Future Quake Wars Editing Support Needed !

(Infernis) #1

Hi,

My name is Infernis and I’m a regular over at www.map-center.com. I’ve been thinking about setting up my own forum site. It has been a dream of my for a long time, a dream which I decided to pursue. Now I’ve been busy planning and arranging stuff to launch the site, but before I even get to that point, I need and experienced crew.

I’m not a noob or someone that says a lot things and doesn’t actually do them. The site is being prepared as we speak and I already have attracted some well known names throughout the Quake 3 editing community.

But for an editing forum to survive, you need talented people [from the industry preferably] to attend. The forum will already start supporting Quake IV Editing, long before it ships. The same goes for Enemy Territory: Quake Wars.

So my question is, what could we do as a crew, to attract those kind of people. I know that some of the SD team visit map-center. What do we have to offer to get the same people to come to ours ?

Thanks for your time,

Infernis

(Nail) #2

koekjes
:lol:

(Infernis) #3

Ik probeer hier serieus te zijn, wat al moeilijk genoeg is :bash:

(Shallow) #4

I’m betting that you’ve already read this thread where redfella discusses some of his ideas before he set up levelsource, but I’ll link it anyway because it’s interesting, particularly some of the stuff Reyalp says: http://www.splashdamage.com/index.php?name=pnPHPbb2&file=viewtopic&t=5351

(And yes, I know the link in the first post is dead, it’s unsurprising since the actual site has been up for a long time now. Not having it to read doesn’t make the thread incomprehensible)

(Infernis) #5

Our vision is simple, we want to create a forum site that will function as a knowlegde base for all newer FPS games. Because sites such as Map-center do support the newer games, but the forums don’t see a lot of action. Doom3world.org focuses primarily on Doom 3 and a little on texturing and modeling. I won’t be suprised if that eventually evolves into a Quake IV forum. The point is that there are different sites for different games. We want a site that supports all the games extensively. That means forums for Quake IV, Quake Wars, Prey, HL2, Doom 3 and of course Quake 3, because that last one will live forever. Also we’re planning on supporting modeling for games and texturing.

Perhaps the title of the topic wasn’t the right one, or perhaps the post sounded a bit “noobish”, but we are new at this so yes, we are “noobish”. That doesn’t mean that we aren’t serious about it. We want to create something for the community, by the community. That’s the general outline.

I’m currently negotiating with different providers and the hosting bill will be paid by me, so no ads or pop ups. The site will use a modified phpbb forum with some other small adjustments. To attract attention I’m posting this at different forums. Also we’re planning a mapping contest from which the winner will be hosted and reviewed at our site. My partner in crime has an extensive set of tutorials explaining how to build a map from start to finish, which will be featured at the site as well. In the mean time I’m just looking for suggestions and general interest [hopefully].

Thanks for the feedback

(FireFly) #6

Ik probeer hier serieus te zijn, wat al moeilijk genoeg is

Geen nood, je krijg hier koekjes voor een goede daad :smiley:

Best thing you could do is get your site online and then beg some one from the SD team to do a small interview.

(SCDS_reyalP) #7

Our vision is simple, we want to create a forum site that will function as a knowlegde base for all newer FPS games. Because sites such as Map-center do support the newer games, but the forums don’t see a lot of action.

How is the new site going to attract more people than say, mapcenter or levelsource ? It seems obvious to me that more sites -> less person/hours at each site. So unless there is something particularly special about yours, adding another site is just going to lower the overall quality of each site.

In my experience, a mapping community site needs a certain critical mass of active, knowledgeable members to keep going. quake3world LEM had it for a long time. Mapcenter has struggled, with most of the game specific forums not having that critical mass. Looking at levelsource, I would say it is in a similar state. The ET editing forum here sort of has it, but is somewhat lacking in experienced contributors. Getting that sort of critical mass for one game is hard enough… getting it for multiple games on completely different engines is exponentially harder.

I’m not specifically trying to discourage you, but IMO, you should think hard about what in specific you can do that will make your site genuinely better than those that already exists. If you don’t come up with anything compelling, perhaps your efforts would be better invested in contributing to an existing site.

Finally, as I said in the thread Shallow linked, you can create strip malls, but real communities form outside of any individuals control.

(FireFly) #8

I agree with SCDS_reyalP: If you want to attract visitors to your site you have to offer them something that they can’t get from another site

(Infernis) #9

@SCDS_reyalP: No man, your not discouraging me at all, keep it coming because it’s good stuff. I’ve thought about all the things you mentioned. There isn’t much specific I can do to attract more people. So I have to find other means to promote it.

