Major Contest #4, Preliminary Votes

[Armadillo of Doom]

Finally, at long last After reading all the posts in the main thread, I realized that it really isn't fair to eliminate half the authors w/out any kind of official comments. So here's the deal. The semi-finals will be a straight-up popular vote. Choose what you believe are the top 10 maps. These will move on to the normal voting process. For the 16 authors who don't make the cut, you are not forgotten. All of the judges will still post a formal review of your maps, following the end of the contest. This way, the judges don't have any time pressure, and everybody will still get reviewed by a professional map maker.

Now to business. There has been some concern that people will automatically choose the most well-known and/or established names. Unfortunately, this problem can occur no matter what type of voting process we use. All I can say is that if you can't spare a few hours to play at least 1 round on all the maps, you're doing a disservice to the authors and our community as a whole.

Every TF2M server is running the contest maps in rotation. I have also reduced the player-count on our normal servers to 16, for 8v8 matches. So there is nothing preventing you from starting a pickup group. The servers have a 30 minute rotation for every map, so all you need to do is hop on and play. (And maybe take a few notes to post later).

The current plan is to have this thread open a week, then the main voting will last 2 weeks. As always, subject to change if needed. I'm gonna stay logged on as much as possible. If you have any questions/concerns, pm here or on Steam. I'll get back to you w/in 24 hours. Good luck everyone!

Edit 1: For the sake of my future sanity, contest authors are not allowed to vote. The main thread can be found here; http://forums.tf2maps.net/showthread.php?t=11458 You should only post once you feel that you have a good grasp of all the maps, and want to vote for the top 10.

Servers
U.S. normal server- 174.34.133.104:27015
U.S. competitive server- 174.34.133.99:27015
E.U. normal server- 85.234.148.93:29015
E.U. competitive server- 85.234.148.8:29025

Wildfire
Mercy
Bedrock
Assembly
Cloudburst
Underhanded
Stockpile
Mexico
Landfall
Norma
Metalwood
Syphon
Wiretap
Sabotage
Rippleside
Deliverance
Alaska
Overlook
Gumption
Converge
Deceit
Fogbow
Dammed
Slushway
Fusion
Cesspool

Edit 2:

Here's some basic guiding principles for your map:

• Your map should be fast paced (that's the big one!)
• Complexity doesn't make it better
• Have good open ground for fighting
• Use vertical elements for additional interest
• Make sure navigation is easy
• Consider keeping it small and more focused
• Strategy is core to team gameplay- offer strategic choices
• Comp teams doesn't have to mean pro teams, anyone can play competatively
• "Mapping for a competitive audience" on Nodraw.net

Competitive teams don't want any surprises. Easy navigation, fast action, strategic (albeit very quick) pathway decisions. This is obviously a farcry from what most of us are used to. But we collectively represent the very best custom-content makers in TF2. So if anyone can make this work, it's us.

Judgement Procedure

Eligibility: Maps will be checked and disqualified when the contest submission deadline ends if they do not meet the rules.

Judging Categories Note: We will be hosting new Gamedays specifically for 6v6 play.

• Gameplay - how well the map plays, map flow, etc. How well it plays out competitively.
• Class Involvement - how well classes assume their roles, how the map offers opportunities for each class
• Style - how well the map fits into TF2. Detailing, architecture, geometry, etc.
• Optimization - how well the map is optimized. Framerate, filesize, etc.

First component - Popular Vote

• One thread will be made where votes will be posted to. The first post will contain a template vote which voters will copy and paste as their reply, changing the numbers to reflect their opinions.
• In this thread, voters will have the opportunity to grade each map for all categories, from 1-7, as well as giving a short summary if they wish. (Allows for two grades above and below average as well as one for "simply unbelievable" and "utterly abysmal" which you should think long and hard before awarding!)
• The results of each vote, after the judging time is over, will be calculated together to get an average rating for each map.
• Users MAY NOT grade their own maps.
• The goal of the popular vote is to get an overall rating for each map based on everyone's impression of how fun it is. It prevents judges' votes from counting too much, and makes sure the winners are indicative of our entire community's feelings.

Second component- Judges' votes

• There will be a panel of judges. For the first time ever we're getting rid of the idea of "default judges" like myself and the other moderators. Instead we're posing an open application for anyone who feels they have the expertise to provide a higher-than-standard level of feedback. If you would like to be considered to become a judge please send a PM to me (YM) with a statement about what you feel qualifies you before the end of April. Once the site staff have decided on whether or not to accept your application you'll be contacted and will gain access to a new judges-only forum when signed in.
• Judges' own entries will be disqualified from winning; they will receive marks but will not be eligible to place in the final rankings. Judges may review their own maps but their rating will not be calculated into the map's total score.
• Judges will playtest each map considerably on their own, via the tf2maps.net server or private servers.
• Each of the 4 categories is worth 25%.
• Each judge will rank each category on a scale of 1-7 and include a write-up of their decision making process per map. The judges' ratings will be averaged for each map. Each step of this process will be publicized.
• The goal of the judges' vote is to get a professional look at each map, with a high degree of scrutiny that the mapmakers can use to improve their skills in the future. It prevents a tyranny of the majority, wherein people vote on maps in a popularity contest, thus making the rankings fairer.
• The judges' average ratings will be multiplied by a factor of .5, and the popular average ratings by a factor of .5. This means a 50%-50% split. They will be added together to achieve the maps' final ratings.
• The maps' ratings will be published, the ineligible maps (like the judges') removed, and then the final rankings posted. The final rankings will determine the winners.

