SC2Mapster

Heart of the Swarm Update

Blizzard just announced some fairly major tweaks to the HotS Multiplayer. You can read the full article here if you're interested. The major changes include:

• Shredder removed due to the fact that it was being abused
• Warhound might be removed soon
• Blizzard is considering giving terran long-range cannon that can help break siege walls
• Blizzard is considering giving the thor anti-air spider mines
• Replicant was removed, because it forced enemy players to not build good units (out of fear of being copied)
• Tempest changed to be a long-range aerial siege weapon, instead of a anti-air splash damage ship
• New viper ability allows it to blind enemy units in an area of effect
• New viper ability allows to restore energy by feeding off mineral patches
• Overseer has been brought back, and the viper is now a pure caster
• Overseer will be tweaked to make it more fun in the future
• New types of nydus worms are being added; One example is a worm that can spew creep across large areas to create "creep highways"
• Blizzard says they want to get HotS and Blizzard DOTA out to the public "sometime in the near future"

Blizzard posted this video with the HotS update, and though it's completely unrelated, it's still awesome.

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Galcon Confusion by Deeweext

Deeweext has created a casual map, which involves players strategically moving ships into nearby planets. It sounds simple, but things can get crazy when all 4 players are competing for territory! Check out the demo video below, or take a look at the thread here. If you're on the EU servers, make sure to check it out!

Update For those who are interested, the Diablo 3 Release date has been officially announced. You'll be able to get your hands on the game on May 15th of 2012! Join the discussion here!

Arcade System Inbound!

Many of you probably remember our coverage of Blizzcon 2011- it was a lot of fun, but the biggest announcement was the huge changes coming to the editor and, more importantly, the custom games system. You can read our article on the subject here if you missed it the first time around.

We previously believed that these changes would not appear until at or around the time of the Heart of the Swarm expansion pack- however, we now know will be coming soon^(TM), in the next patch for Starcraft 2! Patch 1.5 will include the brand new arcade system, which supports improved custom game visibility, ratings, reviews, game instructions, screenshot support, and more. Not only that, but patch 1.5 will also introduce the art-tools and editor upgrades. A open-games system will also be added that shows active lobbies, although not all lobbies will be shown at once (the algorithm used to sort them is unknown at the moment). Blizzard has also made a statement about their stance on the custom games system.

Quote from Blizzard:

The challenge we face with the interface is how much to orient the space towards the player, versus how much we focus the interface on the needs of the mod maker. Mod makers want a very egalitarian society where no single map has any type of “advantage” in the interface. On the other hand, most players just want to see the best maps and they don’t want to have to sort through hundreds of maps to find the ones that are good. We think what we have now doesn’t do enough to surface new maps that are good. While we tried to make things better with “Fun or Not,” the system alone isn’t doing enough for many of our mod developers so we wanted to try something different.

Source

If you are interested, you can read the full article here, or join the discussion here.

Blizzard's latest custom map spotlight has arrived. The latest two maps are Monobattles and Polar Shift.

Bx Monobattles- Sand Canyon by Weilhart

You've all probably heard of Day[9]'s monobattles. For those who haven't, the game requires each player to choose 1 (and only 1) unit to use throughout the entire game. To achieve victory, players will need to work with thier teammates to create the perfect composition in this fun variation on Melee play.

Polar Shift by Astin Azar

Can you survive this challenging hazard bonanza? Players will have to try and stay on the path, dodge tricky obstacles, and avoid deadly traps- all while the screen shifts around them!

If you haven't played these maps yet, make sure to give them a try! If you're in the US, you can find them in the featured maps tab of starcraft 2.

FUTS Update by Zero0018

Zero0018's "Fury Under the Stars" map has received a few major updates, along with a new demo video! Updates include 9 brand new heroes with unique abilities, tons of bugfixes, a new random pick feature, and brand new animations and sounds for each spell. You can see all the new features in action below. You can also check out the thread here or his website here.

RuneCraft by Zeldarules28 and TheAlmaity

RuneCraft is a brand new map crated by Zeldarules28 and TheAlmaity. RuneCraft is a new take on the tug-of-war genera, mixing classic tug staples with brand new gameplay elements. Make sure to check out the thread here. The map is currently available in both US and EU regions for beta testing.

Mini Chop Farms by Taintedwisp

Mini Chop Farms is a Re-Make of the warcraft 2 classic, In this map your goal is to chop through the forest(while listening to the kickass war2 music) to reach your enemies bases, but beware chop too fast and you may not have the time to defend yourself, take too long and you will be rushed by mobile units or flying units.

Metal Slug by ArcadeRenegade

Due to popular demand, Metal Slug finally returns! ArcadeRenegade has gone ahead and created the sequel to the original game. The game features Up to 4 Players, a Platform System, 8 Missions, 8 Boss Fights, Enemy Randomizers, 10 Weapons, 3 Vehicles Types, Difficulty Modes, Unlockable Cheats and Customizable Keybinds. He's put a lot of work into this map, so make sure to check out the project thread here

Goku Firebat by zenx1

A new MOBA game has entered battle.net! With unique game mechanics and terrain it should provide entertainement for those who are tired of standard DOTA/MOBA games and are looking for something new. Complete with 7 heroes, epic spells, unique combat (dodge spells & trap your enemies), items and recipes, and all your favourite charecters from "goku firebat"!

In other news, we've been working on some detailed articles covering all the highlights of blizzcon. If you haven't already, make sure to check to them out here!

