Hey, if you've been [url=http://facepunch.com/showthread.php?t=1299903]keeping up on your good o' mapping forum[/url], I asked if people would be interested in a quality controlled map archive. Some said "yes", some said "god yes", and some said "elitist mapping circlejerk". Based on those three responses I went ahead and opened up [url=http://www.dotBSP.com]dotBSP[/url].
[b]What is dotBSP?[/b] It's functionally an archive you can search for and submit maps, and metaphysically non-existant.
[b]Why is dotBSP even around?[/b] You ever search Gamebanana? That's literally the reason why I made the site. [url=https://facepunch.com/showthread.php?t=1295935]Websites like Gamebanana have no real quality control whatsoever[/url] which leads to a lot of poorly made maps floating to the top of the "highest rated" search. It also leads to the unfortunate burial of maps that are worthwhile, and that's wrong.
A misconception is dotBSP is a huge discriminatory waste of time, but the site's goal isn't to laugh in the face of anyone who's ever released a first map. It's supposed to archive maps that should be remembered, downloaded, played, and more importantly: [i]seen[/i]. It's not even supposed to be a replacement for your absolute day-to-day searching. It'll be a fair first stop, I think.
And if anything, this website should inspire and prove the crazy awesome power of the Source Engine should you utilize it with a crazy awesome brain.
[b]How do I submit my map?[/b] [url]http://www.dotbsp.com/submit[/url]
[b]Is there anyway I can help?[/b] Simply discussing the good and the bad of the site is the most helpful right now. I don't need extra staff or anything - maybe I will in the future. I don't know. But for right now just C&C my site.
This is great. I can finally play new maps without having to go through the twenty layers of low quality content that garrysmod.org, Gamebanana and Workshop have.
[editline]21st August 2013[/editline]
Hopefully though more people will submit maps.
Can't wait to see the archive grow!
I'm fixing the CSS reset so the website is going to be downright horrible for the next whatever.
An excellent idea OP. Adding this to my favorites.
Perhaps this site will relieve the "kick in the nuts" feeling I get when the maps that I spend so much time making are immediately buried under old maps re-uploaded (often without the author's permission) and ugly "spooky" maps that consist of a big box of trees, some fog and absolutely no optimization.
[QUOTE=aaagamer;41921504]Perhaps this site will relieve the "kick in the nuts" feeling I get when the maps that I spend so much time making are immediately buried under old maps re-uploaded (often without the author's permission) and ugly "spooky" maps that consist of a big box of trees, some fog and absolutely no optimization.[/QUOTE]
I think that was the point, hence the "Quality controlled map related site".
Also to op - would you also allow for links to the workshop, or do you want things downloaded directly from your site or a non workshop mirror?
OP will you ever do texture packs or model packs? I feel like it could be useful for mappers who are looking for quality content.
CSS is fixed! And the Twitter widget magically broke! Oh well.
[QUOTE=|Arblarg|;41921571]I think that was the point, hence the "Quality controlled map related site".
Also to op - would you also allow for links to the workshop, or do you want things downloaded directly from your site or a non workshop mirror?[/QUOTE]
Look at the Black Gold article - there's a link to the workshop link by HoliestCow and a link to the direct download.
[editline]21st August 2013[/editline]
[QUOTE=HighdefGE;41921744]OP will you ever do texture packs or model packs? I feel like it could be useful for mappers who are looking for quality content.[/QUOTE]
I'm not sure if I want to branch out to mapping resources.
Looking forward to this project! I hope it'll grow popular. :)
[QUOTE=wauterboi;41921841]
Look at the Black Gold article - there's a link to the workshop link by HoliestCow and a link to the direct download.
[/quote]
Ah, thanks. Didn't think to look at the map since I don't play CS:GO and I had seen a lot of it in the mapping pimpage thread. Well that clears that up then.
[QUOTE=wauterboi;41921841]
I'm not sure if I want to branch out to mapping resources.[/QUOTE]
Perhaps not actually hosting it, but providing working links to it. That is all up to you though.
