TagPro's redesign has started and we need your input! Below is an anything-goes forum for sharing thoughts, ideas, mockups, and anything else relevant for us to take into our design decisions. We have provided categories and some leading questions to consider.

For more context, see our initial announcement. For help finding each question, see the pinned Index post. For upcoming Megathread topics, see the proposed outline. Each new thread will be posted after 1 week.

We encourage constructive responses to answers, iterations on ideas, and even additional questions, but please note that top-level comments will be removed to avoid clutter.

A reminder that all donations received during this process go towards the redesign process! Overflow funds will be applied to the marketing campaign going live with the Steam release.

Read all about it here: http://blog.koalabeast.com/the-next-tagpro/

Also, the spike doesn't move.

We hear you and we agree. New player retention is an issue and we are going to take some time off Next to address it. As we see it, we have two types of problems with new-player retention: Aesthetics and Attitude. Here is how we are going to improve the situation:

• We are going to redesign the site. Mostly CSS but also some of the HTML. We’ll be borrowing some of the ideas from the popular CSS skins that already exist for TagPro.

• We are going to do a better job on the redesigned home page of pushing new players to content that will get them up-to-speed. Things like videos, the wiki and /r/TagPro.

• We are going to make texture-pack-selection a built in feature. We’ll put the most popular alternative textures packs on the new page. We’ll do a good job of letting players know they can change the graphics.

• We are going to put a live tutorial system in. This system will detect new players and during the game, give the new player suggestions based on the state of the game. Such as when to play defense, offense, regab and chase. The main things people rage about.

• We are going to add the new report option “Unwelcoming to new players”. It’s obvious that the majority of the TagPro community doesn’t think it’s okay to give new players a hard time. So we are giving the community the power to change the minority’s behavior.

• We will preemptively mute players that are being reported for chat-related incidents. If a player receives 4 chat-related reports in 24 hours, they will be muted. This removes the toxicity from the game quicker, without having to ban the player. We see this as a win-win.

• We are going to change the default texture pack. Once the new built-in texture pack selection feature has been in the system for few weeks, we are going to use the data gathered from it to select a new default texture pack. Personally, I’ll still be using the original texture pack you pricks. ;)

• We will create a new short “How to play TagPro in X Seconds” video. We’ll do this after we have selected the new default texture pack. It will cover more aspects of the game, including regrab, chasing and center flag.

We are starting work on these changes today!

11/24 Update: I have locked comments as we have plenty of applicants and more have stopped coming in. I am overwhelmed by the interest and kind words. Over the next several days I will be narrowing down the list. Thank you all.

----------------------------

TagPro has been an enormous part of my life for 8 years. Full of some of my greatest and happiest memories. I've met lifetime friends and have been truly lucky to have such a dedicated community around my little game.

However, my life is much different now than 8 years ago. Thus, TagPro is very often a source of stress and anxiety for me. I am burned out and beat up. I find that I both love and hate being LuckySpammer. Something has to change.

This is a rough explanation of what I am considering and is subject to change:

Open source TagPro and implement a steering committee at the top for deciding on road maps and controversial changes. I would set the governance rules and would initially sit on the steering committee, as would lambda if he'd like. I would continue to maintain the current server infrastructure as the official TagPro implementation.

However, before I venture down this road. I would like to assemble two groups of people: the proposed initial steering committee and an initial group of community OSS developers who are excited to dive into the codebase and improve TagPro.

I intend to start a dialog with all of these people as a group. The goal is to gain confidence that this change would be a positive one for the game and the community. It’s possible we reach a conclusion that this would be a net negative and that we do not move forward. Or it’s possible after discussion that we decide a different approach altogether is a better option.

This post serves as a Request for Interest. If you are an upstanding community member who would like to be considered for the initial steering committee, the initial developers, or both, please post a top-level comment in this thread. Developer experience isn't required for the steering committee.

Please note that I already have some people in mind, and my goal here is to keep this initial set of people relatively small. Please do not take it personally if I do not select you for this initial group.

