Map Rating/Review Thread

[.Seth]

Hmm... I guess I should get a map rated...
Well this is Saisho Village I'm trying a "New" Mapping Style. :D

Map Name: Saisho Village
Map Game: 1636 -- Pokemon Fire Red (U)
Map Hack: Pokemon Magma Version [Link in Siggy]
Comments: Starting Town in my Hack. I'm trying a new Mapping Style
Mapshot:

Spoiler:

~Flaming Flarez~

You got the outside box thing going on. I suggest placing more trees along the border, then gradually making it natural. Flower placement is meh. Could be a lot better. Place them in pairs or maybe three's and in diagonal or L shapes. Tree shadows are incorrect as well. Remember that the light comes from the upper left. Tree shadows follow accordingly.
5/10

Just tell me something.Do you think the mountains are natural?
Awww,just use the tiles like Mother Nature would.
Rating: 2.5/10
Look mapping tutorials.

That's just lovely advice.
Here's how I would have worded that:
"The mountains aren't natural at all. Try to zig-zag them a bit more, and make them a bit sporadic or random. You might also want to check out Neti's Natural Mapping Tutorial. It's very helpful for the 'natural' style of mapping."

See the difference? Put a little more thought in to it. ;)

Map Name: Palm Isle.

Map Game: Fire red

Comments: The first town in a hack I'm making. (tiles from Alsteir)(hope I spelled that right :nervous:)

Map shot:

Spoiler:

Mmk, first of all, put rocks in the ocean. It gives the ocean a certain uniqueness and serenity. Expand the map if you need to. You also used WAY to many small rocks. Cut it down of those a bit. Just delete a few here and there.

Also, your paths shouldn't end at the side of the mountain, they should end at their destination, like a house or whatever. I also see a few tile errors near the ledges. Also, kill the sand path on the main mountain, then replace all the paths with the sand path.

Another thing, you used too many "random" path extras. Flowers need to be spread out more and a little less of, weeds same thing. 2D flower things same thing.

You should only have 1 type of fence per map unless there is a change in scenery, like a farm, or a terrain difference.

All in all, I'll give it a 2/10.

 

[monkeyman2092]

Map Name: Emeryville

Map Game: Pokémon Fire Red

Comments: This map is a quarter of a huge city that I was working on. The city is composed of four 80x50 (or 50x80, I'm not sure) maps which are connected form a giant metropolis. I have mostly completed the north-east and north-west (this map here) sections but I don't have the other (north-eastern) map available at the moment. And yes, this all uses one tileset

Mapshot:

Spoiler:

Don't feel like you have to rate all of them (I know I wouldn't). Though I'd appreciate it if you took the time to choose at least one to rate. And please, if you are going to rate one, please go into detail about the individual features that you like or dislike. Constructive criticism is always appreciated ^_^

Well... I like the flowers. Purple is a good color. You probably shouldn't place them were people can walk over them.

The house being blocked from by trees is a bad call. Especially since you repeated it for just about every building.

The building that it cut off at the top; you need to increase the size on it. From the door you might be able to see that the parts of the buidling that aren't there are the border block. That looks bad in a game.

The random fountains everywhere are okay, but I wouldn't put them everywhere. Maybe one or two here and there.

Fountains in the water? Bad idea. A better idea would've been to make the water look like a giant fountain by adding on the middle top and middle of the founatian into the water. That would be a better look.

I would rate that a 4/10.

Good luck with the game.

 

[Tropical Sunlight]

Well... I like the flowers. Purple is a good color. You probably shouldn't place them were people can walk over them.

The house being blocked from by trees is a bad call. Especially since you repeated it for just about every building.

The building that it cut off at the top; you need to increase the size on it. From the door you might be able to see that the parts of the buidling that aren't there are the border block. That looks bad in a game.

The random fountains everywhere are okay, but I wouldn't put them everywhere. Maybe one or two here and there.

