New Contest? (2nd Edition)

[nbohr1more]

Alright, to begin early on the contest process and have "even better" pre-planning, I am starting a wild thread to throw out ideas into to be collected for voting.

 

I think it will be easier if any concepts are bolded at the top of the post in this format:

 

Contest Concept: Campaign Secret Santa

Size Restriction: Yes

Time Restriction: No

 

Time restriction meaning "Can prior work be revised for inclusion?"

 

You would need to provide additional details for your concept in your post.

 

For example:

 

My example concept is to have a contest where each mapper is gives another mapper a mission concept to complete. The assigned mission must be one of the 4 available missions in a Campaign concept. Once all the participants have their mission, making sure to properly divided as evenly as possible, then the contest begins.

 

The benefit of this approach is that no matter who's missions are the best, players can take the individual missions and string them together into their own preferred version of the overall campaign. Of course, the highest voted ones will be packaged together as the official contest version.

 

Edit:

 

For the record both Fidcal and Demagogue have presented similar concepts so I won't claim to be the original author of this idea... I just like it.

 

~~~~~~~

 

Just to keep it easier to track, only post your concept at the top of the first post about it. Then it will be easier to collect all the ideas and there should be less problems with missed contest ideas that were never voted on.

Edited September 9, 2011 by nbohr1more

[Shadowhide]

its hard for me too understand everything you write,so I will not write down concept

 

Contest Theme : The Dark Secret

 

Size Restriction: no

 

Time Restriction: 3 month to build (with extensions)

 

 

[Sotha]

Contest Concept: The Readable Contest

Size Restriction: Yes, few pages

Time Restriction: No

 

The Readable Contest would not be mapping contest at all, but a readable editor excercise and most importantly a test of writing skills and imagination.

 

Contestants write a readable book of few pages (number open to discussion). The topic can be anything, but it must bring forth TDM universe background information, atmosphere and mood in an interesting / fascinating way.

 

The contestants write their entries using the DR readable editor and the contest manager creates a simple library map, where the contest entries are presented. Players go ingame and read the books and vote their favourite readable.

 

The texts would be evaluated on many levels: content, of course. Font selection. Maybe it could coax writers to even make their own skins or even models for the books. The Book of Evil Rituals would be pitch black, emanating eerie custom particles.

 

The winner is the text which got the most votes. All the contest entries are placed in the wiki in xdata format. FM authors can then copy-paste the xdata text straight into their mission xdata file to incorporate these background books in their mission. Maybe the books could be prefabs as well.

 

Need a builder holy scripture on the lectern? Want to quickly place some alchemical recipes in the alchemist's hut? Mapper could easily drop these existing texts into their missions to add depth. The contest would also fill TDM universe with details, which can then later spark great ideas in other mappers. New skins and models for books wouldn't be bad at all. And the best of all: even those who are not fluent with mapping get to produce something to the contest as it on its simplest level requires only the ability to write!

[Shadowhide]

I lol'd hard

 

The contest would also fill TDM universe with details

 

so wiki should fill TDM universe,not campaign ?

 

 

[Sotha]

I lol'd hard

so wiki should fill TDM universe,not campaign ?

 

Looks like you didn't understand this either. A clarification, only for you:

 

A campaign would certainly add TDM background information. However, nobody has been thus far able to contribute a campaign yet. Everyone who can write can contribute background lore in a readable contest.

 

This is what the Readable Contest is all about. Generating interesting background lore, texts and possibly readable assets (skins, models) as a side product.

 

Besides, if someone was doing a campaign, they'd better write their background stories well before embarking on the mapping anyways. Learning to write interesting texts would help them make interesting plots in their FM's later. Also reading other people's texts may help their imaginations too.

 

Did you understand now? If you don't, I cannot be bothered to try to explain it more clearly.

[Shadowhide]

ah,I see....

 

bad idea,hope it doesn't win

 

 

 

 

[PranQster]

LOL.. anyway...

I like this idea. That would be a great way to get a library of readables incorporated into TDM. Everything from religious tomes and sagas to farmers' almanacs and newsletters.

[nbohr1more]

I suppose having a variety of high quality texts to plop into your mission would be nice but to me generic readables are kinda like the argument about "Door Handles to Doors that Don't Open".

 

