Well, here is my entry. I chose Baby Steps, mainly because I liked the name and I really didn't remember any SC1 stage other than BGH.
Although seeing how you guys are super amazing pros at this, I will probably not win, but it was worth a try.
Here's my second attempt... a little better than the first in my opinion. :) It's a copy of the 4 player map Caldera... Volcanic activity? No problem.
This is a legacy convert so the terrain placement is nearly identical, aside from mineral placement and a few balance issues... I added a back door to each base with curtain blockers and a destructible rock pile... as well as a few high yields in the center on two separate islands. As you can see by the analysis, it's fairly balanced for space even though its not symmetrical. Also added 2 vespene nodes to each main, left only 1 at each expansion... the two naturals in the middle are meant to be a bit contentious, as the other 4 expansions will typically open your backdoor, so it should be a bit of a trade-off.
Doodads, terrain tweaks and balance issues are still being tinkered with, but this is a playable version.
EDIT: Oh, the remake screenshot is a tad inaccurate... in the lower right base (4 oclock), the main choke was scaled back a touch for balance... now each base has space for 17 CCs according to the analyzer, and a more equal distribution of minerals/gas. Also added more doodads/changed the terrain somewhat to pretty it up. :)
Well after testing my map for a little bit, I decided to change the starting areas to be in higher ground instead of low ground because you can get attacked way to easily, specially by siege tanks. Not fun :P
This one probably won't be an entry, but I thought I'd post my progress for it here as well. Converting another legacy map, Twisted Fate. I'm making a few changes to the scenery from the old one (SC2 doesn't have Tar lakes unfortunately) and I might go and add some different mechanics too it, such as the scrap yards I spoke over earlier. That, or possibly neutral Towns which can provide you with free repairs or are infest-able to provide a steady stream of zombies. We'll see how it goes.
Judges: I'll leave it up to you whether or not to include this one in the voting.
Here's my second attempt... a little better than the first in my opinion. :) It's a copy of the 4 player map Caldera... Volcanic activity? No problem.
This is a legacy convert so the terrain placement is nearly identical, aside from mineral placement and a few balance issues... I added a back door to each base with curtain blockers and a destructible rock pile... as well as a few high yields in the center on two separate islands. As you can see by the analysis, it's fairly balanced for space even though its not symmetrical. Also added 2 vespene nodes to each main, left only 1 at each expansion... the two naturals in the middle are meant to be a bit contentious, as the other 4 expansions will typically open your backdoor, so it should be a bit of a trade-off.
Doodads, terrain tweaks and balance issues are still being tinkered with, but this is a playable version.
EDIT: Oh, the remake screenshot is a tad inaccurate... in the lower right base (4 oclock), the main choke was scaled back a touch for balance... now each base has space for 17 CCs according to the analyzer, and a more equal distribution of minerals/gas. Also added more doodads/changed the terrain somewhat to pretty it up. :)
I probably would have put the destructible rocks at the other entrance to the mains, because as it stands, it can only be used really as a 2v2 map, because the both players on a side share the middle as their natural. If you put the rocks the other place, then each base would have a natrual to expand to.
But this was the intention of the rocks... this way, if you want to expand to the safer option, it's probably a wise idea to destroy the rocks and open the back door. That's the trade-off though... safer natural expansion, but now you have 2 chokes into your main to defend, and the backdoor shouldn't be hard to exploit, even with the expansion there. It should keep the defending player more economically stretched because they're forced to put at least SOME resources into watching both front and back.
It's not supposed to be an easy choice. :) I want to add some variables to the map, so that ideally it won't be the same every time you play.
This is still a WIP but I think its nearing completion, I have some more doodad work to do and the just go around touching things up. For those of you who dont recognise it, the map is Destination. I have not been able to play-test this so I have made no changes based on balance.
Changes:-
- Only 2 bridges in the centre of the map as fitting them in was difficult and looked ugly. SC1 used 30/60 degree angles, SC2 uses 45 degree angles.
- All expansions have and extra gas geyser, making normal bases have 2 and mineral-only expansions from the original have a single geyser.
