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[center]How to Finish My Map[/center]

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You know how it is. You see great maps in production in the UMS Production thread. You see the systems it says it's going to use, and all the awesome stuff it's going to have.

And it never gets finished.

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Unfinished maps are a problem to say the least. I’ve finished very few maps, and it leads me to believe my process is flawed. So I took into account what I do when I make a map, and what makes me stop. I wanted to point this out, and try to help other map makers who can’t seem to get some awesome projects finished:

• Choose a map you like
  You're way more likely to finish a map you like and that you think is fun. Don’t make a map you yourself won’t like. Unless you're getting paid or forced to do it.
• Don’t worry about what anyone else expects of the map
  If you want feedback or suggestions on your map, that’s fine. But don’t ever make the map about what other people wanted to see in it. It should be your idea, that you have a passion of seeing made into a map. Don’t let anyone put your map down no matter how junky it is, but strive to work hard and shut them up with one of the best maps anyone’s ever seen.
• Stay on task
  If you need to take a break from the map fine, but if you plan on finishing it, don't spend much time away from it. The longer you spend not working on it, the longer it takes to get done, the harder it will be to get back on track, and, ultimately, the less you will want to work on it.
• Don't waste energy on something you won't finish
  It's up to you if you want to do your maps out of spontaneity or by a careful plan, but you should always be prepared to follow through on the task you set for yourself. Blind hope just isn't enough to get maps finished reliably.
• Testing is your friend
  Testing is good. Not only because it helps your balance and weed out bugs in a map, but it gives you a look at what you’re making. When testing is far enough along, it gets fun, because your map is almost done and you should have a good time playing it.
• Don't do 'fun' parts first
  In fact, as a guideline, you usually do the 'fun' stuff last (some exceptions, of course). Stuff like text overlaps, sound effects, terrain prettying/doodads, etc. That doesn't mean you can't plan ahead for it, of course. If you can't complete your map past just the 'fun' stuff, then you probably shouldn't bother with it at all.
• Make the map one step at a time
  Plan to avoid having to multitask as much as possible. Is your map going to have an ammo system? Implement the system, test it, then move on to the next one, say a drop ship inventory kind of thing. One system at a time is like building with legos: One piece at a time.
• Don't show off the unfinished map more than you need to
  ...or at least not for kudos reasons. Really, you should only be trying to impress people with the finished or near-finished product only. Anything short of that is not doing a service to your map.
• Avoid preemptive hype
  The other thing is to not hype up your map before you have a product (or only a partially complete one). It sets yourself up to have to meet the expectations of others instead of yourself, for one (as mentioned above). It also sets yourself up with a preconceived notion of what your map ought to be, hindering further creativity.
• Backup religiously
  There are few project killers that can compete with lost, deleted, or corrupt maps. Making backups is more than just a tip: It's a life saver. Especially between major new developments, editor switches, and especially if you plan on protecting or compressing it.

How to Troubleshoot:

• Stuck? Find something else to do.
  Sometimes... no, USUALLY, you will end up stuck somewhere in your map. Unless it's some critical part obstructing progress of everything else, it can sometimes be best to turn your attention to another aspect of the map. Often the answers won't come to you right away, but giving yourself the time to think about it as well as retaining your pace of progress will ensure you're less likely to get thrown off course completely.
• Still stuck? Try getting help.
  Don't be afraid to ask for help. Forums are usually the best place for general help, though for more specific stuff you may need to get someone specific to help you. Remember though: The help you'll get will only be as good as the information you provide. Be sure to define your problem as best you can.
• If all else fails, time for drastic measures!
  Usually, you only hit this point if you've made a huge mess out of your map. In which case, you sometimes have to face the reality that you may need to hit the drawing board again. If you've made backups, try backtracking to an earlier version and clean things up. You may be surprised how easy it is to redo things you've already done, so don't be afraid. In the worst case though, you may even need to restart the map from scratch. You might be able to use tools such as SCMDraft or Starforge to import your terrain or other parts from the old map, but usually it's best to restart with as clean a slate as you can if you're going to go that far anyway.

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By following these tips, I am confident that you can finish a map.

Thanks:
Excalibur for originally having this idea.
Tuxedo Templar for editing, organizing, pinning, and general help.

A bit obvious?

These are just tips. Alot of people dont finish their maps and i took into account alot of reason why they werent. Im going to add some more though, but these are what i thought of in like 5 minutes.

Actually they're not so obvious, when you try to put them to practice. But you hit on a lot of good points, including not letting others affect your completion, lots of testing, and not doing things you don't want to do. Those are definitely the most important.

