Claustrophilia (collaborative mapmaking project)

[RyokoTK]

Claustrophilia is the next single-player mapmaking project that is a followup to Kill Them All. The last version of KTA generated 15 maps, which was the best showing since the first one, so although I think the KTA ruleset has probably run its course (at least for now), there must be some energy for collaborative projects left in the tank here.

Claustrophilia is the same sort of idea, with a new kicker: rather than a polygon limit, all maps need to fit within a 24 x 24 WU square. This is a bigger box than it sounds, so it's large enough to actually make a proper map in miniature, but small enough to require relatively simplistic ideas. As with KTA, the requirements for contribution are pretty low, so I hope to see a lot of contributions from people that don't typically produce or publish maps.

The design rules for this pack are as follows:
1. The playing area must fit entirely in a 24 x 24 WU square. You are allowed to actually draw stuff beyond that square, but it must be either inaccessible to the player, or it should kill the player if he does go there (pit of death, for example). Monsters are allowed to be outside the square.
2. No overlapping.
3. No terminals, no objectives. The goal of each map is just to reach the exit. (Just have an automatic exit polygon with the destination set at 0, I will take care of it.)
4. No shapes patches, custom MML, or physics.
5. Only limited Lua allowed. Stuff for pits of death or maybe complex monster spawning systems is allowed, but nothing crazy. If you ask yourself "am I going too far here," the answer is yes.
6. Levels should be flagged only for Singleplayer and Cooperative.
7. Each level should be flagged as a Rebellion, but that's it. That way, each level starts off fresh. You won't know where in the pack your map will go; the maps will be roughly sorted by difficulty.
8. Your map needs to be possible to clear on Total Carnage, but still functional and fun on all difficulties.
9. Your map needs at least one pattern buffer -- preferably near the start.

Other than that, the rules are open, and the map size is large enough to accommodate a lot of ideas. You can have more-or-less normal, linear maps, or you can go KTA-style and have dramatic slaughter maps that get increasingly intense. In the 52 maps for KTA 4, you will see pretty much everything: simple maps, complex maps, linear maps, nonlinear maps, easy maps, hard maps, etc. etc. etc. Since the rules are less restrictive, I hope to see some cool creative ideas. But don't go crazy; the whole point of KTA was simplicity, and although this isn't the same exact project, it's similar. Basically, make what you want, don't be afraid to stretch yourself a bit, and have fun.

Of course, Claustrophilia is open to any and all takers that feel like putting forth a little effort and making maps. The whole point is to get people to make maps, so make maps! As long as your map is functional and even a little fun, it'll be included; KTA ran the spectrum of veteran mappers, people that normally only made netmaps, and complete novices who had never published anything before, and everything in between, so there's nothing stopping you from fitting in here. And there's no limit as to how many maps you can submit; they just need to stand alone.

I would probably recommend playing some KTA4 maps, if you haven't yet. This should get you an idea of the sort of map I'm looking for, although obviously they won't be exactly the same. Potential contributors may also want to read the KTA4 thread because I suspect a lot of the broad criticisms and suggestions from those maps will come back here. (For example, turn off your tag switches before you save in VML!) Remember that there is no polygon minimum or maximum for these maps, although I would expect a bare minimum of 75-100 polygons to make a decent-looking map of a fair size. Similarly, if you're going to go over say 500 polygons, it had better be worth it.

The deadline will be (tentatively) set at March 31. Including today, that's 70 days for you to finish at least one map. Which is plenty of time, even for the slowest mappers, so I don't want any excuses about how you don't have time. (Also, since it usually takes me like three months to get around to actually packing it together, the deadline is theoretically even further out than that.) As with KTA4, I don't just want you to send it to me, I want you to share it with other people. Post uploads and pictures in the thread, so we can kick around ideas and critiques.

To submit a map, email it to me: bolt0064@umn.edu
Please submit unmerged maps only.

[RyokoTK]

Claustrophilia will have the same physics and MML bundled in as KTA4. In short:

1) Major Juggernauts have the same HP as Minor Juggernauts (2500 vs. 5000), in order to keep pacing okay and to not screw up Juggernaut battles on Total Carnage.
2) Compilers and Invisible Compilers will not change ranks based on difficulty. This is because majors are not really harder than minors; they're just functionally different.
3) SMG capacity is now 20 magazines, up from 8. This doesn't affect Total Carnage, obviously, but maps that are reliant on SMGs are really annoying when you can only carry 8 magazines.
4) Uplink chip capacity is now 10, up from 1.

Both of these are attached to the bottom of this post. Also attached in the same file is a demo map (as per usual with these projects) showing off an application of the concept. This map is actually a more-or-less linear map -- a normal map, just smaller -- but it should show you what can be done within the limits, and is one example of what kind of map I'm looking for.

