SnarkPit's 2008 Mini-Competition

Banner courtesy of Muhnay

Goals:
The goal for this competition is twofold:
e.g. You have a choice!

• Option 1: You may build a Half-Life 2 Deathmatch level based on a theme and within the restrictions.
  
  -OR-
• Option 2: You may build a 'scenic only' level where there is only a 'walkway' or 'hallway' for the player to progress through from start to end based on a theme and within the restrictions.

Rules and Explanation:
[*]For option 1: Choosing this option restricts you to building your map only in Half-Life 2 Deathmatch. Your are limited to only using Valve content from the following games: HL2; HL2dm; HL2ep1; or HL2ep2. No custom content!

• Your level must be contained in the source prefab called 'box.' You can find it under the prefabs category dropdownlist arrow using the 'entities' tool in Hammer. Or, you may download it here and extract it to your hard drive. If you cannot download it, or can't find the prefab, then you may construct it yourself with these dimensions: 672 units wide; 1136 units long; and 672 units tall.
• Your playable area must stay inside that box! You are allowed to have 'pits' and 'pools' beyond the bounds of the box, but no walkways that exceed the walls/ceiling/floor (your walls could be invisible too). You cannot build a 3D skybox either. Because these maps will be compiled together at the end, it will be too confusing having to figure out how all the 3D skyboxes can work with one another.)
• You must have at least one info_player_rebel and one info_player_combine. You may have no more than two for each. (this isn't a very large box!)
• You must have at least one entrance and one exit for your box. Reason being these 'box levels' will be compiled together into one larger level at the end of this competition, and they need to be connected. Your entrances and exits could be a door, or a whole wall, but they need to be indicated by placing a single 'skybox' or 'nodraw' texture within a 'frame' of some sort to make it apparent there is a door there that leads nowhere. You may have as many entrances and exits as you'd like but be aware that they may not all be used when they are being assembled with other 'box levels.'

[*]For option 2: Choosing this option allows you to build you map in ANY of the following games: HL2; HL2dm; HL2ep1; or HL2ep2. Regardless of which game you build in, you can still only use content from any of the same games. (e.g. you could use HL2ep2 content in HL2ep1 game). Still, there is no custom content allowed!

• With this option, you must build a 'walkway' or path (doesn't have to be a strait line) that goes from one end of your 'box level' to another, but it must exit through a different door than where it starts. The player cannot leave the 'walkway.' You can prevent the player from leaving the path in several different ways. You can make it so that if they player did jump off, they would be instantly killed, or pushed back onto the 'walkway', or you could have a closed-in hallway (imagine an underwater tube with glass windows) where simple walls do the trick. Regardless of how you restrict the player, you need to make a scene outside of the 'walkway' or path that symbolizes your theme and a way to view it from within the 'walkway' -if the 'walkway' is closed-in. It could be interactive if you wanted (e.g. a button could make something move in the scene or change the pathway the player walks on). But the scene nor pathway can exceed the 'box dimensions.'
• Your level must be contained in the source prefab called 'box.' You can find it under the prefabs category dropdownlist arrow using the 'entities' tool in Hammer. Or, you may download it here and extract it to your hard drive. If you cannot download it, or can't find the prefab, then you may construct it yourself with these dimensions: 672 units wide; 1136 units long; and 672 units tall.
• Your playable area must stay inside that box! You are allowed to have 'pits' and 'pools' beyond the bounds of the box, but no walkways that exceed the walls/ceiling/floor (your walls could be invisible too). You cannot build a 3D skybox either. Because these maps will be compiled together at the end, it will be too confusing having to figure out how all the 3D skyboxes can work with one another.)
• [UPDATE! (COPIED FROM 'OPTION 1')]:You must have at least one entrance and one exit for your box. Reason being these 'box levels' will be compiled together into one larger level at the end of this competition, and they need to be connected. Your entrances and exits could be a door, or a whole wall, but they need to be indicated by placing a single 'skybox' or 'nodraw' texture within a 'frame' of some sort to make it apparent there is a door there that leads nowhere. You may have as many entrances and exits as you'd like but be aware that they may not all be used when they are being assembled with other 'box levels.'
• Your level can only have one info_player_start. (This entity is available in all the games listed above).
• You may not use any entities that begin with the prefix: 'npc_'. (The maps will all be compiled into HL2dm after the competition and npcs do not work in HL2dm).

