With so many excellent maps appearing every day, how can one mapper keep his maps from fading into the blue? What pictures get noticed? Does the title affect anything? It's just a little disheartening to spend weeks on a map and have it completely overshadowed by someone whipping one up in a couple of days.

Put your maps in your signature. Uploading it here will certainly get it some attention, and also upload to the workshop. A map's title says a lot about the map to me, so make it interesting and relevant to the map. Put in interesting screenshots (tip: type in crosshair 0 and impulse 200 cheats to get your crosshair and portal gun to go away, making the screenshots look much more artistic.) Also write nice descriptions. For me really what draws me in are the following: title, screenshots, and description.

Also, since most Workshop maps are made with the PTI, and thus, have similar thumbnails, a unique thumbnail can really make your map stand out. Download Paint.NET, take a screenshot like Dr. Toaster Waffles said above, and make it look pretty! PTI thumbnails are usually cool/neutral toned, so I usually try to go for a warmer color balance on the final product.

The three main things that I find help get you noticed are:

- Have an interesting thumbnail. This is the absolute first thing someone is going to see, so it has to be interesting and eye catching! A good example is the current #1 map, Supress. The thumbnail is bright and stands out on the workshop list, so people click on it. Once they've clicked on it, they're pretty much guaranteed to subscribe.

- Post on other sites. Obviously, the prime example is right here at TWP. Posting a map here makes sure the people see it and get the ball rolling. The hardest thing to do on the Workshop is getting the first ten, twenty, or thirty subscribers. Once you get those, then you're off. Having a map link it your signature is a good way to make people notice it later on, too.

- Give it a polished, professional feel. This relates to the first point about thumbnails, but also incorporates the title. Having a title like "super laz0r fun!!! lol" will probably make it sound stupid. Having a succinct, relevant title will make the map more attractive. I usually try using one or two word titles, though it's mostly personal preference.

Thank you for the suggestions, but I've already taken them into account with my latest map, L-Circuits, and it still flew under the radar. I gave it an interesting name and an interesting thumbnail with Chell looking down at the map, and posted it on both TWP and workshop, yet no-one can even see it on the "New Releases" column anymore, and on Workshop it still doesn't have enough ratings to give it stars. Is there maybe a TYPE of map that people like to download? Or is there something else entirely that I'm missing?

AntiVector wrote:
Is there maybe a TYPE of map that people like to download? Or is there something else entirely that I'm missing?

People do generally gravitate to Hammer maps. Practically any Hammer map that is made well will generate more people going to it, as people will recommend it to others or upload videos of it. I don't personally partake in "Play for Play" type things [I prefer people to find my maps on their own], but if you think that people will play your map more, do it! Also, you can promote your map not just on TWP, but on Youtube, G+, Facebook, Steam, etc.

I'll give your map a try for sure!
EDIT: Try making the screenshot have text, or give it a nifty little logo. That can generate more attention.

One thing I suggest is that the words: simple, first, hard, fun, best, easy, 19xx, map, quotes, mappack names and anything else you can think of usually mean that the map is not good, so avoid those names.

Ultiman9711 wrote:
Try making the screenshot have text, or give it a nifty little logo. That can generate more attention.

Thanks! I'll try that next time! I probably won't update L-Circuits until I'm done with my current map, but I'll certainly consider that when I release it!

Yishbarr wrote:
One thing I suggest is that the words: simple, first, hard, fun, best, easy, 19xx, map, quotes, mappack names and anything else you can think of usually mean that the map is not good, so avoid those names.

Now that is interesting. The first six words I had already guessed were deterrents, but "nineteen exty ex" and "mappack" had me raising an eyebrow. My thinking was that people eat up map packs and levels in the twentieth century style, but I guess it makes sense to come up with more creative names for those maps.

I meant actually that with "mappack", you can't make with PTI maps. With hammer maps it's OK to make mappacks.