The Map Maker

GosuGamers Featured Map Makers: Our first map maker featured in this series is a young Bulgarian map maker, LGI also known as InfectedMind. One of the better map makers in the Starcraft world, currently specializing in making Pro-Gaming Maps. shares with us his best maps and the thoughts behind their creation. This is the story behind and his best maps through his own words. Map Pack available



My name is Ivan Spasov Ivanov. Map making friends know me as LGI. I was born in Bulgaria, Sofia on the 13th of January 1986. I stil live in Sofia, and right now I am a student, and I also work on three jobs, but it is a long story and I rather talk about StarCraft and my maps. I have been playing Brood War since 1998 (end of the year), and started making maps in 2001 or 2002, don’t know really. Like many of us I have quit and restarted this game a couple of times. In 2002 I stopped playing Brood War and I stopped making maps but sometime in 2005 I took up Brood War again.

I do not remember when or how I found Broodwarmaps.net, but this site sparked in me the fun and spirit in map making again. It also made me realize what many map makers out there never ever get to learn: when I saw the maps there, and then looked at my own maps, I understood that my maps were essentially crap. After this rude awakening and with the help of all guys at Broodwarmaps.net I can say finally that I have improved tremendously.

I have made around 36 decent maps, but I showcase at Broodwarmaps.com only 16 of them. The map pack that I have prepared for GosuGamers has only my very best ten maps. Why? I want to give you the ones that have been battle forged and that meet a minimum standard. Many of the other are not ready for serious gaming. Hopefully though this map pack will get larger and larger with time as I become more experienced. I often left with the sensation that each new map is simple better than the previous one. Only time will tell.

At present I think that my best map is (4)Grapes of Wrath 2.0, closely followed by (4)Wizzy Noise(n) and (4)Azax Syndrome(n). These three I would recomend anyone to play and I am fairly sure they will have a positive experience. Here is a list of the thought process in the making of what I consider my ten best maps.

The maps: The thought process

(2)Theoreme
This is my first and only two players air map. The concept is not mine. A friend of mine, which can’t make maps give me the idea, about a map, made a fast drawing, and then I did the real work, to create a map. As you can see the mains got some walls with big holes in it. The role of the wall is, to make possible some hidden drops, with units, barrack or whatever. The map is randomly made, not a perfect mirror, so that it looks more natural. On a visual aspect it is not one of my best maps, but in gameplay it’s really good! Every game that I have on this map, was great!

