Starcraft II Maps
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Project Type:
Team Size: Development Time: Development Tools: Platform: |
Hobby Project
Solo Project 1 week Starcraft 2 Galaxy Editor PC |
Starcraft II is one of the games I really enjoy to play and watch. I follow the e-sport scene quite actively and frequently play and discuss the game with my friends. As I got more invested into the game I started to become interested in the big and active community of the game which eventually led me to Team Liquid. I started to dive into the map making scene and before I knew it I was making maps for Starcraft II in the Galaxy Editor. I created and posted my first map for Starcraft II on the Team Liquid forums in the winter of 2015 for the Team Liquid Map Contest 5.
Sandstone Mesa
This inspiration for this map came from the idea that a lot of Starcraft II maps look like table mountains. I decided to go with that theme and wanted to separate the two sides of the map with chasm that ran across the entire length of the map, only connecting the two players via a series of bridges. The gameplay consequences of that are that players need to commit along a certain attack path whenever they wish to push to the opponent's side of the map. This forces players to be a lot more deliberate with their army movement and also rewards players for keeping a close eye on all of the bridges.
Unfortunately this first map of mine fell prey to a number of mistakes that new mappers tend to make. The third base on this map is quite hard for Protoss to take in PvZ due to the open path between the natural and third base. The alternative third base that can be accessed via the backdoor in the natural isn't any better either since the attacker can position their army much easier than the attacker. There is also the concern that because the bridges are too narrow, late game armies will have trouble moving across the map. Finally, there are only 10 bases on the map and they are spread out a bit too thinly.
Nevertheless, I really enjoyed creating my first map and before I knew it I was working on the next one.
Nevertheless, I really enjoyed creating my first map and before I knew it I was working on the next one.
Transcension
The idea for this map was to have all the action happen at the bottom half of the map in the early stages of the game, since most of the attack paths on the top of the map are blocked by destructible rocks. As the game goes on though, more of those rocks are being taken down, opening up more routes to attack your opponent. Meaning both players will need to start spreading their armies across their bases in order to adapt to the increased number of attack paths.
Transcension was submitted to the Team Liquid Map Contest 6. All jokes about the colour green aside, the map was well received by the mapping community. The map's biggest weakness though was the short and narrow path between the two naturals which could be opened up by destroying the rocks on both sides. This particular feature was deemed to make the map unfit for competitive play because of the risk that certain rush strategies (sentry-immortal all-in, blink stalker all-in, early roach pushes, etc.) would become too powerful. My plan for the next iteration of this map is to revise the layout of the main, natural, and third base in order to eliminate this problem.
