The conventions for laying out a Cactus Rush (CR) stage have slowly become more standard over time, and as such all new maps must meet certain guidelines. Having maps with similar features will allow players to translate those skills and mechanics between maps, rather than needing to completely relearn how a field flows. In general, there are certain features around the map that need to remain standard (listed below), but everything else can be completely customized by the builder.
Some of the points in this guide may be unclear to some, so there will be a screening process for any community submitted maps. We will work closely with you to create a revised map that follows these guidelines, while remaining as similar to the original submission as possible.
If you would like to submit a community map, you can create a Cactus Rush Community Submissions ticket in the JadedMC Discord Server. Here, you can either ask map layout related questions or submit a map for screening.
Theme
- Currently, all of the CR maps are themed around fruits. For the time being, all maps will be required to follow this pattern, but as we run out of common fruits, we may expand the theme to allow more foods.
- The blocks used for texturing the walls and ground under sand should always be stained clay/terracotta. Quartz/Coal Blocks may be used in some instances for white/black coloring.
- The color palette selected for a new map needs to not overlap with any other current CR maps.
- The types of sand that you can use are Sand and Red Sand. You may pick whichever fits better with the rest of the color palette.
General Platforming
- The map must be symmetrical, or 180° rotation of itself. The easiest way to do this is build half of the map, //rotate 180 from the center block using WorldEdit, and filling in the rest manually.
- Walls must stay exactly 1 block away from the nearest platform. They also must leave room for jumping from one platform to another.
- Generally, the smallest platform should be 3x3. This allows a platform to be fully blocked with cactus (a 1x3 would have holes where a player could jump through due to cacti not being able to place adjacently).
- There should not be tight gaps (as a choke point) to jump from one corner of a platform to another. Make parkour jumps open and accessible for variation. These kind of jumps are okay if they are not the main path (there is a safer way to get to the second platform)
- You generally want to allow some passage in front of a defender's window, as you do not want to lock an attacker to one side of the map. Allowing a path to swap the attack point from one side of the defender's spawn island to the other is highly recommended.
- The most common jumps are 3b or 2+1b, with occasional 2b jumps in less important areas.
- There are a few places on certain maps that make use of Stained Glass Panes as a place to jump. Feel free to utilize these in 1 or 2 places on your map, but make the jumps realistic and not obnoxious.
Spawn
- The jump from the last platform on the field to the spawn platform is always a 3b jump.
- Every spawn should have two side entrances where the opponent can score from, and at least 1 window that the defender can exit from.
- The spawn platforms should be a medium sized island, allowing the defending team to easily pass through them, while also giving them enough space to maneuver on last line defenses. Here are some examples of acceptable spawn platforms:
- Each side entrance hosts a specific pattern that allows the defender to take action, using the jump boost to jump on the ledge and jump past potentially placed cacti. Each of the walls in front of the spawn platform jut in one block, narrowing the entrance for the attacker to jump into. The protrusion closest to the rest of the map is the one that becomes the defensive ledge, while the other side remains solid. An example can be seen below:
- Every map must contain 1 or more windows that allow the defending player to utilize their jump boost to exit the spawn platform from a more convenient exit that the opposing team cannot use to score. It will typically look like this:
