Mapping Contest Winners + SDK update
Congratulations to everyone who survived 2020!
We're back once again for another year of Carnage.
To start things off, we are celebrating the creators who participated in the first Official Mapping Contest! Also, check a look at the latest update to the Primal Carnage: Extinction development toolkit, and some important new info for content creators...
[h2]Mapping Contest Finale![/h2]
Before we reveal the winners of the inaugural Primal Carnage: Extinction mapping contest, let's all take a moment to go through the varied and imaginative levels that were submitted by everyone...
[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]
We don't have enough awards for everybody, but wanted to single out a couple of honorable mentions that didn't quite crack the top spot on our list...
[h3]Railyard[/h3] by SpinoRavenger
PC-Railyard is a great little Team Deathmatch map with a very strong theme of being a freight depot. Featuring actual moving trains that hurtle through the level at dangerous speeds, this is one really solid submission with good overall game flow. It's well detailed with a nice balance between open areas and more maze-like zones. The train cars also look pretty convincing for kit-bashed assets and work well.
However, it being essentially a completely flat playing field does hold it back somewhat, and we struggle to think how the area sequestered over the bridge would really play into gameplay very much. Despite all that, Railyard earns our Kismet Wizardy award for its suitably dynamic map hazard!
[h3]Aquarium Research Center [/h3]by ArchShiranui
The aquarium facility created by ArchShirnaui (maker of SandStorm Valley, Pandoria) is a really well thought out concept for a location. This place feels like it has a history. There are so many great details found around the map, from signage explaining the evolutionary journey from fish to raptors, to signs of past fighting with bulletholes leaking water out of the various containment tanks. And those fish!
In terms of playability, it's quite a rat's nest of interconnecting areas, making it hard to orient yourself, and trying to navigate the maze of pipes and catwalks will be difficult for flyers. The sheer number of plants being used to decorate the overgrown areas is creative, but may pose performance problems.
We do love the idea of an aquatic research lab (it's something we've considered making ourselves) and for the level of effort put into this map's theme, we're honoring it with our Conceptual award.
[h3]Primal Park [/h3]
by spinoraptyrex
We were saddened that more people didn't take up the Whitebox Warriors challenge, although maybe the requirements weren't clear enough. The hope was that by being focused around just using the most basic tools to create a map layout, it would encourage people to try map making who wouldn't have the time or know-how to produce a fully detailed, working level. As it stands, our choices were fairly slim.
Nevertheless, we did want to highlight Primal Park here as being a rather interesting idea for a level. It's unlikely this theme would be used for an official map, (due to that *other* dinosaur franchise featuring parks) but we're impressed at the design ideas on display here.
Using only blocks, Primal Park is able to convey a pretty convincing zoo environment with different types of enclosures and even cages. There are also hints as to some interesting setpieces such as a globe statue and the twisting paddock areas. Primal Park is honored with our Layout Inventiveness award.
Even with fewer submissions than we expected, it was still quite difficult to narrow down the finalists for these top three winners. If you didn't make it this far, don't give up! There was something great about each one of the entries we saw, some just need a bit more time in the oven before they're quite ready.
And now without further ado, here are the winners of our first official mapping competition...
[h2]Whitebox Warriors Award [/h2]
[h3]Seashore Crag[/h3]
by Coelurus
The winner of the Whitebox Warriors category is a beautifully elegant layout with sweeping curves that flow in and out of a central rocky outcropping at the head of a cliff.
This is a Capture the Egg map, with the precarious delicacies perched on rock spires that have humans jumping for their lives. It's easy to see how this map would work in a real world setting, even if we think it might be CTE on "hard mode"! Excellent ideas on display here.
For their prize, the winner of the Whitebox Warriors Award shall receive any 5 in-game items of their choosing and a £25 Steam Gift Card!
[h2]Mapping Maniacs, 2nd Place Award [/h2]
[h3]Waterlogged [/h3]
by Avisaur
The second place winner of the Mapping Maniacs contest is a visual feast. Dark and moody, the map was designed with Hunt mode in mind and creates a nicely claustrophobic atmosphere...
This is one entry that focused on sound to great effect. The ambience is palpable, with rolling thunder, odd distorted transmissions echoing around, and the facility shuddering under the storm raging above.