Well here it is, finally released. After a lot of play testing, this map feels relatively balanced, with the favor going towards early macro and late game air control because of the tight chokes. It is fairly safe in this map to take the natural early, and its also easy to defend the third, while the gold expos can become the critical point of control in the mid and late game.
Note that this map is also currently published on B.net, so if you want to play it with some friends, you can find it by searching "Full Circle SC2"
MAJOR CHANGES:
1). Swapped the original location of the main with the original location of the natural, mainly to keep in line of the trend of SC2 maps having the main on high ground.
2). Changed the way the outside path works by removing the back access to the natural, and instead making it lead to backdoor rocks to the main.
3). Added a third in the spot that used to be just meaningless high ground.
4). Changed the center expansions to both high yield minerals and high yield gas (needs testing) and added destructible rocks to that same expo.
5). Added four watch towers.
6). Added various line of sight blockers.
The basis of the map still remains the same, with the focus being on the three major choke points that the bridges on the map provide.
Major changes :
- Gold Crystal in the middle of the map with 2500 ressources instead of 1500.
- Normal mineral in the center have only 250 ressource instead of 1500.
- Removed some minerals in main / Sc1 version had too much.
- Naturals expand as lower minerals than the main, the middle of the map
is the key for success.
More descriptions :
- 8 Players map
- Turn around in the Wheel of War,
- No Vision tower like the old school Sc1.
- The entrance was too easy to defend, i added a ramp near each players entrances.
Updated 18/10/10 :
- Added Foliages.
- Global Lighting changed
- Added some Doodads.
- Corrected some placement bugs.
Updated 19/10/10 :
- Added more doodads.
- Elevations modifications
- Global Lighting changed
- Foliages changed
This is the Original Map picture :
Up to date Screenshots :
Old Screenshots :
Enjoy.
PS : Map Analyser can't seem to analyse my map, some kind of error because of the map center.
And weather effects can't be shown because of my computer graphic card limitations.
And there is a Skybox, but my computer cant render it neither it can render the fire effects/ weater effects etc.
I've finished my heavily modified version of Crescent Moon.
Some of the changes:
- added Gas to the main land expansions.
- connected two of the four islands to the main land.
- tighter chokes.
- lowered ground area around central island.
- connections to central island via Rocks.
- Terrain theme: Much manmade stuff added so the map will look a little more varied.
- SC2 stuff like Rocks, LOS Blockers, Watch Towers and Gold Minerals.
- I tried to balance those four starting positions a little more so the long cliffs won't affect the players on 9 and 3 o'clock so much. Still, 1v1 and 2v2 is recommended, FFA is not.
Ramparts is like the lesser-noticed baby brother of Lost Temple. It's design is simple and interesting: the main base has one ground choke, but it's big with an internal high-ground of ramparts, so daring dropship play is encouraged. Also like Lost Temple, the Starcraft version has significant asymmetries. I decided to take this little mapling and give it a makeover, like Blizzard did for the Starcraft 2 version of Lost Temple.
Elements to keep:
Big main bases with the signature "ramparts"
One choke to main, with a natural expansion out on the low ground. Standard ground-based play is certainly possible.
Center island expo, which provides a high-ground staging area, furthering encouraging air tech or drop ships.
New elements:
Watchtowers useful for ground play, but carefully placed to allow drops to skirt if attacker is careful.
Mineral-only gold bases. Useful, but players are encouraged to expand into empty mains for gas and therefore air units are again a good choice for map control/awareness.
A semi-island base in the north and south serve several purposes (1) add two standard bases to the original map which was thin on bases, (2) provides an alternate ground path for a meaty army, (3) gives a players another safe/sneaky base to expand to as a reward for getting dropships or nydus tech.
So, welcome to Ramparts for Starcraft 2, see you on the wall!
I've finished my heavily modified version of Crescent Moon.
