Staredit Network

Okay, here's the deal. The prize will be all the minerals I have (I won't spend any and I'm almost positive my bet in the tourney will win). On sunday the 20th, the winner will be chosen. The person with the best backwards ramp will be awarded the prize, if you don't trust me, don't submit an entry, it's that simple. The following are what I'm looking for in the ramp.

Must
-Be completely usable in melee games
-Not have many sprites, if any
-Have the same or at least similar strategical consequences of blizzards standard ramps (ie their downward diagonal ramps) in melee games
-be accessible for me to use in my own maps without limitation (I won't claim I created your ramp and I will give you full credit upon request but I'm not going to ask you for it every time I want to use it in a map)
-Be in StarForge (that's what I use, because I heard it was the best for Terrain, I need to be able to use your backwards ramp as a custom brush in my map.

Preferred
-Diagonal
-Both south-west to northeast and south-east to north west
-Jungle tileset
-Anything that makes it look better without using sprites

This was my attempt at a backwards ramp, it was pretty pathetic (my first time in starforge so whatever)
[attachmentid=6214]

Please note, I do not want ramps that go the normal way, like the one in the bottom left of my screen shot. That's worthless to me.

That's it. You have till the 20th to get it in. Remember, I'm looking for strategy similar to blizzards normal ramps, not necessarily the prettiest one. Also, if I can't use it, it's worthless. Good luck.

PS: If anyone knows how to rotate terrain, or updates an editor so it can, you've pretty much already won.

ADDITION:
Here's an example of what my entry would look like...
[attachmentid=6263]
[attachmentid=6264]

I permit the use of this ramp only upon request. Please do not use this ramp.

This to me, is a perfect ramp strategy wise. It reacts in exactly the same way as other ramps would in a normal game. It doesn't look half bad either.

By the way, the prize is all the minerals I've collected over the time it takes for me to choose the winner (the 20th) not the tiny amount of minerals I have now. Remember, by doing this you're not just winning a contest, you're helping StarCraft map makers everywhere and possibly revolutionizing the way melee maps are made.

Strategy Hint!

[attachmentid=6343]

A Zealot should be able to block one probe trying to climb your ramp. However, it should allow zergling to seep through.

[attachmentid=6344]

2 Zealots on the ramp should be able to block zerglings (the smallest unit in the game).

Make sure your ramp can do both of these.

Good luck,

PsychoTemplar

Hmm, I did this in about 10 minutes. No sprites used. It can easily be touched up around the edges, but that's the main concept (The left side is weird, bit I can try fixing it if you want).

Ill post mine here in a few minutes but i must say great idea for a nice little contest.

Also i will have to upload it too a site and just give you a link because there's something wrong with me posting images.

to me it looks like a regular ramp going up, not down to the low ground.

It could, but that's an illusion. The limits of StarCraft make it so you can only go diagonally, and there are only 2 diagonal directions (NW - SE and SW - NE).

It all depends on how you look at it. If you look at it thinking it's going Up from High Dirt to Dirt, it will. But if you think it's a backwards ramp going down from High Dirt to Dirt, it will do that as well.

Pfffft, that's not a winning attitude, no one wants to guess which way is up in the middle of a game. Yes, fog of war will help but if someone makes one that looks like it's going down, that pretty much knocks you out of the contest. A tip on what I'm looking for stratigically, make sure the ramp can be blocked with 2 zealots, like the ramps in Blizzard's staredit.

EDIT:
[attachmentid=6230]

Like this only less blocky. I'm actually kind of happy with the way this try turned out.

A few minor changes, I didn't bother to go back in game because I proved my point with the first one.
[attachmentid=6236]

Get cracking guys.

Here's my entry, do I need to send you the map too?

Brilliant idea panda, it's a little blocky, but it looks like a ramp I could see the game use!

Too bad you're not the one hosting the contest =D. It looks good but it kinda just looks like a land bridge. Doesn't give me the feel at all that it's going down. Stratagy wise it's pretty good, just a little too long. I know I'm being picky here but I just want to get the most out of you guys in this contest. Don't think that just because I critisise your ramp that I don't like it. I should have made the entry format more clear, sorry about that. This is what I want to see from entrys. A picture of it and either the map which you made it one or just the custom brush with the entire ramp on it.

PS: By entering this contest you acknowledge the use of your ramp by anyone who so wishes, without prior consent. If you wish to be acredited please make it clear in your entry and I, and hopfully anyone else who uses your ramp, will add it too the scenario propeties of the maps in which we use it on.

Good luck!

PsychoTemplar

Templar, I dunno how to save a custom pallete but will if you tell me how.

