SC2Mapster

I sincerely apologize for the downtime guys, Curse's servers had some major hardware failures... In light of this event, i'm extending the contest another week, so you'll have until July 12th to complete your submissions. Those of you curious about the downtime can read a further explanation from Curse.

For those of you who play a lot of melee, you'll want to know that the map pool will be changing slightly come Season 3. You can read all about it here. Also, anyone interested in Diablo 3 should know that I was also invited to a D3 press event at the end of next month! For more info, check out the DiabloFans newspost.

Themed Creature Contest

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What to do?

Create a THEMED creature that is complete with spells. There are a few rules:

• The creature must not be static: it should walk and attack!
• Imported models are NOT allowed. You can only combine existing models.
• At least two spells are required.
• Some sort of easily visable theme should be with your hero.
• This can be done within the Data Editor or Trigger Editor.
• You can submit as many entries as wanted as long as they are all differents.

What you have to give

• You have to provide a youtube video
• You have to attach the map used to take the video

Help

Possible ideas might come from a previous contest that was similar.

For those who want to delve into attachments here is a good tutorial for that. If you don't know how to start, ProzaicMuze made a step by step tutorial: How to make an Uberlisk. Don't be afraid by the length of it, it really goes into great detail to explain why things were done, it takes no more than 10 minutes to do the Uberlisk.

For information on the deadlines and rewards, view the contest thread.

Happy Fathers Day to those of you dad SC mappers out there!

Banana Cheaters by Rodrigo

Yes, that's right, Rodrigo says he's now back in action! Once again, Rod has come out with a very unique map, this time it's similar to Phantom Mode, however instead of being totally melee, it's an RPG/Survival type map. Essentially, every play has a hero and their goal is to work together to stay alive. However, the player that collects the most bananas wins the game, so while you are working together to stay alive, you're also competing to collect nanners. This is where the "Phantom Mode" aspect of the game comes in: one player is secretly cheating. This player can see the position of all the bananas (which are normally hidden throughout the map), giving him a better chance of finding them and winning the game. The cheater needs to convince everyone else that he is not cheating, otherwise he will have his powers stolen by another player.

Those of you using Authenticators, note a new change to the system where you will not always be asked to authenticate now.

Mineralz Review by SC2Eagle

I've been seeing more and more talk about this new (newish, whatever) map named Mineralz, that seems to have jumped right to the popularity list and stuck. Those of you curious to know what the rage is all about, check out the commentary/review by the SC2Eagle team.

Customizing UI in Custom Maps from Blizzard

More Custom Mapping goodness from Blizzard today. Looks like we've got a patch incoming soon, that will include more UI changes and... documentation!?

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As previously announced, in our next client patch we will be disabling the unsupported method of replacing built-in SC2Layout files in custom maps. To avoid potential issues that could be caused by this change, all map authors who are currently using this method should convert their maps to use the Custom Layout File system as soon as possible. If you're unfamiliar with what's changing or how the Custom Layout File system can be used to customize your maps, please be sure to review our earlier announcement for more information: http://us.battle.net/sc2/en/forum/topic/2267589748

We also plan to introduce further improvements to both the UI system and associated documentation in the future, and greatly appreciate your feedback on the topic in the meantime.

Thanks!

The Final Frontier 2 by Hookah604

Here we have a sequel to Hookah's original, The Final Frontier! Again it's very much like the oldschool SC1 Asteroids map, however you duke it out! The map has a large research system, claiming millions of combinations and a unique result every time. In addition, it has a "map" generator that randomly generates planets, stars, and a whole galaxy, making the environment completely unique every time you play as well. The project also sports customizable space ships, weapons, and races, an alliance system, a nice customized UI, and can support up to 14 players (or AI)!

Go join in on the fun that is the Galaxy Editor Memes thread, :). Blizzard also released some new fan art and more comics!

Custom Map Storage Increased from Blizzard

All I have to say is, yay!

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In an effort to help make StarCraft II map publishing more flexible and convenient, we've recently made several changes to custom map storage, increasing all three storage variables for publishing maps online:

• Total custom map slots increased from 10 to 20
• Individual custom map space increased from 10 MB to 20 MB
• Total storage space increased from 50 MB to 100 MB

Whether you're someone who enjoys creating a large number of smaller melee maps, or if you prefer creating fewer, but significantly larger maps, we hope mapmakers of all shapes and sizes will benefit from these changes.

If you haven't yet taken a crack at the StarCraft II editor, head on over to our Maps and Mods page (http://us.battle.net/sc2/en/game/maps-and-mods/) for some mapmaking tutorials, as well as more information on official Blizzard mods we've made to show off what the editor is capable of.

