Pre-Beta Starcraft II Melee Map ConceptsThis is the pre-Starcraft II beta version of this page. Below are sketches of map concepts I'd like to develop for Starcraft II when the editor becomes available. Note that these are concepts, so the sketches are not necessarily to scale and the mineral icons do not show exactly how many patches are at an expansion. I did a comparison of the number of regular and high-yield resource areas in my concepts to the Blizzard maps that have been shown. Thanks to Demonthese, Drews, Wjenista, Mccain, Morlar, Rah, Mardukdeathbane, Jettset, Khaile, Darkalaskan, Guardianangels, Pinycone1234, Crazy_dave, Lombego, Starshaped, 2scoops, Teardownjungles, Quintem, Dth88, and Sasori21 for their feedback and suggestions in this battle.net forum thread, the follow up thread, or Khaile's thread gathering up of the Starcraft II map designs. There is an updated version of this page taking lessons from watching a lot of beta games.. Legend
JailbreakJailbreak is like an island map in the sense that an early ground rush is not possible, but there are several paths that may open if the rocks are destroyed. Opening the ways to different "islands" offer unique possibilities. The closest available expansion without transport or floating a command center is to destroy one rock. This has an interesting consequence: if both players take this attractive option for their first expansion then there is already an open ground path between the mains. A high-yield expansion is a minimum of two destructible rocks away from the mains, but it can also be transported to. A player might devote his first few combat units to working on the rocks towards the high-yield to expand there early. Note that a player who has taken control of the center is at most one rock away from scouting or claiming these expansions. There is a transport-only expansion next to and elevated above the mains. Players may claim them as an easily-protected expansion and a good place for positioning units like seige tanks or stalkers to handle base invasions. Similarly, a player can use this elevated area as a staging ground to invade the opponent's main. And of course, nothing is stopping a player from simply teching to transports and going straight for a drop at the opponent's main, like on a true island map. 
Fueling StationThis map stems from a question I asked myself after making Vesuvius: "how close can two bases be and still allow for an interesting variety of strategies?" So here's Fueling Station, featuring a short, narrow pathway connecting the mains. I imagine the pathway can be blocked by a single supply depot or two pylons--basically very narrow although the image implies it is wider than that. Scouting is a cinch with workers or by sitting on observatories, so players should be able to see what kind of rush, if any, is coming. So are there options for this map? I think a player could reasonably do any of the following within their favorite builds,
The long-path side of the map is wide open. If the match hasn't been decided across the short path then the other side of the map is intentionally hard to choke. 
SignalThe shortest path between the mains on Signal descends to the lowest altitude twice until players destroy the rocks on the center walkway. Interestingly, a player probably wants to keep the rocks closer to her own base and destroy the other set. The lower areas have room to maneuver, a high-yield expansion option, and a "temporary island" expansion. 
StretchStretch is for players who think they can win with room to maneuver. Any straight path between main chokes is unblocked. Destructible rocks defend the high-yield expanions and main chokes, so there is always the possibility an opponent will literally blow in the door. Good scouting and army movement are rewarded on this map. 
New DenverThis is a 2v2 map that puts teammates into slightly asymmetric situations. The north teammate's main ramp is wider and more forward so it is the easier for opponents to scout. The south teammate's main has a longer exposed cliff and is closer to the opponents by air. Teammates share a common area for natural expansion and staging, but the slightly different roles add a layer to match-ups. For instance, a Terran player spawning in the north position might take early charge of team defense, but if the same player spawns south he or she might tech up to air quickly. However, the team spawns are not so different that a general strategy couldn't work from either spawn. There are three lanes connecting the team's staging areas. The top lane has an interesting high ground and observatory arrangement for controlling access to two regular expansions. The middle lane is the shortest path between teams and features exposed high-yield expansions. The bottom lane has one regular expansion and no elevation changes for more "toe-to-toe" clashes. 
VesuviusThis is a 1v1 map with a ticking time bomb--there is a very short path between the main bases blocked by three destructible rocks. In the early game players can safely concentrate on descending into the lower areas of the map much like other 1v1 maps. Once a player manages to clear the short path though, the mains will become the front lines. The cliffs on this map intentionally balance 2-level and 1-level elevation changes. This way cliff walking units have more paths open, but there are some restrictions, such as getting on the short path between mains. Note that the observatories help a player peek up two levels when trying to move against the opponent's natural. 
CurtainThe dominant feature of this 1v1 map is a "curtain" of line-of-sight blockers along the shortest path between the starting locations. Players may enjoy experimenting with the curtain as a way to ambush units taking the shortest path, or to sneak up on the natural expansion, or simply to hide a building or units. The variation B adds another observatory behind the curtain to allow hiding units to see what is moving in the center, without having to pop out to see. I think this version takes away from the simplicity of the map, but if you're all for it, please say so in the battle.net forum thread about these map concepts. 
TraitorTraitor is a 1v1 map with a lot of interesting strategic choices. The high-ground expansion with destructible doodads can be used offensively or defensively. Each of the two land-locked island expansion serve several purposes, 1) in the early game it is an "unclimbable" barrier that protects the low-ground expansion behind it 2) it has the advantages of an island expansion requiring an opponent to tech up to units that can attack it 3) it is a beastly high-ground position for map control. Variation A is the leading version, which has the following changes from B:
If you have a strong feeling about the best possible version of this map concept, post your opinion in this battle.net forum thread. 
Route DW1This map's name comes from a road covering the main avenues that is punctuated by observatories. Note the natural expansions are unusual. The destructible rocks defend the expansion early, but mid-game onward an opponent has more and more options for attacking the natural. This map is intended for 1v1, 2v2 or FFA.  Resource Comparison With Blizzard MapsThis comparison ranks the maps by available resource areas per player where high-yield expansions are worth roughly 1.4x more than a normal expansion, the "combined" columns use this ratio to combine "regular" and "high-yield" columns. My map concepts are mixed in with the Blizzard maps. Curtain has relatively low resources, while Traitor variation B has high resources for 1v1. Route DW1 has the same count of resource areas as Lost Temple.
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