Help Thread: Map Rating/Review Thread

[M.L]

Spoiler:

I enjoy this map as well, however, I feel like you could've clumped the grass together better. There's not much I can say, it's a good map. 6/10

Map Name: Random Route
Game: Fire Red
Credits: Full Metal's Sinnoh patch and tile creators.
Mapshot:

Spoiler:

Comments: I'm simply trying out new tiles, these are snow ones so I can get a feel of how to map for my winter installment for The Leola Project.

Map Name: Random Route
Game: Fire Red
Credits: Omega Zero and tile creators.
Mapshot:

Spoiler:

Comments: Same as last map, just trying new tiles.

Spoiler:

Well I am a bit confused cause I am not sure if I am judging maps or tiles here but its a map review thread so I shall review your maps, the layout is the type of layout i particularly enjoy its not to diagonal that you get annoyed in game but it creates a natural feel to the game. The snow map itself is bare.. I am not sure if you finished it or not but its missing a lot in my opinion(Like flowers little bits that stand out you know the things that make a map feel less bare) but overall it looks nice.. The bottom map the same if your not done i think it may need some grass(wild type) but again the style and the naturalness of the map looks great and i guess their is something worth getting later that you have to use surf to get(If I am wrong and its not meant to have wild grass it does look bare in the places after the paths)

Ok my turn..
I too have been testing tiles for a city map and mind me I dont often do city maps so i may need some of you to hold back

One thing i know about the tree borders around the buildings and by some of the tiles so you don't need to critique them but if you see one i don't feel free to point it out.
Map Name: City
Game: Fire Red
Credits: Tile creators

Spoiler:

 

[Winter Wonderland]

Ok my turn..
I too have been testing tiles for a city map and mind me I dont often do city maps so i may need some of you to hold back

One thing i know about the tree borders around the buildings and by some of the tiles so you don't need to critique them but if you see one i don't feel free to point it out.
Map Name: City
Game: Fire Red
Credits: Tile creators

Spoiler:

My, oh my. Those tiles look lovely! All in all, this map does look very nice. However, I feel t would look better if you just... condensed it all. It all seems too spread out to be a convenient city.

Also, the underwater mountain, I feel like you could've made that a little more detailed. As it stands now, it just looks like two somewhat straight ledges. But, all in all, you did great with this map, and it is an amazing selection of tiles, in my opinion. I kind of wish I had them available to myself.

My turn.
Map Name: Random Route
Game: Fire Red
Credits: Masterofpuppets for his ROM base, and the tile creators who contributed to it.

Spoiler:

Spoiler:

Spoiler:

Spoiler:

Comments: I'm trying to make big maps while also testing tiles.
Reason being is because the final stop in my ROM hack will be a collection of five maxed size maps. So, just getting some practice in before that time comes. And there's other maps that are just me trying some natural mapping.

 

[Alice]

My turn.
Map Name: Random Route
Game: Fire Red
Credits: Masterofpuppets for his ROM base, and the tile creators who contributed to it.

Spoiler:

Gonna preface this by saying that she asked me to review it, because she liked my mapping style, so I'm more or less just explaining how I do things, because I'm bad at reviewing maps. lol

Looks like this is actually sort of 3 maps in one. Overall, I like the concept, and the shape of the map seems quite nice. If you're going for a natural feeling, you might find tree placement easier if you don't use them to line the border of the map. In my maps, I don't use borders at all. I leave 7 tiles of just trees or mountains or w/e between the edge of the map and the player at all times, so I don't have to worry about borders at all. It's more work of course, but you won't end up with that sudden jump from nintendo trees to natural trees.
I also generally try to fit in as many trees into a space as I can without making any sort of specific pattern. I'd personally say to try fitting them closer together, and leave less empty space in areas that the player can't reach.

Grass placement is a little too irregular for me. I'd say it would be better to shoot for wider but shorter sections of grass, because in some places the player will have to walk through grass for like 20 tiles, in a fairly narrow area, which I think could get annoying. Generally, I'd shoot for maybe an average length of 4-10 tiles for each section of grass.

The mountains look too uniform to me as well. Varying it up a bit, and leaving small gaps to place trees along the edge of the mountain looks a lot more realistic to me in most situations, unless you're going for a sheer cliff face (which you might have been, but I usually avoid it because I don't think it looks as good in general. If that's what you were going for ignore this though.)

I generally think of paths as a guide to keep the player going the right direction. Usually straight-ish lines or slight curves (well as curvy as you can make it with tiles. lol) separated every 10-20ish (usually) tiles by sections of grass. You seem to be more or less doing the same thing, but they're short, large areas of dirt, which doesn't really look like an area where people have repeatedly walked over and over.

