Competitive Route Building (British Theme)

BidMod

New member
Hi all,

Is anyone interested in a little bit of competition? I do - so I've been thinking about how a competition could be organised, and the rules that might need to be introduced. This thread for discussion of the idea, not an announcement.

My opinion is that the only difficult bit is the voting system, but I think this could be achieved as a poll by Auran on this board, or by UKTrainz on their board (I'll ask both if people are interested, but I make no guarantees on either of their behalfs. I would not have a poll on both, because getting the aggregate result is not as simple as adding the results together).

Rather than say "this is the competition", here are a set of rules that would be implemented for a competition, and I would like to know if people are interested.
  1. British theme (perhaps someone else could run another themed competition in parallel)
  2. No more than 15 boards (otherwise testing and opinion finding would take forever)
  3. Must contain a railway (seems obvious, but I bet someone doesn't)
  4. 1 man (or woman) 1 layout; though "man" could be substituted with "team" so 1 team 1 layout - team members must not enter another layout
  5. Must be uploaded to the DLS for easy access
  6. Must contain only DLS assets for easy access
    These two rules are to ensure that the layouts are available to everyone anywhere, rather than to produce a community split I fear coming over the DLS issue
    Another alternative would be to create a list of acceptable sites and include a detailed list of assets and locations in the readme.
  7. 1 man (or woman) 1 vote
  8. Deadline for layouts to be set in August, to allow the best layouts to be developed
  9. Session also to be uploaded to demonstrate the layout's potential.
  10. Compatbility is not guaranteed across all versions, so it is up to the developer to decide which version of TRS will be used. Common sense dictates that the ideal solution is to use the lowest version possible, however this is not always possible.
  11. Somewhere in the description add the line "2007 route builders competition" spelt letter for letter - this will allow people to search the DLS using that term to find all of the routes in the competition.
  12. No Payware please - a discussion about this is for another thread I think.
  13. All work must be your own.
Marking Criteria
  1. Entertainment value - this is by far the most important
  2. Operational potential
  3. AI operation - does it operate without conflicts with each other etc.
  4. Good use of space available to create a suitable landscape
  5. Prototypical appearance - this does not mean the layout has to be modelled on a real place: this refers to aspects such as signal positions, track alignments, corner radii etc.
Ideally, this is to see if we can produce several good layouts in three months, but I won't be able to check this.

Things that wouldn't be restricted are time period, gauge, traction type or colour scheme. There is nothing wrong with mixing time/traction as well, so you could create a system where 1930s trams nestle with the latest high speed trains and broad gauge chuffering along in the back. This is an opportunity to create a spectacular short route, not to start counting rivets of the stock that a user could change in any case.

Reminder - this thread is not to announce a competition, only to put my thoughts forward for dicussion. It also relies on the cooperation of Auran so we can use the vote facility, so could someone representitive of the forums have some inpute. Naturally, we would need to start a thread to register all of the entrants, and just before the final closing date a poll would be set up containing these entrants' usernames (and the layout name for reference).

BidMod.

EDIT: Been thinking further about the exceptions to the DLS rules, and I think assets from VSR and HP Trainz should be exempt, simply because they are so widespread. Post what you think should be added to the list. No payware.
 
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hey up,

I put forward the idea that all members of ITrainz enter a similar competition to what you are proposing, except their modules would all be IPortal compatiable.

I would be happy to take part in such a competition, although for me seperating what is built in and what has been downloaded could be a problem!

and my layout design skills aren't exactly the best, but i would give it a shot!
 
You can use Built-in content - it's probably a bit vague my comment about the DLS. The idea is to make the entries available to everyone, so built in and DLS content would be fine. I thought of HP trains as an exception because a lot of people use the track from there.

I should add that I'm planning to enter a layout of my own, which is why I need the help with the voting (to prove it's fairly done).

As for skills - again I want the competition to be available to anyone who has a fully registered copy of TRS, so have a shot even if a single board is tricky. There is no minimum size - only a maximum, so if you create a one-board masterpiece then enter it.

BidMod.

PS check the link in your sig. ;)
 
British themed? Why is it always British? Nothing from elsewhere(hint hint)?

WileeCoyote:D
 
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(read in voice like that of Mr. Burns from The Simpsons)

Excellent... let the layout wars begin (maniacal laughter);).

WileeCoyote:D
 
An interesting concept. As to why it should be British. Funnily being an Australian "game" it just happens that someone British thought of a comp first! Could have been anywhere?!
 
The only reason i could think of it being British themed is, Bidmod is British (i hope:p ) and most of the judges may be British too, so have a greater knowlege of how the british railways work

Put my name down as an entry please.

Gangsta_Boi
 
Sounds like an interesting idea... some potential for bruised egos I fear, but it should be fun, and generate quite a few more UK routes for us all to play with. I suspect I won't be playing, as 15 boards would usually take me over a year... :rolleyes:

Paul
 
The only reason i could think of it being British themed is, Bidmod is British (i hope:p )

Yes, I am British. I daresay if an American had the idea then it would be American themed, and Australia ditto.

