How do you get inspired for your maps?!

I just look at stuff in real life, and I get ideas from there.

I usually get inspiration for puzzles in the shower, in bed, or if I'm bored somewhere that isn't my computer. Almost all of my good ideas have been 'happy accidents' that appeared in random thoughts, although they usually start as a visualization of one step, that I then expand on. I'll just visualize something like disabling a funnel to perform a fling, then I'll think "Oh that's cool. What if then I did this, that or the other?". I don't think I've ever sat down, said "I'm going to make a bangin' puzzle", then actually made one.

Map wise, I'm always inspired. But things that particularly inspire me is looking at warehouses, industrial areas, and abandoned buildings. I often look at http://destroyed-and-abandoned.tumblr.com/ for some of my design inspiration for destroyed maps.

Most of my puzzles are really easy, because I'm bad at coming up with challenging ones. I come up with most ideas when I do random things, similar to how srs bsnss comes up with his, except I have to put my mind to it.

With visuals, I'm normally able to think of a theme and then an image will pop into my mind. My visual memory is extremely good, so I'm able to form a nearly perfect picture in my head and map using it as a guideline. I've created this and this by doing that technique.

I usually think of three things before I start to elaborate on the puzzle in my mind: A puzzle element I want to use, what the one step is that gives the player the moment of epiphany, and the theme. Then I elaborate on the map when I go on walks or before I fall asleep.

I rarely draft in PTI, because I find that the 128 tiles are too confining and ugly to work with. Most of the time I start mapping in Hammer before I'm completely sure how the puzzle is going to turn out. You'd think that this ends up with realizations of a completely unintended solution that you didn't think about letting you skip the entire test, but that never happens to me, I'm just able to change the puzzle as I go along.

I can get really inspired by playing other people's maps.

Either they can have something awesome in them; like a great mechanic; or great visuals, inspiring me to do something with that as well, or it can be a horrible map, which makes me want to do it better than they did!

Sometimes my old stuff can still inspire me to create something new that's better, both in visuals, as well as puzzles, layout, storytelling and whatnot.

Lpfreaky90 wrote:
I can get really inspired by playing other people's maps.

Oh yeah, this as well. Playing other people's maps is a great way to come up with ideas, even if it isn't the intended solution. I came up with one of my best puzzles goofing around in Reconstruction: Part 3, by LoneWolf.

srs bsnss wrote:
Lpfreaky90 wrote:

I can get really inspired by playing other people's maps.

Oh yeah, this as well. Playing other people's maps is a great way to come up with ideas, even if it isn't the intended solution. I came up with one of my best puzzles goofing around in Reconstruction: Part 3, by LoneWolf.

Specially unintended solutions can be great!

I should also say that the tower of terror In disneyland really inspires my darker/horror maps.
EDIT: Apparently the pictures are sideways. Think of it as a neck exercise.

i get inspired by all kinds of stuff. other games, books, music- my mod IRIS is inspired partly by the tv show LOST and partly by a few other things, like MYST.

tile wrote:
i get inspired by all kinds of stuff. other games, books, music- my mod IRIS is inspired partly by the tv show LOST and partly by a few other things, like MYST.

Myst is an awesome game. I've gained inspiration from that series for a gmod map I started but never finished, and some portal outdoor areas and puzzles.

CamBen wrote:
tile wrote:

i get inspired by all kinds of stuff. other games, books, music- my mod IRIS is inspired partly by the tv show LOST and partly by a few other things, like MYST.

Myst is an awesome game. I've gained inspiration from that series for a gmod map I started but never finished, and some portal outdoor areas and puzzles.

I second that. The only thing was that it was such a hassle to change discs, especially when puzzles went between areas that required disc changes.

srs bsnss wrote:
CamBen wrote:

tile wrote:

i get inspired by all kinds of stuff. other games, books, music- my mod IRIS is inspired partly by the tv show LOST and partly by a few other things, like MYST.

Myst is an awesome game. I've gained inspiration from that series for a gmod map I started but never finished, and some portal outdoor areas and puzzles.

I second that. The only thing was that it was such a hassle to change discs, especially when puzzles went between areas that required disc changes.

Yea, riven was the worst with the discs for me, since exile had only 2 discs and I only played the 3d version of Myst, which takes only one disc. It's been years since I played those games. (I'm really tempted to play riven again)

the rotating room puzzle from riven would be pretty cool to remake in portal 2.

tile wrote:
the rotating room puzzle from riven would be pretty cool to remake in portal 2.

Yeah I was just thinking about that...
Also that electric chair in half life 2 would make a good model for the chair in the astronomy room on Myst Island...

Myst map? Maybe....

you can also always use my "displace, replace, expand" method. more info here:

post99868.html?hilit=%20replace#p99868