Choosing your map name.

grazr

Old Man Mutant Ninja Turtle
aa
Mar 4, 2008
5,441
3,814
A lot of people seem to have trouble coming to name their maps. For most people, facility, gully, warehouse etc. are all that come to mind (i'm surprised depot hasn't been used yet).

The geology of your map says a lot about its features and appearence. This should be reflected in the maps name.

As such i thought this link would be of use to people.

http://www.geotech.org/survey/geotech/dictiona.html

This is a list of useful geological terms. Here are some good examples:

Arroyo: A steep-sided and flat-bottomed gulley in an arid region that is occupied by a stream only intermittently, after rains.

Butte: A steep sided and flat topped hill formed by erosion of flat laying strata where remnants of a resistant layer protect the softer rocks underneath.

Cirque: The head of a glacial valley, usually with the form of one half of an inverted cone. The upper edges have the steepest slopes, approaching vertical, and the base may be flat or hollowed out and occupied by a small lake or pond.

Horst: An elongate, elevated block of crust forming a ridge or plateau, typically bounded by parallel, outward-dipping normal faults.

Intermontane basin: A basin between mountain ranges, often formed over a graben.

Maar volcano: A volcanic crater without a cone, believed to have been formed by an explosive eruption of trapped gases.

Hopefully these will also help you set some more original scenes for your maps. Now i just hope all the good names don't go to bad maps that never get finished... If they get taken pretty quickly, since the list is only limited, it might also be worth taking one of these words and taking your research from there. To see what other associations you can find to name your map by.
 
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Nutomic

L11: Posh Member
Feb 7, 2009
888
177
Nice find :)

But i dont like how this list is ordered by alphabet. Most times, you will have your theme first, and then search for a name that fits to that theme. Its a bit hard to go through all those words and find a good one.

Sure you can still use search, but its not perfect...
 

Ida

deer
aa
Jan 6, 2008
2,289
1,372
For some additional guidance, I'm always ready to tell you why I most likely dislike your map name. :p No offense, but naming a map is really hard. The worst map names I see are the following:

- Completely random nouns describing something vaguely related to the map. I used "Vulture" for a desert themed map name, but it was a really bad name, because "vulture" tells the player nothing about the map at all. Describe the setting as a whole, not a small part of it.
- An adjective related to the mood or theme of the map will, most of the time, sound really out of place. Sometimes it can work, but think this through carefully.
- Maps named after something obscure that no one will understand. Even if it's some sort of cool spytech/historical thing or a conspiracy, don't count on most people understanding the name. People should understand your map name, or at least get associations from it (as with Dustbowl, I never knew an event in American history had this name, but it made sense because the map is dusty).

Look at what Valve does. As grazr points out, a lot of their maps are named after the geographical setting (but not real world places). Some also use an important structure or landmark for their name, such as Double Cross and Pipeline.
 

grazr

Old Man Mutant Ninja Turtle
aa
Mar 4, 2008
5,441
3,814
Nice find :)

But i dont like how this list is ordered by alphabet. Most times, you will have your theme first, and then search for a name that fits to that theme. Its a bit hard to go through all those words and find a good one.

Sure you can still use search, but its not perfect...

I think your picking unnecassery holes in this. It's simply a list to look through. It's not hard work. It's not even that large. I went through it picking good ones in about 5 minutes.

Also, theme is usually related to the resource of a map, and the process of extracting that resource, be it grain, or coal, or gold, or hydro-electricity. The theme doesn't necasserily dictate geographical location. (Although hydro dictates the need for water, a dam can be located anywhere in the world, hosted in a variaty of environments. Alpine, Desert, or otherwise).

(but not real world places).

That's not entirely true. Badwater Basin is a real place name, as much as it is a geological form (basin). But then it's a famous place, like a lot of people will associate Everist with mountains, because it is the highest peak on earth. You might be able to get away with cp_everest. But it's kinda unimaginetive.


Figures.
 
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Colt Seavers

L6: Sharp Member
Dec 30, 2007
288
82
I recently started a payload and googled swamp - was a good way to start but immediately led me to the name Reelfoot (which was already taken). Google maps was my next stop - I already knew what i wanted my map to look like so I just scoured the landscape for appropriate likenesses. BuckBasin was chosen - not famous i don't think, but in Reelfoot, appropriate to the geometry, and i liked it.

Interesting post. Thanks.
 

Bermuda Cake

L9: Fashionable Member
Feb 20, 2009
679
480
Look at what Valve does. As grazr points out, a lot of their maps are named after the geographical setting (but not real world places). Some also use an important structure or landmark for their name, such as Double Cross and Pipeline.

Fair enough, but valve always get there first! Lumberyard, Sawmill, Hydro... Not very imaginative but they make the theme, so they get first dibs on name
 

littleedge

L1111: Clipping Guru
aa
Mar 2, 2009
986
605
I always thought about what my map had in it and then wiki'd similar things. For example, one of my koth maps that I made (and it didn't work out) had a river in the middle. I had planned a waterfall on one end, but couldn't figure out what to do on the other end. So i found some terms for lakes. I found endorheic, which meant a lake/basin with no visible outflow. So I extended my water a bit, and made it have no visible outflow.
 

OlafK

L2: Junior Member
Sep 12, 2009
55
16
Well, "Gold rush" isn't either geographical, meteorogical or astrological term. But it's still an official map name.
 

Tinker

aa
Oct 30, 2008
672
334
The ones that stick to mind best are always geographical. Gold rush is one rare occasion which worked because it was the first payload map AND it fit the placement. Be sure, though, not to make the name too general ("battleground", "building", "base") or hard to spell ("tsawwassen").
 

Titanium

L1: Registered
Nov 23, 2009
28
11
This is for Gold rush
[ame]http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/California_Gold_Rush[/ame]
Another american history passage. google is your friend^^
 

OlafK

L2: Junior Member
Sep 12, 2009
55
16
I knew about it, and it's still not geographical, meteorological or astrological term. It's just some easily recognizable term that fits the scenery. /topic