An experimental map designed with one question in mind: What makes a jump map... a jump map? Does a jump map have to contain complicated or even... fun jumps to be considered a jump map? Or does it just have to have a start, and an end, and be reachable with a rocket launcher? This creates an interesting problem-- my map was made specifically for rocket jumping, and you can reach the end with a rocket launcher. But any default map in TF2 is like this as well, so are those jump maps? Well, no, they aren't. I've come to realize, through my intense research of the subject, that the intent of the map is also a defining factor in the nature of a maps "quality". And that is what I'm here to talk about today.
Download:
https://www.dropbox.com/s/vnbxt0otiiojqcw/jump_shit.bsp?dl=0jump_shit: A Case Study on Jump Maps
Over the years, we've just been playing the same old maps, the same old way-- never bothering to question the very nature of the map itself, never begging the question... what about this virtual world living inside my computer make s this map I play on, a Jump Map? In this paper I intend to tackle this question with meticulous research and analysis of many different hypothetical situations. So I'd like to lay out the format of this paper here, in the beginning. I will be talking about my own personal experiences from jumping over the years, and also relaying the experiences of other veteran jumpers through interviews I have conducted. I will also talk about the map creation process, what it was like to make my first, second, and now third map; and also talk about the feelings and emotions triggered when playing a jump map. I will also talk about my goals I hope to achieve with the development of this newest map. So buckle up, because we have a shit ton of shit to get through.
One of the good things about this project that I realized early on was, because TF2 and TF2 rocket jumping have been around so long I have plenty of data from over the years to collect and interpret. This was, and is still, great; especially since it sped up the process of writing this paper by about 5 years. Like I said before I am going to be talking about the general feel around jumping in general, along with some of the community's view on it as well. Below is a short interview I had with Admin of the Jump.tf forums, John:
Me: Thanks so much for your time today John, I really appreciate you taking some time out of your
day to do this interview with me. Means a lot.
John: No problem, you handsome bastard. I do what I can.
Me: Ah, you sly dog, you. Anyway! I have a couple of questions I 'd like to ask you about jumping,
since you're so directly involved with the scene.
John: Lay em' on me!
Me: Alright! First question: what is the first... emotion, that comes to mind when you start to
play a Jump Map in today's Jumping meta?
John: Well, that's actually a very complicated one. I'd really like to say that I get a feeling of
happiness, but I'd just be lying to myself. If I'm being honest whenever I play a Jump Map
today, whether it's old or new; since they're all the same anyway, I just have a wave of emotion
that washes over me. Just... the feeling of wanting to drink, like, 5 gallons of bleach.
Me: So, when you play a map in today's jumping meta you feel incredibly suicidal?
John: Unfortunately, yes. It's been hard to get the motivation back to keep Jumping.
Me: That's very hard for me to hear. I'm sorry John. But, I digress: next question!
What is the main reason you started to jump?
John: Well, I believe it was just the freshness of the maps that were coming out at the time. Everything
was still new and exciting, unexplored, it was just... magical, really. It was a new frontier that everyone
was still discovering, and felt good to be a part of that.
Me: So, have you lost that drive? That feeling of satisfaction from jumping?
John: Well, yeah, I have. I feel like everything's been figured out, that there's no reason to try and learn
anything new, or get better. Especially when people can just make a TAS and call it a day, without putting in
any real effort like we used to. How can I get the same sort of satisfaction from that? The jumping scene has
just become incredibly stale, and it's very sad to see. Five years ago I couldn't even imagine myself ever
getting bored of jumping-- yet here we are.
Me: I'm sorry to hear that John. Well unfortunately we're out of time, but I'd like to thank you for this
wonderful contribution to my project, and everything you've done for this community. You truly are one of the greats,
and you'll be remembered fondly in jumping history.
John: That means a lot to hear that from someone like you. Thanks bro.