Fountains in the water? Bad idea. A better idea would've been to make the water look like a giant fountain by adding on the middle top and middle of the founatian into the water. That would be a better look.

I would rate that a 4/10.

Good luck with the game.

What?
The map is too god to have a rating like that!

1. Nice, your opinion.
1.1 Why would he do that? In FR, you can walk over flowers and in ANY other games too.

2. Why is that a bad idea again?

3. You may not see the top, there are enough tiles.

4. I actually agree with this one.

5. Why is that a bad idea?!
5.1 No, I don't think so.

Maps MUST be judged by playability first, and I think the playability deserves a 9/10.
The map itself deserves a 7/10, but what the heck.

 

[Pokestick good times.]

Thanx for the ratin's everyone, I was stunned to get as many positive ratin's and "10/10 AWESOME" as I got. But there was, of course, some small errors. So with the help of Løcke's fantastic review I hunted down most of the ugly stuff and did my best to block edit/remap them away. (the Waterfall was #1 on the list ^_^)... And, here they are. Hope you enjoy my Dirt paths and even randomer (<--What the...?) mountains!

In attachment... (Darn white window at "insert image")

EDIT: And heeey... #4000 yeess! Didn't even notice! W00t!

Hello...?
I got a lot of nice comments on the prototype maps... How come I haven't even got the smallest of a response... I'll face it... I've been dissed...
C'mon, Improved maps here, come and see!

*Go to the post and check the attachment*

 

[sasquatchd00d]

Well... I like the flowers. Purple is a good color. You probably shouldn't place them were people can walk over them.

Why? You can walk over flowers in the official games. Are those wrong too?

The house being blocked from by trees is a bad call. Especially since you repeated it for just about every building.

I don't see any houses being blocked by trees. Unless you're talking about the building that leads to the forest entrance. But he didn't do that with every building like you said.

The building that it cut off at the top; you need to increase the size on it. From the door you might be able to see that the parts of the buidling that aren't there are the border block. That looks bad in a game.

No. It won't look weird. In game, you have roughly five blocks above your head. If I counted correctly, there is five blocks above the door so there won't be any problems.

The random fountains everywhere are okay, but I wouldn't put them everywhere. Maybe one or two here and there.

They look like they're placed pretty correctly to me.

Fountains in the water? Bad idea. A better idea would've been to make the water look like a giant fountain by adding on the middle top and middle of the founatian into the water. That would be a better look.

I would rate that a 4/10.

Good luck with the game.

They're not in water. At least that's not the way I saw them. I think they're on like a pedestal.

To unspamify this...

Map Name: Palm Isle.

Map Game: Fire red

Comments: The first town in a hack I'm making. (tiles from Alsteir)(hope I spelled that right :nervous:)

Map shot:

Spoiler:

I think people other than Alistair made tiles you used.

Replace the faded grass path used in town to the sandy path. It will look so much better. Trust me. ^_^
Avoid using different fences in the same map.
Even though the beach has jagged spots in it, it looks square and unnatural still. Try to gradually change it.

4/10

EDIT: Wow, Colorful beat me to it. Oh well.

 

[WetCurl]

Map Game:Fire Red
Map Name:Niatnouf Crater
Comments:Well,I made this map to maybe be the starter town for a hack I might make.It took me a while to make.I forgot to save it once... well anyways.There's going to be a boulder in front of the cave,but I don't know how to script it yet. ^.^'

 

[0m3GA ARS3NAL]

Map Game:Fire Red
Map Name:Niatnouf Crater
Comments:Well,I made this map to maybe be the starter town for a hack I might make.It took me a while to make.I forgot to save it once... well anyways.There's going to be a boulder in front of the cave,but I don't know how to script it yet. ^.^'

A bit square don't you think? Try reading some tutorials and looking at other maps here, and try that again.

