Ok firstly, I'd like to say I have played with hammer editor slightly creating water slopes working doors and working lights (with buttons for on|off). But I do have questions that I'd like to ask that may or may not be of help to other RnD mappers and especially helpful to myself.
-What exactly is considered a small, medium, large, extra large size map.
if you see 2560 x 2560 x 120 (x,y,z) do you consider that a medium or large, what kind of size measurements would you consider those categories so planning can be done.
Answer: (Mephis)
1 unit - cabel
8 units - a simple wall
16 units - Truss, concrete wall
24 units - Massive concrete wall
-How exactly to make slow opening, fast opening doors.
I know how to make a normal door but how would I make like a gate to a fort or a metal slow closing door (I figure its using a func_ something to tell a part of the map to move in a direction at a certain speed)
Answer: In the properties menu, go to the option that says speed. Experiment with that untill you get the desired speed. (Hotgreensoldier)
-Elevators, traitor testers for ttt gamemodes, ttt traps (floating red hands like on minecraft to break the glass).
enough said
Answer:
TTT Mapping: http://ttt.badking.net/mapping-guide (http://ttt.badking.net/mapping-guide) (Mehis)
Elevator: (Mehis)http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q4JztLvGyFM
I may add more questions to this original post if I think of or run into any problems and really appreciate any information, pictures, videos, links that you provide.
Well, you can really guess by yourself is the map too big. Just, don't go over the grid.
It doesn't really matter. The only thing that matters is how many entitys it uses and is it optimized.
TTT guide
http://ttt.badking.net/mapping-guide (http://ttt.badking.net/mapping-guide)
Elevator
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q4JztLvGyFM