SC2Mapster

The most important part of mapping is coming up with a good map concept that you can develop. A lot of people seem to completely miss this step and I think a lot of people could benefit from a checklist of what it takes to get a map that a majority of people will enjoy.

The Initial Idea
So you're in a melee game and you're running probes across the map and building Nexuses everywhere in a futile attempt to not lose when you have a great idea to make this into a custom map, in the style of Cat and Mouse.

Great! Spend the next hour or so at least thinking about all the things you want to do with this idea. What can you add to this that no one else has really done before you? What can you add to it that's unique? Perhaps, you want to make it so the ultimate objective of the mouse is to flood the entire house in water. Cool, you can make use of SC2's water manipulation to do that.

The Hook
It's easy to come up with an idea that anyone will want to play once or twice. They're curious and they want to try something new. What makes an okay map into a good map is the hook. What's going to keep players coming right back to your map rather than Nexus Wars?

What's going to keep every game new and refreshing, even offering a change of pace from the last game? Will you have multiple game modes or game variants? Will you offer a competitive ranking or achievements?

Anything that offers a change in the pace of the game or alters the way it's played, even slightly, from game to game, contributes to that factor of renewed newness and addiction that makes games like Phantom Mode, for example, great.

Shiny graphics and the newest, most advanced use of Galaxy ever won't make anyone actually play your map more than once. If you're aiming for popularity, spend a LOT of time working on the hook.

The Motive to Finish
So you have the greatest mapping idea ever, and now you're going to post on Sc2Mapster's team recruitment and ask for a data editor, a terrainer, a trigg - wait, what are you doing, again? If you can't make a map, or contribute a significant part of the work, DO NOT BOTHER. Post your idea, see if someone else takes it up. Nobody wants to make a map under the guidance of a "project organizer."

And even if you do have the skills necessary to finish, a good map can take many man hours of work and even sleepless nights as you get closer and closer to that release.

The key to finishing is to make sure you actually enjoy what you're doing. Mapping for a hobby is fun, and it won't feel like a chore if you look forward to it. If you're dreading working on something, then don't work on it. It won't turn out good, anyways.

Polish
Polish is the finishing touches on a map. The polish of a map separates the good from the excellent. A good map has a dialog-based voting system for all it's in-game options. A polished map has a stunningly organized and professionally oriented dialog, and has proper grammar in the loading screen, and the author has laid out all of the information necessary to play in an easy to find manner. For those who miss the loading screen, make in-game tips on how to play, too.

Play your own map, a lot!
Once you've released your map you might have problems with popularity. As an author, you've just going to have to promote yourself and your map to get things off the ground. Don't harass anyone (that's annoying), but post about your map in SC2Mapster and the Blizzard forums, and ask for testers on IRC. Once you have some fans, get regular games going every night if you can. Once you've got that, you'll notice your map will start to rise in the rankings. It'll happen slowly, but the popularity system is horrible and that's just the way it is.

And lastly, play your map with randoms and make sure you stay on top of bug fixes and take their ideas. You don't have to implement every ridiculous new idea, but just keep in mind ways you can refine upon your original idea.

Remember your roots
If you do get high on the popularity system, people will tend to idolize you. Personally, I look at this as a curse, since nobody will leave me the fuck alone anymore, but some people let this go to their head and think they're the best gift to the SC2 mapping world since Sixen.

At the end of the day, you're an ordinary joe who knows how to use a lightweight editor for a game as a hobby. Hopefully, you have a load of fun doing it.

Sometimes, an idea just doesn't work
Sometimes, we work really hard on a project and it just doesn't pan out the way we wanted it do. Little features get removed, dates get pushed back, and our testers just don't like the map. Don't be afraid to look back and admit your idea didn't have what it takes to go far. Not all of them do; in fact, the majority don't.

Just step back up to the plate, figure out why people didn't like your idea, and if you can, fix it; if not, now you know why they didn't like it, so you can come up with a new idea that doesn't suffer from the same problem.

Most importantly, don't blame anyone else for your map's lack of success. Only you can determine that. Again, just use it as a learning experience and move on.

"Sometimes, an idea just doesn't work".

Knowing when to scrap an idea is the most difficult part of design. Willingness to scrap an idea is even harder.

I wonder how the designers at Blizzard handled (emotionally) scrapping Starcraft: Ghost.

What bothers me most is the order many people make stuff in. Many people work on terrain and details instead of fleshing out a prototype they can play around with. This then gets them frustrated because they don't have anything solid to play with that can motivate them. They just have a range of assets.

Once they have these details done they feel the need to finish a product with these details in mind. It just doesn't leave any room for experiments and seeing if an initial idea can actually work.

My suggestion is: Once you have a main idea develop a couple of prototype systems that you can change around quickly enough. Forget anything that has to do with art. While you develop these prototype systems work on a design document that details the as many things as possible on the map. Why? Because often you can spot mistakes in level/game design when you put them into a nicely readable package. When the document is finished then you can work on a general prototype map where you can switch, remove or add any gameplay mechanic until you are satisifed with the playable result. Once you are satisfied THEN you should work on the art.

I think this is the recipe for all my maps:

"The Initial Idea"
"The Hook"
"The Motive to Finish (or lack thereof)"
"Sometimes, an idea just doesn't work"