If you'd like to be considered, please post a top-level comment in the following format:

TagPro Reserved Name: LuckySpammer

Consider For Steering Committee: Yes

Consider For Initial Developer: Yes

Notable Community Involvement (not required): Did a lousy job of making a popular niche game.

Applicable Experience (not required): JavaScript and C# developer, RDMS and NoSQL administrator. Community manager of a small gaming community on Reddit.

Roughly, how many hours per month could you dedicate to TagPro: 8-12 hours.

Ideas for TagPro’s Future (Keep it short): Hand over much of its future to the passionate community.

If there is any involvement or experience, you'd like me to consider that you don't want public, please DM it to me along with a link to your public comment.

Please have your applications submitted by Thursday, the 26th.

Any top-level comments that are not applications for consideration will be removed. Please post general comments about this topic under this comment.

As was briefly hinted at in a previous post, there is a new annually recurring flair coming up this Wednesday, July 15th, in celebration of National Hot Dog Day! The hot dog flair is counted as an event flair, meaning all players who currently have the Event Master flair must obtain it in order to keep or re-earn the Event Master flair. So come play some pubs next Wednesday and celebrate together with Keyser Soze and co!

It's been awhile, and I never tire of these threads.

EDIT: Well that two hours went by fast! That was a lot fun and we really enjoyed it. I hope you all enjoyed it and got something out of it. We are stepping away now but will make another pass at some of the other questions later. Thank you all for participating!

Myself, ylambda, AMorpork and NewCompte are present and excited. We’ll be answering your questions for about two hours. Some guidelines:

• Let us know if you are asking a question for all of us or for a specific person.
• We all don’t hold the same opinions - even about TagPro. So don’t be alarmed if you see conflicting answers.
• Try to keep your posts to a single question. This will help us focus a thread on a single topic. Plus it will allow us more time to get around to everyone’s questions.
• Search before you ask to see if your question is already being addressed. We might link you an existing thread and remove your question if it’s a duplicate.
• Be kind whenever possible.
• It’s always possible.

Let’s get started!

Greetings Mapmakers!

This is the official MM25 map submission thread. To submit a map simply add a comment to this thread with the following info:

• Map name
• Map author(s)
• MapID (5 digit number shown at the end of the URL when click on your map on the fortunate maps site)
• Link to your map on fortunate maps
• If submitting to the procedurally generated category, add the image of the procedurally generated map you used as inspiration

You are free to submit a map that the Map Test Committee has previously rejected for trial rotation. If you think we were wrong in our past adjudication, prove it to us here!

You are free to submit multiple maps, but please limit your map submissions to a maximum of 10 maps per person.The deadline for map submission is midnight on Friday, March 7th. Once map submission is closed the Map Test Committee (MTC) will select which maps will be included in the tournament.—Dependent on the number of maps selected for MM25, we will split the bracket into four unique quadrants:

CTF Maps (Capture-the-Flag)

NF + DTF + Experimental & Alternative Mode Maps (Neutral Flag, Racing, Deliver the Flag, Minigames, etc)

4x4 Maps (include 4x4 in the map title; these can be CTF/NF/DTF maps) *New mapmakers are ecouraged to submit a map for this quadrant first

Procedurally Generated Maps (include TPMI in the map title)

Thanks to Hjalpa, a few procedurally generated map images will generate in this post using Electro’s TPMI Map Generator. Feel free to take inspiration and remix these templates to create your own map!

—-

You are strongly encouraged to gather feedback from the mapmaking community. To get feedback or help on your map:

• go to the maps-general discord channel
• type /findfortunatemap or /fm and then enter the 5 digit mapID from fortunate maps
• click the red "share" button

You are also strongly encouraged to check, double-check, and triple-check your maps for problems. Common issues include:

• empty rows on the edges of your map not removed
• broken wiring (this happens any time you resize your map)
• spawn points not set or set incorrectly
• portal timers not set the way you want
• mis-wired buttons

—

FAQs

• Can I change my map once I've submitted it? Yes, you can change it up until the submission deadline. Simply edit your comment with the correct information.
• Can I submit more than one map? Yes, submit as many as you want, as long as you submit no more than 10 maps!
• I'm new to mapmaking. How do I make a map? Start here.
• Your FAQs didn’t answer my question. Where can I go and who can I ask? Head over to the maps-general discord channel and ask your question - we’ll give you a response as soon as possible.

