Need help with a layout

Hmm... Tell you what, let me know what game mode you want to make and give me a few basic ideas for a layout (ie. "I want an S-shaped 5CP map" or "I want a three-stage PLR map with a lot of verticality") and I will make a rough layout sketch to help spark your imagination. I highly recommend you start by making a KoTH map, because they are very small and relatively simple to make compared to all the other map types. Just remember two things: first of all, no matter what you do, your layout is not going to be good at first. Just make it the best you can, put it in a gameday, and we'll let you know how we think you could improve it. Secondly, do not do any detailing work until your layout is close to being finalized. If you detail your whole map only to find that you need to make major layout changes, all that time you spent detailing will have gone to waste. From what you've said so far, I can tell that detailing is the part of mapping that you enjoy, but have patience.

Additionally, there are two other things you could try to do. You could try to team up with a fellow mapper on this site, and have him or her make the layout while you do the detailing. Or, you could take a look in the orphaned maps section of our forum and try to find a map with a semi-finalized layout but no detail work, and you could start from there.

Best of luck to you, Dr. Sasha. Just remember, if your map isn't good at first, don't give up. Everyone on this site is here to help you make it better, and believe me, if you listen to most of the advice we give you, you will make your map into something great eventually.

As long as its not overly complicated, there isn't much to go wrong in terms of layout. Usually if I think the map might be too small, I just use the heavy.mdl as a point of reference. If you're having trouble coming up with layout ideas in general, just take some influence from other maps. If you just take the basic layout from another map, and make a few modifications, it won't be too similar.

I came here to say your name is confusing because I see the first 3 letters, stop reading, and think it's me.

The advice I would give is learn from other maps. Dissect a fun area from a map you like, and figure why it plays like it does. It can give you ideas about tricks to use in your own maps, or at the very least sharpen your design skills. Think about things on a large scale. Like, "how many paths lead between these two CPs?" "How far away do Red and Blu spawn from each other?" "What about this path makes it clearly advantageous for Blu?"

I also recommend making variations on maps you like. Eg if you're making a koth map, trying making "a viaduct layout". Don't duplicate it, just keep the general size and paths in mind. But maybe this path's wider, this one turns this way, there's no wall here, the height variation is different, etc. You'll still need aha moments to make areas feel unique to your map, but keeping the basics rooted in a proven formula can help spur your inspiration.