On the upcoming Zombie Escape map pack.

by rulesofp

As the few readers that might be out there (given that the project isn’t fully public as of yet) would expect from the inforomation given, the map pack will be released soon. We’ve been pushing the deadline further and further for two reasons:

1. We wanted to ensure that there would be no quirks (or almost no quirks) with the maps packaged in it.
2. We wanted to provide a big enough set of maps to boost Zombie Escape for once and for all.

For the first point, we think we arguably got that sorted out. We are aware about a few visual issues in some maps (that took me some heavy inspecting and are usually just forgotten nodraws on a few faces), but in the big picture I believe everything should be there in most cases. Of course, being it mostly a port-based map pack, we had to work with what it is (despite some touching up in some maps as a little artistic freedom taken to refactor the maps for the game iteration just like with the stock maps) so if the original map was not too good in terms of aesthetics you should probably expect the same.

Bugs should be sorted out, at least to a degree when the maps can be played without hassles and they can be overlooked as minor issues (to be polished in a future update, if any). If, for a reason, we had left something out then we would evidently try to fix it as fast as possible provided we knew about it.

Most of the maps we ported are simple. We wanted said simplicity since a good chunk of them look above your average map and we thought that would be enough to make mappers try to push the limit and make the mod advance. We also wanted to encourage simpler mapping: (first/initial) maps don’t have to take years to produce (as it has been happening lately in CS:S with the overly complicated maps) as long as the idea behind them is good. Encouraging mappers to ‘start small’ and then get big progressively is the only way for them to truly develop and make the best out of the new engine.

On the second term, we wanted the pack as big as possible. In fact, although we were thinking of releasing today, we have come to the conclusion that it would be better to wait one or two days more to polish the remaining issues in the latest ports and attempt to finish a few already ongoing ones. The work being done is a time trial against ourselves and, given that we claim no rights over the ports and that we wish to remain virtually unknown, there is not a single bit of ego going on (other than our own self respect when it comes to doing things right or wrong). We would like to extend the pack into the +60 map barrier, but we doubt that is feasible with how awaited the pack might be as of now.

What is all this gibberish? When is the thing out? Soon.