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Well, here we go again. We know what goes on here by now - set a common theme and a bunch of rules and judging criteria tailored to it. The winner is the one who makes the best map featuring the theme. Now, I'm not asking for anything big or extravagent, because you'll only have two weeks to make your map. Maps will be judged by me or anyone I deem fit to judge the maps.

September's Theme: Forests
Time for a hike in the woods, boys. Maybe you're Smokey the Bear trying to stop a forest fire, maybe you're travelling through and there's a crazy bunch of elves. Maybe the forest creatures have declared open season on humans, or you're trying to grow the best forest ever. Trees, birds, creatures, whatever you like. Of course, there's other kinds of forests besides the natural one... I might even let the theme stretch to a "stone forest" or an indoor forest ala Space tileset. Be creative!

Guidelines
» Must be an original map not made prior to the contest. Steal a map or send in an old one and I'll eat your children.
» No map dimensions larger than 128x128.
» No map over 600kb.
» Any number of players acceptable.
» No team projects.
» No modded maps (SCMLoader, etc).
» You may submit up to three entries, but only the highest scoring entry will be placed and recieve a prize.
» No entry fees.
» Feel free to protect your map. The playing end will be emphasized more than the creation end. 95% of the maps are never opened in an editor.

Maps were due already, deadline is over. GG.

Submitting...
You may submit any amount of copies of a map, and the last valid one recieved will the one judged for the contest.
1. PM me the map as an attachment.
2. Attach the map to a post here (I download all attachments that seem like contest entries from this thread).
3. Attach the map to another post or topic and PM me the link or post a link here.
4. PM me a link to the map in the DLDB.
5. PM or post me a link to your map on some external host.
(let's hope the attachment bug is fixed by then )

Judging Criteria
Theme (10) - How well does the map fit the theme? Something premade with a few text changes (ie, your robot map from last month which you didn't enter with "ROBOT TREE" isn't a good idea). I plan to change this over from the black and white 0 to 10 ratings with actual ratings now. The map will now be graded on how important the theme is to the central ideas of the map. A map scoring 0 on this won't be graded further, regardless of how well it fits.

Fun (25) - Most of the time, the deciding factor in contest entries. Important for me as I'm playing the map. Am I running around having a good time, or watching a unit talk to itself in a movie? Are there huge bugs that prevent play of the maps? Are there cool new systems and spells and difficulty levels and such things to keep the game interesting? Replay value is a plus for this score. If I ever go to this map again, is it going to be to play it over and over and give to my friends or to delete the scm/scx?

Aesthetics and Professionalism (15) - Did you use one type of terrain tile and no text color? Are there mispellings distracting me at every turn with some poorly made triggers? Hopefully you can create something that looks and feels decent. I'm not asking for extensive extended terrain or hundreds of sprites, a map that seems well-made should score well. On the subject of professionalism, please PLAYTEST your maps before submission. Nothing looks dumber than a map that obviously hasn't been tested. Having lots of bugs will definitely lower your score here.

Prizes
Yeah, you thought I'd just make you do this for fun? Prestiege? Honor? HAH!

First place: 800 minerals
Second place: 400 minerals
Third place: 200 minerals
First, Second, and Third place entries all go into the Map Spotlight on the front page.
Noteworthy Mention*: 100 minerals
*to be given at my discretion. Nobody has to win these.

Hmm, I can't think of any ideas, maybe I'll join, if I come up with one.

Zomg, Sprite time!

I think I might make a submission, but if I do it'll be a joke one

lol. Forest.

"You Can prevent Forest Fires..."

Smokey the GODLESS KILLING MACHINE.

Damn. So I suppose this is where having a Mac would be a serious disadvantage. Oh well, I'll try to think of somethign that doesn't involve any sprites or extended terrain.

if only starcraft was still installed on my comp , ihave a good idea for this contest...Crap im reinstalling and making a contest map

Never Mind, I was making a robot tree map, but I just couldn't seem to position them within range of each other, and my "stay at the same spot" triggers weren't working.

No teams?! Gee, so much for supporting my idea.


I'll be skipping this one too, I'm afraid. Got something else to attend to at the moment...
(Believe it or not, I am still working on that unfinished robot entry, btw. More because it's based on an old idea I wanted to try out than because of the contest, though.)

Maybe i make a map with Staggy aka Stagknight.

Chrono legion should set fire to a forest. (Simple yet repetitive.)

I dunno what I'll do.

i might enter this contest, but i'll see...hardest part for me on making maps is coming up with ideas for it. also i'm a tad busy and lazy right now...

anyway, i'll brainstorm for ideas every now and then, if nothing comes up, then oh well...

Bah you know what, I'll see if I can manage it or not. Just like before, I doubt I'll be able to, but we'll see.

I have one idea now that might be interesting...

Forest, are you kidding me? Hell i got no ideas for this. Bah silly theme moose.

Actually this goes for me as well. Originally I started my "Helen Keller RoboticRPG" map as a joke for the contest but neglected to submit it because it actually turned out pretty well. I figured I should fix up the bugs and make it better to consider it a serious map.

But I'll still attempt something that involves forests for this month's contest... hopefully...

Hopefully I can come up with a map for this contest and improve that humilliating 20 point score I "achieved" in July's contest.

Ooh, I actually kinda like this theme, got a great idea for a cool map.

Mooses live in forests

Well, where are the "Dark Forest RPG"s ? Or The "Foresty Mystery RPG" ?

This theme is quite interesting, but I simply have no ideas for a map...

forest... forest... forest... hmmmmmmm i dunno.... making all thoughs doodads, and sprites.... god this will take some time....

SOUNDS LIKE FUN!

Forest. hmmm another tough one. I think I will join this one though.

at least someone on SEN can say stuff right.