RA CONTEST ~*~ RESULTS!!!

[Venetia]

It was a long and weary battle, and there were many, many casualties. Purple lions, and red robots alike.

And yet, after the long weeks of tireless fighting, and after a mighty storm erupted from the valley in which it took place, the dust had finally settled. And there stood a victor among the shambles, standing tall, and roaring proud ...

 

Congratulations all around, Proud Purple Perihelions! You have smote the crimson crusade of criminal computermen.

POINT TOTALS



_____________________________________________________________


PPP: 4209.1 POINTS

Legion: 2606.7 POINTS


_____________________________________________________________

Yes, the PPP, or the Purple Perihelion Party, had reigned victorious, when the War of the Pixel finally drew to a close. Though the mighty leader, The Führer herself, perished in the Skirmish of Spritehedge Shire, her trusted and most talented officers had taken up the cause, and showed their valor. It was bittersweet: though many had tirelessly laid their lives on the line for the good of their country, only a few would come out of the battle triumphant.

Some weeks after the final Conflict at Kaizer Cove, a single young child emerged. She passed through the fields of fallen felines and wrecked robots, and then planted a single sign on a carefully-crafted wooden post. It was the Almighty Scoreboard. That which professed the point earnings of each of the battling officers on either side. It had taken several fortnights of tallying, studying, and careful consideration. What did it read, you ask?






_____________________________________________________________

INDIVIDUAL POINT TOTALS

A special thanks to fucbillgates for this adorable li'l number ;3

 
4. Ynlraey: 333
5. fucbillgates: 329
6. The Führer: 245
7. BlueScope: 240
8. Wyatt: 195
9. Berserker: 156
10. Boon: 150.5
11. emtch: 128
12. Panda: 111
13. Redman: 65
14. Twirly: 27
15. lomastul: 25.2
16. rmxp_beginner: 9
17. fox5: 8
18. Zeriab: 4
19. Joy: 3
20. clangers: 3
21. LunarEclipse: 1.5
_____________________________________________________________


Congratulations were echoed throughout the land for all time, for the almighty INQUISTOR, whom had scored an extraordinary 1770 POINTS!
Statues were erected in honor of the noble OCEAN'S DREAM, whom had wrought a formidable 1621 POINTS!
Minstrels sang in harmony to salute the majestic GREEN RAVEN, a man who had tallied a sizeable 1325 POINTS!

_____________________________________________________________

HONORABLE MENTIONS

It was decreed by the King, that simple point scores were not enough. He demanded that people sing the names of those who worked hard in the heat of battle.

Here are some honorable mentions for a job well done.

- "Most Impressive Quality" - Inquisitor, Perihelion, Green Raven
- "Most Content" - Ocean's Dream, Inquisitor, Green Raven
- "Greatest Diversity" - Ynlraey, Ocean's Dream, Boon
- "Most Original" - Inquisitor, Green Raven, fucbillgates
- "Best Pieces (Staff Picks)" - Steampunkrobot by Inquisitor, robolegion by fucbillgates, foxyxD by lomastul
- "Best Palettes" - Inquisitor, Ocean's Dream, Perihelion













_____________________________________________________________



... And so, our tale of bravery and unabashed talent draws to a close at last.
Our sincerest thanks to all of the brave officers who fought in this perilous war, and our saddest condolences at those who were lost in the tide of battle.
In the end, the true victors are all the competitors themselves, for having pushed themselves to create things worthy of honor.

 

[Venetia]

P-P-P-PRIZESSSssSsS!!!! @___@;

INDIVIDUAL:
FIRST PLACE (goes to Inquisitor):

• $25 ($20 from Perihelion, $5 from Brewmeister)
• sponsorship
• private subforum
• pixeled avatar from Perihelion
• Grathea will draw you something. Also, you'll get to advertise in her sig for a month!
• a medium-sized script from Zeriab (what this means idk, ask him!!)
• A piece of character art (whatever character you'd like, esp. your own), drawn by Venetia
• The ability to place any ad of your choosing into Venetia's signature
• Your very own custom forum smiley, done by Venetia ( :smile: )

SECOND PLACE (goes to Ocean's Dream):

• $20 ($15 from Perihelion, $5 from Brewmeister)
• sponsorship
• pixeled userbar from Perihelion
• voucher for a reasonable pixel request from Grathea
• a medium-sized script from BlueScope

THIRD PLACE (goes to green raven):

• $15 ($10 from Perihelion, $5 from Brewmeister)
• sponsorship
• pixeled userbar from Perihelion
• voucher for a reasonable pixel request from Grathea

TEAM:

Anyone who contributes over fifteen points to the winning team gets a fancy userbadge at the end of the month that they can keep for as long as they want. Perihelion will make that as soon as she gets a chance!

