We will be meeting after coming up with further level and enemy/boss designs and the basic framework including one level.

Usual time and venue.

All members are welcome to join in the update and discussion. New projects may be formed depending on human resources available.

Usual time and venue.

All members are welcome to join in the update and discussion. New projects may be formed depending on human resources available.

Project page for Project Raiden has also been set up. Click here to view.

Members present :

• Sam Fisher
• Jeisern
• Wei Liang
• Zhong Hui
• Akshay
• Jian Yu
• Jun Lam

After brainstorming and detailing for over an hour, we settled on the following :

• Raiden-type game
• To have beta up by Matriculation fair as flagship game
• Multi-platform using Unity as primary dev platform (for PC, iOS, Android) and XNA as secondary platform (for Xbox, WP7)
• Total estimated dev schedule : full month of May after semester exams

Members can get more details by visiting our dropbox, in the folder Documents for Project Raiden, or click here and login to view (must have access to dropbox still ). If you would like to be added to the project officially, you can contact us, or just come for our next meeting. We can discuss the possibilities of new projects still.

Our expected deliverables for the meeting on 21 March 2012 is the initial prototype consisting of the various components (frameworks, player and enemy designs, level designs, UI layout and design).

NOTE : Our other game ideas included RPG, Racing, RPG+Racing, Canabalt-style. RPGs were deemed too much for our timeframe, while Raiden’s nostalgia seemed to drown out Canabalt’s simplicity.

After going through the various kinds of game design involved, we proceeded to play a game that highlighted the importance and difficulty in balancing game mechanics.

The night ended on a high with both teams getting into awkward situations (due to balancing and level design issues) such as inability for other players to win after a certain move was played, and possible stalemate.

With the insight gained from this workshop (thanks again to Joshua for taking time to enlighten us!), and the experience from our previous StarCraft II Dev sessions, we planned to start a new project during our next GDG meeting.

Date : 22 Feb 2012
Time : 10.30 am til 5 pm+
Venue : Seminar Room 3, Town Plaza, U-Town (UPDATED) Seminar Room 8, COM1

Bring food, drinks and ideas! ( ! NEW ! ) Laptops and paper too!

More details by Sunday 19 Feb.

For further reference, you can use the following sites :

• SC2Mapster
• SC2Mod
• StarCraft II Editor @ The Helper.Net

I have added a page for our game which was made at this year’s Global Game Jam by our very own members of NUS GDG! 48 hours, 5 people, tons of junk food, and an undisclosed amount of sleep!!

5/5 Ratings!!

Click here to go to the page.

Protoss versus Terran in an open area. Not included but implied: Protoss tears.

Maps are as integral to Starcraft 2 as units and races are, and overlooking their need for balance would be foolish. Since release and beta we’ve seen many maps come and go, both in ladders and in tournaments but a few select old goodies, such as Metalopolis, have stuck around with modifications. However, we’re rapidly seeing changes and improvement everywhere: The days of maps with little chance of taking a third are gone, as are the maps with rush distances where you’d feel tempted to just 12 worker rush. I’ll be taking a look at what makes a bad map horrible, and what makes a great map a true joy to play on.

There are an incredible amount of things to consider when you’re making or playing a Starcraft 2 map. All the races have different preferences and woes, some distances must be considered and avoided, and expansions must be defensible – but not too much. But all of this is far too much to discuss as one, so let’s break it down!

RACES

Balance across maps is wildly different depending on which race you are playing, and that’s down to many factors. All races have strengths and weaknesses, and when designing a map it’s the most important thing to consider.

For Zerg, the most desired map is one where expansions are close together, but open. This allows for both strong ground-based aggression early game, as well as strong multi-expanding mid/late game. Zerg is mobile and can easily exploit short rush distances on ground, but are weak against short air distances as it’s only at lair that Zerg can get decent anti-air defenses.

Protoss on the other hand like their naturals with good, small chokes where they can use their sentries force-fields to block any aggression while they build toward their death-ball. On the same note, they somewhat dislike very large maps as they in general the less mobile race. Open areas leave the Protoss force vulnerable, so maps with chokes or passages in the middle are desirable.

