what was that contest thing?

[modeling-man]

Yes, Wanzai. I'd really like this to happen. I just finished my short 3 month Game Design course and really want to get some good work setup for my portfolio, and what better a way than through a little good hearted competition.
Sure the last round I got spanked but I got a great model out of it, and some of the best critiques! I don't really care if 4 people or 40 people participate...I just really think the best way to get better is to try new things...instead of just making things I feel "safe" modeling.

I believe you got 3 positive votes and considering there were only 5 judges that sounds like a win to me:)

SO Wanzai whats it gonna be?!

Happy Holidays everyone!
B

[blc318]

I agree....I think there should be an official game art contest... Good post

[Grooveholmes]

Sounds like a crackin good idea to me...

[tobyWong]

Amen. Make the red headed stepchild contest of CgTalk official!

Peace,
-Mr Wong

[modeling-man]

Ok Wanzai. Lets get a challenge from you:)
I'm dying to start a new model.
Thanks
B

[sanhueza]

Hi, I should have posted regarding the past (and future) contest earlier, but I've been away on vacation for the holidays. I agree and would definitely like to see an official game contest here on CGTalk. The last one was just a spur of the moment thing that some of us put together. In my opinion it went pretty well and some people got some great models for their portfolio out of it. I'm sure that later game comps will be better and have more participation. Should CGTalk eventually officially sponsor the tournament, even better!

- Me

www.sanhueza.com

[wanzai]

Alright... the whole point posting this poll was just me hoping for more than 18 votes... and it's not about sponsoring either... but anyway. Thanks for the feedback.

I guess the best way would be simply to continue and see what happens.

Big thanks for all the props. Then I'll take the honor and think of something soon to occupy you all :D

[modeling-man]

Sorry man..just voted...didn't realize it was a POLL:) Just thought you were throwing out the idea. Seriously, though lets do another competition, the rules stipulated that you come up with a new challenge...I mean so what if only another handful of us compete...sooner or later people are gonna catch on.
Lets do it!!!
B

[wille]

hmm..you might wanna head over to the cgchat.com game art forum...official contests goin on continously...

[chrisdejoya]

as of my reply, your poll is getting a "YES" 25 to 1.

it's a great idea, and every tight-knit community should have one .. I especially like conceptart.org's format. it's called the Thunderdome and every contest happens in the context of that universe.

Round 1 was a one-on-one between two members, the theme was to design a post-apocalyptic warrior. Round 2 was a free-for-all to design a female. Round 3 was a conceptart vs. eatpoo "Dogs of War" battle.. Andrew Jones, Jason Manley, and yeah even el Coro and his beagle joined in on the fun.... you get the idea.

Wouldn't it be cool if there were one big umbrella concept for all the CGtalk contests? Eventually the community ends up with a gigantic cohesive universe of its own, with all the content made by its members.

As for prizes, Round 2's was a 200-page sketchbook drawn in by some of the pros/moderators on the boards. Tho I don't know how you'd do that here.. a 700 MB CD-R filled with models by pros? hehe

[wanzai]

Yeah, Snowfly, I definitely got the idea! What a GREAT idea!

I think we shall start a brain storming here and then a seperate poll to decide which direction we should go for "our" universe.

What I'd like would be:
A Sci-Fi world, but nor post-apocalyptic (Mad Max) either super-clean-advanced (Star Trek). Something like.. The Dig (that Lucas Arts point-n-click adventure). But maybe that's a little too Star Wars-esque.

[Cheshire]

Woohoo!:bounce: Woohoo again! 3k to 5k game models are all I seem to make, so lets have it!:thumbsup:

[chrisdejoya]

Star Wars-esque works for me. :)

Or we could go for slick futuristic reality, a la Minority Report or The Matrix.

Or a whole other world that exists in the nooks and crannies of our world, sort of like Wonderland or Neverwhere?

How about we take off from the last contest, and reinvent characters from world mythology?