Additionally, anyone who contributes over thirty points to the winning team gets a free sponsorship!


We'll dole out the prizes ASAP. If you won something from the above listings, please PM Venetia so she can track your winnings being given to you.

Spoiler: IN-DEPTH POINT TALLY SHEET

If you're wondering what we did, we had point values for everything. We totaled up WHAT was done using those values, giving single points for WIPs. Some things, we had to crop (much of the submitted work was at 200% size or they had blank space all around them), and estimate. But luckily, the scores are broad enough that there shouldn't be too many problems with the estimations.

Then, we judged the skill level. It was mostly based on a curve, as no one is absolutely PERFECT at pixel art. Every piece posted got their own skill level marking. We then took an average of all those numbers, and came out with a score of 0-5 (0=total-novice, 5=near-perfection). The content score was multiplied by the quality rating. As you can see, a few people threw off the curve a little .

Point values (1 tile = a 32x32pix square):

Battlers, monsters, and static non-sprite pictures: 4pts per tile.
Tileset tiles: 2pts per tile (16x16 tiles get 1 point each, as they are half the size).
Icons: 3pts each icon.
Single frame sprite: 1pt. (Possibly 2, if it's very well done.)
Templated sprite sheet (small): 6pt.
Templated sprite sheet (medium): 7pt.
Templated sprite sheet (large): 8pt.
Un-templated (original) sprite sheet (small): 12pt.
Un-templated (original) sprite sheet (medium): 14pt.
Un-templated (original) sprite sheet (large): 16pt.
Everything else: 3-4pts per tile (differs depending on depth and skill level needed on the tile).
WIP (non-complete): 1pt-2pts. (for the whole thing).

Please note: Some threads were set-up incorrectly, and the art was scattered throughout the thread, instead of compiled at the 1st post. We spent a while trying to figure out every piece which was worthy of being considered complete. It was slow-going, as they all were fairly disorganized, and some were resized, and some had blank space all around. Also note: Tileset tallies were based on ORIGINAL tiles, not cut-and-paste tiles. A tileset may contain 600 tiles for example, but we counted every tile which was unique enough to be considered original work, and not cut-and-paste rework, so it turned out to be significantly less.

We humbly ask that you do not dispute the point totals; they took a long time to do. We didn't play favorites, and just wanted it to get done. If you feel that your total is grievously wrong, we may take another look for you. But this contest was supposed to be about your improving as a pixel artist, not getting the p-prizes @_@;;.

Original Contest Thread: viewtopic.php?f=9&t=60516

 

[Venetia]

*** This Post is Reserved For Critiques. ***
I and my compatriots are going to be posting the critiques very soon. They need some heavy formatting @_@.

In the meantime, check out the workshop threads! They've been unlocked (or should've been--PM Perihelion if not), so you can feel free to continue using them if you want.

~~~PPP~~~
The Panda: viewtopic.php?f=9&t=60608
Ocean's Dream: viewtopic.php?f=9&t=60738
TheInquisitor: viewtopic.php?f=9&t=60719
LunarEclipse: viewtopic.php?f=9&t=61246
Boon: viewtopic.php?f=9&t=60537
Redman: viewtopic.php?f=9&t=60619
The Fuhrer: viewtopic.php?f=9&t=60534
Zeriab: viewtopic.php?f=9&t=60535
fox5: viewtopic.php?f=9&t=60546
Joy: viewtopic.php?f=9&t=60555
Wyatt: viewtopic.php?f=9&t=60540

~~~LEGION~~~
Ynlraey: viewtopic.php?f=9&t=60735
green raven: viewtopic.php?f=9&t=60762
Berserker: viewtopic.php?f=9&t=60529
lomastul: viewtopic.php?f=9&t=60553
fucbillgates: viewtopic.php?f=9&t=60566
rmxp_beginner: viewtopic.php?f=9&t=60530
Clangers: viewtopic.php?f=9&t=60603
BlueScope: viewtopic.php?f=9&t=60614
Emtch: viewtopic.php?f=9&t=60665
Twirly: viewtopic.php?f=9&t=61314

 

[Ocean]

2nd place!

