48 replies to this topic

[Mumuharra]

What I really do not understand is why the devs do not use the still existing and still enthusiastic (but small ) community and give them a mod tool to create maps for mwo.
The most successfull games I remember had a great modding community and lived through many years so.
Is this idea bad for business (than at least I could understand the devs manner) or why?

Sorry if this topic still exists but I could not find an answer on my question.

Have fun.

[terrycloth]

How would you use them? Everything's handled on the server so they'd have to let you upload them, and then download them to everyone at the start of the match. That sounds like a lot of network traffic.

[zagibu]

At the very least, they could host a competition and award some MC for the best three maps. I bet they would be of similar or better quality than what we have now.

[Brody319]

Make it a contest.
Design a map.
winners get tweaked a bit and added to the game. the winners get MC rewards.

[Impossible Wasabi]

Brody319, on 10 February 2015 - 04:51 PM, said:

Make it a contest.
Design a map.
winners get tweaked a bit and added to the game. the winners get MC rewards.

This would be an excellent idea.

[AEgg]

It takes a very serious amount of work to get a map built and working ingame. For example, making a fully polished map for a Source game (TF2, CS:S, etc,) takes several hundred hours. That includes playtesting and rebalancing, making a basic functional map with placeholder textures and no objects/props can be done in ten to twenty hours if you're extremely familiar with the tools. And this is with the very same tools Valve used to make the official maps.

Source is a pretty old engine and thus some things are slower with it than would be in MW:O, but it's also much simpler, so the overall time is probably pretty similar.

Making a map is not as simple as spending twenty minutes in 3DSMax mocking something up and dropping it into the game.

If PGI were to release their tools and do a contest, I'm sure there'd be a few good entries. But I would not expect a lot. Lots of people would try, but it takes a lot of time and a lot of prior experience to actually make a good map.

[Quicksilver Aberration]

Brody319, on 10 February 2015 - 04:51 PM, said:

Make it a contest.
Design a map.
winners get tweaked a bit and added to the game. the winners get MC rewards.

I don't like the tweaked part, because they would probably force the 3 lane philosophy on it, somehow.

[Brody319]

AEgg, on 10 February 2015 - 05:56 PM, said:

It takes a very serious amount of work to get a map built and working ingame. For example, making a fully polished map for a Source game (TF2, CS:S, etc,) takes several hundred hours. That includes playtesting and rebalancing, making a basic functional map with placeholder textures and no objects/props can be done in ten to twenty hours if you're extremely familiar with the tools. And this is with the very same tools Valve used to make the official maps.

Source is a pretty old engine and thus some things are slower with it than would be in MW:O, but it's also much simpler, so the overall time is probably pretty similar.

Making a map is not as simple as spending twenty minutes in 3DSMax mocking something up and dropping it into the game.

If PGI were to release their tools and do a contest, I'm sure there'd be a few good entries. But I would not expect a lot. Lots of people would try, but it takes a lot of time and a lot of prior experience to actually make a good map.

source has been updated quite a bit. it can be a pain to make a really good detailed map, but it doesn't take a ton of effort.

IF they wanted they could accept art only entries. an overview. and some pictures of areas of focus for style and reference.

like if you wanted a city map with a big tower in the middle, you would draw an overhead view, one with bases, one with resource points. then some drawings of buildings and the tower so they know the style.

WM Quicksilver, on 10 February 2015 - 05:58 PM, said:

I don't like the tweaked part, because they would probably force the 3 lane philosophy on it, somehow.

by tweaked I mainly meant fixing up some areas that would or wouldn't work in this game.

[InspectorG]

They could have a contest for map concepting at least.

[CocoaJin]

Legal/ownership/compensation
Quality control, dev time is nearly as long.
Resources, because somebody has to sift through all these maps instead of making their own in studio.
Penises...because someone will inevitably sneak one into the map.

[Brody319]

CocoaJin, on 10 February 2015 - 09:40 PM, said:

Legal/ownership/compensation
Quality control, dev time is nearly as long.
Resources, because somebody has to sift through all these maps instead of making their own in studio.
Penises...because someone will inevitably sneak one into the map.

legal - automatically throw out any copyright related maps.
ownership - once its in the game, legally owned by PGI, and the user can receive credit.
compensation - If you win the contest, you get MC
Quality control - you pick 3 of the best maps you like, wouldn't take that long.
resources - as I said, it wouldn't take long to go through them. even if there was 1000 maps, you just need to look through the overviews, and occasionally a reference photo.
penises - yea because people are pervs, just don't put it in when you start making it. not that hard.

