Difference between revisions of "MTS2:Creator Guidelines/Neighborhood Maps"
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People want to see what they're downloading! Your screenshots sell your upload - if people don't like the look of your screenshots, they're not going to download - and if your screenshots are too bad, you won't get your upload approved. | People want to see what they're downloading! Your screenshots sell your upload - if people don't like the look of your screenshots, they're not going to download - and if your screenshots are too bad, you won't get your upload approved. | ||
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==Adult Content/Nudity== | ==Adult Content/Nudity== | ||
Revision as of 03:25, 22 May 2011
Contents |
Neighborhood Maps
Quality
Have you made a new neighborhood map using SimCity 4 and want to share it? This guide will walk you through every step of what we require on MTS.
| Time and effort |
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| Most good creators spend hours upon hours on even simple creations. We understand that not everything has to be that difficult, but we do expect you to not just slap together something in 15 minutes and upload it and expect it to get accepted. Really try to put some serious effort into what you create, and it will show through in the quality.
This is probably the hardest one to quantify, but it's something that is obvious whenever upload moderators look at an upload: have you really expended some serious time and effort on a creation? You can't just crank out a bunch of stuff in a short amount of time and expect it to be good. Nor can you spend a while just fiddling with something but not really trying and expect a good result either. |
| Is Your Neighborhood Unique? (*) |
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| No matter what style or design you choose, your neighborhood should be unique and different. We already have plenty of perfectly flat grid neighborhoods available, so try to do something interesting that other people haven't already done before.
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| Make Sure Your Neighborhood is Playable (*) |
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| A neighborhood that's lumpy all over with few, if any, flat, buildable areas, and very few roads is really not going to be very useful for anyone. Remember, you're creating something that people are going to actually use in their game, so it should be as useable as possible!
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| Use Realistic Shapes (*) |
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| We don't need any heart shaped, spiral shaped, star shaped, etc. neighborhoods. Getting creative with your terrain sculpting is fine, but remember to strive for realism.
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Screenshots
People want to see what they're downloading! Your screenshots sell your upload - if people don't like the look of your screenshots, they're not going to download - and if your screenshots are too bad, you won't get your upload approved.
| Big Enough |
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The larger your pics, the better! Tiny pics won't show enough detail to see what you've made.
Please don't just take a small pic and size it up in your graphics program to get bigger pics - this only makes the dimensions larger but doesn't add any detail and just gives you a blurry, pixellated larger pic, not a nice clear one. |
| Required Pictures (*) |
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| No over-Photoshopping |
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| Maximum Number of Inline/attached screenshots |
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You may now upload up to 100 pics! Of course, please keep it to a reasonable quantity... only things like huge sets, full worlds, etc. should have that many pics! Remember, you can always collage several different images together into one image if you have a bunch of stuff to show off, or want to show multiple angles of an item. For the bonus photos, we recommend you use a spoiler tag to hide the images, then people can click on it to see them. Their pages will load faster if all the images aren't downloading at once. [spoiler=interior rooms]http:// wheveremypictureis/picture.jpg[/spoiler] The 'interior rooms' can be replaced by whatever grouping you want to present, 'hidden garden', 'pool views', 'master suite', 'kids room', etc. You may place as many photos within a spoiler grouping as you'd like.
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| No pay content in screenshots |
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| Do not use pay content in your screenshots! Do not use pay hair in your screenshots!
You MUST use free or EA/Maxis items in your screenshots! MTS promotes and supports free content, and using pay content in screenshots is basically like free advertisement for paysites. This includes pay content you found elsewhere for free - if it was pay originally, it's still promoting pay content. We strongly recommend taking pics with neutral backgrounds, just showing off what you've made and nothing more. Not only does this look nicer for uploads, it also eliminates any possibility that you may inadvertently include pay items in your screenshots. As per the news item of November 2010, do not use pay items in your upload. A pay item is an item that you'd have to donate money to access if you went to the original creator's website. It doesn't matter if you can get it for free through a file sharing site - it's still a pay item. Don't use pay items in your screenshots either, even if they are not included. Links for "optional" or "recommended" content may be included as long as they are free sites only. If you need free hair for a model in your pics, MTS has an extensive collection of free hairstyles in our Downloads section. You can also look in the TS2 Hair Gallery or TS3 Hair Gallery for more free hairstyles to find something you'll like. We STRONGLY recommend that you credit the hair (and other content) used in your screenshots in the text of your upload post. With hundreds of hairstyles out there, it's very difficult for our upload moderators to know every hairstyle on sight, and if we have to hunt down where the hair is from to see if it's pay or free, it may take longer for your upload to be approved. Make it easy on us and at least say something like, "Hair from XM Sims (free)" in the text of your post under a little section for model credits.
