Keep this in mind when building a map

[Yamin]

Hello creative people! I've come to give you guys a list of rules and tips for gamemodes which get a lot of map submission. These rules and tips can help you increase the changes of getting your map accepted.

EggWars

EggWars is all about defending your egg and destroying other teams’ eggs. Generators will decide how the game will play depending on what level you make it. It is one of the campiest game modes in the world, so having a diamond generator away from the player islands, often speeds up the time played. It is our most popular gamemode, so map reviews by me will be extremely critical. Block breaking does not work in this gamemode, excluding blocks placed by the player.

The ONLY team colours you can use, to identify what island is whose:
CYAN, DARK BLUE, YELLOW, ORANGE, PINK, BLACK, LIGHT GREY, RED, LIGHT GREEN, DARK GREEN, PURPLE, LIGHT BLUE

Spoiler: Do's and don'ts

Do’s

• There has to be a minimum of 12 players for team and a minimum of 10 for solo.
• A unique layout or a layout that isn’t just the typical circle is a big MUST. We’re looking for maps with good and unique gameplay.
• Make enough space for PvP.
• It MUST have iron generators which are easy to find.
• Remember a shop and respawn location has to be added and this can take up valuable space due to spawn protection, so be aware!
• Try to keep the island flat, nobody wants to fight on a hill. Hills/obstacles can be useful from punch bows; however, people need a good clean fight and not constantly have to jump.
• You must indicate what island is which clearly, using coloured wool. Not everyone remembers what island they came from so having clear indicators helps a lot!
• Remember block breaking doesn’t work, so make sure there aren’t any spots where people can get stuck when they don’t have any blocks.

Don’ts

• Do not make a solo map larger than 12 players, or 24 players for team maps. Preferable size is 16 players for team and 12 for solo.
• Do not make huge team maps. Huge maps take longer to fill up and are often ignored.
• Do not make a map with the typical circle.
• Avoid using grass, snow layers or slabs as an island base. Players cannot destroy this, and it makes it awkward to run and to place blocks.
• No very tall builds, to discourage camping.
• Do not set up TNT traps, due to people getting stuck in holes the whole game.
• Do not make layouts which strongly favour a team or player. It has to be fair for everyone!
• Do not have any 2 block holes, or places where people can fall in and not be able to get out!
• Do not make the islands very far away from each other, this makes the game soooooo long.
• The terraforming of the floating islands must not have any 1 block overhangs, or look spherical on top. I will destroy you if it does!

Lucky Islands

Lucky Islands is all about luck. What you get in your Lucky Blocks can decide what kind of game you’re going to have. Lucky Blocks are not like chests, they can be good or bad. You don’t get a lot out of them, so it is perfectly fine to have 20 at mid for a solo map. And around 5 for a starter island if solo. Use sponge to identify a lucky block.

Spoiler: Do's and don'ts

Do’s

• There must be a minimum of 10 players for solo and 12 for team.
• A unique layout or a layout that isn’t just the typical circle is a big MUST. We’re looking for maps with good and unique gameplay.
• Make enough space for PvP.
• The islands must be fairly close together, this is to encourage close combat (no more than 10 blocks away from another island if possible ideally for solo)
• Try to keep the island flat, nobody wants to fight on a hill
• Have a minimum of 5 sponge blocks on each solo island. Remember lucky blocks aren’t like chests, you usually only get one item
• Make sure you have enough to survive for example food (hay bale, melon) and building blocks (logs). These must be view-able and easy to see for the player.
• Add a crafting table and furnace, this is so players don’t have to spend the first 20 seconds punching a wood block.

Don’ts

• Do not make a map with the typical circle.
• Do not make huge team maps. Huge maps take longer to fill up and are often ignored.
• The terraforming of the floating islands must not have any 1 block overhangs, or look spherical on top.
• No very tall builds, to discourage camping.
• Do not make the islands very far away from each other, this makes the game very long.
• Do not hide Lucky Blocks.

⚔ SkyWars

SkyWars is one of the most known gamemodes around. You spawn on your island, loot chests and fight other players in order to win. Almost everyone knows how this works.

Spoiler: Do's and don'ts

Do’s

• There must be a minimum of 12 players for team and a minimum of 10 for solo.
• A unique layout is or a layout that isn’t just the typical circle is a big MUST. We’re looking for maps with good and unique gameplay.
• Make enough space for PvP.
• Try to keep the island flat, nobody wants to fight on a hill.
• Breaking blocks works, so if you want you can set up traps. Just do name make too many of them.
• The terraforming of the floating islands must not have any 1 block overhangs, or look spherical on top.
• Each player should have access to 3 chests.

Don’ts

• Do not make huge team maps. Huge maps take longer to fill up and are often ignored.
• Do not make a map with the typical circle.
• The terraforming of the floating islands must not have any 1 block overhangs, or look spherical on top.
• No very tall builds, to discourage camping.
• Do not make the islands very far away from each other, this makes the game very long.
• Do not hide chests on starter islands.

FFA/Duels

Free for All is pretty self-explanatory. Generally there are 40 players in a map fighting each other and trying to get as many kills as possible.
For duel this is the same just with a min. of 2 and max. of 4 players.

