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I got some layouts I thought to be promising and I am looking for some feedback. I textured them, put some filler doodads in and uploaded all of them to eu and na. These aesthetics are mostly just to give you a feeling where I wanna go with them and to make it look less shitty while testing. No polishing done yet and I am very prepared to make big changes. Finalizing a map usually takes me forever and I wanna know if any of these could be worth it.
Zerzura + Show Spoiler +Bounds: 134x142 I am thinking of changing a couple of things regarding the "backdoor" expansion (11 and 5 o'clock). Increase the distance to the highground and maybe changing the rocks to collapsible rocks. I was certainly inspired by King Sejong here, but that's not a bad thing, right? The theme here is an old oasis city, but this texture mix is not really working out yet so the middle ground looks mushy.
Carnivore + Show Spoiler +Bounds: 168x136 What do you think about the rock towers here? (They are connected btw) And is there a consensus about rocks at the main ramp? Most maps with an inbase natu have a small ramp without rocks, but I personally think this here is less abusable. Unfortunally you can't see the beautiful "void" background.
Tortuga Island + Show Spoiler +Bounds: 124x134 This one is a little funky and I know it looks like a small 2v2 map. Wanted to try this mix of rectangular and rotational symmetry for a while now, where the other spawn is your natural. Early aggression seems very strong, but I am not sure how much of an issue it is. I am least confident about this one, but do you think the basic idea is worth something? Oh and of course no horizontal spawn.
I would love to hear some feedback, and ideally testing. Someway I can improve as a mapmaker? If you see potential or have any favourites, let me know!
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Zerzura: The rocks at the natural don't look necessary--they don't much except limit where the players can expand. I also don't like the middle of the map much. The bases in the middle can't realistically be taken, and the middle of the map dominates the map to such an extent that it makes the already vulnerable thirds and fourths that much more difficult to defend. Maybe "flatten" the middle moving it further away from the naturals. Also the middle could be a bit more open--right now a zerg would struggle to find good engagements anywhere near the middle due to all the chokes. Additionally some of your bases don't look ergonomic. For example the natural has a really ugly shape. It feel like you made the natural, realised that you needed some space around the geyser to prevent siege tanks and whatnot, but also realised that you couldn't make the entrance to the natural too large to wall-off, and added that concave area as a compromise. Maybe tuck the natural closer to the main or shape it more like the natural from IeZaeL's Shiva.
Carnivore: I really like the core idea of having the central path with the collapsible rock towers and both players expanding alongside it. The free in-base natural and difficult to hold third feel iffy though. It doesn't encourage people to explore the map. I'd redesign the main/nat/third (the natural doesn't need to be in-base like it is currently) to make the expansions flow more cleanly counterclockwise. The watchtowers cover too much imo, but I don't like watchtowers much in general, so take this with a grain of salt. This map is the one that has the most potential of the three.
Tortuga Island: The middle of the map has the same problem as the first map in spades. There's two tiny chokes and if you control them you can put a ton of pressure on the third/fourth/fifth and control the map basically. The island bases just aren't good. As for the core concept of having the natural be the other spawn it's something I've tried a few times, but never could find a layout that made me happy. I think the best beginning to a map like that is to have the mains/naturals be in a corner, as to reduce the surface area for drops, and also make it so the ramps of both possible spawns face each other.
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I think they all have some kind of potential. I'm not sure the first one has as many problems as zigg suggests, I think the area around the natural backdoor rocks is awkward and the middle base probably isn't too takeable but the idea of the map is neat.
Last concept with some major changes might be cool, it's definitely a problem that the map doesn't branch out immediately in the middle because it's just too much about the middle and there's nowhere else that matters. Maybe slightly shrink the middle and make it lowground instead of highground.. that could be a direction to take it. I know it's a bit of work because you'd have to raise all your existing levels and then adjust the height of the water.. but might be worth it. I also think the rocks near the thirds are a touch problematic because they make proxy stargates/ports ridiculous right behind it. It's just a hassle to send a scout that far to check something that close to the main by air. Not the biggest deal but just a thought.
One thing you could do with the islands (one or both) is have a small path from where the 2 "mains" meet on the lowground, and snaking around behind the mains to reach the islands. Makes them "free" but they're not the easiest to defend bc of the distance so that can be interesting.
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Tortuga Island: The middle high ground is too overwhelmingly strong of a position. Turn it into low ground and then see what further edits are needed. You could make the shallow water path-able, therefore getting rid of issues caused by the islands, and having a neat theme to the middle low ground as well, making it fit into a sort of tidepool theme.
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