I've been pondering the idea of a collaborative episode for a longer while now (practically since Ancient Aliens for Doom came out) and as such I have several questions, ones that I think will provide a lot of clarity for all participants:

Are you mapping for this jam?

What is the "narrative" and why is it important that mappers stick to it thematically? Are you going to accept feedback on the narrative?

You'd like to encourage mappers to make their own textures to use alongside the original id textures - how exactly are you going to encourage them?

Are you going to be doing quality checking of each new texture pack?

What are the target progs? id1, AD, Quoth?

What is the target map format? Vanilla, protocol 666 or BSP2?

What will be the weapon progression and monster progression of this episode? Surely they must be relevant to the narrative?

How are you going to ensure that this episode is a cohesive experience? Will you be providing notes directly or is it going to be "just figure something out guys"? 

Or are more than one map of a certain theme allowed? 

I'm mapping atm runic/maya/ruins map, it starts with the teleport on top of some kind of tomb with stairs. So entering that maps would go through almost any kind of teleport, right?

I guess it is better to message through emails then, in order to be more specific. I'm totally open for the suggestions about styles and so on.

Beta1 Screenshots:
http://www.quaketastic.com/files/screen_shots/newhouse_runic1_beta1_screenshots.png 

Is it allowed to do a start map for this episode? I'm curious. 

Yo, thanks for the questions, if you have follow-ups don't be shy to ask. I hope that this can clarify some things.

Are you mapping for this jam?

I was planning on mapping, but I was going to let other people pick their maps first. If there is a lot of interest I'll bow out and make textures for people. I hope me contributing or not is not a reason for you to not contribute >_>

What is the "narrative" and why is it important that mappers stick to it thematically? Are you going to accept feedback on the narrative?

When I say narrative I mean that I want the maps to feel like together they tell a story. I had an idea for them and that is why I suggested the map flow. The map themes are flexible, the main thing that I want to give to the players is a sense of purpose. Not just "here are 7 maps that just happen to flow into one another".

You'd like to encourage mappers to make their own textures to use alongside the original id textures - how exactly are you going to encourage them?

Like I said, I want to have something to give back to the community other than maps, I hope that this carrot is a big enough incentive. If not then there is room during the mapping process to suggest different textures to mappers. I'm going to encourage mappers to share their betas with one another so that feedback can be given. As I mentioned in the post above, I would like this to be a polished release and constructive criticism with suggestions can be a way to help achieve that.

Are you going to be doing quality checking of each new texture pack?

I would like to release the textures as one wad at the end of the jam. Much like id0 and id1. I want the textures to fit in well with the map. Fit for purpose. Ideally they should also work with the theme of the maps. If anything is awful, I have no qualms about telling people they can do better or would be better suited with a different texture. So, yes, I will be checking the quality of the textures.

What are the target progs? id1, AD, Quoth?

The progs target is id1 OR slightly modified id1. The only reason why I might include a slightly modified id1 would be to add boss functionality and an episode end finish text.

What is the target map format? Vanilla, protocol 666 or BSP2?

After the discussions on the general abuse thready I've decided to relax the map format restrictions. I would like to keep the scope of the maps from getting out of hand. The original map format did that "naturally" because of it's size restrictions. But that can be done without restricting the format.

What will be the weapon progression and monster progression of this episode? Surely they must be relevant to the narrative?

Yes, it is relevant. It is important to me that there is a discussion between the mappers for what they want to include in their maps. Also it is dependent on whether mappers want to stick with the episode flow that I've outlined above, or if they would like to modify that. Because naturally if it is modified the mobs will change. If we stick with the map flow above, then I suspect the mobs will be:

Map1: grunts, dogs, enforcers
Map2: maybe a few of the above, rottfish, wizards, ogres
Map3: ogres, wizards, knights, hellknights
Map4: ogres, wizards, knights, hellknights, maybe a shambler
Map5: knights, hellknights, fiends, vores, maybe a spawn or a shambler

The arsenal and ammo should expand with the flow of tougher monsters.

How are you going to ensure that this episode is a cohesive experience? Will you be providing notes directly or is it going to be "just figure something out guys"?

Once I have more buy-in I'm going to create a discord where people can more easily communicate with each other. I'll probably also set some beta dates for feedback. I'll also be encouraging people to plan what they are doing, maybe making some layout sketches and posting them, as well as posting "inspiration" or "aspiration" images for what they want their maps to feel like. 

Newhouse: I would really prefer maps from scratch as this allows the map to be more collaborative.

Hexcalk: I was considering modifying the vanilla start map with an extra episode portal for this map. Let me think about it. 

Based off prevous jams I'm not sure we'll get more than 7.

Having said that I'm not against having more secret maps if we get too much buy-in.

Typically I'd like people to pick one of the maps and claim it OR get excited about another theme of map and sell it to me. 

that isn't to say that that map doesn't look awesome :) 

That is totally fine. I think it is better to start from the empty page together with other mappers.