What do you find fun in custom maps?

[360Polska]

What do you find fun in custom maps (both MP and SP)?
Whether it's your favorite gameplay style, difficulty, something original/innovative, or something completely different.
Share your opinions!

[Colonel Michu]

I will focus generally on Single Player maps.


It's obvious that it is about originality and the fact that everyone can do what they want. Plazma Burst fan campaign, fanmade 2D Assassin's Creed in 20th century Iran, adaptation of a book, troll map, original project focused on realism, quiz, post apo RPG, fantasy platform-stealth game, Geometry Dash clone, own universe in the style of Deus Ex, World War 1 a la Spec Ops: The Line ... there's a lot you can do right now with current Advanced Level Editor.

I once wrote that I'm still here due to the fact that Plazma Burst 2 offers a free, easy to learn and use editor thanks to which you are able to make many of your dreams and ideas come true, and custom decorations and music only helps with that!


And that's what's beautiful about it. That people do what they want and these are things of different caliber. One person wants to expand the PB universe with his / her interpretations, another to adapt a movie or a game, another making a fanfic series about friends met in multiplayer, another wants to show the Napoleonic wars, and a completely different one plans to create an ambitious sci-fi series with elements of political fiction with lore at the level of Mass Effect.

But this applies not only to settings or vibe, but also to gameplay, decorations and other concepts. Some will do realistic gameplay where health doesn't regenerate, someone will make a custom interface, one map will have a third-person narration instead of direct dialogues, one mapmaker will make a series focused on difficult platform challenges or puzzles. And we can give examples all day: someone will do an arcade gunplay like in Metal Slug, elsewhere the main feature of the game is teleportation, some level will be completely black and white including decorations and characters, and yet another person will do a level design in the style of PB2 before 2017.

And I apologize for mentioning all of these various concepts and ideas, but in this way I want to openly show how diverse the development community is and how many different things can be found and made. Just like in video game industry.


But when it comes to specifics and my person: I prefer something innovative, exotic, although of course without exaggeration because you simply cannot be very innovative. But in short, I have a weakness for historical-themed levels, more complex sci-fi, post-apo, modern warfare and more ambitious things in terms of story, gameplay or visuals. For example:

- story: Hyperspace by SanicTheHotdog: ambitious, including socio-political themes, with an expanded lore, even taking into account the coefficient of gravity, cuisine and nature.

-gameplay: Fable of an Amnesiac by Vexiled: most of the series is not based on combat, but exploring an interesting environment and interacting with it, although later when we get a gun it also works well, and the surreal level 7 is a kind of art in terms of level design. And by the way, the story is interesting.

-visuals: Blue Man by Phantasma X: great level design and the use of custom decorations. The levels are made in such a way that they look reliable and that you are able to imagine such a locations in reality. In addition, the levels are designed like this that they challenge the player and are more diverse and interesting than the usual laboratory corridors.


I could do that for hours, but as you can see, I've already done a little essay. I can also mention the "Black As The Shadow" series by Hymag, in which we use teleportation and avoid light, what practically turns the default Plazma Burst gameplay upside down.

And that, above all, I am a person who likes to make levels that are more ambitious than typical maps like "Usurpation War" or "Escape the Prison". More ambitious in terms of the plot, gameplay, covering various themes and topics, presenting historical events, future or alternate reality. I like to create my own extensive fictional worlds, experiment with narration, gameplay, weapons, time and place of action, characters, genre and design. Folks, I was able to do a Real Time Strategy game in PB2 (albeit with fairly average results).


Well, in short, that's my opinion about the topic.

[Nozzle]

i finding fun in custom maps by not finding fun in custom maps ( jk )

i finding fun in custom maps because it makes u challenge, something that is hard, and you wanna to complete it, that's why imo, there might be also more reasons

[Girl_Power]

The players. It's always the players that makes the game fun.

[SaiMrCat]

If the map is unusual. Like, we can interact with it, or coop 4v4 but other gamemode (not just bloodbath). Also, i like game-breaking maps, because i like to push games to their limit (before they crash or break) and it's interesting to see game's issues and even making new mechanics using bugs