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PTC02 - Pretty Town Contest Winners 2002
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| Author |
File Description |
| Thunder |
Posted on 07/06/02 @ 12:00 AM
| File Details |
|---|
| Version: |
The Conquerors 1.0c |
| Style: |
Other |
A collection of six individual scenarios that make up the winner, runner-up, and four honourable mentions from the 2002 AOKH Pretty Town Contest.
Winner
Adenburg Captial - by Cknchaos
Just an amazing city that spans a mainland area as well as a few islands. The tour is extensive and this entry struck both judges as very well crafted.
Buildings: 9/10 - 9/10
Terrain: 9/10 - 9/10
Total = 36
Runner-up
Meron Taul - by Dark_Warrior_1_
This town is also so large that it spans several islands, and is divided into sections by walls as well. Each island has a separate look and feel to it, which kept things fresh.
Buildings: 8/10 - 8/10
Terrain: 10/10 - 9/10
Total = 35
Honourable Mentions
Here we have a strong group of contenders for top spot. For the most part, their unique look and design strongly appalled to one judge, but not both. As far as contests go, this is probably the best group of entries not to walk away with prizes.
~Dragonfly~ - by Anastasia of Tsunami Studios
A fantastic Japanese themed town with a lush green look to it. Perhaps an example of "less is more"? Open green areas are left untouched by any sort of eye candy giving it a groomed appearance.
Buildings: 9/10 - 7/10
Terrain: 10/10 - 8/10
Total = 34
City of Actium - by magna gb
An enormous city that spans both sides of a river. There is lots going on in this town, a bustling place to explore.
Buildings: 7/10 - 10/10
Terrain: 8/10 - 9/10
Total = 34
Avaris - by Lighthouse Creations
A stunning kingdom with many wonderful monuments to behold. Outside the city, a less wondrous scene and more realistic life of the lower class.
Buildings: 8/10 - 8/10
Terrain: 9/10 - 8/10
Total = 33
Two Flower Tours the Discworld - by BrandNewCar and Quazitory
A town that is unveiled by land and sea. A lovely winter landscape and a unique place to explore.
Buildings: 9/10 - 7/10
Terrain: 9/10 - 8/10
Total = 33 |
| Author | Comments & Reviews ( All | Comments Only | Reviews Only ) |
|---|
JackalRat
(id: BrandNewCar)
Official Reviewer |
Posted on 07/07/02 @ 12:00 AM |
| CheeZy_monkey0 |
Posted on 07/07/02 @ 12:00 AM
I however think that Dragon Fly by Anastasia and Two Flower Tours the Discworld by BrandNewCar and Quazitory were by far the best. Two Flower Tours was a nice snow town, fit for a postcard, while anastasia's was very open and spacious, not to mention waves, yes thats right, waves, they look really sweet :)
Congradulations to all |
AnastasiaKafka
Official Reviewer |
Posted on 07/08/02 @ 12:00 AM
Thankyou, I'm glad you like mine best, but I knew early on from feedback I received, that it was a love or leave design. So I was not surprised by the difference between the two Judges. We had only to have them experience our maps through a scoring method as being 'breathtakingly' better or best. With all six contestants designing with that in mind, it must have made the judging difficult to say the least. I am satisfied with the results and am looking forward to another contest where I promise to make their job easier. ;)
Yes, the spacious or "less is more" as Thunder put it was the method of my madness. That feature was intended for the most part as I attempted to realize Japanese design techniques into an AoK design. I also design scenarios from a historical standpoint, therefore I tend to go for a realistic representation, and so I try to include time, distance, geography, and historical aspects. The dug out dirt roads and the ornamental trees are all common to seventeenth century Japan. Himeji, is a classic Japanese Castle Town with the outstanding feature being that there are no surrounding walls, and the remarkable defenses they devised instead. The choice to use the 'Seafoam' from my Tsuniversity Article, was also a risk, as ANZ's Shoreless Water does not allow for blending with the other waters. So that added to a more stark appearance. All of that and in the end I ran out of time.
For designers who are looking to use ANZ's shoreless to make 'waves', which by the way I copied out of your CheezyMonkeyO eye candy template, there is a small new feature in the design, as I was able to introduce Gaia shorefish into 'Shoreless Water.'
