Also the rule that any map made could be entered just sucks. It must really suck to have started on a level for this contest, have only a month the time, and then the last day some dude enters his level that he made some time ago and spend 4 months working on...
That's exactly one of my biggest complaints for this contest, and i even discussed it with Zak over in the IRC. I mean, seriously, you can't possibly compare a map that has been in the making for more than 4 months, then gets released like 2 mots before the contest and then
ENTERS the contest, with a map that was in the almost 3 to 4 weeks time span for the deadline. Basically, the amount of detail, polishing, optimization, BETA-testing and thought poured into the map in
incomparable PERIOD.
so yeah, and besides that i'm really afraid the judges are not going to care at all, or make any differences whatsoever.
AFAIK, from the top 5 only Shiota, WhiteRealm and
Nimius were maps designed
specifically for the contest. Calibrah's author said that he spent something like +2 months on his maps (and is of course amazing) and then we have Xenon, with we all know that started in January (5 monhts ago) with a layout created by Slainchild, so you tell me how unfair is that
.
So yeah, allowing any map to enter this contest, GIVEN how long it takes to make a quality map for UT3 and the tight deadline, is blatantly unfair imho, but
good luck to the top 5!