Wall Worm Level Design Contest #2 (for old fogies)

[shawnolson]

I tried to get a level design contest for Wall Worm last year. It failed to get anyone involved. But I'm tenacious, and after I talked to many of the WW users who considered participating but did not, I went back to the drawing board and have come to round 2.

The previous contest had too many expectations (I wanted level designers to use all the advanced features in WW without giving them time to learn the basic Max UI... so the bar was too high). Hopefully this new one is more likely to get people to participate.

In Old School Level Design Contest #1, you are not allowed to use models. Nope. Just BSP.

To help inspire, I've shared a silly little level called bsp_heaven compiled into Black Mesa that I made in jest for BM level designer Chris Horn's birthday last month. That silly level was made from scratch to final compile in 24 hours in Max. Hopefully it helps spur some creativity and helps get some interest.

[jackophant]

I appreciate the power of the tool you've created, but owning 3DS Max in the first place is an obstacle. I used to have it for free with my student email address, but I sadly didn't get very far with it and now my attention is focused on blender (not that I've got very far with that either so far!  ) because of the ease of access.

Are there any plugins / workarounds / converters for blender to work for this?

Good luck with round 2  

Edited January 5, 2016 by jackophant

[shawnolson]

I appreciate the power of the tool you've created, but owning 3DS Max in the first place is an obstacle. I used to have it for free with my student email address, but I sadly didn't get very far with it and now my attention is focused on blender (not that I've got very far with that either so far!  ) because of the ease of access.

Are there any plugins / workarounds / converters for blender to work for this?

Good luck with round 2  

Thanks for the comment

In terms of any Blender integration, no, that's not something I have spent any time exploring. Max has been my playground for many years. Every time I've installed Blender to check out the features, I always feel like a blind sloth trying to catch fireflies in a windstorm. It's certainly an awesome asset to the world. I just haven't ever felt moved by the spirit to do more than peek in on occasion.

In terms of the obstacle of owning Max... that's soon past a possibility as Autodesk is taking away that privilege. After this month, you can no longer even buy Max, Maya, etc. Later this year you lose the ability to buy even the larger suites. This is something that is philosophically at odds with my views on how things should be. But those currently on maintenance subscription can continue to own upgrades. All rental after that. So if that trend goes on forever, you'll possibly see me tipping more serious toes into Blender (but it's not something I foresee anytime soon).

In terms of this contest, I can already tell that users are for more inspired than the first. So I'm excited about it. And I'm in communication with other prominent plugin developers to offer commercial plugin prizes.

[shawnolson]

Just wanted to share some new info on this contest. There are now several sponsors giving away software prizes for this:

GrowFX from Exlevel

Zookeeper from Ephere

RichDirt from enRichPro

At this point, first place will get nearly $1,000 of software prizes.

I'm looking forward to seeing some of you guys dabble in this. It's going to be fun!

[blackdog]

Hey what you mean, Autodesk is moving to a subscription model like Adobe?

[shawnolson]

Hey what you mean, Autodesk is moving to a subscription model like Adobe?

Yep. Cool for some scenarios... but bad for consumer influence overall--especially for an industry that might not want one company to have the monkey on the back of all young talents primed to get hooked on careers. Hopefully it's all hunky-dory... but we'll see in 10 years. But that's irrelevant to here and now I'm a 3ds Max advocate... regardless of the current direction of the business behind Max.

[shawnolson]

Thanks to @will2k and @Rick_D for attaching their names to the judging panel.

Turnout wasn't as high as I wanted, but it produced some cool things. The main thing to note was that this contest was BRUSH-ONLY (no displacements or props allowed). Here were the winners: 1st: gg_futurelobby and 2nd: fy_delaunay_world . I think that the myth about not being able to do brushwork in Max is now busted.

Already Ephere and Exlevel have signed up again to sponsor the next contest. Exlevel is gifting GrowFX again and Ephere is giving the winner the choice of either Zookeeper or Lucid. I am working on some other sponsors as well.

gg_futurelobby

And runner up: fy_delaunay_world

[will2k]

6 hours ago, shawnolson said:

Thanks to @will2k and @Rick_D for attaching their names to the judging panel.

Turnout wasn't as high as I wanted, but it produced some cool things. The main thing to note was that this contest was BRUSH-ONLY (no displacements or props allowed). Here were the winners: 1st: gg_futurelobby and 2nd: fy_delaunay_world . I think that the myth about not being able to do brushwork in Max is now busted.

 

Too late to audition for myth busters?

Seriously though, great work Shawn

Despite the low turnout (it's quite normal for a 1st contest into new territory though), the entries were nice and showed craftsmanship with brushwork-only restriction and no Hammer involved

I take this opportunity to congratulate the winners and best of luck for contest #2.