The legacy of fy_iceworld, Counter-Strike’s divisive, popular custom map (2020)

Post by AlexandrB » Fri, Feb 24, 2023, 1:50 PM UTC

paulmd wrote: post #77

rvba wrote: post #14

In StarCraft Brood War there were normal maps, which were mostly played 1v1. That was the "true" game - it was fun but also quite difficult. Many players played for fun, so they would play team games e.g. 4v4 where skill still mattered but often the results depended more who you got on your team (I think that to a degree this is why MOBAs are so popular - in theory you get close to a 50-50 winrate, or at least win li…

Warcraft 3 was where DOTA really came from, I played it when it was Aeon of Strife. And there were other similar maps (one was "mechwarrior" and there was also Force Majeure) and some actually hard leveling RPGs that you'd generally die midway through on. Good stuff. Warcraft 2 to Starcraft to Warcraft 3 is an interesting heritage for League and DOTA that I haven't thought of. This is what happens after 20 years of p…

Post by AMerrit » Fri, Feb 24, 2023, 2:13 PM UTC

feoren wrote: post #59

nerdponx wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

And Starcraft!

The Tower Defense genre was invented in Starcraft custom maps, all the way back to the popular Starship Troopers maps, then Bunker Defense, and so on. MOBAs were invented in Warcraft 3 custom maps with the original DOTA. It's so clear how beneficial it is to any creative sphere to have those rapid development loops, where you can go from having a cool idea to having random strangers playing it within a few days. Ther…

Post by boywitharupee » Fri, Feb 24, 2023, 2:28 PM UTC

jimbob45 wrote: post #17

kapp_in_life wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>it's become impossible to make a single simplistic map for an existing shooter that your friends actually play Counter strike global offensive still has a level editor. Though yeah fewer games nowadays ship with the community servers and mod tools you need to have that kind of organic community. Guess its mostly a problem with the changing monetization strategies where you want to sell microtransaction cosmetics whi…

Not only does it still have a level editor, it also shipped what was, in my opinion, the greatest user-made map[0] to exist within the last decade. [0] https://counterstrike.fandom.com/wiki/Zoo

Post by ChoGGi » Fri, Feb 24, 2023, 2:42 PM UTC

rgavuliak wrote: post #72

fwlr wrote: post #5

Iceworld gave you a random weapon and you had to make do - that was a fun twist on the usual CS gameplay, and that’s all it took to be popular. Another genre in this style (possibly an evolution of iceworld itself) is “gun game”, where you all start with the weakest pistol and every kill changes you to the next weapon. This was popular for the same reason, it was a fun twist on the usual gameplay and you played with…

No, fy_iceworld had guns lying on the ground. The article mentions it too.

Post by soupfordummies » Fri, Feb 24, 2023, 2:53 PM UTC

zztop44 wrote: post #21

soupfordummies wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Oh man Warcraft 2 used to have BGH customs too! I also remember really enjoying these “Champions” customs where you had one strong unit that was modded to be even stronger and you had to progress through a map of obstacles and enemies. It totally took the resources/build part out of the equation and just focused on movement and combat. IIRC, the entire MOBA genre was actually spawned from a Warcraft 3 custom map (the…

The original Defense of the Ancients custom map for Warcraft 3 was heavily influenced by a StarCraft custom map called Aeons of Strife (iirc). It is probably the first proto-MOBA. It’s true that it was Defense of the Ancients (or more properly, the DotA Allstars variant) that birthed the MOBA genre.