THE DOOR CHALLENGE!

I want to start out by welcoming you to the 2ND Door Challenge! It’s been a little over 7 Years since we held the first one! A lot has changed in our industry and new engines have made level design more accessible than ever before. With all the fresh talent coming into our industry, I think it’s important that we challenge ourselves and each other to push our creative thinking.

This challenge is meant to be for everyone to join in, from your first time level designer to your Senior and Lead Designers! Everyone is in a different place throughout their careers and it’s always fun to hone your skills on one of the most old school puzzles of our time “Get the Door Open!”. The last time we did this we had a fantastic turn out of completed and submitted puzzles! Especially since we are focusing on JUST design and scripting and NOT on art!

As this is a scripting challenge, you are encouraged to use Dev textures or simple greyscale materials and only what art assets are absolutely necessary to communicate key ideas. The point is to focus on your Scripting / Presentation / Storytelling / Puzzle Making skills.

Most entries generally took a few days to build from start to finish, so don't sweat worrying about the deadline. If you would like to get a better idea, check out some of the entries from the first door challenge.

Remembering our Past

SOLEVAL - First Place

  Magnar Jenssen - Participation

  Robert Yang - Participation

Jason Mojica - Participation

Rules and QA

Build a puzzle and craft a story to creatively open “The Door”! It doesn't matter whether you're entering, exiting, or just moving from one room to another - just get that DOOR OPEN!

• Acceptable Engines : UE4 / Unity / Source SDK

  • For UE4 or Unity, you will be REQUIRED to provide an EXE of your game

  • For Source SDK, a simple bsp will do with info on the game you built it in. (Eg. Half-life 2, Portal 2, CS:GO, TF2)

• We encourage you DON’T use Art unless needed to sell your idea. Simple meshes / Dev textures / grey textures should do fine.

• You are ALLOWED to use Templates to start yourself off. Example: UE4 has a FPS , Third Person , and VR template.

• You are ALLOWED to use existing scripting/ blueprints or Code to help you make your puzzle.

• You CAN choose - First person, Third Person , Virtual Reality (VR)

• DON’T submit anything larger than 250 mbs , we want simple entries that everyone can download.

The challenge will begin Friday, August 10th, and end Sunday, September 16th at 11:59PM US CENTRAL time (GMT -6)

Must Haves :

• A zip file including your EXE or map file

• 2 screenshots of your scene (ATTACHED! This will help us archive our entries for posterity)

• A video showing the puzzle's intended solution (hosted on youtube would be fine)

Optional :

• Full Name (optional)

• Website or Portfolio (optional)

• The original level source (and any other relevant files) for inquiring minds to examine your scripting

Judging : We will start judging the day after closing, Everyone will get 3 votes and then we will vote on the top 3 one week later. Things to think about when judging or making an entry.

• Innovation - More than just a simple Door!

• Theme - How close did you stay to the idea of the challenge

• Readability - Was your idea clear and easy to understand?

• Humor - Did you make someone laugh or enjoy your entry?

• Overall - Wrap everything together! Was it awesome?

• Door - Q: How much Door you got? A: Hell yes

Prizes

As with the previous challenge, there will be no prize other than the pride of knowing people thought you were awesome. Woo!

Participants have from the 15th of September 2016 until Midnight (GMT) on the 22nd of December 2016 to create, test and upload an original or Day of Defeat inspired map for Day of Infamy (www.dayofinfamy.com)
 

Prize Structure

1st place
 

• $3,000 cash

• Map included officially in game

• Corsair Hardware

  • Void Surround Sound Headphones

  • Strafe Keyboard

  • Katar Mouse

  • M330 Mouse Pad

• All Wall Worm Source Modelling Tools

2nd place
 

• $1,500 cash

• Corsair Hardware

  • Strafe Keyboard

  • Katar Mouse

  • M330 Mouse Pad

• All Wall Worm Source Modelling Tools

3rd place
 

• $1,000 cash

• Corsair Hardware

  • Katar Mouse

  • M330 Mouse Pad

• All Wall Worm Source Modelling Tools

4th place
 

• $500 cash

• Corsair Hardware

  • Katar Mouse

  • M330 Mouse Pad

• All Wall Worm Source Modelling Tools

(*All prizes are subject to participant eligibility. No cash value. The contest Organizers and Sponsors reserve the right to change or remove the prize structure at any point with or without reason.)
 

Sub-Prizes

In addition to the prizes stated above, GameBanana will also be offering a sub-prize for the best development blog, work in progress or tutorial created throughout the process. 

