Two New Maps i like, desided to make

[DraLUSAD]

here is two random maps... one is totally built by me, and the other is just a remake of Rush (Rush3)

8c-Oceanwars

eight round based segments with 8 Oil for each player, there is a 9th island which hover can get to, with 9 oil on it, all equal, with a mirror based map, quick and simple. "Feels like i pulled this one out of my ar****ahah, yeah ¬.¬"

OceanWars.jpg

oceanwars.wz

4c-Rush3

"Human Only" start in the very middle with a single truck, you must leave the mountain and find a suitable spot for base construction, Migration style Map

Rush3.wz

[KukY]

I have a comment on all your maps; only surrround Derricks with walls if they are outside of your base.

[DraLUSAD]

i only did it cause i was bored xD

[KukY]

i only did it cause i was bored xD

Well, it doesn't help you much, unless all enemy units get into your base, but you lost then anyway, but they take up precious space in your main heavy defended base...

[DraLUSAD]

A map is a map, we make them, we post them, you download them and play, no one forces anyone to play them or not, but then again, some people on here would download them, and remake them, or improve them, which is nice to know

[Olrox]

A map is a map, we make them, we post them, you download them and play, no one forces anyone to play them or not, but then again, some people on here would download them, and remake them, or improve them, which is nice to know

You didn't mention their license. Modifying and posting something that the author didn't license yet may be legal but it's not a nice things to do in any way.

If you want them to know what they can do in a legal & polite way... Release it under some license. Here are the most usual ones around here (copied from the Add-ons section):
CC-0: Users can do whatever they want with your work.
CC-BY-3.0 + GPLv2: As above, but users must attribute you when modifying/redistributing your work.
CC-BY-SA-3.0 + GPLv2: As above, but users must allow modifying/redistributing of anything they create using your work.

But indeed, no offense, I don't have the slightest idea of how 9 balls with connections between 8 of them could look nice. This kills the purpose of investing time to make maps, IMO.

[Dylan Hsu]

A map is a map, we make them, we post them, you download them and play, no one forces anyone to play them or not, but then again, some people on here would download them, and remake them, or improve them, which is nice to know

You didn't mention their license. Modifying and posting something that the author didn't license yet may be legal but it's not a nice things to do in any way.

If you want them to know what they can do in a legal & polite way... Release it under some license. Here are the most usual ones around here (copied from the Add-ons section):
CC-0: Users can do whatever they want with your work.
CC-BY-3.0 + GPLv2: As above, but users must attribute you when modifying/redistributing your work.
CC-BY-SA-3.0 + GPLv2: As above, but users must allow modifying/redistributing of anything they create using your work.

But indeed, no offense, I don't have the slightest idea of how 9 balls with connections between 8 of them could look nice. This kills the purpose of investing time to make maps, IMO.

Honestly Dra, I know this won't help you since you've got me blocked, but save us all time and energy and stop making maps.

[Mysteryem]

Honestly Dra, I know this won't help you since you've got me blocked, but save us all time and energy and stop making maps.

You have to start somewhere. If people tell him where he needs to improve, help him to improve and simply let him learn on his own then perhaps he will end up making great maps for the community.

[Dylan Hsu]

mysteryem

Ok. How about, for a start, spend more than 20 minutes making a map. I spend hours and sometimes days making mine, and that's why they are more immersive and fun. Think real life scenarios.

[Rman Virgil]

You have to start somewhere. If people tell him where he needs to improve, help him to improve and simply let him learn on his own then perhaps he will end up making great maps for the community.

I agree.

A map is a map, we make them, we post them, you download them and play, no one forces anyone to play them or not, but then again, some people on here would download them, and remake them, or improve them, which is nice to know

True.

Still, in the spirit of what Mysteryem wrote, let me offer a few basic tips,

HOW a map plays (as in game play) is uppermost and is in it self an art to master..... but a very close second is the map's aesthetic visual appeal which is a very important component in creating a player's total immersion experience, aka, the much sought after fun-factor in gaming. Accomplishing both these goals in a map is absolutely NOT a quickie proposition.

That said... let's continue with some bald faced facts.

All flat topography is BORING.

Mono-Texturing is also BORING.

All Flat Topography combined with Mono-Texturing is excruciatingly boring.

Making maps with fluidly varied height topography and utilizing varied textures and smooth edge-brushing takes more thought, time and effort. None of this is instantly mastered but worth the investment if you are looking to making maps that are popular.

If you don't care about making maps that a lot of peeps will enjoy playing, then carry on as you are at present.

Regards, RV
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[Olrox]

Honestly Dra, I know this won't help you since you've got me blocked, but save us all time and energy and stop making maps.

If you know this won't help and doesn't like that... ignore his posts and topics. Skip his stuff. But you really shouldn't discourage anyone who's willing to help producing more content.

Be sincere but don't try to kill the hope on any human being.

