Tutorials/Creating a challenge map

You might want to make a challenge map. Need some pointers? Don't know where to start? Read on!

Before you start
If your map is going to be more than a sequential bunch of random puzzles, it is very helpful to plan out your map in advance. Though a plan can range from a simple bullet list to a block-by-block blueprint of the entire world, a good plan should include:

-Theme of the map; what it will be about

-Type of map

-General storyline (if any--used more for story-based adventure maps)

-A basic outline of what traps and dungeons you will put in (what they are and where they will be)

-Basic blueprints for any large structures that will be put in the map

-Redstone contraptions tested in another world.

Types of Challenge maps
Before you choose to make a challenge map, you need to choose what type of map you want it to be. Some types are;

Adventure - A challenge map made for players that go on an adventure in order to accomplish some goal. Parkour - A map that's just made for parkour. Survival - A survival world that is changed to make survival more difficult, or easy. A good example is the Skyblock map. Puzzle - A map that's made for puzzles. Game - A Minecraft mini-game, showcased in the form of a challenge map. PvP - Maps made for PvP. Arena - An arena with mobs spawning, that you must defeat.

Customize the Superflat world type
Changing the Superflat options can make a good Superflat survival world.

Make a spawn area
You could make a spawn pad, a pre-made house, or anything you can think of!

Add Bonuses
Hide some little rewards for the player. Extra surprises make a challenge map exciting and fun. Diamonds or emeralds work well, since it can be a fun way to keep score. If you want a surprise ending for the players to build up to (literally and figuratively), make the maximum bonus count a multiple of 9 (if the prizes are diamonds, gold, lapis, emeralds, or iron (maybe even coal!) to make the necessary blocks, for others it may vary).

Beacons give extraordinary powers, so why not add a mystic powers room? Haste, speed, strength powers etc, an enchanting table, the XP farm outlet, and some positive splash potion dispensers (maybe add some negatives for the lulz.)

Make obstacles
Add pits, traps, etc. Check out the Puzzles and Traps section.

Make dungeons
Making pre-made dungeons hidden around your map can give players a very fun time!

Add some fancy stuff
Hack stuff into your inventory. Monster Spawners would be useful for some traps or funboxes, or simply decorations. Bedrock or end portal frames could encase areas where you do not want the player to escape from. Ender Crystals look very elegant, but due to their obstructive and explosive powers, can be used as sorts of obstacles the player has to safely destroy. (Check out the "Look before you Detonate" trap!)

Checkpoints can be created by placing beds. A problem with this is that you can only use these at night. This can be fixed by using command blocks to either set the time to night or to set the spawn.

Dispensers with armour can be used.

You may even want to have a secret button. For example, a player gets given a bow and some arrows, and if they shoot a button, a secret door or path appears, leading them to a bonus room. It is ideal, though, to have obstacles in the way of the button, so take this into consideration when making the map.

Make a boss
You can make a boss out of redstone and dispensers. They are a great way to end any map. Also, you could spawn an enderdragon/wither in a room. Just remember to use the command /gamerule mobGriefing false, or weep!

Firework finale
When you finally finish the map, why not enjoy the occasion with a fireworks show? Hook up redstone to some dispensers, craft up some fireworks then let them fly!

Indiana Jones-ing
Make a large room and put lots of lava at the bottom. Now place a bunch of floating blocks which leads to a small alcove with a valuable chest. The aim is that the player must carefully jump on the blocks to get to the chest. (very similar to parkour)

Any blocks sitting next to the wall can be controlled with Sticky Pistons to extend and then go back into the wall, to time jumps.

"Tightropes" can be made by putting strings of glass panes or iron bars.

The Cakes Are A Lie
Place 5 cakes in a line over BUD switches for the player to eat. One of the cakes, when eaten, will push up a small chest area with valuable stuff. The remaining 4 will send the player into a very deep lava pit!

