32 wips, only 8 entries. Help me out here.

grazr

Old Man Mutant Ninja Turtle
aa
Mar 4, 2008
5,441
3,814
Well, i personally don't believe people are haulting their progress because of being daunted by opposition. As far as i can see, people simply wern't able to finish a workable beta. My map only got about 15 replies, i wasn't that bothered and really wanted to produce a good map and surprise people. Unfortunately that didn't happen. But the fact remains that people obviously want to be great at mapping and are constantly learning, this was an oppotunity, but few managed to sieze it because of other commitments.

If people stopped for others reasons then it would be good to hear them because then the community can improve in that matter.
 

Ezekel

L11: Posh Member
Dec 16, 2008
818
245
perhaps it was a case of 2 things combined?
one being that this is a much larger contest than any previous ones, and the other being the time of year - many people go away over xmas, or simply just don't feel like doing much of anything.
also, i dunno for sure, but i only took a month on mine i think, but i actually have a lot more free time as a graduate without a job. so that perhaps could've factored in for people with more responsibilities or similar.



Well I did not submit mine (which is a solid beta) because I thought 1/15 at 0:00 meant midnight tonight, not midnight last night. I'm so busy with work, school, etc I just skimmed the thread yesterday. This really sucks because it was good enough to submit last night, but I wanted to tie up a few loose ends tonight. Oh well, I'm sure the other contestants would have blown me away.

from now on can we have deadlines be at a less ambigious time? e.g. 1am

Plus you got VALVe's interest based on the competition, I'd say that's a pretty damn good accomplishment!

really? that's pretty cool. how do you know that though? (i'm guessing its probably very obvious and i missed it lol)


another quick edit:
also thanks to everyone that put the words "high quality" in the same sentence as my map. :)
 
Last edited:

Laz

L420: High Member
Jul 5, 2008
461
35
You've got haywood down as eligable, its 3 stages and thus not. pl_tripple also isnt since its got multiple tracks

But even with 8 out of the remaining 30 something has gone a bit wrong...

It's 2 stages, and never meant as a contest entry. I started on haywood long before this contest was brought up.

I'm just not much of a contest person :p

8 submissions is not that bad. I think it's fairly normal you get a lot more people wanting to enter, then people actually submitting an entry with a map they deem worthy. Sticking to the deadline is part of the contest it would seem to me. Because of that reason, I try and not be tempted by competing.
 

Termaximus

L5: Dapper Member
Jan 11, 2008
229
32
As for the time constraint thing, I think 3 months is more than enough to at least get a working beta out. I work full time, have a video game hating wife (whose wonderful in every other way :D), am an MBA student, the webmaster and contributer to an active blog, and I managed to get out what I think is a decent beta in 2 months: http://forums.tf2maps.net/downloads.php?do=file&id=936

Of course I already got the basics down with my previous maps and followed the Valve Developer's Community payload tutorial, so the entity setup was a snap. Also I just love mapping. It is like meditation for me. I agree if you were learning to map for the first time for this contest, 3 months would probably not be enough time. But remember Youme et all encouraged maps at all stages of development (alpha, beta, final) to participate. I'm sure my map won't win, but I look at this as a great chance to a) motivate me to get the map done, b) get feedback from mappers, and c) market the map.
 

drp

aa
Oct 25, 2007
2,273
2,628
actual completed submissions will ALWAYS be much lower than initial entries.
people get discouraged, some other stuff comes up, etc.

I think having 8 amazing maps come out of this contest is a great accomplishment.
 

bomc

L2: Junior Member
Sep 25, 2008
83
18
I dont think that you should expect every pl wip to be an contest entry, however 8 entrys is not very much. I am surprised that ghosttown, downhill, bigbear and goldfield gully didnt make it to the end... but whatever, 8 is still great.
 

Laz

L420: High Member
Jul 5, 2008
461
35
as drpepper mentioned, for a contest requiring this much persistance, skill and insane amount of hours, 8 beautifull maps is a great achievement. Don't break your own balls over this, It is a very respectable result.
 

Baysin

L2: Junior Member
Feb 14, 2008
80
15
Chiming in here.....

8 finished (or pretty close) entries? Damn. That's awesome.
THIRTY people who at least started something? That's also awesome.
I don't think these numbers are bad by any means. Mapping can be tedious and frustrating, and sometimes your hard work ends up being enjoyed by only a handful of people, most of whom know you personally. It's easy to get into it and lose interest or decide it's not worth your time. Plus, every minute spent mapping is one you're not spending setting people on fire in the actual game itself. I know I'd probably have actually finished my first mapping project by now if I didn't spend so much time playing TF2 instead. To have 30 people interested enough to actually start a project is great, even if most didn't finish... at least that shows the level of interest both in this site and in custom maps in general. And 8 actual entries, I think, is fabulous. I've only played on a couple of them, to be honest, but I've been impressed so far. If the rest are like the one's I've seen so far, then I'd call this a huge success.
 

grazr

Old Man Mutant Ninja Turtle
aa
Mar 4, 2008
5,441
3,814

Then you're kinda missing the point. Only entering a competition you know you will win is a rather selfish act.. no offence. The prize was for the sakes of promoting the competition. Of course 1st place in a public competition is also a good thing to have in your folio.

