StarCraft® II

What the hell. ?

I don't know if there's a thread for this already. But why is the custom map system on Battle.net for SCII so crap?

Why did they scratch out the way maps were hosted on WC3?

Why is the game trying to control the market of the demand for maps?

Is it only me who thinks that SCII would see alot more custom maps if the system was like WC3?

I mean, I don't want to make a map, simply because its too hard to get it out there, there's no fun in it anymore. its always the same game up there. over and over. the system aims at improving games that are good. how am i supposed to find people to test out my map if no one knows it even exists?!?!?

I really want to map make on SCII but i find myself making maps on WC3 and playing it with randoms.

Can someone give me a reasonable response to why the custom map system is the way it is?

...there's no fun in it anymore. its always the same game up there. over and over. the system aims at improving games that are good. how am i supposed to find people to test out my map if no one knows it even exists?!?!?

Bloctopus, I'm hearing you there brother, I believe there's a thread on this subject here, http://sea.battle.net/sc2/en/forum/topic/26753086
People have been asking the same questions since August 2010 to no avail.
With respect to Blizzard in making a kick !@# game, (which they seriously have), they're letting their stakeholders and themselves down in not allowing the custom map/ AI/ Hero / etc to be more easily searchable.

Using popularity as a search has proven the same maps being shown for the last year and the choices are quite slim and frankly, with all the graphic features and options in the map-editor on offer (and there's a ton) the ones that are "Popular" are quite bland, basic and really not that good.
Some map makers out there are really creative and I've only found them by complete chance by inputting random letters on the search maps parameters in the multi-player "Create a game" bit.
Some of the ones in there don't even work and once downloaded can't be deleted either.
It's a serious oversight by Blizzard but evidently not one they intend to listen to or rectify given the duration these issues have been brought to their attention - again - to no avail.

It's nice to have sales Blizzard but alot harder to address customer service issues, how many map editor updates have we had to endure to not have the means to search for them once customers have made them? - and it is customers that have made you.
It's beginning to feel like we're talking to ourselves on a forum not addressed by it's hosts.

Like any service, give me more and I'll keep buying, ignore me and you lose a sale, but in this case it's not just me is it? - This is likely to be another thread falling on deaf ears over at Blizzard anyway but Good luck to you Bloctopus - I hope you find what you're looking for.

Agreed. It is impossible to play a map that isn't one of the "top 5" or so maps because there will never be anyone in the game. Maybe if we could see games that are currently waiting for players so we could join a map that we've never heard of before and actually have a chance of playing it?

btw guys, my char code is 601. If you are looking for someone to help playtest one of your maps I could help out (as long as you would be willing to do the same). I'm currently working on a single player mission which starts with selendis asking Jim Raynor to eliminate the infected Haven colonists.

You play from Dr Hansons point of view trying to save the innocent civillians of Haven from brutal genocide at the hands of a man you once respected. Culminating in him murdering you in cold blood for sacrificing yourself in the name of science desperately trying to find a cure for the zerg virus... or does he...

Agreed. It is impossible to play a map that isn't one of the "top 5" or so maps because there will never be anyone in the game. Maybe if we could see games that are currently waiting for players so we could join a map that we've never heard of before and actually have a chance of playing it?

btw guys, my char code is 601. If you are looking for someone to help playtest one of your maps I could help out (as long as you would be willing to do the same). I'm currently working on a single player mission which starts with selendis asking Jim Raynor to eliminate the infected Haven colonists.

You play from Dr Hansons point of view trying to save the innocent civillians of Haven from brutal genocide at the hands of a man you once respected. Culminating in him murdering you in cold blood for sacrificing yourself in the name of science desperately trying to find a cure for the zerg virus... or does he...

Count me in! I'd love someone to play test my map! It's called The Zerg Remade! I'll try to find you in-game.

03/24/2012 01:23 PMPosted by Gaffer

I'll try to find you in-game.

Cool. Usually if I'm messing around with the editor I won't be signed on and when I'm playing I might be on NA server sometimes.

But I'll try to be logged onto SEA server whenever I'm doing something starcrafty.

Also at the end of this week I'm going camping/fishing for ages and will avoid contact with human civilization as much as possible :D. So after that I won't be contactable in game for 2 weeks or so.

