New mapping 'event' ?

Quake
1

Hi everyone -

I have an idea.

It may not be a very good one, but i had it, and, well, that’s a change in itself…

I would like to instigate some sort of mapping event. As you all know, sometimes mappers find together, with a common goal or idea, and some sort of map pack comes out of it. Like all the Speedmapping packs, Quoffee, Explorejam, Alkaline… you got the rough idea. In general, we see some phantastic stuff this way.

Unlikely as it is, if any of you have read some of my rants giving feedback on new maps, you’ll know that there is a quality that i highly appreciate in mappers - no matter if it is big or small maps, created with a ‘mod’ or just vanilla Quake, or regardless of it is a old hand or a newcomer that’s the author:

Creativity. Or call it imagination.

Now… how the (bad word) do i force some imagination out of a bunch of mappers? Especially as this is what they all do per default all the time? “Hearding cats” seems appropriate here…

That’s where my idea kicks in:

  • Somebody creates a very basic small-to-medium sized map. No wall textures (or the same everywhere), no decorations, no doors or secrets - just some sort of ‘skeleton’ map.
  • All participating mappers get this map handed out. That way we get a competition, where everybody starts from the same spot.
  • All participating mappers go totally apesh*t and do whatever they like with this map: add textures, script_movers, monsters, landscape, lighting, secrets, add rooms or move them or cut them away… DO WHATEVER YOU LIKE!
  • Adding a start map, we publish the whole pile

I have some rather severe limits on my own participation:
B) I have never arranged anything like this before, and dont know… fertilizer… about how to do it
6) I am myself an abysmal mapper. My only published map for Quake got what i at best can call a indifferent reception…
Goat) With full-time work, family, upcoming maintenance on my property etc. my time is extremely limited
22) A dozen more poor excuses.

Does anyone with experience in this kind of stuff think the idea is worth the effort? And, more important, are they willing to grab it and run with it? Could this be a speedmapping event, or does it take something else?

What do y’all think? Before you all start throwing empty beercans at me, pls hand me a full one… i need it right now…

2

Cool idea but extremely competitive. If I understand correctly, you hand out the model and tell the mappers to paint it more or less. I mean, if everyone does what they feel like, you can always call it this or that, fair to compare or not, but if they work on exactly the same framework, the difference can be striking between experienced mappers and newcomers. I like this idea anyhow, but I am not a mapper.

3

https://www.quaddicted.com/reviews/qbb1-revised.html

4

@ h4724 : Bugger it. I just thought i had an original idea… Well, with my IQ, i guess i should appreciate any idea… Thanks for the link!

@ triple_agent : I didn’t mean it to be competitive. I wanted to see how_different_ approaches a bunch of mappers would have to the same task.
Of course experienced mappers would create more elaborate layouts, but that wouldent be my goal. I want to see how different - simple or complicated - all these wonderful brains (Brains! Braiiiinssss!) would solve the task!

Tell mappers to do a simple room: i’ve never seen two come up with exactly the same. So what would happen in an entire map?

5

I like that idea, but again, I am not being a mapper, therefore I may not know the nuance. Certainly it is a shape of controlled environment in mapping competition or contests, thus bringing down the terms of execution to some - any, actually - common denominator.

6

Off topic, but I really enjoyed your map. In particular, the machinery creates both a distinct atmosphere–the player feels like he’s walking across an actual factory floor–and an interesting mode of progressing to the exit. It’s something I would love to see more often in Quake mapping.

7

What if

I also have an idea for a map jam and my idea is to give the Quake mapping community a limited number of map sources, yet encourage the jam submissions to make use of those sources in any way (remix, cannibalize, whatever) or even no way at all - with the only requirement being that the submission in some way relate to the original jam.

This I think, could unleash some intense mapper creativity.