General Info:

• title your maps as so: spmc2_your_forum_name.bsp.
• You have a couple of upload options:
  [list=1]
• You may zip up your BSP file AND VMF file then e-mail it to: riven (at) genecy.net NOTE: your zip file cannot be larger than 25 MB otherwise I will not receive it. Make sure you include your theme in the e-mail!
• If your zip file is too big to e-mail, then you may upload your entry to FileFront.com. After it's uploaded you may either copy the download link they give you and e-mail me that link through the same address, or, if you don't mind others downloading your map early, you can post that link in this thread too.

[/list]

• HDR is optional and not required.
• All entries are due by: September 7 @ 11:59pm YOUR TIMEZONE! (and I won't mind if you upload it a couple hours later
• You are allowed to post WIP screenshots and playtest links in this thread, and you may even start a map profile for it if you wish.

Voting:

• Voting will be based on how well your map symbolizes your theme. Both options 1 and 2 will be stacked together under the same voting rules. Also keep in mind, how well crafted your map looks and if you used the Valve content creatively.

Feel free to ask me any questions about the competition in this thread! I'll be happy to answer them as soon as I can! And FYI, I'll be joining this one for sure!

Any updates will be highlighted in purple.

Good Luck to all!

-Riven

I'm in.. This should be fun.

OMG! Thanks for the heads up, I already have 2 days less than you guys :swear:.

I'll do my best, but I can't start until tomorrow.

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Aaron's Stuff

I might just give this a try, got some time to waste anyway.

Nice job on the guidelines Riven! It would have taken me until Sept 7 just to put that together.

I'm cursing now that I'm neck-deep into this
plus a long weekend road trip...

Looking forward to whatever happens though

I'm in.
Seeing how you will be compiling them together shouldn't there be a rule on extensive 3d skyboxes?

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Reality has become a commodity.

Alright, I've started my entry, the basic gemoetry, as well as semi accurate texturing and probably the finished lighting is up, I should deffinaetly be done by the deadline.

I have a question though, what if two or more entries have water? It'd be a shame to have to make the water func_water_analog .

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Aaron's Stuff

RedWood said:
"Seeing how you will be compiling them together shouldn't there be a rule on extensive 3d skyboxes?"

Yes, there is! >>3rd Bullet under "Rules and Explanation":

Rules and Explanation said:
"You cannot build a 3D skybox either. Because these maps will be compiled together at the end, it will be too confusing having to figure out how all the 3D skyboxes can work with one another.)"

^That goes for both options

aaron_da_killa said:
"what if two or more entries have water? It'd be a shame to have to make the water func_water_analog :cry:."

Cool thing about water in Source is that you CAN have different levels of water in the same map so long as they cannot 'see' one another (e.g. they are in different visleafs that are cut off by an appropriate solid brush or tools texture! -So don't worry about how your water will interact with other people's maps; feel free to do whatever with water!

[EDIT] I forgot to copy the 'entrances rule' to option 2 since it still applies there as well. The update is highlighted in purple and reads:

UPDATE! said:
"[*]You must have at least one entrance and one exit for your box. Reason being these 'box levels' will be compiled together into one larger level at the end of this competition, and they need to be connected. Your entrances and exits could be a door, or a whole wall, but they need to be indicated by placing a single 'skybox' or 'nodraw' texture within a 'frame' of some sort to make it apparent there is a door there that leads nowhere. You may have as many entrances and exits as you'd like but be aware that they may not all be used when they are being assembled with other 'box levels.'

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Blog: www.playingarchitecture.net
LinkedIn: Eric Lancon
Twitter:@Riven202

You sure you didn't add that in afterword or did i really miss that.

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Reality has become a commodity.

-Yea, I'm pretty sure

With all that text for the rules, it's real easy to get lost. You can imagine what it looked like with just BBcode in a textbox! But it was worth it!

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Blog: www.playingarchitecture.net
LinkedIn: Eric Lancon
Twitter:@Riven202

Anybody else started their entry?

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Aaron's Stuff

Ya. I got mine started. I got the base lay out done and it looking promising. I went with HL2DM by the way.

I don't know about you guys but i will be compiling using HDR. A thought comes to mind. Shouldn't there be a preset tonemapcontroler so they are not conflicting in our maps. I'd hate to have my lighting messed up when it is compiled into the larger map.
The same thing goes for the environment light. Should we have a set color?

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Reality has become a commodity.

