Pumiceville Starcraft 2 map

Pumiceville

Hello people for this one I have recorded a pretty lousy video describing the map.

- I forgot to mention it has neutral supply depos for the main choke.

Hmm my mic is so bad. Many times it just miss what I say. And youtube made it slightly worse, mainly it is to bright. Ug uploading your own file at blogger crashes for me, so this youtube video have to do for now.

Map can be downloaded at: http://sc2.nibbits.com/maps/view/137546/pumiceville
 (It is also publicly released)

Eedeen Starcraft 2 melee map.

Eedeen

That's right the map name is Eedeen..... Of course someone had already published a map under the name Eden. However I refused to change the name, or I was just extremely uncreative at the time. So I published my latest map as Eedeen. Anyway I will refer to it as Eden.

This map Eden is as 4 start zone map, but its like most my maps intended for a 1v1 melee game. However I believe its a pretty good FFA map, I have tested it a couple of time as an FFA game. And as I Will come to shortly why its a very aggressive FFA map.
This is because I intended the map to be very hard to defend third expansion. So in an FFA it becomes a lot of battles to secure a third base,

In the normal gameplay of 1v1. How the player wants to expand is depending on the start of the opponent. Or slightly depending on what match up/race it is. The expansion located at the sides of the map (left or right). Is on a cliff and is easier for a Terran defend against a Zerg. While the bottom or top expansion is very open, zerg vs for example protoss should take this one as its easier to get a surround, and this should be true against Terran to, of course it depends on the opponents army composition in the end.

Ok so first part the map features some interesting third base battles. Some other part of this map is that on the mini map it looks really wide open, because I have blocked of the map with trees. The trees create different paths around the center of the map, where an import Xel’naga watch tower is.
And I am really satisfied with the distance of the 3 Xel’naga watch towers. If a user controls the top one, he/she can see just until the tree wall. If he/she controls the middle one he/she can see between the 2 tree walls, and then with controlling the bottom one the user can see to the bottom tree wall. Controlling each Tower gives a great vision of the map. While controlling only the bottom/top one just misses to give the important vision of the paths in the middle. However of course those towers give a good vision on drops and on the path most player will take to attack their opponent if they are on the same top/bottom side of the map.

In the players main base, there is a high ground with line of sight blockers, making it a great drop location or to hide a pylon etc. While its not that effective to attack with air harras on the main. Air harras is instead very effective on the mentioned possible third bases.
The natural is relatively easy defended. I wanted it be easy as comparison with the thirds. However I made it have a pretty small choke but with rocks so it can be made wider.

I did not go for any fancy stuff this time, such as golden expansion, rich gas etc. I felt if I had mad for example the middle expansion gold, the side third ones would be less likely to be used. I didn't want the user to think like that, I want the user to think about the opponents position and the likely army to defends against. Altought it could be interesting as I don't really see a Terran going for the middle expansion at start, could create some interesting battles. However to me from testing the map, it would be unfair as teh Zerg player will most likely for a quick third at this place, slightly depending on where the protoss starts, and then it becomes fairly to good.

In the end of this map, I tried to find a snake critter to have in the middle but couldn't find one ---
Otherwise I made the map pretty nice with some sunlight effects, a nice surround of plants on the map sides.


Note: It was some really weird bug at two of the ramps, which I have never seen before. The units could walk and kinda jump up the cliff by moving just at the left of the ramp, e.g Ramp could not be force fielded, well it could with 2 fields. Anyway I fixed it by just removing and adding a new ramp at the same location.

League of Legends Champion Review: Lee Sin

Ok this is another great hero, sorry I mean champion of League of Legends. This is the champion I have played the most in the game, on ranked at least. After Lee Sin its Shaco( my favorite champion) and then its actually Volibear. Which is just weird, I really don't like the design of Volibear, its just Singed with some attack speed mechanics. However he is really good at the actual game but boring to play. But a champion that is fun to play is Lee Sin.


I found this: a pretty decent cosplayer of Lee Sin, but he forget that headband.
As I am on the monk theme. A really good monk gameplay, the best I would say its clearly Lei-Fei in  the Virtua Fighter franchise. I just want to mentioned that as the game just had an updated version of 5 released. Give that game a try, its a very very good game and he and many other characters has a great design.



