The HL2DM University Forum

I am proud to present the rankings for the the three finalists, and their maps.

Before I post the winners, I would like to take a quick moment to thank everyone who supported this contest, making it what I consider to be a huge success, and one of the most interesting events we have held to date.

First, those who actually dipped into their pocket and donated their hard-earned cash so that we could provide a fair sum of prize money. Donators who did not choose to remain anonymous:

Ninojman
CellarDweller
Paradox
Rev
Walking Target
Ko-Tao
Pig Popper

To those who did not choose to be listed, thank you! You and I know who you are!

Second, the Judges Panel who all volunteered their time with no reward except to get first look at the maps and be part of the decision process. All the judges were consistently available throughout the contest, and if they were not around they made sure to let me know so that everything could remain fair and done in a fully accountable manner. Thanks guys, much appreciated:

Chem
Uncle Rico
Ninojman
Paradox
Poor Billy
Bad Influence
Cynips
Ko-Tao
Ghost Dog

Great work. All of you took the task seriously, which I really appreciate.

Finally, all the mappers who participated. One of the few disappointments for me is that we have to select only a few winners. My special thanks to all of you for submitting maps and making this contest worth having. I wont list you all here, since I would have to spend 20 mins looking back through my lists to ensure I got everyone. Just know that each and every entry was appreciated since it gave the judges a great deal of variety, and the excitement of loading up each new map for the very first time.

With all that said...here are the results of the the final vote, tallied today...

FIRST PLACE

dm_airfusion by abnoksius

DOWNLOAD HERE: http://www.hl2dm-university.com/mappacks/dm_airfusion.rar

Sorry for my bad English, because it's not my primary language :/

Overview
--------
Map name: dm_airfusion
Release Date: 28 February,2009
Author: Mikhail "abnoksius" Ritvinsky
Contact: *please see downloadable readme.txt*

Level Description:
------------------
Suggested Player Count: 2-18
Gameplay Type: Deathmatch
New Textures: all custom textures embedded into the BSP
New Models: SawBlade =)
Deathmatch spawnpoints: 19
Filesize: ~ 27 Mb
Easter eggs/secrets: none

Other Levels by myself : dm_loststation
dm_overrun
dm_rapidfire


Installation
------------

Extract the file dm_airfusion.bsp into :
Steam\Steamapps\[your username]\half-life 2 deathmatch\hl2mp\maps\


Info
----
This is my 4-th deathmatch map, made for HL2DM University map contest 2,in which i fully focused on good connectivity and fast paced gameplay. The main design theme of map is futuristic city, and you are playing at rooftop of high futuristic building. For making my map more unique, original, fun and "futuristic" i've add some features like speedtunnel, fast gravity tunnels (which i called laddertunnels =), because they has a same function as classic ladders) and etc. All map details added to map so they could not affect the gameplay, but give more beautiful and pleasant appearance. RPG is, but to get to him is not so easy, and yes to the same quite dangerous:). Well, as well as places where you can show your skills in the performance of strafe-jumps, crossbow ricochets, fast-orbs and lift-jumps.. Map has medium size, it also interesting playing 1v1 or 4v4. There are no secrets or hiding spots on this map so be on your toes! I hope you enjoy!


Technical Specifics
-------------------

Compile Times:

VBSP: 13 seconds
VVIS: 12 minutes, 29 seconds
VRAD: 15 minutes, 48 seconds

total time: 28 minutes 47 seconds

Total triangle count: 38960
compile machine: Intel Core2 Duo E6550 2,3 Ghz with 2GB DDR RAM, Win XP SP2

SECOND PLACE

dm_helix by boshed

DOWNLOAD HERE: http://www.hl2dm-university.com/mappacks/dm_helix.rar

------------------
dm_helix by boshed
------------------

Web: http://boshed.hl2dm.org.uk/
Email: *Please see readme.txt included in map pack*

Created for the 2nd HL2DM University mapping contest - http://hl2dm-university.com/

Helix is a sci-fi themed map based on a set of interconnecting loops allowing for fast movement around the map with little backtracking.
Hand grenades can be teleported in to the RPG area, listen for the alarm.
All weapons are included except slams.


