This offer is just the end result of being blown away by so many great maps, and then facepalming when a character opens their mouth to deliver a line that doesn't make any sense. It just makes these gorgeous campaigns seem... neglected.
I'm not sure how many people will take advantage either, but I'll help out anyone who is willing to take the time. Including your Pokemanz. =]
Average gamers download a game, play it for five minutes or until they get frustrated, then go back to bumbling through bronze league and Aiur Chef.
The focus is on the small things; conveying ideas, having characters that say things that are worth reading, feeling like you're participating in a mission - all these things add up to something big. If you can combine it with good triggers, good terrain, and enough people willing to help you test it, you're going to strike gold.
Some of the best maps I've ever played, like the Dominion maps from KyleValkar, originated in German and got butchered through the translators. This is sort of my point: to head off that sort of thing while it's still on the front page. In fact, I could argue that the best custom campaigns out there originated in a language other than English.
Also, you're not going to see people openly give you grammar tips on a public forum, specifically because "grammar nazi" has become the rallying cry of the masses who can't be bothered. The fact that most every campaign on this site is full of mistakes is evidence that the standard is pretty low, for one reason or another.
This post, and my help, is contingent on the idea that you want to look better. I like playing maps that look like the authors have pride in them, and I'm willing to donate my time to make that happen.
Although most people include themselves as "part of the creative team", no matter what their contribution to a project, this is something I want to do exclusively.
After playing around a dozen custom campaigns and map packs, there's a common denominator: word soup. Sentences that don't make sense, punctuation that doesn't belong, words that are awkward and out of place, passive voice lines of text, boring story lines, stereotypical and shallow characters, and a general blind eye in terms of proofreading is all over the mapmaking community. If you just read this and got offended, you're probably a guilty party. Hear me out.
Imagine you're playing WoL, and Raynor pops up to give you a bonus objective. You're knee deep in zerg, and Raynor says:
"Your not going to be able to hold the line here, fall back to th eprimary bsae."
The magic of the map is gone, and the story just died on the spot. You see this and you say to yourself, "My God. How did they not catch this? This is...ugh". Be real and consider how you can be taken as a successful mapmaker and storyteller with your audience distracted by your communication method.
Any jerk can offer criticism, but I'm a big believer in offering a solution as well - I want to help people out with this. I'm offering to do this because, apparently, nobody in this community (that I've seen) has offered, and it really badly needs to be done to raise the quality of the campaigns coming out of sc2mapster.
If you are:
A mapmaker who has a current release (specifically an alpha or beta stage) that needs some revision
An up and coming mapmaker who is still in the planning stages
A team of mapmakers that want to give your content to an outside pair of eyes
Doing a translation to English and need a fluent proofreader and editor
Planning on making a new map or campaign in the near future and looking to flesh out ideas
... then you should send me a PM. I love SC2 custom campaigns, and I want to contribute to the community that makes it possible. Every quality map that gets produced is a feather in the cap of the custom community, spreading the word of this site and the hard work that goes on here. Every successful and popular map will draw more people and encourage more mapmakers. Remember, Starcraft has two more expansions coming out, presumably offering more and more support of the mapmaking community over time, so now is the time to make friends and get involved.
Send me a PM, chat with me and we'll see where you're at. If you're serious, I'll be glad to help you out - possibly even be willing to sign on long term. The worst thing I can say is "You should look at this" and you get another beta tester.
I'm not interested in flexing verbal superiority on the internet, nor am I looking to lord over any projects. I just want to help make some of these projects even better, because even the most amazing custom campaign can be completely derailed by a poor choice in words.
The concept looks interesting, I'm a huge Marine Arena fan, and another variant of that map could really take off. Roman is the most asinine developer, and his slavish adherence to Dark Templar has driven more than a few people away from MA.
I just wish these types of customs were playable right now without converting to flipbook mode. Blizzard really screwed over customs with this last patch =/
Just on casual inspection, the site and promo videos look promising, but also are in pre-alpha stages.
If you intend on doing an English site/release, you should consider having a native speaker finalize some (most) of your translations. While I have no doubt it would be flawless in German, typos and obscure sentences really unravel a lot of the work that this team is pouring into the concept. I was reading through the descriptions and back story area, and I kept getting sidetracked by this. Again, while I understand this is probably an issue that is "lost in translation", so to speak, it really undermines your hard work. Pun intended.
Having said that, I'm going to use the contact information on your site to pass along my information. This is a project I would love to help test, and could also render some services in the translation department.
