.. you can have choice between top-down and bottom-up player's progression... or even a mix of it...
As example Chton could be in a lava bath at the bottom of the babel tower... In anyway, a size of 512x512 sounds to be a good compromise.... maybe adding limitations on entities/item use is not so good, while brush number use (i.e less than 1024) is a must...

...my 2 cents...

Are lift allowed ??? :P 

how big is 512*512, an example from another map would be a good idea 

it's pretty small. my sm127 was 512�.
i don't know of an area of roughly that size in any of the id maps now, but you can get an idea by taking a look at the wall textures in e1m8: two of those solid metal plates make 512. 

anything is allowed, except for teleporters if we follow metl's suggestion closely. though i wouldn't mind a few here and there, unless they are used in excessive amounts or are the only means of moving vertically. 

Would 768x768 be too much? Maybe with a 2nd rule stating that it would have to be at least 2048 or 4096 units tall? 

with those 100b maps, was the brush limit an impact on gameplay as well as looks ?

just wondering because I remember some of czg's maps of those being very good gameplay wise and was thinking whether the limit posed an extra challenge in implementing the gameplay too? 

how about innovative gameplay for a change 

In some sense, yes. For example, every time the mapper adds a monster that teleports in, that uses one brush for the teleporter. And there are smaller things too, like now the mapper can't just make ledges wherever he wants for monsters to stand on, so adding a 3D component to battles can be tricky depending on how the map is designed. 

I'd rather see a non-technical limitation - brush / entity / texture / size limits are boring. I really like the tower of babel idea, but i don't want to map inside a 512 box no matter what - these limitations only annoy me :> 

That's why i suggested:

2 * (width at widest point of map) + 2 * (length of longest point of map) < (total height of map)

I think this cures the vast restrictions of having a 512x512 map, while still ensuring that the map is definetly a vertical oriented one. 

The vertical idea sounds excellent. I'd suggest that teleports (besides summoning in monsters) are allowed, but only for horizontal movement. 

Continue the discussion here please:
http://www.celephais.net/board/view_thread.php?id=60070 

Apparently this kid got arrested because he made a FPS level based on his high school: http://www.fortbendnow.com/news/2847/chinese-community-rallies-behind-student-removed-from-clements-over-pc-game-map

Also, they searched his bedroom:
"They arrested him," Chen said of FBISD police, "and also went to the house to search." The Lin family consented to the search, and a hammer was found in the boy�s room, which he used to fix his bed, because it wasn�t in good shape, Chen said. He indicated police seized the hammer as a potential weapon.

I like how they confiscated his Hammer � guess he�ll have to switch to UnrealED from now on.

But seriously, a hammer? Because that's the preferred weapon of terrorists and kids who shoot their classmates?

Anybody have a link to download his level? 

but still: screenshots please 

http://gamepolitics.com/2007/05/02/school-board-ponders-students-counter-strike-of-map-of-his-school/#comments

Is the discussion at game politics. Didn't know about the hammer - thats just fucking retarded.

Poor kid, not only not want to map again, he'll probably get a bad back from his broken bed. 

that is a crime in its self, but seriously, officials have only two sets of gears 1 - ball scratching, 2 - over reaction. 

another opportunity for some cocksmoking politician to gain some �profile�.... 

Seriously, who has NOT done this? It's like the first thing nearly every kid decides to try when he first discovers level editors.

(I didn't :D) 

It was probably a close call that I didn't kill my entire family, because, y'know, that's how that shit works. 

I mapped out the entire Terrafusion channel. Shits goin' down man. 

I mapped your mom.

ALL. NIGHT. LONG.

It was pretty good map, had a nice layout and some interesting DM gameplay, got a 9/10 on LvL. 

I hope you decreased the number of rocket launchers from 4 to 2 and increased the amount armor shards. 

http://blogs.guardian.co.uk/music/2007/05/whats_the_worst_song_lyric_eve.html

some really funny contributions in there but then it starts to stretch thin by the time someone claimed this as a bad lyric:

Knockin At Your Backdoor by Deep Purple

"Sweet Lucy was a dancer/but none of use would chance her/because she was a samurai"

That is an awesome lyric. 

Dunno, might chance her - got a phone number? 

but do you ever want to be put in the position of breaking it off with a Lady Samarai?