Hey again folks, and welcome to the sixth edition of the Bi-Weekly Testing Thread!
As per an initiative from JayBorino and me, we've set up the Bi-Weekly Testing Thread, or BWTT, with the purpose of testing specific maps made by community members. What does this mean? Simple: editors in need of feedback suggest their own maps (either via PM to me or JayBorino, or by posting it in the intro thread), and we'll pick one that will be used for the BWTT.
This week, we're throwing up another survival map for the BWTT. "Protoss Temple Survival", by SolidSC, is supposed to be a tough single-player hero-based defense map where the end-goal is to defeat the final boss that spawns after 25 minutes of onslaught. You can find the map here, or through the direct arcade link: "battlenet://starcraft/map/1/190577".
So for the next two weeks, see if you can take the time to download the map, give it a play-through, and post your detailed feedback here. What did you like, what did you not like? What could be improved, and possibly: how?
This thread will stay up for two weeks, until tuesday, July 12, at which point I'll upload thread #7. Up until that point, all suggestions for maps that require testing are welcome - please put them in the general thread found here.
Visit my channel where I showcase custom content! Send me a PM or respond to my YouTube thread if you'd like to see your map/s on my channel (eventually!)
Has anyone tried this yet? If so, any help/tips on getting past the first part?
I may just be dumb, but after putting a Stalker on the Shrine beacon and then a probe on the Obelisk beacon, it warps my stalker over to the Lightbridge, but it doesn't seem to activate the bridge at all.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Check out my YouTube channel for test playthroughs of custom campaigns as well as editor tutorial videos. Mapmakers, don’t hesitate to PM me if you would like me to test your campaign.
- TerraIn feels very rushed and empty (maybe 10 total doodads in the entire map as far as I could tell)
- Unclear instructions, like Deltron found... am I supposed to be warping my stalkers to the edge of the cliff? what's the point of that?
- I didn't find the map difficult at all. Maybe Alarak is brokenly good? He just idly killed everything that spawned almost instantly right at the spawn location. Then a countdown timer (that was never explained to begin with) hit zero and nothing happened.
From here I just got kinda frustrated/bored and quit. This map isn't quite ready for public testing yet imo.
Yeah I'm not sure what happened to this map. I was expecting something like this:
Seems like the mapmaker has added a beginning part that is completely confusing and/or broken. Or we are all playing the wrong map haha.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Check out my YouTube channel for test playthroughs of custom campaigns as well as editor tutorial videos. Mapmakers, don’t hesitate to PM me if you would like me to test your campaign.
Your playing the right map. I say that what you doing is on the right path and in fact I'm probably going to change it so it is the right path and there are no moments of doubt to what exactly it is your doing. The problem here is that there are more then one shrine to go to and warp from in order to get to the point and "insert the key" to active the lightbridge. You dont simply warp to the lightbridge and it activates. In order to activate the other shrines you need to repeat the process you did with the first shrine that warp you to the lightbridge. These other Shrines will warp you to a cave deep in the map where your in front of the power crystals that will open up the "keyhole". Yea it got that complex on how the lightbridge supposed to work.
Right now I'm thinking that the other shrines will be some kind of "secret spots" on the map that will unlock something other then the lightbridge. I will get these changes implemented as quick as I can to put an end to this confusion around the lightbridge. I dont know what but I will come up with something.
Excellent review. You did good at outlining everything I wanted. What I liked about your post is that for the short amount of game that you were able to play you gather up a good list on pointers on how to improve. Excellent work there. I can understand why the early part of the map feels weird and annoying that was my fault with how I went about with activating the lightbridge. There is more to the start then just getting the bridge to work you also need to find/collect the available resources so you can build the nexus in the base once your in.
Now this is why I wanted this Testing done, the game is very playable/ even beatable but because I've finally got around in building a beginning part of the map, I wanted to know how difficult a challenge I made it for people to figure out. With my early version you would have started in the temple base and played the entire game from that point. Now the countdown timer is there for reference and probably will be removed once everything is stable. When it hits zero that just a signal for the Final Boss in the game but in order to win you need to beat the Final boss and you most certainly needed have establish the base by then.
Are the other shrines marked on the map? The only beacons I could find are for the shrine and obelisk on the left side of the map, plus the one for the lightbridge.
