Talk:Mann Co. Beta Maps

Documenting the Program

There is an opportunity here to document the evolutions of both the Mann Co. Beta Maps - Early Access program and the new maps; in the latter case in particular, the community is witnessing a new experience within the TF2 environment. I suggest limited pictures in Galleries/Screenshots in Mann Co. Beta Maps and in the new Beta map articles that record in the first case what the program looked like as it started, and in the maps case what the maps looked like in the beta stages. Also, I see a risk in the Beta map articles that the existing [[Help:Style guide/Maps|map style] may struggle with the dynamic nature of the maps (uneven reporting of changes in the map). I suggest and addition to the Map style of a section ("History", "Development", "Beta", "Early Access", or some such) as a place to contain any development narrative. Mikado282 (talk) 20:48, 8 July 2014 (PDT)

• I agree. We'll need a changelog for every map used in the new program, as with imagry. I think that an additional style of a "community tested" map might prove successfull if organized correctly. DC64 (talk) 21:25, 8 July 2014 (PDT)
• See if there are point_devshot_camera entities, that would automate and legitimize this.--Henke37 (talk) 10:33, 9 July 2014 (PDT)
• I checked and there aren't any point_devshot_camera, there aren't even any in Cactus_Canyon. --Person124 (talk) 12:03, 9 July 2014 (PDT)
  • Being an old guy, I figured you could just back yourself into a corner or some such place to consistently register your position every time and shoot the same aim point. Manual and tedious, yes, but you get to pick a shot you think might develop interestingly. Naive question, do scripts work when in Spectator? I think so. Mikado282 (talk) 19:48, 9 July 2014 (PDT)

So I was adding in the image for the beta payload when I had a thought, shouldn't we add in the beta map to the official payload list, and just say something like: "Payload maps carry the pl_ prefix; community maps are identified with an italic font and beta maps are identified with a bold font."? Could I have your guy's opinions on weither or not we should do this? --Person124 (talk) 07:10, 11 July 2014 (PDT)

• Not qualified to say whether it is a good idea, but if it is I would suggest a blue font color to match the blueprint motif of the Early Access program. Mikado282 (talk) 10:52, 11 July 2014 (PDT)
• Need also an image of the random beta map selection. Mikado282 (talk) 11:05, 11 July 2014 (PDT)

Thematic composition of gallery

 Maps inside of the beta stage might have bugs, lack of cosmetic props, and have a high chance of using dev textures(see Gallery further down this page).

I like the thematic composition you set up with this statement, and I like that you have one image of each of two of the elements you listed. An image of a bug would complete the composition. I noted that on a few falls into the crevasse , I landed in an non-kill area, like an invisible ledge. I was stuck down there. I could walk around a like. If someone survived a similar fall, a screen capture of the player taunting would illustrate the survival. It's not presently noted as a bug; though, so I'm not certain this is would pass review as a bug image. Mikado282 (talk) 20:56, 10 July 2014 (PDT)

Pitfall survival bug probably fixed in July 17, 2014 Patch Mikado282 (talk) 19:01, 17 July 2014 (PDT)

Beta Infobox

Hey guys,

Sample Infobox

I was thinking it would be informative to have a clear indication that a map is currently in beta stage. I got the "Beta" word from the official update image and added it to the map infobox, like shown in the image. Tell me what you guys think of it. If this seems like a good idea, I'll toy around with different alignments, positioning and sizes of the image. --Marcotulio (talk) 23:08, 20 July 2014 (PDT)