying about winning.
Sure their huge attention for mapmaker is what make people disappoint the most when it failed and did not live up to the expectations. Given the huge prize pool, (compare those with the prize pool for their actual melee game's tournament) more attention should have been given to the contest, I or any mapmaker entered the contest with their time and devotion for 2 results. 1: They win, they get the prize, be happy with blizzard and the custom scene or 2: we lost, we see an incredibly awesome, original and creative map that more worth the prize pools, we happy with blizzard and the custom scene.
Unfortunately, the second options does not exists, which is why everyone is disappointed by how the contest was handled.
I do not bash any winners, everyone participated and devote a large chunk of time into their works, and should be rewarded. My rewards of seeing a more awesome, fun, creative map that gave me a "Damn it I'm so close" satisfied loss isn't there to be found.
I agree mostly. Rocket Arena looked well made. Photon command, although fun for a bit, was fairly boring. I bet its cuz blizzard was going for "noob friendly" like they stressed so much at blizzcon.
Exactly, I'm completely content with not winning, sure 5,000 dollars and a trip to blizzcon would have been nice, but some sort or recognition from the judges and or blizzard would have been nice. Like Progammer said, The second option doesn't exist, which is what the large majority of us had expected. If a map was to have beaten mine I wanted it to be because it was far superior to mine, a great new idea that was unheard of, a polished map that by anyones standards was over the top, a balance beyond any other, and above all... playability and fun. This is what blizzard asked for, and what they gave us via winners in return not only doesn't match this by comparison but it doesn't even make sense.
Now to clarify, I'm not trying to say the people that won did a poor job of this, or that they didn't have good ideas or that it wasn't polished. etc etc. You've already won, no one can take that from you, our beef and mine is with blizzard not you. Keep making maps and expand your ideas and your knowledge. Congratulations to you.
I think I'm going to end up just making maps for private play until the premium system is in place. Does anyone have any information about the premium map system that they talked so much about. It seems that they may have abandoned it considering the fact that I didn't hear anything about it at BlizzCon. Did anyone else hear anything?
In the Q&A they said it won't be released before Heart of the Swarm. So expect it to take at the very least another year.
Ugh. I'm almost glad I gave up making my custom map that I was going to submit. I would have been SOOO dissappointed if I did. I guess I am without submitting anything, but It seems like a joke how much Blizz doesn't care about us when we're half of their foundation. :(
Hey guys, why don't we start a SC2Mapster community vote on blizzard map contest submissions?
It would what maps should have been the real winners...
Progammer do you want to start a thread about this?
But..but...We dont have/know all the entries?
Edit: Besides, I dont think its a good idea:/. They won, end of story, lets all just move on;p
If I wasn't on the other side of the fence, I'd say someone's having a hard time letting go!
In all seriousness though, it's been quite a few weeks since the contest submission deadline. Some might have done lots of improvements to their maps, while some haven't done anything, so it wouldn't be the same contest.
It probably would be better to simply host a new contest with clear rules and a deadline that doesn't stress people out.