For the most part, I think this is how I do some of my small maps (doing the defaultish maps is a different story). Started out with a square made up of two triangle polygons.
![](http://i77.servimg.com/u/f77/11/07/35/23/tutori10.png)
Get the basic of basic layout down, with all of the squares connecting each other correctly.
![](http://i77.servimg.com/u/f77/11/07/35/23/tutori10.jpg)
Moved the polygons around to a more sensible layout design. Some more polygons may be added later. You can split the polgons by pressing Ctrl+L when you have a vertice selected.
![](http://i77.servimg.com/u/f77/11/07/35/23/tutori11.png)
Basic shading.
![](http://i77.servimg.com/u/f77/11/07/35/23/tutori11.jpg)
A more detailed shading. Subtle shading is the theme here. They should still be noticeable, though, otherwise the map would look bland.
![](http://i77.servimg.com/u/f77/11/07/35/23/tutori12.jpg)
Sceneries added. They should look like they could be put into a canyon. For most sceneries, they'll be put to the back. Middle sceneries might clutter up the action a bit, given the size of the map.
![](http://i77.servimg.com/u/f77/11/07/35/23/tutori13.jpg)
Spawns added. Don't forget to overlap the polygons before maptesting. I'll skip the waypointing part.
![](http://i77.servimg.com/u/f77/11/07/35/23/tutori14.jpg)
After maptesting, I thought I'd add like 3 or 4 colliders and a flag spawn, turning it into a HTF map as well as a DM/TM map.
Compile, save, and
there you have it.