Direct link for comments, rating, and replays on the map » Theoreme

(4)Azax Syndrome This map is one of the best mirrors I have. I tried to make very good balance in TvP. And I think I’ve done it. The most aggressive games, will be on horizontal locations, in TvP, and this is the part that I focus most for balance. Terran can make easily a tank push by the 6/12 o’clock expansions, but I make the mains with a backdoor, from the min only expand, which can be used very well to attack Terran through the rear. Also the snow wall is very small, and can be used by Terran as a shield for the tanks, from Protoss as the best way for attack with air. I think Protoss shuttles will be a very big bonus for Protoss, because Terran can’t make build turrets on ice, and Protoss can skip the distance really easy, because the wall is small. Carriers, will be good too. Main bases, and resources are in a safe distance from tanks, from the outside. Direct link for comments, rating, and replays on the map » Azax Syndrome (2)Cosma This is one of my first maps, that I upload in www.broodwarmaps.net , and it was made with many suggestions from flothefreak. I think a lot for the center, to reduce the power of Terran with their tank push. So that’s why they are 3 ways that you can escape if a Terran is in the center, and trying to make a push. You got 2 ramps, and one escape patch to sunk ground. The doodads and decoration is reduced, because I’ve made a little decoration with the terrain. The main expansions, can be attacked from sunk ground, but only the gas is in tanks range. If tanks are dropped at 9 and 3 o’clock sunk ground. They can attack the 9 and 3 o’clock expansions, and the main bases on the mineral only expansions, but they can’t touch the resources. Both of the middle expansions, are in a danger distance from tanks. If a tank get behind the minerals, he can reach the other expand minerals, but only if he get behind the minerals! Direct link for comments, rating, and replays on the map » Cosma (4)Fatali This map is with close distance between players, which give me the idea to make safer expansions with gas, which is on enough distance from mains, to be balance for every race, to get the expand, so if Zerg goes on fast expand, he will need 3 hatch to make his best defend. All expansions in mains are in a danger range from tanks from ice. And this time the gas issue is best in the expansions too. Main bases, and resources are in a safe distance from tanks, from the outside. Direct link for comments, rating, and replays on the map » Fatali (4)Gra pes of Wrath 2.0 This is my best map ever! From the picture you can see a perfect mirror, with fantastic decoration! Well maybe from this picture you can’t see this well, but the gardens in 3 and 9 o’clock are the most beautiful thing that I’ve seen in Brood War! Now let us start with the mains. All entrances can be blocked with only one barrack and even Zerglings can’t pass. Main bases, and resources are in a safe distance from tanks, from the outside. The main expansions are in danger only if tanks are siege mode in front of the ramp of each player, so that makes the tank more easy to kill if he try to attack the expand. With some suggestions from my friends in www.broodwarmaps.net I’ve made the backdoor (ramps), that makes the main bases, easier to take over, otherwise Terran will be very strong on this high ground. The path finding is good at every position, and it’s the same. The 9 and 3 o’clock expansions, have their power, ant their week spots too. Their advantage is that they are very safe in front, because of the trees, and wall all around the minerals. The doodads are placed very carefully, so you can build with no problems, cannons, sunkens, and turrets. The disadvantage is that they are in big danger from center. The workers can be attacked, very easily with every range unit, storm, cannons, or you name it… Direct link for comments, rating, and replays on the map » Grapes of Wrath (4)Kin Dza Dza Now this map got the same positions on ramps like in (4)Fatali, but the distance is a little longer, because of the cliffs between them. The backdoors play a big role on this map, but they can be easily walled with a barrack, or a gateway, and that makes the expand more secured. Anyway the front gate is wider then it’s first version, because I see how a Protoss army passes, and attacks from there, so now it’s wider, and it’s better for Protoss. The two air expansions might be very important for Terran on this map, because he gets an easy third gas, but that’s why I make ice all over the expand so, it would be more easy to attack with range units, from the ice, especially the gas station. The main base mineral only expansions can be attacked with tanks from ice, but they can reach only the first two mineral blocks, and they can do that from a distance that can be reached with range unit from the expand, or with ground unit on the ice. I try to make the decoration at a high level, and I really like the forests in this map. In game you can see that it looks like they are holes in it, but you can’t drop anything, because they are rocks, or some other doodads, that don’t give the chance to drop anything there. The rocks in front of each main are doodads, where some of them can be built upon and some you can not. Direct link for comments, rating, and replays on the map » Kin Dza Dza (4)S-Range The original version of this map was a total crap, but with the help from www.broodwarmaps.net I make it a real good map. Now from the overall look it looks like a Terran map. And it was, but the many ramps that I put and some of them are even wider, so it’s very easy to get on the high ground, from a safe distance. Most