We open a book or frob a note hoping to find material specific to the task at hand. Yet we are greeted by some material that is completely irrelevant or (worse) possibly misleading.

 

If anything, these readables would need to be like mad-libs where blanks are left for specific locations of treasure details (etc).

 

The readables need to be another sign-post to direct the player where they should go.

 

I suppose ENTERTAINING non-sequitur stuff, especially humor, could be excluded from that requirement but seeing the same joke in several missions would also be a problem.

 

You will have to spell out more logistics to convince me Sotha

[stumpy]

secret santa that be along the lines of break into bank leave loot at local orphanage.

[SiyahParsomen]

Contest Concept: Halloween

Size Restriction: Yes - 1000 brushes

Time Restriction: Yes - Between September1 & October31

 

 

We need more scary fms and Halloween is the best for this. Reason for 1000 brushes is forcing mappers to use patches & models(especially enviromental) heavly for beautiful geometry, and brushes mostly for sealing. It's not for beginners.

[jaxa]

Christmas contest

Halloween/generic horror

Night Stealing at the Museum

Outdoors/pagans

Size constrain'd. Similar to some T2 Komag contests where you had to build in a small cube. Vertical has already been done.

Castle (a large fortress as opposed to, a manor, existing either in a city/fortification context or in the semi-remote countryside)

Factions (a contest focusing on a. a specific faction chosen for the contest, b. any faction allowed, or c. any two or more factions and the interactions/hate between them) Wiki lists the factions as the Builders, Pagans, Inventor's Guild, Mages, Necromancers, and Thieves.

 

The T2 contests thread: http://www.ttlg.com/...ad.php?t=124378

 

Alternatively, for more flexibility, make it Iron Chef style and include a specific "ingredient", like bots / gears, water, blood, betrayal, dark secret / mystery, physics, puzzles, light. Mission features the element prominently but not exclusively.

 

Physics -> rope dynamics, structures as in "Swing", object manipulation.

Puzzles -> riddles, tiles, traps.

Blood -> a gruesome murder, following a trail like in the T2 OM, vampires.

Water -> Underwater areas, docks, pirates, city rivers, usable boats, canals, drainage, extensive sewers.

Light -> Daylight missions, pitch dark missions, odd sources or occurrences of light, whatever.

Heart -> Captain Planet, necromancy, organ theft, eerie music, supernatural.

Gears -> clocktower, clockwork, steam bots (more required), factory setting, mineshaft, elevators.

Fire -> gunpowder, places actually on fire and partially collapsing as you loot it and achieve optional "hero" objectives, fire elementals, volcanic / lava flows, bombs, lamp oil.

Beauty -> infiltrate a pageant to steal the crown, nobility / gardens, servants, scenery and skyboxes.

Void -> teleportation, spatial confusion, open spaces.

Anything that would get someone to create some huge airships.

Edited June 6, 2011 by jaxa

[brethren]

bad idea,hope it doesn't win

 

I see Shadowhide continues to endear himself to everyone here on the forums.

 

And language barriers are not an excuse...

[jaxa]

I see Shadowhide continues to endear himself to everyone here on the forums.

 

And language barriers are not an excuse...

 

I look at Shadowhide's posts and see a no-nonsense, practical, critically-minded, and brutally honest individual.

[brethren]

That's funny, I just see a rude A-hole.

 

"Bad idea, hope it doesn't win"

 

should be

 

"Not my thing, but I'd prefer something else."

 

if he were a normal human being.

 

The guy is a jerk; don't let him off the hook because English is his 8th language or whatever.

[7upMan]

I look at Shadowhide's posts and see a no-nonsense, practical, critically-minded, and brutally honest individual.

 

...and a talented mapper at that. ^^

[Melan]

A potentially workable idea:

Faction contest. Select a faction from those officially mentioned:

Builders

Pagans

Mages

Necromancers

Inventor's Guild

Thieves

...and build a mission around them. This is fairly good since it allows the imagination to run wild and produce diverse results, but also provides a common ground to judge entries by.

[Shadowhide]

 

 

The guy is a jerk

 

And ?

 

...and a talented mapper at that. ^^

 

seriously ? thank you for that kind of words

[Glyph Seeker]

A potentially workable idea:

Faction contest. Select a faction from those officially mentioned:

Builders

Pagans

Mages

Necromancers

Inventor's Guild

Thieves

...and build a mission around them. This is fairly good since it allows the imagination to run wild and produce diverse results, but also provides a common ground to judge entries by.

 

A Faction Contest? I like the idea - that would also accomplish the task of exercising peoples' imaginations about the background or World of TDM.

[Baddcog]

I suppose having a variety of high quality texts to plop into your mission would be nice but to me generic readables are kinda like the argument about "Door Handles to Doors that Don't Open".

 