Two other things to mention: Don't do the 'fun' parts as soon as possible. In fact, as a guideline, you usually do the 'fun' stuff last. Stuff like text overlaps, sounds effects, terrain prettying/doodads, etc. That doesn't mean you can't plan ahead for it, of course.

The other thing is to not hype up your map before you have a product (or only a partially complete one). It sets yourself up to have to meet the expectations of others instead of yourself, for one (which goes with one of the points you mentioned above). It also sets yourself up for preconceived notion of what your map ought to be, hindering further creativity. Kind of like what you said about trying to cling to close to source material or something.

I like this guide. I might sticky it later.

Thank you Tux, im going to add those points into it.

Well you don't have to, but those are just a few personal considerations I like to consider when making maps. Some people like having expectations, but I find it generally doesn't lead to good productivity. A lot of mappers make maps for kudos (though I personally think just that alone is not a good enough reason), and using trailers or hype becomes an easy way to get that in place of the actual map. Others often simply "show off" the unfinished map, and with just that feel they never have to bother actually completing it. In fact usually they don't, as the power of the expectations at that point defeats them and they simply quit.


That might be another point to add: Don't show off the unfinished map more than you need to... or at least not for kudos reasons. Really, you should only be trying to impress people with the finished or near-finished product only. Anything short of that is not doing a service to your map.

Note the distinction between feedback, testing, and kudos, though. Often you want to be sure whatever you show off with the map keeps the latter seperate from the former two.

Thank you once again Tux. If this does get stickied, it should be left open for further points to be added. I know i just thought of another i added in.

Edit: Spell checked everything. Should be a bit more nice and neat now.

Personally, I disagree on the part about using the same old ideas and concepts. Although it is bad that there are several dozen copies of the same map or something of that sort, note that there's a reason those copies are out. Because they're complete. For all purpose of your post being a guide to completing maps, it's really not relevant to using cliche concepts. I mean, it's good advice for making a great map or something, but for completing maps...it doesn't seem necessary.

Your guide starts out with "Seeing great maps in production in the UMS Production thread, seeing the systems it says its going to use, and all the awesome stuff its going to have..." but if they already got those ideas down, they wouldn't be worrying about making the same old same old, right?

I kinda agree. But I like to leave stuff about how people choose to go about making their maps (like whether to be original or not) up to them. It's always better to make *a* map than none at all; whether it's original or not. You only worry about originality and quality control when you're sure you can at least get the prerequisite of actually being able to complete them in the first place.

ADDITION:

Ok I'm gonna sticky this in the Maps in Production forum, however I've removed the parts above as they're more related to map making style and preference than advice for completion.

I think this guide should be useful to a lot of people. There's just far to many unfinished maps. I'd like a lot of you to read over this carefully whether you think you're "pro" or not.

One thing I'd like to add..

Never start big, the map that will wow people will not be the first one you do. Try to build on small maps and use what you learn from doing those to help you with the larger project.

About this one... I disagree. I have tried to make a map where I do the first part of the map, but by the time I move on to the second part of the map, I completely forget what the triggers I previously did are like. (And if you've ever seen the way I make triggers I label everything) The only way that has worked for me is if I do triggers all at once, so everything is fresh in my mind and I can create large systems.

Although I do set it up a different way then most people. I make numerous test maps on the different parts of triggering before I attempt to trigger the actual map I'm working on. Call it extra work, but I found it really helps me figure out what is going on. (This kinda goes into the point I suggested.)

Yeah, I was thinking of removing that one. But it does touch a little on a point I was attempting to articulate, which was about keeping the development process balanced and not doing one thing way past everything else. But that becomes a bit complex to describe, so I'll just let my comment of not doing the 'fun' parts suffice, and remove that.

Interesting guide. I must say a few of those problems (Actually more like 3/4s) happen to me. O.O

Sad...I know, however I suppose you are right on how to correct them. I might just try using this guide :P

Thank you very much Tux. It feels good to have something stickied on SEN.

You're way more likely to finish a map you like, and you think is fun. Don't make a map you yourself won't like.

Grammar correction on the Your at start, nothing big -- just first thing I noticed.

And as far as "Don't do 'fun' parts first" goes, I actually find triggering the funnest part of it all, next is terrain (I guess) and then Unit names and balancing.

"Make the map system by system" all though true that you should make the systems as you go, always plan ahead -- with some complex systems you can expect that you might need to implement several other systems in before / during / right after.

A non realistic example of this:

Cash system requires Kill system
Kill system (may) require spell system
However to get spells you need Cash.

