Project: Race (Round 6!)

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Posts: 769
Joined: 2008.09.27 (05:31)
NUMA Profile: http://nmaps.net/user/yungerkid
MBTI Type: INTJ
Location: Seattle, Washington
Contact:

Postby yungerkid » 2010.11.22 (15:36)

Project: Race
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Original towerpost explaining contest (spoiler)

So lately i've been thinking that numa just doesn't have enough races. The big names that once kept the genre alive have more or less retired, and even I just don't seem to have the inspiration these days. So here's what I plan to do about it.

I'm going to host a competition. It's actually more of a workshop than a competition, in which I will be teaching and guiding you all the best I can with the end purpose of turning you guys into race mappers. That said, this is still a competition - and that means there will be points! Hooray!

Okay so here's how it's going to roll. Each round I will set a theme, or a concept. And during that round you will need to make a race map which fits the criteria. As simple as that. Each round the chosen theme will get progressively more difficult. Points will be rewarded as an average of what all judges submit. The marking categories are as follows:

Aesthetics: x/10 - how good the map looks
Flow: x/10 - how good your flow is
Theme: x/10 - how well you have stuck to the weeks' theme
Gameplay: x/10 - how much fun is your map?

At least one of you is going to tell me that gameplay in context of races is just the sum of the three previous points criteria, but I don't think this to be the case. Enemies, for example, have a huge impact on a race map, and yet they don't fall under any of the other categories (well maybe theme a little but that's not what i'm getting at) particularly well. So why didn't I just make the fourth marking category enemies? Because sometimes a lack of enemies is exactly what a race needs. So in order to make up for that, i've just gone with a nice, broad, general gameplay category within the marking. Okay?

There will be no eliminations during this competition. As the main purpose to this is for you to improve at race mapping, I feel it would be a little anti-productive to halt you short, don't you think?

Now, I did mention that I would be teaching you, didn't I? However, there is a complication there, and that is namely that everybody maps differently - in my experience even more so with races. So here is what we're going to do. Instead of me just giving you all the same basic and general lessons, whenever you feel the need, PM me with your map and ask me a question. You could do this a hundred times during the creation of a single race if you really wanted to - I am your resource to be exploited however you feel is necassary. Rest assured that I will comment extensively on all maps submitted into this competition upon marking, so that you'll get some guidance even if you don't PM me.

UPDATE: Yungerkid has thrown his full support behind this. If you want help with your race you can also PM him. Hell, you could PM us both if you like. The more the merrier right? Some of you might raise an eyebrow at my placing him in this role, but know that he is the one that I go to for advice and critisism on my maps. Despite his lack of evidence for the matter, he does know his stuff when it comes to races.

I do ask however that you ensure you send me a map (or part of one, complete or incomplete doesn't matter) when you want some tutoring. Because of the aformentioned varience within mapping styles for races, It would be of great help to me if I could have a little insight to what your personal style is. It doesn't matter if it's the worst race that's ever been created. Hell, my first few races were terrible too (And for those of you who decide to look them up, know that i'd made 37 races before joining numa). It just takes a little help and guidance - and of course practice - to get a long way.

Now, if you'd like to take part in this, just post so right here in this thread. I will PM you all when I decide to kick this off, so don't worry about forgetting or anything.

I may as well post in advance that the first week will not have a theme. As (hopefully) some of you will have never made a race before, I figure it would be somewhat cruel to ask anything extensive of you.

If you have any suggestions, please voice them. If you are interested in judging, I shall be accepting volunteers. You should note however that I may reject you if I don't think you have enough knowledge of the genre. That's not for the purpose of being mean, it's just to ensure the competition is fair. Judges may also compete, on the basis that they may not judge their own maps.

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Participants! (spoiler)

Destiny (judge + tutor)
Yungerkid (judge + tutor)
Etdeshon (judge only)
Ska (judge only)
Daikenkai (judge + competitor)
Chocollama
ENT474
Ferox
Godless
Hero
Heartattack
im_bat_at_n
Koipen
LukeSV
mystro23
RandomDigits
Slayr
Squibbles
Tacit
TheBlackLion
TheNCreator

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Round 1 Summary (spoiler)

Okay! So I think it's about time to get this thing moving! This is how things are going to work:

Contestants!

Make your race, submit it to numa as per usual. Make sure that you include the tag projectrace. Any maps without that tag will not recieve any marks.

As you may have read in my original post there will be no theme for this first week. As some of you are completely new to races just go wild. Do whatever comes into your head. If you prefer, don't think about aesthetics at all and focus purely on flow, though you'll lose out in the aesthetics section of the marking. But the point is that anything goes. Your only limitation is your imagination. Don't forget that you can PM me or yungerkid for help at any point.

Each round will last two weeks, meaning that this round will be over on December 16th. Please ensure all maps are in by that time. If you will not be able to make the time bracket, PM me in advance and i'll probably give you an extension because i'm such a nice guy. So long as you have a reason, that is.

There will be a week between each round whilst your maps are judged, meaning round two will start on December 23rd.

Judges!

Once round 1 is over (16th December) you should ensure your judging is complete within 6 days (22nd). If i haven't recieved your markings by then it's no heartbreaker, I will simply calculate the averages for each map from whatever i have already recieved (even if that's only my own).

As a note, I urge you not to be generous just because a lot of these mappers are newcomers to the genre. If all goes to plan, we should be able to see the number of points they recieve each week steadily increasing.

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Round 1 Results! (spoiler)

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Sunset - Needless to say...
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Destiny:

Flow:4/10
Aesthetics:2/10
Gameplay:3/10

Total: 9/30

I was really in two minds when rating the flow, because the initial flow is pretty good, as is the bottom right area. On the other hand, your section across the top as well as your ascent into the top area is really... iffy. It just doesn't really work - not to mention the rocket kills you unless you break flow. The aesthetics are generally sloppy - which isn't like you. I'm actually a fan of your organised-mess style tilesets. This one just seemed sub-par from you. Flow was very confusing after the bottom right corner - in your next race try to clear things up.

Etdeshon:

Aesthetics: 5/10 - It didn't look like you had a set design you were aiming for, when creating aesthetics, stick to one idea, and build off of it.

Flow: 4/10 - When creating a race, the first thing you have to do is lay out a flow route, flow is key for a race to be successful. When creating this part of the race, there are a few things you want to do. Make sure that the flow is somewhat easily noticable, sometimes you can get away with it like in abstract races, but not in a normal everyday race.

Gameplay: 4/10 - Because it was hard to find the flow, it wasn't much fun to play, though I kept trying and trying, I could barely get past the thwump part near the beginning. Spend some time creating and allowing the player to find the flow path.

Total: 13/30

Daikenkai:

Aesthetics: 6/10 - This looks ok. It's kinda messy though. The thwumps seem haphazardly placed, and the doorkeys and trapdoors at the beginning are a bit untidy.

Flow: 4/10 - Very, very choppy. Even in your flow demo, you had to stop a couple times completely. That's just not too good in a race map. Next time, try to minimize/erase any stoppage of the flow.

Gameplay: 6/10 - You did, however include some interesting bits of flow into the race, like the perpendicular jump on the lower right, and the squeeze-direction-reverses.