RedWood said:
"Shouldn't there be a preset tonemapcontroler so they are not conflicting in our maps."

Actually, I know for a fact, that env_tonemapcontrollers can be 'switched' while in-game by any kind of trigger! Just like color correction, env_tonemapcontrollers can fade into one another as you move from box to box. The real problem will be making every box HDR friendly. It's something that's not impossible, but will be time consuming nevertheless.

And also, about the env_light and skybox textures. Obviously there can only be one of each, so what might end up happening is we might either have to decide on a single skybox texture, and or use the 'dome' model from HL2 (or make a scaled down version of it) and apply separate sky textures so that they only cover those boxes that use skies. -If that makes any sense. Honestly, I didn't think about it But I'm sure we'll come up with something! For now, don't worry about it, and build your map the way you want (within the restrictions of course).

Keep the questions coming!

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Blog: www.playingarchitecture.net
LinkedIn: Eric Lancon
Twitter:@Riven202

I would like to participate with this competition, could someone be so kind as to lend help in compiling while I lay out lights? (vrad had deadly problems of which i can find no resolution to fix ) I would very much apperciate this.

Your having huge vrad compile times? How long? It your compile times are excessive, maybe you have an error on your map or your doing something wrong.

If its legitimately long (you have no errors, just complex lighting and complex geometry), than just compile with "fast" rad or no rad at all, leave the final rad compile till the end.

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Aaron's Stuff

No, its different, I have a help thread up in the half life 2 editing section. Theres pictures and better description there if you think you can help me thread is called "Strange Compile Problems"

I wish I could make a HL map for the competition.

tnkqwe said:
I wish I could make a HL map for the competition. smiley

Yeah, maybe out next competition could incorporate source and goldsource. Still though, you could make an entry for this in Half-life 1 just for fun and we could critique it anyway ;), check out the dimensions and finish it by Sep 07.

Anyway, just letting you guys know, I'm using the "sky_day01_09" skybox in my map .

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Aaron's Stuff

Hello, I was wondering if i could make more than one map?

Why of course! You sure can; it will increase your chances of winning too!

Well, my map is pretty much complete, I'm just tweaking the ambient sound and experimenting with the cubemaps.

I have a question though Do we post images and the theme of our entries in this thread on the day? I think it would be awesome to see the explosion (if that many folks have entered) of entries .

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Aaron's Stuff

Well, like I said, you're free to post screen shots of your map(s) anytime in order to receive feedback. If you have screen shots to post go ahead and post in this thread ASAP! I would actually prefer you post them in this thread than in the 'maps' forum. It will allow people to see what others are doing!

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Blog: www.playingarchitecture.net
LinkedIn: Eric Lancon
Twitter:@Riven202

I have nothing.. I am stumped, I have never mapped for any of these games so I dont think I will have an entry. Sorry.

I've got something coming along, unfortunately I could only manage to upload one picture without getting any errors.
[IMG]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v685/natus/spc0020.jpg[/IMG]

Very...dynamic.

That maps in the tiny dev box?

Looks good.

Cool stuff there Natus! I can see there are still some dev textures showing, but I imagine you've got the gameplay down. Also, I'm assuming this is for option 1 (deathmatch level)? Looks pretty bare ATM though, What's the setting? -And better yet, what's the theme?? -If you don't mind me asking?

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Blog: www.playingarchitecture.net
LinkedIn: Eric Lancon
Twitter:@Riven202

Looks cool Natus :), very intriguing, I wonder what it could be?

Riven said:
Well, like I said, you're free to post screen shots of your map(s) anytime in order to receive feedback. If you have screen shots to post go ahead and post in this thread ASAP! I would actually prefer you post them in this thread than in the 'maps' forum. It will allow people to see what others are doing!

Sweet, I'm going to hold off posting screenshots of my map until the the entries are due, kinda wanna keep this one a secret, its nothing special though .

muhany said:
I have nothing.. I am stumped, I have never mapped for any of these games so I dont think I will have an entry. Sorry.

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Aaron's Stuff

Well, I'd like to say I've been working diligently, but that would be an overstatement. Instead, I've been working under two conditions: When I've had time, and when I've felt like it. With those two conditions met, I've been able to produce these heavy WIP screenshots: As you can see, I'm still using dev textures, but hopefully I'll be able to make this level a lot prettier. I'm trying to get the 'mechanics' working first. The screenshots don't do it much justice because there are a lot of moving parts which my theme required. And because I'm doing option two there will be no weapons, but there will be an interesting 'walkway' of sorts that will be able to change positions and lock.

