World Desert Championship $300 Map Creation Contest

[Huehuecoyotl22]

Map Creation Contest

Your map must represent an existing desert. So the map's name should be that of that desert or something that is related to only that specific desert/smaller region.
It will be evaluated both on the playability and how well it represents that desert. It must be playable in 1v1, 2v2 and 3v3.

The submission deadline is April 07, 22 GMT.

A list of deserts for inspiration is attached:


We will choose deserts from different regions, so there is a limit of maps per continent.

Ideally the map contest would add, but not exclusively:

• 1 South European desert
• 1 cold desert (not Asian, since Gobi already is included)
• 2 African deserts, from not too close location, e. g. not both NW
• 1 West Asian desert
• 1 South Asian desert (e. g. from the Indian subcontinent)

This is important so the region-based civilisation pools are balanced.

Your submission does not have to be completely new, but if it is not, please write when you have created it and where it has been used before (in which tournaments). Maps that have not been played in many big tournaments will be favoured.

Feel free to take inspiration from already existing maps, but you must add from which maps you took inspiration, so we can evaluate your own contribution.


These deserts already have maps that are good enough and don’t need a new creation – however it does not mean that they will be included 100 %, because the use of already existing maps and requested maps (will also ask some map creators) will depend on the amount of good contest submissions:

1. Antarctica (by Zetnus)
2. Sahara (By TheMadCADer, used since Clan Masters)
3. Gobi (by TheMadCADer, modified by Huehuecoyotl22)
4. Syrian Desert (Syrian Steppe by TheMadCADer)
5. Taklamakan (by TheMadCADer)
6. Atacama (by Mr ED, modified by Huehuecoyotl22)
7. Grand Bara (by Chrazini)

Already new for this tournament:
8. Karoo
9. Jalapão
10. Mount Bromo
11. Simpson Desert
12. Umm al Samim


Top 2 submissions will receive $100 in prize money, #3/4 $50, but more than 4 maps might be included in the tournament map pack, as the map pack is aimed to feature up to 15 maps in total.


Lord Patito, Biz, Ornlu, sieste, Chrazini, AlgernonR and I will be the committee to evaluate the maps.


Please post your map script file here together with a short description.

If you have any problem with uploading your files on AoEZone, you can also send them to me on Discord.

For discussions and questions, you can also join the tournament Discord server: https://discord.gg/9nwJUxYtdh.
For any RMS scripting help, I recommend the RMS scripters Discord server: https://discord.gg/vawr7MQ3.

 

[Huehuecoyotl22]

If you participate here, but not in the tournament, so you don't read the rules and settings, this might be relevant for your map scripting:

Stealing or killing a boar (or equivalent) or sheep (or equivalent) of another player is forbidden. If there are extra boars/sheep around the map or in the center of the map, meaning that those are not clearly connected to one player, this does not apply to them.

 

[green eggs]

Are multiple submissions allowed?

 

[Huehuecoyotl22]

Are multiple submissions allowed?

Yes, and multiple maps by one person could go into the map pack, but you won't be able to win both $100 prizes.

 

[TheMadCADer]

Arctic Circle
Players are in a circle with melting ice on the inside and outside. Fish can be found in the ice and docks can be placed anywhere on the ice as well. Players can take fish with either ships or villagers, but the ice cannot be walled so taking the fish can be risky.

Death Valley
A cross between Team Acropolis and Bedouins. The high ground is easily defensible and contains much gold and stone and relics. The lowlands contain much more wood and shore fish for food.

Huacachina
Wood near the players on this map is very sparse. Most of the extra gold on the map is concentrated around a central pool. Players can control the gold in the late game if they control the water, but they will need wood in order to build ships. Most of the wood on the map is in the corners and very far from the center.

Kalahari
Most of the gold on the map is near the players which can be difficult to defend. These areas are cracked terrain, at a low elevation, and surrounded by quicksand. Controlling the rest of the map will result in favorable engagements throughout the game, even if the outside doesn't contain resources that players will immediately need.

Sonora
Large plateaus in the middle of the map will funnel players into fighting in chokepoints. These canyons contain the extra gold on the map and will be a key area for player to focus on. Players will need to be conscious of the key areas where enemies can push.

*Small edits on 4-6. If you downloaded the maps before, please download again to get the most current versions.

 

[HeavenlyChorus]

So firstly, I found this: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Salt_Lake_Desert

Then I looked at the map Ghost Lake

?

