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#1
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Expanding the design space for competitive maps
The last new terrain set was released more than a decade ago. Thousands of maps have been uploaded to this site. Map features have been analyzed, and ideas about what makes a good tournament map have been refined, resulting in lots of constraints. Creating a tournament map that breaks new ground is a challenge.
Mapmakers continue to come up with great new designs, even while traveling well-worn paths. But there are a couple directions that have not been explored much. Map sets Tournament maps generally use 2 or 3 terrain sets. There are only so many viable combinations, and most have been attempted many times over. A map set combines a larger number of terrain sets to produce multiple maps. This opens up a whole bunch of new possibilities, as each map in the set gains access to a much wider range of terrain. The downside: one dud map ruins the whole set. Making one good map is hard enough; trying to make a set of them is a big step up in degree of difficulty. The sweet spot (balancing flexibility and difficulty): combine 6 or 7 different terrain sets - 3 master sets, plus 3 or 4 terrain expansions - to produce 3 maps. Glyph of Brandar (custom glyphs) The Glyph of Brandar dates all the way back to the original Rise of the Valkyrie set, but has never been widely accepted in tournament settings. There are reasons for this - custom glyphs can create confusion and frustration for tournament participants. Custom glyphs allow for greater flexibility in map design, though - the right glyphs can complement or counterbalance map features, or introduce new strategies and tactics. Adding a few new glyph options to the standard pool, or simply allowing one custom glyph per tournament, could spice things up while minimizing the negative impact. The key: keep it simple! Powers should be reused (from cards) and/or be very straightforward. What’s the first step? Make the map you want to make. Try making a map without worrying about terrain sets. Just focus on designing a tournament map that looks good. It’s a fun exercise, even if you don’t go any further than that. That’s it. I’d love to hear what you think of these concepts, positive or negative. If nothing else, maybe this post will provide a little push toward your next map. Thanks for reading! Last edited by GameBear; February 1st, 2022 at 01:44 PM. |
#2
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Re: Expanding the design space for competitive maps
@GameBear
, there is definitely room to expand on this. With the state that 3d printing is in, there really is no excuse for more "official" terrain. Getting said terrain into a program like virtualscape is the part that I couldn't help much with. (Not too keen on computer software programming). More official glyphs is in the same vein as the terrain but miles easier to pull off. Easy as Glyph of Brandar=New Glyph in virtualscape. I have a ton of ideas for new terrain and the ability to make it both in 3d sculpting programs and then on my 3d printers. The problem I ran into is the design space for it. There needs to be a solid direction if there is a group creating it. As far as I"m concerned there is a vast amount of things that can be added to the Heroscape world. Some ideas are: Turrets, cannons, or mounted weapons of any kind that could be used by figures. Vehicles, or mounts, that are Neutral passive in nature that can be used by anyone. Then you have things that could simply just be interacted with similarly to the fortress door. I'm surprised that there were never anything more to that after the castle set. As far as "Treasure Glyphs" go, not a single modern era weapon was done officially. There are all kinds of things that could be made into one time use glyphs, or gear that can be had by the heroes of scape. For the most part, I play other games nowadays, but if there were things like this, or alternate styles of play that revolve more around objective style play instead of straight deathmatch every game, I may still put it on the table. I'm pretty much over most of what I just mentioned but thought it was worth a shout. Good luck with any projects you guys can get rolling for some results.
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#3
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Re: Expanding the design space for competitive maps
Yeah, there are so many possibilities for custom terrain. It would be cool to see the efforts of the Engineers of Valhalla culminate in some widely accepted community-designed terrain.
For now, I'm just looking at ways mapmakers can branch out when designing tournament maps, while staying fully within the confines of "official" Heroscape. The Glyph of Brandar sits in a gray area, so I'm also trying to give it a little nudge towards acceptance. Baby steps. |
#4
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Re: Expanding the design space for competitive maps
I've never been into the tournament side of heroscape, I always played large maps with friends at my house; however, I could certainly by supportive of new custom terrain that is accepted by the heroscape community at large as official.
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#5
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Re: Expanding the design space for competitive maps
And there lies the problem. Who decides what is official and what process is required by those people to be accepted. And is anyone willing to go through that process.
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#6
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Re: Expanding the design space for competitive maps
It'll always be custom (as with all the fan made projects on this site) and not truly 'official' but it could be an official custom from the EoV.
Hopefully they will take the challenge. I know they're already working on some stuff. Just when you thought it was all right, someone made it alright. Good trades with - Porkins / xraine69 / mac122 (x2) / frylock / Ztimster (x2) and probably others I forgotten to mention...sorry. Last edited by AMIS; February 1st, 2022 at 12:04 PM. Reason: My two cents...worth way less than a dollar. |
#7
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Re: Expanding the design space for competitive maps
Quote:
I haven't run a tournament in a long time, but if I were to run one, and GameBear had created a package of maps from a certain set of terrain, I would almost certainly use it. I expect there is no veteran tournament director on this board who would not consider using a package of maps from GameBear, using alternate terrain content in this way. Take one of the hobby's best competitive map designers, and encourage him to loosen (but not release) the traditional shackles of terrain packages? Yes please. There have been a couple of individual maps that work this way. I'm pretty sure that @Dignan designed a pair of maps that use the trees from 3xRttFF separately from the roads. Maybe I'm misremembering? But that was relatively small scale, compared to what GameBear is contemplating here. I am curious for dignan's thoughts. |
#8
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Re: Expanding the design space for competitive maps
My post was in response to the previous post concerning custom terrain.
I agree that Gamebear's idea is worth exploring. |
#9
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Re: Expanding the design space for competitive maps
Ah, yes. Quite right.
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#10
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Re: Expanding the design space for competitive maps
There are some new glyphs from C3V - I like the new dimension Zawit brings to the endgame.
I think the Glyph of Brandar is a good idea, as fixed glyphs are used successfully in tournament maps (including my personal favorite Embattled Fen, and not just because I'm in this thread). I think if a mapmaker gives the GoB any special "terrain" powers it's up to them, just as mapmakers recommend heavy/normal snow. |
#11
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Re: Expanding the design space for competitive maps
Quote:
Monthly Utah Tournaments in SLC!!
Maps | Customs | Battle Reports 10 Points Under Videos "I'll save myself some time and say I pretty much 100% agree with Bigga" ~Flash_19 |
#12
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Re: Expanding the design space for competitive maps
Quote:
Will you lead the way in presenting us with a suite of 3 such maps? |
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