The Wave XII Project - An Introduction

Hey there, CTFers!


We’re here to talk to you about something new. In the past, we’ve selected maps for rotation updates through a largely private process run by the CTF staff team. However, thanks to some changes in the way that maps are configured for gameplay, as well as widespread community demand, we’re opening up this process to the CTF playerbase & forum community!


The process that we’re using for this update will take place in three steps. The first of these has already started - players submitting maps for consideration. As of right now, we’ve received 49 map submissions that are eligible for Wave XII, giving us a fairly large set of choices to work with. In order to allow those with unfinished map submissions to have some time to complete them, though, we’ll be setting the cutoff for Wave XII submissions at no later than September 12th, 2016. For those who are unsure as to how to submit maps, we consider maps that have been posted in the Map Submissions subforum with a ‘Complete’ tag and a map ID.


After that, the second step of the process will take place. At this point, the CTF committee will go through the list of map submissions and disqualify those maps that are unplayable and/or deemed unworthy of testing. Our criteria for removing maps include the lack of key features (i.e. maps with no spawn / flagpole), major building issues (i.e. world corruption, lack of symmetry) or those with a large number of known gameplay issues (everything from maps that cause heavy FPS lag to 1x1 entrances to flagrooms and so on. This guide offers a pretty good summary). Ideally, this will result in a trimmed down pool of 20-30 maps, depending on the quality & final number of submissions. Once maps are chosen for the wave, we’ll configure them for livetesting and move on to the next stage. We don’t have a fixed timeframe for this stage yet, but I’d estimate it’ll take 1-2 weeks tops.


The third & final step will begin with two events. The first of these will be us posting an update thread with (a) the list of maps being tested and (b) a timetable for the rest of the update. At the same time, the normal rotation on the match servers will be replaced by the configs we’re testing. We’ll be testing / updating those configs alongside their owners over the first few days they’re up, and we hope those who are interested will stop by to help with that process and get a better grasp of the maps involved. On the first Saturday after that update, we’ll post a voting form for the maps on the forums that will remain open for a week. For the full duration of that same Saturday, they’ll also replace the normal rotation on public servers. The final decision as to which maps are added to Wave XII will be made by the combined results of that form & the in-game voting from the day they’re on public servers (weighted evenly unless there are serious issues with one set of data or the other).


As mentioned before, this is pretty much uncharted territory for CTF. Odds are that things won’t go exactly as planned, so please bear with us if there are holdups. We are, of course, interested in hearing your take on this as well, and if you have any questions pertaining to this thread, ask away! We hope you’re as excited for the coming few weeks as we are!


Happy capping!

- The CTF Staff Team

Spoiler: Tl;dr:

* Map submission deadline for Wave XII is September 12, 2016.
* New system of choosing maps to involve the community more:
* Mods go through submitted maps, roughly filtering out flawed maps
* Rotation day with all new map submissions replacing the current rotation for 24h
* Maps will also replace current rotation on the match server for 1 week
* In-Game Community votes on the maps via /y or /n on Rotation day
* Seperate map voting form on the forums, open for a week
* Data is compiled and the maps with the highest ratings form Wave XII
* More information and rotation day date coming up