I turned the ice lake into a salt lake, and cheesed some object generations from Serengeti.
There you have it, Salt Lake.

 

[green eggs]

What tool are you guys using for full map screen capture?

 

[Huehuecoyotl22]

So firstly, I found this: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Salt_Lake_Desert

Then I looked at the map Ghost Lake

?

I turned the ice lake into a salt lake, and cheesed some object generations from Serengeti.
There you have it, Salt Lake.

View attachment 190948

Do you want to represent that specific salt lake? Because your vegetation looks very African. And I don't think any turtles would live in a salt lake.

 

[Huehuecoyotl22]

What tool are you guys using for full map screen capture?

Capture Age without interface.

 

[HeavenlyChorus]

Do you want to represent that specific salt lake? Because your vegetation looks very African. And I don't think any turtles would live in a salt lake.

I guess this is not very realistically accurate, I just preferred turtles graphics
I could tweak it further more later

 

[HeavenlyChorus]

ok here's Salt Lake v2 after a bit tweak

 

[green eggs]

Carcross​

Carcross Desert, popularly known as "the world's smallest desert," is a dry, sandy area measuring approximately one square mile, nestled improbably among the mountains and lakes of northern Canada.

Spoiler: Details

In this map, players start in the snowy mountains, where the lakes, forest, and elevation create numerous choke points. Resources are standard, but watch out for bears!

The desert itself can be found in the middle of the map, and houses six relics.

Central Plateau​

The Central Plateau (Māori: Waimarino) is a large desert plateau in the North Island of New Zealand, containing numerous active volcanoes. It was the main location for the filming of Mordor in the Lord of the Rings trilogy.

Spoiler: Details

Players start close together on the plateau, and must descend to the lowlands around the edge of the map for wood. Resources are standard, but this being New Zealand, there are many sheep to claim. New Zealand also lacks any large land predators, so villagers won't need to worry about wolves.

The plateau itself is dry and barren, but contains numerous volcanic lakes and gold piles. It is surrounded by Mt Pihanga to the north, Mt Kaweka to the east, Mt Ruapehu to the south, and Mt Taranaki to the west.

This map promises to be highly chaotic and aggressive, with players needing to maintain a presence both on the edges and the middle of the map.

Painted Desert​

This map takes inspiration from the Painted Desert, a badlands in Arizona, although the end product admittedly looks more like Badlands National Park in South Dakota. Whatever; it's a badlands desert.

Spoiler: Details

Badlands are formed by the extensive erosion of bedrock and soils, giving rise to huge canyons and mesas with a distinctive striped appearance.

In this map, players start at the edge of the badlands, beneath a forested plateau surrounding the map. Resources are mostly standard: six forage bushes, eight pigs, four deer, two javelinas, two stone piles, but only two gold piles.

The middle of the map is rugged and very open, and houses all of the relics and neutral gold. All of the neutral stone, meanwhile, is nestled among the forest at the edge.

Players are always going to be extremely vulnerable at the front of their bases, spawning close to elevation with most of their resources forward. While they can retreat into the forest for a more defensible position, doing so will forfeit gold. This map is all about controlled aggression!

Thanks to Huehuecoyotl22 for hosting this event and map contest!​

 

[green eggs]

Also, as someone who's still pretty new to this, I just wanted to say that the documentation on rms scripting is superb. Thank you so much to the community members who put so many countless hours into compiling the various guides, constant lists etc!

 

[Huehuecoyotl22]

As nobody has submitted a European desert map yet and we definitely want one, here is a list. Since most people don't think about Europe when hearing desert, this might help you: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Deserts_of_Europe_by_country

 

[nhoobish]

Pampa del Tamarugal

A region inside the Atacama desert that has acquired itself a name from a hardy plant that used to cover this vast area. The tamarugo is a bushy tree (felt fitting to use the bush forest for that regard, though it can grow up to 15 metres tall) which manages to persist in one of the most toughest climates of the world. Managing to grow without the benefit of rainfall and even growing on saline soils the tamarugo gets it share of water from dew or absorbing it from the atmosphere and deep groundwater with the help of extremely long-reaching roots.
The tree has been vital for the ecosystem with its produce and leaves. For us humans, a source of wood so important that it was almost cut to extinction in the 19th century. Since then there has been effort to replant the tamarugo in increasing numbers to sustain the needs of humans and the wild. Its remarkable traits have caused much interest in the tamarugo, thus causing cultivation of it in countries of different climates entirely.

