What is your method of coming up with inspiration for mapping? In some
of the maps here I see great layouts that really flow well, and I was
wondering what some of the veteran mappers do for brainstorming and
such. I can imagine experience helps, but like the topic says, what is
your mapping muse?

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o

I do not recall all the titles, but this thread has been done at least a dozen times over the last 5 years or so.

look back a few dozen pages. It was done this year for sure.

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The best things in life, aren't things.

Pretty sure Orph is right, but I'll post anyway.

I listen to anything by Silicone Soul and then start planning, often
with an idea that springs to mind. Odd method, but it works (sort of - I've yet to release a decent map, but I'm hopeful).

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My site

I take examples from reality. From something that exists and that I can
view from any angle. Like a city house for instance... or Deck17 from
UT2004...

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HL2 tutorials 'n' stuff: http://madedog.pri.ee
217.159.236.34:27050 - CSS Server - Clean | koffer.ee

I sit there and think about all the maps I hate, and why I hate them. Then I'll try something exactly opposite.

I listen to music, think of all the good maps that are far surperior to what I can make and then I get angry so I start mapping a corridor or a room and I go 'Hmmmm pretty cool, lets make it into a level' and so I carry on with that...

At the moment I am doing what my leader says because I was asked to make a graveyard so that is what I am currently doing...

I try an approach everything from a gamers prespective.. what would I like to play.. maybe others would like the same thing. I get ideas from other games, from TV shows, or from real life places. Some of my favorite maps are the ones that have a sci-fi feel to them.. and dont really have any real purpous, they are just fun levels.. I think Orph has really captured that mapping style in spades. You should see some of his early work.. I was impressed from day one.

yeah, jons a good man.....but he still aint much to look at....////runs like hell...

Doc B.... :dodgy:

I sit bored in shcool; so I think of a cool map theme, and then start to make a layout sketch of the map. When i get home i start mapping it, and keep mapping it until I finish or I relize that that theme/layout will not work good, so I start form the begining.

I find maps that I like, proceed to maliciously copy their best traits,
then slap them together like some sort of deformed mutant flying
kangaroo-giraffe.

I remeber when I first played Natural Selection, but when it was in beta or v1.0...

anyways, the maps were so well done I found myself getting so drawn into the game. It really inspired me.

"imitate then innovate"

I find what I like best about the maps I like to play, then I figure
out how to lay the map out so that it tries to embody some of the best
traits that I like. I draw it out on paper and then get to it.

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To get something to work, sometimes you just have to beat your head against the wall longer; the skin grows back, but the brick doesn't.

Source hates soup!

My current maps mostly come from the philosophy of nihilism.

I do not recall all the titles, but this thread has been done at least a dozen times over the last 5 years or so.
look back a few dozen pages. It was done this year for sure.

Whoopseh... ha, shoulda searched. Sorry 'bout that.

Anyways, thanks for the replies! I've been trying to both tweak a
couple layouts that I think could be fun if something was different and
also come up with new ones, but I've been stuck. I do find that my best
artistic work comes from when I've had proper sleep/nourishment, not
20+ hours into my "day" and last eaten 10 hours ago...

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o

I do not recall all the titles, but this thread has been done at least a dozen times over the last 5 years or so.
look back a few dozen pages. It was done this year for sure.

Whoopseh... ha, shoulda searched. Sorry 'bout that.

Anyways, thanks for the replies! I've been trying to both tweak a
couple layouts that I think could be fun if something was different and
also come up with new ones, but I've been stuck. I do find that my best
artistic work comes from when I've had proper sleep/nourishment, not
20+ hours into my "day" and last eaten 10 hours ago...

naw, if ya did that they wouldn't complained about bringing back a dead topic :razz:

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Signature? What signature!?

three things are my inspiration:

-coffee
-techno
-my girlfriend.

Nature, when im out for a jog im getting inspired by the surrounding im
running in. Sometimes i birng a digital camera to picture it
too..

That and. Music. Opeth. Black Mellow Metal..

music. i listen to it while i map and inspiration just flows. but usually i get about half way through the map and i get a new idea so i leave the one i started.

My mapping muse is the desire to avoid homework.

I never get inspired when I have free time, only when I have a 7 page paper breathing down my neck.

Fjorn said:
naw, if ya did that they wouldn't complained about bringing back a dead topic :razz:

Actually not.. If someone brings up a long dead topic, "just because' then yeah, they will most likely get burned for it, but if the reply is totally relevant then usually it just picks up once again.

There is a 6 month cutoff for "general" forum replies.. so even if you wanted to, you cannot revive a thread older than its last reply of ">6" months.

If someone did harass someone who revived a post with a relevant reply, I would harass them in turn. :biggrin:

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The best things in life, aren't things.

I never get inspired when I have free time, only when I have a 7 page paper breathing down my neck.

ditto