Some of the changes: - added Gas to the main land expansions. - connected two of the four islands to the main land. - tighter chokes. - lowered ground area around central island. - connections to central island via Rocks. - Terrain theme: Much manmade stuff added so the map will look a little more varied. - SC2 stuff like Rocks, LOS Blockers, Watch Towers and Gold Minerals. - I tried to balance those four starting positions a little more so the long cliffs won't affect the players on 9 and 3 o'clock so much. Still, 1v1 and 2v2 is recommended, FFA is not.
I like yours gameplay-wise but I wish it had more than one main entrance. If I were you I would add two more. One at each side where manmade-clif-expansions could lead to the Xel'Naga Watch Towers. Yes, I do believe that we should take liberties such as these to improve the maps. (OR you could argue that your map is a mainly-air-focused map, thus one entrance is enough).
QMJ3, it reminds you of novice maps? There is an open ground path to every start location, so you're not safe from early attacks like the Blizzard novice maps.
The original map was such a neat idea, but very poor for competitive play (just look at which mid-map paths border a main base and which do not!) so it needed some serious love. To really see the resemblance, look at the two northern main bases and their natural expansions in the original map, and imagine them reflected to the south; then you get a more symmetrical and balanced map that looks a lot like my remake.
lol Sorry I didn't mean offense with my comment, I was thinking aesthetically it reminded me of the Novice maps, but I suppose I could revise that to say "any" of Blizzard's Melee maps... I just mean the layout of it, the resource placement, the LOS Blockers, XN Towers, etc.
And yea I see what you mean, the original map was a cool idea but obviously completely asymmetrical and therefore destined to be unpopular. lol
I like yours gameplay-wise but I wish it had more than one main entrance. If I were you I would add two more. One at each side where manmade-clif-expansions could lead to the Xel'Naga Watch Towers. Yes, I do believe that we should take liberties such as these to improve the maps. (OR you could argue that your map is a mainly-air-focused map, thus one entrance is enough).
This was actually something I took a lot of time to think about, and I felt like adding more than the one main access bridge would change the map a bit too much from the idea of the original. I agree that gameplay wise it has some flaws because of this design decision, and it does very much so favor air over ground especially because of the massive rush distance on the map. After I had finished polishing the map, there was a part of me that wished I had chosen a map that would have been a bit easier to balance, but at the end of the day, I would say that I am pretty happy with how it turned out in the end.
The other thing that I found was very successful on this map was proxy buildings because there are a lot of LoS blockers to hide buildings at on your opponents side of the map. Because of this its possible to apply early pressure as protoss and terran to prevent the zerg from mass expanding everywhere on the map.
Naturals are blocked by rocks on a ramp, behind the main's mineral line
One high yield expansion in the middle of the map, blocked by destructible rocks
Three Watch Towers are located on the three islands surrounding the middle island
SC1 minimap, SC2 minimap, SC2 balance results, and three screenshots showing the map's terrain are exhibited below, along with the map itself.
The map is also published on the NA server with the name "Stepping Stones Classic".
Alrighty, sorry for the double post, but the contest is over. It's been over for 2 hours and 22 minutes so anyone posting their submissions past this post is late.
Well, here is my entry. I chose Baby Steps, mainly because I liked the name and I really didn't remember any SC1 stage other than BGH.
Although seeing how you guys are super amazing pros at this, I will probably not win, but it was worth a try.
Here's my second attempt... a little better than the first in my opinion. :) It's a copy of the 4 player map Caldera... Volcanic activity? No problem.
This is a legacy convert so the terrain placement is nearly identical, aside from mineral placement and a few balance issues... I added a back door to each base with curtain blockers and a destructible rock pile... as well as a few high yields in the center on two separate islands. As you can see by the analysis, it's fairly balanced for space even though its not symmetrical. Also added 2 vespene nodes to each main, left only 1 at each expansion... the two naturals in the middle are meant to be a bit contentious, as the other 4 expansions will typically open your backdoor, so it should be a bit of a trade-off.
Doodads, terrain tweaks and balance issues are still being tinkered with, but this is a playable version.