Heck, even cute teddy bear land is a viable option. Or sports. We could all expand our horizons a bit, no?

And everybody gets to pitch in, whether you like doing character, vehicles, environments, or creatures. Or why not mix it up once in a while? "Hero guy and his speedy one-man transport----whatever it may be".

Ah, man...the possibilities are endless! Really hoping to see this come together.

-Chris

P.S. Does anyone know of a good way to display 3D models online? I use Viewpoint, but it doesn't support any mesh deformation. The contests could definitely benefit from one.

Cheshire: That's the Beatrice model in your avatar! Did you make it? (guess you did..) It's very cool.

[Beroc-LOD]

OH yeah... this is alot more my speed.... I can do gaming contests alot easier then High end ones..... Is there one? Where where where?????

I will be watching.... You should get teh CGTalk officials up for this, not just try to do it on your own, as they have a complete board setup for that.....

[Stygian]

Sounds like a great Idea ... I'm just starting but since Games are the direction I wanna go I think a game specific challenge would rock has anyone pm'ed Lil'dragon or Leo about it ?:shrug:

[Cheshire]

Any New News on this???

[modeling-man]

Ya seriously, official or not lets get this ball rolling!

-B

[chrisdejoya]

hey, all we need is for wanzai to set the theme. Is he that busy with LIFE ? :) must be the holidays.. wanzai, drop us a topic bud!

itching. happy new year everybody!

[Cheshire]

I guess what I'd like to see is it put in with the rest of the CGTalk challenges, not only so that I see it :wavey: but also that it is up there with the rest of the challenges and voting, ect. is all set up the same. But that's just me.

[Beroc-LOD]

That is ultimately what we all want to see... but for the time being, I think that starting one now will get some stuff going... I wanna do stuff, not sit around and talk about doing stuff....

[modeling-man]

Ok not to be mean but considering a bunch of us want to do this NOW...lets give Wanzai til the Friday? to give us an idea...then if no idea is submitted we vote on an idea. Give it one day to vote too. Cause seriously I can't keep dinking around waiting for a post. I need to make models now for portfolio.

Happy New Year all
-B
www.subshape.com

P.S. New Flash site by the way please feel free to check it out and lemme know what you think

[chrisdejoya]

ok, backtracking a bit, wanzai was saying we should polling for ideas, (he suggested sci-fi, I made a few of me own too.. ;) ) can we hear what everybody else would like to do? I'm as eager as the rest of you are, tho probably not as great at modeling.

Out of the ideas I dropped, I'd like to do Neverwhere. I'd probably describe it as not quite McGee's Alice, but more like a Neil Gaiman's Alice in Wonderland or anything you'd find in Heavy Metal magazine.

happy new year,everyone!

[c01dfire]

Sci fi sounds good, but is kindof a general theme, depends what everyone else is up for but we need someone to set the rules up. If it's gonna be sci fi Ive got an idea on a char I've been throwing around. Think I will flesh him out a bit more on the concept side, even if this challenge doesnt get going.

[Beroc-LOD]

ok... how bout this... a sci fi space idea....

you can create the same 3 kinds of ideas from the main challenge..

Integration-

A contest about one being being relient or connected to a mainframe. Charcter models must have some sort of connection to this mainframe. It is not nessecary to have it, as they just need the connection. Vehicles/enviroments must follow the theme, but do not have to have a character.

Basic rules from all contests apply.

have it start Friday, Jan 2 and end Friday Jan 31.

Just an idea.... I could be bashed for it... but hell... let's get started

[chrisdejoya]

No, I don't think it deserves a bash. It's about time someone did something about this. :) BTW, Game Art probably won't make it as a regular challenge (narrows down the scope of the challenges too much), but mods say people are free to submit game art to the regular challenges. I wonder if they actually stand a chance? :D

you can create the same 3 kinds of ideas from the main challenge..

Last I heard, one of the mods was playing around with this idea.