Formation Defense 2.0 by wingednosering

Test your skills as a commander in this tactical defense game, where you and up to six other players attempt to protect your colony from hordes of enemies, while saving as many refugees as you can. The map has a very simple layout, allowing newcomers to sink their teeth into the standard defense formula while rewarding those who stick with the map with a wealth of strategic choices and abilities. Be warned: reaching and completing the final level, even on the easiest settings, is no easy task.

Equipped with its own set of achievements, nine factions to play as, multiple difficulty settings, multiple ways to win, and a simple, yet effective tech tree, this game provides a ton of replayability, while giving everybody enough options to grant them a comfortable challenge.

So what are you waiting for? Get out there and defend your colony!

Baneling Run by Feral

The goal of Baneling Run! is simple: survive as long as possible. Those of you who enjoyed those old school bound-styled maps from SC1 may enjoy this map. This map features some really cool things, like a saving system, achievements and statistics, spectator mode (so when you die you aren't out!), powerups, difficulties, and much, much more!

Star Piano by shardfenix

A few years ago, the Protoss and the Terran constructed a giant piano out of spare Templar Archives and Engineering Bays. It was lost during the Brood War, but has been rediscovered in nearly perfect condition.

Essentially, this is a giant Piano, with a back story! You select keys to play their sound, simply by clicking on each building. A pretty sweet function is the ability to hotgroup keys to make chords. Originally, the map was something fun for a birthday, but shardfenix recently published the map for everyone to play with, so go play some cool songs!

UPDATE: While we're on the topic, Shadow also released a cool Data duplicator tool.

Item Creator by ShadowDancer93

I came across this tool just recently that I thought was actually really cool. It works along the lines of templating data. Essentially what the program does, is it takes a pre-defined template of the item data, and changes it according to any specifications you set while creating the item. This is the beginning of something much bigger, as data templates can be used for many things, like hero creation, etc. I would stay tuned for more templating programs in the near future, as it's something i've been looking into as well, ;). Currently, this program can be used to create the following:

• button (with description, name and icon),
• unit (immortal, sellable)
• actor (w/o any bars, armor icons, etc.)
• item (with class, also new item have equip behavior and weapon set to item name, so you can add them just by creating behavior/weapon with name same as item)
• behavior (base for weapon, but can be created w/o it)
• weapon (melee or ranged)
• effect damage (for weapon)

  

Physics Engine Tutorial by LosTacos

This is a pretty sweet tutorial that will help you implement a Physics Engine into your map, if you choose to... so... those of you that are interested or in need, go check it out!

Infested Arena 2 by Etravex

It has been 43 years since your last encounter with the Infested, which took place on a space station in a remote part of the Universe. You thought you were victorious after defeating the Broodmother. Little did you know that the Infested followed you back to your home planet in the Galminus system and have since been mutating, evolving and multiplying directly above you. It is clear to you that the Infested are far more powerful than they were last time. Mutant strains and cross breading has brought about new and terrifying Infested units. But, you are not easily discouraged... 43 years has brought about advancements of your own. Prepare yourself the Invasion is about to begin...

Scene Recreation Contest Results

I would like to give a big thanks to everyone who participated in this Contest, I really enjoyed seeing all these memorable video game/movie scenes come to life in the world of Starcraft. Makes me want to go watch some movies I haven't seen in a while.... Anyway, thanks to everyone who participated, and congratulations to our top 3: Sephiex, xil_theMINISTER, and Qancakes! If you enjoyed this contest, keep your eye out, we're going to have another one in the somewhat near future.

To see their entries, check out the contest thread!

PeepMode by IcculusLizard

PeepMode is a melee spectator system that builds on features of the popular 1v1 Obs - Xel'Naga and iCJug maps. Players compete in 1v1, 2v2, and FFA matches (KOTH style) while everyone else watches, bets, discusses, etc. This project has a whole slew of features, including 14player support, a KOTH system, global ratings, the Blizzard Observer UI, a betting system, and much, much more. Those of you interested in playing Melee, and wanting to get the Melee scene mixed into the Custom Maps scene, support this project!

We're nearing 2500 map projects here on Mapster, yay! We also have 200+ assets to go along with those maps.

