First map to hit a score of 100 ?

Started by Puritan, 30 August 2020, 10:13:29

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Puritan

Well, there's only a few maps with a score of 99 available.
Looking into each of those maps and I think they deserved the score. At least at that time they were released.

Now, there has been a few releases the last couple of years that is absolutely stunning and where the constructions and layout are superb.
I want to talk about Merlijn van Oostrums latest three maps in the ongoing "Shaky Grounds" series.
The first two maps are outstanding design wise and with tons upon tons of excellent constructed scenery.
Both maps are absolutely up there in upper 90's of the scale.

The last map; "Shaky Grounds pt3: Epicenter" is designed in the same excellent way as the two predecessors.
But here's my point; this map also have a superb gameplay.

Both the two first ones looking top notch, but the gameplay lacks a little bit of action and gameplay.

I honestly think that "Shaky Grounds pt3: Epicenter" very much could be the map that deserves the score of "100".
I know that is a controversial question.

What do you guys think?
Bitter words mean little to me. Autumn winds will blow right through me
And someday in the mist of time, when they asked me if I knew you
I'd smile and say you were a friend of mine, and the sadness would be lifted from my eyes
Oh when I'm old and wise

ck3D

#1
I'm not certain you should consult anyone prior to making such a move because reviews are by definition subjective, so always tied to the reviewer's personal opinion and I think that kind of goes without saying; so, if you like a map to the point where you think it's worth a 100, you should rate it a honest 100, it's your website and your judgement.

That being said, I would never rate a map 100 just on the basis that perfection doesn't exist and to always leave leeway for improvement. The Duke 3D community history is a long one now that's spanned for long enough to witness different trends in mapping but also overall evolution; remember how some people were Roch map fanatics in the early to mid 00's, at the time I'm sure many would have loved to rate them 100 thinking the quality would never be topped and now here we are two decades later and most every new map coming out is better than Roch, meaning perfect scores don't age well. Just a quick glance at the MSDN top 5 makes the problem apparent, there has been zero rotation in the past 15 years (and barely any in the past 20) although a lot of arguably better maps have been released in the meantime - heck that list even comprises novelty levels Mikko overrated around the time he was stoked on Dukeplus. What if the next Shaky Grounds ends up blowing even this new one out of the water because of a revolutionary concept, for instance? Would it have to get a 101%?

Things like this are why I believe that in general, harsher scores are better suited for map reviews, although once you've established a standard on your platform it would ruin everything and create inconsistencies to break away from it, so it's not exactly easy. Everyone has their style, too - for instance Kim at DN-R used to be overly generous with high scores and praise and the platform was low-key notorious for that too; Mikko at MSDN was always more reasonable and fair (except for the Dukeplus stuff), so getting a high rating there always felt like a bigger challenge; etc.

So eventually, you're the one drawing the line. The one fundamental issue with reviews and scores is usually when they're out, they never get looked back on with perspective and updated (understandably as that would be a pain in the ass), so it's better to try and adopt the perspective before finalizing the move. If you think you have it and still feel like scoring a map 100, though, then sure as heck go for it. Only means more downloads for the map and in the case of SG3 it's a good representation of a great Duke map.

I think the problem really is something else; mappers in general have gotten so good, with plenty of new blood having gotten injected into the scene with all the recent ports of the game on mainstream console systems (from my observations of trends on YouTube and Duke4) that soon enough, every map coming out will be pretty much perfect in design and warrant a very high score. SG3 will probably raise the standards for mappers too. In a way, I feel like mappers are slowly starting to overgrow the historical scale of ratings these days which is actually fantastic (it just doesn't make the reviewers' task easy).

Puritan

#2
Thanks for your input.
I'm very much agreed with most of your points.
It's almost impossible to give a score of 100 due to the facts you pointed out in a great way.

It was harder to pull off a "100" map in the mid 90+s than it is today.
The first mappers didn't have anything to learn from (pull apart a top rated map in Build) nor YouTube or other helping platforms.
Some learned Build on their own free time while others were reading the early map faq's by Jonah Bishop.

I was looking for opinions and feedback and you sure did deliver  ;)
Hope more visitors would leave a comment as well.

Btw: I've never reviewed recent maps where mappers are still present. So unfortunately, I wont put scores or review for SG3 or other "new" releases.
That's simply because I'm really not a good reviewer.
I only write up a few lines, the DNR-style, for oldies that I have stashed on my HD's
Bitter words mean little to me. Autumn winds will blow right through me
And someday in the mist of time, when they asked me if I knew you
I'd smile and say you were a friend of mine, and the sadness would be lifted from my eyes
Oh when I'm old and wise

Merlijn

First of all: glad you liked SG3 so much! The fact that you even consider giving it 100 points is really flattering already. :)

As for the subject, I first want to get this out of the way: I would generally prefer a 1 to 5 stars system, or a 1 tot 10 scale. 1 to 100 suggests a higher accuracy, but in most cases that's not really true. In the case of MSDN, the rating system effectively locks each new release somewhere between 85 and 95 points, with a few exceptions.

A 10/10 or a 5/5 map would also be less controverial than a 100/100 map.

As it stands, I personally wouldn't object to maps scoring a 100 points. To me, a perfect score doesn't mean a map can't be outdone anymore, but it would mean that the map in question achieved exactly what it set out to do and did so with absolute perfection. For example, with that mindset you could argue that Hollywood Holocaust is a 100/100 map. It's a perfectly executed first level and I really can't think of a way to improve it.

With that in mind, a Roch map scoring 99 or 100 wouldn't be too out there either. Those maps were made with the old limits and they were also very innovative at the time. IMO they have aged just fine as well.

Puritan

#4
Quote from: Merlijn on  31 August 2020, 21:59:09
As for the subject, I first want to get this out of the way: I would generally prefer a 1 to 5 stars system...


Well, we have both systems available around here.
A rating by the reviewer and a 5-star rating system at the bottom of each review where visitors may vote.

The top 5 results of the 5-star votings are summed up in the "Statistics" page.
Since the numbers of votes are pretty low I've sticked to the "Top 5" for now.
If the votes would increase significantly I would consider creating a new page dedicated to visitors votes.
Bitter words mean little to me. Autumn winds will blow right through me
And someday in the mist of time, when they asked me if I knew you
I'd smile and say you were a friend of mine, and the sadness would be lifted from my eyes
Oh when I'm old and wise