I think that you should have a better maps page for when you get many more maps on the site (I hope?).
It's kind of laborious to scroll through each map individually, I think the space isn't used that efficiently.
I think you would benefit from having smaller previews of each map with the name underneath,
kind of like how sites like Danbooru or even shopping sites like eBay handle their content:
[t]http://tbx.me/OFyyjb.png[/t]
Quick mockup I made of some thumbnail links, where users just click on thumbnails that they like the look of to go to the maps page.
I also pitched some ideas for optimisations within the websites design which would remove some of the wasted space and make it easier to browse.
Things I noticed:
Showing the date of the map isn't that relevant I think for this context
Recent maps literally just shows what's on the same page but in a different place
There is a huge header that doesn't provide anything
The sidebar has no content and just clutters the page
Having the descriptions on the main maps page makes it harder to search through the maps,
although it does provide useful information. However,
for a catalogue page I think users will just be looking through the images to see something that attracts their attention,
and will then look at the description after clicking on the map link?
Could also put a fast download link in the corner of the image or something,
as some people might already know what the maps are and want to download them fast without opening lots of pages:
crude example:
[img]http://tbx.me/_9fPM.png[/img]
Of course I'm just trying to pitch ideas to make your website better/more accessible for users,
you don't have to take anything I say seriously :-)
edit: also something that would be cool is the option to sort the results, for example by date, a-z, rating, download count
Really great job. I saw a project like this before trying to create a map archive, but it soon crashed down. I hope this one is really successful.
[url]http://dotbsp.com/[/url]
Changes:
- The sidebar is gone. Poof.
- The search is moved up into the header.
- The page scales to the window much more than before. (Minimum size: 640px. Maximum size: 920px.)
Changes to be made:
- Fix up the maps page to fit more maps at once. (aka thumbnail idea that was brought up)
- Remove dates of posts
- Sleep schedule of wauterboi
Good idea, I like the quality control ideal, especially when its based more off ensuring that content was made with motivation and a visible effort for creativity. Even when I first started mapping, when it took a while to create a few simple, blocky empty rooms; you eventually get better and learn to respect how much time and work it takes to make the truly magnificent levels.
[QUOTE=wauterboi;41925128][url]http://dotbsp.com/[/url]
Changes:
- The sidebar is gone. Poof.
- The search is moved up into the header.
- The page scales to the window much more than before. (Minimum size: 640px. Maximum size: 920px.)
Changes to be made:
- Fix up the maps page to fit more maps at once. (aka thumbnail idea that was brought up)
- Remove dates of posts
- Sleep schedule of wauterboi[/QUOTE]
You should add Up votes and Down votes to each map. Also maybe a Hall of Fame section?
[QUOTE=Llamalord;41925318]You should add Up votes and Down votes to each map. Also maybe a Hall of Fame section?[/QUOTE]
isnt the website itself a hall of fame?:v:
Also, you don't need to be a registered user to upvote or downvote
Something about the dotted lines urks me
[QUOTE=hiyougami;41925515]Something about the dotted lines urks me[/QUOTE]
[url=http://www.dotbsp.com]How's the page now?[/url]
Oh, and now the map page shows special thumbnails only:
[t]https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/965202/maplist.png[/t]
[editline]22nd August 2013[/editline]
[QUOTE=Llamalord;41925318]You should add Up votes and Down votes to each map. Also maybe a Hall of Fame section?[/QUOTE]
Why add votes? The entire premise of the site defeats the purpose of a rating system.
Plus, I have no idea how I'd implement it with the CMS I'm using, so... No ratings.
[editline]22nd August 2013[/editline]
[QUOTE=GoldPlatinum;41925498]isnt the website itself a hall of fame?:v:[/QUOTE]
Indeed. I might make a "featured list" but then again, that's kind of pointless too.
[editline]cheez louise[/editline]
My search is duplicating results and I have no idea why, haha. Go look up "de_" without the size or game and you'll get the same three results three times.
