Official Level Design Contest: September/October

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Mystic

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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 two divisions, match 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.

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 Cooperate 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 either Match 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 or IRC channel, you may not enter it. However, if it’s unreleased, that is just as good as being completely new, and is a legal entry.
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.

For the match contest, there is another rule in place:

4. Custom textures, music, SOCs, and other lumps other than a header and the map itself are not allowed in the Match contest. Match levels are going to be combined into a single WAD file, so in the interest in getting the entries out on time, you have to be creative with what you have.

Submissions are to be sent to my e-mail at mystic@srb2.org.

Submissions need to have "Contest Submission - Sept/Oct" as the subject line, and contain the name of the stage, the name you want used to attribute the map, and the contest you are submitting the map to. 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. Note that the map's header is no longer needed seperately for either contest, so just insert it into the map and you're good to go.

The contest submissions period ends on November 1st, 2005 at 12:00 AM GMT. (October 31st, 2005 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.

The winner of each contest will have his or her map uploaded into the “Level of the Month” category of the Addons section. There may be additional prizes added before the submissions period is over.

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.

Let's see this contest keep up the momentum it's had the past few submissions periods.
 
Mystic said:
Note that the map's header is no longer needed for either contest, so just insert it into the map and you're good to go.

What's with the change? New format or something?

Mystic said:
There may be additional prizes added before the submissions period is over.

That's new too. Isn't it?
 
To encourage voting, if an entrant votes on everyone else’s map in the contest, the lowest score on all of their entries will be dropped.
I have a proposal on that, actually. If you entered for one category, then your lowest score will be dropped IF, and only IF, you vote for all the scores IN THAT CATEGORY.

This is mostly for those souls who really can't get a netgame up and running, but want to ditch that nasty score their SP level got. Like me. I know I can't.
 
Mystic said:
Note that the map's header is no longer needed for either contest, so just insert it into the map and you're good to go.

What do you mean?
 
Shadow Hog said:
I have a proposal on that, actually. If you entered for one category, then your lowest score will be dropped IF, and only IF, you vote for all the scores IN THAT CATEGORY.

This is mostly for those souls who really can't get a netgame up and running, but want to ditch that nasty score their SP level got. Like me. I know I can't.
Sounds good. Modified.

Bigboi said:
What do you mean?
Sorry, that wasn't a very well worded sentence. I fixed it. Basically, in the past I requested people give me the level header as a seperate text file. I have a different method of compiling now, and that is no longer going to be helpful, so you don't have to do it anymore.

You still need a header in your map if you want a name, sky, music, etc., you just don't have to include a copy of it as a .txt.
 
That was the same question I had. But still, what do you mean by other prizes, I don't recall that ever being there.
 
That was on last month's contest as well. Stages that are exceedingly good occasionally get more than just a place on the LOTM. A previous match contest winner was good enough to be included in 1.09 itself.

It's not a prize for just winning the contest, it's more a prize for having a damn awesome map, but it's written out there to make it known that the LOTM isn't the only thing that you can get for winning the contest.
 
Mystic said:
A previous match contest winner was good enough to be included in 1.09 itself.
I've heard about such things actually, has this been going on longer than what most people here think?

EDIT: I've decided, I'm entering this contest with two match entries. One is a map a friend wanted me to make (Unreleased, unfinished) and a sucessor to Greenery Hills 2: Greenery Hills 3! :mrgreen: *shot for lame name* I'm gonna incorperate all the feedback I've gotten from the last contest into this all new Green-Hill map. Green Hill is over done but I seem to have risen above most as some people have been saying.

Also, I would enjoy a collab with someone, match or single player but I'm not liked enough for anyone to ask me. :\

EDIT 2: What do you mean by "The name you want used to attribute the map"?
 
JJames19119 said:
EDIT 2: What do you mean by "The name you want used to attribute the map"?
Author name, which should generally be the person submitting it. Basically, I've been having a lot of problems with people e-mailing me maps and not giving their screen name, forcing me to match e-mail addresses with maps, which can be a big hassle.
 
I'm working on a level called Ocean Base Zone, but I may do a 2D port of Labyrinth Zone for the contest.
 
Hmm...I sent my submissions before 1.09 came out....though I just went through them and they seem to work fine in 1.09....

Do I still have to resumbit them?
 
JJames19119 said:
Hmm...I sent my submissions before 1.09 came out....though I just went through them and they seem to work fine in 1.09....

Do I still have to resumbit them?
Why would you? If it works in 1.09 just fine, you've got no problems.
 
Point taken.

Though anyone who hasn't submitted yet can now take full advantage of 1.09's features. :| Oh well, I'm not going to worry about it.
 
I've submitted my entry. Is it alright to announce what I made, without details?
 
Roboashura said:
I've submitted my entry. Is it alright to announce what I made, without details?
You're allowed to test it publicly, Roboashura. You can talk about it pretty much all you want. The main reason for the "Not already released" is to keep people from taking their old stuff and remaking it. If you made the stage brand-new for the contest, it's a legal entry. Doesn't matter how much you show it off before judging, although I suggest keeping it to a minimum so people still enjoy it by the time it gets to the contest ^_~
 
Talking about the legality of an entry... If I'm making a map that will be later used in a MOD, but it wasn't published in any way, is this valid? I supposed that yes, but well... Just the first level of my MOD is too good for don't send it... I can say to you that the difficulty is similar to the Mystic Realm levels... Seriously, without joking... But I think that the secret areas are TOO secret XD :P
 
Yes, all new stages, no matter what you plan to do with it in the future, are legal entries.

Basically, if I didn't specifically forbid it in the rules of the contest, it's allowed. If that causes something that I don't want, you still have a legal entry. I'll just put a provision in the next contest to deal with it, like the rule against ports.
 
Ah, good. Anyone here like extremely confusing mazes? :P
BTW, my map may seem cramped. This is to make it so you can't thok through randomly. You'll see.
 
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