SC2Mapster

Update: Map Night is happening once again! Get your maps tested, find new and exciting games, and have lots of fun!

Hive Keeper by Bibendus

Hive Keeper is a map we've been following and showcasing for three years now; Blizzard has decided to jump on the bandwagon and highlight this awesome project! Again, the map was inspired by Dungeon Keeper, created in the Starcraft Universe, but kept similar to the original unit roles and abilities. Stay tuned to the Battle.net article for an interview with Bibendus!

Update:: Want to get feedback on your maps for free? Want to play lots of fun maps with the community? Of course you do, so join us for Map Night!

Heroes of the Storm BlizzCon 2013 Coverage by Sixen

Once again, I had the chance to go to BlizzCon this year, and as usual, it was a blast. I spent a lot of my time focusing on Heroes of the Storm, and as such, was given the opportunity to interview game director, Dustin Browder. Aside from my interview, feel free to check out the rest of my videos, which include panel recaps, and my initial thoughts on Heroes! For other BlizzCon coverage, be sure to check out our information dump.

Whiteout by Crainy

Some of you might remember CrainyCreation from his feature-length machinima, Rebirth of the Swarm. He's just released his Blizzcon movie contest entry, which is a short video aimed at approaching the Heart of the Swarm "Ingame" cinematic quality. There's lots of custom animation and fancy compositing work that went into this one, and it shows.

Give the video a look and make sure you leave your thoughts in the thread here!

We'll be posting a more in-depth article about all the news from Blizzcon in the near future, so keep an eye out!

Blizzcon 2013

Hey guys! As many of you probably know, Blizzcon 2013 is going on as we speak, and it's awesome! For all the latest updates, please keep an eye on this thread.

Here's some of the biggest announcements and videos so far. Again, be sure to check this thread for the full list of details!

First of all, the Starcraft 2 Arcade is now free, meaning anybody can play your maps even if they haven't purchased starcraft 2. Next, the level cap has been raised to 35 and you'll get some brand new Carbot decals and portraits. And hey, if you don't like those, you can make your own with the new custom clan-decal system! Speaking of clans, groups and clans can now schedule events within the client to make grouping up easier than ever. Next, we've got a new map pool and a remastered version of the soundtrack!

More information will be added as it becomes available! Click here for the complete list of what's happened so far!

More gameplay videos are available here.

Update: Want your map tested for free? Want to have tons of fun playing cool Arcade games? Look no further than Map Night!

I'll be heading to BlizzCon! If you want any questions answered about Heroes of the Storm, leave them in a comment here.

Warcraft: Alliance and Horde by StevenLuo

Watching this video blew my mind.. Have you ever wondered what Warcraft 4 may look or feel like? This is essentially it... It's a World of Warcraft RTS game that is certainly worth your time.

Update #2: Have fun and provide feedback for arcade games! Join us for Map Night!

Update: Blizzard All-Stars has been renamed Heroes of the Storm, and will be covered at Blizzcon! Read more info here.

Street Empires Update by IggNight

Some of you might remember the Street Empires map we featured several months ago. The map has since gone through major changes, and IggNight has created an update video to show off the new content. Check it out below, and make sure you leave your feedback in the thread here!

This past week, Blizzard decided to launch a new spotlight series for custom maps on the SC2 engine, alongside the usual Arcade Spotlight, this is the Arcade Workshop. The idea behind this series is to showcase projects that have potential, but are still in need of further TLC. You can think of this as an "early preview spotlight," in a sense, as most times you'll want to help beta test the games that are shown here.

Shape War TD by Talon

Quote:

For our first workshop, we’re looking at a game that originated on the European server: Shape War TD. The first time we looked at the game, we were amazed by its completely unique look. Aside from just a few StarCraft II elements, you would never know it was created using the same engine. We also liked how you could quickly check up on your opponents with a single click to see how they were doing without having to scroll around a large map.

Aside from the small excerpt from Blizzard above, the game is designed to be a "pretty straightforward acrade game," says the author, in that it is a very simple PvP-styled Tower Defense. In total, there are just a few towers with basic tower concepts and also just a few enemy types, in addition to 70 waves of enemies that you will likely never survive to see.