Disney Grows Up (http://www.cgtalk.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=34661&highlight=disney)

Integration.. I like it! It's broad enough for a good variety of ideas to come in, and also straight to the point. Mechanical, organic, it doesn't matter.. it's sci fi! Any other ideas?

Basic rules from all contests apply.

Meaning? Concept art, W.I.P. threads, etc.? What about textures and polycount? Optional skinning?

My suggestion: 3,500 triangles max, one color map with alpha, optional bump map.

Jan. 2...that means...today?

but hell... let's get started
Couldn't agree more. :) People?

[Beroc-LOD]

Woops sorry, my bad... friday is the 3rd... today is the 1st... um... if you are in the US...LOL

As far as getting the idea into a new state of being, like the mods make 3 different areas.... in this case we shouldn't need more then 1... especially for the limited number that will probably be in the contest...

As for rules.... 3.5k sounds good. I would make it per entry of a certain type... like you had a main character at 3.5 and a environment at 3.5 and a vehicle at 3.5. But those are 3 different entries....

As far as maps are concerned...the mods usually say something like unpainted models..... Perhaps though, 1 color map with alpha(512x512) and maybe 1 bump map(512x512)_ should be a requirement, cos a good skin should be nessecary.

How do you guys feel about all entries having final submissions posed and in VRML format, or some other format that can be transposed over the web... I know they made a exporter for Max that I used to show some of my cars from my site on the web like that, though it took some time to get all the textures downloaded. And make sure that it is known exactly how to get a free viewer if needed.

Also how about limiting the use of special effects like world reflection and that type of stuff... just make it a normal map with no reflections.

Well, those could sound like rules.

[sbp]

Beroc-LOD, those look like pretty good rules. I agree, texturing should be included for a game art challenge. Maybe we could postpone the posing and whatnot for a later challenge after finding out if people will have enough time.

I like the integration theme. It does opens a good range of ideas.
Just for the sake of having another idea for a theme though, how about a space age grease monkey?

My pencil and mouse are ready to go!

[modeling-man]

Well. I'd say the 3 different types of models sound interesting...but I suggest starting small. So people don't feel overwhelmed. Lets get the stats down too...I like the layout of the last contest cause it was broken down nice and easy.

ONE MODEL: 3500 POLYGONS
MODEL TYPE: VEHICLE
GENRE: SCI-FI, (URBAN)
VEHICLE TYPE:
Vehicle, must be fast. As if it were a get away vehicle. Not a friggin starship. Something with stealth, and style that could appear on citystreets, but still kick ass like a small tank.
STYLE: (realistic, anime style)

Something along these lines...sci-fi is a BIG genre, so I suggest really getting specific to art style, and model type.

Anyways, throw out an idea...I WANT TO MODEL.
-B

[wanzai]

Ahh. Sorry guys. As some of you may have guessed, I was outta town for a few (holi)days. Without Internet connection. :annoyed:

Well, I figure you are all eager to start and we're to finalize/specify the theme at last.


Snowfly
Out of the ideas I dropped, I'd like to do Neverwhere. I'd probably describe it as not quite McGee's Alice, but more like a Neil Gaiman's Alice in Wonderland or anything you'd find in Heavy Metal magazine.

I have to admit I actually don't know them :shrug: (OK, I've seen the trailer animation to McGee's Alice game, but nothing more) maybe you can describe a bit and/or show something.

What I had in mind was something like Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis (since "The Dig" apparently didn't sell the idea):

Unknown advanced civilization with mysterious power source and less industrial looking design but rather ancient and/or organic. Some kind of symbiotic beings would be cool. This civilization should have evolved under other circumstances and thus differently from Earth. Maybe an own language/ alphabet?

