Unsure of what theme I should go with
- Thread starter Prestige
- Start date
Cynick
L4: Comfortable Member
- Feb 7, 2010
- 153
- 284
Think about your favorite existing/official TF2 maps: what is your favorite theme? (Sawmill/Desert/Industrial/Alpine/Snow/Swamp themes are the big ones). Typically those are the most fun maps to make.
If you have the resources, you could even make your own theme, which is really cool to see it come together. I'm creating a semi-original theme for my upcoming map to replace my CTF summit in the contest (summit kinda sucks, trust me
), and it's been fun collecting the assets to make a somewhat new theme.
The biggest thing in whatever theme you choose is to make your map memorable and unique. Badlands is memorable for the spire on points 2 and 4. Sawmill is memorable for the waterfall and the rain. Egypt is memorable for...well, being unique. Viaduct has the bridge over mid. Offblast's mountain/spire thing just looks cool which makes it memorable, even though it's one of over 9000 desert maps out there.
tl;dr think about what you like in a map and most importantly make your map's geometry/appearance unique, even within a common theme.
If you have the resources, you could even make your own theme, which is really cool to see it come together. I'm creating a semi-original theme for my upcoming map to replace my CTF summit in the contest (summit kinda sucks, trust me
), and it's been fun collecting the assets to make a somewhat new theme.The biggest thing in whatever theme you choose is to make your map memorable and unique. Badlands is memorable for the spire on points 2 and 4. Sawmill is memorable for the waterfall and the rain. Egypt is memorable for...well, being unique. Viaduct has the bridge over mid. Offblast's mountain/spire thing just looks cool which makes it memorable, even though it's one of over 9000 desert maps out there.
tl;dr think about what you like in a map and most importantly make your map's geometry/appearance unique, even within a common theme.
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I play on super-low settings, and rarely notice anything about "themes," mainly because I only play badlands and badwater.
absurdistof
aa
- Aug 10, 2009
- 1,240
- 399
I remember badlands for the awesome bridge (mainly because I play arena_badlands 90% of the time) and sawmill and offblast for their giant respective houses.
That said, take whatever theme that appeals to you most, and also the theme that fits your geometry. For example, the desert theme works really well with displacements, because it has numerous fitting ground and cliff textures, while the sawmill theme does well with a lot of buildings and high contrast between out and indoors.
Personally I'd love to see more oceanic (underwater or seaside) themes, with some nice woodwork (the buildings in arena/koth_lighthouse do this well) and some creative use of tires (people use them around floating docks)
EDIT: and if you want underwater, consult acegikmo about Photic.
That said, take whatever theme that appeals to you most, and also the theme that fits your geometry. For example, the desert theme works really well with displacements, because it has numerous fitting ground and cliff textures, while the sawmill theme does well with a lot of buildings and high contrast between out and indoors.
Personally I'd love to see more oceanic (underwater or seaside) themes, with some nice woodwork (the buildings in arena/koth_lighthouse do this well) and some creative use of tires (people use them around floating docks)
EDIT: and if you want underwater, consult acegikmo about Photic.
Try doing a bit more research into your themes. As everybody else is suggesting, the best way to make an old theme interesting is a twist on it. Even a definably unique area is all you need.
FlavorRage
L4: Comfortable Member
- Oct 12, 2008
- 197
- 57
My fave is Pipeline's industrial look. Mostly because I'm terrible at displacements.
ha. maybe ill go with that. never ever done a displacement.
I'll wait till I'm done to see which fits. all these dev textures are getting annoying.
The colors you pick should be guided by whatever popped into your head when you came up with your map concept.
Granted, with TF2, we all probably think of a desert mining installation first, but there's nothing wrong with that. Most of the assets that ship with the game use these colors, which means you'll probably be able to avoid having to make custom textures.
Lots of people will say they're tired of desert maps, but at the end of the day they'll pick a fun and generic looking map over something that uses all custom assets and plays poorly.
Granted, with TF2, we all probably think of a desert mining installation first, but there's nothing wrong with that. Most of the assets that ship with the game use these colors, which means you'll probably be able to avoid having to make custom textures.
Lots of people will say they're tired of desert maps, but at the end of the day they'll pick a fun and generic looking map over something that uses all custom assets and plays poorly.
Passerby
L2: Junior Member
- Mar 27, 2010
- 99
- 15
try thinking of your theme on a differnt level
all valve tf2 maps are all based on some type of resource, like a coal mine, or a lumber, oil, hydro electric so just think of what you want to go with as far as that and that will help you choose since your not going to do a sawmill in a dessert
all valve tf2 maps are all based on some type of resource, like a coal mine, or a lumber, oil, hydro electric so just think of what you want to go with as far as that and that will help you choose since your not going to do a sawmill in a dessert
do it! now!
honorum646
L6: Sharp Member
- Oct 9, 2009
- 335
- 67
In a dessert? cp_PIEMILL!