Where and how did your find your mapping homies?

[Thelokk]

As someone very active but relatively new to the community, I have been wondering this for a while.

To those who have worked on/ released non-CP collaborative projects, how and where did you find your kindred mapping souls? Here? Discord? Unlisted hangouts? And how did you approach them? Did it just evolve naturally, or did you post an open call? Can one even do that?

As someone who would like to find a comfortable spot between the loneliness of solo mapping and the (still awesome) 'open to all punters' nature of community projects, I'd be super interested to hear your story, and maybe get some tips  

[Fabricator]

Hey dude, welcome to the party pal community! :) Just gonna go on record and say it - I absolutely dig the term "mapping homies", hahaha!

I think the best way to make friends within an online community is the exact same approach as "real life" - to just dive in and get involved and be regularly / realistically active, hahaha! Speaking as a former longtime lurker that was the catalyst for me, don't be shy / hesitant / overthink it!

 

Online forums and specific discords are pretty much the best way to get started - once your foot is in the door it all kinda falls into place from there!

Doomworld and the ZDoom forums are probably the 2 best and most active forums. As far as Discords go there's a million different servers out there, but two to get you started are The Entryway and Quake Mapping. Both are pretty active, very civil / friendly and are great spaces to learn, create and make buddies! Hope that helps dude!

[Thelokk]

9 minutes ago, Fabricator said:

Hey dude, welcome to the party pal community! :) Just gonna go on record and say it - I absolutely dig the term "mapping homies", hahaha!

I think the best way to make friends within an online community is the exact same approach as "real life" - to just dive in and get involved and be regularly / realistically active, hahaha! Speaking as a former longtime lurker that was the catalyst for me, don't be shy / hesitant / overthink it!

 

Online forums and specific discords are pretty much the best way to get started - once your foot is in the door it all kinda falls into place from there!

Doomworld and the ZDoom forums are probably the 2 best and most active forums. As far as Discords go there's a million different servers out there, but two to get you started are The Entryway and Quake Mapping. Both are pretty active, very civil / friendly and are great spaces to learn, create and make buddies! Hope that helps dude!

 

Thanks! I'll definitely try to get more involved into Discord server, since I get the feeling where most of the action is at.

[ImproversGaming]

I have very little experience here in practical terms of mapping but do in other areas of life.

I recommend that you think clearly about a vision for where you would like to be – i.e., like have one hard-core buddy where you release a MegaWAD together or a free and easy relationship where you pair up with different people. Or go through a period of experimentation to see what would work best for you.

 

Then try and find the person/people you are looking for. Posting here is a great start but I would also do some homework. Who maps, what styles do they have, what maps have you seen that you really like and would have liked to have been involved in, see what/who is out there that would resonate with you. Check out the community projects and challenge project (like creating a map in 1 hour). Also market yourself (the post is one) and show others what you can do and get involved in the community projects to build connections and showcase your skills. Also be open to DM'ing those that interest you and ask to collaborate openly.

 

Start small and build but I think this will work out well for you as the community here is pretty supportive. Good luck!

[Thelokk]

1 hour ago, ImproversGaming said:

Also market yourself (the post is one) and show others what you can do and get involved in the community projects to build connections and showcase your skills

 

So far I only have to my name a small, somewhat decently received mapset, and a whole lotta community projects, which I guess is better than nothing. Definitely enjoyed more the latter as a process, I guess I'm just the gregarious kind of creative. Probably should take it slow though, and try not to rush ahead of myself too much. Thanks for the suggestions!

Edited March 31, 2022 by Thelokk

[Sneezy McGlassFace]

Other than the Jimmy's Entryway, I can recommend Clippy's Crispy Chicken Chill Zone and of course the Hellforge discord servers. Really good peeps in both, with some overlap. 

 

I am yet to make a mapping buddy but making a map or a map set with someone, like a little collab sure sounds fun. I just made a first CP submission for doomkid's Jamal Jones. 

I guess I would do what I learned in kindergarten, coming up to someone I like, and ask if they wanna be friends lol

[azerty]

Here is a topic I made. You might be interested in this if your searching for discord servers. Discord really is a good place for mapping buddies :)

 

 

[SitarA]

If you like what you see or hear of a mapper/modder or musician, don't be shy to pm them and show interest in their work. 

 

It's a good way to create connection, and perhaps even a nice friendship. 

[Thelokk]

2 minutes ago, OniriA said:

If you like what you see or hear of a mapper/modder or musician, don't be shy to pm them and show interest in their work. 

