Foxhunter-
Very surreal, image of an imagination. The quotation is fitting for an insane person's thoughts. I like it but think it needs some reinforcement of your ideas, and a bit of polish.
topic: 6/6
quality: 2/4
8/10
Qwiggalo-
Im having a hard time understanding this one. I see a cafeteria type room, many bottles and cans on the tables. There are many old rotting corpses on the floors and bloodstains. Im not sure if this room is abandoned recently or a long time ago, or used by a freak. Now the most confusing parts- in the foreground, a hunter with weapons, sitting nearby, an alive looking human, holding a gun, with a significant looking bottle of pills behind him. A zombie woman burns off in the background for reasons I cant understand.
Security camera type date reads 4/20/(20 or 19?)99, this throws me off as to if its the recent past, or in a century, and lastly 4/20 could be a reference to cannabis, implying that because of the date some type of celebration should be happening.
Anyway, im thoroughly confused.
topic: 3/6
quality: 3/4
6/10
Theloopyone-
Great lighting and ambiance, mysterious cages float in an eerie room, it looks like a mad medical examiners lab. The yellow tape strung up in a obsessive compulsive way, like an insane person tends to do things, looks very cool.
Im completely thrown off by the biohazard sign though- first thought- ok now this person probably isnt insane as much as they're infected (yeah, i've been playing l4d a bit too much), then I realize thats all biohazard tape strung everywhere. Now i'm wondering why/who would put the biohazard notice, and what the extent of the biohazard is. I see its a cell door- is this a prisoner? theres no actual door in the space... So he may still be a scientist- then why would he need a warning about his own lab!
Anyway, when I think of insanity- I think of psychological thrillers, this seems more like horror zombie movie thriller.
topic: 4/6
quality: 3.5/4
7.5/10
Holy Socks-
Things of interest- bridge and displacement spikes. Cool start to what could be an interesting landscape. Looks very unfinished, barely even started though. The displacement spikes are very interesting. They remind me of the oblivion planes in Oblivion, and the Xen world in HL1. I see what could be the start of a cave in the background.
Clearly unfinished, but I dont see any connection to insanity.
topic: 2/6
quality: 2/4
4/10
ToastFlambe-
Now this is has strong psychological tones- its a social situation, and a bad one apparently- these people seem to be surviving in an abandoned train car in the wilderness (ep2 much?). What looks like a couple, is sitting in a moment, lost in both their thoughts, both looking worried, especially the woman holding her head in her hands.
I like that this entry has a progression in the images, although ill talk about how it confused me a bit.
The next image the first image, zoomed in on the man's head, as if to emphasize what he is thinking in that moment, maybe he is coming to a realization, maybe he is remembering something- expected in the third image.
The third image confuses me. Its the same scene, but obviously changed, and at the same time, its hard to be sure its the same train as the last image- the heavy looking boxes in the back have vanished. There is evidence of an explosion- broken shelf, train in background is charred and sticking up. Most importantly, at the end of the compartment is a fire, and what looks like the branches of a tree sticking in. I still can't figure out what happened between the two scenes, or if either one was a figment of the man's imagination. Lastly, he is apparently holding the same woman, though in a much different pose, I cant tell if shes dead or not, she looks like she could be.
topic: 5/6
quality: 3/4
8/10
Punky-
An old, odd, abandoned gas station, surrounded by a vast nothing, and a freaky sky with bright sources of colorful light. Many old abandoned cars lay everywhere around the station. A chunky sign, blurrily reads "currently out of gas". This heavy looking sign, on an eight inch square post, is jammed through the chest of a mutilated body, and what appears to be a solid layer of asphalt underneath- WOW, someone has some strong arms.
Confusing, unclear point, no apparent connection to an outside world or story. Im completely lost.
topic: 2/6
quality: 2/4
4/10
Dark Soul-
The fact that this has custom content puts it in a different league (correct me if im wrong- but those are custom models right? I havent fired up hammer in about a year or two). To really judge it amongst the others i'd have to know if these models were made specifically for the contest, or something you had already been working on, adapted to the contest. Also if there were more participants, i'd suggest separate competitions for SDK native elements and custom content. Afaik this is not a competition about whos better and more knowledgeable at creating source engine content, but whos more creative in the process, but people will not always judge on that, thus the need to separate.
Mephasto wrote:well this one was pretty obvious. darksoul got my vote, nicely done scene.
Its quite obvious someone knows how to model, as I pointed out with the question about was this content made already- its not obvious how much work was put into just the contest, and its not obvious whos the more creative mapper here!
On to a review-
Given custom models, I really wish you had provided more shots. Quick to explain- this is the entrance to a classic horror movie carnival, with a skull like clown entrance that no serious carnival owner would construct, i'm going to say this is a fantasy horror carnival, and not a real abandoned carnival. Although in the fantasy setting, it is quite abandoned- boarded up windows, unkempt dirty ground littered with trash, the architecture is worn down and rusty, and a board nailed to the wall is spraypainted with "closed" (this looks like its not in the right spot, I would put it over the window not near the ground- or why not on the entrance somehow where people... enter).
Other notable details- the lights are still on, suggesting people inhabiting the place to maintain at least the power, and in our experience of video games, probably intent on messing with whoever enters.
Blurry stuff in the background looks worthy of attention (needs more pics), is that a rollercoaster?!? And thats a good looking tent, can you enter it?
This is survival horror/fantasy thriller. Not much to do with insanity, unless it comes around in the story line, but that single picture really has nothing to do with insanity.
topic: 3/6
quality: 3.5/4 (4/4 with examples of good brushwork, and interesting architecture.)
6.5/10
So I had a tough time deciding between Fox and Toast, but Fox gets my vote for being the most near to the topic : Insanity.
I think the scenes really should have focused on one persons
perception of the world and how that might differ or conflict with whats normal, or what surrounds him.
I dont think you can make an insane environment- thats just a misuse of the adjective. The only way you can show insanity, is by showing what someone perceives, especially with the lack of sound (you know an insane person when you hear one lol).