[b][size=18]How to Make the Most Popular Map on Battle.net[/b][/size] This guide will help you improve your designing skills. It's easy when you know how. This guide will cover all areas, including map design, triggers, balance, creativity and your description. 1. Map Design Map Design is often one of the most time consuming parts of making a map. However, it need not be! One of the best kept secrets of the editor is the ability to load melee maps. With the press of a button the map is done for you, and the best part is no one will ever know the difference! However, some designers choose to go the whole hog and make the map themselves. If you do this it's always important to remember the golden rule: The sign of a good designer is that they never spend more than forty minutes on a map. Yes, speed really is the most obvious mark of an experienced designer, and you should aim to complete your map in less than ten minutes if you want a 5.0. Don't forget to mention this feat in your showcase. One of the most edgy and interesting approaches to map design is Minimalism. Just leave the map as pure dirt, as this unusual method will surely awe the player with your uncluttered and realistic map. Independent scientific studies have shown that dirt is the prettiest of all the terrains. Different terrain heights are to be avoided, as they are ugly. On those rare occasions where you want to use cliffs etc however to really sell the illusion of height, lots and lots of different heights are a must. Just mix them together (i.e. temple and high jungle) and admire the cool effect. Map Design can also affect balance. One of the most amusing parts of designing is giving the player an exciting and unusual objective (eg bring unit to other side of the map) and then blocking the path with null. It's hilarious as the player thinks he's done something wrong and spends hours looking for the way through. 2. Balance We all like a good challenge, and happily there are infinite possibilities for making your map challenging. Try having the player's single SCV against millions of utralisks, photon cannons and Raynors (these units are a must for all maps, as they are way cooler than other units and add a sense of realism). The possibilities really are endless. Another way of increasing the challenge is to make your map name completely different from the name you put in the DLDB. This is a really creative way of making your map more difficult to play. It's even more fun when its name is just a meaningless jumble of letters and numbers. The player will be perplexed and wondering about the meaning of the name well into the third paragraph of the hate mail that will surely soon be cluttering up your email inbox. Hate mail is a good sign; jealousy is the fate of truly talented designers. However, there is another good approach. A good way of building tension in a map is to make a large map with no detail (as this may prove distracting) and force the player to walk across it. He will be expecting many enemies, and when he doesn't meet any he will be surprised and wary. This effect is best when continued over a large number of maps, until you suddenly ambush the player with loads of Ultralisks. As a twist ending you could instead have no enemies in the entire campaign, that should really catch them off guard. Alternatively, some players are afraid of losing. Simply give them millions of utralisks and Raynors and give them the task of killing a single enemy Zergling. This even gives the effect of a cut-scene, as input from the player is not needed. The less experienced players will thank you for this and think the map very highly balanced. Again, the opportunities are endless. Try experimenting by replacing the enemy zerglings with a drone, or an enemy pylon. 3. Triggers Contrary to what many people say, the amount of triggers does make a difference to the quality of a map. It is very important that you never go over twenty five. This is the absolute maximum as more than this bores the player. Play it safe and stick to twelve or less. 4. Special Effects On those occasions where triggers are necessary, here are some of the special effects you can use. Non stop looping text: Simply create a preserved trigger with no wait, and one line of text. This way you can make sure the player really gets the message, and the best bit is that it doesn't stop until the map ends! Other advantages include the possibility for exciting noises, and the added difficulty as important player chats are immediately covered up. One of the most impressive applications of this trick is to make the line of text your name. Not only does this remind the player who you are, it makes it very difficult for people to steal your work (which is a real problem when you use high quality special effects such as this one). Slow Motion Battle: A little known fact is that it is impossible to get any publicity at all without using this trick. The trick is simplicity itself. Just put down about 1500 zerglings in one place, and you're done. When the player opens the map they will be startled by the extreme slow motion effect, which has the added effect of making the battle longer. Midnight: What better way to convey a dark atmosphere than a realistic midnight effect? "Impossible!" I hear you cry. But no, there are many ways of achieving this effect. My personal favourite method is to center the view of the player on a disabled sprite. Another bonus of this effect is that the player is given a chance to admire their Desktop half way through your map. 5. Description Some designers have experimented with the creative "No Description at all" look. You may wish to try this, especially for maps entitled something like "Bob's Quest" (always choose titles like this so that the player can instantly identify with the character, and knows from the start what the character will be doing. In this case, a quest). If you do write a description though, remember that no one likes a humble designer. Always boast about your many new tricks and features. If you're good enough at doing this the player won't even notice that you've just made eighteen random maps. Good examples of impressive features include: - Thrilling story - STUNNING map design - Better than Astrogears! - Annatar Quality! (Everyone knows that you can't be as good as Annatar, but it's a good idea to pretend you are) - Gewd! Kool! (This always goes down well) - FREE Ipod! People of today are very busy, and will probably not notice these impressive features if they aren't followed with at least seven exclamation marks. When it comes to getting attention, the more the merrier as far as exclamation marks are concerned. It is also recommended to include foreign accents and other arcane symbols from the dustier regions of the keyboard. Why spell it "map" when it could be "ŝċĔŋǍғĨŐ¤"?? Don't forget to indent your map with lots of spaces and squiggly lines. That way your map will always be on top, blotting out insignificant trash like Astrogears that doesn't do this. Who needs alphabetical order anyway? 6. Miscellaneous Testing your map is the sign of a weak designer. Good designers never make mistakes. Ever. Also, never admit that there is something wrong with your map. Remember, all criticism is a personal insult and should be sent back with interest. Try out the post-modern method, and do away with proper spelling and grammar. Most players don't like futuristic maps and would rather play something written in gangster slang. When writing a loss message, be sure to remind the player how inadequate they are. A torrent of personal abuse will make final victory more satisfying. Using numbers instead of letters is extremely creative. Use them as often as possible, after all, why else would they be on the keyboard? One final tip, have you noticed how many popular maps there are already? Worried that, despite following all these tips, you might not get the recognition you deserve? If you rig your map and host it you're bound to be at the top! It's this sort of lateral thinking that makes a truly great designer. I hope this guide has taught you how to make the most popular map on Battle.net. Good luck!

