Shut Up and Get On It - That DUMP Ripoff

[TehRealSalt]

EDIT: It's out! http://mb.srb2.org/showthread.php?p=784065

"Here goes yet another fucking community project." - Me, and probably also you

Shut Up and Get On It (or SUGOI, and i swear to god it's not intentional) is a project to try and encourage people to make something to put it into one big ol' map pack. The absolute best way to do something is simply, well, to do it! This aims to be a reason for people who have been meaning to try mapping to actually get over the initial hump of learning Zone Builder, to hopefully encourage even the most talented to try out an idea or two that's been on their mind for a while, and for everyone to help hone their skill. This isn't a contest; let's just get everyone to do something new!

Hopefully the very quick deadline will encourage people to work on a short but sweet map (1-2 minutes to beat?), help them get their maps done, and just be a neat challenge to try out in general. If we got about, say 10 people to make a 1 minute long map, then we would have a nice 10 minute long pack for everyone to play! c:

The rules are as follows. They are a bit long, I know, but there's only a little bit here that will actually disqualify you, so don't sweat them too much as long as you read them a little bit.

Spoiler:

• Just make a map. I highly implore anyone who is even just slightly interested to try entering.
• No, "I don't have any ideas!" is no excuse, soldier. Make a GFZ clone even; you won't improve unless you do something!
• No, "Everyone's map is gonna be better than mine :c" isn't a good excuse either. I can guarantee there's gonna be at least one map worse than yours, and even if your map is bad who cares; we're here to get better!
• It needs to work in Single Player. Coop support is desired, and support more if you want, but SP is the minimum. However, this doesn't mean you have to stick to normal SRB2 platforming. If you want, you can do a NiGHTS level, a boss level, or even change the gameplay completely via Lua; all as long as it doesn't mess with other maps and works in SP.
• You may recycle old stuff. Made a gimmick, or a bit of layout, or textures a while back and you want to put them to use? No problem; the point is to finish something, so it can be something you haven't touched in a while!
• You can work together with others. I'd love for everyone to make their own thing and hone their own skills, but again, we're here to get something done!
• Your custom stuff should not change any maps other than your own. Unless if you don't want your map included.
• Custom textures/flats are definitely encouraged! Try to avoid using patches and just use TX_START and TX_END since it's easier to work with, but if you NEED them then no problem.
• Lua and SOC is allowed, but I'm being very picky. You have 20 MapThingNums to work with (I'll assign you with them if you ask for them; please do it via PM!), and I already mentioned modifying existing objects and how stuff works in maps that aren't your own is a big "NO".
• Custom music allowed, but is also going to be a little strict. Music should either be module, MIDI, or use an existing song (preferably module, due to poor MIDI support these days and funky volume, and existing music is booooring). Other formats bloat the file size really quick. Basically, if it's listed here under MikMod formats or Game_Music_Emu formats, then you're good. Don't know where to get some? Try The Mod Archive and click Random until you find one you like, or get your favorite SNES song from here or favorite Genesis song from here. If you need a digital format, it should be OGG and be 2MB or under, but please use module/MIDI anyways.
• Custom sounds are allowed too. If they aren't giant and don't replace anything, then whatever sure.
• Don't bother with anything MAINCFG-related at all besides the level header and SOC. Feel free to include emblems, time/ring/score scores to beat and anything else, but comment it out please. I'll try and work in everything you have there, but no promises.
• Include a Level Select picture, please. I'll take it myself if you don't but I'll probably just take a pic of the starting area. We're also using the Level Select picture for the hub (something I'll touch on in a bit).
• Your map should target with srb2win and Software mode in mind. Not all of you can test with both and use DD and/or OpenGL, I know, but just keep in mind the intricacies of both and don't do stuff that would only work in srb2dd or would look odd in Software.
• Quality control is going to be a thing. If you submit a map that's one giant square GFZROCK room with 12 linedefs and 5000 Crawlas then I'm not including your map. If you put at least a teensy bit of effort in, don't worry you should be just fine.
• You should be fine with me having to touch your map a little bit. I need to adjust things to make everyone's map fit together into one file; if you're not fine with this, sorry. I will do my best to keep everyone's maps intact, and some of them I'll likely not even need to touch. You're still free to release a separate unedited version since, well y'know it's your map.
• Questions? Contact me; I go by Message Board PMs, IRC, or even posts in this thread! PMing me is permanent but might take me a while to get to, leaving a post in this thread is arguably the easiest but everyone will see it too. IRC (either a query or through the #sugoi channel) will be the fastest response. I'm usually pretty willing to sort out mistakes or help out with maps, so don't feel intimidated!
• We'll have a final boss map and a hub level to tie things together. We might also have an unlockable map or two if we get enough entries. The finale and hub maps are going to be special and need more coordination than a community-made approach would allow (the hub level, especially), but if you want to try to contribute anything to these send them my way (privately, preferably). Otherwise, I'll be handling them myself, or be picking them from the entries in the case of the unlockables.
• If you use stuff without proper permission and credit, then I'm not including it either. But y'know, thank god there's NO ONE here that would EVER do that, right? RIIIIIGHT?