As for tile errors, you're missing a couple tree tops in the center of the map and a grass tile where there should be a cliff corner in the upper middle.

And one other little thing that sort of bugs me is the fact that you enter a cave at the left of the map, and right behind the cave entrance there's a big crater, so if the cave is very large, it would seem somewhat unrealistic, because there wouldn't really be that much space there. May not actually be a problem depending on how you design the cave, plus the player can't see a huge amount of the crater, so they'd probably never actually notice anyway, but just something that stood out to me.


So, if you couldn't tell by now, I'm trying really hard not to say anything is definitively good or bad, but just comparing it to what I do, because mapping involves so much personal preference, that I really can't say that what you did is right or wrong, just how I personally think things look best. If you like it, it's by no means bad, so keep it up.

 

[M.L]

QuilavaKing pretty much summed up the rating for your maps I honestly can't add on to what he has said already or do a better job at rating it myself so I wont.
I shall move on and submit my own map.
Name:Esmerald City
Credits:Eddies rom base
Map:

Spoiler:

 

[SRifqi]

Ok my turn..
I too have been testing tiles for a city map and mind me I dont often do city maps so i may need some of you to hold back

One thing i know about the tree borders around the buildings and by some of the tiles so you don't need to critique them but if you see one i don't feel free to point it out.
Map Name: City
Game: Fire Red
Credits: Tile creators

Rating:8.5/10
Reason:Nice map to play. Is able to swim the sea? Or it's using a boat?
Suggestion: add some roads to the north or it just an island


Now for my map:
I just want to create simple map :)
Map Name: Route 116
Game: Fire Red
Credits: Tile creators

 

[MiniMinun]

@SRifqi: Well, overall this is a good map. The tree placement in it is great (other than one thing that I will mention after) and so is the flower placement, although I think you could have put less in the bottom right section. The ledges are also nicely done and look very natural, with the exception of that one part near the middle where it is corner after corner. It doesn't really seem to belong with the rest of the ledges in my eyes, if that made sense... (Maybe try switching it up and not making it corner after corner?). The one glaring part of the map for me, thought, is the ledge filled with the mini trees. It just looks odd having this one section of the minis and then the rest different trees. It would certainly look a little better if you blended the two varieties of trees together. And one last thing I want to nit-pick on: other than one spot, all the jumpable-ledges are straight and exactly on the sand path. Nothing wrong, just looks a little unnatural. Maybe add a few curves and go out a little more into the grass?

It may seem as though I said a lot of negatives, but this really is a good map. It is nicely structured, simple map with no tiles errors (That I could see![Although I'm really bad at finding them...]). Just a few aesthetics that I would change, but thats it. Great job! :) 7.5/10

P.S. If I am not mistaken, this was your first post on the forums. So, welcome! :) :) :) I highly suggest to take the time to browse all the different forums and to get involved in some things, too. Hope to see ya around!

 

[Le pug]

see attachment

8/10

Grassy areas seem a little plain. Also, the one-way ledges I feel there are too many. Otherwise, it looks great.



Background info for my map in the spoiler: You just became shipwreck on an island. You can see the ship broken in half in the water and a fellow shipmate has spelled out "HELP" using sticks and rocks on the beach.

Spoiler:

 

[MiniMinun]

Background info for my map in the spoiler: You just became shipwreck on an island. You can see the ship broken in half in the water and a fellow shipmate has spelled out "HELP" using sticks and rocks on the beach.

Spoiler:

Well, this is quite an interesting map, and I like how you incorporated a little bit of story into the map, because it brings the map to a new level. I also find it cool how you used the rock formation as a P. Very creative!

However, there are a few things in the map that I don't enjoy as much. First of all, there are quite a few tiles errors scattered across the map, especially with the rock formations. (Example in the bottom left, unless you did that just because the player won't be able to see 7 tiles away, and in the top right where the sand meets the rock) Also, the main mountain-type-thing looks a little bland and unnatural. The beach looks spectacular, because of how you didn't make it all a straight line, and I would have appreciated if you would have done the same with the hill. And one more thing, with the same hill, the top corners look just a little weird. I can see why you made it the way you did, but it just looks like the higher it gets, the more it sticks out, instead of vice-versa. Get what I mean? Of course, this could just be me, but it looks a little off.

