Day of Infamy Map Contest Update: Deadline Extension, Regular Testing

    Hey everyone,[/b]

    We’ve decided to extend the deadline for the Day of Infamy mapping contest from November 24th to December 22nd. Your final map will now be due on December 22nd.[/b]

    We noticed that some map makers were requesting more time. These nearly four extra weeks will hopefully give all our contestants more time to polish and finalize their maps. We are already excited by everything we’ve seen so far in our community playtests, and can’t wait to see how the maps turn out.[/b]

    Also of note, we are going to start having regular playtests with developers and DoI players every Sunday at 2:00 pm EST, 8:00 pm GMT+1. Some of these playtests will be streamed as we have done previously, but not every week. Please understand that we are not necessarily able to provide equal time for every person’s map in these tests, or in any livestreams of these tests. Map makers are encouraged to join us to see their maps in action with players playing on them.[/b]

    If you want to have your map included in these tests, direct message me here on Mapcore and our team can add your map to the playtest list here to be tested: http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/fi…ue&id=793269906[/b]

    If you already have a map on the playlist, feel free to update it as you see fit. We will restart and reupload any updated maps to our servers before each test. Please remember to not change your map’s name.[/b]


    Be sure to join our Day of Infamy Steam community group so you get event updates whenever we test: http://steamcommunity.com/games/447820[/b]


    Thanks and good luck on all your continued work![/b]

    I agree with @Terri

    I deliberately cut down on features to meet the deadline. Now I'd have to scrap quite a chunk of Level Art to adapt and improve the Level Design at this state. I find this (massive) extension unfair to people with proper time management.

    Anyways, thanks for the heads-up and especially for the regular playtests that will happen from now on. This will be of great help to everyone who participates.

    I also feel that due to a whole month being added, especially since it will now lead up right into Christmas holidays, it only seems in order for the prize pool to be extended too, by at least a third.

    The prize pool already is pretty high compared to other competitions like that. I don't think that is appropriate. The competition should just stick to it's detail through it's course.

    Quote from poLemin

    9 minutes ago, poLemin said: The prize pool already is pretty high compared to other competitions like that. I don't think that is appropriate. The competition should just stick to it's detail through it's course.

    Yes it really should stick to how it was detailed, but if changes like this are made it makes sense to up prizes for more work.


    //


    Also, can this now be split into two phases?

    What I mean is to have a submission deadline on the 24th, and then just those maps that are submitted are allowed for final entry on the 22nd of December. Just like how the UT4 mapping contest was held.

    I really want to know fully what I'm up against before spending another month's work on this.

    @Xanthi Would it make sense to push the contest after December 22nd? Possibly January 17th (Sometime after the first couple weekends for people to get in their last playtests, compile and pack after a long weekend)

    I can't imagine that you'll be in the office judging our maps between December 22nd and January 2nd, and if that's true and you're going to judge them after the Holidays then why not give us the time to continue to developing during the Holiday break.

    I don't support this decision at all. I find this very unfair and annoying since we all have planned and worked out our levles with the time given in mind. Now suddenly we have a lot more time and will basically have to do fundamental changes to the core structure of the map. Not good.

    Look, the sole purpose of this contest is to generate content for a very early in development game. From a developer's point of view, it would be more beneficial and cost effective to have a larger pool of maps to pick from at the end of the contest. Hence for the deadline extension. Nobody wants to work for free, unless they're really passionate about it. If they kept to the original deadline, a good number of people wouldn't finish their entries and probably wouldn't bother to do so in the absence of a cash motivator.

    To everyone who managed to stay on track by making cuts and sacrificing good ideas, it will seem unfair - which is partially true. Now, the other contestants, who hadn't cut back or can still afford to add in ideas without much trouble, will gain a possible advantage. Though, I assume that isn't of concern to the contest organizers.

    Personally, this deadline extension is of great help. I did not expect it, nor did I ask for it. However, what really bothers me is the negative attitude some people express. I get their point. They had the advantage and now they've lost it. What's even worse, it wasn't by their own fault. This is exactly what it's like to work for a client in any domain. At the end of the day, he has the say. It might no be fair. It might not be the right call. All we can do is adapt or walk away.


    Nevertheless, I wish everyone good luck and I honestly hope that by the end we'll all be proud of our levels regardless of the mud we've had to go through.

    Quote from Radu

    1 hour ago, Radu said: Look, the sole purpose of this contest is to generate content for a very early in development game. From a developer's point of view, it would be more beneficial and cost effective to have a larger pool of maps to pick from at the end of the contest. Hence for the deadline extension. Nobody wants to work for free, unless they're really passionate about it. If they kept to the original deadline, a good number of people wouldn't finish their entries and probably wouldn't bother to do so in the absence of a cash motivator.

    To everyone who managed to stay on track by making cuts and sacrificing good ideas, it will seem unfair - which is partially true. Now, the other contestants, who hadn't cut back or can still afford to add in ideas without much trouble, will gain a possible advantage. Though, I assume that isn't of concern to the contest organizers.

