Map naming convention

[zach]

Since we have seen a few map releases already before the release of a map editor (well done!), we might as well establish a sensible naming convention for the map files.

I guess then I'd do;

mp_k2_FacingWorldsNL_2.txt

using b for blitz, k for koth, d for domination, r for rocket riot, a for assault and c for cts - keeps the gametype, # of players, Mapname, author and version in without being crazy padded.

This is very close to what I would suggest, as well - although admittedly I would want the filename to be all lower-case, and perhaps put dashes in the filename where spaces would be applicable, as such;

mp_<gametype><#players>_<mapname>_<author>_<version>.txt

For the sake of consistency, version would always be <major>.<minor> (even 1.0, 2.0 etc.)
So NukeLord's new map would be;

mp_k2_facing-worlds_nukelord_1.1.txt

Keep in mind that these are just my current thoughts on the subject, and nothing is decided (or even much discussed) yet. If this is stickied, I'll update this post with a clear, unambiguous naming scheme.

[The GoldFish]

I agree with the lowercase convention, I was only using the name given to the map in the thread. The only aspect within which I disagree is perhaps for initials of people (since you're asking people to change their nicknames, this is often a touchy subject. I would rarely ever use tgf) - I would never use The_GoldFish or the_goldfish in the map name because my name has an _ in it, and it's far longer than necessery. Nor would I use thegoldfish; I'd use TGF, that's just me though, perhaps.

I really don't see why the name ought to be spaced in any way at all, with -s, _s or otherwise. There's no reason to do this IMO, though again there's no reason not to - but one day this will just be a file name, and I think that's what we should be thinking about. There should one day be full meta data for the ingame map name and author, into which you can pile whatever you want. The key really, was to create a single "chunk" of filename to specifically determine the map in one fell swoop, so any name parsers which seperate by _s have an ever so slightly easier time, and can create a primary key string a lot easier which happily directly could corespond to the [name][initials] chunk. It may also simplify the naming of eg packaging up maps, simply being [mapname][author].dat, which may be managed by multiwinia (And presumably will always be up to date) and again contain meta data to the effect of their content and versioning. There may also be pertinance into managing eg resource files for a specific map, since you should could name your custom shp files for your map's static shapes [mapname][author]_awesomeshape1.shp, and then, in theory, multiwinia might be able to finger this for transmission without crawling through the map file, and if these files remain scattered, help designate which map they're to do with (to help stop people collecting resource packs for deleted maps, or at least cleaning this affair up easier perhaps)

That's just how I think though - I'm pretty much strictly hands off, I don't play multiwinia enough to really make any maps, and probably won't be very involved in the mod scene unless things change a lot. None of the above really benefits that much from excluding spacing and full names. Really, it doesn't matter that much exactly how people name their maps, just that they name them sensibly and curtiously; mp_[gametype initial][playercount]_[somethingunique].txt is all I'm really hoping for - it's short and simple, and should prevent map collision between different authors and different versions.

At the end of the day, you're going to be running a modsite apparently, so, if any gametypes do come along and share initials, I'd suggest that you simply designate them a new one (executive decision etc) - since most authors would be familiar with your site and whatever naming draft is come up with, this should be little problem.

[zach]

Well, I can see why you'd use TGF instead of tgf - and I would never want people to change their nicks to avoid underscores, or for any other matter. This places some limits on the delimiter though. I suppose the initials work (ie. where I would be z7, or (not) zz7), and help decrease the file name length.

I really don't see why the name ought to be spaced in any way at all, with -s, _s or otherwise. There's no reason to do this IMO, though again there's no reason not to - but one day this will just be a file name, and I think that's what we should be thinking about. There should one day be full meta data for the ingame map name and author, into which you can pile whatever you want.

Is this metadata confirmed? Anyway, as long as it isn't here, we might as well have the metadata as lossless as possible in the filename - or at least I think so. That way, it won't be a problem to extract the metadata come meta-format for Multiwinia.

