Wad-in-a-Week

A few problems with this newdoom Wad-in-a-Week thing-

I know they said you could change the textures but Im not sure if they ment flats as well.

They also didnt mention if you could remove those sprites they put in there. (Player Start sprite specificaly.)

And Im not sure if I can extend the original secotrs they put in there. (using sector merging). Any Ideas?

You CAN change also the flats, I know/think! You can remove the Start Positions/Things I know/hope!

This is the reason I'm not participating in the contest. Unclear rules, no guidelines to speak of, and a base map with severe enough errors to crash some ports/editors.

Stphrz said:

This is the reason I'm not participating in the contest. Unclear rules, no guidelines to speak of, and a base map with severe enough errors to crash some ports/editors.

I did email you earlier explaing the problems you mentioned and that it was fine to fix them your self. These have no been fixed and there is a new basemap.zip to download. As for the rules which bit was not clear to you? I would not like to think of other people having the same problem maybe you could mention them and I will make the adjustments. It will be a shame though that you have decided not to enter.

Stphrz said:

This is the reason I'm not participating in the contest. Unclear rules, no guidelines to speak of, and a base map with severe enough errors to crash some ports/editors.

1) Levels should be compatible with Boom\ZDoom, Legacy, EDGE or JDoom. Note: You must specify which port your wad is designed for when you submit it! We'll toss it from consideration if you don't do this.
2) The Basemap rooms cannot have their outer shapes changed. You may add supports or doors, and the floor ceiling heights may also be changed. Textures \Flats \ sprites \ ceilings and light levels may be changed.
3) If there are any features in a room already, for instance doors or skylights, they cannot be removed.
4) You may use any new textures \ Flats \ sounds \ sprites that you wish.
5) You can enter as many maps as you like, as long as they are not of the same type. For instance, you can enter a Singlelayer map, but you cannot take out the monsters and also enter it as a Deathmatch level. You may enter a Deathmatch level, but make sure you have started over again with the provided Basemap from scratch.
6) Now, provided you've followed all of the above sticklers, here's a restriction of particular importance. This one is to keep you on your toes, so pay special attention, otherwise your map will not qualify: There must be some sort of a reference to New Doom within your wad, either literal or otherwise. Do we mean the site or the game? We're not going to say. It can be a texture or constructed from sectors, sounds; once again, you name it, we'll leave it up to you how you do it. Creativity counts!
7) All levels must be in by the finishing time. Any after the set time will not be considered.
8) There is a linedefine tag for a transporter that shows up as an error it is not an error and it is up to you to decide where that transporter takes you.

faceuk said:

I did email you earlier explaing the problems you mentioned and that it was fine to fix them your self. These have no been fixed and there is a new basemap.zip to download. As for the rules which bit was not clear to you? I would not like to think of other people having the same problem maybe you could mention them and I will make the adjustments. It will be a shame though that you have decided not to enter.

Problem #1 - 1 week time limit. Severly restricts the QUALITY potential of the entries. Also deciding to hold the contest at a busy time of the year (Christmas shopping! Increased work hours, etc etc) combined with a mere 1 week time limit. 1 week is not enough.

Problem #2 - The source ports you listed for compatiblilty differ greatly in their features and capabilities. Edge for example has 3D capablilites the other ports do not. This makes for an uneven playing field.

Problem #3 - related to #1 and #2. What kind of releasable byproduct can come of this contest? Individual wads each with their own source port requirements kind of throws out the possibilty of some sort of cohesive package that can be played by a majority of Doomers.

Problem #4 - still unclear on some things. eg can lindef properties be changed? Does the teleporter have to be used or can it's floor be lowered, flat changed and simply ignored?

Problem #5 - Why a basemap at all? I know of about half a dozen methods to dispose of it completely all within the rules you have given for the contest. For example skylights can be removed effectivly by changing the ceiling texture and lowering the ceiling height (light levels, flats, ceiling and floor heights can all be changed remember?) The player start can be moved (or can it?). Just make a map away from the basemap areas and don't use them at all. There are no rules against this as far as I can see. I could go on...

The rules are very unclear, and I myself in just 10 minutes thought of a dozen unexplained things, and many ways to bend the rules. I think if the rules were a lot more clearer id know my limits and id have more confidence in what i was doing. I already made a map , looking absolutely nothing like the base map, therfore killing the need for the thing altogether. Perhaps if there were more secotrs.. i dont know. I dont think it matters now though, seeing as my map already has many bugs (and somehow i deleted two of the base map sectors, hehe.)
I didnt get the teleporter linedef thing, I didnt notice anything, but im using doomcad so...

Actualy, as of now my wads looking so good that unless there's a pretty nifty prize I dont think ill submit it, I mean, like a new graphics card or something. Just dont hand out gift certificates or anything...

Stphrz said:

The idea for the Base map was tairns idea. We put up a thread on the forum asking people for there ideas and took the core of there ideas and came up with wad in a week. when we anounced the idea people could then start making there maps straight away this meant they had about 3-4 weeks to make there map.so to stop them from doing that if they had to use a base map then they would have to wait until that map was released to start.

Problem #1 - The idea for wad in a week is that you have a week to do the best map possible. everyone is in the same boat so quality will be relative.

Problem #2 - Just because someone has done 3d floors dose not mean it is any better than one without. And legacy also has 3d floors albeit in beta format. I have seen pics though on keslers page of 3d floors using legacy.

Problem #3 - Hadn't thought about it at all. But we could always release them as single maps.

Problem #4 - The lindefines cannot be changed. It says in the rules: 3) If there are any features in a room already, for instance doors or skylights, they cannot be removed.
This includes teleporters.

Problem #5 - I have explained most of this at the top of this post. but as for instance skylights they cannot be taken out. What I mean is if you were building your map and you came up to a basemap room that was lower than your room you could pick it up to that level. But the room itself must stay the same shape and still contain that skylight.
Also if the map changes so it looks nothing like the base map thats fine as long as it is in there. We can take the original basemap and impose it over the top to check it is in there.

If you lowered the teleport sector's height and changed its floor texture you would remove the teleport's appearance altogether without touching a linedef.