Map Pack- Memoir Of the Ancients

[ChaoStar]

I forgot, but I've invited most of the ones I know, like sendy, atob, AMLT, toasters, and such and such.
EDIT- I am now closing this thread off to just sign ups, if you have question, comments, suggestions, or gripes, please post on the discussion thread

AHEM.

nevermind.

[yungerkid]

...we may still converse?

if so, i'll just ask this: why do we even need a playtesting stage? if the judging panel and eventually (if it gets accepted) the community are playtesting the map anyway, why have partners or a dedicated playtesting panel playtest the maps?

[Martyr]

This thread is exclusively for sign-ups- discuss in judging thread

[Ncouraging]

sure, I'll join
edit: my latest work isnt that good but if i submit some of my old levels, and if i submit some new ones that i work on well, i think i can do well
double edit: here are some of my favorite maps i made-

http://nmaps.net/154483
http://nmaps.net/154589
http://nmaps.net/155752
http://nmaps.net/156371
http://nmaps.net/156478

[toasters]

I've been trying to make more episodic kind of levels, so this works nicely. I'll join.

[Martyr]

Hey, I submitted a map, you think it's good? http://nmaps.net/157942
and as i did, should we refer to misfit maps as from the project?

[ChaoStar]

...we may still converse?

if so, i'll just ask this: why do we even need a playtesting stage? if the judging panel and eventually (if it gets accepted) the community are playtesting the map anyway, why have partners or a dedicated playtesting panel playtest the maps?

yes you may. the playtesting stage is more for ordering the maps into their respective places.

[ChaoStar]

This thread is exclusively for sign-ups- discuss in judging thread

not anymore. sorry for the confusion.

[ChaoStar]

Hey, I submitted a map, you think it's good? http://nmaps.net/157942
and as i did, should we refer to misfit maps as from the project?

umm, I liked it. misfit? simply [line]tag as moa for now[/line], and submit to he judging panel... nevermind, I liked it, submit to judging panel, and playtesters.

[Hoohah2x2sday]

okay, so im making a mappack of my own, and i have a map from it that id like to include in this pack as well. is that okay? or would that not be good?

[Martyr]

Not being the authority, i'll pass it. this pack doesnt seem exclusive, and it'll get you publicity if cited soo.
Being a time capsule sorta, i'd say ok

[KlanKaos]

Okay, so. The idea behind the playtesting thing was this:

Your map should go through playtesting by at least two other authors in the pack, and it should be revised both times.

Why?

Because, as some people including myself have said, this pack is meant to be a legacy to later mappers. It's meant to showcase everything our mappers can do, and be the best of the best. So it should go through serious, strenuous quality control, and everyone knows it's very hard to do that on your own maps. No matter how awesome you are, you can't catch everything wrong with the map.

So here's the ideas yungerkid and I (along with E_P, Martyr and a few others' input) fleshed out last night. Simple to understand, easy to follow. Remember that everything I say here is designed to make the maps the best they can be.

------------------------------------------------------
1) Create the map.

Simple, isn't it? Map the basic concept, refine it, and make it something that you're happy with. This is the easy part. Now it gets confusing.

2)Have someone playtest it.

Send your map to another mapper who's working on the pack for playtesting. They will play it through, hopefully AGD it (unless it's too hard, which will be something they point out when they tell you what they thought about it), and send it back to you with comments on how you could make it better. You can choose which ones of those to implement, and choose how you want to review your map, but try and take at least some of their comments into consideration. After all, this needs to be good for everyone, not just you.

3) Have someone else playtest the revised version.

Even two people can't catch everything. So send it to a third friend who's working on the pack. Have them review the map in the same depth as the first person did. Playtesters, make sure you're doing a serious job on this. Don't just play through and give a little feedback, play through it and AGD it and give a lot of feedback. You're only doing ten maps, so make everyone else's as awesome as yours. Revise it again with the suggestions provided by this second playtesting, then have it judged.

4) Judging.