Total: 16/30

Overall: 38/90 = 17/40

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im_bad_at_n - Faster than a love dove
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Destiny:

Flow:10/10
Aesthetics:10/10
Gameplay:9/10

Total: 29/30

<3<3<3<3<3 (feedback on map)

etdeshon:

Aesthetics: 9/10 - Aesthetics done quite beautifully, tileset looks great, enemies work great.

Flow: 9/10 - Almost spot on. Main thing that bothered me was doing the wall jump after the launchpad near the beginning. Other than that, nicely done.

Gameplay: 9/10 - I loved playing this map over and over. The technical side of it just kept me coming back ever since it was posted, played almost everyday.

Total: 27/30

Daikenkai:

Aesthetics: 9/10 - Wow. Blown away by this. Only qualm was the doors. i feel like, you didn't really need the two on the left at all. I think it would have made it alot cleaner.
Flow: 9/10 - Superbly done. again, a couple kinks, but nothing too major.
Gameplay: 9/10 - If only it wasn't so hard... The launchpads were amazing though.

Total: 27/30

Overall: 83/90 = 37/40

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Tacit - E Pur Si Muove
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Destiny:

Flow: 4/10
Aesthetics: 2/10
Gameplay: 6/10

Total: 12/30

(feedback on map)

etdeshon:

Aesthetics: 7/10 - The aesthetics here are pretty good. It feels almost cave like, there are a few things you could change about it, like maybe fill in a few of those empty spaces.

Flow: 7/10 - There were a few parts of the race where it'd be a little bumpy, also, with how much space you used, you should consider crossing paths to make the race a little more interesting.

Gameplay: 8/10 - The whole race felt like it was meant to be more fast paced. In my personal opinion and from making races for the last 3 years, get a good mix of slower racing and fast. Like moments where things tense up and it speeds up, to dodge a rocket or something.

Total: 22/30

Daikenkai:

Aesthetics: 8/10 - It felt just a bit empty. The one ways look fairly cool though.

Flow: 9/10 - Apart from one or two places where you smack into the ceiling too hard, well done.

Gameplay: 7/10 - I felt like there was potential to do so much more with this map. The beginning was really fast but you lost most of the speed coming out of the upper right loop. Then, the whole map didn't last too much longer due to the... well, ending.

Total: 24/30

Overall: 58/90 = 26/40

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Koipen - Metsä
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Destiny:

Flow:8/10
Aesthetics:7/10
Gameplay:6/10

Total: 21/30

Some good flow and some nice aesthetics. The floorguard creates some nice close calls down at the bottom. On the other hand though, your repeated use of that thwump mechanic means that the player doesn't actually jump for a long time. That's not too much of a problem, but it does make the gameplay a little stale on repeat runs through the map, just keep that in mind.

etdeshon:

Aesthetics: 8/10 - For some reason, i've always liked these kind of tilesets, enemies seem to fit in but it seems like you've sacrificed flow for aesthetics, which is not a good thing to do.

Flow: 6/10 - I constantly ran into issues with the thwumps. Considering in the beginning, the thwumps played a huge role in the flow. Other than that, i had a few bumps here and there, but nothing too bad.

Gameplay: 6/10 - Because I kept running into problems with your thwumps, and because it was right in the beginning, it made me want to stop playing the map altogether. But after those thwumps, it seemed pretty solid.

Total: 20/30

Daikenkai:

Aesthetics: 9/10 - Great, although the top looks a bit more empty than the bottom.

Flow: 6/10 - The lower flow was fine, but once you got to the upper sections, it started to get botchy and strange.

Gameplay: 7/10 - The thwumps. Also, there wasn't much that you were doing other than holding left or right and hoping the thwumps didn't screw you up.

Total: 22/30

Overall: 63/90 = 28/40

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Ferox - Wealthy Bachelor
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Destiny:

Flow:4/10
Aesthetics:8/10
Gameplay:3/10

Total: 15/30

The aesthetics are great, but your flow - although inventive - leaves something to be desired. You've been creative, and that's something you should maintain. However, the ninja never quite lands in the right place for the flow to be perfectly smooth - i find myself having to soft jump all the time in order to try and get as smooth a run as possible. Now that's okay for the occasional jump, but when it's throughout a race like this it makes the flow feel a little tacky. In your case, a little refinement would go a really long way, because you're so close to a really great style.

etdeshon:

Aesthetics: 8/10 - I loved them. They seemed to follow its map theme that you used.

Flow: 6/10 - Very bumpy. Try to smooth out bumps for maximum enjoyment.

Gameplay: 7/10 - I kept wanting to come back and play this even with its flaws. I think it was cause this was one I just felt like needed to be beat.

Total: 21/30

Daikenkai:

Aesthetics: 7/10 - The loops felt very strange to the otherwise jagged rest of the tileset.

Flow: 5/10 - Not entirely too flowy, as I found that I had to lose speed alot in this map.

Gameplay: 7/10 - It was fun to an extent, until I got to the laser which misfired just a bit too often for my liking.

Total: 19/30

Overall: 55/90 = 24

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TheBlackLion - Dove Through Ghosts
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Destiny:

Flow:7/10
Aesthetics:5/10
Gameplay:6/10

Total: 18/30

Very good race, youve got some interesting flow and have kept a lot of player momentum throughout. Your enemies were good, but felt a little more for effect than gameplay, so maybe try to innovate a little there.

etdeshon:

Aesthetics: 8/10 - Fun looking map, as soon as I saw it, I knew I just had to play it.

Flow: 9/10 - It was all pretty spot on, though the short jumps and on the right side where you hit the 7-6 after the trap doors, other than that, spot on!

Gameplay: 8/10 - It was fun, minus the few flow issues, i enjoyed playing it continuously.

Total: 25/30

Daikenkai:

Aesthetics: 7/10 - It felt just kinda awkward.

Flow: 8/10 - While the flow was amazing in places, there were certain small spots of slowing-downness.

Gameplay: 9/10 - I really loved how you re-used paths, although you might have wanted to minimize trap-door usage. Just for the sake of keeping the map clean.

Total: 24/30

Overall: 57/90 = 26/40

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OutrightOJ - An Updated First Race...
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Destiny:

Flow:6/10
Aesthetics:7/10
Gameplay:2/10

Total: 15/30

Flow and aesthetics are great, and you would have a great map if it wasn't for those drones. The timing was simply too strict, and it was more frustrating than enjoyable trying to get past them. I tried for quite some time and in the end gave up, and i'm pretty fast. Races are a lot less fun when you have to be a highscorer to play them, hence your low score on the gameplay from me.

etdeshon:

Aesthetics: 8/10 - It looks a little rough aesthetic wise, a few fixes and it would be better.

Flow: 8/10 - The flow seems to break a few times along the way, like right near the end, landing on the thwump, and on the right side when running on that thwump trying to jump off the 1 tile.

Gameplay: 6/10 - This map was outrageously hard to complete because of the drone timing. Some jumps lead into drones with the way i'd jump. Ease up on the timing, maybe let there be a LITTLE more time for the slower players.