Anastasia
Tsunami Studios |
Possidon
Official Reviewer |
Posted on 06/17/21 @ 05:24 AM
The six scenarios are as follows:
1st Place: Adenburg Captial - by Cknchaos
2nd Place: Meron Taul - by Dark_Warrior_1_
3rd Place: Dragonfly - by AnastasiaKafka
4th Place: City of Actium - by magna gb
5th Place: Avaris - by Lighthouse Creations
6th Place: Two Flower Tours the Discworld - by BrandNewCar and Quazitory
Playability: 5
All six of these scenario are thoroughly enjoyable. Each scenario is a city tour of a large city designed to be the most beautiful as possible. The tours a well guided and there is much to see and admire in these designs. Dialogue is also used really well as well to create some interactive atmosphere. It’s important to note that these scenarios were designed in AOKs earliest years. Whilst these scenarios can look a bit bland and boring compared to today's standards of map design, it is important to note that many of the skills and tools that we take for granted today (such as UserPatch's off-grid placement and effects, Trigger Studio, etc) were not available at this time. These are fantastic showcases of what can be achieved with the vanilla editor.
Balance: 5
Not applicable as there is not fighting or cinematic elements to this scenario.
Creativity: 4
As previously stated, these scenarios are as vanilla as its possible to make. These were created years before the advancements in map design that we take for granted today. No Trigger Studio, no UserPatch, No data editing. Therefore everything you see in each of these scenarios is pure vanilla scenario editing. Each of these scenarios are beuaitufllyp crafted, and showcase some incredible map design. There is much detail in these cities, however, even for 2003, I didn’t find too much creativity in some of these scenarios. Some of the scenarios could have more atmosphere by tasking units to move around more, and there could have been a wider use of text and dialogue in areas. That being said I love the diversity in display across these six scenarios. You’ve got a really nice mix of different styles, from Discworld’s wintery landscape to Dragonfly’s minimalist oriental style, all the way along to Actium’s busy mashup of wonders and buildings to create a massive busy city. There are some things in display that would have been quite novel at the time, such as the waves shown in Dragonfly and the stone sea walls in Avaris.
Map Design: 4
The map design in these six scenarios can be a bit hit-or-miss. Some of the scenarios are exceptional and I absolutely loved, whilst a couple of them were actually pretty bland and underwhelming. My personal favourites were Dragonfly, Adenburg and Discworld. I really enjoyed some of the designs on display and they utilised some incredible use of terrains and eye-candy objects to create some realistic looking worlds. Adenburg Capital is clearly a highlight of this pack with is ginormous realistic city, complete with the farmlands and economy its needs to shrives, it military area needed to defend itself and the residential areas for its citizens to live in. Dragonfly utilises some beautiful landscapes to explore between the different villages, although there could have been a bit more terrain mixing in areas. All of the maps showcase some lovely building layouts and eye-candy elements, especially in the use of trees, rocks and flowers, although in some maps these are a little overused. I found Actium and Avaris to be my least favourite of the scenarios in this pack as I found them to be a little underwhelming in comparison to the others. Actium especially had to many wonders for my personal taste and the placement of the buildings just seemed very random. The mix of architecture sets were really strange as well. Avaris fared better and had some nice ideas but also had some weird areas such as the blend of desert and palm trees right next to a temperate oak and grassy landscape. Discworld was the only scenario to tackle a wintry climate and did this very well. It had the best use of terrain mixing compared to the others and also had a more realistic building layout. Finally we come to Meron Taul which was another highlight. The city as a whole was wonderfully crafted with excellent use of elevation and nice building layout as well. There was a bit too much vegetation for a walled city however. Overall as a whole these six scenario showcase some impressive designs and as an average I think these deserve a pretty decent score.
Story/Instructions: 4
Unlike modern PTC contest, stories were not judged as a part of the entry and therefore for most of these scenario no such thing was included. Each scenario has its own personal tour guide which guides the player through the city nicely and these were done well. The use of dialogue helped create an atmosphere and there are some nicely written history sections for a couple of the scenarios too to add to the background.
Additional Comments:
If you compare these six scenarios to modern day Pretty Town Contest entries then you will be completely underwhelmed. However if you look at them as an example of what can be done with pure vanilla scenario editing and examples of some of AOK’s earliest showcase scenarios then these are highly worth checking out. It’s a great way to see just how far we’ve come in terms of map design over the last two decades.
Possidon |
HGDL v0.8.2 |
| Rating |
|---|
| 4.4 | | Breakdown |
|---|
| Playability | 5.0 | | Balance | 5.0 | | Creativity | 4.0 | | Map Design | 4.0 | | Story/Instructions | 4.0 |
| Statistics |
| Downloads: | 2,634 |
| Favorites: [] | 1 |
| Size: | 553.69 KB |
| Added: | 07/06/02 |
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