The entire formula for a map's rating is such:

((Voter's category scorings added up)/7)/(Number of votes) * .5 + ((Judges' category scorings added up)/7)/(Number of judges) *.5 = Final ranking. This formula will be published with all variables so that we all know it was a fair contest.

 

[Owlruler]

Number | Map
1|Wildfire
2|Cloudburst
3|Underhanded
4|Alaska
5|Wiretap
6|Overlook
7|Fusion
8|Bedrock
9|Deliverance
10|Converge

 

[The Political Gamer]

Number | Map
1|Wildfire
2|Landfall
3|Deliverance
4|Overlook
5|Fusion
6|Cloudburst
7|Converge
8|Wiretap
9|Stockpile
10|Alaska

 

[Sel]

Number | Map
1|Stockpile
2|Wildfire
3|Deliverance
4|Fusion
5|Cloudburst
6|Underhanded
7|Wiretap
8|Overlook
9|Deceit
10|Assembly

 

[Connect_Four]

Number | Map
1|Stockpile
2|Deliverance
3|Wildfire
4|Wiretap
5|Cloudburst


6|Norma
7|Fusion
8|Sabotage
9|Overlook
10|Assembly

 

[Flame]

In no order.

Number | Map
1|Wildfire
2|Cloudburst
3|Bedrock
4|Landfall
5|Wiretap
6|Overlook
7|Fusion
8|Alaska
9|Deliverance
10|Converge

 

[ANova]

Someone can edit this later I'm on my phone
1.Wiretap
2.Deliverance
3.Fusion
4.Overlook
5.Wildfire
6.Cloudburst
7.Converge
8.Assembly
9.Alaska
10.Landfall

 

[Randdalf]

Number | Map
1|Converge
2|Wildfire
3|Wiretap
4|Fusion
5|Overlook
6|Deliverance
7|Cloudburst
8|Bedrock
9|Alaska
10|Landfall

No particular order.

 

[drp]

... So what about the upcoming Friday gameday? I'd like more than 16 players for that test...

server settings take seconds to change.

 

[owly-oop]

Number | Map
1|Landfall
2|Wildfire
3|Wiretap
4|Stockpile
5|Deliverance
6|Cloudburst
7|Mercy
8|Assembly
9|Fusion
10|Overlook

No order

 

[Icarus]

I'm going to be editing this post as I play more pugs.

Wildfire
Mercy
Cloudburst
Bedrock
Landfall
Wiretap
Rippleside
Deliverance
Alaska
Fusion

If it's no order why do you bother to put them in a chart next to numbers

 

[Fraz]

If it's no order why do you bother to put them in a chart next to numbers

I didn't :O

 

[Okrag]

If it's no order why do you bother to put them in a chart next to numbers

Because they all copied the chart from Owl.

 

[Ezekel]

i'm a lil dissappointed by the number of people voting this early on. have you all played every map (with appropriate numbers of players) already?
or are you picking the ones that you got a lot of chances to play during map tests and therefore are more familiar with, for the sake of just getting things over and done with?

 

[Leminnes]

i'm a lil dissappointed by the number of people voting this early on. have you all played every map (with appropriate numbers of players) already?
or are you picking the ones that you got a lot of chances to play during map tests and therefore are more familiar with, for the sake of just getting things over and done with?

Yeah, the servers have only been running for like 2 days. Is that really long enough to decide fully? :/

 

[Geal]

Yeah, the servers have only been running for like 2 days. Is that really long enough to decide fully? :/

I suppose it is, if the people who have voted have been playing the maps all 48 hours, with the server always good for 6v6~8v8.

OH WAIT

Edit for content:

We could ask people to arrange ALL the maps from best to worst, then choose the top 10-15 or something.

 

[Grim Tuesday]

Ya no, Im sure that abselutely no one here has a life in any shape or form. In fact, all they do is play TF2. 24/7. No sleeping. No shitting. No eating. Just TF2maps.net contests!

 

[Leminnes]

Ya no, Im sure that abselutely no one here has a life in any shape or form. In fact, all they do is play TF2. 24/7. No sleeping. No shitting. No eating. Just TF2maps.net contests!

I know this is sarcasm, but I'm confused at what your point is. Ezekel is saying that it'd be best to play the maps as much as you can for the majority of these week and THEN post their top 10. Otherwise, it just seems to me these people are judging by the few times they might've played the map in the past when it very well could've changed since then or voting for friends/favorites.

However, I might be wrong. perhaps these 2 pages of people are actually familiar with all 26 maps.

 

[Armadillo of Doom]

I believe everyone who has voted thus far has extensively play-tested these maps during development. Regardless, I'm going to lock this for now.