Water leaks everywhere on this level, flowing as indoor rivers from one zone to another and forming large pools. The map lives up to its name. You can't go five feet without encountering the drip drip drip of leaks from above. Lighting is impeccable here, with beautiful use of shadows and volumetric effects. Dynamic lightning flashes that illuminate the dark facility complete an incredibly impressive spectacle.
However, in its construction we found some flaws.
We advise against using BSP geometry when creating maps intended for use in regular gameplay, it's a much less efficient method than working with static meshes. Plus, from what we understand it can cause crashes on PS4 (which would be an issue were we to include community maps on that platform). Brush geometry should only really be employed as a blockout tool, if it is used at all.
For their prize, the 2nd Place Award winner shall receive any 5 in-game items of their choosing and will collaborate with us on a custom-designed skin for themselves, in addition to a £50 Steam Gift Card!
[h2]Mapping Maniacs, 1st Place (Grand Prize) [/h2]
[h3]Dead Tide[/h3]
by ToaMetru6
First place goes to Dead Tide, a huge tropical island map where players must battle around massive rock arches and in brilliantly vibrant seaside pools. The intense use of colours such as the sapphire blue ocean water really gives this map a unique feeling of being an exotic (and HOT) location.
There are numerous interesting setpieces littered throughout the environment, from a beached tanker vessel with its cargo scattered about to the giant bones of behemoths jutting out from some of the rock formations.
As with many of the levels in this contest, it features NPCs roaming around the outskirts, but the creator of this one went even further by having custom beach-themed skins for them!
Such attention to detail for minor background elements is really impressive, though we can't help feeling that the boundaries of the map are a little arbitrary and unnatural. More consideration will have to be taken regarding the flow of the area as well for it to be a good deathmatch environment. However, for its striking aesthetic and intricate construction, Dead Tide is awarded first place!
1st place receives not only 5 in-game items of their choosing, not only a custom-designed skin, but also a $500 USD grand prize!!!
[h2]Congratulations to our winners! [/h2]
[h3]And thanks again to everyone who took part in this event![/h3]
We've been constantly impressed at the creativity and clever use of resources in these levels, from makeshift freight trains to custom vending machines, there was some real ingenuity!
Several levels featured interesting shortcuts for smaller dinos to use which is a design choice we're hoping to include as part of official maps where possible in future.
We'll be reaching out to the winners shortly to arrange their prizes, and look forward to working with ToaMetru to further refine Dead Tide for when it is officially added to Primal Carnage: Extinction later this year!
[h2]Toolkit Update - PCE SDK [/h2]
Now that things have calmed down after getting the mammoth 2.0 update out this winter, we're releasing a new version of the Extinction development tools for everyone to use.
This latest update to the SDK brings all of the new content that was added up to version 2.0, such as ultra high resolution character textures and a slew of new environment assets, materials and more. Please be aware that the size of the SDK is naturally quite a bit larger than before as a result of this new content (just under 30GB), and you may need to compile shaders for some time upon first launching the editor.
[h3]Highlights of today's new SDK content:[/h3]
[h3]Editor Fixes[/h3]
As part of this latest SDK release we have also endeavored to fix as many editor crashes as we could. Using the PlayInEditor (PIE) option to play on maps should no longer result in an instant crash for most users with sufficient hardware, although we still advise against extended sessions.
When using PlayInEditor, tab out and click the red stop button at the top of the editor to close your PIE session. Trying to exit via Quit Match / Quit Game will only cause it to lock up.
If you save a package or map and the lighting / materials suddenly change to look flat, there is no cause for alarm. Simply restart the editor to fix the renderer.
Asset export is now re-enabled for the SDK as of this version. Use of exported SDK assets for anything other than creating content for Primal Carnage: Extinction is strictly forbidden.
[h3]Exploit Prevention[/h3]
The latest update to Extinction will make it so that only players who are admin can use console commands that fall under cheat functionality. Because of this, certain developer console abilities may not be instantly available to you when using the SDK.
To remedy this, follow these steps:
[h2]Steam Workshop Tool [/h2]
We'd like to remind everyone that the upload tool for submitting items to Steam Workshop is available in the Tools section of your Steam library. We will be removing the "loose leaf" version of the upload tool from the SDK itself soon.
For now, there is a bug that means you need to launch the Steam Workshop Tool manually otherwise your upload will result in a blank submission. Follow these steps:
The Steam Workshop Tool will be receiving more updates and functionality soon, that should mean you won't have to do these extra steps for too long. With the *next* SDK release, we will be requiring skin makers to submit their own in-game icon as well. This will require another Workshop Tool update, and we'll be providing steps on how to go about this when it is ready.
