Map Design Contest 2017 - The Results!

And the winner is...

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noobmapmaker
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Map Design Contest 2017 - The Results!

Post by noobmapmaker »

Map Design Contest 2017 - Results

MDC Rulebook 2017 - The 64 Entries - The Popular Vote thread - 2017 Judges report - The Results spreadsheet

The Map Contest of 2017 has come to an end! A big thanks to everyone: the mapmakers, people who have voted, Twitchcasters & viewers, the judges and last but not least the sponsors SoScared, Moz and me.

The winners of this years Map Design Contest are...*

Nr.1 ($45) - Materianer - Z Room Control - 186 points
Nr.2 ($25) - PizzaAtomica - Unconventional Warfare - 176 points
Nr.3 ($10) - PizzaAtomica - Polar Disorder - 175 points

The category winners are...*

Selected in the order that is listed in the Rulebook, after the top 3. The categorywinners join the lottery to win $20

Mod-winners
Red Alert - ACM - Apocalypse Now - 173 points
Dune2000 - MustaphaTR - M7V2- 153 points
Tiberian Dawn - Echo of Damnation - Genocide - 144 points

Map Categories
1v1- OMnom - Monty Hall - 166 points
2v2 - Wippie - Climax - 145 points
Big Map - Mac Diamarta - Gleann Uileloscadh - 163 points
Single Player Mission - no available map
Modded Multiplayer Map - SirCake - Harkonnen Aftermath - 130 points
FFA - RadicalEdward2 - Fields of Green - 115 points
Most Beautiful Map - PizzaAtomica - Polar Disorder (honorary title)

Link to all the results of the Map Design Contest

* Please note: I've tried to double check everything. However, there is a real possibility that I have made a mistake somewhere (e.g. noted a category wrong, copied results wrong, sorted data wrong, etc, etc). Please judges, mapcreaters and everyone else: check the results and if you find a mistake let me know! If I don't recieve any corrections before 2nd of April 23:59 UTC then these results are the final results. If there are mistakes then this could result in different winners(!).

How the points are calculated
Judges and the people have awarded points to each map. For each jurymember the nr1 map wins 64 points, the nr 2 map wins 63 points, etc. to the last map which wins 1 point. Same goes for the popular vote. All points are added to a total. With two jurymembers and one popular vote a map can theoretically get 64+64+64 = 192 points.

What is left to be done?
1) You guys check the results and if you see a mistake: let me know!
2) I will contact the winners after the 2nd of April and transfer the prizes
3) The Judges (SoScared and Kyrylo) may pick the last categorywinner: the most beautiful map
4) During one of SoScared streams a random number has to be drawn to choose the winner of the $20,- category prize
5) Evaluate to polish up next year's Map Design Contest. I wanted to sum up your feedback to give the discussion a kickstart, but I have to do important stuff. So please reiterate your feedback here, thanks!!
6) Me deleting all the maps so people can reupload their own map under their own name.
Last edited by noobmapmaker on Sat Apr 15, 2017 9:08 pm, edited 3 times in total.
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Irnub
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Post by Irnub »

Good stuff! Thanks to everybody involved, in particular the organizers - some nice maps have been created for this contest.

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MustaphaTR
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Post by MustaphaTR »

First of all thanks for everyone involved, mostly noobmapmaker for making this contest. I wasn't really waiting my mission map to be 8th.

I still wish if i could complete my other D2K mission map for contest too, which is still not completed but is about to be finished.

PizzaAtomica
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Post by PizzaAtomica »

Congratulations to Materianer and all the category winners!
And thanks for putting my maps in the number 2 and 3 spot! :D

noobmapmaker
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Post by noobmapmaker »

Some points to discuss:
- we want the best maps, how to create a system where mapmakers can improve their maps?
- we like the best maps to win, how to assure the 'best' maps to win?
- I like creativity, how to reward creativity?
- is the current system fair?
- period of contest; quality > quantity
- anonymous?

I hope the contest to be a fun thing that welcomes new mapcreaters and rewards creativity. Also it should not be a burden on officials.
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OMnom
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Post by OMnom »

noobmapmaker wrote: Some points to discuss:
- we want the best maps, how to create a system where mapmakers can improve their maps?
- we like the best maps to win, how to assure the 'best' maps to win?
- I like creativity, how to reward creativity?
- is the current system fair?
- period of contest; quality > quantity
- anonymous?

