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MFG38

How (and when) to host a community project

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I look forward to linking this to newbies all the time hehe :^P This is a great write-up, dude. Should hopefully prove really useful.

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23 minutes ago, Biodegradable said:

I look forward to linking this to newbies all the time hehe :^P This is a great write-up, dude. Should hopefully prove really useful.

 

10 minutes ago, Horus said:

Very well written and very important advice! 

 

Heh, thanks! Glad it proved informative. :)

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I think this should be pinned too as well as "new to posting maps". Very usefull and i hope it serves well to everybody who is thinking about CP.

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Great guide! I wish I had something like this to reflect on before doing the Interception series because there are a lot of useful common-sense points here. Points that are especially easy to overlook when hosting a community project that takes a while.

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49 minutes ago, Moustachio said:

Great guide! I wish I had something like this to reflect on before doing the Interception series because there are a lot of useful common-sense points here. Points that are especially easy to overlook when hosting a community project that takes a while.

 

Ain't it the truth. I wish I had a guide before doing the Newdoom Community project megawad.

 

2 hours ago, MFG38 said:

Also, don't disappear mysteriously while your CP is still ongoing. 

 

That was my biggest issue but it wasn't myself that disappeared it was some of the participants. Some that took map slots, made nothing and were hard to track down. So you know, mappers out there, if you take a slot for a CP and can't make anything, at least let the project know about it before you decide to completely vanish.

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2 minutes ago, Doom_Dude said:

mappers out there, if you take a slot for a CP and can't make anything, at least let the project know about it before you decide to completely vanish.

 

This is a very important point that you raise here. I'll admit to being guilty of attaching myself to a CP and then failing to deliver on a few occasions, but I always had the courtesy to tell the host if I had to drop out for one reason or another.

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Great Information and well written, I guess that it's easy to make a CP.

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Very helpful thread. I want to use this opportunity to post an example of making an OP @rd. did some time ago on a thread of mine also asking about how to CP.

Quote

Example of a bad OP:

Spoiler

Hello everyone my project is the 256x256 map project and the goal will be to create non-linear maps that are beautiful and take place in the space of a 256x256 area. I feel like brevity is greatly underappreciated in this day and age and I  think that everyone is going for the biggest maps possible but that small maps should be possible to do well. All source ports are welcome as long as they are compatible with Doomsday models. 

 

You can submit up to two maps for the project. Basically, I want to keep slots open so that a lot of the community can contribute, which wouldn't be possible if one person submits 10 maps. The maps can be any style you want, from slaughtermaps to adventure maps to puzzle maps, but I want the gameplay and the visuals to both be attractive, regardless of what style you use. If you make a slaughtermap, don't spam monsters, place them tactically in your layout. Likewise, puzzle maps should have a solution and not require the player to look up the map in the editor. Adventure maps should not be confusing slogs.

 

The name of the community project is still undecided but I'll let you know when I think of a good one. Alternatively, you can provide suggestions for the name below and I might take them into consideration. It doesn't matter if you're in the project or not: I'll give you credit for the name.

 

The story is that in the planet of X'4l23;4leeuia, the demons ran out of chainsaws so they came to Earth to get more chainsaws. (The story by the way also requires that all maps have multiple chainsaws in them!) Their alien ship arrived suddenly and spectacularly and the buxom marine donned his shotgun and shouted meticulously, "Wow! That's a lot of demons!" The plangent echos rang out all around the yonder world. Everyone knew: it was time to fucken' roll? The story will take place between two worlds, both earth and X'4l23;4leeuia, and I will accept maps for both episodes (no more than 50 maps each). You can use whatever textures you want as long as they are compatible with Doom 2 and in the Doom 2 textures. If you submit two maps I'd request that they be in different worlds so that you don't hog up too many maps from one episode.

 

If you submit a map I'll ask that it be beatable, and we'll have a phase where people will playtest the maps in order to make sure that they are balanced and generally enjoyable. Mappers of all levels of experience are welcome!

 

Example of a good OP:

 

IcCAq2h.png.2a176bf9cb799568336b408bb87b4ce3.png

 

I've been a part of this community for a while and it's the first time I'm hosting a community project, so I hope it's successful. I want to finish the project sometime this year and it will be for vanilla. 

 

 

 

Hi everyone, Chainsaw Rampage is a 256x256 restriction project centered around two episodes: Earth, and an alien planet. Each episode will contain up to 50 maps, depending on how many submissions we get.  The goal is to create non-linear maps that are beautiful and take place in a small area. I feel brevity is greatly underappreciated in this day and age.

 

Story

 

On the planet of X'4l23;4leeuia, the demons ran out of chainsaws so they came to Earth to get more. Their alien ship arrived suddenly and spectacularly and the buxom marine donned his shotgun and shouted meticulously, "Wow! That's a lot of demons!" The plangent echos rang out all around the yonder world. Everyone knew: it was time to fucken' roll?

 

image.png.25818257d2d012e0c817d636f7bd439d.png

Project Specifications

  • Use only stock textures. Maps must be compatible with Doomsday. We will be using models instead of sprites.  
  • The playable area of a map must not exceed 256x256 map units.
  • In keeping with the story, all maps must have multiple chainsaws! 
  • There will be two episodes: Earth and an alien planet. Each will contain up to 50 maps.  

Submissions

  • You can submit up to two maps. If you submit two maps, one must be for the Earth episode and the other for the alien-planet episode.
  • Playtest your maps. At the end, we'll playtest the maps as a group so that they are balanced and generally enjoyable, but I'd prefer if the maps are functional before that. 
  • The deadline is September 30, 2020.
  • Mappers of all levels of experience are welcome!

Guidelines and Other Commentary
 

Spoiler

The two-submission restriction exists to keep slots open so that a lot of the community can contribute. You can map any style you want, from slaughtermaps to adventure maps to puzzle maps, but I want the gameplay and the visuals to both be attractive, regardless of what style you use. If you make a slaughtermap, don't spam monsters; place them tactically in your layout. Likewise, puzzle maps should have a solution and not require the player to look up the map in the editor. Adventure maps should not be confusing slogs. 

 

[Blah blah blah more text here blah blah blah.]

 

If you're almost done before the deadline let me know, show me your work, and I might extend it for you while we test the other maps -- but I don't want this to be abused! 

 

The two-submission restriction exists to keep slots open so that a lot of the community can contribute. You can map any style you want, from slaughtermaps to adventure maps to puzzle maps, but I want the gameplay and the visuals to both be attractive, regardless of what style you use. If you make a slaughtermap, don't spam monsters; place them tactically in your layout. Likewise, puzzle maps should have a solution and not require the player to look up the map in the editor. Adventure maps should not be confusing slogs. 

 

[Blah blah blah more text here blah blah blah.]

 

If you're almost done before the deadline let me know, show me your work, and I might extend it for you while we test the other maps -- but I don't want this to be abused! 

 


 

Signup List
 

Dobu Gabu Maru

 

31 minutes ago, Hitboi said:

Great Information and well written, I guess that it's easy to make a CP.

Indeed. But the real part is how to maintain it :)

 

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Oh hey, the thread got pinned.

 

I appreciate the honor.

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These are things I've tried to follow with my community MIDI pack as well. I waited to started it until I'd already started on two of my own submissions. I know that I appreciate (but never really get) feedback, and thus reciprocity demands that I provide any constructive feedback I can think of to participants. And I always remind people two days before their deadline approaches in case they need more time.

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"Take advice into consideration, but be the decision maker, and stick to your rules."

This is absolutely true. I have seen community project with rule sets that people considered to be too oppressive, but the project lead had a particular vision for what they wanted and stuck to those rules, and the projects turned out fine. In these cases, leadership tends to be the key.

 

My only addition to the notion of "stick to your rules" is to be transparent about what those rules are, in their entirety. The OP states to be honest with the participants, and this is part of it. Have whatever rules you want to have, but make sure they're clearly known. All the rules need to be laid out and clear to all participants. If you, as the project lead, want a particular thing, then say it. If you remain vague, and then reject maps because they don't meet your hidden standard, that just breeds resentment and people will be less likely to join the project.

 

For example, do not write, "Rule 1: I want maps focused on projectiles that are reminiscent of maps from the first episode of Doom 2," when what you really mean is,

"Rule 1: I want maps that feel like The Crusher where the only weapon is the plasma gun and the only enemies are cyberdemons." If you plan on accepting maps that don't meet your unspoken desire, then it's fine to be relatively vague, but if you start rejected maps because they're not what you really want, then that becomes a problem.

 

Even worse, don't then say, "Well, I called the mapset 'Crushing Cows with Plasma,' so it should have been obvious to everyone what I really wanted."

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When I started Tenth Gear and Half Moon. I had no idea what I was getting into. But we made it work and made a lot of good friends along the way and accumulated a lot of knowledge. One thing to note is the project is NOT about yourself. Make sure you do right by your contributors. No matter what it takes get that set done and make sure you do your best to do it right. Those people took time out of their day to contribute to you, take the time to contribute back.

