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| Vidi44 |
  Posted 27th Sep 2005 11:27pm |
L4Y Member
Post 278 / 668
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[EDIT] The rules of this contest have fluctuated greatly from this original post. As such, they shall be listed here. They are:
Your map(s) must not be part of a previous SP project (use of groups is ok though).
Your VPP can have as many RFL files in it as you'd like, so long as they are in one VPP.
There is a 2MB (compressed) file size limit. Compression can take up to 4/5 of the size away from the original file size. I'd recommend using WinRar for your compression needs.
Your map(s) must have a story of some sort.
If you go over the 2MB limit (there is a 500k leeway), you will be penalized one point from your score (but your map will still be accepted).
Custom anything can be used, so long as you don't violate the limit (see above line regarding overages).
If you plan to use a mod, add it separately and design the map(s) as though they were meant to be played with and without the mod.
Multiple VPPs will be accepted, however they will be seen as different from the others you've submitted (as in, you can have multiple entries). If they share the same story, you'll be penalized two points per VPP. The VPP is supposed to tie RFLs together, meaning you were to map your ideas in that one VPP. Also, linking outside of a VPP is dangerous and displays very poor mapping abilities (even if you simply reference the other VPP (such as "go here for the rest of the story")).
All files must have the prefix "SPMC" to them, separated by a - or _.
The deadline is 1 December, 2005 (December 1, 2005), nearly 2 months to map.
That will be all. [/EDIT]
We should start a small SP mapping contest. Starting say the 1st of October, we all have 1-2 weeks to make the best SP map we can. To make this challenging, it must follow these conditions:
Have an original story (not just run-and-gun-because-you're-there)
Be entirely new. No reusing of old projects or submitting something you have work done already (which means my HIC and your SEFOTRF missions wouldn't be accepted). This is to make it fair for all, as our current maps would surely win (well, they had months in development too).
It must be less than 2 MB when compressed (Rar it).
It must feature minimal use of custom textures (to keep it fair, as we all don't have knowledge of the best custom textures, and this also reduces file size). I'd say no more than 2-10 custom textures, because after that, it's just obscene (you can re-use them as needed within the level)).
Finally, it must be the best you can do.
Visit Red Tech between now and Saturday to learn all you can about RED. Practice a good bit and make a map. The deadline is 16 October, a Sunday. Midnight of Sunday night (Monday morning) GMT is the final deadline. Why then? Because often if you say the deadline is at midnight of a day, it's confusing. Thus, Sunday is still a day of mapping, it just has to be turned in that day. I think NCF can set up a special section for the RF map updates just for this contest.
Before I forget, so the maps are readily identifiable: mark your maps SPMC2K5-<name>. SPMC2K5 means "Single Player Mapping Contest 2005". This is the filename, not the map's name (which can be edited in Level Properties, in case you're too n00bly to know this). The map name can be whatever you want. However, the author's name must be your L4Y name. This isn't too difficult, is it?
Good luck and may the best SP mapper win (should we all concede to Pred now, or wait a while?).
EDIT: Read the following for additional rules posted after this post. |
"Don't go there. It's ugly, and it never stops being ugly."
"Naps are good" - Visual C++.NET for Dummies, page 1 |
Modified Oct 16th, 10:31pm by Vidi44 |
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| goober |
Posted 27th Sep 2005 11:37pm |  |
L4Y Member
Post 587 / 265
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ill do this is you take out a couple rules, the custom textures thing, usually maps really suck if you dont use custom textures (notice i said usually *Jan*) if i enter this contest, i will use my usual amount of customs (about 8-10) although if you want i can put them down to 256X256 insted of my usuall 512X512... 
and you need more time than 1-2 weeks to make a good SP map, especially now that school has started for alot of us  .
and i think this is a great idea except what if all the mappers at l4y made a new game like created a whole new SP saga like the RF SP maps? that would be cool 
if you need any help with say, textures or anything else in this, just hollar, ill do my best  |
For anyone reading this in 2019 or later: The RF community is alive on the Community Discord
[Faction Files] |
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| ark_gamer |
Posted 27th Sep 2005 11:37pm |
L4Y Member
Post 10 / 12
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No thanks. I'm not quite up to the competition level yet.
