I do believe I explained it several times. I have a feeling you don't read my entire posts. It's difficult to communicate with you, and honestly, not really worth the time considering how this has simply gone in circles.
I'm positive you're wrong about everything you're saying, and that people with your mentality damage the map system even more. People with your mindset don't just not help the game, they make it worse.
I wish you wouldn't advocate this view.
I'm not sure what to say to prove that you're wrong. But I know you are.
I would love to say that advertisement isn't needed and you should be able to just publish your map and expect popularity, but that would be lying.
Should I lie to appease the general public? Agree mindlessly to everyone else yelling at Blizzard to make my map popular for no apparent reason? There's only so much Blizzard can do, and it's obvious they're working to make it easier to get your map out there. There is never a point where you should say that it is unnecessary to advertise in some way, and as I've said, advertising isn't always done the way you would call "advertising".
So the map maker better find a way to get his map heard of, even if it's having a friend or some people on General Chat join. As I said, there are some things that Blizzard can help with, but it shouldn't be relied on, especially this early in development. As I have also said, I'm not against Blizzard adding additional ways to make finding maps easier. But, that doesn't mean that you should never have to advertise. You could advertise in non-intended ways that you wouldn't have even thought was advertising. Sometimes you can be lucky with popularity, possibly in the way your map was. Some random person might just be scrolling through the long-ass list. That person might find an interesting map title by luck, try out the map and maybe ask a Real ID friend who happens to be on at that time to join the game with him cause he thought it was interesting. Then they both play, find out it's actually pretty awesome, and spread the word from there.
As I had also said, that's really unlikely. You really shouldn't expect to have your map known by simply throwing it out there on that list. And even if Blizzard added ways to help filter through maps, you probably still shouldn't expect that. Looking at the upcoming patch notes, however, playing a new map seems a lot more possible with that random new map playing thing, though I still think sorting by newest maps should be possible. Still, no matter what, there's going to have to be some reason that someone is going to look at your map for it to be known. Even if your map is super noticeable at the top of a list sorted by date published, if it's called "Just another StarCraft II Map" with a generic preview image, I don't think people would be playing it. Auir Chef was at the top of the list because it was featured, but it's not a popular map now even though it's very known, because the map isn't very good.
As you said, TD's have its own category. People change their filter to only TD maps, see yours which has an interesting name/image/description, maybe get a few friends to try it with them, etc. The popularity increases, people eventually join simply due to popularity, or rather, that the map is at the top of the list and very easily noticed.
It bothers me that you're willing to stand for it.
Here. This is a youtube video I made of a very obscure topic with no advertising and only a few tags that somehow managed to be seen by more than 8000 people
Like I said before, my TD had no advertising.
Both of these cases I assume are luck because users stumbled upon them.
Also, when people advertise, quite often it makes them look like an asshole. I would not like to be required to do so.
I'm willing to stand for it because it's realistic.
There are reasons your YouTube video has made over 8000 views, actually. "First referral from - www.reddit.com: 610 views", to pull one of them out. Obviously this has been put on Reddit, which is a form of advertisement. It was placed out there for people to see, and it grabbed people's interest. The title of your YouTube video is enough to gain interest. I myself would be interested in controlling my bedroom lights with a phone. As you can see, there are several hundred views that were from searching for terms such as "control lights with computer". People didn't view your video for no reason.
As you said with your TD, it had its own category which made it easier to find. People were able to see it, and were probably interested by the name or the preview image or the like. Eventually, perhaps just the fact that it was high on the popularity list. That itself can be considered a form of advertisement. You found a way to better let people find out about your map.
As I said, if you had refused to read, there are many ways to advertise. There are ways to advertise without looking like an asshole. There are ways to get people interested so you don't even have to do any advertising of your own. There are ways to advertise in ways that people don't even realize is advertisement. For example, even though you might hate it, you can make a post on SC2Mapster showing your WIP map. People may look at your WIP map and think "Hey, I can't wait to try this map when it is released!". And some day, they'll find that the map is released and ready to play somehow in some way out of the many ways they could have heard about it, and actually play your map.
