Our friends over at Team Liquid have just announced a new map contest for 1v1 and team melee maps. As with previous Team Liquid maps contests, the winning maps will be considered for use in the official 2014 Ladder Season 3 map pool. Last year we saw winning maps Frost and Yeonsu added to the map pool, and we’re hoping to see more great additions come from this contest.

As we did with the last map contest, we’d like to offer some tips for mapmakers looking to participate in the contest. Here are a few things we are looking for:

1. 1v1 maps that are tournament viable.
   • Balance is the most important factor for 1v1 maps.
   • Tournament maps that are new and fair, yet fun to play, are much more desirable than maps that replicate previous layouts with different tilesets.
2. Team maps that bring cool, new ways to play team games.
   • Because team maps don’t need to be so strictly tournament viable, variety is preferred here (rather than perfect balance).
3. Be careful with unusual rules or custom units to your melee map.
   • Generally speaking, we find that these make it more confusing for players without adding much fun to the game.
   • We don’t use special, custom-made units for melee games for obvious reasons.
4. Keep the map performance reasonable.
   • Excessive use of doodads or weather effects can cause a map to run slower. Keep an eye on how the art is affecting the performance of the map.

If you are an aspiring melee map maker or just a fan of melee maps in general, make sure head on over and check it out. We look forward to seeing all the new maps that everyone comes up with!