It's time to play some Tennis, Serious Sam style!
The 7Smoke Tennis project was the first collaboration project of this kind in the Serious Sam community where several mappers come together to create a unique Serious Sam experience. Each map has been made by a different mapper, picking up where the last map left off (passing it to each other just like a tennis ball!), thus creating great variety in map style and level pacing.
There are a total of 6 Tennis Projects, all of them organized by none other than Noam 2000!
The first 3 tennis projects were on a smaller scale, with Tennis 1 and 2 had six participants and Tennis 3 having four, with all rounds released in a span of 2 months between each other.
Tennis 4 in 2016 is where things started expanding, with 14 mappers working on the project. The campaign now had a whole thoughtfully fleshed-out story, and more quality control was being done on the levels. The story takes place in an alternate timeline where Earth is destroyed by one of Mental's elite commanders: "Solgar", as Serious Sam chases him across the galaxy to exact his revenge. It was the first tennis project to feature a cast of voice actors, with one of them being John J Dick himself, playing the role of Serious Sam!
After one year break from Tennis, in the Summer of 2017, Noam opened the registrations for the 7Smoke Tennis Project 2018! Due to 20 participants applying for it, Noam took the decision to split the project into 2 separate campaigns: the 7Smoke Tennis Project Blue and Project Red, with each one of them having 10 modders.
The Tennis Blue campaign is more heavily focused on the battles and the custom range of heavy artillery with which the player can blast through the forty different enemy types including bosses!
Traverse through desolated fortresses, frozen caverns, and advanced technological strongholds - to name a few. As you travel through these domains, searching for its hidden secrets, its inhabitants will come into play - a fully voice-acted cast of characters serve to weave a story about a forsaken realm burnt by a devious tyrant and his warriors, and the player character's journey to carry the legacy of those who have met with an unfortunate fate. And to make things even spicier, in this mod, your choices matter and lead to different endings.
While not a prequel or sequel to its Blue sibling, Tennis Red has a larger focus on the story and an overarching narrative. The year is 2165, and thanks to ancient intervention, the reach, power, and influence of the human race across the galaxy have become much greater than anyone could have imagined.
Red edition’s story takes place in three distinct locations in three different chapters:
- Parsart, a purple-clad planet unable to support human life, but is full of fantastical creatures.
- Zalgun, once overflooded with rainforests but is now a barren desert with the occasional abandoned stronghold.
- Finally, the campaign climaxes at the ever-so-familiar Earth. There’s plenty of exploration to be had in these locations – but more importantly, a lot of frantic action as well.
You can really feel that this map pack is made by a variety of people as each one of them sprinkles his own vision and ideas that while different than what the hardcore Serious Sam players are accustomed to, still stays true to the core Serious Sam run-and-gun gameplay and also keeping cohesion between levels.
Link to Collections:
7Smoke Tennis Project 1 to 4
The 7Smoke Tennis Project Blue
The 7Smoke Tennis Project Red
BASEMENT CHATS WITH YASEN
⚪Hello and welcome back to my basement Noam two years later! I hope you feel honored to be the first community member who visits me twice! I've invited you here today to talk about sports.....more precisely about Tennis, are you a good Tennis player?
Thanks for having me again! Ironically I haven't played any real tennis... I need to get that fixed.
⚪ Okay then, this totally changes my whole plan for this interview... I was about to ask you what you think about Roger Federer's retirement and about Djokovic visa ban being overturned, but I guess I need to come up with new pair of questions. Okay, let's start with how did you come up with the idea for the Tennis Project and when did you decide to take this next step in expanding it further because tennis projects 1 to 3 were on a much smaller scale and suddenly you have tennis round 4 which turned out much bigger in scale and obviously Tennis Project 2018 being even larger with almost two times the modders and also with quality control over the maps.
The idea for Tennis came from "Gmod Tennis" videos that I used to adore as a kid, where the basic idea was that two individuals would create a machinima series, with each episode being made by the opposite party, working off of the previous video - hopping back and forth just like in tennis. I wanted to take it one step further and invite all my friends to create one single campaign, in hopes of making it a little more unique and to create a fun community activity. The name "Tennis" may not make much sense anymore in this context, but 14-year-old me clearly wasn't concerned about these types of things.
We kept doing these Tennis projects mainly as community activities and get-togethers but decided to stop with the third iteration seeing as interest dwindled. Fast forward a few months later, with massive growth in the community, suddenly we had people lining up and constantly asking about a 4th round... so we did it! And with 15 participants (minus one dropout), we took the initiative to make this project feels a little more special than those that came before.