Aesthetics:

As mentioned hes a monk. That he is blind and that his attacks are based on sound. And that he can reveal invisible enemies is a great coherent design. I think its a very simple yet elegant design of Lee Sin. 10/10.


Gameplay:

Lee Sin has such a smooth gameplay from that his ability changes, compared to Nidale which as I mentioned in my Jayce review I don't really like but also then compared to Jayce. Lee Sin is so much smoother.
First of all each of his abilities has a great self synergy. His Q ability, Sonic Wave. IF it hits anything Lee Sin can jump to them wit hthe same button. A great idea, it requires the user to be able to aim with a skill shoot. However the user can either teleport attack to the opponent or not do it. And as when I play him I usually wait for some time. This let me land a  few more melee attacks before I jump. The user can also use it to run away by jumping to creeps.
Lee Sin is crazy elusive, I would say he is the most elusive champion in the game. Safeguard is a teleport to a friendly target, and granting a shield to Lee Sin and the Target. The second ability is a increased lifesteal. I feel this follow up is the weakest synergy of Lee Sin, but its still coherent Defence -> lifesteal.
But the important is how freaking awesome Safeguard is, the user can jump to wards to etc as any good player knows, e.g if you jungle as Lee Sin you can drop a ward with Wriggle to escapes (elusive to the max). I really like the dynamics of this mechanic, I am many times saved with him because my ally was close by granting me a jump possibility. This creates a dynamic where the team mates knows this and can stay close by to support the Lee Sin player. The shield is also a great feel as you can save your allies and especially jump into fight give your ally extra health and then using the 2 last abilities to Crowd control the opponent.
  His third ability I dont think its that special, just that it still uses a double input, first an aoe attack and then a cripple mechanic on everything hit.

However the importing thing with this and his other 2 abilities mentioned is his passive. To me Lee Sin has the best passive in the game, game design wise. Each time he uses an ability he gains 40% attack speed for 2 attacks and regains 15 energy (his “mana” resource). This creates such a nice touch to his gameplay. To maximum damage and be able to use abilities more frequently the user when for example using the E attack (Tempest), will wait until 2 attacks have landed before using the cripple effect. However its very nice mechanic what happens in a team fight? Do you want to max your own damage or is it more important to slow down the enemies, to help allies damage them or to help allies escape. I love mechanics like this were the user really can make small but important decisions.

Lastly his ultimate is really nice to. At most champions this ultimate would be pretty shitty. Its a major knockback on one character and slightly pushes other enemies hit by the kicked opponent's champion. However because of Lee Sin’s huge mobility, a good player can move around and get great angles to kick the opponent. Either by using the teleport attack or by jumping to an ally. And because of this the user can both save people very easily or kick opponents in to bad placement for them. It can also be used because its such a major knockback to kick away champions you don't want to engage right now or for example kick away Galio before he does his aoe ultimate etc. Lee Sin is one of those champions where it truly shows right away if its good player or not. That’s how each champion should be but that is really not he case.

To me he is by far the most enjoyable jungler gameplay in the game. But he is also a great champion to play as a top champion. Its really important to point out how Lee Sin is a great enjoyment the whole game, hes a good fighter right away at 1v1 and hes a great smooth jungler. And he just becomes more and more fun the longer the game takes. Many champions have the effect of being either enjoyably in the early game time, or in the late game time. For example Brand to me is a character that don't really evolve, he have one stun combo and that's it. So from level 2 its the exact same gameplay basically. And a late game example is Nasus. He cant do much early game its all about farming Q, which actually is pretty enjoyable in its own right. However its a completely different gameplay late game. Lee Sin has a even line of epicness from the first second to the last. And he will receive the epic score of
10/10

League of Legends Champion Review: Jayce

Hello people, My friend forced me back into league of legend, which sparked my hatred for humanity. But anyway I have been playing and competing in the aos genre since I was 13 so I know my way around the genre. I mainly play LOL now as to be with my friends right. I think I kinda got tired of team games since like 5 years back. Games like SC2 and even better fighting games like sf4,mcvc3 etc who are mano a mano feels much better as an esport for me. However I have always really liked playing team sports games like volleyball if the team is correct and works like a fine oiled machine. In the same sense a DOTA, LOL,HON etc can be very fun if the team is at its out most perfection, otherwise....