I just thought it useful to be able to split the name of the map using dashes or underscores; both would work from a technical point of view, since you'd have a finite amount of infinite delimiters;

mp|DELIMITER|<gametype><playercount>|DELIMITER|<mapnamewithwordsseparatedbydashes|DELIMITER|<authorwitharbitrarynumberofdelimitingcharacters>.txt

This way, you have DELIMITER, gametype, playercount, DELIMITER, mapname, DELIMITER, and the rest is just the author - with underscores or fractions or whatever you want.

Which would be, in your case;

mp_c4_teh-awesomest-map_the_goldfish.txt
or perhaps
mp_c4_teh-awesomest-map_The_Goldfish.txt

So, technically keeping just one of the values able to use the delimiting character is pretty easy, and at the same time preserving the name of the map - you can't parse 'facingworlds' to 'Facing Worlds' very easily, but 'facing-worlds' should be no problem.

At the end of the day, you're going to be running a modsite apparently, so, if any gametypes do come along and share initials, I'd suggest that you simply designate them a new one (executive decision etc)

Well, the modsite isn't going to be parsing the file names anyway, so they can be named 'map_000001.zip' if you want. Only most people would appreciate if they weren't named as such

---

In the end, I would be pretty willing to agree on initials for authorname, but I still find it somewhat useful to keep those dashes in the map name ... Or, if the initials for author is used, we could also use '_' to separate words in map names. It might be difficult for some people to shorten their nick, though. 'xdr', 'jlc' etc.
Such, the question for 'how many characters in the abbreviated author name' is introduced. Also, it is a bit weird to go no-caps on everything but the authorname. Oh well.

mp_c4_tehawesomermap_NL.txt
mp_c4_teh_awesomer_map_jelco.txt
mp_c4_teh_awesomest_map_TGF.txt
mp_c4_teh-awesomerest-map_z7.txt

This discussion is more than it should have ever been ^^;

[The GoldFish]

Planning on keeping the description in the filename too? :P

Data letting you assign your level a name in all the relavent languages, as well as the map descriptions, is basically confirmed by common sense and by Ice (ask him I guess), and there IS a field in multiwinia_options for author, although nothing uses it as yet (and possibly never will, although I don't see this is an necesserily an issue)

Since it's almost gaurenteed that all maps will need to be repackaged in some way for the mod/editor release in the future, I can only assume that at that point, the map name, author and descriptions will all be written in by the author. There's also no gaurentee that the text file's name is the map's name, so parsing may be pointless, and as you say, what's going to be parsing it?

The point re your modsite was strictly wrt gametype initials.

I think the safest bet is definately;

mp_[gametype][players]_[unique].txt

gametype and players have no real purpose in the name, other than to help group maps together by exploting alphabetic sorts. [unique] is made up of any aspects of the author's name, the generic map handle, and the version if they want to include that. Just let whomever sort out what they want to do from there. Otherwise we're not going to agree, mainly because "mp_c4_teh-awesomest-map_The_Goldfish.txt" makes my eyes vomit: I say, keep data like this out of the filename (IV did this in a lot of ways with their levels), and just use the filename to allow for quick identification by eye and prevent name collision. That's my preference, and will remain so. I can't see that I have anything more to say on the matter, and it's rude, I think, to try and convince or tell people that my way is definately what they should do, since if I were to continue down that path it just upsets the point, which is;

Just name files well enough for them be browsable, prevent map name collisions, and be generally short enough that they don't need you to resize your screen massively to view their name. Since multiwinia uses hashes, and not filenames, technically you can just rename the map to fit your own private naming scheme if you want to go crazy about the one that doesn't fit in.

It's pretty much up to IV to specify how levels will one day work, so until they lay down some law about how to make things work with whatever tech they put forwards for levels with attached mods, just be sensible and curtious, and use something unique within the scope of being human readable for each release of your map.

[zach]

mp_c4_awesomestTGF.txt

That would work.

Also,

Planning on keeping the description in the filename too?

Hah!

EDIT:

I made this into a poll.

Also, what about versioning with the short format?
mp_<mode><#players>_<unique>_<version>.txt?

[Greendingbat]

I think the second one just tries to cram too much info into one name
Nice idea, btw making a map naming convention