aliens

Author Topic: New Terrains Contest - See inside for details  (Read 32407 times)

Offline Hobbes

  • Commander
  • *****
  • Posts: 2101
  • Infiltration subroutine in progress
    • View Profile
New Terrains Contest - See inside for details
« on: March 01, 2015, 07:02:53 pm »
New Terrains Contest for the Terrain Pack

This is something I had in my mind for some time to open the Terrain Pack to additional collaborations and encourage modders to create more new terrains. To participate you'll need to design a new terrain for OpenXcom and post it on this thread until May 31st, with the entries being then selected by a jury (to be announced later). The selected entries will then be added to the Terrain Pack.

Terrain Requirements
1) It should only have new .MAP files or map blocks (mandatory).
2) All .MAP files should have the corresponding .RMP files with the nodes for alien placement/routes.
3) It can use new sprites (a.k.a. PCK images), reworked vanilla sprites, unchanged vanilla ones, or a mixture of all. 

You should also design your terrain according to the vanilla mission it will be used, which will add further requirements (if you need help, ask on this thread). The 5 possible missions are:
* UFO crash/landings (only the background terrain, without the UFO)
* Terror Sites
* Alien Base
* XCom Base
* Cydonia (both 1st and 2nd stage)

Selection Criteria
* Graphic Look - overall look of the terrain, how the different sprites mix together, sprite originality, etc.
* Map Design - are the maps too built up (think TFTD) or too bare? Do they have original structures (buildings, hills, etc.)?
* Functionality - the map should be functional, without bugs that cause crashes, but minor bugs are expected, so don't worry about those.
* Mission Type - there are already several new UFO/Terror Sites terrains present on the Terrain Pack, so entries for XCom/Alien bases and Cydonia will have a better chance to stand out.

Well for now that should be enough to get people started. Use this thread to ask any questions about the contest and good luck to everyone that decides to participate. :)
« Last Edit: March 17, 2015, 08:26:51 pm by Hobbes »

Offline Solarius Scorch

  • Global Moderator
  • Commander
  • *****
  • Posts: 11408
  • WE MUST DISSENT
    • View Profile
    • Nocturmal Productions modding studio website
Re: New Terrains Contest - See inside for details
« Reply #1 on: March 17, 2015, 06:30:05 pm »
I'd like to give it a try, but I doubt I would make it in the designated time. Three months would be more realistic (which doesn't mean it's a promise if you extend the deadline :))).

Offline Hobbes

  • Commander
  • *****
  • Posts: 2101
  • Infiltration subroutine in progress
    • View Profile
Re: New Terrains Contest - See inside for details
« Reply #2 on: March 17, 2015, 08:26:26 pm »
I'd like to give it a try, but I doubt I would make it in the designated time. Three months would be more realistic (which doesn't mean it's a promise if you extend the deadline :))).

No problem, I'll extend the deadline. :)

Offline hellrazor

  • Commander
  • *****
  • Posts: 2013
  • Deep Ruleset Digger & Bughunter
    • View Profile
    • Github Account
Re: New Terrains Contest - See inside for details
« Reply #3 on: March 19, 2015, 12:26:49 pm »
So this might be some motivation for a large pyramid for Cydonia 3rd stage :)

Offline Warboy1982

  • Administrator
  • Commander
  • *****
  • Posts: 2333
  • Developer
    • View Profile
Re: New Terrains Contest - See inside for details
« Reply #4 on: March 19, 2015, 01:14:24 pm »
i can offer assistance to anyone needing a script to go with their entry.
PM me with some pictures of the map blocks and some generic instructions on how things should be arranged.
please don't be offended if i don't make it my top priority.
« Last Edit: March 19, 2015, 01:17:58 pm by Warboy1982 »

Offline Hobbes

  • Commander
  • *****
  • Posts: 2101
  • Infiltration subroutine in progress
    • View Profile
Re: New Terrains Contest - See inside for details
« Reply #5 on: March 19, 2015, 01:57:54 pm »
i can offer assistance to anyone needing a script to go with their entry.
PM me with some pictures of the map blocks and some generic instructions on how things should be arranged.
please don't be offended if i don't make it my top priority.

