The Smash Grand Festival Spriting Contest (Closed)

[Aurane]

Sry, I've been busy again -_- But good luck to all.

 

[Tacel]

I would have sprited this week, but I will not pay tribute to Elder Scrolls after they sued my beloved Notch.

 

[Wave⁂]

Wasn't it already agreed upon that it was just bored lawyers, not Bethesda?

 

[Mic_128]

No, it was bethesda.

 

[Wave⁂]

Did they say that? I didn't really follow the story that much.

 

[Firus]

I actually meant to post this up in the afternoon, but things got a bit hectic.

Anyway, in an attempt to better maintain interest in the spriting contest, I plan to change the schedule from its current state to posting judging on Saturdays and having the deadline for the next Friday. There was only one submission this week, so Fuelbi wins by default, but I like to give feedback on sprites, so Neon Ness and I have our comments on the sprite. (No scores either, as they're irrelevant with only one entry.)

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Fuelbi - Lunialga

Firus: I definitely like the idea of a moon dragon, so the fusion of Lunatone with Dialga is an interesting one. I like that you stuck with Dialga’s colors rather than swapping to Lunatone’s, as the dark blue gives a much more epic feel than the light tan of Lunatone, and I like how striking the red eye is compared to the dark overall color. However, Lunatone is somewhat awkwardly placed into Dialga. There aren’t a whole lot of ways to fuse those two, but I think going for a crescent theme on Dialga’s body or maybe changing Dialga’s head to be more like Lunatone would have been less awkward. The legs, tail, and crest simply attached to Dialga all seem off. Even sticking with the same idea, I’d have moved the tail down a bit and made the distinction between the body and tail more obvious, and I’d probably have moved the crest to be a bit farther back on Lunatone’s head. There are also some odd white pixels in a few places. Furthermore, in regards to the prompt, I feel like this particular fusion focuses more on Lunatone and the fusion itself than making a “cooler” dragon. I like the idea that could have been achieved here, but I don’t think the sprite was executed as well as it could’ve been.

Neon Ness: The colors on this really work, that cerulean blue gives off a mystical feel fitting of a dragon or night sky so I'm glad you stuck with Dialga's colors. Unfortunately the fusion seems a little unbalanced since the Lunatone elements are pretty much unchanged except for color. In a fusion I think it's helpful to try and alter elements from both sides so one doesn't dominate the other. In this case it sort of feels like Lunatone is the focus since it has Lunatone's face making up most of the body, which detracts from the overall Dragon feel. There are some minor errors here and there--the outline is inconsistent, the legs don't quite mesh into Lunatone's body, and there's a stray white pixel on the right edge. I think a moon dragon idea would have been cool pushed further but this falls a little short.

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Congratulations to Fuelbi for being the winner of this round! Hopefully this next round will have some more participation than the last.

The prompt for this week, courtesy of Neon Ness, is:

Come up with a fourth legendary bird to accompany Articuno, Zapdos, and Moltres. It must be a dual-type, with Flying accompanied by some type other than Ice, Fire, or Electric. (It cannot be only Flying.)

The deadline is Friday, November 25th at 11:59 PM EST.

 

[CT Chia]

interesting prompt...

 

[UltiMario]

I was sort of in NY for too much of the time of this prompt.

I'll see what I can do. I like where this is going.

 

[Firus]

Just a reminder to everyone that the deadline is tonight at midnight EST. Try to get your entries in before the end of the day!

 

[Firus]

All right. There's a very clear lack of activity in this contest, worse than just the small amount of activity we've had for a while, since we've had three rounds in a row now with either very little activity or none at all. I'm really invested in trying to keep this contest running, but it's pretty discouraging to come back at the end of the week and see that nobody's submitted, and keeping up with the contest and coming up with new prompts when nothing's happening isn't something I want to do if there isn't going to be any response, even though I'd love to keep this contest going for you all.