 

It's a good way to create connection, and perhaps even a nice friendship. 

 

Honestly, pretty soon I'll just bite the awkwardness bullet and do exactly that. I mean, recently someone did it with me and it turned out great, why shouldn't it work the other way around too, right? 

Mostly I was just waiting to have my first map pack out so that I could have something that shows I actually can see things through to their end, you know, build confidence in interested parties and such. 

[azerty]

3 minutes ago, OniriA said:

If you like what you see or hear of a mapper/modder or musician, don't be shy to pm them and show interest in their work. 

 

It's a good way to create connection, and perhaps even a nice friendship. 

I absolutely agree. I actually did that myself and now I made some new "freinds" on DW

[Decay]

For me it started in the competitive clan scene, where we played 1v1, Team Deathmatch, and Capture the Flag. There were a bunch of us in the clan that were mapping inclined, so together we made a 1 on 1 wad. From that, the mappers splintered off into a new group, the Mechanix Union (MXU). Eventually we collaborated with some members from another clan, made some good projects, and then kind of diverged from there.

 

Ultimately find people you like hanging out with, rather than ones you think map the best, because mapping together opens the opportunity for you to get better and make your friend better too. All of MXU's wad gradually increased in quality over the years as we fought encouraged each other to do better.

[Thelokk]

1 minute ago, Decay said:

Ultimately find people you like hanging out with, rather than ones you think map the best, because mapping together opens the opportunity for you to get better and make your friend better too.

 

Solid advice, especially for a relatively new mapper like me. Thanks! 

[Nine Inch Heels]

7 hours ago, Thelokk said:

As someone very active but relatively new to the community, I have been wondering this for a while

Participate in community projects, don't half-ass your map if you do, and sooner or later you'll find someone to map with...

[MemeMind]

 

I just sticked around with a certain community project and uhh thats it.

[KeaganDunn]

The Hellforge discord server, run by @Bridgeburner56, is a wonderful place.

I think I found it and joined while watching one of Bridge's livestreams...15 MONTHS AGO??

 

I believe @RiviTheWarlock is the only one I met in the Hellforge that I have worked on a few projects with - the rest have just been good friends (Jimmy, Dragonfly, Velvetic, Kaapeli, etc), with the occasional help, feedback, testing, and thoughtful conversations on maps and music alike. Also tasteless memery and utter debauchery on the weekends

 

I've sung my praise for them before, but I'm very grateful to have met these people, whom are very talented at what they do here. And that includes just being good people. If you want to make a difference in a community, building connections and relationships is a big thing. And also being nice and welcoming, most of all

[Arrowhead]

I found my mapping buddies,  @spwnSH4Rk , @Endless in the Wadazine discord server - another great server for mapping: https://discord.gg/K4F8RDQN

 

I had joined up w/ the Wadazine recently, and was getting to know people, and spwnSH4Rk was asking if anybody wanted to help him w/ a single-player level he was making, I said sure, he ended up scrapping the SP level, but we ended up transitioning into a deathmatch only project. I make the layouts for the levels, and he textures and details them.

 

Now we've all got a large deathmatch project going and a large CTF project going as well.

 

I'm always open to collaborating, (mostly in the deathmatch sphere) so if anybody's looking for a deathmatch mapping buddy, you can always send me a DM or ping me in Discord. :)

[Thelokk]

55 minutes ago, Dunn (& Dunn) said:

If you want to make a difference in a community, building connections and relationships is a big thing. And also being nice and welcoming, most of all

 

More solid advice, I have to say that, save a few outliers, I had mostly good experiences here so far.

 

13 minutes ago, Arrowhead said:

in the Wadazine discord server - another great server for mapping:

 

Yup, great place - hoping to jump on one of their projects eventually, once I hone my skills further.

[Van Daemon]

I know so many mappers but I don't have a mapper buddy, tbh. 

[Grain of Salt]

Send them animal pictures on discord

[PasokonDeacon]

More than anything, find and stick with good people who will consistently play what you make and give feedback after. Or maybe become one of those commentators, even just every now and then. Whole mapping groups form out of simply needing playtesters for some odd thing, and then that snowballs into anything from a general hangout to full-blown community projects. One can always do more and better playtesting, even if you're mainly here to create. It shouldn't ever be on a few good people to do all the videos and demos out there, too.

 

Definitely join and frequent the aft mentioned Discord servers, too. It's great to get longer thoughts down on Doomworld and other forums, but the spontaneity of instant chat and screen sharing helps too.