Terran is all about how much of the map can be controlled with siege positions, and how the other races are at an disadvantage. Terran is not terribly impaired by open areas, as this can allow for stronger micro, nor does it require chokepoints the way Protoss does. As such, it is probably the most all-round race, map-wise. The most desirable thing for Terran is probably a map that focuses on expanding toward your opponent. These maps lend themselves toward a fight over the middle-area control, where Terrans excel.

BASES

Blink stalkers assaulting a Terran base from across a ledge

There are, in my opinion, three major things to consider about bases and expansions; Openness, Elevation and Proximity.

Openness refers to the accessibility of the base, both for the defender and the attacker. This comes down partially to the amount of entrances and their nature: One entrance with a small choke point is easy to defend, whereas a base with two wide ramps or even no ramp at all becomes gradually more complicated. As I mentioned in the comments about races above, open expansions are easily exploitable by Zerg, but with very defensible ones you’ll leave Zerg at a disadvantage.

Elevation ties in with the openness of the expansion, but is also important from a few units perspective. These maps are most important when you consider that not only does elevation protect the defender from attacks from all directions, but it also cuts you off from hurting the things on the other side. This is especially notable with Siege Tanks and other long range units, as they can position themselves in protection from melee units, but still in range of say, your well saturated mineral line.

Proximity is related to both how far your base and expansions are from your opponents, but also the distance between them. Expansions that are close together are generally easier to defend and to expand to, but will become gradually more dangerous as they get close to your opponent. This is why gold expansions should be the expansion closest to your opponent, given your spawn locations. It’s also worth to note that proximity by air is somewhat different to proximity by ground, where you need to consider the location of the mineral field in the base-area. Leave it close to a ledge at the edge of the map, facing your opponent, can make it a very dangerous expansion even if other factors such as openness and elevation suggest that it should be safe.

THE FLUFF

Destructible Debris and Fog surrounding the Xel’Naga tower

There is obviously a lot more to maps than the factors I’ve mentioned previously, and I like to think of these as fluff-factors. Destructible debris or rocks can be used to make expansions harder to take, block off alternative paths or make ramps more variable by having them partially blocked. Rocks should be used with caution; there should be a very clear reason to throw down rocks in a place that might otherwise be fine without it. A few legitimate uses might be to delay an otherwise extremely defensible third expansion, to leave the ramp to your second expansion small during early-game but allow for their destruction during a mid-game push or allowing for multiple attack-routes that would otherwise leave too much room for cheese.

Brush or Fog is an interesting tool that will affect vision across certain areas, but should be used with caution. While allowing for unsuspected drops in bases, proxy cheese or improving how control of the middle area works, brush can sometimes do more bad than good: Having a certain area with brush increases the need to control it, as it creates an artificial defense line where it can be difficult to engage.

Siege tank distances is an important factor that somewhat ties into the elevation category above, but is notably avoided by carefully QAing your map beforehand. Creative siege tank positioning can allow a small force control over an undesirably large area if the map isn’t well designed, both offensively and defensively. As such, keeping that in mind when positioning areas of importance can really make the difference between a good and a godly map.

Proxy positions are those certain hidden away areas that you won’t pass by unless you’re deliberately scouting them, and as such the perfect place to hide proxy cheese. Having these isn’t bad on its own, but it can easily become too much. However, complete lack of them limits the amount of strategies a map can sustain, and will render it less balanced and interesting. Knowing where they are is integral to map-awareness and scouting, so keep it in mind when you think about the map you’re playing or designing.

Last but not least, Xel’Naga towers are important structures that allow for map-control and massive vision to the player that is controlling them. They are important early-game structures as they somewhat warn you of rushes, mid and late-game they tell you where the enemy is moving his army. While the towers are important and should be included on most maps, being able to avoid them is also important, as the map-control advantage can otherwise easily spiral out of control.

SPECIFIC MAP ANALYSIS

GSL Daybreak

GSL Daybreak is a recently introduced 1 vs 1 map with impressive balance results, according to TLPD it is probably one of the most balanced competitive maps out there. Let’s take a look at some of the features that might contribute to that.

The map has a rotational symmetry where you spawn as far away from your opponent as possible, and a total of ten bases excluding the spawn positions. There are three paths through the middle area, where the shortest one is blocked off with destructible debris. This ensures a medium rush distance, while still opening up the map mid to late game. Your natural is situated on a ramp below your main, and has two entrances: One medium-wide ramp, and a wide ramp that is partially covered by destructible debris. As both of the entrances naturally choke off toward the middle area of the expansion, you won’t be battling an army split over two sides. Your expansion is thus somewhat protected by elevation, but still punishable should you go expo first.