Firstly it was to get out some more stock style maps, secondly for a laugh. Though, it was very tight nip and i personally got a little stressed at the end. But heh, shit happens.

I really don't want to come across as a knob, but if that's the way you think then how come you map at all? Because that's universal pessimism. You'll do more and better things with a little confidence under your belt than knocking yourself down without giving yourself a chance.
 

Zeewier

L9: Fashionable Member
Sep 20, 2008
619
262
I didn't want to enter my map (deepwater) that still has >80% dev textures and an impossible last CP.

My first "entry" was upgraded to a multistage because it was just to big, then i started 1-2 months before the extended deadline on pl_deepwater. And mapping isn't my 1st priority in life ;) (unlike some other users here)
 

AWESOME-O

L10: Glamorous Member
Mar 20, 2008
779
132
I never finished my map. (And probably never will, i'll just stick to modeling, because its easier :))
Dont got the time, stupid school
 

Sgt Frag

L14: Epic Member
May 20, 2008
1,443
710
yes but just like 1/2 gets it's own name (a half) 1/4 gets its own name too (a quarter)

You'd never say one twoth or one fourth, you always say half or quarter, its just the way fractions works.


Actually you could say one fourth as that's what it is. That's a real word and a quarter is a fourth, it is even a quad. Same as a 3rd or third, however a twoth is not a real word.
-----------------------

back to the contest though. I think 8 entries for a full size map contest is actually quite good for results.

Generally contests are announced and alot of people think it would be awesome to participate. The RL takes control. People lose interest, people get frustrated, people don't know how to finish things, time runs out...

People get into other projects for TF2 or something else and that becomes more important. There are many reasons people will 'start' and not finish a contest.

Usually it's only the very dedicated mappers that get around to finishing.

Look at the smaller contests. Even to build only a building or spawn room that is much easier than an entire level. But the finals really only include a handful of dedicated mappers.

Plus L4D has been drawing alot of attention. I've noticed the last few months that TF2 seems to be losing alot of players, servers seem empty. It's possible that a new class update will help out some.
 

trainRiderJ

L5: Dapper Member
Mar 14, 2008
203
31
Then you're kinda missing the point. Only entering a competition you know you will win is a rather selfish act.. no offence. The prize was for the sakes of promoting the competition. Of course 1st place in a public competition is also a good thing to have in your folio.

It's not like he deleted his WIP thread... His map is still out there and he could finish it at a later date.

I'd say that the contest was a huge success, for several reasons:

  1. A lot of people learned a lot about making maps
  2. It increased the number of good, playable, finished custom maps
  3. It advertised and increased the tf2maps.net community
  4. It paved the way for future full-map competitions
 
Aug 19, 2008
1,011
1,158
I also agree, 8 nicely polished contest entries are a great result
i started mapping for the first time, learned a lot and need much time for polishing up the release
8 great submissions are imho a great finish, hope many people download the mappack
 

Scotland Tom

L6: Sharp Member
Jan 19, 2008
332
64
I don't know how much it would help, it depends on how many people actually read it, but I'd be happy to put up contest announcements on my blog. I could even try to put up a countdown timer or something if that would help. I may not do a ton of mapping myself, but I'm a huge fan of this site and all the great projects that come out of it and I'm happy to help in any way I can.

I also have a suggestion for future contests that might give more time to contestants as well as keep up the regular contest schedule so that contests conclude every few months or so. Why not set a yearly contest schedule that accommodates all map types? For example:

Every January 1st the contest for CP maps ends
Every March 15th the contest for CTF maps ends
Every June 1st the contest for Payload maps ends
Every August 15th the contest for Arena maps ends
Every November 1st the contest for Custom Game Type maps ends

This way anybody can pick which map type they want to work on and (depending on when they start work) they may have the better part of a year to get their map done. Even so, there are still contests ending every month and a half or so to keep things interesting. While this kind of schedule initially still puts participants in a time crunch over the course of the first year, afterward a routine would settle in that would allow contestants the freedom of time and choice as to which contest they'd like to enter.
 

grazr

Old Man Mutant Ninja Turtle
aa
Mar 4, 2008
5,441
3,814
It's not like he deleted his WIP thread... His map is still out there and he could finish it at a later date.

I wasn't disputing that, and finishing the map at a later date was emphasised in the contest discussion. i was saying pulling out of a competition because you're not confident in your map isn't a particularly noble act. Beta's were to be released by most people and would have been if they were completed on time. I'm not sure what happened to most of them i havn't had the time to search through 30 odd wip threads yet. But giving up because someone else produced something amazing is just a bit much. Heck, my map was compiled in fullbright. I seriously doubt it would have won anything, and i'm gutted for not submitting it in on time.
 
Last edited:

dirtyminuth

L5: Dapper Member
Nov 5, 2007
221
15
This contest is a success. Everyone involved deserves congratulations. 8 high quality entries is incredible! Consider the number of high quality TF2 maps released in a 3 month period. This community has generated an impressive amount of good content in such a short time.

Looking forward to mixing it up with everyone during the judging period.