SC2Mapster

As you're all aware, the Battle.net WCS will be replacing this year's BlizzCon. With this in mind, Blizzard hooked up various fansites with some tickets to the big championship event in Shanghai, China, and we'd like to send you there! In the comments below, let us know what your favorite Melee Map is and why. Keep in mind, there are only a few tickets to go around, so please make sure you'll be able to attend! The event will be taking place on November 17th and 18th and will host both the SC2 and WoW championships.

If you need more information on the event itself, or further travel information, feel free to check out the dedicated BWC website, and as always, watch StarCraft2.com for the latest Heart of the Swarm information, and WorldofWarcraft.com for the latest Mists of Pandaria information!

If you aren't able to attend, don't fret! You'll still be able to watch it live from Blizzard's WCS Twitch page. Regardless though, feel free to discuss the event in the discussion thread.

Heart of the Swarm Beta is coming soon!

Heart of the Swarm Battle Report #3 by Day[9]

The 3rd battle report for HotS has been posted! This time around it's a Terran vs Protoss game featuring the all-new units! As always, the game is still in development, so the racial balance will likely change. Check out Day[9] and Rob Simpson's 3rd battle report below!

There's been some pretty good information about 1.5 from the Blizzard Developers on this Battle.net thread. If you don't feel like piecing through it yourself, no worries, we'll have the information archived here on Mapster in the very near future.

Mobile Tower Defense by DrakenStark

Mobile Tower Defense seems to be your run of the mill tower defense map at first glance, but you'll come to find out that isn't the case. As you can see at the beginning of the video, this map shows off a pretty unique dynamic laning system, where the lane increases size as you complete waves, as well as taking different pathing shapes.

During the patching process of StarCraft II 1.5, the StarCraft II<Mods folder is being completely wiped of all mods not native to installation (i.e: any custom mods). The StarCraft II/Maps folder is not affected though.

To be safe, map creators should back-up all mods in a folder outside of the StarCraft II root directory prior to patching.

Default for 32-bit Windows OS: C:\Program Files\Starcraft II\Mods
Default for 64-bit Windows OS: C:\Program Files (x86)\Starcraft II\Mods
Default for Mac OS: %USERPROFILE%/Library/Application Support/Blizzard/Starcraft II/Mods

And speaking of Mods, it appears as if some of the Developers will be regularly posting in the Battle.net Custom Maps Forums!

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With the launch of the Arcade in 1.5.0, a few of the nearest and dearest from the StarCraft II development team will be joining us on the forums and focusing on answering questions about custom map development. If you have any technical questions about the editor or the publishing process, these folks should be able to provide you with some help and guidance.

Please give a warm welcome to Deletarius, Revilloso, Artestru, Xuzaca, Rotidecs, and Tenarsis!

Source

The High Heavens Terrain Showcase by TheHolyArk

Anyone remember the epic remake of Moonglade from last year? TheHolyArk is at it again, he's remade The Wandering Isle from Mists of Pandaria, as well as the High Heavens from Diablo III. Check out the video of the terrain showcase below, it's beautiful and completely mindblowing.

Hero Domination by Rice87

This project is a hero arena type map that involves dominating (taking control of) towers within the map itself. The gameplay is pretty straightforward, but check out the video to catch a glimpse of what's actually in store for you.

BraxoN by stevehammon

When a mission obsessed Psi Reader finds his parents have been killed, he searches for powerful weapons in order to get his revenge. This is an interactive movie map in which you play the action packed parts with the help of a seductive chick named Tarnya.

The Professionals by Potfish

In this map, you are a contract killer, and simply put, your goal is to dispose of the other player contract killers. Essentially, this is like an RPG-styled Phantom Mode type map... Or even better, similar to Assassin's Creed multiplayer.

The Walkers by xxxDisturbedxxx

The Walkers is a Zombie Survival based map featuring a wall and missile system, 10 different weapons and various other pieces of equipment, attack animations, zombie models, 8 characters and much more!

For anyone looking for StarTools, the third-party M3 plugins have began being updated again! Leruster has taken over the 3ds Max version (from NiNToxicated), and has released 3 versions since he began, all of which include: added camera support, displacement and volume materials, lights and a few other minor changes. In addition, println also began working on the same addon for Blender instead!

Project Xultion by Vamppanik666

This project is a series of maps that will unravel an amazing story, which has not yet been officially named. The video below is a nice little "tech demo," if you will, about what you can expect from the project itself, and gives you a nice little glimpse of what's in store.

The team is also looking for more members on their staff to help progress our map output level so apply by sending vamppanik666 a PM.

Earlier today (July 2nd), Chris Sigaty wrote up another Dev Blog about HotS and MLG!

Lane Runner by Vortexx2010

The object of Lane Runner is to be the first player to destroy the enemy base at the end of your lane. Use your hero, their skills and various items you may come across to push your lane by destroying each lane marker to unlock the next and then open up the enemy base. You can try to break your record for fastest time to clear a lane, or you can break into other lanes and harass you opponents. Some of the maps key features include customizable hero skills, optional PvP, movable base elements, and puzzle play.

Murderous by GrizzlyMonKeH

Murderous is a tactical third person shooter on Starcraft 2 created by Juxtapoz. The game, while still in its pre-alpha stages, features a powerful physics engine and multiple unit classes.

Derived from a custom game on Warcraft 3 called Elimination Tournament, Murderous serves as a team-based, competitive game which will encourage players to ride its skill curve. It will also feature multiple game modes, including those of Capture the Flag and Team Deathmatch.

THE Card Game by Clord

THE Card Game is the map with a tons of different cards and tactics. No two matches play an exactly same as this map gives edge for players who counter smartly. As you've probably noticed, this project is a visual representation of a playing card game, within the world of StarCraft.

Starcraft Rebirth of the Swarm Teaser Trailer by Crainy

Crainy has been working on this machinima project for the last two years and he is finally ready to release the trailer for it. The full video should be out in 1-2 months and judging by the trailer, I think it'll be well worth the wait.

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The movie will begin just before the events of Starcraft 2 and will focus on one of the first full scale attack from the zerg on a terran planet since their four year long disappearance.

Most of the movie will be set on the attacked planet, "Cron II", which is controlled by the Umoja Protectorate, the second biggest Terran faction next to the Dominion. Cron II poses as a tactically important planet for the Protectorate, seeing how the planet is rich with giant mineral fields. However, as a desert planet, Cron II only provides rough living conditions, which causes it beeing populated mainly be miners and the marines to defend them.

Overall, Cron II is not ready to hold off a full scale Zerg attack on their own, so in an desperate act of seeking help, they send out a distress call into space - which is received by the Protoss mothership Tasiis.

Be sure to check out the Rebirth of the Swarm machinima teaser, coming out on June 23rd, ;).

Mech Craft by Bommes

Bommes recently posted a progress video for his MechCraft project. MechCraft is a single player top-down shooter with some very smooth movement and aiming controls. The player will guide his mech around the map, fighting the zerg forces as he goes. Make sure to leave your feedback in the project thread here!