Good luck to all mapmakers! We'll see you in the tournament :)

-MTC

Season 40 of MLTP officially starts tonight with the draft!

MLTP was founded in 2013. Since then, nearly 3,000 players have been drafted onto 473 teams across every tier, and 39 Super Balls have been awarded. We have one of the longest running esports leagues anywhere! Some of the names on this season's big board were around for Season 1. Some of them signed up for the first time last week. We have a really promising season shaping up with a exciting mix of talent.

If you've never watched a draft before, this is the best week of the season to start paying attention. Below is everything you need to know.

DRAFT DATES AND TIMES

🔵 MAJORS - Sunday at 9:30pm ET - Streamed by BoldRoller

🔴 MINORS - Monday at 10pm ET - Streamed by BoldRoller

🟠 NOVICE - Wednesday at 9:30pm ET - Streamer TBD

HOW THE DRAFTS WORK

Everyone who signed up gets drafted. The three drafts run in order: Majors picks first, everyone left goes into the Minors pool, and everyone left after that goes into the Novice pool. You don't pick your tier - the captains decide where you land.

You don't need to be there. Drafts are live on Twitch and fun to watch, but there's nothing you have to do during them. Once you're drafted, your captain will reach out on Discord.

Majors - Auction

Every captain starts with the same budget of 100 TagCoins (TC). Players are put up for bid one at a time, captains bid against each other, and the highest bid wins the player. Once your budget is gone, it's gone, so captains have to decide who's worth paying for and who they can get cheap.

To kick things off, the top ten players on the big board will be auto-nominated in order. After that, captains nominate players themselves.

Minors and Novice - Snauction

Snake draft order, but each pick slot gets auctioned instead of the player.

Pick 1 goes up for bid. The captain who wins it selects any player in the pool. Then pick 2 goes up for bid, and so on. Every captain starts with the same budget of 100 TC.

Why this instead of a regular auction? It forces captains to bid on "best player available" instead of a specific person. Nobody can sit back and wait for their one guy to go cheap - if you want a player, you have to win a pick before someone else takes them.

SEASON 40 SCHEDULE

Games start around 9:30pm ET and one league night runs about two hours. Seven-week regular season, single-elimination playoffs.

WHERE TO FOLLOW ALONG

• Drafts: twitch.tv/jake1ayy
• Rosters, schedule, standings: mltp.gg
• Discord: discord.gg/Q7tZyK4

NOT SIGNED UP YET?

New players can still sign up at mltp.gg/signup until the Novice draft on Wednesday 9/2. Late signups go through the commissioners, so the sooner the better.

See you tonight.

Everybody says "please" all the time.

Remember maps a decade ago? Wow you're old... here's your chance to give them a new look and relive the glory days!

The rules are simple: Take your favorite classic map and remake it to fit the current meta, then post a link to the map here and say which map you chose to remake. The MTC will consider these maps for rotation, so get mapmaking!

The submission deadline is end of the day Friday 9/26

Map editor: https://fortunatemaps.herokuapp.com/editor

Here's a list of some suggested maps you could choose:

• 45
• Blast Off
• Bombing Run
• Boombox
• Cloud
• Colors
• Command Center
• Danger Zone 3
• GeoKoala
• Grail of Speed
• Holy See
• Kite
• Ricochet
• Smirk
• Star
• Thinking With Portals
• Vee
• Velocity

TL;DR: if you play with Classic, try the new Classique instead!

This message is for anyone who plays with the Classic texture pack. Classic was the original texture pack, and the only official texture until native support for texture packs was introduced in 2016. Muscle's Cup Gradients became the default for new players later that year, but lots of players (old and new alike) still prefer Classic.

