larrystorch: What makes a good map in your opinion? What makes a bad map in your opinion?
Christopher Norton: Playability is the number one concern. It doesn't matter if you've created a great looking map or just a plain ugly one, because if the playability and fun-factor shine, then you can build on it from there.
Deyan Ninov: Gameplay definately makes a good map, and then visuals... Slow performance and bad gameplay make a bad map.
Dr. Crowbar: A good map always presents a target, an objective or such. Bad maps aren't hard to pick out.
daz: Good map -- small sized maps, close combat, well placed choke points, equal balance between sniping and up close and personal fighting.
Arnold Kruize: Dragon looks awesome, Spynet is wank IMO because it's too long and boring, and it looks bad.
EMH_Mark3: Gameplay can make or break a map. If the map is unbalanced or has crappy gameplay, the map isn't any good. Eye candy always helps making the map better however.
eXpendabLe: Good maps are those which combine the right combination of gameplay and visuals.. If I can't make it myself, I usually steal it from guys like Rich Eastwood or Desperado#2. remakes, unoriginal gameplay, fixable bugs, bad texture usage and repetitive square brushes make bad maps in my opinion.
Janis Bode: Good map - good gameplay and good look / bad map - bad gameplay. Good gameplay to me means that the gameflow maked the players meet each other somewhere and have a shootout with equal chances. Bad gameplay can mean that you walk around a map and won't see anyone else the whole round or that you can dominate a map from only one postion as a camper.
Kai Kirchner: Gameplay of course, the right ammount of cover in the right position, and.. not too one-sided cover. Bottlenecks can kill every map, it's gotta be open and fair, eye-candy .. is a candy, not REALLY necessary.
Goldabar: Good maps use a well thoughtout layout that has some nice geometry wrapped around it. The map has to be laid out well for the game/gametype it was created for, and keep the player interested (with interesting gameplay elements or sometimes even just interesting geometry and lighting). Bad maps usually have none of these qualities, or excel in some of them and fail badly in others.
Jestah: Working with the mappers :) Things that can't be fixed because of deadlines etc. And seeing bugs not fixed in an updated version.
job: Gameplay .. players live in maps .. you dont want to lag while you eat or piss.
Tim Crowley: A good map has to have heart and soul put into it. May sound stupid, but it's the honest truth. A map with random ideas is just that. Something with direction, that is what makes a map feel like a location.
Antti Päätalo: Good maps provides and supports and demands a good team play, Bad maps are those which are too one side based (other team never has any change)Good for war maybe, but not the publics.
Rich Black: Originality is always a good thing to have, although the layout is the singularly most important aspect of a map if you ask me (which you did. errrr). The atmosphere of a map is also really important, but all these aspects are interwoven with each other, it's hard to get a good looking map that has no atmosphere etc.
Timo Kuttenkeuler: A good map is build fair for both team, but not symetrical (like some ctf maps) each team should be able to use a unique way to use the map to thier advantage. A bad map is build outa cubic rooms filled with crates.. CRATES ... hate em ..
Toby Rees: A good map has a balanced amount of variation in it, I usually like wide open areas where you can set up camp with a heavy machinegun and spray, but then again you always get snipers in big areas, that’s why it so hard to explain what a good map has to include. Without the correct scaling a map is always bad.
Nassau: A good map has many options and routes. A good map is where u have to move a lot all the time. It shouldn't be biased for one team of course and it has to be visually beautiful. A bad map... well, sort of the opposite I guess, lack of imagination (read crates).
Poneill: A good map has a "sense of place", atmosphere, ambience. Gameplay and performance are obviously vital, but what really sets a map off for me is feeling that I am there...that I'm actually on that submarine, oilrig, island. Altho I also realise that some clanwar players couldn't care less about what the map looks like...for them gameplay is king. Like most things a happy medium is prolly best.
R4V3R: Too many crates are bad, mmk?
Jack Gilson: GOOD MAP: Fun, Realistic yet unreal BAD MAP: 1337 style maps and too big maps
Strac: Gameflow makes or breaks a map. I loved trainstation because of the four ways in for Swat while you still could defend as terr. Ofcourse, base camping ruined it (not anymore in AOT!). Bad maps do not have a bad gameflow as they are unfair, enable one side to camp way too easily, are an incredible large & complicated maze in which people can't find their opponents, etc etc.