Question about Mvm maps

This is called a "popfile," or population file. There are probably some guides here, and definitely elsewhere. Also, I highly discourage MvM as your first map, as they are much MUCH different layout-wise to normal maps, and it could cause bad habits when you get into regular maps. Also, MvM maps take much longer to develop, as you have to constantly tweak the aforementioned popfile to fit the wanted difficulty level.

Hi, first off, welcome to the site. I have Created 2 mvm maps (only one of them I have released) so I have a pretty good understanding of how one works. First off, depending on the layout you choose to create, it can be easy or difficult to create. One suggestion I would give is to not make it too complicated. One user made a analysis on the first three mvm maps, I would suggest you use it
http://forums.tf2maps.net/showthread.php?t=20439&highlight=Let's+talk

Next thing I would suggest is that you look at a decompiled version of a valve mvm map. It can help you understand how the map works, how things happen a certain way and why.

Now, for the popfile. As Ynders said, that is how the bots spawn. You have 2 ways to create one. First is to type it completely in notepad or notepad++. The second, my way of doing it, is to use a site called old.mvm.tf . It has every bot that valve has created and then some.
I would also suggest that you look at these threads for some extra help if you need it.
http://forums.tf2maps.net/showthread.php?t=21154
http://forums.tf2maps.net/showthread.php?t=22184

I personaly would avoid the bot control information part first. Its used for mvm maps with control points and heavily discouraged for a first mvm map. Its the hardest gamemode to make currently.

For normal mvm maps the difficulty matches a payload race map in entity work. They arent realy too hard to make.

However, to design a good mvm map that guide of yyler is a must to read once. It tells you the basics of a standard mvm map. They might not be the most interesting gameplay wise. But they provide a solid gameplay which is essential for a good mvm map.

Unlike pyrodevil suggestion of looking at a decompile its probably better to look at mvm_example instead (unless you already have plenty of mapping skills and can see through the mess of entity work). That map has all the basic entity work needed to create a standard mvm map in entity work. And for the shape its best to just follow the normal spine theory (valve maps can give height and distance indications at most for this). As starting point this is the most usefull as it spreads information to chunks that are easy enough to understand.

For finetuning and using engineers it becomes usefull to look at valve maps (or custom maps which in same cases had their vmf published). Valve maps give you an indication on what parts to focus engineers at, what parts need finetuning and such. It for example gives hints on where to add extra cover and where to remove it. This information allows you to rebalance a map.

For mvm_skullcove i used 2 maps as main resources (at that time mvm_example was new enough for me to not even spot its existance). Coaltown for its entity work and general shape idea, bigrock for engineers. Coaltown_event was later used for styling but had no real effect on the entity work.
For mvm_intercept i used 2 resource maps: Mannhattan and skullcove. Simply because skullcove had my knowledge and build style in it, making it actualy easier to get information out of entity work. But mannhattan simply was the main resource due to the control points. (and i didnt actualy use hydro as reference on that... i created that dish manualy from my own knowledge)

Looking at creations from others can realy help at designing mvm maps. And its not bad if you need help from others. Especialy with wave design there are alot of things to be carefull about and its easy to make broken waves, or waves that arent fun. Turbo lover probably had created the most waves for custom maps (he makes very good normal/intermediate difficulty ones). I only did a few of them and they were all expert difficulty , and thats only because i can effectively edit the waves during a playthrough which makes fixing balance problems easier and allows a high base difficulty. The expert mission on intercept was the first mission that i created for the map. The advanced one was created after.