Mapping Contest

Ok Snarkpit is really quiet at the mo. so I've been thinking.

It has been almost a year since the last competition was pondered, Orpheus does need to do some more reviewing, and non of ye olde mappers seem to be mapping much.

What does everyone say to a 2004 mapping contest? And any ideas on a theme if yes?

I think a good theme could be a joint map, where you team up with another mapper to do a joint effort.

I could use some sort of motivation to map again, so why not?

I need motivation as well. The only DM map I've ever released was for the 2003 contest, so I need an excuse.

I voted number 2 simply because when you click the link to the mapping contest the page inst up yet :biggrin:

I would like a mapping contest again. I know last time we debated on the idea of joint mappers making a HL domination style map.

Personally, thats still my idea and I like it.

elbows Orph Maybe you outh to get re-aquintaded with VHE now :razz:

Yeah a non-prized contest could be cool, I'd be up for it. My coursework will all be over soon so if it started in about a month or so I'd be entirely free for it :smile:

Some potential themes...

Joint map 1 newcomer, 1 more experienced
The two mappers choose a theme, then the newcomer sets about building it. Once they have built the basic map, it is given to the experienced mapper, who puts in detail, plays with lighting, etc... They can't change the map greatly in terms of layout but they can spinkify the brushwork and so on. The map then goes back to the newcomer for weapon placement

I think it could be quite a cool theme, but the downside is that if one person in the team doesn't deliver (not necessarily their own fault, but if it turns out they didn't have the time they had hoped for or whatever) then it drags the other person down too. Its an inherent problem in team efforts unfortunately :sad:

Nostalgia
No custom resources can be used, meaning the mappers have to do the best they can with standard HL textures, sky maps, sound effects, etc...

Perhaps a bit of a boring contest, particularly for newcomers to mapping who do this anyway. I kinda only said it as I'm gonna be doing one anyway, not that I'd use it for the contest, its gonna be a really short project.

Can't really think of any more off the top of my head.

I'd like a new contest and a joint effort would suit me well as i've just got a new job and everything is quite hectic at the moment (what with moving into my own place etc).

In fact - i'd be tempted to offer to work with Orpheus, and hopefully patch a few gaps in the bridges we broke a while back :smile:

Adam Hawkins said:
In fact -

no sh?t?

A mapping contest would be nice, but with some entirely new, never before tried theme... (Which probably excludes "UBRE SCI_FI!!!1" and "ALINE INFESTAOINT!!")

Just a thought, we pick a photo of a "real world" place, put it up before hand, and incorporate this into a proper DM level. That would really be a challenge , both in finding a good pic and bulding a good playable DM level.

Adam Hawkins said:
In fact - i'd be tempted to offer to work with Orpheus, and hopefully patch a few gaps in the bridges we broke a while back :smile:

no bridges were broken adam, i was in a serious funk then is all..

i still hold to my beliefs, but also acknowledge that many share yours as well.

my one point now though for you to think on is this.. i do not recall what we disagreed on, so that alone should tell you two things, forgiven and forgotten.

Perhaps one where you have to evoke a scary type of atmosphere?

Or are limited to certain wads?

Or perhaps just the same contest last time?

Or just for a SP map? Or something.

how about, we take an existing map, such as..... snarkpit, and we improve it, alter it, retexture it....

/2 cents

I still stand by with Domination, its never been done before.

The last contest was certainly a good one - i'd more or less dropped out of mapping bar a few maps I'd been working on for ages for FLF, and the contest gave me a big boost in terms of creativity and ideas.

Without that competition, I think i'd still be doing the occasional industry/warehouse map and not a lot else.

In terms of variety though, I do think a different theme should be chosen this time round. I haven't a clue what though! Nothing too large-scale though! Some nice small arenas wouldn't go amiss :smile:

I quite like the idea of an atmospheric one. Something that scares you or makes you laugh a lot would be good. Something that gives a real impression of atmosphere and style.

