Teamliquid Map Contest #7 Text by TL.net ESPORTS Graphics by shiroiusagi





Maps have been a hot topic in our community lately, so it seems like now's the perfect time to announce that the Teamliquid Map Contest will be returning today! The TLMC has traditionally allowed mapmakers to showcase their creations at the highest level with the end goal to have their maps featured on both ladder and the WCS circuit. In the past TLMC has produced maps such as Cloud Kingdom, Frost, Ohana, Habitation Station, Echo, Coda, and Cactus Valley, just to name a few. If the maps that are selected this season are any indication of what's to come, then we're in for a treat.



Before we begin, Blizzard have once again upped their support of TLMC by providing cash prizes for the top five selections. We thank Blizzard for their continued support of the mapping community as well as working with us to make some improvements to the TLMC. Without further ado, we'd like to present the new and improved TLMC.



Submission Phase

April 28 - May 12



One issue with previous TLMCs was mappers were unclear about what Blizzard wanted from the mapmaking community. In order to remedy this situation, we have been provided with 4 distinct categories of maps Blizzard is specifically requesting.

Macro maps where it's very straight forward to play and take expansions on

Examples:

Akilon Wastes: The first macro map of the HotS-era.



The first macro map of the HotS-era. Newkirk Precinct: A heavy macro map that featured one of the best TvTs of all time: Taeja vs Innovation.



A heavy macro map that featured one of the best TvTs of all time: Taeja vs Innovation. Dusk Towers: The most recent example of a typical macro map.

Rush map that promotes heavy early game play

Examples:

Scrap Station: Lots of potential for early-game aggression with close air distance and destructible rocks in the middle as well as a relatively hard-to-defend natural.



Lots of potential for early-game aggression with close air distance and destructible rocks in the middle as well as a relatively hard-to-defend natural. Daedalus Point: The large natural ramp allows for very easy early aggression.

A new map type! A "hasn’t been seen before" type of map

Examples: Any of the maps that were considered new, different when they first came in.

Crevasse Introduced rocks at the main ramp and one of the first maps to have a backdoor expansion.



Introduced rocks at the main ramp and one of the first maps to have a backdoor expansion. Korhal Floating Island: Provides completely different games depending on the spawn positions.



Provides completely different games depending on the spawn positions. Ulrena: Short rush distance but that distance is able to be closed off via a depot or pylon-sized blocker as the game goes on.

A map that has cool high yield resource usage

Example:

Habitation Station: There were many interesting decisions based around when to take the gold on this map. For example, Terrans would float to the gold, Protoss and Zerg would take it as their natural, and sometimes players would ignore it altogether, instead opting to take the more safe expansions.

Mappers who submit maps MUST submit in one of these four categories. Also, instead of picking seven finalists as we normally do, we will take fifteen finalists, four from each of the first three categories and three from the gold base category. Maps will be judged not only on the quality of the map, but also on how well the map is within the context of the category. For example, how well does the map in the last category utilize its high-yield resources? Are the high-yield resources used strategically or are they just there for the sake of having some gold bases? One issue with previous TLMCs was mappers were unclear about what Blizzard wanted from the mapmaking community. In order to remedy this situation, we have been provided with 4 distinct categories of maps Blizzard is specifically requesting.Mappers who submit maps MUST submit in one of these four categories. Also, instead of picking seven finalists as we normally do, we will take fifteen finalists, four from each of the first three categories and three from the gold base category. Maps will be judged not only on the quality of the map, but also on how well the map is within the context of the category. For example, how well does the map in the last category utilize its high-yield resources? Are the high-yield resources used strategically or are they just there for the sake of having some gold bases?



TL Judging Phase

May 12 - May 19



Once the maps have been submitted they will be checked for quality and the remaining maps will be passed to representatives from the Team Liquid Strategy team and selected professional players/community figures for judging. If you are a professional player and would be interested in helping out, Once the maps have been submitted they will be checked for quality and the remaining maps will be passed to representatives from the Team Liquid Strategy team and selected professional players/community figures for judging. If you are a professional player and would be interested in helping out, PM us . Judges from the community so far include Iaguz, TLO, and Pig. Together, the judges will trim down all submissions to a final 15 that will be used in the next stages of the contest.



BTTV Tournament Phase

May 23 - May 29th



Previously, TLMC Opens were used to show off the new maps. This time, the competition part of the contest has been revved up quite a bit. BasetradeTV, with support from Blizzard, will be hosting an invitational tournament designed to showcase the maps. All the maps will be played extensively and as the prize pool will be quite substantial, we hope the invited players will be able to prepare specific strategies for these maps. In addition, all replays will be made available for the mappers to review. The details of this tournament will be announced later today.



