Warcraft 3 Custom Map – Agathel’s Grave
This is the first multiplayer Warcraft 3 map, Agathel’s Grave, I have created. It was a really fun experience playing around in the world editor and I look forward to continue building maps in the future. I wanted to create a small, themed multiplayer map that would create a tense, quick atmosphere for the participants. It is a 2v2 or FFA multiplayer map set in the Icecrown Glacier territories.
Overview:
The map is built around the tomb of Agathel, a fictional spiderlord Icreated, who fell against the Lich King during his conquest into the Nerubian territories. I included snow and utilized the Icecrown Glacier territory textures and models to create a fully themed map. The entire map is focused inwards so that players start the game leveling their heroes on the outskirts of the map and gradually become focused on the center of the battlefield which becomes quite hectic and, hopefully, fun. The grave contains some high level items which are guarded by equally high level hostile creatures. Additionally, there are four narrow pathways that end in more desirable items and a unique mob of high level creeps.I also included some triggers to create patrolling polar bears that the players could potentially run into along the main “road” in the map. Read more about the specific statistics of the map, my original idea, and a download link after the jump.
Map Characteristics:
- A Small 2v2 or FFA map
- Completely themed in a winter landscape utilizing heavy snow, Icecrown textures, mobs, and doodads (models)
- Story description: “Agathel was one of Icecrown’s most powerful spiderlord before the Lich King killed her with Frostmourne. Be wary of powerful creeps guarding Agathel’s treasure and polar bears patrolling the map. A mighty dragon may be summoned by Agathel’s undead soul!“
- Scripted Four Polar Bears to patrol around the map at regular intervals
- A 10 level Blue Dragon appears over Agathel’s Grave after 30 minutes of playtime to keep the battle quick and exciting
- Every creep or creep leader drops an item from a custom item table I created
- Small but navigable spaces encourage quick, aggressive gameplay
Original Concept:
I went through about four different iterations of this map until I finalized on this design. It started out in a much different state with a large circular lake that surrounded the map. I included neutral, ship-purchasing buildings to encourage a naval type of battle which multiplayer Warcraft 3 games don’t really emphasis. However, it ended up taking up too much space and I opted for a tighter design at the end of the day.
Potential Improvements:
The main downside to this map is the fact that it is almost too small. I think that players could have benefitted from larger starting areas, although this would have potentially created a more leisurely pace to the game. I also would have liked to create more custom triggers to give the creeps a greater sense of life and autonomy than they get from just sitting around in one location.