And as far at the "Using these tips I am confident you can finish a map" sentence goes, people also have personal issues, so that is a very targeting line (in the way that you are saying people live the perfect lives, and the only thing that conflicts with making a map, is doing the work)

Other then the above facts and opinions, good job I guess.

Nice statement . This would probably stop "Spam" production threads or help people make "completed maps often".

I took out this point. It's a tad redundant with the first point, plus it's more style/preference-related. Maps almost always involve real work at some point during production... particularily during the late stages. They often become a chore during that point, and already most people bug out when it does anyway.

In fact, I think the opposite should hold true, if you've at least established that the map is something you want to make. You want to overcome adversity to achieve completion. That's how most things work. It's almost like saying don't play a soccer game any more if you start losing and it stops being fun. It's then that you'd want to play your hardest. Not quit.

Same goes for map making (to some extent).

I liked that one.

Good guide, but I should add one idea:

Before you start production on your map, think it through. Think about how the game will balance and how people will have fun, and how you would like to play in different positions etc.

A while back(a few months before rush was released) I started working on a map I called 'Ion Cannon Defense'. the point was, players, through melee skills, would defend an ion cannon, as the ion cannon user shot his cannon at enemies, and paid for range upgrades, new weapons etc. It used a d. web firing system(which before rush was released, had never been done before). Of course, after about half the systems were done I realized: "wait a minute, how on earth are the people playing as defenders and attackers going to have fun, this is just some lame melee style game for them, and the cannon would be bored the whole early game, when he couldn't hit the attackers, and then later on he would simply be able to knock out major structures when used in tandem with the blindfiring system and/or scan. But I did create some revolutionary trigger saving systems for gaining money per building, and then only holding so much per building.

And then I realized, why did I just type such a long story? Who's going to read it?

And about the map being a chore, I don't think that shoud've been taken out. After all, it is a game, and it is fun. But then again, much of the fun is seeing what you worked on work.

QUOTE(Urmom(U) @ Dec 18 2006, 06:17 PM)

I liked that one.
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Well think about it carefully. If you can't get past the 'fun' parts of the map (mentioned above), then you're probably not gonna stand much chance of completing it anyway. Likewise if the map becomes a chore, as it almost always does (otherwise we'd live in a universe of instant gratification), then you're probably not gonna stand much chance of finishing if you can't push it through the tough parts.

However, if the map turns into more work than you expected, or starts to give you an unduely hard time, then you might consider your energy better spent elsewhere. Maybe I'll add that as a consideration.



ADDITION:
Ok I changed my mind and re-added it. As much as my experience has told me that quitting never makes a map get done, I have to remember that not everyone can stick to things like I can (or should, in some cases ). Almost all of my major maps I've thought of quitting on one point or another, but obviously because I didn't (even with much personal unwillingness) they got completed.

However, I think to be realistic, I have to say that Starcraft IS still a game, and probably doesn't need to be taken as more than that by most people. In fact it's probably common sense that it isn't.



ADDITION:
Ok changed my mind again, and replaced it with this:

I feel the map maker's philosophy is up to them, which includes whether maps ought to necessarily be "fun" or not. But whether fun or not, there's just no amount of skill that'll make maps into something any old bliss ninny can do. At least not serious ones that you plan on finishing.

Having a little bit of inner conflict Tux? Changed it enough times But yeah i guess what he said wasn't very generalizing to most map makers, rather himself and others alike.

Well I think what I've decided is that the map maker's philosophy is up to them. Even I can't rightfully prescribe that. That is, I can't say whether map making should be for fun, or if it should be to buy fun with.

Hell, I even started a thread on that matter, now that I've been thinking about it.

I started map making for maps to play with my friends, but then as i learnt more it became more of an everyday life thing. However now im not into it as much because all my good gaming friends no longer play and SC is boring without them. You need the right balance in my opinion to be succesful. By aspects i don't mean gaming and map making i mean having fun, and doing work. If it loses its purpose of being fun, it becomes pointless.

This is a very good artcle for people like me, who never seem able to finish a map. I am currently working on a map, and I will have to keep these points in mind.

One other tip I would like to add...
Maybe it should go next to not wasting time on maps you wont finish.

Don't veer too far off course. If you need to take a break from the map fine, but if you plan on finishing it, don't spend much time away from it. The longer you spend not working on it, the longer it takes to get done, and the less you will want to work on it.

That being said when you are working on the map, make it your #1 goal at the moment. Stay away from talking to people online or multitasking. (Because we all know it makes us stupider anyway )

Yeah I'll add that. I was thinking of adding a few more. Just this cursed downtime has been a pain...

ADDITION:
Added these.