Total: 22/30

Daikenkai:

Aesthetics: 9/10 - The only hitch I saw was a couple things like the proximity of a bunch of objects. Otherwise, fantastic.
Flow: 8/10 - Very nicely done. Again, theres a couple spots where it goes off: places where you break your speed.
Gameplay: 8/10 - I liked it alot, and it played very well, however the drones. THE DRONES.

Total: 25/30

Overall: 62/90 = 28/40

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Squibbles - Balls To The Walls
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Destiny:

Flow: 6/10
Aesthetics: 8/10
Gameplay: 6/10

Total: 20/30

Brilliant aesthetics, with an interesting and very original flow style. You made some good gameplay here, though a couple of sections felt unrefined. The opening rocket was a minor annoyance, but what you did with the thwumps at the end was cool enough to make up for it. Nice job.

etdeshon:

Aesthetics: 7/10 - The mines seem too linear, tileset is pretty cool though.

Flow: 7/10 - This has more of an abstract feeling but i still experienced a few bumps along the way.

Gameplay: 7/10 - It wasn't very fun to keep trying if you messed up. The rocket in the beginning was very unforgiving which could also annoy the player, its even worse because its in the beginning. It would annoy the player and make them think the rest of the race is that tough and most would just give up.

Total: 21/30

Daikenkai:

Aesthetics: 9/10 - You really nailed this one, although there were one or two spots which were weird.
Flow: 6/10 - While the flow was interesting, I didn't really think the fact that you lose lots of your speed at certain points of the map was very good.
Gameplay: 8/10 - The abstractness of this makes up for the flow.

Total: 23/30

Overall: 64/90 = 29/40

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al_cair_raheakallen - Run Like A Cannonball
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Destiny:

Flow:3/10
Aesthetics:6/10
Gameplay:2/10

Total: 11/30

(feedback on map)

etdeshon:

Aesthetics: 7/10 - Tileset is cool, but you should use up the rest of the map to make it look more appealing. As well as making objects work flawlessly with the tileset, using 3 gauss in the beginning was a little overkill.

Flow: 9/10 - This race seems to flow almost perfectly, minus the jump from the left side to the middle. You have to cut your jump short and you shouldn't have to do that unless if in the rest of the race you have to cut your jumps short.

Gameplay: 8/10 - The race is nice and easy. Which is always fun to play every once in a while.

Total: 24/30

Daikenkai:

Aesthetics: 8/10 - The tileset was pretty good, but it felt kinda empty. The enemies seemed kinda awkward being... like that.
Flow: 6/10 - At a couple places, you lose speed, which isn't the best thing to do. Especially the jump off the upper left, where you have to slow down your horizontal velocity alot to get into the landing chute.
Gameplay: 6/10 - It wasn't really much. I think you should try to make your race a bit longer next time, and try using different elements other than those curves you have.

Total : 20/30

Overall: 55/90 = 24/40

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Godless - Grace and Hue
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Destiny:

Flow:5/10
Aesthetics:5/10
Gameplay:2/10

Total: 12/30

(feedback on map)

etdeshon:

Aesthetics: 7/10 - In terms of tileset, it seems like you mixed a few different base themes and you should try sticking to one. Objects are pretty well done.

Flow: 8/10 - The flow is pretty good, a rough spot or two, like the jump from the launchpad to the 1 tile. It seems a little repetitive too. The only thing that I could ask for, is to make it a little longer.

Gameplay: 8/10 - The race is fun to play over and over to try and get a faster time, although its really short. Tileset could be better incorporated into the rest of the race which could add excitement.

Total: 23/30

Daikenkai:

Aesthetics: 8/10 - I liked what you had going on here, although with me, I enjoy a bit of cohesion, and although your upper right tiles were cool, they didn't really look "in-tune" with the map. Also, the gold and one ways look great.
Flow: 7/10 - I found that the flow worked well, but there were a couple kinks here and there. Especially the jumps coming off the launchpads I would think.
Gameplay: 7/10 - Repetitive, although the ending was a fair break from the loops.

Total: 21/30

Overall: 56/90 = 25/40

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DDRave - Polyphony
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Destiny:

Flow:6/10
Aesthetics:3/10
Gameplay:3/10

Total: 12/30

(feedback on map)

etdeshon:

Aesthetics: 9/10 - The aesthetics of this race are just amazing. The tileset brings back memories of bunniesandsheep and I always loved his aesthetics. Nicely done.

Flow: 8/10 - There were a few rough spots, places that slowed the player down. If these were touched up a little, you could have a nifty little race here.

Gameplay: 8/10 - Gameplay was exciting because of how fast you could go. You could control the speed and still follow the flow path which is hard to master in a race. The only things are the slow downs in the flow and that chaingun drone on the right side seems a little unforgiving when going up the middle.

Total: 25/30

Daikenkai:

N/A

Overall: 37/60 (x1.5 in order to compensate for only 2/3 judging) = 56/90 = 25/40


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Overall Standings after round 1
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For those interested, I've divided all your overall scores for round 1 by 2.25 to get the equivalent number of marks out of 40, which will be the usual maximum marks per round. In the future I'll just divide your overall number of marks by the number of judges who lended a hand.

iban - 37
Squibbles - 29
Koipen - 28
OutrightOJ - 28
Tacit - 26
TheBlackLion - 26
DDRave - 25
Godless - 25
al_cair_raheakallen - 24
Ferox - 24
Sunset - 17
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Thanks to everybody for a great round one. 11 maps isn't a great turnout, but not a bad one either, and i'm very impressed by the quality of maps submitted by many of you who haven't been involved with the genre before. If you guys can keep this up we'll be in for an interesting competiton!

Judges: Maybe be a little more critical next time with your scores, hmm?

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Round 2 & Theming tutorial (spoiler)

Round 2!

Alright! Time for the second round! Unfortunately things are going to get a little tougher from now on, as you will have to make your race to a theme. The theme for round 2 is going to be Industrial.

Make of that what you will, undoubtedly you will all interpret it a little differently and I look forward to seeing what you come up with! Being more inventive within the theme could result in a higher score for the theme category.

As part of my duties as something of a tutor in this competition here's a brief overview on what I mean by theme:

Theme is both the aesthetics and flow style of a race map. A race that uses theme well will have both the flow style and aesthetics appearance in tune with each other. Gameplay is also a factor of theme, though often in a more superficial sense. For example, flying through a whole bunch of one ways would make some really cool gameplay in a futuristic themed race - or skimming a huge number of mines both above and below in midair in a mine themed race. It's often the superficial stuff like that which can really transform a good race into a great one.

Here are some examples of maps which, in my opinion, make good use of theme.

Nmaps.net

Nmaps.net

Nmaps.net

Nmaps.net

If you play any of those maps, you should be able to see how the style of flow is somewhat parallell to the style of aesthetics that they have used. This is the kind of thing you should be thinking about when constructing races.

If you are having trouble establishing a theme around your flow, here is a technique I developed from an idea that yungerkid posted some time ago. First thing you do - before you even think about creating any flow - is create your tileset. It doesn't have to be a work of art. It doesn't need to have any flow in it; in fact, you're probably best off if it doesn't. Once you have your finished tileset pick a location to begin your flow. From there, modify your tiles in order to craft a route through the tileset you created. Yes, you're going to end up destroying a lot of your precious work, and yes, it will be a bloody mess. But - and this is the important bit - the trick to this method is to change as little as possible. Seek out the curves, pathways, tunnels and chimneys that you've naturally formed and tinker them ever so slightly to create a smooth path through them. If you do it right, you'll find that your resultant flow matches ever so perfectly with the visual style you've created.