    Personally, this deadline extension is of great help. I did not expect it, nor did I ask for it. However, what really bothers me is the negative attitude some people express. I get their point. They had the advantage and now they've lost it. What's even worse, it wasn't by their own fault. This is exactly what it's like to work for a client in any domain. At the end of the day, he has the say. It might no be fair. It might not be the right call. All we can do is adapt or walk away.


    Nevertheless, I wish everyone good luck and I honestly hope that by the end we'll all be proud of our levels regardless of the mud we've had to go through.

    I have to agree with Zastels on this one.

    This is a competition. Still, if the devs at NWI wanted to extend the deadline by a week or so I would be fine with it.

    But by extending a competition where we already have had 2 months of worktime to a whole another month..

    That's a 50% increase in time, which is just ludicrous.

    I think it is wrong to say that the competitors who are on track are angry because they've lost the advantage.

    There is no advantage, there is simply working against a deadline which we do in this business all the time.

    And now because of this we, the people who have planned, produced, cut features and whatnot to be in time, are told we have much more time. This would've made a significant impact on the initial map design.

    I think this is a scumbag move and frankly I am quite angry with it.

    Quote from zastels

    5 hours ago, zastels said: I hope they ban FPSBanana contests from Mapcore in the future. I hope FMPone comments on this.


    I want everyone to understand, I am still entering into this contest, but it is with a major fuck you attitude. I am not going to appease to anyone, I work my ass off for free and for a stupid dream. If Mapcore is a professional website it shouldn't associate with whimsical contests.

    I supported the extension because it will lead to better maps. If you're hard at work on your map, finding out that you have more time will be good news. This is how it is for me when I'm working on stuff as well, the goal is to ship the best thing you can and time is a big factor in that.

    The best advice I can give you is focus on the player. Ask yourself if players would support devs getting some more time to work on stuff, if you do, the answer will be yes because players know that results in higher quality.

    Wow, a lot of negativity here. I as well planned my entry in such a way it would be feasible to finish it in 2 months time. So getting an extra month in such short notice before the expected end of the contest may seem unfair for those who kept up to a tight schedule until now, and maybe it is a bit indeed.

    That being said, I'm going to take full advantage of the extra month and gonna have a look at putting in some extras that I cut beforehand or didn't even plan yet. And improve on what I already have. I'm also glad about the organisation of weekly playtests.

    Quote from zastels

    10 hours ago, zastels said: I want everyone to understand, I am still entering into this contest, but it is with a major fuck you attitude. I am not going to appease to anyone, I work my ass off for free and for a stupid dream. If Mapcore is a professional website it shouldn't associate with whimsical contests.

    Don't take this the wrong way, but if that's your attitude ... why even bother?

    Quote from zastels

    3 hours ago, zastels said: I'm not a dev, and neither is anybody else in this contest.

    I don't think you understood what FMPONE was trying to say.

    I want to hear anybody say that this extra month of dev time will be detrimental to their maps quality. As far as i see, those who actually finished their entry aren't complaining.

    Quote from Todes

    5 hours ago, Todes said: I want to hear anybody say that this extra month of dev time will be detrimental to their maps quality. As far as i see, those who actually finished their entry aren't complaining.

    We were 99% done and happy with our product. We're now spending an extra month on it to ensure we're competitive as possible.

    I'm sure all of us agree that more time = better product

    We can do more, better stuff and playtest a lot more but since it wasn't part of the original plan and announced 10 days before the deadline it still feels like an annoying curveball ESPECIALLY because we asked NWI a couple of weeks ago what the chances were of an extension and they said no, no chance.

    Reading all this discussion I wonder if I am the only one who joined because of the fun of making maps besides my regular work as a hobby? :D

    @Radu So yeah, some people do like to work for free when they are - as you pointed out - passionate about it. My map is never as good as many of those out there, but it was fun for me to compete and at least get some recognition in the mapping community. Because I am pretty sure no one knew me before this although I have been mapping since COD UO.

    To all of you who are being pissed at the moment. I get it somehow - but if you had fun doing what you did it should be worth while, since the podium was not reserved for anyone. Trying to get a positive point across and not to insult anyone - don't know if I succeeded.

    Anyhow, good luck to all and have fun mapping!

    Greetings

    HDKHH

    Yeah same here. This is the first big map that I'm creating. I learned a lot about various things while working on this project (Time management, level design, hammer editor ). I'm sure my map won't be as good as anyone else but it doesn't matter. I made some good friends and also got a chance to show my map on livestream (in playtesting).That's a really big thing for me. I had so much fun making this map.

    My college exams are starting from 18th so might not have finished my map at 24th. So although I didn't ask for deadline extension, I really appreciate 1 more month and more playtesting.

Participate now!

Don’t have an account yet? Register yourself now and be a part of our community!

Register Yourself Login