ESOCommunity

I've returned to the ESOC forums and map making with the release of DE. I'm starting this thread to share my maps. Some I've shared before here but many I've never posted here and some are completely new! I've ported all my maps over to DE I appreciate any and all constructive feedback on maps. If you dislike a map and think it can be improved, please explain why. I'd love to hear your thoughts on potential improvements. You'll find in my signature a link to download my maps from my Google drive.
I don't have a set philosophy for making maps. My maps range from competitive to meme. Generally I focus on 1v1 spawns but I ensure that my maps work for all spawns. Below I'll share some map pics and a brief description for each of my maps. I've included spawns for 1v1, team, ffa (for @howlingwolfpaw), and koth. Note that the 2v2v2v2 spawns just like the FFA spawns (but teammates spawn together) and FFA KOTH spawns the fort in the same location as in team.


My Map Mod

____________________ My Maps ____________________

____________________ Other Maps ____________________

Thank you very much for your maps.
Although very few people play new maps on Voobly, your map Dhaka has gained a lot of popularity on it. For us, Dhaka is one of the most beautiful maps.

ngl I'm wishing I was on Dhaka whenever I get New England in QS. God I hate NE.

Ye, nice unstandard maps. I especially like Fraser River and Dhaka.

frick the haters put the middle pond back in

Oh what, he removed the middle pond. RIP

I thought that was the whole point of the map....

deleted_user wrote:frick the haters put the middle pond back in

[Armag] diarouga wrote:Oh what, he removed the middle pond. RIP

harcha wrote:I thought that was the whole point of the map....

OKOK it's back lol

Kawapasaka wrote:ngl I'm wishing I was on Dhaka whenever I get New England in QS. God I hate NE.

haha that reminded me of this exchange about dhaka

vividlyplain wrote:

somppukunkku wrote:I don't think it works that way. Pond and water booming have no connection. It's going to be another NE, with pond war and water otherwise ignored. What's different, really?

Other than actually having resources in your base when you spawn into the game?

much love, thank you vivid!

howlingwolfpaw wrote:much love, thank you vivid!

If there’s a map you’d really like to play ffa on but is just a garbage ffa spawn I can rework it. Wabakimi For example looks super imbalanced with res for ffa but I could probably change that in a few minutes.

boy shick

great work!

Here are some of my thoughs just from looking at them, some I think would be more playable and popular than others, but with all the variation there is just going to be some maps that unbalance is going to happen. Its just that in FFA its a big deal to not have res and need to get to other side to claim them, but cant due to lakes or other people being in such better positions.



Death valley--- should be interesting in that you have to fight for the center resources, I just hope there are enough trees to build mills and such so its not 100% of game.
East Africa--- looks very balanced and full or Resources, and very open so very fun and easy games could be played.
Alberta--- looks interesting, but is pretty unbalanced because people on opposite side of map to coin will have a hard time accessing it and 2 mines wont really do much.
Bering straight--- looks balanced and good and should prevent wall spam, I like it!
Black rock desert--- is wild! a nice rush map.
dhaka--- has some options and potential, I am generally not a fan of FFA maps that divide the map in sections, but I like the potential for some to land boom off natural res, and others to sea boom. and not all being in a circle for start positions could be interesting though a little random of balance.
Forrest nothing--- not sure what to think about this FFA configuration, hardly any room for a FB and hard to fight in such a long narrow choke point. I would like to see this with a outer trade route with a TP beween each base and a back door entrance that connects them all.
Fraiser River--- kinda of like death valley, but since the river separates there could be 2 main winners of the center vs the one.
Nepal--- looks good, too bad no TP line though.
Nomad--- I see some interesting and epic games and strats that could be played on this map. I like the center island for water control.
Regicide arena--- lots of fast play action for booming!
Twin sisters--- could be a very popular FFA map.
Vietnam--- another outright early slug fest fed with sea booms, and many res.... Epic
Wabakimi--- A little unbalanced for players hunts, some can really take advantage of this.


All in all, provide for some more variation so thank you for including and thinking of me. I think what players generally want are balanced land maps with good resources and a TP each to boom from.

for 2v2v2v2 do you have to be in order in the lobby? or will it know where to place you?

howlingwolfpaw wrote:for 2v2v2v2 do you have to be in order in the lobby? or will it know where to place you?

