Duel Mapping Contest 2015

1st May 2015 - 1st August 2015


Rules

• The map must be designed for 1v1 (Duel) with XPM tournament settings.
  
• All content used in the map must be opensource (GPL), including the map source -- no exceptions
  
• You are allowed to submit maps which were started before contest, so long as they were not released and of course are not remakes.
  
• No remakes.
  
• Put some Xonotic logos (for example see Fuse or Silent Siege)
  
• You can submit multiple maps (even if not finished 100%)
  
• No registration needed
  
• To take part in the contest pack your map as pk3 and link it here in the thread
  

Prizes
People may donate via PayPal until the end of the contest.
How we split the money exactly to the contenders is yet to be discussed (depends on the amount).



Donations

• SteelSeries 6Gv2 keyboard by shogun assassin (postage donated by Mirio)
  
• 100 EUR by -z-
  
• 50 EUR by antibody
  
• 50 EUR by SpiKe
  

Total: 200 EUR + SteelSeries 6Gv2 keyboard

Judging
The maps will be judged by a panel of experienced duel players and/or developers on gameplay (70%), presentation (20%) and originality (10%).
Judges are not allowed to take part in the contest.

Judges
antibody
Mirio
shogun assassin
Smilecythe
-z-

Maps

Clockwork by Melanosuchus
Cucumber by SpiKe
Curvature by Freddy
Erbium by Justin
Luminar by Debugger
Mint by monad
Styrofoam by proraide

XPM
You might have noticed that some servers run the XPM mod. As opposed to CPM, the physics and weapons are the same as on default servers. Instead it represents tournament settings. The biggest change is the 100/100 health/armor cap which means that you can only stack up to 200/200 using mega-items and shards.

Important places
Xonotic Wiki
Map Releases & Reviews (you can create a thread for your map there and get feedback)
Editing and Concept Art
Tournament VODs

IRC - Quakenet:
#xonotic (general talk)
#xonotic.editing (questions regarding editing)
#xonotic.pickup (to find players to test the map)

Previous contests
Duel Mapping Contest (sponsored by Sapphire)
CTF Mapping Contest (by GlobalGamers)
Speedmapping Contest
Nexball Mapping Contest

Very cool to see this come into fruition. Thanks for setting this up Mirio.

As for donations, you can except more to come soon. I do plan on donating (as do others) a sizable amount once I am able to get my hands on some more cash.

Pretty excited to see the results! Best of luck to all creators.

Yay, thx for organizing this!
I hope it will attract lots of people!

I'll make a donation this week-end, and maybe start to put my hands on NetRadiant...

Extremely great! Keep the quality of maps high on xonotic <3

I've just added a 50 EUR donation. I look forward to judging the maps!

I'll make a donation this week-end

50 EUR just arrived by SpiKe!

You should spam this contest in ESR news asap

Please link here so we can [+]

You should spam this contest in ESR news asap

indeed. needs to be spammed so Spike wont be the only participant.

@cortez: machine participates as well afaik.

Is it possible to postpone the deadline to September 1?
It would give some extra time for people who are away in July (with holidays) ^^

I have only one question: i can submit only one map?

You may submit as many as you'd like, although I'd imagine the quality per-map would drop as the number of your maps increases .

I have only one question: i can submit only one map?

You can submit unlimited maps!
Last time there were three mappers who made two maps each for the contest.

http://gamedevcontests.com/contest/xonot...ng-contest

Thanks for posting that! We could use more advertisement for this. Also donations are still open

I'm back!

I want in on this action...

Is there any list of participants? I can say I've postponed my attempt closer to the deadline since I then (hopefully) can find more motivation.

Is there any list of participants? I can say I've postponed my attempt closer to the deadline since I then (hopefully) can find more motivation.

Obviously not 100% confirmed, but from this thread/IRC infos: Z(Rus), SpiKe, proraide, fabzor3, TimePath and you.

Not sure about Cortez, packer or kuniuthefrogg.

