Hey everyone, over the last year I've been busy working with a huge team of builders developing Monumenta, a CTM MMO. I've developed several dungeons, a lot of the behind-the-scenes mechanics and balancing, and led the quest design for it. If you've enjoyed my work in the past please check it out and hop on the discord, as I think you'll enjoy it and the closed beta will be starting soon. Here's the trailer and official announcement:
Team Epic is pleased to announce MONUMENTA, an open-world survival CTM MMO. Made over the last year by expert builders such as Heliceo, Render, Fangride, Kaladun, and Chipmunk, Monumenta boasts over 2 square kilometers of survival terrain. In this gigantic world you'll find:
- Over 50 respawning mini-dungeons, from old mines to massive temples
- Player owned apartments, plots, and guilds
- Over 300 custom items
- Epic quests with fabulous rewards
- Custom class system with powerful abilities
- Massive multi-hour raid dungeons for groups who want a true test of skill
This epic adventure will be free to play. Join the Monumenta discord channel: https://discord.gg/hdrQHu2 for more information and for a chance to join the closed beta soon.
While I don't know the specific error, I'd advise against using that filter in the first place. First off, it's about 4 years old at this point and thus has issues, plus minecraft already has a built in system that will randomly populate chests for your based on a pre-set list you create (loot tables).
More important though, is that random loot with a lot of variance is not a good idea for making a map. Instead of doing random loot, try flying through your areas and asking yourself "what will the player want while they're here?" and giving them loot based on that. For example, if there's an area with a lot of blaze or ghasts, give some arrows and maybe some fire prot or blast protection armor, along with some blocks for building in a chest. The player will be happy when they find that loot chest instead of having a random chance of being disappointed if you use that filter. Doing it this way gives you much tighter control over the balance and flow of your map, and the overall experience will be much better for it.
At this point, the thread is primarily used for archival purposes, reviews, and new map announcements. Most of the actual conversation has moved to the discord channel here: https://discord.gg/kQdrZkv. It has over 160 members of all mapping skill levels, active community projects, and other stuff like random mapping challenges or UHCs, and is pretty much where the community is now. If you're already on there, of course ignore this, but I'd encourage you and any lurkers who want to make maps to join the channel.
I was told I would get feedback really fast on this thread. The only response I've gotten so far is someone telling me the quality of the photo isn't good. Am I the only one who has way too much time on their hands? Geez, I'll probably complete my CTM map before I get a response saying, "not enough detail, me not likey"
Yeah, forums move slowly. If 2-3 days is so long to wait for feedback, definitely come try the community discord, although it is a lot less serious.
As for your area, I really like the lava tower, it has a nice shape to it. The rest of the structure though is bland and rectangular. Try adding some color to it and making that right edge not align with the portion in the back, that will add some depth. Also, the stalactites in the ceiling are thin and it looks weird. Instead of a straight line, try flaring them out with a 3-5 block wide base that tapers down to the tip. It's a good start though, and again, I'd say join the discord if rapid response is what you want.
I suspect the root of the problem to be in the line "{SelectedItem:{tag:{display:{Lore:[=JumpBoost=]}}}}" I'm no expert with commands, but from what I can tell, SelectedItem only applies to items in the hand.
Yes, SelectedItem only applies to your held item. What you have to do instead is look in a specific inventory slot, like so:
{Inventory:[{Slot:100b,tag:{display:{Lore:[=JumpBoost=]}}}]}
100b is the feet slot, 101b legs, 102b chest, and 103b head. You can find the full list at http://minecraft.gamepedia.com/Player.dat_format#Inventory_slot_numbers, but this is how you'd test for an item in a specific slot. Hope that helps!
By all means, Acaran, please add my guide to the OP.
And add blade's review to the OP as well, preferably without condescension and disdain. While I might've rated Inferno Mines 10-12 myself, not only is the content of his review spot-on and informative, but his prose filled with sardonic wit that makes it a fun read. There is zero reason to censor his criticism.
