Everything But The Basics

Dr. KillPatient

L3: Member
May 10, 2009
115
8
I find I'm well-educated in the general art of Hammer, but I tend to stray away from
mapping because I can never come up with even a basic layout. I'd really love to release a map at some point, but this problem has been dragging me down forever.

How do you guys create layouts and all the other little things that come before opening Hammer?
 

Firest0rm

L4: Comfortable Member
Sep 27, 2009
171
33
I usually think of a not largely used idea, be it a theme or a location or a gameplay concept. I then think of what it would look and feel like in tf2 and try to visualize an in-game for that. Then, to get the layout, I think of other popular map's layouts, modify and blend them, and then twist it to fit with the map's theme.
 
Nov 14, 2009
1,257
378
I usually think of a cool idea, and then build around it. For example my current map started with the idea of trains going through the intel "room" I cut it out because it looked stupid, and played stupid, but I had the train in there up until a few weeks ago, giving me a driving concept.
 

Micnax

Back from the dead (again)
aa
Apr 25, 2009
2,109
1,585
Take a look at some industrial photos to get a feel of what theme you'd like, including how work places are normally laid out (like a dock or something, everything has it's place), and have a go at simply blocking a layout on paper.

Well, that's what I did with pl_christmasrun anyway. :p