0
I'm available if you want to shoot me a PM with where you're at with that.
0
@TheAlmaity: Go
This offer is just the end result of being blown away by so many great maps, and then facepalming when a character opens their mouth to deliver a line that doesn't make any sense. It just makes these gorgeous campaigns seem... neglected.
I'm not sure how many people will take advantage either, but I'll help out anyone who is willing to take the time. Including your Pokemanz. =]
0
@Bommes: Go
This guy gets it.
Average gamers download a game, play it for five minutes or until they get frustrated, then go back to bumbling through bronze league and Aiur Chef.
The focus is on the small things; conveying ideas, having characters that say things that are worth reading, feeling like you're participating in a mission - all these things add up to something big. If you can combine it with good triggers, good terrain, and enough people willing to help you test it, you're going to strike gold.
0
@JakeCake26: Go
Some of the best maps I've ever played, like the Dominion maps from KyleValkar, originated in German and got butchered through the translators. This is sort of my point: to head off that sort of thing while it's still on the front page. In fact, I could argue that the best custom campaigns out there originated in a language other than English.
Also, you're not going to see people openly give you grammar tips on a public forum, specifically because "grammar nazi" has become the rallying cry of the masses who can't be bothered. The fact that most every campaign on this site is full of mistakes is evidence that the standard is pretty low, for one reason or another.
This post, and my help, is contingent on the idea that you want to look better. I like playing maps that look like the authors have pride in them, and I'm willing to donate my time to make that happen.
0
Although most people include themselves as "part of the creative team", no matter what their contribution to a project, this is something I want to do exclusively.
After playing around a dozen custom campaigns and map packs, there's a common denominator: word soup. Sentences that don't make sense, punctuation that doesn't belong, words that are awkward and out of place, passive voice lines of text, boring story lines, stereotypical and shallow characters, and a general blind eye in terms of proofreading is all over the mapmaking community. If you just read this and got offended, you're probably a guilty party. Hear me out.
Imagine you're playing WoL, and Raynor pops up to give you a bonus objective. You're knee deep in zerg, and Raynor says:
"Your not going to be able to hold the line here, fall back to th eprimary bsae."
The magic of the map is gone, and the story just died on the spot. You see this and you say to yourself, "My God. How did they not catch this? This is...ugh". Be real and consider how you can be taken as a successful mapmaker and storyteller with your audience distracted by your communication method.
Any jerk can offer criticism, but I'm a big believer in offering a solution as well - I want to help people out with this. I'm offering to do this because, apparently, nobody in this community (that I've seen) has offered, and it really badly needs to be done to raise the quality of the campaigns coming out of sc2mapster.
If you are:
... then you should send me a PM. I love SC2 custom campaigns, and I want to contribute to the community that makes it possible. Every quality map that gets produced is a feather in the cap of the custom community, spreading the word of this site and the hard work that goes on here. Every successful and popular map will draw more people and encourage more mapmakers. Remember, Starcraft has two more expansions coming out, presumably offering more and more support of the mapmaking community over time, so now is the time to make friends and get involved.
Send me a PM, chat with me and we'll see where you're at. If you're serious, I'll be glad to help you out - possibly even be willing to sign on long term. The worst thing I can say is "You should look at this" and you get another beta tester.
I'm not interested in flexing verbal superiority on the internet, nor am I looking to lord over any projects. I just want to help make some of these projects even better, because even the most amazing custom campaign can be completely derailed by a poor choice in words.
0
The concept looks interesting, I'm a huge Marine Arena fan, and another variant of that map could really take off. Roman is the most asinine developer, and his slavish adherence to Dark Templar has driven more than a few people away from MA.
I just wish these types of customs were playable right now without converting to flipbook mode. Blizzard really screwed over customs with this last patch =/
0
@Bilxor: Go
i'll help you test it, PM me whenever.
0
Just on casual inspection, the site and promo videos look promising, but also are in pre-alpha stages.
If you intend on doing an English site/release, you should consider having a native speaker finalize some (most) of your translations. While I have no doubt it would be flawless in German, typos and obscure sentences really unravel a lot of the work that this team is pouring into the concept. I was reading through the descriptions and back story area, and I kept getting sidetracked by this. Again, while I understand this is probably an issue that is "lost in translation", so to speak, it really undermines your hard work. Pun intended.
Having said that, I'm going to use the contact information on your site to pass along my information. This is a project I would love to help test, and could also render some services in the translation department.