Since the server wasn't busy today, me and lava re-themed the guest map. And it actually came out looking really good, here is a picture.
I was thinking we could have different themed maps for each season and for holidays like Christmas and Halloween. For example, on the first day of October we would change guest to a Halloween themed map, with a giant jack-o-lantern in the middle of the map. Or for December we would have a giant tree in the middle of the map and snow covering the ground. Its hard to tell how many of you would be interested in something like this so please vote yes or no.

EDIT: New fall themed map (By me and Deaf_Justice)

This map has a lot of neat changes, we have a fall themed center island with a jack-o-lantern, a fall themed maze below it with an award for completing it (message block at the end gives a code you have to whisper to an op, the code should be reset daily by an op to prevent cheating) and a fall themed spawn. Since fall is only a few days away this is great. Here are some screenshots.





Award name ideas anyone? Also... how do i remove attachments?

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This sounds like an absolutely FANTASTIC idea. We should make sure to save back ups for the different seasons for following years.

It seems a little early for winter theme though, so setting up for Fall/halloween should probably be the next project.

I like this idea, the guest map can be a little boring at times, and it also promotes more users, and themed builds. Too bad there isn't snow layers or ice blocks. X3

Seriously! Minecraft needs to add more blocks for classic!

Also we could have themed awards, like for the fall themed map we could have a maze and if you finish it you get an award. Would it be possible to have an award block? Where if you step on it you get the award? That would be the best way.

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I don't know how hard or easy it would be to have an award block, but a message block with a code to be whispered to the appropriate authority is definately possible, although not as secure. In either case, someone tping to the person on the award block is always a risk. I don't think awards are the type of thing to be heavilly guarded though, so it would probably be fine.

Update: Halloween/fall map looking good, maze....very difficult.

If anyone wants to check one of these maps out the backup names are "september" "october" and "december". For september we did a 9/11 memorial on the center island.

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The only problem I see with things like this, is that people will cheat their way around the puzzle. I'd rather not have more zones in guest, because they're not deleted when the map is restored, and people could complain.

Also, the entire maze would have to be rebuilt or the message block in a different location each day otherwise people could memorise their way around the maze, and it'd be pointless. What award would be given to the user, and how will you inform people how to message operators, or even stop them from distributing the code to other users?

I think we're best just sticking to themed maps without 'special' builds in them, like mazes, and puzzles.

I'm happy with seasonal themed maps. Four maps based on Winter (snow, pine trees, decorations, etc), Spring (flowers and dirt dotted around, trees with few leaves on them), Summer (plenty of flowers, and nice big trees) and Autumn (few flowers, coloured cloth to represent leaves, and dying leaves on trees). I think one for each month is taking it a bit too far.

PS: Blocks that give awards when you stand on them/walk through them/click them can be done, but requires a software update.

I agree with everything, deaf had another idea for awards, but this would require you to get an award from standing on top of something... For the christmas themed map we could have an award for standing on top of the star on the christmas tree (Lets be honest, we have awards that are more random than that ). But whats wrong with zones not resetting? No one should be building on the jack-o-lantern or tree (or griefing it...) so it would be better if the zones didn't reset. I've renamed the maps so many times its almost embarrassing to name them again I don't know how to delete map backups either, or if i can delete them at all.

Edit: Zion, i really think you'll be happy with the changes i made to the fall map, so much that I'm leaving it on that map. Here's a screenshot.
I decided to leave the fence around it, i think it will help promote building with the theme. Please go check it out when you have time.

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Only thing I can see is where did all the leaves come from? X3

And the problem with zones resetting is that when it comes to the time when the map theme needs to be changed, the previous themes' zone will remain there. Since zones are invisible, it'd be very hard to remove.

I may impliment a function to show zones by surrounding the area in glass. Could probably even have different coloured surrounds for different ranked zones.

If i put trees everywhere people would complain about not having space to build Thanks for clearing up zones. Hope you like our nearly 20 hours of combined effort in those maps XD

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I feel as though one large zone in the center of the biggest plot shouldn't be to hard to find and removing the zone is as easy as one command. If the theme just needs to be changed once a season anyway then it wouldn't be too much of a hassle.

I don't know what the point of memorizing a maze would be, assumining they can only recieve the award once per year. If they remember the maze through the next 3 seasons then that's a challenge in its own right!

The Message Block contained the congratulatory message, instructions on how to whisper to an operator, the code, and mentions the penalty of disqualification if the code is distributed. It was a pretty thick message block, but it felt right.

Even if awards aren't associated with them, hidden mazes and puzzles are just fun to do and can give bragging rights if nothing else!

if there was a secret award each season that only the admins knew about, that everyone else had to find by themselves that would be good, and you could check the message logs for people distributing hints right?

awards possibly -
fall - trick or treat
winter - HAPPY XMAS
spring - ?????
summer - ?????

Spring could be: New beginnings
Summer could be: A walk in the park

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Its fall! Not Autumn...too many letters for us Mericans to spell

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Fall = Drop from a Height
Autumn = A season after Summer, and before Winter

Why did you randomly put Hcart's name at the end of your post Haza?

Well hey, if zion could implement something in the next update that would automatically give people awards when they meet the requirements, then this could work Sounds complicated... Btw i zoned the pumpkin, people were trying to edit it. The zone is very easy to delete if needed. Also i moved the pumpkin to the north-west corner or the center island to give people more room.

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I already made a winter and fall for builder, quick way of making a map leafy for maps is just do /z random with static enabled then change between orange red and yellow then put a top layer of grass. The themed maps in builder do not have trees or w/e yet because i had to leave so yh

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I still can't restore that backup haza, I've tried many times but it always tells me the backup doesn't exist.

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