Plexa Profile Blog Joined October 2005 Aotearoa 38208 Posts Last Edited: 2011-10-02 02:11:31 #1 An unparalleled opportunity...

Every mapper dreams of one thing after finishing their magnum opus: for their map to be played and appreciated in the community. In Brood War this dream was only realized by a small group of Korean mappers based out of mapdori and intothemap. Things looked to be headed the same way in SC2; however ESL, MLG and ESV have all embraced non-Korean maps and tried to push them into the mainstream. In particular, Testbug has seen a large amount of competitive play and has set the standard for future maps from the community.



While a map receiving tournament play is highly prized among the mapping community, the holy grail for them is no doubt getting maps onto the Blizzard ladder. Having a map in the ladder pool means tens of thousands of games will be played on the map, and having the opportunity to have maps even considered for ladder play is hugely significant for any hardcore mapper in the community.





What is this about?

Blizzard has set out a goal of including player made maps into the official Blizzard ladder pool, and TeamLiquid is privileged to have the opportunity to help them achieve this goal. And on that note, it is my honor to announce the first ever official TeamLiquid Map Making Competition! The competition will be watched over by Blizzard and the top ranking maps will be considered for use in the official ladder map pool for future ladder seasons. Any selected maps may be altered by Blizzard to comply with ladder pool standards.





What are the rules?

Given that these maps will be considered for ladder play, we realize that every mapper and his dog will want to enter the contest. As such, we are restricting the number of entries per mapper to 3. We feel that 3 allows mappers sufficient opportunity to showcase their work while not overloading our staff with their back-catalogue of work. Attempts to circumvent this rule will result in disqualification and repercussions on TL. Also, no one judging the contest will be allowed to submit maps.



We suggest that you adhere to the following guidelines when creating your maps for the contest:

The contest is open to all maps, including team play maps. However, team play maps cannot win the contest because it is difficult to test them properly. High ranking team play maps will receive honorable mentions and be considered for ladder play.



We suggest maps follow the following restrictions:

1. Normal bases are always 8 normal mineral patches and 2 normal geysers

2. High yield bases are always 6 high yield patches and 2 normal geysers

3. Don’t change values on Neutral units. For example:

a. Don’t change Xel’Naga watch tower or destructible rock graphics

b. Don’t change values on mineral patches, geysers, or rock health/armor values

c. Don’t resize mineral patches or rocks

d. Use the correct LOS blockers for the tileset without altering anything about them

4. Map sizes should be sensible, use the current map pool as a guide.



1. Normal bases are always 8 normal mineral patches and 2 normal geysers 2. High yield bases are always 6 high yield patches and 2 normal geysers 3. Don’t change values on Neutral units. For example: a. Don’t change Xel’Naga watch tower or destructible rock graphics b. Don’t change values on mineral patches, geysers, or rock health/armor values c. Don’t resize mineral patches or rocks d. Use the correct LOS blockers for the tileset without altering anything about them 4. Map sizes should be sensible, use the current map pool as a guide. You are welcome to use custom textures, but they shouldn't detract from the clarity of the map



Maps with locked start positions are okay, but preference is given to maps not requiring this



How the map plays out is the most important part of the map. We will also be looking for originality in your maps (i.e. 16 base macro maps will have to be fairly amazing to stand out).



Brood War map duplicates are discouraged, but can certainly be the starting point for a map.



Entries are not limited to non-Koreans, Korean mappers are welcome to submit entries



Don't steal other peoples work and try to claim it as your own, although this should go without saying! Blizzard has been kind enough to contribute a prize to this tournament. The top five entrants will receive a Razer peripherals package which includes a Marauder StarCraft II Gaming keyboard, Banshee StarCraft II Gaming Headset, Spectre StarCraft II Gaming Mouse and the StarCraft II Zerg Edition Messenger bag. In addition to the Razer peripherals package, winning entry can select one of the following additional prizes; a signed Collector’s Edition of StarCraft 2, a signed Jim Raynor StarCraft 2 cardboard standup and a signed StarCraft II Poster. The second place entry can select one of the remaining two entries, and the third place will be given the remaining entry.





When are the maps due?

Mappers will have until Monday, Oct 31 2:59pm GMT (GMT+00:00) to complete their work and PM it to





How does all of this work? Specially appointed judges from the community and TeamLiquid staff will evaluate the entries and decide on the top maps. We aim to pick approximately 10 maps. This will vary depending on the quality of submissions.