EDIT: Oh, the remake screenshot is a tad inaccurate... in the lower right base (4 oclock), the main choke was scaled back a touch for balance... now each base has space for 17 CCs according to the analyzer, and a more equal distribution of minerals/gas. Also added more doodads/changed the terrain somewhat to pretty it up. :)
Well after testing my map for a little bit, I decided to change the starting areas to be in higher ground instead of low ground because you can get attacked way to easily, specially by siege tanks. Not fun :P
EDIT: Here is the revised version. :D
This one probably won't be an entry, but I thought I'd post my progress for it here as well. Converting another legacy map, Twisted Fate. I'm making a few changes to the scenery from the old one (SC2 doesn't have Tar lakes unfortunately) and I might go and add some different mechanics too it, such as the scrap yards I spoke over earlier. That, or possibly neutral Towns which can provide you with free repairs or are infest-able to provide a steady stream of zombies. We'll see how it goes.
Judges: I'll leave it up to you whether or not to include this one in the voting.
I probably would have put the destructible rocks at the other entrance to the mains, because as it stands, it can only be used really as a 2v2 map, because the both players on a side share the middle as their natural. If you put the rocks the other place, then each base would have a natrual to expand to.
@bigbluemonkey555: Go
But this was the intention of the rocks... this way, if you want to expand to the safer option, it's probably a wise idea to destroy the rocks and open the back door. That's the trade-off though... safer natural expansion, but now you have 2 chokes into your main to defend, and the backdoor shouldn't be hard to exploit, even with the expansion there. It should keep the defending player more economically stretched because they're forced to put at least SOME resources into watching both front and back.
It's not supposed to be an easy choice. :) I want to add some variables to the map, so that ideally it won't be the same every time you play.
This is still a WIP but I think its nearing completion, I have some more doodad work to do and the just go around touching things up. For those of you who dont recognise it, the map is Destination. I have not been able to play-test this so I have made no changes based on balance.
Changes:-
- Only 2 bridges in the centre of the map as fitting them in was difficult and looked ugly. SC1 used 30/60 degree angles, SC2 uses 45 degree angles.
- All expansions have and extra gas geyser, making normal bases have 2 and mineral-only expansions from the original have a single geyser.
Well here it is, finally released. After a lot of play testing, this map feels relatively balanced, with the favor going towards early macro and late game air control because of the tight chokes. It is fairly safe in this map to take the natural early, and its also easy to defend the third, while the gold expos can become the critical point of control in the mid and late game.
Note that this map is also currently published on B.net, so if you want to play it with some friends, you can find it by searching "Full Circle SC2"
MAJOR CHANGES:
1). Swapped the original location of the main with the original location of the natural, mainly to keep in line of the trend of SC2 maps having the main on high ground.
2). Changed the way the outside path works by removing the back access to the natural, and instead making it lead to backdoor rocks to the main.
3). Added a third in the spot that used to be just meaningless high ground.
4). Changed the center expansions to both high yield minerals and high yield gas (needs testing) and added destructible rocks to that same expo.
5). Added four watch towers.
6). Added various line of sight blockers.
The basis of the map still remains the same, with the focus being on the three major choke points that the bridges on the map provide.
Original
Remake
Wheel_of_War_Legacy.SC2Map Link :
Link Removed: http://www.mediafire.com/?2074kvzv40nrk0u
Major changes :
- Gold Crystal in the middle of the map with 2500 ressources instead of 1500.
- Normal mineral in the center have only 250 ressource instead of 1500.
- Removed some minerals in main / Sc1 version had too much.
- Naturals expand as lower minerals than the main, the middle of the map
is the key for success.
More descriptions :
- 8 Players map
- Turn around in the Wheel of War,
- No Vision tower like the old school Sc1.
- The entrance was too easy to defend, i added a ramp near each players entrances.
Updated 18/10/10 :
- Added Foliages.
- Global Lighting changed
- Added some Doodads.
- Corrected some placement bugs.
Updated 19/10/10 :
- Added more doodads.
- Elevations modifications
- Global Lighting changed
- Foliages changed
This is the Original Map picture :
Up to date Screenshots :
Old Screenshots :
Enjoy.
