L4D2 Mapping Contests RSS Feed

A Challenge Awaits!

Roflmahwafflz — Thu, 17 Nov 2016 21:57:05 +0000

What new adventure lies in store?

A challenging one...

The most recent flavor of campaign/map. Make a map or campaign for L4D1 or L4D2 centered around challenge beyond typical zombies and tanks.

-Create a map or campaign with overwhelming elements from any of the following catergories:

-Boss
-Traps
-Puzzles
-Mazes
-Platforming

If going for a boss, having a boss is simply enough so long as it isnt too easy.

If going for traps, make them present throughout the map.

If going for puzzles, make them more challenging than "go here, press this button"

If going for mazes... have fun???

If going for platforming, center the campaign around platforming.

Feel free to mix any of these topics or ideas using your creative willpower, having to platform through a trap-filled maze while a dragon flies around scorching you? sounds like fun!

If I didnt list anything that you think adds a challenge, feel free.

-Disqualifications: doing nothing but adding shitloads of zombies/tanks/witches, thats not really fun, or challenging.
(feel free to add zombies, tanks, and witches though >:D)

This is your chance to be a dick and get recognition for it!

SEASONAL: Halloween Mapping Theme

Roflmahwafflz — Thu, 06 Oct 2016 18:29:59 +0000

Seasonal Theme, submissions will be valid (meaning theyll get a link) from now till November 8th.
-Until next October that is :3

Theme Validity Criteria:
Making a halloween map, its not just a joke, its not just "slap some halloween decor from TF2 in a regular map" naw, nothing like that, thatd just be silly.

Make a map
Make it spooky or based off of something halloween related
Simple...
Its still a theme, so everything else is up to you.

Ideas:
Haunted Forest
Haunted House
Graveyard
Abandoned ______ (not just apocalypse abandoned, but spooky abandoned)
Horror Game Related Level
Horror Movie Related Level
The list goes on...

Decoration shit posts will not be recognized.

Check out the amazing work

Roflmahwafflz — Sat, 09 Jul 2016 22:32:04 +0000

Check out all the amazing content that has churned up in under a year, some for the group, others independant, some complete, some WIP. Impressive for a game long past it's heyday:

Lady Ellipsis:

The Neverglades:
http://www.gamemaps.com/details/15655

End of the Line Remastered:
http://www.gamemaps.com/details/16536

Forgotten - Season 2:
http://www.gamemaps.com/details/15965

EOTL-Remastered (Awesome Nuke Demo):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nDPOnMDsJ7E

Grobi:

Beaver's Place:
http://www.gamemaps.com/details/15801

r.a.t.z.f.a.t.z.:
http://www.gamemaps.com/details/16188

Fake:
http://www.gamemaps.com/details/17029

Roflmahwafflz:

The Final Stand:
http://www.gamemaps.com/details/15967

Storming The Citadel (Alpha, I2):
http://www.gamemaps.com/details/14876

Storming the Citadel : Iteration 3 (Artorias Death Demo:)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nho_ixCt-vw

---i honestly havent released much this quarter because i delete more of my work than Lady Ellipsis starts/ends a sentence, phrase, or message with "..."

but wait we arent finished yet!

And a nod to the most glorious HALLOWEEN MAPPING CONTEST entries of all fucking time:

True Winner of the Halloween Mapping Contest

Haunting Grounds: Sawrunner (Lady Ellipsis)
http://www.gamemaps.com/details/13327

True Second Place Winner of the Halloween Mapping Contest

Hallow's End: Wrath of the Horseman (Roflmahwafflz)
http://www.gamemaps.com/details/13326

If you dont get the joke, youre too young :p
true salt will never spoil

---
feel left out in this announcement?
post your work and keep us updated if you want recognition
not going to hunt all you spicy poops down on gamemaps or workshop :p
---

The Next Theme “Vertigo” Begins!...

OvercookedSushi — Sat, 02 Jul 2016 22:54:47 +0000

This will be the first “Non-Contest” event... So bare with me as I try and lay out the ground “suggestions”...

- - - - - - - - - -

Your goal:

Create a map or campaign that centers around vertical gameplay space... Any mode you want...

This can mean a few things...
You can have a focus on vertical gameplay... Ladders, Stairs, Ramps, and Elevators everywhere... Going up OR down...
You can have a focus on vertical aesthetics... Have an average or normal layout, but the aesthetics give the player a sense of vertigo... (I'll be listing off ideas shortly...)
You can have both...

The main idea is at any given moment in this map... There should be a visible height difference in the environment... Be it within the gameplay space or not...

- - - - - - - - - -

Some ideas and suggestions as a starting base... Some realistic, some not...

