With Heroes II and Heroes III, it was argued that user-made maps could and did exceed the professional maps in quality. While we don't expect everyone to produce maps that are absolutely top notch, we do expect maps posted here to have had a minimum of care and effort put into them!

Hence:

• No random maps. We've all got the same capacity to generate them. This also covers maps generated mainly with the random map facility. We won't ban maps generated partly with the random map facility - but three hours spent adding events and things is probably still going to leave a map that people can tell came from the random generator. The map will be rated accordingly! Note: Random Maps are associated with HOMM3: Armageddon's Blade. As yet there seems to be no such facility for HOMM4.
• Playtest your map carefully. Do not submit a map that you, yourself, have not played to completion - and won! Maps with multiple human starting positions should be played to completion at least once, and preferably twice, from each starting position.
• Next, get someone else to playtest your map for you. We will have a list of volunteer playtesters you can contact to help you with this. Another person may find a lot of faults that were not obvious to you, the mapmaker ... I make maps myself, and I find this kind of feedback invaluable. Maps which haven't been playtested properly are usually pretty easily identified. I am considering whether or not to require the playtester to submit a rating for the map before it is approved.
• Try and evaluate the map objectively. Do you enjoy playing it? (Well, okay, you've now played it half a dozen times, and are bored with it. If it were new to you, would you enjoy playing it? Did you enjoy your first full playtest?) If the answer is no, then why would you expect other people to enjoy it? Such a map would only attract poor reviews. If you still want the map to go somewhere, ask on one of the forums for help or advice.
• No rude language. We will be testing for the obvious as maps come in, and looking carefully at maps anyone complains about. Mere lack of english skills is another matter, easily remedied - if your english is not very good, ask for someone to check it for you before you submit the map!
• Your map should be entirely your own work. ('You' can be plural; the map may have a few makers.) Map Theft is a serious offence. If you are found to have modified someone else's map without their permission, we will chase you down and make your life harder in a big way - starting by talking to all the other Heroes websites about your offence, and deleting the account you may have created here.
  Improving someone else's map is a can of worms we're not going to get into. If you don't have permission from the original mapmaker, don't do it. If you do have permission, give proper credit - making a map is usually a lot more work than modifying one! (If you're on the other side of this coin, and you suspect someone else has modified your map without your permission, email abuse@heroes.mycomport.com)

• Each map should have a unique name. We don't want ten different maps called "The War" - it confuses things. We *do* want to know the map name as it is shown in the HOMM window - including 'A' or 'The' as required. The web form will barf if a map of the same name already exists.
• Each map should be zipped, together with an explanatory text file, with suitable file names. These filenames should fit the format 8.3 - that is, no long filenames, and no punctuation in the file name except the dot separating the name from the extension. So, if the map's name is 'Reach the Havens' then the filenames should probably be something like ReachHvn.h4m, Reachhvn.txt, and Reachhvn.zip. This prevents people getting confused when they download the zipfile from our site. Further, your zipfile should not include any 'directory' information - it should *not* unzip to 'c:\heroes\pooky\newstuff\maps' or anything like that.
• Fill in the readme file with care. Most of the contents of this file (template below) will be copied or cut-and-pasted to the online form when you upload the map. Players will take this information into account when deciding whether or not to download and play your map. If your english is bad, it will put people off - so ask for help if you need it!
• Maps, once uploaded, must be approved by an administrator before they will turn up in most map searches. (Logged-in visitors can search specifically for un-approved maps.) This involves looking at the text of the map, among other things. Maps with offensive language will be rejected.

On the other hand, think about the maps you'd like to download. That's all most people ever do - download maps and play them. (And maybe rate them, and some people review them.) Wouldn't you rather be able to get a bit of information on the map before you started it? Wouldn't you rather download maps that were at least Okay, preferably good? I thought so. But to make an Okay or Good map takes time - to make a Great map may well take several months (depending on map size, among other things.) It's not one afternoon's work - even for the most experienced and fastest mapmakers. And if you weren't planning on sinking very much time into the map, then you should feel discouraged. If you were enjoying the creative act, we've got a whole guild that's all about making good maps! (grin) It has a collection of tips and articles written to help you make good maps.