I look forward to seeing some of the submissions, though. |
| Looks like somebody has a case of the Mondays. |
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| Vidi44 |
Posted 28th Sep 2005 12:05am |
L4Y Member
Post 280 / 668
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Ok. I'll revise the rules to fit that. Also, maybe I should put the limit on the textures at 128x128. If you're going to use custom textures, that's fine, but keep the scale down. I never see any problem with 64x64, so don't complain, as 64x64 is all I ever use.
True, you need more time. Thus, the time is increased to that of the entire month of October. 1 November is the new deadline. Will that do?
I never said how big or small the maps are. Surely you can at least throw out something that represents your abilities without making the file too much. Even just a one-level (as far as floors go) with say 5 rooms, that's more than enough. My best maps use only 2 or 3 rooms. Perhaps you should study up on the art of utilizing space to its maximum (ever see my desk? The space is utilized alright, covered in papers and other stuff). Really, the contest is meant to be small. Anything major and we'll have people complaining that they were beat by someone who mapped a level 10 times the size of their own.
Thus, the new guideline is no more than 10 rooms. A room is defined by a closing of the brush via a door or other device. A room-within-a-room won't count against you. So, if you need guidelines, take the 3rd floor Admin level from SP. The elevator would count as one room. The guard station would be one. The hallways would be one (all of them together). The offices of Gryphyn and Davis would be one a piece. Finally, the exit would be one room.
Is that specific enough? If you did a mine section, so long as nothing closed off the brush, it would all be one room. Thus if you took the very first level, it wouldn't be considered a room until the load_level event. Then the room after it would be a room, then everything up to the next door. Get the idea?
If you can't use keyframes, you can make the room as big as you want, so long as it stays within the file size limit. The point is to make great maps, not to worry about the rules. If you break the room limit, take out a door, or attach a note with the map explaining why you needed the extra rooms (best be a good excuse). Same goes for breaking any rule. If it is absolutely necessary, just write a reason why. NCF can then post the explanation next to the map.
A clarification on the file size limit: you can go over by 500k, but that's it. After that, you obviously didn't care enough to limit your level any or compress it enough. To get the most out of the level, RAR it using the "best compression" listing. This will usually cut the file size down to 1/5 of the total size. So a VPP file could theoretically be up to 10 MB, so long as its properly compressed.
Any other questions will be answered as needed. I'm signing off now, so I'll reply tomorrow. |
"Don't go there. It's ugly, and it never stops being ugly."
"Naps are good" - Visual C++.NET for Dummies, page 1 |
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| DVL_IAC |
Posted 28th Sep 2005 12:25am | |
L4Y Member
Post 526 / 1417
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Too many rules! 128X128 max texture size... Thats too small.. The textures would look all ugly and streached... 10 max textures... bad. 2mb max file size... too small, a sp map isn't a sp map without some good custom music and dialogue and stuff to go along with it... max 10 rooms.. how are you supposed to make a good story with only 10 rooms?...   |
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| DVL-Blaze |
Posted 28th Sep 2005 12:27am |
L4Y Member
Post 333 / 372
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ok first off it can't be the best you can do if it's only going to be 2MB rar format. Also, no more than 10 rooms?Well then they are all going to be the same concept now aren't they?If you're going to have a competition why not hear from contestants and ask them what THEY think are fair rules.I honestly don't think that 2-10 custom textures can give the effect of doing "the best you can". But that's just my oppinion and I know there are otheres who agree. But the number of those who agree is unknown to me. |
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| Predalienator |
Posted 28th Sep 2005 12:33am |
Welcome!
Post 743 / 1
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I,m in  And the 1st prize should be l4y gold for a 2 months,2nd prize for a month and 3rd prize for 3 weeks. |
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| E_Darkness |
Posted 28th Sep 2005 1:09am |
L4Y Member
Post 91 / 338
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I Agree with the texture size comment it should be kept under 512x512, with textures like that the maps will look better.
There should be no limit on number of custum textures/vbms
With that said I dont think there should be a limit under 8 MB Compressed.
All completed Maps should be able to be played by any one.
