A Poll on The Next Contest

[nesman]

Good morning gamers,

We're starting to plan the next major contest and wanted to gauge interest on what people wanted to see out of it. Please vote and comment below with thoughts on previous contests and what you'd like to see. Do you even want to see restrictions?

 

[CriticalFeesh]

What I'd like to see:
Map Restrictive contest
Players get a decompiled version of a Valve-made map and transform it to the theme of the contest

 

[YOYOYO]

Just to clear this up, will the contest itself be a gameplay centered map? Like more TF connect contest rather than high and low or hot and cold.
Or does our vote decide that? (detail restricted is only a detail map with restrictions, instead of a fully playable map that happens to be a specific theme.)

 

[DrSquishy]

I enjoy restrictions, they make contests more enjoyable for me personally - I can see why others might prefer more free-form contests though.
Regarding length/goals, I think a larger two-phase contest would be good. I like the impetus to finish a map and it's always sad to see contest entries with rushed detailing/unfinished because a contest either has no detailing requirement, or combines detailing and gameplay into one phase so people struggle to know when it's time to stop gameplay testing and start detailing.

 

[Freeze]

idk lot about mapping but i think gameplay restricts sound cooler then make a map with a chosen theme

 

[EArkham]

I want to see another Art Pass Contest (2010) so I voted for rehash, but that's effectively the same thing as Gameplay Restrictive since you're limited to one specific map layout.

 

[Katsu! :3]

I feel like these are kinda vague since Gameplay encompasses so many things and detailing is important for map marketing post-contest (ie: No detail, no future dev, no new maps). I'd like a rehash of something CTF-related, since in terms of major contests we haven't really had a focus on anything to do with flags since 2010. Feels like a major component of TF2 has been ignored, y'know?

 

[nesman]

Just to clear this up, will the contest itself be a gameplay centered map? Like more TF connect contest rather than high and low or hot and cold.
Or does our vote decide that? (detail restricted is only a detail map with restrictions, instead of a fully playable map that happens to be a specific theme.)

Major contests are gameplay + detailing. So an example is an RC'd map.

I enjoy restrictions, they make contests more enjoyable for me personally - I can see why others might prefer more free-form contests though.
Regarding length/goals, I think a larger two-phase contest would be good. I like the impetus to finish a map and it's always sad to see contest entries with rushed detailing/unfinished because a contest either has no detailing requirement, or combines detailing and gameplay into one phase so people struggle to know when it's time to stop gameplay testing and start detailing.

So a Ro3 but only a two part contest versus three.

I'd like a rehash of something CTF-related, since in terms of major contests we haven't really had a focus on anything to do with flags since 2010.

Pick it up, which was in 2020, was kind of center around picking things like flags, cores, Passtime jacks, whatever else up. But I can understand the desire for ctf only.

 

[nesman]

I want to see another Art Pass Contest (2010) so I voted for rehash, but that's effectively the same thing as Gameplay Restrictive since you're limited to one specific map layout.

One problem that is always brought up, and I agree with, while artpass contests are awesome with how many different variations you can see (dabeatz my beloved) the rest ultimately get forgotten. I don't know of a good way to get around that unfortunately.

 

[zythe_]

i really hope i can participate in this one whenever it arrives, was very disappointed in myself for not finishing my tfconnect map, or any contest map ive ever made for that matter.

i really wanna properly participate in a contest but competition stressfull and scary.

 

[JeanPaul]

Gameplay all the way

Do a 100 player map attack defense/pl contest!

 

[Kiglirs]

Personally, i feel like having more fun to have a gameplay restriction rather than detailing restriction. I've been able to do MC contests (and some 72h jam), and had fun with them. I attempted at doing some detailing contests, but it was really bad, including the 72h jam (my 1st entry).

Subjectively, a gameplay restriction would make the contest open to more people. There is definitely more people able to make decent gameplay than a decent detailing. Sure, there would be more questionable quality maps, but there would be a lot more good maps! Also, i think in TF2 despite the look of most of the recent maps that are stunning, i think the gameplay still is the main concept of what makes a map good. Making a detailing contest with gameplay in it would make a lot of maps mostly unfun to play on despite their good look.

So i'm casting my vote on gameplay restriction and rehashed contest prompt if only it's mainly about gameplay.

However, i do like the idea that was done for the TFC Contest of having two categories, Gameplay and Detailing. I feel like it could still make most people happy since there would be some being better in gameplay or some better in detailing. And at the end, the main goal could be to get both, so it could still let the maps go towards a good gameplay and good look!

 

[Idolon]

Gameplay restrictions all the way. Detailing restrictions tend to discourage new mappers from joining.

 

[Freyja]

I've been here for, and participated in a lot, of contests, and I definitely think gameplay restrictions make for the most interesting contests. But I also think the contests should require a finished map, at least the major contests should. Detailing is part of map making as well and if you discard that as a criteria then you're ignoring a big amount of people's skills.

Good examples of contests from the past for me:

• (A)Symmetrical contest
• Dynamic payload
• Dynamic CP
• Asymmetry 2 Contest
• Payload Checklist

Contests that were less successful, or not as enjoyable as mapper, to me:

• Tale of two Skillsets
• Mercs vs Aliens
• Connect 5
• Back to Basics
• Rule of Threes (Good in concept I think, but the major/minor split was a bit overwhelming)

Comparing what I liked about the contests I listed as good, they all had a gamemode/gameplay restriction that I felt sparked creativity but wasn't too restrictive, they also produced lots of good, finished maps, lots of which have gone onto be official.

Comparing what I didn't like about the contests I listed as not enjoyable, I think they lacked interesting restrictions, where way too weird (2ss looking at you), had a detailing restriction (weird theme in MvA or connect 5 or not caring about detailing at all).

I would definitely like to see something more akin to the contests I listed as good.

 

[DoctorDoomtrain64]

I generally find gameplay restrictions more fun, I think they kinda force people to get creative with their maps. I also like the idea of revisiting old contest ideas. Not only is there a largely new mapper base compared to when the originals were hosted, meaning some fresh new ideas could be seen out of them, but also we can look at them and see what did/didn't work and improve em accordingly as well!

 

[Katsu! :3]

What I'd like to see:
Map Restrictive contest
Players get a decompiled version of a Valve-made map and transform it to the theme of the contest

This idea is interesting but I feel it would be much more suited to a minor, maybe 1-month contest.

 

[SnickerPuffs]

What I'd like to see:
Map Restrictive contest
Players get a decompiled version of a Valve-made map and transform it to the theme of the contest

A couple years back I posted about an idea in a similar vein-- A Mother-Forking Map Contest. In short, all participants would be given the same a1/predev VMF, and be encouraged to develop it in any direction they saw fit. Change the aesthetic, swap out the gamemode, re-arrange the geometry... anything was fair game. At the end, maps would be ranked on two fronts-- if their map is just genuinely fun and well-made, and how interesting their remix is compared to the original map and other entrants.

I tried to test run this idea with two different community-made maps (Ydan, made from Steel's a1, and Stiletto, made from Borneo's), but they both fizzled out pretty quickly. That doesn't mean the idea doesn't have merit, though! It just means that I used to be bad at making maps.