Tutorials?

When people ask me about how my maps work I usually just point them to this blog where they can find the XML and see for themselves. But I realize it can be hard to decipher the XML, to figure out which ground's connected to which because of Rype's glitch, and to even know where the grounds are now that we can make colored grounds to match the blue background. But even without these difficulties it can be hard to figure out what properties are important and which aren't--does it matter that the mass/friction/restitution/etc. is a particular value or not?

So I'm considering making "tutorials", although that might not be the best name for what I'm envisioning. What I mean is for a map I'd make a general sketch of the mechanics, show how things are connected and what properties are important. Basically, a skeleton of the map. I wouldn't explain how to use the map editor or edit XML, or any basic concepts or glitches--I'd be assuming that you'd know almost everything in the Map Editor FAQ, for example. And I wouldn't have any step-by-step instructions or videos (you can check out Impuredeath's here), it'd just be one image per map.

So, periodic visitors to the blog, what do you think? Would this be useful to you, or is having the XML enough? I'd take requests for maps instead of doing every single one.

Map Contest Winners

Here's a list of the winners of all the "official" map contests. Hopefully this list is complete--I didn't include Paradigm Shift and other contests where permanent maps, cheese and forum titles weren't awarded. As of the start of January there've been 14 contests with 148 prizes given out to a total of 81 mapmakers. There've been several multiple winners, led by Ninguem, Kenoriga, Nyoibou and Viprin, each of whom has taken three golds. I've included the @codes and forum titles if I knew them, as well as small pictures of all the maps.

Map Pictures

Here you can see all my maps on one page.

XML Guide

I use the in-game editor plus a text file to make maps, so I end up messing around with the XML a lot. I thought I'd make a post explaining it. Updated March 2012.

RIP Affliction

I didn't know him very well personally, but he was a good friend in-game. We discovered the no-b glitch together. I got him to post some of his maps on the blog. Not sure what else to say. He is the first friend I've lost. He will be missed.

Shaman Map Codes

Not sure why I didn't make this post months ago. It has the codes of all my maps in the shaman room rotation, in case you want to practice some of them. You can see their pictures and stats here.

These codes should be in the regular list but they might be under different numbers since I re-exported some that had been deleted. Anyway, here they are all in one spot. Twenty maps as of March 13.

Feeling pretty sad...

Just thought I'd share that with the transformice world...

Favorite Maps, Dead Edition

I've posted over 100 maps on the blog and have more than 150 map codes. Quite a bit. In honor of these round numbers, I thought I'd list my favorite maps that have died in the last month. These aren't necessarily my best, just my favorites.

    Elephant
    The Claw
    Cheese Shop
    Box Elevator
    Curtain Call

Okay, Curtain Call isn't dead yet, but tomorrow morning it probably will be.

Important Numbers for Mapmaking

Here are some important numbers. Updated Nov 2011.

Map Shifter

I've been shifting my maps by hand. For example, I'd create things centered at Y=300 and then add 100 to every Y-value when I was finished so I could hide all the mechanics. This was relatively quick and painless, but if I wanted to shift by 50 or 55 it would require a bit more thinking--simple arithmetic, but quite time-consuming.

So, I finally decided to learn some javascript and came up with the following map shifter. You just need to paste the map code into the box, specify the shift amounts (positive x and y values correspond to shifting right and down), and click "Get Code". Then the code for the shifted map will be pasted into the second box. You can copy the code easily by clicking in the box, pressing Ctrl-a to select all, then Ctrl-c to copy. I might add support for mirroring maps (flipping them about X=400) later, although it's a bit more complicated.

Edit: I've added a flip option, which will take place after the shift. If you have any problems, let me know in the comments.

November 2011 update: Both shifting and flipping should work now, and flipping should work on scrolling maps. However, you'll still have to do runes manually.

Site update

For the handful of you I've told about this blog... I've added some stuff to make it easier to navigate. If you click on the maps or stats labels you can see only those posts. I've been posting the map code below the fold, and you should be able to copy-paste it if you select just the indented part--if you include the tabs you might get an error when you try to load the map. I'm allowing anonymous commenting in case you want to say anything about maps I've made or other stuff.

Thoughts on map deletion statistics

Let's suppose a map is destined to get rated 65%, if everyone voted. We can call this the map's "true" rating. Now, we don't expect a map's current rating to be exactly the same as it's true rating. There's variation, sometimes it's a little higher and sometimes it's a little lower, but over time the current rating should get closer to the true rating.

For example, if we toss a fair coin 10 times and get 3 heads and 7 tails, that's not unusual. But if we toss it 100 times and get 30 heads and 70 tails, we know that something's wrong--the coin must be biased. We expect something much closer to a 50-50 split. (The math: With 10 tosses there's a 34% chance we'll see 3 or fewer heads or 3 or fewer tails. But with 100 tosses, there's only a 0.0079% chance that we'll see 30 or fewer heads, or 30 or fewer tails.)

So, what're the statistics for transformice maps?

Map List

383 maps as of January 14. 37 perm, 36 alive, 3 tribe, 100 out of rotation, 207 forever dead.

Map Codes

The codes for maps I've posted.