I would love to do that, but there are always the real-world constraints. They are much more difficult to overcome than the limitations of the game engine. I mean, I can't just throw in some hint brushes and fix the issues in real life.

I am working more than ever now, and married life definitely takes more time and committment than being a bachelor. I can't stay up all night to map or play games, because I would feel terribly guilty if I allow my wife to sleep alone in the bed. It's not better or worse, it's just different.

Perhaps mapping would take a backseat to the other important diversions in my life from now on. It's sad to think that it's the end of an era in my life, but it may very well be so.

I can't imagine that once I have a baby I'll have much time to map. It's possible that I'll have to wait until retirement to take up serious mapping again. By then, HDR would be old technology, and the players might not be able to distinguish real-life from first-person games. I mean, the graphics would be photo-realisitc.

On that optimistic note, I'll go back to seeing more sick kids.

[EDIT]: JohnstoBlog was quite an interesting read. Thanks, Captain P.

I map almost exclusively for CS:S. Not that I map much, mind.

A CS map and a DM map are quite different. In DM, there is no location-based objective. CS involves locations and teams, and your map should reflect that. Usually, for a bomb map (as an example), there will be two bomb areas. This is not a fixed constant, but two sites generally works better in terms of gameplay. The CT team will start near one bomb site (ie. able to reach it within a few seconds of spawning), with another site about an equal distance from both spawn areas. Each bomb site should have 2 to 3 paths into it, any more or less and the site could be too difficult or easy to defend. There should be enough connectivity that the CTs can check both bomb sites and have time left to defuse the bomb, and the Ts can go to the other bomb site if one is too well defended.

None of these rules are strict, they can be bent a bit. The rules for CS and CS:S are the same, so any general guide for mapping for either game applies to the other. I recommend you play CS:S often to understand how CS games flow. A DM map can become a good CS map, but its rare.

CS:S also has bots, so its easier to playtest your map with a large amount of players. Humans will act differently, but it still gives you a rough idea of how the map will play.

tfc has that, and more. in fact, with a decent supply of concusion grenades and some fine timing, you can even jump the full height and length of the grid.

the models that cs:s offers should make it easier to produce nicer looking maps than hl2dm, as well as cs having a much larger audience. nickelplate was complaining recently, about having very few decent models to use in one of his maps, and my suggestion was to convert it to a cs map, because of the models thing.