Over time, I've realized how sad the Map Rating Thread has become.
I see waves of average maps, and very little people constructively criticizing them because they need their map to be rated. I think I'll post this tl;dr post not only because I'm bored, but because I'm honestly sad at what happened. I loved when reviews were more than two sentences long and were more specific. I loved when the map posts-review posts weren't 90/10. I love when people aren't ignored, despite how great or awful their map might be.
I WILL rate for palettes and tiles, because even the best made map can be ruined by ugly and/or unfitting tiles.
Well, I made another map. It's not AMAZING, but I'm quite pleased with this one. I forget the maker of the ROM Base and who made the tiles though, but to whoever made them, all credit goes out to you.
ROM used: Ruby
EDIT: The little grass patches on the rocks are supposed to be little weeds growing out of the rocks.
Eh, pretty dull, and not just because of the color. It doesn't have flowers, which, personally, is a must for grassy routes. It's also really empty, and all of that space could be used so much more efficiently. Maybe make some out of the way paths that lead to items so it can seem more lively and less linear. The trees at the bottom feel like they are just there for the hell of it, since all of the trees are only single trees lined up next to each other. The weeds don't even look like they are protruding out of the mountains, so I would suggest you fix that, since it's a pretty interesting concept. Lastly, the rocks are way overdone. It would be more understandable if you actually put some in the middle of the map, but all of them are out of the way. It's a bit bothersome to be honest. I'd give it a:
4.5/10
Just reposting my map...again. Route 102:
There isn't really much to say about this map, which is the biggest flaws in simple maps. The grass placement is really good, and I like the tiles(obviously), but I don't like how the green paths are splotchy and the sandy path is somewhat more organized. It just seems out of place. The lake could use a bit more shape, but that's just me. Again, the lack of flowers leaves a lot of room for improvement, since it makes the map that much more vivid if the color sticks out from the rest.
7/10 for you.
Tile error D:
Foregrove City. =P I find something irritating about the middle section, but =|
WHEN WILL I GET TO THE PART THAT I LIKE MAPPING @_@
Just like your old map, it's a bit boring. I like it for the most part, except for the simple fact that it is inconsistent. The flowers are the main thing, but the trees are somewhat problematic too. For 90% of the map, it's all organized, but when it has to impede the traveller from easy access to the gym, it goes all wild and somehow small trees grow there too. It's nothing special, but at least you kept the map good by not making tile errors all over the place.
7/10 for this one too.
I would also like some opinions on a map that I made:
Map Name: Azure Town
Map Game: Made with tilesets from FireRed, Sapphire and myself (the double story blue house is half my creation, half Nintendos, lol).
Comments: Azure Town is a starting town for a custom region that I am tinkering with. I plan to have a connecting beach map to the south of this map (players will need surf to continue), and a connecting forest to the west of the map. I haven't thought about the map connecting to the top yet, probably some sort of cliff area.
I am pretty happy with the map so far, however I think the town looks a little bit plain. Any suggestions on making it look a bit more exciting?
I like this map, it's pretty neat. That river(or lake, the tiles are misleading me) is pitiful; it gets as little as two tiles wide. The beach is shaped nicely, but it would be much better if you put a few rocks here and there and made it wider. This time, the major annoyance isn't the absence of flowers(it's second), but it's the fact that you make the small trees wrong. I don't know where you saw that, but I would suggest if you want two tile long small trees, you rip some out from Ruby or Emerald, or shorten the FR/LG ones in a better way. The mountains are pretty nice, but could do with a few rocks, but I won't take away from your rating for that. It isn't linear, which is a huge plus if you can manage to pull it off and keep it looking good, but I am bothered by that one tile wide stair tile. It irks me, and that's because it isn't even that spacy like most of your map, and I know how irritating it is to traverse one tile wide paths.
I still really like it despite the flaws, so you get an
8/10 for me.
Okay I re uploaded it in a different format. Hey posting a route I just made for my hack. :) I didn't insert the buildings yet, so please exempt those building blocks as where my buildings will be. I am trying out a new stly between nintendo and natural. Also I will a sure you there are no border errors, a border can be bigger than 2x2. Also the ledges are supost to give the feel that you are decreasing in elevation.
