Help Thread: Map Rating/Review Thread

[Gengarking2255]

Map Name: Port Orre
Map Game: Fire Red
Comments: This is a preliminary map for the starting town of the hack I'm working on. The premise here is that the land was formed from a river delta, which is why the town is broken up by the river coming from the mountains and surrounded by water. The cave in the mountains gives you access to the power plant that takes advantage of the water fall, and will be blocked off by an NPC until later in the game. The dock takes you to a boat that will lead you to the next big city on your journey. Any critiques or suggestions would be greatly appreciated, as I've had mappers block recently...

Map

Spoiler:

The map looks too much like vermilion city. I dont mean to be mean,
but I dont like it for this reason. I understand you had a block,
but you could have changed it more.
Rating: 4-5/10
Reason: Like I said, it looks too much like vermillion, not
much creativity is shown here.
Suggestions: Because of your mappers block, think of your favorite
pokemon, then make a place you think they would live.

 

[Danny0317]

The map looks too much like vermilion city. I dont mean to be mean,
but I dont like it for this reason. I understand you had a block,
but you could have changed it more.
Rating: 3-4/10
Reason: Like I said, it looks too much like vermillion, not
much creativity is shown here.
Suggestions: Because of your mappers block, think of your favorite
pokemon, then make a place you think they would live.

I think that rating is a bit too harsh. What I think the map is really lacking is path and organized flowers. Honestly I'd rearrange the houses a bit. Put a Poké Mart somewhere and get rid of a house. At least that's what I'd do.

 

[Danny0317]

My Map:

Map Name: Aroma _______ (Not sure. Too small for village)

Map Game: Pokemon Haze

This is the player's hometown in my new ROM hack of Fire Red. The bottom house is the players and the top is the rivals. Path at the top leads to route 1 which is around the edge of a forest. Not a whole lot else to say really.

Well, there's not really much to say about this. Gonna be honest, I don't like it too much. It's too small for my tastes, and the path shape is a bit awkward.. I'd make it bigger, add more houses, variety, etc.. I understand you're trying to make it small, but this is a bit too small. Good luck! Also, there's a small tile error on the mid-left part of the map.

Map Name: Route 4

Map Game: Pokemon Fluorite

Not much to it, just a route.

Spoiler:

 

[BadEgg~]

@Christos Thanks for the advice mate.I will work on those issues.
PS. The original map had a dock.

Just to comment on the use of rocks on the beach: You can have very rocky beaches. For example, South Africa's beaches around Ballito and Salt Rock have plenty of large boulders and rock formations that run along the coast in between the sand. It's find to have the boulders there. Small towns also hardly ever do much to beaches either, just because the demand isn't there to build stuff. Maybe put one or 2 children on the beach there just to liven it up a little bit.

 

[Logan]

Well, there's not really much to say about this. Gonna be honest, I don't like it too much. It's too small for my tastes, and the path shape is a bit awkward.. I'd make it bigger, add more houses, variety, etc.. I understand you're trying to make it small, but this is a bit too small. Good luck! Also, there's a small tile error on the mid-left part of the map.

Map Name: Route 4

Map Game: Pokemon Fluorite

Not much to it, just a route.

Spoiler:

This is a decent start for a map but it has some issues. I really don't like the overuse of the secondary tree tile, I've personally always tried to keep them in a max bunch of three but that's just personal preference. There is also way too much 1/2 tile walkways, always try and keep them at a minimum of three for playability and it generally looks aesthetically more pleasing.

 

[Nex]

Idk what to say lol
Map Name: Agramor Upper District
Map Game: Project Lothar (not on pokecommunity yet)

 

[Sefuree]

It's a nice map and I love the tiles but It's a little empty. There is definitely room for some details.
7/10

Map name: Norston Town
Map Game: Pokemon: Hybrid Version

Spoiler:

 

[Jacrad]

Idk what to say lol
Map Name: Agramor Upper District
Map Game: Project Lothar (not on pokecommunity yet)

Spoiler:

I think there's a lot of room for improvement. It's a really neat concept and I like the tiles you used for the most part.

The layout of the city bothers me. It feels like you couldn't decide whether you wanted to make it symmetric or not and thus the psuedo-symmetry was an afterthought. I'm personally not the biggest fan of symmetry but I think for the kind of town you appear to be aiming for it makes sense. So the buildings should be perfectly symmetric and things like the crates and barrels should be asymmetric to break things up a bit.

The map looks a bit cramped. On that first row of buildings you have so many houses that are so close. Just a tile of space between each would make it look a lot more open. The buildings that are touching the sides of the city walls shouldn't abruptly cut off the adjacent buildings.

I do think the visuals are a little monotonous. Maybe the roofs of the houses could be a different color or the roads? Something to reduce the amount of gray. I think the royal banners look tacked on right now, so making those bigger would be a good step in adding some more flavor to the map.

Why are there random tables lying around?

Although it may seem unimportant, I feel like the mountains should be a lot more irregular. Unless it's 100% manmade (And even then) it probably wouldn't look so straight.

 

[Danny0317]

It's a nice map and I love the tiles but It's a little empty. There is definitely room for some details.
7/10

Map name: Norston Town
Map Game: Pokemon: Hybrid Version

Spoiler:

Hey, this map ain't too bad. It's pretty good. I don't have much to say since it's pretty small, but I like it. However, I feel like it's a bit too cramped. I suggest you make it bigger and expand it in the sense of the player having more sense to walk and such, but other than that, no complaints. Good job.