We open a book or frob a note hoping to find material specific to the task at hand. Yet we are greeted by some material that is completely irrelevant or (worse) possibly misleading.

 

 

Yes but a step further. a non-frobable handle looks good, just like a non-frobable scroll or book.

 

But a book that is just text about the dark universe in game takes time to read and doesn't lend to the mission itself. Possibly confusing player because they read a book looking for clues that they aren't sure they found.

Morrowind had a million of these, I don't think I ever read more than 2 pages.

[DeTeEff]

I've got no problem with story/mood/immersion text and such, but it's nice, as a mapper to boil down the info and create some hints/objectives after the readable is closed so one just needs to skim through the text and then the important stuff won't be missed. Thief had a lot of these mood-texts and it was no problem. (Just a bit frustrating when you'd searched for hours and finally found a new entity and it's just a lousy book about builders and sins )

 

But as for the contest part......ugh, so soon? I know it's just some collection-of-thoughts and ideas for contests to come, but I'm craving to finish my "main" mission first, before I enter. This time I mean it!

 

 

But what the hell!

 

 

Maybe a horror contest for halloween?

 

[Baddcog]

Halloween would be right around the release date...

[Sotha]

Morrowind had a million of these, I don't think I ever read more than 2 pages.

 

Lol! I read them all and got hungry for more! They made the universe to blossom into life better than any cutscene.

 

But a book that is just text about the dark universe in game takes time to read and doesn't lend to the mission itself. Possibly confusing player because they read a book looking for clues that they aren't sure they found.

 

Making a decision to not put a flavor book in a mission because it might confuse players might be described as 'dumbing down,' don't you think?

 

I wonder, when encountering a book, if most of the players really think "oh, no a book. And it takes time to read. I must read it to find clues the mapper placed here."

 

I personally see readables as interesting way to immerse in the background world, but if the readables really are so shallow for most of the players, mappers should probably reconsider how much time and effort they want to put in their readables.

 

EDIT: i put a poll to find out The Truth.

[nbohr1more]

One of the problems is that the Builder religion is painted as VERY dogmatic. This means that "by character" any readables with a Builder's words will be a droning recitation. Long spells of reading that stuff will be authentically as sleep inducing as reading actual sermons from the same period. I suppose religious historians would eat it up but anyone else will struggle.

 

Then we have the Lords and Ladies, their correspondence is necessarily imbued with the dry passionless trivialities of spoiled people. Here, there are more opportunities for dry humor at the expense of the servants of the house (etc) but these folk are often the primary ones to relay clues.

 

It's these caricatures that are meant to make the act of Theft amusing. You are stealing from boring, dogmatic, or inane people.

 

The Dark Mod has it's claim that in comparison to Thief it's a "gritty universe" yet the caricatures persist here as well... except without much of levity and thus it often has a bleak or depressing feel rather than "gritty". If you wanted to make the universe feel more real and grounded it needs some light. The "bad people" you steal from must laugh, listen to music, tell jokes to their friends, etc. In short, they must be portrayed in more ways than the "people who deserve to be blackjacked"... A difficult path to follow...

[brethren]

Contest Concept: The Puzzle Contest

Size Restriction: Yes

Time Restriction: No

 

This would essentially be a contest where each mission is designed around puzzles and problem solving/non-combatative goals, possibly even limiting or outright abandoning any kind of AI at all. Goal and objectives would still need to be reached, but the player would be forced to use their brain to solve certain scenarios as opposed to sneaking around/knocking out/killing AI.

 

Graphics/audio/atmosphere/scripting etc could still all be figured into the grading.

[DeTeEff]

Contest Concept: The Puzzle Contest

Size Restriction: Yes

Time Restriction: No

 

This would essentially be a contest where each mission is designed around puzzles and problem solving/non-combatative goals, possibly even limiting or outright abandoning any kind of AI at all. Goal and objectives would still need to be reached, but the player would be forced to use their brain to solve certain scenarios as opposed to sneaking around/knocking out/killing AI.

 

Graphics/audio/atmosphere/scripting etc could still all be figured into the grading.

 

 

Oooh...I don't think TDM is the right platform for puzzle games. They could be fun but much of the challenge is the sneaking past AI, at least in my book. Stumpy made a puzze mission for the summer contest last year, and it confused me a lot. That mission took place inside the tower of a (mad) illusionist. Lots of riddles and teleporting.