Idea for a 10v10 Map
So, I had an idea for a map built for two teams of 10 players each. A disclaimer: I'm relatively new to the boards; an idea like this may have been presented before by someone else; I haven't found it if it has, but I also haven't conducted a thorough search of all map ideas ever; you'll just have to take my word that I came up with this idea on my own without knowledge of anyone else having it. Another disclaimer: this isn't a 100% spec'ed out map with everything planned out down to the jungle monster smite buffs; I don't even have specific tower locations picked out. This is closer to being an idea stub; a map template more than a map. This disclaimer will probably make more sense once you actually read and see the idea, so I'll get started on that.
Basically, the main concern with a 10v10 map is where all the extra people will go. Obviously, they're going to need more lanes or bigger lanes (or descend into chaotic crowding, which is also fun, but has its place). I opted for more lanes, but how/where those new lanes are added is where my idea gets its uniqueness.
Basically, imagine two Summoner's Rifts wrapped around a cylinder so that there's only one Blue Spawn and only one Red Spawn, each on opposite sides, with six total lanes connecting the two (three on each side). The pictures I've attached are of this map flattened out using portal logic and will potentially help you visualize it. The Spectator View is how I imagine match spectators seeing the map and is (to me) the view that is easiest to understand. The Blue Team View is how I imagine members of the Blue Team seeing the map; this view makes it easier to keep track of what's going on in all the lanes. Red Team would have their own version with Red Spawn in centre. Team View map is what I envision calling positions being based on (for instance, "Left Mid" or "Right Jg"). For any map view, anything that goes off the left side of the map appears in the appropriate place on the right side of the map, and vice versa (this includes a player's or spectator's camera).
A legitimate concern with this setup is that, rather than two teams of 10 players each, this will feel more like four teams of five split into two camps with common goals. One way to avoid this would be to let towers act as portals to their equivalent on the other side of spawn. Outer Turret on Left Top lane would allow you to portal over to Outer Turret on Right Top lane. This effect would probably only work if both towers are still standing; cooldowns and/or channel times could also be added, but I would advise against high cooldowns, or else it will act as more of a third summoner spell than a way to move around a huge map. Another question would be about the difference between spawn and nexus. Would there be two nexuses (Nexi?), one on each side of spawn? Would that mean that destroying one ends the game or that you have to destroy both? Would there instead be one nexus with spawn on some sort of platform above it or split into two spawn platforms? The answer to all of these questions is "I don't know; the point of this isn't to provide a step-by-step plan that I expect Riot to incorporate exactly as such. The point is to bring forward the seed of an idea that they can hopefully use to bring something unique to the game. Failing that, it's a chance to use my seed of creativity to inspire more creativity in the community."
This brings us back to the comment I made near the beginning about this being sort of a map template, this basic idea could be extended to all sorts of things. 10v10 Dominion, 6v6 Twisted Treeline, or even other stranger variants could all be created from this basic idea (different number of lanes on each side, multiple teams daisy-chained together, etc).
