Is there an optimal playable map size?

[Amicdict]

Ever since Uncle Dane and some other people got the approximated playable sizes of the core maps, I thought if this would be useful in some way for map makers. Then I thought that it might explain why some maps are just not (as) fun to play. For instance I feel that Enclosure is way too long, which is unsurprising based on it's size. I also feel the opposite issue for Junction as well; it just feels way too cramped.

Are there any other uses for this you can think of?

Map statistics I'm talking about.

 

[nᵗʰSonata]

I don't think overall map size is really that important; as the age-old adage goes, it's how you use it that matters. A map which loops back on itself is naturally going to be smaller, and a map with a large side area such as Badwater is naturally going to be larger. If you're trying to make a map, you won't be able to tell much design-wise from the overall size of the map, other than maybe if you drastically over- or underscaled it. "Map size" doesn't take anything about layout into mind, so it's naturally going to be very reductive. A more accurate reading for size is walk times; how long does it take to walk between two important areas of your map, such as spawns or objectives? Asking questions like "is there an optimal map size" is misunderstanding how art works; if there was an "optimal" way to make a map, there wouldn't be any difficulty to making a map at all. My suggestion is to make something, listen to feedback, and improve through experience, rather than trying to distill a "perfect" method of creation divorced of any actual design.

 

[Amicdict]

Ok. I was wondering if map sizes would be useful at all. Thanks for the info.