The same can be said for the 2018 iterations of Tennis, with us growing a little wiser and more experienced, we knew better the directions and decisions we had to take for the project. And what we didn't know... we had to learn!
⚪ How challenging was it to manage 20 people across two projects, and was all this experience you've gained from the Tennis project usable in your current endeavors as a game developer?
It was... very challenging, without a doubt. We've hit a lot of snags and I've learned a lot of stuff that continues to guide me in my current endeavors. Thankfully I wasn't alone, and at the end of the day it was a team effort - everyone put a little bit of themselves to help and get things moving, and even people who weren't directly participating in the mapmaking still joined in to provide assistance.
⚪And one final question before we move on to the participants in the 7Smoke's Tennis project. Would you be interested in participating in such a project? Let's say someone else is taking care of the organization and all you have to do is boot up good ol Serious Editor and create a single level, do you do it?
If availability allows me, absolutely! I don't get much time anymore these days to focus on mapping, let alone modding for other games, so an excuse to do so would be a lot of fun.
⚪Because this whole Campaign was a team effort of many people, I also invited some of the participants of the Tennis Project to share their experience with those projects!
Mauritsio
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Mauritsio:
Working on Tennis certainly had its ups and downs, at least for me. When we started out with the first one we barely had any idea what we were doing - everyone only had a week to finish up their maps, and we never put any work into giving the project a sense of direction at all. I think it really shows in the quality of the end result - fun, but creatively disjointed at times. Sure we enjoyed doing it, but it's admittedly hard for me to look back on it fondly.
That being said, we got much better at that in Tennis 2018 - we had a month instead of a week and a more collaborative workflow, with the contributions of one person more clearly dripping into the other maps. I'll always remain proud of what we accomplished there. I won't forget the busy month I had getting my map for Red done in time, as well as the steps we took to get voice actors involved in the project. The vocal performances in both Red and Blue are one of the most consistent pieces of positive feedback we get from people playing the mod, so I'm very glad we put extra hours and effort into casting and vocal direction.
Working on Tennis certainly had its ups and downs, at least for me. When we started out with the first one we barely had any idea what we were doing - everyone only had a week to finish up their maps, and we never put any work into giving the project a sense of direction at all. I think it really shows in the quality of the end result - fun, but creatively disjointed at times. Sure we enjoyed doing it, but it's admittedly hard for me to look back on it fondly.
That being said, we got much better at that in Tennis 2018 - we had a month instead of a week and a more collaborative workflow, with the contributions of one person more clearly dripping into the other maps. I'll always remain proud of what we accomplished there. I won't forget the busy month I had getting my map for Red done in time, as well as the steps we took to get voice actors involved in the project. The vocal performances in both Red and Blue are one of the most consistent pieces of positive feedback we get from people playing the mod, so I'm very glad we put extra hours and effort into casting and vocal direction.
Vanya
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Mauritsio:
My experience with the Tennis project is not a very extensive one given that I only participated once and during the early versions of the project, but I can give some personal thoughts about it all these years later.
After all this time I realize not only how important but also how enjoyable collab projects are, it is difficult to get mappers to work on one project together and then make sure it all works out, the only regret I have is with my own entry for the project.
I remember back in the day I made that level over a voice call so at the very least I had fun making it then. Nowadays though I sort of wish I had made a level that was a bit more serious as I believe that's the last map I ever made and shared publicly online, and that was almost 7 years ago as of me writing this down.
Those chances really don't come very often so it is a bit of a missed opportunity for me but it did leave a valuable lesson in me if a chance like this comes up where you get to participate in a collab project always make sure to give it an honest shot, even if the map doesn't play out perfectly you can always come back and update it to tweak it to your liking, a map like mine back then is certainly not something I can come back to and fix.
My experience with the Tennis project is not a very extensive one given that I only participated once and during the early versions of the project, but I can give some personal thoughts about it all these years later.
After all this time I realize not only how important but also how enjoyable collab projects are, it is difficult to get mappers to work on one project together and then make sure it all works out, the only regret I have is with my own entry for the project.
I remember back in the day I made that level over a voice call so at the very least I had fun making it then. Nowadays though I sort of wish I had made a level that was a bit more serious as I believe that's the last map I ever made and shared publicly online, and that was almost 7 years ago as of me writing this down.
Those chances really don't come very often so it is a bit of a missed opportunity for me but it did leave a valuable lesson in me if a chance like this comes up where you get to participate in a collab project always make sure to give it an honest shot, even if the map doesn't play out perfectly you can always come back and update it to tweak it to your liking, a map like mine back then is certainly not something I can come back to and fix.