StarShout by elunder

Basically, this library helps you implement audio output on your map with ease. Once it is initialized via Triggers, you can play sounds by using the corresponding strings given. Making announcements and comment on gameplay has never been this easy! Some notable features of the library are as follows:

• 105 unique words
• numbers fom 0 to 999999999
• letters a to z
• use "," for a pause
• very small, all sound files are blizzard originals
• easy to use

Common Sense 101 Tutorials by Dogmai

Currently, there are two different editions of Common Sense 101 Tutorials: Triggering and Team Recruitment. As far as Triggering goes, it runs through the basics of the Trigger Editor and helps explain what you should know when trying to create a Trigger. It's very basic, but for those who do not know the ins and outs of the Editor, you will find this helpful. As far as the Team Recruitment one goes, it explains how you should generally setup your team, and task your team members, in order to create a successful project.

Don't forget to vote in our recent Scene Recreation Contest and to vote for your favorite Blizzard map in our poll!

Heart of the Swarm Preview

UPDATE: Blizzard posted their own interview for those who want to give it a looksie, as well as the official teaser blog.
UPDATE2: Looks like they added a brand new Game page too, looks awesome.

As you all know, I flew out last Wednesday to California to visit Blizzard HQ and preview the upcoming expansion, Heart of the Swarm! Thursday morning (around 9am), I arrived at Blizzard to see a small group of people circled around someone, similar to a flock of seagulls around some bread on the beach. Yeah, Day9 must be there. And of course, there he was, accidentally being the center of attention. Though i'm sure you aren't here to read about Day9, I know you want me to break into HotS. After some bsing around with the other members of the press that attended, they brought us into the Theater with Dustin Browder, whom then showed us the following teaser, which I know some of you have already seen (leaks make me QQ). Also, if after you still have questions, you still have questions, feel free to ask!

Dustin talked to us a little bit, giving us the general idea of how things were going to work. Essentially, we were going to be dropped into two different missions, approximately 4-6 missions into the story, where Sarah Kerrigan is trying to regather the broods of what is left of the swarm, while still being hunted by both the Terran and Protoss. So while Wings of Liberty focused on Raynor being a pirate, a mercenary, and whatever else he needed to be while jumping around worlds, Heart of the Swarm will focus more on a specific few planets, where we will conquer them, and then move onto the next one. On that note, we were set free to go play them ourselves.

The first thing I noticed prior to playing the missions was the change in scenery. No longer are we sitting in the Cantina of the Hyperion, now we are just sitting planet side while controlling our characters. Aside from Kerrigan, we see Abathur, dubbed Evolution Master, who essentially gives us new stuff. If you talk to him, you can spend "mutagen" that you earn/find within the missions to evolve your creatures. For example, you can mutate your Banelings into Splitterlings, and they will split into 2 smaller Banelings twice, though dealing less damage. I've got the full list of possible evolutions at the bottom of the post for those of you interested. And yes, most, if not all evolutions had new models, so yay new models! Aside from Abathur, we have Izcha, who is Kerrigan's Advisor. She retains the memory of Kerrigan as the Queen of Blades, and simply... advises her! And of course, we have Kerrigan. There is a brand new mechanic, currently called Battle Focus, where we can level Kerrigan up as a hero, as will use her in-game in just about every single mission. Essentially, you can envision Kerrigan as a Diablo character. Battle Focus has several (the number is not set, currently there are 2, there are room for 4, but Browder said there can be 6+ even) "skill paths" where you take different directions with her spells. The Spec Ops Focus currently gives you +50 energy, and then gives her two spells: Pulse (which does an AoE stun & damage), and Psionic Shadow, which essentially creates a shadow Kerrigan to fight by your side. On the other hand, we have the Corruption "tree", which adds +3 armor, and allows her to Spawn Broodlings, or use Corrosive Spores, a damaging AoE. By beating levels, we unlock new spells for Kerrigan, as well as adding to her energy and health.

Now, the first mission we played, called War for the Brood, was on Char. Our goal was to defeat Za'Gara, a Brood Mother who was attempting to take over the Zerg swarm that remained on the surface. Joining us for the first time, would be the Baneling. The mission following up will be called Fire in the Sky, but we couldn't play that just yet. So, the second mission we played, called Silence Their Cries, was on an icy planet named Kaldir, and the Roach joined us. In addition is a new functionality, similar to the lava rising in those few Tosh missions, the surface of the planet would freeze over, rendering everything unusable for 20 seconds or so. By gathering Yeti Matriarch DNA (new neutral units: the Yeti, and the Yeti Matriarch), we were able to stay thawed when the freeze happened. I also noticed a few other new units/models on that level, Protoss Psi-Link Spires, and Protoss Mobile Satellites. The next level again, will be Shoot the Messenger, but we weren't able to play it. Also worth noting, Kerrigan is allowed to die! No longer do we have to worry about losing the mission on hero death. When she dies, her DNA is used to revive her, and then you get to place her back on Creep when the cooldown is up.

