Well the name is fairly self explanatory. But what things are nonos and what things are must haves? I think ramps or some sort of narrow path so terrans can wall off is important. Also few or very large hills so terrans cant abuse siege tanks. Also perhaps making expansions fairly vulnerable depending on how much minerals/gas is in it.
Equal expansions for each player/team. No random start points. Like ones in the middle and ones on the top right. Have the map so no one race can abuse its geography to an extreme advantage
Check this link out at battle.net, click http://www.battle.net/mod/dev/melee.shtml for some interesting information on competitive map making. Although it refers to WarCraft III map making, the article should get some very important points across.
I guess i need to be more clear when i start a topic. I understand that the map needs to have symetry and each location needs to be similar. But what kinds of terrain can certain races abuse? What advantages are given to certain races?
What makes a balanced map? Equal access. I have seen player maps where 7 out of the 8 starting locations had a single choke point leading to the expo. The 9th starting spot had 2 different choke points. Is this map balanced? If you got the 9th slot and had to protect from 2 different directions you be cussing up a storm. Likewise, another feature which is a deal breaker are cliffs. If 6 out of the 8 starting spots ahve cliffs for enemy tanks to be support but the other 2 starting spots have no cliffs - then the 2 without cliffs can be at an advantage. However, the one thing I do enjoy is a map that is not a mirror image. A diamond shap map with everything equal is balanced but boring. Its hard to balance a map AND make each starting location different and be diverse. BGH is really not a balanced map, for example, but its diverse and most people like it because of that. in BGH is you start at the 11 or 12 o'clock positions you have to fight each other for the natural expansion. Likewise, the 2 o'clock positon has a wide area to defend. While the rest of the positions have 1 main area to defend into the central area. if you change BGH into a spire type map it becomes boring, IMHO. Money map vs non money map: Money maps are maps where you can pretty much build an uber force without expanding and you can work wonders with a single base. Non money maps are maps where you are forced to expand if the game lasts longer than the initial rush type map. For me, I like the non money maps; however, i dislike the non money maps where there are a bajillian resources everywhere making it a PSEUDO MONEY MAP
Hopefully, we may learn some ways a map is balanced vs. unbalanced in the melee map-making competition im hosting at http://soviet.scdiplo.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=1044. Check it out! Personally, I think the thing that truly balances a map is access to the other players. In the beginning, if 7 of 8 players all have paths to each other, but the 8th has to drop units to get to anyone else, this is an advantage. But later in the game this can be tough, because the 8th player can't reach anyone else.
I agree, as pointed out in my previous post. I think one of the reasons why BGH is popular is because of the random luck factor. In a 8 man FFA imagine being 11 and 12 starting spot. If you can rush win fast and no one bothers you - you can essentially have 1 main and 1 exp and ANOTHER main with a single choke! Likewise, the 2 vs 2 vs 2 vs 2 team BGH if you are near your partner and you or your partner are in the 11 or 12 starting spot you can rush the other guy and your alliance can now have that extra expo area! This is the two basic strategies. There are many more. AND because of that - the number of opening strategy moves and random locations and an offical Blizzard money map - makes BGH more popular than it should be! I did try to redesign it. Essentially it becomes a spiral to the middle. No fun in that! Or atleast the people who played it randomly mentioned that. BGH is not balanced but fun. On the new maps, who knows what will be balanced or not for a while. However, I would love to see a nonssymetrical 8 player map be balanced. Anyone know of such a map? Balanced but not all the starting spots look expactly the same? I tried to design my own but its hard. To get that balance without making it look the same. Personally i think there should be a competition to find a non symetrical balanced 8 player map Lost Temple is symetrical the top is a mirror image of the bottom - more or less (or is it the left is the mirror image of the right) (OR is it the top is a mittor image of the bottom)? Sorry i need my sleep. But honestly, anyone know a non symetrical BALANCED map?
