[Map Pack] SmoothPack - Making MM8BDM Maps Competitive! (CONCEPT PHASE | WIP)

[Ecl1p5e]

The Year is 2020...
And the need for maps compatible
with LMS and Duel Gamemodes
are at an all-time high.

Presenting

SmoothPack

Brought to you by the [TF] Artists Group

WHO WE ARE
We are a passionate group of people who are your average MM8BDM players and share a common interest towards improving the current maps in the Vanilla Game as well as the various Map Packs created throughout the years by the fine, talented individuals of this community. I, myself, am Ecl1p5e, Lead Animator and Assistant Developer of the prestigious Competitive CBM Patch. Along with me are other individuals who play the game daily and those who have studied and understood the harmonics that make a map a "good map", one that is generally more favourable to play on in a competitive ground than a "bad map".

OUR GOAL
We are looking to simply pick out the maps which have been considered as underplayed due to undesired gimmicks, and minimize the amount of accompanying undesired factors that:

1. Hinder the direct exchange of combat, let's say: your contemporary fire pillars (MM1FIR), fire tube traps (MMWTDW1), turbo roaders (MM7TUR) and electric traps (MM1ELE)

2. Hinder the movement carried out in a moment of heated exchange of combat, for example: taller-than-usual stairs (MM6KNI), pillars (MM2FLA) and slowing hazards (MM6PLA)

3. Stall or disorient the player for a prolonged period of time, for example: Wind platforms (MM6WIN), Snake platforms (MM3SNA), Weather changes (MM7CLO)

4. Obstacles to kill the player outright, for example: Small pits (MM3SHA), Unneeded pits (MMCTF23), Unguarded edges (MM5GYR)

5. Fixing team spawns, so that they either do not make the team players spawn right in the line of sight of the other enemy teams, and, make it so that they exist in the first place in some maps that have not bothered with them, creating situations where a large number of players in a server will cause one or two team members to spawn astray from their general team spawn location and even end up in the enemy team spawn, causing a severe disadvantage to the unlucky player.

6. About 60% of the maps currently in circulation have not been optimised for Teamgames (and only for solo deathmatch). Now with Teamgames being the main trend of competitive play online, we are prioritising adding the most amount of teamspawns possible in every single map we are going to edit.

Above mentioned factors are the pieces that come together to exemplify a "bad map". We look to eliminate such factors and turn the map into one which will generally be more favoured by the masses to play on.

WHAT WE WILL BE DOING
Simply put, we are going to be making small changes to most of the currently existing maps so that they are easier to navigate through in LMS and Duel Gamemodes.

As an example, please refer to the images below.

(click to show/hide)

Here is a screenshot of the vanilla MM2FLA map. Here we observe a lot of pillars that hinder movement, and also stairs that are taller than what a player with general step height can walk up without jumping.


We put the schematics in place. Here we have drawn the fact that the stairs, for better conveyance, need to be made wider and increased in amounts so that players may walk up them without jumping. (Courtesy of Soundwave28)



The schematics are made to come to life. The stairs as planned have been made wider and more numerous, along with the removal of pillars which are potential movement obstacles. This is what we shall consider as an instance of a map which as been "patched" to accomodate for a more enjoyable competitive play experience. (Courtesy of R-Shadow)

WHY WE ARE HERE
Mainly to spread the word, and mobilise a set of passionate individuals (just like us) to contribute to this project in order to help develop edits for more maps in a shorter amount of time. As we are also aiming to fix map packs, it will be a huge project which may take about a year to come to fruition. We are working with the most elite group of players in the community to help us get pointers on what to start with, and we expect more feedback shared with us in the future.

FOR THE MAP AUTHORS
If you are intrigued whether or not your mappack has been considered for edition, please take note of the names of the mappacks we are going to modify:

Code: [Select]

8bdm_jampack-v4b.pk3
amp-mp-v1.6-h.pk3
cscmremix-v5c.pk3
Danpack.pk3
drsg_mpx_v1.1.pk3
empxbeta-v1a.pk3
falconmappack.pk3
friendlypackagesetmapsv1b2.pk3
inspire-b-exp.pk3
ix-packv1g-hotfix.pk3
kapak_v2c.pk3
kndm-v2a.pk3
legopack-v2b.pk3
lilypack_v1b.pk3
mmd-maps-v1c.pk3
mmrf-mp-v2.pk3
nemupack-v1a.pk3
realpack-v1a.pk3
recreation-ctf_v1.0h.pk3
rnc-mp-v2b.pk3
rozpackv4.5.pk3
sharpv3b-h.pk3
tbgmp-v4a-beta7.pk3
wetpack-v1b.pk3
ydmp_v1.2.pk3If you wish to dispute any issues regarding permissions, feel free to send me a private message here, or contact me through the discord server linked below. I will try my best to reach out to all the authors from my side so they do not have to contact me first. But still, can't take chances.

IF YOU ARE INTERESTED
You can join our project at our discord server here. It is completely up to you whether you want to contribute or you simply wish to keep an eye out for what we are working on. This is a mid-priority project so development is rather mellow as of now.

Link: https://discord.gg/nMvDuZX

Disclaimer: This discord server supports free speech and discussion may contain obscene language at times. If you wish to shelter your precious eyes from heated topics, feel free to quit at the first sight of any such situation.

[Ecl1p5e]

(post reserved for future messages)

[CutmanMike]

Just so we're straight on the subject, vanilla core maps (and the other resources in core) are free to edit and expand upon in any shape or form for the purpose of mods and extensions. I have no problem with people editing them to better suit new gameplay styles (in this case, competitive CCBM). However, people who have spent time and effort making their own custom maps may not feel the same way, so please contact them before making alterations.

[Ecl1p5e]

Noted. Authors of the respective maps as part of various mapping projects have been contacted and notified.