Hi everyone, Kaladun here. Judging by the newest Strawberry Jams and the discord chat, I know there's a lot of new mapmakers in the community with lots of cool ideas. I think a lot of people, both mapping newbies and veterans alike, are scared of command blocks, so I wanted to break down three simple but powerful effects we can do with command blocks in the hope of both teaching and giving you some ideas. So welcome to the first
CTM Command Block Tutorial
Now, a quick note before we dive in, this is designed for 1.9 and 1.10 mapping as the new repeating and chain command block types make these tricks a lot easier. You can do all of these in 1.8, but you'll need to make fill clocks in lieu of the repeating blocks.
#1 - Mob Proximity Effects
Sometimes, you want a monster to do more than just physical damage. You want something dangerous to happen when the player gets close to them. Blindness, slowness, poison, or maybe even buffs if you're super nice. Either way, it's all the same command. Let's start by making a mob to work with. For this tutorial, we'll use "Evil_Wizard", as shown below.
_
Note the "_" in the middle of the name instead of a space. For commands, a mob's name has to be one connected string. This command will have two parts, and we'll go through them one at a time. First is the execute command, which will trigger another command around a mob:
/execute @e[name=Evil_Wizard] ~ ~ ~
The @e is a target selector that selects every available entity. Then it only chooses the one with the name "Evil_Wizard". The ~ ~ ~ then says that we'll run our second command at the mob's location. Next, we'll use the effect command:
/effect @a[r=3] slowness 5 0
The effect command is pretty simple. "@a[r=3]" will target all players within 3 blocks of the command's origin, which will be the Evil_Wizard. "slowness" refers to the effect and you can replace with whatever debuff you'd like. "5" is the duration in seconds the effect lasts, and "0" means the level 1 effect (1 would be level 2, 2 level 3, and so on). Putting these together we have:
Place this in a command block and set it to "Repeat" and "Always Active" like below and voila! Players will be slowed whenever they get near your Evil_Wizards! Enjoy making your areas even eviler with this trick. Of course, you can use any mob and status effect for this trick, so you could make deadlier foes with effects like wither, or even healing beacons by executing from armor stands and the regen effect.
#2 - Particle Effects
Our Evil_Wizard from #1 is nice, but it could stand to be even more evil looking. We'll do that with particles, in this example by making arcane runes float around our wizard. First off, let's choose our particle effect. You can see the list at http://minecraft.gamepedia.com/Particles. For this example we'll be using "enchantmenttable". Like before, this is a two part command; we'll use "execute" like before to select each Evil_Wizard, and a new command, "particle":
/particle enchantmenttable ~0 ~1 ~0 1 1 1 0.5 10
The first 6 numbers describe a box around the entity that the particles will spawn in. The first three numbers are the center of the box relative to the entity. The next 3 scale the size; you'll probably have to mess around with these, as they act differently for different particles. The 7th describes the speed of the particle; increasing it makes for a more energetic looking effect. Finally, the 8th says how many particles it'll make, in this case 10. Putting the commands together we get:
As before, place in an active, repeating command block and you'll have all the effects you want. Try playing around with the numbers and different particles to see what you can make.
#3 - Special Weapon Effects
With its slowness aura and intimidating particle effects, we'll need a powerful weapon to take down the Evil_Wizards. Let's make a sword that gives the player a speed buff. Using something like MCstacker, NBTedit, or MCedit, give yourself a special sword like this:
The critical part isn't the enchantments or even the base item, it's the default colored lore text "=Ninja=", which we'll use to detect when it's being used. Make sure your item has that lore text. Next, type and run the following command in chat:
/scoreboard objectives add Ninja dummy
This will create a 'scoreboard' for us, essentially a variable we can use to track numbers. This command only has to be run once, which is why we used the chat there. Now though, we'll break out our command blocks. Place a repeating command block down (set to always active), and then two chain command blocks after it, like so:
Chain command blocks will trigger when the previous command block in the line does. Note the 'arrows' on the top and sides, it's important that they all point to the next block in the sequence. Now, starting with the repeating command block, enter these commands in order, one per command block.
