64 replies to this topic

[njm1983]

After being inspired by MattTheLegoMan I wanted to make my own version of the Walls of Moria. Though you cant enter Moria you can travel around the watchers pond as an alternate route to the enemy base, the water is shallow on the outer edge. hopefully Ill be able to put a watcher there as a creep that regenerates after dieing and can wander around in the water. MUHAHAHA!

[Elric]

That sounds Epic. lol

[_Haldir_]

Looks great so far
Is the stream all fordable though? Because otherwise, you might find players just attack each other head-on, and rarely use the long flanking path around the lake. If it is fordable, you could perhaps put a signal fire or something there to draw players towards that side (and the watcher in the water ).

[njm1983]

You make a good point there haldir.... It's always nice to get thoughts from other veteran mappers, especially balance and incentive driven layouts. I hadn't considered making the watcher pond appealing. Currently the stream is entirely fordable however I'm willing to make changes based on your suggestions. Got any mock ups done in paint? This way I can see where you think good locations for things would be, I'm a visual person.

[_Haldir_]

Yeah, it's important to make sure that the best features of your map are actually going to be enjoyed by people playing the game. Tech buildings, creeps and the like are good ways of directing players into the areas you want - for whatever reason, be it balance, aesthetics or some gameplay thing like the watcher

I don't know, maybe something like this?

• Make the lake/stream all impassable, besides a small ford near the mouth. It's good to have a second flanking option, and it draws players towards the lake. The ford placement is up to you though. Having it closer to the bottom player would mean less activity around the lake, but would give the bottom player easier access to all that space for resource buildings.
  
• Red dots would possibly be signal fires/outposts/inns. It's up to you which you think suit best, or whether you need them all. But as long as it's fairly balanced and encourages players close to the lake. You might have to pull back the cliffs or the edge of the lake a little to make a bit more room.

The balance of the whole map is sort of interesting. The bottom player has less room for building, and further to go for tech buildings, but is in a much more defendable position - as enemies can only approach his base from one direction.

It's all up to you though

[Ridder Blauw]

Looks great so far now! You should listen to _Haldir_ though.

Edited by Ridder Blauw, 22 September 2011 - 05:18 AM.

[Nazgûl]

Good progress

[njm1983]

Good suggestions. Ive made some tweaks.

Added 2 signal fires north and south of the doors of durin.
Moved the straight portion of the stream bending away from the south start location
Added a ford at almost the location Haldir recommended.

[Fudge]

Nice map

I just have one question and that is why does the path lead into the lake itself instead of around it?

[njm1983]

Its a good question..... Because its the road that used to go to Moria. The pond the watcher hangs out in wasnt always there. If I remember my lore right anyeway. The other reason was I got this layout from LOTRO "walls of moria" map. hehe.

[Gollum]

Fudge does have a good point... But I think it looks good. Maybe when they get the campaign going we can use this map as a prelude to the moria level. Gotta defeat the watcher! Lookin good

[njm1983]

From tuckborough.net

A road marked by two holly trees began at the Doors of Durin and ran westward to the Elven-realm of Eregion. Sirannon, the Gate-stream, flowed alongside the road.

In 2989, Balin and a company of Dwarves entered Moria through the East-gate and tried to establish a colony, but within five years they were besieged. They tried to escape through the West-gate but discovered that the Gate-stream had been dammed and a wide pool had formed in front of the Doors of Durin. Oin was killed by a tentacled creature called the Watcher in the Water lurking in the pool.

Any based on these details it's safe to assume the road is under the pond, that's why I chose to have it go into the pond.

[JUS_SAURON]

hopefully Ill be able to put a watcher there as a creep that regenerates after dieing and can wander around in the water. MUHAHAHA!

That looks good ...

I was able a while back to get the Scripting for the creep Watcher that comes out only when units are near the pond area

I can't remember ALL the details but the script is in my LOTR MAP which is in my mod so you can take a looksee

here's a bit of it in an older post

Watcher respawn script

I don't know about the wandering around bit .....

[Fudge]

Oh well that explains it

[Gollum]

I would say it does explain it

[MattTheLegoman]

Artists and designers inspire each other.

I like your version coz its bigger - way bigger than mine, however I think the cliff faces could use a make over. The Walls of Moria should be darker, perhaps you could do some cliff texture mapping? With mine I was a bit streched out with the cliffs as I had used the cliff texture for the Dwarven tunnels.
Here's a screenie.

[Gollum]

Is that your map or from the movie?!

[njm1983]

Thats a screen cap from FOTR, you have some good points there MTL, For the sheer cliff I wanted to use a cliff object, I initially tried to do sheer cliffs using the terrain but I didnt like the look it was giving me.

EDIT: Im curious to know what exactly that bridge like structure is in the bottom right of that pic? Kinda looks like the Moria Aquaduct.

Edited by njm1983, 07 October 2011 - 12:44 AM.

[MattTheLegoman]

Yeah, very sorry, it is from the Fellowship of the Ring, the Peter Jackson movie.

Here is my guess-estimate of the layout of the movie. Along with the position of the unknown object, which I feel for certain is the Aquaduc.

[Námo]

For reference, probably the most correct map you can get concerning the Hollin Gate, the lake and surroundings. Lower left map:

I've posted some info on the western part of Moria incl. surroundings, in this post in the Lore forum.