Let the Games Begin?

starvo,

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I was trying to help make this interesting and get everyone involved in it.....but there are "too many chiefs and not enough indians" to come to any kind of an agreement on anything.....so I'm withdrawing from trying to help get this together.....and I will just submit some filters for the competition.....which will be far less frustrating..... Wink Big grin Good luck and may the best man/woman win!!! Smile Smile Smile PS.... I'm also withdrawing my HU donations.....since there is already more than enough donated for the competition....and I don't want to compete to win my own HUs back..... Confused ..... Wink Smile LOL....

So apparently you're going back on your word to not be involved as well as selfishly withdrawing your HU donations.

I can read quite alright despite your concerns.

sigh...

check your email, we don't need to muck up things here.

Well I am going on vacation for a week, it was a spur of the moment thing, but I hope that my contribution helped at least a little bit. StevieJ is right I believe, need to finalize just a few (tiny itsy bitsy) things before you jump into it. You have the helm though guys! I look forward to seeing where this went in a week.

Sorry to just up and leave, but the beach calls

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KGtheway2B wrote: selfishly withdrawing your HU donations.

Oh really??? You had more than enough and didn't need them.....especially under your own suggestions to have CS as the only prize without using any donated HUs at all.....and how is it selfish to not want to compete for my own HUs back.....

I haven't seen you donate anything but lip.....and claim other people's filter work as your own.....

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KGtheway2B wrote: check your email, we don't need to muck up things here.

Don't bother.....I'm totally done with your crap.....

Sorry guys, I know this isn't the place for personal issues.....but KG obviously has felt the need to deliberately rub me the wrong way for some time now.....and I've had enough of his BS.....

(why is this thread in offtopic?... I hardly ever read offtopic)

Noticed the three posts 'User Gallery' and the subsequent mess in here.

First... I you want control over the content, don't put everything in posts. Put everything in the WIKI and post a link to that location (and request the post be made sticky).

Second... I think that second prize is way too meager compared to that first one. Why not make it a 5 HU prize and call it a free copy of FF with lifetime upgrades. I'd be willing to add the rest of the HU's needed for that (since they are just gathering dust anyway).

...and please relax a little KGtheway2B and StevieJ. There are more important things in life worth getting pissed over.

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StevieJ wrote: One question.....what is "Steampunk" and what are its' theme parameters???

Dug up a few websites hope this helps

http://www.steamtreehouse.com/

http://steampunkworkshop.com/

http://www.brassgoggles.co.uk/brassgoggles/

http://gizmodo.com/gadgets/steampunk/

http://www.buysteampunk.com/

Finally finished finals

Sjeiti- thanks for bringing things back to order. With regards to the meager second and third prizes I was working off of redcap's earlier suggestion along with some considerations of my own.

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Prize: 1st place photoshop 2nd place 3 HU donated by Carl? 3rd place 2 HU donated by Sphinx? 4th place 1 HU donated by Sphinx? (How does this sound, can change it)

4th prize seems weird so I cut out the middleman.

Secondly, like others have stated the first prize IS a lot, it was proposed as being the solo prize for a while, with that in consideration 3 or 1 HU is certainly more than nothing.

Third, we DO want to be stingy with these HU's, we don't have an unlimited supply of them and we can't give heaps of them out for each competition if we want to have lots of competitions.

Fourth, while they may seem useless to you guys that have already gotten free upgrades for life, you gotta keep in mind that three of these HU's gets you a $100 program. I'm sitting here with only one HU and the prize of 3 more sounds amazing and I'll try my hardest to get them, as I'm sure the others who don't already have enough HU's.

Finally, I think it's kinda hard to expect there to always be really good prizes in the future- we might as well get used to the fact that we'll eventually be competing for nothing (valuable to us) but bragging rights, even if FF were to get involved they would probably just be giving licenses as prizes, which, while very nice, isn't very valuable to any of the vets here.


I didn't intend to write so much on the matter- but hopefully it's clear that I put some thought into the last undecided bit- this is why I wanted to jumpstart the competition and make sure bio didn't get cold feet.

Finally finally, while the Wiki on paper seems like a good idea- in practice it's not the best solution at present. The very nature of a wiki allows edits and modifications- NOT a good thing to be available when you are listing rules and trying to enforce fair submissions. There is no way to lock the page to prevent further submissions and I expect that a wiki page will actually have less visibility than a stickied forum post.