I would also like to add that is very illogical to expect a map to be popular by just throwing it into the abyss. If I made a new map and published it on Battle.net, never having spoken about it, why should I expect it to be noticed? There could be a few ways it could become popular, such as an interesting image (much in the way a movie poster would increase the popularity of a movie), a description, or title (like anything with a title). If I looked through a big list of maps, what would catch my attention? What reason would people have for playing my map instead of someone else's? It isn't the 'traditional' form of advertisement, but it is advertisement. Whatever you do, no matter what Blizzard does to help, it's essential. Your map will not be noticed if there's no reason to notice it. That simple. I'm defending it because that is what makes sense. Even if I hate it, even if I would absolutely love to not have to advertise, there's no reason I shouldn't defend truth or logic. Perhaps you should do the same.
You're wrong. It's ridiculous if you think what you said is correct. Map making is not about advertising at all. Yes, you can make a thread here. Doing so would help. But you shouldn't have to. Players should simply be able to browse all maps effectively. Why you disagree and continue to advocate stupid bullshit like that is beyond me.
First of all, my map is ranked 4th most popular out of all NA maps, so I'm not complaining about popularity troubles.
I did not advertise my map at all. The reason it became popular is because it is a TD and they have their own category. If there were many categories, there would be few enough maps listed in each section that they would all get noticed.
I am saying that it is not realistic to expect popularity without advertisement. It doesn't come out of nowhere. That is just how it works. Your video on YouTube isn't going to be noticed if there's no reason for anyone to notice it. Your StarCraft II map isn't going to be noticed if there's no reason for anyone to notice it.
I am not saying that there shouldn't be additional ways to make finding maps easier. I definitely think there should be. Tags for maps, a search function to find maps that fit those terms, for example. That would be awesome, and it's been suggested a million times, and it would surprise me if Blizzard isn't aware of that yet. Obviously, those things can't be added instantly, so I don't expect them to add it instantly. Even with such things, it isn't necessarily going to make your map noticed, let alone popular (especially as the existing number of maps increase).
Yes, it is right that you were banned. It was not your first infraction, as you've shown, and you violated the forum policy you agreed to. It is clearly stated that you may not even be given warnings or temporary suspensions before being permanently suspended, and that previous punishments have an effect upon future ones. It doesn't matter how much "good stuff" you post, the only factor in being suspended is the violation.
On a side note, it isn't even necessarily that you made posts that contained vulgar language, but that what you post is non-constructive/counterproductive. For example, it is extremely unnecessary to say ""#$%@ I'M DONE WITH DEBATES!" It is very possible to express the same idea in a constructive, formal, and polite way. Think of how you would write a letter to an organization of some sort that you may have strong views against. A letter to the government about educational budget cuts, for example.
I'm very sick of that. Not everyone is social. Not everyone is arrogant and willing to spam their work everywhere. Not everyone wants to approach mapping with marketing and advertising in mind. Especially because the type of person to make a map is likely not the type of person who gives a shit about those things.
Yes, you can join games of maps you know of. But the problem still exists of finding those maps in the first place.
Honestly, that is how most things work. If you start your own business, advertising is important to broadcast what your business is and to get people interested in it or joining the business itself.
A new movie is going to be heard of through advertising. If there were no commercials, previews, movie posters, etc., a movie wouldn't be known until it's hit the theaters, and at that point people would probably be wondering what that even is. Perhaps the producers or whatnot have a reputation of some sort that allows it to be heard of without those things, but having a reputation could be part of your advertising too. If you are renown for creating really good maps, people will most likely automatically be interested in other maps you make.
Advertising your map doesn't have to necessarily be done in the same way, either. The strongest form of advertisement is through social interaction, so if you get a group of friends to play and love your map, they could tell their friends/post about it/get people to join a party for it on Battle.net/etc. Don't have friends? You can do the same. You can make a thread about it here, and if people are really interested, they can try it out. You can make efforts to make it even more popular, much in the same way Rodrigo did with Debates.
Regardless, if your map is terrible, even how much you advertise your map, advertising probably won't help you out. So above all things, make a good map. To be completely honest, many people who blame the popularity system for their unpopular map do not have very entertaining/original/polished/appealing maps.
Before they get to the Marketplace they need to fix things like map protection. Unless something changed recently, it's still very easy to steal someone's map.
I feel like it's been less impressive to say my age when showing skill in things such as mapmaking now. I made a Mario 3D model about 7 years ago and people were impressed that an 11 year old made it. If I said I was 18 I'm sure it would be looked upon as expected.
