I had this idea, 3 small mapping contests.

Mapping contest 1.
A small map starting with an elevator, but no portalgun.
You need to complete puzzles to get to the first Portalgun.
Winning map is placed in the Community Map Pack.

Mapping contest 2.
A small map starting with an elevator, but only the blue portalgun.
You need to complete puzzles with stationairy portals to get to the elevator.
Decided by the host of the Community Map Pack how many maps will win and get placed in the Community Map Pack.

Mapping contest 3.
A small map starting with an elevator, but only the blue portalgun.
You need to complete puzzles to get to the complete Portalgun.
Winning map is placed in the Community Map Pack.

The winning maps are placed in the Community Map Pack in that order.
This can bring something interresting into the community map pack, providing puzzles without the complete portal gun for the start.

Good idea?

We can also hold other tiny contests for other important parts of the map pack. Such as the escape into BTS area, wake up & introduction, companion cube map, attempt of executing the test subject.

Anything which we can't have mutliple times.
It might be time consuming but we will have quality parts troughout the pack.

I believe it should be kept simple, but incorperate each mapper's style/a signature puzzle piece, such as my fan flinging, or hurricane's... well, he's got a lot of stuff he could use. But you get the idea.

i think this is a good idea!
(mainly because i have an awesome idea for an ending part )

I like the idea of having contests to find the best maps for key moments in the map pack, it would let everyone have a chance to make their map one of the special ones

There could be one for...
-Escaping the test chambers for good (like chamber 19)
-Getting the portal gun (blue/orange)
-Wake up chamber (if mSleeper will let this one go to a contest, if however he wants to make it can really make the best map then they would win the contest right?)

although its a great idea. the only problem with this is i think sleeper wanted this to be like a "summer" project. you start 3 contests (unless they are running simultaneously) would take to long.

2-3 month constructing time msleeper notified not?

In 3 months time I could easily make the Blue and Orange portal gun puzzle along with my larger normal map. I bet I can even make an attempt at the intro. But I've got loads of time on my hands, unlike many people in the world. Sure, I got school. It's just that I don't need to do much for good grades.

I rather choose quality over quantity. Besides, the maps who didn't win can be used for personal projects, or smaller projects put together.
For example; Someone makes a Blue Portal gun puzzle, a Orange portal gun puzzle, an intro and someone makes an escape.

But they all didn't win, it might be a good idea for the mappers who didn't win to work together and create their own little map pack, as they already have the maps to do so, they only need to put it together.

Capitol idea, old... spice...

This look's like an excellent way to showcase everyone's mapping skill's and styles. I'm not much of a mapper, but I'll help out anyway I can.

I'm pretty sure I said I wanted to do the community project instead of doing contests so that everyone can get involved. And since all of the maps are going to start and end with an elevator, myself and whoever helps put the final product together can put them in the correct order of difficulty and with or without Portal gun.

However, you must watch that you don't get the portal gun in 3 chambers. Maybe it's best to give the two portalgun-part-receive-chambers to certain people, and let the others focus on chambers with no, one or two portals, but not receiving any upgrades or the gun itself.

Yet another reason why people have to provide their VMFs.

I know u said that msleeper... it's just one of my idea's, it's ofcourse up to you what you're going to do with it.