I would say the beginning part defintiely needs to be changed. Seems like no one has been able to get past even the first section of your map. Just try to make it more clear and/or easier for what the player is supposed to do or where to go.
Since the title of this map has the word "Survival" in it, I would expect most players are going to want to play some sort of holdout or survival map. They are either going to be really confused on the map type with this beginning section you have added or are just going to quit the map when it is not what they expected.
Check out my YouTube channel for test playthroughs of custom campaigns as well as editor tutorial videos. Mapmakers, don’t hesitate to PM me if you would like me to test your campaign.
The problem is, people are playing the map and are thinking your "challenge" of finding/using the shrines comes across as a broken map to players. This is mainly because you've primed the players to believe that they shouldn't be really expecting a polished experience:
- very basic loading screen
- broken loading screen tooltip
- no intro to speak of
- no explanations
- default heroes with default abilities
- no doodads and undetailed terrain
- no "custom" anything
Doesn't really matter how great the game is after these points have been made, players will assume even a very basic puzzle is actually just a broken, unplayable map (because in these cases, 90% of the time they're right). If people are wondering if you even uploaded the right version of the map that should be a big red flag to you.
@SolidSC: Go
Are the other shrines marked on the map? The only beacons I could find are for the shrine and obelisk on the left side of the map, plus the one for the lightbridge.
By then your supposed to know what they look like.
@SolidSC: Go
I would say the beginning part defintiely needs to be changed. Seems like no one has been able to get past even the first section of your map. Just try to make it more clear and/or easier for what the player is supposed to do or where to go.
I took your advice and I did exactly that. Now the beginning part Is very straight forward and will be a easy to get past with out any unclear stumbling blocks.
I also implemented the idea for the "secret spots" and I made it where it unlocks a special ability for the game.
@Bilxor: Go
Now I love this reply. I know that your not right at all here. When you said I have default heroes with default abilities well yea that as far as you know. You can come up with all the artificial logic you believe that is going to prime the players to believe that they shouldn't be really expecting a polished experience after all that is your opinion alone. If you cant solve a very simple puzzle then that's on you and not everyone if the puzzle is to difficult and nobody cant solve it well then I'm a good puzzle builder then. I know that Deltron was being funny when he said are we playing the right map and this is something I expected after all I know I made a big radical change to the beginning of the "Survival Map "which naturally is going to make people wonder if they are even playing the right map or even a "Survival Map". I recognize no red flag here with the point your trying to make. I get it you think the Terrain is flat and Protoss works exactly like WoL style because after all whats was customized here in my game. I agree with you when you said this map has lots of improvement but when something doesn't work the way how you wanted it don't be so quick to think it is broken chance are its working just fine just not how you had in mind. If you have the willingness to learn then you can easily educated your self to know if it broken or not, after all I have the map available for download from Bnet my friend.
Not trying to started a heated argument. Yes you're right, it's "my opinion;" and sharing it is the point of this thread. And "if if the puzzle is to difficult and nobody cant solve it" that actually makes you a pretty poor puzzle builder, not a good one, but again, that's my opinion. It's constructive criticism, how you choose to use it is up to you. Cheers
I've recently Updated the map and implemented the suggested changes made by everyone. Everything worked out good. Some things are still in a work in progress like the terrain but the game is mostly completed when it comes to the attack waves. First thing I did was I fix the warp location and made it practically self explanatory to activate the light bridge once you warp from the shrine but that didn't stop me from making additional improvements to the original method which I ended making it where you unlock the special ability at the obelisk. And just as suggests by Deltron I went and made the beacon points in front of the other Shrines in the map, so if you can figure out how to activate both the power crystals then you will unlock the special ability at the obelisk now. I've also been improving some of my button text and making objectives more clear as suggest I even went and added a collect 400 minerals objective. Now I haven't improved the dialog selection nor the loading screen but I did improve the description and basic/advance instruction for the map. I also touch up the terrain with some tree and rock doodads. I've also fixed the Superior Warp Gate upgrade for the 4 Protoss Factions I implemented still some kinks to work out with it tho but its pretty much works with all the faction as desired. Thanks for all the thought everyone put into their post, Everyone certainly had good detailed feedback, So keep it coming. :)
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
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Hey again folks, and welcome to the sixth edition of the Bi-Weekly Testing Thread!
