BNA!@Posted: Tue Oct 25, 2005 3:18 pm    Post subject: First official Quake4 mapping competition!: Hello Doom3world and Quake4world,

we and VIA ( www.viacga.com ) are happy to announce the first official Quake4 mapping competition which will start at November 1st and has a duration of two months. This means we'll need your submission download location link by December 31st 2005.

VIA's announcement can be read here:
http://www.viacga.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=37&Itemid=6

We'll provide you with the mandatory VIA and Doom3world logos this weekend - don't let that hold you back starting to layout your map!

Small update: no naming convention required, just consider not to use too obvious names like "fraggingyard" or similar. Would be a mess to deal with on our side.

For those with screwy nicknames which might not go well with certain upload locations - choose another one...

It should not go unmentioned that there will be prizes for the top 3 entries, yet they'll get announced later as we're still working on the best deal for all of you.

Everybody is limited to ONE submission.

The submission details as follows:

Quote:
To celebrate the launch of Quake 4, VIA CGA and Doom3World are teaming up to run a duel map making competition. Calling upon all talented mappers, we are issuing a challenge to create interesting deathmatch environments suitable for 1-vs-1 tournament matches for highly competitive players. The top 3 entries will be rewarded with prizes (hardware) in 1st, 2nd and 3rd placing categories and will be grouped together and released as a tourney map pack.

The competition commences on November 1st and will close on December 31st, and all submissions will be judged by VIACGA editor and pro-gamer 'Ms.X' (AKA Alana Reid), veteran FPS gamer and mapper 'b0rg' (AKA Josh Holmes) and Doom3World webmaster 'BNA!' (AKA Bernhard Grabowski). The top 3 submissions will be announced within 2 weeks of the closing date. Maps that raise our eyebrows with outstanding design and keep us engaged in tight visceral skirmishes into the wee hours are most likely to spark our continued interest. Note: we’re most enthused about maps that are suitable for tournament conditions and there are some good examples of this in the Q3A duel map section in the VIACGA file section

Criteria for submissions is as follows:

Playability:
- Must be of a suitable size for 1 vs 1 duel deathmatch games
- Should feature a high degree of connectivity with few or no dead ends
- Special consideration should be put into weapon and pick-up placement with evenly balanced layouts a priority
- Items such as Quad damage, Invulnerability and super weapons should be used with caution, or not at all.
- Frame rates should be consistent and high enough to ensure smooth playability on a wide spectrum of systems.
- Should have few or no annoying edges and snags for players to get caught on.

Cosmetics:
- Should be appealing to the eye with interesting geometry construction, finely tuned lighting and neatly aligned textures.
- Should contain few significantly dark areas
- Should contain no z-fighting (doubled up brushes), shadow bugs or any kind of noticeable visual anomaly
- Must feature the VIA logo in some form within the map*

* Inclusion of both VIA and Doom3World logos is mandatory, but how you implement it up to you. Our suggestion is to keep it subtle – it should be noticeable, but not in your face. It doesn't matter where they appear, so long as they are included. The logos could appear in the form of a texture, decal, projected light or geometrically. VIA and Doom3World logos can be found here.

Other requirements:
- Must be under 12 MB in file size.
- Must be totally complete and should include a levelshot image. Any maps that appear unfinished in any way will not be considered.
- Must be an original map. Cannot be a remake or remodeled version of a previously released map.
- Must be submitted in zip format. A read me doc must be included in the zip file.
- Maps should not be sent directly to us. Supply a URL instead and we will download it. If you don’t have anywhere to upload your map, please let us know so alternative arrangements can be made.



Sign up here:
http://www.doom3world.org/phpbb2/viewtopic.php?p=118056

Now, what you're waiting for Wink
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Last edited by BNA! on Wed Oct 26, 2005 7:29 pm; edited 1 time in total



goliathvt@Posted: Tue Oct 25, 2005 3:54 pm    Post subject: : Woohoo!

Can't wait to see what people put together!

Goliath
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bb_matt@Posted: Tue Oct 25, 2005 4:11 pm    Post subject: : Nice one !
Hope to be able to get something out there - great idea to make it 1-vs-1.

Time to dust of Quakeworld, Quake2 & Quake3, download some of the most popular maps of the day and do some research ... Very Happy



MelvinB@Posted: Wed Oct 26, 2005 6:23 pm    Post subject: : Hmz, under 12mb...so you can't use strictly custom-made textures?

