I may be motivated to finish it, if we get a group of players that want to play it.
MAIN FEATURES OF THE MAP:
1) Balanced starting position for all 8 players
2) Some chokepoints on the map (narrow point with hills and forest)
3) Furthermore the most and best resources in the center
4) Spread all other resources across the map:
some northern resoruces (e.g. fur, deer), some southern resources (banana, win etc.), some eastern and some western.
>>> Then you have reason for war and trade.
5) Make sure everybody has copper in the start.
6) Put a large barb city in the center, with some developed improvements (copper, horse and iron). (optional)
7) Make land / sea crossing (like an "X", give these rivers). Then all rivers are connected and all lands are connected.
These can be crossed by sea forces if one posesses the fortress at this location.
8) Place some little islands with crucial resources in the rivers to make sea war also interesting.
9) Make land at some points one tile wide (so by building a fort somebody can go from one body of water to the other.
10) Make it a visually appealing map
11) Name points of interest for increased immersion.
12) Increase level of interaction between players by making landbridges. This allows for naval or land invasions, or both
13) Make map wrap both from north-to-south and from east-to-west (again increased interaction and more possibilities)