I hope EF2 isn't going to be a 'corridor game'... Lately, I find myself not looking forward to screenshot day anymore, the surprise is gone. It's all corridors, panels and quarters...
They get better every time, I agree, some lovely shots there. But how far can you go in recreating ships from the series? Gameplay wise corridors and small hallways aren't even interesting. KLN2 got out of map rotation on major servers because people got fed up playing it: any n00b (scuse me) with a photon can blast an enemy away from splash damage alone.

There are a fair amount of ship maps out there and some are very good, but isn't it time for something new? Maybe a more open map, not using the neverending tile texture from voy1, voy2, geo, face, spy. Maybe incorporating more vertical play in the map.

How will the map be played? What is it that people will want to play a map over and over again? What is in the map that keeps it interesting?

This site is a good read about some philosophy behind mapping, gameplay wise. There is something written about mapbalance, item balance, connectivity, gameflow, and architecture.

Why is quake still so popular? Why did the gaming EF community diminish like it did? Maybe it's because we think EF is constraint in some sci-fi theme, whereas quake isn't: they have gothic maps but also tech maps, they have close dungeon maps but also wide open space maps. They don't use the standard textures all the time. Well, we can do that too. EF isn't restricted in any way.

What is creative? I'd love to see maps like these in EF:
platypus
neorganic epiphany
heliotropic dreams
take to the sky
There are more examples, but these are the ones I could find quickly. Sure, there are textures we can't use but it is the architecture that interests me.

This is not a flame post or whatever, there are loads of very good mappers here, I just hope EF2 isn't going the same way EF has (in the meaning the community lost people who went elsewhere). It's all about keeping the game interesting. Once it is released, it is up to us to keep it alive, and I know the capabilities are present ;)

yea im gonna havta agree on this one. sooo many shiippsss. so completly defeats the purpose of capture the flag, cuz all people do is camp.  

ef2 is going to rock, no doubt about it. and im sure people will come and create wonderful *outdoor* maps for it as well  

and since when has it diminished? sure it was stronger at the beginning, but more people can get into firing a handgun (quake) than a phaser (ef)... thas one of the reasons i think it has lasted so much longer. but thas just my opinion.    and everyone loves opinions. especiall mine. *cough*.....


and you can always do it urself  

*clears throat*

[Beginning shameless plug]

Beehive Station and especially Crucible are 2 maps that very much deviate from the norm.

[This now concludes Galen's shameless plug]

ok for one thign how long have i been saying thsi now? what like a year if not more. ships although good in deatil are utter crap for gameplay. like the spookster said tight corridoors suck for a mp game. what we need is originality in maps creativeness and above all gameplay that is good.

personally i think ship maps are only good for showing how good u can do a ship. although i have not released  a map before i have made quite a few now. all of which are original and i feel are good for mp games. i have tested them with other ppl in them and they are good.

sadly it will be the same for ef2 i think. many ppl will just do ships etc etc. hopefully though some of us out there will do open maps . can't remember much about teh new engine but its supposed to be able to do outside areas better.(bout dam time !)

although i still am very against the use of the q3 engine yet again. hopefully they've imrpoved it enough that its only the engine by name and not by technicalities.

expect to see some original maps from myself and others when the tools come out for ef2. then maybe i can do my whole city map! if it will take it (i doubt it).

p.s - good topic dude will deff get the ppl going.

Well... I'm currently working on a starship, so Spookmineer I'm sorry if you find my map & screenshots boring ( wich by the way, I will stop posting so often because there are alot of people out there who like to copy ). You do know it will be for single player though? Anyway, I will have to agree with you. More outdoor maps would be nice. Originality would be nice. Less starship would be nice ( excluding the U.S.S. Explorer of course ).

And EasyG, for EF2... I too would love to make a "full" city map! So if you need any help... please let me know!!

explorer,i copied your console design (it was different anyway,completely diff lcars,and the basic structure was different) and your shuttlebay door shape,but that is being scrapped anyway cause noone seemed to like it and...wait,i cant say that yet,nevermind   .Oh,i almost forgot the idea of a battleship which i used,sorry.Trivial stuff that you are getting so worked up on.

Anyway,i know personally,i like outdoor maps too cause it makes it harder to frag and get fragged,which is a challenge,which is more fun than roaming halls wide enough for one person and walking around a corner to find yourself eating a photon burst.

There are some fantastic Q3 maps out there.  I love the atmosphere of some of them.
As a matter of preference, I always liked the realistic maps, though.  My favorite EF maps are all Q3 conversions.

Wow... that's one disjointed paragraph.  No flow to it whatsoever.  Well it is past midnight.

My personal concern is that the ship maps all use the basic voyager textures, models and have too bright light. You could find tons of such ships on effiles. It's really getting boring. It wouldn't matter if the ships would look different but unfortunately we don't get many new kinds of ships.