Mapping Contest! Greybox the best level, win a copy of ProBuilder 2.0!

I agree damagefilter, that would be faulty of someone. That's beyond my morals.
Also yea hemuuuli that's a great idea. I don't think yohodahan thought this comp would go down this well. I'm sure the next comp he will have all the rules and instructions waxed .

 

Hey folks! I apologize if anyone feels the final voting wasn't setup ideally, I did intend to ask everyone for a final image to display, but it slipped my mind. There's still plenty of time for that though- if anyone would like to change their image, just email me (contact@sixbysevenstudio.com), and I'll fix it up right away!

For future competitions, I'd like to create an external page just for voting, with fully galleries for everyone and (perhaps most importantly) more than 10 options. How would everyone feel about that? Other suggestions?

 

Sounds like a really good improvement. Voters' shouldn't need to browse 8 pages for additional screenshots.

Other than voting setup I don't really have any criticism. The competition has been running nicely and I like how you follow the wip thread and answer people's questions. Keep up the good work.

 

Hope yahodahan, decides to give this tool to runners up as well
I have worked really hard.

My light set up is not that neat because i hardly gave anytime to it but i made tons of structures. I hope people like it.

Best thing about ProBuilder is, it made me model things in minutes. And in a day my hands worked like i am a pro.

2 Suggestions i would like to make -
1. There should be an option of bevel, i felt the need at many places.
2. From next time please allow the contest with textures [not only default pro builder texture], Reasoning - I am making a scene as per my requirement. Now i am investing a lot of time in it and i will add textures in it too. But if this is not allowed then my all previous work will be of no use and i have to run on a new path in the new contest.

You can always ask for project files from the winner to confirm the usage of Pro Builder incase you need them.

 

@Hemuuuli :: Good work, Densely populated though. Artistically coool. But your fps is a big problem. Make sure audience spends some time in there.

@jessica1986 :: Nice Commitment. This thread flooded with your posts. Fps is nice, enjoyed roaming in the hall, Fill it completely and whoaa. Please improve on lights, use area light.

 

Agreed, hence the front-page images. Having a full gallary for each "finalist" will be even better.

Thanks for the suggestions. One of the future tutorials might use textures, but I prefer to focus on architecture and lighting, especially since the free version can't add and edit textures anyway. Working without textures is very much like working in (good) black and white photography- it's a special art, and mastering it will make your color (textured) maps many times better.

Also, don't forget "quality over quantity"! Lots of structures is fine, but what really makes great art (yes, I consider mapping art, and it is!) is attention to detail, consistent quality, and originality. Well, that's my opinion at least

 

Hey, so... I came into this competition a, ah, a little late. Wanted to pay my respects to the other maps in the competition...

Damagefilter: Holy cow man. You've really captured the spirit of a Victor Antonov design. All the vertical lines give the place a daunting atmosphere... and the lighting and soft fog add an element of mystery, sort of like an abandoned Combine base... Dug the webplayer, thanks.

Hemuuuli: Reminds me a little of Doom 3 (in a good way) and being backstage in the service area of a concert or a play - lots of functional lights which also happen to illuminate the corridor. Very attractive, chunky architecture - implies a lot of detail. Again, thanks for the webplayer!

Winterblood: Wow. Gorgeous recreation of that church - and nice camera angle. Very striking!

Katalyst: Interesting to consider this as a Descent map... if you're supposed to be seeing this from a little rocket shuttle, perhaps the scale implies that this should be some kind of enormous construction zone? Either way, lovely lighting - clinical, industrial and yet still soft and soothing...

Jessica1986: My god, what ambition! Really feels like a convention centre... The amount of work you've done here is phenomenal, with so many designs... Many thanks for the webplayer again - but maybe we can get a jetpack too if your next entry is of this scale! =)

Brendankzn: Klesk is... in the lead! You've definitely captured the look of a Q3 level. I keep looking for jump pads and the railgun. Dramatic lighting and... My goodness. Those arches and the font must have taken you some time...!

Strawnie: I really dug the theme you chose and I can see the map shaping up - but I'm having difficulty reading the silhouettes in the images you've posted. Would you maybe try some contrasting light colours, set up something with the ambient light perhaps?

Mirt: ROCHARD! Took me a little while to work out what this reminded me of. Lots of character, eye-catching colour splashes... would love to see this in action in a game...!

Splatacat: ...That's quite a large dam. Is that based on a real structure? Dug the dramatic uplighting. Intriguing - would like to see more...!

