Today we're shining our community spotlight, not on a map, but a competition! We at ThinkingWithPortals.com are proud to present the Summer Mapping Initiative mapping contest!

Now, you may be asking yourself, "Nacimota, just how difficult is this competition? What was in that phonebook of a rules page I just read? Am I in danger?"

Let me answer those questions with a question: who wants to win an Ultimate Portal 2 Gift Pack and have their work spotlighted by Valve on the official Portal 2 Website? If you're interested in participating in this test then read on.

The competition will run from today (Tuesday the 24th of May) to 11:59PM EDT on the 6th of June at which point we will stop accepting submissions from test subjects. This is only two short weeks - there's no time to waste!

We're looking for clever and fun test chambers consistent with the themes in Portal 2 (which means no custom assets!). The top two winning maps will receive the grand prize of the Ultimate Portal 2 Gift Pack, as well as having their maps spotlighted on the official Portal 2 website.

If you haven't read the rules page we linked to above, I urge you to read it now. Thoroughly. Here's the link again, in case you missed it:

Thinking With Portals - Summer Mapping Initiative

Nacimota. We're done here.

Only two weeks to create a map aaaaaa

Is private testing allowed?

Motanum wrote:
This is on! This is sooo ON!

Is private testing allowed?

Yes.

kwp21 pitts wrote:
I got a question, what do you guys expect for length for a typical chamber and to what skill degree spacifically?

There's no real "typical" chamber length, and the difficulty can be as easy or as hard as you would like. There is no requirement for puzzle length or difficulty.

kwp21 pitts wrote:
Another question, is vpk allowed of not?

I would prefer if you simply uploaded the BSP and source VMF. Packaging in a VPK is nice for brownie points, but we are going to have to extract it anyway so this just makes our lives easier.

msleeper wrote:
kwp21 pitts wrote:

Another question, is vpk allowed of not?

I would prefer if you simply uploaded the BSP and source VMF. Packaging in a VPK is nice for brownie points, but we are going to have to extract it anyway so this just makes our lives easier.

Thank you this helps me to decide on what changes I need to make on my map in order for it to be eligible for the contest.

Is it strictly "no custom content", or is it just because people shouldn't waste time on that?

I'm not asking because I would want to make some custom models or textures. I know two weeks is not enough time for messing with that AND making a good map. What i'm interested in is some few custom overlays to be used as indicators and giving a player some clue if the puzzle is harder to explain with original overlays. Would that be considered as breaking the rule?

Sometimes it might be confusing to a player if you're trying to explain some new concept with the original icons.

In any case I'll be entering this contest as soon as I get some good ideas for a map

cheers

CraigChrist wrote:
What i'm interested in is some few custom overlays to be used as indicators and giving a player some clue if the puzzle is harder to explain with original overlays. Would that be considered as breaking the rule?

Yes.

Won't bother me all that much; will actually mean I have less to still figure out to get a decent entry in. :>

Wsterfury wrote:
It's safe to assume that custom chamber signs are also out of the question, then?

Correct. "No custom content" includes modified vscripts or new chamber sign materials. Sorry.

msleeper wrote:
No custom content, period end of story. Not even a single 5 line VMT.

Ok, good to know.. didn't even see the FAQ thread until now, sorry, I wouldn't spam with the question if I saw it earlier..