The first command block is our most complicated, but we'll go through it piece by piece. 'scoreboard players add' lets you add a number to a scoreboard of selected players. '@a' means we'll look at every player. 'Ninja 1' means that if our player matches some criteria, it'll add 1 to their Ninja score. Finally, the bracketed portion at the end will detect if the held item has the lore tag =Ninja=, just like our sword. So, if the player holds the sword, it will add +1 to their Ninja scoreboard.
The effect command should be familiar to you, but our @a has a new criteria. 'score_Ninja_min=1' means that this effect will only work on players with a Ninja score of 1 or higher. Finally, 'scoreboard players set @a Ninja 0' resets every single player's Ninja score to 0. This is important because without this reset a player would only have to hold the sword once and they'd have the effect forever. With all of these in place, try switching back and forth between items and you'll see the speed effect appear and disappear.
Here's everything together; the slowness and particles from our Evil Wizard, and the speed from our ninja sword.
This basic approach of incrimenting a score, doing an effect, and then resetting is very useful, and can be used for more complicated effects like area damage, armor sets that increase in power, or items that place fire or torches. Mess around and explore what you can do with scoreboards and this method and you'll easily be able to make memorable weapons and items for your map.
I hope this helped someone learn, or maybe just inspire some interesting ideas for a new map. Let me know if there's other commands or techniques you'd like to see explained, as I'll happily do another one of these if it helped people or there's requests.
Agreeing with Fang, there's lots of maps still in production but the quality bar for a map to be considered 'good' has risen over the last few years. Plus, a lot of people like me do a lot of command blocks mechanisms, which adds even more time.
I know the Red Court is intended for "2+ experienced players", but can you play singleplayer? Or is the map too hard if you are on your own?
It's absolutely playable if you go solo, just don't expect it to be easy. The boss fights will probably be the hardest parts, but as long as you use good tactics and manage your gear well you should be fine.
So I haven't played this game in 2 years and a couple days ago I decided to play it and go back to my favorite thing about it, Making CTM maps. I worked a little bit on a map and decided to play test it in the most current version 1.9 and It's impossible. 1.9 completely breaks CTM maps, This new combat system is awful, The attack cool down is the worst thing ever implemented in this game. The only way I can get around it is if I make the player wear a certain item that negates the cool down effect which I refuse to do because that means the player will loose an armor slot. Are all future CTM maps going to have to be made and played in 1.8?
It's not bad, just different. The main changes are that early game combat is slower so you have to use less spawners early on. Skeles are also more dangerous, and should be used sparingly or nerfed for the first one or two areas, as well as giving the player shields early on. Once the player gets to mid-game though, combat is pretty much identical to 1.8, with swords being better for crowd control and axes better single-target damage. It will take some getting used to, but you can definitely make a good ctm in it.
Hey everyone, as some of you may know, I've been working on a minimap lately, and am pleased to announce it's release into open beta! It's called "The Red Court : An Adventure in Vampire Slaying" and is a 3-wool CtM specifically designed for 2 to 3 players. It has unique item sets, four deadly bosses, and three classes with branching ability trees. The Paladin class specializes in melee, giving bonuses for fighting undead and loads of extra health and power. Rangers are generalists, with speed, haste, and survival skills ensuring they can work great alone or with groups. Finally, Clerics have unique buff, debuff, and healing abilities, and can eventually even forsake armor for their God's blessing. Screenshots are spoilered below, followed by the download links. Have fun
The Shadow Waltz, where music and hedonistic cries echo through the grand halls
The Garden of Repose, the former resting place of great warriors, now made restless...
Archive of Lost Truths, where fire and zeal guard mysteries long since lost to mankind
How do you make good looking flowing rivers? (Lava or water) Any advice?
I'm not a river expert, but I think the biggest thing is to keep in mind how they'd work in real life. Make them flow downhill and through valleys, wind back and forth a bit (all rivers will wind over time), and form lakes if they have nowhere to go. Some nice block variation along the edges will do a lot too; in a rocky or especially desert area the area near a river will be a lot more verdant and overgrown than the rest of the world, and in a forest area there will be loads of trees and bushes nearby.
