Okay, to start this guide I'm going to name some things that I find useful.

CTRL+Flatten, CTRL+Raise

Now, not a lot of guides talk about these, even though they are very useful.

CTRL+Flatten

When you use CTRL+Flatten, it sets your flattening tool to a desired height. For example: If you want to take a mountain down without having to fill the hole the default flatten creates, then use CTRL+Flatten. To use this, you hold control (while on your flatten tool) and tap on ground with your desired height, e.g. the base of the mountain. Now your flattening tool is set to that height, and all you have to do is, well, flatten it!
https://youtu.be/lVVRzth6bGU

CTRL+Raise

Not as useful as the flatten, but still useful. CTRL+Raise does the opposite of the regular raise, which means it lowers the terrain. To use it, just hold control while using the raise tool.
https://youtu.be/-ktO4JE6RGw


Imperfection, as Blender Guru says, is the virtual perfection. You never want things to look perfect. Because let's be honest, no-one, and nothing, is perfect in the real world. Why would they be in Ravenfield? A town doesn't have to be totally organized. Trees don't have to be the same size. So, that's why you should always think: "What would look real?", instead of: "What would look good?". This is because every living thing on Earth adapts. Everything changes. So, if you wan't to make something look realistic, don't imagine it in your head. Look out your window, take pictures for reference. Do what real things and people do.

Oh, mother of God. When I see maps that use auto-paint for their final product, I almost puke. Now, don't get me wrong, auto-paint is useful. It speeds up the process of bulk-painting your grass areas, and it gives you an idea where grass shouldn't be in great density, if at all. But, it doesn't do very well at looking...nice. Here's an example of what auto-paint does:

Like, what's up with the sand in the grass? And the grass in the mountain? That's the weird thing auto-paint does. But, it does paint. It also shows what parts of your beach are too high, and where your mountains aren't steep enough. So, in conclusion, auto-paint should NOT be used as you final-product paint job. But that doesn't mean you shouldn't use it.


Now, a map without vehicles is usually slow-paced, and in general not very fun. But, a map that uses the wrong vehicles is also quite unplayable. For example: A small map with planes, Bomber Planes specifically. Now, that just won't work. Planes need space to strafe and turn, and it's even worse when there's more than one anti-aircraft cannon. You get in the air, maybe one strafe, and you're shot down, and hopefully your plane crashed into some enemies and you're not shot parachuting down. Now, I'm not going to tell you what vehicles should go with what maps, because that's on you.

Ok, so when I look through a lot of maps, what I see is a lot of repetitive trees. Now, I'd like to show pictures of this, but for some reason every picture I take of LIMEADE ASSAULT , by LEMONCIDE is over 2 MB, Steam's picture size limit. So, I will put a video in here.
https://youtu.be/YV011jrVKiY
This one isn't as bad as others I've seen before. Honestly, the map is quite interesting. There's different sized trees, which is a bonus. BUT, none of them are rotated. When I make a map, each tree I place is in a slightly different rotation. If it's on a hill, I rotate it so it looks like it's kind of sticking out of the hill.
Here's another video, comparing rotated trees and non-rotated trees:
https://youtu.be/D2oY1WKfbJ4
Another way to make forests look better is by scaling them, just like LEMONCIDE did. Here's a video of how I do it: https://youtu.be/AaBEFfTHNXk
Now, as you can see, the forest isn't rotated at all. But changing the sizes does help, and it doesn't take that long. Just in case you're wondering, hold CTRL when selecting objects to select more than one. Hold Shift when you want to place more than one object.
More things to make your forests look better are:

• Make sure not have too many or too little, because when you have too many trees you can't see the bots, but they can see you (tree leaves don't provide cover from bots). If you don't have enough trees, well your forest won't even be a forest!
  
• Use a darker type of grass for your forest floor, like Meadow Grass.