It's not a perfect technique, nor one I practice all that often, but i've had some brilliant results when i've done this in the past.

Start date for this round is December 30th meaning that the deadline for submitting maps is January 13th. Judges will need to submit their scorings to me via PM by January 19th.

Tag your maps with 'projectrace2', or you will not recieve any points.

Best of luck! If you get stuck or need some pointers, don't forget to PM me, or yungerkid, or both.

_________________________________________________________________________________
Round 2 Results! (spoiler)

Industry by squibbles

Ska:

Flow: 2/10
Aesthetics: 4/10
Gameplay: 1/10
Theme: 3/10

Total: 10/40

Comments: as the description states, "It's incoherant, retarded"

I respected the minimalism aspect, but the fact the map is impossible and comes off very noobish (for lack of a better term) bothered me combined with very poor flow - if any. The tiles were this map's only saving grace.

Destiny:

Flow: 2/10
Aesthetics: 4/10
Theme: 3/10
Gameplay: 2/10

Total: 11/30

Squibbles, squibbles. Playing this map feels like you couldn't be bothered. After you made such a good race for you first round - which more than proves you can handle this - your submission for this round is very disappointing. It's less that 300 frames long. The majority of the map is taken up by a huge 'FFFFUUUU O_O'. That is uh, not very industrial. Or at the very least not in the way I had intended for this competition. I hope you try harder next round.

===============================
Super Half Nickel Pipe by godless

Ska:

Flow: 5/10
Aesthetics: 7/10
Gameplay: 6/10
Theme: 9/10

Total: 27/40

Comments: A fair effort here; of particular note is how godless kept to the theme of the round. It does has a very industrial flavour in addition to the stylish placement of one ways. My only real concerns were the unpredictability of the laser drones and the awkward jumping required on the far right to maintain flow. Still; all in all, a respectable effort from an author who isn't very well known for his races.

Destiny:

Flow: 6/10
Aesthetics: 5/10
Theme: 9/10
Gameplay: 7/10

Total: 27/40

I really enjoyed the psuedo-flow style that you've used in this race. You've created a really interesting style. I immediately could identify the map as a factory, just proving how well you've utilised the theme. However, the race is really short, and so i have to penalise you a little for that. Your first round entry was very short too - try to keep your flow going!

==================================
Rust by DDRave

Flow: 6/10
Aesthetics: 5/10
Gameplay: 3.5/10 (2 point deduction here for poor enemy placement)
Theme: 3/10 (I guess the top tiles could be smog? I don't know, the whole thing seemed to inconsistent which is not a good race trait to have)

Total: 17.5/40

Comments: Bit of a mixed bag... the bounce block/five tile combo was kind of appealing, but a little overdone. causing it to look cluttered; moreover, it doesn't really fit with the "industrial" theme very much IMO which lost points theme wise. The tiles were more like a weird hybrid of space meteors and computer chips. The flow was alright after watching a working demo, but just too messy and annoying to give this anything above average. Not a bad effort though.

Destiny:

Flow: 7/10
Aesthetics: 4/10
Theme: 4/10
Gameplay: 6/10

Total: 21/40

At first I found the drone timing was a little frustrating, but as I got more used to the map it became relatively easy to beat. There were a couple of flow spots that I wasn't very keen on, such as the bottom left launchpad, but the rest of the map was pretty smooth, if unrefined. Your aesthetics were pretty ugly, to be blunt. The whole rusting idea was good as a concept, but I don't really feel it in the finished product. It also doesn't particularly match the theme, I feel. However, the race is generally good, and I found it really enjoyable to play. If you can polish up your aesthetics, you could really be onto something!

=====================================
Systematic Chaos by koipen

Flow: 8/10
Aesthetics: 7/10
Gameplay: 9/10
Theme: 6/10

Total: 30/40

Comments: First up: an excellent, somewhat quirky race. The theme felt more post modern or decor styled rather than industrial; however the trap doors certainly gave it that industrial edge. Good job, son.

Destiny:

Flow: 8/10
Aesthetics: 8/10
Theme: 6/10
Gameplay: 7/10

Total: 31/40

This is an extreme stylistic shift from your norm, and you've pulled it off very well. The flow is great in the left hand side of the map - especially the moment where the player is launched into the 8 tile and falls into the corridor, that was a great touch. Like sunset I think you've been a little more 'futuristic' than 'industrial'. The only bit that drags this map back (for me) is the ending flow, which just wasn't up to par with the rest of the map. Great effort, overall. A good solid race.

=============================

Come on, Eileen by Sunset

Destiny:

Flow: 9/10
Aesthetics: 8/10
Theme: 6/10
Gameplay: 10/10

Total: 33/40

This is an amazing entry. So far ahead of what you submitted for the first round that i'm blown away. The only issue I could take with this map is that the theme felt more 'futuristic' than 'industrial', but I accept that when you think of 'industrial' different things come to mind to everybody, so i'll let you off with a pretty good score there.

=============================
Industrial Complex-ity by im_bad_at_n

Destiny:

Flow: 9/10
Aesthetics: 6/10
Theme: 9/10
Gameplay: 5/10

Total: 29/40

The flow for this race, I can see from your demo, is amazing. You've been creative, inventive, and used the space in the map very well. The enemies work brilliantly to create some close calls. However, i've deducted points on aesthetics and gameplay for the following reasons: No gold - it enhances the theme, but makes the map really ugly =/. first floorguard /always/ killed me. I had to remove it to get anywhere at all. Also, your flow was confusing as fuck, I really struggled to find my way around. Sometimes this can be a good thing, but here it was just frustrating. You did utilise the theme very well however, and like I said - your flow is amazing. Keep it up!

=============================

On An Old Abandoned Factory by Tacit

Flow: 7/10
Aesthetics: 4/10
Theme: 6/10
Gameplay: 5/10

Total: 22/40

This is actually a really good race for the most part. Your flow is smooth and varied, and generally very enjoyable. You did make one big slip up though - you placed the locked door switch on top of a bounceblock, which causes the ninja to pass through the bounceblock for a frame (can be seen in fbf). This basically makes that part of the map unplayable 90% of the time. However, you've clearly improved a lot between round 1 and 2, and I hope to see that develop even more over the rest of the compeition ^^

=============================

que putas? by al_cair_ raheakallan

Flow: 5/10
Aesthetics: 3/10
Theme: 0/10
Gameplay: 4/10

Total: 12/40

You have the basics of smooth flow firmly grasped, and now you need to move on to some more creative flow sections. Try using objects where you would usually use tiles - thwump runs, trapdoors that alter earlier flow, flow that works even when played backwards. You are on the doorstep of the big leagues, and you've got everything you need. I think you have the potential to create something great. On a sort of side-note after all that, your map isn't industrial. Like, at all. Hence the 0 on theme.

