I see improvements, but you still gotta work on the transition between the textures. The transition between the rock/grass at the cliffs and the sand looks a little sudden at times.
You're definately on the right track. I can see a lot of improvement, however, three ramps up to a main is a no-no. I do like the idea of having a ramp down to your natural, that eventually will be used as a backdoor too, so I'd suggest you to keep that one, and the ramp not covered by rocks. Another thing to watch out for is the watchtower placement - it will be difficult to sneak around it, so I'd suggest you to push the ramps to the lowground just a tan further away, perhaps one or two cells.
All in all, a quite nice design, much better than any of your previous works.
While the idea is good, it has some major flaws. First of all, there's only one attack path to your enemy - and there's even a XNW covering it. The map has too much dead air space, making it an air heaven. Islands can be a good idea, but as there really aren't no alternative third, it heavily favors Terran over the other races. Additionally, the expansions only have one ground path to defend, making the map even more imbalanced. Terran can siege up, and Protoss force field, so that no enemy can break through. And as a last note, widen all ramps but the ones going up to the main; such tiny chokes gives the defender an enormous advantage, making it nearly impossible for the attacker to victor.
I hope this helped you understand some general guidelines to melee map making. I see that you want to make good melee maps, and I will surely do my best to help you improve your maps, if you want me to.
Both maps lacks details. Not just texture work and doodads, but design in general. Flooded Temple is just a bunch of squares. You did a better job on Shallow Temple, it is however too small and lacks bases. 6 bases are way too few - 2 player maps usually have 10 or 12 bases.
The reason maps do not contain that much water, is because of performance. Water uses too many resources for bad computers to handle, which causes problems in melee matches. Water can be used to cover certain areas of a map, but not to an extend like you did.
Here, have a look at some maps from the map pool using water to create pleasing aesthetics, but not causing issues to bad computers.
As you can see, all of the maps are using water to cover the unpathable areas around the map. Players will not be looking there very often, so it will not cause too many trouble.
Ohana is a great example of this subject. It was originally sent to Blizzard, but got rejected due to partially having water on the lowground. The water was then removed, textures and doodads replaced the previously covered areas, and it got approved by Blizzard. It is today found in the map pool.
@yukaboy: Go
I see improvements, but you still gotta work on the transition between the textures. The transition between the rock/grass at the cliffs and the sand looks a little sudden at times.
@yukaboy: Go
Melee maps need to have perfect symmetry, which it appears that yours doesn't.
To achieve this, all you have to do is to copy one half of the map, and then paste it on the other side by rotating it 180 degrees.
I suppose this is a 2v2 map?
You're definately on the right track. I can see a lot of improvement, however, three ramps up to a main is a no-no. I do like the idea of having a ramp down to your natural, that eventually will be used as a backdoor too, so I'd suggest you to keep that one, and the ramp not covered by rocks. Another thing to watch out for is the watchtower placement - it will be difficult to sneak around it, so I'd suggest you to push the ramps to the lowground just a tan further away, perhaps one or two cells.
All in all, a quite nice design, much better than any of your previous works.
@yukaboy: Go
While the idea is good, it has some major flaws. First of all, there's only one attack path to your enemy - and there's even a XNW covering it. The map has too much dead air space, making it an air heaven. Islands can be a good idea, but as there really aren't no alternative third, it heavily favors Terran over the other races. Additionally, the expansions only have one ground path to defend, making the map even more imbalanced. Terran can siege up, and Protoss force field, so that no enemy can break through. And as a last note, widen all ramps but the ones going up to the main; such tiny chokes gives the defender an enormous advantage, making it nearly impossible for the attacker to victor.
I hope this helped you understand some general guidelines to melee map making. I see that you want to make good melee maps, and I will surely do my best to help you improve your maps, if you want me to.
Both maps lacks details. Not just texture work and doodads, but design in general. Flooded Temple is just a bunch of squares. You did a better job on Shallow Temple, it is however too small and lacks bases. 6 bases are way too few - 2 player maps usually have 10 or 12 bases.
The reason maps do not contain that much water, is because of performance. Water uses too many resources for bad computers to handle, which causes problems in melee matches. Water can be used to cover certain areas of a map, but not to an extend like you did.
Here, have a look at some maps from the map pool using water to create pleasing aesthetics, but not causing issues to bad computers.
Lost Temple
Jungle Basin
The Shattered Temple
Incineration Zone
As you can see, all of the maps are using water to cover the unpathable areas around the map. Players will not be looking there very often, so it will not cause too many trouble.
Ohana is a great example of this subject. It was originally sent to Blizzard, but got rejected due to partially having water on the lowground. The water was then removed, textures and doodads replaced the previously covered areas, and it got approved by Blizzard. It is today found in the map pool.