Help Thread: Map Rating/Review Thread

[SK3]

Way too empty, It just looks like a field filled with grass.There's far too much grass, too. the whole route is covered with it, and it'd be very annoying for the player to have to go through all of that. I'd recommend you get rid of some of that grass, fill the empty space with trees and other decoration, and don't just add ledges.

Sorry if I was a bit harsh, but your map needs a lot of improvement.
2.5/10

----------------------------------------------

Name: Route 3
Game: FR
Comments: third route in my hack. but it turned out kind of... bad. I'm not that happy with it ): Suggestions?
the second stairway is supposed to lead to an item. And yes, I know the back has tile errors.

Spoiler:

Not harsh at all, thanks for the constructive criticism :). I'm just starting out when it comes to mapping, so this is the kind of feedback I need to get better.

As for the map you just posted, I enjoyed it a lot. The only things that bug me is the fence and the headbutt trees. The fence just feels out of place, to me at least, and the headbutt tree palette could've been changed a little. But overall excellent map, 8.5/10

 

[~Teh Panda~]

Name: Route 3
Game: FR
Comments: third route in my hack. but it turned out kind of... bad. I'm not that happy with it ): Suggestions?
the second stairway is supposed to lead to an item. And yes, I know the back has tile errors.

Spoiler:

Rating: 6/10

Your style seems to take off of many different themes which in some cases can make something amazing but in this case came out as a well thought but lacking map, but alas, it can be saved! One thing to spice up your map is to edit the mountains, create them as if they edge out of the top of the map instead of cramping a small 'range' in the middle of map, this creates a very unnatural feel. Also on your paths towards the bottom try to make them a little less uniform and a little more, a little more 'spicy' (Yes, I used the word 'spicy'). The staircases, they look oh so much better if you take advantage of the two piece set of tiles, simply putting the other non shadowed stairs next to the ones you have with a slight edit of the mountain side will create a more 'pokemonish' mapped feeling. Also, the fencing on the top of the mountains? I feel like that is a little bit too... random? The mobility of the player is really confined due to this...

Finally, nice attempt, and this map can be salvaged, best of luck...

_________________________________________

Now, finally got a new copy of Windows installed, testing out the new Windows 8, felt like hacking some more. Might be a little rusty looking but I tried... Just a small route...

My map:

Name: WaterSnap Path
Game: Untitled Panda Project.
Credits: Nintendo.
Image:

 

[Satoshi Sugimori]

Rating: 6/10

Your style seems to take off of many different themes which in some cases can make something amazing but in this case came out as a well thought but lacking map, but alas, it can be saved! One thing to spice up your map is to edit the mountains, create them as if they edge out of the top of the map instead of cramping a small 'range' in the middle of map, this creates a very unnatural feel. Also on your paths towards the bottom try to make them a little less uniform and a little more, a little more 'spicy' (Yes, I used the word 'spicy'). The staircases, they look oh so much better if you take advantage of the two piece set of tiles, simply putting the other non shadowed stairs next to the ones you have with a slight edit of the mountain side will create a more 'pokemonish' mapped feeling. Also, the fencing on the top of the mountains? I feel like that is a little bit too... random? The mobility of the player is really confined due to this...

Finally, nice attempt, and this map can be salvaged, best of luck...

_________________________________________

Now, finally got a new copy of Windows installed, testing out the new Windows 8, felt like hacking some more. Might be a little rusty looking but I tried... Just a small route...

My map:

Name: WaterSnap Path
Game: Untitled Panda Project.
Credits: Nintendo.
Image:

This reminds me of the map in Ruby? the first route you enter not sure what it's named rout 101 or something :p Very nice map though :D

 

[demondismon]

Rating: 6/10

Your style seems to take off of many different themes which in some cases can make something amazing but in this case came out as a well thought but lacking map, but alas, it can be saved! One thing to spice up your map is to edit the mountains, create them as if they edge out of the top of the map instead of cramping a small 'range' in the middle of map, this creates a very unnatural feel. Also on your paths towards the bottom try to make them a little less uniform and a little more, a little more 'spicy' (Yes, I used the word 'spicy'). The staircases, they look oh so much better if you take advantage of the two piece set of tiles, simply putting the other non shadowed stairs next to the ones you have with a slight edit of the mountain side will create a more 'pokemonish' mapped feeling. Also, the fencing on the top of the mountains? I feel like that is a little bit too... random? The mobility of the player is really confined due to this...

