MCCTF plugin for download?

So I've been interested in making maps for MCCTF, but I'm concerned about balance.

A lot of classes play extremely differently, and a lot of premium classes deviate from Vanilla PvP by an excessive amount (e.g. Mage and Engie). While I can follow the general mapping rules of "Give players multiple routes, have a variety of wide open and tight spaces to facilitate different types of combat, etc.", it's hard to theorize how a game works without just playing the game.

I've had the idea of hosting a server and playing with some friends and by myself to see how different classes interact, but it's obviously going to be difficult without being able to play the classes.

So the easiest way for me and other mappers to deal with this is to use the plugin which MCCTF uses, but unfortunately it's a custom plugin and I can't get it anywhere.

Of course there are pros and cons of this idea, which I'll go over.

Pros:
-Better balance between classes
-Optimized gameplay
-Gives mappers ways to test for potential bugs

Cons:
-People may potentially steal the plugin code and host their own server

The pros are very obvious, and the cons aren't really a huge issue. A person who can run their own server that supports as many people as MCCTF would probably have enough money to hire their own coders for plugins, so stealing your code would be impractical. Anyway, most people would rather play on the original servers, not on the copy servers.

So overall, I think it'd be really cool if the server plugin was up for download. From a mapper's standpoint it would help with the development of balanced, well-made maps. However, I can see why the idea would be rejected and if it's not possible then I understand.

 

@wintergreen3

I don't think people hosting for money would be as big of an issue for reasons I put up above. First of all, you need an established player base, and unless you're a large server hub like Hypixel or Shotbow it's not going to be easy. You'll have to compete with the official thing (Brawl), which people would rather play. And why would Hypixel and Shotbow use Brawl MCCTF plugins when they already have their own gamemode making money?

 

It's possible, but much more difficult, and the chance of perfecting a map is much simpler.

People can say that they've accounted for every possible scenario, but in the end there's always something that you didn't expect.

I can say that this map is very large and open so Ninjas and Archers may be too powerful, but I may overlook a hidden aspect, maybe like a hill that ends up serving as really good cover. I can't make a good example because these things are extremely difficult to just theorize.

Maps that are released for TF2 and CS:GO are playtested for hours. And even then, once the official version gets released, there are still updates to the map because players didn't use this feature as expected, or this ramp allowed people to get to a spot quicker and gave certain roles or classes a significant advantage.

Nothing can beat actual playtesting, and even then there are flaws. In MCCTF there are maps that are heavily biased towards certain classes, or have chokepoints that severely mess up game flow.

I'm going to try mapping regardless of what happens, but I'm just saying playtesting makes things a lot easier for developers.

That said, I can understand that they don't want to be sharing their custom plugin code, and I respect that, so yeah.

 

Yeah, I agree that giving the code could take players away from the Brawl servers. I'm just pointing out that people aren't likely to be able to create their own servers *and make money off of it*, which is a different concept

 

If you want reasons why an alt server isn't going to make money, the main reason is just because people are going to still use Brawl servers, which are always populated and rarely full.

An alt server will suffer from a bad reputation and a better service.

Anyway, a person able to run a server handling everything Brawl servers do can just hire coders to code for them.

They may steal small amounts of money, but we're looking at less than a few hundred probably.

That said, I understand that there's still a risk, and one that Brawl staff don't want to deal with. I get that releasing plugins is harmful for Brawl as a company and I understand now that it probably won't ever be a thing.