=============================

Gravity is Overated by TheNCreator

Flow: 6/10
Aesthetics: 6/10
Theme: 0/10
Gameplay: 5/10

Total: 17/40

I'm guessing you made this map before you decided to sign up for this round of project race, as it's not industrial themed at all. You have however, got a very good grasp on flow. I think with some practice you'll be making some very good races. See my comment on your map for more.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Overall Standings after round 2
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

For those interested, I've divided all your overall scores for round 1 by 2.25 to get the equivalent number of marks out of 40, which is the usual maximum marks per round. In all subsequent rounds the marks awarded here are just your average total score between all judges.

iban - 66
Koipen - 59
Godless - 52
Sunset - 50
Tacit - 48
DDRave - 44
Squibbles - 40
al_cair_raheakallen - 36
OutrightOJ - 28
TheBlackLion - 26
Ferox - 24
TheNCreator - 17

_________________________________________________________________________________
Round 3! (spoiler)

Alright! For round 3 the theme is going to be 'poisonous'. Make of that what you will. Being more inventive with the theme could result in more points, but try not to lose focus on the other things. Remember that only 1/4 of each rounds' marks come from theme! I look forward too seeing your entries!

Start date for this round is January 20th meaning that the deadline for submitting maps is February 3rd. Judges will need to submit their scorings to me via PM by February 9th.

Tag your maps with 'projectrace3', or you will not recieve any points.

Best of luck! If you get stuck or need some pointers, don't forget to PM me, or yungerkid, or both.

_________________________________________________________________________________
Round 3 Results! (spoiler)

Yungerkid was so determined to give you all some epic reviews and scorings this round, but since he's such a lazy busy person he simply couldn't find enough patience time to review more than 2. So Godless and koipen, it's your lucky week.

Only 6 maps this time around is a little dissapointing, but I did predict some interest dip so I can't say i'm heartbroken. Anyway, enough with me whining and on with the results!

==================================
Acid Rain by Koipen

Destiny:

Flow: 6/10
Aesthetics: 8/10
Theme: 7/10
Gameplay: 6/10

Total: 27/40

This is a great race, with some astounding aesthetics. The flow however, did cause me a few problems. The main part i'm thinking of is when you ascend the right side of the map, and have to walljump kind of half-heartedly, so that you land on the 7 tile and can jump off of that. For a long time i was just jumping clear over that tile, and ended up falling a little short of the gap ahead. It took me quite a few runs to figure out exactly what i was supposed to do there. It's okay to have soft jumps in a race, but you need to make sure that it's clear to the player that they must do that. Other than that, this was great.

Yungerkid:

Aesthetics: 5/10
Flow: 6/10
Theme: 3/10
Gameplay: 7/10

Total: 21/40

Overall a satisfying race, even if it did have a simple feel. The whole race had a glimmer, if mild, of creativity and originality in it, flow-wise. I particularly liked the thwump mechanic in the lower left. That's what I mean by creativity. The loop in the upper right is the opposite of it; it feels uninspired, even though it doesn't clash. The race was pleasing to play, and so my only suggestion is that you take it conceptually further. Make more fresh mechanics like the thwump one. A general rule of thumb is to have as little filler in a map as you can. Make every section an achievement and a creation in itself. And about the length - its length was ok, but not all of your races should be that short.

========================================
Weathered by TheNCreator

Destiny:

Flow: 4/10
Aesthetics: 3/10
Theme: 6/10
Gameplay: 4/10

Total: 17/40

You have an odd style, and I always think about it when I play your maps. You make some really smooth flow, but you use some tiles that I wouldn't expect to flow smoothly at all. It's odd. Anyways, that aside, you've done some nice sections connected by not-so-nice sections in this map. Your thing with the thwump was very clever, but I found that it was very difficult to time correctly due my inconsistent speed exiting the bottom right section. I'm not sure why, but if you jump late just there you don't make it to the platform, which really screws you over. Next time you need to get the player off of an E-snap wall, try using a '1' tile. At first I didn't really like using them in my races, but over time i've come to see that they're actually very smooth, despite their seeming jauntiness. Your tiles were relatively nice, and matched the theme rather nicely. However, you get low grades for your aesthetics because of your mine placement. They look really quite terrible. You should try and avoid placing them on tile corners.

===================================
Standing in the dockets of Hampton by Sunset

Destiny:

Flow: 7/10
Aesthetics: 9/10
Theme: 10/10
Gameplay: 6/10

Total: 32/40

This is amazing. You've revolutionised yourself since the start of this competition. Your flow was brilliant, and your aesthetics are pretty jaw-dropping. You've matched the theme perfectly and proven, at least to me, that your success in the last round was no fluke. I've put gameplay at a still-pretty-good 6, as the perpendicular jump at the end was totally out of the blue. I didn't have a clue that was what I was supposed to do at that point, and after getting the door switch the flow became a little unclear too. But apart from that, I think you might have iban running for his money pretty soon :P

====================================
The Lake by Tacit

Destiny:

Flow: 7/10
Aesthetics: 5/10
Theme: 5/10
Gameplay: 8/10

25/40

You've made some really great flow in this one. The massive drops and minefield create - if somewhat unoriginal - some fantastic gameplay. I think the next step for you as a mapmaker is to work on some more creative flow (try using thwumps and bounceblocks) and working on your map aesthetics some more. You're steadily improving, and I don't think it will be long before you're competing with the likes of koipen and sunset. Practice makes perfect, and goodness knows you're improving faster than I did.

=====================================
Spiked Inferno by im_bad_at_n

Destiny:

Flow: 8/10
Aesthetics: 8/10
Theme: 6/10
Gameplay: 5/10

Total: 27/40

Although you've got some really creative and unique flow in this race, the whole thing just feels too constrained. I enjoyed the open-air feel of your more recent map more than your usual claustrophobic minfields. If I were you, I would follow through with that. Also, the aesthetics for this map were brilliant, but they felt more explosiony than poinsonous - though I can see the poison a little, so i've still given you a pretty good score there.

=======================================
Feel Me Up, Octy by Godless

Destiny:

Flow: 5/10
Aesthetics: 7/10
Theme: 7/10
Gameplay: 5/10

Total: 22/40

You've got a very interesting style going on once again, and this time I'm not sure it's worked out for the best. Although what you've done with the launchpads is definately creative, and initially fun, I find it's not as enjoyable upon repeat playthroughs. There is also not all that much in the way of a threat to the player. Even if you make an easy race, it's good to place some harmless enemies (even if only mines) just to make the player feel like they're acomplishing something. Cool minimalistic spin on the theme though, I liked that a lot.