Primitives are great. They open up plenty (but not endless) possibilities. But they are quite hard to master. And, they usually won't look too realistic, because of the lack of basic colors like black and red, and the lack of actual primitives themselves. You see, there are only five primitives:

• The Sphere
  
• The Cube
  
• The Cylinder
  
• The Plane
  
• And the Capsule

Yep. No triangles or octagons. No trapezoids or pyramids or cones. Now if you don't use primitives you're probably like, "Well what do you even need a cone for?". Well, top's of castle towers for one. Maybe even an ice cream truck's big ice cream cone that is always on top of it. If you were on of us, you'd know. That's why you should be one of us! Now, here's a video showcasing an abandoned project I called, "Little Wars". Now in this map you would use some toy soldier skin pack, and the whole map would be one big house. And in my literal dreams I would picture little toy planes taking off of shelves and flying throughout the house, but that, sadly, didn't work. Now, the one room I finished before testing (which was stupid of me not to test my idea before putting hours and hours of work into it) looked quite good. I was very proud of myself. Right here is a little tour of the room:
https://youtu.be/xcZWMxAOL44
So yeah. The whole room was pretty much primitives, which shows how useful they can be. But, it didn't look totally realistic. Like the mouse for the computer, which was just eww.
Now, if you wan't to get good at using primitives, I recommend making a test world. In this world you can make primitive houses, chairs, even statues. Keep on practicing, and you'll find new innovative ways to use them. Right here is my first ever attempt with primitives. It is an Easter egg in my very unknown "The Three Islands" map. I really don't recommend it, but you can try it if you want. (All map links will be at the end of the guide)
https://youtu.be/3qiC5u7u9b4
As you can see, It's supposed to be some sort of alien cannon, because of the UFO in the background and stuff. You know, I think that map has like 5 Easter eggs. lol

Another map I just started working on is literally all primitives. It's the map "Quarry" from COD Modern Warfare 2. Here's my progress so far: https://youtu.be/K_dzpZ00jmU
This map looks really good so far, and it shows that the in-game editor can be used to make some quality content. But right now it's only about 10% finished, and I'm expecting to have it done in like 5 months.

Ok, so a town in a map is almost always a good thing to have. It keeps the map from being just a lot of hills and trees. Towns are usually good for breaking up long range battles and adding a little spice to your map. There's also a lot of different levels of combat if the town is made good.
Here's an example of a "good" town. Now, this town is called Himmelsdorf and it's from WOT (World of Tanks). This map was obviously made for tank combat, and It's kinda half decent. https://youtu.be/uz332DzcDac
A good town mixes it up, doesn't have straight rows of houses. Usually there's some sort of town square. There's plenty of ways to make your town look better than the average. Add some trees and give the houses yards. Just don't be one of those people to put houses in straight rows, that's lazy and ugly.

Alright, so I've made a discovery. A pretty groundbreaking one at that. This discovery allows you to have octagons, actual wooden floors, and much more!

Now, as you can guess, this discovery is scaling assets. Most people do it, but not in the way that you can get all these weird and interesting shapes. Now, what I do is take something ordinary, like a Wood Cabin for example, and flatten it. This is what you get:
Alakazam! Wood Flooring!
Now, there are many things you can do by scaling assets, so I'll help you out and show some of my personal favorites :

Name: Sawmill Roof
Use: Maybe some sort of roof for buildings in a poor city, like from that one COD map we all know.
Scaling: 1, 1, 0.01
Image:


Name: Ladder Model
Use: Well, as you can see, this is big enough to hold troops. It is also solid (I play tested it), and maybe it can be used as some sort of bridge. You can also scale it to 1 or maybe 5, and it will have different layers, adding to the play-ability.
Scaling: 100, 0.1, 100
Image:

Name: Scalable House Top
Use: It is a square without the insides, so maybe, enlarged, it could be use as some sort of grid-system style map?
Scaling:10, 10, 0.1
Image:

Name: House Roof Porch
Use: Jail cell.
Scaling: 1, 10, 1
Image:

Name: Clay Well
Use: It looks like it could be used as some sort of bridge, honestly there are a lot of possibilities with the clay well.
Scaling: 10, 1, 10
Image:

Name: Concrete Pipe
Use: Much road/highway possibilities with this one I see.
Scaling: 10, 10, 0.1
Image:

Name: Plane Hangar
Use: Up-close, this actually looks like carpet.
Scaling: 0.1, 0.1, 0.01
Image:

