A race map by AgentSmith_27

[Darth Verik]

A race map by AgentSmith_27

http://www.mpcgamers.com/smf/index.php?action=downloads;sa=view;down=281

Map name: A race map
Addon name: ARM
Map Credit: AgentSmith_27
Review Credit: Mav.
Personal Review: V

Map review:

Obviously the author put a not-insubstantial amount of thought into the background of his map's concept, and I have to applaud him for that. Like many maps with an outside-the-box concept, this one needs more than it has to really be effective, and it's clear that the author's imagination is limited by his modding ability (which is not inherently bad - everyone needs to learn, and it's infinitely preferable to having ability limit imagination than the other way around). What this gives us is a map that is different enough from most newbie maps to stand out, but still bears the hallmarks of a new map creator.

The map itself isn't something overly spectacular to look at - it's not bad-looking, but in the effort to create a "functional" map, the author left a few things to be desired, visually (i.e. the large sheer terrain walls, the un-blended terrain, lack of consistent prop use, etc.). While it is a lot harder to make a visually-pleasing map that serves a nonstandard functional purpose (i.e. built for more than a stock game mode), it can be done. Instead of relying on sheer terrain walls, I might suggest simply using some invisible collision (included with the modtools as objects). This'll at the least allow you to have normal-looking cliffs. I'd also suggest using a few more props scattered throughout the course of your "race."

Also, the idea here would be infinitely improved by a little scripting. The biggest downfall of making a map like this assumes that the player is going to buy into the idea 100% - if I load this up and just want to get from point A to point B, I'm going to just jump the cliff wall and drive there. In a video game it's important to have a little bit of hand-holding of the player's character. It's not something that's easy to do, but start out small (I actually started learning scripting to do the exact same thing) and you'll get something that's workable and much better than just an open map.

All in all, it's a fairly basic map. To enjoy it as the author intended, it'd be best to read through the readme. To the author - spend some time working on making your map visually appealing as well as functional, and don't be afraid to branch out into some basic scripting. It'll make maps like this much better for you in the future.

Personal:

Well since i played this map with a friend i say it was kinda fun, however if you play it on your own its not that fun, its not like you race against the bots...
the map itself is sort of a valley...i wouldnt recomend this map exept if they wanted to have some fun with friends (great for online playing)

[Maveritchell]

Do you have permission from the authors to rehost their files? Do you have permission from anyone associated with the reviews you copied to repost them?

[Jedikiller]

I thought the general rule was that as long as you credit those originally responsible for the work, it's OK to redistribute. Nobody releases these under license so there isn't a clear set of rules defining what to do. I mean, in the end, unless they specifically state they don't want it on any other site, then it should be ok, right? More publicity and all that.

The reviews are property of Filefront and yes, should probably not be posted up (we can easily fix that though) but Gametoast has pretty much the entire archive on their server. Including reviews, screenshots, ratings, and a lot more. That's essentially the same thing.  I know some of my files are in that archive, and I didn't give permission for them to be hosted there. Granted, I don't really care, but still.

[Maveritchell]

I thought the general rule was that as long as you credit those originally responsible for the work, it's OK to redistribute. Nobody releases these under license so there isn't a clear set of rules defining what to do. I mean, in the end, unless they specifically state they don't want it on any other site, then it should be ok, right? More publicity and all that.

The reviews are property of Filefront and yes, should probably not be posted up (we can easily fix that though) but Gametoast has pretty much the entire archive on their server. Including reviews, screenshots, ratings, and a lot more. That's essentially the same thing.  I know some of my files are in that archive, and I didn't give permission for them to be hosted there. Granted, I don't really care, but still.

I know that any of the files hosted at Gametoast have been posted there with the original author's permission. Once hosted on any site that's not the property of the original author, whatever is hosted there becomes the joint property of the host and the author (because it's the host's webspace), and of course anything posted there that's original to that site (like reviews) are sole property of that website. The "original" file (or whatever is directly on the author's computer) is really the only thing that the author has total explicit legal control over.

I've been pretty lenient (certainly moreso than some of the other Filefront Network sites, who are incredibly strict about rehosting Filefront's files) about rehosting of things like that so long as it stays within the community proper (larger community-affiliated sites), and I wouldn't have any problem with it [Filefront addenda] hosted here either but for the fact that I'm pretty sure no one even bothered to ask (I know no one asked to repost my reviews). For courtesy's sake, the author should really always be consulted on their files being rehosted - I know that for my own case, I'd want to be contacted for permission if for no other reason than to know where my files are and who's using them!

I'm not here to sic legal dogs on anyone; just pointing out that it's a bit of a faux pas to just start moving people's stuff around without doing them the courtesy of letting them know.