Q1 SP views and articles: 27/07/01:

Mappers give their one best tip for starting Q1 SP mapping.

Introduction:
So, big boy, you want to make a single player map?? It can be very rewarding, the challenge of learning how to map, balanced out with the satisfaction of releasing a great creation. But it also can be very difficult, especially to make a genuinely good map that players will be interested in. To give you some general tips, I asked all the mappers who have made good Q1 SP maps in the last 3 years to donate their single most important piece of advice. Thanks to all the mappers who gave their pieces of advice - almost all the suggestions were edited for length (thanks for the essays =)). So, in alphabetical order:

Attila Cserynik: Know Quake and your abilities as much as possible, otherwise your map might not be ever finished properly.

Bal: I`d recommend new mappers to be careful when they start a map, and not get lost in small details... because the ideas u have in ur head dont always follow up in the editor. In the end what i mean, is that however confident u are in finishing a map (or multiple maps) that doesnt mean u will, ull need a lot of self discipline.

Biff Debris: Don`t worry about failing, having problems or encountering errors in what you do. Mapping is not for the timid or impatient, and sp mapping certainly so. Try every fancy that strikes you -- no matter how difficult or silly it may seem. If anything, you`ll learn something about the editor -- or your own talents -- that you never knew before. And when you do run into a snag that either threatens or impairs your progress, don`t give up the ship. Be patient, and check with others to learn what you can to solve the problem -- again, you can do nothing but learn from the experience.

Cheshire: Plan out the general layout of the level beforehand either on paper or in your head. This is incredibly important in a single player level. It gives you an idea on where to put possible enemies and lets you see future problems and hindrances way before you would normally stumble across them in the editor (which isn`t fun - trust me). It also lets you trial-and-error what routes and rooms would work and what obviously wouldn`t.

CZG: When you are mapping, you should at any time find yourself comfortable with it. If you get easily bored or annoyed with what you are doing, it might be a hint for you to do something differently. You`ll never get anything decent done if you don`t like it yourself.

DaMaul: MAKE SURE YOU FINISH THE MAP!!! We all know how easy it is to make a cool first couple of rooms, but extending this to the end of a finished map takes a combination of skill, luck, planning, and caffiene. It is essential to have an idea of the beginning, middle, and the end of your map (just like your english teacher used to say about writing a story). Aside from this piece of advice, just make sure you make the map FUN! And also if you are extremely talented like me then you can also make it look astoundingly beautiful too!

Daz: Don`t rush your first release. Most new mappers are very excited about their first map and they dont look at it properly to see where things can be improved / added to. When you think your map is complete, take a step back and look at it long and hard. Is it to boxy? Maybe there should be an ogre on that ledge... Does that texture really work with the others? Stuff like that.

Deathmonger: Try to make the map as fun as you can by placing both ammo and enemies in the right place and keep the level balanced all along. Brush work should be at least coherent.

ELEK: In my opinion it would be let the textures dictate the size of the brush, instead of trying to fit textures to brushes, and always remember that the grid works in increments of 16 just like the textures so you can speed up your mapping by aligning the brushes to the texes using the grid, keep texture lock on and then move your brushes once you have the brush textured as you like. Texture as you go, don`t tell yourself you`ll come back to it later, there is nothing more frustrating than aligning tons of textures.

Fat Controller: The big thing that makes or breaks a map is coherence. I think that covers just about everything: monster selection and placement, style choice`s (in both architecture and texturing), area and task design. If it`s awkward, or gimmicky, or just doesn`t make sense, goodbye coherence. Coherence takes a collection of themed rooms with monsters and turns them into a world.

Glassman: My one bit of advice would be to make sure, before you embark on a mapping `career`, that you have a sympathetic family... ...parents, wife, children or whatever because making maps to a good standard takes a lot of time & you will surely piss them off no end.

HellScrag: ALWAYS plan on paper the layout and flow of your map first. Only by knowing what is going to go where and preferably crossing back over yourself in the level can you create the true sense of place.

Iain Bruce: Know what you want to do... what will be accomplished (from start to finish). If it is a space staion, then what is its purpose... what enables it to function. If it is a castle, who built it, and why, where are they now?... did the stone come from nearby? Once you know the story... draw it ALL out on paper... EVERYTHING.

Kona: one important thing is to dl other authors maps and study how they do it. look at the way they do their details and architecture. however, that is one of the main reasons why quake maps all have that same fantasy, unrealistic way of design that everyone keeps doing. so, try to be creative and different. for sure, draw inspiration from other successful maps. but rather than imitating them, use your imagination and development your own distinct style.

LTH: The first most important thing is to play the game you`ll be mapping for with an eye to the level design. Get a feel for what structures look `right`, what works and what doesn`t - what combinations of themes work (ie grunts with base, knights with runic / medieval), which don`t. Which guns work beset in which environments (a RL in a straight base map probably wouldn`t be a good idea).

Mike Woodham: Do not expect your map to be unique as almost everything has been done before. Therefore, what you do must be of sufficient quality to make other players want to play more of your maps. And remember, most players have been playing Quake for sometime and will not be interested in playing with you mapping `experiments`. Therefore, do not make it up as you go along.

Mineral: Do not put any Spawns into your map. (phew, i`m very tired at the time writing... :)

Morpheus: Don`t try to create anything too difficult at the beginning. To create a good map usually requires hours and hours of practice and lots of patience. Even the best weren`t so awesome when they started ;)

Palldjon: Keep your eyes open at all quake related sites and follow any leads. Most mappers (and players) are willing to help or point you towards solutions/opinions - sometimes without even being aware.

Scragbait: Find a friend, preferably a mapper who can act as mentor somewhat, but if not a mapper than an SPQ1 enthusiast who will motivate the new mapper to first of all produce something and then eventually go on to hopefully produce something of public release quality.

Than: Make sure you get your map tested properly and use new testers for each beta of the map (repeat testers will get used to playing the map and won`t give you a proper estimation of the difficulty.) Be sure you don`t make your map too difficult as players tend not to enjoy themselves if the challenge is too high no matter how nice the level looks.

TheHuge: 1 of the most important things i think a new sp mapper should know is: not to make the map too puzzling...what i mean is not to have to many riddles to work out to acquire keys or get doors to open.... its easy to become bored lookin for the solution....

Tiddles: i think a new mapper should try and build the things he/she feels good about, thats all i did and i bet every other no-professinal map maker did it like this aswell. you get good patches and very bad patches, some days you could build anything with great success, but other days you just cant think of anything :/.

Tronyn: I would say the most important thing is to try and break new ground; ie do something original, but to make sure that it fits into Quake. Quake has a certain mood to it, which can be quite hard to capture, but if the map doesn`t fit into Quake, then in my opinion it hasn`t been worth it.

Vigil: Get a good working environment. You may laugh now, don`t. You`ll be spending hundreds of hours in front of the computer, make sure the computer itself and the place is comfortable, pleasant and safe. A bucket for the sweat, blood and tears might be useful, too.

Vondur: You should have a *strong desire* to make a map of your dream. If you have a desire to map, then you have a rough picture of this map in your head. You`re trying to imagine how it will look in the game, you should have some pictures of future places in your mind.

Xenon: Dont try and incorporate themes and designs from sources other than quake. For example, do not try and replicate real-life environments, nor attempt to implement gameplay suited more to other games. If you are designing a map for Quake, it should fit well within Quake, and offer a `Quakey` sense of place.