SC2Mapster

Hey... Wait a minute

I thought this page was called "For the Haters"? Why is it called "For the Curious Ones"?

:)

I tricked you in.

Just kidding. I'm a nice person, I do not have "hate" nor do I believe that breeding hate resolves anything, I don't think of you as a hater, you're now a "Curious One" and I really recommend that you take your time to read this page, because (believe me) you'll love it and hopefully you'll come to respect the fact that I'm such a nice guy ^_^. If you're a map maker, I believe you'll find valuable information here.

So... Why should I bother reading this?

• In the past, almost everyone who gave me mean criticism and un-constructive feedback I was able to come to good terms with, and eventually, they now give more useful feedback than any other. I'm serious! People who say mean things can become extremely handy if you befriend them. And now, I want to gain YOU as a friend :)

• Honestly.... I'm just too old to "flame" back... I'm also a nice person, really nice person, and have A LOT of friendly relations in my professional line of work. I never thought that people saying mean things would even hurt my feelings, but I'm just not 16 anymore and I can't take any more of the stress! So I made this page, anyone who says mean things will be redirected here :) Its a good, modular solution to a common problem :D

Are you lecturing me?

No!!!! Why would I do that when I want to gain you as a friend? :(

Are you gay?

No. I'm just a nice, merry person. Well if you think about it, gay can be defined as merry.

UNDER CONSTRUCTION

My opinion of success

So, you want to make your map popular? In my opinion, these are certain principles you must not ignore, and they apply to everything you "deliver", not just Starcraft 2.

Know your audience

I think this one's fairly obvious. Don't make the map for "you", if "you" like your map it doesn't automatically make it good, you don't even have to enjoy playing your map... Why go so far, I didn't enjoy playing my first map at all (in fact, I hate it. I almost puke when playing online to get feedback on it), but hey, others did enjoy it and want more...

Anyway, always have a target audience. A map designed for your friends is usually very different than maps designed for the online community. But you'll be surprised that sometimes a map designed for your friends could be successful big time online. Real life examples exist too; J.K Rowling - Harry Potter's author - originally came up with this as a bedtime story for her kids.

The online gaming audience are mostly kids, and its quite an easy and cheap shot to capture their interest with, say, any Tower Defense / Base Defense map. Which is all the rage these days. Study your audience a little bit, and try to catch up to the trends.

Easy to play. Easy to understand.

Easy to play. Easy to understand.

Easy to play. Easy to understand.

I waged a personal war against the world on this point, or what the world calls it "Usability". Its not just Starcraft 2 maps, so many things in the world these days are heavily underestimating the very important aspect of Usability. Don't believe me? Ok, one of the world's most successful products is also one of the most "Easy to use. Easy to understand." items: Apple's iPhone. Make sense?

Everywhere I go, I emphasize extremely on Usability. I understand its not as valuable as I make it, but I want people to acknowledge it. Usability is very important.

Examples

• Nexus Wars
• Income Wars
• Shape Wars

Add "Character"

Every person is different. That what makes us human. But what does that has to do with anything? Here's a cheat sheet:

• Do you like to make people laugh? Add funny things!
• Are you an artist? Add beautiful things!
• Social networker? Add witty messages and perks!
• Are you a writer? Present interesting story!
• Horror movie fan? Add scary things!
• Comic book reader? Bring in those heroes!

A deliverable with "character" is an almost sure way to success. Especially if its something that matches YOUR unique "character". I remember when I did my first presentation in the beginning of my professional life, it was a silly doodle with funny remarks on how to best use an IT solution we bought. People immediately fell in love with it, just because I simply put a lot of character in it.

Examples

• Doodad Hunt (I love it)
• Falrinth's The Thing
• Facility 17

UNDER CONSTRUCTION end

Before commenting.. Things to know

• Everything here is open for debate.

• Please try your best not to mention your real job or career, nor what you achieved at real life. Reason is simple, the man with the better career will eventually overpower the rest of the people's comments, leaving the debate to be one-sided. I have a high spirit in debate, and I'd LOVE if we can debate like siblings do: When you debate with your brother, it doesn't matter if he's Bill Gates or a plumber, you'd still debate with him equally. That's the spirit I want.

• I may have unintentionally threw a jab or two at my fellow dear map authors. For example, I may have mentioned a point that it is also an absolute weakness in a map you spent months working on and didn't achieve what you expected online... You will uncontrollably (probably) feel very sad.. PLEASE don't feel sad!!! I only want to help in any possible, positive-constructive manner, nothing more. My intentions are as pure as that!

For the record

Here's what happened to me the last time someone said mean things

I blew up and lost my mind :( link: http://eu.battle.net/sc2/en/forum/topic/566310374#6

Do you like the idea behind this page "For the Curious Ones"?

Please let me know if you do :) It'll make me happy. I love this page myself, it relieved me A HELL LOT of stress!