Urban Gustavsson

Background

I’ve been on and off with StarCraft II since its launch back in 2010, but it was after watching a tournament in 2018 that I became motivated to craft maps more seriously with the aim to get a finalist into the Team Liquid Map Contest (TLMC) which is the major mapping contest for SC2.

In 2019, under the alias Agaton, my map “Pillars of Gold” was not only a finalist but also made it into the official SC2 ladder. This is still one of my proudest moments. Since then, I’ve had several finalists and maps featured on the ladder. At the time of writing, “Dynasty” should be one of them.

What really drives me is watching top players exploit and push the limits of my designs. I love the competitive edge and how the game challenges both players and designers. 

Starting with a theme

I usually start by creating a theme. The theme for a map is its narrative. It gives me inspiration and also an understanding of how the layout should look, like for example how sharp or round the corners of the cliffs should be.
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The StarCraft II asset library is vast, but the game has also been out for soon to be 15 years so many art styles has already been explored. Therefore, I try to take existing assets and combine them into something new.

I tend to make small dioramas of assets and textures until I have something that I find interesting.

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Mirrored versus rotational symmetry  

Maps in StarCraft II are designed symmetrically to ensure fairness, but the type of symmetry varies. While mirrored symmetry is more typical in 4-player maps due to its ability to minimize balance issues, it can lead to repetitive gameplay and takes away some of what makes 4-player maps interesting. Conversely, rotational symmetry is more common in 2-player maps.

As I find rotational symmetry more dynamic and interesting, I took on the challenge of applying it to Jacaranda. My goal was to be able to maintain balance while exploring the unpredictable nature of maps with more than two starting locations.
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Concepting

As I needed to get a better hold on map size and rush distances, I started creating different concepts straight in the editor. I also created simple versions of already excisting maps to learn from them.

My top priority was to even out the rush distances between starting locations to remove potential imbalances.

The first concepts all suffered from problems related to rotational symmetry. If I evened out the rush distance between close spawns and cross spawns, the ability to expand above three-four bases either became very difficult, or the third expansions would be put under too much pressure. If these issues were solved, the paths ended up going through the middle of the map, creating a much less dynamic layout than I was aiming for.

Rotation timings

One of the things that I looked into was rotation timings, meaning the time it takes for a certain unit to move from one location to another (usually an entry point).

In StarCraft II, I believe the defender always should have a slight positional advantage and in order to let the defender position themselves, the attacker needs to have a somewhat slower rotation between entry points compared to the defender. Rotation time, and how narrow an entry point is, also impacts the overall strength of the path itself. Here illustrated using an image from my map Pillars of Gold

The same paths can also be used for flanking which will be shown later.

The Square wave solution

The solution I came up with was a “square wave” path, which effectively prolonged the close spawn rushes. Since it also pushed the central attack path further out, the “square wave” travel time were 1.5 seconds faster and made both paths viable.

The destructible rocks at the ramps served multiple purposes. The rocks blocking the central ramp lengthens rotations early on but allows for faster rotations between expansions once destroyed. It can also be used by the defender to set up flanks.

The rocks in front of the low ground third expansion creates a layer of early protection. If cross spawn, the rocks can be taken down in order to expand in that direction instead.

When combined, the asymmetric attack paths for close spawns creates solid compensation as the one attacking clockwise has the arguably safer low ground third expansion but must deal with two equally fast paths toward the natural, compared to the opponents one direct path that can be controlled more easily.

Iteration and decoration

Several iterations were done to spacing and distances to achieve the final solution shown here, but the original concept stayed the same.

Once the layout was done, I started decorating with the assets and textures I had put together earlier. Simultaneously I also worked on the nav mesh.

Some assets were switched out or improved based on the changes done to the level. For example, I liked the idea of using the cliffs as part of the temples.

Example game

Here's a game from the WardiTV Team Liquid Map Contest 7 that I think does a good job showcasing the map.