Hi friends!

We got another special interview in store for you. This time it’s with another active ASL map maker by the name of Waldstein. He spoke to us frankly and in-depth about his history, inspirations, abilities and challenges when it comes to making maps.

For those of you who are familiar with his body of work, you will know that he has a very creative side and likes to push the boundaries of the “known” and “accepted” and open up the world of possibility and variety in StarCraft.

Let’s jump straight into the interview, shall we?

May I ask your age please?

Hello everyone. I am Waldstein. I am 30 in early 2022. (32 in Korean age)

What year did you start watching or playing StarCraft?

Playing: 2001. Watching: 2003

What year did you start making maps?

In early 2004.

Why did you start making maps?

When I watched StarCraft leagues (e.g., Ongamenet StarLeague or MSL), I was very impressed with island maps, such as Paradoxxx and Charity. Since then, I wanted to make maps and I started to use Campaign Editor between elementary school graduation and middle school entrance, because I had lots of time back then.

Why did you name yourself Waldstein?

At first, my nickname was ‘Sherlock Holmes’ until 2012, who is the most famous detective character created by Sir Author Conan Doyle. In 2012, I was playing the Beethoven piano sonata ‘Waldstein,’ and I really liked the music and the name. After that, I change my nickname to Waldstein. Since it is a German name, its pronunciation is [valtʃtaɪn].

Can you provide any map names that inspired you to start making maps?

Charity and Paradoxxx, as I mentioned above. Also other island maps, like 815, Desert Fox, and Arkanoid, inspired me. Other than those, some backyard expansion maps, like Katrina and Loki, influenced me for some maps (e.g., Crossing Field and Ringing Bloom).

How long did it take you to become good at making maps?

I think it took a very long time to become good. I did not have enough time to focus on making maps until I became an undergraduate school student, so I started to dedicate more time to map making then. I think that I just reached my current level recently, and I’m still learning and developing myself even after I started making ASL official maps.

What were the hardest things to learn about making maps for you?

It was very hard to understand the principle of tile editing. At that time, it was the first time for me to use ScmDraft2, so I tried various functions in the editor such as entrance extending, symmetry tool, neutral building placing, tile editing to remove small islands for siege tanks (in Korean, Seongido). Nowadays, balancing is very difficult especially in the official maps since the playing aspect is still changing.

What were the easiest things to learn about making maps for you?

I cannot remember exactly when I was learning map making (and I’m still learning), and I think that there are no easy things to do in map making.

What are your top 3 favourite maps not made by you? Can you explain why you chose them?

1. Katrina
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This map is my favorite official map. It showed a lot of new elements that had not been used before, such as ways only without entrance, 4-grid geyser placement, and boundless base and backyard expansion.

2. Iron Curtain
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This map is the best teamplay map in the official teamplay maps. I have made some teamplay maps (one of my teamplay map is used in the teamplay league hosted by Organ, and the name is Laplace), and Iron Curtain inspired me to make teamplay maps. Unfortunately, we hardly watch teamplay games in the current StarCraft leagues, so there will be no opportunity to show my teamplay maps…

3. Outsider
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Like Katrina, this map also showed some new elements, such as backyard expansion blocked with mineral fields and sharing expansions. I think this map is one of the best maps by Earthattack. This map indirectly inspired me to make Metaverse.

What are your top 3 favourite maps made by you? Can you explain why you chose them?

1. Crossing Field
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I had worked on this map for a long time. This map was first created in 2009, and it had received good reviews from others. I had modified this map continually, and I had recruited this map whenever there was an opportunity for a league map contest. For the above reasons, it is my best favorite map, and I’m little sad that this map was used in only one season.

2. Ringing Bloom
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It is the longest used official map in the leagues among my maps, and it is the only map that was used as a ladder map as a current standard among my maps. I satisfy the aspect of the games on this map.

3. Metaverse
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This map is my latest official map. I satisfy the aspect and the current game balance on this map.

Can you name three progamer matchups on three of your maps that you really love to watch?

I cannot remember all the games, so there may be other more interesting matches.

1. Crossing Field: Bisu vs. Flash on ASL S4 semifinal 3 set

2. Ringing Bloom: SoulKey vs. sSak on ASL S10 Ro24 2nd match.

3. Metaverse: Snow vs. SoulKey on KCM Pennant Race

Who are your favourite progamers of all time? Why do you choose them?

I started to watch StarCraft leagues from IOPS StarLeague in earnest, and NaDa was a champion in that league. Since then, I was a fan of NaDa. However, I have a lot of other favorite progamers.