Paul - there's nothing to stop you entering a three or four board layout. I set 15 as a maximum, not a target. I tend to run out of patience with a layout around 10 boards anyway, so my current layout is quite special as it now comprises 11 boards.

As you say, there is the potential for bruised egos, but I hope we can have a small competition without getting to each other too much!

BidMod the Brit.
 
Hmmm - I might be tempted...

Do they have to be new (i.e. unstarted at the moment), or just unpublished as yet?

Paul
 
Do they have to be new (i.e. unstarted at the moment), or just unpublished as yet?

The idea is to create a new layout, but I wouldn't complain if you simply entered an unpublished one.

One more thing I should add is that you can't use another person't route as a base. That's cheating (not aimed at anyone specifically, but I think the people are there who may try).
 
There has been a post on the UKTrainz forum about an incentive, and the possibility of using an independany jury instead of a community poll.

Has anyone any thoughts on an incentive/prize, and what do people think of the panel idea to replace the poll idea?

BidMod.
 
Unless you get sponsership from a payware company (i.e railwaves, eldavos etc.) It could be a FREE payware object of their choice ? Or a personalized reskin from one of our resident reskinners.

My 2 pence worth,

Gangsta_Boi
 
Can you guys put me down as a judge. Course if i can be a judge then i wont enter a route.

But then this idear is pretty pointless as the people with the most powerfull computers will have the best looking routes.

What about people who dont know how to use the track strightner.
 
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Unless you get sponsership from a payware company (i.e railwaves, eldavos etc.) It could be a FREE payware object of their choice ? Or a personalized reskin from one of our resident reskinners.

Could be an interesting idea. I mentioned on the UKTRS forum that I could supply some personalised trams, but I also pointed out that this is something of a niche market and probably not much of an incentive. If I was honest, I can't really see Railwaves or any of the third party payware creators being interested.

Can you guys put me down as a judge. Course if i can be a judge then i wont enter a route.

But then this idear is pretty pointless as the people with the most powerfull computers will have the best looking routes.

What about people who dont know how to use the track strightner.

1 - you are welcome if the project gets big enough. Of all of the people on this board you are certainly one of the best qualified for the task.

2 - Well actually no, because if a mix of high and low spec judges (again the community poll thought is ringing here) were to make a decision, then a high detail route won't actually run that well on 50% of the computers. Take a look back at my marking criteria: numbers 1 and 2 would be seriously hampered by the sheer detail. A sensible route-builder would be able to mix high and low poly objects, and offset the effect of reduced frame rates by adjusting the speeds and frequecy of trains through the affected areas.

3 - I bet there's something each of us doesn't know. For example, you mentioned the track straightener, elsewhere I've seen some really poor signalling, poor track alignment, use of double-track splines is a real nasty.
We're all on a learning curve, and perhaps this competition might highlight some of the best "tactics" of route creation. I for one am looking forward to seeing construction techniques of the winner(s).
That said, the track straightening tool is quite simple, and I'd like to think that this was not the limit of potential of our route creators - it's invaluable in creating complex junctions and smooth curves, for example.
 
Yeah, I like quality layouts and anything that encourages them. I'm happy to run a poll, but i will need to ascertain exactly how many polling options we can have... leave that with me.
We may be able to offer a free 12 month FCT (or 04, 06 or other product) to the winner.

I'll also offer my thoughts on your suggested rules...
1. British??? no fair.
2. 15 bb's is alot. I recall our last one was 4 bb's.
3. Invisible railway counts. :)
4. OK
5. of course
6. wherever possible. minor exceptions would be OK
7. cant enforce this with a forum poll. anyone with a valid username (s/n registered in it) can vote.
8. OK
9. OK
10. OK
11. OK
12. OK
13. OK

and am i allowed to enter? :)
 
Is it for hose just on 06 or can 04 users enter? If so, then couldn't there be seperate categories (04 and 06)? Just a thought. I might be able to enter if I can get some projects out of the way.

CoolMatty
 
I'll also offer my thoughts on your suggested rules...
1. British??? no fair.

Folks,

I think the point is being missed here. All I think Bidmod is saying is that this particular competion is for UK based routes only. Competitions for routes from other nations coulkd be run at the same time. He's not trying to exclude anybody.

Think of it another way then, we have one big international competition, but with sub-catagories for each county (UK, USA, Australia etc, etc). The best three from each catagory go through to the grand final....or something like that.
 
Hi all,

[*]Somewhere in the description add the line "2007 route builders competition" spelt letter for letter - this will allow people to search the DLS using that term to find all of the routes in the competition.

Could this be shortened to 'RBC07' or 'RBC07UK' or something similar please?

A route called 'Worthington City General 2007 route builders competition' might not fit...:D :rolleyes:
 
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