Chimz
New Adventurer
Alright, let me explain what this thread is for:
Among all you players (I am aware of the rarity of players today, just f*cking bear with me) are a lot of great mappers or some with the potential to become one. You've all played MS:C and loved the game at one point. Sometimes it occurred to you that you could also make a map and have it published, but you were soon driven away by different reasons. One of which is the repetitive theme that MS:C Maps have to offer which offered you no inspiration.
What do I mean by "repetitive themes"? I mean that a lot of the maps either look alike or feel alike because they are all based on themes we've seen hundreds of times. For example, we don't need anymore "underground cave" themed maps because we already have many of those and some of which have reached their climax with Oyster's magic hands. But we don't need another cave map. We don't need another undead tomb map. We already have enough (World Walker Series, Calruin,...). We don't need human towns either (ms_town, helena, edana, deralia).
We need something new! New themes, new structures, something that's either never or rarely seen before. Something that can stand out between all the look-alike maps. And that's why we're here. We're here for a brainstorm. From what I've described, write out the first things that come into your mind. Things that could give mappers a will and inspiration to make a map with such theme. Write whatever comes to your mind. I don't care if it sounds stupid even to yourself, just throw it out here in the open. Don't hold back any ideas. What may sound cheap might make an awesome map someday! I'll start:
The Moon
Yes, the moon. I don't know if the universe of MS:C is on the same earth we are right now or a planet similar to it, but either way a map based on its moon can add a little variety to the game. The moon will have a different coloring than our earth (it's up to you to pick the colors), with lower gravity and stuff. Never had that one before right?
And the habitant enemies seen on the moon can be a batch of new enemies we've never seen before. They can be primitive natives of the planet or advanced natives with buildings structured like no other map. A chance for you to freely build whatever type of abstract structures you want. (Let's not put elves, orcs, humans or whatever on the moon. Let's make it distinctive, unique and untouched by the current npcs!)
Now how do we get to the moon? Through the use of portal transitions. Come on, we can use portals to travel around the earth (MS:C's earth), why not to its moon? Thothie always wanted a map on the moon!
Nightmare
We already have two "nightmare" maps consisting of nightmare_edana and nightmare_thornlands but I'm not talking about those. I'm talking about an actual nightmare (which could still be part of those map series).
Think along the lines of being in an actual nightmare. Horror maps. Those placed in a dark world with twisted horrific enemies who have no desire but to rip you apart. I'm talking themes like Afraid of Monsters or Silent Hill.
The map could include scary soundtrack, new twisted enemy's never seen before (we could still rip models from other games right? I mean we're not getting greenlit, that's for sure. So why not just make things easier on ourselves?). The map could be linear and include short scary sequences. I am aware that they will be well known after 100 play-throughs but still, having to dodge spikes coming out of a wall can still be a change to rather stand still until a door opens. Although do remember that these sequences will require good taste. A scary face popping infront of the player is just cheap and lame. Be more creative! Add in a scary atmosphere!
Water Dimension
This one I think may cause a headache. I don't really know how to explain this from the player view so I'll explain it from the mapper's view.
Think of creating floors, walls, ceilings, tunnels and whatever and turning 80% of them into func_water. Now you have watery walls that you can swim through! A lot of things can be made and turned into func_water here. We've seen the likes of this before (in both HL mods and other games such as Serious Sam Second Encounter). The water is on the ceiling and you can jump into it and swim in it.
How this map will go comes down to your creativity. You can either mind-fuck the players who play it or ruin the idea with bad mapping. It all comes down to your skills.
BUT, no matter the outcome it will be still be unique between all the other maps.
This idea can also be implemented in the Water Temple map if you don't feel like making a map from scratch (it was originally supposed to be included but I never got to it).
Alright I'm out of ideas for now. Now it's your turn. Pour in the ideas and suggestions! Let's have fun!