What is your favourite race match up of all time? Why do you like that matchup the most?

Unlike others, my favorite race matchup is T vs. T. The game tempo of T vs. T is very slow, but we can see intense and fast psychological warfare and mind games. Usually in T vs. T, both the players use the entire part of the map, and it is another attraction point.

What was your goal when you made Crossing Field in 2017?
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Most of the people guess that this map is inspired by Hearbreak Ridge, but this map is inspired by Chupung-ryeong. At first, I designed rotated Chupung-ryeong with backyard expansion to stabilize balance, especially Z vs. P. This map also had dilemma to choose between a front yard (mineral field only expansion) and backyard (expansion with a geyser and small number of mineral fields) expansions, but this dilemma concept was removed for balancing.

What was your goal when you madeSparkle in 2018?
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I have made and studied balanced island maps (which is contradictory), and Sparkle is one of the island maps I studied. This map is also a remake of my previous island map, which applied Zerg-only geyser and neutral creep firstly. After ASL S4, there were some demands for island maps in the league, and I submitted Sparkle for the map contest to meet those requests.

What was your goal when you made Autobahn in 2018?
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Unlike my other official maps, this map has no specific concept and I aimed for a normal 2-player map with a byroad. However, I made a mistake on neutral building blocking the byroad, which was so weak that it was destroyed too easily. I regret that the neutral building must be changed to Psi Disrupter…

What was your goal when you made Ringing Bloom in 2020?
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This map is a combination of Paljindo (also known as Nemesis, made by Terrance) and Ultimatum. I adopt backyard expansion without front yard from Paljindo, and extendable entrance from Ultimatum. I also lengthen the rush route for balancing and game aspect since I thought that extreme game aspect, such as rush at the early phase, comes from the short rush route in Paljindo (I also think that the short rush route is intended in Paljindo).

The Overmind Cocoon was added later not to enforce 3-hatchery in Z vs. T, but it became a new concept in Ringing Bloom.

For modification to the second edition, I try to enhance Terran and Protoss, especially Terran on T vs. P. However, it did not work well, and Terran is more nerfed…

What was your goal when you made Ultimate Stream in 2021?
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I designed this map several years ago, but I could not make this map until early 2021. For ASL S11, I decided to complete this map, and finally the map was selected to the official map pool. This map is inspired by Katrina with narrow paths and valleys, and firstly on my design, the front yard expansion had two narrow entrances and each was headed in a different way (to the outskirt expansions and the center), but the entrances are combined to one pathway for balance reasons. This map is completed in only a few days, but the result was satisfactory for me.

What was your goal when you made Lemon recently?
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It was very hard to make this map since I could not define exact concept for this map. At first, I just wanted to use the name ‘Lemon’ with trees used in Demon’s Forest (now we know the reason of vortex bug, so we can use the trees concept without bug, which caused the exclusion of Demon’s Forest). For a long time (about several months), I wanted to decide the concept of this map clearly, and I decided to adopt both dual mineral fields and dual base at the same time. Khaydarin Crystal Formation (invincible neutral building) was added at the starting point to blo
ck expansion since the starting point has very rich amount of resources and all the players just try to get the expansion only, but this neutral building presents a new concept, the paradox of resources. As a result, this map has four concepts from previous maps: dual base from Forte, dual mineral fields from Baekmagoji, tree doodads from Demon’s Forest, and resource paradox from Paradoxxx.

What was your goal when you made Metaverse most recently?
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This map is a remake version of my old map with the concept of second expansion whose mineral fields blocks the entrance of the next expansion. Interestingly, it took a very long time to make Lemon which is my previous official map, while this map just required not as much time to complete the draft version (just several hours). Also this map is the first mirror-x & y symmetric map from my official maps (like Circuit Breakers), while I have often made rotation symmetric maps.

Do you like making 2 player, 3 player or 4 player maps more and why?

I prefer 4-player maps since they are relatively easy to make and various concepts can be applied. Both strategical and tactical maps are possible on 4 player maps. Also I think that 2 player maps are easy to make, but hard to make WELL.

Which tilesets do you really like to use and why?

I select tileset according to the map concept, not my preference. Every tileset has its own attraction point, so I try to use all tilesets equally. However, my preferred tilset is Twilight since this tileset does not need a lot of decoration (especially doodads, compared to Jungle or Badlands) and has lots of compatibility for terrains.

Which tilesets would you never use and why?