So long story short, what I'm asking here is for some support from you guys and perhaps a few messages sent to FF saying: "hey- the competetion posts in the forum are O.K.- please moderate them as requested and let's get this show on the road".

Cheers!

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StevieJ wrote: After reading your links, I was thinking that theme might be a bit confusing and a tad advanced for alot of newcomers.....but if that's what everyone wants, then so be it.....

I had wondered if it is a tough one [ it's a nice genre ] I guess the reality is a newbie is going to have a hard time against more seasoned authors no matter what the theme, the comp may encourage people who don't normally submit to the library but know the program though

Steve

Yep - that's right Steve

Hey - just got started on that work today, sorry for the delay - I'll send it tomorrow or Monday

KGthepath2B

Thanks, but I've actually gone off it now I think, been waiting too long... (just jesting Steve)

Anyway - was only in love with this one variation :



p.s. KGthepath2B just to let you know, ahem... (clears throat) I'm 'male' not 'female'...

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KGtheway2B wrote: bio was considering revoking her graciously offered prize

Do we need to start beavering away at steampunk filters now? um.. head start *coughs* .. Mind I think Redcap is away for the week..

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Biomechanic wrote: (clears throat) I'm 'male' not 'female'..

I was wondering.. In my mind I was thinking of you as male.. kinda threw me a bit when
KGthepath2B said she.. now I have started thinking of you as a female... will have to reverse the brain back to male gender for you now .

I've updated wiki with your name CF - Dilla or anyone else ?

LOL that seems only fair


Examples of Steampunk to stimulated ideas - the key is for 19th century style combined with 21 century technology to make an alternative present -
Classic SF novels, inspirations for steampunk

* From the Earth to the Moon by Jules Verne
* 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea by Jules Verne
* The Mysterious Island by Jules Verne
* Robur the Conqueror by Jules Verne
* The Steam House by Jules Verne
* The Time Machine by H. G. Wells
* The War of the Worlds by H. G. Wells
* The Island of Dr. Moreau by H. G. Wells
* The Invisible Man by H. G. Wells
* The Ablest Man in the World by Edward Page Mitchell
* A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court by Mark Twain

Comics / graphic novels

* Daisy Kutter by Kazu Kibuishi
* Le Régulateur T1 : Ambrosia by Corbeyran
* Girl Genius by Phil and Kaja Foglio
* The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen 1898 by Alan Moore
* Steam Detectives manga by Kia Asamiya
* Steampunk by Joe Kelly and Chris Bachalo
* Texas Steampunk series by Lea Hernandez: Cathedral Child and Clockwork Angels
* Les Cités Obscures by Benoît Peeters and François Schuiten
* Batman: Gotham by Gaslight (DC Comics Elseworlds) by Brian Augustyn and Mike Mignola and Batman: Master of the Future (DC Comics Elseworlds) by Augusten and Eduardo Barreto
* JLA: Age of Wonder (DC Comics Elseworlds) by Adisakdi Tantimedh and Galen Showman
* Justice Riders (DC Comics Elseworlds) by Chuck Dixon and J. H. Williams III
* Batman: The Doom that Came to Gotham (DC Comics Elseworlds) by Mike Mignola and Troy Nixey
* The Amazing Screw-On Head by Mike Mignola
* Neotopia by Rod Espinosa
* The Adventures of Luther Arkwright and Heart of Empire, or The Legacy of Luther Arkwright by Bryan Talbot

Filmography

Movies

* A Trip to the Moon (1902)
* The Impossible Voyage (1904)
* Conquest of the Pole (1912)
* The Invisible Man (1933)
* Bride of Frankenstein (1935)
* 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea (1954)
* The Fabulous World of Jules Verne (1958)
* Journey to the Center of the Earth (1959)
* The Time Machine (1960, 2002)
* Master of the World (1961)
* First Men in the Moon (1964)
* The Asphyx (1972)
* The Adventures of Mark Twain (1982 claymation)
* Castle in the Sky (1986)
* Back to the Future Part III (1990)
* Hudson Hawk (1991)
* Mary Shelley's Frankenstein (1994)
* The City of Lost Children (1995)
* Casper (1995)
* Wild Wild West (1998)
* Sleepy Hollow (1999)
* Atlantis: The Lost Empire (2001)
* The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen (2003)
* Steamboy (2004 anime)
* Van Helsing (2004)
* Hellboy (2004)
* Around the World in 80 Days (2004)
* Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events (2004)
* Howl's Moving Castle (2005 anime)