Anyway lets analyze one of newest champion(heroes). Jayce

Jayce:

Aesthetics:
Hes a pretty decent appearance wise. I think its a pretty good, “light” design. However its pretty bland. I read at some forums how people seem to not like him, calling him to much of a “superman” look alike. But I think its ok, if anything the superman look alike is just good. Altought not a very unique look.
6/10.

Gameplay:
I really this champion because of the 7 abilities. However it is not so simple. Nidale also have 7 abilities so, isn't she also awesome then. I would say no I always felt Nidale is really boring. So I don't wanna simply say, Omg awesome give all new champions massive amount of shit and its good.
With Jayce its first about the switch which is good, second the switch can be down right away at level 1 and it don't cost anything so it can be used more, third most important the skills themself have a nice synergy. This is an important difference from e,g Nidale where her human form just is...... None of her skills feels right in her human skills its 3 completely different skills with no relation. While Jayce Teleport Attack (the hammer in jump), can be combo with his knock-back attack.
In range form he can combo his energy field, with this projectile attack. And overall the user can get of many nice combos from switching back and forth. This is what this genre need more. Creative and fun champions (heroes) to play.

This also leads to a very huge variety of item builds. This is a really good part about any good champion, when the user can use different kind of builds. And I mean really huge different builds. I have seen many of people go for Jayce as carry, bot lane, but he also works as a top hero, as a support and arguably can be placed in middle. Well this might make him be slightly to powerful. I play him as top hero as mentioned, and it truly fells to strong. I go off tank x attack speed build. And its easy to survive against most champions in a 1v1 melee fight. And then go for a range attacks when needed. Makes it very easy to farm and to deny farm for the opponent. And with his movement speed increase he is hard to gank.
I think hes a really good addition 9/10.

Heaven's Garden Starcraft 2 melee map.

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Heaven's Garden

After playing way to much SC2 this month I wanted to make a standard melee map. I have made some other maps back in the days, and to wc3 to. But they where all custom ones. Now I am in a real mod to make design maps after how the game is supposed to be played, but trying to add in new twist to enchant the gameplay. 

I wanted this map to have a ledge between two main bases to force battles. Obviously this path would favor far to much aggression if it was not blocked by rocks. However as seen in the image there are no rocks. I had it in earlier versions but, instead I went with using Neutral Force Fields. That's right this is something I definitively can see can be used on other maps to. The force fields stay until they are destroyed by massive creatures, so they block the path for quite some time. So mid game it opens up a new path for the gameplay. 

 However there is one problem, the AI becomes kinda weird. While for example the computer AI actually ignored them and moved around across the maps as intended, if the user pulls the AI units into a force field with a battle on the ledge the units will get stuck trying forever to get across that way.

 For players they create more challenges-_- if the user simply tells a unit to move to the other players base the unit will try to use the ledge, so it requires players to be a little aware, its not a problem for any decent player. 

Other features on this map is a back entrance to the main, blocked by rocks. This path also leads to a very close gold expansion. I want the players to might want to expand to a fast gold and be able to defend it instead of a blue one. To make it a balanced the gold expansion has a huge cliff around it, meaning it is very vurnable to drops or air harras. Its also has no choke points. So its easy to attack it straight on. 

The gold is also a possible third, otherwise the normal third is the expansion on a cliff where it ramps is close to the ramp from the natural expansion. 

At the fouth expansion I put a small forest in the corners behind this trees, for example pylon can be hide to harras later expansions.

In the middle there is a Xel'naga watch tower which players can battle upon, also there is 2 more inside the platform of the third ones, together these expansions give a very good vision over the center of the map. 

 There is also some small places with sight reducing trees. 

 I personally really like the ones placed between the trees that creates a wide choke where players will most likely defend their natural and third from attacks. I think it features an interesting battle position. 

Maybe I went a little overboard with how much I allow air play on this map. Its intentionally a lot of space behind the mains so air units can easily attack, as I personally dislike maps where the user cant fly around a main etc. It might be to strong to go for a double stargate etc, but with the queens range 5 range now I think the only problem could be the limited space makes it hard to build enough anti air buildings. 