I have tried to use all tilesets, except Installation. In the past, I have rarely used Ice tileset since the white color causes lots of strain on the player’s eyes. Recently, however, I do not prefer Desert tileset after ScmDraft2 update, since building inconstructability color is changed to red and it is so similar to overall Desert tileset (especially dirt and crags) that I cannot distinguish building inconstructability well (strain on my eyes). Thus besides Desert, there is no tileset I do not prefer.

When you want to make a new map, what things do you think about and consider?

I firstly think about a main concept for a new map. Sometimes for standard maps, I do not think much about the concept, but usually I decide a concept before map making.

What do you think is the ultimate purpose or goal of a map? What are secondary or third functions or goals?

For official maps, the main goal is always balance since the map is used in progamer leagues. Recently, at least one experimental map is selected for the map pool, but balance is still the most important consideration point. Except for balance, the secondary goal is that whether the concept is well applied on the map. I also think the concept must be suitable for an official map. For example, if the concept makes the game loose, the concept should be reconsidered.

Do you like to make standard or experimental maps more and why?

I prefer both standard and experimental maps usually, but I try to make experimental maps for official maps. The reason is twofold: 1) There are other map makers who are better at making standard maps than me and 2) there are already enough number of standard maps in the past official map pools, such as Fighting Spirit or Circuit Breakers. I think that my role for official map is making experimental maps, so I will try to make more experimental maps in the future.

How long do you spend developing one map? Do you have a method?

There is a big difference among my maps. For short cases, a draft version (version 0.70~0.80) is completed within 3~4 hours (Metaverse is an example), while a number of weeks for others (Lemon is an example). The spent time for map making depends on the concept. On average, I spend about a few days on the draft version.

How can you tell if your map or any map is balanced enough?

As you know, the game aspect has been changed repeatedly, and the game play is still developing. Thus, what’s considered a balanced map also changes over time. At ASL S13 duration, I think Metaverse is well balanced now, but the balance evaluation will be changed after the league. Except my maps, I think Polypoid is well balanced, although it is not used in ASL S13 now.

Do you have any advice for new map makers who wish to create popular maps like you have?

Like drawing and writing, make a lot of and various maps. At first, try to make maps similar to the official maps with your own small variation. By making many maps, your skills will gradually improve. Comments from other map makers are also helpful, but unfortunately there is almost no melee map community in Korea… (so the English discord and website for Brood War Map Making can be very helpful)

Is there anything you wish the map software (scmdraft2) could do?

I really want to change building inconstructability colors to something other color, or add options to select inconstructability colors. Except that, I’m really satisfied on the ScmDraft2 current version.

Are you working on any new maps? If yes, can you provide any details about your new maps?

Recently, I had been working on Metaverse, new map on ASL S13. This map is finalized with version 1.2. Beyond S13, I’m working on new maps which may be shown in the next ASL season.

Do you expect to make or see maps with backdoor expansions in the future?

I like backyard expansions, but it is hard to stabilize the balance, especially T vs. P. Therefore, it will be hard to see my maps with backyard expansions in the near future… I will try backyard expansion later.

A geyser was eventually added to the third expansion of Ringing Bloom, correct? Why did you add this gas?

This geyser was added to enhance Terran on T vs. P, but it does not seem to work well. On the contrary, T vs. Z is slightly imbalanced, advantage for Zerg. However, I could not think other ways to enhance Terran, and I did not want to modify much on Ringing Bloom. Thus I do not regret that, but I will try other ways if I face the same situation.

Do you think Terran is the most difficult race to satisfy when making a map? Is Protoss the easiest race to satisfy?

For a long time, the map makers had dedicated to nerf Terran in the map, since many Terran progamers had achieved trophies in the leagues. As a result of the reaction, currently Terran becomes very weak in numerous maps. Also new concepts often work unfavorable to Terran, especially resource concept (such as Lemon). Nowadays, I think that Terran is the most difficult race and Zerg is the easiest race to satisfy when making maps, and Protoss still suffers from Zerg on some maps…

What do you think of two or more
mapmakers working on the same map? What is good or bad about map collaborations?

It may be possible and have a positive effect, but there are some troublesome things. Particularly, in the case of the official maps, there are some inevitable jobs in the completion process (such as mining test) and follow-up actions (such as bug tracking), so it is difficult to share the whole process of map making. I think that the best way of map collaboration would be the idea sharing level.

Would you collaborate on a map with another active Korean mapmaker? If so, who would you co-author a map with?

The collaboration will not be processed in the near future. I’m trying to collaborate official map, but there is a long way to go.

