End of Summer, future goals.

[Armadillo of Doom]

Hallo again, long time no see Summer is at an end, back to school, etc. I got to thinking about this thread I made earlier; http://forums.tf2maps.net/showthread.php?t=2290 But then DJive pointed this out;

Traffic:


We've actually been growing at a pretty steady pace. As he also mentioned, mapping is a hobby, so we're bound to get a lot of fluxuation. And at the moment, we have a good thing going here. Every single 'introduce yourself' thread is met a w/ a few friendly and helpful posts. And every thread in our wip section gets at least a couple posts of constructive feedback. And if that weren't enough, we have some especially talented mappers in our fold, along with some really gorgeous maps. I've personally downloaded and used about half the items in our model/texture/resources sections as well;
http://forums.tf2maps.net/forumdisplay.php?f=17
http://forums.tf2maps.net/forumdisplay.php?f=18
http://forums.tf2maps.net/forumdisplay.php?f=24

My point is, I'm wondering what else we can do for the future? Is there anything else we hope to accomplish, or have we reached a nice plateau? I would really like to see more people using our tags in their maps
http://forums.tf2maps.net/downloads.php?do=file&id=54
http://forums.tf2maps.net/downloads.php?do=file&id=57

But we still get pretty good exposure from word of mouth. I believe we've also adopted an ingame bump, just add to the end of your name; | TF2Maps.net
We have gamedays for testing new stuff, or getting feedback on betas. Our awsome mods started the mini-mapping contests, just to get some nice prefabs. And our partners at coltsplayground.net continue to be really cool. Lastly, our anniversary is coming up, and the other mods/admins and myself are gonna work on the very first TF2M map-pack. So I ask again, is there anything left for us to do? Anything you want to see in the future? This is your community, so share your thoughts

 

[Ida]

I don't have anything really valuable to add, but the only reason I'm not using the |TF2maps.net tag behind my name is because it's FREAKING LONG. How about |TF2M or something?

 

[TheDarkerSideofYourShadow]

You call that name long? :-D


I try and support you guys by talking about mapping in game. We play a lot of custom maps there, some of them ones that started right here. People ask about how something is done, how to map, etc. I *try* to explain things, and then always tell them to come here if they have any more questions. I dunno if its working or not, but the results from that graph look positive.

 

[Armadillo of Doom]

I don't have anything really valuable to add, but the only reason I'm not using the |TF2maps.net tag behind my name is because it's FREAKING LONG. How about |TF2M or something?

This is one of the reasons why I was initially opposed to having any kind of name tag. And while we've certainly come a long way from being a mere Steam group, I want to try and avoid getting into the clan mentality. This is a community for like-minded people to come and share, discuss, etc. People will come and go as free time for mapping changes, along with interest in it. By having the full TF2Maps.net, it feels to me more like pimping the community rather than just a random group. While I admit that I am rather fond of using the abbreviation TF2M, anyone who sees that in game won't know what it is, or even give it a second thought.

 

[VelvetFistIronGlove]

Come on, BreadHeadFred, your name is shorter than mine, and VelvetFistIronGlove|TF2Maps.net fits with one letter to spare!

And yeah, I do it to advertise the community; and I don't really see any clan mentality here at all, which is great.

 

[Bonafide]

TF2M at the end of your name means nothing. This isnt a clan. However, TF2Maps.net is a free advertisement for the site.

Just out of interest you say you want ideas of where to go next... Well, L4D is coming out..... I mean, does this community have to be TF2 exclusive mappers? Using the same engine and tools to map for another game carry over greatly. I would be great to carry on with this community into other games. I mean here there is of a level of quality that some where like FPSbanana completely lacks.

I dont know though, it might seem a little silly with the domain of TF2Maps.

 

[grazr]

You make a nice point Bonafide but i would be concerned about the fact that by broadening our scope of level designing to other mods, we may split the tight nit community we have here.

The site, thanks to the more experienced level designers here, is probably able to cater for most mod mapping knowlegde; but because this is quite focused on TF2 what with the domain as you say (and each and every persons love of the game), there would be little reason for css mappers etc to come here.

But then most of that "general" traffic would hit on the likes of interlopers anyway.

What we're getting seems to be nice enough, and the live community events are what seem to make this community much more of a success then most. The gamedays, the steamchat. Frequant competitions. Targeting a wider audience, may unfocus the community..

I'm afraid i don't have much of an idea of what to add. But adding other mod area's to the forums may prove detrimental. Make competitions harder to organise etc etc.

I'm hardly a "neigh" to the idea, i would just be careful of the ramifications.

 

[Armadillo of Doom]

I appreciate the feedback and discussion guys I don't think we have to worry about broadening our reach. I started this group for the sole purpose of custom TF2, and that's how we'll stay. If at some point we ever wanted to branch off into other games, we would do so as partner sites, not an extension of TF2M. I should point out that it's ok if you can't really think of anything else we can work towards. To be honest, I can't either, which is why I started this thread. My biggest fear is that without new stuff to do, we'll get into a rut, or simply become a dumping ground for maps. For now though, we seem to have reached a happy medium Though if you do have some ideas for the future, don't hesitate to share!

 

[Ida]

Yeah, I see what you mean about the group tag thing, I admit that I'm not fond of my own idea either.

 

[Armadillo of Doom]

Yeah, I see what you mean about the group tag thing, I admit that I'm not fond of my own idea either.

No worries m8. For what it's worth, I was rather fond of being a clan thing for a little bit. But as the community grew, I realized that simply wasn't what we are about.