First Official Map Makers' Contest

[SnotlinG]

<re-posting on behalf of LPhillips>

Greetings to all players, new and old.

An official mapmaking contest has now been sanctioned by SnotlinG, with a 600 point reward for the winner(s). There will be two parts to the contest. Finish date 12AM (24:00hrs) September 01, 2012

1) Large Map entries. These will be maps of 100x100 or 150x150 size. For this competition, the maps must take the form of a polygon with points equal to the number of players, featuring no advantage of "corners" to any player. Rough circles are also permitted. This map size must feature five or more players. An example distance-precise octagon on a 100x100 map is free to download in the map feedback forum, titled "No Corners 1.0". Be sure to rename entries. Also be aware that diagonal travel distance is expedited compared to vertical/horizontal travel in Warbarons, so geometric polygons are not as effective as distance-adjusted polygons.

2) Small Map entries. These maps will be up to 75x75 in size, featuring from two to four players. On these maps, play time is especially important. Something that typically finishes decisively in less than 10 turns is not likely to see much consideration.

Finally, the main purpose of this contest is to introduce a wealth of new and enjoyable ladder maps to the community. With that consideration, the entries will be judged on the following criteria:

1) Originality and Creativity. Recreating an old favorite may get you major popularity points and make us all appreciate you much more, but it won't get you far in the contest. Unique gameplay elements introduced by map design will net major points. Utilization of map making features to control map flow and influence tactics is highly recommended.

2) Balance. While mirror maps are not required (and may lose points in Creativity and Beauty), balance is highly valued in ladder maps. A severely imbalanced map will certainly be disqualified in final judging.

3) Polish. This is particularly about the use of the very nice features provided in the new mapmaker. You should make intentional decisions about city income, unit production settings, and player spawns. Particularly if you do not use the controlled player start (spawn) settings to properly regulate your map to its intended play features, the map will not be favored in final judging.

4) Beauty. This is least important from a ladder map point of view, but it may very well make the final difference that puts you ahead of your competitors. This is landscaping, non-strategic terrain features, and aesthetic presentation of your strategic terrain features.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The contest runs through the end of August. It is to your advantage to get your entries in and begin testing them and polishing them for the final judging. Making and polishing the first copy of a good small map takes from 2 to 8 hours depending on your proficiency. A large map can take quite a long time, but if you win both entries then you will have credits for a free gold account for two months. With consecutive contests, a player could conceivably have indefinite gold without monetary payment.

The contest will be judged by the community. Barring an obvious consensus, I will make the final call. In the event that one of my maps is ever in the running for a contest, I will defer to another experienced player. Good luck to you all!

LPhillips

[LPhillips]

It is time to notify the community of maps submitted for consideration. Submission closes on the first of September, 12AM Greenwich time. We will take a little time then to evaluate the maps, and the community will engage in a vote over the winners of each category.

All maps first "submitted" after the 10th of July are eligible; just be aware of the qualification requirements. You must post here to notify the community that you want your map considered for the contest. I have seen some great maps, and several of them were obviously constructed for the contest. Looks like it will be a great first contest!

[Argammon]

I want to make a suggestion for 1vs1 maps.

If the community claims that some 1vs1 map is unbalanced, the mapmaker should have the chance to refute that claim. Then, 3 1vs1 games should be started between the community and the mapmaker in which the community representatives play the side they perceive as advantaged. If the community loses all 3 games, they should feel ashamed.

[Negern]

My contribution is the 1vs1-map Archipelago.

With the exception of two cities, which can only produce crows, fliers and water units are banned. Instead one has to get the troops around by boat. All in all, there are 28 cities and about 25 docks scattered on 15 islands of varying size. Some of the islands are easy to defend - some not so easy.
I've played it a few times and it feels like it's pretty balanced.

http://www.warbarons.com/ver08/mapedito ... listid=974

[smursh]

My entry for the large map portion is Pitfall. This is a 100x100 map with 82 cities and 78 income buildings. The map is set up with large regions of each terrain. Most cities start with poor production and little gold making the taking and holding of resource buildings important to upgrading production. This combined with the distance between cities means that much of the fighting is outside of cities making this more of a game of maneuver where using native bonuses effectively will win battles.

The map has a total of 30 ruins, located in pits off the main paths. Two special high level ruins with powerful artifacts and defenders are located in the center behind a ring of mountains and lava. Because you must both fly and firewalk to get here only a powerful hero can enter- great risk for a great reward.

I hope this map get recieved well and would really love for it to be considered for a ladder map as well as for the contest.

[ptGamer]

My entry for the small map contest is the Stripes.

Features:

1) Tough terrains of mainly swamps and hills, and at the same time none of the cities allow for dwarf, orc, wolf rider, and giant. There are small percentage of dessert but sandworm production is also prohibited.

2) Each player starts with a tight cluster of four cities with powerful productions that are slow. This city group is easy to defend given the surrounding lava; as long as you secure the capitol the game won't be over too soon (elemental productions are available in the non-starting city clusters so it is possible to break the natural defense).

3) The only flier production allowed in the starting cities is crow.

4) Rich cities and income buildings make it easy for you to get hero offers and buy different productions.

5) There are plenty of ruins, most of which gives you allies. So exploring ruins may quickly give you a game-changing stack.

6) Numerous neutral units are placed throughout the map so your late-coming heroes have a chance to level up quickly.

7) Powerful items are placed on lava so if you want them, you have to invest in the ashwalk ability.

8) 1v1 starts with one player in the left most city cluster and another in the right most cluster. Against a non-aggressive AI it still took me 21 turns to finish the game.

9) 2v2 starts with one player in each team on each left-right side of the map, and teammates are always separated by an enemy in between.

10) The aesthetics resembles a soccer field, composed of mostly solid blocks of homogeneous terrains with clear delineation of sectors.

I humbly request this map to be considered for ladder.

pt

[Negern]

Added a city for balancing the SW-player and some additional defenses for the two crow cities on the map. (4 crows each, 5 wall).

http://www.warbarons.com/ver08/mapedito ... listid=982

By the way, if I understand this right, the competition is ended tomorrow and there are only three entries?

[LPhillips]

It seems that there are only 3 official submissions. I was planning to close the window as scheduled, but there are also maps in the Feedback forum that qualify and aren't submitted to the contest...

Basically, the time period for submissions closes and then we take a couple of weeks to a month to judge, as needed. That way we can run the competitions in a 3-month period if there is interest. I'm not completely opposed to giving a little more time if needed, but that is generally a very slippery slope.

[ptGamer]

Maybe those who submitted their map considered they're done with the submission process? Had I not seen Negern and smursh posting about their map I'd guess submitting the map for review is sufficient to enter the contest.

[garvisus]

I am submitting the six player map Hexagon.

Six capitals situated near the six corners of the hexagon. Between each capital is an item city with powerful units available for production. Limited production in all cities, but the capitals.

1 v 1, 2 v 2, 3 v 3; team 1 (white, red or teal) team 2 (green, blue or black)
2 v 2 v 2 team 1 (white, blue) team 2 (red, teal) team 3 (black, green)

60 cities, 25 income sites, 23 ruins, 6 temples (3 undead, 1 attack, 2 movement)