Let's get the obvious out the way:
1. EUD was never supported in official Battle.net. You had to go on FIsh server prior to Remastered to play maps that use EUD's.
If you had lived outside of Korea, you could not play those maps properly due to latency issues (lag).
Now, EUD is supported officially on Battle.net US.West server, the home gateway for us in N.A.
Yes, it's taken more than 20 years but it is NOW available for us to take advantage of.
2. EUD Editor 3 resolves all the complexity of adding EUD's to your map. It's super easy now compared to couple years ago.
Wtf is Firegraft? You can add most of the EUD's using EUD Editor 3 without needing to write a single line of code.
You don't need to memorize offsets. That shit is nuts.
This lowered difficulty of EUD implementation should be inviting for all NEW and EXISTING map makers.
3. We're hitting over 3000+ users online on weekend nights @ US.West as of August 2020. This means rooms can get filled up fairly easily.
Prior to release of Remastered, you could not get a game going due to lack of players online. We're easily 5-6 times of what it used to be 2-3 years ago.
In fact, I recall Starcraft US.West/US.East being offline at some point. It was literally dead.
Yes, the population of the server is INCREASING, a reversal in the trend. This observation needs to be taken in.
Now you're going, hold up bud... Yes relax for a second, and hear me out now.
This isn't a joke. I see this as an opportunity for ALL of us, and you'll soon understand.
This is an opportunity to REVIVE the good old times, and make it EVEN better.
I suspect that most of us here at SEN are born between 80's or 90's, and probably have used Windows XP at one point.
When I first started dabbling with the campaign editor, I was still in elementary school. This was probably about 18 years ago or so.
As you get older, you start to realize that your own actions and people acting collectively as a whole has a tremendous influence in creating a change.
I will lay down only the facts, to pursue you into making a collective effort. This is only possible when acted on together.
---- Introduction ----
1. What exactly was Starcraft from a UMS standpoint?
Starcraft UMS was the first PC game where you can make your own custom levels that can be played online with up to 7 other players via P2P.
Creating customs levels has always been a feature in many games, but Starcraft was the king of all.
Modern games today that are similar in this sense are Mario Maker, Fortnite Creative Mode, Minecraft Servers and etc.
2. What makes Starcraft prominent out of all these "make your own level" games?
-It has an amazing base game, a timeless classic that is still played after over 20 years.
-The active players of the main game can easily access your map.
-The active players of UMS content WILL check your map if it sounds/looks interesting.
-Big online player base at the time
-It was first to incorporate a "design your own level" feature in a multiplayer focused environment
-It spawned an infinite amount of game concepts which we see today. The actual concept of Tower Defense game originates from Starcraft - Ghost[Yoon]'s Turret Defense
-Was the only game with design your own level for multiplayer that swept a nation (Korea) and was a part of eSports,
--- Understanding the fun behind it's limitations ---
3. Starcaft Maps vs. Making a game
Why not make a game then? That WAS the question, if you hadn't answered it yet.
What makes making Starcraft maps enjoyable is ironically the limitation itself.
We are limited to the terrain tileset, the units, the 256x256, and the list goes on.
It's seeing what one can do within this limitation interesting, and this is the core reason how one can adapt to a new map quickly vs learning a brand new game.
If the boundaries are indeed endless, then it's not suited for one person hobbyist development which is usually the case here.
Starcraft map making is ideal for a single person who wants to see their idea turned into a real multiplayer game, with an immediate player-base.
The readily available assets not only reduce your time, but cost to zero.
--- Finding the exact cause of the decline in popularity ---
4. Release of Warcraft 3, TFT, and also SC2.
TFT and SC2 offers a much more capable and sophisticated default editor. This along with a new graphics engine, higher max player have had many players switch over.
5. B.net server vs. Fish server.
For a long ass time, the official Battle.net servers did not support EUD maps. Fish server however supported EUD maps if you used the wLauncher.
The adoption rate of wLauncher during the Fish server reign was definitely higher than 90%. SCALauncher will see similar adoption and widespread usage.
The main trigger for the adoption rate comes from internet cafes adding these third party launchers in their "Program Launcher".
The lack of EUD maps had a role in decline of B.net servers
6. Low-res graphics
Graphics were too out-dated to be playing this game for it's charm of making maps. 640x800 was too low of a resolution when 1080p became the standard.
7. Dead B.net servers
Battle.net servers were in fact completely offline for some time few years ago prior to Remastered. This single-handedly killed the UMS userbase.
--- The current mitigation & understanding the potential for change ---
8. Release of SC:R
Release of SCR has changed the outdated graphics/interface issue, and an improved battle.net. Who would knew this would even happen?
9. Support of EUD maps on B.net servers.
Wasn't available at the start of SC:R, but now EUD is supported on Battle.net servers.
10. SC2 / WC3 decline
Starcraft 2 has exceed it's original limitations and is super complex. Do you have time to learn all that?
