Contest idea thread!

[TMP]

IDEA IDEA.

4 words: Best Valve map edits.

 

[RavenStryker]

 

[zpqrei]

Save'd for future use.

 

[UKCS-Alias]

If someone goes into the way of valve edits i know an even worse idea... Making a map with just the carve tool... Guaranteed poor maps.

Some better ideas:
The best looking staircase
Best looking bridge
Best looking skybox (not a texture skybox but a map one) for a map with a preset size (so the skybox can be used in maps later)

 

[Terr]

IDEA IDEA.
4 words: Best Valve map edits.

I wouldn't mind this one at all

 

[Mr.Blob]

Why don't we have a 5 point cp map contest? - seeing as there are quite a few new cp maps comming out lately. - maybe it's a bad idea.

 

[Zwiffle]

I always feel like a constant (really) mini contest should be held. One that doesn't require too much effort, but helps people take a break from their mapping projects.

Like, the first two weeks each month should be the time people have to make it. The next two weeks are the voting time. you do one constantly - 1st of every month marks day 1 of the creation process, 15th of every month marks the first day of voting, and the 29th marks the winner being announced (the 30th and 31st are breaks).

Now, for something so often, it'd have to be a simple, quick thing for those that just want to take a day break. OR it could be something somebody could work on for a week, if they want to.

So what could it be? I was thinking a screenshot detail mapping contest. The two weeks to make something - be it a room, a scene, whatever you want in Hammer. You may then compile it, and take a screenshot of what you think is the best picture (you can take as many screenshots as you want, but only one counts). Submit the .jpg in the submission thread, and wait for the voting time to end. No special requirements - just any scene (although you could do random ones, like during December, make the best Christmas scene, or just a random Hydro Theme month - whatever the admin says).

All you'd need for this would be a Submission Thread and a Voting Thread. Voting Thread would only be open from the 15th to the 28th, submission thread only open from the 1st to the 14th. You could purge each thread after each month has gone by. Maybe have a third thread that's always locked, where you show the winners of each, as well as the rest of the submissions, and an admin updates it when each new month comes along.

tl;dr: You're lazy

I would love smaller, more frequent mapping contests, but I would prefer a 3 week build time, 1 week voting period. Something really simple and quick, I'm sure there are a ton of suitable contest themes for these smaller contests.

 

[Dr. Spud]

I would love smaller, more frequent mapping contests, but I would prefer a 3 week build time, 1 week voting period. Something really simple and quick, I'm sure there are a ton of suitable contest themes for these smaller contests.

I think frequent and quick are the key words there. I would really like doing short contests for detailing or whatever if they're low-key and not terribly competitive. I feel like the swamp contest got a little too overblown and competitive for its own good.

 

[lana]

How about detail rooms?

 

[littleedge]

I still don't like having contests where I have to download twenty+ maps, even if they're small, and go through them all. There's a difference betweeen major contests where I've played the maps for months leading up to it, so I already know them ahead of time, and I take a final match to see how they finished up, and minor contests where a screenshot or two could be enough to vote on.

So i still stick by smaller contests that you vote on by screenshot. No sane person examines every nook and cranny (don't correct me on what they actually mean like CP) in a 2048 x 2048 area. because of no 3D skybox or anything, it looks terrible when you play it unless it's surrounded by cliffs. So all the entries "sucked" if you take that into effect (omitting that one with cliffs). Screenshots would have done the job.

 

[RavenStryker]

I do go through each and every map and look around them all. I believe that everyone who makes a map/contest entry deserves a good walk through, cause a screenshot can't show everything. But I do like the smaller contests as well cause you can spend more time focusing on the little things instead of attempting to come up with a billion different ideas for all the sections of a bigger map. Even just cap point areas are good. Weather it be for CP Intel room or Payload cap area.

 

[lana]

There aren't many entity conundrums though. A contest with a challenge like, "Build the most enjoyable way of rising 256 units" would be interesting

 

[Zwiffle]

Another theme idea: "Homage to your favorite map(s)" - Follower is obviously inspired by Granary and Badlands. The theme idea is to make a map that is inspired (NOT PLAGIARIZED) by one or two of your favorite maps, incorporating some of their design elements into a new gameplay experience.

 

[Engineer]

There should really be a KOTH contest.

 

[Ravidge]

There should really be a KOTH contest.

ohgod no.

Koth is a shallow gamemode, like arena. They are fun but there is not much variation.

I like koth, but we don't need a competition for it.

 

[Rexy]

Beginner's modeling contest.

 

[Ravidge]

Beginner's modeling contest.

Sure, why not?
I managed to learn 3ds max, and complete a model in a day, another day to compile to source.

http://dl.getdropbox.com/u/1281220/SS-2009.07.12-22.05.04.png (Oversized battery for ctf_system )

And there are nice tutorials for blender around (on this site even). And I think it's only positive if more mappers learn to make simple models.

 

[Octoplasma]

Control point room contest. seeing as that is the most important and unique part of a map.

 

[Tapp]

I like the idea of "rise 256 units" one, that could prove helpful and interesting. Just one rule: no elevators or teleporters.

 

[Zwiffle]

I'd be up for a beginner's modeling contest - that would be a pretty fun exercise actually.