-----------
Tools used:
-----------

Hammer
Adobe Photoshop
Crazybump
Genetica
Redbull
Pakrat

----------
Thanks to:
----------

The HL2DM University contest organisers and judges

Electric Warrior
Captain Hornet
Shoobie
Pig Popper
Valar
Jelly Fox
Keefy
Lindy
Cynips
ninojman
Paradox
Walking Target
Ko-Tao
Puhnkss
Haplo
Freddie
Tonester
Unknown Soldier
Jim_Bullet
Squidwards Testicles
Photomanic
Majadamaj
KoNiT
Mr Jingles
ripstar
Pseudonym
ScOObyDooD
lead
J@nek
Ravage
scruff
And anybody else I forgot, sorry!

------------
Textures by:
------------

Me!
PhillipK (PK01 set) - http://www.philipk.net/
EvilLair (eX set) - http://www.evillair.net/v2/

THIRD PLACE

dm_pueblo by haymaker

DOWNLOAD HERE: http://www.hl2dm-university.com/mappacks/dm_pueblo.rar

DM PUEBLO

by haymaker

Set in the American Southwest, this sort of fits with HL storyline, rebels are setting up an outpost near area57 or Black Mesa or something, they have some solar panels to protect. Or something.

All weapons present except slams. 1 supercharger. 3 orbs on the non-rpg half of the map, all with a shot at a wall opening nearby. They sky out quickly unless you find the right bounce.

Phys props were chosen for their congruence with the theme rather than efficiency. Radiators and file cabs wouldn't fit here so well. The sawblade will respawn at its home every 90 seconds.

This version differs from rc1 in the addition of a connection from the shady side shotgun yard to the wood deck via a small area.

LOD is all I could do for the sake of performance, and the fact that this theme is pretty tough to make colorful and interesting. Ideally there would be more plant life.

Credits

Custom modified textures courtesy of the cncr04s package, and a couple from the css gcf. Barrel model by Nooba. Grass props unknown, they appeared in my dm folder at some point I can't recall, as did the candle prop. Apologies to these authors for the missing credit. Some other props were imported and customized from the css gcf.

Thanks for playtesting by ColdFusion, Trompe-la-Morte, Puff, Mutant, Saturnine, Shadow, Beef, Lord Nitro, Bequietpirate, [FF] menbers Juim, Jake_Brake and all the others who participated, and to Walking Target, Ko-Tao, and Uncle Rico who took the time to point out my oversights.

Let me be the first to say congratulations to all three of you. It was very tough judging this contest, and all three of you should be proud, you beat out some extremely good maps to secure a top three spot.

Thank you for all your hard work over the last month or so working with is, I couldn't have asked for better participation.

DM community: I do ask that if you have any criticism, please refrain from giving it at this time and let the mappers enjoy this moment. I will leave it up to each mapper to decide if they want further feedback from the community, which they can opt to do by requesting it in the Dept of Architecture.

I hope you all enjoy the maps!

I'll second all what you said WT. CONGRATULATIONS to all our three finalists. It's been my pleasure trying to provide constructive feedback for the mappers. Let me also say that it was difficult judging as the three maps have very different qualities - so rather than compete you can see them as complementing each other into making the HL2DM community the biggest winner of all

gl hf

I don't think anyone should be criticizing in this thread since everyone had a chance to be a judge,

I want to personally congratulate and thank the finalists and all mappers who entered. Creating a deathmatch map is not as easy as some would assume due to the strict mechanics of the game. However these mappers not only did that, they also made some of the most unique deathmatch maps I have ever seen and possibly ever will.

These maps are as much unique as they are functional. Most would see them for the first time and wonder if they could possibly work due to the trends and patterns in deathmatch mapping over many years, but that assumption doesn't last long. Deathmatch is far from the most popular game genre these days but these mappers took on the task of this contest and many did more than just see a cash prize, they took their time to make the kind of maps that belong in this game.

To the public I hope you enjoy these maps and discover their huge potential and potency in detail as we did these recent months.

