3DBuzz Level Design Contest Top 5 - Screenshots, Download

[hal]

In case you've been wondering how the judging of the 3D Buzz Old School Level Design Contest has been coming along, we've got the top five for you so far, along with several screenshots of each, and a "download 'em all" link. The winners should be announced tonight.

[Luv_Studd]

Some nice maps, some not so nice maps.

Promise me hal, please,... if BU ever holds a level design contest that it'll put gameplay above everything else?

Thanks.

[Sjosz]

Calibrah first (for realz)
Xenon (for realz)
WhiteRealm (not my pick)
Nimius (not my pick)
Shiota (not my pick)

[Luv_Studd]

Originally Posted by Sjosz

Calibrah first (for realz)
Xenon (for realz)
WhiteRealm (not my pick)
Nimius (not my pick)
Shiota (not my pick)

and your picks would be?

[Tweakd]

Promise me hal, please,... if BU ever holds a level design contest that it'll put gameplay above everything else?

Hahaha. Yeah that would be nice

[TheIronKnuckle]

lol, I thought the "download 'em all" link would "download 'em all".
I was shocked when i saw the filesize. I of course assumed that "oldskool" meant low-poly and was given some peace of mind.
Well..... Thanks for the great service again BU, but is there any chance of a "real" all in one download? One that includes all entries into the contest and not just the top 5?

[Sjosz]

Gutter
Marauder

No real fifth choice, and I'm not sure about which order they'd be in.

[Al]

Originally Posted by Luv_Studd

Some nice maps, some not so nice maps.

Promise me hal, please,... if BU ever holds a level design contest that it'll put gameplay above everything else?

Thanks.

Looks like this contest was all about eyecandy

[Luv_Studd]

Mine:

1.) Author: Plutonic - Christopher Blundell
DM-Marauder

2.) Author: Axeman - James Scott
DM-Xenon

3.) Author - Luv_Studd - Steve Keene -------> sorry, just my opinion -
DM-Gutter

4.) Author: XYZ 8000 - Luca Dellana
DM-Arise

5.) Author: sklare - Kevin Cytatzky -----> not very playable on my PC
DM-Calibrah

6.) Author: Ignotium - Samuel Méndez
DM-Nimius

7.) Author: ZixXer - Sander Vereecken
DM-Focus

8.) Author: DGUnreal - David R Green
DM-1on1-OutofGas

9.) DanteAlighieri - Vytautas Katarzis ---not very playable on my PC
DM-WhiteRealm

10.) /Reserved - still playtesting/

[JohnnyWakko]

Originally Posted by Luv_Studd

Some nice maps, some not so nice maps.

Promise me hal, please,... if BU ever holds a level design contest that it'll put gameplay above everything else?

Thanks.

Here here. I gotta say that I play tested all of the Make Something Unreal entries and only 4 came through with a replayable game play.

Big difference between a good looking map and a good playing map.

[Axeman]

I'm honored to have Xenon make the top 5. I definitely wasn't expecting it.
Hopefully this map is one that has good gameplay too.

[Kantham]

I played Sklare's, other than the invincible pickup, it was quite fun here and there with a good health distribution.. If I'd have a #1 vote to cast, that would probably be it, but I can't tell since I haven't played the others.

Sklare got some serious tallents.

[Sk.7]

Argh this download means another sleepless night spent playing UT3...

Will this mappack-download-flow ever end?!
Oh but the addicted gamer in me hopes it won't end!!

[NATO_chrisjm]

Yeah your going to have to wait till Wednesday

[hal]

Originally Posted by TheIronKnuckle

lol, I thought the "download 'em all" link would "download 'em all".
I was shocked when i saw the filesize. I of course assumed that "oldskool" meant low-poly and was given some peace of mind.
Well..... Thanks for the great service again BU, but is there any chance of a "real" all in one download? One that includes all entries into the contest and not just the top 5?

Eh, well there are like 61 maps in all. I'm not sure anyone would want a download that large.

I still plan to make individual posts about some of our "picks" that maybe didn't make it into the top five.

[Poker]

Originally Posted by Luv_Studd

Some nice maps, some not so nice maps.

Promise me hal, please,... if BU ever holds a level design contest that it'll put gameplay above everything else?

Thanks.

Indeed. 3DB said as much themselves, but a couple of their picks really call into question their definition of "flow and gameplay". Perhaps they have a wider notion of what passes for deathmatch play, maybe reaching beyond standard UT3 DM. Otherwise, the choice of Shiota, a map whose layout is more bamboo garden than deathmatch, makes little apparent sense. I'm fairly shocked to see that one having been picked ahead of Shrift, which for an outdoor map had much better use of space, variety, pickup placement, ambience, and overall quality; the only consideration I can think of is that the 3DB guys did not look favorably on genthly's retroactive chronicling of the design process, which appeared to have left out some of the earlier parts of the map's development.

Originally Posted by Axeman

I'm honored to have Xenon make the top 5. I definitely wasn't expecting it.

Nonsense mate, you should have. Xenon "flows" about as well as any other DM map out there. I was very sorry not to see it included amongst the MSU entrants.