-Syscrapers... (Look at No Mercy's Finale... or Vertigo from CS:GO)
-Mountains and Ravines...
-Airplane... (Look at the first chapter of Wan Li... Or the plane from Rainbow Six: Siege)
-Floating Islands...
-Space... (If you do space... I suggest having the earth on the bottom of the skybox... But that is just me... ;3)
-A Skyscaper on a floating mountain... in space...

- - - - - - - - - -

Being no longer a contest... There are no Strict guidelines, and no Disqualifications... Though the map should still work...

But there are a couple things I want to clarify to open up more possibilities...

1. If you are doing a building... You don't have to go so height that you can not see the ground anymore... Look at the first chapter of Dead Center... That counts in my eyes... You can also go so high that all you see is clouds... It is entirely up to you...
2. You don't have to be at the top of the map at any given point... You can get vertigo from looking up at a tall building from the ground... If you want to be on the ground around skyscrapers, or at the bottom of a ravine... That is fine...
3. You don't have to be realistic... That last suggestion up there was not a joke... If you want to go crazy... GO FOR IT... I'll reveal my hand right now, I plan on have a building that starts on the ground and ends on the Moon... So long as “heights” is the focus of the map... Go nuts...
4. If you are making a campaign... You can have a chapter or two on the ground to establish the area... Just try and make the majority of the campaign fit with the theme...

- - - - - - - - - -

Couple friendly reminders...

-There is no deadline... If you like the theme, then take your time and create a great map...
-Also... If you didn't have time to try any of our past theme... They are all still open for submissions, and will be open indefinitely...

Hopefully that covers everything... Happy Mapping... ;D

Almost forgot... Make sure you tag the map a "heightcon"... It may no longer be a contest... But it would still be nice to easily find maps that were submitted for the theme... ;3

Major Format Changes...

OvercookedSushi — Thu, 02 Jun 2016 02:38:43 +0000

You may or may not have noticed... But there has been a format change to how we do these events, and will be doing these events for now on...

The biggest change is that we will no longer have deadlines...
Let us all be quite frank with ourselves... Mapping with a deadline sucks... And with no ability to promote and not enough money to make it worthwhile... There is just no incentive to stick to such a strict date other than self-torture...

So... We will no longer have deadlines... Period...
Unless we do an event that is literally a timed event... But other than that... No more deadlines...

This means that if you see a theme you want to map for... Go for it...
Past, current, and future theme will remain open indefinitely... This also means that guidelines and rules will be a lot more lax... And that you can make as many maps for a theme as you want...

There is no need to make mapping harder on ourselves... So let us just enjoy mapping... And go at the pace we need...

Can't rush perfection afterall... ;3

"Out with a Bang" Contest Extension...

OvercookedSushi — Wed, 25 May 2016 20:47:59 +0000

Loose Deadline is now 6/1/16

You can submit after this date within reason...

The "Out with a Bang!" Contest BEGINS!...

OvercookedSushi — Fri, 19 Feb 2016 22:31:26 +0000

I was going to wait till Monday... but I was to excited... =^w^=

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“Out with a Bang!” Contest

Duration of the Contest:

3 Months...

Map Type:

Any (Campaign/Versus has a rule set... Survival/Scavenge has a rule set...)

Deadline:

05/19/16

Prize:

Bragging rights... and a new map to add to your portfolio... ;3

- - - - - - - - -

Description:

Short version...
Mappers must design either a campaign/versus map that has an explosion of any magnitude BEFORE, AT THE START, DURING, or AT THE END of the finale... Or a survival/scavenge map with an explosion of any magnitude AS THE EVENT STARTER, or DURING THE ENTIRETY OF THE LIKELY ROUND...

Long Version...
I will do my best to describe the rules and guidelines to the best of my abilities... So feel free to ask questions if anything is not clear enough... Or if you're not sure if something falls within the guidelines...

Stick with me here... I wanted to make sure I covered any possible question...

~~For Campaign and Versus~~

1. This explosion must happen either BEFORE, AT THE START, DURING, or AT THE END of the finale event...
This is up to you, your preferences, and your skillset... It can be the reason the finale started... It can happen during the finale... It can happen at the end as you get a cinematic view... It can even happen before the finale, and shape your new arena...
Some examples of the above scenarios...
BEFORE:
-Campaign starts with a view of a plane crash... And you now have to fight in the wreckage...
AT THE START (a.k.a. The reason for the event)
-Accidentally launching fireworks into a helicopter... Causing it to crash into a gas station...
-Self-Destruct button in a facility...
DURING:
-Running through a facility that is exploding after pressing a self-destruct button...
-Running through a collapsing building to get to the top...
AT THE END:
-As you escape... [insert your location here] explodes...