I hope the contest to be a fun thing that welcomes new mapcreaters and rewards creativity. Also it should not be a burden on officials.
-Don't have RAGL right after the map contest, have the map contest after RAGL
-Get rid of the anonimity. Allow players to upload their own maps and have them send you the link. This lets them test their own map without having to annoy you.
-Allow maps that were made prior to the map contest, and shorten the submission period of maps. Increase the testing period phase.
-Need more than just 3 judges
-Scorecards need to be more specific. "Scale of 0-5" is arbitrary and subjective
-1v1 and 2v2 categories need to have balance rated much more highly
-Get rid of #1, #2, #3, replace with all category winners. Replace them with "Best map of 20XX", "Most Aesthetically Appealing," ,"Most Creative," "Best Custom Map," "Best Casual Map", "Best Competitive map," etc. #1-3 is too subjective

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Clockwork
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Post by Clockwork »

My feedback

I agree with what OMnom said but here's some of my views.

-Make the judges scorecards anonymous, I'm sure if my map got 11 points from a judge I'd be pretty unhappy with that person no matter how much professionalism is preached.

-More judges and mod specific judges e.g TD players judge TD maps, RA players judge RA maps.

-To ensure the best maps win the popular vote needs a lot more power. Sirocco drew the popular vote with Z control yet finished yet came 17/64 in the contest :? But the contest best 1v1 map was polar disorder that only got one vote vs 4? Also with the judges scorecard (no offence to the judges this is exactly why it needs to also be anonymous) , Aesthetics and originality where more important factor wise than balance and play ability. This is kind of absurd if you're trying to find the best maps. I'm sure this is the contest for the best map not the most beautiful and random map. Sirrico lost out to a lot of maps even if it had higher balance and play ability, factors such as aesthetics made it lose ground on other maps that aren't as good play-ability wise or balance wise.

-Remove Originality from the Judges scorecard. This kind of makes people not make balanced and playable maps that have some similarities to older brilliant maps and to make random and confusing maps with weird play to get a 5 for originality which is all good but wouldn't please the competitive community if they were playing those maps 24/7 as we do with the normal competitive maps.

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SoScared
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Post by SoScared »

Just to note, from my end 'Harkonnen Aftermath' was judged upon its first revision as opposed to its last. Currently looking to how to rectify the error.

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SoScared
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Post by SoScared »

Aesthetics and originality where more important factor wise than balance and play ability. This is kind of absurd if you're trying to find the best maps. I'm sure this is the contest for the best map not the most beautiful and random map.
I'd be careful with that reasoning. What makes the map good or bad is definitely a subjective matter. The factors were adjusted at the whim of the judges and speaking for myself I ranked the aesthetically value higher due to the fact that making a map playable and balanced takes IMHO less effort to accomplish compared to making the map look good. Aesthetic value is itself quite subjective but from my own experience, having a map to look attractive is pretty time-consuming when you attempt to mold that together with stellar playability you spend a lot of time nit picking to get your end product.

I think if we restricted the map contest down to balance and playability, it'd probably be boring as hell and people would take less risks in thinking outside the box and explore new options.

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Clockwork
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Post by Clockwork »

That's true balance and play ability are easier to manage. I agree aesthetics are a lot harder to make but I think it should only matter on maps that are balanced and are great play ability wise so they're on equal footing to be judged for aesthetics. My issue with it was when maps with higher play-ability and balance were pulled down the pecking order because other maps were wacky and eye candy but not good for constant playing time like the maps in the RAGL map pool.

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Blackened
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Post by Blackened »

Like I mentioned in the other thread separating casual from competitive maps should be a must.
-Don't have RAGL right after the map contest, have the map contest after RAGL
-Get rid of the anonimity. Allow players to upload their own maps and have them send you the link. This lets them test their own map without having to annoy you.
-Allow maps that were made prior to the map contest, and shorten the submission period of maps. Increase the testing period phase.
-Need more than just 3 judges
-Scorecards need to be more specific. "Scale of 0-5" is arbitrary and subjective
-1v1 and 2v2 categories need to have balance rated much more highly
-Get rid of #1, #2, #3, replace with all category winners. Replace them with "Best map of 20XX", "Most Aesthetically Appealing," ,"Most Creative," "Best Custom Map," "Best Casual Map", "Best Competitive map," etc. #1-3 is too subjective
all this is good. I don't really care about anonymity, that could go either way.
-Remove Originality from the Judges scorecard.
I think rather than remove it, tweak it to innovation and have it be bonus points. Something similarly done before can still produce a great and fun map but something that really pushes the bounds should deserve some bonus credit.