I'll have a quick look at "The Zerg Remade" and tell you what I think. (Don't worry, I'm not going to trash talk it if it's still a work in progress, just tell you if I like the concept or give some ideas etc)

I could use people to help play test SALT. There will be a new version out in a few days and I need people to help make sure all the menus and other boring !@# stuff works with 2 people in the game. (5 minutes)

this is the last version http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UxGJIZ_s2uY
The new version is not out yet but I will be asking for testers when it is.

cool thanks.

haha, this thread has already gone completely off topic :D

Well, I've already managed to derail this conversation over a cliff and /dance on top of it so I may as well continue :P

I had a look at The Zerg Remade.

Things I like
larva spawns at the spawning pool, means you can build macro pools.

zerglings come out in groups of 4 instead of 2

ultras can charge. I've always wanted to see what ultras would be like if they automatically charge thier target and push units out of the way doing friendly and enemy damage to units that get pushed away. It would be cool if you could get that to work.

Things I do not like
you cannot build workers until you have a pool. therefore 6 pool is the mandatory path to take. I would change this by either giving players a pool to start with and make zerglings require some kind of research or tech structure. the other option would be to have larva spawn at both hatcheries AND spawning pools.

without spawn larva queens become much less useful. Making them spawn automatically will use up the supply cap when you don't want them

making hydras into spell casters. Giving hydras energy bars, psi storm and a teleport ability?

some of the morph transitions seem a bit weird. Like not being able to build ultras or infestors but instead have to morph them from banelings and lurkers.

bugs/IMBA!/what the...?
an upgrade that makes zerglings perma cloaked?! WAAAAAAAY OP!

most spell casters either do no direct damage (infestor) or really bad direct damage (sentry). The exception being the ghost, but even then you can't mass them, just mix them in with a bio composition. Giving hydras spellcasting abilities will let a player just mass hydras and then they would be unstopable. Even against mass colosus the hydras could just teleport out of there if they got a bad engagement.

my queen spawning didn't seem to work. I played the whole game with only 1 queen per hatch but then spawned about 10 of them at the end.

I stopped playing because there was a massive frame rate drop as the game went on (after about 20 minutes or so). There must be some problem in the game which causes the performance to drop as the game goes on.

rally points on the spawning pool don't work for workers. They get sent to the wrong rally location.Anyway, it was fun to have a look at it. It looks like you've learned how to do a good deal with the data editor.

Just pointing out some issues with it. It was fun seing zerg remixed like that :)

I am always looking for feedback on SALT but it is for 2 people training for 1v1 matches or a 1v1 coaching tool.

If you want you can take a look at "Genocide on haven" / "the genocide of Haven".

Map description:

The "official" story arc for the wings of liberty campaign has Raynor valiantly helping Dr Hanson and the people of Haven... that is, until the protoss threaten the colony and then Raynors raiders go and brutally murder the colonists! Then Raynor himself personally murders Dr Hanson in cold blood!

Go behind the scenes to discover the real story of what happened on Haven from the perspective of Dr Hanson.

Abilities:
* transfuse - save units in the heat of battle
* spit acid - deadly acid that can eat through the toughest armour
* creep spread - leave a wide trail of creep as you move
* devour - consume units whole for life and energy
* symbiosis - create a clone to help battle enemies

This is my entry into the September map contest.

Unfortunatly it is far from completion :(

I will continue to work on it and make it into the map I want it to be. For the moment you can play it to get a small taste for what the final product will be like.

Unlike what the description says I abandoned the project and never touched it again :P but it still won a prize in a small competition so some people must have liked it despite being unfinished.

It should be uploaded on SEA server, you should use that version. If not you can download it here: http://sc2.nibbits.com/maps/view/136668/genocide-on-haven but it might be an out of date version.

If you think it's worth it maybe I'll post it to the main forum here. Also I'm not really interested in finishing it so if you want to take over work on it feel free :P but it is a bit of a mess.

Also it takes AGES to load the game.

You can find games that are waiting for players, you just have to look under open games.

11/03/2012 08:35 PMPosted by Hellfire

You can find games that are waiting for players, you just have to look under open games.

This thread is very old (Oct 2011 - March 2012).

The open games feature only came in more recently. (about August 2012 maybe?)

So now there is an open games list which is a very good thing. Although some say that it should be the default screen and you should have to click through to get to the "popular games" tab. This would be a bigger help but I'm happy that at least there is an open games tab for the moment