AoMH Pretty Town Competition, 2006

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Community Interest Assessment

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As some of you may know, the idea of another AoMH design competition has been floating around for some time. Well, the time has come where we have the staff, time, and resources to do it. And, as it's the easiest to set up, design for, and judge, a Pretty Town Competition is the way we've decided to go, for the time being at least.

However, before we begin any serious development, we need an idea of just how much interest and participation we'll recieve from the community. Too little, and plans will not go forward.

So. First, we'll outline the tentative layout of the competition and the rules.

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Tentative Layout

First, it may be beneficial to take a look at the original competition....

http://aom.heavengames.com/contests/prettytown

I'm not certain how that one turned out, but here are the results from either that competition or a similar one held after, to give you an idea of what we might like to see....

http://aom.heavengames.com/scendesign/contests/contestresults

Basically, designers must create the nicest, most creative, and all-together prettiest village, town, or city they can. While the size of the community doesn't matter, it must be a collection of buildings arranged in some coherent fashion.

Now, the major difference between this competition and the old one is that cinematics will be allowed. We feel that this will appeal to the more skilled designers. However, this may also alienate less-skilled designers, so we've (more or less) decided on two entry categories: a cinematic one, and a non-cinematic one. The former will consist of a cinematic that tours the town, announcing points of interest, etc. The latter will be like it was in the old competition; a scout unit for judges to tour the town with a few simple triggers. However, even if one chooses to do a cinematic map, the cinematic must end and scout unit made available for judges to tour the map; meaning, even if the main tour is done via cinematic, the map must still be "coherent" in regular gameplay mode. Understood?

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Tentative Rules

1. The map must contain a town of some sort. Small, medium, large, whatever; it must be a collection of buildings laid out in some coherent fashion.
   
2. All accessible areas in maps must be complete and coherent. Meaning cinematic entrants may not simply design areas that appear in camera shots; the town must be complete.
   
3. Cinematic entrants: the "tour" cinematic must not exceed 10* minutes, and must end in gameplay mode. Do not use Fade to Color at the end of the cinematic; the map/UI must be visible and accessible.
   
4. All entrants must make a scout unit available for judges to tour the map.
   
5. All entrants must "guide" judges through their map, either through the cinematic or through triggers (ie. a chat message saying "Follow the road", etc.). Maps will be judged primarily on what is shown, so plan carefully.
   
6. Music and/or sound effects will be optional. Inclusion of music and/or sound effects may* affect judgement.
   
7. Simple AI scripts are allowed. Inclusion of simple AI scripts may* affect judgement.
   
8. Modpacks, aside from the use of reyk's New Editor, are not allowed.
   
9. Map size must not exceed 500 x 500.*
   
10. Designers may only enter once, in one category; Cinematic or Regular.
    
11. Only maps created after the competition opens will be accepted.

* = May be subject to change.

Now, as mentioned, these rules are tentative; nothing has been finalized, so anything is subject to change, at this point. However, it's mainly just specifics, the little things, we need to work out from this point on.

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So that's the basic idea we've come up with. In regards to prizes, we're working on that, and in regards to judges, it's Papaya and I, so far.

Now, as mentioned, what we need is some idea as to how many people would be interested. Specifically, who would enter were we to hold this competition. We're also open to any suggestions you might have.

UPDATE: It's recently been discussed, and it may come to pass that a "tour" cinematic will be mandatory. Meaning only one entrance category; Cinematic. Were this too happen, how many of you would still be willing to enter? In other words, which category are/were you planning to enter?

So? Anyone?

[This message has been edited by King Jared (edited 05-01-2006 @ 03:12 PM).]