• Do not use Works in Progress as a way of avoiding the releases system! Works in Progress can be used for sharing early betas and for getting suggestions for improvement. Releases of finished content are not allowed in this forum! If you would like to submit a finished addon, click here for instructions on how to do so.

ULDC: February - April 2020

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MellowJacket

The unreliable judge
Welcome to the Unofficial Level Design Collab, otherwise just called "ULDC". A bit of an experiment in trying to get people to map together, give each other feedback and really go out of their way to help each other out. Whether you're a first-time mapper or an old veteran you're welcome to join in!

There will be both a single-player and a multiplayer division to this. With each of them being given a separate release, one collection of single-player levels and a second collection of everything else (Match, Tag, CTF, Race, etc).

Here are the rules, these are pretty simple and shouldn't put people off of stepping in and trying this out:
  • Just make something! Really! Everyone starts somewhere. And a big part of this is going to be about helping each other out, so new mappers or people with just the slightest interest in learning are welcome.
  • Maps must fit the requirements for the releases sub-forum as a bare minimum. This means maps must load correctly, be able to be completed by all base SRB2 characters and not have any obvious bugs or error messages in regular play.
  • Custom Music is allowed, but I will be looking out for file sizes. No giant uncompressed mp3s, if your file size is too large due to custom music I will ask you to convert the file to a smaller format or replace the custom music entirely.
  • Include a level select picture! I will be compiling these together at the deadline, so if you don't include one I'll make one myself.
  • All maps need to work with the default SRB2 .exe, this rules out Kart maps for now. Maybe a future event could be Kart themed instead?
  • All discussion should be constructive! Toxicity won’t be tolerated, anybody being clearly antagonistic could be barred from entering their map into the collab. The idea is for community feedback and constructive criticism.

Woah, this is neat. Where does the 'collab' part come in though, Whackjood?
Simple! At all times over the course of the next three months, participants are encouraged to share their mapping progress in this thread. And other users are welcome to step in and offer advice on how to improve and where to go next. The idea here is a scenario where people can help each other improve and learn from one another.

Additionally, if you're looking to collaborate with someone to cover a base you're weak in (For example, you've always had an idea for that perfect custom enemy but don't know how to sprite) and you don't know who to ask for help, then ask in this thread! I strongly encourage people to lend each other a hand here, and if enough people are asking for help I will try to pair people up where appropriate.

How do I submit my maps, and what's this about an end of year release?
To submit your maps, use this handy form and PM me directly before the deadline of the 1st of May 2020 (that's 3 months from starting this thread). I'm not going to set a specific timezone and be extremely particular about the deadline (within reason), just try to get your entry in before April is over.
Code:
Download: [Link]
Title: [Map Name]
Game mode: [Singleplayer, Match, etc]
Credits: [Who made what]
Do I have permission to compile this into an end of year release?: [Yes/No]

If this is a success and becomes a repeated event I will see about hosting a second event from June through August, and another from October through December. Then I will compile all of the levels together into two packs, one for single-player and another for multiplayer and release them through the releases system. Giving me permission to release your maps however, doesn't take away your own rights to do whatever you want with the maps that you have made! And you will always be free to release your maps on your own terms whenever you want. (If there's a particularly high volume of entries, I might just do this early and release a pack one or two events in. But I'll worry about that if it actually happens)

With all that done, welcome to the ULDC! If you have any questions or if anything is unclear, feel free to message me on Discord or leave a reply in this thread and I'll get back to you as soon as I can.
 
I started on a Mushroom Hill themed stage a while ago, and this is the perfect excuse to actually finish it. Can't wait to see the levels!
 
Just want to really hammer the point that this is not a contest. Do not feel pressured about your experience or how you think your level will compare to others. Just finish something and throw it out there!
 
Sweeet! This is a great idea and I thank you for giving the effort to put it all together. Times like this are always exciting, even though I probably won't enter. It's always fun to see what people come up with :)
 
Hey, that's actually pretty nice. Now I hope a Neo Desolate Twilight, or should I say... Desolate Dusk (a freshly remade Desolate Twilight from scratch to match the 2.2 standards that I made it for fun) is accepted at the contest. Wish good luck to you all and be brave!

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Definitely will enter but I'll join abit later. Need to get some ideas
 
Glad other game types are also allowed :) I hope I get enough inspiration, time and motivation to make a level for this.
 
No, Not OLDC. SUGOI 4!
I'd rather not call this SUGOI 4! That's a pretty high standard to live up to, and besides SUGOI 4 focused a lot more on very snappy quick fire mapping with its shorter development times. Maybe I just have pretty tame expectations for how well this will do, certainly not the wild success of SUGOI anyway ;P

Now I hope a Neo Desolate Twilight, or should I say... Desolate Dusk (a freshly remade Desolate Twilight from scratch to match the 2.2 standards that I made it for fun) is accepted at the contest.
Yeah, that's the kind of thing I'd accept for this. Even if it's built on an old official rotation level, you've still built it up yourself from scratch. See if you can find some people to test it with in a netgame some time to get some feedback on what can be changed or improved to stay in the spirit of things!
 
Well, this actually gives me motivation to make this ctf map, hope I can finish it in 3 months!... also, is this perhaps too red?
WfcpAcb.png
 
I wish this project the best! :)

(I hope people don't look at the official levels and not bother trying because they don't think their map can measure up. SRB2 is fun to play even in simple levels. I feel that the game's ever-increasing standards are scaring people off and that's not fun.)
 
Here's a few screenshots of what will hopefully be my entry:


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I was originally working on a level with a ruins-in-the-sky motif, but for various reasons scrapped it and began work on this instead. I have a soft spot for the 8-bit Sonic games and felt that the chunky graphics of those games would translate well to SRB2, so I upscaled some Gigalopolis zone tiles and incorporated some aspects (no pun intended) of the original map into this level. (still not 100% sure on the floor texture, that may change)
 
Conceptually that seems fine enough as a stage, I'm not quite on board with the floor texture though. Simple textures in SRB2 are fine, but I'm not sure if bright neon orange is the way to go there. Perhaps it's just because it reminds me of the placeholder orange square textures used in the Source engine though.
 
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