Edited by Dubbag

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I'm working on a Doom 2 project at the moment. If I'm good enough to complete everything I intend to do, it will be available for others to use in community projects if they ask me for permission. I'll be making regular status updates on my profile, mostly going through the most important processes to get the entire project up to the standard I want to achieve. If anybody's interested in providing feedback, I'll always find it helpful!

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Dont host anything in May

That month is already taken :3

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After having participated in a few editions I was asked/offered by somebody to host an edition of their community project. Very kind of them and I was honored to be asked. I politely declined. I have been involved with Doom for less than a year, so I thanked them for the opportunity and told them I would feel more comfortable in the (near) future. Acknowledging your own limitations is a good thing when taking on the lead in a project I think.

 

I think offering these kind of chances is really trusting and it can inspire and bring out qualities in a person they might not have known they had before. In any community there are always some 'established people' that offer this kind of support to the new ones and I love that. It builds confidence and brings forward hidden talent. Plus it's a great learning experience for the person organising for the first time. Very thankful to not just see people create their own projects, but also see relatively new people being asked for these kinds of things.

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@ViolentBeetle I feel like you definitely should. From the CPs out there i've seen lately, most are very niche or already all claimed, and so i've seen a few people claiming that there isn't much currently going on in terms of community projects, so on that note i feel like you shouldn't struggle too much finding people who'd join yours.

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So I had an idea along the same vein as the idea behind this thread. A thread maintaining the current active community projects until released might be a handy thread for people looking to join one without digging through threads and not being sure if they are still active in development.

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10 hours ago, Nevander said:

So I had an idea along the same vein as the idea behind this thread. A thread maintaining the current active community projects until released might be a handy thread for people looking to join one without digging through threads and not being sure if they are still active in development.


Don’t think it’s been updated in a while, but:

 

 

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59 minutes ago, Horus said:

Don’t think it’s been updated in a while

 

Yeah, the last update on that thread looks to be from April of 2020.

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I think this thread needs a little bit of an expansion. It certainly does tell newcomers what it takes to start a community project lead in general, but it doesn't go into detail about what those things are. I propose a small list of skills and how to acquire them to be appended in the post, from most basic to most difficult. Things like teleporter traps, self referencing sectors, mock sectors, scripting, etc. Also separating them by tier level. For example, if you want to start a boom compatible project, you only need certain skills. If you want your project to receive udmf submissions, you should have other types of skills. I think this would make people's learning curve flow smoother. These categorizations would probably allow mappers to get a better feel for where they stand and what they can achieve with their skillset, and also what would be the next step on their mapping learning process.

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15 minutes ago, jo2ukegappy said:

I think this thread needs a little bit of an expansion. [...] I propose a small list of skills and how to acquire them to be appended in the post, from most basic to most difficult. Things like teleporter traps, self referencing sectors, mock sectors, scripting, etc.

 

Covering mapping tricks would be going beyond the scope of the thread. Several online tutorials and the Doom Editing subforum already exist for that purpose - the idea of my OP is to simply tell aspiring CP hosts what to do and not do when it comes to actually running such a project. And rd's post, especially the last paragraph, already has some solid advice regarding actual editing skills one might find useful. If there's enough demand, I might provide some links to useful editing resources, but turning this thread into a mapping/modding tutorial megathread would defeat its entire point when such topics are already extensively covered elsewhere.

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35 minutes ago, jo2ukegappy said:

I think this thread needs a little bit of an expansion. It certainly does tell newcomers what it takes to start a community project lead in general, but it doesn't go into detail about what those things are. I propose a small list of skills and how to acquire them to be appended in the post, from most basic to most difficult. 

 

IMO this post has some flawed assumptions embedded in it, and is solving a problem that doesn't need to be solved.  

The simple fact is that newcomers who have no/little experience with releasing something of their own should not be starting community projects yet. 


You will gain a lot of the required skills by managing your own solo project that requires you to grapple with tools like SLADE and learn how to upload to idgames, etc. And at that point you won't really need a thread to walk you through very basic skills. 
 

Spoiler

This is more of a recent phenomenon, but lately there have been people who don't even have a first map out starting projects (which, predictably, go badly). There was even someone who started a project on their first day and couldn't manage the thread because they ran into the first day post limit. A lot of those people shouldn't be starting projects at all yet.  

 

35 minutes ago, jo2ukegappy said:

Things like teleporter traps, self referencing sectors, mock sectors, scripting, etc. Also separating them by tier level.

 

All of these are just mapping devices of various degrees of complexity and don't have much to do with specifically managing a community project.

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