You need to select teams but order doesn’t matter.

howlingwolfpaw wrote:Here are some of my thoughs just from looking at them, some I think would be more playable and popular than others, but with all the variation there is just going to be some maps that unbalance is going to happen. Its just that in FFA its a big deal to not have res and need to get to other side to claim them, but cant due to lakes or other people being in such better positions.
....
All in all, provide for some more variation so thank you for including and thinking of me. I think what players generally want are balanced land maps with good resources and a TP each to boom from.

Thanks for this. I'll look into some of it soon. Obviously somethings like Dhaka just aren't going to change but if the FFA crowd is interested in playing on these I'm all for making some tweaks based on feedback.

Dhaka is an insane 2v2v2v2 map (kind of insane in general ig ).


Tweaking some res on Alberta and Wabakimi are pretty easy... adding a tp line and back doors to Forest Nothing a little more time consuming but doable.

vividlyplain wrote:

howlingwolfpaw wrote:Here are some of my thoughs just from looking at them, some I think would be more playable and popular than others, but with all the variation there is just going to be some maps that unbalance is going to happen. Its just that in FFA its a big deal to not have res and need to get to other side to claim them, but cant due to lakes or other people being in such better positions.
....
All in all, provide for some more variation so thank you for including and thinking of me. I think what players generally want are balanced land maps with good resources and a TP each to boom from.

Thanks for this. I'll look into some of it soon. Obviously somethings like Dhaka just aren't going to change but if the FFA crowd is interested in playing on these I'm all for making some tweaks based on feedback.

Dhaka is an insane 2v2v2v2 map (kind of insane in general ig ).


Tweaking some res on Alberta and Wabakimi are pretty easy... adding a tp line and back doors to Forest Nothing a little more time consuming but doable.

You don't need to feel compelled to make changes to forrest nothing, i just think it will be more fun to have a few more options than just 1 walled in super defensive poition. Its a little too much of a choke hold for me, a map like this fills a small niche



I think a map with a circular outer trade line, with forrest on the outer perimeter, and bases circled in another concentric circle with standard res, and maybe some native in the center with a few extra mines would be interesting.... well actually that is basically twin sisters...

also for AOE2 players a fortress style map that already has those super thick walls for a small defensive fort for each player would be epic!

howlingwolfpaw wrote:
You don't need to feel compelled to make changes to forrest nothing, i just think it will be more fun to have a few more options than just 1 walled in super defensive poition. Its a little too much of a choke hold for me, a map like this fills a small niche



I think a map with a circular outer trade line, with forrest on the outer perimeter, and bases circled in another concentric circle with standard res, and maybe some native in the center with a few extra mines would be interesting.... well actually that is basically twin sisters...

also for AOE2 players a fortress style map that already has those super thick walls for a small defensive fort for each player would be epic!

I had a similar plan for forest nothing but decided on the strip of water. Maybe I add a spawn variant at some point.

I do have an arena/hideout style map on my list. Also a map that’s like an inverted twin sisters but every level descending into the middle has a different resource (and no diamond mines). Sounds maybe similar to what your suggesting here?

I really enjoy some age2 maps and I plan to bring some of those ideas to AoE3.

here is a quick little snapshot of some map layout I wished I had the ability to create. Without regards to natives and resources. Bottom ones are designed for 2v2v2v2 but could still work in FFA

top left: like texas but the TP lines are the middle ground, this could have all 4 players in the crescent with special land attributes on the 2 sides, or just be 2 parallel trade routs in the center.
top 2nd: kind of an iffy map, but has resoures to the side or one can water or TP boom to control the center,
top 3rd: idea is that the outer TP are all in starting build bounds area so each get access to 1 TP or can control center for more.
top 4th, is a lot like silk road, but maybe different nats and more trees.

bottom left, no TP, extra eco comes from sea
bottom 2nd extra eco is in the center
bottom 3rd: protected team trade routes.

Oh here are 2 other maps

the first is like a updated ceylon which is a popular map. along the edge is a narrow land bridge for a TP line, but no room to build a FB, so units can traverse it but not easily get reinforcements, it will pressure people to go on main land but still incentive to hold onto water base.

map 3 takes a lot of work I am sure as it would be using the thick fort walls to build a small secure base around a TC and fort. But there would be no hunts, trees, or mines within it, so villagers would have to go out unprotected to gather resources. starting with extra crates might be fun! turtling could still be an option by cutting close by trees for mills but will be outscaled by the aggressors who get the mines, hunts and TP. the forts would not be so big that a whole economy and millitary could be within them. but its a secure stronghold.


any thoughts?

