i have wasted (had fun, but never really finish anything!) considerable hours in forge. i took January off from forging but have been playing around again. how do you get your map out there? i spent ages on one map, put it in as a preview and submitted to the Testers Guild but never received feedback (though according to my posts i have not posted in that section so perhaps that is my fault........) and received only 5 downloads, was quite disheartening! advice appreciated. how can i take my forging to the next level. thanks.
Your maps are big, try building something small, using pieces for their intended uses. It'll be easier to get people to test a small map and dealing with all the spawn and lines of sight is easier. Large maps, especially with vehicles are incredibly difficult to perfect and except with the most skilled forgers, that is just by chance. Take it from someone who started with large maps with vehicles and aircraft, starting small is a good idea.
Indeed, you should also know the TG can't always guarantee your map will be tested. We receive around 8 maps on average per day with testing sessions occuring either daily or every other day. Due to the current number of members, we physically can't test every map that comes through You should join in with testing sessions. More often than not, testers will offer you party leader to test your own maps so you can receive feedback for your own workings. You'll probably learn a lot in terms of what most players want, and how most stuff works with gameplay and spawning. The more experience you have, the better your maps ultimately turn out to be, which will in turn gain you more downloads.
Yeah I tend to waste a bit of time myself. When its time to get serious and "finish a map" what I do is take a step back, have a really good look over the map and write down a list of things that need to be finished, fixed, polished, redone or whatever. Then get to work, try to be precise but quick and get things done and one by one as you finish something, tick it off the list. There's a certain satisifaction from ticking things off, I can get lazy but once I've started getting a few things done (and ticked off) it makes you want to do more and continue. You can see the finish line. Hope that helps
Why don't you try Forging on Breakpoint, Anchor 9, Boardwalk or Powerhouse? It has a lot of Scenery and it's fun to be fighting again against the budget, just like in Halo 3 since on Forge World people will mostly try to add unneccessary(did i spelled that rite?) things just because they want to do something with those spare 2000 $. I have had a long break from Forge World and i really like it. I began with Invasion on smaller Maps, then Aesthetic Maps(Jackal Tower and Junkbot), then Infection and now i am trying to make a Mini Game.