I don't really understand, according to tempest's concerns mentioned in his first post, how the issue of map qualitiy is relevant in here...
Though, I can't just ignore it somehow. Actually, you have to keep 3 fundamental aspects in mind when it comes to judge on a map's quality:
1) Performance
2) Gameplay
3) Aesthetics
-Performance
Any game engine has its technical boundaries and mappers/level designers have to obey them, regardless they like it or not. If you try to stress the engine far beyond its capabilities the map won't perform well and therefore be an annoyance. On commercial games you're more likely to loose your job as level designer, in case you can't manage to work within the given limits. The documentation coming with AC pretty much explains the most important things to keep an eye on, in order to create a well performing map. Bad performance is, above all, _the_ k.o.-criteria for maps, whatever game it was made for.
- Gameplay
AssaultCube provides certain weapons, player behaviour (jump height etc.), game modes and so on. Any map is supposed to allow for the game's intended gameplay. Even though, there is always room for variations, there is no point in limiting the gameplay to jump-and-run only. Its a first-person-shooter and the main goal is to frag your opponents. I guess everybody likes to play maps, which offer a completely different kind of gameplay from time to time, but again, such maps need to perform well and they should after all be rather exceptions (read: not to be on the maprot).
- Aesthetics
Some people seem not to care at all, as long the gameplay is fun, whether a map is 'beautiful' or 'ugly'. After all this is more about personal prefernces. Though, keep in mind AC has an overall theme and is supposed to be somewhat realistic (pseudo-realistic). Besides that there are textures which need to be used as supposed to. It is nothing but weird using window textures for floors or brick textures on ceilings for outdoor areas. Not to speak of hundrets of different light colours and such outrages of pseudo-creativity. Along the official set of maps you can already find different kinds of mapping styles, which at times differ quite heavily. Though, summing them all up, it's still somewhat homogeneous.
Any game needs to be consitent to some degree in order to appeal both, newsters and long-termers. Remember how you found out about AC and what kind of screenshots (e.g. of official maps) you may have seen. Then you launch AC the first time and suddenly find yourself in a weird looking map, far from the pseudo-realistic game you thought AC was, your FPS dropping down to almost unplayable conditions. Will you be atracted?
On the other hand, long-term players surely will get more or less bored with the official maps they've been playing 2 or 3 years already. Then, the only new maps to be seen on the pubs are weird looking maps which perform badly, lack in gameplay and feel completely out of place. Will you be atracted?
Mappers have to understand that they have some sort responsibilty towards the game when they publish maps. They have great influence on how players see/enjoy the game. The devs have always encourage community mappers and setting up restricting rules, for sure wasn't expected when they started to develop this game.
The major problem is, that there are groups of people who don't acknowledge AssaultCube as a game, but treat it like their personal playground. This people aren't willing to cooperate with the community or the dev team. They keep arguing the game was for free and open source and this would allow them to do as they please. As long this attitude won't change, restrictions will have to be made in order to prevent AC from becoming an inconsistent accumulation of egoistic show-offs.
If you do not understand any of what discribed above, you should consider well if you are qualified to take part in such discussion or even to question the dev's decisions and motivations.
Though, I can't just ignore it somehow. Actually, you have to keep 3 fundamental aspects in mind when it comes to judge on a map's quality:
1) Performance
2) Gameplay
3) Aesthetics
-Performance
Any game engine has its technical boundaries and mappers/level designers have to obey them, regardless they like it or not. If you try to stress the engine far beyond its capabilities the map won't perform well and therefore be an annoyance. On commercial games you're more likely to loose your job as level designer, in case you can't manage to work within the given limits. The documentation coming with AC pretty much explains the most important things to keep an eye on, in order to create a well performing map. Bad performance is, above all, _the_ k.o.-criteria for maps, whatever game it was made for.
- Gameplay
AssaultCube provides certain weapons, player behaviour (jump height etc.), game modes and so on. Any map is supposed to allow for the game's intended gameplay. Even though, there is always room for variations, there is no point in limiting the gameplay to jump-and-run only. Its a first-person-shooter and the main goal is to frag your opponents. I guess everybody likes to play maps, which offer a completely different kind of gameplay from time to time, but again, such maps need to perform well and they should after all be rather exceptions (read: not to be on the maprot).
- Aesthetics
Some people seem not to care at all, as long the gameplay is fun, whether a map is 'beautiful' or 'ugly'. After all this is more about personal prefernces. Though, keep in mind AC has an overall theme and is supposed to be somewhat realistic (pseudo-realistic). Besides that there are textures which need to be used as supposed to. It is nothing but weird using window textures for floors or brick textures on ceilings for outdoor areas. Not to speak of hundrets of different light colours and such outrages of pseudo-creativity. Along the official set of maps you can already find different kinds of mapping styles, which at times differ quite heavily. Though, summing them all up, it's still somewhat homogeneous.
Any game needs to be consitent to some degree in order to appeal both, newsters and long-termers. Remember how you found out about AC and what kind of screenshots (e.g. of official maps) you may have seen. Then you launch AC the first time and suddenly find yourself in a weird looking map, far from the pseudo-realistic game you thought AC was, your FPS dropping down to almost unplayable conditions. Will you be atracted?
On the other hand, long-term players surely will get more or less bored with the official maps they've been playing 2 or 3 years already. Then, the only new maps to be seen on the pubs are weird looking maps which perform badly, lack in gameplay and feel completely out of place. Will you be atracted?
Mappers have to understand that they have some sort responsibilty towards the game when they publish maps. They have great influence on how players see/enjoy the game. The devs have always encourage community mappers and setting up restricting rules, for sure wasn't expected when they started to develop this game.
The major problem is, that there are groups of people who don't acknowledge AssaultCube as a game, but treat it like their personal playground. This people aren't willing to cooperate with the community or the dev team. They keep arguing the game was for free and open source and this would allow them to do as they please. As long this attitude won't change, restrictions will have to be made in order to prevent AC from becoming an inconsistent accumulation of egoistic show-offs.
If you do not understand any of what discribed above, you should consider well if you are qualified to take part in such discussion or even to question the dev's decisions and motivations.