Post 8- Art Pass

So I checked the Tf2 blog today, like I normally do, and I found that Valve has a really cool competition going on right now.

The Art Pass Contest

This couldn't have come at a better time. This is really one reason I enjoy Valve: they are there with the community. Valve has actually uploaded an unfinished level. It is completely designed out how they like it and has some artistic flow to it, but they want an artists to complete the map and send it back. they are interested in seeing what someone can do with their spare time and also I'm sure this is a great way for anyone to get their foot one step closer to a job at Valve. If not, it is still practical experience in art creation for a level.

I am going to participate in the competition, but really what this gives me is a goal. I downloaded the map file that is incomplete the play around in it and see what Valve Level Designers do to block out a level in the engine. This give me a stable idea of where I should be in the next week or so, I need to have a product very similar to the product they have up for download. Once I have something up to par with the art pass contest design I can move onto my own art pass.

It is really nice to get that checkpoint shown to me. I like to see each step in the process that the actual developers take and all of the explanation videos, commentary, design notes, and open source nature of Valve's products are its strongest pulls. TF2 has been out for over 2 years and it still has a huge and growing community for a game that is not pay monthly. Multiplayer experiences invite people back and make a game worth buying over renting. Valve has found that by staying abreast of the community and by promoting their games well after they have already shipped, they can continue to sell titles by keeping word of mouth spreading through free updates and contests.

Cool stuff.