I got a youtube comment on one of my videos, I wrote a long reply, and as usual I will now repost it here for the 5 people who like reading my random yappings.
Depends, I sometimes place wtmt platforms on half blocks for example since it doesn’t mess with scenery too much. Sometimes random things/obstacles/nadeo items will be placed in freemode. Scenery uses freemode pretty often for random crap you wouldn’t expect would require it but it technically does. On the fs maps like this one a lot of the features (walls, loops, etc) use freemode block rotations, and I’ll more often use half blocks and stuff on those as well. Some maps just use a bunch of freemode since it’s part of the theme such as Parabolic or Hyperion’s Retreat.
At some point the line between freemode and using an item is super blurry, since we kind of have more freedom with items than freemode at this point (most freemode positions/rotations that are used either already have or could easily have item equivalents). I mostly stick to the grid since it’s just easier for mapping and scenery, also just a more robust framework for building off of your map and making transitions than trying to use random blocks. I’m not really a purist in any sense but there is something to be said for if you freemode every transition you make you’ll just try fewer blocks & have less variety/novelty in your maps. I wouldn’t really buy into the effort/restriction worship of ‘this particular set of restrictions is always superior!‘. The point of restrictions breed creativity isn’t that limiting yourself to a more objectively restricted ruleset makes your art cooler, it’s that by changing the medium you are working through via restrictions you can force yourself to find new ways of doing things and create something novel.
It’s also worth noting that most people who map for long enough in tm2020 end up with a kind of soft default ruleset for their building as a way of maxmizing long term quality/novelty/enjoying mapping, usually restricting freemode to some context of use as I described in my maps and sometimes other random things. Some people avoid items they deem not vanilla enough, although almost nobody actually restricts themselves to 100% vanilla blocks only. People generally don’t arrive at these ‘default rulesets’ by coming up with them and consciously imposing them on themselves, it’s more of a general process over time that tm2020 mappers at least tend to fall into as a kind of natural tendency, although at some point they will often start enforcing the rule on themselves even when it inconveniences them whether it would actually negatively impact the map in the given situation (I do this occasionally, sometimes I’ll just try to find a solution for a while, then either locate one, try something else, or just give in and break whatever arbitrary rule I was attracted to). Basically while these are still in a sense restrictions, they function completely differently and serve completely different purposes than something like a mapping competition theme where you adopt a given restriction to build in. The restriction should not be inherently seen as valuable in and of itself, it is only valuable in so far as it helps with doing the things you actually care about, if it has already served it’s purpose and you know it would be better to break it in a given situation (ie editing an already finished map to fix something), it is pointless to allow a made up rule to have power over you.
Anyway I doubt you wanted an essay in response but I didn’t want to answer this question without also giving my I guess ideological position on it since many people who ask questions about freemode are looking to read something into it (usually inherently valuing the avoidance of freemode, which I hope it is clear how that is silly if you also use custom items, and how the oft repeated restrictions breed creativity point doesn’t apply).
As a note, while I think the people who view tmnf maps as a higher form of art due to the medium are kind of annoying, this is not really commentary on them (at least directly), more just my own view of tm2020 mapper psychology, and at that, just my own perspective and interpretations of my communications with other mappers.
Related: A short commentary on cynical TM mapping yappers and restrictions.
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