Complete [CTF] Ice Hideout

I'll stop by to check out the map later and give you my opinion

 

tip: remove all the ice and replace it with something else

 

tip: make everything lower because the sponges dont do **** in such a big area :LL

 

Hi Vanii! It's good to see you're interested in making maps, but there's a few things that you're going to need to fix before this one gets accepted. I'd recommend reading through this thread to get an idea of what we look for in CTF maps.

In general, there's two main areas of importance to consider when making a CTF map: design and gameplay.

Ice Hideout's design isn't necessarily bad, but it's lacking. That's fine, it'll come with practice and I can see some definite potential - the terrain looks lovely and the houses are a little more advanced than the standard "beginner" style. A lot of it comes down to the blocks you choose to build with, and as I've said, this is the sort of thing that you'll learn by making more things. Glowstone and quartz, for example, are horrible primary building materials.

If you're really having trouble with design, I'd recommend finding a friend who's a good builder to work on it with you. It's a win-win situation - you get a nicer looking map, and you get some experience out of it too.

The gameplay of Ice Hideout is really where the map falls short. I'll give you a quick list of problems:

• The flagroom wasn't immediately obvious. You'll notice that most maps in rotation have a big flag building, or at least a beacon, but this one's just a cave in a wall and it's pretty tough to find.
• The spawn is even worse. I suppose this isn't a huge problem since... well... you spawn there, but it still took me a good 5 minutes of looking to find it.
• The lower level was similarly hard to access without jumping into the water. I had to actually go down then come back up to find the entrances, and that's bad because it's literally half of the map.

These are all pretty easily fixable, but the one giant issue I have with the map that couldn't be quickly changed is the fact that Ninja and Soldier are really overpowered. This is because 1) it's really easy to pearl from one side of the map to the other, or even one level to the other, and 2) because it's a tall map with lots of tall structures. This isn't something that can be fixed by putting a ton of sponges everywhere, that just makes the map look rushed.

So, with all of that having been said, what should you do?
I know how long you've worked on this, so I appreciate that this probably isn't what you want to hear, but I recommend that you start again, from scratch. I'm not saying that making this map was a waste of time - it was really useful for you. You've learned a lot along the way, and by keeping everyone else's advice in mind, you'll be able to make a much better map. Next time, make a small mockup of the map, choose the theme after you've made sure the gameplay is good, then get to work, making sure you ask for feedback along the way.

Good luck! I see a lot of potential in you

 

I had the same issues that were stated above when I created Soul,

A simple fix for the excessive ice would just to replace any ice you can walk on with snow

If you need help personally, feel free to PM me via forums or in-game; I would be happy to help you out with this. I have a liking towards the ice-themed maps ^-^