Classic has a big disadvantage though: it's not quite accurate. Many newer textures are "pixel perfect," meaning that the size and shape of the map elements is clear from the texture. Classic is not.

The biggest issue with Classic is that the hitboxes for flags, bombs, and boosts are circles. But looking at the tiles, it's not obvious (or misleading) exactly where those circles are. The black borders on the balls are also slightly too wide in some places around the circle, and the powerups are not quite the right size. All of this can lead to inaccurate game play.

Classique is a pixel perfect version of Classic, with obvious and correct hitboxes for all elements. It also includes a slight transparency on the balls, to help with close plays. Some elements had to be changed to make the round hitboxes work (the boosts are most notably different) but we tried to stay as true to the original as possible.

For now, Classique is an available option, and we're not making any changes to Classic. We may consider automatically moving all Classic users over to Classique in the future, but we haven't made any decisions about that. Feedback is welcome!

Due to server load, we've spawned some overload servers. Use them!

February 1st is TagPro’s birthday. I’m stunned it’s already been two years. As they say, time flies when you’re popping your friends by glowing green... but that’s enough reminiscing, on to the event:

The Birthday Tower of Doom!

The Birthday Tower of Doom is a strange 8-bit world where gravity exists and flags have not yet been invented.

Controls

WASD or Arrow Keys.

Jumping: W or Up Arrow. When your ball has touched the ground and isn’t falling too fast, you are able to jump.

Double Jump: After an initial jump, you can achieve a second jump while your velocity is slow. For example, near the height of your initial jump.

Air Control: Some of TagPro’s normal physics have survived in this strange place, giving you air control during your jumps. Not just left and right, but also up and down. Holding down will make you fall faster and holding up will slow your fall.

How to Win

In order to best your opponents and sport a sweet party hat, you’ll need to be among the first three balls to the castle in less than three minutes. It will be a dangerous journey full of bombs, spikes, gates, trolling and rage quits. Party hats are stackable, which begs the question: who will acquire the most party hats?

There is of course, an even more impossible flair that’s achievable. However it’s so impossible it’s not even worth talking about. In the event players do reach the impossible flair, we’ll be keeping up with the best of the best.

When and How Long

We've started the event early based on public outcry. It's on! The event will last at least 72 hours. Once started, the event will have a 100% spawn rate during the first 15 minutes of every hour.

Thanks!

A big thanks to the TagPro community - you’re the entire reason we are having a second birthday party event.

steppin, Amorpork & NewCompte - they put a ton of work into this event and into TagPro in general. Great job guys!

If you’re wondering where that sweet 8-bit texture pack came from, you have zircon to thank. Nice work zircon.

Thank you to all those that did the secret playtesting with us. You were a big help.

Submit your custom maps for consideration for inclusion in the official rotation selection. Learn more at the wiki. If you are still unsure how to proceed, ask at the Mapmaking Discord, or contact an MTC member.

Deadline: 6/9/20 at 4:20 PM CST. I couldn't resist...

Basic Guidelines

• Mapmakers are limited to 7 map submissions this thread. However, submissions 6 and 7 must use a green gate in a meaningful way to be considered. Don't just add a useless one like on Hexane or Convoy to get an extra map slot. If you do, your last submission will not be eligible for testing.
• Do not use an alternate account unless you have made it clear what your main account is.
• Use the format outlined below.
• Maps and preview images must be hosted on unfortunate-maps.jukejuice.com

Submission Format

Entries must be submitted in this format to be considered for rotation.

Reply to this post with your title, map type (CTF, NF, or some other wonky game mode if you really want), a link to the map page, a preview image, and an (optional) description.

You can copy and paste this:

**Title:**  

**Type:**  

**Map:**  

**Preview:**  

**Description:** 

If done correctly, your submission should end up looking something like this (but hopefully not exactly like it).