of the ways are not very wide, but this is fixed, because you got 5 ways to move to your enemy in vertical positions. They are 3 ways in low ground and 2 in high ground, so you always can go around some armies or something else, use it as a backdoor, for sneak attack, or whatever you want. Now because min only expos are missing that’s why there is 2 air expansions, and 2 natural expansions, and all locations have 9 mineral blocks, and in the expansions they are 8 mineral blocks, so the resources balance is ok, I think… All main expansions can be hit from snow and ice too, by tanks, but every range unit can hit tanks if they are dropped in the ice. Main bases, and resources are in a safe distance from tanks, from the outside. Direct link for comments, rating, and replays on the map » S-Range (4)The Coming Dark Age On this map I used the same mains as in (4)Grapes of Wrath. This map is a little different from my style, it’s very open, and that’s make it different from the others. I spend a lot of time in decoration, to make the feel of a giant wave, that starts from the top and killing everything on it’s way makes his final and most big push in the end. It’s a little like passing in ages. You can see this from the doodads, I hope I arrange them well for the different types of ages. The overall look at the low ground is an alien. You can see the head clearly at 12 o’clock the rest should be in your imagination :) . Now about the map gameplay. They are connections between main bases, in high ground, and they are a little like backdoors too. They are 12 ramps that leads to the low ground, and I think it’s enough to make the connection more soft and floating between high ground and low ground. The expansions in the center are put there to make the players to focus more in the center, not only to use the backdoors, and high ground connections. Main bases, and resources are in a safe distance from tanks, from the outside. Direct link for comments, rating, and replays on the map » The Coming Dark Age (4)Wizzy Noise This is my most famus map outside the limits of Bulgaria :) . It’s my first MotW map in www.broodwarmaps.net and it’s the first map that is used in a tourney thanks to www.gosugamers.net . It arrange at second place with hard work, because they were many changes, to the final look. A big thanks for flothefreak for making those tile set ramps at the top expansions. Now what makes the map so special? First they are 3 wide ways to each player in vertical positions. Two low grounds ways, and one big high ground way. To make more fair with the ways in horizontal positions, I’ve made those back doors behind the mineral expansions, so they can be opened in a later minute in game. Still the patch finding is good between horizontal positions, because of the snow wall at the low ground at 12 and 6 o’clock. Now there is a trick here, that most of the players should now by now. In the first mineral only expand, you can sneak behind minerals with one worker. The trick is to bring two workers to the minerals and make them mine on one mineral block, so they stack, and then you grab only one of the workers, and make him move behind the minerals. This can be made with every race. And the advantage is that you can take a fast mineral expand, which is safe from ground units, until the expansions are mined. Also you can try a Protoss rush with cannons behind the minerals, to prevent an early Zerg expand. But the range of the sunkens are enough to stop such cannon rush. Direct link for comments, rating, and replays on the map » Wizzy Noise (6)Herbal Essence I love the name of this one :) . Now this map is made from the original Lost Temple, but this one is for six players. My main goal was to fix all Lost Temple balancing issues, that have (and believe me they are many issues, that every experience map maker can see, for normal players, it’s hard to see), and I think that the result is very good. First I know that they are many versions of Lost Temple for 6 players, but most of them are total crap! The main issue that I see on every version is that the cliffs are still in their old positions, wich makes the map more Terran, because the two new locations (old air expansions), can make their expansions, in the range of those cliffs, and Terran will own 2 and on some locations 3 expansions, with one high ground, and I think that this is not balance at all. Now here all tank range is fixed everywhere. First I remove the cliffs, then I change all mineral only expansions positions, and that way it’s fair for everybody, and I fix the patch finding on every position too! The many doodads on some of the mains that you see are put to make the mineral only expansions safe from tanks range. The center is changed too, and now it got new style, so the name “Lost Temple” don’t fits at all :) . I also fix some of the distance between ramps and expansions. Main bases, and resources are in a safe distance from tanks, from the outside. And just to know, that I already play the map. I have many 3v3 games on it, and I have to admit, that I have the most fun 3v3 games, in a long time. Players who also play the map say that they like it very much, and also they think that it’s a hybrid between Lost Temple and The Hunters. And it’s true :) . Direct link for comments, rating, and replays on the map » Herbal Essence Everything is tested in games, about tank range, patch finding, etc, etc, so I know that the things I write are true. These maps have been battle forged! The Map Pack The complete Map-Pack of his ten best maps » LGI Map Pack The Interview A PGTour Interview by RtN)Floyd of InfectedMind » Interview More LGI His new top ten plus a few more » New LGI Best Ten Maps