[Destiny]

Thanks TK for giving me more time! I'm sure I'll probably get at least one map finished on time, or sometime.

[Wrkncacnter]

So you want us to upload maps here, but also email them to you unmerged along with the lua?

[RyokoTK]

Well I mean, if you don't want to spoil the fun for everyone else, don't upload them here.

Otherwise, yeah.

(e: don't email me the Claust physics and MML)

[Wrkncacnter]

I suspect for some people, uploading it here is the only way anyone will see it.

[RyokoTK]

The only maps I took out of KTA4 were the ones that actually didn't work. The bad but functional ones made it in.

[PerseusSpartacus]

Do we literally have to make our map available for co-op, or can we set it for Single Player and leave it at that?

Vale,
Perseus

[RyokoTK]

All you "have to" do is flag the co-op setting. You don't need to put down extra guns or anything like that. Anyone who wants to play co-op can use co-op.lua to make the game playable.

Oh, and just make sure you don't lock out the spawn from the rest of the level, or flood it with lava, or something.

[treellama]

THE LAVA IS RISING!

[Blackice]

This sounds pretty cool. With the maps being this small, would we expect a lot of vertical gameplay? such as climbing to the top for the best weapons?

[Wrkncacnter]

I made a map, but I ran into a bit of a design issue, since some of the map doesn't fit within the 24x24 box. I can't think of any way to fix it and still have an awesome map, so I just added lua to kill you if you go into that area like you suggested. If anyone can think of a way to fix this map, let me know!

[CryoS]

Maybe time to take up mapping again...

[Destiny]

Ughhh... why must you make ridiculous maps, Wrk?

Two things about your map, TK:

1) At the beginning room, the repair chip and some other objects in the small room tend to disappear when looking at it at a specific spot. Thought you should know.
2)Those hunters under water... why does that look familiar...

[Wrkncacnter]

Ughhh... why must you make ridiculous maps, Wrk?

That's really not helping me get better.

[Asylum]

Ughhh... why must you make ridiculous maps, Wrk?

Two things about your map, TK:

1) At the beginning room, the repair chip and some other objects in the small room tend to disappear when looking at it at a specific spot. Thought you should know.
2)Those hunters under water... why does that look familiar...

Vicious criticism like this is the reason why this community is in such an awful condition.

[interion]

I'm only about a third of the way through drawing my map but before I go any further I'd appreciate any feedback people have. I'm mostly worried about the size of the layout. I've screwed myself in the past by making rooms and hallways too small or too large and only finding out after I've spent hours adjusting floor and ceiling heights or drawn myself into a corner with no space left to expand polygons. Grid scale is 1 WU.

[RyokoTK]

It looks like it would be a little on the small side, but that's kind of the nature of the project. It should work -- the player can move through a 0.5 WU gap -- but fighting monsters in 1 WU wide corridors doesn't tend to be that fun.

If nothing else, I'd say elevate it, pave it, and open it in visual mode. If it's too tightly packed for you, well, at least you haven't drawn a full map yet.

[Wrkncacnter]

This map is a work in progress, unless it sucks too much and I should just stop. Let me know if I should make it longer.

[PerseusSpartacus]

Presently, I'm working on a map, called 'The Bocage'. The title is a reference to the area just past the beaches of Normandy, where Allied troops had to literally walk through hedgerows filled with German ambushes (at least I think that's what happened). The basic idea of the map is that you are stuck in a practical maze of hallways, each one 0.5 WU in width and sectioned off by a 0.6 WU high, 0.25 WU wide wall. There are some Pfhor Fighters in the maze, and the ranged ones can shoot at you from over the walls.

Right now, I've got it all laid out as a bunch of lines, but I've yet to actually make it possible to lay out the polygons. I'm also not yet certain what the texturing style will be like. Shouldn't be too long before I finish this thing.

Vale,
Perseus

[RyokoTK]

That is not a good idea.

[patrick]

Beggers can't be choosers.

Let me know.

I felt that the player receives the AR too soon in your first submission, robbing him of any sense of pacing or accomplishment, but with this map you've captured the essence of the community.

[Destiny]

That is not a good idea.

For once, I agree.

I should hopefully be done with my entry early February. The timing for the platforms and monster placement will probably take the longest, but drawing is done and texturing is about 9/10 complete.

[Asylum]

For once, I agree.

I should hopefully be done with my entry early February. The timing for the platforms and monster placement will probably take the longest, but drawing is done and texturing is about 9/10 complete.

That is not a good idea.

For once, I agree.

[Destiny]

I'm so lazy... ._.

I still haven't finished my entry; however, I have finished Mega Man X and have moved onto X2. How is everyone else doing on their entries? I haven't seen anything new happen for quite a while.

I wonder how long it will take before I finally finish mine...