July Contest RESULTS

[karamazovapy]

Congratulations to Unknown on his winning map, Sneaky Six!

In case you hadn't guessed, our levels and designers were as follows:
eXtradition - _k
The Hiding Spot - sky_lark
Lab Rabbits - Qui
Overtime - C. Bob
Restoration - Linkin
Sneaky Six - Unknown
Thrust Chains - ZoombeR
Underground - _k
Yivo - _k

Authors are welcome to post their levels, and/or explain concepts people missed in playtesting. Anybody want to share what their gametype feature was?

Congratulations to all who competed.

I didn't do a good job of hiding which map was mine, this time (which, along with a lack of inspiration, is why I didn't do any reviews; I figured it would've just made it more obvious). I felt Overtime was misunderstood and underrated by the general population...sure, it might not've been perfect, but it wasn't as bad as all that, either, the way it got bashed. The "no clear base" complaint really confused me -- the way I figure, the place with the flag, and all the turrets and force fields? That's the base. The section outside, with the force field, the loadout zone, and the spawns, that's the secondary base. The section that's literally next to the other side's main base, that's the outpost.

But yeah: the "no timer" thing *was* stupid. I honestly didn't consider the negative effect it would have when it was left up on a place like the contest server. Near the end of the contest, it was getting to look so bad that I told _k he could take it down if he wanted to...when BF 013 comes out, the timer won't be a problem anymore, but for now it looks pretty pitiful.

I was trying to evoke the feeling that you get when you're in a CTF match, the game is tied up, and it'll take (basically) just one point to win it all, like in an ABFL match. I added in the "sudden death" element to expand on the atmosphere. It was something I wanted to do anyway; I once mentioned the idea of sudden death overtime in a topic on the old forums.

I didn't come here just to talk about my map, though. While I didn't feel it got an entirely fair rap, I also didn't feel it was necessarily the best map in this contest. I voted for my work, sure, but I also supported the map I felt was better -- which, as some of you already know, is Sneaky Six, this contest's winning entry.

Sneaky Six is just a clean, well-executed zone control. I know Zone Control's an easy gametype to make maps for, and that probably played a role in my decision -- I can't think of anything it did that was terribly different from a normal, stock ZC -- but sometimes, originality must take a backseat to gameplay. Remember that most of the maps that won previous contests because of their technical innovations were not particularly good maps; I think that execution can be worth as much as innovation, when it comes to considering a specific map.

I also voted for Restoration, because soccer maps are very hard to do, and I felt that it was as good as the other maps -- but that it would be underrated because of its gametype. I think the votes supported that theory.

I'm not very good at perceiving what the gameplay theme was in these maps; the only one where I really knew for sure was my own, so hopefully some of y'all will explain things in your own posts.

Thanks for your time.

I enjoyed the concept of Overtime, but I see it as a map that you keep hidden until you have a lot of people and even teams. It's a fun map if you have the right situation.

The contest theme this time was to emphasize your favorite feature in a gametype. I could see it clearly in sneaky six (sneaking), but what was it in lab rabbits? I liked both maps but when it came down to it I think sneaky six was more appropriate.

Mine was Hiding Spot, and I partially blame it on the lack of time, but also because I wasn't really sure where I was going with it. It's more of a novelty map than an actual fun map to play, which I do with a lot of maps. I think I wanted to make it be hiding in plain sight, but I didn't know how to make a good level off of that.

Great contest. A lot of fun entries.

[karamazovapy]

I didn't think Overtime was bad, it was just based on a scenario that doesn't always happen. So, like in other standard settings, the gameplay here didn't always unfold the way it was intended. A quick fix might've been to swap the flags so that right from the start you have posession, instead of travelling across the map and maybe getting killed on your way into the base.

I made an effort to ask each map maker what their theme was, but not all were especially clear, so I'll let them speak for themselves. For me:

eXtradition - Scoring. I hate not being able to score in soccer levels, and I hate fighting the map to get the ball to go where I want. In this one, the barriers are limited and your turrets push the ball the way you want it to go when you're in control. The turret bug is lame, but I feel confident it will get fixed. I have more fun playing this map than I do most soccer levels, where I'm either spending most of my time chasing the ball or trying to keep it from bouncing off in the wrong direction.

Underground - Circle Strafing. I like it when two ships circle and shoot at each other and fight to get the leading angle right. I tried to enhance this by eliminating internal barriers and keeping the gameplay areas circular. Psychologically, if not mechanically, I thought it would encourage more circle strafing than linear runs. I knew the effect would be disappated in the larger areas, and that the bigger circles would feel empty, but I wanted also wanted to provide one large arena to prevent a cramped feeling in the smaller chambers. I played around with the concept a bit and settled on this design.

Yivo - Flag Defense. I really wanted to make a level that utilzed a team teleport for coordinated attacks. What I found out is that a teleporter with multiple destinations will remain random for each player, even if they all teleport as a group. The most logical use for this was to teleport to entrance points around the enemy base. I wanted to keep things basic and open. I started the interior barriers as some really delicate scrollwork that I liked (and saved), but once I had an idea about how to execute tapered barriers, I created the tentacles. When I saw the result rendered in the level, I scrapped the scrollwork and wound up with the final configuration. At first I thought of them as snakes, but I didn't have any kServ levels starting with Y and I had just watched The Beast With A Billion Backs. Love the tentacle, bitfighter.

Thanks you guys - it's too bad I can't be around here as often as I used too. Stupid new parental rules.