Hey everyone, I've been working on this mushroom forest but it doesn't feel right, something is missing.
Any advice?
The ground is way too plain. Maybe try scattering in some coarse dirt, mycellium, or stained clay for different textures. Something like a few mushroom blocks on the ground like fungal bushes might also spice it up. Also, I personally like putting slightly different blocks around the edges of lava pools; try darkening the edges of them with whatever accent block you use.
Well, sure, but the most important part of a map is how it starts, right ?...
My newest CTM is in 1.8 (you can check the 1st page ^^) for that reason, I think that a CTM in 1.9 is impossible to balance. And that's a shame because they added really cool stuff that we cannot use because even a skeleton is too much to handle without gear....
If the thing in every 1.9 CTM is to use a lot of command blocks just to feel like it's 1.8, what's the point of updating ?
While the beginning is important, 1.9 just makes stuff different, not bad. For example, I give skeletons -4 health and -10% move speed in the first area, but really, how is that any different from having to buff mobs to use them late game? Sure, handling it without gear is harder, but frankly, I've always hated the ctms that expect you to do the entire first area with 2 pieces of bread and a knockback stick, although that's just personal preference. I find it more fun to start out with some fun gear and dive into the madness.
As for the command blocks, you misunderstood me. I embrace the 1.9 features. Weapons with custom attack speeds, bosses with levitation, off-hand items that can give special effects, leather armor that has the defense value of chain, loads of new stuff that would've been impossible before. I even have a weapon that is just as useful to spam-click as it is to wait for it to fully recharge. All you'd really need to make combat feel like 1.8 is to make a sword with an attack speed > 4, and that's trivial to do.
So I've been doing a bunch of mapmaking in 1.9 lately, and I think most of the criticisms to it only apply early game. The early game is a lot slower, and you definitely can't spam mobs as much as normal, and have to go very light on the skeletons. The initial gear chest in my upcoming map has 2 shields in it for just that reason. However, as soon as you start getting high-end leather gear or basic iron weapons it plays almost identically to 1.8. And while the slowed down early game is a little disappointing, there's enough benefits and cool things you can do such as magic arrows, easier command blocks, and more customizable armor, that I think 1.9 is worth it. And I'm saying this as someone who used to say "1.9 is awful, I'll stick with 1.8 forever"; actually messing around with it did a good job of changing my mind.
1
Hey everyone, over the last year I've been busy working with a huge team of builders developing Monumenta, a CTM MMO. I've developed several dungeons, a lot of the behind-the-scenes mechanics and balancing, and led the quest design for it. If you've enjoyed my work in the past please check it out and hop on the discord, as I think you'll enjoy it and the closed beta will be starting soon. Here's the trailer and official announcement:
Team Epic is pleased to announce MONUMENTA, an open-world survival CTM MMO. Made over the last year by expert builders such as Heliceo, Render, Fangride, Kaladun, and Chipmunk, Monumenta boasts over 2 square kilometers of survival terrain. In this gigantic world you'll find:
- Over 50 respawning mini-dungeons, from old mines to massive temples
- Player owned apartments, plots, and guilds
- Over 300 custom items
- Epic quests with fabulous rewards
- Custom class system with powerful abilities
- Massive multi-hour raid dungeons for groups who want a true test of skill
This epic adventure will be free to play. Join the Monumenta discord channel: https://discord.gg/hdrQHu2 for more information and for a chance to join the closed beta soon.
4
While I don't know the specific error, I'd advise against using that filter in the first place. First off, it's about 4 years old at this point and thus has issues, plus minecraft already has a built in system that will randomly populate chests for your based on a pre-set list you create (loot tables).