If you can guess my 'theme' I'll give you a cookie!

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Blog: www.playingarchitecture.net
LinkedIn: Eric Lancon
Twitter:@Riven202

Those are lookin' real nice guys. I was scheming something along the lines of yours actually, Riven But the timing of this event has been very poor for me, I'm bummed that I'm missing it

Yeah I was trying to do a laserTag thing for mine.. That looks real good Riven!

Riven said:
If you can guess my 'theme' I'll give you a cookie!

Gearbox/inside a clock!!

Looks really cool man, very original and fun. Its sort of like an obstacle course. This reminds me of the "Tick Tock Clock" level from Super Mario.

I feel tempted to post some images of my entry but I think I'll hold off until its due .

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Aaron's Stuff

Here is my entry (nice widescreen shots :D):

[URL=http://img329.imageshack.us/my.php?image=snarkpitcomp0049uw6.jpg][IMG]http://img329.imageshack.us/img329/8576/snarkpitcomp0049uw6.th.jpg[/IMG][/URL] [URL=http://img222.imageshack.us/my.php?image=snarkpitcomp0050qc0.jpg][IMG]http://img222.imageshack.us/img222/8361/snarkpitcomp0050qc0.th.jpg[/IMG][/URL] [URL=http://img230.imageshack.us/my.php?image=snarkpitcomp0051xp4.jpg][IMG]http://img230.imageshack.us/img230/3126/snarkpitcomp0051xp4.th.jpg[/IMG][/URL]

[URL=http://img371.imageshack.us/my.php?image=snarkpitcomp0052vh7.jpg][IMG]http://img371.imageshack.us/img371/5952/snarkpitcomp0052vh7.th.jpg[/IMG][/URL] [URL=http://img230.imageshack.us/my.php?image=snarkpitcomp0053pd7.jpg][IMG]http://img230.imageshack.us/img230/900/snarkpitcomp0053pd7.th.jpg[/IMG][/URL]

An ominous dusk at the Northern Petroleum Facility. Ready your weapon, nightfall is imminent…

I choose to do option 1, a small team multiplayer map. Combine team spawn in the narrow building while rebel team spawn at the bottom. Weapons on the map are one smg with ammo, a shogun with ammo in that narrow white building and a health kit and battery near the respawning explosive oil drum.

Just remember, as I choose option 1, a team deathmatch map, this map needs to be played in ‘team’ mode. I guess you guys will be able to play it if you feel so inclined when Riven posts the download link.

Good luck to the other competitors .

Very Nice Aaron.. you have just proven to me how much I still suck at this. I am impressed.

Note - your lights is Screenshot 2, are not on, maybe change the skin if you can so they dont look off but have light coming from them.

Yeah looks great, can't wait to run through it

I'm curious how the 700-lb concrete pipe got in that hole though :P

Looks great Aaron, surely looks better than my entry, you're definitely more determined than I, or maybe you just don't have a shitload of homework taking up all your sparetime.

Ah, thanks so much guys :).

In regards to Muhnay's comment, I can't make any changes, already emailed the bsp and the vmf file to Riven :cry:. About the concrete pipe, I guess it was dumped there by the careless folks who work at the facility :hee:. And shit yeah, I have heaps of annoying homework, I have the preliminary exams starting this Friday, an assignment due next week, and just finished an English Speech (No palm cards allowed :() I guess I was just lucky that both my weekends during the comp where relatively quiet. Don't you hate how stuff is so darn time consuming?

Anyways, just looked at the World Time application on my phone, and it seems that most of the US and all of Europe has now entered 08/09 (dd/mm), so the entries should be posted by Riven in the next day or two, lookin froward to playing them .

Yea, great job on your entry aaron; looks really detailed!

-I'll be posting a voting thread in the next 48 hours or so. People who still have an entry can still e-mail them to me (even though in about 1 hour, the entire world will be on Monday or Tuesday) -but I will take late entries, no questions asked. So far we have four and they're all really cool! I'm giving an extra day to work on your entry if you still have one!

-Good luck!

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Blog: www.playingarchitecture.net
LinkedIn: Eric Lancon
Twitter:@Riven202

Riven said:
Yea, great job on your entry aaron; looks really detailed!

Thanks

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Aaron's Stuff