As per an initiative from JayBorino and me, we've set up the Bi-Weekly Testing Thread, or BWTT, with the purpose of testing specific maps made by community members. What does this mean? Simple: editors in need of feedback suggest their own maps (either via PM to me or JayBorino, or by posting it in the intro thread), and we'll pick one that will be used for the BWTT.
This week, we're throwing up another survival map for the BWTT. "Protoss Temple Survival", by SolidSC, is supposed to be a tough single-player hero-based defense map where the end-goal is to defeat the final boss that spawns after 25 minutes of onslaught. You can find the map here, or through the direct arcade link: "battlenet://starcraft/map/1/190577".
So for the next two weeks, see if you can take the time to download the map, give it a play-through, and post your detailed feedback here. What did you like, what did you not like? What could be improved, and possibly: how?
This thread will stay up for two weeks, until tuesday, July 12, at which point I'll upload thread #7. Up until that point, all suggestions for maps that require testing are welcome - please put them in the general thread found here.
Good luck and have fun to all!
I played this over 6 months ago, I'm intrigued to see what has changed. Make sure you prepare for long range air sieges - cannons alone aren't enough!
Visit my channel where I showcase custom content! Send me a PM or respond to my YouTube thread if you'd like to see your map/s on my channel (eventually!)
Has anyone tried this yet? If so, any help/tips on getting past the first part?
I may just be dumb, but after putting a Stalker on the Shrine beacon and then a probe on the Obelisk beacon, it warps my stalker over to the Lightbridge, but it doesn't seem to activate the bridge at all.
Check out my YouTube channel for test playthroughs of custom campaigns as well as editor tutorial videos. Mapmakers, don’t hesitate to PM me if you would like me to test your campaign.
@deltronLive: Go
Had the exact same problem.
This map has a lot of room for improvement:
- TerraIn feels very rushed and empty (maybe 10 total doodads in the entire map as far as I could tell)
- Unclear instructions, like Deltron found... am I supposed to be warping my stalkers to the edge of the cliff? what's the point of that?
- I didn't find the map difficult at all. Maybe Alarak is brokenly good? He just idly killed everything that spawned almost instantly right at the spawn location. Then a countdown timer (that was never explained to begin with) hit zero and nothing happened.
From here I just got kinda frustrated/bored and quit. This map isn't quite ready for public testing yet imo.
<Click Here> To See My Epic Single Player Campaign (LifeForceCampaign.com)
@Bilxor: Go
Yeah I'm not sure what happened to this map. I was expecting something like this:
Seems like the mapmaker has added a beginning part that is completely confusing and/or broken. Or we are all playing the wrong map haha.
Check out my YouTube channel for test playthroughs of custom campaigns as well as editor tutorial videos. Mapmakers, don’t hesitate to PM me if you would like me to test your campaign.
@deltronLive: Go
Your playing the right map. I say that what you doing is on the right path and in fact I'm probably going to change it so it is the right path and there are no moments of doubt to what exactly it is your doing. The problem here is that there are more then one shrine to go to and warp from in order to get to the point and "insert the key" to active the lightbridge. You dont simply warp to the lightbridge and it activates. In order to activate the other shrines you need to repeat the process you did with the first shrine that warp you to the lightbridge. These other Shrines will warp you to a cave deep in the map where your in front of the power crystals that will open up the "keyhole". Yea it got that complex on how the lightbridge supposed to work.
Right now I'm thinking that the other shrines will be some kind of "secret spots" on the map that will unlock something other then the lightbridge. I will get these changes implemented as quick as I can to put an end to this confusion around the lightbridge. I dont know what but I will come up with something.
@Trieva: Go
Excellent review. You did good at outlining everything I wanted. What I liked about your post is that for the short amount of game that you were able to play you gather up a good list on pointers on how to improve. Excellent work there. I can understand why the early part of the map feels weird and annoying that was my fault with how I went about with activating the lightbridge. There is more to the start then just getting the bridge to work you also need to find/collect the available resources so you can build the nexus in the base once your in.
@Bilxor: Go
Now this is why I wanted this Testing done, the game is very playable/ even beatable but because I've finally got around in building a beginning part of the map, I wanted to know how difficult a challenge I made it for people to figure out. With my early version you would have started in the temple base and played the entire game from that point. Now the countdown timer is there for reference and probably will be removed once everything is stable. When it hits zero that just a signal for the Final Boss in the game but in order to win you need to beat the Final boss and you most certainly needed have establish the base by then.
