Terrain Maker Competition 2012

[[APS]Gnat]

Tend to agree. Having an upper limit on size mean terrains I like to do may not see the light of day, for this competition.
I could do a nice large desert terrain in 3 months ..... no problem

But ..... great initative. Thanks for the community injection all !

[.kju [PvPscene]]

You can still do large terrains - they just wont participate in this competition.
IMO it is a very good decision to limit the size.

[Mondkalb]

Don't forget about the chance of having the TKOH Lead Terraindesigner and the A3 Lead Designer providing some feedback about your submission.

[PuFu]

Really great initiative! Congratz are in order for all parts involved in putting together this sort of competition!
Best of luck to everyone!

snip

why do people like yourself feel the need to talk in other ppl name? Are YOU gonna take part in this competion? Does the upper limit limit your creativity in any way?

[Bushlurker]

As terrain-makers - we're not used to limits!
(well... OK... Visitor 3 itself has limits that constrain us... 4096x4096 is the upper limit, and it's probably not a good idea to go below 2 meter groundcells, but apart from that - no limits!)

This, of course, is why we have so many varied and excellent terrains in the community already, with many more promising ones in the pipeline...

In one way, Gnat is perfectly correct... his speciality is big, open terrains - sand, desert... playgrounds for his aircraft and shipping, and people love them for exactly that reason.
At the other end of the scale we have little gems like Prowler.Wolf's "Mana" or "Battle of the Bulge" terrains - the latter in particular... what size is that? 1km x 1km? - it's a little town, and that's just about it.... but aren't they just great?
In between we have yet more "Established Pro's" - terrain designers like Old Bear and Icebreakr, for example... they're keen Team Players, and their terrains reflect that... medium sized, with the accent on functional playability - that's probably why they're such all-round popular terrains!

Some of you may remember the "Community Awards" that ran for a few years in a row recently.... Remember the discussion, the arguments, the confusion over what constituted "Best Addon"? When Islands, Total Conversion Mods, script packages et al., were lumped together and "compared"??
It didn't work out very well...

I voted for JTD's "Startled Birds", personally, not even the "Fire & Smoke"... just the wee birdies.... quite possibly my favourite "addon" of all time ...
Other people voted for Ace2...

How can you compare the two?...

As the (English?) expression goes - "You can't compare Apples and Pears"...

So that's why there are limitations in this competition - it's an - artificial, but necessary - attempt to create a "Level Playing Field"...

What those limitations should be was the subject of much discussion when this competition was first discussed... discussion, and a small flurry of demo terrains, actually...
Some of you may have seen the little 2m & 4m ground cell terrains I "released" recently... that was me "thinking aloud with Visitor" while we were talking - trying to decide the upper, and possibly lower, limitations we should impose...

While we were still thinking and discussing the competition structure and rules, Mondkalb wandered off to harass BIS for prizes ... he returned, clutching token copies of TKOH, and trailing a line of "interested BIS / BISim staff members" in his wake... very interested staff members!
Though this is still 100% an "unofficial" Community-organised competition, the Judging Team soon became roughly 50:50 Community and BIS / BISim staff - professional Mission designers, Terrain designers - possibly even Lord Ivan the Mighty himself!

Speaking purely to the established community terrain guys here....
If you ever wanted a chance to present a 'showcase' terrain to show off your 'make terrains to order' skills, then this is that opportunity!
This isn't a "maybe BIS will notice my terrain" situation - some of their Top Guns will - unpaid and in their own time - sit down and carefully assess your work - at a professional level... and provide feedback!
With a max size limitation of 4-5km, any of you Pro guys could put together an impressive little "showcase terrain" in a few weeks - you know you could!
Whether you can be bothered, or want to of course, is up to you...
TKOH as a prize?... hmmm...
The kudos of "Best Terrain Maker" as judged by both Community and BIS themselves?.... hmmm... that's something else....

