Noesis Interactive recently contacted us and kindly offered to sponsor our mapping contest by providing some of their training modules as additional prizes!
Noesis Interactive is the premier developer of training materials for game modders and indie-developers, multi-disciplinary artists within fields such as: game design, programming, 3D and 2D art, machinima, UI design and web development. Working with leading game studios and software developers such as Valve Corporation, Avid Technology, Inc., and Autodesk, Inc., Noesis actively expands the knowledge and creativity of its user base preparing them for industry careers or independent production. The Valve Store has been selling Noesis' products as official Source SDK training DVDs for a long time now.
Noesis is offering contest winners their choice of three downloadable training modules for first place, two for second place, and one for third place! They'll also be giving us a hand with judging entries. Check their site for a full list of available modules. Though most focus on Valve's Source engine, some of the skills taught would apply to all types of game development.
So the full list of prizes is now:
1st: $70 USD -OR- Up to $70 USD worth of Steam gifts, plus 3 Noesis training modules of your choice 2nd: $50 USD -OR- Up to $50 USD worth of Steam gifts, plus 2 Noesis training modules of your choice 3rd: $35 USD -OR- Up to $35 USD worth of Steam gifts, plus 1 Noesis training module of your choice
As well as an official Sven Co-op T-shirt for each of the three Grand Prize winners, the chance to have your map included with the mod, etc. Since the training modules are worth up to $50 each, this brings the total prize pool for the contest up to over US$500.00 !
Remember to check out the full contest details and rules if you haven't already! The final deadline for all entries is the 30th of September, 2009. Best of luck to everyone working on a map for the contest!
Official Sven Co-op Mapping Contest! 8 June, 2009 | by JPolito
Also, deadline extended to the 30th of September, 2009!
Official Sven Co-op Mapping Contest
Lately, map submissions to the Map Showcase have been few and far between, and admissions of maps into the Best of Maps Showcase have been even fewer. Thus we have decided to hold a BOMS (Best Of Maps Showcase) revival event by holding an Official Sven Co-op Mapping Contest!
The goal of the contest is to stimulate our near-dormant mapping community and create a collection of new and interesting levels which, in turn, may be used to attract more players to Sven Co-op. However: entries must be, in some way, unique in comparison to the majority of previously released Sven Co-op maps in order to be considered as a winner of the contest. Guidelines on what we're going to be looking for are listed below. Mappers will have three months to create and submit their entries. See the bottom of this post for information on how to register yourself for entry in the contest.
Three grand prize winners will be chosen, and will be awarded the following prizes:
1st: $70 USD -OR- Up to $70 USD worth of Steam gifts, plus 3 Noesis training modules of your choice 2nd: $50 USD -OR- Up to $50 USD worth of Steam gifts, plus 2 Noesis training modules of your choice 3rd: $35 USD -OR- Up to $35 USD worth of Steam gifts, plus 1 Noesis training module of your choice
All three grand prize winners will also receive an official Sven Co-op T-shirt!
Additionally, the three winning maps will have the opportunity to be included in the next version of Sven Co-op, and all maps which have been entered in the contest (so long as they are serious attempts and fulfil the guidelines and rules) will be released in an official Sven Co-op map pack (including the three winners, until the next version of the mod is released).
Guidelines for Entries:
What exactly are we looking for in a winning map? Again, we're looking for unique entries. Thus, standard walkthrough maps are highly discouraged. The following qualities will be what the judges will be specifically looking for in all entries. Applying them to your entry will enhance your likelihood of winning the contest. Note that these are not requirements, but recommendations:
1. Custom Content - Custom Content is always a good way to give the player the feeling of playing something new or original. Utilization of default Half-Life won't hurt your score, but it will decrease your map's chances of winning the contest if someone else's map has tons of custom content and meets the rest of our criteria for a winning entry. However, if you use custom content which you do not own, be sure that you have permission to use it in your map and that you give the original creator credit for their work. Here is a list of possible custom content which we highly encourage you to use in your map:
Models (NPCs, furniture, weapons, ammo and items)
Textures
Detail textures
Sprites (Smoke, explosions, teleport- and beam-effects)
Environment maps (also referred to as skies)
Sounds (voice acting and non-HL ambient sounds, for instance)
Music
2. Re-playability - The ability to replay the map multiple times without becoming bored. How you go about accomplishing this is up to you. Usage of trigger_random and trigger_random_time entities, random paths, or random monster spawns or music are just a few possible ideas.
3. Usage of New Features and Sven Co-op-Native Entities - Showing off Sven Co-op's possibilities will also greatly increase your chance of winning the contest. Take a look at Sven Co-op's Entity Guide for a list of SC's entities from v3.0 and past, as well as the "New Entities, Parameters, Flags, and Mapping-Specific Features in Sven Co-op 4.0" Thread for a list of the latest features and entities in SC and descriptions of how to use them.
4. Interesting Gameplay - Again, standard walkthrough maps are highly discouraged. Since the dawn of Sven Co-op there have been hundreds of them. We're looking for unique maps, and avoiding the normal walkthrough style will be the best way of making your map stand out. Here are a few recommendations for gameplay types, all of which are entirely possible to create:
Multi-directional (Players have multiple paths which they may choose from, or player's paths are chosen depending on how well they perform throughout the map.)
Invasion (Players spawn at one side of the map, and enemy monsters spawn at the other. Monsters and Players proceed to secure all command points on the map in order to win the game.)
Rush (Players have a given time limit in which they must succeed)
Defence (Defend an object or NPC to succeed)
Assault (Players attack an objective or objectives to succeed)
5. Team work – Remember: this is Sven Co-op. Try and include reasonable situations which require inventive player-to-player cooperation. Most maps lack combative strategy (e.g. players have to distract a Gargantua who acts as a guard for a mission objective while another player runs around it to accomplish the objective), and just about every map which tries to encourage player co-operation simply uses 2-button-systems. Be a little more creative than this and invent a more unique co-op situation.
Rules for all Entries: In order to be considered as a valid contest entry, the following rules must be observed:
When including custom content which you did not create, seek permission where possible, and give credit where applicable.
To Sign Up For The Contest: Send an email to mappingcontest@svencoop.com with your name, forum username, Steam username, and any other methods of contact. Information on submission of entries will be given upon entry to the contest. Also check the Mapping Contest forum for discussion of the contest.
Happy mapping!
Fine print: Judges' decisions are final, and no discussion into the judges' decisions will be entered into. Judges are barred from entering the contest. Any cash prizes to be given via PayPal payments. Noesis Interactive training modules to be provided as electronic downloads. By entering, you give us free permission to distribute your submitted map/s and associated files in any form and by any method. You also warrant that you own or have obtained necessary permissions for all files, that all files comply with all of these Official Rules, and that all files do not infringe any third-party rights or violate any laws or regulations.
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