Adamaster
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Mauritsio:
Working on the Tennis project was fun and educational. Though the realization was silly and not AAA, it gave me an opportunity to make and play the new content. There were plot twists in almost every level and battles were sometimes misplaced. It helped to learn more about Serious Engine 3 and experiment with level design. It was a great team-building experience with lots of memes and even John Dick voiced the lines. It took months to finish one mappack and couldn't participate in the last one, but would encourage everyone to try working on something like Tennis.
Working on the Tennis project was fun and educational. Though the realization was silly and not AAA, it gave me an opportunity to make and play the new content. There were plot twists in almost every level and battles were sometimes misplaced. It helped to learn more about Serious Engine 3 and experiment with level design. It was a great team-building experience with lots of memes and even John Dick voiced the lines. It took months to finish one mappack and couldn't participate in the last one, but would encourage everyone to try working on something like Tennis.
Pan
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Mauritsio:
My experience was mostly good, ignoring that I may have had to blow a map or two up in the process. The inside jokes during development in each tennis were super memorable and were a nice bit of collaboration for each of the communities subsets. Sort of miss it at this point. Loved my work on the final tennis and seeing the inside jokes get fully developed in the end and carried on by other members.
Overall it was a good experience, there won't be anything like that again and I'm thankful to have been a part of it
My experience was mostly good, ignoring that I may have had to blow a map or two up in the process. The inside jokes during development in each tennis were super memorable and were a nice bit of collaboration for each of the communities subsets. Sort of miss it at this point. Loved my work on the final tennis and seeing the inside jokes get fully developed in the end and carried on by other members.
Overall it was a good experience, there won't be anything like that again and I'm thankful to have been a part of it
UrbanTheHuman
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Mauritsio:
The Tennis project has been such an enlightening experience for me. Every person involved gets a great chance to put their heart and soul into their own submissions and make the project better overall, leaving their own unique print on it, and getting some valuable experience from working on it.
When your name is in the middle of the list of Tennis participants, you can never know what it will turn into at the end and you have to rely on the levels that the previous mappers have made, but you have full control over the story at the time you get to make your own level, and that is quite liberating in a sense. Of course, you have to know yourself and your abilities well enough to create not only a good level, but create it in a limited time that you have, and time might just not turn in your favor every time. And so, in my own work, I see flaws that I could've avoided if I could dedicate more time and effort to it.
With Tennis, I've begun to understand the importance of allocating the right amount of time and making what is in my possibilities.
The Tennis project has been such an enlightening experience for me. Every person involved gets a great chance to put their heart and soul into their own submissions and make the project better overall, leaving their own unique print on it, and getting some valuable experience from working on it.
When your name is in the middle of the list of Tennis participants, you can never know what it will turn into at the end and you have to rely on the levels that the previous mappers have made, but you have full control over the story at the time you get to make your own level, and that is quite liberating in a sense. Of course, you have to know yourself and your abilities well enough to create not only a good level, but create it in a limited time that you have, and time might just not turn in your favor every time. And so, in my own work, I see flaws that I could've avoided if I could dedicate more time and effort to it.
With Tennis, I've begun to understand the importance of allocating the right amount of time and making what is in my possibilities.
Thanadrax
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Mauritsio:
It's been ages since tennis! I mean, the first one. It was my first ever level being made to release, it was a lot of fun and nerves. 7smoke tennis taught me how to do basic things in SED, allowed me to ask others how some things work, and just have fun in seeing how the storyline slowly distorts into something... different. The community is in dire need of more of such activities to see that making mods is not just for some new workshop content, but also great communication with others and learning of something new you totally didn't even think of. I personally would like to highlight Tennis 4 since this one felt like a big leap compared to others. Lots of great ideas, a vivid backstory of mod development with some local memes and struggles of actually maintaining the storyline this time, and a blazing source of inspiration for new worlds to make. And, this time, almost no signs of a "this was all just a dream, Sam" plot twist!
It's been ages since tennis! I mean, the first one. It was my first ever level being made to release, it was a lot of fun and nerves. 7smoke tennis taught me how to do basic things in SED, allowed me to ask others how some things work, and just have fun in seeing how the storyline slowly distorts into something... different. The community is in dire need of more of such activities to see that making mods is not just for some new workshop content, but also great communication with others and learning of something new you totally didn't even think of. I personally would like to highlight Tennis 4 since this one felt like a big leap compared to others. Lots of great ideas, a vivid backstory of mod development with some local memes and struggles of actually maintaining the storyline this time, and a blazing source of inspiration for new worlds to make. And, this time, almost no signs of a "this was all just a dream, Sam" plot twist!
