Inspiration has an 'I'. I get my inspiration by looking at normal maps and seeing what I could do to make them different.
You beat me to it Nemi. With my maps, I have a basic idea/theme for the map and I work around that. I dont plan out every little spot from the very beginning.
find something cool, go from there, like a cool switch or an idea for a nice geomerge. it really depends.
I usually think of ideas while im out, or if I'm bored. Start off with something small and it will grow bigger.
I like to look at games completely different to Halo and wonder if I could make a map like that using Forge. Like, look at a 2D game or Tetris or something like that. But then I just sigh and delete the 4 boxes I've put down.
i either make it around a gametype, or from a programe i just watched or some random image from google