Also what's the current test queue, if it's not too much to ask?
The maps queue is weirdly ordered; we take the following factors into account when deciding which maps to play for a gameday:
- Whether the mapper is in the server or not. If a mapper is in the server their map will almost-always be tested that day (unless it was tested very recently). Seeing your map played real-time and being able to interact with players is better than watching a demo.
- Time spent on the queue. If a map has been sitting in the queue for awhile it will increase in priority so it doesn't get deferred.
- Difficulty of the pop file to be tested. Harder pop files take more time to complete and so is dependent on the gameday time. The night shift gameday is longer than the morning shift one, so harder/longer pop files tend to be played at the night time ET.
I basically take all the maps from here (and from
here) and keep track of them in a spreadsheet. We don't always follow the queue since some stuff is played out of order based on the above criteria. However, since we do run a gameday every day, rest assured your map will be played in a [hopefully] timely manner. Of course, we sometimes just run map tests right out of the TF2Maps/server group chat without looking at the queue so there may be some irregularities every now and then.
As of writing there are currently 6 maps on the queue. We generally do 2 maps per gameday (and there are 2 gamedays a day). For the past 2 weeks we have been running 2 gamedays a day every day and I don't see this trend slowing down anytime soon (especially as we approach the contest deadline).
EDIT: Updated the horribly outdated OP with the latest information on gameday protocols.