Posts from Mapmaking Contest 2015-2016

Following the example of the Cartmaster 2014 contest, I am announcing the "Cartmaster 2015-2016" contest.

Features:

1) The contest includes maps created in 2015-2016 and posted on the heroesworld portal.

2) Any forum member (registered before January 18, 2017 to avoid clones) can choose up to three best maps in each category (single player scenario 2015, single player scenario 2016, Multiplayer 2015, Multiplayer 2016).
That is, you can select two good maps or one, or three. But it's better to choose exactly three for each category.
Any forum member (registered before January 18, 2017) can choose up to two best maps in the "best campaign 2015-2016" category.

3) Nominations: Campaign 2015-2016, Single Player Scenario 2015, Single Player Scenario 2016, Multiplayer 2015, Multiplayer 2016.

4) In the nominations Single Player Scenario 2015, Single Player Scenario 2016, Multiplayer 2015, Multiplayer 2016, we vote in the poll above. It is open; if someone makes a mistake and gets confused with votes, it will be visible, and I will notify them. In the nomination for the best campaign of 2015-2016, we vote in this thread.

5) At the end of the contest, map authors receive badges on their profile, and the maps are temporarily pinned in the section as a bonus (for the year 2016).

6) The list of maps is below:

Map Title	Author	Year	Type
The Story of Zallula	Aскет2	2015	campaign
To Arms!	RobinMobin	2016	campaign
Echoes of War	Квант	2016	campaign
Dungeons and Devils	Квант	2016	campaign
Reborn	Markel the Imperor	2015	scenario
War of Lords	Azlogor	2015	scenario
Twilight's End	MasteR	...	...
The Goblin's Story	Aскет2
Path of a Hero	Jack_of_shadows
In Twilight	Раджа	2016	scenario
Valley of the Sky Raiders	OrnsteinDragonslayer	...	...
Uninvited Guests	MasteR
The Price of Freedom	John_Dante
Arena of Peace	proxy1	2015	multiplayer
Former Friends 2.0	Dagonet	...	...
Birth of Legends	Ясветушка
On the Brink of Balance	MasteR
Dragon Pass III	Dagonet
Twilight Archipelago	Bravo1853
Tamriel	Nerevarine
Three Roads	Bravo1853
Water and Fire	Rasvetribka	2016	multiplayer
Mountain Lords	WizardNazyr	...	...
Mysterious Valley	Rasvetribka
Bay of Destiny	Subjugator
Lost Islands	Rasvetribka
Golden Valley	GabbaHatt
Minas Tirith	Rasvetribka
New War	Bravo1853
Portal War	Rasvetribka
Divided by the River	Rasvetribka
Statist	Sawyer2236
Citadels	Rasvetribka

Once the format is finalized, I will create a poll and voting will begin.

Another point: when selecting maps, I was guided by the date of topic creation. Hypothetically, this may not correspond to the release date of the map itself. If anyone notices a discrepancy, please let me know. While it's still possible, I will revise the table.

Also, I did not sort out map cycles. They may have been included somewhere, and if the cycle has not been nominated for the contest before, it can be included in the campaign contest.

Former Friends 2.0
Dragon Pass III

Possible candidates for removal are not fully new maps, but only modified standard ones.

Well, how can I put it? The author significantly improved and reworked the maps – Former Friends 2.0 and Dragon Passage III, and, by the way, received a lot of positive feedback from players of the previous versions. **I wonder, are there any unfinished or overly unbalanced maps among the maps from 2015-2016?**

Possible candidates for removal are not entirely new maps, but only modified standard ones.

Question: Did the author take old maps and work with them in the editor, or did he create everything from scratch, with the existing maps serving as a source of inspiration?

Question: Did the author take old maps and work with them in an editor, or did he create everything from scratch, using existing maps as a source of inspiration?

I didn't compare; according to the description, it seems like he modified existing ones.

Interesting, are there any unfinished or overly unbalanced maps among those created between 2015 and 2016?

Offhand, the map Statist is described as a trial version and has very few downloads.

You can remove "On the Brink of Balance". Its foundation is based on the GSC.

Offhand, the map Statist is described as a trial version and has very few downloads.

Yes, it's clearly weak and unfinished

Added 5 minutes later

We can remove "On the Brink of Equilibrium." Its foundation was made using the GSC.

MasteR, come on, this is your map! You rearranged the monsters, resources, added new objects, completely balanced it (which is quite laborious), and slightly improved it, so you have done a full job on the map, even though it was based on the Map Generator. The point is that it is playable and has balance

MasteR, honestly, this is your map! You rearranged the monsters, resources, added new objects, and completely rebalanced it (which is quite laborious), and also made some minor improvements, so you’ve done a full job on the map, even though it was based on the Map Generator. The point is that it’s playable and has a good balance.

If my memory serves me correctly, in the rules of previous contests, there was a clause stating that the map should not be generated using the Map Generator.

In 2013, or perhaps even earlier, there was a similar contest, though it was of a different nature. When there's a limited time for map creation, using a map editor is absolute cheating.
I'll consider how to proceed in this case and try to check "Former Friends" and "Dragon's Passage."
"Statist" can be excluded if it's unplayable, meaning it's impossible to complete in its current state. Otherwise, I won't rush with that.

Discussing maps is good, but this way our progress will be slow and take a long time. We need to set up some kind of voting system. Even if the results are not perfect, it will be better than nothing. More people will click the "yes" or "no" button than will write a coherent post in the thread.
I think we should vote in two stages. Start by using a method of elimination, i.e., remove half of the maps from the list. There are some really weak ones there. In the second round, vote for the ones you like from the remaining maps.
If we need to cut down now, I would suggest removing: "statist," "tamriel," "portal wars," and "arena of the world."
MasteR, don't rush to cut down your maps. Right now, there's a shortage, so even well-edited GSC maps are useful.

In general, I've checked "Former Friends" so far. The difference is noticeable, but the maps use the same template. Let's do this: I'll shorten these maps, but the reason isn't the use of a different map; it's simply that these are improvements to maps from 2008. Or whatever year they were made... So yes, they look more interesting, but they're not new. I won't shorten anything else. I won't shorten the Master's map either – firstly, the fact that GSC was used will probably be taken into account by the voters themselves if they consider it a serious drawback. Secondly, for fairness, I would have to "examine" all the other maps and check for the same thing, but that would take a lot of time. Are there any errors in the list? Are the dates correct, and the links working? Then I'll add the poll to the topic now.

I've attached a poll. So, please pay attention, because:

In the nominations for single-player scenario 2015, single-player scenario 2016, multiplayer 2015, and multiplayer 2016, we vote in the poll above. It's open, so if anyone makes a mistake and gets confused with the votes, it will be visible, and I will notify them. In the nomination for the best campaign of 2015-2016, we vote in this thread.

Moreover, in each category, except for campaigns (there are four of them in total), we choose up to three best maps. In campaigns, we choose up to two maps. Here's the list of campaigns separately:

The Story of Zallula
To Arms!
Echoes of War
Dungeons and Devils

The poll will be open for a month, as it was last time. It will close in 31 days from this date (January 20, 2017, 0:53 Moscow time). Let's begin, gentlemen.

I voted in the poll for what I consider to be the three best maps. As for campaigns, I choose "Dungeons and Devils" and "Echoes of War." Of course, if the votes of newcomers are even taken into account.

I don't understand why they shouldn't be taken into account, especially since you've been on the forum for a year.
Thank you for your vote.

serovoy, I apologize if my wording was unclear. Can you also vote in other categories? You can do so in the relevant thread. You only selected maps from 2015 and only scenarios, and you also mentioned campaigns here.