Valley of Balls (can be renamed to Torysh)

Inside an unforgiving clay desert lies a valley littered with mysterious round balls, perfectly shaped and alien in their entirety. Perhaps there is treasure inside? Time to crack one open wide!
The Valley of Balls situates inside the Ustyurt Plateau with its remnants of times past. The clay desert expands and the lifegiving Aral Sea nearby declined now. What once was is lost, but the Ustyurt Nature Reserve tries to give a bigger picture of the surrounding areas before the man-made disaster.
A land of semi-desert filled with clay, steppes and sparse shrubbery with a resemblance to Mediterranean climate. The plateau giving abundant ground for saiga and other hardy horned mammals to roam. Cluttered by elevation shifts, depressions and pillars alike that offer the grazers a refuge from potential wolves or jackals that also frequent here.

 

[Henkdesupernerd]

Yam Suph (Sea of Reeds)

Yam Suph is the body of water which the Israelites crossed following their exodus from Egypt.

Players start with a bunch of villagers, a small herd of goats, a camel, and a small hut.
They will have to build a town center and establish a settlement, to prepare their exodus through the narrow passage through the sea.

A priest (Moses) will lead your peoples, who after seeing the burning bramble bush devoted themselves to the prophet.
The priest will be able to heal, but his ability to convert enemy units is significantly reduced (range=1)


DISCLAIMER:
This map works in any setting where teams have equal number of players (1v1, 2v2, 3v3, 4v4).
The map is designed for Age Of Empires 2: Definite Edition (Build: 101.101.46295.0.6421374)

1v1:

Spoiler: Full map screenshot 1v1

3v3:

Spoiler: Full map screenshot 3v3

Starting Situation:
Note that it's a nomad start (+275wood, +100stone). You will have +5 extra villagers, a priest and a scouting camel. This results in a 9/10 starting pop-space, after building the Town Center. The priest can heal and convert enemy units, but for balancing reasons the conversion range of this unit is reduced significantly.

Spoiler: screenshot starting situation

Sea Corridor:
The passage in the middle resembles the sea floor. The terrain is buildable. Since the water is pushed away at both sides, there is an elevation difference, which gives war ships an attack bonus when firing down-hill. Every land terrain on this map is buildable, and docks can be placed at shorelines on a flat surface of water.

Spoiler: screenshot sea corridor

Team Positions:
If the 'Team Positions' checkbox is ticked in the pre-game lobby, the teams will be placed in position where the lowest number and the highest number of the team (p1 and p7 for example) end up in flank position.

If the 'Team Positions' checkbox is NOT ticked, players will be placed at a random position within their team. This does allow players to choose different colours, but it means they won't have control over the position within the team.

CAUTION: make sure to pick colours correctly. In a 3v3 that means one team needs to pick the colours 1(blue, flank), 3(green, pocket), 5(teal, flank). The other team will play with the warm colours 2(red, flank), 4(yellow, pocket), 6(purple, flank).


Placement of resources and objects:
Resource placement for this map is aimed for competitiveness. Equal amount of forest and equal amount of minerals should be guaranteed, if this is not the case, the map is considered a bugged map.

Spoiler: Full list of resources and objects

Player objects:
- 8 goats, controlled by players from the start
- 1 priest with reduced range for conversion
- 3+5 starting villagers
- a hut that gives +5 pop space
- a scouting camel

Resources per player:
- 1 relic per player
- 1 close patch of fruit bushes
- 1 close large gold mine (7 tiles)
- 2 far gold mines (4 tiles each)
- 2 very far gold mine (3 tiles each)
- 2 close stone mines (5 tiles each)
- 1 very far stone mine (3 tiles)
- 2 wild Boars
- 1 burning bramble bush, can be chopped down if you don't fear Divine Retribution! (don't worry, it doesn't do anything)

Neutral resources:
- Equal number of trees, and number of forest clumps for both teams
- Fair distribution of fish on the seas: shorefish (200f) in shallow water, Perch in the deeper water (200f), and Marlin in the deepest water (350f)
- Fair distribution of additional patches of fruit bushes (far from players)
- straggler trees in the desert (palm forest tree)
- straggler trees near the shoreline (reeds)
- NO WOLVES (or other predators)

DOWNLOAD INSTRUCTION:
Download the zip file in the attachment. Extract it using software (like WinRar). Place the .rms file in your random-map-script folder which most likely can be found by navigating to:
C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\common\AoE2DE\resources\_common\random-map-scripts
Make sure the file is named 'Yam Suph.rms'

If you want to make changes to the map script for private use, make sure to save the file with a new name. I kindly request not to spread these new versions of the map script without my permission, to prevent confusion among the community.