2/10

 

[Crimson Stardust]

Map Game:Fire Red
Map Name:Niatnouf Crater
Comments:Well,I made this map to maybe be the starter town for a hack I might make.It took me a while to make.I forgot to save it once... well anyways.There's going to be a boulder in front of the cave,but I don't know how to script it yet. ^.^'

its too square..and the mountains is too linear{is there such word??xD}
and too many empty spaces..you need to add more things in and change how the mountains look..it must have the natural look..look up neti tut.{that is where i learn how to map better}
1/10

 

[Pokestick good times.]

Map Game:Fire Red
Map Name:Niatnouf Crater
Comments:Well,I made this map to maybe be the starter town for a hack I might make.It took me a while to make.I forgot to save it once... well anyways.There's going to be a boulder in front of the cave,but I don't know how to script it yet. ^.^'

My rating would be 2/10.
Except for squareness... I'll give you details on what's wrong with your map, so that it won't come out the same anyways:
#1: Stairs. You only used the shadowed stair tile. And why is that wrong? Well, because on the middle tiles and the right tiles, there's nothin' that shadows it. That's why we on those places put the non-shadowed stair tile. These are found next to the shadowed one in the tileset. Okies?
#2: Mountains. It's good that you placed some random rocks in the map, but that's not gonna do the whole thing. You have to make them (the mountains) a little more random, try to just swiftly draw a mountain wall on the map, and then fill in the errors with other tiles. No straight lines will make the map look natural. Take a look at Colcolstyles' Underwater map a bit up on the page. This is what mountains should look like when they're done. Both above and under water.
The higher levels may follow the lower, but it's not necessary. Vary a little to not bore the player.
#3: Emptyness. This map is WAAAYYYYYY too empty. The player will get so bored, he'll stop playin' the game. Trust me. fill in with trees, houses, paths, more vegetation, fences, houses, and make the map a little smaller, instead of just fillin' pointless space. You also used only one grass tile. Firered and Leafgreen uses five different. You gotta use 'em all!
#4: Always make sure that the map is realistic. Would a town look like this? If so, why? Fill with details, and remove things that just wouldn't exist in the real world. You want the player too feel like it is actually a world of Pokémon he's walkin' in, not an artifictional rectangle.
#5 ...And always look out for tile errors! Fix them, Fix them!:cer_boogie:
I hope that this gave you a nice look in what a natural map looks like, and that I'll see a good map from you some day. 'Cause now you have no excuse not to!... Right? :cer_shifty:
Happy Hackin'!

Note: I reffered to the player as a male, of course I meant both male AND female, but I wanted to save space.

 

[Aljam]

just some maps i made for pokemon emerald thunder. Made em awhile back...

Spoiler:

Spoiler:

Spoiler:

Spoiler:

 

[.Seth]

just some maps i made for pokemon emerald thunder. Made em awhile back...

Spoiler:

I have no idea how the heck to rate an inside map, but playability looks great, Tiles match up, love the clear tables over tiled floor by the way. Only thing bugging me is that machine by the computer desk. If you move it one tile up I think the map would be perfect. I'm not giving you a number rating, but it looks great except for the machine by the desk.

Spoiler:

You really shouldn't use the small trees that way, since it doesn't look natural at all. If you combined the big trees with the small trees, and used the big trees diagonally, it would look better. Playability looks good, as with your other maps. Tile errors on the rock-mountain thing on the beach and water. Other than that, there's too much empty space.

6/10


I'm not in the best of moods right now, so I'll rate your other maps later.

 

[sasquatchd00d]

First, I have to say, these two maps here were an enjoyable experience. I don't see many underwater maps and this is my first one. I do recommend also making the water route to go with it. I learned quite a bit from this actually. One thing is that if you're going to do the whole underwater/water route combo, do the water route first then go to underwater. Trust me, I did it backwards and it really limited my freedom on the water route. And there is so much more to be limited on the route than there is to be limited underwater. Another thing, underwater mapping is a lot like cave mapping. I thought it would be a whole new experience, but the ideas used cave mapping are essentially the ideas used in underwater mapping.

