Posted by:Nightmarjoo


Ok for any of you old enough members to remember any of Starparty's "Random Map Competitions", this is the same thing. I make a small theme, and I'm gonna give you guys a week to make them.
Why have this competition? To encourage mapping, after all, it's funner to compete than to do something for fun usually.
What do you win? Well a bwm front page newspost and threads on other sites atleast, and some pride^^ I haven't talked to Nasty about it, but perhaps we can get some gosugamers.net news coverage on the winner? If you can't arrange that, Nasty, we'll understand you tried your absolute best and didn't purposely fail bwm^^
Rules:
Size: largest dimension is 128, the other dimension must be smaller. Basicly, 128x128 is a no, 128x96 is fine, 64x128 is also fine. 192x64 is a no.
Tileset: Ice, Desert, or Twilight.
Players: 2, 3, or 5 players.
Map should include: The best decoration you can do. If you don't spend atleast 2 hours on decoration, it's probably not good enough. I want to see a great tile blend, no need for fancy scmdraft shit though, intelligent doodad placement, including both doodads you can and cannot walk on (if it's twilight you get a pass on ones you can walk on), and a very natural feel to the map. Don't worry about what the jpg will look like, decorate locally. Make it appear as natural as possible; that's not to say there can't be man-made features, as long as they fit in intelligently and rationally. Please use all the map's space. The map is smaller than most of you are acustomed to, there's no excuse for not being able to fill it all in a meaningful manner. Balance is the most important part, but please attempt an interesting concept. I'd rather for a more standard approach for a solid map, but if you can pull off some experimental stuff, then be my guest. Island or semi-island are both fine, as well as ground map. Please try and avoid avoidable pathing issues. Test your maps to make sure the mineral formations aren't buggy at all. Make sure atleast the main/nat formation have atleast one hole for scarabs to pass through. Allow atleast a little room for static defense, ie turrets or cannons or sunks or spores or whatever near formations. Try to make a concept which both doesn't need inverted ramps and doesn't need fucked distances. If you want to use inverts, that's fine, but remember that these tilesets don't all have the greatest inverts in the world. Positional balance is necessary. If it's not perfect, it had better be damned near.
One map per person, if you finish early, that leaves more time for testing/editing before the deadline.
The winning map is the one which both follows all the rules and that I like the best. You can sure bet I'll look at comments and the vote, but I make the final decision. Remember, positional balance, interesting if not unique concept, racial balance, beautiful and natural decoration.
One last thing, maps must include critters. Intelligently placed critters for a natural feel. Look at my map, Pale Horse, or either of the Angband maps. That is critter spam, not what I want here. Rationally placed critters. If they are close enough to get in the way of an expo, that's fine, so long as there is such a positioned critter for every player of the expo.
Good luck guys, and seriously, have fun while making these. This is a competition, map competively, do your absolute best. Consider everything about mapping you've ever had. Use a concept that doesn't make yourself even yawn. Execute it flawlessly so it's elegant and not at all awkward.
-Nightmarjoo |