[Davers]

WM Quicksilver, on 10 February 2015 - 05:58 PM, said:

I don't like the tweaked part, because they would probably force the 3 lane philosophy on it, somehow.

Of course they would. Those are the kind of maps they want. 95% of all player submissions featuring huge patches of rolling hills will just be discarded. They have yet to make a map that doesn't follow the '3 approach' philosophy.

[zagibu]

They could let the community vote for the best 10 maps and then choose the best three out of those.

[mike29tw]

CocoaJin, on 10 February 2015 - 09:40 PM, said:

Quality control

Lol

If anything has been proven with developing a game alongside the community, it's that the community tends to do a better job at it, especially when it comes to maps.

Edited by mike29tw, 10 February 2015 - 10:55 PM.

[Ursh]

Given the number of players who have extensive experience with 3D real models of miniature games, it could be cool to have the community make submissions, or even have teams of guys get together to work on maps.

Need inspiration? The battle of Prague, where the forces of heroic visionary Stefan Amaris were defeated by the puppets of the noble houses. You could take real terrain where real battles happened from Google earth, and have the basis of a new map.

[Sarlic]

Brody319, on 10 February 2015 - 04:51 PM, said:

Make it a contest.
Design a map.
winners get tweaked a bit and added to the game. the winners get MC rewards.

PGI needs to give out their customized assets.
Which they unfortunatly will not give out.

[Tarogato]

Sarlic, on 11 February 2015 - 12:33 AM, said:

PGI needs to give out their customized assets.Which they unfortunatly will not give out.

I could have sworn that Russ said that that was something they might consider - releasing the assets and letting the community sandbox their own maps using PGI assets, he was just worried about the logistics of it and how to approach quality control. He kinda wanted somebody to be in charge of "community map making" but they don't have anybody at PGI who has enough free time to take that job.

Feel free to correct me if I'm remembering entirely wrong, but I thought I heard it in one of the town halls at some point.

CocoaJin, on 10 February 2015 - 09:40 PM, said:

Penises...because someone will inevitably sneak one into the map.

Brody319, on 10 February 2015 - 09:45 PM, said:

penises - yea because people are pervs, just don't put it in when you start making it. not that hard.

Boreal Vault is already a penis - you can't play that card, the devs already did it themselves.

Edited by Tarogato, 11 February 2015 - 12:46 AM.

[Sarlic]

Tarogato, on 11 February 2015 - 12:45 AM, said:

I could have sworn that Russ said that that was something they might consider - releasing the assets and letting the community sandbox their own maps using PGI assets, he was just worried about the logistics of it and how to approach quality control. He kinda wanted somebody to be in charge of "community map making" but they don't have anybody at PGI who has enough free time to take that job.

Feel free to correct me if I'm remembering entirely wrong, but I thought I heard it in one of the town halls at some point.

Boreal Vault is already a penis - you can't play that card, the devs already did it themselves.

Perhaps i have missed that saying by myself.

Edited by Sarlic, 11 February 2015 - 12:50 AM.

[Nothing Whatsoever]

Tarogato, on 11 February 2015 - 12:45 AM, said:

Boreal Vault is already a penis - you can't play that card, the devs already did it themselves.

Holy Mother of Pearl!


I didn't notice that before!

[Ghogiel]

CocoaJin, on 10 February 2015 - 09:40 PM, said:

Penises...because someone will inevitably sneak one into the map.

Yeah like one of the PGI devs have done on dickbutt atlas

Sarlic, on 11 February 2015 - 12:33 AM, said:

PGI needs to give out their customized assets.
Which they unfortunatly will not give out.

I have all PGIs assets and can build more or less a fully functional map right now in CE3. The only thing we really need is a copy pasta of some txt so we can set up the DZs and cap points like they do it.

Yeah Russ talked about community content several times. The first town hall I believe he talks the most about it.

Edited by Ghogiel, 11 February 2015 - 01:26 AM.