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Adult Content/Nudity
MTS2 is not an adult site. We do have an adult site affiliated with MTS2, Sexy Sims 2 where adult content may be uploaded. But because MTS2 is a PG-13 site, no adult content may be uploaded to MTS2 itself.
Other Adult Content
Content with swear/curse words or sexually suggestive themes may not be uploaded to MTS2. Please upload these items to the adult site instead.
Items relating to illegal drugs do not belong on MTS2. You -may- post items relating to prescription and over-the-counter drugs, as well as alcohol and tobacco on MTS2, but items related to illegal drugs should go on our adult site.
For more information and a further list of items we do not allow on MTS2, see: Uploads Not Allowed on MTS2.
Right Info/Right Files
Once you have your creation made and screenshots taken, you need to make sure you have all the fiddly bits in order.
Right Files
You will need to upload:
- One .sc4 file. This file will have the name of your neighborhood. For example, "EnchantedCove.sc4"
- At least one .png file. This should be the default neighborhood picture for your neighborhood and should be named the same as the neighborhood. For example, "EnchantedCove.png"
For your neighborhood to work properly with different terrain types, you will also need to include:
- Four additional .png files, taken of your neighborhood using the different terrain types. These will be named the same as your neighborhood, with an underscore, and the terrain type. For example, "EnchantedCove_concrete.png", "EnchantedCove_desert.png", "EnchantedCove_dirt.png", and "EnchantedCove_lush.png".
ZIP or RAR
You will need to put your neighborhood's files - the .sc4 file as well as the .png(s) - into a RAR or ZIP file to upload here. Please see here for instructions on doing so. Please do not include both a ZIP and RAR with the same contents - just choose one.
Please do not double-compress your files - you should not have a ZIP inside a ZIP or a RAR inside a RAR. This does not compress the files any more and just makes an extra step for downloaders.
Upload in Sets
If you have created several similar neighborhoods at the same time, please upload these together in a single set, all on one thread (instead of all separately, one by one, on different threads). This is easier for everyone: on our upload moderators, as they only have one thread to review rather than several... on you, as submitting a single thread is much quicker and easier than several... and on downloaders, as they can get everything they want all in one place rather than having to hunt around.
Expansion/Stuff Packs Required?
Expansions and stuff packs are not required for neighborhood maps. They are all base game compatible. Do not mark any EPs/SPs as required for your neighborhoods.
Good Title
You'll need a good title for your upload - something descriptive... like, "Mystery Cove" or "Seaside Resort" is good. Something non-descriptive like, "My First Upload!" is not.
Good Description
You'll need to write up a little basic description of what your upload is... you don't have to get too fancy, but you do need to write something to get people interested. For instance, "This neighborhood map features plenty of flat area to build overlooking a seaside view, with areas along one road suitable for beach lots." Something like, "This is my first upload... I don't know what to put here..." really doesn't make it sound like you've put any effort into it - and will reflect poorly on your creation. You don't have to write a novel, just something that makes it sound like it's worth taking a closer look at.
Checklist
This is a checklist of everything gone over above so you can be sure you've done everything you need to do to ensure your submission is correct. This is just for your own use - checking these boxes doesn't actually -do- anything, just is an easy way to keep yourself organized.
Quality
Time and Effort - You have spent a substantial amount of time and put a good deal of effort into creating your neighborhood.
Uniqueness - Your neighborhood represents a unique, interesting overall look.
Useability - Your neighborhood is useful and useable, with plenty of flat, buildable space and roads to put lots on.
Realistic Shapes - Your lot is a realistic, regular terrain and not in any silly shapes.
Screenshots
Big Enough - Your screenshots are large enough to clearly see what you have made - limits are 1280x1024 pixels and 195 kbs.
In-Game - Your screenshots are taken from within the game, and are not just pictures of your textures.
Required Pic - You have included at least one overview picture showing your whole neighborhood.
No Over-Photoshopping - Your screenshots show the neightorhood as it appears in-game, with no additional filters applied which change the look of the image, and any added text does not cover your creation.
Inline/Attached Screenshots - Your inline screenshots are no more than 800x600 pixels, you don't have more than 4 of them, your required screenshots are actually attached to the thread, and you don't have more than 8 screenshots attached.
No Pay Content - You do not have any pay content in your screenshots.
Adult Content/Nudity
No Adult Content - Your content doesn't have any swear words, nudity, or illegal drugs.
Right Info/Right Files
Right Files - You have an .sc4 file, and at least one .png file.
ZIP or RAR - You have compressed your files into a zip or rar archive (but not both).
Upload in Sets - If you have created a set or several similar/related maps, you have uploaded them all together in one thread, rather than on separate threads.
Expansion/Stuff Packs Required - You have not marked any expansions or stuff packs as required.
Good Title - You have given your creation a good, descriptive title.
Good Description - You have given your creation a nice description that makes people want to download it.