What I gathered from this interview was what I had initially expected. Jumpers are starting to find the act of jumping stale nowadays, which is incredibly heartbreaking to me. I asked many of the current jumpers about this as well, and they all agreed to some degree that this was true; they were starting to lose hope in jumping. With my experience with jumping I can't say that I'm any different. Several times before I've stopped jumping for long periods of time, but eventually you come back; you can't leave. It's almost like an invisible force that keeps you from ever wandering too far off. So why do I bring this up? Well because it's important to one of the main points of this entire paper: maps today are just un-enjoyable to play, and this awfulness gets multiplied by the fact that you have to play the maps anyway, since you can't escape the urge to play them. I had another interview with the notorious forum emo, Vexon:
Me: Hello Vexon, how are you today?
Vexon: Please kill me.
Me: Glad to hear that you've been doing well.
Vexon: Now.
Me: Anyway I have some questions about that maps that are in our community today. Do you
think that they're fun to play on?
Vexon: Those maps are what made me want to kill myself. No, dude, I don't think they're fun.
But I can't stop. I told myself that I could stop at anytime, but I just can't. It's a cycle, dude. You
get trapped in this endless torture of having to play the same boring maps over and over until
you're bent over your computer crying and vomiting, hating yourself and seeping with regret.
There is no escape to the pain inflicted by these maps on the human mind. Get out of the pool
before you even get in it.
Me: Huh, never heard that one before. Anyway, doesn't sound like a good time then, no?
Vexon: ...
Me: Well, thanks for your words buddy. Hope to see you later.
Vexon: ... bastard
As you can see, current maps and there copy+paste design is actually causing clinical depression in many of our jumpers. This is incredibly heartbreaking to see this happen to many of the jumping veterans we know and love. Fortunately though, this interview provides a segway into my next topic: map design.
The reason, Vexon articulated, that people hate today's maps is because they all have the same, base design that's just copy+pasted between different maps. They're all trying to hard to be hard.... or long... or good, but they fail at it. Also, the way you progress inside the map is always the same. You have a level, you beat it, and then you repeat. Some maps try to make it seem like they have something different by making different "A, B, and C courses", but this is utter bullshit since it's the same concept, just with a "difficulty" assigned to each set of sublevels to make you feel good about yourself. This is where many modern map designers are failing: the classic jump map formula is just to fucking tired out! Unless you make a beautiful fucking map, I don't want to be playing that shit when it's like every other map I've ever played. You need, for the sake of the community, to start innovating again. Find that spark to keep on exploring. Because there is still territory that has yet to be covered. What I've found in my own map design, which I will go over in more depth shortly, is that one great way to innovate is to take a gimmick and run with it. Run with that gimmick until you've run it into the ground with that map. Once you've done that, think of something else and run with that! Because anything is better than the same old, same old.
My main philosophy when it comes to level design is this: nobody wants to replay something they've essentially already played. If you can't deliver something new, you're not trying hard enough. This is what I had in mind with my second jump map-- jump_flawless. It's a linear map, meaning instead of many different levels, it's just one really long lever that you have to do seamlessly to beat it. Many people rejected the idea at first, but many came to like the map, some even going as far to call it one of the best maps of all time, due to how much it deviated, and changed the meta of jump map design. These are the kinds of maps that I want to keep on producing, maps that grab your attention. And I hope that other aspiring mappers, and veterans too, see this wonderful example and build off of it. What hasn't been done yet? That's up to your imagination.
This brings me to my next subject. Jump_shit, the star of the show. Already the title of the map is self-deprecating, sending the message that I already know how the map is going to be perceived by the general public. A shit map. But I'd like to ask you to keep an open mind to my madness, and explain why I chose to do what I did in this map. The main design choice of the map is to make it as unorthodox as possible, which it turned out to be. The map is a one jump map. Not only is it a one jump map, but it's also impossible to fail. There is an invisible brush that you can walk across to reach the control point: the end of the map. Now, you might be wondering why I did this. And I'll tell you.
Jump_shit
is just like any other current jump map. I just cut out all the bullshit. This is what maps boil down to. I want this to be a message to all mappers, that we need a renaissance in jump mapping. I hope to be the one who causes this rebirth, and the one who can lead the movement. So, I think I've proved my point. I definitely deserve the position of lead jumping professor and scientist, and will gladly accept my award. Thanks in advance John, for gracing me with this glorious position.
I'd like to thank anyone for reading this to completion. I'd appreciate it if you could spread the word, now that you know about the troubles of our community. I love everyone of you, just as I know you love me. Thanks again.