How to Make the Most Popular Map on Battle.net

This guide will help you improve your designing skills. It's easy when you know how. This guide will cover all areas, including map design, triggers, balance, creativity and your description.

1. Map Design

Map Design is often one of the most time consuming parts of making a map. However, it need not be!

One of the best kept secrets of the editor is the ability to load melee maps. With the press of a button the map is done for you, and the best part is no one will ever know the difference!

However, some designers choose to go the whole hog and make the map themselves. If you do this it's always important to remember the golden rule: The sign of a good designer is that they never spend more than forty minutes on a map. Yes, speed really is the most obvious mark of an experienced designer, and you should aim to complete your map in less than ten minutes if you want a 5.0. Don't forget to mention this feat in your showcase.

One of the most edgy and interesting approaches to map design is Minimalism. Just leave the map as pure dirt, as this unusual method will surely awe the player with your uncluttered and realistic map. Independent scientific studies have shown that dirt is the prettiest of all the terrains.

Different terrain heights are to be avoided, as they are ugly. On those rare occasions where you want to use cliffs etc however to really sell the illusion of height, lots and lots of different heights are a must. Just mix them together (i.e. temple and high jungle) and admire the cool effect.

Map Design can also affect balance. One of the most amusing parts of designing is giving the player an exciting and unusual objective (eg bring unit to other side of the map) and then blocking the path with null. It's hilarious as the player thinks he's done something wrong and spends hours looking for the way through.

2. Balance

We all like a good challenge, and happily there are infinite possibilities for making your map challenging. Try having the player's single SCV against millions of utralisks, photon cannons and Raynors (these units are a must for all maps, as they are way cooler than other units and add a sense of realism). The possibilities really are endless.

Another way of increasing the challenge is to make your map name completely different from the name you put in the DLDB. This is a really creative way of making your map more difficult to play. It's even more fun when its name is just a meaningless jumble of letters and numbers. The player will be perplexed and wondering about the meaning of the name well into the third paragraph of the hate mail that will surely soon be cluttering up your email inbox. Hate mail is a good sign; jealousy is the fate of truly talented designers.

