My Tips to Create an Enjoyable Map

[Mamiamato24]

Being apart of the MCSG community for over a year now, I know what people like and dislike from maps. I know that over time, people's opinions have vastly changed and once popular maps are now considered obsolete by today's crowd. I am making this thread just to give a few of my personal tips to aspiring builders wanting to create a map for the servers. I may not be the best builder, or even built a map that was accepted onto the servers, but I feel that these tips could help some people.
So without further to do, let's begin!
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1) Size: I can tell you one thing for sure, not many people like big maps. Most people like short, fast-paced and action-filled games, rather than slow ones which take up the whole thirty minutes. This makes the majority of Team Vareide maps underplayed considering 4/5 of them are massive. So basically, do NOT make a big map. The old-timers might disagree with this, and say that a bigger map mimics what the Survival Games would be like realistically, but the majority of the players don't give a poop about that and just want to play a short game.

2) Balance: There must be a balance between water/ice and land. I can tell you that not very many people like a map that's 50% water. It leads to dreadfully annoying ice and water chases, and makes it easy for someone you're chasing to escape your grasp. I suggest keeping water to a minimum on a map, but if it's necessary, make sure there is some way of transportation around it, whether it'd be bridges, lily pads, or whatever does the job.

3) Theme: Don't use a theme that's already been used. You must be creative when you make a map. Let's take "Hell Games" for example, arguably the most dreadful and hated map that has ever been put on the MCSG servers. Why did people hate it? It resembled Survival Games 1 way too much, and the majority of the map was forest, which people DID NOT like. Don't make a map that is similar in any way to one that's on the servers. As I said before, BE CREATIVE. People like to experience different kinds of maps.

4) Theme 2.0: The map NEEDS to have a theme. You CANNOT make a map that is forest and random structures. The map needs to have an atmosphere, a time-set... it can even be a point in history. Everything needs to compliment each other and fit well with each other. For example, don't have a beach on a space-themed map. It just doesn't make sense. One of the first things you should do when making a map is come up with a theme for it.

5) A catchy name: This applies to new maps. For example, if you're a new player and in a lobby and see the maps list, would you vote for a map named "Sky Stuff" or would you vote for one named "Death Valley"? Obviously the second one. This one isn't as important as the others, but it is a factor that counts in the popularity of the map. Make sure to come up with a catchy and interesting name to grab the attention of the audience.

6) Chests: Make sure your map has enough chests. Nobody likes when a map has far from enough chests, and everyone is in full leather by deathmatch. Make sure the chests are evenly spaced, and possibly have a few hotspots around the map with some chests more densely placed. You should be able to run in any direction and get some decent gear. Another great tip is to have SOME chests out in the open and SOME hidden. It creates a good balance, and you would know that a chest more hidden has a higher chance of being tier 2. It isn't good to have ALL the chest out in the open, as that would make the map too easy, or vice versa.

7) Look: I think this is a fairly obvious one. Make your structures look good. Make sure they're properly sized, detailed (do not go too crazy with the details), and overall look visually appealing. Also, make sure you use different materials around the map. I see too many maps on the forums which have all the structures in one or very few materials. It doesn't look very nice. I would also suggest asking a map creator (preferably one who has a map on the servers) to look over it and give you a few pointers. Asking other people for constructive criticism is important because not everybody will perceive the map as you would.

8) Terrain: It is vital to make your terrain looks visually appealing. NEVER, EVER use Vanilla terrain. It is naturally spawned, and looks extremely clumpy, blocky, and is usually hard to navigate. I suggest getting to know how to use WE or VS to make your terrain look a lot more uniform and appealing. I also suggest not to make your terrain flat. It is good to have some fairly flat areas in the map for some good PvP, but an entire flat map looks dull. The terrain should also fit with the theme, like having craters in a Moon-styled map, or some hills for a mountainous themed map.

I'll add some more tips later as I think them up. I just wanted to get some that were on my mind out now. I hope these have helped in any way! ​

 

[SomeGuy]

1.All the maps shouldn't be small there should be a good balance between small and large maps also the big Team Vareide maps are not underplayed, I play on SG2 and SG5 quite often.

2.What about Breeze Island? Alot of people love Breeze Island but at the same time they hate it but it doesn't get voted for no apparent reason does it? Personally I don't really like maps with alot of water but maps like Holiday Resort and Breeze Island are fun to play on once in a while IMO.

3.Well there aren't much themes that haven't been used, I don't mind if there are 2 maps that have the same theme on the server but my tip is if you're going to use a theme that isn't very original add your own twist to it also just because Hell Games and SG1 are both forest maps doesn't mean they are very similar.People do like forest maps that's why there are some forest maps on the server.

4.I agree with this but what if someone made a space resort map? It could have a beach and still fit the theme.(Lol)

5.I'm pretty sure if someone made a map that would have a good chance of making it on the server they wouldn't call the map "Sky Stuff" or "Forest with Tower"

6.I also agree with this.

7.Yeah it is a fairly obvious one.

8.Also I would suggest not using world painter because it's hard to make good terrain with it unless you are very good with it but then it still isn't that nice.

 

[Sayf]

Been here for 1 year or not you'll never know what someone likes or dislikes . Unless you could read minds.

 

[Ninetailefox92]

This is a pretty decent tip thread :3 great work mami , if anything I would add that there is a huge need for good spacing of chests on a map, having like 6 chests in a small area then huge expanses of empty landscape just doesnt work (happens on new maps so much) an easy way to do this is circle around the map placing chests and slowly moving further out, evenly placing chests (obviously in locations that deserve chests not just on the surface) also I would add that with terraforming, learning voxelsniper is a big plus.. there are a ton of easy to understand tutorials and guides on this and it is very intuitive to new terraformers.

 

[Mamiamato24]

snip

1. I'm just saying what the general population likes. Most of the time, smaller maps get voted rather than big ones (SG4, Breeze, Solar Frost, etc.).

2. A lot of people do hate Breeze because of the water chases, but that's pretty much all that's wrong with it. I personally really like it.

3. Well I think everybody likes to play on a completely different map from time to time.

Been here for 1 year or not you'll never know what someone likes or dislikes . Unless you could read minds.

I am teh mind reader. Bow before me.

This is a pretty decent tip thread :3 great work mami , if anything I would add that there is a huge need for good spacing of chests on a map, having like 6 chests in a small area then huge expanses of empty landscape just doesnt work (happens on new maps so much) an easy way to do this is circle around the map placing chests and slowly moving further out, evenly placing chests (obviously in locations that deserve chests not just on the surface) also I would add that with terraforming, learning voxelsniper is a big plus.. there are a ton of easy to understand tutorials and guides on this and it is very intuitive to new terraformers.

Thanks :3
And I do agree those things are important.