Is there a Korean a mapmaker that you have a close relationship with?

I discuss with other ASL official map makers, like Earthattack, WSH, and LatiAs, when we make the official maps. Except them, I have almost no relationship with other map makers, and the previous map makers who are close to me do not longer make maps now. CarlSagan, maker of Blitz, Desert FoX, and Loki, is my friend, and still have a relationship, but does not talk about maps now.

Do you watch progamers test out your maps and make changes based on your observations? Do you also take into consideration players’ comments?

At first when I was making official maps such as Sparkle, I was very influenced by every single play. As a result, I think that the map was finalized using a version which is not balanced well. After that, I still watch progamers’ tests carefully, but every play is not reflected immediately in map revisions. I try to listen to the overall opinion for maps from both progamers and other users.

What sort of things should new mapmakers watch out for when they watch playtest games on their maps?

We have to keep in mind that even progamers may not understand everything well about the map during the first plays. Therefore, the play and balance aspect in the first tests may be radically different from the overall results long-term.

Do you think map statistics (win rate ratios for race matchups) are a good measurement for how balanced maps are?

Like other statistical data, I think the score data of the map is meaningful with the large number of plays. However, score data in one league is not enough for balance map measuring, but the score is also meaningful since the score follows big data to some degree.

Do you think maps made for ASL and progamers should be designed differently than those maps designed for normal players? Or do you think whatever maps progamers play on should be played by everybody else?

I think that maps for normal players could be used in the progamers’ leagues, such as Fighting Spirit, but not vice versa. Especially, an experimental map requires high understanding for the map, which is only expectable for progamers. Also the experimental map is difficult to play for the normal players since the players must know how to play, such as prepare sunken colony rush from Zerg in Ringing Bloom.

How do you feel about critters being included in a map? What is your favourite critter and why?

I’m very negative to place ground critters in the map without any purpose. The ground critters interrupt a movement of ground units. When I took charge of fix a bug in Polypoid (update to 1.65), I requested to the original maker (KM) to remove critters (Ursadon) in the map. As a result, Ursadons in Polypoid became hallucinated. Due to the reason above, I rarely place ground critters in maps. I only place ground critters to remove small island for siege tank by setting the critters invincible since the hitboxes are same. I also use hallucinated critters to move workers upward on the starting location (this trick has been used in many maps with upper placed mineral fields, like Sparkle). The only exception is Kakaru, but I also prefer to place hallucinated Kakaru to make disappear after some time since the flying critters may interfere the player.
Apart from the negative opinion for placing critters, my favorite critters are Bengalas and Kakaru.

Why do you like to name your maps after musical songs? What kind of music do you like to listen to while you create maps?

Many names in my official maps are from Japanese animation. Crossing Field is the OST of ‘Sword Art Online,’ Sparkle is the OST of ‘Your Name.’, Ringing Bloom is a music from the mobile game ‘BanG Dream!’, Ultimate Stream is a skill of one Digimon (METALSEADRAMON). Lemon is not from the Japanese animation, but from J-Pop song created by Kenshi Yonezu. The only exception is Autobahn (its previous name was ‘Sosnovka’ which is a place name used in Playerunknown’s Battleground). I like J-Pop songs, so I prefer to choose names from the J-Pop songs. However, I try to use names from J-Pop less now, since I want to use various names. Metaverse is one such example.

Do you find map making is a stressful or calming activity for you?

Usually, map making is one of my hobbies. However, when selecting and finalizing the official map, the process is quite stressful, but also exciting when I watch progamers’ play on my map.

Are your skills as a mapmaker transferrable to your professional or personal life? Or has your professional or personal skills informed your ability to make maps?

I think the map making skills and my professional/personal life are not much related. However, the map making skill is helpful for my financial status.

Would you like to add anything else my friend?

I appreciate the opportunity to be interviewed. I will make the effort to provide better official maps in ASL and ASTL. Thank you.

Thank you for your numerous and substantial responses Waldstein and best of luck to you <3

Folks, this was our third interview with a renowned map maker, as part of the BroodWarMaps.Net series, which is intended to celebrate and promote maps, map makers and map making.

If you haven’t done so already, please check out the first interview we did with LatiAs, as well as the second interview we did with Earthattack.

Please kindly leave a comment for Waldstein and give him his flowers while he is still around to smell them It would mean a lot to him and the map making community.

Peace & love

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• Source: https://tl.net/forum/brood-war/587675-interview-waldstein-asl-mapmaker