Getting Your Maps Noticed.

[MattKestrel]

Actually thats... fruit this... :)

[Rikaninja]

Wow, that was a interesintg read. It would make any NUMA user confident with making maps. That is definety a handy document to save!

Very proffesional. !!!

[blackbelmoral]

a hint to build a reputation: nart

[lord_day]

a hint to build a reputation: nart

I disagree. That will only give you an N Art reputation. Though perhaps it will get your name known.

[TribulatioN]

a hint to build a reputation: nart

It's good in some aspects.
But what if people would rate heavily aesthetics based? They'd expect your maps to look even better than most maps. So the pro is now countered by a con.

[MattKestrel]

>_<

My advice would be to have a central style, but to try and vary that theme throughout your maps as much as possible.

[jackass]

I know im not noticed , but im getting notice for all my maps now :D

so my tip is leave comments so people click on your profile and be someone friendly in the community so people respect you

[Rikaninja]

I like that jackass. Keeping friendly to have friends, something we should tell Evil_Sire about, don't you think?

[epigone]

I like that jackass. Keeping friendly to have friends, something we should tell Evil_Sire about, don't you think?

Stop flaming people. This comment is extremely off-topic and entirely unwarrented. Luckily for you I don't have the power to formally warn people. But I can still YELL AT YOU!!!!

[blackbelmoral]

JUST ANOTHER possibly untrue hint: the contests, specifically paradigm shift and the gym one (?)
also: any way you can put them on the forum without blatantly saying : "look at this map"
also: be nice to people like jackass said
also: dont flame

[Rikaninja]

I like that jackass. Keeping friendly to have friends, something we should tell Evil_Sire about, don't you think?

Stop flaming people. This comment is extremely off-topic and entirely unwarrented. Luckily for you I don't have the power to formally warn people. But I can still YELL AT YOU!!!!

Sorry, my bad. And about that power thing, I thought mods were respected powerful members of the RealN Community.

[unoriginal name]

I like that jackass. Keeping friendly to have friends, something we should tell Evil_Sire about, don't you think?

Stop flaming people. This comment is extremely off-topic and entirely unwarrented. Luckily for you I don't have the power to formally warn people. But I can still YELL AT YOU!!!!

Sorry, my bad. And about that power thing, I thought mods were respected powerful members of the RealN Community.

They . . . are. o__O

[Rikaninja]

They . . . are. o__O

But epigone just said that he didn't have the power to formally warn me ;(. I was kinda reffering to admin etc. having the power. ;?

[blackbelmoral]

I DONT LIKE TO FLAME
but i beleive in equality. thats why i dont like mods (even if im one)
nothing personal


but...
these mod and power things are extremely off topic and some mod is going to tell us to talk about power in the debate thread

[heatwave]

Excellent article. I'll try and refer some of the other NUMA members who are having problems to this article.

(I guess Mods can't warn anymore?)
...
(wait, is there even a "warn" system yet?)

[Pheidippides]

I remember this article. It's very well done. To add my two cents to the whole aesthetics vs. gameplay idea, I find that the best-looking placement is also the most functional. For mines, this means sufficient and even spacing for a minefield, and well-placed mines on the floor, wall, and ceiling usually add to the aesthetics as much as they add to gameplay. For turrets, rocket and gauss, this is usually at a junction in the map and centered at the junction, which gives adequate range and prevents unnecessary enemies. This doesn't apply to drones as much because they move, or floorguards because, well, your placement is limited there. In general, aesthetic themes and motifs create patterns in gameplay that give the map a sense of order (rather than "ZOMG IM LIEK RUNNIN AROWND TEH M4P TRYIN NOT 2 DIE"). Good-looking tilesets are usually more conducive to gameplay than ugly ones, but not all beautiful tiles are super-functional, especially when plenty of spiky "2" or "3" tiles get involved, but even then, if they tiles are well-laid-out to look good, they will usually facilitate gameplay at least to an extent.

These are my findings, anyway. If you look at my maps, you'll see that I generally follow these principles in tiles and placement, and I think things turn out just fine. My point, I guess, is that often you can not only have both, but one brings about the other. To flip things around, I think you'd agree that most fun-to-play maps are at least remotely appealing to the eyes.

[/$0.02]

You know, I'd like to write an article like this because I like to write and, obviously, I like N, so writing about N seems likea good idea. Maybe a paper on style or even something along the lines of what I've mentioned above, although there are probably more preeminent experts on the subjects than lil' ol' me.

[blackbelmoral]

also: if your maps are not loaded with enemies, they will look good.
try to do something interesting with those extra border tiles you have

[George]

Excellent article. I'll try and refer some of the other NUMA members who are having problems to this article.

(I guess Mods can't warn anymore?)
...
(wait, is there even a "warn" system yet?)

No, no. We've still gots our powahs. Only global moderators and administrators can dish out warnings though.

also: if your maps are not loaded with enemies, they will look good.
try to do something interesting with those extra border tiles you have

Not necessarily. Just because a map doesn't have many enemies, it doesn't mean it'll look good. In fact, it would look more...empty.

If anything, just remember that simplicity is always the best. There isn't always the need to jazz up an already appealing tile set.

[lord_day]

Well I disagree with everyone. My point is that there are no rules, and almost any setup can work if used well. Whether, it is a simple map with one enemy, or a complicated map with many enemies.

[blackbelmoral]

i agree. but take one of your maps with the good looking tiles, and change those to full and border. all e's.
then submit it on numa as a test. i guarentee that people will not like it as much

[boonie92]

hahahahah i love Pheidippides comment...... gives us a big lecture (which was pretty good) and then tells us to look at his maps for a reference....so then everyone will look at ur maps and will build ur reputation ;)


anyways i thought it was a great article.... hopefully will help with poeple noticing MY MAPS!!!!!

[Pheidippides]

hahahahah i love Pheidippides comment...... gives us a big lecture (which was pretty good) and then tells us to look at his maps for a reference....so then everyone will look at ur maps and will build ur reputation ;)

That wasn't my intention at all. I've been here for over two years; for better or worse, my reputation is already built. Glad you liked the post, though. I'm going to try to elaborate a little more on my thoughts on that topic sometime. ;)

[wumbla]

somwthing that might help, I have been looking to see when is the best time to submit a map to NUMA by ooking at how many people are online on the forums or by looking at other maps with lots of rating or comments.

But I have yet to figure out the most convenient time to submit a map, but I think around 6 pr 7 pm (central time) works best.

That helps a-lot L_D

Thanks

[blackbelmoral]

hmm...
for me its around 3-5
timezones

[Tunco]

Lord_Day is very right...Gameplay must be good,but the overall map should look good.It's very helpful to me what he write,new people on NUMA should read this...