Official Level Design Contest

The Official Level Design Contest was a mapping contest held bimonthly on the SRB2 Message Board. It is currently on indefinite hiatus. The objective is for people to make their own unique maps in any of the three most important gametypes over the course of the two months and then vote on the submitted maps and declare a winner for every division. Due to its high exposure in the SRB2 community, it is one of the most effective ways for users to get feedback on their maps.

For more info, see the Official Level Design Contest Rules topic.

Format

Submissions

The contest has three divisions, one for each of the following gametypes: Match, Capture the Flag and Single Player. Maps entered in a contest may support other gametypes, but they shall only be judged in the one they were entered in.

The Multiplayer divisions (Match and Capture the Flag) don't allow the authors to use any additional resources (such as music, textures, sprites, SOCs) outside of what is provided in SRB2's core WADs. This is because all multiplayer submissions are combined into one single file, with the Match maps at the MAPMx slots and the CTF maps at MAPFx.

On the other hand, the Single Player division allows the author to add custom graphics, music or other lumps to their map. Also, it will not have its WADs merged into a single file: they will be presented for judging as they were entered, compiled in a ZIP archive. Maps entered into this category must be at the map slot MAP01, or load to the stage when a new game is started, to be eligible.

To submit a map, one must have an account on the Message Board. A topic must be created for the submission in the Contest Submissions subforum, with the name of the level in the subject line as well as a prefix designating which division the map is entered into. The topic must include the names of all collaborators, the map number and a ZIP or RAR attachment containing the map, or a link if the file is too big for the attachment system. The file must be hosted on a private webspace, files from file hosting services are ignored.

To be qualified for voting, a map may not have been publicly released before and must be the author's own work. It may also not be heavily based on any previously released maps. Maps that are unplayable in the gametype they were submitted in or intentionally bad are rejected. Due to a rule placed into effect for May/June 2008 and all later contests, authors cannot may only enter one map per division. Collaborations are allowed, and the same person can be involved in multiple maps, but there cannot be multiple maps made by the same group of people.

Judging

Judging consists of voting in a topic on SRB2 Message Board, and will last for two full weeks after the submission period. Any forum member can participate in the judging: They will play the maps in the intended gametype, rank the maps of each division in order of preference, from best to worst, and, if they want to, provide detailed feedback to the author. For a vote to count, all maps of the respective division must be included and there may be no ties. To encourage voting, users who have submitted a map to the contest are expected and encouraged to place their own map on top of its division, whether or not they actually think it's the best map. Multiplayer maps have to be played in the gametype they were entered in, and must be played in a netgame with real opponents.

Once the voting period is over, the votes are tallied. For each vote, the map in first place receives n-1 points, where n is the number of maps in the division. The map in second place receives n-2 points, the map in third place receives n-3 points, and so forth until the map in last place, which receives zero points. All votes are then added together to form the score for each map, and the map with the highest score wins the division. Should there be a tie, the votes are calculated again with only the tied maps included. If this still fails to break the tie, the tie stands and both maps are winners.

Until the May/June 2012 contest, votes were cast by giving each map a score between 0 and 10, no decimals; zero being the lowest and 10 being the highest. Entrants could not vote on their own map, but if they voted for all other maps in their division, the lowest score for their map was dropped in the final tally. Once the voting period was over, the votes were tallied by calculating the average score for each map. The map with the highest average won its division.

Awards

Every contest is registered here for historical purposes with a list of the entries and their scores. Winners are highlighted and screenshots of their maps are presented next to the list of entries. On the SRB2 Message Board, winners will receive a "Contest Winner" user title, and, unless they are forum staff, will be given a golden username. This will last up and until the next contest winners are decided.

List of Contests

Disqualified entries are not counted in the number of maps.

Period	Number of Maps
2003
September	5
November	10
December	3
2004
January	7
February	3
December	23
2005
January	13
March/April	6
May/June	17
July/August	12
September/October	11
November/December	14
2006
January/February	13
March/April	27
May/June	32
July/August	29
September-December	14
2007
January/February	26
March/April	21
May/June	16
July/August	11
September/October	15
November/December	17
2008
January/February	16
March/April	11
May/June	11
July/August	15
September/October	23
November/December	20
2009
January/February	13
March/April	17
May/June	16
September/October	20
November/December	34
2010
January/February	23
March/April	24
May/June	17
July/August	20
September/October	9
November/December	17
2011
January/February	16
March/April	12
May/June	16
July/August	17
September/October	10
November/December	18
2012
January/February	8
March/April	5
May/June	10
November/December	14