2008 Make Something Unreal Contest Announced

[Kamin]

Wow - no one complained that they ran either of the last two contests.

No kidding. It is what it is. Take it or leave it. I, for one, think it's great and can do nothing but help the Unreal community. It astounds me to see all that has been given to this community over the years in terms of tools, resources, and opportunities and still hear all the complaints about how bad Epic has been/is being to us. It's just insane.

It's like a kid who throws a temper tantrum because he can't have 11 pieces of candy even though he's got ten pieces stuffed in his mouth.

Sorry for the rant. I'm a parent, and spoiled brats piss me off.

 

[fleshsniper1]

So many categories, does that mean theyll be a winner for each category in phase one? Some of the categories are easy and some harder, i wonder if the harder ones will get a better prize. I hope its fair, like the creating a original character for UT3, i can do that like easy compare to making a map.

Anyone know how it works?

Kamin, nice one i agree with you. But if youve been in the community for a while, it does get annoying with all the quirks that epic brings. But yeah, who can be pissed at an opportunity like this.

 

[ambershee]

It's a good competition, and there's no doubt. I just think there are issues this time around. The first deadline is too short for us to see any really good work in a couple of the categories, except for mods that have been in the works since the game came out - which kind of defies the point if you're trying to encourage people to mod the game.

Also, why so many mapping categories? There are a couple of categories code fits into and a couple of categories 3d fits into (although how many categories are mutually exclusive?), but six mapping specific categories?

Mapping is a third of the competition, and if you take into account that it's required in Machinima and most custom game modes, it's potentially more than half the competition.

 

[Diego1203]

There is no mod category in the first phase, the first category for mods isn't until October.

 

[ambershee]

A mutator or a game mode is a "mod"

 

[Sir_Brizz]

A mutator or a game mode is a "mod"

But 2.5 months is more than reasonable for any single mutator or gametype. It's not like you have to track down people to make a bunch of custom content for those. Plus, I'm guessing the "any unreal game content" rule still applies.

 

[ambershee]

Custom game types often require a lot of custom content - not just a few snippets of code. For example - what if you wanted to make Domination (and we all know a team has been since November and hasn't released a playable beta yet, AFAIK) - you need the domination points, a lot of game mode code, and more importantly, new maps. If you want to do it at any level of quality, it'll take more than two months.

 

[swag]

Didn't see anything specific about this when I checked, but do you suppose this round is going to have things coming from BOTH UT3 and Gears?

 

[ambershee]

Each submission must be the property of and an original work of the entrant. All Submissions must be available for free public download at the date of submission and playable with the retail version of Unreal Tournament 3 patched to the latest officially released update and may not contain third party intellectual property, including, but not limited to software, images, characters, logos, names and trademarks.

UT3 only. Gears isn't exactly very moddable anyway.

 

[swag]

I figured Gears has a modding section at UDN... anywho, thanks to alignment!

 

[UndeadRoadkill]

Also, why so many mapping categories?

Is it so they would have more entries?

Maybe it's just me, but I can't find very many mutators or gametypes around, hardly any new weapons, etc. I've been hoping stuff like that might make offline more interesting for me, but I'm not seeing them. However, quality notwithstanding, there are plenty of maps floating around. They talk up how many hundreds of custom content releases there are for the game, but it's mostly just a mound of maps.

 

[SuperDre]

Great, let's not forget that next to the PC version, there is also the PS3 platform (and maybe the xbox360 will also be available soon)..

1) A version of their Male and Krall models (rigged and all) which can be opened in Max8. The ones they supplied can only be opened in Max9. Not everyone has Max9 - or can afford it - or could ever HOPE to afford it!

It's not like it has been different in the past, where no models where available for (back then) older versions of whatever 3d package, or heck not even for other 3d packages other then 3dstudio..

