Forum Restructure and Additional Draft Guidelines

[AndyDufresne]

Ahoy Ahoy Foundry Bananas, (it's a term of endearment, really)

As a part of our ongoing Foundry Betterment Campaign we have decided that the Foundry could use a little sprucing up and restructuring. What exactly has been done? Well lets review what is staying the same and what is changing:

The Drafting Room sub-forum will continue to act as it has been, facilitating early map development---but it will now also house the Map Ideas/Suggestions sub-forum to keep all early/preliminary work together. Additionally the Recycling Bin will also move with the Map Ideas/Suggestions sub-forum into the Drafting Room. In addition to the Drafting Room reshuffling, we have rewritten Draft Guidelines. See the following post.

The Main Foundry forum will continue to house maps during the middle part of production, but it's upper announcement level will see some changes. The Map Handbook will remain located here (hopefully expanding into more detail in the coming future). The Map Making Tools topic wil also remain located here. In addition to those announcements the Newsletter will newly be featured here. The Developmental Atlas, as great as it was, will be dropped, as a number of other projects on the website should fulfill it's role.

The Final Forge sub-forum will be receiving it's own interior sub-forum called "The Viewing Gallery." This Gallery will permanently house all map topics Post-Beta (I.E. Quenched or Done). This frees up the main Final Forge sub-forum for maps currently in late stage production or Beta period. Maps in Beta will be stickied until they pass out of Beta, and maps in late stage production will be located as regular topics, similar to how the Main Foundry currently is.

Lastly, the Foundry Discussion sub-forum has been evolving for some time and we've decided to rename it to better describe everything that goes on in there--- "Not Maps (Mostly)."

And for those visually oriented

show

So that's our plan thus far! We've got a few other things in store for the coming weeks and months also. Here's a better Foundry, Bananas.


--Andy

[AndyDufresne]

Welcome to the Foundry Drafting Room; Where Map Ideas are Hammered Out!

This Foundry sub-forum is where all CC maps begin to take shape... Here you will find raw ideas, working drafts, and an assortment of unfinished projects. All of them are in the melting pot, waiting to be hammered-out, before the Foundlings (maps and their makers) are thrust into the heat of the Main Foundry.

'Drafting Room'

To be considered a Working Draft a project must be more than just an idea; a Draft should have a clear thematic focus, a plan for how the gameplay will work, and a basic image which should include:

1. Territory Labels - temporary names or numbers will suffice, and are always open to change.
2. Borders/Paths/Impassables - it should be made clear where territories do/do not connect.
3. Bonus Areas - where combinations/groups of territories will award a bonus, this should be indicated on the map.
4. Legend - speculative bonus values and explanations of any attack rules or gameplay features.
While in the drafting room, it is expected that a mapmaker will demonstrate:

a. significant knowledge of graphics tools and techniques,
b. the willingness to consider and respond appropriately to critical feedback
c. the ability to make multiple changes based on ongoing feedback
d. a solid understanding of the Foundry standards and process.

A Draft will not be considered for promotion to the Main Foundry without the support of CC users. If a map is not considered by the Foundry community to offer something original and/or interesting in terms of gameplay, graphics, and theme, its production will not be encouraged.

Before being moved on to the next stage of development in the mapmaker must have a plan for the production of the map, and present key map information and updates in a manner that is user friendly and consistent with the foundry standards. Once these criteria have been met, the Working Draft will receive the first of the Foundry Brands:

'Raw Ideas/Suggestions Chamber'.

This is the place for CC members to discuss what kind of new maps they would like to see at this site. You don't have to be a mapmaker to post a new topic here - you just have to have an idea that you would like to see turned into a map. And if you are a mapmaker - or would like to be one - this is the place to kick around new ideas before you get started.

Map ideas may contain accompanying images which slowly develop to become a Working Draft, at which point they'll be ready to move into the Drafting Room.

'Recycling Bin'

For every map that makes it out of the Drafting Room and eventually into Live Play, there are lots more that don’t survive the hammer and tongs of the Foundry, and end up in the Recycling Bin. In some cases the map has not gained enough community support, and in others the mapmaker has simply run out of steam and abandoned their development.

Map ideas in this subforum tend to contain raw material that has already been tempered, and may be picked by new mapmakers; an effort should be made to inform the original mapmaker of your interest in using his/her idea. The new mapmaker must start a new Draft topic and any artwork from the abandoned map may not be used without the original mapmaker's consent.

Map ideas in this subforum that have been tagged as [Vacation] should not be taken up by a new mapmakers unless permission has been secured. Maps that seem to spend an eternity on vacation will eventually be considered abandoned and re-tagged.

--Andy

[the.killing.44]

me likey this … was this supposed to be locked? delete if necessary

.44

[AndyDufresne]

Just had it locked for a short period of time so I could get the second post for Mr Benn's guidelines.


--Andy

[the.killing.44]

I think the Recycling Bin doesn't need to show up on the Forum homepage …

.44

[AndyDufresne]

Ahem, I'm still tinkering. Please bear with me for a few minutes. Everything isn't instanteous.


--Andy

[blakebowling]

Ahem, I'm still tinkering. Please bear with me for a few minutes. Everything isn't instanteous.


--Andy

The Viewing Gallery needs to be unlocked so replies can be posted

[AndyDufresne]

Did I say give me a minute? Sheesh. Go play with your bananas.


--Andy

[blakebowling]

Did I say give me a minute? Sheesh. Go play with your bananas.


--Andy

You've got it now, feel free to remove my nitpicking from this thread.

[ZeakCytho]

I like the general changes, but I'm not sold on "Not Maps (Mostly)" - "Foundry Discussion" was a better and more accurate name, I think. Saying "Not Maps" invites spam.

[InkL0sed]

I like the general changes, but I'm not sold on "Not Maps (Mostly)" - "Foundry Discussion" was a better and more accurate name, I think. Saying "Not Maps" invites spam.

Agreed.

[MrBenn]

The "Not Maps (mostly)" name is to better reflect what happens in there... we have some more plans in the pipeline that will hopefully involve a bit more than discussion about the foundry processes....

...and we'll continue to moderate spam, which shouldn't have a place anywhere on the CC forums...

[blakebowling]

...and we'll continue to moderate spam, which shouldn't have a place anywhere on the CC forums...

Exactly why I think FW should be removed... but this isn't the topic for that is it. (ha gimil... I already got myself)

[ZeakCytho]

The "Not Maps (mostly)" name is to better reflect what happens in there... we have some more plans in the pipeline that will hopefully involve a bit more than discussion about the foundry processes....

...and we'll continue to moderate spam, which shouldn't have a place anywhere on the CC forums...

Alright, but I still think you could come up with a better name than "Not Maps (mostly)" - it's hard for me to suggest one not knowing what your plans for it are, though.

[LED ZEPPELINER]

with the new name of the discussion, you have to change it in the "how to correctly use the subforum"

[gimil]

with the new name of the discussion, you have to change it in the "how to correctly use the subforum"

Actually that thread could probably use a rewrite.

[the.killing.44]

In the Main Foundry where it shows the subforums as well as the subsubforums, the Recycling Bin doesn't show up in the Drafting Room.

.44

[AndyDufresne]

It's part of the forum structure for phpBB...only so many layers can be viewable...and if we wanted to show it in that sub-forum, we'd also have to make it viewable from the main listing page (where all CC forums show). Recycling bin is not that important unless you are specifically looking for something or really want to browse.


--Andy

[lzrman]

Tell me, who really has browsed the recycle bin ? Well ya I'm guilty of that! *l* but surely we could keep it visable so we can see what failed so we never dare try again.

-- Lzrman