I would be stumped on that one PixelGoat! What did you end up making with 13 tris and how did you make it make use of a 1024x1024? Modular chunks of maximum 13 polygons each to make up a larger house/ area maybe? 13 single polies with hi-res rendered houses on them...with added blooooomz?
Or they gave you a whacky budget to see if you can use that budget in a smart way. I got something similar for my arttest at Massive, except it was the reverese. 13 tris and a 1024map for a really small RTS suburb house :P
We should have a ridiculous challenge like that... 13 polygons and one 1K diffuse map... heh In other news, I emailed the art director directly, and hopefully I hear back soon... Would it be considered bad form or perhaps cheating to post my progress on the test here for critique and revisions?