Contest idea thread!

[UKCS-Alias]

or everyone detailing the same map in 72 hours.

For that you would need a good map to start with. Picking a map people arent sure of to be succesfull is going to be less interesting or either is going to dissapoint them. And for that we had a contest that went a bit close to that. the 2 skillset contest.

Although its too late the next time they could however do a similar contest in 2 seperate moments. In part 1 the map shape gets made, then the voting comes and in part 2 all people are forced to detail only that map. That way you know you are detailing a map that works. And if its a complex map in entity work it adds a chalenge.

Still, for 72h contests i dont recommend full map projects since those take a huge amount of time. a 2k-2k-2k sized area already is quite some size. And those have proven to give much nicer detailed areas.

 

[puxorb]

I have always wanted to try doing something like this:

Take a map that you love that already exists in the game, change one area of it that you think can be improved, and then do an artpass on it to make it look completely different. So essentially, redesign a valve map as if you were creating it in the first place. It would be a lot of work, but I think it would be interesting to see how people can improve a map, or how a certain map might look in a different setting.

Example: Take dustbowl, make it more open and friendlier to newer types of gameplay, then completely change all the metal buildings detail into a wooden-upward style, and the out-of-bounds areas into cliffs. Make dustbowl feel like upward. Then everyone would judge the map on how much better/worse the gameplay is and if you managed to create a different art style from before.

 

[Grizzly Berry]

Although its too late the next time they could however do a similar contest in 2 seperate moments. In part 1 the map shape gets made, then the voting comes and in part 2 all people are forced to detail only that map. That way you know you are detailing a map that works. And if its a complex map in entity work it adds a chalenge.

This. I wish the 2SS contest had been like this. The official Artpass contest is what really got me interested in TF2 mapping, and that was because I really loved seeing everyone's take on a single map. To me, it makes the contest seem a lot more unified. Maybe that's a bad thing, I don't know.

 

[UKCS-Alias]

This. I wish the 2SS contest had been like this.

Same, or at least for a part.

I wouldnt have expected that many maps to enter in the first place not to mention that the voting process went slow and took the whole phase 2 time. Those things were something unexpected and did harm phase 2 a bit. After all, if you know the winner of phase 1, you know your work wont be wasted (or at least, has a higher chance).

It especialy would have helped if the results of phase 1 were known before phase 2 started. Even if there was a clear winner, the 2 maps below it most likely would still work very well. It at least would give the focus to maps that people know works in case they didnt want to do the design. And even then, if you did a map that lost you could still detail your own map. Phase 2 after all didnt care about gameplay.

But this is talking afterward. During the contest i wasnt even able to tell this since i didnt know the result of the number of contenders in phase 2.

For a first contest of this kind its a good attempt. It could have gone better, but thats nearly allways when you try new things. Lets just hope that #2 of these contests is going to get improved based on the feedback (and im sure it will).

I didnt take part into many contests. In fact, the 2ss is the first i did take part into. And i would have no issue taking part into a 2nd one.

 

[radarhead]

A contest where participants have to build and detail an area in an attempt to match a photograph or concept art. Only problem might be determining a winner.

 

[Smileytopin]

I have three ideas for contests, both of which are fairly dumb ideas, but would be interesting.

1. A 24 hour mapping contest. This would be completely a joke, and could work as a joke contest. Not much to be said about it, make a map in 24 hours.

2. Artpass 2. An artpass contest, or just a detailing contest, where one map is detailed by several people at once. It would be interesting to see what people could do and accomplish if everyone is trying to turn the same developer texture theme-less map into what they view the map as.

3. A junior mappers contest, or a novice mapping contest. This could help bring in new mappers to the community, and help newer and less experienced mappers improve their skills in a fun and rewarding way. This would be a contest where only less experienced or newer mappers who have never won a contest could join. A contest like this would last somewhere between 2 weeks and a month, and would require mappers to come up with unique and interesting ideas to hone their skills and claim victory in a contest with mappers around their own ability. While this is contest is running, a professional or experienced mappers contest could also run. This would be something similar, but only experienced and award winning mappers could enter. A contest between professional mappers would push limits and result in some very interesting, entertaining, and professional maps to be created for the Team Fortress 2 community.

 

[TheBestUsername]

@SmileyTopin: I like idea #3.

