With a recent surge of interest from the Call of Duty 4 community in new competitive maps, we have decided to host a mapping contest. Starting today, we are inviting all Call of Duty map makers to show us their skills in designing the future competitive maps for Call of Duty 4. In order to produce the best possible maps, the map makers will also need all the feedback they can get from our beloved community. That is why we came up with the following process for official entries:
TimelineDecember 1st 2009Start of the Mapping contest: Contestants are encouraged to create a TEK9 forum thread which includes details of their map, screenshots, downloads and a possibility for the community to give feedback on the progress.
Thread title: [Mapping] MyMapName
February 15th 2010TEK9 Dedicated Mapping Contest Page is put live and contestants can upload the final versions of their map (no editing allowed after this). The community can start rating the maps and download the final versions.
March 1st 2010The voting is stopped and the winners are announced.
Prizes
1 x Sennheiser PC350 Pro-Gaming Headset
1 x Sennheiser HD515 Pro-Gaming Headset
1 x Sennheiser PC166 Pro-Gaming Headset
1 x Sennheiser PC156 Pro-Gaming Headset
For those of you who have already made a map and are wondering if you can still enter it the answer is yes! The whole idea behind the mapping contest is to try and find extra maps suitable for competitive play and if there are already such maps out there they are obviously allowed to enter as well. Only the creator of the map can enter his map and we also strongly recommend you give it a good revamp before considering it final. Make sure bugs are fixed and that you are completely satisfied with what you made.
We will also be working on further initiatives to help the competitive Call of Duty 4 community over the coming weeks, including competitions and tournaments, so stay tuned to TEK9!
Awesome idea lets hope we can get 2 playable maps out of it!!
MAke a subforum for it PLEASE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
For now, do everything you want in the general COD4 forums and we'll move the topics over when the subforum is finished :)
edited 2009-11-30 13:32:54
Maybe some open tek9 drafts can take place aswell
EDIT = Maybe if you post this (or get a news annocement) on sites where map making is popular (not a map maker so i cannot name any)
some people may not know the competive scene of COD4 but they know how to make maps!!!
edited 2009-11-30 13:46:23
yes i read the post and i am currently editting it due to typo!!!
A decent map takes about 3 months to complete, unless you get paid per hour to work on the project.
I am very happy to see that TEK9 take this seriously. Perhaps you can add something different as a prize. Like it WILL be used at the next OOF/AEF LAN event. That way both parties (creator and public) will see the importance in this.
Hope to see you enter, Bo <3
This is the feedback we need!
edited 2009-11-30 23:14:49
But try getting this on modsonline.com, modbase.be, fpsbanana and more similiar sites.
And for the organiser, you should make a list on what maps should be judged.
Example:
- play ability (gameplay, tactics balance)
- fps
- looks (graphics)
- feeling (does it feel like a propper cod4 map?)
edited 2009-11-30 13:55:41
edited 2009-11-30 19:34:00
Great idea though just my thoughts :)
be aware that promod204 does not allow iwd files going along with the ff files. The server runs but its full of on screen warning messages.
more news to come so stay tuned :)
Gameflow (General)
1) Very obviously, map should have a good mix of CQB and scope-range encounter zones.
2) None of the maps in any game nowadays are flat. Even bumps along a street provide cover/elevation to make LOS interesting.
3) Map should have adequate numbers of 'glitch' spots. You'd be surprised how many in the stock maps are intentional (Mantles, etc) barring the really obscure 250fps strafe jumps.
Gameflow (S&D-specific)
1) Bombsites SHOULD be reachable by Defense first, except for special cases that have been thought out properly.
2) Early scope picks vs Attackers SHOULD be possible while they are rushing to a bombsite. Two exceptions are the A-site in Crossfire and A-site in Backlot which are 'hard' to plant at for their own various reasons. This will promote good smoke usage.
3) The rotation time between sites should be appropriate, not too long and not too short.
Visuals/feel (Most not related to Promod which turns them off*, but really should be looked at to create a polished final product)
1) Proper 'horizon work' (i.e. geometry outside playable area)
2) Portals (important for competitive maps - FPS) and *proper Reflection Probes
3) *Proper decal and detail work
4) *Fog(gsc)/sunlight(worldspawn) settings
5) *Misc FX - blowing dust/paper/smoke/etc
6) Proper translucent minimap
7) *Proper ambient sounds
I think the timeline is 'okay' in the sense that if we want to test out a map in terms of competitiveness, a lot of graphic work isn't completely necessary. There are very very few custom maps which have everything the stock maps do (Lets face it, we're all learning, just at various stages) so I really think that this contest really should be judged on S&D gameflow. Obviously proper portalling would still be necessary here to get a stable 250fps.
