*** January2010 Challenge Voting - Up and Down the Scales ***

[Rythal]

Grats Djekspek, you got my vote. Props to Tear and Sap for being close contenders imo.

[arkor]

Some really good maps there. I especially like Djekspek's.

[Sapiento]

I went for industrygothica's map. It's is clean and has the same style as the base map, which was an important point for me.
But is was a hard choice. Djekspek's map for example is really beautiful, had there been a description or a legend, my vote had perhaps gone for this map. But so it is 'only' a very well drawn city. In my opinion some sort of legend is crucial to turn a picture into a map.

[Immolate]

Redrobes... your movies were teh awesome!!! I recommend giving yourself a 15% raise and a corner office. I think you've outperformed the rest of us!

Djekspek finally earned my vote with this, his mappiest of maps. I've always found his work to be fascinating and the rate of technical improvement is beyond belief. I really love it and I believe he really earned my vote this time. I didn't follow the WIP closely, or I could have offered some criticism, and that's my fault. One of the side effects of going back to school is that you have to sacrifice other things. One of those has been my level of participation on this forum, which I miss terribly.

Rep for all of you as I can and thank you for such a generous expenditure of your time to elevate and enrich the community, contestants.

[Redrobes]

We have a winner !!! Or three in fact.

Well done Djekspek your ISO style artwork is truly beautiful. And Sapiento and industrygothica are taking home a copy of my app too. Both of your maps were very well correlated with your reference maps. So let me know if you want an installer download or a CD box through the post. I will have to release a big download of Ansium and the as yet unnamed CWBP world with all the maps on including these new ones in VDale format so you guys can have a play with it.

Well done to everyone who entered and don't be disheartened by not winning. I thought some of the less well voted entries were worth more than their vote count suggests. Maybe we should round 1/5th the number of votes cast per person to nearest instead of rounding down and then it might have reflected that better. Getting scale right and making seamless maps is quite a difficult thing to do.

Now I have to go and see about getting Djek a gold challenge medal...

EDIT -- I have just realized... you joined Aug 09 took on the light challenge and won it then went onto the main challenge and won each of them in turn. Three in a row an unprecedented feat. You have 4 wins matching Rob and GPs 4 tho they have all gold ones but thats because as a gold winner you cant enter the light challenge. But all in succession - yikes ! It will be interesting to see what you achieve with your new toy !

[industrygothica]

We have a winner !!! Or three in fact.

Well done Djekspek your ISO style artwork is truly beautiful. And Sapiento and industrygothica are taking home a copy of my app too. Both of your maps were very well correlated with your reference maps. So let me know if you want an installer download or a CD box through the post. I will have to release a big download of Ansium and the as yet unnamed CWBP world with all the maps on including these new ones in VDale format so you guys can have a play with it.

Well done to everyone who entered and don't be disheartened by not winning. I thought some of the less well voted entries were worth more than their vote count suggests. Maybe we should round 1/5th the number of votes cast per person to nearest instead of rounding down and then it might have reflected that better. Getting scale right and making seamless maps is quite a difficult thing to do.

Now I have to go and see about getting Djek a gold challenge medal...

Thanks... I look forward to playing with ViewingDale. Personally I'd rather a boxed copy if it's cool with you. Should I just PM you the address?

Thanks again for sponsoring, it was a great challenge. And congrats to djekspek on his THIRD WIN IN A ROW!!

[Jaxilon]

Congrats to our three winners. Very good work. I was so uncertain of who to vote for that I actually procrastinated long enough that I missed the vote! LOL

I mean there was the gorgeous entry by Dj which basically blew out the stops.
Sap's, well, you couldn't find anything wrong with that and it made me want to play some post-apocalyptic rpg.
IG's also was spot on and looked cut from the same mold as the original. Nicely done.
Immolate's was a superb entry and fit perfectly into the map it was set for. The most perfect imo.
Plum's was a fantastic layout and the way he displayed it enhanced it even more. As far as buildings go I think you showed the right way to do it. I plan on stealing as much of that as I can.
Tear's entry was practically a perfect example and gorgeously colored in a way that indicated what was going in within the land. What's not to love on his entry?
Xyll's I thought was another excellent example of how to create a zoom in of an area and he actually had the 3 layers down which, while encouraged in the rules, most of us seemed to have missed. Congrats on going the extra mile and getting that right. To me your vid showed the full 3 levels better than anyone's.
Zar P's was another strong entry and definitely a worthy contender which if he's like me that's all he really needs..
As for mine, well, about all I can say is that while I'm happy with it, it's still not what I saw in my minds eye. I attribute that to my lack of skills/experience with the software and know how in mapping such a setting. I had never tried to create such an alive place as a market.That said, however, I spent enough time on this that I think I should have crushed you all, muahahahaha.

In the end, I am very happy for all the winners and look forward to the next time I enter a challenge. I learned a lot and I like that fact that the challenge creates a deadline that you can practice your skills against. Anyone who in interested in doing this for a real customer should jump in on these challenges. I think it's good practice. Heck, you could end up like Torstan and sell your entries before they even get to be voted on!

Also, when there is only 1 vote per person I think there is no shame in getting 0-1 votes because all it takes is one clear dominator to suck up all the votes. Dj, you vote hog! ROFL.

Congratulations guys! I think everyone did a fantastic job and the winners are all very well deserving.

There is one thing I am wondering about regarding my own entry. I think it would be cool if when I was done creating a map like this that it could be used in a VTT setting.....can anyone tell me what I can do better for this to be true? Maybe it's Apples and Oranges but it seems like it should work for more than just something nice to look at. I know that for a VTT it's probably better to have more detailed interiors to move around in, but if you wanted to use my map in a VTT and walk down the streets, would it work and if not, why? I'd rather create 2 birds with one stone...oh wait, that's the opposite of what you try to do, hehe. I think you know what I mean though.

About the only concern I had for this contest as it progressed was that I did not want others to come along and say, "Good grief, what was this guy thinking?", whenever they saw my entry. While I didn't care if I sucked it up and embarrassed myself I did not really want to look completely without a clue. Now that I've tried it, all I can say to those of you who are hesitating, (a2area) is to give it a shot. If you find that your idea failed utterly and is so atrocious that it should not be seen even in the light of day you can always withdraw. However, if you do go through with it, you would certainly be an inspiration for others who are unsure of themselves and you will most likely find that you learn a lot doing these challenges. Besides, a2area, I've seen your work and I'm pretty sure you don't have anything to worry about.

See you all in the next round because you only loose if you quit.

[Sapiento]

Congrats to djekspek and industrygothica! Fine maps, indeed.
I'd prefer a CD Box if possible, Redrobes. Shall I PM my adress?

[ravells]

Congrats Dj! another fantastic map!!!

[Djekspek]

wow! I really feel honored that again many liked my work. I stumbled around a lot on this one and was pretty frustrated and about to quit the challenge. I'm glad I stayed in as in the end I had loads of fun creating this and learned a lot during the process. I think all the etries were gems so all thanks for entering! Of course also gratz to Sapiento and IG on their new toy! Oh... and indeed I'll be playing around with the new toy myself (RR, thanks for sponsoring this challenge with your app, btw I prefer an installer download) cheers!