For what it's worth I am giving a tease of a tease.
I am about 50 hours (23%) into the creation of my next map, and I am positively squirming in my seat to start sharing.
That said, I believe I'm going to create its thread this coming weekend and start adding weekly (or daily) screenshots. It's going to be tough to SHOW you some amazing (in my opinion) and NEW situations without spoiling some of the reveals.
I have seen two maps (out of almost 200) that have a loosely similar setting, and one that is being made. So I am taking steps to make mine as different as possible.
And... for what it's worth, here's what I'm listening to most while developing the map;
Foo Fighters
Belly
(If you're asking yourself why I wasted time noting this, it's very important to me. Music helps inspire me and keep the 'theme' of the map consistent... so there's a very loose hint in this)
Codenamed RED. Actual title and logo will be announced shortly.
I intend to post a screenshot (behind spoiler tags), reveal more 'features' and details every few days.
Yes, but it may take me a few weeks to get to it.
I'm pretty heads down on my latest custom map, and I have a list of 16 other maps ahead of you. Feel free to remind me in a few weeks if you don't hear anything.
Spent a few hours hanging out with Lukeys on his SMP server, touring the maps he has in progress. Super super impressed. Can't wait to see them released.
Overall, this map was pretty straight-forward. I surprised myself with the high score, but I'm comfortable with it. Highlights: Nicely written dialogue for the NPCs. I found it to be creative and the hidden levers were slightly challenging. For progression, I enjoyed the way that the NPC dialogue built off of each other to form the bigger picture. When I got to the mine, I feared it would be a long cave crawl, but it too was very straight forward.
This is an utterly fantastic recreation of 4 Mario games in one (soon to be 10 in one). I counted at least 4 puzzles that I've never seen before and they were pretty amazing. I will absolutely replay this when it's done and check out the 4 prior maps!!!!
Just re-defined my "difficulty" scoring. The main impact is that almost all maps got bumped UP one difficulty rating (I don't have time to go back and replay them all so I did this by memory).
It's not mine, but I'm extremely excited about its possibilities. I hope this bit makes it into the final version. I may not be allowed to say any more, but as soon as I am I will gladly be promoting this one!
Overall, this was a very nice map. The initial puzzles didn't do much for me, but once you finish I really appreciated the dinosaur creations. It took me about 20 minutes total and actually did contain one puzzle I hadn't seen before.
Pretty straight forward maze/scavenger hunt. I suspect it's a good recreation of Zork, but as I don't really remember the series it's just a maze to me. The Read Me and Beginning files were very well written. There were a few redstone mechanisms and a few nice looking encounters.
Overall, this was a very nice map. The initial puzzles didn't do much for me, but once you finish I really appreciated the dinosaur creations. It took me about 20 minutes total and actually did contain one puzzle I hadn't seen before.
Whoa! I made a grievous error last night. I linked the wrong map!
THIS is the Jurassic Park that I played. I'm very sorry about that, aperture! http://www.minecraftforum.net/topic/219944-
It's not mine, but I'm extremely excited about its possibilities. I hope this bit makes it into the final version. I may not be allowed to say any more, but as soon as I am I will gladly be promoting this one!
That was simply awesome. Beautiful. Creative. Detailed. FRESH. The -only- thing I can complain about is the mob density. But you know what... that's never been why I play these adventure maps. I can just switch it over to peaceful and then back. If you play this map and stick strictly to the author's recommendation of 'normal' you will fail, and I have to believe you will rage quit - in this case the map would get a 17/20 which is a fabulous score. BUT... put the mob density aside and it has EVERYTHING ELSE in my scale. So it's a 20/20.
I can't tell you how happy I am to play this map with the audio. I have 2 maps with recorded narration. I got good response/feedback, and it looked like it worked well on Let's Plays. But it's just not the same being on this side of the camera. NOW I got to play a map where someone else put excellent, professional effort into a great map and then spiced it up with audio. It works! It works really well!
Seriously... drop what you are building/playing and try this map.
I added a poll to the top of my post, as I'm debating whether I should change my rating scale for "difficulty".
Right now, I defined difficulty as;
Difficulty (diff): Puzzles. Mob/risk density and variety. Lighting. Hidden items/challenges.
1 = Impossibly hard, may not be able to see the whole adventure
2 = Too easy
3 = Challenging, even on on peaceful
4 = Challenging, on easy/normal but not impossible
Puzzles, lighting, and hidden challenges are easy to judge.
I used to think mob density was easy to judge too, but the PLAYER has the ability to set their own difficulty level at will. So is that really something the map creator should be rated on? Let's say I want only Zombies to spawn in a certain room - so I add a spawner. But random mobs will also spawn and I've made the situation (potentially) worse. Yet as a map maker, it's mostly out of my control.
I am about 50 hours (23%) into the creation of my next map, and I am positively squirming in my seat to start sharing.
That said, I believe I'm going to create its thread this coming weekend and start adding weekly (or daily) screenshots. It's going to be tough to SHOW you some amazing (in my opinion) and NEW situations without spoiling some of the reveals.
I have seen two maps (out of almost 200) that have a loosely similar setting, and one that is being made. So I am taking steps to make mine as different as possible.