More important though, is that random loot with a lot of variance is not a good idea for making a map. Instead of doing random loot, try flying through your areas and asking yourself "what will the player want while they're here?" and giving them loot based on that. For example, if there's an area with a lot of blaze or ghasts, give some arrows and maybe some fire prot or blast protection armor, along with some blocks for building in a chest. The player will be happy when they find that loot chest instead of having a random chance of being disappointed if you use that filter. Doing it this way gives you much tighter control over the balance and flow of your map, and the overall experience will be much better for it.
1
At this point, the thread is primarily used for archival purposes, reviews, and new map announcements. Most of the actual conversation has moved to the discord channel here: https://discord.gg/kQdrZkv. It has over 160 members of all mapping skill levels, active community projects, and other stuff like random mapping challenges or UHCs, and is pretty much where the community is now. If you're already on there, of course ignore this, but I'd encourage you and any lurkers who want to make maps to join the channel.
0
Yeah, forums move slowly. If 2-3 days is so long to wait for feedback, definitely come try the community discord, although it is a lot less serious.
As for your area, I really like the lava tower, it has a nice shape to it. The rest of the structure though is bland and rectangular. Try adding some color to it and making that right edge not align with the portion in the back, that will add some depth. Also, the stalactites in the ceiling are thin and it looks weird. Instead of a straight line, try flaring them out with a 3-5 block wide base that tapers down to the tip. It's a good start though, and again, I'd say join the discord if rapid response is what you want.
0
Yes, SelectedItem only applies to your held item. What you have to do instead is look in a specific inventory slot, like so:
{Inventory:[{Slot:100b,tag:{display:{Lore:[=JumpBoost=]}}}]}
100b is the feet slot, 101b legs, 102b chest, and 103b head. You can find the full list at http://minecraft.gamepedia.com/Player.dat_format#Inventory_slot_numbers, but this is how you'd test for an item in a specific slot. Hope that helps!
2
By all means, Acaran, please add my guide to the OP.
And add blade's review to the OP as well, preferably without condescension and disdain. While I might've rated Inferno Mines 10-12 myself, not only is the content of his review spot-on and informative, but his prose filled with sardonic wit that makes it a fun read. There is zero reason to censor his criticism.
14
Hi everyone, Kaladun here. Judging by the newest Strawberry Jams and the discord chat, I know there's a lot of new mapmakers in the community with lots of cool ideas. I think a lot of people, both mapping newbies and veterans alike, are scared of command blocks, so I wanted to break down three simple but powerful effects we can do with command blocks in the hope of both teaching and giving you some ideas. So welcome to the first
Now, a quick note before we dive in, this is designed for 1.9 and 1.10 mapping as the new repeating and chain command block types make these tricks a lot easier. You can do all of these in 1.8, but you'll need to make fill clocks in lieu of the repeating blocks.
#1 - Mob Proximity Effects
Sometimes, you want a monster to do more than just physical damage. You want something dangerous to happen when the player gets close to them. Blindness, slowness, poison, or maybe even buffs if you're super nice. Either way, it's all the same command. Let's start by making a mob to work with. For this tutorial, we'll use "Evil_Wizard", as shown below.
_
Note the "_" in the middle of the name instead of a space. For commands, a mob's name has to be one connected string. This command will have two parts, and we'll go through them one at a time. First is the execute command, which will trigger another command around a mob:
/execute @e[name=Evil_Wizard] ~ ~ ~
The @e is a target selector that selects every available entity. Then it only chooses the one with the name "Evil_Wizard". The ~ ~ ~ then says that we'll run our second command at the mob's location. Next, we'll use the effect command:
/effect @a[r=3] slowness 5 0
The effect command is pretty simple. "@a[r=3]" will target all players within 3 blocks of the command's origin, which will be the Evil_Wizard. "slowness" refers to the effect and you can replace with whatever debuff you'd like. "5" is the duration in seconds the effect lasts, and "0" means the level 1 effect (1 would be level 2, 2 level 3, and so on). Putting these together we have:
/execute @e[name=Evil_Wizard] ~ ~ ~ /effect @a[r=3] slowness 5 0
Place this in a command block and set it to "Repeat" and "Always Active" like below and voila! Players will be slowed whenever they get near your Evil_Wizards! Enjoy making your areas even eviler with this trick. Of course, you can use any mob and status effect for this trick, so you could make deadlier foes with effects like wither, or even healing beacons by executing from armor stands and the regen effect.
