What makes a map successful? By this I am not talking about terrain, triggers, etc. How does a map reach out to a community and give pleasure to these people? What is in a widespread map that makes it so popular? It would be great for us mapmakers to know these things so we can reach out to people that we otherwise wouldn't have. What do you personally look for in a map, and what would be the reasons for you to share this map with everyone else? Why do you keep on playing over and over again?
I already made this topic and plus the topic is still living :/
What makes a map spread really depends on the audience.
The most common flaw i've seen in people's maps are that they make games just for themselves. They try to satisfy their own personal audience (which would be themselves) and not take into consideration of what the general public would think. That's a flaw in many of my games. I made them so I would like it but not not neccesarily ones others would like but i am really trying my hardest to correct.
Also the time of release is also a huge factor. Nowadays its harder to release maps than back in like the days of 2000-2001. If you release a map right when some other map got released in public, it's pretty hard for it to get anywhere.
Games are spread when they have something interesting that stands out from the rest. People spread maps for a reason. Not because it's just fun but they want to get something more than fun out of it. Sometimes they remake it to compete against others, they also make it to try new strategies or tactics, they even remake it to start off with different positions. So when you make a map, you have to consider what reason would a person replay this game for.
There's more reasons as to why games spread but this is all i can think of right off the top of my head or just feel too lazy to post some other factors
the topic helps, like Mr. Army up there said, also, unit name coloring can sometimes help, the player colors, like black, clear, dark red, the name of the map(in scenario properties), u also havta make sure the triggers and everything work right, or sumthin will go wrong and butcher yer map, and the difficulty, if its super easy then noones gonna play it, if its super hard, noones gonna play it(with a few exceptions
It all depend's on what your going for. Creative mind's like new and improved map triggers. People like the regular public usually go for blood games like mass destruction. Put into different term's not much "thinking" required games. I used to overdo my game and since I knew how to play it I sometime's forgot that most other's didn't.
yah, u should make it easy to understand, if its not, ppl will leave