Congrats to Inquisitor for first!

 

[Petros]

Congrats to all the contestants and especially to Inquisitor because let's face it, who can really put up a fight against Inq.

 

[Berserker]

I wish things didn't get a hold of me back then. Oh well, congrats INQ, I knew recruiting you was a bad idea. lol.

 

[Ynlraey]

I never thought I'll reach 4th O_O

 

[Twirly]

Wasn't that bad for a fist try on spriting! also thanks peri for helping me a lot :3

 

[Perihelion]

Yay, thanks to Ven for getting the grading done, and congrats to the victorious Purple Perihelions (and the mighty LEGION as well who gave them a run for their money)! The c-c-CASHPRIZES will be doled out in the near future, and of course you should contact the individuals in the prizes post if you want to claim the vouchers for stuff.

 

[BlueScope]

Contest... oooh, right :p

Glad you guys... well, girls, made it after all... And I got a not too bad place as well, at least for my spriting beginner stuff ^^
Looking at the score table and the point guides, I guess you rated each submission and added the points instead of just counting the best result? :x There's something to improve for your next contest, because that's kind of strange in my opinion... (not trying to complain, since I didn't have time either way, but yeah... you get me hopefully).

So yeah... congrats to all the contestants... and Ocean's Dream, get your script request in if you want it ^^

Also, wtf is with this music? >_<

 

[Venetia]

Why would we only count the best result? That's incredibly unfair ... You could make one brilliant piece and then a bunch of crap, then enjoy a high content score combined with a high quality score that's undeserved for your other pieces.

Doing it based on averages makes more sense :/

 

[Perihelion]

Well, I think he means why didn't we just grade the best piece. BlueScope, we wanted to encourage quality and quantity. It wasn't designed as a one-shot deal like most contests.

 

[BlueScope]

Averages yes, but not adding... it's a given that not everyone has the same amount of time, so you normally say "here's a big bag of days, choose some of them you can spare time and do it!" so everyone can finish something in time. I think quantity-based rating is inefficient because quality should matter more. I get where you're coming from, I just say it's not the best way of handling things IMO... and particularily doesn't seem to make sense combined with the "approximately same amount of contestants in each team", because if everyone can submit as much as they want, it really doesn't matter how many people are in one team or the other, ya know? But like I said, i'm not complaining, just saying

 

[Venetia]

We did quantity too to try to get people pixelling as much as they could. That was the overall goal: get people pixelling. Not necessarily show off--just produce shit you're proud of and learn from it.

Well regardless, the next pixel contest will be more structured and easier to grade. What we've learned is to have more structure to what people submit, so next time we don't have to sit there and try to find everything and crop shit and resize shit ... etc.

 

[Perihelion]

Yeah, we definitely are gonna consider different systems for the next contest; for one thing, it proved incredibly tedious and time-consuming to grade. But as Ven said, we wanted to get people producing a bunch of solid, original pixels for this contest. The weight on quality is so heavy that the better artists still rose to the top even if they didn't do tons, and I felt the winners were the right people, so it's not COMPLETELY content-based. But the point was to practice a bunch and grow and get in the habit of putting up original pixels, not just win shit. It was designed as an energy boost to RA more than as a typical contest, really.

I'll admit that despite our efforts, the teams ended up lopsided, but tbh just doing the same numbers of people wouldn't have helped that much. Guess that's a problem in most team-based contests, or at least contests with big teams. We'll refine it in the future if we do it again, anyway--maybe smaller teams.

