I've been noticing some going ons that just plain bug me when i read across the forums, and i thought i'd call them out in order to let the community, especially the green horns, an idea of some general Do's and Don'ts. This will be pretty straight forward, i don't like to write walls of texts, but i do think this will help one gain more map views and keep their readers from being confused. Do: Use Search Function before naming your map! I've noticed maps sharing the name "Badger Creek", a few variations of "Vanilla", a Couple "Decks", "Leviathans" and so on. It's confusing when your trying to establish your own look and identity for your map, and yet you grab a title that shares it's name with another person's upload! Don't: Don't name or describe your map with words like "Perfect Recreation", "1:1 Scale", and other arrogant titles. Such words should be bestowed upon a map from the community, there are much better ways to advertise the amount of work you put in your map, but using such verbs just make the OP seem short sighted. Do: Add a description for your map in the file share! If you havn't bothered changing the description, than who knows what other little things you didn't bother placing into your map! Perhaps little things like flag spawns werent worth your time to make sure they work, or ya didn't bother adding grenades. It's very easy to overlook plenty of little details, and a dead give away of something like that is an unedited description box. I know i'm not griping about alot here, but i'm sure more will come to me as i continue to surf. These are just a few things that have caught my eye in the last few days on the forums.
Yeah strongly agree with these points. The name and description ones are especially important. If your map has the same name as many others and/or no description it will not be downloaded as much.
I'm curious how File Share descriptions relate to in-map objective objects. You mention them in your thread here, but I don't see the correlation.
Its the same kind of little detail that people don't think about. If i saw a map that still has default description, i wouldn't wanna download it just because i feel the entirety of the map itself would be half assed or rushed.
People should also get their maps tested and get opinions and criticism from others before posting it. This would definitely increase the quality of the maps posted here.
I disagree with this point, I generally go out of my way to change that but I know some incredible forgets who realize this important point; it doesn't matter! The description actually has no effect on your map at all, so there is no requirement to change it.
I think one of the main reasons some forgers post their maps here are in fact to get them tested. Forgehub is the one of the best Halo communities that I can think of. That being said, it's usually much easier to post an untested map here and invite other Forgehub members to help playtest. It's after the testing that I think some forgers need to rethink, such as actually taking the criticism that they receive into account.
Something that needs to be worked on as a community is taking criticism in general. Many of us have been at it long enough to recognize our own and others' mistake, and don't see criticism as a negative thing. Many new forgers, however, take any criticism personally, which they should not. Constructive criticism from the community is not a negative thing.
Instead of doing this, new forgers should go to the Testers Guild before posting their map. Posting a terrible "V1" just to try and get a bunch of testers so you can update the map at a later date is not necessarily a good idea. If your map fails on V1, many people will just deem your map as terrible from the beginning and not give a crap about any later versions. First impressions are important here too. Instead of being in a rush to post your map, take it to the Testers Guild and get some good, honest, experienced feedback. Spend weeks, not days on your map. Dont be afraid to redesign and tweak your map, possibly even redo entire areas of it. If more people have patience and take the time to care about these things, FH will be an even greater community than it already is.
I think you make some very good points here. I don't COMPLETELY agree with the map description one, but it is true that it keeps some people away. I think the only thing you're missing is "Always play the map before you comment on the thread. I have seen many, many posts saying something like "Wow, the pics looks great, I can't wait to try this map out." "
should be added to the list. and i definitely agree with the description thing, because i know if i spend hours on a creation that i would want to put something in the description, but things ive published that werent impressive or time consuming i wouldnt bother.
Thank you very much for the advice! Luckily, i haven't posted any maps yet. You should also tell us new forgers the do's and don'ts of making a map (such as don't put in too many power weapons, etc.)