Finally, nice attempt, and this map can be salvaged, best of luck...

_________________________________________

Now, finally got a new copy of Windows installed, testing out the new Windows 8, felt like hacking some more. Might be a little rusty looking but I tried... Just a small route...

My map:

Name: WaterSnap Path
Game: Untitled Panda Project.
Credits: Nintendo.
Image:

it is a very nice map i really like your style however you could improve on some area's in my tast i suggest a lil less grass near the bottom but besides that i give it a 8/10

mapname:coildail(remake of last one)
hack of:ruby
credits:necrohacker - tiles,me

please dont comment on palettes... excuse my spelling..please rate..plus tell me what was better the origin or new?

 

[~Anbuja]

it is a very nice map i really like your style however you could improve on some area's in my tast i suggest a lil less grass near the bottom but besides that i give it a 8/10

mapname:coildail(remake of last one)
hack of:ruby
credits:necrohacker - tiles,me

please dont comment on palettes... excuse my spelling..please rate..plus tell me what was better the origin or new?

To be very honest i very dislike the combination of the tiles....the ruby tiles are very dulll compared to the new tiles...but well whatever this is no tile rating and no palette rating...actually that map like the last one and looks very similar to Oldale?
actually all you've done is changing the pokecenter place with the other house which make it more bad...an pokecenter shouldn't be that near to an mart..right?
you removed some tree and such and made it better than the last one but don't be scared to play with the header and make the map bigger maybe and add mor features to make it fully custom...
And btw the pokecenter is to nearby the tree and leaving the player only one tile to step and go in it....that's bad the player needs space to walk...
anyways i give it an 6/10 and everything sayd wasnt meant bad just what would help you improve it more:)


also heres my map......coudn't wait for this moment xDDD
here it is:

Spoiler:

name:No name map.
Hack:tiles will be used the map maybe:P
Credits:goes to princelegendario for his awesome tiles!! Alucus , alistair minorthreat and Calis project...and me because almost everything is edited here:P

Any Comments?

 

[demondismon]

To be very honest i very dislike the combination of the tiles....the ruby tiles are very dulll compared to the new tiles...but well whatever this is no tile rating and no palette rating...actually that map like the last one and looks very similar to Oldale?
actually all you've done is changing the pokecenter place with the other house which make it more bad...an pokecenter shouldn't be that near to an mart..right?
you removed some tree and such and made it better than the last one but don't be scared to play with the header and make the map bigger maybe and add mor features to make it fully custom...
And btw the pokecenter is to nearby the tree and leaving the player only one tile to step and go in it....that's bad the player needs space to walk...
anyways i give it an 6/10 and everything sayd wasnt meant bad just what would help you improve it more:)


also heres my map......coudn't wait for this moment xDDD
here it is:

Spoiler:

name:No name map.
Hack:tiles will be used the map maybe:P
Credits:goes to princelegendario for his awesome tiles!! Alucus , alistair minorthreat and Calis project...and me because almost everything is edited here:P

Any Comments?

thanks for the criticism. map....very very good i love the random water on the mountain i love the style of the water overall. the trees are awome and i love where you placed the water and trees the cave is also very well placed i give it a 10/10... for my taste..

my map warning: big map and if tile error please let me know... i tried my best to make the city not empty... i love my trees in general :D.. please tell me what ya think

Spoiler:

 

[Missingyep]

Spoiler:

4/10. The artificial stuff doesn't look manmade, and some of the organic stuff doesn't look natural.

Human beings like order, and our settlements tend to reflect that. We put our buildings in neat little rows, and we keep our fenced areas nice and rectangular.

Your map is too random and arbitrary, and runs counter to that. Buildings are strewn about at random, and the fence contours too much to the treeline. (It would look more normal if the fence were rectangular and some extra space were left outside of it, or if the treeline were straight and the fence was right up against it (implying that humans cut trees down to gain more room).)

