Xorak on 3/7/2013 at 21:34
If it's only 48 hours, it's conceivable that not everybody has to work on it on the exact same two days.
What I mean is that the organizer of the contest produces a 'base' mission which only contains the 'drudge work.' But when the FM maker asks for the file and receives it, then he has 48 hours to start working on it. The 48 hours can be any 48 hours over a set seven day period.
And when you receive the FM your clock starts exactly an hour after that (giving enough time to get organized and set it up, etc.) So you need to verify with the contest organizer the exact time to receive the base mission and the time to hand back the finished mission.
FireMage on 3/7/2013 at 22:03
Hmmm... I understand your conception, but that would be a bit... complex...
Because you see that a lot of mapper wish to join it. You may remember how many contestant, when did they start, when did they finish... Finally that would be terrific on the organizer side... Or the organizer must be a team... Or accept launch somebody into the contest EACH Friday's evening, collect the Contest Mission and when the last challenger has finished, we submit everything. But the first may be patient, and people won't have the time to test excepted if we do that he must send his mission before the next Friday...
But is my conception of 2(3-4-5-6-7) days to work, 5(4-3-2-1-0) days to testa bit easier to plan no?
Just have to launch and wait for all signatures during holidays, and launch everybody.
And just wait for they finished?
About bases, I'm not sure that everybody is fond of it... Just wait for their answer about this question...
Renault on 3/7/2013 at 22:48
Quote Posted by Xorak
If it's only 48 hours, it's conceivable that not everybody has to work on it on the exact same two days.
What I mean is that the organizer of the contest produces a 'base' mission which only contains the 'drudge work.' But when the FM maker asks for the file and receives it, then he has 48 hours to start working on it. The 48 hours can be any 48 hours over a set seven day period.
And when you receive the FM your clock starts exactly an hour after that (giving enough time to get organized and set it up, etc.) So you need to verify with the contest organizer the exact time to receive the base mission and the time to hand back the finished mission.
Excellent points and ideas, I hadn't even thought of that kind of setup.
Sliptip on 3/7/2013 at 22:59
Quote Posted by FireMage
About bases, I'm not sure that everybody is fond of it... Just wait for their answer about this question...
I like the idea of using bases, but just bare-bones-jorge-walled boxes arranged in some sort of simple layout. The idea being that no one would be able to start mapping ahead of time since they wouldn't know what kind of space options they'd have to work with (though we could establish a rough size ahead of time). We could have maybe 4-5 options authors could choose from.
What do you think?
Yandros on 3/7/2013 at 23:27
How about a generic tower, crypt, forest, and small city to choose from. Textured with stock textures (which the author can accept or use some of their time upgrading if they choose to), or with Jorge.
Sliptip on 4/7/2013 at 00:12
Quote Posted by Yandros
How about a generic tower, crypt, forest, and small city to choose from. Textured with stock textures (which the author can accept or use some of their time upgrading if they choose to), or with Jorge.
I think my preference would be empty cubes, but I'd be on board with whatever the consensus is.
Xorak on 4/7/2013 at 00:50
Firemage, if you allow 2 days for building and 5 days to test, I think everyone will just use the 7 days to build anyways and limit testing to half a day or whatever, just like is done with longer contests. In which case, why not make it a 7 day contest and be done with it?
When I think of a base, I think of it the same as how AntiMatter_16 sees it. It's an empty mission created by FMORGANIZER (or whatever). It's only purpose is to force all missions to start on the same level and somehow define a starting point which is equal for everyone. And somehow to try and prevent anyone from starting early and importing even 1 hour of previously done work over.
Though if there are multiple bases to choose from, who's going to make them all?
Yandros on 4/7/2013 at 01:45
Well, I'd be willing to do some of them I guess. They'd be really small, but now I think on it more, perhaps it's not a good idea as it would limit creativity to have to choose from one of them. So the empty air brush is probably the best idea. Would the mission have to fit inside it or is it just there basically as an empty starting point?
Preventing people from starting early is futile, IMHO - someone could just multibrush in part of some other mission they had worked on before, and they could instantly have a large, detailed mission. I think we should just go by the honor system as usual.
Here's one other idea to throw out there, although I don't necessarily think it's a good one. My FM Dance With The Dead was actually initially an exercise in modular speed building. I made a handful of rooms and corridors which were designed to easily copy and paste, and built the skeleton of the layout in about a day (and it's pretty damn large). This could work for a contest if someone made such a base mission with modular pieces, textured in Jorge. The authors would then texture the modules and add some objects (furniture, doors, etc.) as they wanted to, and then use them to quickly create a medium-sized mission. This approach avoids the "everybody's mission looks the same" syndrome that you get with a typical contest with a base mission, still affords some creativity (different mission locations based on texturing and how they are assembled), and allows folks to make larger-than-typical-contest-missions in a day or two, with several more days left for adding AI, loot, goals and story.
FireMage on 4/7/2013 at 01:55
Quote Posted by Xorak
Firemage, if you allow 2 days for building and 5 days to test, I think everyone will just use the 7 days to build anyways and limit testing to half a day or whatever, just like is done with longer contests.
As I said earlier in the thread. You're not obliged to have 2 days for building and 5 for testing. You can have 6 day for building and 1 day for testing. Worst, 0 testing days and 7 building days.
Just have to organize yourself. ;)
For the base, yes, I agree with Yandros... The theme because limited with such thing... but we could add some for "help". You're not obliged to use it, but it could be useful.
But, it would be long to prepare the base. The best would be to send a simple air brush with a STP and preconfigured goals. (Only visibles & states stuff, don't need to choose the type or the target).
And sending in the main page of the contest some links to all textures and models pack for a quick job.
EDIT: Adding a pack of multibrush to import, could be a great idea. That's the thing that would fit with Yandros Idea
Yandros on 4/7/2013 at 02:20
I don't understand about preconfigured goals. That's a big constraint on creativity IMO, even without text. It's also a very easy and quick thing to do yourself, so I don't see any reason to impose that on contestants.
Offering a set of multibrushes which can be used is a nice idea and compromise on the modular idea I mentioned above.