2. There is NO UPWARD LIMIT to the scale and magnitude of the explosion...
It can be whatever you want, and whatever you feel comfortable with doing... Any of these are valid in my eyes...
- Tanker Explosion
- Gas Station Explosion
- Air Plane Crash
- Building Collapse
- Bridge Collapse
- Gas Explosion within a [insert generic location here]
- Fireworks Factory on fire
- Plane Crashing into a building
- Building crashing into a Plane
- Building crashing into a building, crashing into a plane, crashing into a building
- Nuclear Explosion
- Planetary Annihilation (due to something like the moon crashing into earth, or a giant death laser on the moon)
- Temporal rift that summons Cthulhu
- Complete and Total collapse of time and space itself...
You can make it as strong as you want...

3. There is a limit to how WEAK the explosion can be...
DO NOT simply have a car explode... and that is that... I will explain why in point 4...
I will also explain the one exception in point 7...

4. The explosion must either ALTER THE ARENA OR APPEAR TO...
As I said... Your explosion of choice must either physically change the playable area you are fighting in... Or appear to, only being aesthetic... A couple of aesthetic examples...
- The building you were in collapses when you leave...
- The tunnel collapses in front of you during a gauntlet... Leading you do the intended path...
While ACTUALLY changing the arena is exciting... I am not going to say it is easy... or even hard... or down right torturous at times... Which is why the illusion of change is allowed and endorsed...
One way or another, the arena you started in must either be different or look different when the campaign ends...

5. It DOES NOT HAVE TO BE A LITERAL EXPLOSION...
One of my examples was “Complete and Total Collapse of Time and Space itself”... It is just easier to do and explain is it as a physical explosion... but if you can make it work with some other means... By all means, go for it... Just make sure it follows RULE 4

6. DO NOT have just one explosion...
Get creative with this... Something is leading to that explosion, and if it happens at the beginning... I have high doubt there would not be additional fire, explosions, and falling rubble after an arena changing event... Which leads into rule 7

7. There must be LEAD UP to end explosions, and LEAD DOWN to start explosions...
If your map ends in an explosion... There has to be build up to that final moment...
If your map beings with an explosion... There has to be a constant level of threat (Look to rule 6)
And for the ONE exception I mentioned in Rule 3...
Your explosion can small and insignificant as a joke, so long as the build up is intense... I can give examples and explain more to anyone that wants to go down this path... But it might be better to stick to the rules unless you want a real challenge...

~~For Survival and Scavenge~~

1. The Explosion must happen AS THE EVENT STARTER, or DURING THE ENTIRETY OF THE LIKELY ROUND...
Since survival maps are generally endless... You can’t very well have it at the end, because then that would imply you think everyone can get to a specific time...

2. The explosion MUST ALTER THE ARENA PHYSICALLY, not just aesthetic changes...
If you want to avoid a campaign and finale, then you have to put effort elsewhere... Use this to your advantage, have areas open up as the timer goes on... Make an arena that you will never use because the floor beneath you collapses... BE creative...

Rules 2, 3, 5, and 6 from the other section apply here as well...

- - - - - - - - -

Disqualifiers:

- If the map does not load/work...
- If the map is missing LARGE amounts of assets (One or two here and there will be forgiven)
- If the map breaks too many of the above rules... They will be reviewed...
- If the map breaks Rule 1 in either the “Campaign/versus” or the “Survival/scavenge” field... Kind of pointless to enter an explosive finale contest without an explosive finale... right?...
- If the map is not uploaded to Gamemaps...

- - - - - - - - -

Using existing assets as your explosion:

It is fine if you use the Dead Air plane crash... It is fine if you use the No mercy gas station... It is fine if you use the Bridge explosion from The Parish...
It is fine if you use any of these assets... So long as you have proper build up, or down from them... So follow rule 7... and you are good here...

- - - - - - - - -

Judging:

All contestants by default will be called upon to vote at the end of the contest in three months on 05/19/16

Contestants may not vote on their own work... Obviously...

If we do not get at least 6 voters total, or if there us a tie, outsiders will be drawn to meet the minimum quota of votes to break any ties... (I have at least 8 other mapper that work in other days if this scenario happens...)

Any work submitted past 05/26/16 week will not be counted (Exceptions will be granted on a case by case basis... since there are somethings that are simply out of anyone’s control... True me, I know...)
Voting will officially begin 05/26/16 and end 06/02/16

Good Luck and Happy Mapping... ;D

The next contest will start soon...

OvercookedSushi — Mon, 15 Feb 2016 23:19:26 +0000

If you haven't already... Read Rofl's and Grobi's thoughts...
http://steamcommunity.com/groups/L4D2Contests/discussions/0/412447331646395444/

As Rofls mentioned... I'll be managing the next two contests...
There are a couple format changes I want to try... So we will see how that goes...