Aside from this, there is a large amount of empty space in your town. The fact that it is bordered by trees means that those who built it went to the trouble of cutting all that forest down... and then only used a small portion, and left so much empty space between structures? It doesn't make sense.

The fact that it's all paved is even stranger; why pave so much open ground, rather than just paving some (typically flat and straight) paths and roads? Especially since they'd have to destroy and dig up a lot of that paved ground to add more structures, meaning that the paved ground really only makes the waste of space more permanent from a construction standpoint.

Decorative fountains like the one you've used are usually placed in town squares, large gathering places, or in front of notable buildings. In keeping with the human desire for order, they are typically at the center of such gathering places or directly in front of a structure. Your fountain is just randomly placed rather than matching any of those three design conventions.

There are also tile errors on most of the buildings; I can't tell if you were trying to create a door or a first-floor window. Several of the trees (mostly along the sides) are in perfectly straight lines with empty gaps next to them, which looks both unnatural and contrived (it looks like you gave the map the wrong dimensions and had trouble getting the lines of trees to fit).

The angle and shape of the two northernmost buildings' shadows makes no sense, and is inconsistent both with the shading that Game Freak used on their own tiles and with the utter lack of shadows on the rest of the buildings. Speaking of tiles, those grass tiles are far too bright and have a(n additive) tinge of blue to them, which makes then look low-detail and fake -- but this isn't a tile rating, so I didn't factor that into the 4/10 judgment.

 

[Vladimir312]

thanks for the criticism. map....very very good i love the random water on the mountain i love the style of the water overall. the trees are awome and i love where you placed the water and trees the cave is also very well placed i give it a 10/10... for my taste..

my map warning: big map and if tile error please let me know... i tried my best to make the city not empty... i love my trees in general :D.. please tell me what ya think

Spoiler:

Much to empty and disorganized. Try to fill the city with more buildings, even if they're useless, and make nice, organized rows of structures. I'd give it a 4/10.

Now for my map.
Map name : route 8

Spoiler:

 

[DaleFails]

My review + Own Map

My Review of other Map

Spoiler:

Now, finally got a new copy of Windows installed, testing out the new Windows 8, felt like hacking some more. Might be a little rusty looking but I tried... Just a small route...

My map:

Name: WaterSnap Path
Game: Untitled Panda Project.
Credits: Nintendo.
Image: (Cant link to URLs yet)

Think its a nice simple little route, maybe to short and straightforward? Looks natural and playable, not much can wrong with such a basic map, I like it though, a game needs many of these. 8.5/10

My Map

Spoiler:

Name : PokeCollege
Game : Untitled
Credits : Nintendo for tiles (Firered), me for pallet editing and map creation.
Image : (Attached)

Just thought I'd have a play around and maybe make the starting place for my own game. Features Dorms for students, classrooms, staff room, lab, library, trainee gym and work-out gym.

I'm new to this, sorry if my post isn't up to scratch D:

 

[hinkage]

My map:

Name: WaterSnap Path
Game: Untitled Panda Project.
Credits: Nintendo.
Image: (Cant link to URLs yet)

Think its a nice simple little route, maybe to short and straightforward? Looks natural and playable, not much can wrong with such a basic map, I like it though, a game needs many of these. 8.5/10 [/SPOILER]

My Map

Spoiler:

Name : PokeCollege
Game : Untitled
Credits : Nintendo for tiles (Firered), me for pallet editing and map creation.
Image : (Attached)

Just thought I'd have a play around and maybe make the starting place for my own game. Features Dorms for students, classrooms, staff room, lab, library, trainee gym and work-out gym.

I'm new to this, sorry if my post isn't up to scratch D:

It isn't very natural, however it IS a college campus though, so I'll forget that.
On that note, what campus has grass like that in the upper right? Not to mention it's between fences and has THE DREADED ONE TILE PATHWAYS.

The mountain to the south, by the beach, could use a more natural look, since such land would mostly be undeveloped.

Several of the trees have improper shading. There should be no shading along the outsides of trees.

The spot above the two houses or whatever looks nice, actually. Normally such free space like that is bad, but since the rest of the map doesn't have it, it looks nice. Plus, campuses have free space like that.

Still, it could use some more diversity. I'd say 5/10.