The Black Mesa Challenge:

Take a part of the 'mesa we all know so well, and re-do it as a multiplayer map. No decompiling allowed. Just think of the possibilities...

dm_hazardcourse
ts_surfacetension
cs_lambdalabs

<!-- ZoneLabs Popup Blocking Insertion -->I voted number 2. BUT a mapping contest would be great!!! and that idea of wil5ons is a gd one, but what about the people who do not know it that well, i have never completed half life myself. :sad:

I've already done what Wilsons saying. And Fraggards idea of taking a picture and turning it into a map is almost identical to the last contest with the concept art...

I stand by Renos version of my pairing up idea or the atmospheric idea.

complexity must be limited guys.. its late, no one wants to dedicate massive effort into a map this late in the game.

with my inability to do MM's, i shy away from horror types..

i am sure others might for vastly different reasons, but i bet they still share my concerns.

If it needs to be complex then it needs to be!

Another good idea would be to create a map in a limited space. A certain restricting grid size that is uber small.

Now that's an idea I like (the small map in a predefined limited space) :smile:

Myrk- said:
I've already done what Wilsons saying.

Is there a dl link? :biggrin:

wil5on said:

Myrk- said:
I've already done what Wilsons saying.

Is there a dl link? :biggrin:

in his profile :heee:

Nothing mesa-related there...

EDIT: Oops... didnt see flowcore there. I'm tired, obviously :heee:

I'm def for the 2 mappers on team making a map. But I dont want a contest taking a real world location picture and mapping it. It was done in the last comp 'cept using concept art.

A Black Mesa sounds good. Again, I pester with Domination. ReNo's Nostalgia is also good 'cept with 2 mapper teams.

I like the idea of making maps with only original textures etc. Perhaps it might be a good test if you allowed maybe 5 custom items each, so 1 texture = 1 item, 1 skymap = 1 item, sound, sprite, etc. Most people seem to have forgotten that a lot of very nice maps were made with only the default textures.

Its a bit of a rip off, but perhaps we could try something like the Quake 3 geomod contest that always gets mentioned around here. Each mapper can choose only 5 or so textures max and must make a map entirely out of those. Taking it one step further, we could make it only flat colour textures (though perhaps then allow as many as the mapper wishes to use).

Its a bit of a rip off, but perhaps we could try something like the Quake 3 geomod contest that always gets mentioned around here. Each mapper can choose only 5 or so textures max and must make a map entirely out of those.

Now that's a good idea.

Kage_Prototype said:

Its a bit of a rip off, but perhaps we could try something like the Quake 3 geomod contest that always gets mentioned around here. Each mapper can choose only 5 or so textures max and must make a map entirely out of those.

Now that's a good idea.

You've got my vote. With all the fancy textures, we've started relying on them for making something nice. Using plain textures allow us to return to a simpler time.

Hows about mapping in teams of 2, using the above mentioned theme? Heck, then we can have it either DM, CTF, or DOM, maybe team DM.

Bah, you really want to do some op4 stuff dont you wild :razz: I think its simplest if we keep it HLDM only, it gets complicated if you start allowing more than one mod. I suppose DOM is doable in HLDM however, with some entity work...

I like the nostalgia idea ... working with a limited texture set might work ?ber-creative. And it gives the newcomers (looks at self) a chance too, without having to be blown away by experienced mappers using their own spinkified textures. :smile:

what about a tfc conc map? :biggrin:

DOM is doable in HL, takes alot of entities though. I did a test map once..

fishy said:
what about a tfc conc map? :biggrin:

isn't that another name for "killbox?"

<!-- ZoneLabs Popup Blocking Insertion -->Nostalagia FF????

I had a bit of an idea whilst chatting with Lep about retro.. relating to the "original textures" theme - I think thats a good plan as a base.

With the r_speed limits up, and time to reflect on the engine it could produce interesting results. Encourage abstract, or perhaps do the original stylings with more beauty - forgotten facilities of Black Mesa opens up a whole avenue of scientific treats for fun and games. Interesting also for teamplay modes?

Lep also suggested doing wrong dimensions - too big/small, or even upside down.

Obviously it could be rats style, or giants running around cities for instance. Escher for anybody daring enough to try it :razz: ReNo? :wink:

Just a few ideas to toy with..