Name: Workbench Covered
Use: Tattered Rug capabilities?
Scaling: 1, 0.1, 1
Image:

Name: Industrial Lantern
Use: It's an octagon.
Scaling: 2, 2, 0.1
Image:

Name: Industrial Lantern
Use: A window for some spooky Halloween house? Or maybe a window to a submarine...
Scaling: 2, 2, 0.1
Image:

Name: Chain
Use: Some sort of roof for a bridge? It honestly looks cool, but be warned: not all parts of it are solid, and you'll just fall through most of it.
Scaling: 150, 0.01, 2
Image:

Welp, that's all I got. But I am sure that their are many more out there. If you find one and want to share it, just comment the name of the asset, the use of it, and the scaling and I'll take care of the image. (:

Alright, before going into this, I'd just like to say that I got permission from each of these map creators to use their maps as examples, and that's what I'm doing here. I'm showing you real maps for reference on what to do and what to not do.



Game-play if anyone wants it. https://youtu.be/lpXoL8M672o


Blood & Sand is a pretty good looking map, but right away I saw one flaw. If you watched my game-play, then you might've noticed it too. But if not, it's the amount of trees on the mountains. It's literally a blanket of trees. But, the mountains are not used in actual game-play, so I guess it doesn't really matter too much. But, I did notice those carriers. Great use of primitives right there! Overall, I'd rate the looks 8/10.


There is one definite flaw in the game-play, and that's the bridge. Now, usually it isn't a problem in matches like battalions. But, in domination and point match (the two modes recommended by the creator) it is. And this is because of the fact that the bridge is pretty much a stalemate the whole time. Not once in my entire match did any team get to the other's side. And every time you just gotta hope that you have the flags on your side, or else you'll lose. But, it was very action-packed and quite fun, so I'll rate it a 7/10 for game-play.


Game-play, once again, if anyone want's it. https://youtu.be/kjV1r7mUKRA


So, let's just say the mountains don't look so good. This is because of the type of rock Mike decided to paint them. If they were, for example, painted Grassy Rock the map would look much better. Aside from that, the runways were not actual solid objects, they were painted as well.
The fort itself looked pretty good, and overall I'd rate the looks 6/10.


Well, the game-play is just like any other "rush the fort" kinda maps. But, I really don't see the point in having planes. As I said earlier, having planes in a small map isn't good. They get shot down right away. It's not even my terrible piloting, even the bots (which are set on hard, but not sure if that means anything) can't stay in the air! Other than that, it's pretty fun, and I might play it every once in a while. 8/10 for game-play.


For the second to last time, here's game-play if ya want it. https://youtu.be/UNn4SllWwnM


I mean, eh. This map was pretty obviously made in short time, and it's understandable why. It's got what it needs, and no-one really cares, as long as it feels like zombies. 5/10 for the looks.


Ok, so half the bots just sit at their flag, and it's easy to just pick them off. But, there aren't a lot of maps made specifically for zombies, so I can't raise my standards too much. I gotta do with what i got. But, overall, game-play is 6/10.


Now, for the last time, here is some mild game-play! (My recorder isn't working atm, will update soon!)


The map is good looking, with a good use of primitives and rocks. Nothing else, really. 8/10 for the looks.

Very good game-play as well, the school being good for CQC (close quarters combat for the uneducated XD), and everywhere else for medium to long range battles. 8/10 for the game-play.

Alright, so to end it off I'd like to say a few things:

• Thanks for reading through! I'm so proud :D
  
• I'll add on to this based off of comments, which means if I see somebody saying I missed something, I will put it in and give credit where credit is due
  
• If you are looking to become even better at map making, you better head on to Unity. The in-game editor is pretty limited at the moment
  
• If this guide somehow gets popular, I will update it with more sections, such as mountains and towns

Links of maps used in the process of making this guide:
https://sp.zhabite.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1860631447
https://sp.zhabite.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2039045559
https://sp.zhabite.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2067507557
https://sp.zhabite.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2069430776
My very own maps:
https://sp.zhabite.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2055928480
https://sp.zhabite.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2036046645