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Tower of BZ #1

Posted: Sat Sep 15, 2007 3:26 am
by ducatiwannabe
I've always enjoyed collaborative maps, a.k.a. when different mappers get together and work together on a project. Well, here's one of those. I'm trying to get nine other mappers to join in with me in making a tower. Here's how it works.

You are allowed to build in the direct middle of the map with a 100x100x45 span. The next person in the chain has the exact same building span, however, he is fifty units higher. The idea is to make a tower with different floors that mappers customize.

Guidelines:

-Only 1.x. Absolutely no textures, physics, or 2.x things in general. This is because I haven't ever tried to compile something like this and I don't want to deal with all the hassles that come with more complexity.

-Teleporters are allowed, but do not add any links as of right now. One teleporter is absolutely necessary (two preferred) to get from one level to the next (or back to the previous floor), so you are required to have at least one, somewhere near the middle of your tower floor preferably. When you post your level of the tower you may say how you want your teleporters to operate and I will gladly link them when I compile the different levels in to one map file.

-Only one floor per person.

-Try to keep your amount of objects somewhere between 50-150. Otherwise we'll have too many objects and it will become laggy(as we found out in past Collaborator maps). Remember, the more compact your floor is, the less likely a tank is to spawn there!

-First come first served.

-No levels that require specific variable changes, for those may alter how other levels are able to be played. No spawn zones or flag zones either.

-World Weapons are allowed, as long as they do not change how another floor is used.

I hope you get the general idea! Stay within your boundaries, and make a very interesting mini-world, while keeping the others you are working with in mind. Any questions? Feel free to post them. I do hope to make this better and better as we go on, with more complex towers(2.x), and with possibly more levels.

Here's my level(made in bzedit)! It's the first floor.

-dw

Posted: Sat Sep 15, 2007 5:14 am
by Jefenry
Thats a pretty cool idea, sort of like a skyscraper.
A few questions though-
How does a tank get from one level to another?
What do you plan to put in for the options in the final map?

Posted: Sat Sep 15, 2007 5:27 am
by ducatiwannabe
How does a tank get from one level to another?
I think it'd be best if every person had at least one teleporter near the middle of the "skyscraper" floor, so that we can link the different levels together. That's what I had in mind, but hadn't made that clear. Will edit original post.
What do you plan to put in for the options in the final map?
This would really be up to the server owner. Hopefully, it'll be able to be played on normal settings. I figured jumping and ricochet would be mandatory, and the rest would be optional.

Posted: Sat Sep 15, 2007 1:28 pm
by Spazzy McGee
I think remember this being an idea that never took off in the good ol' days of the BZWBB? I hope it works out this time!


I can understand why DW doesn't want to support 2.x stuff, and I think it's a good idea to keep the styles separate (teleporters can get messy in maps that contain both). I propose that I'll support a 2.x version - Tower of BZ #2 - please comment if you are interested, so I can lay extra guidelines for material numbering, etc.

Posted: Sun Sep 16, 2007 8:11 pm
by macsforme
I took DW's first level and emptied it out of everything except the outer walls and roof so people will know exactly what they have to work with. The file is attached.

Posted: Sun Sep 16, 2007 10:21 pm
by macsforme
Tower level 2 attached.
ducatiwannabe wrote:I think it'd be best if every person had at least one teleporter near the middle of the "skyscraper" floor, so that we can link the different levels together.
Two would be better... even though we could use the back and front of the same one, that wouldn't really encourage player movement. :)

Posted: Sun Sep 16, 2007 10:41 pm
by Peter
So would each mapper make one box/section/floor out of the template Constitution gave us, and then we post it on here, and then you put it together?

Posted: Mon Sep 17, 2007 2:42 am
by ducatiwannabe
That's correct, PETER.

Thanks, Constitution for helping to clarify a little better. Thought I explained it well, but you really helped. Also, it's good to see another addition. A very nice level.

Posted: Mon Sep 17, 2007 3:04 am
by Macrosoft
what a coincidence, a map i am working on happens to be 100x100x15

EDIT: only problem is that it uses meshes(2.0.0 object) so it cant be added

Posted: Mon Sep 17, 2007 3:44 pm
by CannonBallGuy
Macrosoft wrote: what a coincidence, a map i am working on happens to be 100x100x15

EDIT: only problem is that it uses meshes(2.0.0 object) so it cant be added
Spazzy is interested in creating a 2.0 style tower. I'm sure if you guys both make a level, others will follow.
Then we will have two collaborative towers! :D
Spazzy Mcgee wrote:I think remember this being an idea that never took off in the good ol' days of the BZWBB? I hope it works out this time!


