1) Ballistic : by far my favorite, I think this really fits the title at perfection… A long road, with numerous obstacles, enemies, and at the end a “boss” fight against 3 snipers, and also some entertaining mecanisms.

2) Ep2-X13 : nearly toe-to-toe with Ballistic, some good sniper areas, Combine, zombies… Fun from beginning to the end. Each sniper was a different challenge.

3) DW44 : Adding a story to a map competition is not easy, however this modder do it. I really like the “big” map and the cool effects of everything getting blown up, however the snipers were just a challenge “added”, not the center of the attention… I was a bit confused, also, with the big part, at the beginning… Too many enemies and it was too dark. But fun overall.

4) NovaSniping : The challenge (getting rid of snipers, with whatever you have at hand and sometimes not killing them), was a real brainstorming. I found that however sometimes very frustrating… Re-lauching the grenades for the first was really a combination of BIG luck and dexterity (numerous re-loads…), the second took me nearly an hour (I was completly lost, and this guy kept killing me…), the third one was surprisingly easy…
A good challenge, but it get on my nerves…

5) SuperAwesome Sniper Area : good ambiance, good effects, but I found that too difficult… Also, I couldn’t kill the sniper one, so I don’t have finished the map yet…

6) City : too short, too easy.. Too bad!

7) Tunnel.

Ep2-X13 was, for me, the best.

NovaSniper was a close second, but I had to run through it in god mode first (after dying at least 5 times) to see how to play it. The second time through, I finished it (after dying at least 10 times) with 20 whole health at the end.

Ballistic was perhaps the most fun. While it’s probably not realistic to have 3 snipers right next to each other covering pretty much a single entry point, that made it more challenging.

DW44 – the first sniper was the best part of this. I had lag in the main chamber, but finished in spite of it.

Tunnel was interesting.

City was too short. There were some texture problems (when I got right next to a door, I think, I saw a brick texture?). I thought the second and third snipers were clever.

Super Awesome Sniper Arena wasn’t for me. I played it through in god mode. If I played it enough, I might be able to do it without cheating, but I don’t like to replay games that much, let alone a single mod or map.

This is one of the best times I’ve had in quite awhile playing a bundled compilation of this sort. Fantastic concepts, beautiful mapping, wonderfully challenging and an all around ” swearing it up ” good time !
Belated thanks to you Philip for hosting this event and to all the talented individuals who worked so diligently. Wonderful stuff !

City: I thought this one was a bit of a shame really. The setting seemed neat as I quite liked the idea of an urban scene. But overall it was far too short and the last 2 snipers appearing just seemed random.

DW44: Couldn’t play past the first sniper so can’t really comment on it.

EP2-X13: I would have to agree with everyone else here that this was a very good map. Graphics were good, a good variety of things to shoot at, and even the battery was a nice addition. If NovaSniping hadn’t been in the pack this would have easily been my favourite. But the reason why I didn’t pick this one as it doesn’t really feel like it was something new and could have been lifted out any number of levels. While this isn’t really a bad thing, and it would have probably been quite good if it was part of a larger whole, just on its own made it feel simple and straight forward.

NovaSniping: Easily my favourite of the whole pack. The layout and graphics were good just like EP2-X13, but the only thing that made it stand out for me was that i actually had to stop and think about what i had to do and not simply charge forwards like i did on EP2-X13. Also as a bonus I replayed this map earlier and did all 3 snipers in a slightly different way.

Super Awesome Sniper Arena: Tbh i don’t like arena maps so this was screwed from the start. Though i suppose that it’s a novel idea, just it isn’t suited to me.

Tunnel: This one was just too bland, lacking in variety of setting or enemies, but since its your first released map I shouldn’t be too harsh and it is infinatly better than anything I could produce

Overall it was a good competition, hope there will be another one soon

#2 Ballistic: Not the best visually, but very challenging. If you used cover correctly it was possible to get to the sniper with only a little damage. This one gave me the most satisfaction at completion. Died the first time through at the ladder. I wasn’t crouched and my head got blown off.

#3 DW44: Could not finish, but it was #3 anyhow up to the point my system slowed to a crawl. It clearly started off where Drowned World ended. Had same problem with Drowned World as I remember.

The rest: Did not like Nova Sniping or Sniper Arena. Tunnel played on my fear of heights, so I liked it for that.

I have downloaded the sniperville when I open it it says planetphilip.com sniperville compitition on the title screen.

However when you go to select new game that opens and their are no games to choose. I do not see an area that says how to add the mods to the mod?

please help thenks

People have diffrent opnions and tastes and I feel that I have achieved something when some people tell me that they love the map or hate it (both are strong emotions, not just “ok”) – I like to create something new and not just copycat what have already tested good and working and when I get dramatic diffrences in feedback I know I have created somethign fresh. Same goes for more traditional arts.

Only map that was not horrible is X13

I disagree and think that’s really not fair. NovaSniping and Super Awesome Sniper Arena were very clever.

I hope to see more maps from X13 author!

And please no more sniper map contests.

I’ve only just finished playing the first map. It’s nice to get these quick challenges every once in a while. I’ve always enjoyed the challenge the sniper adds to a level. I am looking forward to playing the rest of the entries.

Maybe next time it’ll be a driving map contest…. just kidding. I hate 99% of the driving segments. What tunnel has a 90 degree turn?!?!

Anyhow, great idea and great results. Nice work everyone.

Anyway, I would have said “Play it Now”.

