Cutstuff Mapping Jam 9: Banana Jamma

Hello everyone, it’s Freems and welcome to the ninth Cutstuff Mapping Jam! You may have read this exact message before but I suddenly have a forum again so I'm reposting the Jam announcement here!
please enjoy my copy/paste job.

But Freems, What is Jam? Well I’m glad you asked my hypothetical voices that live in my brain! Jam is an event where the MM8BDM community comes together to make a bunch of new maps for the game! As always though, this is not just an event for veteran mappers who have it all down, I always encourage people who have always wanted to make maps in the past to give it a shot and participate! Jam is never a contest and is just about people coming together to make some maps for fun! As such, help is always available if anyone ever needs any!

In fact, in this modern day we have a full wiki tutorial on how to get started with mapping! So if you’re interested in participating in Jam but aren’t quite sure where to start, please feel free to check out this link right here!

Jam is broken down into two phases, the piece phase and the mapping phase! Phase 1 will last about two weeks and will consist of people making a small map piece. One’s map piece acts as their sign up! You won’t be able to sign up without one!

We are also pulling a repeat of last jam’s gimmick by bringing some words being thrown into play! Along with your map pieces, you will receive three randomly chosen words! You will have to choose 2 out of 3 words that have to somehow apply to your map, albeit I am VERY flexible with how you use these words, and I honestly think bending the rules in that regard is usually really funny.
I know in the past there have been some ROUGH combo of words people have received that have stopped them in their tracks with making a map. I’m planning on taking a few extra steps to avoid especially bad combinations this go around. I’m not 100% sure of my method as of writing this post, but I’m pretty sure I’m going to vet the 3 word combos that get put together before handing them out to mappers and get rid of the truly terrible ones, that only hand out combos that aren’t just impossible to work with.

BUT here are the guidelines for phase 1! Copy/pasted as always!

Along with your map piece, please submit at least 3 words to go into the great word pool. This is the pool of words that will be handed out to the other mappers, but don’t count on getting your own words! You can give me more than 3 words but please cap it at 5 so I don’t have an endless pool.
Also to copy/paste again…
That said, there's a level of being reasonable when giving me words. Words like "Dark", "Bounce", "Fast", and "Ghost" are things that you can reasonably use in your life. But don't give me things that don't lend themselves well to mapping like "Broccoli" or something. Also nothing on the nose like "Hard Man" (which isn't even a word!!!). At the end of the day, while I want this to be a user made pool, I do reserve the right to deny any submitted words and ask for replacements or just replace them myself. And keep things PG.

We will talk about the more specific phase 2 guidelines when we get there, but if you’ve done a Jam before, odds are you know what’s up.

As always though, YOUR MAP PIECE AND WORDS ACT AS YOUR SIGN UP FOR JAM! YOU WILL NOT BE ABLE TO PARTICIPATE IF I DO NOT RECEIVE THESE BEFORE PHASE 1 IS OVER!
The next couple weeks are your chance to sign up! If you have any questions about anything, whether it be how this works or even how to do some things while mapping, do not be afraid to ask me! I am more than happy to help out!

All map pieces and words are to be submitted to my Discord (which is Freems) since Forum PMs don’t exist anymore. Submissions will close on Sunday, June 9th at 11:59pm EST (or more realistically, when I wake up the following Monday.) If you're paying attention, this deadline is extended since the last Google Doc since I want things to breathe on the new forums a little. Once we hit that deadline, I will add to this topic with the phase 2 details!

I think that’s everything I need to cover! If you have any questions about anything, feel free to ask!

Is there any expected naming standards or the like for the map piece that we should follow? Very new here, just want to make sure I'm following every possible rule because level making stuff is always neat and I wanna try to take part.

Nope, for the map piece it doesn't matter what the map code or name of the map is. It'll all get thrown into whatever map people are making so it can be whatever.

Hello everyone, thanks for submitting pieces! Here is the big info post about round 2!

While my deadline for finished maps was originally in the summer, the truth is there's probably a huge gap in September where I'm straight up going to be unable to work on anything myself, and there's little point in me cutting off the deadline during a time where I can't compile the pack, so the current final deadline for your finished maps is Sunday, October 6th at 11:59EST. This is a LARGE chunk of time so the only way there's going to be a deadline extension is if it turns out I'm still going to be out of town on that date.