These aren't part of any hack, so if you notice border errors (and I'm sure there are some) don't really bother to rate me down for it (unless you want to of course xD) because if they were implemented, there wouldn't be those issues. I have to say I really had fun with these and without further adieu, here they are.

Route 134

Spoiler:

Route 134 Underwater

Spoiler:

 

[Tropical Sunlight]

just some maps i made for pokemon emerald thunder. Made em awhile back...

1. map:
This is a quite basic indoor map.I like it, but the bookshelves don't look right.
Try removing those additional shelves.
9/10

2. map:
This map I really like.
I love the way you placed the trees, and how you placed the shoreline.
But, it does get quite empty sometimes (which, with lots of Trainers, would be nullified).
I would include some of the small rocks, other than that, great map!
8/10

3. map:
1. The houses are too thin. They should have another line of tiles behind them.
2. Again. emptyness.

6/10 for this one (try to fill up the space)

4. map:
Oooh, a large map.
I wouldn't make such big maps, I'd split it into 3 parts.
Again, empty space is a problem.
This time, 6/10
For the size.

 

[Mew~]

Name: Dilford town
i am aware of the bright green part in the grass and in the small trees and also the sand behind the lab which will be fixed!

Spoiler:

 

[colcolstyles]

Spoiler:

I actually really like this map. The underlying concept looks like something straight out of an official Pokémon game. The only things I can really complain about are the lack of flowers/shrubbery, which makes things seem a little empty here and there, and what you did with the right side of the map. It's too empty and the top part of the mountain is way too straight. If you gave it the shape that you gave the other mountains, it would look fine. One thing I really like here is the grass placement. The clumps are evenly spaced and of a moderate size. Also, the water rocks have been arranged quite nicely, which I know from experience can be difficult to get right.

First, I have to say, these two maps here were an enjoyable experience. I don't see many underwater maps and this is my first one. I do recommend also making the water route to go with it. I learned quite a bit from this actually. One thing is that if you're going to do the whole underwater/water route combo, do the water route first then go to underwater. Trust me, I did it backwards and it really limited my freedom on the water route. And there is so much more to be limited on the route than there is to be limited underwater. Another thing, underwater mapping is a lot like cave mapping. I thought it would be a whole new experience, but the ideas used cave mapping are essentially the ideas used in underwater mapping.

These aren't part of any hack, so if you notice border errors (and I'm sure there are some) don't really bother to rate me down for it (unless you want to of course xD) because if they were implemented, there wouldn't be those issues. I have to say I really had fun with these and without further adieu, here they are.

Route 134

Spoiler:

Route 134 Underwater

Spoiler:

The first time I saw these, I just had this itching crave to play through them. They're just so beautiful. You don't see many maps that make you want to experience them firsthand but you've definitely done it with these. The only thing I don't like is the fact that you stole my idea! I was going to make a water route that you couldn't pass without dive but it seems you beat me to the punch :(
Oh well, these are still fantastic maps. I guess I'll start with the water route. The first thing that jumped out at me was...well the tile error on the mountain in the center of the map (there are also two more in the mountain in the southeast portion of the map). Though I really like the way you've made use of Ruby's tileset. The shallow water is a nice touch, although (as Disturbed said about my map before his post was deleted for not having a rating) it's a little weird to have deep water so close to shore. My excuse for my map was that yes, it doesn't occur naturally (;)) but your map appears to have naturalness as it's goal. Oh well, it's nothing major.
I thought the berry patch was a nice touch although the fences are a little out-of-place. Fences are usually used in populated areas and I don't think many people are traveling past that particular spot. Tree placement is good: I think the density is actually a good thing here. It makes it seem like not many people pass by here often, leaving the trees to grow out. Hm, what else. If I were you, I probably would have added some sand onto the mountains that surround the route, especially in the north- and south-western corners where the beach is right there. Speaking of which, the beach looks a little empty. Though we are just seeing the right edge so I'm sure there will be more trees and rocks on another map. Oh and how about some flowers? Just a few in between the trees here and there would make it look a lot more lively.
Uh, let's see. Mountain shape is good, water rock placement is good. I guess I'm running out of things to comment on so I'll just move on to the underwater map.