However, there is another good approach. A good way of building tension in a map is to make a large map with no detail (as this may prove distracting) and force the player to walk across it. He will be expecting many enemies, and when he doesn't meet any he will be surprised and wary. This effect is best when continued over a large number of maps, until you suddenly ambush the player with loads of Ultralisks. As a twist ending you could instead have no enemies in the entire campaign, that should really catch them off guard.

Alternatively, some players are afraid of losing. Simply give them millions of utralisks and Raynors and give them the task of killing a single enemy Zergling. This even gives the effect of a cut-scene, as input from the player is not needed. The less experienced players will thank you for this and think the map very highly balanced. Again, the opportunities are endless. Try experimenting by replacing the enemy zerglings with a drone, or an enemy pylon.

3. Triggers

Contrary to what many people say, the amount of triggers does make a difference to the quality of a map. It is very important that you never go over twenty five. This is the absolute maximum as more than this bores the player. Play it safe and stick to twelve or less.

4. Special Effects

On those occasions where triggers are necessary, here are some of the special effects you can use.

Non stop looping text: Simply create a preserved trigger with no wait, and one line of text. This way you can make sure the player really gets the message, and the best bit is that it doesn't stop until the map ends! Other advantages include the possibility for exciting noises, and the added difficulty as important player chats are immediately covered up. One of the most impressive applications of this trick is to make the line of text your name. Not only does this remind the player who you are, it makes it very difficult for people to steal your work (which is a real problem when you use high quality special effects such as this one).

Slow Motion Battle: A little known fact is that it is impossible to get any publicity at all without using this trick. The trick is simplicity itself. Just put down about 1500 zerglings in one place, and you're done. When the player opens the map they will be startled by the extreme slow motion effect, which has the added effect of making the battle longer.

Midnight: What better way to convey a dark atmosphere than a realistic midnight effect? "Impossible!" I hear you cry. But no, there are many ways of achieving this effect. My personal favourite method is to center the view of the player on a disabled sprite. Another bonus of this effect is that the player is given a chance to admire their Desktop half way through your map.

5. Description


Some designers have experimented with the creative "No Description at all" look. You may wish to try this, especially for maps entitled something like "Bob's Quest" (always choose titles like this so that the player can instantly identify with the character, and knows from the start what the character will be doing. In this case, a quest).

If you do write a description though, remember that no one likes a humble designer. Always boast about your many new tricks and features. If you're good enough at doing this the player won't even notice that you've just made eighteen random maps. Good examples of impressive features include:

- Thrilling story
- STUNNING map design
- Better than Astrogears!
- Annatar Quality! (Everyone knows that you can't be as good as Annatar, but it's a good idea to pretend you are)
- Gewd! Kool! (This always goes down well)
- FREE Ipod!

People of today are very busy, and will probably not notice these impressive features if they aren't followed with at least seven exclamation marks. When it comes to getting attention, the more the merrier as far as exclamation marks are concerned.

It is also recommended to include foreign accents and other arcane symbols from the dustier regions of the keyboard. Why spell it "map" when it could be "ŝċĔŋǍғĨŐ¤"??

Don't forget to indent your map with lots of spaces and squiggly lines. That way your map will always be on top, blotting out insignificant trash like Astrogears that doesn't do this. Who needs alphabetical order anyway?

6. Miscellaneous

Testing your map is the sign of a weak designer. Good designers never make mistakes. Ever. Also, never admit that there is something wrong with your map. Remember, all criticism is a personal insult and should be sent back with interest.

Try out the post-modern method, and do away with proper spelling and grammar. Most players don't like futuristic maps and would rather play something written in gangster slang.

When writing a loss message, be sure to remind the player how inadequate they are. A torrent of personal abuse will make final victory more satisfying.

Using numbers instead of letters is extremely creative. Use them as often as possible, after all, why else would they be on the keyboard?

One final tip, have you noticed how many popular maps there are already? Worried that, despite following all these tips, you might not get the recognition you deserve? If you rig your map and host it you're bound to be at the top! It's this sort of lateral thinking that makes a truly great designer.


I hope this guide has taught you how to make the most popular map on Battle.net. Good luck!