This is the difficult bit. The idea is to have a panel of judges (maybe ten?) who give either a basic yes or no or a rating out of ten to the map. If it gets enough yeses, or a high enough average rating, it gets included in the pack. If not, well, either back to the drawing board or do some more playtesting until it's good enough.

Wait a second... just read the judging thread. Made a couple suggestions on there as well. Read that post.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------

A few things to note:

Selecting judges. How are we going to do that? Give me ideas, I have no clue.

I don't think we should submit any maps to NUMA or even post them on this thread yet until we've got the judging thing worked out. I also don't think any maps should go on NUMA at all until we're done, and then everyone can release their one favourite to NUMA as a sort of teaser. But that's just personal.

Anything I haven't covered, feel free to PM me or post here. Also, poke as many holes in my ideas as you can. I'll try to defend them, but I'm just one person and I can't catch every mistake or flaw in my plans =P

[RandomDigits]

I totally agree with you about not submitting anything to NUMA, since the contents of the pack should be new for everyone (other than those involved) when it comes out.

One problem that might arise, though: people will most likely want to have the more talented mappers playtest their levels. That may result in say, PALEMOON getting a flood of PMs while less known mappers getting very few.

EDIT: Will the authors get credit for their maps in the pack?

[KlanKaos]

Yeah, that's a good point, and that's why I think you should pick someone to do the playtesting stage with as partners, as in you playtest their maps and they playtest yours. So one mapper playtests only one other mapper's maps. And that's why I think there should be two playtesting stages as well, so you have a chance to get good feedback from at least one really quality mapper. I think we have enough good mapmakers involved in the pack to make sure everyone's getting quality feedback. Plus, N players as a whole are intelligent and capable of giving good feedback even if they aren't spectacular mappers themselves, so I don't think there will be too much of a problem.

And of course everyone should get credit for the pack =) There'll probably end up being a credits list by level number, name and author, though that'll be a pretty huge task. I'd be willing to undertake some of it, though.

[yungerkid]

kaos, i've laid out a proposal on how the judges should be selected in the other thread. i think that we shouldn't start mapping until the list of participants is complete. we should also select the judges before we begin mapping. we should have the system fully conceptually laid out as well as implementeed before we begin cycling maps through the system.

[Action_Agd]

Ill do it! sounds like fun =)

[maya]

i would say that if the better judges wouldn't mind, they could judge a few more than the lesser talented judges.

as i think there would be better quality judging if more was done by the better judges (eg. PALEMOON, toasters, pheidippides) kind of people.

[ChaoStar]

okay, so im making a mappack of my own, and i have a map from it that id like to include in this pack as well. is that okay? or would that not be good?

yes, but it won't be tagged from that map pack at all so, it's up to you.

EDIT- 4 more people until stage 2.

[ChaoStar]

also, another idea... I could create an account on NUMA for this pack, and people would post the maps on THAT account.

[Rose]

also, another idea... I could create an account on NUMA for this pack, and people would post the maps on THAT account.

What would be better about that than just tagging it on our own accounts? Seems less complicated imo.

[Erik-Player]

also, another idea... I could create an account on NUMA for this pack, and people would post the maps on THAT account.

I don't think these maps should be made public. I think these should be all new maps so it's more of a surprise.

[ChaoStar]

hmm. ok, so where do we pool the maps?

[Erik-Player]

hmm. ok, so where do we pool the maps?

Why don't all the maps get sent back to you if the judges give it a yes, and you store them in a .txt file or a folder with .txt files for each map.

[maya]

ye

i agree with erik-player. it would be better to just keep all the text files in a folder and you can sort them all from there.

[RandomDigits]

I still agree with KlanKaos that NO maps should be submitted or even posted on the forums. Because we (I) want people to see the final project. Not the individual maps before they are good enough or in intended order.

Right now with all those people submitting maps, it seems more like it'll be a "best of compilation" rather than a new album.

Er... map pack that is.

Maybe someone should pm those people, if others also agree on this. Or post that on their maps.