I wanted to ask you to be one of the judges btw. Unless you want to enter a entry for the contest :)

Offline Warboy1982

  • Administrator
  • Commander
  • *****
  • Posts: 2333
  • Developer
    • View Profile
Re: New Terrains Contest - See inside for details
« Reply #6 on: March 19, 2015, 02:24:16 pm »
I wanted to ask you to be one of the judges btw. Unless you want to enter a entry for the contest :)

sure. i do have some ideas for maps, but i suck at pixel art and level design stuff, and i'd never "finish" it.

Offline hellrazor

  • Commander
  • *****
  • Posts: 2013
  • Deep Ruleset Digger & Bughunter
    • View Profile
    • Github Account
Re: New Terrains Contest - See inside for details
« Reply #7 on: March 19, 2015, 02:35:45 pm »
sure. i do have some ideas for maps, but i suck at pixel art and level design stuff, and i'd never "finish" it.

Well i have no clue of pixel art also, so i will be stuck with stuff which already exists, but a pyramid 30x30x5 should be awesome :D

Offline Hobbes

  • Commander
  • *****
  • Posts: 2101
  • Infiltration subroutine in progress
    • View Profile
Re: New Terrains Contest - See inside for details
« Reply #8 on: March 19, 2015, 02:55:36 pm »
Well i have no clue of pixel art also, so i will be stuck with stuff which already exists, but a pyramid 30x30x5 should be awesome :D

Sticking to the existing graphics is fine (that's how I started doing maps).

Offline Solarius Scorch

  • Global Moderator
  • Commander
  • *****
  • Posts: 11408
  • WE MUST DISSENT
    • View Profile
    • Nocturmal Productions modding studio website
Re: New Terrains Contest - See inside for details
« Reply #9 on: March 21, 2015, 09:38:50 pm »
Okay, so I started my project. I'm not sure I'll be able to actually finish it, but I made a couple mapblocks already (the easiest ones). The next step will require much more creativeness and visual skill. (Hey, how hard would it be to make a 2x2 cow?)

I hope there will be more participants. Many more! :)

Offline Hobbes

  • Commander
  • *****
  • Posts: 2101
  • Infiltration subroutine in progress
    • View Profile
Re: New Terrains Contest - See inside for details
« Reply #10 on: March 22, 2015, 10:14:36 pm »
(Hey, how hard would it be to make a 2x2 cow?)

Don't forget that there's already a dead cow inside the Harvester. It would better if the live one looked close to the dissected one.

Offline Solarius Scorch

  • Global Moderator
  • Commander
  • *****
  • Posts: 11408
  • WE MUST DISSENT
    • View Profile
    • Nocturmal Productions modding studio website
Re: New Terrains Contest - See inside for details
« Reply #11 on: March 22, 2015, 10:48:36 pm »
Don't forget that there's already a dead cow inside the Harvester. It would better if the live one looked close to the dissected one.

Yeah, I know, but it shouldn't be too hard. We'll see.

Did some improvements on my village houses today, they start to look good. Now I need to import a whole lot of Farm terrain pieces to finish it up.

Offline Hobbes

  • Commander
  • *****
  • Posts: 2101
  • Infiltration subroutine in progress
    • View Profile
Re: New Terrains Contest - See inside for details
« Reply #12 on: April 09, 2015, 06:27:17 am »
In the past weeks I've had a ton of nice public suggestions for new terrains from several people. I'd thought to share those with everybody here, if anyone is looking for ideas. Feel free to add more suggestions to the list.

1) Sunken Plane from TFTD as a 'UFO' mission map
2) Adapt Normandy terrain from UFO2000 as the 1st part of an Alien Base assault mission
3) Arctic/Antarctic outpost
4) Human facility being converted by the aliens
5) UFO assault as the 2nd part of a Base Defense mission

Offline hellrazor

  • Commander
  • *****
  • Posts: 2013
  • Deep Ruleset Digger & Bughunter
    • View Profile
    • Github Account
Re: New Terrains Contest - See inside for details
« Reply #13 on: April 19, 2015, 11:17:48 pm »
Founds some time did some work on Expanded Ubase maps, which i wanna use for my mod.

First the cloning facility (UBASE21.MAP)
Looks now like the following:

Offline hellrazor

  • Commander
  • *****
  • Posts: 2013
  • Deep Ruleset Digger & Bughunter
    • View Profile
    • Github Account
Re: New Terrains Contest - See inside for details
« Reply #14 on: April 19, 2015, 11:18:51 pm »
Second a Food Processing Facility based upon UBASE2c.MAP which surved no purpose.

See here: