Pass the Map

Post by **Silicone_Milk** » Fri May 05, 2006 4:26 am

Yea... I miss that. We should get one started again! That was good fun.

Post by **Hipshot** » Fri May 05, 2006 8:38 am

PTM never works in the end, it's a good idea, but if not strict rules can be applied and enforced, it probably will never work.

Post by **corsair** » Fri May 05, 2006 10:09 am

thats the spirit!

Post by **obsidian** » Fri May 05, 2006 1:36 pm

*sigh* Here we go again. I think a few much smaller PTM's might work better. It's hard to collaborate between a large number of people. A smaller amount, maybe.

Post by **Kaz** » Fri May 05, 2006 2:29 pm

Finish PTM3 first :]

Post by **Silicone_Milk** » Fri May 05, 2006 2:55 pm

Well... it's not like we really have a lot of people still active in the community anymore. The event would be small thing then.

There's still one floating out there that never got finished? That's a damn shame. I might just take a look.

Post by **Billybob06** » Fri May 05, 2006 3:01 pm

Hey can I sign up for this if it ever takes place? It sounds like fun. Should set a deadline and some instructions tho.

Post by **obsidian** » Fri May 05, 2006 5:51 pm

IIRC, none of the PTM's ever got finished. Could be mistaken though.

Post by **wviperw** » Fri May 05, 2006 8:25 pm

You sir, are mistaken.

Think it was like the orginal PTM. The dev process stumbled quite a few times, but I think I finally ended up just taking the entire thing and finishing it up 'cas I was sick of looking at it.

Post by **Pext** » Sat May 06, 2006 1:48 am

Hipshot wrote:PTM never works

Post by **Silicone_Milk** » Sat May 06, 2006 2:48 am

Pext wrote:
Hipshot wrote:PTM never works

jesus christ.... way to rain on the parade guys.

If you just flat out say it won't work then of course it won't work

:icon13:

(not directed at just you pext. Just all the people in general that said no it wont work at the drop of a hat.

Post by **Kaz** » Sat May 06, 2006 2:51 am

PTM's don't work.

Hehe, just kidding. They can work if all of the parties involved have a common direction, skill level, and dedication to actually finishing the project; something that these things rarely have.

Post by **Scourge** » Sat May 06, 2006 3:13 am

It's just veeerrrryyy difficult to get everyone to stay on schedule and stay in the same direction. I've noticed that a lot of what kills them is the tendancy of a couple of mappers to piddle around and not get it passed. If ou don't have the time, don't get involved in it.

Post by **wattro** » Sat May 06, 2006 7:49 am

scourge nailed it... people have ambition, but not time.

if you set up a PTM, you must make sure it is flexible enough not to get held up at a single point.

also, when dealing with skill, you have to balance it appropriately. it's OK to have different skilled peeps.

my pet peeve with PTM (i've never even done one, heh) is when everyone gets separate rooms to do. i like the thought of going in and working on other people's stuff until everyone is happy.

Post by **Pext** » Sat May 06, 2006 8:24 am

Silicone_Milk wrote:not directed at just you pext

np ~ my skin is not that thin.

it's just my experience with the previous PTMs

Post by **Foo** » Sat May 06, 2006 9:47 am

wattro wrote:i like the thought of going in and working on other people's stuff until everyone is happy.

Of course the downside of that approach is nobody wants their stuff messed with.

On another thought - PTM could be well supported if there were a system running behind it which was responsible for checking in/out of the .map file and assets, and keeping people alerted as to the status.

A few PHP files on a server somewhere could handle this, it's not too much of a task to establish a basic chain of custody and such.

Post by **wattro** » Sat May 06, 2006 6:53 pm

Foo wrote:
wattro wrote:i like the thought of going in and working on other people's stuff until everyone is happy.
Of course the downside of that approach is nobody wants their stuff messed with.

On another thought - PTM could be well supported if there were a system running behind it which was responsible for checking in/out of the .map file and assets, and keeping people alerted as to the status.

A few PHP files on a server somewhere could handle this, it's not too much of a task to establish a basic chain of custody and such.

i wouldn't understand why someone would sign up for a collaboration project if they weren't willing to have their stuff messed up by someone else. hard to work in the industry at that rate.

a chain of custody is a great idea.

Post by **Fjoggs** » Sun May 07, 2006 10:54 am

Map-center has pulled off two succesful pass the maps IIRC. (Leveldesign.nl did the second one)

Post by **Shallow** » Sun May 07, 2006 11:57 am

The MC PTM did actually turn out pretty well even though you knew there was going to be a fucking massive drama bomb at some point, once you saw some of the folk who were signing up. It did do most things right though - established a layout at the start, actually prodding people to pass etc. and managing to ride out the twattery when it occured (mainly because the victims of it were much more cool and laid back about it than I think I could have been, if they'd been more peeved it would have killed the project).

Everyone needs to remember it's supposed to be fun, not an exercise in building the perfect map. As soon as someone starts suggesting photo reference and masses of custom textures you're fucked :P

Post by **Myth** » Sun May 07, 2006 1:34 pm

I guess the main factor to making it work is who is working on it. As Shallow mentions the MC one almost went tits up just because of silly bickering (I think it was even called "the argument"!)

I'd be interested in joining in depending when it would take place and how many people are involved etc.

Post by **Hex** » Sun May 07, 2006 1:49 pm

Here's that Map-Center ptm:

Replace the obnoxious NO FTP LINKING message with ftp://

ftp://files.mhgaming.com/quake3/pk3s/ptm_final.zip

(PS can someone point me to the reason for no ftp linking? Just curious.)

(wait the ftp link works after all, :icon27: clicky for download )

Post by **StartMunnen** » Mon May 08, 2006 7:30 am

Fjoggs wrote:Map-center has pulled off two succesful pass the maps IIRC. (Leveldesign.nl did the second one)

Actually the LD ptm is delayed...allthough about 95 % of it is done.

Post by **sumatra** » Mon May 08, 2006 8:39 am

StartMunnen wrote:
Fjoggs wrote:Map-center has pulled off two succesful pass the maps IIRC. (Leveldesign.nl did the second one)
Actually the LD ptm is delayed...allthough about 95 % of it is done.

...and except of some minor issues the PTM worked out great until now. Hope to get it finished soon.
To bear in remembrance here some older screenshots. I'm very satisfied with the current looks and gameplay.

IMHO PTMs are dependent on some major factors:
A worked-out floorplan/gameplay, a theme/texturepack, bankable people and just "soft deadlines". Pressure doesn't work out well, it should keep a fun project.

sum

START ONE! :icon29:

Post by **Myth** » Mon May 08, 2006 10:44 am

Yeah that really does look like a sweet PTM there. What theme would people want to use if we were to start a new one?

Silicone_Milk, I take it this idea was for Q3 not 4, was it?

Post by **Silicone_Milk** » Mon May 08, 2006 1:32 pm

And Im back! I like the posts that I've just read =)
It seems that there are people out there still interested.
Ironically, to prove Scourge's point about people not having time, I just had several things tossed onto my plate this week that will all be VERY time consuming >.> And, yes, I was thinking about Quake 3 when I made this map. I never bothered to buy Quake 4... wasn't too impressed with the demo.

Speaking of time I have to go. Ill continue this post later today. (SkinNCNMaster worked on that last PTM? Whatever happened to him anyways? Cool guy.)