Shovel-Head
L1: Registered
- Jan 22, 2013
- 14
- 6
A "let's cram in all the work we can before SDK become obsolete on the 23rd" contest maybe?
Contest idea thread!
- Thread starter FaTony
- Start date
I think the gamemode would be perfect for a contest.
Even though I don't like Doomsday that much, the gamemode itself is really interesting and such a contest would attract more people into mapping for that for sure!
This is just me as a member of the community asking this kinda and not as a mod but what does everyone think about the way our contest formula is?
I mean we basically have the same contest method each time: Set a gameplay theme, change the voting categories and weighting to be relevant to said theme and then have a 2 part vote. What out of that do you think could be improved upon and give some thought out reasons why.
I feel like every contest there's a few people that feel that stuff needs tweaking but I've never seen an proposition that is obvious better than what we have at the moment or even a consensus on what need addressing.
Just thought i'd throw this out there while were between contests. I think i'll throw out a few more of these open ended questions over the next few weeks as this discussion kinda gets swept under the carpet at the end of every content with the idea that 'Welp, we can't change stuff this late into this Contest now can we?"
I mean we basically have the same contest method each time: Set a gameplay theme, change the voting categories and weighting to be relevant to said theme and then have a 2 part vote. What out of that do you think could be improved upon and give some thought out reasons why.
I feel like every contest there's a few people that feel that stuff needs tweaking but I've never seen an proposition that is obvious better than what we have at the moment or even a consensus on what need addressing.
Just thought i'd throw this out there while were between contests. I think i'll throw out a few more of these open ended questions over the next few weeks as this discussion kinda gets swept under the carpet at the end of every content with the idea that 'Welp, we can't change stuff this late into this Contest now can we?"
Fish 2.0
L6: Sharp Member
- Nov 22, 2012
- 324
- 262
INVENT YOUR OWN GAME MODE
You must create a brand new game mode that has never been seen before (or vary rarely)!
Obviously we would need a singly entity that decides what can and can not work - a person who everyone contacts describing their game-mode so there wont be any double ups - first in first served.
That could be cool.
****DISCUSSION TIME YAY
I think we're scared to push the boundaries of what is already here - sure, TF2M is a place for official themed maps but that's literally where it ends. While I'm not talking exclusively of the creation of trade maps, I feel that everyone here is a little scared to venture into unknown territory;
-Boring, spammy game modes like death match
-New adventurous gamemodes
-Decent trade maps
Contests regarding things like new game modes, strange gimmicks (more strange and krazy than a spooky dynamic payload element) are left in the dust. These kinds of fears (taboos, even) are usually the death of fun and creativity.
My thought process:
I think the competitions need to start braking these TF2 barriers. Creativity should not be restricted this way - we need to diverge from pure TF2 and try to make things fit with TF2 otherwise we are simply walking in circles.
You must create a brand new game mode that has never been seen before (or vary rarely)!
Obviously we would need a singly entity that decides what can and can not work - a person who everyone contacts describing their game-mode so there wont be any double ups - first in first served.
That could be cool.
****DISCUSSION TIME YAY
I think we're scared to push the boundaries of what is already here - sure, TF2M is a place for official themed maps but that's literally where it ends. While I'm not talking exclusively of the creation of trade maps, I feel that everyone here is a little scared to venture into unknown territory;
-Boring, spammy game modes like death match
-New adventurous gamemodes
-Decent trade maps
Contests regarding things like new game modes, strange gimmicks (more strange and krazy than a spooky dynamic payload element) are left in the dust. These kinds of fears (taboos, even) are usually the death of fun and creativity.
My thought process:
I think the competitions need to start braking these TF2 barriers. Creativity should not be restricted this way - we need to diverge from pure TF2 and try to make things fit with TF2 otherwise we are simply walking in circles.
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stegarootbeer
L2: Junior Member
- Jan 15, 2012
- 78
- 100
Maybe a g-pit map contest? There aren't too many of them and I think its a neat idea that isn't used often enough.
Then what would be the point of the contest? Contests are usually to incentivise people to work on something, which other people working on the same kinda map that it you all can help each other out and push one another. Surely the Pacific pack itself should be incentive enough.
Also, thanks to fish for bumping this thread and remind me of how bummed out i was that the only reply to me trying to improve our Contests was Doom's snarky comment.
TheBestUsername
L4: Comfortable Member
- Jun 25, 2013
- 151
- 96
I've got a great big list of ideas for contests. They're in no particular order:
1: A Control Point Map Contest, except that traditional 5CP Push maps are not allowed. To add variety, mappers can have more or less points, play with which start off locked or unlocked and how they are unlocked, and change the positions of the points (for example, neutral points on the left, right, and center and one point for each team).
2: A Single Stage Payload Race Contest. My favorite game mode seems oddly overlooked by players and mappers alike, and instead plain old Payload is the focus. I enjoy Payload, of course, but I prefer Payload Race because players can choose whether to push their cart or prevent the enemy from pushing theirs. I like also that the levels are perfectly balanced due to their symmetrical layouts. There are only three official Payload Race maps (with Hightower being the best by far, of course), so there's definitely a market for more.
3: A Payload Tug-Of-War Contest. While I admit I have never played it, PTOW (if that's how you want to abbreviate it) seems like a really awesome custom mode. There must be a lot of tension with each team trying to push the same cart to their enemy's base. Unfortunately, the reason I have not played this mode is because there are so few maps for it, and no servers ever run the ones that are floating around. Perhaps part of the contest could be to make a grey or purple cart that does not appear to face a particular direction, as well as making an introduction movie so that players aren't confused by the mode. If we can't make this mode official, at least maybe we can garner it a bit more exposure and players (though I'm really rooting for an all-community update adding this).
