In the background is the only necessary ingredient I need these days for mapping. A month ago I would have said NIN Further Down the Spiral (remix).

No candles, or incense, though I like my lighting to be set on low. 

Fess up! What rituals do you perform before, during or after mapping?

I need to make sure the duct tape is securely fastened around the people's mouths so I can map in silence. 

I can map any time or place,
I can map outside of space.
I can map when Scampie !kicks,
I can map on Shambler's dick.
I can map over there,
I can map when I'm bare.
I can map night or day,
I can map. Bl1tz is gay.
I can map any time,
I can map when I write stupid responses to threads.

Errrr.... nevermind. 

I can't map with anyone in the room. Period. It's weird but I need to be totally alone to feel comfortable when I'm mapping.

Minimal light is also a must.

I have to have music when I'm doing it. It helps to get over the more boring stretches.

Coffee/caffeinated beverage isn't necesary, but it's usually present.

TV off. 

yes, i'm dating new gf now for further sacrifice. so expect more maps from me soon... 

i'd have a lot more released maps!

But i can tell you that all the necessary conditions are mental, not environmental. I have to have a certain amount of energy, a good block of free time, and be calm and focused. Listening to music on headphones helps, but only to block out distraction, not becuase i need music. 

- 1 tall frosty beverage
- 1 plate full of sugared or salted munchies
- 1 girlfriend in another room
- 1 black cat asleep on my desk
- 1 other black cat asleep on couch behind me


Optional method is to fill a pipe with mari*****a and slowly puff away at it like it were tobacco during the mapping session. 

Good music
Light down
Lot of free time
Drink and Food in case of long mapping session...

That should be the better environment... But in most of case, it's really hard to group all these conditions when you are nor alone at home... Believe me: don't be married !! 

Cool topic. All about the esoteric rituals.

P.S. Pope, what other cat?? 

I map best under pressure actually. No music, no creature comforts, just good old-fashioned FEAR. To be more specific:

"OMG OMG OMG I should have started this shit 5 years ago! Oh Jesus Christ I've been working on the same map for nearly 6 months! What did you say? Quake 3's already out?!? When? 1999?!?! AAAGGHH!! WHAT? DID YOU JUST SAY 'DOOM 3'?!? OMG! OMG! (BEES) AAAAGGHHH!!!"

Yeah, that sounds about right. 

When mapping I tend to:

- wait until at least 8 PM (or whenever it becomes dark enough)
- have music in the background (kind of music highly depends on mood)
- tell everybody around me to shup up or (preferably) go away
- have tea or an energy drink (Red Bull or Battery) around
- sometimes consume salted peanuts 

My little garrot is more or less permanently set up for mapping and related activity.

Light - low; table lamp with enregy saver bulb angled towards the floor. Candles are on hand, but I usually reserve them for playing rather than mapping.
Sounds - actually, given most of my collection is on CD, I tend not to waste time sifting through. The soundtrack to my mapping is usually the steam boiler in the corner cupboard. Sometimes DCD.
Food - toast + whatever. It's only the duration of a novis/nolight compile to and from the kitchen.
Drink - budget cola, perpetually. No sugar, no caffeine.
Misc - smokes. My readmes usually report the estimated tab count for a given project. New cartons purchased only during full compiles.
<hack>*cough*
Prior to a mapping session, the only ritual I might perform is the Boiling Of The White Kettle. And maybe the odd goat gutting, for appearances mostly.



Kinn. Dude. Chill. We're not going anywhere and neither are our Quake executables. 

together with sacrifices i require winter and rains and autumn, everyone knows that. so wtf i'm typing this here... 

You forgot dark forests and evile ambience from the speakers. 

... cool sounds of rain, wind and thunder, adding screams of blooded suffering people in Hell is the best ambiance for a good mapping session... 

You guys are stranger than I ever imagined. Mapping is just that, mapping. I map when I feel like it, which has been quite often as of late. 

And that's not really a *need*, just a preference. Something to drink is nice.

I've been listening to Creamy Radio a lot lately:

http://www.thecreamygoodness.com/ 

i don't really need any special things to map.

i just need to be in the right frame of mind to map. i don't really know what constitutes this frame of mind, just that when i'm in it, i map. :P

music helps, but i usually have something going all the time. for mapping, it also depends on my mood. i don't really listen to a particular type of music... sometimes i listen to generic bass ambient stuff, other times black metal. the titles music to Alien is also great, as is the titles music to The Postman.

light needs to be bright bright bright. i use two energy saver lightbulbs that are equal to 100Watt normal light bulbs. if i knew how, i'd wire up some fluorescent lights instead.

aside from the music, it must be quiet.

the temperature should be fairly cold... no more than 22c.

if it's fall or spring, i like the window open. the smell of the outside freshness is really cool and inspiring, i find.

aside from that, there's really nothing else to it... 

I find that careful usage of a certain 19th century optical toy often increases my mapping productivity, particularly during the later, i.e. "finishing", stages. 

No one maps nude. 

czg hasn't posted yet. 

I can map over there,
I can map when I'm bare.

Thank you for noticing. 

 

I can't map with anyone in the room. Period. It's weird but I need to be totally alone to feel comfortable when I'm mapping.

I can say the same. Nobody should be at least in my room.

Unlike most of you I prefer to map with bright light. (That makes me sure that my map won't scare me ;)

Music - slow, relaxing, something old, nothing fast and modern.

And no food or drinking during my mapping process