This is an entirely optional part of the contest and is open to members of all communities.

To enter simply create either a development blog / work in progress page OR a level design tutorial / guide for Day of Infamy on either GameBanana, MapCore or the Insurgency Forums.

Entries must be uploaded on or before Midnight (GMT) on the 22nd of December 2016, and include “[DoI Contest]” in the title. Entries will be judged by members of the GameBanana team, as they appeared at the deadline.. No changes or updates are permitted during the judging phase.

Rules and Frequently asks Questions

1. The submission must be a playable map for the PC version of Day of Infamy.

2. Remakes of existing maps are not allowed, however maps inspired by classic DoD maps are encouraged.

3. Entries must be submitted to the Day of Infamy mapping contest section of BOTH GameBanana.com and the Steam Workshop before the deadline.

4. Multiple entries are permitted, however submissions will be judged on individual quality rather than quantity.

5. Team based entries are permitted, however the entrants will have to agree how to split any prizes awarded, prior to prize claim and dispatch.

6. It is essential to thoroughly test your submission before the deadline as entries cannot be modified during the judging phase.

   1. Exceptions: Changes to the submission profile are permitted after the deadline, provided they are purely aesthetic and that the map file does not change. (E.g. Editing the description / screenshots)

7. Maps that were under creation prior to the announcement of this contest can be entered, provided a completed version has not been released for public Download.

8. All custom textures, models or code must be contained within the download file or embedded into the .bsp.

9. Authors are free to share their content on any other websites or services they wish, however the file must remain free to download and play, without requiring membership or payment.

10. If the submission is distributed on an external website or service, it must clearly state that the submission was created for the "GameBanana / MapCore Day of Infamy Mapping Contest 2016”.

11. Authors must be able to accept cash payments via paypal and will be required to fill in a prize claim form prior to payment. Winners of hardware and physical products will also be required to provide a valid shipping address.

12. Judges and individuals associated with organising this contest cannot enter or assist entrants.

13. Entries must clearly state which game mode the level is designed for.

Eligibility

1. Participant eligibility: The “GameBanana / MapCore Day of Infamy Mapping Contest 2016” is open to any individual, or teams of individuals, provided they comply with the following:

   1. Participants may not be an employee of the “Organiser” or “Sponsors”.

   2. Participants may not have taken part in the preparation or announcement of this
      Contest.

   3. Participants may not be a direct relative, spouse, direct employee, or long term
      partner of any of the above definitions (a - c).

2. Legal Age: This contest is open to any individual who meet the above “participant eligibility” criteria. In the event of participant who has not reached the legal age in his/her state winning one or more prizes defined below, he/she must provide contact details for the legal guardian who will claim the prize(s).

Submitting

TWO (2) copies of the map are required for this contest, and must be uploaded on or before the deadline. The primary version (used for judging) must be submitted to GameBanana.com and placed in the “Day of Infamy > Mapping Contest 2016” category.

http://gamebanana.com/maps/cats/8989
 

The second version must be uploaded to the Day of Infamy Steam Workshop
 

http://steamcommunity.com/app/447820/workshop/
 

No changes to the downloadable file can be made during the judging phase. Please remember to ensure that all relevant custom content is included, and that your map is thoroughly tested.

Judging Criteria
 

Maps will be judged by the developers at New World along with the staff at MapCore and GameBanana. Each map will be scored on the following categories, and given a total score out of 100.

• Gameplay (40 marks)

• Visuals (30 marks)

• Originality (15 marks)

• Performance / Optimization (15 marks)

The Epic Games and Mapcore Unreal Tournament Level Design contest for Showdown has come to an end. After months of hard work we ended up with 28 Phase 2 submissions out of the 74 Phase 1 submissions. Starting something is easy, finishing it is hard! This makes the number of participants even more impressive. Especially considering that for many of you, Mapcore isn’t your home on the Internet (but we do hope that you stick around). Now, without further ado, here are the winners:

1st Place:

DM-Unsaved by Matthew 'Heresiarch' Beal 

Prize: ($1650) + Swag

2nd Place:

DM-Croft by Ben 'Scinbed' Edney

Prize: ($850) + Swag

3rd Place:

DM-Batrankus by Óscar 'TheGlecter' Crego

Prize: ($500) + Swag

4th Place:

DM-Vacant by Christopher 'NATO' Morris

Prize: Honorary Mention (Swag)

5th Place:

DM-Exo by Ryan 'Tidu' Garis

Prize: Honorary Mention (Swag)

Disclaimer:

Since Unreal Tournament is still in active development maps will have to be recooked after each new build in order to continue working. Due to the maps having been build for an older version of Unreal Tournament, we are currently unable to provide download links.