Update: Come join Map Night! Now available in both EU and US time zones!

Be sure to hit the books with Blizzard's Starcraft back to school promotion!

To the Moon by Highsouled

This project is exactly what it sounds like: the Starcraft version of To the Moon. Overall, it's about a half size of the original game as the original it too big to convert everything. Regardless, it's extremely impressive and certainly worth checking out!

Update: If you have an iPhone and use Blizzard's mobile authenticator app, you might want to read this information before upgrading to iOS 7.

Arcade Highlight: Starcraft Subjection

Some of you will probably remember StarCraft: Subjection, the 8-mission, fully voiced, single-player campaign map created by our very own Gradius. It's recently been featured in the arcade, so if you haven't played it yet, make sure to give it a try!

And of course, you can check out Blizzard's video below.

You can click here to discuss the project, or click here to visit Blizzard's article on the map.

Update: Interested in playing maps with the community? Then join us for for map night! You can click here for the US & European times.

Big congratulations to the StarCraft Universe team for getting fully funded on Kickstarter! Now... Let's take a look at the Curse of Tristram.

The Curse of Tristram by egodbout

Another project that has been around Mapster for quite some time is the Curse of Tristram. For those of you who are unaware of the project, it's a custom rendition of Diablo II, that follows the story and is using the same terrain and locations as the original game, a very cool "total converion"-styled project. Egod has just launched a Kickstarter of his own...

If you want to support the project, you can donate to the kickstarter here. If you're not feeling like donating, you can still help the project immensely by spreading the word and sharing the link with as many people as possible; the more popular the project gets on kickstarter, the more exposure it will get, and the more people will donate. If you feel like discussing the project, or you want to see the original trailer, you can check out the project page here.

StarCraft Universe Final Testament by Upheaval Arts

The Upheaval Arts team has been hard at work on some new content that has just been released to the public: a multiplayer end-game boss battle. This marks the first release of SCU multiplayer PvE content and plenty more to come. There's only one week left to help fund the project, so gogogo!

Art Tools Public Beta

Some of the you more artistically-inclined mappers have gotten a chance to help test the sc2 art tools during the closed testing. Now, the tools are publicly available! For those who don't know, these tools are the 3ds Max plugins used by Blizzard to create models for the game. If you're interested in making models for sc2, you might want to check them out!

If you want to read the official announcement, or download the tools, you can click here. If you want to discuss the tools, you can click here.

Starcraft Universe

A lot of you probably remember Starcraft Universe. For those who don't, the game is a huge multiplayer online RPG that focuses on story, combat, and multiplayer raiding.

With Blizzard's blessing, the team has decided to launch a kickstarter campaign to raise money for the project. Watch the video below!

If you want to support the project, you can donate to the kickstarter here. If you're not feeling like donating, you can still help the project immensely by spreading the word and sharing the link with as many people as possible; the more popular the project gets on kickstarter, the more exposure it will get, and the more people will donate. If you feel like discussing the project, or you want to see the original trailer, you can check out the project thread here.

Castle Ulrezaj by Nanakey

CastleUlrezaj is a single player cross-boundary A-RPG which contains an integrated story and multiple areas waiting for you to explore. In this game, you will control Tassadar, the legendary hero to face Ulrezaj, one of the most dangerous terrorist in Protoss history. Now a horror criminal plot is impending on this planet. The entile sector will fall into endless darkness unless you remedy the situation. You need to fight against the destructive war machines, weird alien organisms and most vicious psi-power in the cosmos. You won't be alone, two powerful allies will fight with you. Find the magical relics and ancient weapons from another world to enhance your power.

Also, be sure to read Blizzard's interview with the author!

Hungry Hungry Arena by Fen1kz

This project is an SC2 adaptation of TheZizz's Hungry Hungry Felhounds War3 map. The rules of the game are quite simple:

• You must be the last alive player at the arena to win
• There is the Demon, who hunts the Ball
• You pass the Ball to other players by rightclicking or by ability command

Make sure to check out the thread here and leave your feedback!