For more resources on using the development tools, check out these links...
Official dev wiki:
https://primalcarnage.com/devwiki/index.php?title=Extinction_Editor_Courses
Skin creation for dummies:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RMDvE8dKaBM
[h2]Looking ahead...[/h2]
We're hoping to release more frequent SDK updates in future (there may be another this month!) but please understand that it does take time out of regular development to prepare these releases, and we can't always guarantee the SDK will be kept up to date.
As we get deeper into 2021, we definitely plan to run more competitions and community events such as art contests, scavenger hunts and more. We have a new patch for Extinction landing in the next few days, and will be back with themed events throughout the year for special occasions like Easter.
If you're interested in creating themed items for the game, please make sure you submit them to the Extinction Steam Workshop in time! A list of important deadlines for upcoming special events is below...
[h2]Now get creative![/h2]
Want to stay in the loop about everything Primal Carnage? Come join the official Discord server to keep up to date, chat with other players, or maybe show off what you're working on!
If you want hints and tips about creating your own items or maps for Extinction, the friendly folks over at the SDK Discord can help you out. It's also a treasure trove of useful assets, tutorials and more.
Until next time!
We're back once again for another year of Carnage.
To start things off, we are celebrating the creators who participated in the first Official Mapping Contest! Also, check a look at the latest update to the Primal Carnage: Extinction development toolkit, and some important new info for content creators...
[h2]Mapping Contest Finale![/h2]
Before we reveal the winners of the inaugural Primal Carnage: Extinction mapping contest, let's all take a moment to go through the varied and imaginative levels that were submitted by everyone...
[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]
We don't have enough awards for everybody, but wanted to single out a couple of honorable mentions that didn't quite crack the top spot on our list...
[h3]Railyard[/h3] by SpinoRavenger
PC-Railyard is a great little Team Deathmatch map with a very strong theme of being a freight depot. Featuring actual moving trains that hurtle through the level at dangerous speeds, this is one really solid submission with good overall game flow. It's well detailed with a nice balance between open areas and more maze-like zones. The train cars also look pretty convincing for kit-bashed assets and work well.
However, it being essentially a completely flat playing field does hold it back somewhat, and we struggle to think how the area sequestered over the bridge would really play into gameplay very much. Despite all that, Railyard earns our Kismet Wizardy award for its suitably dynamic map hazard!
[h3]Aquarium Research Center [/h3]by ArchShiranui
The aquarium facility created by ArchShirnaui (maker of SandStorm Valley, Pandoria) is a really well thought out concept for a location. This place feels like it has a history. There are so many great details found around the map, from signage explaining the evolutionary journey from fish to raptors, to signs of past fighting with bulletholes leaking water out of the various containment tanks. And those fish!
In terms of playability, it's quite a rat's nest of interconnecting areas, making it hard to orient yourself, and trying to navigate the maze of pipes and catwalks will be difficult for flyers. The sheer number of plants being used to decorate the overgrown areas is creative, but may pose performance problems.
We do love the idea of an aquatic research lab (it's something we've considered making ourselves) and for the level of effort put into this map's theme, we're honoring it with our Conceptual award.
[h3]Primal Park [/h3]
by spinoraptyrex
We were saddened that more people didn't take up the Whitebox Warriors challenge, although maybe the requirements weren't clear enough. The hope was that by being focused around just using the most basic tools to create a map layout, it would encourage people to try map making who wouldn't have the time or know-how to produce a fully detailed, working level. As it stands, our choices were fairly slim.
Nevertheless, we did want to highlight Primal Park here as being a rather interesting idea for a level. It's unlikely this theme would be used for an official map, (due to that *other* dinosaur franchise featuring parks) but we're impressed at the design ideas on display here.
Using only blocks, Primal Park is able to convey a pretty convincing zoo environment with different types of enclosures and even cages. There are also hints as to some interesting setpieces such as a globe statue and the twisting paddock areas. Primal Park is honored with our Layout Inventiveness award.
Contest Winners
Even with fewer submissions than we expected, it was still quite difficult to narrow down the finalists for these top three winners. If you didn't make it this far, don't give up! There was something great about each one of the entries we saw, some just need a bit more time in the oven before they're quite ready.
And now without further ado, here are the winners of our first official mapping competition...