Iteration Phase

May 29 - June 5th



One piece of feedback we received both from the mapping community and the general community is that mappers weren't given enough time to iterate on their maps. Slight issues were discovered during the testing phase after maps were submitted and mappers just didn't have the time to fix these issues before final submission to Blizzard. Thus, this time we've built in an Iteration Phase into the process, allowing mappers to really fine-tune their maps. After reviewing the BTTV tournament games as well as receiving feedback from all over the community, we hope that mappers will be able to submit clean final versions of their maps.



Public Voting Phase

June 6 - June 9th



The public will then vote on the final versions of these maps. Note that public voting only determines the final placing of these maps, that is how much $ each mapper wins. It does not directly affect which maps Blizzard will chose to appear in the next season of ladder. However, this is your chance to make your voice heard about which maps YOU want to be on the ladder.



Prize Distribution

Provided by Blizzard



First - $1,000

Second - $500

Third - $250

Fourth - $150

Fifth - $100



In addition, all fifteen finalists will receive a



In addition, all fifteen finalists will receive a Community Commander Portrait



TLMC Winners Announced

June 10



After the winners are announced, Blizzard will take into consideration all fifteen maps for the next season of ladder and WCS. After a rigorous QA session, Blizzard will announce which maps will be available for you to play on at home closer to the start of the next ladder season.



This season, Teamliquid and Blizzard have worked together along with the mapping community in order to improve on the TLMC process. While it's certainly not perfect yet, we hope it's a significant step up from previous seasons. And like the iterative phase of this contest, we will be working to take feedback from this TLMC to improve future ones to come.



How to Submit



Mappers will be limited to four map submissions each with a limit on two maps per category. For example, you may submit one map to each category or submit two macro maps and two rush maps. For each map you submit, you must provide a primary category you wish the map to be considered in. However, you may provide additional categories should they fit.



Please PM your map file(s) to Thursday, May 12 3:59am GMT (GMT+00:00) . Please title your PMs with the name of the map and keep all submissions to 1 map per PM.



Map Name



A picture of your map-Note: Please mark start locations and describe any starting location constraints



The size (dimensions) of the map



The map category you wish to enter with this map.



Any secondary categories you think this map might fit.



A description of the map.



Why the map fits the primary category you selected.



Why the map fits any secondary categories you selected.



Main to Main distance: (in-game seconds using a worker from town hall to town hall)



Natural to Natural distance: (in-game seconds using a worker from town hall to town hall)



Any relevant analyzer images (optional)



A download link to your map

Entries not in this format may be excluded from consideration. Please do not send questions to the 'TLMC7' account; contact TLMC organizer



Submit your map Mappers will be limited to four map submissions each with a limit on two maps per category. For example, you may submit one map to each category or submit two macro maps and two rush maps. For each map you submit, you must provide a primary category you wish the map to be considered in. However, you may provide additional categories should they fit.Please PM your map file(s) to TLMC7 with the following format before. Please title your PMs with the name of the map and keep all submissions to 1 map per PM.Entries not in this format may be excluded from consideration. Please do not send questions to the 'TLMC7' account; contact TLMC organizer monk instead.



FAQS



Q: Do I need to send my map file, or will an image or a link to my map on Battle.net be enough? We want the map file for this contest, so a link to Battle.net is not sufficient. There will be a huge number of maps to choose from, so we will need to open many of them up in order to check for details that we can't find otherwise. To send your maps, upload them to a file hosting service such as Mediafire or Dropbox and include the link in your entry.



Q: How do I attached a map file or image to a PM? The TeamLiquid PM system does not support attachments. Instead, use an external image/file hoster such as Mediafire, Dropbox or Google drive for map files or Imgur for image files. Please sent those links along with your submission.



Q: I want to enter a team map/FFA map into the contest. The Team Liquid Map Contest has traditionally allowed team play maps to be entered and evaluated separately from 1v1 maps, and some of these submissions did eventually reach the ladder map pool. Unfortunately, this season we will not be considering team play maps submitted to the contest. If you're really passionate about making high quality team play maps then we strongly encourage you to post your work in our Maps and Custom Games forum.



Q: Will the winning map automatically be included in WCS? No. A list of the top maps will be submitted to Blizzard for consideration for use in WCS/ladder.



Q: How crazy can my maps be? Maps need to be ladder appropriate. This means that features requiring specialist knowledge (rising lava, geysers used to block ramps, etc.) will not be accepted. If your map passes that test and complies with the guidelines above then your map is acceptable! Of course, if you are concerned that your map may not be suitable for ladder then please PM monk and we will tell you whether or not it is appropriate.



Q: I’m interested in the contest, but I’m horrible at map making. What can I do to support the mappers? Post in their map threads and give them support, encouragement and replays on their maps! Giving your favorite mapper support will be much appreciated by the mapper. Replays are especially valuable as it helps the mapper align their design goals with the map with the reality of how people play their map.



If you have any unanswered questions please do not hesitate to ask them below or PM

If you have any unanswered questions please do not hesitate to ask them below or PM monk who will be happy to answer them. Best of luck in the competition.