Stream:

I’ll be contacting the winners to get their details so that they can receive their prizes. Epic will be reaching out to participants who’s maps are deemed fit to make it into the game or the marketplace. The full announcement stream, including feedback on the Top 5 maps, can be watched on the Unreal Tournament's Twitch channel or through the Youtube video below. It runs for over an hour and is definitively worth the time. If you can’t wait to get to the announcements, here’s an overview of when they were announced:

03:00 - The stream starts and new exciting features for Unreal Tournament are discussed.
13:50 - Intro to the announcements.
15:32 - 5th place is being announced and discussed.
22:40 - 4th place is being announced and discussed.
31:30 - Stacey shows off the swag.
33:12 - 3th place is being announced and discussed.
43:02 - Epic talks about what will happen if maps are deemed fit for the game or the marketplace.
43:42 - 2nd place is being announced and discussed.
53:00 - 1st place is being announced and discussed.

Play testing:

You can also check out the Epic's blogpost with the results and a look at some of the swag. Now, don’t feel bad if you didn’t win. The Top 10 wasn’t that far apart and overall we had a lot of quality in this competition. Epic and Mapcore strongly encourage the participants to continue working on their maps. Epic will a host a community play test event where you can play the maps on their Hub servers. This will be announced at a later date and we’ll reach out to anyone interested to make sure their maps work on the latest build. Due to limited time and resources, we won’t be providing feedback for the rest of the submissions but please, don’t let that discourage you!

Credits:

Mapcore would like to thank Epic Games, the Unreal Tournament community, all the participants and our audience for trusting us to run this contest. We appreciate your support and dedication. On a more personal note, I would like to thank everyone for their compliments and especially Epic for their humbling shout out to me during the announcement stream. Last but certainly not least, a big thank you to the Mapcore Staff for support, reviews and generous donations!

Thank you!

Almost two months have passed and we have a little more than one month to go until the July 4th 21:00 GMT+1 deadline. Phase 1 was a big success with 74 submissions.

The following 28 maps have been uploaded to Epic's UT Hub servers:

Alpine, Bridge, Croft Alpha 2, Cascade, Crossbridges, Deuterium, Dome, Eternal, Exo, Fall, Foundry, H09, Outbilette, Oxide, Plaster, Purification, Quay, Rust, Scoria, Silo , ShipRekt, Thaw, Traina7, Trustfall, Vacant, Malestrom, SuperCollider, RadioActive.

The following 6 maps failed to load due to technical issues (various reasons):

SD_pitfight, TS-swampforts, TSD-Contestmap, Royals, Batrankus Bastion, Karusel.

Please keep this feedback in mind for your Phase 2 submission:

Keep the name of the pak file the same as the name of the map you have posted. Many maps submitted have a completely different name than what was submitted to Mapcore.
Add a screenshot to your map (in game). It will help encourage people to actually play it. 
Have all files available to download on a site that doesn't require sign-ins.
Make sure the prefix on the maps are DM- or CTF-. For showdown they should be DM-.

Disclaimer:

Also, I've lost quite some time chasing everybody down to submit in time, get the download links to work, etc. I understand that we have a lot of new people who don't call Mapcore their home yet. But keep in mind that it's your own responsibility to check in and see if new updates regarding the contest are posted. We use the forums and social media to reach as many people as possible, but it's easily missed. So keep your eye on our UT Contest FAQ or the UT Contest Discussion thread. Besides the forum and social media, I won’t be reminding people personally for their Phase 2 submissions. 

Play testing:

Now, onto the good news. Here’s how you can setup your matches on Epic’s UT Hub servers:

Start Unreal Tournament.
Select 'Find a match'.
Select a random hub (has an Epic logo in front of it) that supports Showdown.
Press 'Join' in the lower right corner (do not join a specific game mode, join the hub).
Select 'Start new match' and then select ‘Custom’.
Select your map, wait or invite players and have some fun!

Entries:

Let’s finish with some random screenshots of our Phase 1 Submissions.

DM-Oxide by Mangley

DM-H09 by Heresiarch

DM-Rebel by Numb

DM-Oubliette by Phantazm11

DM-Croft by Scinbed

DM-Eternal by Friechamp

DM-Maelstrom by Maul

DM-Cascade by Flikswich

Good Luck!
 