 

[TyeZenneth]

What is a novice mapper, though? Someone who's never gotten a map to RC?

 

[Smileytopin]

Tye, that's a question I'm trying to debate.

I'd say a novice mapper is someone who has't made it to rc1, hasn't topped in a contest, and doesn't have a mappers medallion for mapping related reasons.

 

[littleedge]

Smiley made this thread have 1000. Yeaaaah.

Also, I have a Mapper's Medallion, but have not topped a contest or released a map past alpha. Am I novice?

 

[ManBeaR]

I think it depends on what you got the Mapper's Medallion for.

 

[Smileytopin]

Yeah, if you got a mappers medalion for actually winning in a contest, or for making a prop pack or something then you would not be considered a novice, if not then I think you could still be considered a novice. I am aware that people have gotten mappers medallions for different reasons.

 

[Corvatile]

Contest to make the best Medieval MvM map.

 

[YM]

Or instead of drawing the line arbitrarily, you could say to people "you can enter only one" and let them choose. In that way you just need two concurrent contests that have clearly different skill levels involved.

However, this idea really sucks because why would you want to divide an already small pool of entrants?? We need to keep the contests as acessable as possible otherwise we'll have very few people actually enter.

 

[UKCS-Alias]

Or instead of drawing the line arbitrarily, you could say to people "you can enter only one" and let them choose. In that way you just need two concurrent contests that have clearly different skill levels involved.

2skillsets is a good start.

1 mapper makes a layout, and when he does that he will be excluded for phase 2 (other than fixing entity work in case it broke). The same for the detailer. Although he can detail his own map, it cannot take part into the contest.

You could even make an exception for that so you must detail the map of someone else. Then you actualy test 2 skills:
Creating a design someone else can continue on
Detailing a design someone else created and had barely any influence on (only from hinting for design changes)

However, this idea really sucks because why would you want to divide an already small pool of entrants?? We need to keep the contests as acessable as possible otherwise we'll have very few people actually enter.

Phase 1 had much more maps than phase 2. And as i mentioned earlier, people are less likely to detail a map they dont know its going to work. And i think this mainly decided the phase 2 contenters.

For the next 2skillsets the contest itself should be spreaded over a longer period so there is a decent voting period and the results are known before phase 2 starts.
People can still detail a map earlier if they think its good. But again, its a skill that you also should have. That risk should be rewarded.

Contest to make the best Medieval MvM map.

mvm_example can be a good contender for its shape and simplicity. Which would make the contest unfair because you cant just remake that map.

 

[Fruity Snacks]

2SS was a good contest, but I feel like the format for it was pretty poor. I don't know yet how to improve it, but I would not recommend doing another contest with the exact same format as it.

 

[UKCS-Alias]

New idea: Extreme map makeover!

1 or multiple mappers (multiple maps means that the edits will spread out) will put up a map they made for the contest. The requirement that they are excelent in gameplay to begin with, people have to be sure that they are editing a map with good gameplay. And if the map already looks good than thats an upside aswel as it will make the chalenge potentialy harder but also allows the map to remain some sort of style that would be similar to the other one. For example a wooden structure in alpine can work just aswel as desert. It in that case only would require a new texture.
They will have to provide the original bsp for the contest and will have to accept that there is the chance that someone is going to make a poor version of it. And there is still a chance on collisions in style.

Using that bsp they will change the visual style of the map. They could make it alpine, they could make it medieval looks, industrial, halloween or whatever as long as the theme has changed in such way that the map doesnt look too similar to the original.

Any of the authors of the map that was sent in however cannot detail their own map again, but they can edit someone elses map.

Even if there is no score boost involved i would still recommend letting the original creator(s) give their favorite edit. It could be good for tiebreakers and can give a nice funfact.

 

[UKCS-Alias]

Yay @ doubleposts due to lag

 

[SSX]

Maybe an Orphaned map revival contest?

There's plenty of maps that have been orphaned in that forum section, maybe we could have a contest to revive and recreate some of those maps.

 

[TyeZenneth]

Maybe an Orphaned map revival contest?

There's plenty of maps that have been orphaned in that forum section, maybe we could have a contest to revive and recreate some of those maps.

That'd be cool, but I could see map quality being a problem unless we're all given the same orphaned map to work on or the judging is mainly about how you improved upon the map as opposed to just how the map is.