I'll write the brief up on the front page along with suggestions for
what people can make for their entry - I just have one more thing to
clarify before we launch

2 Weeks is an acceptable time frame for all to adhere to? Starting from 3rd February.

Got my vote on the timeframe.

BRB gotta run to the store.

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The best things in life, aren't things.

You?d better not ask. :biggrin:

Of course, 4 weeks sounds nicer and more relaxed but a stricter time frame probably helps this competition to get going. I?d say being brutal and keeping this down to 2 weeks is better for motivation. Good idea to make it short.

I think it would be better to decide this non-democratically. There is a very good reason for keeping this 2 weeks and that?s hard to see from an individual standpoint. (even I am tempted to say 4 weeks but I know 2 would be better for the general outcome)

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Why snark works.

So... we have to make a door? Sorry, I didn't follow the competition thread.

I dunno about you guys, but I have one exactly like the one on our old chicken coop. :eek:

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The best things in life, aren't things.

I agree on the two weeks idea, four weeks might cause some to flake out before the competition is over, besides, it is a mini competition.

---

Also change the texture of the dock. Docks are rarely tile. -Facepunch
As I Lay Dying

Two weeks is a bit tight schedule, four seems a bit too long for a mini comp... How about three weeks? A neat little compromise. :smile: And where should I look for the rules and such?

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''Everyone wades in s**t until they're competent enough to walk on it. Jesus style.''
Dystopia - Empires

Sorry for the delays, i've had a full schedule what with the Rugby
returning this weekend and college work being mounted upon me, plus
nightime socialising. Full rules, time constraints and all other
details will be posted tomorrow!

whispers

You know, I used to be one of those guys who wondered wtf it took so long to get competitions rolling, until I held one of my own.

No ones griping Gwil. School takes precedence. I'd rather you waited and posted something coherent, than rush into a half thought out "thing".

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The best things in life, aren't things.

Yes, let's not forget that 2 weeks literally translates as 2 weekends.

2 weekends is more than enough time, Andrei!

Here is the brief:

Mini-Competition #1: The Doors

The first competition for 2007 is a short and sweet challenge for the
creative mind. Doors are an integral part of single player - creating
mood and atmosphere, fear and anticipation at what lies behind it!
Certainly this is helped when the door looks good and functions in an
impressive way - the entrance to Anomalous Materials was simple touches
which raised a humble two part door to an integral part of the scene.

This is what we aim for now. Your task is to create 2 rooms joined by a
single corridor, with a door at either end. Mappers will be rewarded
for the effort and thought put into their door.

Perhaps you will follow the classic Half-Life example and have a
trussed and mechanical door guarding the entrance to a laboratory - or
follow a different tack altogether, and have a medieval portcullis
operated by clever use of physics and counter-weights? The brief is
wide open, and many games will be accepted (all Half Life genus) - so
you don't need to feel cramped by Source.

Time Limitations: To be entered for 19th February 2007, by 12AM GMT

Size Limitations: None, except as listed below.

Custom Content Limitations: Custom textures are allowed, props/sounds/models are not.

Engine Limitations: Half Life, Half Life 2, Counter-Strike, Counter-Strike: Source, Day of Defeat, Day of Defeat: Source

The only template you have to follow is as follows -



The rooms and corridoor size are not restricted, they are at your
discretion and relevant to the size of the doors. The doors can be the
same or different, it's up to you - however, there must be 2.

If you have any queries, and for details of where to send your completed entry, please reply to this thread.

I'm trying to enter this one. I'm not sure if I'll have enough time, but I'll try to fit it among other things(school mainly). :razz: I think I'm either going for Medieval or Industrial thing, once again with the original HL. There isn't enough time to learn Source entities.

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''Everyone wades in s**t until they're competent enough to walk on it. Jesus style.''
Dystopia - Empires

Ok, i'm in, although I have to admit I haven't got a clue what i'm going to be making.

doors sounds easy. but you guys make it sound hard. what is it then?

Gwill, why don't you make your last post the first post?

Well then. Without having opened Hammer in a number of months, here I go!

i'll see if i can get something together, when is to late?

February 19th.

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Also change the texture of the dock. Docks are rarely tile. -Facepunch
As I Lay Dying

Yep :smile:

Are custom prop-based doors admissible? Or just brush-based?

---

o

No prop based doors (unless it's a default prop used in the construction)

hmph..

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i eat paint

fishy said:
hmph..

I was thinking something similar. No, not because I wanted to make one, but I was curious how many would.

I am glad that Gwil clarified the answer to no because if someone went through a s**tload of trouble to make a door model, they sure would be mad to not be able to submit it.

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The best things in life, aren't things.

---

i eat paint

Sorry Fish.

My bad. :/

---

The best things in life, aren't things.