For suggestions, requests, installation help, bug reports or any other map-related questions you can contact me via PM on AoeZone, or message me on discord: HenkDeSuperNerd#3321

 

[Henkdesupernerd]

Btw I guess you can consider this desert to be the Sinai desert, eventhough the exact location of the sea of Suph is still speculated over.

To quote Wikipedia:

​

Proposals for the location of the yam suph of Exodus are manifold. It may refer to a large lake close to the Red Sea, which has since dried up due to the Suez Canal. It was in Egypt, specifically in the Suez valley next to the Sinai Peninsula, and north of the Gulf of Suez. It could also be the Gulf of Eilat, which is referred to as the yam suph in the Books of Kings (1 Kings 9:26). The Lake of Tanis, a former coastal lagoon fed by the Pelusiac branch of the Nile, has also been proposed as the place Moses parted the waters.[3] Heinrich Brugsch suggested that the Reed Sea is Sabḫat al Bardawīl, a large lagoon on the north coast of the Sinai Peninsula.[4]​

​

PS. Happy Easter

 

[lovemeheyhey]

Soorma
Inspired by the Thar and Kutch Desert of West India, Soorma(meaning 'Brave Warrior' in the local langaugae) features patchy circles of wood that have narrow pathways to walkthrough. The inner circle(farther) has thicker woodlines and hunt to gather and relics on cracked sand terrain, characteristic of the Kutch desert, while the outer circle(closer) patchy woodlines with gold and stone outside, characteristic of the Thar desert. Players start with 6 sheep, 2 boards, forage closeby the TC and a small pile of 200 gold right next to the TC.

 

[Henkdesupernerd]

Reminds me of irrigation circles that can sometimes be found in deserts

 

[JAVI 1]

Charas Sands

The Chara Sands is an area of sand in Siberia. It is a small and cold desert rounded by pine forest. The map have gold and relics in the central dunes.

 

[Huehuecoyotl22]

2 days and 4 h left. Still hoping for a European desert.

 

[melixc77]

Charas Sands

The Chara Sands is an area of sand in Siberia. It is a small and cold desert rounded by pine forest. The map have gold and relics in the central dunes.
View attachment 191137
View attachment 191138

View attachment 191139View attachment 191140

looks nice!!!

 

[Rorrik]

A river runs through the Thar Desert, two if you squint. For the sake of balance, we'll squint. With a river behind each team, they are pushed toward the empty central desert and its extra stone. Acacia forests bound the desert, with those forests beyond the river containing rich gold veins, but also a trade avenue for late game gold.
The nearby sea has some fish as well as access to the rear of both teams via the river, but the river is dry and therefore wallable while still having space to dock and create defensive ships in the river. The rivers are guaranteed to be fully navigable end to end, to have multiple crossings to the other bank, to have several docking places, and to be wallable at the mouth of the river.

Tigers prowl the wooded areas that the players will expand to as their desert-side woodlines are exhausted.

Edit: the lowest number on the color on the team is always placed near the water, the highest farthest from the water.

 

[Huehuecoyotl22]

View attachment 191174
A river runs through the Thar Desert, two if you squint. For the sake of balance, we'll squint. With a river behind each team, they are pushed toward the empty central desert and its extra stone. Acacia forests bound the desert, with those forests beyond the river containing rich gold veins, but also a trade avenue for late game gold.
The nearby sea has some fish as well as access to the rear of both teams via the river, but the river is dry and therefore wallable while still having space to dock and create defensive ships in the river. The rivers are guaranteed to be fully navigable end to end, to have multiple crossings to the other bank, to have several docking places, and to be wallable at the mouth of the river.
View attachment 191175
Tigers prowl the wooded areas that the players will expand to as their desert-side woodlines are exhausted.
View attachment 191176

I think the golds on the outside have no avoid_forest_zone, or not enough, since they can be trapped between the acacia trees.

 

[Rorrik]

View attachment 191179

I think the golds on the outside have no avoid_forest_zone, or not enough, since they can be trapped between the acacia trees.

You are right. I'll be sure to update that before tomorrow. I thought I had included avoid_forest_zone but at a low value to make sure they found places, but it looks like there's nothing at all, so it's possible even avoid_forest_zone 1 gave me a generation with a missing gold. Thanks for the catch!