So most submitted maps will get the same themes then i guess?
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kat@Posted: Wed Oct 26, 2005 6:35 pm    Post subject: :
MelvinB wrote:
Hmz, under 12mb...so you can't use strictly custom-made textures?

So most submitted maps will get the same themes then i guess?
Considering how many maps were made using the original Q3 texture set *before* custom ones arrived on the scene I'd hardly say that was a bad thing, plus of course given that only two months are available for this not many will have the time to map, model and create textures anyway.
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goliathvt@Posted: Wed Oct 26, 2005 6:43 pm    Post subject: : Yeah, it sounds to me like that was a conscoius decision... and besides, I'd rather the mapper focus on a sweet design and exciting gameplay than getting the perfect custom "wood hallway" texture tweaked. Wink

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BNA!@Posted: Wed Oct 26, 2005 7:25 pm    Post subject: :
MelvinB wrote:
Hmz, under 12mb...so you can't use strictly custom-made textures?

So most submitted maps will get the same themes then i guess?


You can sneak in quite a few new tgas in a 12mb pk4, considering that the map size will be relatively small due to the 1on1 focus.

Other than that you have to consider that people have to download the map before they can play it - the smaller the map, the higher the chance people will download it.
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bb_matt@Posted: Thu Oct 27, 2005 10:25 am    Post subject: : You also need to consider that flow and architecture is more important than texture work if you want a competitive 1-vs-1 experience.


Yes, everything needs to be balanced - gameplay, textures, architecture, placement - but the focus the way I see it, isn't on creating a map with 12mb of original textures in it.

As BNA points out, a 1-vs-1 map is small, it has to be small enough to be fun, so 12mb is easily enough to custom texture an entire 1-vs-1 level !

Hopefully it will also draw in mappers who would've been daunted by a larger project - lets not forget, just balancing lighting in a level is VERY time consuming, let alone the architecture of flow and weapon/powerup positioning and balance.

Personally, if I do get around to it, I will have very few custom textures and will concentrate on FUN Very Happy



MelvinB@Posted: Sun Oct 30, 2005 6:02 pm    Post subject: : Any logo's yet?

The D3W.org logo is easy to rip/edit, but what's the official logo of VIACGA?
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kat@Posted: Sun Oct 30, 2005 6:21 pm    Post subject: : Porbably get those on the 1st when the comp is officially announced
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evilartist@Posted: Wed Nov 02, 2005 6:39 pm    Post subject: : So, if I'm understanding this correctly, the zip must be no more than 12 MB, or just the MAP file itself? Or do you mean less than 12 MB combining the MAP, CM, AAS, and PROC?
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Renzatic@Posted: Wed Nov 02, 2005 6:44 pm    Post subject: : I'm gonna go ahead and throw my name in. Consider me a CONTENDAH!


BNA!@Posted: Wed Nov 02, 2005 7:20 pm    Post subject: :
evilartist wrote:
So, if I'm understanding this correctly, the zip must be no more than 12 MB, or just the MAP file itself? Or do you mean less than 12 MB combining the MAP, CM, AAS, and PROC?


The whole thing.
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evilartist@Posted: Wed Nov 02, 2005 8:29 pm    Post subject: :
BNA! wrote:
evilartist wrote:
So, if I'm understanding this correctly, the zip must be no more than 12 MB, or just the MAP file itself? Or do you mean less than 12 MB combining the MAP, CM, AAS, and PROC?


The whole thing.


Do you mean the zip must be under 12 MB big? Or under 12 MB after all the assets are unpacked (if that is the case)? I just don't want to misinterpret anything.
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goliathvt@Posted: Wed Nov 02, 2005 8:46 pm    Post subject: : A .pk4 is just a zip file renamed with a .pk4 extension. I imagine people will be submitting their maps as .pk4 files with a text-only readme file for distribution. b0rg and BNA have already mentioned this in previous posts. I doubt they'll want map submissions that are a mess of files... if they get a lot of entries, it'll be hell to sort it all out if people don't properly pack up their stuff.

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Sparky@Posted: Tue Nov 15, 2005 8:28 pm    Post subject: : Best of luck to all those who enter! I can't wait to see all the shiny new maps that come out of this.

If I were a single mapper, I'd be sucked into this like a cockroach to a pheromone trap. But I'm already married to a modification, and I won't be unfaithful to it.