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Staredit Network -> Modding Chat -> SHould We Have Often Occursing Mini-Mod Contests?
Report, edit, etc...Posted by WoAHorde2 on 2006-11-06 at 22:55:42
Well, there is some map league going on and they are doing weekly competitions and points are being gatherd among other stuff. Now, I have come up with an idea, should we have for instance every 2 weeks entrys are due? Or 1 Months? Or should we just stick to our occasional Modding Conests? I see several benefits from this:

~ENcourages Mod Makers to come out and make more mods.

~Can attract more people to the modding community in general.

~More mods for Mod Night tongue.gif

NOw, I do see some bad things as well:

~Many Low-Effort Crummy Mods are entered every contest.

~Time Period is so Rapid People want to just stop modding because they feel "rushed".

Well I beleive we should discuss making more Mod Contests. We need some more competition.
Report, edit, etc...Posted by EzDay281 on 2006-11-07 at 00:10:10
I feel that it wouldn't do much, most people just won't bother.
Report, edit, etc...Posted by SubFocus on 2006-11-07 at 02:01:32
Well... 2 weeks is around enough time for me to come up with a decent mod if I put my mind to it.
Report, edit, etc...Posted by Kookster on 2006-11-13 at 00:44:46
I think we should do mini contest focusing on a specific part of modding. Here are some examples that we cold focus on. One week could be new grp files, Spell effects through iscripts and dats, or making crazy new units using dats and memgraft. Then once the winners are chosen we could combine the 3 winners to make a new unit all together using new spells/weapon affects for it a new image for it and all new buttons and stats. Thats an idea what do you think?
Report, edit, etc...Posted by Killer_Kow(MM) on 2006-11-13 at 08:30:00
QUOTE(Kookster @ Nov 13 2006, 01:44 AM)
or making crazy new units using dats and memgraft.
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Or maybe create a single unit for one race that must not ruin the balance of the game, but still be cool in its own right.

I sort of support this idea smile.gif
Report, edit, etc...Posted by BroodKiller on 2006-11-13 at 14:29:32
Personally, I think that 1-unit contests would be great. Another option may be creating a 'task-force' of 2 or 3 units, designed to fulfill a certain goal (theme), within certain limits of course. Small-scale modding is what the contests should be about, that's what, in my opinion, would make many people join them. Heh, even I would join one such contest smile.gif
Report, edit, etc...Posted by Laser_Dude on 2006-11-13 at 15:47:33
Sounds good, I would agree with broodkiller, or killer_kow.

Maybe have it changing every month or so, like the map contests, but allow people to make super high quality units, including .dats, .grps, .bins... etc.

Maybe have one week the concept be: a new zerg ground unit, or, a high speed light unit... etc.
Report, edit, etc...Posted by WoAHorde2 on 2006-11-13 at 17:18:54
NOw that a good portion of the modding community supports this idea, who do you think should host the first contest?
Report, edit, etc...Posted by Laser_Dude on 2006-11-13 at 17:53:34
not me!

What would I do? make 1st prize 300 mins, 2nd 200 and 3rd 100? wouldn't get many contestants that way. And I wouldn't have many mins left.

ADDITION:
you know, come to think of it, I think a challange mod would be a nice idea, like you have a map with numerous gaps, and missile turrets, or something and they gotta pass the obstacle course... etc..

ADDITION:
nvm, it wouldn't

I would just make a small unit with 655535 health, 9999 range, super high speed and acceleration... etc...

It would have to be judged by quality. Actually, I think that might be possible with JUST an iscript or memgraft patch. I think the judging thing is best.
Report, edit, etc...Posted by BroodKiller on 2006-11-13 at 18:09:14
Of course the mods should be strictly judged by competent people, but even I can't see the way an obstacle-course contest would work. Theme-contests - fine, but that's all we can do, really, because modding is TOO powerfull, in a way:)
Report, edit, etc...Posted by WoAHorde2 on 2006-11-13 at 18:32:35
What should the first contest be? A GRP contest? I wouldn't mind being the judge for that tongue.gif
Report, edit, etc...Posted by DiscipleOfAdun on 2006-11-13 at 18:43:52
Lol, if you do that, you should direct it so I get some more grp's out of it. tongue.gif
Report, edit, etc...Posted by BroodKiller on 2006-11-13 at 19:03:12
Just a GRP contest would not really be a mod contest, IMO. It should go together with Iscripting and maybe some 'fun-factor' done also via Iscript.
Report, edit, etc...Posted by Voyager7456(MM) on 2006-11-13 at 19:28:39
Hmm... I really like the idea of a "task force" kind of competition.
Report, edit, etc...Posted by BroodKiller on 2006-11-13 at 19:37:39
You could have for example 2 (or 3, but not more than 4 I think) team members, and each would have to fill a special role: blocker, blitzer, support, spellcaster or something like that (yeah, I stole the unit types from Dungeon Keeper, but who cares:)), and they would need to perform well on their own as well as in group. This is my concept of such a contest.
Report, edit, etc...Posted by WoAHorde2 on 2006-11-13 at 19:39:38
How about like someone suggested, adding a unit to one of the races without ruining the game balance. Or building a small task force, or Mini-Race. I wouldn't mind hosting the first contest, I have enough minerals.
Report, edit, etc...Posted by SubFocus on 2006-11-14 at 01:20:44
QUOTE(WoAHorde2 @ Nov 13 2006, 08:39 PM)
How about like someone suggested, adding a unit to one of the races without ruining the game balance. Or building a small task force, or Mini-Race. I wouldn't mind hosting the first contest, I have enough minerals.
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I've got quite a few minerals too, we could both host the contest... But would I be allowed to enter if I were to help host?
Report, edit, etc...Posted by Kookster on 2006-11-14 at 01:40:11
<<minerals to waist