Can we submit more than one entry? (Consisting of two doors)

---

Also change the texture of the dock. Docks are rarely tile. -Facepunch
As I Lay Dying

No prop based doors (unless it's a default prop used in the construction)

Good to know.

if someone went through a s**tload of trouble to make a door model, they sure would be mad to not be able to submit it.

You can bet your ass I would not be a happy camper.

What will the naming convention be for completed entries? Might I suggest <username>_spmc1

---

o

Yes, you can have one more than one entry per person.

I also carry the motion of username_spmc1.

Just to note, i've decided against custom props because it could
alienate our members not using the Source engine and those without
modelling skills. Perhaps to make you all happy again the next
competition will be props :smile:

I'm definitely excited for this one, Its a perfect little project that I could complete and feel proud about now amongst the larger projects im working on that won't be complete for sometime.

Great idea! Count me in.

---

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

As i'm super generous, and I agree that perhaps 2 weekends isn't enough
for the busiest of our busy bee Snarkpitters, the competition has been
extended to the 26th of February.

Entries in by 00:00 26th of February (GMT)

Oh noes, my over-ambitious plan turned out to be a total failure. I might try and think of something more classic but fun that I could finish Sunday.

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Why snark works.

Entries in to be by the end of Sunday night/Monday morning, 00:00GMT.<br style="font-weight: bold;">
<br style="font-weight: bold;">
Please zip your entry, include a readme with your details and email entries to

<br style="color: limegreen;">
<div style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: limegreen;">snarkpitserver@gmail.com - Subject Line: "Doors Competition"</span>

</div>



<div style="text-align: center;">GOOD LUCK EVERYONE!

</div>

Just bsp, or should we include a vmf too?

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Also change the texture of the dock. Docks are rarely tile. -Facepunch
As I Lay Dying

Just bsp is fine.

Sadly due to the exam weeks I didn't have enough time to finish either of my original plans and I don't have time to make final save anymore. Back to cramming into exams. :sad:

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''Everyone wades in s**t until they're competent enough to walk on it. Jesus style.''
Dystopia - Empires

I put this off way too much, I'm scrambling to get my entry finished, I'll send whatever I've got in 1hr45m :eek:

---

o

Same here, except im expecting to need 6 hours. Heh, I already asked Gwil, haven't gotten a responce yet...

EDIT: I'm trying to get this map and the school newspaper finished tonight at the same time :razz:

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

I'm accepting leeway for US timezones - so if entries arent there for 6 AM GMT, they will not be accepted.

I'm a generous sort :smile:

I'll make an announcement on Friday regarding the entrants and when the
winners will be announced. In the meantime, everyone get their thinking
caps on for the theme of Competition #2.

Lightpoles?

Puzzles?

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

Elevators?

---

Elon Yariv

Traps finally?

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''Everyone wades in s**t until they're competent enough to walk on it. Jesus style.''
Dystopia - Empires

Sorry sorry - I will get to this ASAP, been a bit busy of late. Traps is looking likely for the next one, btw!

I have been remiss in my obligations to this idea. I will now view the 3 entries and post something soonish.

---

The best things in life, aren't things.

This is going to take some doing cause:

Baron = wow

Riven = Oh WOW

Stadric = OMG FORKIN WOW!

I will post some screens and comments soon. I have dozens of pics to upload.

[EDIT]

I would like to apologize in advance. In my excitement of seeing these, I completely forgot to optimize these screens. Yes, they are still small, but not "Orpheus" small. For that I am truly sorry. There are 95 pictures that I uploaded and really don't want to have to do them a second time.

Again, I am sorry for any inconvenience.

I will post my thoughts with the accompanying pics soonish.

For now, content yourselves with the zip files of the entries. I dunno exactly how Gwil intended these be distributed but I see no harm in making them available since the time period has long since expired. BE FOREWARNED: Rivens entry borks my computer badly. I managed to get a few screens but there is a serious error in the map. Be prepared to alt/tab out.

Stadric

Riven

BvSnickers

[EDIT2] All entries are HL2

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The best things in life, aren't things.

Hey,<br style="color: white;">

<br style="color: white;">

I have played around the 3 maps, and I should say, the 3 of them are amazing !!<br style="color: white;">

<br style="color: white;">

<ul style="color: white;">[*] I liked Baron's way of creating these doors plus the architecture..
[*] I liked the war-space-strange-suspense atmosphere in Riven's map... Plus the doors..
[*] I liked the architecture as well as the creative way of Stadric to build that kind of door ...
</ul>

All in all, they're all definitely hard worked on, and deserve nice congrats ^^

Good work guys..