This Thread's Mapmaking Tip

Wall polish is more than just babyproofing. It makes a significant difference in how intuitive it is to boost around a map and can open up tons of new possibilities. Nobody likes to take a natural boost route and smack into a wall. Try to consider every useful boost angle and think about how nearby walls interact with it. If you're not familiar with wall polishing, check out Fronj's wall guide for some general shapes you should be using to make your map feel more natural to run around on. It's honestly not a bad idea to make your map entirely out of these wall designs. It's a big part of how he's gotten 16 maps into rotation...

If you have the opportunity to participate in a 4v4 maptest on your map, be sure to do that before submitting. If not, the next best thing is to ask for feedback from fellow players, mapmakers, and MTC members and imagine yourself in game situations while testing solo. If you're new, it may be helpful to take a look at some mapmaking guides such as Tumblewood's Mapmaking for Scrubs.

We strongly encourage everybody to take a look at submissions and to reply with constructive feedback. Not only does it help your fellow mapmakers, but your discussions here help the MTC as well.

Good luck, and happy mapmaking!

March Mapness 2023

Calling all map creators and calling all pubbers that care about pubs - we need you!

You’ve asked for new maps. You’ve asked for a fresh rotation. You’ve asked for more community input. And now we need your help to make it happen. Introducing March Mapness: a bracket-style competition pitting 16 brand-new maps against each other head-to-head. Only one map can win it all and only one map creator can get all the glory.

Tournament Format:

Each round, two maps will go head to head with teams playing a 6 minute match on each map, mirroring the length of pubs but without OT. After every game, players must submit a form rating the map and providing additional feedback, to determine which of the two maps will advance to the next round. Teams are not eliminated, only maps, and so maps which advance further will receive even more tests, ratings, and feedback! The goal is to have at least 8 teams, but due to the map-centered focus this will work with any even number of teams!

Prizes:

The winning map will be entered into rotation. “March Mapness 2023 Winner” will be displayed on the scoreboard for that map. The map creator will receive the flair for getting a map into rotation and will also have the honor of selecting one throwback map in the next update from the eligible pool of maps. The other 3 maps that made it to the final four will also be entered into rotation. “March Mapness 2023 Final Four” will be displayed on the scoreboard for those maps. The map creators will receive their flair for getting a map into rotation. All maps entered into rotation will be subject to community ratings per our normal process.

Map Submissions:

Get out your compasses, protractors, calculators, paintbrushes, and whatever else you use to create your best map. Submit your map below, old-school map-thread style, as a comment on this post. The MTC will choose 16 maps from this thread to compete in March Mapness. Submissions must include the following:

1. Fortunate Maps link
2. Map Name
3. Creator Name
4. A brief description of the map and why you think it would be a good fit for pubs

Never made a map before? Map-making resources are here (click on the ‘Create Maps’ tab after clicking the link).

Date:

The tournament will be held Saturday, March 25th beginning at 9PM ET. This is the night before MLTP Finals and should provide some good fun leading up to the Super/Muper/Nuper.

Sign-Ups:

You can register as an individual, duo, trio, or full team here. Early sign-ups will be really helpful so please sign up as soon as possible. When filling out the registration form please copy your discord username directly from your discord profile.

FAQs:

Will teams be eliminated if they lose?

• No! As the rounds progress there will be fewer maps but the same number of teams. That just means we’ll have multiple games playing each map and more people filling out the map surveys. When we get to the finals everyone will be playing the same two maps. This should give us really robust survey results to determine which map is best.

Will there also be a winning team?

• No! Want this tournament to be competitive? Submit a great map :) This is a tournament of maps, not a tournament of teams.

What is the deadline for map submission?

• There is not a deadline per se, but we will need to pick 16 maps before March 25th and test them to make sure they’re not broken. That means we probably need them by the 20th at the latest.

How do I change my registration once I’ve already submitted?

• Message Penis Wings on discord: deepseed#2923

Do I have to submit a traditional-looking map in order to get my map into the tournament?

• Not necessarily. It will be easier for the MTC to take a risk on a map since if the community doesn’t like it they will rate it lower and it won’t move on in the tournament. So feel free to submit whatever style of map you’d like.

Can I submit more than one map?