4: Special Delivery Contest. This one should be a no-brainer. Doomsday is the only official SD map, and there are almost no custom maps for it out there. That's pretty ridiculous, honestly. We don't even know what kind of potential SD has, because no one's even tried to tap into it. Out of all of my ideas, this is the one I feel most strongly about.
5: Dynamic KoTH Contest. This was inspired by the Dynamic Payload Contest and this map: http://forums.tf2maps.net/downloads.php?do=file&id=5372 Nothing more to say about this, really.
6: Custom Game Mode Contest. I second this. It just seems like an all around great idea. A new mode that still fits the TF2 style would be a real breath of fresh air for mappers and players alike.
7: Custom Theme Contest. This one's a bit different from all the rest. Whoever hosts the contest will provide a map that's done gameplay-wise and ready for detailing. The point of the contest is to run an art pass on it using ONLY CUSTOM models and textures.
1: A Control Point Map Contest, except that traditional 5CP Push maps are not allowed. To add variety, mappers can have more or less points, play with which start off locked or unlocked and how they are unlocked, and change the positions of the points (for example, neutral points on the left, right, and center and one point for each team).
2: A Single Stage Payload Race Contest. My favorite game mode seems oddly overlooked by players and mappers alike, and instead plain old Payload is the focus. I enjoy Payload, of course, but I prefer Payload Race because players can choose whether to push their cart or prevent the enemy from pushing theirs. I like also that the levels are perfectly balanced due to their symmetrical layouts. There are only three official Payload Race maps (with Hightower being the best by far, of course), so there's definitely a market for more.
3: A Payload Tug-Of-War Contest. While I admit I have never played it, PTOW (if that's how you want to abbreviate it) seems like a really awesome custom mode. There must be a lot of tension with each team trying to push the same cart to their enemy's base. Unfortunately, the reason I have not played this mode is because there are so few maps for it, and no servers ever run the ones that are floating around. Perhaps part of the contest could be to make a grey or purple cart that does not appear to face a particular direction, as well as making an introduction movie so that players aren't confused by the mode. If we can't make this mode official, at least maybe we can garner it a bit more exposure and players (though I'm really rooting for an all-community update adding this).
4: Special Delivery Contest. This one should be a no-brainer. Doomsday is the only official SD map, and there are almost no custom maps for it out there. That's pretty ridiculous, honestly. We don't even know what kind of potential SD has, because no one's even tried to tap into it. Out of all of my ideas, this is the one I feel most strongly about.
5: Dynamic KoTH Contest. This was inspired by the Dynamic Payload Contest and this map: http://forums.tf2maps.net/downloads.php?do=file&id=5372 Nothing more to say about this, really.
6: Custom Game Mode Contest. I second this. It just seems like an all around great idea. A new mode that still fits the TF2 style would be a real breath of fresh air for mappers and players alike.
7: Custom Theme Contest. This one's a bit different from all the rest. Whoever hosts the contest will provide a map that's done gameplay-wise and ready for detailing. The point of the contest is to run an art pass on it using ONLY CUSTOM models and textures.
Ice Crystal
L2: Junior Member
- Feb 28, 2013
- 78
- 91
I think KOTH is too small and straight-forward to have it be very "dynamic".
A custom game mode contest would be interesting, but would probably end up with a lot of bad maps and a couple decent ones.
I like the idea of TC and SD contests because I just want to see more of those, and I'm sure someone could do something fun with them.
A custom theme contest would be pretty cool, but people would probably take existing texture packs and there would be a lot of duplicate themes. Either that or people will be required to make many of the materials and models themselves, and that would turn a lot of people away.
A custom game mode contest would be interesting, but would probably end up with a lot of bad maps and a couple decent ones.
I like the idea of TC and SD contests because I just want to see more of those, and I'm sure someone could do something fun with them.
A custom theme contest would be pretty cool, but people would probably take existing texture packs and there would be a lot of duplicate themes. Either that or people will be required to make many of the materials and models themselves, and that would turn a lot of people away.
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nightwatch
aa
- Sep 7, 2012
- 638
- 501
Train competition:
Take a map without trains, and add trains in the most annoying way possible.
Take a map without trains, and add trains in the most annoying way possible.
TheBestUsername
L4: Comfortable Member
- Jun 25, 2013
- 151
- 96
Why does every single stupid map have a random out of place train in it? 
Because environment deaths are the pinnacle of TF2 map design.
TheBestUsername
L4: Comfortable Member
- Jun 25, 2013
- 151
- 96
Crash wins by default lol.
stegarootbeer
L2: Junior Member
- Jan 15, 2012
- 78
- 100
Make a map based on your first result here: http://iostream.se/gamegenerator.php
Use it as the name of your map. All the usual aspects of your map will be considered, but also how effectively you implemented the name of your map into it will be important too. For example, if I got "Genetic Piano" I might make a map where red is using a piano store as a front for their secret genetic research lab. Would be a very unique and interesting contest.
Use it as the name of your map. All the usual aspects of your map will be considered, but also how effectively you implemented the name of your map into it will be important too. For example, if I got "Genetic Piano" I might make a map where red is using a piano store as a front for their secret genetic research lab. Would be a very unique and interesting contest.
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My first attempt gave me "Gentleman Death." Which is a bit... too on-the-nose for TF2, perhaps?
You're totally making me want to do something with a piano store, though. Although that's probably too crowded to use as even part of a map... a piano factory, perhaps? Dunno, we need an excuse to do something with pianos, surely.
You're totally making me want to do something with a piano store, though. Although that's probably too crowded to use as even part of a map... a piano factory, perhaps? Dunno, we need an excuse to do something with pianos, surely.