Otherwise I also added a lot of birds, waterfalls, winds etc. I want the map to feel alive. 

Learning Japanese using Gamification

Ye I just had 3 Japanese exams, they covered different areas.
So now I want to talk about how I felt, learning Japanese was much easier then what people have told me. And how the Japanese pop culture affect games, mainly games from Japan.

Ok first of all lets go into the ridiculous inconsistency of  the Japanese writing language. form a design perspective it is horrendous

I know a lot of people that have studied Japanese on university level, which is an point I will come back to later as well. And they have basically all told me that, “oo its so hard you have to learn all this sign and the words are hard” etc. I want to state, they are so fucking wrong.
First Japanese Writing has 3 different signs, Hiragana, Katakana and Kanji. Kanji are the hard ones, as they are one Kanji for everything. Exemple there is a Kanji for Ochinchin = Penis, but you can also write all the signs for ochinchin おちんちん and btw おちち ochichi means father in Japanese.

The real issue with Hiragana and Katakana which are both sound signs, is the amazing incostenstince. It exist 46 signs, and then some alteration of them in Hiragana. Then it exist new signs but for the same sounds in Katakana, which are used for foreign words for example jeans is not written with Hiragana but with Katakana ジーンズ. Anyway the shitty problem with learning this is that many of them look really similar, and that it is 2 versions of each sound, and by adding small lines or a circle( to h sounds) the sign is changed,. は= ha, ば = ba,  ぱ = pa.

OK but those small changes that some signs have is easy compered to learning the difference of ッ シ ノ ソ ン, = tsu, shi, no, so, n.
This make me truly feel wtf? Especially for me who have had to endure  lecture's about user friendliness for years. Why did they make the signs look so similar. But clearly the worst part is that couldn't they at least be of the either the same vocal or consonant.
If this was a game or any other modern product people would hate it. It would be so much smother if for example all シ was different H sounds, ha,he,hi,hu,ho. Instead of having them at completely different sounds. Furthermore some of the Katakana looks like the Hiragana, for example も モ Mo. So the user would think, o great at least I know that one but of course. for example ko in hiragana is こ and ni in katakana is 二. So its extremely unintuitive to learn Japanese. its a lot of this and then it are some strange rules for example a small tsu (っ) means double consonant e.g  ちょっと now っ this sign don't mean tsu it means the consonant afterwards will be doubled, here it says chi + the sign for yo in small becomes cho and then small tsu + to becomes tto = chotto( a little)

Ok so while all this probaly sound really, really compicliatred and its more rules to....I mean this is just the signs then this grammar etc. But just learning this is surprisingly easy. I don't just say this because I am awesome, but really I learned each hiragana in 1 day! And then each Katakana in 2 Days, the main problem was to do all signs at one in the end and don't confuse them.

I made a game out of it. I had an exam on hiragana on Monday the second week of the course, as its a double course it means the student should have spend 40 hours preparing for this exam. By turning the study into a gameification season I learned Hiragana in 2-3 hours top, I got a A+ on the exam. I used this site realkana.
I told my self, get 100 in a right. Before you move on. So I Started with the signs for the single vocals and K. And don't get me wrong I did not,  study hard for 3 hours in a row. I did this, it toke like 5 mins then I played a starcraft 2 game. After that game I did S and T and so forth, after each letter I added in more at the same time, until I had all signs then I aimed for 200+ in a row and kept doing it until I had succeed. Very simple, Gamification to learn.
I know a lot of people who are wannabe otakus like(ye I went there-_-). And they like me understand oral Japanese at a decent level but believe it takes year to be able to read. It don't, I can read a standard manga now.
The thing is that the last kanji which are a lot of, actually are much more “user friendly” most of them instead look like the object they are supposed to be, and how kanji combination works is pretty simple. 


Summary: IF u are a wannabe otaku ( we both now u are). Dont be afraid to just spend something like 10 hours to learn to read basic Japanese, then you actually learn the Kanji to from reading as the sentence is understandable, one can assume what the kanji means,
Next part will be about Japanese pop culter and how it affects gaming.