If possible, I'd like an established mapper to really critique this:

Spoiler:

Map name: Route 70 (first route in game, though)
Comments: Meant for playability.

 

[Mab]

If possible, I'd like an established mapper to really critique this:

Spoiler:

Map name: Route 70 (first route in game, though)
Comments: Meant for playability.

This map would probably be good, except for the tiles/palettes. I know this isn't the tile/palette review thread, but bad tiles take away from the whole map.
The new tiles really clash with the old/unedited ones, which doesn't make for a good look. Also, the bottom parts of the trees are screwed up palette-wise, and it would be a good idea to fix that. The sandy path might look better if you take away all the grey around the borders.

The map itself is relatively good, except for a few things. First of all, near the leftmost ledge, there are no trees to the west. I assume you were trying to do like what they did in Littleroot Town in R/S/E, where they use the border block as the edge of the town, but it doesn't work very well, and - in my opinion - doesn't give you enough control over the trees.

Lastly, I could comment on the lack of trees to the east, but the player can't see that far, so nobody really cares either way.

Suggestions: Fix the tiles, palettes, add trees west of the leftmost ledge.
Overall Rating: 6/10

My Map
Map Name: Nuvema Town
Map Game: Pokemon Emerald (Bright White)
Comments: A remake of Nuvema Town. It's Emerald, so inserting all the houses from FR was a pain. It looks good though.

Spoiler:

 

[chrunch]

This map would probably be good, except for the tiles/palettes. I know this isn't the tile/palette review thread, but bad tiles take away from the whole map.
The new tiles really clash with the old/unedited ones, which doesn't make for a good look. Also, the bottom parts of the trees are screwed up palette-wise, and it would be a good idea to fix that. The sandy path might look better if you take away all the grey around the borders.

The map itself is relatively good, except for a few things. First of all, near the leftmost ledge, there are no trees to the west. I assume you were trying to do like what they did in Littleroot Town in R/S/E, where they use the border block as the edge of the town, but it doesn't work very well, and - in my opinion - doesn't give you enough control over the trees.

Lastly, I could comment on the lack of trees to the east, but the player can't see that far, so nobody really cares either way.

Suggestions: Fix the tiles, palettes, add trees west of the leftmost ledge.
Overall Rating: 6/10

My Map
Map Name: Nuvema Town
Map Game: Pokemon Emerald (Bright White)
Comments: A remake of Nuvema Town. It's Emerald, so inserting all the houses from FR was a pain. It looks good though.

Spoiler:

Well, it looks a lot like Nuvema Town, so that's good, but it's not exact. the orginal nuvema town doesn't have the small trees near the lab, and the paths are more... thin. However, it's a remake, not an exact remap, so you probably intended that. Not much more I can, since it's a remap, but it looks nice, almost exactly like Nuvema Town.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
My map now. ;)

Name: Golden City
Game: FR
Comments: Golden City, a big port city. the tile errors like the water under the bridge you won't see ingame, because a boat is covering it. I'm horrible at big cities, so can I have some suggestions?

Spoiler:

 

[Ray Maverick]

@chrunch

It's pretty good, totally playable. I'm going to give you a harsh 7/10, because it's a little too square in my honest (and natural-based :D) opinion. Basically it's nothing special, but it's good in its simplicity; watch for tile mistakes though.

Bumping my map, need more ratings. Bad quality inc.

Spoiler:

*it's not totally playable
*I made this for fun
*credits to Kyledove, Alistar, Wesley and me

 

[DaleFails]

Ray Maverick map above ^

I love this map, its beautifully natural and looks very playable :)
my only worry would be the maps borders? Unless you have perfect map connections on each side the maps border will look pretty horrible >.<

 

[Vladimir312]

@Ray Maverick
Your map is truly amazing. The tileset is great, and it has a very natural feel to it. However, the logs look kind of weird.
9/10

 

[lolwhet]

Spoiler:

Woah, that's an amazing map! It's beautiful, and just looks very impressive and well-made. However, I agree with the guy above me...the logs are kinda weird looking.