[Anuban]

Originally Posted by Luv_Studd

Mine:

1.) Author: Plutonic - Christopher Blundell
DM-Marauder

2.) Author: Axeman - James Scott
DM-Xenon

3.) Author - Luv_Studd - Steve Keene -------> sorry, just my opinion -
DM-Gutter

4.) Author: XYZ 8000 - Luca Dellana
DM-Arise

5.) Author: sklare - Kevin Cytatzky -----> not very playable on my PC
DM-Calibrah

6.) Author: Ignotium - Samuel Méndez
DM-Nimius

7.) Author: ZixXer - Sander Vereecken
DM-Focus

8.) Author: DGUnreal - David R Green
DM-1on1-OutofGas

9.) DanteAlighieri - Vytautas Katarzis ---not very playable on my PC
DM-WhiteRealm

10.) /Reserved - still playtesting/

Wow man that is really incredible ... your list totally mirrors my own. I am not so certain about the order and I feel you left out of Steam Temple which was a blast to play and had excellent flow and visuals imo.

Let me try though:

1 - Gutter ... this is my favorite level in a while hands down ... only one area where the flow kind of breaks down in the armor helmet pickup. I cooked this for the PS3 within 5 minutes of playing it on the PC. This is the definition of retail quality level.

2 - Out of Gas ... for me personally the unique nature of the level and the flow of the level as well as framerate were nearly perfect. In spite of it being a smaller level I really love this one ... the only problem where the flow breaks down a bit is in getting the health vials in the cargo container ... had both ends been open so you could acess the vials from either direction and not have to turn around to come back out I think that would have really made this level perfect in terms of flow.

3 - Xenon ... I really really like this level and I have been saying great things about it from day one, heck I cooked this for the PS3 mainly for me (it performs even better on the PS3 surprisingly ... and I have both versions cooked the original and the one for this contest) and it has almost perfect flow ... it is only hampered a bit by the dead to the shield belt. But the mechanization and the skybox and overall architecture are just great. I also really like the graphics. To run this level on max settings can be a bit taxing but for the most part the gameplay is very smooth.

4 - Marauder ... a really perfect level in every way ... no dead ends at all so the flow is impeccable. The skybox is excellent as well with the hovering ship being a very cool addition. Not a big fan of the placement of the Berserk pickup because it is a psuedo dead end but it still works ... just be careful. Also excellent framerate ... super smooth which makes for every enjoyable play. Another level I had to have on my PS3 and I will cooking the official SE version when it is ready so that every PS3 player also gets to this play this superb level.

5 - Steam Temple (by Setheran) ... This level really is an example of using movement in your levels to really bring the map alive and add some very dynamic gameplay. I really can't think of any problems with this level. More color would be the only thing I can think of to suggest. I found the flow to be very good and with a decent number of bots the action is nonstop and furious. I also really found the Powerpickup placement very clever and I loved how you never really knew just what powerup to expect. I cooked this for the PS3 as well ... just an awesome level.

6 - Arise ... I just really enjoyed this small but excellent looking and playing level. Placement of items was good although the use of all that armor and a UDamage on such a small level was perhaps a bit of overkill. But the flow of the level was spot on and with four players the action is non-stop and lethal. I also really thought the skybox was well done and the framerate excellent making the map that much more enjoyable.

7 - Calibrah ... just a really solid beautiful level that has a very cool weather effect. The use of the Invulnerability may be questionable but really that is about it. The frame rate could be a bit better but it still runs very well and definitely is not severely impacted by the less than stellar overall framerate. It is very good but can be better with more optimization. I cooked this for the PS3 but it runs to poorly so the author will be working on that.

8 - Focus ... a solid map with a unique look and solid framerates. The gameplay is surprisingly smooth and the map flows better than I had expected. I cooked this for the PS3 as well because it was so great.

9 - Nimius ... a very well constructed and great looking level. Though it does not have the type of gameplay I usually look for the fact is for low grav lovers of very dangerous levels that require high levels of skill to play this map has got to be considered.

10 - WhiteRealm/Shrift - Great looking maps but gameflow problems are present in both and so are frame rate issues. I also found Shrift to have a bit too many trees for my taste ... its hard to get into a good flow when I have to worry about avoiding so many things.


So while this is what I think now I have to admit some of the maps are so close in quality I may think differently on another day and change a few around (like maybe Arise and Steam Temple) but pretty much that is it

[Axeman]

Originally Posted by Poker

Nonsense mate, you should have. Xenon "flows" about as well as any other DM map out there. I was very sorry not to see it included amongst the MSU entrants.

Thanks. I was bummed I missed the MSUC. I forgot all about it. I almost missed submitting for 3d buzz. I really need to start paying better attention.

[TheIronKnuckle]

Originally Posted by hal

Eh, well there are like 61 maps in all. I'm not sure anyone would want a download that large.

I still plan to make individual posts about some of our "picks" that maybe didn't make it into the top five.

yeah, lol. I was actually scared to ask because we all know how big ut3 maps are. I suppose i would just download them all individually if the format for actually finding the maps weren't forum based.


But 61 maps! That would probably be a 3-4GB download!
Oh well... If you plan to point out the other quality maps that surfaced from this contest then it's all good.

[JohnDoe641]

I looked at all three screen shots and non of those look "old school". They looks like a bunch of mesh crap to me.