When you make a new map you can check off random height and change its variability.
There's probably a way to do it with existing maps as well.
Noise can give a similar effect, I suppose, but I think it could be tedious if you have a big map. Plus you may want to smooth it out after or whatever.
You could probably just make a checkbox dialog item and change the image for checked and unchecked (pressed button and unpressed button).
In worst possible scenario, you would have to photoshop it to fit the format of a checkbox image. I am sure if you cannot do it, someone here is generous enough fill your request.
Don't any of you have any shame about this? There are things and improvements I would like to see, but not expecting. One reason why I don't expect the improvements is because Blizzard can't give everyone everything they want and second, they gave us this powerful editor that can do extraordinary things and we just like...whine, complain and throw it in their faces.
I realize everyone is upset about the Popularity System, the map upload limits, etc. But don't you think we should be grateful for what we have. Some games don't even have modding support, and if they do its not this advanced. We can make our own unique games with unique gameplay all in the Galaxy Editor.
On top of all that, Blizzard added all this new stuff with patch 1.2. I didn't see one thank you to Blizzard at all, all I saw was, "Whine, whine, whine. Complain, complain, complain." Why are we so ungrateful towards them? Another thing! The maps that Blizzard released, good quality maps, all I see is complaining. I personally thought the ideas were unique and made for interesting gameplay, but everyone just complain...like we own the editor or the game likes its our property, when its really blizzards and they decide what they put in the game.
Blizzard made a mistake towards Creation, yeah. But there fixing it coming on good terms to Creation and yea he asked for all our cries for stuff but that still doesn't mean he should go and whine to Blizzard about it...
Why not just be grateful for what we have...start thanking Blizzard and request things without whining. Degrading people with whines and complaints does not make you want to help someone out and add features, in fact it does the exact opposite. But if you thank Blizzard and ask with a grateful heart surely they would be more motivated to help us out. :D
My point is: I think this is a really bad idea. Are we all really like 5yr old kids whining and complaining because we didn't get what we wanted?
I didn't really read many of the other posts, but I thought this was a thread full of suggestions, not complaints and whining. It is possible to make suggestions without it being a complaint or whiny. For example, I could suggest an improvement for the Join Game menu so you can sort by more than just popularity (such as recently played, or recently uploaded, or genre, or alphabetically), and even an addition of a search bar to make finding maps easier. It is not a complaint that these things are not in place. It would be nice to have somebody talk to Blizzard directly about this stuff. It seems every time Blizzard has a Q&A and things like this are brought up, Blizzard misunderstands and answers the question incorrectly and there's no room for clarification.
For example, I recall someone asking about map switching online and they answered in a very unrelated way. I believe it was after they showed custom maps for the first time (Ghost/Ultralisk/Viking).
The Black box is the battlenetfreinds button.
You can find it in Gameui with name something like battlenetfreinds.
And you just put a <Visible val="false"/> after the first line of the frame and it wont show up.
However I suggest you should reposition it instead...
BattleBuddiesFrame, I believe. It does not change where the actual Battle.net button is, so hiding it is not a problem (it is simply the frame for the background). I wish it did, because I want the Battle.net button anchored to the bottom-center of the screen rather than the bottom-right.
The inability to copy and past sub-properties of triggers.
For example, if I want to copy "Convert player group to player: Triggering player". Instead of being able to copy and paste it several times, I have to take time for each individual trigger to do the same thing. It would be an extremely huge time saver for me.
Furthermore, I think there should be kind of a unit/ability creation wizard, if that makes sense. It should show you what left is needed for a new ability or unit to properly work. So for example, if I made a new ability, it would tell me that behaviors/actors/buttons/etc. need to created for it.
Mouse position should be tracked within relative camera mode. I suppose the mouse isn't really moving because it's stuck at the center of the screen, but if it was possible to track the position of the mouse (in the game world) while in relative camera mode, it would be much easier to have a 3rd person shooter where the center of your screen is your target. And then it would be so much easier to shoot projectiles and have properties for your weapons such as accuracy and so forth.
There needs to be a way to find what is being clicked with the mouse clicked event. So, for example, a condition to see if what was clicked was a unit, terrain, UI, doodad, etc. Then more specifically, actions can be done based on what the unit was, what the clicked UI was, what type of terrain was clicked, and so forth. There are workarounds, but it is very inefficient, and in my case, doesn't work as well as it should.