[h2]Whitebox Warriors Award [/h2]
[h3]Seashore Crag[/h3]
by Coelurus
The winner of the Whitebox Warriors category is a beautifully elegant layout with sweeping curves that flow in and out of a central rocky outcropping at the head of a cliff.
This is a Capture the Egg map, with the precarious delicacies perched on rock spires that have humans jumping for their lives. It's easy to see how this map would work in a real world setting, even if we think it might be CTE on "hard mode"! Excellent ideas on display here.
For their prize, the winner of the Whitebox Warriors Award shall receive any 5 in-game items of their choosing and a £25 Steam Gift Card!
[h2]Mapping Maniacs, 2nd Place Award [/h2]
[h3]Waterlogged [/h3]
by Avisaur
The second place winner of the Mapping Maniacs contest is a visual feast. Dark and moody, the map was designed with Hunt mode in mind and creates a nicely claustrophobic atmosphere...
This is one entry that focused on sound to great effect. The ambience is palpable, with rolling thunder, odd distorted transmissions echoing around, and the facility shuddering under the storm raging above.
Water leaks everywhere on this level, flowing as indoor rivers from one zone to another and forming large pools. The map lives up to its name. You can't go five feet without encountering the drip drip drip of leaks from above. Lighting is impeccable here, with beautiful use of shadows and volumetric effects. Dynamic lightning flashes that illuminate the dark facility complete an incredibly impressive spectacle.
However, in its construction we found some flaws.
We advise against using BSP geometry when creating maps intended for use in regular gameplay, it's a much less efficient method than working with static meshes. Plus, from what we understand it can cause crashes on PS4 (which would be an issue were we to include community maps on that platform). Brush geometry should only really be employed as a blockout tool, if it is used at all.
For their prize, the 2nd Place Award winner shall receive any 5 in-game items of their choosing and will collaborate with us on a custom-designed skin for themselves, in addition to a £50 Steam Gift Card!
[h2]Mapping Maniacs, 1st Place (Grand Prize) [/h2]
[h3]Dead Tide[/h3]
by ToaMetru6
First place goes to Dead Tide, a huge tropical island map where players must battle around massive rock arches and in brilliantly vibrant seaside pools. The intense use of colours such as the sapphire blue ocean water really gives this map a unique feeling of being an exotic (and HOT) location.
There are numerous interesting setpieces littered throughout the environment, from a beached tanker vessel with its cargo scattered about to the giant bones of behemoths jutting out from some of the rock formations.
As with many of the levels in this contest, it features NPCs roaming around the outskirts, but the creator of this one went even further by having custom beach-themed skins for them!
Such attention to detail for minor background elements is really impressive, though we can't help feeling that the boundaries of the map are a little arbitrary and unnatural. More consideration will have to be taken regarding the flow of the area as well for it to be a good deathmatch environment. However, for its striking aesthetic and intricate construction, Dead Tide is awarded first place!
1st place receives not only 5 in-game items of their choosing, not only a custom-designed skin, but also a $500 USD grand prize!!!
[h2]Congratulations to our winners! [/h2]
[h3]And thanks again to everyone who took part in this event![/h3]
We've been constantly impressed at the creativity and clever use of resources in these levels, from makeshift freight trains to custom vending machines, there was some real ingenuity!
Several levels featured interesting shortcuts for smaller dinos to use which is a design choice we're hoping to include as part of official maps where possible in future.
We'll be reaching out to the winners shortly to arrange their prizes, and look forward to working with ToaMetru to further refine Dead Tide for when it is officially added to Primal Carnage: Extinction later this year!
[h2]Toolkit Update - PCE SDK [/h2]
Now that things have calmed down after getting the mammoth 2.0 update out this winter, we're releasing a new version of the Extinction development tools for everyone to use.
This latest update to the SDK brings all of the new content that was added up to version 2.0, such as ultra high resolution character textures and a slew of new environment assets, materials and more. Please be aware that the size of the SDK is naturally quite a bit larger than before as a result of this new content (just under 30GB), and you may need to compile shaders for some time upon first launching the editor.