So instead of a new spriting prompt for this week, I'm going to put up a handful of questions here to help me run (or not run) the spriting contest more efficiently. While I'm aiming this at people who actually have an interest in the contest (i.e., if you've never participated in the contest and don't ever intend to, it doesn't really help me to get your input), if you had an interest in the past and don't anymore or you don't have an interest but you think you would if changes were made, feel free to tell me what you think. If there's something you don't feel comfortable saying in the thread, you can PM me your responses to this. And if you have something negative to say about me or the way I'm running the contest, I'd rather have you be completely honest than to sugarcoat it, because that really doesn't help anything. It won't hurt my feelings, and I'll respect you a hell of a lot more for being honest.

Having prefaced this with that, here are the questions I'd like you to consider. If you don't have anything to say about some of them, you can just respond to specific ones, but if you have anything to say about each question, it would be helpful.

1. What kind of prompts do you like to see in the contest? Do you like seeing prompts that involve basic spriting skills (recolors and fusions/splices) or prompts which require more in-depth spriting, like scratch spriting (i.e. free drawing)? Do you prefer prompts which specify Pokémon, types, and the like, or those which are very open-ended? Do you prefer prompts which require you to think outside of the box and reach outside of the Pokémon realm (e.g. involving characters from other series' and real people) or those which are limited to the Pokémon universe? Any other input on what you enjoy working with in prompts is welcome. (If you don't like having prompts, then let me know that as well, though I can't say I know how judging would work in a free-for-all environment.)

2. How long do you prefer to have for prompts / what length of time do you feel allows you to be most productive? Does a longer length of time just cause you to procrastinate more, or do you need more time to complete sprites? Also, do you have enough time in the week to sprite or do you need the weekend to have enough time to sprite?

3. Would you be more interested in the contest if there were more participation by the PC community? Specifically, would you rather have prompts solely suggested by the PC community, and would you rather have judging determined by a poll of the users rather than by judges?

4. Would you like to have more postbit awards past just four wins? Would you like to see awards for things like "most creative" and "best execution" instead of simply awards for those who get the highest score?

5. Assuming the contest matches your schedule and the prompts are something you're interested in spriting for, do you want to participate in the contest?

6. Any other ideas / suggestions / comments?

Really, most of the reason I'm doing this is to gauge exactly how much interest there is in this whole thing before I continue throwing out prompts. I know there's at least a small group of members who think the contest is completely dead already, and I'm trying to figure out if enough people are actually still interested in it to make it possible to continue running the contest.

If there is still interest, I want to know what can be done to improve. I've asked these types of things before, but haven't gotten much response because it was far less informal, so I'm hoping I'll get more feedback this way.

Again, any feedback would be appreciated, and I'd appreciate being as blunt as possible.

 

[Wave⁂]

>1. What kind of prompts do you like to see in the contest?
Easy but flexible prompts. "Combine any two Ice-type Pokemon" or "Re-type Mewtwo" or something like that.

>6. Any other ideas / suggestions / comments?
Get feedback, I guess.

 

[Pink Reaper]

You are aware that last week was like, Thanksgiving week right? People tend to be extremely busy this time of year. It happens.

 

[Firus]

You are aware that last week was like, Thanksgiving week right? People tend to be extremely busy this time of year. It happens.

I'm well aware that last week was Thanksgiving week, and I'm aware of what comes along with that. This has been an ongoing thing with the contest with participation slowly dwindling, with almost none for the past three weeks, and last time I inquired as to why there were no entries for a particular round, people were convinced that it was just a general activity problem and didn't understand why I had to ask why people weren't submitting.

If this was the issue last week I'd love to have people tell me that, but no matter what the issue was last week, I'd like to know how I can run the contest to the best of people's enjoyment and hopefully fix what's happened the past three weeks.

 

[Charmander]

I was on another of my frequent haituses, In fact, Im kinda depressed I missed the Fourth Bird contest, I liked that prompt o3o

 

[Aurane]

Just like before, I think I have an idea. Make a Pokemon that resembles Victini, Reshiram, or Zekrom in some way, or the musketeers/kyurem (The trailer was just released). Or something to anny Halo, which is now 10 years old.