Here's our time table; I'm rather lax about most deadlines and will let you submit and update past the deadlines, but if you need to upload your map past August 9th then you'll have to send it to me privately. Threads in Editing cannot have download links after a month; sorry!

July 9-11: START YOUR ENGINES

Use this time to get inspiration, write down ideas, draw a layout down on paper, look into if your ideas are possible... etc, etc. I would prefer that you don't start early, but I can't stop anyone so you'll just get a disapproving shake of the head directed towards you. Build up and sit on ideas for a couple days, so that you'll be more motivated to do them when you go to make them, as well as have a lot of them!

July 12-26: JUST MAKE IT ALREADY

Make your map, post WIPs and screenshots while you work on it if you want, and have a beatable version of your wad posted in the thread on or before the 26th. Make a little bit of your map everyday, or blaze through it in half a week. Do whatever! Though, I'd suggest to not try to go and make ERZ2 in a couple of weeks. Start small and polish that up, instead of rushing a half-finished thing out the door.

July 27-August 9: POLISH THOSE SHOES

You've got your map posted and beatable, now it's time for criticism. Listen to what people have to say and polish it based on that, tweak it to your own accord, or redo stuff that you aren't happy with. Regardless, be sure your absolute final versions ready and posted by August 9th.

August 10-???: SWEET SWEET RELEASE

Time to sit back and relax. Congratulations, you've made a map; give yourself a pat on the back! Once I get everyone's map complied together into one pack, make the finale/hub, and everything's ready to go, it'll go through Submissions and hopefully into Releases!

We have an IRC channel at #sugoi. Idle in there if you are entering; it's a nice way to show off your work to others!

Submit your map using this handy form, or I'll give you a mean glare:

Download: [the link]
Title: [the name]
Credits: [the "x made y" list]
Maintainer Notes: [the "anything i should keep in mind", or special treatment]

Big thanks to TerminusEst13 for giving the OK for me to just completely rip off his DUMP community project.

[Sapheros]

I have to admit, this is impressive! I definitely want to try this out, but with the way life is treating me right now, I can't make promises, but I'll start drawing and making ideas asap!

[~Confusion~]

SUGOI desu! That's a neat idea! Too bad it's for SP\Co-op only though, I'd throw in a map or two for Match\CTF if that was accepted =S

[TehRealSalt]

I might consider a Multiplayer oriented version some time later. This is more of a crash course to see how well received the idea is, and considering SP/Coop is much easier to test properly and is generally more popular I feel like it is the best choice to start with. More than one gametype would be spreading this a bit too thin as well, so sorry. I would love for you to try joining regardless, since the main point of SUGOI is to get people to want to try something new and hone their skill. c:

EDIT: Lemme expand on some stuff that doesn't exactly belong in the opening post, since I'm pretty sure I'll have a couple (well-founded) skeptics.

Basically, I really wanted to start this after participating in the earlier mentioned DUMP and I felt like it might rekindle some mapping interest. I really mean it, I just want people to try mapping and get the community together to contribute to itself. I'll bet a lot of my decisions will end in a massive headache for myself, like juggling Lua/SOC DoomEdNums to everyone (I was very undecided on allowing Lua/SOC at all, since it's gonna be troublesome and might distract people away from focusing on layout, but it felt blasphemous to not allow probably the biggest draw to SRB2 modding ever since it was added), but whatever. If anything, I *want* a headache, because it means I was successful in getting people to map. I can live with my hands full 24/7 if we get a neat mapset for everyone out of it, even if it doesn't blow everyone's minds.