Good map overall, just with a few problems to patch up. 6/10

 

[Le pug]

QuilavaKing pretty much summed up the rating for your maps I honestly can't add on to what he has said already or do a better job at rating it myself so I wont.
I shall move on and submit my own map.
Name:Esmerald City
Credits:Eddies rom base
Map:

Spoiler:

I think this is a well-made map. Overall, I'd probably confuse it with an actual game map because to me it looks that good. Only thing is, on the left side the stairs going into the mountain lead to nowhere, unless that was set up like that for an event otherwise I can understand. I also love the water! 10/10.


Alright I'm back with a map update to get more feedback to see what further needs to be done. I posted this image earlier when the map was more bare and decided to spice it up so let me know what you think and what I should do.

Previous description: As for the map I tried to link before, this is a map (I know they are fake-version tiles of platinum but I prefer them) and in this map it is a dream state almost, where you are at while you are knocked out from a blow you took right before this event. Let me know pretty much if you like the layout and all that good stuff. I have it to where at any point you keep walking off the edge, you warp back the the beginning and the warp circles take you to other circles and so it is a puzzle which at the same time will determine which -eon (or eevee) you want to have in your party.

Previous rating description: As a Dream World I understand it is meant to be bizarre but this map seems incredibly empty, only maybe 60% of this map has solid ground, you should include more ground and include some form of a puzzle, I don't quite understand why you bothered with the Eeveelution because you could have just had statues of the eeveelutions. Overall this map is pretty Barren, I mean the closest thing I can compare this to are the Distortion World. Which had much more plant life and water as well. This map is a reasonable start to something which I hope you can expand and elaborate on.

Previous image:

Spoiler:

Current image:

Spoiler:

 

[Neti]

About Le Pugs map:

I dont feel like rating, since it it is so special. But I will give a review/opionion:
I really like the idea of the event, being in a dream state. Also I am curious how the circles will determine which eeveon evolution you get... It looks like a real interesting event and you improved the map with a lot of details since the last version. Keep up the good work!

 

[Le pug]

Honestly, I do not have much to say about this map. The layout of the town works well in my opinion, and a love the the little gardens you added.

There is one small thing that bugs me though, and its the path that leads to the left-most house. There is technically nothing wrong with it, but the small grassy space between the two paths just looks a little off.

I would really like to give more criticism, but again, I just can't. It is a very good map overall with everything working well together (other than the path that I mentioned). Great job! 9/10

Map Name: Random Forest
Map Game: Emerald
Comments: Soooo since I had no inspiration for a new route, I decided to try and make my first forest. Since this was my first forest, I tried to keep things simple. And although the random rocks in the water do look out of place, I just put them there to balance out the other rocks that are blocking the river entrances. P.S. You enter from the bottom.
Map:

Spoiler:

rating

Spoiler:

Oh wow, where to begin? I'm sorry to say, but my opinion stands that this is horribly designed.
Those are the worst trees to use. Strongly advise you to use TREES and not those.
1. Location between water and ledge in the middle of the map needs to removed... why would anyone want to ride in water just to jump over a ledge? The rocks in the lake should be removed, there is too many of them. Ledges are mostly used for ease of walking after a triumph through a route, should you want to return to your previous destination so when I see the bottom right left side having a ledge then a bunch of wild grass, it kind of looks irritating.
However, you did a great job on making it nonlinear for walking paths and thats a big plus. All you need, in a personal opinion, is new tiles. I suggest learning how to do so or at least change the trees. Good luck!

4/10

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Here is my map:
Enter from the bottom and there are three exits, one by water to a new map, one by path in the northeast and one by smashing boulder and going into the tall grass.

Spoiler:

 

[M.L]

rating

Spoiler:

Oh wow, where to begin? I'm sorry to say, but my opinion stands that this is horribly designed.
Those are the worst trees to use. Strongly advise you to use TREES and not those.
1. Location between water and ledge in the middle of the map needs to removed... why would anyone want to ride in water just to jump over a ledge? The rocks in the lake should be removed, there is too many of them. Ledges are mostly used for ease of walking after a triumph through a route, should you want to return to your previous destination so when I see the bottom right left side having a ledge then a bunch of wild grass, it kind of looks irritating.
However, you did a great job on making it nonlinear for walking paths and thats a big plus. All you need, in a personal opinion, is new tiles. I suggest learning how to do so or at least change the trees. Good luck!

4/10

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Here is my map:
Enter from the bottom and there are three exits, one by water to a new map, one by path in the northeast and one by smashing boulder and going into the tall grass.

