If any of you are the type to play RPG games there's one thing you generally need to master: repetition. Most of the time, to level up or get better stuff, you need to mindlessly do the same thing over and over and over. There was even one gem where I'd run in a room kill all the guys with one attack, run out, then back in and they'd respawn. I did this so long I actually fell asleep for an hour and woke up still doing it. (Maybe that's not a good sign.)
Now this does really translate to map making usually. If your map is gonna be good you'd
better not be doing the same thing over and over. lol But for my map "Car Fry" which has tons of detail objects, I had to sit myself down and force myself to keep detailing until it was done.
However, most of the maps I make I have a faint idea of what I want and start building toward that idea. Usually the ideas just keep coming until I'm done with the map. I almost always make it up as I go. There's never any careful planning or master scheme. It's all built right out of my head and on the spot. I tend to be very bad at sticking with a plan for my maps, and when I try to, I usually get bored or just can't build anymore and give up. This also makes me no good at remakes of any kind. I've got a very simple map I started on remaking, but quit back in the winter because I had no drive to make it perfectly.
As for not getting bored, I rarely do. When I decide to make a map it's because I got bored doing something else and this will keep me from getting bored. I do often listen to music while mapping. Almost all of my music is trance music or techno of some sort. I avoid songs with lyrics as they'll usually make me think of whatever they're singing about and I'll get side tracked. (On the flip side, it might help to listen to music with lyrics that fit the theme of what you're trying to make.) A random note, I've got more than two weeks straight of video game .MIDIs to listen to. That's a playlist I hope I never hear all the way through in one sitting.
A lot of you guys put intricate details into your maps. I'm not so good at it. I put in what I think is just enough to convey the feeling or atmosphere I'm aiming for and not much else. I push for cool looking maps based on their design and architecture rather than heavy detailing and realism. I say, if my maps aren't realistic in style, then people may just accept and oddities in details or such as part of the overall look. LOL (I don't know if it's working though.
)
Mapping for me is fun, when it ain't fun, I ain't mapping. Simple as that. Sometimes, I know I'll enjoy making it once I get into it or will enjoy the final product enough that forcing myself to map when I might not want to will end up making me have more fun.
You don't have to map if you don't want to. Don't burn yourself out on mapping all at once, take breaks from it if you have to. go play other people's maps for inspiration or play some different games entirely. Often I'll get an idea as soon as I play something else and come right back to make a map based on that idea.
Once I get rolling on something, I usually go all out until it's done. The hardest part for me is really starting into it.
P.S. Sorry for the huge wall of text, I guess i got rolling on this post and didn't stop. LOL
