As some of you know I help to organize the Alliance Testing Network (ATN); a QA pipeline consisting of several testing lobbies, including my own UCC sweaty lobby. As more forgers have become aware of us and what we are doing, I've been noticing some discussions that lead me to believe that there is some confusion as to what we are doing, how we are doing it, and what our mission is. We do have another announcement coming thru this week detailing some of the new additions to the network as well as some further efforts towards transparency. Within the next few days you will all have full access to the database we use to keep track of maps in our network so you can see your map's progress through the pipeline and we will be introducing you to our new community advocate, who will be able to assist with any ethical concerns that may arise. Aside from all of that I'm putting up this thread so that I can field any questions that any of you have about how the network operates, what our mission is, and what all goes on behind the scenes. ATN is a community effort. Everyone involved in the lobby has just one mission- to provide this extensive QA pipeline to any and all forgers who want to make use of it, and to help great maps get noticed by the powers that be, whether that be CCs, youtubers, or Xenu. So if you have any questions, fire away. You can also DM me anytime.
It's all about the total package, but if she's got an ego, idgaf. This guy doesn't waste time on snoody chicks.
So as much as I enjoy a thorough musing over the glory of the female form o would like to get back on track. So again, if anyone has any questions about the Alliance Testing Network, fire away.
How will anyone find your info if they're not familiar with things? Will it be nicely tucked down into the deeper pages of several forum sites that half of forgers aren't aware they could look for? Who's the lucky punching bag, I mean community advocate? Would you say this advocate has better **** or ass? Can we get an advocate with a bigger ass?
Honesty that's really hard to say. I know it sounds cheesy but "best player" is kind of hard to say. They each have a certain priority level which decides who should push for power weapons, who should focus on providing help, that sort of thing. But it's not to say a priority 3 player isn't as good as a priority 1. In fact a priority 3 is better at that job than the p1 player. So it's about developing individual strengths and using all four players to make the team as strong as it can be. And yes I think if I were to pick a "best player" that would bruise an ego or two.
Well there is that big beautiful link on my signature, and duke of mearls signature and demption's signature. There's info in all of the network hosts' lobby threads- iParanormal, duke of Mearl, max extra, demption, and myself. I'm the punching bag- our community advocate will be on hand to assist with serious allegations, should they ever arise. If there are more general inquiries or issues I've always just invited ppl to speak with me directly. We have a big update announcement posting today or tomorrow that will have all that info- don't want to spoil the surprise tho so I can't tell you that it's warholic... It's warholic. Ass, and his hair game is fairly well locked down as well.
My question is more aimed at the cartographers who may be looking at this. - Does not participating in the UCC lobby hurt your chances at getting your map into MM? Seen by 343? - Is UCC supposed to be the litmus test for maps before you recommend the map to 343? - If the UCC lobby doesn't like the map or is a split decision, does that reduce your likelihood of suggesting the map to 343? I feel these are important questions for the community to know the answer to.
These are great questions. I'll have to let individual CCs answer in their own but the general thing is this: ATN is not a part of the CC system or affiliated with 343. We are a resource for anyone who would use us. So we want to help get maps awesome and if a CC decides to factor our process and findings into their research we think that's great but it is totally their own perogative. Not testing in the network shouldnt hurt your chances at matchmaking. What we want is to be able to give forgers a certain assurance that they can get their maps on the cc radar in the first place. That is a major reason that we started this whole thing. So certain CCs have agreed to add maps that have gone thru Alliance to their list of possible considerations. Again there are no assurances offered here other than once your map has completed testing with our group it will go on a list of potential candidates. They will know your map exists and that it's been thoroughly tested.
I speak for only myself with my answers to be clear before I put something forth. Not participating does not hurt your chances for getting your map into MM or seen by 343. The entire system is not affiliated with 343 or specifically promises matchmaking consideration. What it does promise is a minimum of testing and support for your map. And as someone who's been around since the beginning of Forge... every little thing you participate in, whether it be custom lobbies, forging with groups, posting on forums, commenting on videos, supporting systems, giving feedback, posting maps, etc... all has an effect on your chances for any goal you have that requires being seen in some sort of way. The more you have a presence in the community the more likely you are to be seen in any place that that community's members hang out. And it is not a required system at all to get your map recommended to 343. Any map that is seen anywhere has an equal chance of being recommended for matchmaking whether that map is seen through the ATN or brought up in a custom game or posted on a forum. But as said above, participating in multiple things increases that chance of being seen. The UCC does not determine what maps get into matchmaking and any decision or feedback from them is taken with the same amount of consideration as feedback from any other custom game lobby. It is just more information in the long run to help find maps that could work for matchmaking. For me personally this helps bring attention to maps that meet a sort of minimum requirement of quality and testing. It helps to answer some of the basic questions that typically go through my mind before I spend any time on the map. One of the first things I look for is if and how much has the map been tested. I don't care how well it plays, I want to know if you've taken the time to explore the map yourself. Not just build it, play two games, and want it in matchmaking. So it helps generate sort of the minimum amount of testing for content. And it also helps that people who are not forgers, or friends of the forger of the map, have actually played on it and didn't completely dismiss it. Maps in matchmaking are played by thousands and thousands of players that don't know you and it helps to know that you've gotten feedback from people who are just regular Halo players that don't know you. Consider ATN as a bonus, not a requirement. Everything you attempt helps in some way shape or form. And I always try to recommend and steer people towards ATN for additional testing, but never require it. I respect anyone who doesn't want to do it, but I'd be lying if I said that it doesn't help you to test your map as often as possible with as wide of a variety of players as possible. So I'd recommend you to any lobby that I was fully aware of, including outside of the ATN, like Duck's, AgentPaperCraft's, TNT at Forge.World, /r/halo Friday Customs, etc.
First off will there be punch and pie? Second, are there any casual lobbies just for us playing our maps together or is this all business? I'm always down for a critiquing but sometimes I just wanna play some maps without being in forger mode.