Spoiler:

Spoiler:

Well the map it self seems very empty to me, their is so much open space which creates a large feeling to the map.. Those rocks which are white doesnt fit, especially since this is like an autumn type map and those rocks look like they should be in a snow map. I do lieki the right side of the map it is a little more condensed and I feel looks alot nicer than the right side the mountain shape is natural and I do like it although its also a little bare maybe a few smaller rocks would be nice but not neccasary..
Overall the map is pretty good and ill rate between 6.5-7.5

Im going to post a map which was mainly to test tiles but this is to judge the map.
Map name:Route 1
Game Firered
Rom base: Mine

Spoiler:

​

 

[Improbability]

Im going to post a map which was mainly to test tiles but this is to judge the map.
Map name:Route 1
Game Firered
Rom base: Mine

First of all I love the tileset. The colours feel natural and just work, which I feel is one of the most important things and a shortcoming of many tilesets.
Otherwise it's a great first route, even if it is a little bit on the short side. It's simple, directs the player, and has enough intrigue too. Only thing I'd contemplate changing is removing a patch of grass or two to the left of that signposts, it just feels a little cluttered. Otherwise 10/10


Players enter from 'Route 1' via top left. Not exactly a route, just an important map in terms of plot points and setting the tone. Trying to get that abandoned overgrown feel, there aren't any sprites outside so hopefully it doesn't feel too cluttered. Incidentally my first 'map', cc is desperately wanted. Hoping to recolour and add some custom tiles in the future, focusing on layout and the general feel of things atm.

 

[Flugmerkur]

First of all I love the tileset. The colours feel natural and just work, which I feel is one of the most important things and a shortcoming of many tilesets.
Otherwise it's a great first route, even if it is a little bit on the short side. It's simple, directs the player, and has enough intrigue too. Only thing I'd contemplate changing is removing a patch of grass or two to the left of that signposts, it just feels a little cluttered. Otherwise 10/10


Players enter from 'Route 1' via top left. Not exactly a route, just an important map in terms of plot points and setting the tone. Trying to get that abandoned overgrown feel, there aren't any sprites outside so hopefully it doesn't feel too cluttered. Incidentally my first 'map', cc is desperately wanted. Hoping to recolour and add some custom tiles in the future, focusing on layout and the general feel of things atm.

OOPS!!!
I totally forgot to rate your map after you told me how to save my map.
I'll just do it again. Lol.

I really like the overgrown look. It reminds me of the kanto region after a big disaster or war. You should totally consider doing a post-apocalyptic pokemon hack. The only thing I think that could make it better would be to edit the buildings to look more run down.

My map is of a small oceanic research town. The people here take the large research vessel out to sea and find fossils to resurrect in their local lab.

 

[Improbability]

OOPS!!!
I totally forgot to rate your map after you told me how to save my map.
I'll just do it again. Lol.

I really like the overgrown look. It reminds me of the kanto region after a big disaster or war. You should totally consider doing a post-apocalyptic pokemon hack. The only thing I think that could make it better would be to edit the buildings to look more run down.

My map is of a small oceanic research town. The people here take the large research vessel out to sea and find fossils to resurrect in their local lab.

Haha thanks, that's actually exactly what I'm doing although not as dramatic and overdone as most apocalyptic settings (think dark humour a la the fallout series). Adding debris and decay to tiles is definitely up there on my list of things to do, thanks for the feedback!


Your map looks fairly quaint and cutesy, I like it in that sense. I'd suggest maybe fleshing out the boardwalk area a little more, perhaps some stones in the water or have another small (docking station?) building to break up the monotony.
Only other things are the tiles for the stacked houses look off, it should be a simple fix if you just do a quick tile insert to make a duplicate without the bottom border. Also minor nitpick but there are two different types of trees to use. You're using the middle section tiles meant to be used in enclosed tree groups on edge blocks and it looks a little bit funny. Again an easy fix.
Otherwise it's well designed and a cool idea, 8/10

 

[Le pug]

OOPS!!!
I totally forgot to rate your map after you told me how to save my map.
I'll just do it again. Lol.

I really like the overgrown look. It reminds me of the kanto region after a big disaster or war. You should totally consider doing a post-apocalyptic pokemon hack. The only thing I think that could make it better would be to edit the buildings to look more run down.

My map is of a small oceanic research town. The people here take the large research vessel out to sea and find fossils to resurrect in their local lab.

review:

Spoiler:

You did a pretty good job on keeping the walking path non-linear, I like the amount of levels of mountain you used and in the areas you used them. I might be wrong but I think I see a tile error with the white fence... I'm pretty sure they have end tiles to them and you just used the middle for every one of them. But maybe I'm wrong, not sure. I don't like how the wooden fence cuts off into flowers and back to fence and back to flowers. If this is a town, then the wild pokemon grass tiles aren't really necessary especially since there isn't much of them anyways. The little pool area seems a little empty and plain and you should add some detail to it. You seem to use flowers as a placer tile to make it less empty, which works, but is overkill. Also, for the grassy area behind the house, it seems a little cramped, maybe add an extra row of space for walking or so? Overall I love the layout though, 7.5/10

My map: It's one of the routes for my game and I'm looking to pretty much just get an opinion on it and what I should change. It's connecting village to town.