Epic and Mapcore are teaming up! In an effort to push the custom content scene forward, we are hosting a Level Design contest for Unreal Tournament. We challenge you to create a new level for the “Team Showdown” game mode.

Phase 1 - ­Design (1 Month) 

Design a level for the new “Team Showdown” Mode in Unreal Tournament 4.
Focus on level flow, theme, weapon and spawn placements that compliments “Team Showdown”.

Contestants need to submit their designs before the May 2nd deadline on Mapcore’s contest forum. 

Phase 2 - Art and Polish (2 Months)

Use official art (Liandri, Castle, Chill and Snow Fortress assets) or your own.
Mesh and light the level.
Do a collision/blocking volume pass. 
The level must be functional.
The level must run at a reasonable framerate (dm­outpost23 is a good reference).

Contestants need to submit their designs before the July 4th deadline on Mapcore’s contest forum. Download links will be sent to Epic, who will judge all entries. Epic will also host a community playtest event of the final submissions. 

Rules

Small teams are allowed, for example, an artist and a designer.
Custom art is allowed, but use of official art is completely fine.
You can start art passing whenever you're ready. You don’t have to wait for the second phase.
You have to be willing to have your level tested and played in Unreal Tournament.
Must be designed for “Team Showdown” but that doesn't mean it won’t work for Deathmatch.    

Disclaimer 

Prizes will be sent to the individuals who post the submissions. We are not responsible for how teams wish to submit and divide their prizes. 

Judging and Prizes

The entire UT team will vote for their favorite submissions and the results will be shared on Unreal Tournament's Twitch channel.

First Place ($1650) + Swag
Second Place ($850) + Swag
Third Place ($500) + Swag
Fourth Place ­ Honorary Mention (Swag)
Fifth Place ­ Honorary Mention (Swag)    

Depending on the quality of entries, and work required to take the levels to release quality, Epic will evaluate the possibility of adding winning entries into the Marketplace or the game. Epic will work directly with the designers on any issues that need resolving (similar to dm­lea and ctf­pistola).

Good Luck!

(Art by Thurnip)

It's Time!

It’s finally time to declare a grand prize winner in our exciting Counter-Strike: Global Offensive mapping contest. You’ve playtested the maps on Reddit, you've waited months for the results... let's get down to business!!

GRAND PRIZE WINNER:

DE_EMPIRE

By Andre Valera

Workshop Link

Sometimes it boils down to consistency: broad strength across several categories. No map in our contest better exemplifies this notion of consistent quality than Empire.

Empire features a stacked bomb-site layout similar to popular official maps like Nuke and Overpass. While this relatively unorthodox design presents level designers with additional challenges, Empire ably sticks its landing. Furthermore, the ambition of Empire’s design is tempered well by its no-nonsense visual presentation. We’re left with a digestible, fun, and very playable level.

Congratulations, Andre Valera!

Prize:

Featured in a goRGNtv showmatch!

Featured in CEVO PUG rotation for one month!

$1000 and Mapcore swag!

CS:GO prize pack courtesy of Valve:

a signed CS:GO poster, lanyard, vinyl sticker

SteelSeries Kana Mouse!

2nd PLACE:

DE_BOURG

by Klems

Workshop Link

A truly unique map. Some felt it was the strongest entry in the contest given its strong theme, abundant polish, and beautiful visuals; others, however, questioned the map's small scale. This was a tough map to judge.  

Prize:

$400!

CS:GO prize pack courtesy of Valve: 

a signed CS:GO poster, lanyard, vinyl sticker

3rd PLACE:

DE_ROYAL

By Jakuza

Workshop Link

An attractively sleek map, there is plenty of room for Royal to blossom into something very special. 

Prize:

$200!

CS:GO prize pack courtesy of Valve: 

a signed CS:GO poster, lanyard, vinyl sticker

4th PLACE:

DE_COAST

By Ornate Baboon

Workshop Link

A map that was under heavy construction for much of our contest, one gets the sense that Coast wasn't quite ready yet. With a little bit more time, who knows?

Prize:

$100 + Mapcore swag!