So where does that leave the New Guys? Isn't this a "Newbies" competition?....

Primarily, yes... hence the spread of prizes...
Fostering new talent in the Community is one of the things we do here - very well most of the time... It's why we patiently answer questions in the Forums, on Skype, via PM... it's all part of what makes the Arma Community unique...

The size limitation plays a part here too... we've all bitten of terrains bigger than we could chew sometimes - except for Gnat, maybe - the last thing we want to encourage is for absolute beginners to get bogged down in 10x10km, or even 20x20km terrains on their first go... so many people get discouraged and drop out.
5x5km or less is an achievable size to aim for with a first go at terrain making... With the time allowed for the competition, even a beginner should be able to produce a reasonable attempt...

Remember - Newbies will be judged both together and separately from the more established guys - you don't have to "beat" Icebreakr or Old Bear to "win", or to prove you have talent... those guys have made terrains before - you haven't - that will be taken into account.....

So... I guess that's the bottom line... it's primarily a competition to encourage new talent, whilst not excluding the more established guys who feel like having a go...

It's NOT simply a no-holds-barred "Best Community Terrain of 2012" competition along the lines of the usual "Community Awards"...

We know that this is a bit of a Major Bummer for some people....
Martin's "Tavania" for example - a long time in the pipeline and some astonishing and unique stuff happening there!
Bracer's "Emita City" - shaping up really well... very promising!
Icebreakr has a new project in the pipeline - eagerly awaited as always...
Minimalaco & Robster have recently emerged as Major Players on the terrain front with their excellent "Clafghan Map"...
And - have you seen Old Bears "Tigeria"!!!!! Brilliant!!!

It is a shame to exclude such Major Projects, of course... but the whole idea is to create a "Level Playing Field" whereby the terrains submitted are all basically directly comparable...

Perhaps, on reflection, a better title for this endeavour would be...

The 2012 Terrain Makers Challenge

The challenge is - to make a small "environment" of your choice - "geospecific" or "geotypical" as you prefer, with the accent more on terrain-making rather than model-making, and with several months to put it together...

Not a tall order for an experienced guy, but more than enough for a newbie to cope with...

Artificial constraints, we know - but necessary for the purposes of the competition...


B

[askingmachine]

why do people like yourself feel the need to talk in other ppl name? Are YOU gonna take part in this competion? Does the upper limit limit your creativity in any way?

It seems I need to quote myself now..

I'm making a new island (as a noobie) and it's 8km^2, so I'm automaticly out of the competition? Why is that?
Makes me sad

Of course I'm a bit bitter to be left out, but I guess the most important thing is just to enjoy making terrains, so it's ok to be left out. Would just been nice to have some official sounding guy check out my project (which is too big for the competition).
Not need to be angry, dude.

[Max Power]

Why not start a terrain with the proper contest dimensions? No one is leaving you out. You have four months remaining.

[W0lle]

Would just been nice to have some official sounding guy check out your project. Not need to be angry, dude.

There are BI employees part of the Jury as said above, I make sure the Jury does not know who submitted which terrain to prevent any stupid accusations after the contest is closed.

How much more official you want it?

[PuFu]

what max said...^^

[askingmachine]

Why not start a terrain with the proper contest dimensions? No one is leaving you out. You have four months remaining.

Well I feel it's more important to create an island precisely as the creator visualizes it and not to limit it with rules as the end result and the joy of playing is the only what matters in the end. That's why I'll just step aside.
Thanks anyway, this is a great change for many to prove their skills.

There are BI employees part of the Jury as said above, I make sure the Jury does not know who submitted which terrain to prevent any stupid accusations after the contest is closed.

How much more official you want it?

agh... sorry my bad language & expression skills. I meant it would have been nice if somebody would have take a look into my island too (which is too big for this competition). Not saying anything like this isn't official or smthing...

My rule suggestion were just suggestion. I had no purpose to irritate anybody. Sorry.