It seems you made the same "mistake" that I did. It's not technically a mistake but it's a little weird if you think about it (though completely possible in real life). The area at the top as well as the area in the south-eastern corner are two mountain levels underneath the surface while the other two are only one level below. It's nothing you have to go back and fix (I personally think it looks a little better that way, honestly) but just make sure you're aware of it so you don't end up trying to connect two mountains on different levels (it gets a little iffy in the far bottom right). Hm, your grass/seaweed placement is more like that of Nintendo's, which is fine but I always thought they overdid it with the stuff so I like to put just a little less. I don't see any border errors so you're good there. I see you experimented with larger "lighter" areas. I think you made it work pretty well, though I, for one, prefer smaller dive spots with larger "non-surface-able" areas. You've used small rocks in abundance but I don't see any 2x2 rocks, which you should always mix some into the bunch.
Huh, it's kinda hard to comment on these types of maps because there's not a whole lot going on.

Well thanks for the advice on making future underwater maps. I never really planned on making a water route to go along with my underwater map but when I have to, I'll be sure to make the water route first.

 

[Banjora Marxvile]

Route 134

Spoiler:

Right, I'll rate the top one only. like said, it is very natural, and is absolutely beautiful. ountain shape is right, tree placement is near enough spot on. The water shape looks natural, like it eroded into the face, and the shallow shore is near enough spot on. The Dive area is nicely placed as well, and the sand arrangement along the coast at the top right is as well.

The central mountain bit has a tile error that lets it down to me. Another error is in the bottom right corner, with the mountain edge. Both have the wrong terrain underneath, having them overlook grass, and not the rocky mountain. Other than that, everything is just... So right!

9.3/10!

 

[Lightning Sage™]

Map Game:Ruby
Map Name: Under water
Comments: Well, not to much to say besides its under water and that i made it outa fun and bordem and this is my first water map so it sucks i think
Mapshot:

Spoiler:

 

[.Seth]

Map Game:Ruby
Map Name: Under water
Comments: Well, not to much to say besides its under water and that i made it outa fun and bordem and this is my first water map so it sucks i think
Mapshot:

Spoiler:

Looks too square, and not in a good way. Bottom part looks deep and inaccessible. Too much unnecessary grass. Too little small rocks.

4/10

EDIT: Why is the thread title in uppercase in parts? :S

 

[.little monster]

Map Game:Ruby
Map Name: Under water
Comments: Well, not to much to say besides its under water and that i made it outa fun and bordem and this is my first water map so it sucks i think
Mapshot:

Spoiler:

It's okay..but it is kind of blocky in places and needs more detail, well, it couldn't hurt.

7/10

 

[cooley]

Name: Dilford town
i am aware of the bright green part in the grass and in the small trees and also the sand behind the lab which will be fixed!

Spoiler:

Comments: Why didn't you fix the tiles before you posted? Seems like you know how to do it too. Anyways, the map is too simple, I could walk all through the map, and not encounter any obstacles. Also if this is a starter town, why is there grass in it?(unless the grass is for appeal) If this IS a starter town, how will you be stopped from leaving without a Pokémon? (That's a lot of Trigger tiles! O_O)I mean you didn't post any helpful information...

The border of the map will give a LOT of problems, and there are too many flowers and not enough scattered trees. The houses are lined up, for what purpose? And the shape. The map is rectangular, how many places in real life are in the shape of an exact rectangle?

I see what you were trying to accomplish with the tiles/palettes, but they can definitely be better. The trees almost blend in with the grass, and I take it you edited the door animation, right? XD Well this isn't a tile/palette rating thread so...

Finally the rating. This is pretty hard for me to do;
Rating: 4/10

Suggestions: Well try to make the map more apealing. By adding roads, mountains, a lake if you can. Just not a house, grass and trees :P

One last thing, make your maps more natural looking ;)