Television

* The Adventures of Brisco County, Jr., FOX series
* Doctor Who: Pyramids of Mars (1975), The Talons of Weng-Chiang (1977), Ghost Light (1989)
* Dinotopia, syndicated series
* Fullmetal Alchemist, anime TV series
* Gormenghast BBC series
* Jack of All Trades, syndicated series
* Kino's Journey, anime TV series
* Last Exile, 2003 26-episode anime TV series
* Legend, series
* Nadia: The Secret of Blue Water, anime TV series
* Sakura Wars, anime TV series
* The Secret Adventures of Jules Verne, Sci Fi Channel series
* Secret of Cerulean Sand, anime TV series
* Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's The Lost World, syndicated series
* Steam Detectives, anime TV series
* Trigun, anime TV series
* The Wild Wild West, ABC series
* The Vision of Escaflowne, anime TV series

Games

* Amerzone
* Arcanum: of Steamworks and Magick Obscura
* Chaos Engine
* Chrono Trigger
* Chrono Cross
* Crimson Skies
* Dungeon Siege Mostly the goblin base and their automata
o Dungeon Siege: Legends of Aranna adventure amids the ruins of a high-tech atlantean society
* Final Fantasy
o Final Fantasy V (Neo-Classical)
o Final Fantasy VI (Tuscan/Victorian/Western/Steampunk)
o Final Fantasy VII (Steampunkisch/Cyberpunk/Modern)
o Final Fantasy X (Magitech/Clockwork/Etherbased)
* Gunvalkyrie
* Jak and Daxter series
* Magic: the Gathering, prominent in the Weatherlight storyline and dominant in the Mirrodin storyline
* Morrowind, specifically Dwemer culture
* Myst
o Riven
o Myst III: Exile
o Uru: Ages Beyond Myst
o Myst IV: Revelation
* Rise of Nations: Rise of Legends
* Sakura Wars
* Septerra Core
* Shining Force Series
* Slouching Towards Bedlam
* Steamband
* Syberia
* Tail Concerto
* Thief
* WILD ARMS series (Western)
* World of Warcraft

Biohazard should also be mentioned

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Carl wrote: Biohazard

whoops should have been Bioshock, I was thinking of my Defacto's cooking

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Beliria wrote: Gulps* I've read half them books, watched half them movies and played 1/3 of them games you listed... No wonder my eye's look more square than round.. I so need to get out more

I've deleted the both threads (one with the rules and one announcing the contest) -- I'd like to discuss things a bit before we get started. (I've copied them both into a Word document, so when we write the final rules, we can incorporate what was in these posts).

First, can the Game Master also be a judge? Can he/she participate in competition?

Second, regarding the prizes - we can give Pro, Standard and Basic editions of FF as prizes. Regarding the donated prizes: while I absolutely welcome the idea (thanks Biomechanic!), I'm a bit unsure about the legal side of things -- for example, is it legal to transfer a software license, such as Biomechanic's copy of Photoshop?

And third, the theme. I'm quite familiar with steampunk (a couple of months ago I even found myself debating the efficiency of a steam-phlogiston engine and the phlogiston refinery process with a friend in game industry ). However, I'm not sure if the steampunk is a good contest theme for Filter Forge filters. Steampunk would be awesome for a site like cgtalk or conceptart.org -- but not for textures and filters.

Do you think steampunk will work well? Personally, I'd prefer a more 'press-releasable', media friendly topic -- if things go well, I'd like to try to use contests as press release fodder

What do you think?

P.S. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phlogiston

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Vladimir Golovin wrote: I'd like to discuss things a bit before we get started.

Good idea.....

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Vladimir Golovin wrote: First, can the Game Master also be a judge? Can he/she participate in competition?

I wouldn't think so.....all judges and game master should be completely impartial and not involved in the competition.....

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Vladimir Golovin wrote: Do you think steampunk will work well?

Not really......although surreal sci-fi has alot of cool things that can be done, it could be kinda ambiguous and confusing.....