Wow! This is most likely the best stereotypical description of most, if not all, of the maps that people host on Battle.net. I lol'd as soon as I read the part about having no more then 25 triggers. The part about not testing your map and "gangster slang" also were amusing! The part that really won me over was the part about writing the loss message. "Let the user know how inadequate they are." Total LULZ :lol:

Wow! This is most likely the best stereotypical description of most, if not all, of the maps that people host on Battle.net. I lol'd as soon as I read the part about having no more then 25 triggers. The part about not testing your map and "gangster slang" also were amusing! The part that really won me over was the part about writing the loss message. "Let the user know how inadequate they are." Total LULZ

I love this thread. Sticky!

I love this thread. Sticky!

BRILLIANT!!! its just what i needed!!! or wait exuse me |3R1|_|_1A|\|T!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!1111111111111

BRILLIANT!!!

its just what i needed!!!

or wait exuse me
|3R1|_|_1A|\|T!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!1111111111111

U R T3H L33t M4P 2T0R14L M4K3R!!!!!!!!!11ONE

U R T3H L33t M4P 2T0R14L M4K3R!!!!!!!!!11ONE

Epic. Fucking. Win.

Epic.

Fucking.

Win.

I don't know why I read through the whole thing, but it certainly is true! Sticky this, Now!

I don't know why I read through the whole thing, but it certainly is true! Sticky this, Now!

[quote=name:Impeached] Don't forget to indent your map with lots of spaces and squiggly lines. That way your map will always be on top, blotting out insignificant trash like Astrogears that doesn't do this. Who needs alphabetical order anyway? [/quote] Roflcakes & copters. Yeah really... maps for people with an IQ greater than 30 in no particular order: Astrogears, Battlecruiser Command, Spellsword RPG, and even my very own Great Wizards ;) I hate nubs (Yes Master Yoda, it IS a strong word) who just leave Astrogears games especially. All Hail Tux, The End. EDIT: On occasion I ritually delete anything in my downloads folder which appears above the [Up One Level] folder root thing in Starcraft's map selection screen. Usually when I get enough maps starting with [ that I can't see the [Up One Level] item when I bring the scroll bar to the top (i.e. it is on "page 2" so to speak)

Quote from ws-Impeached

Don't forget to indent your map with lots of spaces and squiggly lines. That way your map will always be on top, blotting out insignificant trash like Astrogears that doesn't do this. Who needs alphabetical order anyway?

Roflcakes & copters. Yeah really... maps for people with an IQ greater than 30 in no particular order: Astrogears, Battlecruiser Command, Spellsword RPG, and even my very own Great Wizards I hate nubs (Yes Master Yoda, it IS a strong word) who just leave Astrogears games especially. All Hail Tux, The End.

EDIT: On occasion I ritually delete anything in my downloads folder which appears above the [Up One Level] folder root thing in Starcraft's map selection screen. Usually when I get enough maps starting with [ that I can't see the [Up One Level] item when I bring the scroll bar to the top (i.e. it is on "page 2" so to speak)

Everything that is stated in his post is so true to people who host games on Battle.net. They all have a crazy amount of un-need characters from different languages!!! GREAT! :lol:

Everything that is stated in his post is so true to people who host games on Battle.net. They all have a crazy amount of un-need characters from different languages!!! GREAT!

Hm. Maybe I should make one of these! [quote=name:Brontobyte]They all have a crazy amount of un-need characters from different languages!!![/quote]Especially when Korean (on a more serious note.)

Hm. Maybe I should make one of these!

Quote from Brontobyte

They all have a crazy amount of un-need characters from different languages!!!

Especially when Korean (on a more serious note.)

How about a mapping contest with a 25 trigger limit? :teehee:

How about a mapping contest with a 25 trigger limit?

[quote=name:JaFF]How about a mapping contest with a 25 trigger limit? :teehee:[/quote] Definitely. And you can't spend more than 40 minutes on it.

Quote from JaFF

How about a mapping contest with a 25 trigger limit?

Definitely.

And you can't spend more than 40 minutes on it.

I'm wondering if this is a joke or not. That's how much I really don't take it seriously. But maybe I just didn't get the joke :P [size=6]Disclaimer: Yes, I know it was a joke.. You people... [/size]

I'm wondering if this is a joke or not. That's how much I really don't take it seriously. But maybe I just didn't get the joke

Disclaimer: Yes, I know it was a joke.. You people...

That was amazing. I cried at the end. I just think it would have better if he had been joking.

That was amazing. I cried at the end. I just think it would have better if he had been joking.

