==[ The 20th Anniversary Mapping Contest - 20AC ]==

[Feralidragon]

The date was chosen so that by the time of the 20th anniversary all maps would be ready, it wasn't random (that's why the contest is called "20th Anniversary Mapping Contest"), so extending it would indeed be harmful in a way, since that means that by the time the anniversary comes, there's nothing to show for it community-wise.

This contest was brought up months ago, and it was dragged for a fairly long time before actual decisions were made, and I did warn that time was starting to be short, so it was then or never.

If maps are not even at 50% right now, I doubt a time extension will do much difference on the amount of maps submitted, at least properly finished ones, seeing the general lack of WIP threads of these maps, especially when the reason is RL getting in the way, because RL getting in the way will always be a constant thing and another 4 weeks won't necessarily solve that, depending on the progress already made since the contest start.

The way I see it, it's not much about RL getting in the way of absolutely everyone here, I believe that this time there just isn't that much interest in doing a new map for this.

Even I wanted to do a different map for this, a simpler map, but with another different gameplay concept, after UEd screwed me over with the other map, but my experiments have shown that even that new map would have issues of its own (issues only in UT99, in Unreal 227 it would work perfectly), so I didn't pursue it further.

It's likely that maybe only next year, after at least 1 new patch (v469) has come out, with substantial improvements to UEd itself, we may see increased interest in doing a contest or community map pack with the new UEd, since doing maps in the new UEd should be much more enjoyable, with more time being creative than fighting the problems of the editor. But only time will tell.

[UnrealGGecko]

2 mindsets about this.

I agree with Ferali, very low number of entries this year (at least officially announced entries, I didnt even know Chamberly was working on a map LOL), not as bad as the Terrain contest (only 4 maps then, sheesh!) But for a contest without any big restrictions, this isn't very good and yes both me and RoninMastaFX are struggling with the G0blin quite a lot this year (I pretty much finished my bonus map, but didnt show a glimpse of it yet due to it being consumed by invisible walls everywhere, might need to re-work it). And yes November 30th isnt just any day, UT was released for PC that day, so it's quite an occasion.

But, if we DO extend it, we can do the mappack on Xmas or New Year then, still good occasion for a mappack, just maybe „The 20th UT Xmas mappack” doesnt have as nice a ring to it. Plus I don't want to see rushed work in here, so that extra time would be great to fix any problems happening, maybe some less active mappers might get more time to finish etc, so I fully understand both cases. And Ronin did say he would be glad for the extension.

Idk, give a +2 votes from us then, for the additional month.

[swiftshade]

Yo. Is there any requirements to be a participant here? I haven't mapped in awhile but i'm willing to give it a go.

[UnrealGGecko]

Yo. Is there any requirements to be a participant here? I haven't mapped in awhile but i'm willing to give it a go.

Nope, no requiremnets, just make sure to put the badge in, check the very 1st post for it.
Welcome aboard and good luck!

EDIT: Updated the 1st post now.

[Danzadan]

Hi, sorry for the sudden pop in. I started working on a map for this contest but I forgot to post my participation here.
I don't have anything to show ingame or editor for now, since the layout is still unfinished and untextured. Tho I will include these textures that I did last year for a map that I scrapped shortly after starting it and never had the chance to include them anywhere.
It's a ctf extension of the Xtortion.utx.

[Porch Viking]

Alright, I've found some time to poke around the editor. I'm in the early stages of a Valhalla themed CTF map for the contest.

I might as well throw in my two cents about extending the deadline. I say go for it. Who's going to notice if we miss the exact date? Is there some big party we're going to ruin? Will people magically forget about the game without a reminder right on the date? Honestly, it's pretty low-stakes here. I feel a 20th anniversary map pack is more about showing that the community is still alive and playing after all this time, rather than celebrating a specific date.

[Chamberly]

The current badge looks too much Christmas but I can pass that since the map I'm working on is a very icy level.

[FraGnBraG]

well i'm not sure about this... speaking only for myself, if there's an extention then I would be making a "new" simple map starting in december. November, unfortunately has become to busy with other things and I am nowhere near where I thought I'd be with the project. In fact, it is looking impossible to do in ued1. I should have figured that out a lot sooner - So now I either take an existing project to submit as a bonus map, or do something shit simple in December, assuming extension...

[UnrealGGecko]

@Myth @XaNKoNII @Virgile @ExpEM @swiftshade @Danzadan

Extension, yay or nay? Please say something.

[Danzadan]

I'm fine with either way.
I'm no stranger to crunch time since I've participated in quite a few Quake map jams and speedmapping sessions with short timeframes.

[swiftshade]

I don't mind for the extension since I just started mine.

[Chamberly]

I have more brushwork to do. Lol

[Myth]

@UnrealGGecko: without extension I will have to do some crunching to get it finished, with the extension I might become a bit too lazy with half of my brain telling me that there is still plenty of time left... so extension would probably help ease out the development time but not too much extension there should still be a deadline.

TLDR: yay!

@Danzadan: sweeet texture extensions! I'm also working on a CTF, would it be okay for me to use the floors with the symbols? They look really nice. Though I'm not 100% on it...

[Danzadan]

@Myth
Sure you can use them. I'll post the link to my utx file below.
The texture pack might get bigger later on since I tend to add new stuff while I work on my map, but rest assured I won't be editing or removing any of the current textures inside the pack.

Download

[UnrealGGecko]

@Myth
Sure you can use them. I'll post the link to my utx file below.
The texture pack might get bigger later on since I tend to add new stuff while I work on my map, but rest assured I won't be editing or removing any of the current textures inside the pack.

Download

If you'll happen to later on make green and gold team varients, you'll be my best friend forever!