I _really_ dont see the connection between "oldskool" and being forced to use super high poly asian goth influenced entirely desaturated tentacle meshes?
Two 30 minute map reviews?
Oh wait, up to 30 minutes...
I wonder why they put it like that.
Ehh... why do they include UT3 in the prizes?
So you buy a copy of Unreal Tournament 3...
Make a map, enter the contest...
And if you win, you get... a copy of Unreal Tournament 3!
Hey folks!
I saw some interesting questions in here, and thought I'd pop in and try to clear a few of them up.
The "Old School" thing:
Okay, first off, we just needed something kinda' catchy and easy to say. The term spawned from a long and drawn out late night discussion over how there used to be SO MANY map releases for games like Unreal and UT99, but it just didn't seem like as many things were coming out for UT3. After talking to a LOT of people about the idea, it seemed that much of the decline was due to the fact that level design seemed a lot more daunting these days with the TON of work that must go into asset creation. Let's face it: a killer static mesh takes a lot longer to generate when you're making a million-poly base mesh. It's no longer the kind of thing you can just lightly approach.
We wanted to step away from all of that. We wanted to get more of a feeling like the mod community was way back in the day when gamers would open up a game editor and just make a level without having to feel like they had to be universal masters of 3ds Max, Maya, Motionbuilder, ZBrush, Photoshop, Painter, and so on. We wanted to bring it back to the basics of level creation and even out the playing field. Everyone creating a level using the exact same tools means its all about the skill and all about the gameplay, just like it was so long ago.
Just like it was in the Old School.
Sure, we know some folks don't like the style of the assets supplied with UT3. In a way, though, you've got to admit that that's kind of cool; now you'll have to get even more creative with what you've got at hand in order to make something satisfying! The bottom line is that we want this contest to be inviting enough to pull in some new faces and a lot more activity in the mod community.
And if this works and we get a lot of participation, we (3D Buzz) are going to bust our collective arses to put together as much Unreal training content as we can. If it looks like there's a mod community out there waiting to thrive, then we want to supply them with the education they need to get people involved, to get people excited, and to get more people out there into making their own great gaming experiences, whether they're doing it professionally or as a hobby.
30 minute map reviews:
Heh, the truth is, we decided to put an upward limit more for Logan and Terry than for anyone else. Especially Terry.
(JK Terry... really. I swear.)
Our reviews are going to consist of a lot of screen captured playthrough and some solid discussion between the two testers about what they did and did not like, as well as some suggestions. This will be valuable coming from hardcore deathmatchers like these two, and should make for some nice feedback. With everything we had planned and input from two different people, it made sense to give us a nice upper limit on content time for our reviews.
Once we had that in place, we realized while we couldn't really speak for how Cliff Bleszinski would want to handle the review process, it would be awkward (and perhaps a little unfair) to give him any less of a limit.
Officially, we're can't say exactly how long the reviews are going to be; there are just too many factors.
Why get a copy of Unreal when you have to own one to compete?
You might not have noticed, but the copies we're offering as prizes are signed by the developers. So it's more for the "Sitting-on-your-shelf-and-looking-cool-in-that-sort-of trophy-like-way" factor than it is for the "Yay-you-got-a-second-copy-of-a-game-you've-already-been-playing-for-six-months-now" factor.
We've got some signed copies of the previous versions of the game here. They still look pretty sweet.
We've got some more details on this coming up within the next 24 hours or so, along with an official landing page that will cover all of the rules. 'Till then, feel free to email me (
[email protected]) or
PM me on 3D Buzz and I'll help you out any way that I can.
Thanks!
Zak Parrish
COO
3D Buzz, Inc.