I like the mention of having a campaign spread on battle.net. :bleh:

I like the mention of having a campaign spread on battle.net.

Incredibly funny. [quote]We all like a good challenge, and happily there are infinite possibilities for making your map challenging. Try having the player's single SCV against millions of utralisks, photon cannons and Raynors (these units are a must for all maps, as they are way cooler than other units and add a sense of realism). The possibilities really are endless.[/quote] I loled with that part :lol:

Incredibly funny.

Quote

We all like a good challenge, and happily there are infinite possibilities for making your map challenging. Try having the player's single SCV against millions of utralisks, photon cannons and Raynors (these units are a must for all maps, as they are way cooler than other units and add a sense of realism). The possibilities really are endless.

I loled with that part

I actually read that wall of text. It was fucking hilarious!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! The strangest part is that, it's true!!!!!!!!!!! I have a shit load of maps in my download folder that only use strange characters in the "dustier regions of the keyboard." Even better, I don't even know what the map is about!!! Even though it is a joke, it's still true for the most part.

I actually read that wall of text. It was fucking hilarious!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
The strangest part is that, it's true!!!!!!!!!!!
I have a shit load of maps in my download folder that only use strange characters in the "dustier regions of the keyboard." Even better, I don't even know what the map is about!!!
Even though it is a joke, it's still true for the most part.

I wonder if this guy has ever made a popular map...

I wonder if this guy has ever made a popular map...

Thanks Impeached. I read your tutorial before making any map. I actually thought you were serious before I read the 15th paragraph or something ^^ Very nice

Thanks Impeached.

I read your tutorial before making any map.

I actually thought you were serious before I read the 15th paragraph or something Very nice

