Hey guys,

this blog post is more for me. I just want to go over the different map ideas I have at the moment, from most to least specific, giving details about their purpose and a general idea behind them. I also have a lot to write about since I'm not letting myself build anything at the moment, since my finals are in 4-5 weeks and I need to be studying. Therefore I've been doing a lot of concept-building and other contemplation rather than actual building, so that once exams are done I'll have a nice to-do list to complete.

By the way, if anyone comes up with nicer names, I'm all ears. I'm not happy with most of these names. Also, if anyone would be up to help me build my maps, I'd love to have some assistance.

HUNTERS VS POACHERS or HOUND HOUSE

This is the map I've been actually making in the last few weeks (just 2 hours or so per week). I've finalised the redstone behind it, and other than the actual map layout, that's really all the brain that's needed. I can't do much more abstract work now. 

The idea is that you have two different teams, the Hunters and the Poachers. The teams are equal and start on two sides of a relatively large map (1 x 1 km square). The teams have to kill each other like in a Call of Duty search & destroy game, where once you die you stay dead, so by elimination. The last team standing wins. 

What makes this map more complex is that one team is constantly glowing (one of the new status effects). You can see people glow through walls, so this gives a huge advantage to one team that isn't glowing. On top of this, in the map, there are 15 locations where a button can be. If this button is hit, then the glowing switches to the other team, and the button also gets sent to another random position. Each team has a dozen or so classes to choose from, with very specialised gear, including a scout class with an elytra (that give you a flying ability), a tank class with a shield (that protects from arrows), an archer-mage class with enchanted arrows, and a ninja class with invisibility potions and buckets of milk (that you can drink to get rid of the glowing effect). The physical map will include buildings on the outskirts and a forest on the inside, with two - three stories of vertical moving space. The map will mostly be dark brown and green, being made of dark wood and leaves (and other stuff obviously).

I'm planning on completing this map as soon as possible. I have finished with the redstone (you can watch my vlogs about them but watch out, they're pretty boring), so now the building is what's left. I'll probably be using some build plugins like voxelsniper but I'm afraid since most of the stuff is actual house-building, I'll have to spend a lot of time hand-building it (thus help from others is appreciated!).

ARCHER RUN!

This is the idea that somehow led to Hunters vs Poachers. The idea is that you have two teams that have a randomly-selected volunteer each that both appear on parallel tracks. These tracks present different kinds of obstacles that the runners have to go through. These tracks also happen to be very thin (2 blocks wide), and some of the obstacles are unsurmountable without the help of potion effects. Therefore, the rest of the teams is placed inside two tracks that are 20 or so blocks away from the two tracks, and the players are given bows and specialised arrows. The team members then have to shoot their opponent volunteer to harm them or knock them off, or their own with positive status effects so that they can get through obstacles. This is a lot more of a minigame and can be built much quicker, so I need to go over conceptualisation before anything.

TROPICAL ISLAND AND TRIBAL ADVENTURE MAP

For some reason, I got the inspiration to make an adventure map on a tropical island where you (and probably a certain amount of friends; multiplayer is so much more fun) are part of a tropical island's native tribe. I'll have to do a bit of research to choose what location brings the best cultures in real life which I can use as inspiration (east vs west pacific islands, indian ocean islands, african islands, etc). The idea I have at the moment is that you're a young teenager that needs to go through a trial to prove themselves worthy of adulthood. This trial can then go haywire as some natural disaster takes place, or possibly colonialists come over (although I am not as much of a fan of this idea), and you have to save yourself and your tribe. I'd love to have some people of the tribe follow you around/guide you throughout the island, so I'd need to learn how to make some custom A.I. for mobs (I'm having trouble finding anything on this topic at the moment). I can imagine this island being relatively small (less than a kilometre in diameter), with a volcano in the centre (natural disaster + good looks! This could mean it's a Hawaiian or other pacific island and tribe). I don't know why, but I've always thought of having games that aren't the usual context of today's modern world (actually not that common in minecraft custom maps), and from an english-world perspective. I recently saw videos of Far Cry Primal and thought it was such an awesome idea.

COWBOY AND WESTERN OPEN WORLD RPG

This is a map I was actually building a few years back, which I stopped for an unknown reason. It's pretty much a re-make of Red Dead Redemption in Minecraft. I loved the concept and still do, although I would have to re-conceptualise most of the map, because I simply hadn't thought things through. I had a currency in-game, which you could get more money by playing certain games (that were, back then, powered by huge redstone machines and had huge limitations, just like my arcade on JR! Those made for some great times though..). I really didn't think the map through at all though, which means that it's a good thing I didn't complete it then because I would have had a really inconsistent storyline. I'll start conceptualising soon! This map is much farther down my to-do list, compared to the one right before which I'd love to complete this summer.

OTHER IDEAS

I don't want to put too much on my plate, but I've had some other vague ideas of maps. Back in middle school, when minecraft (and JR!) was all the rage, I had four or five ideas of maps that I could build. However, I think the critical thinking skills I've gained really changed the way I saw these maps, since when I look back at them now I feel like none would have been good. Such maps included a horror map (with no real plot?~~), a puzzle map where close to every block has the same texture (therefore making for a really frustrating experience.. Where's the puzzle in that?!), a "combat training" map (which didn't really teach you to fight at all, it just put you up against mobs), and a RPG adventure-mode survival map with different islands (which I think could turn out well if I build it! However, the idea is pretty vague so I'd need to think it through some more). 

I think the new combat dynamics added into the game allow so much more! I honestly love the idea of having shields and enchanted arrows. I think single status effects can make a whole game if it's planned right (like Hunters vs. Poachers!). I'm really looking forward to building the first two maps, so please contact me if you'd also be interested.

..As if a single person out of the 20 that go on JR would read this whole blog post...  )

Franchovy