What an interesting thread! Thank you for doing these interviews, Flash, and thank you for sharing what you learned.
I hope my own thoughts are welcome also. It's interesting to see that my mind immediately went to different places from where these other guys' minds went, because we all have different restrictions in our microclimates.
- What is your process like for choosing maps for your tournament pool?
1. I have to believe it is really and truly a *good* map. Superior balance for competitive play. That has to be first, for reasons I describe in my "How To Host Your First Tournament" thread, linked in my signature block, below.
2. Some of the Masters. I will always have a couple of traditional-style maps from guys like dignan and gamebear. This is to balance out the more experimental ones I also want to try out: I can't go all-in for new stuff, and risk the possibility of more than one or two that leave a bad taste in people's mouths.
3. I make an effort to honor the guys making maps *now*. In my NHSD event coming up Saturday, I have maps from
@
Sir Heroscape
,
@
BiggaBullfrog
, and maybe
@
this guy
. They do great work, and I want to encourage them, and their maps are worthy (subject to the testing we are now doing
).
4. I want some maps that are real eye candy on the table. Part of what we do at tournaments is sell the hobby to passersby, and to remind our own contestants that what we do is just not like other board games. So I value maps that look special on the table, like dignan's Trepidation:
It takes up a whole table. It uses a lot of terrain. But it is *gorgeous*, and it's balanced, and so I have selected it many times. It is a centerpiece.
- What are some characteristics you look for in the maps you select? What are some characteristics you try to avoid?
I try to avoid maps that look like the pathing is too restrictive. That's tricky, because my events also do not use glyphs, so maps that need the glyphs to open all the way up are also not good for me.
I also try to avoid maps with high ground away from road. For me, when I'm flipping through lots of choices quickly, that's a signal that there might be a problem with station-to-station pitched battles, which I don't care for. So I tend not to pick those, maybe unfairly, because I don't like to play that way.
I try to balance maps for terrain usage across the whole event. I've noticed that most people, myself included, have only one BftU. So a map that needs 2 of them is no good, but otherwise map restrictions are not an issue. Though I suppose more than 2 RttFFs might be a disqualifier, too.
- What advice would you give to map designers who aim to create tournament worthy maps?
The hardest maps for me to find are 4 player free-for-all style maps. That's what I want, for my multiplayer FFA events. I am aware that I might be marching in a Parade of One, though, looking for that particular thing.
- What is one of your favorite tournament maps to play on and why?
This one:
Because I made it. I haven't selected it in a tournament in years, but an excellent player recently told me he thought it was good, so I am blowing the dust off and building it for this weekend's event.