I wrote a couple tutorials on map making a while back on the old SEN server. This was like 3 years ago though lol. May be a little outdated but it consists primarily of my theory and philosophy to map making. Map making tips: [quote]Mental Factor When you are making a map, most think that to become succesfull you must implement as much trigger knowledge as you can into your maps. Wrong. It doesn't matter how much stuff you know about triggers you know; it's about how well you use them. To use them well, you must have a strong mentality since making maps consumes lots of time. Here's my philosophy: In golf, the sport is basically You vs the Ball. In map making it's You vs. your Map. You must "win" over your map by staying focused and just concentrating on what must be done, just like you would in golf where u just get the ball into the hole. However, it also matters how you win over your inanimate adversary. In golf, if you get the ball into the hole with the fewest strokes possible, then you'd win a high quality win over the golf ball. In map making, putting your best effort into your maps would also earn you a high quality win over your map. When you try to make maps, especially big ones like RPGs, some of you just get unbearably lazy but yet at the same time still wanting to get your map done. This ambivalence of feelings can hinder your map making, thus causing you to abandon it. As you make a map, you must have a steady "rhythm" going. You work at a good pace and you focus on your work intently. It gets yourself engrossed into what u're doing. The hard part of this is actually finding your "rhythm" and keeping it going at a steady pace. If you really feel lazy but at the same time really want to get a map done, just try, with all your strength, starting up the map by doing basic things to it. Start with things that require repetitive work (such as triggers with different variables for different players. If you do them succesfully you will get a "rhythm" going and u will feel motivated to persevere. However, if you speed it up (getting too far ahead of yourself, getting to excited) or if u slow it down (getting distracted, daydreaming, etc) you will ruin it. So decide on what sort of pace you will want to work on ur map with, find your rhythm, and keep it steady. Every human being has two selves: The Teller and the Doer. The teller is the internal voice inside your head. It tells u what to do, nags at you, and sometimes scolds or encourages you. The Doer self is the one that supposedly follows The Teller self's commands; its the one that does everything. When you are working on your map, your Teller self would keep throwing at you things such as "Ok, do this, do that... make the triggers... fix the units." This nagging will sometimes frustrate ur Doer self and disrupt your rhythm, bogging you down. So the main message here is: ignore your teller self. Do everything with ease and dont fill your mind up with your teller's comments. Usually when I make maps, i just let my Doer self go, do everything by instinct. When i ignore my teller self's nagging, i tend to work better and stay more focused. Also when you are making your map, dont get too far ahead of yourself. Do what must be done one at a time. Say for instance if you're workin on making locations, just keep your mind on locations; dont drift off into how you will do other things. Keep both your Mind (not teller self) and your Doer self on the same thing; never seperate them. Think about what your map will be like when it's done. Imagine how people will play it and what they will say about it. Will it spread? Is it going to last? Are you proud of it? You must keep these things in mind when u are making your map. There is a difference between a GOOD map and a FUN map. GOOD maps are of high quality and is well made, but FUN maps are really the ones that spread. Make sure your map consists mainly of the "FUN" qualities if you want ppl to play it. However, it's not all about fun. More will be mentioned later. Before your map is done, picture and predict what the downside of the map will be like. What flaws could there possibly be and how can you prevent them? Think of possible reasons why ur map wont spread and try to avoid it.[/quote] As for map popularity [quote]As more and more of my maps become more liked by the public, I've realized there's this one VERY important factor that contributes to a map's popularity, one everyone seems to overlook. A map gets popular because people replay them over and over again. That's what you want people to do with your maps. But for what purpose(s) would someone replay the map over and over again? Everyone is going to say fun. But fun isn't good enough; ANYTHING can be played again and again just for fun. You need something else in order to take your map to the next level. Of course, to get a map popular, it would have to be somewhat good, not too complicated, and playable. That's the easy part; anyone can do that. But to truly get a map popular, you must give people a reason for remaking/spreading your map? What factors contribute to its popularity? What makes your map stand out from the rest? Would it be: New strategies- Would somebody replay your map so they can try different game approaches or strategies? If your game has a huge variety of possible strategies, then you should try and work your map in this direction. Strategies must be very different from each other; there also must be plentiful possible strategies. For instance, in old school games like "Art of Defense," you can try going all tanks and ground units one time. Second time you can try going all turrets or air units. There are many different possibilities with just one race alone. If you want your map replayability factor to be this, make sure you include a huge variety of strategies otherwise, it might get old fast. Competition- This is probably the #1 factor for most non "humans vs comps." Would someone replay your map so they can compete (and beat) other players across battle.net or friends? Does your map have the thing in which there's almost no limit (skill wise) to? People want to be good; people want to push their skills to the limit (but really there is none). To get better at these sort of maps, they can do only one thing; remake it. This can make a map replayable for ages. Sport maps are good examples of maps with a "competition factor." In games like Dodgeball, you compete against a multitude of foes. In Dodgeball tourneys, you not only compete with one adversary, but up to 3! You can always get better at dodgeball; increase your mouse reflexes, better anticipation, etc. Different Roles- Does your map have a good variety of different roles? Sometimes people would remake maps so they can be different roles in the game. If being a different roles means being different player numbers or forces, then a person that remakes a map would get first dibs. There's a huge advantage to these sort of maps. People could just be one particular role for many many games and once they get sick of it (if they ever do), then they can just start being another role. Once you get sick of the last possible role, i think your "sickness" of the first role would have gone away so you can go ahead and continue the cycle. Lord of the Rings maps are perfect examples for these sort of maps. You can be the good guys, then the bad guys, then other good guys, and then other bad guys. Those tend to make maps replayable. Awe or blow people away?- Only few maps have done anything like this. Did you do something just fantastically spectacular? Would it make people go wow? In some maps, particularly movie maps, they rely on wowing people if they ever do want to get successful. If your map has some outstanding terrain or triggering which have never, or rarely, been seen before? If your map is good enough as to where it excites someone, they might want to remake it again. Sexy picture maps are examples of maps with good terrain as to where you would remake it. Kill me is a perfectly example for a movie map in which it contains some qualities in which it might blow people away. This is the least common way of getting maps replayed. Do different stuff?- Don't get this confused with "different strategies." Different strategies talks about doing tactics with a particular set of units or particular game mode. Different stuff talks about different units and/or different game modes in general. Does your map have a variety of units in which you could pick? Does your map have a variety of game modes? If your game has lots of different units in which you could be, then people might replay your map so they could try different units. Many defense maps rely on this. They could also fit under the "different strategies" category but mainly they would fit under this one. Usually most defense maps should have many different units/buildings in which you could make/build. For one time you can just try doing this particular set of units, another time you can try doing a different set. Or even on the third time, you can mix the two. In maps like Mario Party or other mini games, there usually are many different mini games and/or game settings. Those are good ways of getting maps popular. Those are just some common possibilities in which some of you guys might want to consider when trying to make your map popular. If you notice, alot of non popular maps, as well as some bounds, that i played lack those things i mentioned so that's why sometimes it's hard to get them popular. When making a map, focus on some of these replayability factors. Don't try to make too many different replayability factors for your map because then it would make all of them weak. Preferably, just pick one and focus your map entirely on it. The stronger the replayability factor is, the more likely your map would get popular.[/quote] I can definately relate to alot of the things you've mentioned in your tutorial, impeached :)

