Lavarinth wrote:
Really? I thought it felt absurdly big as is, I can't imagine many instances that would require it, especially with the ability to preload a map while in a map, causing an almost instantaneous switch to the next map allowed a more fluid experience similar to that of WC3's TFT Orc campaign.
There's many instances I can think where a larger size would be useful. Allow me to list some for you!
- FFA maps.
Having a reasonable distance between each player is critical, plus preventing easy cliffing. With shit being so completely mobile in sc2 and terrain having much less of an effect, as a map designer you have to do some pretty creative monkeywork to bring back positional value. This means a lot of cliffs, chokes, and other geometric features. But having a reasonably sized section for 2 players already takes up a huge portion of the map. An 8 player FFA map is virtually impossible without ridiculously tiny rush distances. 14 player FFA's, what I want to make, are a pipedream.
Keep in mind units in sc2 move faster than sc1 and typically have longer range as well. This compounds the smaller map size problem significantly and is also a contributor to the issues of Blizzard's existing maps.
- 4v4 maps.
- RPG maps.
The prospect of fitting a multiplayer RPG of considerable scale in a map this small in scale is truly terrifying and crippling.
The RPG-Campaign maps I want to make for 2042 entail large geometry and fully-functional cities for multiple factions. Again we run into the issue of tight quarters. In my quick experiment I terrained a very basic section using a Command Center as a reference for a medium-sized building. My base took up 2/3 of the upper area of the map and nearly reached into the middle despite having only extremely generic features. No multi-cliff passes, only a handful of ramps and a small amount of water.
I want to avoid falling into the colossal pitfalls of Dawn of War - tiny maps without any space or opportunity for geometry to play a major role in gameplay of melee, mod, or campaign projects. I prefer big maps, I prefer maps with a lot of space and a lot of unique non-symmetrical features to facilitate dynamic gameplay and perhaps some eyecandy to boot.
The transition thing you speak of would not work for any of my "active" RPC maps at all just like it doesn't for wc3.
/e
As an example, that ET3 defense map for wc3 I sent you a while ago would be totally impossible to do in sc2 because of size limitations. There's no way you'd have a city that big in the middle plus the external city and then the demon/orc bases.
I have considered the prospect of rescaling
everything... but I think that would introduce a lot more issues, especially in relations to the accuracy of physics, cameras, and such.