The winners can always be revisited to give it a 'polish pass' where the community rips the map apart in terms of visuals/detail/trivial things and then tek-9 rereleases it as the final product to be used in future.
edit: I realize that the timeline states that the 'final' versions of maps would be done by Feb1 but I really think that these should be 'final competition entry' versions rather than final final, as there are a lot of things that may need to be done to 'standardize' the maps which would otherwise be perfect to distribute together as a map pack., i.e. for example translucent minimaps. Or let's say a map gets top votes but has several FPS issues that could be fixed by another portalling pass. Or simply just adding in all the misc fx/fog/details/etc to make the map moviemaking-friendly (Let's face it, that IS part of our culture)
Also I'm going to reiterate my idea that a standardized custom grafitti decal to be put somewhere prominent on each of the new officialized competition maps would be awesome and add a sense of unity/uniformity to what we're doing.
edited 2009-11-30 16:42:54
I quit competitive CoD4 during the PAM4 period (lol) but have been keeping tabs on stuff and been involved in organization of most of the major local Promod tourneys while also pseudo-managing one of the best Asian Promod teams. I've watched hundreds of demos (both local and NA/EU) and broken down every spot (that I know of, of course :P) in the 6 (5 now) competitive maps as much as I can to find out what makes the maps tick. So I really, really wish I could participate, but time just doesn't allow for it atm. :(
All I can do is offer my opinions (and hope I don't look like a smartass) to others who do have the time to undertake such projects. I really want to see CoD4 (or the CoD series in general assuming IW wakes up dear god) last as long as, or maybe perhaps even outlast CS1.6/CS:S
www.crossfire.nu/?x=news&mode=item&id=1066
ran something rather similar and we got one of the best maps made and thats still played competitively. should get some nice show match games on them when they are close to finished.
all the best of luck to the mappers.
edited 2009-11-30 18:48:57
img690.imageshack.us/img690/1346/mpoilrig.png
p.s. the bottom floors for the 2-story buildings aren't shown in the diagram but they're really awesome
edit: my point here is it's really, really hard to see how a map will work just from a diagram. You can't tell which points are elevated, how all the minor LOS details would look like, where early picks can be denied by good smokes, how fast rotation will be, problematic chokepoints, etc.
Blueprints may have been able to accurately describe old Counter-Strike maps which really aren't much more than rooms interconnected by corridors rather than one open space divided up by buildings/walls/obstacles. The attention to detail really really really can't be caught on just a 2d image.
edited 2009-11-30 18:09:50
www.tek-9.org/forum/Call_of_Duty_4-13/mp_Fence_the_new_competitive_map-8670.html
This is a design I posted here a while ago and I know people who have no problem at all to see how different scenarios could turn out. Feel free to take a look at it.
I'm not trying to prove you wrong. I'm highlighting my opinion on why I think working on a design outside of the game to present to people is a waste of effort when you really could have put the same amount of time into more or less building an actual map file (Just use one texture for floors and one for walls). The key point here is I'm not saying it's a waste of effort. I'm saying it's a waste of effort in comparison.
It doesn't matter if it looks like shit, because you can actually get rush timings, LOS details, feasibility of boosts/glitch/early pick spot timing etc all in a much more practical fashion assuming you can get teams who don't mind running around in a concrete sandbox to help you out.
I'm sorry if you're getting offended by my opinion... I don't know what else to say.
edit: Also if it helps any, I completely agree with many of your opinions in the mp_fence description regarding overall gameflow of the current maps. In my opinion these new custom maps have the potential to even make CoD4/Promod a lot more enjoyable and entertaining to spectate than it currently is.
edited 2009-11-30 18:58:10
I dont know how to use Radiant. I've tried with no good result and i havnt the time to continue practising it (and I think it takes some natural skill in design which I dont got in this case). For me making design on paper and in a 3d program is a lot easier, and funnier.
Testing is ofcourse the strongest reason for starting in a mapmakingprog straight away but I believe that people are able to give feedback to screenshots and blueprints aswell.
That's how a basic design should look anyway. If you can do it in a 3d program, you should be able to do it in Radiant. We're not talking about adding water towers and antenna and a zillion bricks/plants to the map, just basic geometry.
Let's take this discussion over to the mp_fence thread. I don't want to hijack this one any longer. :/
edited 2009-11-30 19:16:11
Well done DFB/Wizz and anyone else involved xxx
After telling most people the idea at i38, I would had looked more of an idiot for us not keeping it.
:DDDDDDDD
edited 2009-11-30 17:16:14
I just think that whilst this is a cracking incentive, waiting until February for some injection of fun into the game is a bad idea.
What about implementing mp_inferno and or mp_smalltown now...
As Steven said we have more in store so relax :)
Communities really do need a head to call the shots. And a big part of that is the money/prize purses talking. Which again falls back to contacts/influence.
www.tek-9.org/news/best_frags_competition-1905.html?page=2
+
www.tek-9.org/news/tek9_mapping_contest_for_cod4-2198.html
>:O
(That if new promod rebalancing weapons so we don't see 100% AK-47 is a good idea or not = another story... but yeah)
Look at these:
Not saying that I think those are competitive; in fact I've only actually run around in 3 of them haha. But we've basically been force-fed middle-eastern architecture for the past two years in terms of competitive maps especially after Vacant was removed. It's high-time for a change of scenery. The game really could be so much more.
edited 2009-11-30 21:41:54