Thanks all for voting; I for one am obsessed with level design theory (there's not enough good books about it) and I absolutely love listening to the commentary Valve puts out. However, I understand that most gamers downloading these custom maps are, well... gamers, and not game level designers.
As much as this poll makes clear what you guys would prefer (currently a 3:1 ratio in favor of the challenge mode) I feel it almost necessary for me to turn my head the other way and go with what feels right. The poll was designed to help me realize how broad a demographic my map would appeal to, if I add commentary and demos of playtests instead of challenge modes. (I only have time for one or the other). I'll probably put out two versions: one for the gamer, and one for the interested modder.
I hope that the commentary will help speak out to someone else out there that might actually be interested in the games career, whereas I have no ambition, but am just fascinated with story theory and gameplay design which is intrinsic to the field. Which leads me to my next quick question: Have you guys actually played through any of Valve's games over again just to hear the commentary? If so, what did you think about it? I mean obviously, the Source engine has one of the largest community support networks out there, so if there was a chance to do this with any map, might as well be with a map for Source. I'm bound to get feedback, right? "If you build it, they will come!"