[h3]Highlights of today's new SDK content:[/h3]
- Added new human animation sets and classic humans
- Added global Tags to deprecated content (DoNotUse means do NOT use)
- Added global Tags to core character assets (Human and Dino base content)
- Added numerous pose animations for creating cinematic screenshots (thanks to Maxsentia)
- Added new "blank bases" to use when making skins for classic humans (thanks to ___)
- Added new ultra HD 4096x4096 base textures for almost all playable dinosaurs
- Added scalar to control dino eye reflectivity (set to zero on skins using eye masking for glow FX)
- Added controls for "swizzling" dinosaur overlay textures using tiling noise
- Added various new & updated props
- Added the Tropical environment kit
- Added new background resources (mountains, hills, cliffs...)
- Added numerous new decals and materials
- Updated hundreds of textures with higher quality versions 2-4x their original resolution
- New "HD" floor/wall material with parallax bump offset effect
- Added raindrop option to floor master material
- Updated water rendering with edge foam and paintable vertex foam
- Added support for dynamic normal maps to master water shaders
- For optimized interactive water settings, use the examples on the BasicTesting map.
- Added "HD" landscape texture sets
- Updated landscape shader with basic specularity and more intense normal maps
Note:
Do not disable the SimpleMud switch when making landscape materials.
Doing so breaks landscape rendering completely.
[h3]Editor Fixes[/h3]
As part of this latest SDK release we have also endeavored to fix as many editor crashes as we could. Using the PlayInEditor (PIE) option to play on maps should no longer result in an instant crash for most users with sufficient hardware, although we still advise against extended sessions.
When using PlayInEditor, tab out and click the red stop button at the top of the editor to close your PIE session. Trying to exit via Quit Match / Quit Game will only cause it to lock up.
If you save a package or map and the lighting / materials suddenly change to look flat, there is no cause for alarm. Simply restart the editor to fix the renderer.
Asset export is now re-enabled for the SDK as of this version. Use of exported SDK assets for anything other than creating content for Primal Carnage: Extinction is strictly forbidden.
[h3]Exploit Prevention[/h3]
The latest update to Extinction will make it so that only players who are admin can use console commands that fall under cheat functionality. Because of this, certain developer console abilities may not be instantly available to you when using the SDK.
To remedy this, follow these steps:
- Find PrimalCarnageGame.ini in the Config folder of the SDK
- Search for the heading: [PrimalCarnageGame.PCBaseAccessControl]
- Underneath that, add the ID number of your Steam profile, like so...
- +Admins=776561198006301038
- Save the file and you should be good.
[h2]Steam Workshop Tool [/h2]
We'd like to remind everyone that the upload tool for submitting items to Steam Workshop is available in the Tools section of your Steam library. We will be removing the "loose leaf" version of the upload tool from the SDK itself soon.
For now, there is a bug that means you need to launch the Steam Workshop Tool manually otherwise your upload will result in a blank submission. Follow these steps:
- Right click the Workshop Tool in your Steam library,
- Click on Manage > Browse local files,
- Run PCWorkshopTool.exe,
- Upload your content.
The Steam Workshop Tool will be receiving more updates and functionality soon, that should mean you won't have to do these extra steps for too long. With the *next* SDK release, we will be requiring skin makers to submit their own in-game icon as well. This will require another Workshop Tool update, and we'll be providing steps on how to go about this when it is ready.
For more resources on using the development tools, check out these links...
Official dev wiki:
https://primalcarnage.com/devwiki/index.php?title=Extinction_Editor_Courses
Skin creation for dummies:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RMDvE8dKaBM
[h2]Looking ahead...[/h2]
We're hoping to release more frequent SDK updates in future (there may be another this month!) but please understand that it does take time out of regular development to prepare these releases, and we can't always guarantee the SDK will be kept up to date.
As we get deeper into 2021, we definitely plan to run more competitions and community events such as art contests, scavenger hunts and more. We have a new patch for Extinction landing in the next few days, and will be back with themed events throughout the year for special occasions like Easter.
If you're interested in creating themed items for the game, please make sure you submit them to the Extinction Steam Workshop in time! A list of important deadlines for upcoming special events is below...
- VALENTINES submissions .......................... January 29th
- ST Patrick's Day submissions .................... February 26th
- EASTER submissions .................................... March 19th[/h3]
[h3]
[h2]Now get creative![/h2]
Want to stay in the loop about everything Primal Carnage? Come join the official Discord server to keep up to date, chat with other players, or maybe show off what you're working on!
If you want hints and tips about creating your own items or maps for Extinction, the friendly folks over at the SDK Discord can help you out. It's also a treasure trove of useful assets, tutorials and more.
Until next time!