Reverend Speed: Well, what is one to say? Recreating Fallingwater - a masterstroke! Though perhaps doing something ORIGINAL and not leaving yourself a day to do it in might be a plan for next time. Also, lightmaps. Also, read the rules.

...

Re. voting for yourself, pff, NONSENSE! Why, I'd have never sat on thirty boards of directors and ruled over nineteen countries with an iron fist if I hadn't voted for myself EVERY TIME. On the other hand, voting for yourself in a mapping competition? Don't be silly.

On a related note, has anybody ever set up voting with a Condercet method in a forum poll? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Condorcet_method#Basic_procedure

On the competition itself...

* More than ten options for the compo sounds like a good idea! The more the merrier.

* Multiple screenshots, or multiple screenshots combined into one image seem like a good idea. Alternatively, entrants could pick a post to use as a showcase, then have it linked from the first or second post in the thread.

* Seconding comments about yahodahan's attentiveness to the competition. Good work!

* And at the risk of hypocrisy, I'll also second the note on grey textures - grey / orange boxing allows us to build quickly with an emphasis on silhouette and lighting. They also keep the skills needed to compete within the core competencies of the Probuilder community.

* Does it make sense to encourage future participants to deliver web players? a) It's one of the really cool things that Unity can do, b) allows everybody to inspect your map in great detail - takes the emphasis off finding good screenshot compositions and c) could be a nice way to promote ProBuilder. =)

* Have you considered getting participants to work to a common theme? Or perhaps - like Katalyst or Brendankzn or Damagefilter - in the style of a particular artist or game.

* Would you consider running a competition in association with a Unity game? You'd get a little cross promotion, the game designers might get a decent map, the participants might get their map into a decent game and we'd have a strong theme and requirements to design to.

...

TLDR: Yeah! Woo! Competition! Good work, everyone!

--Rev

 

@ damagefilter awesome work, webplayer should be there to experience

@hemuuuli it looks nice but opens after a loooong time n everything hangs. work on overall performance



@jessica very very ambitious project...will be an eye opener

Perfect dimentions, sizes of everything looks perfecto

Lookin forward to this grand exhibition hall.

 

Hemuuuli, just..wow.

 

Thanks for the nice comments and feedback. Everyone commenting on the performance of my map: With free version of probuilder I can't optimize my scene very well so I apogolize the poor performance in web player. The screenshots should still cover 90% of the scene so nothing is lost if you can't run the scene effectively.

I would love to see an optimization competition too, a little masochist inside me likes doing it. But that would require special version of free tools so I am not sure if it is worth of the hassle. The optimization tools of pro version are actually what interest me most in this tool, they are so close to hammer that I would feel right at home with them.

 

You are in luck, there is ^^
http://playblack.net/unity/walkthrough.html
Posted that on page 7

@Rev Speed:
You sure took your time man :O
Well worded, thanks. I'm glad you like my Antonov-like work; There's always the chance for people crying about rip-offs after all.

Also, interesting voting results so far.
I expected quite different things (involving me having less that 11 votes :O ). But then - I'm not everybody ^^

 

I went for damage filter as his looks great but also feels like a true level prototype, like I could drop a few FPS controllers in, a couple of weapon and armour drops and just start running around with a couple of players working out how the level flows.

 

Thanks for the detailed write-up, Reverend Speed! I agree on your voting stance- always vote yourself in an election (if you don't believe in yourself, you shouldn't be there), but never vote at all in a contest that you are part of. I would love to vote in this contest as well, but that would be even worse.

*More Options- absolutely, luckily there were just enough slots for all the most active participants. I again apologize if I cut anyone out who felt they should have been included, although I think I did a good job of selecting those who had submitted "final" images?

*More screenshots- Good point, I could have just used a separate post with links. Well, I'll just setup a webpage for it next time, and mirror the results to a post here on the forums, updated every couple hours or so. I think that would work well.

*Hypocrisy- ha, yes, the idea really is to concentrate on the architecture, silhouette, and lighting. Plus, it's the simplest way to this work perfectly with the Free version of ProBuilder 1.x, since that's exactly what it does.

*Web players would be great...but I wouldn't require them unless that was a specific focus. I'd almost rather see people go absolutely crazy with the art and detail, completely ignore optimization, and really push the limits of creativity. A separate contest could certainly require a well rounded, smooth, Webplayer- although that's tricky, since the free version lacks optimization tools.

*A common theme would be great, and I'll definitely do this for the next one! Any suggestions?

