Here we are forgers; at the close once more. There are always many different feelings as a contest wraps up. Some feel joy knowing they tried their hardest. Others feel excited; waiting for the results below. Some even feel completely frustrated when their entire, near-finished article is lost because Firefox crashes. In the end though, we are always left with excellent maps to have excellent custom games with.
Before we get into the results section of this article I just want to say two things. First, I would like to thank all of you on behalf of the staff for making this one of the most successful contests Forge Hub has ever held. I have been a part of judging for every major contest since I was first promoted back in January of 2009 and I can honestly say that it has never been so difficult to declare a definitive winner. Even contests with nearly 100 entries did not have this tight of competition. So thank you community for pouring your heart and soul into these maps and giving us some awesome infection this All Hallow's Eve.
Secondly, I would just like to let you all know that later this week I will post a topic in Forge Discussion giving a bit of feedback on all of the maps which did not place. My original intention was to have it at the bottom of this thread, however due to certain crashes and a lack of time I was not able to re-write it. I do feel that all of your maps were exceptional and that you should know exactly why your map was held back from the top four. Thanks for being patient guys. So, without further delay: the results.
4th Mortal Coil by DavidJCobb
DavidJCobb's Mortal Coil is a wonderful mix of grassy, natural terrain with impeccably forged circle structures. The map allows for a smooth flow throughout by both zombie and human alike in a play space that doesn't just feel as if it was randomly thrown together. While initially the gameplay felt more balanced and evenly spread throughout the map as the rounds went on players began to heavily gravitate toward the backside cliff area. This causes some stale gameplay on both sides of the field.
3rd Pandora's Fear by Elliot
Pandora's Fear is yet another map in this contest that does a wonderful job of melding together a perfect balance of natural and man-made terrains. The map employs a teleporter system which allows zombies to charge humans from all angles, including from behind their initial spawn. This, in conjunction with the varied geometry that allows for multiple play styles to be successful, creates a diverse map which never plays the same way twice. Unfortunately, a game breaking map escape held this map back from taking a higher place in the results.
2nd Parallex by Rorak Kuroda & nibbles
This map is honestly one of the coolest play "spaces" I've ever had the pleasure of playing Infection on. Kuroda and Nibs have done their absolute best to create one of the most convincing abandoned space stations (a la Dead Space) in Halo Reach. That, however, is just the aesthetics and this map certainly didn't make it to the number 2 spot on aesthetics alone. Besides looking great, the map is also a pretty near bona fide competitive map, or at least the attention and care was equally paid to making great geometry that stands out in the infection scene and I didn't even get to mention the stand-out atmosphere at all. I promise you, this was the tightest race between first and second that we have ever had. However, due to a bit of frame rate and a tiny camping issue, another map edged Parallex out of the top spot.
And that map is...
1st Haunted Coast by ThrowinDemBows
If you know Bows, you know he cares about his maps. That's why Haunted Coast was the most painstakingly created map in the entire contest. Every rock placed is placed there for reason. There is no overuse of pieces for senseless aesthetics that conflict with map movement. There is no frame rate that causes a player to miss the headshot and lose their life. There is no camp spot that cannot be overcome. This map is so nearly flawless that it creates one of the most solid, unflinching gameplay experiences known to infection. All this is ignoring the fact that one wouldn't even realize that map was built in forge due to it looking beyond great. Also, props for the best loadout camera ever, Bows. If those cartographer guys don't toss this in their playlist they're crazy. Congratulations Bows, you deserve this.
Watch Your Back
So for the second Halloween we close Hub of the Dead with a new sampling of Infection for everyone to continue enjoying. I hope everyone one involved in the contest enjoyed it as much as we did and we hope to see you all out for our November contest (details will be released this week). So enjoy your new infections maps and try not to die...too much.
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