Not sure about Cortez, packer or kuniuthefrogg.

Well, im 100% sure about cortez.
there wont be a map from him.

Not sure about Cortez, packer or kuniuthefrogg.

Well, im 100% sure about cortez.
there wont be a map from him.

aww cortez, why?

Someone has to be the first to submit a map, so here it is:

http://download.evil-ant-colony.org/maps...ure_02.pk3

Someone has to be the first to submit a map, so here it is:

http://download.evil-ant-colony.org/maps...ure_02.pk3

Love that beeb. Reminds me of the controllable laughs when I heard the sound effect of Nexball for the first time. I was also very happy to run around the map at high speed, with my not-so-high skill level.

Game server admins, can we have a server hosting only the contest maps so the community can try it? I understand the contest is for DM, but I wonder whether it's possible for players to also experience the maps in other game types.

It's a contest for Duel maps, not DM maps. There's a huge difference.

Xonotic is not lacking DM maps really, but it is lacking good, well balanced and fresh Duel maps. This contest is a response to this particular demand.

Someone has to be the first to submit a map, so here it is:

http://download.evil-ant-colony.org/maps...ure_02.pk3

Someone has to be the first one to give feedback and critic, so here it is:

Visually in terms of texturing and brush work, I have no immediate critic towards the map, it's neither stunning or awful. Improving in visual department is just a matter of practice and the way this map looks like suggests that you're capable of that.

The layout is little bit too symmetrical which makes it difficult to comprehend and learn, it's also a little bit too round.. I get it's the idea of the map, but there's a reason why there aren't many well balanced roundly shaped maps around, it's difficult to do both in terms of texture and brush work, not to mention figuring out layout and balance as well. I ran around by myself there for about 30 minutes and most of the time I couldn't tell where I was after I spawned. There's too many and some too long corridors, this ultimately makes this map more suitable for DM rather than Duel. Duel means you battle in the map with just one opponent and yourself, I would imagine most of the playtime in this map going to chasing opponents in those long one way corridors. Overall size of the map doesn't necessarily need to be rescaled (however I would still recommend it), rooms and corridors connecting them to one another needs some opening up though.

You should try to shape map layout based on which weapon you expect to be used in certain areas most, as a good example: long and open places could use some cover from nex fire. You should also pay attention to how routes and rooms connect to different items, you should aim to have variation in route choices between mega HP and mega armor for instance.. Route A could be slower and have some useful weapon and route B could be a faster path with some less significant items if any. If you want the map to support nex heavy play, you could force players to walk through a route of their own, put nex in place A and serve extra ammo in place B where players wouldn't necessarily otherwise go. Currently it feels like you pasted items pretty much just in the most geometrically convincing places only, a little bit apart from one another and didn't think through the effects in gameplay.

Those curvy stairs in front of mega armor are a little off both in visual and layout aspects, I can tell you were kind of testing the waters with the editor and it probably has some kind of achievement value.. However it's not a very practical shape of geometry as you can just laser jump over it. But mostly it's not practical, because Xonotic is too fast paced for a slowing down geometry that forces players to spin around in small cramped space like that. I recommend replacing those stairs with a simple jump pad.

Improving in mapping, knowing the theory for Xonotic duel and figuring out interesting layouts usually require lots of observation and or playing youself, keep an eye on how popular duel maps are made and how people play them (youtube search: xonotic duel commentary). Same thing goes for visuals, you might have to literally copy somebody else's style blatantly till you figure out how to put it all together with your own style.

I would gladly try this map out on DM, but tbh it doesn't feel enjoyable in Duel in the slightest. I'm not sure I could enjoy this even in minsta duel where it's easier for slower players to catch up, because it's just too much cat and mouse chase with those closed one dimensional corridors.

Beeb sound is a nice touch, but mind explaining what causes it to happen? Couldn't figure that out, but I'm guessing it has something to do with the panel ramps surrounding the floor below mega hp.