*Competition alongside a Unity game would also be a great idea, thanks Rev! This would benefit everybody, get much more press, and be a lot of fun. I'm all for it- now who has a game they'd like to make part of a future contest? I will set the bar for quality (of the game) rather high though!

Thanks again Reverend, all very good thoughts

 

Hemuuuli speaks the truth! The free version doesn't give optimization options, this would run great on the "full" version. Perhaps I should add some methods for free users, I'll look into this. I do have to leave some reason for people to purchase it though

This would be a good one...I'm not sure how it would be judged or carried out though?

 

Great work guys.

I can't decide between Hemuuuli's "Scifi corridor" and damagefilter's "Collect in Space", although Reverend Speed's recreation of "Fallingwater" is tempting too. I had no framerate troubles with any of them, but my PC is a bit of a beast.

 

Actually, I'm surprised there aren't more votes for BrendanKZN- I really liked that scene. I guess it's a sci-fi crowd here! All those scenes really are great though. Can't wait to do the next contest!

 

What's this? With 3 hours to go, Katalyst is making a surprise comeback!

 

First Place: Hemuuuli

Nice job Hemuuuli, you obviously put a lot of work into your scene, and definitely deserve this. I'll be sending you a PM to set things up- ProBuilder 2.0, QuickEdit, ProGrids, and QuickDecals coming your way!

Runner Up: Tie! Jessica1986 and damagefilter

Jessica1986: You built quite a bit here, and some neat, complex structures too. Way to keep at it, improving and adding on, throughout the contest. Dedication is key, nice work!

damagefilter: Beautiful work, especially loved the architecture, I really hope you have a plan to make this a playable level, there might just be a SixBySeven game for that soon

You both will receiving a free copy of QuickDecals, I'll send over a PM right away!

~

Thanks for participating everyone, there will definitely be another mapping contest coming right up after this. This time, with a "theme", and improvements to the voting process, to make it more fair for everyone. I think we could use this forum to start deciding on a new theme, perhaps?

Great work everyone!

 

Hiii,

Thanks a lot everyone..i will be enhancing my efforts and show everyone someyhing cool soon.

@yahodahan can you give us some option to get quickdecals or some option like special prized probuilder ?

Secondly, i have 1 more query....i can drag the texture on the box, isnt this a feature of pro or i am misunderstanding ?

 

I'm not quite sure what you mean on the first question? The next contest will be the same prizes, most likely- ProBuilder plus other tools for 1st place, and smaller tools for the runner-up or other places.

As for drag 'n drop- shhh, that's a secret Yes, you can do that to add textures even in the free version, but using the full version's texturing tool is much faster and simpler, plus you gain the very important UV editing tools.

 

Well done to the winner and runners ups! Great work and commitment!
Just a suggestion for future, perhaps work on a different voting method somehow. Unfortunately now days with social media around....
Thanks again yahodahan, I will be keeping an eye out for your tools most definitely, and will be recommending them. Keep up your amazing efforts and you will make it big.

 

I mean i am not sure if Quickdecals is of my need. Can you offer us like 50% off on Pro Builder, if we want we can buy that

 

Yeah i mean this...a disc to runners up

@yahodahan i am confused.. If i add a texture and if i can beast lightmap then what these uv settings will be of my use ? Please guide me

 

@BrendanKZN- you are absolutely correct, popularity contests are no good.

I'd like to bring in a panel of industry professionals to choose finalists for the next contest, then the community will vote on those. Community vote is very important too me, and I assume to everyone else? How does this setup sound to everyone?

Best of all, this would mean great exposure and honest, veteran critique for those who put in serious work- which is honestly even more valuable than the "prize" of ProBuilder, in my opinion.

For what it's worth ( ), I'll be posting in-depth critiques of my own tomorrow, and a bit of talk about how to really optimize and make ProBuilder work best for each scene.

 

Yai! Thanks everyone. I voted for Brendan.

For suggestions for future competitions you could check Interloper's competition section. They ran source engine mapping competitions similiar to this and there are dozens of good theme suggestions and used themes there.

Edit: yahodahan: Panel of professionals sounds good. Constructive feedback is very valuable, especially for beginners like us.

 

@Hemuuuli- Congrats!

Brendan's was great, agreed. Actually, everyone's was great. And I really, really would like to see what everyone can make with the full version, so I'm going to take Jessica1986's suggestion (thanks!), but just a little differently-

As thanks to everyone for a great first contest, 25% off to every single person who contributed any image to this thread

In fact, I think I'll do that for the next contest as well, to entice even more participants. Of course, only serious entries will gain the discount- no single cubes, no matter how much you say "but, it's minimalist art!"