It would be much better if you spread the ledges out more and put impeding objects in the way to give it a rougher feel. You can go through the whole route without stepping into a single grass tile, which is a big no-no, it's barely even tolerable as one of the first routes to me. The puddles are in one spot, which just look unattractive, and the sand paths are broken for no reason. It would be perfectly fine if they were separated by wild grass, but we see what's wrong with that. It's completely dull, and it would do much better if you didn't focus an entire section of the map just for ledges and another one just for easily avoidable patches of grass.
3/10 is what I honestly believe this map deserves.
Map name: N/A
Game:Fire red
mapshot:
It's average. It isn't bad, it isn't good. It's good in the sense of it being…I honestly don't know, but I think it looks somewhat neat. However, the good is nullified by a few things; for one, there is only one house. Two, there isn't a single sign in the whole map. You'd think if a place had both a pokemon center, mart, and a gym, it would be significant enough to have at least a sign that says "welcome to [name] town: The [description]". Lastly, the curves are nice and all, but they seem like an attempt to escape making the sandy tiles wider. I find it a bit irritating, at the least, that it looks like an attempt to do that. Since it's such an average map, you will get my average 6/10.
Credit:
zeikkku tm: mountain tile!
Saurav Tree tiles path tiles wild grass tile grass tile (and most of the palletes which i edited)
Wesley fg Stair tiles.
Xiros For small tree tile
Wesley Fg Stair tiles!
Now that I see it, it is somewhat irritating seeing tall grass just thrown together randomly. It'd be better if you put them in small, concentrated patches and left a bit of free space. It looks significantly better, but it may just be your tiles. The tiles aren't bad, but they definitely don't fit the kind of maps you are making. They just seem a tad blocky for your attempts at au natural maps. I'd give this about a
6/10 since I'm kinda tired writing this review up.
Map Name: Route West
Base: Fire red with SSKD ROM Base
*Image attached and will have to be viewed in a separate window to see at proper size, HUGE map*
Additional Tiles (Apart from ROM base- I take no credit for the main tiles used):
Bridge: Ripped by 874521, palette edit and inserted by me.
Everything else is either made by me or simply a block edit.
Please rate in a Pros/Cons/Improvements/Rating fashion :)
Just for you, I'll change it this once ;D
Pros: It's pretty spacey, it isn't completely linear, and I didn't even notice until now, but you used more than 1 flower tile. It gives it a better feel to have more diversity among vegetation as long as it isn't underdone, which it isn't.
Cons: The map is pretty thin at parts, it barely uses any of the space when it could be so much better if it took up more, the mountains just seem unneeded, you only use the sea rocks for borders, and the fences don't even make sense. Even though I don't think I complained as much, these are pretty big flaws.
Improvements: Make use of the space that you wasted. Try to make the river wider and add some more rocks and flowers around the map, but also widen some of the narrow 1 and two tile wide paths out a bit more.
Rating: This seems like a
5/10 to me. Based on what you could do, I know you can do really good if you try hard enough.
Name: Route 303
Game: Galactic Platinum
Comments: Well I am pretty happy with this map tbh.
It's okay I guess. It's pretty generic, and has nothing going for it if you take out the little specks of diversity among trees and flowers. Try to use more diversity, and please, don't make the mountains disappear into the trees. I don't know how this somehow became the cool or logical thing to do, but it just looks bothersome, and would be much better if you could make the mountains disappear without having to shroud it behind an object.
Credits:
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Alistair
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Kyledove
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Red-eX
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Saurav
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Wesley FG
This is a map for a competition on a german board. ;D
I hope you like it, please give me feedback.
~MOP
I'd just like to say that you have become one of my favorite mappers; I really like how great your tiles are, and how they compliment your maps. This map is somewhat of an exception because it lacks color(blue, green, brown, and white), but it is in no means a bad map. It's quite spacey on the paths for the most part, but the mountains make it feel exciting. It's a bit restrictive to only the stone path though, I suggest taking out a few trees and leaving a bit of empty space just because it looks nice. There isn't much else to say, so I'll just end it and give you your
9/10 that you deserved.
To the others, I'm sorry, but all of this reviewing is making my head hurt, but maybe it's the fact that it's 11:06 PM and I started at about 10:15. I'll try to review your maps, so just remind me if you can.