This is a plan I made up a while ago, but I lost the notebook containing it. At last, I managed to find it. This is a checklist designed with a personal release in mind, but most of it applies to all mapping projects. Enjoy.
A. Planning
1.Draft (Walls, Stairs, ect. Just plan the map layout)
2.Pictorial Drawings of details
3.Mark entities
B. Map Hull
1.All vis blocking walls
2.Do not texture
3.Any Major Terrain (Rough out)
C. Map Details/Model/Make Textures
1.Texture the map
2.Add the models
3.Make all brush entities
4.Add lighting.
D. Place Entities/Sound Effects
1.Do all sound
2.Place player entity (or entities)
3.Place weapons and ammo
4.Place any other point entities
5.Place Monsters (if applicable)
E. Cinematics
1.Place Actors
2.Script Scene
F. Playtest/Fix Bugs
1.Do playtesting by yourself (with +showbudget and wireframe to test vis.)
2.Playtest with other people (this is very important, and commonly forgotten)
G. Publish
1.Use a template readme for all your maps.
2.Be sure to include all necessary file (all custom textures, models, sounds, and scripts)
3.Make a zip file (Be sure to save directory path in such a way that the player can just unzip in their game directory.
4.Post on more than one site.
Note: I'm not telling anyone they have to do it this way, just a suggested path for making sure you get your projects done
Also I wasn't quite sure where to put this, does it belong in this forum?