And... for what it's worth, here's what I'm listening to most while developing the map;
Foo Fighters
Belly
(If you're asking yourself why I wasted time noting this, it's very important to me. Music helps inspire me and keep the 'theme' of the map consistent... so there's a very loose hint in this)
Custom Map Planning Templates - Microsoft Excel-based worksheets for designing, developing, testing, and publishing maps.
http://www.minecraftforum.net/topic/508920-
Map: Sesame Street
Version: July 29, 2011
By: Prof_Snape and iKonakona
URL: http://www.minecraftforum.net/topic/507357-
Type: [Puz]
Map Total Rating (out of 20): 14
A great adaptation. The "story" is a simple scavenger hunt, and the authors took the time to capture key elements from the show.
http://www.minecraftforum.net/topic/498076-adv-the-nether-ending-story/page__p__6560214#entry6560214
Teaser Link for my upcoming map!
http://www.minecraftforum.net/topic/514791-
Codenamed RED. Actual title and logo will be announced shortly.
I intend to post a screenshot (behind spoiler tags), reveal more 'features' and details every few days.
37% complete.
Go there and 'watch topic' for all updates!
Yes, but it may take me a few weeks to get to it.
I'm pretty heads down on my latest custom map, and I have a list of 16 other maps ahead of you. Feel free to remind me in a few weeks if you don't hear anything.
http://www.minecraftforum.net/topic/514791-
Map: The Time Traveler's Mission
By: Proberoo
URL: http://www.minecraftforum.net/topic/306908-
Map Total Rating (out of 20): 14
Overall, this map was pretty straight-forward. I surprised myself with the high score, but I'm comfortable with it. Highlights: Nicely written dialogue for the NPCs. I found it to be creative and the hidden levers were slightly challenging. For progression, I enjoyed the way that the NPC dialogue built off of each other to form the bigger picture. When I got to the mine, I feared it would be a long cave crawl, but it too was very straight forward.
Map: Super Mario Bros. (WIP)
Version: 5
By: overlordpawel
URL: http://www.minecraftforum.net/topic/351777-
Map Total Rating (out of 20): 19
This is an utterly fantastic recreation of 4 Mario games in one (soon to be 10 in one). I counted at least 4 puzzles that I've never seen before and they were pretty amazing. I will absolutely replay this when it's done and check out the 4 prior maps!!!!
It's not mine, but I'm extremely excited about its possibilities. I hope this bit makes it into the final version. I may not be allowed to say any more, but as soon as I am I will gladly be promoting this one!
Map: Jurrasic Park
By: aperture
URL: http://www.minecraftforum.net/topic/219944-
Map Total Rating (out of 20): 12
Overall, this was a very nice map. The initial puzzles didn't do much for me, but once you finish I really appreciated the dinosaur creations. It took me about 20 minutes total and actually did contain one puzzle I hadn't seen before.
Map: Zork Craft
By: Shwa
URL: http://www.minecraftforum.net/topic/458262-
Map Total Rating (out of 20): 12
Pretty straight forward maze/scavenger hunt. I suspect it's a good recreation of Zork, but as I don't really remember the series it's just a maze to me. The Read Me and Beginning files were very well written. There were a few redstone mechanisms and a few nice looking encounters.
Whoa! I made a grievous error last night. I linked the wrong map!
THIS is the Jurassic Park that I played. I'm very sorry about that, aperture!
http://www.minecraftforum.net/topic/219944-
Yu piplz need to learn to use quottes.. damnit xD
Watch my contest entry for Prof_Snape's latest build contest!
Added...
Map: Kingdom of the Sky
By: BlameTheController
URL: http://www.minecraftforum.net/topic/532324-
Map Total Rating (out of 20): 20
That was simply awesome. Beautiful. Creative. Detailed. FRESH. The -only- thing I can complain about is the mob density. But you know what... that's never been why I play these adventure maps. I can just switch it over to peaceful and then back. If you play this map and stick strictly to the author's recommendation of 'normal' you will fail, and I have to believe you will rage quit - in this case the map would get a 17/20 which is a fabulous score. BUT... put the mob density aside and it has EVERYTHING ELSE in my scale. So it's a 20/20.
I can't tell you how happy I am to play this map with the audio. I have 2 maps with recorded narration. I got good response/feedback, and it looked like it worked well on Let's Plays. But it's just not the same being on this side of the camera. NOW I got to play a map where someone else put excellent, professional effort into a great map and then spiced it up with audio. It works! It works really well!
Seriously... drop what you are building/playing and try this map.
Added the sequel, "Z's Revenge".
By: Proberoo
URL: http://www.minecraftforum.net/topic/355881-
Map Total Rating (out of 20): 14
Another good map. I missed the witty dialogue from the first map (story), but I liked the puzzle better in this one.
PLEASE VOTE!
I added a poll to the top of my post, as I'm debating whether I should change my rating scale for "difficulty".
Right now, I defined difficulty as;
Difficulty (diff): Puzzles. Mob/risk density and variety. Lighting. Hidden items/challenges.
1 = Impossibly hard, may not be able to see the whole adventure
2 = Too easy
3 = Challenging, even on on peaceful
4 = Challenging, on easy/normal but not impossible
Puzzles, lighting, and hidden challenges are easy to judge.
I used to think mob density was easy to judge too, but the PLAYER has the ability to set their own difficulty level at will. So is that really something the map creator should be rated on? Let's say I want only Zombies to spawn in a certain room - so I add a spawner. But random mobs will also spawn and I've made the situation (potentially) worse. Yet as a map maker, it's mostly out of my control.
Vote and let me know!