The Q and A Thread

[Red Cell]

The judging is over and I'd like to thank everyone for participating in this contest! I unfortunately have limited internet access for this week so we will be starting to take requests for prizes starting next Sunday (3/24/13). Sorry for the inconvenience but I assure you that all the prizes will be distributed by the end of the month. Thanks again for all of the help guys!

 

[Echo717]

I don't know if you noticed, but a third judge neglected to look at cal's or phospho dude's entries

 

[TheOysterHippopotami]

Yeah, two more entries still need to be judged.

 

[Thothie]

Oh, I don't have to do more do I? I think Adventurer's kinda spent... Thought I just needed to fix Community's entry due to Lord K being unable to run it, for some reason.

Also, where are the winner announcements?

 

[Dridmar]

FAIL

 

[Red Cell]

I informed the judge about the two missed entries. I apologize for the inconvenience. I will post the scores in a new thread.

 

[zeus9860]

FAIL

Not as much as the wallpaper one though. This time it was the judge's fault, wallpaper contest lacked rules, order and judges.

 

[Thothie]

Actually, this is the plan. Can you write up a review for EACH entry in section 1 (to keep it fair) by Sunday? (3/24/13) I'll give Lord K by then to fill out the missing votes. If not I need to go with yours. Please try and take into account about populating the maps that although its important, can you not judge too harshly on it? Thanks a ton.

FUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU....

*sigh* Alright, guess the game's on again - hopefully I can actually get this done by then.

 

[Thothie]

Okay, done...

I'd do the whole Adventurer's Journal thing again - but no one wants to read all that crap for that many entries, and I likely wouldn't be done by Sunday. Nonetheless, I have endeavored to provide specific information for the map creators.

 

[Red Cell]

Thanks Thothie. Still going to wait for Lord K to get his in though since he's been beyond helpful with everything. Hopefully he can get his votes in by Sunday!

 

[zeus9860]

Thanks Thothie. Still going to wait for Lord K to get his in though since he's been beyond helpful with everything. Hopefully he can get his votes in by Sunday!

/hopes

if he does that, would that mean it would be 4 judges instead of 3? Thothie did judge all maps already so i'm confused...

 

[zeus9860]

Curses where did i put that time travelling phone booth, curiosity is killing me... >_<

 

[Red Cell]

Ok it looks like Lord K is a bit busy so for times sake we will be substituting Thothie in for him.

 

[zeus9860]

So, handing out the games... is it going to be you or are the contestants going to add the people carrying the game they want?

Currently on 249 friends, i can do 1 at a time, if people end up picking stuff i have... Or i could try cleaning the list again (tired of doing this every 2 months for the past 3 years or so). :|

 

[Red Cell]

Just for consistency, all of the prizes will be going through me to the winners. So if they request a game that you are providing, I'll have you trade it to me (don't gift it or else I'm stuck with it) in-which I will be able it distribute it to them. That way I know what's going where and everyone got what they wanted.

This process will be revised for future contests though, just to stream line it and make it more secure (I don't like holing all of the cards so to speak).

 

[ceriux]

suggestion - tiered winners / prizes.

1st, 2nd , and third place prizes , prizes also tiered. obviously there may be want for a specific game over another. those would be tier 1. 1st place could choose from any tier and so on. (sorry post made at school no time leaving now.)

 

[Thothie]

Suggest Music/Funny Video contest.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T-BPc0lzB40
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XBiKT3otU00

(Something for the laymen of the community to do)

Also, give the buggers a bit more time with periodic reminders, me thinks.

 

[Red Cell]

Duly noted! Thanks for the advice guys.

 

[zeus9860]

Should add writing to the list, like fanfiction lore with crossovers from other games. Or their own concept lore of certain areas, with dialogue/questing/area description.

Something for people to read up, there used to be this one guy "kai" or w/e he was called, he used to write some stuff even though i never got to read it all. Fanfiction lore might be something worthwhile reading, it's like reading a piece of lore except it was made up by other people. This however wouldn't influence the game, unless the devs would want it to...

Once in a while i like to think of alternative routes in ms:c's lore, or imagine my own concept within a certain area... I'm pretty sure alot of people like to do that stuff when they get far into the game, that's what happens to people, they start getting flooded with suggestions and doubts about things that could be added to the game in order to make it better.

It's just an idea, i was thinking of making my own contest start of 2013, but since this one was made a month earlier... i completly threw the concept out of the window, but my overall goal was to make all content sectors be part of the contest.

Also might be a good idea if you put a limit to contestants in each sector (eg: 5 mappers, 3 skinners, 3 writers) just to balance out things, otherwise it would be expected that most people will go for easy-peasy entries just to get rewarded something.

There's lots of things that could be added or removed from this last contest, a couple of changes here and there and it will work better.

 

[Thothie]

[...]
At least 3 models of weapons/various props for entry.
[...]
At least 3 original pieces of music for entry.
[...]
At least 3 pictures for entry.

I, again, think you're asking too much. You might be better off offering a prize for each winning entry, and making the more complex tasks worth multiple prizes.

 

[Red Cell]

I spoke with my team about this, we tried to sync up the numbers with the amount of time required to make the content. We did revamp the models section to be more clear and fair, so thank you!

There is 10+ months to make content. We don't want this to be a "I make something and I'm automatically in the contest," hence the entry requirements. Even if no one enters, that only means we will have more loot for the next years contest, the prizes will only keep growing!

 

[Bordoga]

I noticed you removed the skin section, eh?

 

[Red Cell]

Yes sorry after some polling and a lot of discussion, this is what we came to the conclusion of being the most needed/helpful for the mods.

 

[Stoned]

What maps does MSC need most?

 

[Thothie]

As much as I'd love to say "the blue bits, damnit!" as per usual, I think what we need most about now are maps of unusual nature, and replayability - such as modular maps that randomly arrange walls and enemies, and the like.

MSC:Community doesn't seem to be finalizing his rather unusual map anytime soon, so I'd be thinking the largely underwater map of the The Sunken City of Adel would be the next most unusual thing on the list of concept maps. Also has the advantage of being lore related.

If you wanna do puzzle maps, I'd be willing to release The Observatory in installments.

As far as easy to do, and make look purty, The Caverns of Frost are probably the easiest, in terms of available variety, being engine friendly, and ease of expansion.

While I'd like to see more variety in game play, anything that involves a lot of scripting, is something you probably want to avoid. If you could populate your map yourself, that'd be damn nice. Not sure what happened with that - that used to be the norm - I guess maybe monsters have too many options on them now, and it's gotten to the point where it's intimidating.

Self adjusting would also be nice, but I realize what a pain that can be with our lack of leveling system. If you can't be asked, ye may also want to take a look at how the current ramps are taken care of, before deciding what level(s) to make your maps for.