 

[BlueScope]

Well, I get the purpose, and yeah, the poeple on top definately deserve it. But the unbalanced-because-of-time-differences-fact bothers me, ya know... ^^

I'm looking forward to the next contest though... I probably won't participate because I have more and more stuff to do over here, but I'm still interested how it'll go on with that ^^

 

[Perihelion]

Anyway, I don't think free time and enthusiasm are necessarily less fair qualifiers for winning a contest than skill--it just depends on the emphasis of the contest. I think a purely skill-based one would've discouraged people who aren't that good yet from participating, but since there's teams and a content modifier, they can still accomplish something productive. I mean, this method makes it WAY more likely that "the little guy" will beat a pixel beast like Inq--he just needs to want it enough and put in enough effort. At the same time, the emphasis on quality makes it so that he can't just submit a bunch of half-finished shit. And although excellent pixel artists ended up claiming all the top spots, they had to work for it. So I think we accomplished what we set out to do.

 

[Perihelion]

Oh, should've checked the thread before posting! I can see how that can bother you, but is it less fair than a contest being unbalanced because of skill? I mean, sure, great pixel artists have put years of their life into honing their craft, but that doesn't mean that other qualifications shouldn't sometimes give relative newbies more of a shot than they'd have otherwise. Like free time, skill isn't really something you can help, or at least not in the short term.

 

[TheInquisitor]

Woohoo! I won. :biggrin:

I wasn't expecting to win, I thought GreenRaven would get the top spot for quantity, but I won't argue his case to the judges too emphatically. Nice judging topic you've got there, I like the story and the pictures so it was worth the wait. We pretty much demolished the other team.

I claim my prize, my lord!


- How do I get paid the winnings? Directly into my account?

- What does a sponsorship get me?

- I'm not sure what a private forum gets me? Care to elaborate?

- I currently have no uses for a script, Zeriab, however I may in the near future. I could rope you in for an AGS game if the need arises.

- Okay, Venetia, I've got a concept art job for you as part of my winnings. One of two choices:

1) Steampunk character/concept art for my robot on the motorbike thing. He's a mad robot who's just a head. He can be detatched and attached to different steampunk bodies like helicopters, bikes, tanks, big fat robots, thin quick robots and just about any bodies you can think of. For my un-finished game I feel he gives you lots of free range and excitement to keep you interested. Basic stipulations are that it has to be steampunk (with the steam coming out of pipes) and specifically his head has to be consistent with my pixel art piece as well as general consistency in concept style. Sound fun? If you have any questions, feel free to ask and I can offer pointers.

2) Some general superhero characters/normal people concepts for my AGS game. I could do with some of these more urgently actually so get in touch if you prefer this.

- Grathea, could you perhaps create some concept art for steampunk enemies/worlds? Environments would be preferred over enemies. For environment I have two I'm after and you can pick between:
1) A jungle. The concept work has to have a red tinge about it with red dirt (no grass) and green unusual looking jungle plants over it (look up "Necrum" to give you some ideas). Preferably it should have a general red misty/foggy feel about it.
2) A steampunk city by the name of "Antenna Town" build up in the skies on the peak of a mountain. It needs a general red tinge to the whole piece with a dawn sky (no clouds/suns or anything like that). I don't know if this is beyond your abilities or not, but it's only concept work. It can also feature a mist/fog effect like for the jungle.

- I wouldn't mind ads to RPG Palace and my portfolio site in your sigs, Venetia and Grathea! Make sure that people don't think you're me though.

- I'll have to think about the smiley. Are there any limitations I must know about? Probably one of me (matching my avatar design) would be ideal. :D An animated one would be cool.

:cheers:

Congratulations to all that entered and the prizes seem great. Very handy actually. If you do another competition like this in the not-to-distant (but not too soon either) future, I'll try and join in again. Personally I think this competition was a resounding success. You got plenty of people pixelling and all went well. I agree with what you said about it encouraging rookies and also making the more experienced pixel artists work for it. :thumb:

 

[Venetia]

Woohoo! I won. :biggrin:

I wasn't expecting to win, I thought GreenRaven would get the top spot for quantity, but I won't argue his case to the judges too emphatically. Nice judging topic you've got there, I like the story and the pictures so it was worth the wait. We pretty much demolished the other team.