Yungerkid:

Aesthetics: 4/10
Flow: 1/10
Theme: 2/10
Gameplay: 3/10

Total: 10/40

Several people commented that the flow felt forced. I thought it was fine that the flow was forced. Flow is always forced in a race, in the same way that maneuvers (i.e. jumps etc) are forced in certain ways around action maps. I actually thought this map felt somewhat freeform in comparison to a lot of other race maps. The open space and airtime reduced the feel of always being guided by tiles, and the race was overall somewhat enjoyable because of it. The major downfall of the map is in its lack of polish and professional feel. It's fine for flow to be imprecise, but when it is it has to still have an element of design to it. There were many bumps in this map's flow, and I got the impression that almost all of them were not intentional. I never completed the last jump without dying, for instance. The top right turnaround is awkward. Instead of having a creative feel, the bump off of the tile at the beginning just feels tacky. What you want to go for is a more streamlined, perhaps even more controlled style of flow. Flow does not necessarily have to be controlled, but it's always a good first step to be able to make each individual section shoot precisely into the next one. Bunniesandsheep called it the "buttery" feel: a feel of remarkable unity and smoothness. Not every map has to have that buttery precision to it (I'm repeating this because I'm emphasizing a mechanical, and not a stylistic, issue), but there needs to be a defined plan and polish behind each section and transition. Part of this is ensuring that the map plays consistently or at least doesn't have too many unaccounted-for mistakes. The launchpad in the lower right just before the drone is an example of an unaccounted-for mistake. A map can be bumpy and still be refined; this map just didn't have that feel to it.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Overall Standings after round 3
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

For those interested, I've divided all your overall scores for round 1 by 2.25 to get the equivalent number of marks out of 40, which is the usual maximum marks per round. In all subsequent rounds the marks awarded here are just your average total score between all judges.

iban - 93
Koipen - 83
Sunset - 82
Tacit - 73
Godless - 68
DDRave - 44
Squibbles - 40
al_cair_raheakallen - 36
TheNCreator - 34
OutrightOJ - 28
TheBlackLion - 26
Ferox - 24

_________________________________________________________________________________
Round 4! (spoiler)

The theme for round four will be 'floating', and just to complicate things a little more, there must be at least 2 routes through your race. Higher marks will be given for more creative multi-pathing, as well as interesting takes on the (intentionally quite obscure) theme. Now that things are starting to heat up, I find myself doubly anticipating what you guys come up with!

Make sure that you tag your maps with projectrace4 and submit your maps by 26th Feb.

_________________________________________________________________________________
Round 4 results! (spoiler)

So none of the judges have submitted anything for this round, meaning you just have my own ratings to go off. Anyways, on with the results!

----------------------------------------------
Constant Motion by Koipen

Flow: 7/10
Aesthetics: 9/10
Theme: 4/10
Gameplay: 5/10

Total: 25/40

The flow for this was pretty clean and all, except for maybe one section where I always hit a thwump and fell of the route if I didn't slow myself down - however, it's all rather basic. You long ago mastered the art of smooth curvy tiles, and I think it's time you moved onto some more complex, inventive means of creating flow. The aesthetics for the map are pretty gorgeous - the tiles and objects look fantastic. They don't, however, match 'floating' particularly well. I've also punished you a little in the gameplay section because your multipaths share a lot of the same flow. In a way it didn't feel like two seperate paths, just one path with a tiny split at the end. Overall, however, a good race.

--------------------------------------------
Linear Partial Information by Tacit

Flow: 8/10
Aesthetics: 8/10
Theme: 6/10
Gameplay: 9/10

Total: 31/40

You've really excelled beyond your quality level from the rest of the competition with this race. You've created some beautiful flow that, although is nothing particularly complex on a piece-for-piece basis, is so well incorperated into all the routes through the map that it almost becomes a playground. Your tiles are stunning, and the replay value on the map is amazing. I had a whole lot of fun figuring out a way to get all of the gold without straying from a flow route, despite the number of tries it took me to pull it off. The theme seems a little more biological than 'floating' but I can see some element of the theme present. On the whole, a very good entry for Project Race and a fantastic map.

---------------------------------------------
Echoes by Sunset

Flow: 5/10
Aesthetics: 8/10
Theme: 6/10
Gameplay: 3/10
Total: 22/40

The flow you used here is nice, and I especially love the way you clip off the corner of the tile near the beginning of one of the routes. The tiles are really nice too, and I really see the 'floating' theme in this one. However, your paths are only two seperate paths for the first couple hundred frames of the race. This really drags back the gameplay element, as even after the two routes merge, there isn't long to go before reaching the finish. And, if you take the jump route at the beginning you even repeat half of the race over again. The way you've utilised multi-path is really the dragback of the map. Converging routes can be fantastic with some length behind them, but when done like this can create some pretty stale gameplay.

----------------------------------------------
Grace Descending by Lsudny

Flow: 4/10
Aesthetics: 5/10
Theme: 6/10
Gameplay: 3/10
Total: 18/40

I found several problems with this map, and a lot of them stem from the difference between how you play and how I play races. When I was doing the no jump route, I would jump so high from the ramp beneath the chaingun i'd get hit by a rocket. If I did the jump route I would go so fast that the laser would shoot me up in the top right corner. This meant that whichever route I took, I needed to slow myself down. After that there were a few moments where the flow is not that intuitive - such as the last big fall on the no jump route - I had no idea that I was supposed to land somewhere different than where I did the first time I did that drop. In the end I was just making up a route and dieing endlessly until I watched your demos. Your aesthetics are fairly decent, if nothing spectacular. All those massive drops and that great big empty space in the middle of the map did convey the 'floating' theme quite nicely, though I feel your aesthetics didn't really bolster that as maybe they should have. Overall a map just leaning somewhere above average - which is very good from somebody who has never made a race before :D

----------------------------------------------
It Needed A Fix'n by im_bad_at_n

Flow: 9/10
Aesthetics: 6/10
Theme: 3/10
Gameplay: 9/10
Total: 27/40

So I went back to your map and discovered where I went wrong, and found the correct paths through. They are fantastic. Really cleverly woven together to create a seamless blend. The idea of jumping or not jumping off of bounceblocks was fantastic - and very well excecuted (if a little confusing with the first bounceblock). The map doesn't look at that great, though, and the map feels far too mechanical for me to think of it as 'floating' thematically. But for sheer playability, this map is amazing. Great job.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Overall Standings after round 4
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

For those interested, I've divided all your overall scores for round 1 by 2.25 to get the equivalent number of marks out of 40, which is the usual maximum marks per round. In all subsequent rounds the marks awarded here are just your average total score between all judges.

iban - 120
Koipen - 108
Sunset - 104
Tacit - 104
Godless - 68
DDRave - 44
Squibbles - 40
al_cair_raheakallen - 36
TheNCreator - 34
OutrightOJ - 28
TheBlackLion - 26
Ferox - 24
Lsudney - 18

_________________________________________________________________________________
Round 5! (spoiler)

Alright, so you've created factories, swamps, and whatever the hell 'floating' was about. You've sweated and toiled your way through four whole rounds, and made it to round five. I am both excited and a little sad to announce that this will be the final round of Project: Race. It's been an exciting journey, with some very fruitful results I feel. I've witnessed some amazing development for some of you, and when I compare your round 3 or 4 entries with what you submitted for round 1, I find myself with this big cheesy grin.

So for the final round, I'm making the theme something interesting. Something that has been done on many occasions, and each time to a slightly different effect. Something that I've always seemed to enjoy, despite its relative simplicity.

The theme for round 5 is Vortex. Some of you may be confused by what that means, so here are a couple of examples:

Explosion by MARIJNENANDRIES.

Sprintile by Riobe

The idea is that the race operates in a circle. Both of these operate in a clockwise motion, but yours doesn't necassarily have to. But like a whirlpool, the flow must all revolve somehow around the center of the map.