Mappers with maps which have been selected will have approximately a week (possibly less) to make final adjustments to their maps to fix any issues.



The maps will be play tested by an invite only progamer tournament; details will be announced at a later date. Maps will also be uploaded to EU and NA for public testing.



We will then hold a public vote and staff vote to determine the best map. Rankings from the public and staff will be combined to determine the top 5 maps.

We estimate that the contest will conclude anywhere between 3-4 weeks after submissions close.









How to Enter:

Please PM your map(s) files to Monday, Oct 31 2:59pm GMT (GMT+00:00) :



Map Name:

[.img]a picture of your map[/img]

Main to Main distance:

Natural to Natural distance:

[.img]Any relevant analyzer images (optional)[/img]

[.url=]Your maps download link[/url]



Entries not in this format may be excluded from consideration. Please don't ask 'TL Map Contest' questions - you won't get an answer.



We encourage the inclusion of useful images from the SC2 map analyzer program:



UPDATE: Due to the analyzer not being fully supported in 1.4, use one of the following methods to calculate distance:

- Barrin's Method

- meatpudding's hack fix to the analyzer







Questions?



If you have any questions about the contest please post them in this thread and I will do my best to answer them.



Q: I'm interested in the contest, but I'm horrible at map making. What can I do to support the mappers?



A: Post in their map threads and give them support, encouragement and replays on their maps! Giving your favourite mapper support will be much appreciated by the mapper. Every mapper dreams of one thing after finishing their magnum opus: for their map to be played and appreciated in the community. In Brood War this dream was only realized by a small group of Korean mappers based out of mapdori and intothemap. Things looked to be headed the same way in SC2; however ESL, MLG and ESV have all embraced non-Korean maps and tried to push them into the mainstream. In particular, Testbug has seen a large amount of competitive play and has set the standard for future maps from the community.While a map receiving tournament play is highly prized among the mapping community, the holy grail for them is no doubt getting maps onto the Blizzard ladder. Having a map in the ladder pool means tens of thousands of games will be played on the map, and having the opportunity to have maps even considered for ladder play is hugely significant for any hardcore mapper in the community.Blizzard has set out a goal of including player made maps into the official Blizzard ladder pool, and TeamLiquid is privileged to have the opportunity to help them achieve this goal. And on that note, it is my honor to announce theThe competition will be watched over by Blizzard and the top ranking mapsfor future ladder seasons. Any selected maps may be altered by Blizzard to comply with ladder pool standards.Given that these maps will be considered for ladder play, we realize that every mapper and his dog will want to enter the contest. As such, we are. We feel that 3 allows mappers sufficient opportunity to showcase their work while not overloading our staff with their back-catalogue of work. Attempts to circumvent this rule will result in disqualification and repercussions on TL. Also, no one judging the contest will be allowed to submit maps.We suggest that you adhere to the following guidelines when creating your maps for the contest:Blizzard has been kind enough to contribute a prize to this tournament. The top five entrants will receive a Razer peripherals package which includes a Marauder StarCraft II Gaming keyboard, Banshee StarCraft II Gaming Headset, Spectre StarCraft II Gaming Mouse and the StarCraft II Zerg Edition Messenger bag. In addition to the Razer peripherals package, winning entry can select one of the following additional prizes; a signed Collector’s Edition of StarCraft 2, a signed Jim Raynor StarCraft 2 cardboard standup and a signed StarCraft II Poster. The second place entry can select one of the remaining two entries, and the third place will be given the remaining entry.Mappers will have untilto complete their work and PM it to TL Map Contest We estimate that the contest will conclude anywhere between 3-4 weeks after submissions close.Please PM your map(s) files to TL Map Contest with the following format before[.img]a picture of your map[/img][.img]Any relevant analyzer images (optional)[/img][.url=]Your maps download link[/url]Entries not in this format may be excluded from consideration. Please don't ask 'TL Map Contest' questions - you won't get an answer.We encourage the inclusion of useful images from the SC2 map analyzer program: http://www.teamliquid.net/forum/viewmessage.php?topic_id=132627 . These are optional but will help the judges when considering maps.Due to the analyzer not being fully supported in 1.4, use one of the following methods to calculate distance:If you have any questions about the contest please post them in this thread and I will do my best to answer them.A: Post in their map threads and give them support, encouragement and replays on their maps! Giving your favourite mapper support will be much appreciated by the mapper. Administrator ~ Spirit will set you free ~