If you enjoy a limited boundary, SC2 isn't for you. SC is.
SC:R + EUD Editor 3 + SCA is more capable than Warcraft 3 / TFT in certain aspects.
11. The TOOLS
EUD Editor 3 allows users to add EUD's to their maps using a graphical interface without the need of coding knowledge. SCMDraft allows you to do everything else.
These tools are years ahead from what was available back then, and it's available for you to use for free.
Anyone can make good maps with attempted coherence based logic provided that you have some spare time.
I personally believe these tools can create a multiplayer game faster than any other forms of game development.
12. SCArchive.kr Map Listing.
With current trend of SCA based map making in Korea, we can expect to see more maps using this technology.
At this rate, we are just in the early adopter phase. The key aspect of this new era is the ability to have your map listed on SCArchive.kr
When you compile a map on EUD Editor 3 with SCA enabled, your map gets automatically listed on the official map directory.
This means that people will be able to find and play your maps without you needing to the host the map at all.
12. Top 10 Maps.
You will be able to see Top 10 Most Played maps by active users playing, using this information: Server User Stats
This means that we know which maps are popular, and creates incentive to compete as a mapper.
13. Real-time adjustments with SCA global values.
Already shown in ATIA WORLD RPG, a possibility of MMORPG is there.
You are able to assign and modify a global value, which SCA pulls real-time.
What does this mean?
-Make past version of maps unplayable
-Allow timed events such as limited item giveaways, double EXP day and etc.
-Allow a daily item rotating shop such as one in Fortnite
-Adjust gained EXP value in-real time
-Pretty much adjust things in your map in REAL-TIME. WTF?
14. Map Protection
Maps were unprotected and it did more harm than good. There are pros and cons, the education is a pro and the cons was always the lack of protection of intellectual property.
With EUD Editor 3, your maps cannot be unprotected. Plain and simple.
15. Actual Stats
At peak, Korea server is hovering @ 22k users. At peak, West server is hovering around @ 3-4k.
We're basically only 1/6 amount less than Korea and that is a substantial ratio growth.
It's possible that we can reach 10k peak levels, which would put us in the golden days territory.
16. PRE DL BEFORE JOIN (HUGE)
Before, it did not make any sense to create large scale maps that I have insinuated in this post.
This is because no one will your play your map, if it takes forever to download in the game lobby.
I have personally confirmed that as of now, maps up to 20mb in size will be downloaded from the B.net cloud servers prior to joining the lobby.
This means that you can add all the music, sounds into map without needing to compress to the lowest quality.
I expect this INSTANT DL thing will allow you to create without thinking about the map size consequences.
---- Understanding what discourages you ----
17. Single factor
What exactly are the golden days? If you think about it, it's actually just the player base.
With no player-base and no one to play your maps, you will not be inclined to make maps for a dead game.
The player-base is everything.
---- Identifying the exact goal ----
18. TRIPLE the current amount of peak users
If we can reach 3x the current peak user amount, the golden days will be achieved.
If we do get to this point, your enjoyment of both making and playing maps will be through the roof.
This would be so fun, that you will not play anything else but Starcraft UMS.
--- Game Plan ---
19. To reach the goal, everyone on SEN needs to start making maps again for SCA specifically. The difference in West and Korea are the quality of the maps.
Yes, the Korean maps are good but no one speaks ching chong @ US West. YOU, need to step up the quality as content providers.
As mentioned above, we can see total registered users as well as active users for all SCA enabled maps.
Imagine the Top 10 maps are from WEST mappers! SC was made in America. Wake up folks! Where is the spirit?
I can imagine Oh_Man making Top 10. Why don't you try? I'm trying for 1000 users and Top 10 also.
YOU, are largely responsible for whether this goal can be achieved. The idea is that even GOOD maps get tiring after awhile.
20. Closing thoughts -
It feels as if we gave up. It's true, all of us moved on with our lives and have more responsibilities now.
At the end, the time required to dedicate on map making becomes increasingly realized as you get older.
But let's all be honest. I think of all us sorta abandoned mapping because SC died. UMS died.
While this is true, we must accept that this is in the past. As of currently, UMS picking up again.
Good things come around they say. With a little bit of push from the community, I believe it's totally possible to get US.West populated again.
There's nothing quite like SC UMS. People always come back to SC. You probably did.
This is a great time to get back into mapping. Just think about how amazing it would be if the scene came back. The bounders, and all that.
Post has been edited 15 time(s), last time on Sep 11 2020, 8:48 pm by lifebot.
There was a while where that one guy (name is escaping me at the moment) was making an English GUI EUD maker, but he lost interest in the project and it died with that loss of interest. I'm honestly just pretty excited and grateful the Koreans were considerate enough to include translations in their editors for the rest of us. Now if EUD Editor 3 could just be re-skinned to look exactly like EUD Editor 2 
