What I do is think of movies, natural features, or structures that inspire me. That usually does the trick. Otherwise, just pick a gametype, assess how the game is played, and ask yourself how you could bend a map to make that game play better.
The film reply above is a great idea - think of films that fit in with future wars so like Alien vs Pread etc so u could make an infection map on foundry or use sandtrap etc where everyone (preadators) starts with magnums and your all scramblin to get a better weapon before the zombie (alien) strikes - also make the resawn times v-long so players are always on their feet to find more ammo and discourages campin spots - I dont know if you've already done it but u get v drift
Look at maps made by other people here on the forum. Look at maps from other games, Halo 1 - 2, Quake, Counter-Strike etc.
I had a good idea for a map and fun gametype but I faced one problem in the end that screwed everything up. I put a big ring (well, square ring) of double boxes that basically created a track that mongooses could drive on either way. After that, I put a wraith in the middle of the ring. The object of the game was for the mongooses and their passengers to kill the person in the wraith before the time limit ran out. The person in the wraith would of course be very very damage resistant and would be of course shooting the mongooses on the outside. Once the wraith is dead the game ends, if the time runs out before the mongooses kill the wraith, the person in the wraith wins. Anyways, the problem is I cant control which team is the VIP team or where the juggernaut spawns in the beggining. (and yes Forgehub, I did put this in another idea posting thing.)
I would like to see the battle from The Lord of the Rings second movie. Helms Deep I believe it is called. I would love to create this for the contest but the rules won't allow. Good idea IMO.
Gamer720, ill send an invite this weekend, i wouldn't judge myself so I guess you would be the first to tell me if im a good forger or not. Killcow, I like your Idea alot!, I would make it and give you credit for the idea, if that is ok with you. UNITQM, I like that idea too, I think ill create that, credit for the idea would go to you though
Too late, I already made one, here's a download link If you want one of my ideas, today I thought of a moonscape made of interlocked double boxes. You could have a lunar lander act as a base, and a space shuttle as another. However; a map like this would demand some pretty advanced forging techniques like interlocking objects and fusing immovable objects with map geometry BTW those are links if anyone wants a shortcut.
It's not illegal for there to be more than one castle you know. But anyways, a lot of the times for a forge map I get an idea, try to do it, it fails, then just take whatever I did get accomplished and build something completely different off of it. It almost always just ends up building itself rather than having a central idea or theme to it. So try just going into forge and putting something, anything, together.
I look at a lot of other people's maps and learn about how they forge. Interesting new object uses, map geometry, or whatever and I assimilate them all in my head. Soon cool new ideas start to surface, and I'll make something great. I never copy, I just take a certain idea and maybe change it. Another way I forge is just making it up as I go along. I'll come up with an idea for a map I want to make, like a completely enclosed, multi-leveled building, or an asymettrical slayer map and I just start placing walls and boxes till I see something I like.
no it makes the box lift up off the ground and hit the highest floor because the gravity lift pushes up the portiable energy shield
i may have inadvertantly taken this idea in my map quarantine that im almost finished http://www.forgehub.com/home/index.php?topic=3965.0 i gave you some credit though HP