The discount code for reach person will be their username, and useable once only. I'll post a message and link here, when that update is live on the site (should be very soon, 30 minutes or so).

 

Thanks yahodahan, just 1 request, and i hope it has a logical reason behind it.
Quickdecals may not be useful to the runners up, besides the 25% discound, can you give us off equal to the value of Quickdecals + 25% off so that students like us can buy probuilder ?

I am saying so coz i am openly saying in front of everyone that i can only arrange 50$ from my pocket money. Living in a hostel i need to see many angles of life.

Thanks for the understanding.

 

Thats a brave reply. I dont think yahodahan should be having any problems by helping you in this manner.

 

@Jessica1986 and vahi2008, let's not derail the thread, PM me if you have a special request please.

To all- it's 4am and I need to crash, but the discount code isn't working with my site's setup. So, if you would like to take advantage of the 25% discount, just send me a PM and we'll set things up directly.

 

Phew, close one but in the end, it went quite like I thought it would.
Hemuuulis brushwork skills are simply darn amazing. (I myself voted for him)
All the others did amazing work too, like Katalyst. I had a hard time deciding which one I liked better.
It was good fun, thanks for holding the contest yahodahan.

And thanks everybody for competing

PS: Didn't get a PM of any form or shape yet ^^
I'd really give QuickDecals a go, heh.

 

This is wierd, i am getting this error when i am trying to bake-

Something went wrong in the Beast lightmapper: Invalid object state - Mesh does not contain any valid triangles.
This is a bug - please report it with a scene reproducing the issue.

And this error is not because of all the box's in the scene. Some causes no errors, and due to some error comes.
Whats the reason ?

 

still not got my prize

 

Just now getting a chance to contact everyone, been a busy day!

 

Sounds like you moved two verts into the same exact location- double check that on the boxes that are causing errors.

Instead of posting issues here though, can you email me (per the docs), or post on the official forums at: www.sixbysevenstudio.com/forum ?
That helps keep all the knowledge in one central location, and makes sure this thread stays on topic. Thanks!

 

Many thanks for the 25% off!

Very much behind the idea of getting in industry pros as first-round judges. Nice idea, best of both worlds.

On themes... I very much dig the Interlopers suggestion. My own thoughts...

It's important to take inspiration from fields outside of games, but it's also important - right now - to show that Probuilder and Unity can replicate and surpass environments in double-A to triple-A games. Hence... a lot of my suggestions for styles come from popular games:

Quake I/III,
Viktor Antonov,
Syd Mead,
Final Fantasy (specific scenes, locations?),
Mass Effect,
Deus Ex:HR,
Jet Set Radio,
Assassin's Creed,
high-tech areas from Metal Gear games,
Silent Hill,
Borderlands,
Dead Space,
Machinarium,
Mirror's Edge,
PAYDAY: The Heist (interesting heist locations?),
Portal,
Sam Max,
Team Fortress,
Tomb Raider / Uncharted (also need to create an interesting path across these cliffs, etc),
Zeno Clash,
Bioshock,
Call of Duty (From 1 onwards...)
Mario,
Zelda,
...

We can often cover a lot of influences just by naming one game.

Alternatively: Pick an interesting architect! ...Frank Lloyd Wright, for example. Fallingwater, say.

=)

Or just make it 'Churches' for Winterblood...!

In addition... consider asking the designers to incorporate a model or other element into their designs, along with their theme. For example, in a recent gamejam my team was given the theme 'Wealth' and the element, 'Time Machine'.

I think Probuilder is best at creating human-scale environments intended to be viewed from first or third person. What Unity projects do those criteria suggest?

*edit*
Actually, might start with suggesting http://www.interstellarmarines.com/ They could probably suggest a palate and provide a model or two, maybe.
*edit*

Rog: Thanks for the note on Fallingwater. That's very kind of you. =) Sadly, without lightmapping or background, it's going to look just a bit sub-par. Nonetheless, cheers!

--Rev

 

Hi everyone! The next contest is finally started, $500 prize for this one- check it out here:
http://forum.unity3d.com/threads/172155-500-Mapping-Contest!-Sci-Fi-Horror-Theme?p=1177834

Hope to see quite a few of you back in the ring! I'm also going to start the Greybox contest as a rolling monthly thing, more info soon!