#2 - Particle Effects
Our Evil_Wizard from #1 is nice, but it could stand to be even more evil looking. We'll do that with particles, in this example by making arcane runes float around our wizard. First off, let's choose our particle effect. You can see the list at http://minecraft.gamepedia.com/Particles. For this example we'll be using "enchantmenttable". Like before, this is a two part command; we'll use "execute" like before to select each Evil_Wizard, and a new command, "particle":
/particle enchantmenttable ~0 ~1 ~0 1 1 1 0.5 10
The first 6 numbers describe a box around the entity that the particles will spawn in. The first three numbers are the center of the box relative to the entity. The next 3 scale the size; you'll probably have to mess around with these, as they act differently for different particles. The 7th describes the speed of the particle; increasing it makes for a more energetic looking effect. Finally, the 8th says how many particles it'll make, in this case 10. Putting the commands together we get:
/execute @e[name=Evil_Wizard] ~ ~ ~ particle enchantmenttable ~0 ~1 ~0 1 1 1 0.5 10
As before, place in an active, repeating command block and you'll have all the effects you want. Try playing around with the numbers and different particles to see what you can make.
#3 - Special Weapon Effects
With its slowness aura and intimidating particle effects, we'll need a powerful weapon to take down the Evil_Wizards. Let's make a sword that gives the player a speed buff. Using something like MCstacker, NBTedit, or MCedit, give yourself a special sword like this:
The critical part isn't the enchantments or even the base item, it's the default colored lore text "=Ninja=", which we'll use to detect when it's being used. Make sure your item has that lore text. Next, type and run the following command in chat:
/scoreboard objectives add Ninja dummy
This will create a 'scoreboard' for us, essentially a variable we can use to track numbers. This command only has to be run once, which is why we used the chat there. Now though, we'll break out our command blocks. Place a repeating command block down (set to always active), and then two chain command blocks after it, like so:
Chain command blocks will trigger when the previous command block in the line does. Note the 'arrows' on the top and sides, it's important that they all point to the next block in the sequence. Now, starting with the repeating command block, enter these commands in order, one per command block.
/scoreboard players add @a Ninja 1 {SelectedItem:{tag:{display:{Lore:[=Ninja=]}}}}
/effect @a[score_Ninja_min=1] speed 1 0
/scoreboard players set @a Ninja 0
The first command block is our most complicated, but we'll go through it piece by piece. 'scoreboard players add' lets you add a number to a scoreboard of selected players. '@a' means we'll look at every player. 'Ninja 1' means that if our player matches some criteria, it'll add 1 to their Ninja score. Finally, the bracketed portion at the end will detect if the held item has the lore tag =Ninja=, just like our sword. So, if the player holds the sword, it will add +1 to their Ninja scoreboard.
The effect command should be familiar to you, but our @a has a new criteria. 'score_Ninja_min=1' means that this effect will only work on players with a Ninja score of 1 or higher. Finally, 'scoreboard players set @a Ninja 0' resets every single player's Ninja score to 0. This is important because without this reset a player would only have to hold the sword once and they'd have the effect forever. With all of these in place, try switching back and forth between items and you'll see the speed effect appear and disappear.
Here's everything together; the slowness and particles from our Evil Wizard, and the speed from our ninja sword.
This basic approach of incrimenting a score, doing an effect, and then resetting is very useful, and can be used for more complicated effects like area damage, armor sets that increase in power, or items that place fire or torches. Mess around and explore what you can do with scoreboards and this method and you'll easily be able to make memorable weapons and items for your map.
I hope this helped someone learn, or maybe just inspire some interesting ideas for a new map. Let me know if there's other commands or techniques you'd like to see explained, as I'll happily do another one of these if it helped people or there's requests.
