Ladies and gentlemen of GAF, I stand before you today a humbled man. Since Starcraft's release in 1998, I have been playing the game and its Brood War expansion on and off for most of the last 10-15 years. In the past, no matter how long I'd been away, I could reinstall the game, jump onto Battle.net, and hop right into any UMS (Use Maps Settings) game of my choice. Even ten years after release there was still a rather lively community on Battle.net, with dozens of games to choose from at any given time and new maps still making their debuts from talented mapmakers all those years later.
I never got into Starcraft 2, mainly because the laptop that I play on would have to run the game at low settings. I figured one day that I'd eventually pick it up along with a better computer and start a new obsession with SC2's UMS maps. Upon further investigation, I realized that the UMS community never had a chance to take off in SC2 due to Battle.net 2.0's poor popularity system in the Arcade and overly complex campaign editor compared to SC1. This saddened me, as I had just naturally assumed that SC2 would be the new haven for custom map developers following in the footsteps of SC1 and Warcraft 3.
This realization came only recently, years after I had last hopped online in SC1. Concerned, I reinstalled Starcraft/Brood War and logged back into Bnet for the first time in years... and I was gutted by what I saw. Hardly anyone around in any of the channels, UMS games lists that only populate by 1-3 every few minutes, finding it near impossible to fill up a lobby for a created game... etc. It was gone. All gone.
All of the pieces were still there. Bnet was functioning just as well as it used to, anyone is still able to start a game whenever they want and have it be instantly seen on the available games list (as opposed to it getting buried in SC2), and the few times that I was actually able to get people to join me for a game of Sniper Paintball or an RPG map it was just like the old days. Those handful of times that I was able to actually get into a full session and play again gave me a glimmer of hope that has driven me to start this thread.
Starcraft Custom Maps Fans of GAF, please join me in attempting to inject a little life back into the scene.
If you're reading this and thinking "Starcraft 1? Why would anyone care about such an old game?" then allow me to refresh your memory as to why the UMS community played such a big role in the first game's success:
- Custom mapping was so hugely popular in SC1 that it spawned several genres and game types. Long after non-hardcore competitors tired of the game's core RTS gameplay, they were able to log onto Bnet and sample arguably the widest variety of user-made content in the history of PC gaming. The support for UMS maps was huge and lasted for years, so the selection available today is astronomical and packed to the gills with quality, unique experiences.
- As the years rolled on, mapmakers' third-party tools and methods were refined, resulting in game types that were increasingly more sophisticated and distant from the RTS base of the game. Even though mapmaking for SC1 is upheld by only a few talented people today, the output from them is incredibly rich and deep. RPG maps made in recent years tend to have full inventory systems, usable items and spells, customizable character stats and abilities... etc.
- To help jog your memory, here's a brief list of some classic game types that exist in the world of UMS in Brood War:
- Madness: EVOLVES, Blood, Golems, Rancher maps, Bunker Warz
- Conquest: World War, LoTR, War for Hyrule, Civilization, Diplomacy
- Survival: Zombie Hotel/Raccoon City, Starship Troopers, Protect Bob, Test of Survival, Protect the Queen
- Assault: Heaven and Hell, Helm's Deep, Braveheart, Dynasty Warriors, Normandy
- Warrior: DBZ maps, Aeon of Strife, DotA, Dynasty Warriors, Hero Arena, Hero Wars
- RPG: Kyprion Pact, A Day at School, Legends Open RPG, Padorath's Return, Final Fantasy maps, Metal Gear Solid, Diablo, RP maps, Crash RPG, DragonLance, Winterglades, Spellsword, Morrowind, Elements, and too many others to list.
- Paintball: Sniper Elite, Team Fortress, Commando Wars, Assassinate the President, Laster Tag, V-TEC Paintball, 007 Arena, Counter-Strike
- Bound Maps: Thousands of variations on the same concept
- Obstacle Courses: Race maps, Jail Break, Red Light Green Light, Follow the Leader, Run Zergling Run, Dodge the Rapist
- Games: SCV Football, SCV Hockey, Chess, Minesweeper, Pac Man, Puzzle Aventure, Mario Party
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Okay, so you want to get back into UMS in Brood War but no longer have your vast collection of maps from your glory days with the game. No problem. Here are some resources that will help fill out your map collection in no time:
- Starcraft | Nibbits - If it's individual maps that you're looking for, Nibbits is a great place to start. They have thousands of UMS maps that can all be sorted by date and/or genre, and their database is easily searchable as well.
- StarEdit Network - One of the longest-running sites of its kind and still home to the most dedicated mapmakers out there. Their site houses years worth of UMS maps in an searchable database, complete with descriptions, comments, and reviews.
- Scmaps.net Archive Collection - This site houses over 18000 UMS maps that can all be downloaded at once via their archive or selectively from the site. The person who compiled this archive has done the great service of eliminating duplicates and filtering out junk. While this collection by no means has every map that you'd want to play, it's still a fantastic preservation of the UMS legacy that Brood War will eventually have left behind.
- Renaka's SC Maps Collection - For you collectors out there who just want it all, this is the place to go. Renaka's site provides map packs separated by category with sub-categories therein. All maps have been renamed to simply list alphabetically, eliminating all of the little tricks that mapmakers used to use to make their maps appear at the top of your list. A tremendous amount of work had to have been put into compiling this massive, organized collection. You simply can't go wrong by downloading all of these map packs to cover all bases.
You can find me on the US East Server under the name ScOULaris. I live on the East Coast, and I can typically play after 7:00 pm.
Even if you can't play SC1 at the moment, feel free to use this thread to discuss and reminisce about your favorite UMS maps and memories.