Oh, and because the length of a lot of your entries has been annoying me, your race must have a minimum of 1000 frames length. Experimentation on my part has led me to the conclusion that 1200 frames is the ideal for a race. That's not too long, yet long enough to feel satisfying when you reach the finish. The closer you can get to 1200, the more points i'll give you for gameplay. If your race can be finished in less than 1000 frames, I'll declare it invalid for this round and you'll have to make another. For that reason, you should maybe aim at 1100 for a minimum just in case i'm faster than you :P

This round starts officially on the 3rd of March, making the deadline for your maps March 17th. Judging will be posted a week later, on the 24th.

Make sure that you tag your map with projectrace5 or you're very likely to be ignored.

Best of luck everybody!

_________________________________________________________________________________
Round 5 results (spoiler)

Round 5 results!

Destiny and I both contributed judging for this round, and we will both continue on as judges should this project continue.

---------------------------------------------
Vortex Unbroken by Koipen

Destiny:

Aesthetics: 8/10
Flow: 8/10
Theme: 7/10
Gameplay: 7/10
Total: 30/40

I really liked the flow in this one. The route was pleasantly interweaved with itself but I could still feel the 'vortex' coming through. The large drop down the middle was my personal favorite moment. I feel one rocket would have done the job in the middle, but there's not particular faults in anything here.

Yungerkid:

Aesthetics: 5/10
Flow: 5/10
Theme: 6/10
Gameplay: 7/10
Total: 23/40

I'll be succinct. This race was fun. It could use polish in a few areas. I think, though, that experience alone will best develop your style in the deficiencies this race demonstrated. In other words, it felt like a beginning race for a racemaker who hasn't fully solidified or developed his style yet. But I think you'll get there. I don't have any specific suggestions for improvement. The map was fun. That's all that counts, in the end.

---------------------------------------------
Made to wave the flag by Sunset

Destiny:

Aesthetics: 4/10
Flow: 7/10
Theme: 3/10
Gameplay: 5/10
Total: 19/40

I really like the introduction to this - those floorguards are great - and the flow throughout is fairly pleasant, minus the bump or two. However, the top rocket kills me a lot of the time, and what you've done with the middle of the map really breaks the vortex theme. I can feel vortex a little in the flow route, but visually it's just not there. Most of the flow feels a little tacky when played backwards too, which also detracts from the map. Where I usually love your messy aesthetics style, this time I feel your excecution of it was pretty ugly. I feel that flow-wise you're still up to stardards (at least until the double back) but the rest of the map is sub-standard for you.

Yungerkid:

Aesthetics: 5/10
Flow: 8/10
Theme: 7/10
Gameplay: 9/10
Total: 29/40

This race had a freeform, creative feel from the beginning. The beginning took me a while to figure out. But the whole race had a fresh feel to it, and was very satisfying. I appreciated the uniqueness of the flow; it immediately gave the race a distinctive style and atmosphere. I feel like the aesthetics could have been better, but they did contribute to the patriotic atmosphere. This is a well constructed race. Keep it up.

---------------------------------------------
Centrifuge by Tacit

Destiny:

Aesthetics: 8/10
Flow: 6/10
Theme: 1/10
Gameplay: 6/10
Total: 21/40

You've made a very good, if somewhat simple race here. There's nothing particularly wrong with it minus a bump or two in the flow, but there's also nothing vortexy about it either. To me this just feels like a regular, if visually attractive, race. Maybe try to be more distinctive with your flow and visuals.

Yungerkid:

Aesthetics: 3/10
Flow: 4/10
Theme: 1/10
Gameplay: 4/10
Total: 12/40

This felt as if you had attempted as best you could to copy da_man's old style. That's not entirely a bad thing, and the fact that you pulled it off decently is a good sign. But it lacked flair, of course, and it didn't grab me beyond the novelty of playing an old-style map. Try to go for more creative sections, such as the part around the jumppad, and how you reused the lower right. Those demonstrated some creativity. The initial trek from the right side of the map to the left, at the top, is what you want to avoid. It had nothing in it that I haven't seen before, and added nothing to the atmosphere of the map. I am glad to see the flow decently polished, although the tileset looks boring. Overall, you should try to go for more originality in your flow. Atmosphere and style will follow that naturally.

---------------------------------------------
Massive Galvanic by im_bad_at_N

Destiny:

Aesthetics: 6/10
Flow: 9/10
Theme: 6/10
Gameplay: 7/10
Total: 28/40

I really enjoyed this map. It's quite tempting to just give it 9 or 10's across the scales, but I figure I really ought to do this right. The flow is amazing, so i don't hesitate with my 9 there. The aesthetics are a little meh. Very square and busy, not the best work of art. Theme-wise you've nailed vortext when it comes to flow. Visually though, I think you've failed. Vortexes are all swirly and spiraly. Your map is like a steadily winding inwards square. It looks more like a fort than a vortex. Your gameplay is fantastic, though several people complained in comments saying that it was too hard. I personally didn't find it too difficult once I knew where to jump, but i've played this game for four years now and have a slightly biased answer :P Great race though, a joy to play.

Yungerkid:

Aesthetics: 4/10
Flow: 3/10
Theme: 6/10
Gameplay: 2/10
Total: 15/40

In order for a race to be fun, it must be rewarding. There was no reward in this map but going on to the next difficult-to-navigate section. When I died, I felt no wish to start over. In short, the map was not very user-friendly. There was no harmony whatsoever between any of the mechanics; as a result, it felt like a linear action map with no stops. Thus, there was no freedom or individuality to it. Try making a map where, for every frustration the user feels over a nonstandard bump in the flow, there is an equally refreshing point, right afterwards, of stylishness, creativity, or simplicity.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Overall standings after round 5
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

iban - 142
Koipen - 135
Sunset - 128
Tacit - 121
Godless - 68
DDRave - 44
Squibbles - 40
al_cair_raheakallen - 36
TheNCreator - 34
OutrightOJ - 28
TheBlackLion - 26
Ferox - 24
Lsudney - 18

_________________________________________________________________________________
Round 6! (spoiler)

Round 6!

It's time for Round 6! The theme for this round will be Outer Space. This can take whatever form you want it to - the tiles could be a planet, the race as a whole could have a martian or alien feel, you could have a bunch of launchpads and tiles at the bottom that represent space shuttle launch pads - whatever you can think of. The goal is to be creative and get your individual flow sections to synergize into a specific atmosphere that you come up with. The maps will be due on numa with the tag "projectrace6" on April 21st, and the judging will be done by April 28th. Thank y'all for keeping this going!

_________________________________________________________________________________


Round 6 results!

Destiny wasn't able to judge for this round, and ska backed out too. This round had some fun maps, I thought. Destiny also contributed a map for this round.

---------------------------------------------
Dark Sun by Tacit

Aesthetics: 5/10
Flow: 7/10
Theme: 2/10
Gameplay: 7/10
Total: 21/40

Clean enjoyable not-too-generic flow. I thought it was all predictable in a good way - I could tell how to react at any given moment, but I was always interested by what came next. The only thing that this lacks is polish - the mechanics were a bit bare. This reminded me of a door eerie. Door eeries can be unpredictable, but in the end they're just large series of doors that you unlock, and it limits itself. One of the ways you can improve, then, is to try to not use so many objects. The objects gave it a mechanical feel, and were a bit overwhelming, even if they were creative. The flow was technically sound though - it all fit together very well, and felt well made.


