Wow, it has been since forever the last time someone uploaded a map here! So, I figured I'd shake things up by posting a random map I Put together over the past couple hours.

I can't seem to upload the actual map file, so hopefully the Image will do. If anyone actually wants the .scm, I'll try harder to put it up here.

EDIT: Click to view attachment

I tried to build around the idea of a semi-island-ish map, where you could play on the ground without too much trouble, but you need to take to the air eventually to stay economically ahead. The command centres were being used for mineral placement, and weren't removed when I took the picture, but they are now. Just ignore them!

Eight mineral patches at the main, six at the natural, six at the minonly. I hear that protoss likes maps with plenty of islands, so I tried to open up the natural a bit to make forge FE's just a little harder. With that, I'm mildly concerned that the vespene geyser at 5's natural helps the FE out considerably; I should probably switch the mineral formation at 11's natural to the right of the CC to help balance that out a bit. The middle path is not buildable, but much of the area around the sides is. It's a little cramped in the middle, but not as much as some of my previous maps. Besides, I'm trying to make it just a tad tougher for protoss, so hopefully it should be balanced.

There's a little bit of non-buildable area tucked in each main; hopefully this will encourage stuff like doom drops (and others as well, I suppose) because it doesn't allow players to put turrets right up to the edge. I figure Zerg doesn't really like island maps, so every little bit counts, I suppose.

My one other concern is that Zerg doesn't have an easy third gas. What I think might be cool is to plop a single vespene geyser tucked in the corner halfway between the main and the natural. I imagine this would be a real boon for the Zerg, because they could easily plop a necessary third hatchery right by it, while the other races would have to either distance mine or waste 400 minerals on a town hall.

Anyways, thoughts on balance? I'd like to get everything kinda evened out before I attempt to make it look nice with doodads and whatnot.

It looks a little plain, to be honest. Add a bit of green, as pure gray looks a bit bland.

I wouldn't know about imbalances so I'll leave it to others.

Nice concept but yeah, Zerg will have a rough time on this map because of the third gas. The islands are really easy to harass and Zerg won't be able to pick those up easily. Use ruins in the middle instead of rocky ground. It looks a lot better. Add some deco around the map in general too. Also, tankable nats will only lead to trouble.

Far too mundane. Do it over. In general, maps need to have a defining characteristic. That's what makes them special. Yours has... well nothing really, except the raised ground in the middle that no one would dare to take because it's far too exposed.

I switched around the minerals at 11:00 natural, switched out some of the rocky ground, added some jungle terrain, added the oddly-positioned gas for Zerg. Here's the updated image.

As a related note, I still can't add the map. I keep getting a message saying, "Upload failed. Please ask the administrator to ensure the uploads directory is writeable." What's wrong?

Try uploading the map on some other map then linking us to that.
Deco could still do some work XD. It's too square right now.
The mains actually look tankable from the highground. You might want to fix that.

Yeah I was about to say that too neo, because you can fit tanks on pretty small shit, like on bgh, the bottom right base you can fit tanks on there cliff(1 or 2 can't remember).

Lol, I couldn't make a map look decently nice if my life depended on it. I added doodads though to the highground in the main to make it un-tankable-landable-whatnot. There might still be room for a high templar, though...

@neobowman: uploading the map to another map? did you mean uploading it to another post, or uploading it to somewhere like broodwarmaps? I tried attaching it to another post I've made, which already has attachments, but it still didn't work. I'm sure I haven't reached my upload limit yet, either. I should probably ask an administrator.

Yeah, sorry. I meant another site. Megaupload or something.

Yay! Got the map added to the first post. (Thanks to Radivel for getting it sorted out - I think it did have to do with the upload limit after all...)