Spoiler: Do's and don'ts

Do’s

• Make a unique theme.
• Make it fairly flat.
• Make sure there are unique places for the spawn areas
• Using water/lava can be strategic in map making for this type of gamemode. Avoid this when making a duels map.
• Remember block breaking doesn’t work (this does work in duels), so make sure there aren’t any spots where people can get stuck when they don’t have any blocks.
• It’s ideal to have some Easter eggs and special secret locations in the map for players to find.
• FFA is a game of PvP and strategy, so having different ways to escape is best.

Don’ts

• Do not use ice or snow!
• Do not make a deathtrap (void) which you can walk into straight away from spawning.
• Do not have any 2 block holes, or places where people can fall in and not be able to get out!

BlockWars

BlockWars has two modes: Capture The Flag and Core. In CTF it’s all about building up defences and capturing your enemies’ flag. Same thing goes for Core, but instead of capturing the enemy flag you need to damage their core. These maps are often very flat and not too big.

Spoiler: Do's and don'ts

Do’s

• A unique layout is a big MUST. We’re looking for maps with good and unique gameplay.
• Try to keep the map flat, nobody wants to fight on a hill. Hills/obstacles can be useful, however people need a good clean fight and not constantly have to jump.
• Make sure both sides are the same so each team has equal advantages and disadvantages.
• Remember block breaking doesn’t work, so make sure there aren’t any spots where people can get stuck when they don’t have any blocks.

Don’ts

• Do not make the map too big. We don’t want people to run a marathon before getting to the enemy flag/core.
• Avoid using grass, snow or slabs as an island base. Players cannot destroy this, and it makes it awkward to run and to place blocks.
• Do not set up TNT traps, due to people getting stuck in holes the whole game.
• Do not have any 2 block holes, or places where people can fall in and not be able to get out!
• Do not make a deathtrap (void) which you can walk into straight away from spawning.

Parkour

Parkour is all about getting from point A to point B as soon as possible. There are 3 difficulties and each theme have a number of different levels. With Parkour map it’s not necessary to take gameplay in account, unless you want to have the parkour integrated in the map.

Spoiler: Do's and don'ts

Do’s

• Make a unique theme.
• A minimum of 3 parkour levels per theme.
• Make sure the difficulty of the parkours in a theme are all the same. Easy, Medium or Hard.

Don’ts

• Don’t make the parkour jumps too hard. Not everyone is a parkour specialist.
• Don’t make maps too big.

🏗 Tower Defence

For Tower defence you can submit a full map or just the track layout (with config). If you choose to only make the layout, you only need to make the 'track' and 'tower sections'. The design team will make it pretty. You simply submit the layout and it's recommended you suggest a theme.

Spoiler: Do's and don'ts

Do’s

• Make a unique layout
• Add the corresponding team colour underneath each path. For example the path for the red team, you would add a layer of red wool underneath (This is map config)
• Add the corresponding team colour underneath tower placements. For example the tower grids would have a layer of red terracotta underneath (This is map config)
• Add beacon to signal spawn point
• Towers are 3 x 3 and 5 x 5. Make tower layout to suit that design.
• Keep your Track Length limited to 180-350. (You can calculate this number by counting all the middle blocks from the track)
• If using splits: count the longest and shortest way possible to get to the Castle for the Track Length
• About 7,5-20% of the tower spots should be 5x5 spots
• The total amount of Tower Spots should be about 55- 75% of the (maximum) Track Length. (When calculating, keep in mind that "Ultimate Tower Spots" are more effective)
  Spoiler: Ultimate Tower Spots

  [*]
  

  • These are spots that have the ability to hit multiple parts of the track. These Tower Spots may be counted as 1.5-2 times as effective as normal Tower Spots. A small visual to explain this:
    
    Ultimate Tower Spots
    TTTT
    SSST
    TTTT
    
    Normal Tower Spots
    TTTT
    SSSS
    
    T = Track
    S = Tower Spot

  [*]

Don’ts

• Don't make a maze with splits. Just a two-way split is enough to keep it interesting
• Don't make the roof directly above the track less than 12 blocks close to the track (in height)
• Don't make the tracks too far apart, you don't want to fly for too long, just to get a look at the other side.
• Don't submit half designed maps, it's either the track or a complete map.

Spoiler: Please link this

As this is a new concept, when you submit your map please link this thread:

Tower Defence Map Design

As you can see in the message above, designers are convinced that "you don't have to worry about gameplay" when building maps for Tower Defence. "Just make a good-looking map." However, as a more experienced TD player, I am convinced that this...

www.cubecraft.net

Minerware

When building a map for this gamemode you don’t have to worry about gameplay. Just make a unique and good-looking map. Make sure players in MinerWare can’t get from the platform to them map surrounding it.

Tips

• Any caves or interiors should be well lit, change your brightness to 30/40% to check. Not everyone has the same brightness as you and has it on bright 100%.
• Actually play the game before you build a map!
• Check the map from the ground, players don’t have /fly.
• Excessive use of glass panes is discouraged, too much of them and they can cause lag for some players.
• Do not go overboard with decoration, to the point where you can barely move, for example no use of sugar canes, double grass, double ferns, heads and anything that will get in the way of PvP.
• If the game mode you’re building a map for has a 1.8 version then make sure the map doesn’t have blocks not compatible on 1.8.
• Don’t use the same theme as another map for the same gamemode, for example: 2 Tree maps for solo.
• Avoid tall structures, as this will discourage camping. Starter islands must not have tall structures at all.
• Useful plugins are: World Edit, Voxel Sniper, Go Brush and Go Paint.