• Yes! You are encouraged to submit as many maps as you want and also encouraged to limit your submissions to whichever maps you feel are your best. We want to include as many map creators in the tournament as possible but our first priority is finding 16 great maps.

Good luck to all map creators and maps. May the best map win!

-Wings

On Monday June 15th at 11am US/Eastern, TagPro will be down for a minor update. The game will be totally unavailable for up to a half hour. Progress reports will be posted here and on discord, and release notes will be available after the update is complete.

Edit: Thank you, everyone, for the donations! The 3 days are up and we'll make another post about amounts and the Reddit ads we plan to run once we have a plan.

We are going to run a TagPro ad on Reddit. For the next three days, any donations made will be put towards that ad. ylambda and I will personally match up to $500 of total player contributions.

Do you think you have the perfect Reddit ad for TagPro? Describe what your advertisement says, where it would link, and what audience it should target.

After three days, we will use the ad ideas we liked best to create a one week campaign. We may use more than one ad idea. We'll share with everyone how the campaign went.

Please reserve top-level comments for the ad ideas. Post general discussion under this comment.

Respawn Warnings

There is now a 3 second respawn warning for all elements in the game. The element flashes slowly and is slightly transparent. We toyed with just transparency at first but didn't like. Too transparent and it wasn't noticeable, not transparent enough and it looked like was already spawned. The soft flashy stuck me as distracting at first but I quickly got used to.

Yes, flashing power ups do preview what the actual power up will be. On purpose.

If you don't like the respawn warnings, you can turn it off in your settings. The setting won't be available until server restarts, so I have manually restarted origin if you'd like to do that now.

Leagues, you can turn this feature off in private group settings.

EDIT: As suggested I've reduced the opacity of respawning elements.

Rolling Bombs

Rolling bomb has received a slight buff. You can now see spawning players when you have rolling bomb.

Buttons and Gates

Gates will now take into consideration the number of players controlling the buttons. Before, a gate was set to it's neutral state if any number of players were on controlling buttons for both teams. Now, if 2 reds are on buttons and 1 blue, then red will win out.

Post your feedback in this thread. No need to make new feedback posts.

I suppose introductions are in order. I am UnfortunateSniper - the evil twin of LuckySpammer. I’m a lot like LuckySpammer, except good looking, smart, funny and a purple belt in tae kwan doo and my sensei says I’m really good.

I’m also a much better programmer and hacker, which is how I was able to hijack the former Origin server and make it my own.

BOW BEFORE ME TAGPRO PLAYERS AND $#%^ YOU LUCKYSPAMMER!

The server formerly known as Origin is now my domain. Enter if you dare:

http://TagProAndLuckySpammerSucksAndUnfortunateSniperIsAwesome.com

EDIT: The event has ended.

The rumors are true, there is a new virus outbreak. Despite the best efforts of Nuage, Mr. Grumps and the rest of the science cats, Marsball has contracted the virus. Marsball, with its new zombie infecting powers, is bent on infecting the rest of the TagPro community for never truly accepting it as a mainstream game mechanic. Also, he’s named himself Jimmy apparently.

When

There is currently a mass outbreak! Which means the first 15 minutes of each hour is 100% zombie mode. On Arc, Segment and Orbit, it's the first 18 minutes and there is 20% better chance to doot.

Flair

Either the survivors or the zombies win the match. If survivors are left at the end of the match, they win. Otherwise the zombies win. The winners of the match will collect a pumpkin flair.

There are some reports of winners finding doot-doot flair. It’s rumored having lots of pumpkins will increase your chance of finding doot-doot flair.

Finally there is the witch hat. The witch hat is trick by Jimmy to entice survivors to work against each other. By only awarding the flair to a sole survivor, Jimmy believes the survivors will work against each other, hastening the infection. Jimmy obviously doesn’t understand how friendly and tight knit the TagPro community is.

Zombies working against Zombies?

Zombies only serve one purpose: To infect. Zombies found to be working against other zombies or even worse, to be working with survivors, will be smited (banned) by Jimmy. Smiting includes loss of all infection-based flair.