This page used to be for tracking the map selection for the custom map server. Now I guess it's of historical interest. :-) Basically I realized that there were too many Quake maps for me to examine them all personally, and too many that I could even be sure that I got the best ones. My approach was to start with the maps that got a good buzz from somewhere... the Web, Usenet, wherever. This was a lot of maps. :-) I then did a walkthrough of the map to do a big first cut, then some initial playtesting with reaper bots and/or a few humans, then playtesting with the assistance of as many of my clanmates as I could scrape together. Those maps that survived that cut got a cursory test for r_speeds and other framerate indicators, and then they got thrown to the wolves in Internet playtesting. Even on the new server with the final maps, we will still be playing with a critical eye, and any detailed comments from other users of the server (preferably by email) will be very welcome. This process won't guarantee the best maps, but it should guarantee some good ones.
I was looking for maps that both play well and are visually interesting. Also, the fact that I'll be running these on an Internet server imposed some other restrictions, especially on size and navigability, and whether or not any errors or vis problems are acceptable (they are not). And finally the maps needed to fit with my personal tastes, and, to a lesser degree :-), the tastes of my clanmates. Some perfectly good maps were culled out because of these special considerations. So please don't make any premature judgements about any of these maps from seeing them listed in the "cuts" below.
These are the seven final maps that will be in rotation on The Experimental Pits:
| anihous2 | Animal House (version 2) by David Graves |
| clean01 | Command Center Part 1 of 3 by David Namaksy |
| dcdm3 | DCDM3 by Dario Casali |
| dcdm5a | DCDM5 (version 2) by Dario Casali |
| deguello | Deguello by Mike Panico |
| kndycity | City by Marin Gazzari |
| trifor | Triforium by Andrew Mulvey |
The map critters was cut in Internet beta testing because of a bug that would crash the server. Too bad; cool map. Also "lost" in Internet beta testing were dakyne (mostly because it will also be available in another map pack), martim5, muny06, obiwan, and satyr1a. All very strong maps, though. I urge you to check them out if you are interested in playing new maps.
Five maps were cut in Internet alpha testing. So close! A big thank-you to the authors of these maps for the fun we had testing them, even if they weren't the right fit for our server. These maps are: arma2, devil, kndybase, kysdeath, and smallwrd.
Thirteen maps were cut in initial playtesting. I've decided to remove the reasons why, since they concentrate on the negatives, and these were all good maps... just not, for one reason or another, what I was looking for. It often turned out that they were just not large enough (or too large!... pb1), but I liked them so much I gave them a playtest anyway. The other main reason is lack of suitability for Internet play. These maps are anarchy, pb1, darkhall, dcdm4_id, demons, judas24, ledges, manson1, manson2, muny05, q_d5m1, vsdm2, wiztower.
Many maps were cut in the first pass. Again, don't read anything in particular into this, especially since some of these maps were intended primarily for single-player. The maps could have been cut for "look" or "flow" (whatever those happened to mean on the day I did the walkthrough); type, number, and/or placement of items; complexity that required upping maxsurfs or maxedges; vis problems; the aforementioned considerations for an Internet server; etc., etc. Or maybe they were just too small and I didn't realize it until I first looked at them. (It's amazing any survived!)
The maps cut on first pass were 5150, addqk1a, anarqist, base, bruiser, btf2, castle01, cath16, clogged, chillers, cyclops, darkbase, darkston, darkwrld, dcdm1, dcdm2_id, deathtow, demkeep, deso, dime, djw1, dm7, dm8a, dspirl11, epoch, etninc, evilwrld, flood, frcastl2, giggler4, hall, halldred, highrise, horror, jailbrk, kings1, kndyforg, kyshell, lavahall, loaded, locks, manson3, marsbase, martim3, martim4, mexx4, mexx5, mexx6, mexx7, muny03, platform, q_unlag2, rafters, rocket, rdlair, refine, reznor, royalwar, runways, scorn, sdm1, secbase, sgc6, sul2, swen, swen1, taint000, taint1, tef_aop, tef_sc, tef_sg, tmi, tun, tygarden, undrwrld, upper, volcano, wilburm1, wilburm2, and zones.