I think that there should be more than one custom value for units. The limit of 100 is also rather small. Instead I've been using integer variables, but it's really inefficient.
Perhaps I just don't know of a way, but there should be a way to change the hotkey of an ability during gameplay through triggers.
There should also be a search function in the join custom game menu. Additionally, in the Publishing menu, there should be a way to add tags to your map, so people can find your map easier using the search function. There should also be a way to search for maps by map creator, or even have your published maps available on your profile.
As mentioned, water pathing.
This is minor, but I think it should be possible to change the anchor of the Battle.net button, not just the offset. I wanted it to fit nicely into my custom UI, but it's not possible without changing the anchor to the bottom of the screen.
And I am sure this has been mentioned many times, but keystroke lag is a little excessive. This makes WASD movement, among other things, ridiculous online.
There should be a preview window of sorts for dialogs. It is hard to know exactly what it ends up looking like in-game without changing a value and opening up SC2 several times before it looks the way you want it. This is a little weird, but I've had to use Photoshop to know exactly what points I have to offset by and such (and even then I have to do quite a bit to get that exactly). I should be able to do this in the editor itself.
One last thing I can think of at the moment; I think Blizzard should release their art tools that I thought were supposed to have been released with StarCraft II's release.
0
I do believe I explained it several times. I have a feeling you don't read my entire posts. It's difficult to communicate with you, and honestly, not really worth the time considering how this has simply gone in circles.
0
I would love to say that advertisement isn't needed and you should be able to just publish your map and expect popularity, but that would be lying.
Should I lie to appease the general public? Agree mindlessly to everyone else yelling at Blizzard to make my map popular for no apparent reason? There's only so much Blizzard can do, and it's obvious they're working to make it easier to get your map out there. There is never a point where you should say that it is unnecessary to advertise in some way, and as I've said, advertising isn't always done the way you would call "advertising".
0
@Vexal: Go
So the map maker better find a way to get his map heard of, even if it's having a friend or some people on General Chat join. As I said, there are some things that Blizzard can help with, but it shouldn't be relied on, especially this early in development. As I have also said, I'm not against Blizzard adding additional ways to make finding maps easier. But, that doesn't mean that you should never have to advertise. You could advertise in non-intended ways that you wouldn't have even thought was advertising. Sometimes you can be lucky with popularity, possibly in the way your map was. Some random person might just be scrolling through the long-ass list. That person might find an interesting map title by luck, try out the map and maybe ask a Real ID friend who happens to be on at that time to join the game with him cause he thought it was interesting. Then they both play, find out it's actually pretty awesome, and spread the word from there.
As I had also said, that's really unlikely. You really shouldn't expect to have your map known by simply throwing it out there on that list. And even if Blizzard added ways to help filter through maps, you probably still shouldn't expect that. Looking at the upcoming patch notes, however, playing a new map seems a lot more possible with that random new map playing thing, though I still think sorting by newest maps should be possible. Still, no matter what, there's going to have to be some reason that someone is going to look at your map for it to be known. Even if your map is super noticeable at the top of a list sorted by date published, if it's called "Just another StarCraft II Map" with a generic preview image, I don't think people would be playing it. Auir Chef was at the top of the list because it was featured, but it's not a popular map now even though it's very known, because the map isn't very good.
As you said, TD's have its own category. People change their filter to only TD maps, see yours which has an interesting name/image/description, maybe get a few friends to try it with them, etc. The popularity increases, people eventually join simply due to popularity, or rather, that the map is at the top of the list and very easily noticed.
I'm going to bed.
0
I'm willing to stand for it because it's realistic.
There are reasons your YouTube video has made over 8000 views, actually. "First referral from - www.reddit.com: 610 views", to pull one of them out. Obviously this has been put on Reddit, which is a form of advertisement. It was placed out there for people to see, and it grabbed people's interest. The title of your YouTube video is enough to gain interest. I myself would be interested in controlling my bedroom lights with a phone. As you can see, there are several hundred views that were from searching for terms such as "control lights with computer". People didn't view your video for no reason.
