Speed Mapping

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Speed Mapping

Postby Text_Fish on Sun Nov 21, 2010 11:58 pm

Is anybody interested in doing semi-regular speed mapping challenges on Interlopers? From what I can see, the general consensus seems to be that Map Battles are pretty defunct, at least in their current state and that's what got me thinking about speed mapping. Anytime somebody suggests a 'playable' theme in the Map Battles they either get shot down or met with an awkward silence and some funny looks, so would it help to call it something other than Map Battles? Seems a little precious, but if that's what's needed...

Anyway, I'm not suggesting anything particularly revolutionary here. It's something that's been done for years on func_msgboard and I'm sure numerous other mapping sites, but for the benefit of anybody who's never done one I'll lay it out basically:

Everybody has a set amount of time to produce a playable map for a specified game. Unlike Interlopers Map Battles, the maps are judged by how well they play rather than by eye-candy -- if someone happens to produce a pretty map with interesting gameplay in the time given, more power to'em, but the main focus should always be gameplay orientated. Enhance the game, change the game or break the game -- if it's fun to play, it's eligable.

In the interest of encouraging people to try out crazy ideas I would suggest a timelimit of one week. Over on func_msgboard they barely have an hour, but they're working with Quake 1 which is a much simpler beast than any current games, so a week would be roughly equivalent, in my opinion.

Like the Map Battles, each challenge would have a theme, but instead of "Noir" or "Shiny" it would be something like "Teleporters", "Melee" or "Chase".

At the end of the week, everyone either emails their submission to one interloper or uploads them to a pre-agreed space and then everyone has a little play and talks about what they like.

I would also suggest that instead of voting for a winner, there's merely an open discussion (featuring only constructive criticism), which will usually make it pretty clear whose map is the most popular anyway.

So, anyone interested? ... or awkward silence and funny looks?
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Re: Speed Mapping

Postby Plague on Mon Nov 22, 2010 2:11 am

I like the idea. Sounds fun.
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Re: Speed Mapping

Postby darkpivot on Mon Nov 22, 2010 2:22 am

Interesting, although I suck at making maps quickly. I may still give it a go though. :P
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Re: Speed Mapping

Postby Armageddon on Mon Nov 22, 2010 3:23 am

We've done these. viewtopic.php?f=3&t=33440
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Re: Speed Mapping

Postby Guessmyname on Mon Nov 22, 2010 4:22 am

Could use a group Dropbox for managing submissions. Either way, I'm in!
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Re: Speed Mapping

Postby Ark11 on Mon Nov 22, 2010 8:48 am

I like the idea but 'Speed Mapping' is putting me off. What sort of 'Speed' are we talking about, if it's like 2 days to make a map I don't like the idea but if it's like 10 days to make a map i'd enter.
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Re: Speed Mapping

Postby SotaPoika on Mon Nov 22, 2010 11:40 am

http://www.worldofleveldesign.com/ arranges "11 day mapping challenges" that have turned out pretty good I think.
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Re: Speed Mapping

Postby antie on Mon Nov 22, 2010 7:06 pm

This would be a good idea as it wouldn't require that much of a commitment and you wouldn't get sick of your map before completing it :) I would enter for the fun of competing.
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Re: Speed Mapping

Postby Armageddon on Mon Nov 22, 2010 7:16 pm

Ark11 wrote:I like the idea but 'Speed Mapping' is putting me off. What sort of 'Speed' are we talking about, if it's like 2 days to make a map I don't like the idea but if it's like 10 days to make a map i'd enter.

Those mini-map battles give us 2 hours to make a map, is fun! :D
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Re: Speed Mapping

Postby Plague on Tue Nov 23, 2010 12:46 am

Ark11 wrote:I like the idea but 'Speed Mapping' is putting me off. What sort of 'Speed' are we talking about, if it's like 2 days to make a map I don't like the idea but if it's like 10 days to make a map i'd enter.


Text_Fish wrote:In the interest of encouraging people to try out crazy ideas I would suggest a timelimit of one week. Over on func_msgboard they barely have an hour, but they're working with Quake 1 which is a much simpler beast than any current games, so a week would be roughly equivalent, in my opinion.
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Re: Speed Mapping

Postby Ark11 on Tue Nov 23, 2010 5:22 am

Plague wrote:
Ark11 wrote:I like the idea but 'Speed Mapping' is putting me off. What sort of 'Speed' are we talking about, if it's like 2 days to make a map I don't like the idea but if it's like 10 days to make a map i'd enter.


Text_Fish wrote:In the interest of encouraging people to try out crazy ideas I would suggest a timelimit of one week. Over on func_msgboard they barely have an hour, but they're working with Quake 1 which is a much simpler beast than any current games, so a week would be roughly equivalent, in my opinion.

I said 'like 10 days to make a map' to back up the time he suggested. Not because I'm an idiot who didn't read the thread.
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Re: Speed Mapping

Postby Plague on Tue Nov 23, 2010 6:59 am

You seemed to be suggestion something he already suggested...
Maybe I missed the question.


np though.
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Re: Speed Mapping

Postby Text_Fish on Tue Nov 23, 2010 11:07 am

Thanks for the responses. It's interesting to see what other people do. The results of the 2 hour one are visually very impressive, but - this may just be my noobishness - I don't think I'd be able to fully realise a fun/original gameplay concept in such a short time. The World of Level Design one has also got some really pretty entries, but again it seems to be all about the looks/atmosphere.

Personally when I think of speedmapping, I think of crazy logic/trigger setups, unusual monster placement, etc. with visuals being very much an afterthought, and that sort of thing requires a bit more time for experimenting/testing. Of course, the final result doesn't need to be polished by any means, but it should be playable through to completion.

I like the 10 day timelimit suggestion. That would allow two weekends, when obviously most people have a bit more free time.

GuessMyName (Arthur?), I like the dropbox idea but I've never used one myself. Google turned up dropbox.com which looks pretty good from the website, but do you know of any similar services that for some reason might be better for maps?
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Re: Speed Mapping

Postby Guessmyname on Tue Nov 23, 2010 4:19 pm

(Nope) Not off the top of my head. Both the GraviNull and Nightmare House 2 teams used it; it worked very well for us. Hell, even my Uni lecturers advise using it.
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