Completion time should be around end of November. And if every thing goes good have another contest like this. |
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| ark_gamer |
Posted 28th Sep 2005 1:13am |
L4Y Member
Post 11 / 12
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I think the limit on the number of rooms is a bad idea. You can't really have a plot or anything good with five rooms. |
| Looks like somebody has a case of the Mondays. |
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| Predalienator |
Posted 28th Sep 2005 1:15am |
Welcome!
Post 752 / 1
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Yay!I,m a Tech.Have ya,ll begun on SP maps? |
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| adambehrend |
Posted 28th Sep 2005 3:01am |
L4Y Member
Post 80 / 97
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I dont like the idea of all these boundaries and limitations...
there should be no rules... if you want to create a 5 room map with no custom textures thats your choice |
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| Ugly Donkey |
Posted 28th Sep 2005 3:31am |
L4Y Member
Post 118 / 843
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vidi i would reccomend you starting a thread tge get all of the rules set up, and once u get the rules to where very one agrees on them, then start the contest. you art doing this contest in a horrible time where most of the mappers are starting school as well as just suddenly making a competition with out giving any one a choice as what the rules are.
i agree as well no sp map will do anything with only 5 rooms and up to 10 custom textures.. and a file size of 2mb..are u out of your mind even i know that that is almost impossible to actually create a good sp map with |
| Your Fugly and the Ugly Donkey Knows it |
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| Predalienator |
Posted 28th Sep 2005 3:46am |
Welcome!
Post 757 / 1
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He,s on dial up like me.Why not we make 2 versions of our maps.1 is the originale 1 while the other is the smaller 1. |
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| Vidi44 |
Posted 28th Sep 2005 10:39pm |
L4Y Member
Post 281 / 668
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Ok. Yes, I am on dialup. Second, compression using RAR will cut the size down to 1/5 of the original. A 10 MB decompressed VPP should work for a basic map. I'm not asking for a Hive 1.3 mod here, just a series of good SP maps.
Also, you're right about the limits. I was thinking last night that so long as the custom textures and size of the textures doesn't affect the size, go ahead and do it. If you want to use a 1024x1024 texture on all your things, then go ahead. If you want to use 100 custom textures, fine by me. As long as it fits under the 2 MB size limit (which I will not budge on).
For those of you privaleged (yes, it is a privalege) enough to have broadband, the file size won't matter to you. However, I'm thinking about the poor mappers in Canada and Malaysia who have to wait 10 hours to download a large map. File uploads in dialup are almost 1/4-1/2 of your download speed. If you had a 56k connection, your upload speed would be somewhere around 14k - 28k. This is all because dialup really wasn't designed for uploading. So, think about the dialers. For me to upload a 10 MB map would mean almost 4 hours doing nothing. If I used my connection for something else, then it'd take longer.
Ugly Donkey: This thread is to set up the rules and stuff. Once its all done, I'll throw up a CDC. The early starting date was just an idea I had, not realizing that people like to be arrogant about custom stuff that they have the privaledge of knowing where to get it at. Realize that the original rules were designed for optimum fairness. Not everyone has access to all the custom textures. Not everyone can make massive levels with 40 rooms and immense details. In order to make it all fair, I decided to limit things. Since people are complaining, I suppose I'd be forced to lift the restrictions, because if I don't, no one will map because they didn't get their way. Bloody elitists!
Anyway, basically the only restriction that remains is the 2 MB compression size. As I've said before, this is when compressed! Your VPP can be 100 MB for all I care, just compress it to fit within 2 MB + 500k (in case you're a bit over). Use the highest compression settings for RAR and (I know I've said this before, so listen when I say it) you can cut the filesize to 20% of the original VPP size. If you don't use customs and too many rooms, you can fit a lot of AI in there. AI uses up almost no real room. For every entity put in, there's almost no change in file size. A room, on the other hand, will increase the size a few hundred kb.
This is why when limits are set, you should follow them, not quesiton them relentlessly. If you thought about it a while, you'd realize the restrictions allowed for maximum gaming. You don't need those fancy add-ons or anything to make it great. In fact, when I'm playing a level, I barely notice the textures used! The goal of an SP game is to challenge the player skill-wise, not make them stare at custom textures for 2 hours straight.
