A Mudkip's Guide to Making Parkour Maps: From a Map Judge!

[Billybo10000]

Hi there Minevast community, my name is Billy! I go by Pokezelda, Billybo10000 or Poke, and I am a member of staff, who just so happens to judge parkour submissions in the forums. My job is to pick the best maps out of the various submissions and test them to see if they are worthy of being on the parkour server.

I have noticed a large increase in the amount of daily submissions over the past few weeks, and I noticed a lot of players making them same rookie mistakes and falling into the same traps and pitfalls every single time. So I felt, as a staff member, and as a fellow map creator, that it was my duty to guide you all in the right direction and help you on the path to getting a map submitted into parkour.

Contents of the Guide:

• Themes and their effects on your build!
• Designing a good parkour map!
• Setting the perfect difficulty!
• Specialized jumps for every occasion!
• Pixel Art, do it well or don't do it at all!
• Creating the perfect forum post!
• Extra content and easter eggs!
• The Finished Product!

So step into the world of map making and let's get started!


(Themes and their effects on your build!)

What is a theme? A theme is your initial idea. Your one thought that shapes an entire map. It can be anything in the entire world, from a place, to a feeling, or maybe a game that you have played or a movie you watched! It is something that you can use as a reference to create a build.

Themes are broad and you can literally build anything you want, since your creative thoughts are often limitless. However, keep in mind that not everything in the world will work as a parkour. Some themes can be incredibly vague, or just dull.

"Hi there, the theme for my map is red blocks."

That is an example of a bad theme. Why is it bad? Well, creating a map with just red blocks is boring. It is just a group of floating red blocks, and we've seen that before in just about every parkour map ever made. Since the theme is really vague, we don't have any specific details to the theme.

"Hi there, the theme for my map is an abandoned house."

That is an example of a good theme. Why is it good? Well, it gives you a clear structure to work with when building the map, giving you the freedom to create a seriously spooky house with parkour inside. Adding the "Abandoned" also gives you access to cobweb jumps and allows you to design something more interesting than, "A House."

Now, there are many themes that are overused, so here are some examples -

• Rainbow Parkour - We already have enough of these on the server.
• Biome Parkour - Attempted but never done well enough.
• Ore Parkour - We have some of these on the server.
• Rank-Up Parkour - There is no design. Going from Coal to Diamond is not cool or interesting.
• *Insert name of minecraft item* Parkour - No, ten pixel art diamond armor pieces are not good parkour.
• Hell/Nether Parkour - We have enough of these!
• Element Parkour - Done badly most of the time.

These themes have been used many times in map submissions and at some point or another, I have rejected them while reviewing through the maps.

The only reason a creator should attempt any of these themes is if they can bring something completely unique to the formula. And this rarely happens. If you cannot make your map stand out using those themes, then don't bother submitting it.

Now, here are some themes that can be considered interesting and unique -

• A Bathroom - Never done, you can create toothbrushes, toilets, showers, so much potential!
• A location from a video game - This theme works well especially with platformer games, by default.
• Landmarks - These are generally large in scale, but can be worked into good parkours.

And of course, there are just so many themes out there to choose from!

However, you do need to know your limits. If you pick an "Out of this world" theme that nobody knows about, you need it to stand out, so people will be curious. If you are not the best builder in the world, stick with easier themes. It makes things easier on both yourself and myself.

And remember, if you have a theme, check on the map submissions forums to see if anybody else used your theme, either for success or failure. If they got their map accepted, see what they did right and try to top their map with a better presentation of the theme. If their map was rejected, see where they went wrong and try not to make the same mistakes.

I will always give critiques and feedback to submitted maps, including suggestions on how to improve, so keep that in mind.

(Scroll down for more sections)

 

[Bleach]

um poke bathrooms is in the dropper original

 

[Billybo10000]

um poke bathrooms is in the dropper original

I meant never done on parkourse. Also, dropper parkour is not the type of parkour that you would build for a map submission. This guide is for submitting maps here to minevast, as well as general tips and tricks.

 

[Bleach]

poke on parkourse they are talking about the drop that's why i mentioned that before

 

[Billybo10000]

(DESIGNING A GOOD PARKOUR MAP!)

So, once you've come up with a super unique theme, it's time to actually start planning out your map. And the first and most important aspect of any map is the designs of both your build and how they fit with your theme.

Now, there are three types of designs in a parkour map.

You have your set-pieces, you have your accessible areas and you have your environment.

Let's start with the environment.

Your environment is the type of foundation you build your parkour against. Will it be a floating parkour above the void, or will there be solid ground to stand on in case you fall? Is it a mountainous environement? Is it snowing, is it hot, is it wet? This is what you start building your parkour on, and in some cases, this can be rather important.

While everything will be floating on the server, per say, you can still control whether there is ground to fall on, depending on the theme. For example, in medium, Mencrew School has a playground that you fall back down onto if you miss a jump, rather than a void. Why? Because the ground is part of the environment and serves to heighten the designs of the map and it's theme.

Secondly, we have set-pieces.

Set-pieces are parts of the parkour that you cannot access or jump to, but serve as an aesthetic addition to the course. For example, our medium mushroom course has some smaller mushroom isles that cannot be jumped to, but add to the design of the course.

Set-pieces could be anything, from an NPC/story, to a simple obsidian pillar that adds that emphasis on the End dimension. It could be a nether wart farm, or maybe a pencil structure that you don't need to climb on, but looks nice and helps identify a theme.

Set-pieces do have one rule. They do not want to overshadow the map. If you have a really magnificent set-piece, and then your map is a few floating blocks inbetween the piece, it breaks the entire flow of the map and makes you wish you could parkour on the well-designed looking nether fortress, rather than the two slabs of brick you're currently standing on.

Trust me, it matters!

Lastly we have the accessible areas.

This is the section that you actually parkour on! This is where you want your theme to shine through the most. For example, on Easy Bookshelf, you parkour on the books. In Hard Barn, you actually go inside the barn and parkour around it. Firstly, think of a design. Think of a structure that you know would look nice. Then think, "Can I add parkour to this?"

We will discuss varieties of parkour in a few sections, but for now, just think, is this build able to be made into parkour. If your answer is yes, start modifying it. You never know how it could turn out. You could just have the next big gem... Just saying.

So long story short, make sure that your environment fits the theme and design of your map. Remember that the set-pieces cannot overshadow the main parkour sections, and most importantly, make sure your builds and structures can use parkour in a clever way.

 

[Mariomash1VG]

Much guide, much motivation, such tip, no example

Jk, love the guide, good enough for what you could fit into 2 giant posts =P
Hmm, now to the theme...

 

[Claire360_bear]

How do you get to the second page?
[DOUBLEPOST=1440359253][/DOUBLEPOST]How do you go to the next age

 

[Billybo10000]

How do you get to the second page?
[DOUBLEPOST=1440359253][/DOUBLEPOST]How do you go to the next age

I need to write the next few posts yet before we get to another page xD

 

[ronanashmancer]

Nice work! I really like this thank you very much!