[FS Krasus]

how do third party maps compare to official first party maps and how do you get your third party maps up to first party standard?
Is it a certain level of detail that makes an official map work? is it the layout, the extensive game-play/mechanic testing, lighting/graphics, or the authenticity/feel that sets the officials apart from the third party maps?

[FS CMM|Johnnyenglish]

Krasus, on 24 October 2011 - 08:03 AM, said:

how do third party maps compare to official first party maps and how do you get your third party maps up to first party standard?
Is it a certain level of detail that makes an official map work? is it the layout, the extensive game-play/mechanic testing, lighting/graphics, or the authenticity/feel that sets the officials apart from the third party maps?

That's such a brilliant question, and something that's interested me since I started (trying) to make maps.

First of all, 3rd party maps are very much a compromise in detail and graphic content due to the perceived restriction on pk3 size.

Some of the best looking 3rd party maps rarely get played due to the size of the download, 70mb for Railed for example. A beautiful map full of detail and cool textures but how many people have played it?

Official maps have a large supply of images/sounds/etc but, 3rd party mappers cannot always rely on these, they may change or be removed from future versions. The only way to guarantee that you're map will always have textures/sounds/etc is to create your own and pack them with your map. This obviously makes 3rd party maps quite large.

Familiarity, within a few weeks of playing Urt you'll be familiar with most of the standard maps and as you become more familiar with a map you will play better on that map, new maps level the playing field.

For example, if I've played Uptown for 5 years I'll look and play like a pro on that map but when I play a new map, I'll be just as crap as everyone else. That's a big turn off for some people.

3rd party map development : Mapping is generally a solitary hobby, we toil away in isolation, make a map and then struggle to find competent testers who will raise the quality of the map with helpful advice. Most maps languish and die at the alpha/beta stage because the creator doesn't know how to "finish" the map.

A few 3rd party mappers decided that we needed to do something about this so we formed "Custom Map Makers".

We're trying to create maps which will rival the official maps for layout and "look and feel" by sharing our time to help other mappers, for example - if a specific model is required it can often be made/found very quickly by another member.

CMM has its own test server and "special" forum members who don't make maps but enjoy testing them. This is especially useful if you wish to test a change to your map quickly, most of us are always happy to test out another members map and then give instant feedback.

I hope that in the coming months a lot of 3rd party maps will be released that are of high quality and have been developed to be playable and fun and that those maps will rival the current and future official maps.

From what I've seen of the maps currently being developed by CMM members the ratio of 3rd party to offical maps should start to rise.

[MajkiFajki]

The biggest problem is that most of the ppl play TP/Algiers/Abbey only. Those are the only maps they now and they don't wanna play custom maps because they don't know every inch of them. And ratio is worst...

This post has been edited by majkifajki: 24 October 2011 - 10:52 AM

[CMM|xandaxs]

You can often see, aswell, that most of the 1st party map try to specialize in 1 gametype, or even if they don't, there's only 1 or 2 in which they are good.
Turnpike - TS and CTF
Abbey - Bomb, CTF, (TS?)
Casa - TS
Sanc - TS, (CTF?)

Most of the 3rd party mappers struggle to make a map that suits all gametypes the same, and it usually doesn't work out so well.