The fort idea sounds really interesting. It feels nice to have a safe fort, but it also avoids the problem of camping

howlingwolfpaw wrote:Oh here are 2 other maps

the first is like a updated ceylon which is a popular map. along the edge is a narrow land bridge for a TP line, but no room to build a FB, so units can traverse it but not easily get reinforcements, it will pressure people to go on main land but still incentive to hold onto water base.

map 3 takes a lot of work I am sure as it would be using the thick fort walls to build a small secure base around a TC and fort. But there would be no hunts, trees, or mines within it, so villagers would have to go out unprotected to gather resources. starting with extra crates might be fun! turtling could still be an option by cutting close by trees for mills but will be outscaled by the aggressors who get the mines, hunts and TP. the forts would not be so big that a whole economy and millitary could be within them. but its a secure stronghold.


any thoughts?

ffa maps 2.png

Initially made me think of having a regicide map like that with maybe a star fort behind those epic walls from the campaign where you have to defend your fort rather than a daimyo.

Interesting map ideas. Some easier to make than others. Maybe next I’ll experiment with spawning some walls and buildings.

vividlyplain wrote:

howlingwolfpaw wrote:Oh here are 2 other maps

the first is like a updated ceylon which is a popular map. along the edge is a narrow land bridge for a TP line, but no room to build a FB, so units can traverse it but not easily get reinforcements, it will pressure people to go on main land but still incentive to hold onto water base.

map 3 takes a lot of work I am sure as it would be using the thick fort walls to build a small secure base around a TC and fort. But there would be no hunts, trees, or mines within it, so villagers would have to go out unprotected to gather resources. starting with extra crates might be fun! turtling could still be an option by cutting close by trees for mills but will be outscaled by the aggressors who get the mines, hunts and TP. the forts would not be so big that a whole economy and millitary could be within them. but its a secure stronghold.


any thoughts?

ffa maps 2.png

Initially made me think of having a regicide map like that with maybe a star fort behind those epic walls from the campaign where you have to defend your fort rather than a daimyo.

Interesting map ideas. Some easier to make than others. Maybe next I’ll experiment with spawning some walls and buildings.

The black dot is meant to be a fort, but i didn't realize there were star forts too! that would be epic. I think it needs to have 2 entrances on the sides.

Wish I could help, not sure how theses are made, and if only 6 players were to join would it spawn with 6 forts? or would 2 be unoccupied?

howlingwolfpaw wrote:

vividlyplain wrote:

howlingwolfpaw wrote:Oh here are 2 other maps

the first is like a updated ceylon which is a popular map. along the edge is a narrow land bridge for a TP line, but no room to build a FB, so units can traverse it but not easily get reinforcements, it will pressure people to go on main land but still incentive to hold onto water base.

map 3 takes a lot of work I am sure as it would be using the thick fort walls to build a small secure base around a TC and fort. But there would be no hunts, trees, or mines within it, so villagers would have to go out unprotected to gather resources. starting with extra crates might be fun! turtling could still be an option by cutting close by trees for mills but will be outscaled by the aggressors who get the mines, hunts and TP. the forts would not be so big that a whole economy and millitary could be within them. but its a secure stronghold.


any thoughts?

ffa maps 2.png

Initially made me think of having a regicide map like that with maybe a star fort behind those epic walls from the campaign where you have to defend your fort rather than a daimyo.

Interesting map ideas. Some easier to make than others. Maybe next I’ll experiment with spawning some walls and buildings.

The black dot is meant to be a fort, but i didn't realize there were star forts too! that would be epic. I think it needs to have 2 entrances on the sides.

Wish I could help, not sure how theses are made, and if only 6 players were to join would it spawn with 6 forts? or would 2 be unoccupied?

I’d make it like any map where you spawn with buildings in your base. So 1 per player and the players would be evenly spread around the map.

@howlingwolfpaw the regicide walls are a grouping. I can use them but it’s not exactly what you’re asking for. There’s no point trying to make a grouping of a custom wall that fits your design as others wouldn’t be able to play the map just by downloading it in the lobby.

I’ll continue experimenting with this idea of yours and let you know what I come up with.