Good Map Guidelines

[Victor]

There are many maps, but not all of them are that good to play on. It degrades users' experience to play bad maps.

What constitutes bad maps may change as the game is modified. For example, a map might force players underwater for 5 seconds. This might not have any effect yet, but if the game is modified, the players might drown in that time.

No official ACR map may fail to follow these guidelines:

1. No extremely large maps! These maps take a long time to flood waypoints. *Some exceptions may apply.
   
2. The waypoint flood must not take too long to complete.
   
3. Player spawns! Player spawns should be created for every team (RED, BLUE, FFA) and they should not face the walls. This can be fixed by editing the entity while facing the right direction.
   
4. No more than 3 bodies of water are allowed, and the largest body of water may not be too large (20x16 and 10 cubes deep)
   
5. No large areas with a large height (e.g. twintowers). No large open areas either (e.g. longhorn).
   
6. No traps that players cannot exit. These are annoying, and are for some non-official gema maps only.
   
7. It should not take too long to get to the enemy (i.e. no gema maps where both teams try to get to the other side)
   
8. No areas that force players to drown (e.g. KrizzlysFunhouse)
   
9. Gameplay must be balanced. One team must not have an advantage over the other. If there is an equal advantage to both sides, it is acceptable.
   
10. Instead of using map models, consider using solids (e.g. doors), as those are computed faster.
    
11. Don't create inaccessible areas, as those waste computing resources (since no-one can get in, except from editmode).
    
12. Hidden doorways are not noob-friendly, and should be avoided.
    
13. Proper lighting! It should not use full-bright, and should not be over-lit (same as full-bright) or under-lit (too dark to see).
    

In addition, allowing derivation must be allowed.

This list can change anytime. Suggest improvements by replying to this thread.

[Nightmare]

10x10 and 9 cubes deep?

[Victor]

That might be too restrictive, so I put 20x16 cubes and 10 cubes deep.

[forumlurker007]

Might I also suggest a license guideline for maps to ever be considered for official status? In addition to making shipping the game with them possible, it helps keep the community attitude positive. Restrictions with a waiver for AssaultCube Reloaded may be shippable, but it allows poisonous attitudes to develop in the community. (Think AC, where editing a map someone else made can earn you or your server a masterserver ban.)

My two suggestions are to require derivation to be allowed and to require commercial use to be allowed. The first is for obvious reasons, but the second may not be. If you don't want people using your map in a way that involves money, may I ask why? Usually the answer amounts to "Well if you make money I deserve to," which is incorrect. If someone can sell access to the map and you can't, they probably provide better service.

Another common answer is "I want it to remain free of charge," which is completely possible under a license which allows commercial use. If someone wants to sell access to the map and you don't, you giving it away will provide unbeatable competition.

Bottom line, anti-commercial restrictions are rather silly, and nobody really knows what "commercial" even means unless you practically get a lawyer involved.

• Does it mean I can't play on it at work?
  
• Does it mean a ACR server company- who knows, maybe one exists) can't include it in a library?
  
• Does it mean I can't benefit financially from running an ad-supported, free site for map developers?
  

[dm.mossberg590a1]

I remember that we were the ones who were stubbornly latching on the the GNU GPLV3 because it prevents commercial use . I disagree with the second restriction. IMO I don't mind commercial restrictions because we could prevent another "YourFunWorld" incident when another person rips off our code and all our model/map data for profit, especially since we now have to use the Cube license for our code.

[Victor]

I agree with requiring derivation to be allowed, but allowing commercial use doesn't seem like something we need to enforce.

[forumlurker007]

It's not a matter of needing to enforce it, it's a matter of it being ambiguous and unenforceable.