As you said with your TD, it had its own category which made it easier to find. People were able to see it, and were probably interested by the name or the preview image or the like. Eventually, perhaps just the fact that it was high on the popularity list. That itself can be considered a form of advertisement. You found a way to better let people find out about your map.
As I said, if you had refused to read, there are many ways to advertise. There are ways to advertise without looking like an asshole. There are ways to get people interested so you don't even have to do any advertising of your own. There are ways to advertise in ways that people don't even realize is advertisement. For example, even though you might hate it, you can make a post on SC2Mapster showing your WIP map. People may look at your WIP map and think "Hey, I can't wait to try this map when it is released!". And some day, they'll find that the map is released and ready to play somehow in some way out of the many ways they could have heard about it, and actually play your map.
I would also like to add that is very illogical to expect a map to be popular by just throwing it into the abyss. If I made a new map and published it on Battle.net, never having spoken about it, why should I expect it to be noticed? There could be a few ways it could become popular, such as an interesting image (much in the way a movie poster would increase the popularity of a movie), a description, or title (like anything with a title). If I looked through a big list of maps, what would catch my attention? What reason would people have for playing my map instead of someone else's? It isn't the 'traditional' form of advertisement, but it is advertisement. Whatever you do, no matter what Blizzard does to help, it's essential. Your map will not be noticed if there's no reason to notice it. That simple. I'm defending it because that is what makes sense. Even if I hate it, even if I would absolutely love to not have to advertise, there's no reason I shouldn't defend truth or logic. Perhaps you should do the same.
0
@Vexal: Go
I am saying that it is not realistic to expect popularity without advertisement. It doesn't come out of nowhere. That is just how it works. Your video on YouTube isn't going to be noticed if there's no reason for anyone to notice it. Your StarCraft II map isn't going to be noticed if there's no reason for anyone to notice it.
I am not saying that there shouldn't be additional ways to make finding maps easier. I definitely think there should be. Tags for maps, a search function to find maps that fit those terms, for example. That would be awesome, and it's been suggested a million times, and it would surprise me if Blizzard isn't aware of that yet. Obviously, those things can't be added instantly, so I don't expect them to add it instantly. Even with such things, it isn't necessarily going to make your map noticed, let alone popular (especially as the existing number of maps increase).
Am I unclear?
0
@RodrigoAlves: Go
Yes, it is right that you were banned. It was not your first infraction, as you've shown, and you violated the forum policy you agreed to. It is clearly stated that you may not even be given warnings or temporary suspensions before being permanently suspended, and that previous punishments have an effect upon future ones. It doesn't matter how much "good stuff" you post, the only factor in being suspended is the violation.
On a side note, it isn't even necessarily that you made posts that contained vulgar language, but that what you post is non-constructive/counterproductive. For example, it is extremely unnecessary to say ""#$%@ I'M DONE WITH DEBATES!" It is very possible to express the same idea in a constructive, formal, and polite way. Think of how you would write a letter to an organization of some sort that you may have strong views against. A letter to the government about educational budget cuts, for example.
Honestly, that is how most things work. If you start your own business, advertising is important to broadcast what your business is and to get people interested in it or joining the business itself.
A new movie is going to be heard of through advertising. If there were no commercials, previews, movie posters, etc., a movie wouldn't be known until it's hit the theaters, and at that point people would probably be wondering what that even is. Perhaps the producers or whatnot have a reputation of some sort that allows it to be heard of without those things, but having a reputation could be part of your advertising too. If you are renown for creating really good maps, people will most likely automatically be interested in other maps you make.
Advertising your map doesn't have to necessarily be done in the same way, either. The strongest form of advertisement is through social interaction, so if you get a group of friends to play and love your map, they could tell their friends/post about it/get people to join a party for it on Battle.net/etc. Don't have friends? You can do the same. You can make a thread about it here, and if people are really interested, they can try it out. You can make efforts to make it even more popular, much in the same way Rodrigo did with Debates.
Regardless, if your map is terrible, even how much you advertise your map, advertising probably won't help you out. So above all things, make a good map. To be completely honest, many people who blame the popularity system for their unpopular map do not have very entertaining/original/polished/appealing maps.
0
Before they get to the Marketplace they need to fix things like map protection. Unless something changed recently, it's still very easy to steal someone's map.
0
@hawkerhurricane: Go
Looks like vegetation.