Things I planned to promote the site:

Ask to be put in the links sections of known mapping sites in exchange for the same.
List it at every search engine known to man.
Change my signature on every forum site I use to promote my own.
Post at all the big sites to promote the forum.
I’ve got some friends over at a Dutch magazine who are going to promote me a little.
I’m going to write a other Dutch magazine about it and ask if they could mention it.

Things we’ll offer:

Support for all the new games.
Dedicated team
Regular mapping contests
Some high quality tutorials
Some Reviews [mainly contest winners]
I’m going to try and get some email interviews with all of the developers regarding the editing for their game

By posting this thread here I hope to interest some talented people to jump aboard. I already secured 2 well known active mappers from the Quake 3 community. That isn’t much but it’s a start. I’m trying to attract more known mappers.

Like I said before, it’s really for the community by the community. I don’t know what more I could do, any suggestions will be appreciated !

@Firefly: Lekker, watvoor koekjes ?

(carnage) #10

knowlegde base for all newer FPS games

is it just me or does anyone else see this as the eventual end to modding comunites?

as games become more advanced it becomes more dificult to understand and mod them and the editing software is not becoming easier. If the comunity focuses only new games then does that mean when the members start to thow in the towel there will be no1 to replace them as the games are just do dificualy for a first step in the moding comunity?

(Infernis) #11

Why ? Older games already have established communities. It’s the newer games that still need to do this. Sure, you will lose people to newer games but that’s just how things go, people move on. On the other hand, there are still people making mods and wads for the original Doom so I wouldn’t worry to much about it.

One of the reasons why I decided to start with this, is because it will offer mod teams everything they need. You’ve got different game forums from which most are based on the Doom 3 engine. You got a texture forum and a modeling forum. Great source to get members for your team and a great place for teams to exchange information. Besides the longer the forums are in use, the more they are going to function as a knowlegde base. Not to mention the fact that there will be some high quality tutorials.

(carnage) #12

yeah it sounds good i admit and i hope ime wrong and it all does go well cos would be realy great to see

only problem with forums as knoledge base is like this one, every search get 1000’s of results but if u have tutorials then maby u could have a list of the most useful theds of something, like the mappers bilble here

good luck

(Salteh) #13

Bok Geit Koekjes! :slight_smile:
Link to Image

(carnage) #14

:eek2:

(Infernis) #15

Hmmm…lekker !!!

@carnage: People will also be able to sent in their own tutorials that will be reviewed and featured at the site if there good enough.

BTW good looking stuff on your site man

(carnage) #16

thanx, shame it looks like its not going to be finsihed though :bored: we just cant get enough staff to fill the needed positions

gimi a shout when ur site is up and ill try my hand at one or two tutorials, time to give something back to the comunity

(Infernis) #17

Anything I could help with ? Would be a shame to cancel this. I really like the overall design.

I’ll remember that and I’ll be sure to let you know when the forum is up and running.

Tutorials would be great too man :clap:

(carnage) #18

we desperatly need a coder realy, but still i think most of the team has already accepted its over so i gess ill let them rest in peace

besides there is already talk on a new mod :clap:

(kat) #19

Doom3World.org is about editing the Doom 3 engine not just D3; which just happens to be the only game around atm that uses the engine. To be honest, you’ve got your work cut out for you in trying to cover doom 3 engine editing in that repect becasue it’s all on D3W.

What we’ve been finding is that a lot of site end up pilfering (stealing) or just linking to the content we hold, in fact to the point where people on other forums don’t even bother to explain things, the just link and say “read that”.

As reyalP suggested, people go where the resources are.

Oh and as a side note… don’t expect something like this too run smoothly, you’re going to have some tough choices to make, as you know cough.

(Infernis) #20

Those are some good points Kat. A little explanation is in order.

I know that Doom3world is the source for Doom related editing, I’m also registered there. Our forum will not focus on Doom 3 editing alone. We’ve got games that do not use the Doom 3 engine as well.

We weren’t planning on trying to compete with you guys. Nor are we planning on trying to get your members to switch sides. We just want to offer a complete package for all newer games, the way Map-center has done it in the past. We just want to coexist with the rest and hopefully assure a place among them.

I would also like to point out that I myself would never directly link to other people’s content without permission. Nor would we allow members to do that. If a link to a usefull thread is made, the site should be mentioned an the author as well. It will be in the forum rules, rest assure of that. We’re also planning on linking all the other mapping forums because we see them as allies and not as competitors.

I’m sorry but I don’t get the last remark, could you please clarify ? Also, perhaps I’m being paranoid here and we all can have a laugh about it, but your post sounds a little aggrevated towards me. Is that right ?