 

[Substitute Doll]

Map Name: Route 24

Map Game: Fire Red

Comments: The first route of my hack. There might be tile errors.

Mapshot:

 

[The Legacy of The Legends Creator :D]

some of these are really awesome o.o

 

[BUUTCranium]

Map Name = Oreleaf City

Map Game = Firered

Mapshot = (can't post links yet) - imgur.com(forwardslash)lYKM2Of

Map Name = Route 6

Map Game = Firered

Map shot = (can't post links yet) imgur.com(forwardslash)2wPDRPT

 

[Banjora Marxvile]

Map Name = Oreleaf City

Map Game = Firered

Mapshot = (can't post links yet) - imgur.com(forwardslash)lYKM2Of

Map Name = Route 6

Map Game = Firered

Map shot = (can't post links yet) imgur.com(forwardslash)2wPDRPT

Oreleaf City Review:
May want to rename it to a town, seems too rural and empty to be labelled as a city. If you really want it to be a city though, maybe make it bigger to feel more like one? Other than that, I'm curious as to what will be in it NPC wise as I feel that the map is too small (again, labelling it as a city is affecting this review perhaps unfairly) for more than a handful of NPCs. Just on map structure though, it's simple and effective. One thing I did notice is that the standard grass tile is the same one. In the base Firered, it looks more interesting than one tile as it is in fact 4 or 5 in a pattern that looks "random" but isn't. Maybe use these varieties of the ground tiles a bit to not make it look repetitive? Nothing else noticeable about it.

tl;dr: It's a bit small for a city, and maybe use different variations of the ground tile to make it more special I think.
Rating: 7.8/10


Route 6 Review:
I REALLY like maps that have this structure, it's condensed and "natural" of sorts, yet also playable and maybe even fun in game. My only really big issue is the river, I feel that it is quite narrow but... That actually isn't that bad either. That little house is bugging me though, it's going to be a small map inside that or stairs I assume? It feels like even in this case, it could be a tad bigger but that depends on it's true purpose. I'm also not a fan of the random fence in between the rows of trees to the left, maybe replace this with the occasional thin tree instead to block off the path?

tl;dr: Nice and natural, condensed yet looks fun. River quite narrow but works. Little house and that fence are 2 outliers to me. Also, same as above map, use the variety of ground tiles that Firered has by default a bit but not as noticeable here.
Rating: 8/10

EDIT: No one rated this yet:

Map Name: Route 24

Map Game: Fire Red

Comments: The first route of my hack. There might be tile errors.

Mapshot:

Spoiler:

Review: Big, empty, square. I feel like this is an outline of a map more than the finished thing. Too much grass makes it look annoying to walk through due to encounter rates, the random mountain to the right is kinda square an... Not visually appealing. The whole map could be improved, with perhaps a path through now and then, like the vanilla games or the higher rated map above, in order to give some "saving areas" within the grass and provide direction. The basic outline of the map is there, and if you build upon it to make it more visually appealing to players, it could be something special.

tl;dr: Not visually appealing yet, but the outline of the map is fine. Mountain and wild grass is the biggest offenders here. Add paths/something for the player to get a break on.
Rating: 4.5/10

 

[MonopolyRubix]

Map Name: Route 24

Map Game: Fire Red

Comments: The first route of my hack. There might be tile errors.

Mapshot:

Looks good for a simple first route. The bottom right area between the trees and rock would be a good place to hide an item.

 

[PankajBlitz]

Map name - Lunar Town

Map Game - Pokemon Ruby

Info - Lunar Town a town where dreams are sweet and so are people. This is the place where Jayson/Lilly lives. Left path leads to Lunar Cape. Down path leads to Dream Woods.
Credits to Old Broken Timeline Team for tiles.

Mapshot

Spoiler:

 

[Bulbadon]

Map name - Lunar Town

Map Game - Pokemon Ruby

Info - Lunar Town a town where dreams are sweet and so are people. This is the place where Jayson/Lilly lives. Left path leads to Lunar Cape. Down path leads to Dream Woods.
Credits to Old Broken Timeline Team for tiles.

Mapshot

Spoiler:

Review: The trees, grass (nature tiles) look good and nicely placed but the buildings are scattered around. I suggest placing the buildings more differently. Like how it would be crowded for your OW to walk to the big building/Lab. I suggest moving that bottom right building 3 blocks lower so it matches the row of the bottom left building.

Some of the buildings don't have doors and that's fine but try having more buildings with doors. Right now there are 3 with doors and 4 without, maybe 4 with doors and 3 without and suggestively add the doorless buildings next to the one with doors so it looks more polished and the top 3 buildings look like they're connected in some way the left and right buildings are reverse of each other. It seems like there is some meaning behind it. If there isn't any meaning behind it I suggest making them both look different from each other so it looks more natural.

Rating: 5/10. The nature tiles look well placed but the buildings need work.

 

[M.L]

Spoiler:

Map name - Lunar Town

Map Game - Pokemon Ruby

Info - Lunar Town a town where dreams are sweet and so are people. This is the place where Jayson/Lilly lives. Left path leads to Lunar Cape. Down path leads to Dream Woods.
Credits to Old Broken Timeline Team for tiles.

Mapshot

Spoiler:

I feel as if the map is to uniform and that makes it look bland, the houses are placed oddly aswell.
I don't know what else to say really I would suggest making it less uniform and add some curves and twists as to give it some direction.

My map
rom base FR
Route
This is mainly to test my tiles but I haven't mapped in a while so let's see..

Spoiler: