Id say its more about gamplay rather than modelling that makes a map good or bad. Most of the well modelled maps are rarely played whilst some of the not so good modelled maps are played all the time.

Gameplay, gameplay, gameplay and modeling. Weapon placement is big.

New content just for the "cool" factor.

omg..... I spent 15 minutes typign a big paragraugh and it logs me out when I post making my message dissapear.... meh screw it.... i'll post my thought about this later when I can actually type something without a crappy keyboard! *throws keyboard accros room*

Funny how people normally do not like the vehicles like the pelican, longsword, scarab, etc.
But they are the reason I played this game.

Sorry for the off-topic thing.
But yeah, halo 1, 2, and 3 have no pilotable scarabs or pelicans.
:P

For the pelican and scarab driving to be the reason you play this game is no offence... pretty lame. That would make you one of those noobs who go "ooh look at dat scarab omg omg omg omg omg omg IT'S DRIVABLE OMFGOMFGOMFGOMFG DOWNLOAD! *plays* OH MY GOD I'M DRIVIN DA SCARAB!"

Once again no offence.... but seriously the scarab and pelicans are not good vehicles.... they only seem to be usefull in coldsnap.... and thats not all that balenced.... but I heared that map is mostly for showing off scripting so thats why..... and it also why it's so popular. Shure I like the map but i'm not a fanatic... it's fun for a few minutes and thats about it. It has some nice gameplay though... CTF is fun.... I was hidin in the red flag area and waiting for a blue to come... we got into a fight and I dropped a C4 on 10 seocnd charge right as he killed me..... yeh he never got out of the tunnel with the flag..... "flag taken..... *boom* flag returned"

By the way if you couldn't tell, I am not a fan of little kids gettign on halo.... because they are the ones who usually run for the noob stuff and think it's cool. I used to be like that... sorta but now I like to actually play a game. And thats also why I detest movie game BS.... because all movie games suck..... (don't try to prove me wrong..... even if some one made a movie of halo and someone made a game bassed on that movie..... (if the story of the movie is different than the original games that is) the game would suck..... unless made by Bungie who would make it right.... but it still probably wouldn't be as good as the real games... I think i'll go make a michinima to explain further...)

What you should have asked is what makes a map good, and good design is really over-looked by alot of people.

Good design is nice, don't get me wrong... but if the game play sucks then good design don't mean a thing... a good example of good gameplay bad design is Snowbound from halo3.... I hate everything about that map.... but the gameplay is really good.... the layout sucks and everything else does too... but the gameplay rocks.

Another thing Isolation (halo 3 again) sucks all around.... i guess it has a good design.... i'm not a fan.... but everything about it sucks.... i'm not going into details.

Well, I would say don't make it to big or small. Don't make it just a flat field too. Make cover.

Don't put overpowered weapons all over the maps,(coldnsap and hugeass snipers are so powerful they can flip a warthog, and while snowgrove is fun, campers with the pistol can get quick,easy kills) and try not to put in a secret room, or a bunch of severs will be exclusively be "finding secret room" or something similar, stealing players from games they want to play whit more people.

And where weapons are are important. It'd be pretty stupid to put the shotgun on the high ledge, or a sniper in the narrow hallway.And don't put in unlimited nukes, or some idiot is going to mindlessly spam them lagging the game. How nice it looks is something big too.

And 1 more thing...make balanced bases! An overpowered base vs a weak base is a HUGE advantage for the enemy. Try to make similar bases.

Look at coldnsaps bases... one with a mythos and jets, but the other with a longsword and warthog (balances out kind of), but I'm pretty sure that one of them has ground vehicles out side of it, and one has a ledge where no vehicles can guard the flag.
Edited by madkiller92 on Jun 7, 2008 at 02:22 PM

coldsnap is balenced, but it's got wiered balence. Thats why the gameplay is pretty good.

Good joke.

no i'm not joking... that is if everyone is actuall playing CTF then it's ok... usually.

Thanks I was wondering what happened to that.

I agree. A lot of the time when I make a map, I focus more on gameplay than on how it looks. I don't completely ignore how it looks, I just don't place it too high of a priority.

Then try indoor/artificial structure modelling. I find it a lot easier than trying to copy nature.

coldsnap?

ROFLMAO that's got to be the funniest thing I think I've ever read on this forum!
LOL ty for a great laugh!

There are as many answers to the question of what makes a map good or bad as they are people answering it. What is it you really want to know?
Edited by Dennis on Jun 7, 2008 at 07:03 PM