Overall, I was really on the fence about starting this, but there is hardly any disadvantage if it bombs so I felt like it was worth at least trying. I'm also overly optimistic by nature so I just couldn't stop myself :v

[MK.exe]

This sounds like a great idea! Like Confusion said i would want some Match maps, i kinda specialise in Match maps.

I guess i could give an SP level a try. :v

EDIT: Im in

[RomioTheBadass]

Guess that's a chance for me to get away with a Joke map, by the way when's the Deadline ?

[StellarStardust]

I might give this a go and see what I can do! Time to get this brain going.

[Ritz]

I'd been thinking about how cool it would be to host a map jam like this. It's too bad I'm already knee deep in a project right now- if it happens again in the future, it'd be a neat challenge to just spend a month cranking out generic art packs so everyone has a chance to make something fresh.

[Revan]

Now, everyone will think for a terry style map (jk). Im joining in it anyway.

[TehRealSalt]

Originally Posted by RomioTheBadass

Guess that's a chance for me to get away with a Joke map, by the way when's the Deadline ?

Sure, you're allowed to do a jokemap; as long as it has a little bit of effort put in it and the joke isn't "it's bad on purpose" :p

But anyways, the deadlines:

Originally Posted by TehRealSalt

July 9-11: START YOUR ENGINES
July 12-26: JUST MAKE IT ALREADY
July 27-August 9: POLISH THOSE SHOES
August 10-???: SWEET SWEET RELEASE

July 12 is the first day that your supposed to work on your map, July 26 is when you should have a beatable version, and August 9 is the last day for making updates to it. Not that I'm super picky about the deadlines though, you can pretty much join in anytime; hell, and start a map August 8th if you want. I mean, it's a bad idea, but I'd allow it. (Though if your map's not gonna be finished by the time September comes by then yeaaah don't even bother.)

August 9 is also a month after the thread's creation, so sorry that means we can't have download links in this thread anymore due to that one forum rule. That makes it a bit difficult to do the "polishing" part, since that effectively cuts off critique. So, I'm begging everyone to try getting in before then!

[MellowJacket]

Hey look, a new community project. I've got a bunch of ideas for maps written down, so I'll take one of them and try to make a level out of it.

hopefully it'll be a... SUGOI map.

In fact, if anyone wants to work with me on a one shot project. I've got a bunch of ideas and I'm happy to share them if anyone is willing to sprite or code some badniks while I work on the level geometry.

[SteelT]

I think I will join this, doing a community project sounds cool. It will be interesting to see what kind of maps people will make for this. This could also help me improve on making maps.

[glaber]

I'm up for this.
on the music restriction, it's safe to assume that OGG is out, correct? It's not in either approved category.

[Fres]

I'm in. This is a good opportunity for me to flesh out my map-making skills a bit. Sounds fun.

[a guy]

I'll throw my hat into the ring, too. It'll be nice to map something to completion.

[TehRealSalt]

Originally Posted by glaber

I'm up for this.
on the music restriction, it's safe to assume that OGG is out, correct? It's not in either approved category.

Yep; OGG isn't a module format. Want to keep the file size as small as I possibly can, even if OGG is a bit smaller than MP3. Modules should be great for video game music if you want a track from an older game, too. (EDIT: Though, I'm starting to possibly consider OGG if it's smaller than 2MB. Module's still preferred though, since you can get more song out of less file space!)

But yeah, if everyone had custom textures, scripts, and music, then the file size is going to be big, so I want people to use whats probably the smallest music formats SRB2 supports. (Not that I expect anyone to have all of those in their map, but let's play it safe. Plus tracker music's good c:)

btw thanks everyone so far for joining in <3

[glaber]

I'll see what I have that can inspire me. I've already downloaded plenty of Modules from a certain Jazz Jackrabbit 2 site.

In fact, I'll link it here for more module selections:
http://www.jazz2online.com/downloads/ (They do host mp3's too, but they can't be filtered out unlike everything else. Some Jazz 2 levels come with custom music too)

[Larz T]

I'll contribute. I'll finally be able to get one map out the door and finally show something of publicly.

[ManimiFire]

Sounds very interesting, so to send here maps, just to send like this in code?

Download: [the link]
Title: [the name]
Credits: [the "x made y" list]
Maintainer Notes: [the "anything i should keep in mind"]

[TehRealSalt]

Yep, pretty much! Just fill in the brackets with what should be there.