SpellStorm by Kafoso

Spellstorm is an Arena type map where two teams of wizards must battle each other, obliterating any opposing forces by conjuring powerful, deadly magic. The basic spell system is based on Magicka. With over 72 spell combinations and 24 special spells, the game has tons of unique spells to be be discovered by the players.

As of 2011-10-08 the map is in the Beta stage and only available in the EU region. It will be available in the US region soon!

You can check out the project thread here.

Get your map on the front page! by molsterr

Our goal here at mapster is to help you, the mapper and as of today, we now have a very easy way for you to get your map out there! Simply fill out your information in either of these two threads thread 1 thread 2. Please make sure to read either thread for more information on any questions you may have. Hope to see your map here soon!

Machrium by Pottfish

Welcome to Machrium, an immersive metropolis that serves as an assembly for criminal scum. You are a contract killer, but to eliminate foes for unfathomable wealth, you must first eliminate your competition. Defeating your enemies in a law-abiding city, however, will require deception and the assistance of Machrium's corrupt populace in risk-reward type gameplay. Make sure to take a look at the thread for more gameplay information!

MageCraft by Stealthsam

MageCraft is a PvP (Player Versus Player) Arena where you utilize a number of spells selected and upgraded customly to dominate the arena. In MageCraft, all spells require precision by the player to land a hit on the enemy. But, that's not the kick. MageCraft is largely a Physics based game, all spells have push or pull effects. While spells do damage, there is an outlying hazard surrounding the Arena, and forcing other players into this hazard is the best way to defeat them. Take on your opponents in a variety of game modes and across several arenas.

The Zergling by AkumaNoRitomi

After the defeat of the Queen of Blades, a new era was born for the Zerg. Without their master mind to control their every action, they were now free to do as they desired. And what a certain Zergling wanted was simple, but beautifull... love.Will he be able to rescue his Queen from the Terran Scientists? Will he be able to rise above the terrans and be with the one he loves? Take on the world in AkumaNoRitomi's mario-style platformer!

Sc2mapster Quiz

Are you a REAL starcraft mapster? Do you have what it takes? How well do you know your fellow community members- how well do you know the editor? Well it's time to find out! Presenting the Sc2Mapster Community Quiz!

That's right! Just download the quiz here and answer the questions! After you finish, you will get a rank to stick in your signature to tell the world what a dedicated mapper you are!

Map Night

US Map Night is coming back to life! Make sure to join your fellow US mappers tomorrow (September 9th) at 6PM Pacific (GMT -7) for an epic round of custom maps. For all you EU mappers, the European map night will continue as always, tomorrow at 7 PM CET.

Power Towers by nekochrono

Nekochrono has just announced his map, called Power Towers. What makes this different from the other TD maps? He has created a power-transfer system for the towers. Generators generate power and can be linked to other towers to provide them with power. Energy can be stored with capacitors for later use and chains of capacitors can be set up to hold extra energy for each wave. In addition, every tower level has its own model and every creep has a unique model. It has three different game modes, including a team mode where players work together and help each other out. All towers have varying abilities and six levels of upgrades. Make sure to check it out!

Heavy Iron pt2 by Crainy

Some of you may remember the 40 second teaser we had in the news awhile back . This time Crainy came back with a down right amazing trailer for his gameplay. Take a look.

Interview comments on map community by instarcraft.de

Some very interesting news came from this interview. What seems to be the most interesting is the comment blizzard made about "At the top of the list right now is improving the custom game experience." This is fantastic news for us all indeed.

Quote:

Can you talk about some of the new features for the Galaxy Map Editor in the next expansion?

Jonny Ebbert: I'm not sure if I can. We are working on things for the mod community, but don't have to announce anything. We are constantly working on the editor, not only for the fans, but also for us. So it's constantly work in progress. We see the mods that are cool and so amazing and we do hear about the limitations and frustrations. We do listen to that and when it is possible we try to add this things to the editor.

Quote:

Features like Waaagh!TV where you can just jump into a game and watch it?

BC: (smiling) That stuff is always on our internal wish-list, but it is always a matter of prioritizing: What can we do? How may resources do we have for this instance? So it is a matter of prioritizing which things first. We can say that the Market Place related stuff is really improving the custom game search. Players [will] being able to weight their new custom games, making that whole process of finding a good mod better. That's at or near the top of the list right now. Everything else is just kind of aligning after that.

JE: What's really awesome on Battle.net is that we don't have to wait for a product to come out to release the improvement. So if something doesn't get in with Heart of the Swarm, we don't have to wait until Legacy [of the Void] to ship it.

Quote:

In StarCraft II the observation system with the stats and everything was a huge enhancement compared to your previous games. Can we expect further eSport enhancements for the community in Heart of the Swarm? For example the ability to watch you replay together with many other people is missing or the ability to follow a competition like it used to be with Waaagh!TV.

JE: We will not tell you about that until BlizzCon, like new features for eSports or things like that.

BC: It's kind of a similar question like what we talked about earlier: All of those things, they are on the list of things that we want to do. It's just a matter of prioritizing. Just because we have an expansion doesn't mean this is the only chance we have to cram these things in. We patched in a lot of improvements to Battle.Net and we added the chat rooms, we had some new content with the custom maps. So those kind of features can come in between releases and then post. So I think there is many more room to add some of those. At the top of the list right now is improving the custom game experience.

Make sure to check out some more great information found in this thread