 

[UltiMario]

We could've you know done something for Melee's birthday but we sort of missed that.

 

[Firus]

Well, there's been far less feedback on the contest than I'd hoped to have, but I'm going to hope that that's an indicator that there's not much to change and that people have just been busy.

That said, with the holiday season reaching its prime, I figure now isn't a great time for starting things back up again, so the contest will remain on hiatus until the new year. In the meantime, if anyone has any more feedback to give, I'm open to it.

Also, if you guys would rather me post up the prompt now and just leave it to work on until the 6th of January, I can do that. For now, I'm leaving it off just because I worry people might forget about it over the course of two weeks if I post the prompt up now.

 

[UltiMario]

Maybe you can make some Christmas themed promt that extends all the way till like January 8th or something? At least something timely would be nice.

I do want that ball :3

 

[CT Chia]

I feel like a longer deadline won't do it. ppl will just procrastinate like usual.

Something bigger is cool to get attention, but it would need like multiple deadlines to keep people active.

If we do a multi deadline thing, could be like a triple deadline where like
date 1: make the new pokemon
date 2: make it doing an attack
date 3: make a trainer to go with it

or a special thing where like we don't make our own ideas, and we have a thing where pokemon to splice or things to modify is chosen for people at random or selected by "opponents" like an event or sorts

 

[UltiMario]

Too much work.

 

[Aurane]

Sure, you can advertise, but do people want to make sprites? That seems to be the question. I think they're getting the point, but aren't joining because they don't want to.

 

[Firus]

I apologize for the extended break from the contest, but it’s been a busy past month for me even once the holidays ended, which was when I intended to get the contest up-and-running again.

The contest is starting again today, though! I thought of a seasonal prompt a few weeks ago, and although it is a little late now, I still think it’s interesting and it’s not entirely irrelevant. Here’s the prompt:

Create a New Year's Resolution version of a Pokémon. What I mean by this is that you should create a version of a Pokémon that is improved in some way, shape, or form. This could mean buffing it up in appearance, changing it to a type that would improve it, or something like adding guns onto its back. There are no limitations; anything you would consider an improvement on a Pokémon is game.

The deadline is Friday, January 27th at 11:59 PM EST.

 

[Jdietz43]

I call him...

Not-so-Slowbro!

He's been reading up you see.... or at least trying. He hasn't quite gotten the hang of it yet :3

(I'd be lying if I said it took me FOREVER to do... but I think sometimes the best design is the simplest in nature. Plus I'm pretty new at this lol )

 

[CT Chia]

Oh snaps an entrant, might have to enter this.

Love your sprite Jdietz

 

[Jdietz43]

Oh snaps an entrant, might have to enter this.

Love your sprite Jdietz

<3s

10charizards

 

[Aurane]

I made this awhile back, so I'll just turn it in.

Cowboy Porygon
I made more, but here are 4 examples of the same sprite. Obviously, his Attack would be higher, as well as his speed. He can now learn Mega Kick, Crush Claw, and Hi Jump Kick.

EDIT: Just in case four sprites is cheating, here's the turn-in.

 

[CT Chia]

how does that match the prompt

 

[Wretched]

I thought it was a widely known fact that Porygon Z is and has always had a negative predisposition to cowboys.

 

[Aurane]

how does that match the prompt

Create a New Year's Resolution version of a Pokémon. What I mean by this is that you should create a version of a Pokémon that is improved in some way, shape, or form. This could mean buffing it up in appearance, changing it to a type that would improve it, or something like adding guns onto its back. There are no limitations; anything you would consider an improvement on a Pokémon is game.

The bold is why. I made it an Attack-Style Porygon Z instead of a Sp.Attack, which is also why I stated the moves.

@Wretched I'll probably understand what you said later.

 

[UltiMario]

After seeing that sprite, we should change the prompt to "The Mon with no name"

It would be a billion times more fun.

 

[Aurane]

After seeing that sprite, we should change the prompt to "The Mon with no name"

It would be a billion times more fun.