I can understand why DW doesn't want to support 2.x stuff, and I think it's a good idea to keep the styles separate (teleporters can get messy in maps that contain both). I propose that I'll support a 2.x version - Tower of BZ #2 - please comment if you are interested, so I can lay extra guidelines for material numbering, etc.

Posted: Tue Sep 18, 2007 4:45 pm
by ducatiwannabe
Big thanks to Spazzy for helping me out with the 2.x version. 8)
ducatiwannabe wrote:
I think it'd be best if every person had at least one teleporter near the middle of the "skyscraper" floor, so that we can link the different levels together.
Two would be better... even though we could use the back and front of the same one, that wouldn't really encourage player movement.
Constitution has a point here. You are required to have at LEAST one teleporter, as I said, but it would be better to have two teleporters... one for going up... and one for going back down. Of course, you are welcome to squeeze as many as you want in... one for each floor, if you choose.

First two floors have been mixed as an example! Think this cool? Make a floor!

Posted: Tue Sep 18, 2007 10:19 pm
by ducatiwannabe
Spazzy Mcgee made a seperate topic for the 2.x version of the tower idea. To see that, go here: here

And, I finally posted the first two floors collaborated in my previous post(as an example, hopefully collaboration won't be so messy in the future). Tell me what you think! (Edited a couple old posts). I took the liberty if linking the teles and adding some options. What do you think, Constitution? You didn't supply me with links information so I did what I thought best.

If you have teleporters for any other use than linking to different floors, I need to know how you want the links. Perhaps you want linking only on one side of the teleporter? I need to know these things... :)

Posted: Wed Sep 19, 2007 2:43 am
by Joe-Schmoe
This seems pretty cool!

Attached is my entry. Only use the FRONT side of the teles, the backs are up against walls.

Some thoughts, I'm just throwing these out there:

--The L flag might not be suited to this project very well, it's too easy for a floor to be made that just gets wrecked by laser.

--PZ would allow you to go outside the tower, and it would make you fall a good distance, too.

--Also, SW might influence other levels, I'm not sure if you want this.

I dunno that you would actually want to change any of these, they're just my musings.

I am really looking forward to playing the finished version of this map!

Posted: Wed Sep 19, 2007 3:54 am
by macsforme
ducatiwannabe wrote:What do you think, Constitution? You didn't supply me with links information so I did what I thought best.
It looks fine... although it looks like you've linked both my teleporters to your level, and that will probably change when other levels get added. I don't really care which goes where.

Nice work so far. :)

Posted: Wed Sep 19, 2007 4:28 pm
by ducatiwannabe
Wow, Joe! That's one complex floor! Looks pretty playable too. :) Way to go. Made the most out of your floor. When I have the chance I'll combine it and show you what it looks like. Sorry that it takes a while, but I'm pretty busy with school and work. 8)
it looks like you've linked both my teleporters to your level, and that will probably change when other levels get added.
Yep! We'll probably have one going to the next level and the other returning to my floor. I was simply showing how it would work, and since we only had two floors, not much else to link to. ;) It will change now that Joe has joined our project!
--The L flag might not be suited to this project very well, it's too easy for a floor to be made that just gets wrecked by laser.
I hear ya, Joe. I'm thinking I'll probably take that out, seeing as even with pyramids, the small fighting zone will be covered by lasers bouncing off of roofs and such. I'll at least make it a very small shot limit if I add it.
--PZ would allow you to go outside the tower, and it would make you fall a good distance, too.
I considered this. You can't actually go *out* of the tower. The worldsize is 100, therefore you can NOT go any farther, even with Oscillation Overthruster or Phantom Zone. The outer walls are at 99 to a certain side and only 1 unit wide. I didn't put OO in, because I feared that would really bother people. However, with PZ, it could actually be used as a playing style. Shoot at people, zone yourself, and drop down out of sight. I guess it would only work once or so, unless you decide to stay on the bottom floor.
--Also, SW might influence other levels, I'm not sure if you want this.
I'm considering either taking the SW out completely or just simply altering the _vars so that it won't be quite as large of a zap. As it is, it only has one shot. It will only affect one floor-ish.
I dunno that you would actually want to change any of these, they're just my musings.
A project like this needs input! Especially from those involved! Thanks!
I am really looking forward to playing the finished version of this map!
I am too! And I hope others are as well.

Will return in about nine hours... :D

Posted: Wed Sep 19, 2007 7:20 pm
by macsforme
ducatiwannabe wrote:
--The L flag might not be suited to this project very well, it's too easy for a floor to be made that just gets wrecked by laser.
I hear ya, Joe. I'm thinking I'll probably take that out, seeing as even with pyramids, the small fighting zone will be covered by lasers bouncing off of roofs and such. I'll at least make it a very small shot limit if I add it.
Or just shorten the range of the Laser flag. Even once-and-a-half or twice the length/width of the map (so it wouldn't rico all over the place) would work pretty well, I think. But then it's not like there'll be any long-range laser sniping anyway, since the map is so confined.

