DB and SD - FPS Success

[tokamak]

It would be nice if we could make the perfect game just by ‘running the numbers’, it’d make life easier, but I don’t believe that’s ever worked before. The best examples I’ve seen of developing quality titles you find you need stats, you need competitor analysis, you need direct player feedback, guided player feedback and observation, to get a reasonable picture of what is likely to appeal to players.

And a gut feeling, don’t forget the gut feeling.

[Bloodbite]

…If we don’t have people with the desire to create, there is no reason for custom maps, indeed. So if most people are like that, lets just leave then creating their never validated teoryes here at the forum. May be sometime they change their minds.

If there ends up being an SDK/Map Maker, people will use it. It might not hurt to restrict custom maps to builder competitions, later to be released in a major content patch. That way SD give a yay to maps that are quality ONLY.

Of course those are what-if’s that mean nothing until that entire game gets passed the alpha phase.

[Donnovan]

The quality is in the process of creating the map.

A maper can build thinking in going official as main archiev, but the gain of custom activity is beyond the game, and this is something most here dont have a clue about.

[Chris2]

If there ends up being an SDK/Map Maker, people will use it. It might not hurt to restrict custom maps to builder competitions, later to be released in a major content patch. That way SD give a yay to maps that are quality ONLY.

That’s a good way to potentially stifle creativity. Competitions have deadlines and generally have design criteria to meet, mappers would most likely play it safe in order to get their submissions in on time, expect a load of maps that copy previous map layouts and such.

[Bloodbite]

That’s a good way to potentially stifle creativity. Competitions have deadlines and generally have design criteria to meet, mappers would most likely play it safe in order to get their submissions in on time, expect a load of maps that copy previous map layouts and such.

I think this type of game needs guidelines for that kind of thing more than any. Plenty of people like to dabble, but few can make a genuinely good deathmatch map… the many extra facets that need to be incorporated for this game make it even more important.

Honestly I am of the opinion few have what it takes to really make a map properly for DB. Like almost all the W:ET custom maps that came out, they felt like very poor and empty imitations of what the game was meant to be.

Besides, the community content type patch has worked in the past, like with Unreal Tournament… and some of those were pretty good maps too.

[Donnovan]

Now can you comment Chris post you quoted?

[ailmanki]

Teamfortress 2 just got a community driven upgrade… http://www.polygon.com/2013/5/17/4340964/team-fortress-2s-latest-update-robotic-boogaloo-is-totally-community

I would not be playing ET today, if it wouldn’t be for the custom maps and content.

As mentioned already, it needs is a serverbrowser which lets you filter what you want, but that has not been done till today, neither splatterladder nor trackbase. There is no serverrating, no preview … nothing. TF2 has similar issues, NS2 also. While it would be very simple, especially for a new game like DB.

Honestly I am of the opinion few have what it takes to really make a map properly for DB. Like almost all the W:ET custom maps that came out, they felt like very poor and empty imitations of what the game was meant to be.

Out of the original ET maps, only modified versions of them are today used in cometition - and actually since years. Even ET itself is to buggy without etpro.
Both things have been community driven.

[Ashog]

Well, splatterladder at least had custom map support. It had even map ratings and dl links. It could show servers currently playing a custom map, tho you couldn’t filter by servers capable of playing a map (having it in rotation but not currently playing). And you could connect directly from html browser to any server or server with friends. Wasn’t too bad.