Zerg Evolutions

Like I said, for those curious, here is a list of the possible evolutions:

• Zergling
  • Metabolic Boost - Move speed +33%
  • Posthumous Mitosis - 20% chance to spawn 2 Broodlings on death
  • Rapid Genesis - Instantly produce Zerglings
  • Raptor - Leaps at enemies and +10hp
  • Swarmling - Hatches 3 Zerglings instead of 2, for no extra cost

• Baneling
  • Vicious Discharge - Goo sprays at and slows enemies by 25%
  • Centriugal Hooks - Move speed +25%
  • Rupture - Splash radius on death +25%
  • Splitterling - Splits into 2 smaller Banelings, twice, dealing less damage
  • Gorgeling - Reduces Units/Structures into collectible resources

• Roach
  • Chitinous Plating - +1 armor
  • Bile Ducts - +2 damage
  • Organic Carapace - +2 life regeneration
  • Prowler - Move while burrowed
  • Leech - +10 life per kill (up to 6) and heals more rapidly while burrowed

• Metamorph
  • This isn't a confirmed unit, though it is something I picked up while watching Kerrigan talk to Abathur. After completing the "Silence Their Cries" level on Kaldir, Kerrigan tells Abathur that she needs a Metamorph, "a creature that gathers biomass and fuels its own transformation." I suppose we'll have to wait and see for more information.

Interview

While in the group interview, I tried to ask a bunch of general Mapping related questions, we were only able to talk to Chris Sigaty, Dustin Browder, David Kim, and Alan Dabiri, so no GE guys were available. The guys on SCLegacy recorded the whole thing, yay! If you listen close enough, you'll hear me asking some questions... I was the only guy asking questions related to Mapping at all (Editor, Marketplace, etc) so I don't think you'll miss me.

For those of you who don't want to watch the full hour+ video, here's the gist of the interview, in a nutshell: General/Lore:

• There won't be any Cerebrates, instead there are Brood Mothers. Cerebrates all wanted the Overmind!
• Raynor will side with Tosh and the Protoss from WoL.
• There will be 20ish new missions in HotS.
• There will be new Multiplayer units. They may also change or remove WoL Multiplayer units.
• There will be a Multiplayer Beta again, that will last somewhere between 3-5 months.

Mapping:

• They're talking about doing a Co-Op Campaign, eventually.
• The Map Marketplace will come either alongside, or shortly before Heart of the Swarm.
• More work on the Popularity System will be done, but the features coming with the Map Marketplace should help our problems a bit.
• They can and may roll out Ladders and their Matchmaking System with certain Custom Games in the near future.
• The UI Editor is coming around HotS, as well as a lot more new features/changes/additions.
• Adding a Water mechanic is something they're talking about, but currently have no plans for.
• Adding a way to have different colored creep is something they're talking about, but currently have no plans for.
• There are no plans to support maps bigger than 256x256.

Frequently Asked Questions

Blizzard also gave us an FAQ to go along with everything, I figured that I would just post it up in its entirety, regardless of whether or not I hit on some points above.

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Q: What is StarCraft II: Heart of the Swarm?

A: Heart of the Swarm is the first expansion set to Blizzard Entertainment's sci-fi real time strategy game, StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty. Heart of the Swarm continues the epic story from Wings of Liberty with an all-new campaign that focuses on Kerrigan, the former Queen of Blades. New multiplayer content will also be included in the expansion, as well as new features and upgrades to the Battle.net online platform.

Q: What features can we expect from the single-player campaign of Heart of the Swarm?

A: Heart of the Swarm's campaign will include approximately 20 new missions. Players will be able to evolve their swarms with unique, campaign-only units and abilities, and this evolution will happen in an organic manner befitting of the expansion's Zerg theme. As an example, zerglings can be induced to evolve the ability to split into broodlings upon death. Further evolution can yield specialized sub-species of zerglings such as the swarmling, a variant that spawns three swarmlings per larvae instead of the standard two zerglings. The fearsome raptor is another evolutionary offshoot of the zergling that has more health, and the ability to leap short distances to quickly close the gap on an enemy.

Another aspect of Heart of the Swarm that makes it unique from Wings of Liberty is that Kerrigan will play a major role in each of the battles as a powerful hero. Over the course of the campaign she gains in strength as well as new capabilities. Players will choose what abilities to enhance and powers to use from mission to mission.

Heart of the Swarm will also include a wider variety of sets for players to explore between missions - these sets change dynamically as players complete missions, giving a sense of a changing world as Kerrigan makes her presence felt throughout the galaxy. Fully-voiced cut-scenes will round out the cinematic gaming experience in Heart of the Swarm's campaign, while a new array of achievements will unlock in-game rewards such as portraits and decals.