I claim my prize, my lord!


- How do I get paid the winnings? Directly into my account?

We will transfer the prize money from the rmxp.org paypal account (which we have already paid into, so no, this is not funded by sponsorships), into your paypal account. Please provide your paypal account address so we can transfer funds. This will probably happen next week sometime, but I'm doing it all at once when I do it, so please get your info in to me asap.
If you don't have a paypal account, it's super easy to make one, all you need is a bank account and an email address. https://www.paypal.com/us/
If you don't have a bank account you can use for accepting paypal money, we can also send you a money order that you can cash. This will take a little longer since I'd have to route it through another account first.

- What does a sponsorship get me?

An rmxp.org email address (if you'd like one), custom Member Badges, unlimited PM inbox size, ability to delete your own posts and lock your own topics, ability to log into the forum as "hidden", and the ability to change your forum name. Also you only have to donate $15 for a private subforum (instead of the standard $20/$30 for regular members). (Though actually YOU, Inq, won't have to donate anything for a p. subforum.)
sponsors.php (Damn we need to update that)

- I'm not sure what a private forum gets me? Care to elaborate?

Here is the info on Private Subforums

- I currently have no uses for a script, Zeriab, however I may in the near future. I could rope you in for an AGS game if the need arises.

If you would, please send a notice to Zeriab about your winning the contest. I can't be sure if he's seen this yet. I can contact him as well if you'd like to give him a heads-up.

- Okay, Venetia, I've got a concept art job for you as part of my winnings. One of two choices:

1) Steampunk character/concept art for my robot on the motorbike thing. He's a mad robot who's just a head. He can be detatched and attached to different steampunk bodies like helicopters, bikes, tanks, big fat robots, thin quick robots and just about any bodies you can think of. For my un-finished game I feel he gives you lots of free range and excitement to keep you interested. Basic stipulations are that it has to be steampunk (with the steam coming out of pipes) and specifically his head has to be consistent with my pixel art piece as well as general consistency in concept style. Sound fun? If you have any questions, feel free to ask and I can offer pointers.

2) Some general superhero characters/normal people concepts for my AGS game. I could do with some of these more urgently actually so get in touch if you prefer this.

Both ideas sound fun to me
I'm better at drawing people, but I'll do robots, too. Whichever you'd like more; I have a broad range. I should note that this will be digitally painted.
Anyway, shoot me a line with the specifics and we'll hash it out . I probably won't be able to do this until after the 22nd though, as I'm going to be away this weekend, and the weekend after I'm going to be working on my portfolio for professional pursuits. (Whee, alliteration.)

- Grathea, could you perhaps create some concept art for steampunk enemies/worlds? Environments would be preferred over enemies. For environment I have two I'm after and you can pick between:
1) A jungle. The concept work has to have a red tinge about it with red dirt (no grass) and green unusual looking jungle plants over it (look up "Necrum" to give you some ideas). Preferably it should have a general red misty/foggy feel about it.
2) A steampunk city by the name of "Antenna Town" build up in the skies on the peak of a mountain. It needs a general red tinge to the whole piece with a dawn sky (no clouds/suns or anything like that). I don't know if this is beyond your abilities or not, but it's only concept work. It can also feature a mist/fog effect like for the jungle.

Grath's computer is down for the next few days (she posted a thing in the staff forum a couple days ago about it). If you shoot Grath a PM she'll work it out as soon as she can.

- I wouldn't mind ads to RPG Palace and my portfolio site in your sigs, Venetia and Grathea! Make sure that people don't think you're me though.

Sure, shoot me the link to the image, and I'll be happy to toss it in the sig. You'll be enjoying ad space emblazoned on around 16,000 posts. I'll probably keep it up for about 6 weeks or so. Maybe longer, if I get lazy

- I'll have to think about the smiley. Are there any limitations I must know about? Probably one of me (matching my avatar design) would be ideal. :D An animated one would be cool.

No larger than 19x19, but try to keep it around 15x15. Animated is fine. The little guys are squarish so keep that in mind so I can keep the style consistent :wink: .

I hope that answers everything :D
I'm going to be away from the forums until the 17th, so please be patient if you guys PM me