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Vladimir Golovin wrote: I'd prefer a more 'press-releasable', media friendly topic

I agree.....maybe something more like Impressionistic painting effects, Fabrics, building materials, etc.....

I also have concerns about the three week contest period.....which I think is way too short to take full advantage of the contest. It assumes that everyone is ready to go and has that short time period to work on it. I would personnally like to see it run for a couple months in order to allow more people to "catch on" to it and give everyone enough time to put a good effort into it in their free time without feeling "pressurized" by a short time constraint.....

Maybe with a longer contest period, you could offer a super-sweet "Lifetime updates" (8 reward points) grand prize.....might act as quite an incentive to bring alot more quality works out, eh???

Also, with a longer contest period, maybe allow each contestant a maximum of three contest entries.....for getting even more quality filter submissions.....

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And then StevieJ continues: And then, with a longer contest period, maybe enter all submissions to the filter library into the contest....

Oh no, not again!

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Crapadilla wrote: We could take a very hard look at the Filter Library and decide upon textures/effects categories that have been insufficiently explored until now (from a quality perspective).

Here's a few ones:

Skin and fur (animals, reptiles etc)
Flourish patterns / ornaments (like seen in much contemporary vector art)
Carpets and Rugs

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Crapadilla wrote: Vladimir Golovin wrote: I'm not sure if the steampunk is a good contest theme for Filter Forge filters. Steampunk would be awesome for a site like cgtalk or conceptart.org -- but not for textures and filters. We could take a very hard look at the Filter Library and decide upon textures/effects categories that have been insufficiently explored until now (from a quality perspective). We could determine where the Filter Library is lacking, and which FF target markets are only insufficiently serviced by the available filters. Another idea would be to check all the Editor's Picks for categories that are under-represented, and chose a contest theme based on those.

That would be a good idea..Not only contest submissions but filling a void or a need for part of the library that is lacking in filters..

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Vladimir Golovin wrote: Second, regarding the prizes - we can give Pro, Standard and Basic editions of FF as prizes.

Thank you for very much for that Vlad..You and the FF team have also been most generous and I much like Craig appreciate it

Well, when it comes to themes, we should not be overly specific, IMO. For example, 'architecture' is to open as a theme, but 'brick walls' is certainly too narrow to garner enough interest. So, if we find a certain category lacking (say, 'architectural surfaces'), we would just add some themed flavor, resulting in themes like 'heavy industry', 'sub-urbia', 'medieval settlement', 'ancient ruins', etc. These would be open enough for creative exploration yet narrow enough to 'steer' the net result in a certain direction.

Just to elaborate a little on the themes I gave above...

[*]Heavy Industry:
Industrial architectural/engineering surfaces of factory buildings, machines, warehouses, power plants, leaking barrels, etc., featuring metal, bricks, concrete, rust, scratches & dents, oil stains & grease. Both 'Industrialization' and 'Post-Industrial' periods would be viable.

[*]Sub-Urbia:
I'm thinking modern suburbs 'GTA 4'-style surfaces. Trash-littered pavements, graffiti walls, weathered poster advertisements, trash bins, manhole covers, seedy bars and clubs, neon-lights, backyards, basketball courts, subway stations, ...

[*]Medieval Settlement:
Medieval architecture/construction surfaces... half-timbered houses, straw-littered cobblestones, mud-encrusted alleys, street markets, carriages, fortifications, rough stone walls, siege-engines, monasteries, churches, leaded glass windows, ...

[*]Ancient Ruins:
Mythical sites, pyramids, the Sphinx, Stonehenge, Mayan temples, buried under the sands, covered in dense vegetation, 'indiana-jonesy', caves, catacombs, tombs, labyrinths, mazes, deadly traps, ...

[*]Post-Apocalyptic:
Radiation-blasted wastelands, 'Mad Max'-style, ruined metropolises, corroded steel, smashed concrete, scrap-metal construction, bleached bone, tattered rags, mutants, ...

Vlad, if you're putting up the prizes, I think it would be appropriate for you to pick the theme.....maybe out of a catagory that you would like to see "improved" in the library.....and that fits the promotional aspects of what you want???

How does that sound to you guys???

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CFandM wrote: Thank you for very much for that Vlad..You and the FF team have also been most generous and I much like Craig appreciate it

+100