CS:GO prize pack courtesy of Valve: 

a signed CS:GO poster, lanyard, vinyl sticker

~~~We at Mapcore would like to thank the r/GlobalOffensive moderators for their assistance, our lovely guest judges, Valve, goRGNtv, CEVO, as well as Gamebanana.com and Steam workshop artist EGO DEATH for contributing to our prize pool.

Last but not least... THANK YOU, for making this 'Core event special and fun!

"May Hurg guide you..."

(Art by Thurnip)

Contest finalists have been chosen!

Before announcing our finalists, we want to thank everyone for participating and giving your feedback: with over 150 entries, this event has thus far exceeded expectations in every way.

We strongly considered adding an “honorable mentions” addendum to this announcement, but realized there were simply too many maps which came extremely close to becoming finalists, lacking only one of our “big three” judging criteria components.

Now, without futher ado…

THE FINALISTS:

(in no particular order)

DE_ROYAL

By Jakuza

Workshop Link

DE_EMPIRE

By Andre Valera

Workshop Link

DE_BOURG

by Klems

Workshop Link

DE_COAST

By Ornate Baboon

Workshop Link

These exciting levels exhibit competitive potential, excellent visual presentation, AND a satisfying level of polish, making them truly strong representatives for our talented community. As finalists competing for the grand prize, the authors of these levels will be able to update their work based on your feedback, including fine-tuning their competitive layouts using public playtesting over on Reddit. Let's support them on their journey!

To check out the excellent prizes awaiting our finalists (including money prizes + official Valve merchandise), click here.

Congratulations, finalists!

...but who will be the Grand Prize Winner? Find out September 30th.

P.S. – To all our wonderful participants: don't despair. Level design is an art to be pursued for its own sake, and brilliant work should always be celebrated and studied. Additionally, Valve has consistently supported CS:GO community mapping, and Valve Operations remain a lucrative and thrilling opportunity for community mappers such as yourself. Valve’s criteria for Operations can be found here.

"Never give up." - Hurg

(Art by Thurnip)

/r/GlobalOffensive and Mapcore are teaming up to grow Counter-Strike: Global Offensive’s mapping community!  

Check out the reddit thread for this contest »

The Big Reveal
 

We’re hosting a map-making contest for original, competitive 5v5 bomb defusal maps AND competitively-minded hostage maps, open exclusively to mappers who have not yet had their work featured in a Valve Operation! 

Older projects are fair game: now’s the perfect time to polish up that map you’ve been working on but never got around to finishing. Experienced Mapcore judges and prominent members of the Counter-Strike community such as Sadokist, Moses, DDK, James Bardolph, and Anders Blume will be weighing in – but only one map can win it all.

Helpful Playtesting

Every week for the length of the contest, eligible maps will be playtested during /r/GlobalOffensive community nights according to a sign-up schedule. Slots on this schedule will be filled on a first-come, first-serve basis following an approval process, but we will try our best to accommodate everyone at least once. However, because it’s impossible to guarantee that all contest entries will have the chance to be playtested, /r/GlobalOffensive playtesting is a supplemental, helpful tool which will have no bearing whatsoever on contest judging.

You can register for a playtesting slot here. Remember -- playtesting registration is first-come, first-serve!

Enter Your Level

To officially enter your level into this contest, post a WIP thread with a link to your level’s Steam Workshop page in Mapcore’s official event forum.

Posting a WIP thread with a link to your level’s Steam workshop page constitutes your official entry into the contest, however you don’t need to do both at the same time. In other words, you can post your WIP thread and then update it later with your workshop link if you’re not ready to go right away. You can also feel free to continue updating your workshop level after you’ve posted your workshop link – contest entries will not be judged until after the submission deadline.

The Deadline
 

Your level must be submitted to Mapcore by August 31st, 2015 at midnight Pacific Standard Time (PST).

Our panel of judges will then select four finalist levels based on the following criteria:

• Fun factor
• Visual/thematic presentation (graphics)
• Overall polish

Grand Prize Deadline

After the top four maps have been announced, /r/GlobalOffensive users will put them to the test!

Once all four finalist maps have been tested, mappers will have two weeks to revise their work based on community feedback. After those two weeks, an official Grand Prize Winning Map will be chosen!

Contest Calendar

Our Goal

The goal of this event is to raise awareness about Mapcore's incredible level design community and the incredibly useful playtesting capabilities of /r/GlobalOffensive. Both Mapcore and /r/GlobalOffensive are free resources available to all mappers. To date, Mapcore users are responsible for creating more than 70% of Valve Operation levels. Mapcore’s staff are unpaid volunteers, and do not personally profit in any way from additional traffic to the site.