Also, why "de_" is bringing up an rp map - I have no id-OH. I think it's doing three different searches because of the three different inputs for the search. What a crock.
[editline]cheez louise[/editline]
If you choose a game, the other fields aren't required (but help). If you choose a size and nothing else, the entire thing breaks and reports all maps. If you type in stuff in the input and nothing else stuff multiplies. And so I fixed it by requiring the first form. ;D
Stupid idea, but I think you should make tags overlay like steam does on the thumbnails
[IMG]http://puu.sh/zRyf[/IMG][IMG]http://puu.sh/zRtt[/IMG]
[IMG]http://desmond.imageshack.us/Himg580/scaled.php?server=580&filename=actionhalflife2.png&res=landing[/IMG]
Like that only with CSS, TF2, GMOD's icon, etc.
That's not stupid at all - that's actually a way better idea than what I was going with.
It's very nice to be able to click on a map and see more than 1 to 3 pictures, as well as a description and review of sorts to read. Thank you for putting this together and working on it!
Great idea, however the site needs a bit of CSS touch ups.
Right now some text is extremely hard to read due to its miniature line high. For example I added line-height:1.4em to the body element and I find it a lot more readable.
For example: [url]http://imgur.com/a/4zDJn[/url]
Though like I said, the idea is great. I can't wait to finish a map so I can submit it.
Is there any way to submit someone else's map? Because I'm not sure you asked permission to the authors of rp_stantsiya or de_wanda. Sorry if you did/they actually submitted their maps.
Only complaint I have is that on the main page clicking on the maps picture doesn't take you to its page. I think changing it would make it easier to navigate.
[QUOTE=Highwind;41935242]Great idea, however the site needs a bit of CSS touch ups.
Right now some text is extremely hard to read due to its miniature line high. For example I added line-height:1.4em to the body element and I find it a lot more readable.
For example: [url]http://imgur.com/a/4zDJn[/url]
Though like I said, the idea is great. I can't wait to finish a map so I can submit it.[/QUOTE]
I'll take a gander at it a bit later.
[editline]23rd August 2013[/editline]
[QUOTE=Loadingue;41937818]Is there any way to submit someone else's map? Because I'm not sure you asked permission to the authors of rp_stantsiya or de_wanda. Sorry if you did/they actually submitted their maps.[/QUOTE]
I was e-mailed rp_stantsiya by HighDef, the creator, and I didn't ask to upload de_wanda. But I did e-mail him about it. I don't know what to think about on the subject of uploading other people's maps.
[editline]23rd August 2013[/editline]
[QUOTE=wazanator;41941825]Only complaint I have is that on the main page clicking on the maps picture doesn't take you to its page. I think changing it would make it easier to navigate.[/QUOTE]
I'll fix it a bit later.
[QUOTE=wauterboi;41942600]I'll take a gander at it a bit later.
[editline]23rd August 2013[/editline]
I was e-mailed rp_stantsiya by HighDef, the creator, and I didn't ask to upload de_wanda. But I did e-mail him about it. I don't know what to think about on the subject of uploading other people's maps.
[editline]23rd August 2013[/editline]
I'll fix it a bit later.[/QUOTE]
Personally, uploading other people's maps onto the site seems to be a bit of a grey area. Some people may not wish to have different areas to download their map, as they prefer it to be centralized. One little recommendation is since I lean towards CS:GO, I think the little ribbon on the top left corner of the map thumbnails for CS:GO would be better if it went for more of the orange style that it has on its thumbnail.
Something of this color:
[t]http://blog.us.playstation.com/files/2012/07/CSGO_thumbnail.png[/t]
Can we submit maps that we didn't make, but are still quality?
[QUOTE=FunnyStarRunner;41958182]Can we submit maps that we didn't make, but are still quality?[/QUOTE]
I don't see a problem with this under the circumstances:
-The map is properly credited to the authors.
-The map was released public domain (eg not taken from a community who has not released it for use by all).
-There is a fast and easy way for an author to request their map be removed.
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