Also, I worked on ramp again but having trouble putting picture on so might take a while

If you're using StarForge click and drag over your Ramp, then right click and select creat brush. Then click save and put it in the desired folder. If you're not using starforge you forgot to read the must list. I need it to be in StarForge otherwise I can't use it.

ADDITION:
Okay here's an example of what my entry would look like...
[attachmentid=6263]
Damn, I'm not allowed to use the file extension on custom brushes, okay just post a small map showcasing it.
[attachmentid=6264]

I permit the use of this ramp only upon request. Please do not use this ramp.

I actually really like this ramp, it's very functional and acts just like a normal ramp in game, I made it less blocky and took out the impassible rocks in favour of half passible ones so there wouldn't be this weird square of impassiblity on my ramp.

Too bad I can't win XD. Even if it turns out at the end of the week I like my ramp the most I'll give the prize to the next best ramp. Common guys start making those ramps!

PS: I need you to at least grant me the use of your ramp. You will not recieve the prize if I do not have full access to your ramp.

Cheers,

PsychoTemplar

templar, if you get a winner, can you contact me so i can use it too? and if no ones is better than yours ill use that. i cant wait to have backwards ramps in games!

Btw, one of the other entries i saw, by pands, its in badlands, not jungle...

Suprise- another uncompleted "promise."

I really like panda's the best because of how it can easily be distinquished as a ramp in that direction. Also, though it is long that could easily be indented into the cliff so that it does not stick out as much. Nice job everyone thats doing this though, Rose.of.Dream, a professional mapmaker, said in his interview that not having ramps that can go in these directions is the main limitation of StarEdit.

Very nice. Mind if I add these to my brush compilation? That way people would make use of them more often and readily.

Not quite yet, as they will probably be modified. If you absolutely must have the brush now you can have it just make sure you name mine PsychoTemplar's SW-NE Ramp and ask the other's how they wish for their ramps to be named. I suspect the prize will get to be about 500 minerals and it would be a shame if there were only two entrys... Come on guys submit some ramps.

I think we've all read rose.of.dream's interview by now, it's pretty old. Ramps like this will have the obvious advantage of making 4 player maps easier to balance (probably will increase the number of newb maps but whatever, that's a sacrifice we can't avoid). But I can also see this being useful for a trench sort of system in melee maps, maybe even a revolution in the way melee maps are made for awhile.

Again I need more entrys!

Don't put it off, the revolution is now!

Well, I tried it...
Making a ramp go up its harder than it seems.
[attachmentid=6322]

Hi.

I tried it with SF but it looks really bad. Is there a way to import custom tiles? Then I could adjust the tiles one by one with photoshop to make it look good.



Pandas idea looks really good

You can import them in .zip but you can just post a map showcasing it. Don't use photoshop, that would be worthless to me because I couldn't use it in a real game. Enough about panda's, it's good but it's not exactly what I'm looking for.

EDIT: This is my latest mod, it's just slightly less blocky...
[attachmentid=6345]

Good luck guys, get in some more ramps!

PsychoTemplar

Wow this is pretty damn hard. IS there a dead line? Because this may take another day. Frekin hard.

But I can't wait for the pay off.

Sunday the 20th is the dead line, that's a good 6 days.

Here's some tips on how to make well-blended brushes:
- Get as many possible tiles together in a blank area (or seperate whole map even) that apply to the brush/blend you are making (like all the tiles that blend from high dirt to dirt in an upward direction, for instance).
- Setup several test palettes of terrain to make the brush on. Don't try to work from just one palette to make the brush, unless there's only a hanful of tiles that could possibly work to make it. That way you can try out many different tile combinations simultaneously.
- Of the gathered tiles, find the ones that blend adjacently to each other the best, and remember them. When doing the brush, try to use these tiles together if possible.
- Think outside the box. If you're trying to make a blend of high dirt to low dirt, the tile you're looking for to blend that last little bit might not be dirt at all. It might be a sliver of grass, or part of some odd doodad, or even a cliff border. Look around.
- Be careful of certain tiles: Though they may look good in a blend, remember that some tiles can have invisible blocking parts on them that prevent units from passing. A whole brush that would otherwise look perfect can be completely ruined if units are unable to cross it.

Hope that helps.

Heres mine, tell me what you think.

Perfection.

It's a little blocky on the right side, but OMG!!!! It's awesome!
I had the wrong idea to make the ramp go into the hill, instead of stick out.
Do you mind if I use your idea in a map?

Anyone can use it if they like, Maby other people can also fix that a little blockyness which I was unable to fix.