Prizes

Of course, it wouldn’t be a contest without a reward… In addition to the helpful feedback and free publicity that CS:GO mappers will receive by participating in this event, each finalist will also receive:

• Eternal Bragging Rights™ and a showcase on Mapcore (where their level will be highly visible to industry-veteran game developers and the rest of the community)
• A monetary prize ($1000 + Mapcore swag for first place; $400 for second place; $200 for third place; $100 and Mapcore swag for fourth place)
• The top-finishing map will also be played in a competitive show-match casted and streamed by goRGNtv, for all to watch and enjoy!
• *NEW* CEVO has generously agreed to host the winning map in their PUG rotations for one month!
• *NEW* Added $1,000 to prize pool thanks to Gamebanana.com and EGO DEATH (gun skin creator)
• *NEW* Valve prizes!

                   Top 4 will receive

1. Signed CS:GO poster

2. CS:GO Lanyard

3. CS:GO Vinyl Sticker

         First place will receive a CS:GO prize pack:

1. Signed CS:GO poster

2. CS:GO Lanyard

3. CS:GO Vinyl Sticker

4. CS:GO SteelSeries Kana Mouse

This is your big chance -- get to it!
Good luck, mappers!

Additional Rules

• Remakes of older maps are NOT allowed. All works must be original to you and their layouts must not have appeared in any prior versions of Counter-Strike.
• Custom artwork is allowed and encouraged, but must meet workshop guidelines.
• Collaborations are allowed and encouraged. Any contest winnings arising from a collaboration will be split in accordance with the collaborators' mutual agreement.

Judging Procedure

• Mapcore staff will rate their top four maps of the contest, results will be tallied and all votes given equal weight.
• Some time later, the judges and guest judges will rate the top four finalist maps and results will be tallied, with all votes given equal weight.
• Guest judges will be asked to act as tie-breakers in the event of any ties in the voting.

Mapcore Judges
Jason “General Vivi” Mojica -- Creator of "Rose Iron" Skin (Overkill Software)
Patrick "Puddy" Murphy -- Creator of CS_AGENCY (Overkill Software)
RZL (Independent) -- Creator of DE_RESORT
Shawn “FMPONE” Snelling (Independent)

Johnny “Sprony” van Spronsen (Journalist)

Guest Judges
Matt "Sadokist" Trivett -- @Sadokist
Jason “Moses” O’Toole -- @JmosesOT
Daniel "DDK" Kapadia -- @followddk
James Bardolph -- @jamesbardolph
Anders Blume -- @OnFireAnders

---

Our Thanks to 

EGO DEATH (Steam Workshop author)

Nova Exchange

By Erik-Silver Toomere (ESToomere)

“After taking a wrong turn on the way to Lighthouse Point… Gordon stumbles on a Combine secret”. Takes place between the chapters Sandtraps and Entanglement, replacing Nova Prospekt.

Delayed

By Justin Carlto (SneakySpeckMan)

The strider at the end of Half Life 2 Episode 1 destroys the escape train, leaving Gordon and Alyx stuck in City 17 as the Citadel goes critical.

Blast Pit

By Dan Jordan (The_Rabbit42)

A re-imagining of the classic scene from Half-Life.

Title: RaiseTheBarVille

File Name: hl2-ep2-sp-mc-raisethebarville.7z

Size: 47.10MB

Author(s): Erik-Silver Toomere aka ESToomere, Justin Carlton aka SneakySpeckMan & Dan Jordan aka The_Rabbit42

Date Released: 09 May 2015

Download directly into MapTap [47.10MB]

You must have MapTap installed before using this link.

Download to your HDD [47.10MB]

You can still use it with MapTap once you have downloaded it.

1. Copy the RaiseTheBarVille folder into your …SteamSteamAppscommonsourcemods folder.2. Restart or start Steam.

3. RaiseTheBarVille should now be listed in your Library tab.

4. If you require more help, please visit RunThinkShootLive's Technical Help page.

There were 3 judges for this challenge: Phillip (RunThinkShootLive), Ryan 'Thrik' Williams (MapCore), and Don aka Unq (who very kindly supplied the RaiseTheBarVille first Prize).

Winner: Blast Pit

All judges felt this was the perfect combination of using the theme in a clever way and making a map that was fun to play.

Almost-Winner: Nova Exchange

This was a very detailed and thoughtful entry that all the judges enjoyed playing but felt it lacked player guidance too often.

Third Place: Delayed

While short and light on compelling gameplay, it delivers exciting set-pieces and great visuals.

The judges' more detailed reviews can be found in the comments of this article and/or RunThinkShootLive's equivalent article. Feel free to leave your own — in fact, please do!

For the winner

A lightly used hardback copy of Valve's rare Half-Life 2 development book, Raising the Bar, kindly donated by Don aka Unq. This book is a must-read for any fan of the game, and particularly those interested in its development process. In addition to being a collectable in its own right, this particular edition is signed by Valve staff, arranged by a friend of Phillip's who works there.

For the almost-winner

Don't feel bad, you nearly made it. Have a plush companion cube plus a MapCore mug or t-shirt, and know that we love you.

...and for everyone else

All entries, except the winner and almost-winner, will be entered into a random draw to win Sniper Elite 3. As this was one person in the end, this has now become the third-place prize.