@Mozared: Go
Thanks Mozared for posting this. You did a good job.
@SolidSC: Go
Are the other shrines marked on the map? The only beacons I could find are for the shrine and obelisk on the left side of the map, plus the one for the lightbridge.
I would say the beginning part defintiely needs to be changed. Seems like no one has been able to get past even the first section of your map. Just try to make it more clear and/or easier for what the player is supposed to do or where to go.
Since the title of this map has the word "Survival" in it, I would expect most players are going to want to play some sort of holdout or survival map. They are either going to be really confused on the map type with this beginning section you have added or are just going to quit the map when it is not what they expected.
Check out my YouTube channel for test playthroughs of custom campaigns as well as editor tutorial videos. Mapmakers, don’t hesitate to PM me if you would like me to test your campaign.
@SolidSC: Go
The problem is, people are playing the map and are thinking your "challenge" of finding/using the shrines comes across as a broken map to players. This is mainly because you've primed the players to believe that they shouldn't be really expecting a polished experience:
- very basic loading screen
- broken loading screen tooltip
- no intro to speak of
- no explanations
- default heroes with default abilities
- no doodads and undetailed terrain
- no "custom" anything
Doesn't really matter how great the game is after these points have been made, players will assume even a very basic puzzle is actually just a broken, unplayable map (because in these cases, 90% of the time they're right). If people are wondering if you even uploaded the right version of the map that should be a big red flag to you.
I also echo Deltron's points.
<Click Here> To See My Epic Single Player Campaign (LifeForceCampaign.com)
By then your supposed to know what they look like.
I took your advice and I did exactly that. Now the beginning part Is very straight forward and will be a easy to get past with out any unclear stumbling blocks. I also implemented the idea for the "secret spots" and I made it where it unlocks a special ability for the game.
@Bilxor: Go Now I love this reply. I know that your not right at all here. When you said I have default heroes with default abilities well yea that as far as you know. You can come up with all the artificial logic you believe that is going to prime the players to believe that they shouldn't be really expecting a polished experience after all that is your opinion alone. If you cant solve a very simple puzzle then that's on you and not everyone if the puzzle is to difficult and nobody cant solve it well then I'm a good puzzle builder then. I know that Deltron was being funny when he said are we playing the right map and this is something I expected after all I know I made a big radical change to the beginning of the "Survival Map "which naturally is going to make people wonder if they are even playing the right map or even a "Survival Map". I recognize no red flag here with the point your trying to make. I get it you think the Terrain is flat and Protoss works exactly like WoL style because after all whats was customized here in my game. I agree with you when you said this map has lots of improvement but when something doesn't work the way how you wanted it don't be so quick to think it is broken chance are its working just fine just not how you had in mind. If you have the willingness to learn then you can easily educated your self to know if it broken or not, after all I have the map available for download from Bnet my friend.
Not trying to started a heated argument. Yes you're right, it's "my opinion;" and sharing it is the point of this thread. And "if if the puzzle is to difficult and nobody cant solve it" that actually makes you a pretty poor puzzle builder, not a good one, but again, that's my opinion. It's constructive criticism, how you choose to use it is up to you. Cheers
<Click Here> To See My Epic Single Player Campaign (LifeForceCampaign.com)
I've recently Updated the map and implemented the suggested changes made by everyone. Everything worked out good. Some things are still in a work in progress like the terrain but the game is mostly completed when it comes to the attack waves. First thing I did was I fix the warp location and made it practically self explanatory to activate the light bridge once you warp from the shrine but that didn't stop me from making additional improvements to the original method which I ended making it where you unlock the special ability at the obelisk. And just as suggests by Deltron I went and made the beacon points in front of the other Shrines in the map, so if you can figure out how to activate both the power crystals then you will unlock the special ability at the obelisk now. I've also been improving some of my button text and making objectives more clear as suggest I even went and added a collect 400 minerals objective. Now I haven't improved the dialog selection nor the loading screen but I did improve the description and basic/advance instruction for the map. I also touch up the terrain with some tree and rock doodads. I've also fixed the Superior Warp Gate upgrade for the 4 Protoss Factions I implemented still some kinks to work out with it tho but its pretty much works with all the faction as desired. Thanks for all the thought everyone put into their post, Everyone certainly had good detailed feedback, So keep it coming. :)