I want to first start off by saying thank you to all those entered this contest. No work, no matter how little or unrefined should go without thanks, merely because it's what keeps this community going. Those who enter find they learn things about mapping they would never have known before, and generally that's beneficial to everyone in the long run.
I'm basing my voting criteria on what was said in the rules thread--
strictly on detailing and aesthetics. Therefore, maps like BladeMasterPsi, where my frames per second dropped down to a miserable 5-10 in most places (which is a nightmare!) will find their criteria
unharmed by things that have no place in voting.
I'll get down to business. Again, I'm a huge stickler for color and the effect it has on mapping, the environment in which a player is attracted to the map, and the overall mood and feel that it gives to the experience of playing. My voting will deal with detailing in the following areas: color and the use of it in detailing, mood and aesthetics; scaling in regards to the player and the rest of the environment (in other words, spacing and harmony of the player/environment relationship); placement and appropriation of props; texturing; lighting; choice of skybox; and last of all my favorite--innovation of detailing, as I applaud and appreciate those who do new things rather than imitate the old.
Scoring:
ABBATTOIR:
One major thing about this entry that I appreciate is the attempt to innovate style, as the overall feeling of this map is unique; in no other map will you find stylistic choices like these, neither in lighting, or choice of texturing and placement of objects. Having said that, the placement of objects and the overall layout detailing choices lends itself to feel a bit out of harmony, as though the amount of thought given to placement was lacking. Nonetheless, the scaling of the environment to player feels great--would be interesting to see how a control point this size would play in a full scale game.
As for color, above the palette is listed. This is determined though screenshots in-game, then picked with the eye dropper as major colors. I pick from everywhere in the map to get the widest range of colors as possible, including the skybox, in order to select a fair and consistent range of colors. While there is no specific arrangement other than warm on top and cool on the bottom, I have placed some similar colors next to each other to make the difference apparent. For this entry, you will notice a very wide range of warm and cool colors, all with moderately low saturation. While these colors are appreciated for not hurting the eye, they can also give a softness to an entry (specific choices whether on purpose or not). Also take note of the abundance of the off-white second color in this entry--as it consumes a great deal of space.
Overall this entry was very good. Only a few nit picky things.
Small detail issues, like the one above, make it difficult to completely appreciate what could have been a really good idea. That whole central area is quite unique--and appreciated. But for this reason, I have to give this entry a
4 of 5.
ANDYSSS456:
While I am disappointed that there is absolutely NO innovation in this map whatsoever (and I can't remove points off for not innovating), it can't be denied that this map is quite excellent in every other aspect. There are plenty of cookie-cutter dustbowl-like maps that do very well but come short of capturing that good detail required to actually feel like a dustbowl map, but this entry seems to capture that dustbowl feel in almost every way. Mostly the strength comes from your careful attention to placement of props, uses of texturing and those 'visual' areas, those places you can see but can't get to. Also, your use of lighting (while generic) is bold enough to capture the eye and set your map apart from the other entries. And as far as scaling goes, it feels quite nice, even though the entire area may feel a little small considering some servers can get 32 players. That aside, it is clear that no opportunity has gone overlooked to put detail where it is due.
As the palette shows above, there are no shortage of warm values, but very few cool ones. This is partly due to the fact that this is a dustbowl-style map. However the difference lies in the saturation of the 2nd warm color and the first cool color--thereby creating such contrast that is pleasing and useful in setting up the environment of this map. Not innovative, but effective.
Again, while this is just a cookie-cutter of other valve maps, it seems to have succeeded in nearly every way. With exceptional knowledge of the material system as this entry shows, it could be astounding to see what could be done should the mapper attempt something outside of the box. I give the entry a
5 of 5.
BMP:
As stated before by myself and others, the first major complaint is the complete loss of frames per second. Even if you're just making a pre-fab for a detailing contest, you can't just ignore the little things like performance. How can you get voters to vote for you if they can't or won't play the map? I consistently had poor fps all over the map. Take a look at this wireframe view of your entry:
Areaportals, even in detail entries are a must for promoting your map.
Now, forget that your map has performance issues. What I care about now is the detailing. The egypt style, while quite bland and boring to the eye in terms of color, has a very unique and specific idea behind it. Here is where I feel you succeeded, with the appropriate uses of the props, textures and concepts provided by cp_egypt. A cookie-cutter example. In terms of scaling, the entry is just too massive. I felt overwhelmed as a player, and that doesn't do well.
The range of colors here is typical of egypt style entries. Due to the 'sand' like nature of the egypt texture set, the map usually not only falls short of cool colors, but of warm ones too--that monotony of brown and yellows lends to being repetitive and worn out very quickly. But the attention to detailing is there, and if anything is at fault, it's the egypt texture set (thanks valve). For this entry, I give a
4 of 5.
MEDD:
First things first: innovative--and I love that. I'll go to the ends of the earth to to find examples that try something new (even if unsuccessful) rather than copy or imitate that which has been done before. And let me say--those glass bridges there and the chrome stairs could led you to a new direction stylistically, which also needs to be refined before you could truly utilize it to the best potential. But what impresses me is the attempt to try something new. The scaling feels quite appropriate--but the eye for detail is less than satisfactory. The detail items, like props and texture choices feel appropriate where they are used, but for me there wasn't enough of it. That, combined with lighting (and that rockwall texture, ugh!), made this entry feel interestingly new, and bland at the same time.
Let's take a look at your color palette. Had your increased the potency of some of your light sources, your color ranges would have doubled. From the palette here, you can see some low saturated colors and some high saturated colors (3rd warm), but all colors here are much too low in value. The introduction of some brighter colors and highlights could really change the pace of lighting in this entry. For your work, I give you a
3 of 5.