---------------

Map Name: _____ Town. (not named yet.. :P )

Map Game: Fire Red

Comments: This is the starting town for my hack. I quite like this one, but I wanted to post it here and see what you guys think. I have 7 edited tiles, see if you can spot them all! :D If you have any suggestions on the name, please share! By the way, I know that it is weird having a PokeMart in the starting town but its actually part of the storyline.

Mapshot:

Spoiler:

 

[hinkage]

Map Name: _____ Town. (not named yet.. :P )

Map Game: Fire Red

Comments: This is the starting town for my hack. I quite like this one, but I wanted to post it here and see what you guys think. I have 7 edited tiles, see if you can spot them all! :D If you have any suggestions on the name, please share! By the way, I know that it is weird having a PokeMart in the starting town but its actually part of the storyline.

Mapshot:

Spoiler:

Good points -
-Tree shading. Often times new hackers mess that up.
-Nice use of flowers.
-How you used the fences looks good. No real point - just kind of there to add color.

Unfortunately, there's a lot more negative aspects...

Bad points -
-Very linear. The pathways, and trees are very square and unnatural, even compared to Gamefreak. I can't stress the pathways enough -- they look terrible as they are now.
-The long bushes in the middle are ugly and unneeded, possibly making it into just one about 5 tiles wide along the tops of the trees would be much better.
-Too many tiny bushes. Way too many. Personally, that tile in itself looks weird on 99% of maps.

Overall rating: 4/10.

Spoiler:

My map:
Comments - A town at the base of a mountain.

 

[Vladimir312]

Woah, that's an amazing map! It's beautiful, and just looks very impressive and well-made. However, I agree with the guy above me...the logs are kinda weird looking.

---------------

Map Name: _____ Town. (not named yet.. :P )

Map Game: Fire Red

Comments: This is the starting town for my hack. I quite like this one, but I wanted to post it here and see what you guys think. I have 7 edited tiles, see if you can spot them all! :D If you have any suggestions on the name, please share! By the way, I know that it is weird having a PokeMart in the starting town but its actually part of the storyline.

Mapshot:

Spoiler:

This map is good in that it is both simple and very easily playable (I consider this important for the starting town of a game). That being said, there are some minor issues that I'd like to stress.
1. The flowers. They occur much too frequently. Try to instead add different styles of grass to liven the place up a bit.
2. The hedge. Its just my preference, but I find those two hedges with the break in the middle slightly odd. Hedges are supposed to look orderly, not chaotic.
3. The lack of small trees. Some different trees would it a little more interesting

Overall, I'd give this map a 7/10.

----------

I'm reposting this map, as no one reviewed it before. BTW the rocks blocking the path are removed by a script after defeating team rocket after venturing going past this area.

Name: route 8
Credits: no one
Hack of: fire red

Spoiler:

 

[lolwhet]

=

Spoiler:

Nice job! It looks pretty good for a route, mainly like one that would appear later on in the game.

Pros:
- Nice variety of tiles.
- Pretty good layout.
- A few nice trainer locations.

Cons:
- Trainers are too close together
- ONE TILE PATHWAYS ONE TILE PATHWAYS ONE TILE PATHWAYS
- The small bushes near the house look weird; try extending the fence to block off that area, it will flow better.
- I don't like the location of the pokeball under the dirt path, put it in the grass next to the rock instead.
- Random cuttable tree and pointless fence next to the house (unless you have another purpose for it.)

Also.. What's the point of having the blocked off pathway, when you can walk or surf around it? If you didn't do that on purpose, you might wanna fix!

----------
Now, for mine:

REVAMP'd!

I revamped my previously posted map, based on some suggestions that I got.

I'm really new to mapping.

Here it is!

 

[Missingyep]

Pretty good.

I find it odd that the lower-left corner of the map is so square. It makes sense for the upper-left corner to be square, since it's so close to a house and since a flower garden has been planted there -- but the lower-left corner isn't close to any man-made structures. Why would the people building the town bother to cut those trees away if they're not going to use the space?

Adding another man-made structure would add unnecessary complexity; your map is good because it's simple. The treeline in the lower-left corner could be made just a little bit less regular, like that of the right corners. All it'd take is one more tree.

The puddle near the PokeMart seems a bit close to that path... This is a minor detail, but you may want to shrink it a bit.

Overall 8.5/10. Good job on a simple but not dull layout for a starting town.