Minor Contest #1: Pick It Up!

Idolon

they/them
aa
Feb 7, 2008
2,105
6,104
pick_it_up_banner02.jpg

Banner art by 14Bit and background/typography by Freyja. Based on promotional artwork for Pick It Up! Ska In The 90s.


One of the major complaints about our previous contest was that it was not long enough. To address this, we're taking inspiration from the frantic energy and raw punk spirit of Ska music, and making this contest even shorter.

You have just one month to make a map (gameplay only!) - specifically, you must abide by the first Commandment of Ska and "Pick It Up!" by including pickups of some kind - flags, cores, Passtime jacks, whatever. Stock gamemodes and custom ones are both welcome.

Rules
  • You must make a 'standard' map that runs without any server modifications or plugins.
    • Detailing is not required or advised.
    • Your map must be able to accommodate for a standard amount of players. This means a minimum of 16 spawn points per team for standard maps.
    • Your map must be fully functional; meaning it includes objectives, spawn points, is fully lit and both teams can reasonably win.
    • MvM entries will not be judged.
  • Your map must contain pickups in some capacity.
    • Pickups should be important to the gamemode. Anticipate low scores if your gamemode tries to skirt around this requirement.
    • If you aren't sure what constitutes a pickup or not, ask!
    • No, health and ammo pickups don't count. (Unless you can make a convincing case.)
  • Maps may be no older than four days before the date and time of this post.
    • We didn't do a very good job of announcing the contest in advance, so we've added a bit of leniency.
  • Judges, contest organizers, and those otherwise involved directly in judging cannot win any prizes or place in the top 3.
  • Limit one entry per person.
    • This only applies to people who work on the map in Hammer. If you are only an asset contributor, you may be a contributor on as many maps as you like.
Custom Content

We do not expect these rules to come into play due to the nature of this contest. However, here they are just in case:
  • Each map can have a team of four collaborators. A collaborator is someone who has contributed to the map either via work in Hammer, or through the contribution of custom assets.
  • Only two members of a team are allowed to work on the map in Hammer. All other collaborators must be asset contributors.
  • People are only considered asset contributors if their custom content has not been released to the public within two weeks of the contest start.
    • The deadline used to be the contest start, but gamemode prefabs are particularly useful for this contest.
Deadline
  • The contest begins as of this post.
  • The contest ends May 18th, 2020, 11:59 PM (23:59) GMT.
    • That's about one month from now.
    • That's not very long!
    • The deadline used to be May 11th but has been pushed back due to technical issues with our servers that made map development more difficult.
  • An upload thread will be created about a week before the deadline. You must post your map in this thread to submit your map.
    • You may do whatever you want with your map before then. It is highly encouraged to upload your map and have players test it before the deadline so you can get feedback and improve your map.
  • You will be given 48 hours after the deadline to fix any bugs that crop up. After that, no more updates.
    • If you discover a bug with your final submitted version, you have the option of reverting to an older version of the map, provided that it is already uploaded to TF2Maps.net and/or our game servers.
Scoring

Maps will be scored on the basis of how much fun they are to play, and on their relevancy to the theme (pickups). Detailing is not a required component of this contest. However, aesthetics still do play a role in how well a map plays. Lighting cues can tell players what routes they should use, and a cleaner or more professional looking alpha will always feel better to play than a sloppily constructed one. Keep these things in mind when designing your maps!

Voting will be one big public round with no official judges. Scoring will be a hybrid between numerical scores and ranked voting. Everyone will provide numerical scores, which will then be turned into ranked lists and then fed into a Single Transferable Vote system to determine the winner. This should provide the fairness of ranked voting while also providing us with the juicy statistics of numerical voting.

This also means that you may not score two maps the same. You must pick your favorites! In the interest of making this easier, scores will be 0-100. Anyone who scores two maps the same will have their votes thrown out. Everyone must also vote for at least 75% of the maps to have their vote counted.

Prizes

1st place will get a Mapper's Medallion. The top three will get a pick from our prize pool of game keys.

Links

Gamemode prefabs:
CTF Door Systems
Invade CTF (symmetrical, one neutral flag)
PD Prefab
CTF Arena
SD Arena
Attack / Defend Passtime
 
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Another Bad Pun

In the shadows, he saw four eyes lit by fire
aa
Jan 15, 2011
801
1,844
One of the major complaints about our previous contest was that it was not long enough. To address this, we're taking inspiration from the frantic energy and raw punk spirit of Ska music, and making this contest even shorter.

I have no complaints this time
 

SnickerPuffs

(*single chuckle*)
aa
Apr 10, 2014
1,314
1,856
Wait, we have only a month?! That's faster than any map I've ever finished. If I can see this through I'll probably feel like Superman, but still. I'm a fan of hard contests, but having only a month to make a semi-finished map is one step beyond. I can already tell that I'll be saying "shit fuck dammit dammit" a lot, that much is true.
 

Aapelikaeki

L3: Member
Feb 24, 2018
148
135
This contest has a lovely chaotic vibe to it.
Good luck everyone!
 

Kube

Not the correct way to make lasagna
aa
Aug 31, 2014
1,342
1,849
wow, time to bring back Capture the KotH

(great contest approach, best of luck everyone!!)
 

McLovin

L2: Junior Member
May 25, 2017
55
66
Welp. I already listen to Streetlight Manifesto and Operation Ivy to get stuff done fast. Guess I'll put it on 2x speed.
 

Mess About

L7: Fancy Member
Jan 16, 2017
404
178
i've been working on a ctf map for exactly 4 days before this announcement, lucky me

also goodluck everybody else
 

Idolon

they/them
aa
Feb 7, 2008
2,105
6,104
Update: Rules previously stated that content had to be released to the public prior to the contest start in order for the creator to not count as a contributor. This has been bumped back to two weeks after contest start to help facilitate the sharing of gamemode prefabs.
 

r0nii

Banned
Mar 16, 2019
200
23
wait i am dumb? i started a map but you can't pickup the cart ;-;

edit: i mean i started payload map.

edit5: can i make object destruction map? (taking pick up and bringing it to enemy base before explode)
 
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Idolon

they/them
aa
Feb 7, 2008
2,105
6,104
wait i am dumb? i started a map but you can't pickup the cart ;-;

edit: i mean i started payload map.

edit5: can i make object destruction map? (taking pick up and bringing it to enemy base before explode)

If the map uses flags, cores, jacks, or any similar mechanic, you're in the clear.
 

Idolon

they/them
aa
Feb 7, 2008
2,105
6,104
Question for entrants: How many people have been held up on map development due to technical issues? Our servers (especially US) have been acting up recently, dropping feedback, dropping demo files, etc. and I am considering extending the deadline to compensate.
 

Another Bad Pun

In the shadows, he saw four eyes lit by fire
aa
Jan 15, 2011
801
1,844
Question for entrants: How many people have been held up on map development due to technical issues? Our servers (especially US) have been acting up recently, dropping feedback, dropping demo files, etc. and I am considering extending the deadline to compensate.

yes
 

half

aa
Feb 15, 2015
69
19
my demos got eaten twice and my feedback once, so I'd appreciate any form of deadline extension
 

SnickerPuffs

(*single chuckle*)
aa
Apr 10, 2014
1,314
1,856
If the decision is made to extend the deadline, we shouldn't get too much time. This is supposed to be a fast contest, even though the technical issues we've been having prevented us from getting the most out of it.

I think anywhere between 5-10 days is the perfect amount imo.