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[K u F F i]

- Just do it.

- Travel and look around in other cities.

- Don't look at other maps.

- 

[William Gee]

playing a game you love or going for a walk, both work wonders for me, well every time I play unreal I start working on WGR, It has worked ever since I started WGR1. 

[Felicius]

Tell others that you`re working on a map, maybe post some pics - once you get feedback, it`ll give you motivation to finish your work.

If you don`t have any ideas, don`t waste time - maybe you could proceed with other parts of the mod (code, art, music etc.) or see if your other maps need tweaking. Don`t just run around you unfinished map pointlessly.

[supertanker]

Go and play through Half-Life, and see how it makes your maps look so much better

No seriously, play through Half-Life, being exposed to new and unique archtexture really helps...A lot of my new map is based on some of Lambda Core.

Don't do a map called "moonbase". We have lots of those. LOOOOOOOOOOTS of those. I don't mean don't make a moonbase, just don't call it "moonbase". Call it something like "Epsilon Beta" or "Central Core" or something more imaginitve than moonbase

Also...enough "Alpha" named maps...

Oh um...besides that...

For high-tech/space station levels:

Go out at midnight, look up, and imagine you see USS Enterprise NCC-1701 flying around up there. Always works for me. Turn off all the lights first.

Watch the Star Trek movies for more inspiration

Play Halo and Halo 2 for lots and lots of inspiration

Play Star Wars Battlefront for more inspiration, if your brain isn't too tired by now.

And last...just relax when making a map. Don't rush it. When I make a map, I go into a sort of "meditation" blocking everything else out. There is just me, and the map. Play through the map in your head. Think of what you want it to sort of look like, then build from there. I may scrap a room 5 times before I choose a design I like. Just let your mind flow...

[Felicius]

Don't do a map called "moonbase". We have lots of those. LOOOOOOOOOOTS of those. I don't mean don't make a moonbase, just don't call it "moonbase". Call it something like "Epsilon Beta" or "Central Core" or something more imaginitve than moonbase

I have 5 on my HDD.

And last...just relax when making a map. Don't rush it. When I make a map, I go into a sort of "meditation" blocking everything else out. There is just me, and the map. Play through the map in your head. Think of what you want it to sort of look like, then build from there. I may scrap a room 5 times before I choose a design I like. Just let your mind flow...

Are you one of those New Age folks?

[Hudson]

Watching a good movie, or going through my old duke stuff

[Telee]

Well, play some other games like Deus Ex and Half-Life to get some nice ideas if you're mapping dry. Don't get inspiration from other Duke maps though; a couple similiar things is okay but don't copy an entire sector.

Also, take a minute to look at your area to get some ideas; sometimes you'll stare at the same area for a couple minutes before getting a good picture.

[Sang]

Also, take a minute to look at your area to get some ideas; sometimes you'll stare at the same area for a couple minutes before getting a good picture.

Starting an area without an idea what to put in it is only a good idea if you just want to try out some texture combinations.. But when you're completely serious, it isn't. Mostly you'll fill it up with weird, useless stuff. Best to have an area planned out (wether that's in your head or on a piece of paper) before starting to build on it.

[DavoX]

I think he said STARE not START.

[Sang]

Yeah I know, and I said START not STARE. It's not a typo.

-If you find you always build a certain theme, try a different one! If you're always building City maps, try making a nature one and see how that suits you.

Heh, that works for me - I feel like "I HAVE TO SHOW THEM I CAN BUILD SOMETHING ELSE THAN [theme]" and then I spend more time on it. The end result isn't always perfect but at least I keep my interest, which is what this is about.

i get inspiration by sniffing heroin lol

sigh shut up

Some helpful things...

- Once you have a plan of at least a portion of your level (or the entire level but I haven't tried that), draw that on a piece of paper with good notes everywhere. The next day, build that by looking at the paper like a machine. You'll likely finish that entire portion the same day if you don't get too distracted. Then leave that area alone and move on to a next one. Later return to it and polish it up if neccesary.

- Don't put up music from your favourite band.. Put on ambient music from Deus Ex / Unreal / C&C / whatever. Pick a song that is soft enough and fits in with the style of your level. It makes you feel really "in the moment".

- "Ignore" negative criticism until it's time to polish up areas (while the negative criticism is justified it's also demotivational). At the time of polishing, ask yourself "now what did that guy say, oh yeah, let's see..". Do it in areas you consider final (without the criticism) and not in areas you're still building. The risk with this method, however, is that you'll forget what people said. So don't forget.

- There has got to be something that gave you the idea of making this in the first place. If that's not the case then don't even bother making a map. If that is the case, watch/play/listen to it again when you're uninspired.. Hopefully you'll go "oh yeah, I want to make a map like that -- oh wait I was already making one I'll continue on that"

[MSandt]

- Don't put up music from your favourite band.. Put on ambient music from Deus Ex / Unreal / C&C / whatever. Pick a song that is soft enough and fits in with the style of your level. It makes you feel really "in the moment".

I pretty much agree with this. I played FFVII soundtrack over and over again while I was building MSSP8. The last map I worked on, Hidden Zone, I played remixes of Sonic tracks. However, most of the time I work without any music. Instrumentals fit the best!

(while the negative criticism is justified it's also demotivational)

It's a pity some people take criticism like that.

[Sang]

It's a pity some people take criticism like that.

Why?

[Geoffrey]

To add to what mikko said; don't get emotionally attached to your work. It only makes it harder to continue working and it makes it drat near impossible to handle critisism.

[MSandt]

It's a pity some people take criticism like that.

Why?

Because such attitude inhibits behavior that could greatly improve whatever you're working on.

[Sang]

don't get emotionally attached to your work

To me, that sounds like the opposite of what you said earlier:

not touch the project for a long while until it doesn't feel like a job anymore, but like a hobby ( like it's supposed to )

I don't know about you but I have a certain emotional attachment to my hobbies. I like making maps, so I think that is a form of emotional attachment, and while I can 'handle' criticism it still kinda ticks me off to see "Sorry I don't like that at all" posts. I consider posts like "Well it's nice, but you should [change this and that]" to be ok though. Just not the kind of posts MetHunter/Nancsi/Quakis sometimes post - although to this I must add Quakis is quite constructive in MSN chats (just not so much on the forums).