PS SubFocus go read your messages
Report, edit, etc...Posted by BroodKiller on 2006-11-14 at 02:49:59
QUOTE(WoAHorde2 @ Nov 14 2006, 02:39 AM)
How about like someone suggested, adding a unit to one of the races without ruining the game balance. Or building a small task force, or Mini-Race. I wouldn't mind hosting the first contest, I have enough minerals.
[right][snapback]588714[/snapback][/right]

This may be uber hard, as SC stands for the ideal of balance in RTS games smile.gif I wonder, maybe we should introduce some sort of limit to the actual properties of a unit, one that could be calculated? For example, you would have only 10,000 'points' to make a unit, and different changes would 'cost' you a certain amount of these points? This way, we could have 5,000-points contests, 10,000-points contests and even 100-points contests smile.gif
Report, edit, etc...Posted by Kookster on 2006-11-14 at 04:14:31
O man dont bring in the calculations, youll get my motor running BK. Aww man too late I already started calculating different points values and importance values for units grrrrr My inner Math crap comes forth NOOOO.
Report, edit, etc...Posted by BroodKiller on 2006-11-14 at 08:32:13
cool1.gif That's the way the cookie crumbles mate smile.gif

Not only DAT modifications but also GRP changes, Iscript changes, grafting etc. should also have a specific 'cost' of their own, I think. Thus, the contests would have a completely new and interesting perspective, because some people would e.g. concentrate on Iscripting, others on grafting etc.. The question remains if each category should have limits of their own, or should the count into one global point limit...I think both options can be worked out succesfully, depending on the contest author's view on the matter smile.gif
Report, edit, etc...Posted by WoAHorde2 on 2006-11-14 at 09:49:33
That would be a cool idea. And should we put the unit(s) or building(s) up for download?(Or the MPQ with the files in a ZIP)
Report, edit, etc...Posted by Ojan on 2006-11-14 at 10:40:31
No! Let's all keep it secret and let no one benefit from it! What if someone *grasp* realized how good you are at modding?! ;)


Contests with only changes to a handful of units would be fun. Maybe even I would find time to enter :)


BK: The problem I see with this is: What if you spend all your points? You can make your mod even better, but you don't, because you have no points left.... Not a chance that I'd care about those rules in that case :P
Report, edit, etc...Posted by BroodKiller on 2006-11-14 at 13:11:08
Well, the thing is what do you understand by "better"? If by this you mean changing a units' stats to higher (which will stand for the most part of the cost I think) then the only result here is a "5up4H B4TTL3KR00Z4H!!!!1111". If you've spent all your points on stats, then the problem is not that you can't make your mod better - the problem is that you're a lame modder smile.gif (j/k) Stats mean very little in modding, at least in my opinion.

Of course, let me state here that for example contests may be oriented towards units with e.g. higher HP, like it's in WC3, but then I think it is enough to say that "HP changes cost is 10x less" and voila.

ADDITION:
Also, if you can make your mod better - then do it. It's just that the contest sets a limit of things that you can put into, and everyone would have equal chances now.

The only problem that I see is the calculation if the modder has actually meet the limit. We can avoid this either by launching only small-scale (1,2 units) contests, or by requiring the participants to present the listing of the changes they made. The latter option means that I would probably have to implement such a feature into DatEd though smile.gif
Report, edit, etc...Posted by Doodle77(MM) on 2006-11-14 at 16:21:44
This is like having a speed-programming contest, you get crappy stuff and good ideas, but you waste peoples time they could be using to make pwnage stuff.
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