Xel’Naga towers are situated on both sides of the destructible debris that covers the middle path, and give vision of an important area while still leaving one longer path accessible should you want to avoid it. They are also surrounded by fog, limiting vision if you do not control them. When you are expanding you are faced with a choice: Do I take the expansion that is further away from my main, but more defensible, or do I take the closer, more open one. This lends itself to balance where you can expand based on your opponent, rather than being pigeonholed into expanding a certain (sometimes undesirable) pattern. The map lacks gold bases, however the somewhat more open fourth expansion has a Rich Vespene Geyser, allowing for faster gas harvesting. Hiding Proxy buildings can be somewhat difficult on Daybreak, where your best option is probably hiding it near your opponents third, but it is not crippling as the natural is still assaultable without proxy. All in all, the sum of it all is greater than the whole, and Daybreak allows for both short intense early game battles, but can last for long macro games as well. A good, all-round map, with no true weaknesses.

Jungle Basin

If Daybreak is the fruit of what we’ve learned throughout these years, Jungle Basin is where we learned it from. This map was present on the Battle.net ladder early 2011 and used in tournaments, where it racked up a whopping 68% win ratio for Terran in TvZ. Let’s take a look at the more notable features of this map.

Your main has one entrance, a small ramp; this ensures a safe defense should there be an early game rush. Your natural has two entrances: One from your main and one that is stopped by Destructible Rocks, leaving it very safe. However, sneaking a proxy pylon behind the destructible rocks, or even proxy buildings, is hard to defend or prepare against because of the scouting distance. This, as well as the strength at the time, lead to very heavy 4-gate play from Protoss. The map has a total of 6 bases, excluding the main bases, and they are all in somewhat odd positions. With the third expansion being very close to your opponent, it was almost impossible to take for a Zerg player, and a wonderful expansion for Terran. The stark contrast between the defensible natural expansion and the very open third and fourths left very little room for counter play: Can’t all-in because he can hold it, can’t expand because he will punish it. Two base all ins were thusly very common on the map. Xel’Naga towers in the middle area give vision over all but the most roundabout attack path, and it would not be uncommon for one player to control both – thusly gaining vision over the entire middle area. The middle area also has the benefit of being elevated, meaning that siege tanks or colossi could easily control the side paths while staying in the center. Jungle basin favors very specific strategies, and would cripple anyone that would not or could not adhere to them, making it a one sided and boring map.

CONCLUSION

Kerrigan wants you to be map aware. For the Swarm.

Maps are incredibly hard to balance, but incredibly important. Good maps will give players and observers something new to look forward to each and every game, and will allow for true improvement for players. Knowing your map is integral to your own play as well; no map will ever be completely fair for all strategies considered. The next time when you are laddering, think about the ground you’re on and most importantly – learn where your strategy is weak. If you find yourself in a deep distaste for a certain ladder map, well, remember that you can still veto. I hope I’ve helped you help yourself with your map analysis, so with that I bid you farewell, and Happy Starcrafting!

Source : RTS Guru : Making Starcraft 2 Maps Tick: An In-Depth Analysis

4.30 pm @ Woodlands bus interchange (near queue-up for bus 169). We’ll meetup before going to RP together.

Bring food, computer, tablets, coffee (or red bull) if you need, sleeping bags if you want. I’m not sure the exact details on the supplied meals, so just bring some money in case. EDIT : Jackets too!

If you will/may be late, it’s ok, just come – go direct to RP in that case. There’s no such thing as leaving you out of GGJ just because you’re late (it just means less time to develop )

Any questions or enquiries, call (or sms) See Shuen @ 96204486 or Wei Liang @ 81250150.

EDIT : Added jacket, corrected XXX to Bus 169.

A reminder to those who are going to Global Game Jam, please remember to sign up both on the main site and the Singapore site.

For those who are undecided, just another quick brief about GGJ : It is an annual event organised by International Game Developers Association whereby students, developers and hobbyists around the world create a game in 48 hours based on a given central theme; the time constraints pose an exciting and interesting challenge to game design and development.

As of this post, there should be about 2 small teams or 1 huge team from NUS GDG participating in the event.