I wrote a couple tutorials on map making a while back on the old SEN server. This was like 3 years ago though lol. May be a little outdated but it consists primarily of my theory and philosophy to map making.

Map making tips:

Quote

Mental Factor
When you are making a map, most think that to become succesfull you must implement as much trigger knowledge as you can into your maps. Wrong. It doesn't matter how much stuff you know about triggers you know; it's about how well you use them. To use them well, you must have a strong mentality since making maps consumes lots of time. Here's my philosophy:

In golf, the sport is basically You vs the Ball. In map making it's You vs. your Map. You must "win" over your map by staying focused and just concentrating on what must be done, just like you would in golf where u just get the ball into the hole. However, it also matters how you win over your inanimate adversary. In golf, if you get the ball into the hole with the fewest strokes possible, then you'd win a high quality win over the golf ball. In map making, putting your best effort into your maps would also earn you a high quality win over your map.

When you try to make maps, especially big ones like RPGs, some of you just get unbearably lazy but yet at the same time still wanting to get your map done. This ambivalence of feelings can hinder your map making, thus causing you to abandon it. As you make a map, you must have a steady "rhythm" going. You work at a good pace and you focus on your work intently. It gets yourself engrossed into what u're doing. The hard part of this is actually finding your "rhythm" and keeping it going at a steady pace. If you really feel lazy but at the same time really want to get a map done, just try, with all your strength, starting up the map by doing basic things to it. Start with things that require repetitive work (such as triggers with different variables for different players. If you do them succesfully you will get a "rhythm" going and u will feel motivated to persevere. However, if you speed it up (getting too far ahead of yourself, getting to excited) or if u slow it down (getting distracted, daydreaming, etc) you will ruin it. So decide on what sort of pace you will want to work on ur map with, find your rhythm, and keep it steady.

Every human being has two selves: The Teller and the Doer. The teller is the internal voice inside your head. It tells u what to do, nags at you, and sometimes scolds or encourages you. The Doer self is the one that supposedly follows The Teller self's commands; its the one that does everything. When you are working on your map, your Teller self would keep throwing at you things such as "Ok, do this, do that... make the triggers... fix the units." This nagging will sometimes frustrate ur Doer self and disrupt your rhythm, bogging you down. So the main message here is: ignore your teller self. Do everything with ease and dont fill your mind up with your teller's comments. Usually when I make maps, i just let my Doer self go, do everything by instinct. When i ignore my teller self's nagging, i tend to work better and stay more focused.

Also when you are making your map, dont get too far ahead of yourself. Do what must be done one at a time. Say for instance if you're workin on making locations, just keep your mind on locations; dont drift off into how you will do other things. Keep both your Mind (not teller self) and your Doer self on the same thing; never seperate them. Think about what your map will be like when it's done. Imagine how people will play it and what they will say about it. Will it spread? Is it going to last? Are you proud of it? You must keep these things in mind when u are making your map. There is a difference between a GOOD map and a FUN map. GOOD maps are of high quality and is well made, but FUN maps are really the ones that spread. Make sure your map consists mainly of the "FUN" qualities if you want ppl to play it. However, it's not all about fun. More will be mentioned later. Before your map is done, picture and predict what the downside of the map will be like. What flaws could there possibly be and how can you prevent them? Think of possible reasons why ur map wont spread and try to avoid it.

As for map popularity

Quote

As more and more of my maps become more liked by the public, I've realized there's this one VERY important factor that contributes to a map's popularity, one everyone seems to overlook.

A map gets popular because people replay them over and over again. That's what you want people to do with your maps. But for what purpose(s) would someone replay the map over and over again? Everyone