A selection of 3840x2160 screenshots is available on Dropbox. They haven't been included directly in this article because they potentially spoil set-pieces within the levels.

The playthrough/walkthrough below is provided by PlanetPhillip. See more of his playthroughs at VP: PlanetPhillip.

Three grid view icons are included in this file. To use the included grid view icon, select “Gridview” in Steam (top right corner). Right click on “RaiseTheBarVille” and select “Set Custom Image”. Then browse to the SourceMods folder and then to RaiseTheBarVille/steam-gridview-icons folder and select the image you prefer. Then click “Set Image” and that’s it. Of course, you can create your own custom image if you prefer.

There are a few additional things that you might want to check out over in the RunThinkLiveShoot equivalent of this article, such as a poll that lets you vote for your favourite, additional screenshots, and download statistics.

We'd like you to re-imagine a scene of your choosing from any of the Half-Life games. To be clear, we're not looking for remakes of scenes — we want you to completely reinterpret a scene, approaching it from a fresh perspective. You can, however, use assets from Black Mesa.

Here are some examples of ideas you could develop:

• The Tram ride at the beginning of Half-Life. What if somebody else pushed the cart? Gordon was late, so they got somebody else and the resonance cascade happens when Gordon is still on the tram. It crashed to the ground but leads him to a previously unseen section of Black Mesa.
• Black Mesa. What if Half-Life's infamous research facility were hidden underneath a city or town rather than out in the desert?
• Surface Tension. This particular event occurs on the side of a Citadel. Yes, it doesn't fit the story, but that's not important. This is about high cliffs and long falls.
• Opposing Force. What if Black Mesa were devastated by this game's nuclear bomb quite early on during the story, leaving Adrian Shepherd to navigate a version of the research facility resembling a post-apocalyptic nightmare?
• Point Insertion. Instead of arriving at a city train station, Gordon finds himself in a deserted and derelict village station, perhaps near enough to Ravenholm, to feel the threat. Being seen by Civil Protection may be the least of his worries.
• City 17. What if the Combine had chosen the United States, France, or London to be their primary city?

The only limitation is your imagination, which we want to see run wild — create the most wonderful interpretation of Half-Life's universe that you can conceive. Whether your project is big or small, you should strive to create something that will delight Half-Life fans.

Because this is a joint challenge, there are two places for this:

• 
  Where you may discuss the challenge and share progress of your work, which we hope that you will!
• RunThinkShootLive challenge article
  Where you can do the same.

Both will be compiled together for judging and articles after the challenge ends, so you don't need to post in both places (although it's not a problem if you do).

Prizes are being donated by both MapCore and RunThinkShootLive, in addition to your work being immortalised in our archives for others to enjoy.

For the winner

A lightly used hardback copy of Valve's rare Half-Life 2 development book, Raising the Bar, kindly donated by Don aka Unq. This book is a must-read for any fan of the game, and particularly those interested in its development process. In addition to being a collectable in its own right, this particular edition is signed by Valve staff, arranged by a friend of Phillip's who works there.

For the almost-winner

Don't feel bad, you nearly made it. Have a plush companion cube plus a MapCore mug or t-shirt, and know that we love you.

...and for everyone else

All entries, except the winner and almost-winner, will be entered into a random draw to win Sniper Elite 3.

Begins: Thursday, 19th March, 2015 at 11am GMT

Ends: Tuesday, 28th April, 2015 at 11am GMT

You can't have a challenge without rules, right? Here are the requirements:

• Maximum one map per mapper per entry.
• The map must have at least one enemy and one weapon; i.e. playable.
• The map must be original and not have been released publicly before.
• The map must run in a system with only Half-Life 2: Episode 2 installed
• By entering the competition you grant RunThinkShootLive.Com and MapCore.org the right to release the map as part of the RaiseTheBarVille Mod.
• Maps must not appear for download before the release and for one month after the release of the mod.
• No assets from retail games other than Half-Life 2, Half-Life 2: Episode 1 or Half-Life 2: Episode 2 are allowed.
• Other assets are allowed with written permission from their original authors, which must be included in the entry.
• The organizers' decision is final and no correspondence will be entered into about it.
• The map must have a proper name.
• The map must have a proper filename: MapName_rtbv.bsp
• Each entry should be accompanied by a correctly formatted (vtf) background and chapter image. The name is not important, as it will have to be changed.