Among all you players (I am aware of the rarity of players today, just f*cking bear with me) are a lot of great mappers or some with the potential to become one. You've all played MS:C and loved the game at one point. Sometimes it occurred to you that you could also make a map and have it published, but you were soon driven away by different reasons. One of which is the repetitive theme that MS:C Maps have to offer which offered you no inspiration.
What do I mean by "repetitive themes"? I mean that a lot of the maps either look alike or feel alike because they are all based on themes we've seen hundreds of times. For example, we don't need anymore "underground cave" themed maps because we already have many of those and some of which have reached their climax with Oyster's magic hands. But we don't need another cave map. We don't need another undead tomb map. We already have enough (World Walker Series, Calruin,...). We don't need human towns either (ms_town, helena, edana, deralia).
We need something new! New themes, new structures, something that's either never or rarely seen before. Something that can stand out between all the look-alike maps. And that's why we're here. We're here for a brainstorm. From what I've described, write out the first things that come into your mind. Things that could give mappers a will and inspiration to make a map with such theme. Write whatever comes to your mind. I don't care if it sounds stupid even to yourself, just throw it out here in the open. Don't hold back any ideas. What may sound cheap might make an awesome map someday! I'll start:
The Moon
Yes, the moon. I don't know if the universe of MS:C is on the same earth we are right now or a planet similar to it, but either way a map based on its moon can add a little variety to the game. The moon will have a different coloring than our earth (it's up to you to pick the colors), with lower gravity and stuff. Never had that one before right?
And the habitant enemies seen on the moon can be a batch of new enemies we've never seen before. They can be primitive natives of the planet or advanced natives with buildings structured like no other map. A chance for you to freely build whatever type of abstract structures you want. (Let's not put elves, orcs, humans or whatever on the moon. Let's make it distinctive, unique and untouched by the current npcs!)
Now how do we get to the moon? Through the use of portal transitions. Come on, we can use portals to travel around the earth (MS:C's earth), why not to its moon? Thothie always wanted a map on the moon!
Nah. Much rather have cheaters abandon FN than stay on it. If they all did that, we'd have a colony on moon by now. (Or rather, a map on the moon - always wanted a map on the moon.)
Nightmare
We already have two "nightmare" maps consisting of nightmare_edana and nightmare_thornlands but I'm not talking about those. I'm talking about an actual nightmare (which could still be part of those map series).
Think along the lines of being in an actual nightmare. Horror maps. Those placed in a dark world with twisted horrific enemies who have no desire but to rip you apart. I'm talking themes like Afraid of Monsters or Silent Hill.
The map could include scary soundtrack, new twisted enemy's never seen before (we could still rip models from other games right? I mean we're not getting greenlit, that's for sure. So why not just make things easier on ourselves?). The map could be linear and include short scary sequences. I am aware that they will be well known after 100 play-throughs but still, having to dodge spikes coming out of a wall can still be a change to rather stand still until a door opens. Although do remember that these sequences will require good taste. A scary face popping infront of the player is just cheap and lame. Be more creative! Add in a scary atmosphere!
Water Dimension
This one I think may cause a headache. I don't really know how to explain this from the player view so I'll explain it from the mapper's view.
Think of creating floors, walls, ceilings, tunnels and whatever and turning 80% of them into func_water. Now you have watery walls that you can swim through! A lot of things can be made and turned into func_water here. We've seen the likes of this before (in both HL mods and other games such as Serious Sam Second Encounter). The water is on the ceiling and you can jump into it and swim in it.
How this map will go comes down to your creativity. You can either mind-fuck the players who play it or ruin the idea with bad mapping. It all comes down to your skills.
BUT, no matter the outcome it will be still be unique between all the other maps.
This idea can also be implemented in the Water Temple map if you don't feel like making a map from scratch (it was originally supposed to be included but I never got to it).
Alright I'm out of ideas for now. Now it's your turn. Pour in the ideas and suggestions! Let's have fun!