Also, can I get my razy for worst map of the competition? 8)

crlf
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Post by crlf »

Congratulations to the winners, and Materianer in particular for making a really enjoyable, interesting, and thoroughly redesigned Z-style experience in the OpenRA engine. That brought back memories ... almost as if I could hear the snide or impatient remarks from the computer in the original. Thanks also to Noobmapmaker, the judges, and the prize pool sponsors - and SoScared for streaming - all of this enriches the community.

"To ensure the best maps win the popular vote needs a lot more power"
I disagree - four out of fourteen people saying a map is in their top three isn't a great way to pick a winner. You may not agree with the judges, but they took the time to look at every map and give a specific numerical opinion. Something that worries me is that people seemed more willing to make a map than to pick three good maps - I think there were almost twice as many map makers as there were voters (I didn't have a qualifying forum account; was that the case for most others?) and four times as many maps as there were voters - this means the popular vote was bound to be very scattered and lumpy: one extra vote makes a huge difference in the ranking; I wouldn't want to multiply that further. And there's a risk of it lobbying or exposure making a big difference when the numbers are that small.

I think the number of maps - as well as the diversity of categories - is a real challenge. I know I haven't played all the maps from the contest that I want to yet. We can't reasonably expect the judges to play or spec all those maps multiple times (though SoScared did stream many of them), and it's certainly a lot of work to give detailed ratings for 60 maps.

My feeling is that it might be helpful to have a shortlisting round, which will identify 10-15 maps worth reviewing in detail at a time when RAGL isn't imminent, with a pause for edits before judges do a full review. This would cut down on the number the judges need to look at in detail. This would also help the rest of us in the community help them by playtesting. I'm more willing to download 15 maps than I am 60. The downside of this is that maps which don't make the cut probably won't get feedback... I'm not sure how I feel about this. Is the feedback they currently get useful? Are we ever going to get something more than comments like "It's too chokey" if there are 60+ maps?

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SoScared
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Post by SoScared »

Speaking for myself I wouldn't even consider judging this amount of maps if they weren't submitted anonymously. If I were to give the highest scores to the same map creator many times over, with anonymity it's a great credit to the author, without it I'd wager a lump sum of money that someone somewhere would find it biased. The limitation factor of the anonymity is understandable but that's why there's a revision clause.

@crlf: Great comment.

noobmapmaker
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Post by noobmapmaker »

Hi all, good comments. Please keep on discussing so that next year the format is fun and serves the purpose of generating good maps. Unfortunatly I will have no time to participate in the discussion, but will read everything. Usually I have plenty of time, but tomorrow I am becoming a married man and leave for honeymoon.

Because of this I will also call the results as they are now as the final results. There has been one change: SirCake has succesfully pleaded for a revision of the scoring of his map. Which was agreed upon by SoScared because the score where based on an early revision.

This does not really change anything. We still have the same categorywinners, but some labels shove around with the result that MustaphaTR gets another ticket in the lottery for category winners.

The updated result:

Mod-winners
Red Alert - ACM - Apocalypse Now - 173 points
Dune2000 - SirCake - Harkonnen Aftermath - 161
Tiberian Dawn - Echo of Damnation - Genocide - 143 points

Map Categories
1v1- OMnom - Monty Hall - 166 points
2v2 - Wippie - Climax - 144 points
Big Map - Mac Diamarta - Gleann Uileloscadh - 163 points
Single Player Mission - MustaphaTR - M7v2 - 153 points
Modded Multiplayer Map - MustaphaTR - Desert Warfare - 111 points
FFA - RadicalEdward2 - Fields of Green - 114 points
Most Beautiful Map - PizzaAtomica - Polar Disorder (honorary title)
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noobmapmaker
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Post by noobmapmaker »

I will delete all maps from the Resource center tonight. The Mapcreaters may reupload their own maps.

Also we need an 'other' category as we had a 2v1 map that didnt fit in any category (or a different solution to the category system)
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