• All entries must be sent to: runthinkshootlive@gmail.com no later than the deadline.

There have been a few questions asked about this challenge, so hopefully this will help you. However, if your question is not here and you have doubts, please don’t hesitate to ask, no matter how small your query.

Can I use assets from Black Mesa Source?

Yes, by all means, but you must pack them into your BSP. Yes, we know that may mean redundancy, but the map MUST run in a system that ONLY has Episode Two installed. We don’t want to force players to download BM.

Can an entry be a joint entry?

Yes, but there I still only one prize. You’ll have to fight to the death to decide who gets it.

Which games can I re-imagine?

Half-Life, Opposing Force, Blue Shift, Half-Life 2, Lost Coast, Episode One, or Episode Two.

Can I use assets from Lost Coast?

Yes, pack them into your BSP.

What about recreating a scene that was say… cut from one of the main games? Technically a re-imagining of a re-imagining.

No, but you could use the cut area as inspiration for something that was released in one of the games. What we don’t want people to do is remake a cut section from a game.

Can simply change a location?

Well, yes, but again, there should be some element of “What if…?” in the map. Simply changing a town for a city is only part of what we are looking for. You map should really be the result f some change, however minor, in the story.

How do you define a scene?

In the context of this challenge a “Scene” is a part of the game that has some effect on the following game. So, changing one location for another is not really enough. What we are looking for is something that takes the game in a different direction.

Can we submit mini-mods instead of a map?

Sorry, no. Your entry must be a self contained map.

Can I submit something artsy?

Sure, but it must have at least one enemy, one weapon and a player spawn.

Can we decompile or remake specific locations from Valve maps?

We think it’s best if we disallow this. Mainly to avoid any potential problems. Please start your map from something new. However, we will allow a very small section if this is just used to “fit into the story”. For example, in Episode One, at the beginning when Alyx and Gordon are thrown into the Citadel. If you map started at the bottom but then things went very differnt from the game, that would be okay.

How should I start my map?

We suggest a little text at the beginning to set the scene. Something like…”What if Gordon were late and somebody else push the cart? Let’s find out“. It’s not compulsory but it might help.

What’s the limit of changes we can make?

Wow, that’s a tough question. Your changes MUST NOT affect maps that may be after yours in the final mod.

My question is not here, what should I do?

Ask in the RTSL post or MapCore thread. Somebody will respond quickly.

We really hope that you have fun with this. MapCore has a very long history of facilitating development of levels for Half-Life and its mods, in fact we were founded around that very concept. As such, we're hopeful that the community still has that passion for one of gaming's finest classics, and is keen to apply modern-day skills and technologies to bringing Half-Life's universe to life — because Valve sure isn't doing it any time soon!

The theme of the contest is quite wonderful and should appeal to all MapCorians whether you're participating or observing, and there are some lovely prizes on offer too. You'll find out more when the challenge is announced and kicked off in a week's time.

Stay tuned — we hope to see you involved!

DM-Helium by Chris '2d-chris' Kay

Congratulations! While no prizes were planned, Chris will receive a special winner's T-shirt for his efforts. It's truly a gorgeous map, although it's in good company as all entries were of a high standard. The community has some great maps to play on right here, and I've no doubt that we'll be seeing more of them in playtests and on servers.

The challenge was fascinating to watch, with the filled with shots of the in-development maps and — perhaps more importantly — members helping one another to create some sweet Unreal Engine 4 levels. In fact, this part of the challenge was so interesting to follow as a non-participant that we're going to try and make the in-development phase of future challenges more prominent by following the progress with articles taking a look at how things are going.

The official Unreal Tournament site picked up on our challenge by talking about it for a few minutes at the beginning of the challenge, and while they briefly acknowledged the end of the challenge in a more recent stream they're apparently still checking out all the maps and will be featuring them more shortly — so stay tuned for that!

I'd like to thank everyone for their involvement, and I sincerely hope that everyone had a good time experimenting with an engine iteration that's still new to most people. Be sure to head over to the to check out and download all of the levels!

We don't mess around at MapCore and want to get one more event in before the year ends, so we're going to be kicking off a Quake 3 contest very soon — this time with substantial prizes, just to spice things up a bit! Hang tight for details about that.