My favorite was Ballistic and DW44 slightly less so, followed by EP2. I gave them 8/10, 8/10 and 7/10 respectively. Followed by Tunnel 5/10, City 4/10 and Nova Sniping & Super Awesome Sniping both 2/10.

Commenting just on the top 2, I found them enjoyable to play, with action, puzzles and a variety of situations.

Despite voting Ballistic my #1, there is a major flaw in being able to jump off the roof, having pushed the moving platform forward as a strategy move. It completely covered the exit method and probably should have been limited in its movement so as not to do that. Jumping off the roof allowed me to play on with no hope of ever going further.

Looking forward to the next competition!

City: I don’t really have too much to say about this map, it was very small, short, and didn’t really show me anything noteworthy. There wasn’t enough ammunition and absolutely no room for error. More time spent on it could have meant improvement by large measures and a few other areas and scenarios would have good (The last two snipers felt thrown in).

dw44: Up to the first sniper is interesting (I used the vending machine as a battering ram), but after that I was treated to one heck of a show-stopping bug. My gfx card shouldn’t have had a problem rendering the fairly simple room and all of its inhabitants, but my framerate dropped into the single digits and stayed there for the rest of the map. This was the only map in the package to have such a bug for me, and given the card I’m running, I definitely think the problem is something to do with the map (faulty entities gobbling up resources, perhaps). Aside from that the big room lacked all of the subtlety and the tactics of the first, I was simply being peppered by dozens of enemies scattered across the entire room. Visually the room is exceedingly cluttered and I didn’t exactly know what my objective is. I thought it was to simply clear the room and kill the Strider, but I missed the elevator (the button was tiny and the elevator itself didn’t stand out in any way). That first hallway had some really ingenious ideas and elements, but the latter half feels uninspired.

x13: This map really stands by itself, it hits all major categories in satisfying degrees: Gameplay, visuals, pacing, level design. The gameplay is careful and deliberate, you can very often see the designer’s hand in the world, in his careful use of cover, enemy and ammunition placement. The visuals are praiseworthy as well. While not as full and as lush as one might hope, the designer still has done a most admirable job. The terrain is well used, the cliffs and the outlying buildings hem the world in well, and the usage of light is excellent, it isn’t overused and gives the map an extra visual flourish. One major oversight I noticed is the lack of autosaves. While I don’t mind going through the map again, losing all progress to a slight mistake can be a bit disheartening.

novasniping: This map could have been a challenger to X-13, but I think it definitely had some very deep problems with the gameplay design. There were many ideas incorporated into this small map, but few were adequately communicated. I knew I had to evade or kill the snipers, but the map didn’t communicate clearly what my tools were for doing just that. I guessed correctly that the Combine soldier was a living grenade crate, but the frequency of the falling grenades dissuaded me from attempting to kill the first sniper. For the second sniper, I missed the nearby grate entirely. The headcrab didn’t suggest anything to me, and I even didn’t see him at all on my first try. I just ran into the room underneath the sniper and made an unsuccessful attempt at plugging the hole with barrels and scampering up. Even with the metal plates, the sniper can still aim out of cracks very easily, taking out boxes or myself. The third sniper was the one that made the most sense. Players are familiar with hopper mines, so when they use the gravity gun to uproot and blow one up their application against the sniper becomes immediately apparent. Had the tools been more effectively communicated, I definitely think this map would have been a close contender for first place.

superawesomesniperarena: The weapon and health crates are clever, and the sports-game kind of setting was very nice, but ultimately this map didn’t really appeal to me. It was also very difficult, I didn’t understand how I was supposed to kill the snipers so they chewed me up pretty good.

Tunnel: A simple map with an obvious premise. The use of music was nice, but visually the map was empty and unrefined. The gameplay was very basic. While that lets the player immediately grasp how to play the map, it also denies any meaningful play above running behind generators until the player finishes the map. Lack of autosaves is a problem with this one, if you’re killed or you take a slip you must start from square one.

Conclusion: I’ll admit that I am a very picky player. I save my high praise for the best. One map got my vote, and by a large margin I consider it the best map of the bunch. SLi-WooDy’s EP2-X13 was the complete package, it looked great, played great, the pace was just right and it didn’t get monotonous or frustrating. Overall, it’s a package with mixed results. If you can’t stand snipers in general you should probably give it a pass, but otherwise at least give a few of these maps a look (especially X13 and novasniping). And now some feedback for Phillip! Overall, I think the mapping contest idea is a very good one, the mod packaging serves the contest and the end player very well. I look forward to voting on (and potentially joining!) the next one that rolls around.

X13- This was great, my only complaint was that it wasn’t longer. The atmosphere was in my opinion, the best of the whole pack. I thought that the snipers were well placed, I thought that there was enough cover.

Novasniping- Another good submission, in the second room there was a caged hallway with a sniper overhead, I thought that the purpose for all of the junk was to pile it up on top of the caged hallway so the sniper couldn’t see you.. it wasn’t, but I thought that would’ve been a great idea:(

Ballistic- Somewhat entertaining, I thought that it could have used better placing of barriers though. It is always frustrating not knowing if where you are going to run next will protect you.

DW44- I didn’t find the rocket launcher and I had spent so much time trying to figure out how to get past the combine with next to no ammo that I gave up before I was finished .. the big room put me off too.

SuperAwesomeSniperArena- I don’t usually take to arena styled maps, but this was alright with me. I thought that the style though simple, was fitting. I was confused as to what some of the boxes did.

City- I started playing and then it was over!

Tunnel- I enjoyed the simple idea and I had fun.. as others have already said the simplicity and length is also it’s downfall