Spoiler:

 

[Pokémon Trainer 188]

My map: It's one of the routes for my game and I'm looking to pretty much just get an opinion on it and what I should change. It's connecting village to town.

I really do like the way it Curves in a S Shape with the Grass it's a good place to put Trainers and the Grass will make the Player take a while to get through it which is the sort of thing you want, not for the to Rush the Hack. I'll give it a 8/10 ^_^

Here's my Map it's called Starlight City and it's for my new Hack, the Hack has no name yet but it's beta name is Pokemon Spice, The city will be full of Grunts from the Evil Team and you will have to escape the city to see the Professor through the Cracked Wall. Hope you like it ^_^

Spoiler:

 

[Flugmerkur]

MY REVEIW:

Spoiler:

I really do like the way it Curves in a S Shape with the Grass it's a good place to put Trainers and the Grass will make the Player take a while to get through it which is the sort of thing you want, not for the to Rush the Hack. I'll give it a 8/10 ^_^

Here's my Map it's called Starlight City and it's for my new Hack, the Hack has no name yet but it's beta name is Pokemon Spice, The city will be full of Grunts from the Evil Team and you will have to escape the city to see the Professor through the Cracked Wall. Hope you like it ^_^

Spoiler:

I like your buildings, and the concept of escaping through the cracked wall, but I think you should fill in the area above the buildings. Also, you might want to change the road tiles. All of the little white lines around the edges are distracting.

MY MAP:
There are a few mistakes I am aware of and will be fixing. Also the boats fit nicely under the roof section during actual gameplay instead of looking like they are on top of the building. Depending on choices you make during the game, the boat will take you to a fire, water, or grass lab where you will be able to pick out of the three starters of your chosen type. The fire lab is on a volcano. The water lab is in a oceanic cove. Thee grass lab is in a forest. (only the fire lab is pictured as of now... Well part of it).

 

[Le pug]

MY REVEIW:

Spoiler:

I like your buildings, and the concept of escaping through the cracked wall, but I think you should fill in the area above the buildings. Also, you might want to change the road tiles. All of the little white lines around the edges are distracting.

MY MAP:
There are a few mistakes I am aware of and will be fixing. Also the boats fit nicely under the roof section during actual gameplay instead of looking like they are on top of the building. Depending on choices you make during the game, the boat will take you to a fire, water, or grass lab where you will be able to pick out of the three starters of your chosen type. The fire lab is on a volcano. The water lab is in a oceanic cove. Thee grass lab is in a forest. (only the fire lab is pictured as of now... Well part of it).

Not sure I like the style of the mountain layers and there are some random tiles like the sand to the left of one of the bridges going into grass isn't really needed and there are two random wooden fence tiles bottom right that serve really no purpose and I think the mountains are a little too linear but everything else looks pretty good, nice big map to walk around and explore different things. I'd say 7/10.

Here's my map. Background info is it's the second town you visit and being on a stranded island, this town has resorted to cannabilism after a town member locked himself in the big building and they tried to destroy the building. Blah blah that's mostly story so here's the image let me know what you think (obviously the right and top exits are unfinished because I didn't start those next maps yet. You enter from the left):

Spoiler:

 

[E.C.]

I really do like the way it Curves in a S Shape with the Grass it's a good place to put Trainers and the Grass will make the Player take a while to get through it which is the sort of thing you want, not for the to Rush the Hack. I'll give it a 8/10 ^_^

Here's my Map it's called Starlight City and it's for my new Hack, the Hack has no name yet but it's beta name is Pokemon Spice, The city will be full of Grunts from the Evil Team and you will have to escape the city to see the Professor through the Cracked Wall. Hope you like it ^_^

Spoiler:

I've got to say it's been a while since I've seen such a nicely made map. You did an excellent job block editing and creating different blocks for mapping. The way you mapped gives it a natural feel and that is always a good thing, however, the white line on the road tile looks bad since it makes it look as if it were a tile error. I would suggest changing that. Another thing I would suggest is using another type of natural mapping along with your current mapping style by making a few more blocks using the block editor. Here is what I mean:

(I know it's a bad map and has a lot of errors but I'm just trying to show what I mean.)

You see the trees that are more close to each other? If you can use them correctly you can make some nicer maps.