And this is the first of several... Instead of out-right jumping into the next contest, I'm giving you all a heads-up...

Now I won't be posting the rules and guidelines just yet... But I will post the name of the Contest...

The "Out with a Bang!" Contest...

I will be posting the rules one week from now... Use this time to start planning... Thinking of ideas, and gathering possible assets...

Contest Extension

Roflmahwafflz — Sun, 10 Jan 2016 13:29:55 +0000

Zombie Movie Survival Contest has been extended by a week and the new end date is February 1st

Zombie Movie Survival Contest:

Roflmahwafflz — Wed, 25 Nov 2015 16:46:25 +0000

Zombie Movie Survival Contest

Duration of the Contest: 2 Months

Map Type: SURVIVAL

Deadline: January 25th 2016

Prize:
First three places will get to choose a game from the list below:

Killing Floor 2
Killing Floor 1
Garrysmod
Sniper Elite Nazi Zombie Army 1
Sniper Elite Nazi Zombie Army 2
Resident Evil 1 HD Remastered
Terraria
Plants Vs Zombies
Dead Space 1
Dead Space 2
Dead Island
Dead Island Riptide

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Description:

You are to use at least one reference material (non l4d1/l4d2) to build a survival map. The reference/source material DOES NOT have to be a direct port, you may base your map off of the concept or setting. The source material must be a zombie movie, game, or tv show and you must be able to identify it and what your map is based on (remake, concept, setting) and you must also provide any valid links/titles of the work. You may use as many reference materials as you wish. (example: hershel's farm from walking dead next to the farm from night of the living dead)

Examples of reference:
If I decide to base my map off of a house that appears in the walking dead tv show I would provide the Season, Episode, and the time at which it appears (example, 6 minutes into the episode)

If I decide to base my map off of the medical lab in dead space I would say Dead Space 1: Chapter 2: Ishimura Medical Lab

If I decide to base my map off of night of the living dead, since the whole movie stays in one place I just say based off of Night of the Living Dead.

If I base it off of a concept from anything, I need to specify the concept to as much detail as I think is necessary.

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Rules:

Mappers must design a survival map based on the theme/idea/concept/setting of a zombie movie/tv show/game of the author's choice

MUST BE A SURVIVAL MAP! YOU MAY SUPPORT CAMPAIGN! (only survival will be graded)

All work must be original and designed by the contestant. You may not use other mapper's maps in part or whole. You may not use valve maps or prefabs.

You may use resources (props, sounds, textures) not designed by you as long as full and proper credit is given.

One entry per person, you may take down an entry and replace it if you feel you made a better piece of work than originally uploaded.

You need to post where you got the idea for the map (name of source (required) and pictures or links if relevant)

You need to post what aspect the map is following (is it a direct recreation, is it based on the idea, is it based on the location, etc.)
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Furthermore:

Posters are NOT required, but a lack of them may be taken into account

An abundance of missing textures will be taken into account

If you are going to base your map on the setting of something, please do not make it generic "huehuehue, I based this off of the warehouse setting (makes a generic warehouse)"
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Disqualifiers:

If the source material does not exist or cannot be found the author will be asked to directly link to the material (if they havent already) if the source cannot be provided then the map will be disqualified
--Basically dont make shit up and try to sell it as real/existing--

If the map doesnt work or doesnt have zombies/navigation then the map will be disqualified

If the map doesnt hold a single shred of relevance to the source material provided then the map will be disqualified

If the map is fullbright it will be disqualified
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Examples of Zombie Movies/Tv Shows/Games:

The Walking Dead
Night of the Living Dead
Dawn of the Dead
Day of the Dead
Zombie Diaries
28 Days Later
28 Weeks Later
Shaun of the Dead
Dead Space
State of Decay
Killing Floor
Resident Evil

AND MANY MANY MORE! literally hundreds if not thousands of works you can use. Just make sure to specify and you are good to go!
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FINAL NOTE:

Here is what we are expecting for remake/setting/concept:

REMAKE: an as accurate as possible remake of the location, it should look like the source material as much as possible. Doesnt have to be 1:1

SETTING: It should still be similar to the source material and it should be in OBVIOUS REFERENCE, but it does not have to be accurate. However while playing it, I as a player should be able to go "this reminds me of -enter source material here-"

CONCEPT: The map should draw on ideas present in the source material for map wide mechanics. Example : Barricading using scrap like in night of the living dead. Concepts should be well executed and should be a major point in the map and not a simple/ignorable feature. Much like setting, I as a player should be able to go "this reminds me of -enter source material here-"
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If you have any questions feel free to ask.