Community Unusual Gameplay Contest
Rather than having a nice contest deadline right during the MOTY contest...
... it has worked-out that the mapping community at the Dark Mod forums and TTLG have come to the conclusion that now would be a good time to begin a contest. Our contest schedules have always been a bit off-kilter so this is nothing unusual...
What is "Unusual", is the theme of this contest!
RULES:
The contest begins on December 16th. (Sunday) and will end at the end of March.
Entrants are welcome to join the contest any time after it has begun as long as they believe they will meet the deadline.
The missions will be judged on 3 criteria:
1) Unusual Gameplay theme. How well does the mission fit the theme. (Weighted 1x)
2) Gameplay. Is the mission fun to play. (Weighted 3x)
3) Aesthetics. Visuals, story, music, atmosphere... (Weighted 2x)
It is preferred that entrants build their mission anew during the time specified, however the entrants can enter pre-existing or partially built maps but must specify roughly how much time was spent before the contest began (preferably in hours). If enough entrants decide to build missions from scratch for the contest, we may break the contest into two competitions.
Unusual Gameplay Theme:
Non-standard Objectives (assassination, destruction, puzzle solving, etc) ( Sprinheel's mission "A Score to Settle" matches this criteria.)
or
Non-standard play styles (Fieldmedic's mission "Reap as you Sow" is a
good example, using a different method to trigger AI alert states, etc. )
or
Non-standard (strange?) maps such as "The Sword"... (Stumpy's
"Illusionist Tower" might count here. Tels' new Swift Mazes framework would also work well.)
Komag's climbing and jumping challenge mission "Swing" would match all 3 criteria.
Thus far, the roster of participants:
WIP Missions: Sotha, Fieldmedic
Fresh Missions: Thor, Sir Taffsalot, stumpy, Obsttorte
The last three mentioned maps are all that convinced me to finally try TDM.
I have to say, so far it has been freaking awesome.
I love the illusionist's tower. Creepy atmosphere without actually having anything to be scared of. Amazingly enough, so far the only piece of content I've played to send shivers down my spine.
Welcome Thief, to the dark. Theres never enough of us. Those red eyes might give you away.
Great work!!
Great subject! Can't wait to try out all those crazy maps.. :D
Are there any other missions like 'Swing' and 'The illusionist's tower'? The others are rather... bland...
Except for the one with the exceptional maze and stuff, which was both creepy and amazingly mapped (at least for the sake of THIEF's old feel), but the AI is rather timid and crappy when it comes down to gameplay aspects. Feels like they have implanted binoculars.
If you liked Illusionist's Tower, Stumpy's other mission "House in Blackbog Hollow" might be up your alley. In fact, many of the Halloween contest maps had some unusual scripted features. The Creeps and A Night to Remember both dealt with haunted areas in different ways.
As for AI that are more aggressive, you should definitely check-out Sotha's missions. In particular, Sotha's "Glenham Tower" is a great haunt mission with some excellent scares. Even the mission that Sotha co-authored with Fidcal, "The Alchemist" has very challenging AI.
We have yet to see many mappers do an obstacle course like "Swing" but the three mission mini-campaign "No Honor Among Thieves" has quite a few climbing challenges, as do the missions "Somewhere above the City" and "The Rift".
maybe Samhain Night on Bone Hill?
it has a small maze area and designed for halloween contest last year.