---------------------------------------------
Space Collision by im_bad_at_n

Aesthetics: 6/10
Flow: 7/10
Theme: 9/10
Gameplay: 7/10
Total: 29/40

Great to figure out. I loved the experimentation. There were rough spots technically - the two launchpads at the bottom didn't work unless I altered my route (and three launchpads used in quick succession feels tacky), and the chimney on the right is somewhat awkward. But the flow is creative overall, and I like how it interacts a bit, if only a bit, with the tileset on the top. I have no suggestions for improvement here - you'll get the polish eventually. That creativity and attention to atmosphere are all that matters, and you did those pretty well.


---------------------------------------------
MY MOON MY MAN by Apakenua

Aesthetics: 5/10
Flow: 6/10
Theme: 1/10
Gameplay: 7/10
Total: 19/40

Another overall interesting and rewarding race. While this wasn't perfect, it was satisfying, and I can't see anything to be improved about its style, except that the mines in lines behind the oneways look tacky. It didn't really fit the theme at all though. And it looked cluttered, with all the mines and gold and oneways all in one spot.


---------------------------------------------
Station Omega by Destiny

Aesthetics: 9/10
Flow: 10/10
Theme: 10/10
Gameplay: 9/10
Total: 38/40

The flow was all interesting, enjoyable, and fit the atmosphere. The tileset was used very well. This is a solid quality race.


---------------------------------------------
Wake me up, before ya go-go by Sunset

Aesthetics: 7/10
Flow: 8/10
Theme: 4/10
Gameplay: 8/10
Total: 27/40

Well made. I appreciated the minor challenges of figuring out where to go - it made the experience all the more interesting, because it was fun to try. You have a fairly unique style already, and I like your creativity.


---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Overall standings after round 5
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Sunset - 182
iban - 171
Tacit - 142
Koipen - 135
Godless - 68
DDRave - 44
Squibbles - 40
al_cair_raheakallen - 36
TheNCreator - 34
OutrightOJ - 28
TheBlackLion - 26
Ferox - 24
Apakenua - 19
Lsudny - 18

_________________________________________________________________________________


Round 6 will be the last round of Project Race. It was fun to play and judge all the maps, and I'm glad we were able to get some non-racemakers in this. Thanks to all who participated.

---------------------------------------------
Last edited by yungerkid on 2011.04.29 (23:49), edited 52 times in total.

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Postby OutrightOJ » 2010.11.22 (19:16)

Destiny wrote:gameplay in context of races is just the sum of the three previous points criteria
Revealed! :D
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Thanks to furry for this awesome sig. He likes birds, he does.
FIRST EVER COMIC STRIP! Using Paint. <3 <CLICK>

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Postby 大見解 » 2010.11.22 (20:24)

may i judge?

if i get declined, i will be a mapper.
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Thursday, March 5th, 2009, 9:22 PM - NReality Transcendence

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The Konami Number
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Postby Destiny » 2010.11.22 (22:41)

Daikenkai wrote:may i judge?

if i get declined, i will be a mapper.
On the grounds that you've been here some four years and played a large number of races, i'll say yes.
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Postby Godless » 2010.11.22 (22:48)

I'll participate. ^^
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Postby RandomDigits » 2010.11.23 (00:54)

This sounds cool
I am in.
Only as a competitor because I suck at races :p
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Postby lukesv » 2010.11.23 (02:36)

I would love to be in this. I am looking to improve my races and what better way then to be tutored by one of the best.

:)
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Postby Slayr » 2010.11.23 (02:54)

I shall participate in this semi-contest. I am terrible at making races.

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Postby ska » 2010.11.23 (05:18)

I'm happy to judge if you want; I think you know my credentials, but just in case:
First played and completed N in 2004
Highscorer and numa mapper since 2005 with strong focus on race and action/race hybrids.

Current Metanet Highscore stats:
268 Metanet Top 20s [Ranked 11th]
17 Metanet 0ths [Ranked 6th]

Please PM me if my help is required.

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Postby Destiny » 2010.11.23 (12:04)

I think you would be an excellent addition to the judging team, Ska ^^
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Postby ska » 2010.11.23 (12:42)

Destiny wrote:I think you would be an excellent addition to the judging team, Ska ^^
woo!

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Postby squibbles » 2010.11.23 (12:53)

I really want to help judge this, but I want to compete even more.

So...I guess I'll join as a participant. If you'll have me, that is.
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Postby Heartattack » 2010.11.23 (14:16)

After about a 15 minute internal debate, I have decided to join this. I haven't really mapped in the past, but I've always been good at offering advice, and I know a good map when I see one. I guess I should (finally) see just how good I am at doing instead of just judging.
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Postby Sunset » 2010.11.24 (01:00)

no actually I'm just saying 'IN'
Last edited by Sunset on 2010.11.26 (01:57), edited 1 time in total.

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Postby ENT474 » 2010.11.24 (04:57)

I can do this. I've never done a race (submitted it anyways). The file I save always corrupts :)
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Postby etdeshon » 2010.11.26 (10:32)

I would love to be a judge, if i may. :D
Last edited by etdeshon on 2010.11.26 (10:41), edited 1 time in total.

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Postby Destiny » 2010.11.26 (10:41)

You may judge. I think you're a little overqualified to be a contender here XD
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Postby etdeshon » 2010.11.26 (10:43)

Sweet! :D
Im not so sure about overqualified, i've just got a lot of brushing up to do :P
Been working on that a lot recently heh. Anyways, good luck to all the contestants and thanks for allowing me to judge!! :)

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Postby koipen » 2010.11.26 (13:51)

I'll join!

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Postby Destiny » 2010.11.26 (14:22)

koipen wrote:I'll join!
Okay... but you're really a long way above the skill level i'm trying to set this up for. I guess we'll see how it goes anyway.
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Postby The Black Lion » 2010.11.26 (19:54)

Wow, it's very nice to see some proffessional race mappers who will help the beginners. I think it's a great opportunity to improve my race mapping skills or learns about mapping in general. So... For sure i'm in! ^^
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Postby chocollama » 2010.11.26 (21:15)

damn, I suck at making and playing races...

i'm in.
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Postby etdeshon » 2010.11.27 (22:48)

Oh. I wouldn't mind helping where I can, if you want to use me, if im usable. :P
Also another idea, for the people that want to participate, maybe set up 2 skill levels? Maybe 2 winners instead of 1? Because we dont want people that have harnessed their talent for race making against people that are just starting you know? Just an idea :)

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Postby Destiny » 2010.11.29 (23:51)

etdeshon wrote:Oh. I wouldn't mind helping where I can, if you want to use me, if im usable. :P
Also another idea, for the people that want to participate, maybe set up 2 skill levels? Maybe 2 winners instead of 1? Because we dont want people that have harnessed their talent for race making against people that are just starting you know? Just an idea :)
If there are enough experienced race mappers in this then that sounds like a good idea. As it stands there simply aren't enough people to do that =/
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Postby etdeshon » 2010.11.30 (01:40)

Yeah, hopefully we'll get more experienced mappers...


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