1
Agreeing with Fang, there's lots of maps still in production but the quality bar for a map to be considered 'good' has risen over the last few years. Plus, a lot of people like me do a lot of command blocks mechanisms, which adds even more time.
0
It's absolutely playable if you go solo, just don't expect it to be easy. The boss fights will probably be the hardest parts, but as long as you use good tactics and manage your gear well you should be fine.
2
It's not bad, just different. The main changes are that early game combat is slower so you have to use less spawners early on. Skeles are also more dangerous, and should be used sparingly or nerfed for the first one or two areas, as well as giving the player shields early on. Once the player gets to mid-game though, combat is pretty much identical to 1.8, with swords being better for crowd control and axes better single-target damage. It will take some getting used to, but you can definitely make a good ctm in it.
7
Hey everyone, as some of you may know, I've been working on a minimap lately, and am pleased to announce it's release into open beta! It's called "The Red Court : An Adventure in Vampire Slaying" and is a 3-wool CtM specifically designed for 2 to 3 players. It has unique item sets, four deadly bosses, and three classes with branching ability trees. The Paladin class specializes in melee, giving bonuses for fighting undead and loads of extra health and power. Rangers are generalists, with speed, haste, and survival skills ensuring they can work great alone or with groups. Finally, Clerics have unique buff, debuff, and healing abilities, and can eventually even forsake armor for their God's blessing. Screenshots are spoilered below, followed by the download links. Have fun
The Garden of Repose, the former resting place of great warriors, now made restless...
Archive of Lost Truths, where fire and zeal guard mysteries long since lost to mankind
Download : Link Removed
Thread : http://www.minecraftforum.net/forums/mapping-and-modding/maps/2389762-ctm-kaladuns-ctm-maps-the-red-court-now-in-open
0
I'm not a river expert, but I think the biggest thing is to keep in mind how they'd work in real life. Make them flow downhill and through valleys, wind back and forth a bit (all rivers will wind over time), and form lakes if they have nowhere to go. Some nice block variation along the edges will do a lot too; in a rocky or especially desert area the area near a river will be a lot more verdant and overgrown than the rest of the world, and in a forest area there will be loads of trees and bushes nearby.
2
The ground is way too plain. Maybe try scattering in some coarse dirt, mycellium, or stained clay for different textures. Something like a few mushroom blocks on the ground like fungal bushes might also spice it up. Also, I personally like putting slightly different blocks around the edges of lava pools; try darkening the edges of them with whatever accent block you use.
0
While the beginning is important, 1.9 just makes stuff different, not bad. For example, I give skeletons -4 health and -10% move speed in the first area, but really, how is that any different from having to buff mobs to use them late game? Sure, handling it without gear is harder, but frankly, I've always hated the ctms that expect you to do the entire first area with 2 pieces of bread and a knockback stick, although that's just personal preference. I find it more fun to start out with some fun gear and dive into the madness.
As for the command blocks, you misunderstood me. I embrace the 1.9 features. Weapons with custom attack speeds, bosses with levitation, off-hand items that can give special effects, leather armor that has the defense value of chain, loads of new stuff that would've been impossible before. I even have a weapon that is just as useful to spam-click as it is to wait for it to fully recharge. All you'd really need to make combat feel like 1.8 is to make a sword with an attack speed > 4, and that's trivial to do.
2
So I've been doing a bunch of mapmaking in 1.9 lately, and I think most of the criticisms to it only apply early game. The early game is a lot slower, and you definitely can't spam mobs as much as normal, and have to go very light on the skeletons. The initial gear chest in my upcoming map has 2 shields in it for just that reason. However, as soon as you start getting high-end leather gear or basic iron weapons it plays almost identically to 1.8. And while the slowed down early game is a little disappointing, there's enough benefits and cool things you can do such as magic arrows, easier command blocks, and more customizable armor, that I think 1.9 is worth it. And I'm saying this as someone who used to say "1.9 is awful, I'll stick with 1.8 forever"; actually messing around with it did a good job of changing my mind.