Mapping Competition

[jimonions]

On what basis will the submissions be judged? Is it purely gameplay or are other things taken into account.
Also how do you make a content only mod, couldn't find anything on it for source 2013.

[ThePain]

Well I'm excited for this. Now just to get through 2 weeks of finals and finishing up late classwork so I can start.

[Armageddon]

On what basis will the submissions be judged? Is it purely gameplay or are other things taken into account.
Also how do you make a content only mod, couldn't find anything on it for source 2013.

Content only mods are only for Half-Life 2: Episode 2, so no using the SDK Bases. In your mods gameinfo.txt just direct the appID to EP2.

Also I think everyone would find it fairer if the community voted on the maps. I don't think anyone actually cares about winning a defaced poster and voting by everyone on the forums would have a greater sense of community and stuff, you know man?

Multiple BSPs work like Plague said because when working in teams it's kind of hard to work on just one BSP together.

[stoopdapoop]

Can I include custom Client/Server.dll's?
-No this is a level design contest, Sorry.

But you're allowed to have custom models, textures, animations, sounds, or whatever else you want.

the double standard is strong with this one :[

I actually support the decision not to allow custom dll's for different reasons. but the stated reason is kind of weak imo.

[Aus_Karlos]

Hey Steve how would we go about adding our own Scene.image file (Valve broke it as usual)? I'd like to create custom vcds for the map but the only way to do that is to create a 2009 mod template dump my vcd files in the scene folder and rebuild image for that mod. Are Scene.Images transplant-able provided that the links to sound/animation ects have the correct paths?

[pk_hunter]

I want that DOTA poster so damn badly, but my Source skills are so unpolished after 2 years of returning to HL1 for The Core. I think I will enter, but damn, I'm basically going to have to relearn everything.
Some of the WIP ideas are just awesome already, guys. Great work.

[Riomaki]

Hey Steve how would we go about adding our own Scene.image file (Valve broke it as usual)? I'd like to create custom vcds for the map but the only way to do that is to create a 2009 mod template dump my vcd files in the scene folder and rebuild image for that mod. Are Scene.Images transplant-able provided that the links to sound/animation ects have the correct paths?

There was that solution on the Valve Developer wiki where you could change a mod to load loose VCD files. I have no idea if that works - it's a shame Valve didn't leave that as an option.

Scenes.image is a finicky beast. If the ultimate aim is to have a single contest mod, you'd going to need a Scenes.image that contains all the VCDs from the different levels compiled together (as well as all the VCDs from the base games), so the only person who could do it is the mod maker.

[Smurftyours]

I don't know if this is possible, but could we perhaps have a panel of judges? Perhaps other moderators such as ad_hominem or Gary could also review the maps that way the final decision is a collective choice as opposed to a singular decision?

Also, I think the competition would benefit from the usage of a rubric for scoring of the top five entries. This would make sure all maps aren't judged subjectively, but rather from a list of predetermined aspects scored from 1-5 (or 1-7) point scales. Then addition of the scores for each aspect would render the map an overall numerical value, which could be easily compared to other maps.

[jimonions]

I'm opposed to any rubric grading. It doesn't promote creativity, only racing to complete a bunch of guidelines. Let the community decide.

[[Steve]]

Ill reply in more detail later and try answer some of the other questions but this is what it currently says on the site,

After the contest concludes a poll will run to allow the community to determine the top five map submissions.

From these final five I will then choose a final three and decide which will be first, second, and third.

I will update the main site to make it more obvious and to highlight the criteria levels will be judged on, and ill speak to some of the other moderators to see if we can group judge the final three.

[Smurftyours]

I'm opposed to any rubric grading. It doesn't promote creativity, only racing to complete a bunch of guidelines. Let the community decide.

First of all, the community only has a decision of which entries are in the top five. From there the judgement is entirely subjective by what steve decides is best. What I am suggesting is that once the community chooses the top five maps, that instead of comparing the entries based on opinions such as "Oh well I liked this one more" that a rubric is used so that each of the maps is rated on the same criteria. The aspects could be very loose, it doesn't have to be anything super specific. The whole point of using a rubric is to make sure each entry is judged fairly and equally.

As for not promoting creativity, the rubric inst specific guidelines of how to make your map, but rather very general aspects that any map, with any setting, or style, should accomplish. Once again, just trying to insure that all maps are judged equally.

[Gary]

I'll gladly play and judge entries. I might even half attempt one.

Too bad custom bins aren't allowed. That'd be cool. I love playing with code mods.


By the way. I support allowing more than one bsp. So much easier to map when you don't have to cram it all into one. But then again I'm a shitty mapper so of course I'd say that.

[Knights]

I'll gladly play and judge entries. I might even half attempt one.

Too bad custom bins aren't allowed. That'd be cool. I love playing with code mods.


By the way. I support allowing more than one bsp. So much easier to map when you don't have to cram it all into one. But then again I'm a shitty mapper so of course I'd say that.

I think the rules are fair, it keeps this competition fun as not everyone's a coder here. It would basically 1up the competition with others if someone comes in with a completely modified entry. Not that it's a bad thing, though... The one BSP is fair enough too if you've played ep2 some of those maps are pretty massive and memory is not really a problem with hl2's assets. Good luck to the others!

[Armageddon]

Well I guess Nick and I will be disqualified.

[Corigami]

I'd also prefer we kept the one .bsp limit. Limiting the scale of each entry makes the challenge more accessible to more people, especially one-man teams who can't compete with the scope of what a 3 man team could finish in this amount of time.

but man, I would really love to be able to use multiple dynamic lights so I wouldn't complain about code mods being allowed