10 Rules for Beginner Mapmakers

Now, I feel the need to digress and talk about the biggest mistake that some (often young) map creators make: in their understanding, “a cool map = an impassable map.” That is, they create maps that (as they believe) no one will be able to complete. Most often, this manifests in the fact that the last enemy that needs to be defeated in the finale has extremely high skills and a huge army. And, most likely, the creators of such maps are proud of themselves. My dear friends, you need to understand: this is fundamentally wrong! The correct approach is: “a cool map = a difficult, but passable map!” That is, the creators of “good” maps come up with not only difficulties for the player but also a way to overcome them! Such maps may seem impassable, but in reality, they can definitely be completed if you find the right approach. And the creators of these maps not only theoretically assumed such a possibility but also practically managed to do it themselves.
I will try to explain what the mistake is (although some people find it very difficult to understand). The goal of the player (and the author too!) is to reach the end and win. Then the player experiences maximum satisfaction, and the author along with him. However, if the author experiences satisfaction when the player fails to complete his map, then this author needs to seek help. This person is a deceiver and a thief because he steals from players the most valuable thing that he will never be able to return: time.
Sometimes, maps also become impassable unintentionally because their creators were too lazy to test them. This is how sometimes very attractive and actually good maps end up in collections and circulate, but due to the authors' mistakes, they become completely or conditionally impassable: that is, in some cases, they can still be completed if you make some clever maneuver, sometimes not foreseen by the author, or take advantage of some randomly available opportunity (for example, you start on an island without a shipyard and a boat and sit, waiting for the enemy to swim to you, and then you can sail away on his boat).
Therefore, I have 3 huge requests for everyone who creates their maps:
1) create passable maps!
2) test the maps! At least once, you must play through to the end until you achieve victory. Only after that can you offer the map to others, in the online collection, etc.
3) and, of course, all errors found by you or other players must be fixed! Don't keep them in your head: for a thousand reasons, you can forget them. Immediately write down what needs to be changed. And even better (if it is an error that can be fixed immediately, without requiring reasoning and calculations), open the map and fix it right away.