Alien Swarm > The Detailing Contest

[Ida]

NEWS FLASH: Detailing is an important part of mapping. We're a mapping community. It's as simple as putting two and two together. Where is the problem?

I understand it's frustrating not to be able to test maps all the time, but you must understand that testing our alphas endlessly isn't all there is to mapping. Variation is great!

Oh, and the chat room? Some days ago, at this time of day, there were 40 people in there. At the moment of writing it's back to 26, which is close to the standard. So it's obviously not a long lasting problem.

 

[drp]

NEWS FLASH: Detailing is an important part of mapping. We're a mapping community. It's as simple as putting two and two together. Where is the problem?

I understand it's frustrating not to be able to test maps all the time, but you must understand that testing our alphas endlessly isn't all there is to mapping. Variation is great!

Oh, and the chat room? Some days ago, at this time of day, there were 40 people in there. At the moment of writing it's back to 26, which is close to the standard. So it's obviously not a long lasting problem.

muffin. you're trying too hard. people NEED a reason to complain about anything. dont do it buddy, its not worth it.

 

[UKCS-Alias]

The thing is. on mapping you spend far more time than on a model. and with a model even if it fails people can still use it. However, with detailing a map its simple: if you lose your work will NEVER be used. I think thats the frustrating part as i simply expect someone who already has some known maps simply gets to win it. New mappers are nearly chanceless.

Its good that there is at least a mapping contest again that guarantees your work to be used ingame if you win. But i think its a bit too limited this time as there is just 1 winner where at the polycount contest there are already 5.

I understand muffins point and its a good one.

Oh, and the chat room? Some days ago, at this time of day, there were 40 people in there. At the moment of writing it's back to 26, which is close to the standard. So it's obviously not a long lasting problem.

Yes, in the end there wont be alot which is good. But who will be those 20 that are interesting in the end? (yes, expect more to drop off).

I think a quite open contest like the A/D CTF and PLR one would have been far better (i still hope that the winner of the contest still gets his map added as a reward for winning). And the best part is that losers arent chanceless to still get added.

But its a contest... any contest should take time and if you don't think you can win you shouldn't enter in the first place. The risk is there and people should know it. If there are 20 people who have their entry done (assuming all are good) 19 will be disappointed. Their work will be completely forgotten. At least there should have been a medal that at least shows you have been doing the contest and valve thinks you did a fine enough job. Its a fair reward as people will see it ingame.

 

[A Boojum Snark]

On the subject of your map not getting played if you don't win...

We've had numerous one-month 2048x2048 detailing contests in which you didn't even "play" the winner's map. This contest is only about two months long and is way more area to detail, so I fail to see the "wasted time" aspect being abnormally significant.

The CTF contest saw tens of maps get built and most of those will also rarely if ever get played, despite them being unique maps. And that contest was five months long.

In general, vast majority of custom maps simply do not get played. A quick look at tf2stats.net will show you this.

I think any complaints about this contest being wasted effort are completely ungrounded and based in clouded vision.

 

[AsdfAsdfAsdf]

Why are you comparing apples with oranges pears. (

Playing a different genre game vs making maps for another.
You can always play AS and only enter the contest now.

Also if you don't want to participate and want to test some map; make your own map, don't depend on others who want to enter the contest.

On the positive side:

And don't see the larger amount of people in chat as a negative point. It's the effect of more publicity for tf2m. This is a very good move from the moderators, an attractive contest that is not too hard, with a great first prize, and a single TF2 blogpost dedicated for this + a comic that attracts clicks.

Maybe the new mappers are "noobs" in your eyes, but some will stay and we will be a great addition to the settled mappers here.

Another advantage is a lot of new custom material to work with. People want to make a unique map, and therefore make custom models, materials and other custom stuff.

For me personally, this is a great opportunity to show my own custom stuff I started with for a scrapped map.

 

[Flame]

@Booj one month contests, not 2 and half month contest. and at least the control points and rooms were usable... aka cp_coldfront

 

[J4CK8]

@Booj one month contests, not 2 and half month contest. and at least the control points and rooms were usable... aka cp_coldfront

Areas we detail in this contest will be usable. I might really like the way I detailed a building, I can therefore copy the style of it rather than testing out 2 or 3 variations on the detail. Skybox/lighting settings can also be copied etc.

 

[A Boojum Snark]

And how many one month contests have we had? Adds up to quite a bit. Even if you refuse to look at it that way, two and a half isn't really that much at all. It is significantly less than any of our previous major contests. Heck, we only just started having two major contests a year anyway, you could just consider this as a big minor if you want.

Coldfront... I think you know how irrelevant that is to point at two rooms that were planned ahead of time to be built into a full map out of the 150+ that have been made in such contests.

 

[Flame]

except your contests werent to go official, nor did they cause a dry spell of maps for an entire summer.

 

[Jack Riguel]

I can't say I'm not slightly disappointed in this contest, but I really don't think Alien Swarm is going to overshadow it for longer then a week or two. There's a reason why that game was made free.

 

[littleedge]

It isn't causing a dry spell of maps for the summer.

Sure it'll produce 99 useless maps and 1 terribly-laid-out map. But majority of contest maps aren't played after the contest ends. Sure, you play it while you're testing. And you play it while you're voting. But then it's not played. The winner will actually get their map played in the end since it'll be official.

 

[Jimmy]

On the subject of your map not getting played if you don't win...

We've had numerous one-month 2048x2048 detailing contests in which you didn't even "play" the winner's map. This contest is only about two months long and is way more area to detail, so I fail to see the "wasted time" aspect being abnormally significant.

The CTF contest saw tens of maps get built and most of those will also rarely if ever get played, despite them being unique maps. And that contest was five months long.

In general, vast majority of custom maps simply do not get played. A quick look at tf2stats.net will show you this.

I think any complaints about this contest being wasted effort are completely ungrounded and based in clouded vision.

True. Im suprised looking at the TF2stats on Bedrock that a few servers still run it in their rotation, which make me happy inside. Excluding the tf2mservers theres about 17 servers running it I do see where people are coming from with the whole "dry spell of maps" but from my experience with previous detailing contests we didn't have that much of a dry spell. Most of the vets here are either not competing or working in secret, and a lot of our regular members (me included) are working on something else/nothing at all. So I think this contest may have an adverse affect on the amount of maps, but not too much.

 

[Fireman]

No one's forcing anyone into doing this contest. If someone is of the opinion it's a waste of time, then nothing's stopping them from simply ignoring it and carrying on with their own projects.

Every contestant entering is (hopefully) fully aware that in the end, only one will be picked as the playable winner. The chances for each individual participant are, admittedly, slim. Yet, we still have four pages, and growing, of entries. That should say something for how others view this contest.

This contest's value doesn't hinge on your opinion, nor on mine. Its worth is derived from the entrants, and their participation is what determines whether it's "a waste of time" or not.

This contest's value lies in places other just pumping out a map to be played. It's a chance for refinement in detailing for veterans, and a place to start for newbies. It's a chance for everyone to try and tackle the same problem, and learn through the approaches of others how to best add interest to an area. What's more, it's an opportunity for the community to grow and find new talent.

Frankly, in my opinion it's an insult to both those who organized this and those participating that they're wasting their time. Despite the only immediate tangible result being one official map out of many, the skills picked up during this time period will help the community greatly in the long run.

 

[Okrag]

If people want to discuss the contest there is a contest discussion thread. If people want to discuss Alien Swarm there is an Alien Swarm discussion thread. No point for this thread.