72hr Contest 2013 - Winter Classic Survey Thread

[Fruity Snacks]

TF2Maps.net 72hr WINTER CLASSIC 2013​

Preliminary Survey!​

Ladies and Gentlemen of TF2Maps and the community at large, it's that time of the year again! Well, not actually again, per sae. It's actually just the first ever 72hr Mapping Winter Classic! I promised this summer (or winter for you aussie types) that I'd host another 72hr contest this December because having these twice a year is awesome. The point of this post is to just remind everyone that "hey, this is going to happen," to see how much interest is still there and to generally see how you guys feel about stuff that I want to change.

First off, a date. I'm looking at the weekend after christmas and before new years. The 28th or something. Would that weekend work for most people? Would you like it sooner? Later? Would Sometime in November or January work better? Tell me.
EDIT: Okay, a lot of people don't like After christmas, before new-years. when in JANUARY would be best? Weekend of the 4th or the 11th? what?


Secondly, I'm going to add some sort of theme to this contest. Why? Because it'll be a bit more fun, and should draw in more people since there will be focus and a place for people to start. It won't be like 'Make a winter themed map' or 'use X, Y and Z prop' or even 'be under X amount of brushes' ... it'll be something like me giving you phrase, a word, a picture or a quote of some famous dead guy I like. You then think about it and think of a map inspired by that. It won't be really hard, or deep, or really thought provoking. Just something that you guys can create a foundation for an idea off of. Think about how Ludum Dare does their gamejams.

Thirdly, I'm going to change how voting usually works. Previously, I've given 1 week of preliminary, 1 week of finalist voting. Prelim voting is just "list X maps you liked" and final voting was kind of weird. I'm about 95% sure on this new system. The voting will now work as follows:

You have 2.5 weeks to play and vote for maps
You will list your 3 favorite maps, in any order.
You MUST provide a few-sentences as to why you like it, and any other feedback you wish to provide.

Each map will receive 1 point per vote.
At the end of the voting period, I will count the number of votes. The map with the highest amount of votes will be first, second highest will be second, third highest will be third, so on and so forth.

I feel that doing it this way makes it easier for people who are busy with family or jobs or who's free time is spread out over a couple weeks. You get 2.5 weeks instead of 2 though to take into account that you'll actually have to play all of the maps and, again, to provide time for those who might have it sparse during the holidays.

Fourthly, this contest has always been a in-house type of thing. That is, I never publicized it on reddit, SPUF, Facepunch, Valve, etc. I think it'd be kind of neat to bring in other communities to do this. Not only is it a great way to quickly learn hammer, but it's also great fun. Thoughts?

FIFTHLY and FINALLY; The most important question of all! How was everyone's summer (winter for aussie's) break?

Take some time, think about these changes and leave some feedback on it.

 

[Valkyrie]

The date works fine for me, I will be off from university.
I really like the idea of giving us a sentence or quote that inspires the map, it would be interesting to see different interpretations come to life in tf2
I thought the voting system was fine but thats your decision to make
Make it public, the more the merrier
My summer was pretty damn good, thanks for asking

 

[Fantaboi]

The week in between new years and christmas doesn't sound like a good idea to me.
Some timeszones will have to do it on christmas if they want to participate or even boxing day.
I think it should be a or 3 before christmas as that time of year is usually busy

The idea you had about our maps being around a quote or something sounds very exciting, i'd like to see where it goes.
Also with your "frothily" part, if i'm reading this right you want us to help bring in other communities, that would be great to have more participants.

if this contest's date is one i'm not busy. Count me in

 

[nightwatch]

I'm not sure about what percentage of the tf2 mappers demographic is working minimum-wage retail jobs to keep themselves alive, but many of these types of jobs have little flexibility around this time due to the Christmas and Boxing Day rushes. The weekend after the one you specified might be better for these people, but in the end it's your contest and the weekend after might not work well with school schedules.

 

[Fruity Snacks]

Well, that is what I am asking. Is the weekend after the 28th better for everyone?

 

[Ida]

1. Any time after roughly the 20th and before the New Year, is bad for me. I'll have absolutely no time because I'll be hanging out with family and going on trips with them/friends and all that jazz. There will be downtime, sure, but most likely pretty separated, and I imagine that might be the case for more people than me. January would be best for me, personally, because the new semester will be starting up, meaning I won't have a lot to do right off the bat.
2. Sounds good to me.
3. I can't remember if I originally added the prelim round to this contest format or not, but I'm pretty sure it was done in order to make the winner more faily chosen, because if you just straight-up vote on a zillion maps you're probably gonna end up with most of them just getting like 2-5 votes. That way there's a chance of not really finding a clear winner. But of course, this isn't a very competitive or serious contest, so I'm not sure how relevant that argument actuall yis. In addition, I do agree that a 2.5 week voting period rather than 1*2 weeks is sensible, so I think your new system can work.
4. I have no objections. More entries is always a good thing. Just as long as you keep it TF2M-centered, but I assume that's your intention.
5. Swell.

 

[YM]

I would appreciate it not being in or around christmas/newyear. I can't book time off work then BECAUSE IT'S CHRISTMAS

 

[Fruity Snacks]

Then, when in JANUARY is people free?

 

[Ida]

As long as it's not in the first few days of January, any time is good for me.

 

[Fruity Snacks]

I start my semester the monday following the weekend of the 11th.

So I'm thinking either the weekend of the 4th or the weekend of the 11th.

I can do the following weekend too.

 

[Valkyrie]

January is fine on my end

 

[Idolon]

I'll be pretty busy in January, but sounds good regardless (I don't stop being busy until late February).

 

[Freyja]

Any time in January is fine

 

[Fruity Snacks]

Alright, so. January 4th or the 11th. I'll decide on a date soon.

Glad to hear that people don't mind the new voting and and the "Inspirational" quote thing. I think it was mentioned earlier, yes, this will still be a TF2Maps.net centric and advertised contest, but I'll be posting on other sites to help bring numbers up.

Thanks to humble bundles, the prize pool is going to be AWESOME this time.

 

[A Boojum Snark]

Thanks to humble bundles, the prize pool is going to be AWESOME this time.

You mean the prize pool will be games everyone already owns and doesn't care about?

...half sarcastic, half sincere. :bored: Not trying to rain blankets on any parades.

 

[Fruity Snacks]

You mean the prize pool will be games everyone already owns and doesn't care about?

...half sarcastic, half sincere. :bored: Not trying to rain blankets on any parades.

Basically this + whatever donations people give

 

[Fantaboi]

Alright, so. January 4th or the 11th. I'll decide on a date soon.

this will still be a TF2Maps.net centric and advertised contest, but I'll be posting on other sites to help bring numbers up.

A good place that always draws in numbers (for me at least) is reddit.com/r/tf2
I usually can post a video showing a map and the video will get a few thousand hits, so with something as big and exciting as this I can imagine the response being huge.

Also the date sounds good (for me at least)

 

[Fruity Snacks]

A good place that always draws in numbers (for me at least) is reddit.com/r/tf2
I usually can post a video showing a map and the video will get a few thousand hits, so with something as big and exciting as this I can imagine the response being huge.

Also the date sounds good (for me at least)

Whenever I publicized events for TF2M, the second place I went to was Reddit (first place is Valve). I'm well aware of how popular r/tf2

 

[LeSwordfish]

Can i suggest voting for the theme?

 

[Fantaboi]

Can i suggest voting for the theme?

I think we should vote on voting for the theme.