?

Challenge:
News
Forums
Features
Interviews
Pro Mode
CPM Arena
Maps
People
Smackdown

Columns:
Hoony 10 Dec
Mr.CleaN 24 Jun
twoAM 23 Aug
Wiebo de Wit 08 Aug
Jude 19 Jun

Map Links
Mr.Clean
Wiebo

Saturday, 29 April 2000 -
Welcome to Challenge.World.Maps ? comment
Before I get started, let me take a moment to thank Hoony. First, for thinking out loud in his article "Where are all the mappers?" Second, for his decision to set up Challenge.World.Maps in direct response to your positive feedback generated by that article.

"What we have here is....failure to communicate".
As I first read Hoony's piece, that well known line of dialogue from an old flick rolled around in the back of my mind like an ambient sound loop each time I encountered a statement like:

since the "hardcore" players ignored his custom maps for years while playing the default id set (DM2, DM4 and DM6) he had little inclination to help them out now.

or:

in Quake3 we're left with our bland rooms where clipping brushes abound, turning entire levels into the game equivalent of a rubber room. I want my boxes back. I want my ladders back. I want my strangely shaped pillars and other such things.

From where I sit the solution seems fairly simple, open lines of communication. The sad fact is I see these two groups looking at each other across a line in the sand. Nobody wants to take that first step. On one side our leering mapper might see our competitive gamer as a junk food eatin', Jolt Cola swillin' bundle of writhing nerves who would be happy as a pig in shit dueling in a single room fullbright map with a floor drain in the middle. Jumping to the other side, our competitive gamer might hold the opinion that mappers are trendy fops who prance around all the live long day with a pink handled screwdriver tucked in their back pockets stopping occasionally between sniffing bicycle seats to discuss the relative merits of caulk brushes. OK, so it ain't all that, but there does seem to be an air of mutual misunderstanding.

What's this all about then?
The concept is simple. We want to combine the unique talents of our community's competitive gamers and freelance mappers. The goal is to produce first quality maps for competitive league play, Pro tournament play and eventually maps designed specifically for Challenge Pro Mode. We'll do this in a closed format that works like this: Pair a mapper(s) with a volunteer team of competitive players. The player/mapper team will decide upon a basic concept for a 1-0-1 or 2-0-2 map (we're also looking at the possibility of working in a CTF mapper/player unit in the future). Closed playtesting will be conducted on interval builds, much as mappers always do it. Between builds we'll keep you informed of our progress with news posts on this section and perhaps a screenshot here and there. Once the beta map is deemed "gold", it will be made available to competitive leagues and the gaming public.

Who died and left you in charge?
I won't insult you by suggesting that having run Ramshackle for 2 years qualifies me as an expert on mapping. More correctly, I believe the experience allows me a somewhat unique perspective on and understanding of the freelance mapper's trade and the basic needs of players. I'll use what I've learned as a reviewer and beta tester to help reach our goal. At some point in the near future I will reassume the mantle of the dreaded map reviewer, in addition to my other duties, to select and dissect promising competition oriented pieces.

Who's gonna lay the brushes?
First, I did a bit of snooping around to see if there was any buzz amongst the competitive gamers....which existing custom maps, if any, would they consider for use in organized tournaments or league play. Then, I thought about mappers who had experience making maps for competition or whose maps had been used in competitions. Having only about a week to put this together I came up with a short list: ztn and jude. They have both since joined the project.

How can I get involved?
What we want from you is feedback. Whether you're a competitive gamer, a casual player or a mapper, it makes no difference. You're ideas, comments and criticisms (constructive, mind you) are always welcome. Right now we'll be focused on getting our first maps rolling. However, there are still positions to be filled folks (read: we could use a few more mappers), as we are also intent on producing maps designed specifically for Challenge Pro Mode.

Would you use my maps?
At this point we will spend all of our time concentrating on in-house maps for competitions and maps for Challenge Pro Mode. Once we get things off to a solid start our intent is to set up a sub-section here that will act as a review area to assist those seeking maps for competitive play. When the time comes we'll make an announcement here and begin taking map submissions so keep your wetware peeled.

Let's get down to the rat killin' then....
To get the ball rolling I thought it might be helpful to open some sort of dialogue. For the purpose of this dialogue I asked ztn "What makes Q1DM4 a classic map?". You can read and comment on what he had to say here.