I think we don't need further discussion and another poll - for now (and I would have the last word anyway ;) ). If there're no major complains by tomorrow evening (that would be in about 20 hours - look at my posting time), I will open the challenge. It'd still be Friday... in CET ;)

Btw, I'd find some kind of 3d submission pretty cool, too. I'm having Shockwave 3D in mind ("everybody has shockwave"?), but am fine with any other easy-to-use solution. Anybody input on this?

Happy new year.

[modeling-man]

Shockwave sounds good...not 100% sure though if I can export with it...I have Max 5.0? Will that work?
Dope idea Wanzai. Glad to see you're putting your foot down on this.
Just make sure you give us the technical specs so I can get rollin!
B

[chrisdejoya]

wanzai: the wonderland-ish idea didn't sell! your concept works so much better for most of the people here anyway, I think.

welp folks, looks like we have our contest up. well,almost..technically..if nobody has any objections. I doubt it though. we're all so eager! :)

this might be redundant, but:

Lost Civilization Getaway Vehicle! (hehehe) with some kind of ranged onboard weaponry, so the escaping rider isn't a sitting duck. the vehicle must be stealthy (camouflage?), and may use any means of escape, except teleportation. Land, air, water, whatever. Just make sure it is immediately apparent in the design of your model. show some concept art to illustrate the idea! start a WIP thread, so we can all keep up with each other's work, exchange input, and learn from each other.. ;)

3,500 poly cap, 512 x 512 32-bit color + bump map, in the style mentioned by modeling man. The rider may be included, and won't be included in the polycount. an old model you have lying around or even a vague blocky representation will do. This might be needed to demonstrate how your rider interacts with the vehicle, especially if your rider isn't humanoid.

final sumbissions in 3D sounds awesome, i'm getting the shockwave plugin right now. can't wait to play around with it ;)

[tobyWong]

Ok... Just so I got this straight, can someone be even more redundant and post exactly what the challenge is (it's still a little fuzzy for me :shrug:

Peace,
-TW

[c01dfire]

Maybe a new thread detailing the challenge?

[wanzai]

Tonight, there'll be a summarizing, challenge-opening rules-thread, just like the last time.

This is "only" the pre-discussion.

[tobyWong]

ah, then my .02 would be possibly having characters and vehicles for the challenge(judged separatly of course). I hope we have lots of people entering this time :D

I love the idea so far and I'm ready to start this mother.

-Wong

(personal mantra: "My concept art must be stronger!")

[c01dfire]

That's great wanzai, cuz I'm a lil confused on the theme. Would it sortof be like from the Disney movie Atlantis?

[wanzai]

I don't like Disney Atlantis although the elements are comparable. I prefer the example Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis :)

[Beroc-LOD]

Like or dislike... here is your opportunity to show your imaginary boss that you can do a job weather you like it or not.... That is kinda what all this is about for me. Give me some good things to show a potential employer, and I will get a good job. If you don't like the subject, but still want to be apart of it, do some research... that is what I have to do, even though I like the ideas.

"Fantasy is the suppression of reality. Reality is only ideas and concepts of what we believe is real. So where do Fantasy and Reality meet?"

[c01dfire]

will have to do a lil research on that game.

[Beroc-LOD]

An old Kings Quest type game:
http://www.adventurecollective.com/reviews/fateofatlantis.htm

I seem to remember a movie called "The Dig", written by Allen Dean Foster, it was based off of something like that too...

Basically, the whole thing is about an advanced culture that was uncovered by an archeologist. So I can see a Indiana Jones type character stumbling upon an ancient door someplace in Egypt, buried from the world since long before recoreded history. This door leads to alien built catacombs filled with mistery and intruige. Almost every corner of the place has a puzzle, or piece. Some devices which seem so easy, but can be so deadly. Ultimately, he manages to stay alive long enough to see a magnificent sight, question is... "Is it good, or is it evil?"

[wanzai]

Well, seems that Indiana Jones isn't that good an example for the Sci-Fi part. But anyway. I hope the description in the rules-thread is clear enough. Check it out and feel free to ask questions - there.

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