Official Level Design Contest: March/April 2009

[FuriousFox]

<strike>IMPORTANT NOTE: Due to the upcoming release of SRB2ME, the May/June 2009 contest will be cancelled. This will be the last level design contest for 1.09.4.

We do not recommend trying to design SRB2ME maps at this time, due to massive changes that have been made to the game.</strike>

Scratch that. SRB2ME got delayed until July. We'll have one more contest after this one.

Also, I will be on vacation the week of May 1st, so the level pack may be a few days late. I will be bringing my laptop with me, so it might be up on-time. At the very least, I can guarantee I will have it up by that Sunday.

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Welcome to the official level design contest topic. Please read the following if you're interested in entering the contest or are just curious as to what the rules and regulations are.

There are four divisions, match, capture the flag, circuit and single player. Here are the important parts of each type, for those who would like the specifics:

Match stages are arenas for players to fight. 32 deathmatch starts are necessary to randomize the spawning, but if the stage loads and runs okay, it’s an acceptable entry for the match contest. You should also have a Player 1 Start to keep the level from crashing if loaded improperly.

Capture the Flag stages are arenas for two teams to battle it out. They must include a red team and blue team base with a flag, and should include 32 deathmatch and 16 red and blue team starts. There should also be a Player 1 Start to keep the level from crashing if loaded improperly. It is generally better to make the map symmetrical to be absolutely sure that it is fair for both teams.

Circuit stages are race tracks designed for Race mode. They should include a Circuit mode finish line and several Star Posts to ensure the stage runs properly. Please use the Star Post Activation sector type to make sure it's not possible to skip the Star Posts, and do not use enemies in Circuit mode. There should be a Player 1 Start at the starting point.

Single Player stages are designed to play in 1 player, and have to include a start and end, and obstacles in the way. Generally, it’s a good idea to give the map support for Cooperative and Race mode, but it’s not necessary.

The full rules of the contest are as follows:

1. All levels must work correctly in their selected mode. Support for other modes is suggested, but not required. Levels will be judged in Match, Capture the Flag, Circuit or Single Player, depending on the contest you’re entering.
2. The map may not have been publicly released before. In other words, if you have released the level on the Addons section or on the forums, you may not enter it. However, if it’s unreleased, that is just as good as being completely new, and is a legal entry. Basically, don't fix up an old map and enter it, make something new.
3. The map has to be your own work. If you base it on another map, that's fine, but a straight port or slight modifications are against the rules.
4. One submission per category per person. This means that you can only enter one map in each division.

For the match, circuit and capture the flag contest, there is another rule in place:

5. Custom textures, music, SOCs, and other lumps other than a header and the map itself are not allowed in the Match, Circuit and Capture the Flag contests.

Submissions are to be sent to my e-mail at FuriousFox@gmail.com.

Submissions need to have "Contest Submission - March/April" as the subject line, and contain the name of the stage, your nickname, and the contest you are submitting the map to in the e-mail body. If you do not give me a nickname, your e-mail's given name and e-mail address will be used to attribute the file. For multiple maps in one e-mail, make sure to put the information for each map included. I prefer attachments, but links in the body of the e-mail are also alright provided they are to your own webspace. No SendSpace, Rapidshare, or other similar file hosts. Files hosted on such servers will not be included. Note that maps that are considered unplayable will be rejected.

The contest submissions period ends on May 1st, 2009 at 12:00 AM GMT. (April 30th, 2009 at 7:00 PM EST). Any submissions that are late will be possible to get in if you get them to me before the judging starts, but if you’re late, you’re taking a risk that you might have to wait for the next contest, so please get your file in on time.

Judging will consist of voting on the message board. Any member can vote, giving a number for each map from 0 to 10, zero being the most abysmal piece of crap ever, and ten being total perfection. You cannot vote on your own map. To encourage voting, if an entrant votes on everyone else’s map in the contest they are entered in, the lowest score on all of their entries will be dropped. (Example: If someone enters a single player map and votes on all the other single player maps, their lowest score is dropped.)

Judging will start the instant the files are uploaded, and continue until a week after they were uploaded. The exact time when voting will end will be shown when the files are uploaded. At that point, all votes will be averaged and the map with the highest average in each category will be declared the winner.

Contest winners will recieve a "Contest Winner" title on the forums.

All entries are welcome, from beginners to advanced level designers. Even if you don’t win, this is an excellent way to get feedback on your stage to help improve. Collaborations are allowed, and testing is encouraged strongly.

[Ice]

Dear god I gotta finish up my unfinished maps.

[ZeldaGamer00]

Good, I now have a dead-line to finish my match level.

[:SonicMaster:]

Hopefully someone doesn't enter a level with the same name as my 1P level. I could change the name, but I'm not willing to. It would just be more awesome if it had the name it did now and ended up being high quality.

(BTW, it's not White Hole Zone. I've canceled that one.)

[glaber]

Target acquired Preparing Glaber base 5 for SRB2 and Glaber Base 6 for DOOM 2.

[CobaltBW]

Glaber Base... 5?


... 6?

[Jellybones]

Please tell me they aren't special stages, Glaber. You can do much better.

[Callum]

Christ, I REALLY have to finish that map I was going to do for the contest...

[Simsmagic]

Two months is still quite a while away. Unless it takes you that long to make a level, I doubt that you all have much to worry about.

[Chisuun]

I think I sent in my SP map waaaay too early.

Oh well, I have plenty of time to work on my Match and Circut maps.

[:SonicMaster:]

Originally Posted by Jellybones69

Please tell me they aren't special stages, Glaber. You can do much better.

Glaber Base 3 was Match.

[glaber]

Glaber base 1 & 2 were Mega Man Powered Up levels
Glaber Base 3 was a match mode map.
and Glaber base 4 was a building in Glaber Glutch
Glaber Base 5 will be a single player level with a path constructed for Dr. Pepper's Sally
Glaber base 6 is going into Community Chest 4 over at Doom World.

[Penopat]

Holy carp, it's the end of 1.09.4 contest-wise and I STILL haven't finished one of my 500 single player maps.

... Well, I better start getting to work on my 1.1 levels then. :)

[Monster Iestyn]

Originally Posted by Penopat

Holy carp, it's the end of 1.09.4 contest-wise and I STILL haven't finished one of my 500 single player maps.

... Well, I better start getting to work on my 1.1 levels then. :)

Uhh... SRB2ME =/= 1.1

[Penopat]

Originally Posted by Monster Iestyn

Uhh... SRB2ME =/= 1.1

... where was I referring to SRB2ME anywhere in there? Heck, the first post says "We do not reccomend trying to design SRB2ME maps at this time"! :(

[:SonicMaster:]

Oh, yay, Penopat's entering again. Let's see if he releases yet another unfinished level to the contest.

[Hyperknux]

Good job I've got the big guns coming for my latest match map in progress, I'll show a screen or two maybe tommorow night, got an assignment at the moment, it sucks =(

[Chrome]

Why can't we use the Srb2assetpack for Multiplayer levels?

[darkbob1713]

Ok lets try this again. I just sent my CTF level, Fort Bowser. I hope the attachment gets sent this time.

[Chaobrother]

I sent in my circuit stage "Scale the Earth" zone. Seeing that this is the last contest for 1.09.4, it will most likely be the largest one yet!

On a slight tangent though, will we still be able to show/release our levels built for the current version?