Your reputation will just go down if you keep being stupid to people, you know...
Sincerely :-S
This is my own opinion as well, I'm not your father or anything close and probably I'm younger than you - just trash it all if you disagree, but keep in mind that I won't change my position in relation to that behavior of yours...

~Olrox

[Rman Virgil]

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Vis-a-vis my last post, here's a pic of what I mean (from my latest map WIP):

- RV
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[Olrox]

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Vis-a-vis my last post, here's a pic of what I mean (from my latest map WIP):
(pic)

- RV
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(My few humble pointers about that:)
BTW, you can make gameplay-affecting smooth but visible topography even on 1-level maps! Making the dunes on Arena 22 was very fun both aestethically and strategy-wise! An observant enough player can hide units behind sand dunes to make ambushes (yeah O_O ), getting out of sensors range again if fast enough - makes hit 'n' run tactics a beautiful sight and incredibly fun, IMO!

Combining application of a few effects on an automatically-generated maze provided me with a rather pleasant base-topography for the map. Adjusting a white>black>white gradient all across the map with the help of a red line in the middle, for the darkest to fit the river bed, and blending it to the base-topography in a moderate rate provided me with a graphical-software generated topography which needed quite a few manual adjustments later-on.

By using this technique I could focus 6 of this map's 8 hours worth of work into making nice textures, verifying cliffs, and making those nice craters with real depth. In the very end It took me less than half an hour to decide the oil ammount and position, and then just saved the file and played some 2 skirmishes on it even though I was all the night awake - went to sleep when I couldn't select my units properly

My theory is, you won't change texture details on the different versions of your maps, you won't make topography details, you'll probably be deleting and moving features around instead of adding new ones, and you'll probably feel a bit o' lazy to do those things after you've released the map, even if you really think you should commit those small changes. But really, moving / deleting / adding Oil Resources is easy, and I personally think it can make almost any map balanced, if done properly and tested properly.

Textures, landscape details, trees, this kind of thing, is the really artistical production you're making - and I don't think that art needs testing.

After all, my main opinion is, focus on this kind of artistical content rather than on the balance or other technical things! You can and will probably change those last on your new versions, if you're making new versions, and they need testing, while on the artistical side, people will like or dislike your work.

But making art in an uncareful way can often make people dislike your idea overall, eve if the core itself is good!

Here are a few screencaps from the arena number twenty-two, that could hopefully bring some inspiration:

Arena 22 topo sample.png

Arena 22 texture sample.png

Anyway, I really think I'll write that [Olrox's Hints on Creating Maps] thing I've mentioned somewhere else in the near future, to try and aggregate recurrent techniques on the proccess. May bring some isnpiration to both the folks who are currently shy around map-making and those who are already with their hands on it!

Carefully made maps fit the whole "Art Revolution" thing, after all! And I couldn't thank Flail13 enough, as he's the main responsible for this wave of new maps, and for making me get started on making maps as well! (in case you're reading this, flail - thank you VERY much!). I could start to thank Rman_Virgil, whippersnapper, virgilglyph, Moro_Nick and all those nice guys for having particularly helped the whole AR thing to start, but it'd take too long (gathering them all together would be a PITA, right? ) and would be off-topic, mayhaps even boring.

That's about it, folks
Sorry for the long and wide-subject post on your topic, DraLUSAD.

~Olrox

[DraLUSAD]

Honestly Dra, I know this won't help you since you've got me blocked, but save us all time and energy and stop making maps.

Why dont you do me a favor, stop being such a baby and enjoy life...

You have to start somewhere. If people tell him where he needs to improve, help him to improve and simply let him learn on his own then perhaps he will end up making great maps for the community.

Thats the hole point of doing and creating things you dont know, think of it as chess, you will lose alot of games, but in times, you will pick up new techniques and stratergies, same like map making, yes, i agree with everyone here, in the community my maps stink, but hey, am only trying to develop maps as what Mysteryem said, give me some ideas, and plans, i will think upon it, and who knows, i will eventually get the best idea, and map creation will be utmost better then previous maps

P.S. i would love to point out, than some maps, i have made are some what better than otheres, i have tried a few, and some of them stink... (No Offence) but at lest i am trying, why dont you visit this Map Link, yes its bland, but am working on it, and belive me not, it will be my first killer map ^_^... (Pics to follow deadly soon)
viewtopic.php?f=10&t=4799

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Vis-a-vis my last post, here's a pic of what I mean (from my latest map WIP):

- RV
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Yeah, i like that Heightmap , something like that would make me think, what a REAL map should look like, something like that to help me, will improve on how i take time in map building, just so you know though, this current map i made.... your all right, its rubbish, but, if i changed things around and worked on it a little longer, would you think this could be an agreeable map, or should i trash it insted?

[Zarel]

Honestly Dra, I know this won't help you since you've got me blocked, [...]

I don't think phpBB actually has an ignore feature, and Dra was probably joking that time he mentioned it.

However, I encourage you to shape up, because your actions on the IRC channel and here are pushing you dangerously close to a forum ban.