That Hurt!
Create a tripwire hooked to an arrow dispenser that one tripwire hook is on. The victim will start running then get pushed down a hole, causing fall/lava and arrow damage.

This trap is avoidable. If the victim runs fast enough and/or realizes, then the victim avoids the trap, but if you put a furnace facing in, the player might think that the dispenser is just an ornate tripwire dropping a prize.

What Tiles?
Create a room with a grid of wooden and stone pressure plates. Only some plates are good. For example, wood pressure plates are safe to walk on while stone ones push the player into the Void.

Be Flamin' Careful
Create a maze with netherrack sides at ground level. Set the netherrack on fire. Players will find it hard to complete this maze without a scald. To stop them jumping over the flames put some floating obsidian/bedrock/end portal frame blocks two blocks above the maze path. For some extra amusement, make it a maze that climbs upwards and then add a lever saying "Trophy" which when pulled will make a lava flow chase the player, who has to either burn in lava or burn in fire.

Be smart...
Put a hard question to solve with 3 answers. To do so, put 3 levers and 3 signs with answers. The right answer will open a path for the player to pass. Others will throw lava into the room. Take advantage of the fact that dispensers with Buckets can place lava, then suck it back up.

It's just H2O!
Make a path that goes slightly underground, then fill it to the ceiling with water. Add some air pockets so your players can breathe. Spawn some squid if you want to see some ragequits.

Creepah
Creepers are nice for dealing with your challenge map victims but can blow up parts of your structure, so try building the creeper room out of obsidian and add some inaccessible charged creeper spawners. Alternatively you can use /gamerule mobGriefing false to make it so that Creepers, Endermen, Zombies, Ghasts and Withers, yes, even those Ender Dragons in the boss room can't damage the enviroment.

Also, you might want to drop the player into a pit full of creepers. One of the nice things about this is the pit gets bigger as the creepers blow up. Give them a cheap tool like an iron pick to kill the creepers with, and add some small elevations or safe spots.

Look Before You Detonate
We all know that ender crystals explode when you destroy them? OK, so why not add this simple trap to your map (no stupid rhyme intended).

Put some lines of TNT underground, 1 block under the floor. Line these up to a central Ender Crystal obstructing the player's way. A simple lesson: look before you detonate something.

Sand Falls...
Tripwire is a very good tool and plays a role in this trap. Place a tripwire, then wire it up to a set of pistons. When the player comes along they will not see the tripwire, trip over the wire, and stumble into a hey... where did all the sand go? Make it fall into a ravine, a room with plenty mob spawners and if you are really mean, an end portal.

Run Fast
This trap takes advantage of the very fast speed you can achieve by sprint-jumping in a two-block high passageway. First of all, build a two-block tall passageway of whatever length you want. Put a pressure plate at the beginning of the hallway, and connect it to pistons that will retract the floor. Put in a delay, so that the floor will retract just after a sprint-jumping player gets through. If they aren't fast enough...

Test Your Brain
Put numbers along the game that players have to remember, then add a room to enter these numbers. If they get it right, they can move along. If not, they'd better explain it to the cactus. It is probably a good idea to prevent the players from going back to these numbers somehow, for example, using pistons to create a door that locks behind the players.

There! Oh, no nvm.
Make something like Indiana Jones-ing. Put attractive blocks like diamond / gold stuck to a wall. When the player touches it -Pressure plate/tripwire etc etc- the block would come to the other side and the player would fall in... The void? The end? Lava? Water? Charged creepers? Up to you.

Indiana Jones-ing... again...
Now that Dispensers can face upwards, fill them with arrows and put a pressure plate or tripwire on top for an instant semi-hidden trap.

Falling Floors
To make your level exciting, arrange a floor of TNT, with gravel on top. Then add a pressure plate on the gravel, so when you step on it, it disintegrates. Make some parts of the floor NOT fall, or a fail would render the level unplayable.

Mini-trap:
Put pressure plates around a diamond block or chest. The player will think this is a trap,with a chance of rage quit.