New maps

Got something on your mind about the project? This is the correct place for that.


Forum rules

This forum is for feature requests, content changes additions, anything not a Bug in the software.
Please report all bugs on the Support Forums

Post Reply
xand
Novice
Novice
Posts: 95
Joined: 19 Jul 2005, 18:08

New maps

Post by xand »

What I always wanted to propose:

How about having kind of a "testing" area ingame,
where maps of non-dev people are put?

Say, there's an NPC that can warp you there and on every map,
there is an NPC that tells the player to whom that current map
belongs. So the Player knows whom to contact if he has questions/
suggestions.

And all people that have been on that map are asked to give a feedback.
Maybe an NPC on the map, or a forum-topic/irc...
Of course all the suggestions should go to the developer of the
map himself. (not stealing important time of server devs)

Then he can collect all the feedback/ improve his map, and send a
concentrated info burst to the server devs, and then either the map will be integrated, or not.

Oh and of course some problems could arise:
-NPC's on testing maps shouldn't be allowed to give/ take items or GP.
Either don't allow any NPCs on that map, or have a script search for
"additem" "delitem".... and reject those NPCs (well grep NPC.txt :) )
-Monsters:
As monsters need to be added in athena, either allow only lowlevel monsters,
or no monsters at all.
But some monsters should be there I think, else it would be boring.

SUM:
A dev gets a map-file and a map-overview-pic from player A.
He has a quick look and accepts/rejects the map.
He adds the option to choose that map.
Done.
Maybe Player A asks to have 20 greenslimes on that map, and
supplies a monster script.
Dev has a look it it (10 secs) and agrees, adds the monsters.
Now we have a nice new map for players that ask for new stuff,
and all are happy :)
User avatar
criptos
Novice
Novice
Posts: 75
Joined: 20 Sep 2005, 16:00
Contact:

what about a dev server?

Post by criptos »

Why not put another server, when users can test the zone...

Any game has beta testers, us, could be ... pre-alpha testers :)
May the Source be With You
xand
Novice
Novice
Posts: 95
Joined: 19 Jul 2005, 18:08

Post by xand »

That was just an obvious question, anyway, there are some cons to
having a new serverr:

- player has to start from zero (lvl wise)
- he has to know the other server and can't just take a little peek while playing.
- And who would be willing to set up a test server wit high bandwith ?
(Bjorn had one before, but he closed it, cos nobody played on it ~)

But the idea as above is simple and fast in my opinion :P
(I could do some of the parts. Devs only have to take a quick look at
map design/ monster amount)


EDIT:
Hey, we're in pre-alpha and for testing stuff.
So why not just try ?
Devs, say one word and I add an NPC (I'd suggest snakes map
lower right to not make it over-easy and have people complain)
We could try with the map that has been in the forum somewhere...
User avatar
Bjørn
Manasource
Manasource
Posts: 1438
Joined: 09 Dec 2004, 18:50
Location: North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany
Contact:

Post by Bjørn »

Our current server is the test server as far as I'm concerned. The problem with adding a test server is that we'd be splitting up the already small player base. And whatever we do, if there's two servers with one getting new content added (even just for testing), then that's going to be the cooler server to play on.

Unless you mean the test server would really just be for testing, and stable content would be moved to the main server (and removed from test server). This could keep the test server sufficiently boring.

Yeah I ran a server temporarily but I'm not feeling like maintaining one now. Maybe after we get our own server (tmwserv) usable.
Last edited by Bjørn on 04 Oct 2005, 14:44, edited 1 time in total.
User avatar
Rotonen
TMW Adviser
TMW Adviser
Posts: 3154
Joined: 08 Sep 2004, 19:48
Location: Bern, Switzerland

Post by Rotonen »

The "map test server" could be a sightseeing server, where the player can only walk around and talk to other players. No monsters, just players, minigames (casino and stuff?) and new exciting maps, about which players could vote on a scale of 1-5 (for example). The best maps would be included in the next release and removed from the sightseeing server.

Once we get dynamical updates up and running this could be enough of a motivational feedback system for mappers. (Although every map wouldn't get in the sightseeing server, only maps that are even considered to be used.)

A nice idea per se, but I think it's not worth implementing since I'm expecting more control over world development. User opinions are valued, but not the only criteria for mapping.

If someone wants to spend time on implementing this, go ahead. Just keep in mind your contribution could've done more good for example in the server development.
This message used to be meaningful.
xand
Novice
Novice
Posts: 95
Joined: 19 Jul 2005, 18:08

Post by xand »

Rotonen wrote:If someone wants to spend time on implementing this, go ahead. Just keep in mind your contribution could've done more good for example in the server development.
I would if I could. :P

But not enough C++ skills...
Did you mean writing an NPC that lets you choose different test maps?
I could do that, and also could add a comment for players to d/l maps
manually. We could implement that within one hour :)
Post Reply