And what's wrong with a bit of nostalgia? :wink:





I also like the idea of using only 5 textures (possibly flat shaded as suggested...), but I have to say that as i'm quite partial it! (dm_pulse, pacman/pacmanjr/mspacman & the aborted maps above).

I had a bit of an idea whilst chatting with Lep about retro.. relating to the "original textures" theme - I think thats a good plan as a base.

With the r_speed limits up, and time to reflect on the engine it could produce interesting results. Encourage abstract, or perhaps do the original stylings with more beauty - forgotten facilities of Black Mesa opens up a whole avenue of scientific treats for fun and games. Interesting also for teamplay modes?

Lep also suggested doing wrong dimensions - too big/small, or even upside down.

Obviously it could be rats style, or giants running around cities for instance. Escher for anybody daring enough to try it :razz: ReNo? :wink:

Just a few ideas to toy with..

I can't figure out if you are suggesting all of this as a contest, or as lots of possibilities for the contest Are you saying remakes of original HLSP areas? Or abstract? Or abstract remakes?

The wrong dimensions idea could be ok but I think rats maps are kinda lame personally. Not to knock folks who like them - to pull them off well takes heaps of skill and all - just not my cup of tea.

Yer I know what you mean Reno. Making them isn't all that fun either really. We need something fun to do.

Had a thought about the team mapping idea and tbh I'm not sure if its wise. Based on the speed of the SPLA map we'd need a 2 year later deadline!

Maybe we don't need a theme though. I know it would be hard to judge but these are for some going to be the last HL1 maps we make.

These are some good ideas. However, some of them don't seem enough for a 'contest' of sorts, but more or less general mapping. I like the flate shaded idea, the Black Mesa recreation stuff doesn't sound too fun to me ... just personally. HL gave me all the black mesa I could handle. Unless I can run through it again as a Black Ops agent, I don't want to. (Not implying that I'd be play testing these maps ).

I read this thread this morning before my first class and I've been thinking about it. What if, maybe not for this contest, if it became one. But what if there was a movie scene recreation contest. Choosing whatever mod you want, with obvious restrictions: The Lobby scene from the Matrix (TS), Omaha Beach from Saving Private Ryan (DoD). Basically things that have already been done. If you wanted to make it even more of a contest, it would be everyones rendition of a scene, but maybe not. These are just ideas though, not that anyone has to agree. I just think it'd be cool, especially the out come of the maps would be very interesting to see how close people can get them just using HL and it's mods.

But, a Nostalgia/Nintendo game recreation would be pretty cool, I personally like those maps (One of my favorite parts of Sven's Cartoon maps is the Mario section).

Teaming up would be difficult ... especially if you haven't worked with someone before, also, you'd have the chance that two incredibly experienced and skilled mappers get together and blow everyone else away. Unless there were designations of who did what ... I doubt it would be a fun process.

map contest? ... not for me, no? :rolleyes:
i saw a map contest here long ago... make a map from a picture... who won that contest?

It was Finger with his map "Broken Palace", and if you don't have it yet, run off and get it from his profile :razz:

I'd be up for one, only reinstalled hl about 10 mins ago. :smile: We didn't have any problems picking teams the last time around.

ReNo said:
It was Finger with his map "Broken Palace", and if you don't have it yet, run off and get it from his profile :razz:

ty ty, lol

I'm so going to enter this badboy!

I like the idea of teaming up with someone to make something though maybe we can pick our pairs or whatever.

s**t, its Mr.Ben

OWNED :sad:

I'm not down with the teaming up aspect of this. I would feel bad having a partner because I would drag them down with me when I inevitably take forever to complete my part. :sad:

However, I do think being forced to use the default textures is a good idea and trying to do something that breaks the mold a bit would be cool.

ReNo said:
s**t, its Mr.Ben

OWNED :sad:

Hehe it was only a joke, I was just meaning if he is entering, my chances are doomed. BUT I LIED! HE SHALL BOW DOWN!!!

Pfft, I'll just use my long and loyal friendship with Mr.Ben to my advantage and pair up with him!. Then who's laughing?!?!?!?