Posted: Wed Sep 19, 2007 8:51 pm
by Jefenry
Here's my contribution, hopefully it's fairly playable. I too can't wait to see how the final map will turn out.

How effective will the radar be with all the different heights? I could imagine a tank on level 4 doing a rico shot, and a tank on level 5 jumping for his life....
Also, would it be better to have a lower shot limit, like around 3 because the levels are so small?

Posted: Wed Sep 19, 2007 11:28 pm
by Quantum Tank
Well, here is my tower level. Its my first ever map (that I've posted) actually, so I hope it's not *too* bad :oops:

Posted: Wed Sep 19, 2007 11:53 pm
by macsforme
ducatiwannabe wrote:However, with PZ, it could actually be used as a playing style. Shoot at people, zone yourself, and drop down out of sight. I guess it would only work once or so, unless you decide to stay on the bottom floor.
Also, there would HAVE to be a teleporter at ground level (or within jumping distance) on the bottom floor, or they would be unable to un-zone.

Just another thought that struck me. :)

Posted: Thu Sep 20, 2007 3:26 am
by ducatiwannabe
Well, here is my tower level. Its my first ever map (that I've posted) actually, so I hope it's not *too* bad
It isn't bad at all, Quantum Tank. :) Doesn't have to be packed or really fancy to be a good floor/map! Nicely done. I like it. :)

Hey, thanks for the new additions, everybody! We're halfway up our tower! Each floor is really unique and very well thought out. You guys have been doing really well about naming your files and with just about everything. Here are a few of things I wanted to point out...

Once again, I remind people that they need to tell me how they want their teleporters linked... thanks, Jefenry, for letting me know! Quantum and Joe, if you don't tell me how you want your teles linked I'll use my better judgement and link them myself. I am doing the teleporters separately, so you will notice in the map file, all teleporters have been ####ed out. ;)

A tip: Do not place too many objects on your floor. The more packed pyramids and blocks that stretch up to your floor's ceiling you place, the less likely a tank will be able to spawn on your floor.

Please do not group your own floor! I'll take care of that. (Or, you could save me the trouble by making your floor already positioned high enough so I don't have to group at all. Goes up by 45's, we're currently at 180 heightwise) This falls under one of the rules I first posted (check original post):
-Only 1.x. Absolutely no textures, physics, or 2.x things in general. This is because I haven't ever tried to compile something like this and I don't want to deal with all the hassles that come with more complexity.
I.E., anything that will not open in BZEdit. 8) Thanks for your understanding!

(Mr. Quantum, if it's alright with you I edited your map coding, however, everything is exactly the same *except* the *way* it was written. I'll attach the map file, and you can look over it to see if that's ok with you. I just could not make all your grouping within one large group (as in, group your groups :D), and it made it much easier for me to worry about one grouping. I still gave you credit and all that. Can you check and see if that's alright with you?)

And finally... *drumroll* the updated map so far! It can not be opened in bzedit, so run a private server, and roam through it in observer mode.

Thoughts?

*cheering* *clapping* *huzzahing*

dw

Posted: Thu Sep 20, 2007 11:42 am
by Quantum Tank
Well, I managed to open and test it just fine in iBZEdit. For some reason, there was a big empty space where jefenry's map was supposed to be, and his group was empty when I hit that triangle next to his group name. I don't know weather it was a problem with iBZEdit or the map file, but i got an "imcomplete object at line 2000 or so" error message when i opened it, so you might want to fix that.

Posted: Thu Sep 20, 2007 1:39 pm
by ducatiwannabe
Most odd. I don't get an error in BZFS and I can't see anything wrong in the actual test server. I don't see anything wrong off the bat in his coding either. Of course, I don't work with Macs, or iBZEdit... :)

Posted: Thu Sep 20, 2007 4:42 pm
by Joe-Schmoe
Ah...my teles were meant to link to the floor above and the floor below, but they could link to any two floors in theory. Preferably two floors that aren't already directly linked...;)

Posted: Thu Sep 20, 2007 10:42 pm
by ducatiwannabe
Thanks for the clarification on linking, Joe! :) I appreciate it! And Jefenry, I got your PM, and it's done. :) Thanks.

More floors are welcome! :)

Posted: Fri Sep 21, 2007 12:12 am
by Jefenry
ducatiwannabe wrote:And finally... *drumroll* the updated map so far! It can not be opened in bzedit, so run a private server, and roam through it in observer mode.
Roaming through with observer mode was pretty fun, but if you want to actually see how the map plays and not resort to blowing yourself up to get to other levels, then the attached map is for you. I added a teleporter in the middle of each level. And, there's an OO flag on the roof, in case you get stuck up there.