Q: Will there be any technical upgrades to the graphics engine?

A: We'll be making some improvements to the graphics, including upgrades to the look and behavior of zerg creep, as well as some changes that allow our artists to better showcase the new types of planets that Kerrigan will explore in Heart of the Swarm. We still plan to keep the minimum hardware requirements the same for this expansion set as they were in Wings of Liberty.

Q: What are some of the changes made to multiplayer Heart of the Swarm?

A: While we're not quite ready to go into detail about the new multiplayer content in Heart of the Swarm, we can say that this expansion set will include new units and new maps. We'll have more details about multiplayer Heart of the Swarm content at BlizzCon.

Q: What changes will come to Battle.net with Heart of the Swarm?

A: As far as Battle.net improvements, one primary focus will be on getting the StarCraft Marketplace up and running at some point around the launch of Heart of the Swarm. The maps and mods community in StarCraft II has published tens of thousands of custom maps using the StarCraft II editor. Our goal with the new Marketplace design will be in upgrading the custom map UI to better showcase the wide variety of great new maps and mods to players who are looking for fun new gaming experiences. We want players to be able to more easily find, rate, and sort through all the great custom maps that have been created.

The Marketplace will also eventually include a commerce element that will allow mapmakers to charge a fee for their work. While there will always be a wealth of free content, we believe that allowing content creators to profit from their work will foster an environment for more complex and higher-quality custom maps. Our ultimate hope is that the StarCraft Marketplace will function and thrive in a similar manner as mobile "app-stores" - tons of free and premium content for players, and a limitless source of entertainment through StarCraft II and Battle.net.

We do have other Battle.net feature upgrades and improvements planned as well, and we'll have more details on those at a later date.

Q: Will Heart of the Swarm require ownership of Wings of Liberty?

A: For the regions that have a standard box business model such as North America and Europe, yes, Wings of Liberty will be required in order to play Heart of the Swarm. For other regions that have alternative access models, we’ll provide details at a later date.

Q: How much will Heart of the Swarm cost?

A: We typically don't provide details about pricing until the game is closer to release. We do view Heart of the Swarm as an expansion set, so for the regions that have a standard box business model such as North America and Europe, we will price accordingly. For other regions that have alternative business models, we’ll provide details at a later date.

Q: Will there be a console version of Heart of the Swarm?

A: StarCraft II: Heart of the Swarm is being developed for Windows and Mac. We have no current plans to bring StarCraft II to any console platform.

Q: When is Heart of the Swarm coming out?

A: It's too early to talk about a specific release date at this point in time. As with all Blizzard games, our ultimate goal is to provide the best possible experience for our players, and we will take as much time as is needed to ensure that Heart of the Swarm meets the expectations of our players, as well as our own high standards.

Hey guys, i'm back now! The NDA on the HotS event doesn't lift for another few days, i'll be writing up a nice article for everyone, on my trip and on HotS itself when I can, :).

Transcendence RPG by Pottfish

Transcendence RPG is a hero base defense map with good old RPG element of hero defense map since wc3. You either win by defeating the King at the end or defeated by losing the Queen you're defending. The map plays as coop with up to six players. The terrain and effects looks nice and not too confusing. Try its beta version on US server.

Just FYI, Patch 1.3.4 was released earlier, all it did was fix a bug that would cause some Leagues & Ladder pages display incorrectly. As always, you can post undocumented editor changes here. Also, BlizzCon tickets are on sale again tomorrow night (May 25th)! In addition, i'll be gone until Friday night for the HotS Press Tour at Blizzard, so if anyone needs me, feel free to PM me!

War of the 12 Kingdoms by Malpheus

War of the Lost Kingdoms was an oldschool War3 custom map that was pretty popular in it's prime. Malpheus and his team are working to bring it over to SC2 to continue the fun, on a similar styled map. Essentially, there are 12 players, each with their own base, and your goal is to conquer the other players by taking over other bases, for their minerals. Each kill you make grants you a bounty, to help gain resources that way. You are also able to make alliances with other players to take control of the whole map, and take part in some quests for some loot, throughout the gameplay. Each base allows for upgradable units spawned every one minute. Armor, attack and ability upgrades will be featured as well, in addition to some pretty slick custom models. Check out the Terrain teaser below.

Unit Ownership Tutorial by ZightFear

This is a rather simple tutorial on changing the owner of a unit through the Trigger Editor. I recently saw someone asking how to do this on the Battle.net Forums, so for those of you interested, here it is.