---

For the second competition, how about creating a destroyed Wall-Building-Structure...
BUT not any normal clipped broken wall, something like that :

http://www.lewrockwell.com/wall/bu106.jpg
http://www1.istockphoto.com/file_thumbview_approve/582581/2/istockphoto_582581_broken_wall_pipe.jpg
http://www.ashanet.org/toledo/tsunami/photos/nagapattinam/visit2/pics/Nagapatinnam-02.jpg

http://www.nationalgeographic.com/forcesofnature/interactive/resources/large_img/bam_06.jpg


Plus a war-like atmosphere with explosions and smoke an oooooo i love that !!!

---

.::Dark|Masta::. - One name. One legend.

[size=16][color=red][EDIT][/size] [/color]I edited this more than half a dozen times just to get it this good. I am sorry that its so long but the damned code for the pictures kept borking out and ruining my thumbs. Just deal with it please.

[size=16][color=red][EDIT2][/size] My apologies for not representing Rivens map in the best possible way. I had no clue that it was supposed to be run in Single Player mode. The text file omitted that. Still, no one is supposed to just look at my screens anyway. download and judge for yourselves. Scoring adjusted.[/color]



Snickers Entry: Baron's doors are pretty straight forward. That however doesn't diminish their looks nor

their functionality. The doors had plenty of action as well as sounds.

Door number one: Is made up of three parts. The upper two roll upward, and the lower one scrolls straight down. Here are a couple shots showing it.



Door number two: is made up of three uniquely shaped parts. The two upper pieces move horizontal from each other while part number three slides down.

Two shots from the hall...



And three more from within room number two.





My only comment in a negative way was its lacking in texturing. A map this tiny wouldn't have taken 5 minutes to slap on something. The lighting was dark, but, the lighting as with the textures wasn't part of the competition so no penalty for

them.

My score 7/10

Riven's entry: I admit up front that I couldn't see the entire setup because of the glitch. That said, it is entirely possible that this map could have won the competition because it had the most to offer. As near as I could tell, it had a series of events all going in sequence from door number 1 opening to map shaking ordeals to a scripted sequence involving a wall blowing apart. The map always locked up when the wall burst so I am unsure what follows. However the details I saw told me that a lot of time and effort went into this creation. As I said, the creativity could have won it, but the glitch sadly ruined the effort.

Door number one: As you can see from these five shots not only was the door closing, but something elsewhere was occurring due to the spikes in the graph shown. I could hear a lot of stuff and the floor was shaking.






Door number 2:

As you will notice in these three shots, something is going on at the other end. I had to reload the map twice, just to get these three pictures. You will note the weapons being different. Screen one was before it locked up, screen number 2 was the second loading right before it locked up and screen three was just preceding the second lockup. Seconds after shot three the wall bursts and the map borks, so I assume the action is at that end.





My score is a 9/10

Stadric's entry: This set gets my vote as winner. Its not the most complex of the three, but it does have the advantage of being the best viewed ingame. I ran this sequence about a dozen times before I even started looking to take screenshots because of its eye catchiness. Somehow it just makes you want to press that button.

Door number 1: This set consists of four triangular parts folding outward. Sadly, this set doesn't reset so you must re-start the map to get it to do so. Its anti-climactic when you first see it because you have no idea what the second door does yet. However, since I took 31 screens of door number 2, you'll understand why after seeing it ingame.




Door number 2:This door, even though I took a s**tload of pictures must be seen ingame. The unique features speak that much. The rest of the map is lacking anything noteworthy.











From the other room:








And finally a third angle:








[

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The best things in life, aren't things.

I'm quite impressed with the entries! I hope this will be a motivation for more mappers to participate in the next competition (*cough*likeme*cough*).

Also Orpheus, are you sure you haven't run Riven's map in HL2DM?(!) I saw a fight between an antlion guards and rebels and a second door that looks like some security capsule/cannon/escape-pod... plus experienced no bugs at all on my broken and very bug-vulnerable PC.

For me, Riven clearly won this. I made sure to not getting carried away by the decoration but although Stadric's and Snicker's maps have awesome entity set-ups and interesting concepts, Riven's map actually integrated the doors in a little storyline which did it for me.

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Why snark works.

FYI, you can use the middle mouse button to go through the last few screenshots like a flip book.

---

Also change the texture of the dock. Docks are rarely tile. -Facepunch
As I Lay Dying

<DIV class=quote>
<DIV class=quotetitle>? quoting reaper47</DIV>
<div class="quotetext">Also Orpheus, are you sure you haven't run Riven's map in HL2DM?(!) I saw a fight between an antlion guards and rebels and a second door that looks like some security capsule/cannon/escape-pod... plus experienced no bugs at all on my broken and very bug-vulnerable PC.

</DIV></DIV>

Does it have to be run in single player?

I ran it in MP.. And it borked seriously.

[EDIT]

sighs

I ran it fine in SP.

/me adjusts score.

I am going to read the text again and see if it specifies SP mode. That sure would have helped.

</div>

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The best things in life, aren't things.