The Top Gun Contest!
 

Custom weapons have been possible to do in JJ2+ for quite some time now, and since then they've only been getting easier to implement and customize. Last week, custom weapons (and levels using them) have been one of the highlights of the Anniversary Bash, ranging from "nice" to "awesome". While it's cool to see this feature become more and more popular, I think a lot more could be done in this area, which is why I am announcing...

Rules:

Must be uploaded to J2O before June 1st, UTC-12:00.
That's six weeks to make your own weapon! Great things have been scripted in much shorter time than that. Only entries uploaded to J2O before the deadline will be accepted.

Your weapon must be made specifically for this contest
There already exist custom weapons that could score very high in this competition. I want to see new stuff from everyone, however!

Your weapon must be made specifically by YOU
Of course, asking for advice and using resources (such as Sir Ementaler's standardized weapon library*, or sprites from other sources**) is welcome, but I will not be rewarding "idea guys" who make others do all the hard work.

Your weapon must be implemented in JJ2+'s AngelScript API
Ideas are cheap, execution is hard! You're free to start by writing down your concepts, drawing stuff, etc., but the final product must be a mutator (.mut) or a library (.asc) that can be run in JJ2+.

Your weapon must NOT be an upgrade of any existing JJ1/JJ2 weapon
I want to see creativity in this contest, not 4 different versions of TNT powerups.

Your weapon may be anything else, though
Got your own, completely original idea? Do you want to implement a weapon from another game? Do you want a universal weapon, or one that is useful only in a select few levels? Do you want to use custom sprites (drawn by you, or otherwise), or use the ones already provided by JJ2? Anything goes!

These rules are purposefully vague to inspire discussion and ideas sharing
Go forth and word-procreate upon this ‘forum’ upon which ‘men’ from the ‘internet’ may ‘talk’ to one another.

^{* - link to be provided later
** - this includes other games}

Winning:

There will be a money prize
I have a (non-jokingly low) figure in mind, but I'm choosing to not announce it yet. The size and distribution of the prize(s) will depend on the quality and quantity of the weapons submitted to the contest.

There can be multiple entries per participant
But only one entry per participant is eligible to receive a/the prize.

There will be at least one judge other than I
To be revealed in time! Obviously participants cannot also be judges.

The judging criteria will be fully subjective, and dependant on the entries themselves
Just make a weapon you find fun. Then see if others find it fun. Then submit it and hope that I like it too. ;-)


Good luck & have fun!

Thanks for giving me more motivation to create a custom weapon :D

I have an idea for one, but it'll only work with mouse aiming.

I'll see if I can get it working in time. :)

Maybe try to make it work without mouse aiming too, I don't think players use mouse aim a lot.

True. I suppose it could be done without mouse aiming. I'll see what I can do.
Only problem is, I have exams coming up, so I might not be able to get it working in time for the contest. Either way, I really like the idea, so I'll try to get it working, even if I can't get it out in time for the contest.

Can someone post a video with examples of custom weapons? I have never seen any. I can try draw weapons with explanations of how they would work, but I can't make them actually work.

I don't know about a video, but here are some recent examples (i.e. I found them on the first page of J2O's downloads section):
Skyward Showdown
Outgrown
Undersea Caverns
Molten Core
Polaris

May has been a very quiet month total, and since I'm still hoping to have a substantial amount of entries, I'm extending the deadline to July 1st.

So does that mean I can continue polishing my weapons already uploaded? Some were quite rushed, to be honest.

You can continue polishing the existing ones, and can continue making new ones.

Well I am participating in the contest, I just didn't have time to make custom weapons since I was mostly busy in May.

BTW, plus 5.5 has a new jjPLAYER method for this contest, to make it easier to write bullets that seek (or in any other way react to the presence of) enemy players :)

I will put it to a good use after the new Plus gets an XP fix. :D

I made an octet of entries :D

20 hours to go! Finish up and upload your weapons. Or maybe spend this time on starting one from scratch? Who knows!?

[IMG]http://www.reactiongifs.com/r/2013/02/ak-chimp.gif[/IMG]

Will do!

Edit: R.I.P. deadline

And CLOSED!

24 weapons have been submitted total: 5 by szmol, 8 by PJ, 9 by Violet, and 2 by SE. This is going to be a lot of fun!

Update!

The weapons will be tested by me, Ragnarok, and FawFul this Sunday, so expect results then!

Can I also help with testing the weapons?

Sadly the judging did not happen today. I'll keep you all updated.

Does this mean we're going to see the results tomorrow? It's not like I'm impatient, just really curious.

It's been a long time since I last heard of this contest. Did I miss something?

With some real-world playtesting under my belt by now, I think Firework should win this one.