Balance is the key, young grasshopper.

As mentioned before, the key feature I want my map to contain is 'Balance', what I mean by this is being able to create a map that will compensate for a variety of play-styles, as well as keeping opposing advantages to a minimal. To explain what I mean in a little more detail, I'm going to do a break down of "de_dust2" from the Counter Strike franchise.

de_dust2 is the most common map player in Counter Strike 1.6, and as you will see from the screenshots later in the post, it's not due to it's stunning scenery, or visual creativity, in fact it's quite the opposite. de_dust2 is a very simplistic map that minimizes tactical advantages for picking a specific route. The map is made up of 4 major points on the map; Terrorist spawn location, counter terrorist spawn location, bomb site A, and finally bomb site B.

 Terrorist Spawn (A Side)

To the left is a screenshot of the Terrorist Spawn site in de_dust2 Counter Strike 1.6. From this angle you can see there are 3 instant possible routes for you to take; Down the ramp which you then have an option to take 'Middle' or 'Long', over the ledge and into the tunnel to take 'Middle' or under the archway to take an approach to 'B Site'.

 Terrorist Spawn (B Site)

To the right is a view of the Terrorist Spawn from the other side of the archway I mentioned in the previous screenshot. This allows you team to take a tunnel directly into the 'B Bomb Site', or they can take a route that leads back into 'Middle'

Middle

Pretty self explanatory but to the left is the middle route of the map. Middle Doors leading to  CT Spawn/ B Doors, Upper platform leading to A site, and lower Tunnels leading to B site. This single strip of the map is connected to pretty much every other part of the map in some form, creating multiple routes and tactics for your team.

 A Bomb Site, 'Long' &

Counter Terrorist Spawn

To the right is a screenshot showing Bomb Site A (Marked with an X), Counter Terrorist Spawn (The dark area under the archway), and 'Long'. This shows the main route from T Spawn avoiding Middle, nicknamed 'Long' for being the longest stretch of of map besides Mid. The walkway above CT Spawn is a means of entering from Mid.

B Bomb Site

This is the second and last bomb site on de_dust2. This consists of 2 main entrances, and another small entrance on the left commonly referred to as window. There are only 2 ways to get directly into the site, that is through the door on the left, linking Middle Doors mentioned earlier, or the Tunnel (mentioned in T spawn B).

Below is the Map Overview of everything I have mentioned above. The map is reasonably small, but holds a large number of stratigical possibilities. ('Spot 1' being Bomb Site A, and 'Spot 2' being Bomb Site B)

Ok so by now you're probably wondering "Why have you shown me screenshots of an ugly game and told me where they lead to?". The reason for the above is to try and showcase map balance, and effective use of alternate routes. This may seem irrelevant and somewhat pointless, but a well planned map reduces unfair advantages to a given team, increases comfort for a players preferred play-style, and opens up a wide selection of tactics to engage teams/ team players, which generally make up for a large percentage of the target audience.