PS : Map Analyser can't seem to analyse my map, some kind of error because of the map center.
And weather effects can't be shown because of my computer graphic card limitations.
And there is a Skybox, but my computer cant render it neither it can render the fire effects/ weater effects etc.
I've finished my heavily modified version of Crescent Moon.
Some of the changes: - added Gas to the main land expansions. - connected two of the four islands to the main land. - tighter chokes. - lowered ground area around central island. - connections to central island via Rocks. - Terrain theme: Much manmade stuff added so the map will look a little more varied. - SC2 stuff like Rocks, LOS Blockers, Watch Towers and Gold Minerals. - I tried to balance those four starting positions a little more so the long cliffs won't affect the players on 9 and 3 o'clock so much. Still, 1v1 and 2v2 is recommended, FFA is not.
More screenshots can be found here: http://forums.sc2mapster.com/resources/project-workplace/13370-sc1-melee-map-contest-my-diary/#p9
Map can also be played via Battle.net. Search for 'Crescent Moon XE'.
Ramparts, you coulda been a contendah
Ramparts is like the lesser-noticed baby brother of Lost Temple. It's design is simple and interesting: the main base has one ground choke, but it's big with an internal high-ground of ramparts, so daring dropship play is encouraged. Also like Lost Temple, the Starcraft version has significant asymmetries. I decided to take this little mapling and give it a makeover, like Blizzard did for the Starcraft 2 version of Lost Temple.
Elements to keep:
New elements:
So, welcome to Ramparts for Starcraft 2, see you on the wall!
This is probably my favorite entry aside from my own of course... the doodad work is phenomenal!
I like yours gameplay-wise but I wish it had more than one main entrance. If I were you I would add two more. One at each side where manmade-clif-expansions could lead to the Xel'Naga Watch Towers. Yes, I do believe that we should take liberties such as these to improve the maps. (OR you could argue that your map is a mainly-air-focused map, thus one entrance is enough).
@dimfish: Go
I like the new version... it actually reminds me of a few of Blizzard's "Novice" maps (albeit with fewer doodads). Well done.
My only complaint is that it has barely any resemblance to the original SC map.
@QMJ3: Go
QMJ3, it reminds you of novice maps? There is an open ground path to every start location, so you're not safe from early attacks like the Blizzard novice maps.
The original map was such a neat idea, but very poor for competitive play (just look at which mid-map paths border a main base and which do not!) so it needed some serious love. To really see the resemblance, look at the two northern main bases and their natural expansions in the original map, and imagine them reflected to the south; then you get a more symmetrical and balanced map that looks a lot like my remake.
@dimfish: Go
lol Sorry I didn't mean offense with my comment, I was thinking aesthetically it reminded me of the Novice maps, but I suppose I could revise that to say "any" of Blizzard's Melee maps... I just mean the layout of it, the resource placement, the LOS Blockers, XN Towers, etc.
And yea I see what you mean, the original map was a cool idea but obviously completely asymmetrical and therefore destined to be unpopular. lol
This was actually something I took a lot of time to think about, and I felt like adding more than the one main access bridge would change the map a bit too much from the idea of the original. I agree that gameplay wise it has some flaws because of this design decision, and it does very much so favor air over ground especially because of the massive rush distance on the map. After I had finished polishing the map, there was a part of me that wished I had chosen a map that would have been a bit easier to balance, but at the end of the day, I would say that I am pretty happy with how it turned out in the end.
The other thing that I found was very successful on this map was proxy buildings because there are a lot of LoS blockers to hide buildings at on your opponents side of the map. Because of this its possible to apply early pressure as protoss and terran to prevent the zerg from mass expanding everywhere on the map.
I think I can finally mark my map, finished.
SC1 minimap, SC2 minimap, SC2 balance results, and three screenshots showing the map's terrain are exhibited below, along with the map itself.
The map is also published on the NA server with the name "Stepping Stones Classic".
Alrighty, sorry for the double post, but the contest is over. It's been over for 2 hours and 22 minutes so anyone posting their submissions past this post is late.
so how is voting gonna be made?