So, which set of rules will we pick? If it were up to me (which it really should, as well as to Pred, as we pretty much came up with the idea together), the limits would stay in place, for reasons listed above. However, if I want people to actually map, I suppose I'll have to lift the restrictions so people can show off their custom stuff, instead of focusing on the game!
Basically, it'll be up to you. Decide on what you want, quality or quantity. You're not forced to use customs or anything like that. If you want to fill up your file size on that stuff, then go ahead. You won't get anymore size (for the contest. If you want to map it using customs and release it separately, go ahead). If you want to spend your time on getting the most "bang for your buck", with hundreds of AI and enough nav/waypoints to let them go anywhere they want, then do it. In the end, I suppose it all comes down to "Do you want to win off your mapping skill, or because you can find pretty colors and stuff?". It's up to you. I'll check back in on this thread tomorrow, then throw a CDC up.
Before I leave, I'll write something I just thought of. How about we start the mapping on 1 October, then initial entries can be put in at 1 November? The final deadline would be the day after Thanksgiving (which would be 24 November, for those who don't celebrate or even 5know what Thanksgiving is. This way you can be home for the holidays (some colleges start their breaks that early, others observe the myriad holidays between then and February), and not worry about your maps. Then I guess the maps can be released for 1 December by NCF. Why that late? Because NCF needs some time to relax, and if you let the maps sit, you can request to make a change (although your entry would be docked 2 points (out of the standard 5 point system), because it'd not be what you turned in, and in the real world, you wouldn't even get that chance, so I'm being nice). How does that sit for everybody?
Basically, the deadline is 25 November (or November 25 for those who don't read it that way). You can start mapping on Saturday, and you can do anything you want with your map, so long as it fits within L4Y guidelines and stays under 2MB COMPRESSED! (did I make that clear?). If you'd like to use custom textures, yet cannot fit it all in the file limit, release it in the future (the contest entry would be something simpler, of course), or maybe just take a docking in points (1 point docked for every MB over the limit). Everything must be compressed in RAR, and I recommend you use the highest settings (play around with it if you don't know the best settings).
For UD: Pretty much, the above is the rules until someone can make a very good argument to convince me to change anything.
For those looking for competition: I'm thinking about incorporating a side-story for the map pack I'm making. Since its a story line and the map hasn't even left my brain yet, it's legal. I'm thinking maybe something like a cross between HIC and REDSUCKS. Possibly including molten cheese and bananas (well, I watched the "Bananaphone" video in class because I got bored, the badgers looked more like cows on the small monitor, thus cheese). If I do that, it'll be interesting, to say the least. |
"Don't go there. It's ugly, and it never stops being ugly."
"Naps are good" - Visual C++.NET for Dummies, page 1 |
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| Ugly Donkey |
Posted 28th Sep 2005 10:47pm |
L4Y Member
Post 123 / 843
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why did i get singled out...
ur rules are ur rules i was just providing some input  |
| Your Fugly and the Ugly Donkey Knows it |
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| DVL_IAC |
Posted 29th Sep 2005 3:14am | |
L4Y Member
Post 528 / 1417
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| Quoting Vidi44 |
For those of you privaleged (yes, it is a privalege) enough to have broadband, the file size won't matter to you. However, I'm thinking about the poor mappers in Canada and Malaysia who have to wait 10 hours to download a large map. File uploads in dialup are almost 1/4-1/2 of your download speed. If you had a 56k connection, your upload speed would be somewhere around 14k - 28k. This is all because dialup really wasn't designed for uploading. So, think about the dialers. For me to upload a 10 MB map would mean almost 4 hours doing nothing. If I used my connection for something else, then it'd take longer.
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Poor mappers in canada? Every canadian I know thats active on this site (including me) has high speed... and 56k uploads and downloads at 3-5kb/s def not 14-28kb/s I should know. I was on 56k up until a few months ago. Also when I was on 56k I uploaded files up to 100mb fine... just gotta leave comp on over night and its done in the morning... same with d/ling...
But BLAH! I haven't been in the mood for RED for weeks  So I, more then likely, am probably not gonna make anything. I just like to argue. |
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