Ugh. Maybe its just me, but I'm just losing it with the Forge here. Maybe its just lack of motivation (after all, its hard to get any motivation when you know that the chances of someone playing your map are practically zero), or lack of ideas, but I just can't anything done. After finishing my map for the Forgetacular contest, I looked at and decided I could something better. 2 weeks later....nothing. 7 scrapped maps later...nothing. I've filled half a notebook with decent-looking ideas that you quickly realize are terrible once you start to put them togther. Looking at maps here doesn't help a terrible amount, because they'r either not what I'm looking for, way too complicated for me to wrap my head around, and I don't want to wind looking like I copied a portion of someone's map either. Sketchup is annoying and impractical, and my own sketches are terrible to the point where I think they actually hurt the process. That and you're likely to not get more than 2 or 3 responses to any post here, so you never really get any feedback as to what works and what doesn't. And yet I'd still like to win or have one of my maps place in this contest. This is damn near torture. Particularly since a couple of my maps that I thought were good were ruined by not having pieces that should be in the Forge (like mirrored stairscases, or just plain staircases).
That kinda stuff happens to me all the time. I always can't come up with an idea, but if I did have one I could most likely forge it (if I don't feel too lazy at the moment). It's always been hard for me to brainstorm.
I come up with a lot of decent small map ideas, but not really any good large ideas. Unless I have inspiration that I can draw off of, I don't make good maps. Try looking at campaign structures that you like, or actual buildings. This is what helps me, so it might help you.
Ya I'm the same as cyanide i have trouble to and sometimes just laziness. I did once get a nice amount of comments and views on a halo 3 map i made. But none of my halo reach maps except to get more than 500 views. Its my damn aesthetic experiment maps getting all the attention. Hey if you guys want we can always look at the forging ideas for ideas.
Don't get me wrong, I go through the same things sometimes--the forging blocks where a map doesn't work out like you plan, and then you start focusing on the fact that yours are simply a few in a sea of many. It's really easy to start convincing yourself that no one is going to play your maps, so there's no point in making them, because, let's be serious, in terms of numbers, none of our maps should get played much if at all, because of the sheer amount of maps out there right now and more that will be added in time. HOWEVER, what you have to do is see past the statistics, and allow yourself to realize that, no matter what your talent level in regards to forging, the end result of the map is the direct correlation of the amount of work you put in--not only into the build, but then into the playtesting, into the advertisement (correct and acceptable advertisement, I might add), and into the follow-up after you release it. Stick with your good maps, don't let them just go blindly into the night. Put as much effort into your map after your forge it as you did when you forged it, and you stand a much better chance of having something that gets some wider knowledge. What may help is just taking a forge break, though. I realize the Forgetacular contest ending date looms, but don't push yourself to create something good. It should come naturally, and though sometimes it may be tedious, you should enjoy the work you put into the map. Taking a break allows you to sort of refocus yourself on new projects, while you keep from burning yourself out on false starts.
In regards to the "no one will play my map!" thing, there's nothing you can really do about that. A very tiny percentage of even the best maps finds any kind of real popularity. Most good maps disappear into the flood. And most of the maps that get noticed do so for reasons other than excellent gameplay. That's a sad fact, but keep two things in mind: 1. If you're a creative type of person, you're creating first and foremost for yourself. You're making something because you want to, not just to win the Halo popularity contest. Even if no one ever plays it but you, you can still take pride in having made a good map. 2. And anyway, the best time you'll ever have with your map is playing it with friends. If you don't already have a custom games group, join one or put one together and see if they can put your map in their rotation. You'll have more fun even if theirs is the only download it gets.
ProtoFury has a lot of good tips here and I'd like to add one. As I am building a map, any map I often come up with new ideas that, though not good for the current map I am working on, could be useful elsewhere. What I have begun to do is to have a save field specifically just for idea pieces. It has random chunks of map ideas built in. So if I see a piece in a new light, or rotate it in such a way that sparks the imagination, than I make sure to place it in this map right away. Anytime I'm stumbling I'll revisist this map and just look around. Maybe it has something useful for me now.
That's an interesting and useful way of going about things. Actually having somewhere that you can just visualize random ideas and concepts, without having to put them into a map you're working on, is smart. I myself don't like to plan too much of my maps beforehand, on the off-chance that I plan too big, too small, or too (insert unforeseen problem here)-y. I do, however, keep a running list of central concepts and features that I want to include on maps in the future, and then see which of those can be combined in the most functional, visually pleasing, and (most importantly) original ways possible when I go to build a new map.
I agree that my planning phase is slight at best but I am an idea centric builder. And my mind usually focuses on intrigueing concepts rather than full blown map plans.