‘Birthday’ was a map in Cubecraft Eggwars Teams of 4 that was extremely popular and one of the oldest maps in the gamemode. (The map was also featured on the Java network but this text is about the Bedrock network). In its time it was the most iconic map for the game and created many positive memories for the playerbase. Introduced on the 25th April 2019, Birthday map was introduced for the celebration of Cubecraft’s first birthday, and quickly became a favourite amongst the community for its variable playstyle and depth.
(The following paragraph simply describes and credits the map design, so if you aren’t interested then move straight on to the paragraph afterwards)
The map’s unique design featured three prominent layers with varying generators, the bottom level, with 0 generators, a second level with 2 iron generators and one diamond and one gold generator, and the top level with one diamond generator and one gold generator, at a higher level than the ones below. Later this top level would feature an emerald generator before those were removed. The three levels enabled players to fight and co-exist at mid, being able to challenge for the prized top level, or to get resources from the second level at a slower pace. The bottom level as well made it easy to bypass anyone collecting resources in the middle to attack their islands, adding another tactical aspect to the game, with there being a significant risk to idly sitting in the middle. It wasn’t just the middle that was well designed, but the base islands offered everything players would want. It had a large open area around the egg to build various defences freely or to fight attackers to protect the egg, as well as a passage around the island to add the threat of players sneaking up on your egg with a smart rush of bridging straight from your island to another team’s island, known as side-rushing. This added multiple routes to an enemy team’s egg, including the very high height border which allowed bridging from high up as a strategy. The base island as well had varying levels of height that were easy to build up to, adding more depth to both defending and attacking an egg. A running theme in eggwars maps is having a broken diamond generator which can be unlocked by bringing back diamonds from the middle. Birthday was no exception and featured a small island around 5 blocks from the base island which had a diamond generator on, which allowed a team to defend this island separately to the main island, and an area to use a bow and arrow to shoot anyone who crossed the main bridge to the middle. In most maps it is customary to bridge straight to middle, but the three layers of Birthday allowed teams to bridge a stairway allowing them to access the valuable top level easier, although it allowed enemy teams to access your base easier as well. The middle was undoubtedly the most well-designed middle on an eggwars teams of 4 map, with the balanced layout of generators that allowed multiple teams to use different levels of generators at once, with the option to challenge for better generators. There were areas to run from enemies and flatter areas that allowed easier fights.
Despite this excellently designed map, the developers of Cubecraft decided that it was time to move on, and on the 21st April 2022 Cubecraft Bedrock removed the Birthday map and replaced it with a new map named Celebration. This came announced with the caption “out with the old, in with the new”. The new map was clearly very similar to Birthday, with three levels with different levels of generators and overall a very similar design of middle. Despite this the map is a far cry from the elegance of Birthday, and equates to merely a cheap copy with none of the charm. Without going into excess detail, the map had poorly balanced generators in the middle and a base island that was irritating to fight on, with a tiny platform that the egg was placed in, making it extremely awkward to build around and defend. The map has since been removed for reasons not made available to the public, which leaves no good reason for birthday map being unavailable.
Of course, the Cubecraft staff team may already have plans to bring back the map for the next birthday of Cubecraft, but there has been no indication of this and it seems that the map has simply been abandoned. However, an exception to this is the use of private games, which allow Birthday as an option. However, private games are limited for use only by Cubecraft partners, which is only a handful of people chosen by the staff team. The lack of effective communication between staff and players has always been an issue on Cubecraft and recent times have made this clear, but to make my point clear it is my wish that the Cubecraft team listens to the community and brings back its favourite Eggwars map from the grave. Some may say that this text was excessive, however I believe that a map of the quality of Birthday is worth the effort, and I hope that my dedication is enough to convince the staff team to at least consider bringing back Birthday map.
- qLewiss
(The following paragraph simply describes and credits the map design, so if you aren’t interested then move straight on to the paragraph afterwards)
The map’s unique design featured three prominent layers with varying generators, the bottom level, with 0 generators, a second level with 2 iron generators and one diamond and one gold generator, and the top level with one diamond generator and one gold generator, at a higher level than the ones below. Later this top level would feature an emerald generator before those were removed. The three levels enabled players to fight and co-exist at mid, being able to challenge for the prized top level, or to get resources from the second level at a slower pace. The bottom level as well made it easy to bypass anyone collecting resources in the middle to attack their islands, adding another tactical aspect to the game, with there being a significant risk to idly sitting in the middle. It wasn’t just the middle that was well designed, but the base islands offered everything players would want. It had a large open area around the egg to build various defences freely or to fight attackers to protect the egg, as well as a passage around the island to add the threat of players sneaking up on your egg with a smart rush of bridging straight from your island to another team’s island, known as side-rushing. This added multiple routes to an enemy team’s egg, including the very high height border which allowed bridging from high up as a strategy. The base island as well had varying levels of height that were easy to build up to, adding more depth to both defending and attacking an egg. A running theme in eggwars maps is having a broken diamond generator which can be unlocked by bringing back diamonds from the middle. Birthday was no exception and featured a small island around 5 blocks from the base island which had a diamond generator on, which allowed a team to defend this island separately to the main island, and an area to use a bow and arrow to shoot anyone who crossed the main bridge to the middle. In most maps it is customary to bridge straight to middle, but the three layers of Birthday allowed teams to bridge a stairway allowing them to access the valuable top level easier, although it allowed enemy teams to access your base easier as well. The middle was undoubtedly the most well-designed middle on an eggwars teams of 4 map, with the balanced layout of generators that allowed multiple teams to use different levels of generators at once, with the option to challenge for better generators. There were areas to run from enemies and flatter areas that allowed easier fights.
Despite this excellently designed map, the developers of Cubecraft decided that it was time to move on, and on the 21st April 2022 Cubecraft Bedrock removed the Birthday map and replaced it with a new map named Celebration. This came announced with the caption “out with the old, in with the new”. The new map was clearly very similar to Birthday, with three levels with different levels of generators and overall a very similar design of middle. Despite this the map is a far cry from the elegance of Birthday, and equates to merely a cheap copy with none of the charm. Without going into excess detail, the map had poorly balanced generators in the middle and a base island that was irritating to fight on, with a tiny platform that the egg was placed in, making it extremely awkward to build around and defend. The map has since been removed for reasons not made available to the public, which leaves no good reason for birthday map being unavailable.
Of course, the Cubecraft staff team may already have plans to bring back the map for the next birthday of Cubecraft, but there has been no indication of this and it seems that the map has simply been abandoned. However, an exception to this is the use of private games, which allow Birthday as an option. However, private games are limited for use only by Cubecraft partners, which is only a handful of people chosen by the staff team. The lack of effective communication between staff and players has always been an issue on Cubecraft and recent times have made this clear, but to make my point clear it is my wish that the Cubecraft team listens to the community and brings back its favourite Eggwars map from the grave. Some may say that this text was excessive, however I believe that a map of the quality of Birthday is worth the effort, and I hope that my dedication is enough to convince the staff team to at least consider bringing back Birthday map.
- qLewiss
Under the Sea 