 

[Anuban]

Seeing as how Intel is sponsoring this I doubt anyone is thinking about the console versions of UT3 for this contest. That would be far too restrictive seeing as how the 360 is not even out and we still don't know if mods will even be allowed and the PS3 cannot run every single mod in existence let alone new bigger, more ambitious mods due to memory limitations so this is for the PC crowd ... the gamers that have been with Epic since the beginning. At least they are doing something special for us ... especially after this whole PS3 and "consolization" debacle.

 

[MonsOlympus]

Custom game types often require a lot of custom content - not just a few snippets of code. For example - what if you wanted to make Domination (and we all know a team has been since November and hasn't released a playable beta yet, AFAIK) - you need the domination points, a lot of game mode code, and more importantly, new maps. If you want to do it at any level of quality, it'll take more than two months.

Im kinda guessing that gametypes like these will be able to enter the mod category at later phases. It is possible to make a gametype which requires few custom assets but it does stunt the creativity some.

 

[Sir_Brizz]

Why can't you make a gametype with the default content and add custom content for later phases?

 

[UnrealGrrl]

Woohoo. Im sure this will go some way to bringing in more interest. Who can argue with $500,000 worth of prizes?

as much as i was looking forward to the MSU for UT3 i have to say im majorly disappointed about it being announced now for a couple reasons... the worst part is that there is so much that is broken in modding for the game that it really would have made sense to fix the problems before announcing the contest. besides Maps, its kinda silly to ask ppl to create something for the game when stuff like factions doesnt even work right.

and on a personal note, not having a music or audio category really sucks.

im sure there are some semi-pro teams out there that are going to enter just for the goodies (who arent in it for the community) so theres not likely to be much to get us players excited and thatsa shame

also the phasing setup is completely weird, Best Gametype only in phase 1, WTH?

to end on a positive note, im confident we'll see some great maps and hopefully some fun player models.

 

[evilmrfrank]

I plan to enter phase 1 and 2 at least, perhaps three if I have the time when it comes around Since a lot of BU will be in the contest I wish everyone the best of luck

 

[SuperDre]

im sure there are some semi-pro teams out there that are going to enter just for the goodies (who arent in it for the community) so theres not likely to be much to get us players excited and thatsa shame

That has always been the case.. People enter the contest in the hope to get something in return, even if it's just extra coverage of their mod..

 

[XeroWolf]

I still can't do any Custom Character Creation the way I'd like. Epic needs to supply:

1) A version of their Male and Krall models (rigged and all) which can be opened in Max8. The ones they supplied can only be opened in Max9. Not everyone has Max9 - or can afford it - or could ever HOPE to afford it!

2) Character Creation tutorials that explain the whole process from modelling to rigging for animation, to laying out the UVWs, to exporting, to importing, to setting up the sockets, to tweaking the animations in UED, to making ragdolls, IK footstep setup, all that stuff. So far they have NOT supplied these tutorials. The video DVD included in the Collectors edition deals only with MAP creation. It says nothing about character creation.

This is critical. Without those tools, we can only guess how to do this stuff. I'm sure there are all kinds of subtle things that have to be done - for IK setup, to what to name the bones, to all kinds of things in the anim browser and stuff. I'm sure it's old hat to the people who made the games, or to the companies that can afford the fees to license the engine. But us rank and file nobodys haven't got a clue.

All we've got are the tutorials written by people who have blundered and guessed their way through the process so far. And there aren't very many of those. And again, they're no help to the people who can't open the Male and Krall files because they don't have Max9.

Without these tools, the entries in Phase1 of the CCC category are gonna be mighty limited....

I completely agree. Guys don't get me wrong. I love Epic for giving use all these fun tools to mess around with but if we don't have the info on how to use them it becomes usless. Forgive me for saying this but I found the absence of character creation tutorials on the CE DVD rather insulting.

Granted that there's a character creation tut up on UDN now, it still doesn't give much more than what we already learned for those awesome members of the community while poke around the engine with a stick.

Hopefully more reference documentation will make it's self available in the coming weeks.

 

[evilmrfrank]

Character creation isn't done using epics tools so why would they be required to give you a tutorial on it? As for the editor there are loads of tutorials on how to use it.