0
Well, I just turned 18.
I feel like it's been less impressive to say my age when showing skill in things such as mapmaking now. I made a Mario 3D model about 7 years ago and people were impressed that an 11 year old made it. If I said I was 18 I'm sure it would be looked upon as expected.
I can't believe it's been that long.
0
Changing the value of Radius should do it. I recall that is what I used.
0
When you make a new map you can check off random height and change its variability.
There's probably a way to do it with existing maps as well.
Noise can give a similar effect, I suppose, but I think it could be tedious if you have a big map. Plus you may want to smooth it out after or whatever.
0
You could probably just make a checkbox dialog item and change the image for checked and unchecked (pressed button and unpressed button).
In worst possible scenario, you would have to photoshop it to fit the format of a checkbox image. I am sure if you cannot do it, someone here is generous enough fill your request.
0
I didn't really read many of the other posts, but I thought this was a thread full of suggestions, not complaints and whining. It is possible to make suggestions without it being a complaint or whiny. For example, I could suggest an improvement for the Join Game menu so you can sort by more than just popularity (such as recently played, or recently uploaded, or genre, or alphabetically), and even an addition of a search bar to make finding maps easier. It is not a complaint that these things are not in place. It would be nice to have somebody talk to Blizzard directly about this stuff. It seems every time Blizzard has a Q&A and things like this are brought up, Blizzard misunderstands and answers the question incorrectly and there's no room for clarification.
For example, I recall someone asking about map switching online and they answered in a very unrelated way. I believe it was after they showed custom maps for the first time (Ghost/Ultralisk/Viking).
0
BattleBuddiesFrame, I believe. It does not change where the actual Battle.net button is, so hiding it is not a problem (it is simply the frame for the background). I wish it did, because I want the Battle.net button anchored to the bottom-center of the screen rather than the bottom-right.
0
The inability to copy and past sub-properties of triggers.
For example, if I want to copy "Convert player group to player: Triggering player". Instead of being able to copy and paste it several times, I have to take time for each individual trigger to do the same thing. It would be an extremely huge time saver for me.
Furthermore, I think there should be kind of a unit/ability creation wizard, if that makes sense. It should show you what left is needed for a new ability or unit to properly work. So for example, if I made a new ability, it would tell me that behaviors/actors/buttons/etc. need to created for it.
Mouse position should be tracked within relative camera mode. I suppose the mouse isn't really moving because it's stuck at the center of the screen, but if it was possible to track the position of the mouse (in the game world) while in relative camera mode, it would be much easier to have a 3rd person shooter where the center of your screen is your target. And then it would be so much easier to shoot projectiles and have properties for your weapons such as accuracy and so forth.
There needs to be a way to find what is being clicked with the mouse clicked event. So, for example, a condition to see if what was clicked was a unit, terrain, UI, doodad, etc. Then more specifically, actions can be done based on what the unit was, what the clicked UI was, what type of terrain was clicked, and so forth. There are workarounds, but it is very inefficient, and in my case, doesn't work as well as it should.
I think that there should be more than one custom value for units. The limit of 100 is also rather small. Instead I've been using integer variables, but it's really inefficient.
Perhaps I just don't know of a way, but there should be a way to change the hotkey of an ability during gameplay through triggers.
There should also be a search function in the join custom game menu. Additionally, in the Publishing menu, there should be a way to add tags to your map, so people can find your map easier using the search function. There should also be a way to search for maps by map creator, or even have your published maps available on your profile.
As mentioned, water pathing.
This is minor, but I think it should be possible to change the anchor of the Battle.net button, not just the offset. I wanted it to fit nicely into my custom UI, but it's not possible without changing the anchor to the bottom of the screen.
And I am sure this has been mentioned many times, but keystroke lag is a little excessive. This makes WASD movement, among other things, ridiculous online.
There should be a preview window of sorts for dialogs. It is hard to know exactly what it ends up looking like in-game without changing a value and opening up SC2 several times before it looks the way you want it. This is a little weird, but I've had to use Photoshop to know exactly what points I have to offset by and such (and even then I have to do quite a bit to get that exactly). I should be able to do this in the editor itself.
One last thing I can think of at the moment; I think Blizzard should release their art tools that I thought were supposed to have been released with StarCraft II's release.