To the mappers congratulations on a job well done.

well congrats to the winners I been waiting for some new maps for sometime. From what I see from the screens they each have a very unique theme and feel that we currently don't have in the game. For example Airfusion has the look and feel of mirrors edge just looks sexy as for helix a coolly built futuristic underground mining complex that just fits prefect in a alien movie and as for pueblo looks like what he set it out to be but a bit cartoony shove road runner in their and he be at home. Anyway well done look forward to playing these out.

congratulations to all three mappers. well done. i will test your maps right now!
Also thanks to the judges for giving their time to make this contest working. and finally a big THANK YOU to WT for organizing this contest.
gg and wp

Woohoo! I nearly didn't enter this one, glad I did now!

Ty judging peeps for the kind words but most importantly for your feedback and help <3

abnoksius: Congratulations, that is a work of art! I'm blown away.

haymaker: That's the one of the most un-hl2 looking maps I've ever seen, amazing execution of the theme. Tbh I didn't really expect anything less from you

Can't wait to finish work and play these tonight



Oo, yes please. Thread coming right up. -> over here

Congrats to the winners. I will reiterate what the other judges have said. This contest was difficult to judge and it was hard to decide which maps were the top and then what order the top should be in. Thanks to all of the contest entrants for their entries and their contributions to this game.

Got to say well done all, the screenshots from abnoksius and haymaker look superb i already playtested helix which i found pretty damn amazing to look at and play in.

I also got to say thanks to all entries as i have played some of your maps. It makes a refreshing change to hl2dm to play something other than lockdown and biohazard to name but a few as we need more variation to kill the monotany.

Keep the good work up mappers as you breathe new life in this game and keep it ticking for us hl2dm junkies.

Congratz to all the mappers above all and also to the organizers of this contest

Holy hell these look good

Kc will be hosting these 3 maps on Kill campers server 5 if anyone fancies a look. Pass is on the host name

89.145.117.47:27015

Hope my gfx card is up to it xD

Very nice work guys, some serious work gone in to these.

thanks to everyone who contributed to this map contest in some way! you guys are awesome!

well, its been a while since we started this whole process. it was a lot of fun and a great pleasure to see the 20+ maps submitted. when the maps that were not in the top 3 were released, most were jumped on and loaded to servers almost imediately and were a huge success. i had many a PM asking how these maps didnt make it into the top 3, and all i could say was, "you will just have to wait and see". and now, you see why. they are just amazing maps, really fun to play. im sure the release of these is going to take the community by storm. the judges have seen these maps for months and months now and they are still fun to play, so im quite certain they will be around for a long time. let me also say that there were 3 or 4 maps that were only a few points away from the top 3, if was a tough call all around. when i signed up to be a judge i was, at first, a bit skeptical as to how serious the panel and mappers were going to take this contest because as most of you know, sometimes this community can be a bit immature. well, from day 1, every aspect was done in a professional way. WT did an amazing job putting this all together and keeping the time line in check. the mappers did an outstanding job of submitting beautiful maps in on time. and the judges took their time and paid close attention to the style and theme the mapper was going for. the original round of judging took over a month of testing and retesting, making sure we got it correct. i personally re-did my score card 4 times to make sure i didnt miss anything. maps were tested in secure servers and/or home lan's and the information gathered was kept in total secrecy. i am truly amazed at how well the whole thing went. this is a great community and it's evident from this contest that we are capible of really great things when we put our minds to it. congrats and thanks to all, it was a pleasure working with the mappers and my fellow judges on this event. enjoy the maps!!!

thank you for mapping for HL2DM. you make me proud and truly happy.
Great Job!

val

not sure if this is the right topic to post in but im getting video artifacts on airfusion and pueblo. they have also crashed my game a few times. all the other maps are fine including helix. it looks like the screen is flashing in-game, if i take a screenshot it looks like this: click

Fine maps all round, was a pleasure to judge and critique them.

Congratulations, gentlemen!

Looks like youre testing in a listen server, possibly with developer mode enabled. Ive had that effect before in other maps but never on a dedicated server.