As for the actual mapping, let's briefly address the words again. Like last time, everyone is going to receive three words from the great word pool you all provided. Of these three words, you have to pick TWO of them and somehow have them be applicable to the map you make. Now please remember you don't have to use all three at all (only if you really really want to) and I am pretty flexible when it comes to how the word is used. If you have any questions about "does this count as this word" please do not be afraid to shoot me a DM and I'll be happy to answer.
In desperate times, I am willing this go around to reroll ONE of the three words if you are in true disarray. But please save that hypothetical reroll for if you really can't do anything with the word pool you got. If I see a reroll request on day 1 of this post going out I don't believe you.

Now to copy/paste my lovely map requirements!

-Each mapper must use both map pieces given to them in their map. The piece must be in the playable space of the map at all times and not off in the background or something. However, the mapper is able to make plenty of changes to the pieces if they so desire. Common ways map pieces are changed include...

-Changing the height of parts.
-Changing jump stairs to walk stairs, the other way around, changing it to a ladder or a fan, changing a slope to not a slope or the other way around, etc. etc.
-Adding little things to fill up blank space.
-Changing curved walls to normal angles (or the other way around).
-Flattening out uneven terrain.
-Any textures, aesthetics, or anything like that in the piece.

There are certainly more options than just these, but these are the common ones I've seen in the past. The general rule of thumb is I should still be able to recognize the map piece when everything is said and done. If you have any question about editing a piece because you're unsure, just ask me and I'll let you know if it's legal or not.

-You must choose two of the three words you receive and have them be relevant to your map in some way, shape, or form. This rule is pretty lax but you can't just outright ignore what you get. Please inform me of the words you chose when you submit the map as well, so I know what to look for.

-You're allowed to use custom assets to your heart's content. As long as it's still 8-bit in nature, though I'm sure that goes without saying. But you're not obliged to stick with what's in the core game, though you can if you want!

-Likewise, the song in your map must be 8-bit in nature. If it's not, I have full authority to change the song. Likewise, try not to use a song that's already in the core game, I will also change it in that case. I'm a picky soul about music as well and I will ask for a song replacement if it actually is unpleasant to listen to. Do not worry about adding boss themes because they will be replaced when the pack is released. And while you don't need to worry about adding a map card, I will need the song information so I can do it myself at the very least.

-Some general mapping courtesies. Include at least 32 spawns, 16 Light Team Spawns, 16 Wily Team Spawns, 8 Cossack Team Spawns, and 8 King Spawns (if there's a big problem I can add the team spawns myself). Make sure to keep the lighting at an even 255 unless there's a really good reason for it to be something else (AKA don't make the whole map the default 192. Trust me, it's not as appealing as you think it is!). Also make sure you lighting isn't 256, that's a common error that leads to lighting problems. If you have any sorta instant death such as pits, lava, etc. make sure to block the edges of the platforms with block monster lines.

-I will have to either ask for changes or outright reject a map if something in it causes the game to have difficulty running, either offline or online. Software mode is very unpopular in this world, but the map needs to be functional on it, though it doesn't have to be pretty. In the past this has been the only reason I'd have to not accept a submitted map. Gotta make sure it works for everyone!

-Remember that this is NOT a competition, nor is it a race to the finish line. Feel free to get input from other people if you're unsure about something, and don't be afraid to ask questions if you have any! If you're new to mapping or unsure on something, I would definitely recommend not waiting until the last second to make your map so there's time to get feedback/make potential changes if that needs to happen.

-While it's incredibly unlikely to happen, I hold full authority to reject a map for a failure to abide by the main rules or for any other very unlikely reason that might pop up. As such I hold authority to make slight edits to a map myself if for some reason the situation calls for it. Don't worry about this one too much, it's more of the "just in case" rule.

alright who cares about the rules let's see the MAP PIECE AND WORDS



And here is the link to all of Jam 9's map pieces!

If you have any questions about anything, please do not be afraid to ask! And here's to some more JAMMING!