Did I misunderstand the prompt, or something? Cause I'm sensing alot of unessasary sarcasm. Eh, nvm, I'll skip this prompt, then.

inb4dumbresponses

 

[Mic_128]

Ulti wasn't being sarcastic

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Man_with_No_Name

 

[Aurane]

Ulti wasn't being sarcastic

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Man_with_No_Name

Ah, I see. Ok, I apologize, Ulti. But yeah, the sprite's used in a game I have, which is why I have a few.

 

[Firus]

I made this awhile back, so I'll just turn it in.

This hasn't been anything of a rule in the past, but Neon Ness brought it to my attention and I'm inclined to agree with him in that sprites really ought to be made for the contest. The idea is for people to compete to create the best sprite to match the prompt within a week. If people just submit sprites that they had lying around from months back, not only will there be a much larger amount of brainstorming and creation time, but it defeats the purpose of the contest and leaves it open for people to just throw any number of sprites they have lying around in an attempt to win without actually participating in the contest.

As such, I'm going to ask you if you could withdraw that submission (I can't tell if you actually intend to keep that submission or not given that Ulti wasn't being sarcastic), and I'll add that rule to the OP for future reference.

 

[Aurane]

This hasn't been anything of a rule in the past, but Neon Ness brought it to my attention and I'm inclined to agree with him in that sprites really ought to be made for the contest. The idea is for people to compete to create the best sprite to match the prompt within a week. If people just submit sprites that they had lying around from months back, not only will there be a much larger amount of brainstorming and creation time, but it defeats the purpose of the contest and leaves it open for people to just throw any number of sprites they have lying around in an attempt to win without actually participating in the contest.

As such, I'm going to ask you if you could withdraw that submission (I can't tell if you actually intend to keep that submission or not given that Ulti wasn't being sarcastic), and I'll add that rule to the OP for future reference.

Ah, Ok well I wouldn't of known due to such. But inactivity here makes it difficult to know if there's a new contest up and running. When I turned in the sprites, I just found out they were due today, which is why I used those.

And yes, I withdrew as is because I felt that the contest wasn't relevent to me due to time standards. And I alrdy saw that he wasn't being sarcastic, which I corrected.

I'll make sure to see the next contest, and maybe do it in time.

 

[Jdietz43]

*braces self for results*

 

[Firus]

I was sort of hoping for more entrants this round, but at least we got one. Here are the results:

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Jdietz43 – Not-so-Slowbro

Firus: I really like your concept here. You may not have drastically changed Slowbro’s appearance for the sprite, but the concept behind it fits perfectly with the prompt. Furthermore, the simple alterations you made were effective and well-executed. Slowbro’s eyes are looking down to read the book, and the book itself is well-made. My one complaint is the positioning of Slowbro’s left hand, as it seems to be awkwardly grabbing the book, but other than that the sprite is well-done.

Neon Ness: Really, really strong idea. A very believable New Year's Resolution for Slowbro if I've ever seen one. There isn't much to comment on technically-- you didn't change much of the sprite itself, but you didn't really need to either. The way it's holding the book is a little bit awkward; maybe if both claws were level and it were a little closer to his face it would look more proper. But it kind of works since he's new to this whole reading business. All in all, this is a very clever solution to the prompt.

Firus: 8/10
Neon Ness: 8/10
FINAL: 8/10

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Congratulations to Jdietz43 for being the winner of this round!

We're going simple again for this week's prompt:

Retype Volcarona to be Ice type.

The deadline is Friday, February 3rd at 11:59 PM EST.

 

[Jdietz43]

Yaaaay! Technical victory!

The best kind!!!


(and yes, the book was held kind of awkwardly, but I liked the effect it had making Slowbro look... well slow and so didn't attempt to 'fix' it lol XD)

 

[Aurane]

Done.. for now. I'm making some adjustments, still.

VS

 

[Firus]

I'm almost done with Icy-Volcorona, but I need clarification real quick.
By retype, you mean change of appearence/recolor, right? Just need to make sure.

As in, retyping Volcarona to have the ice type in it, meaning giving it ice-type attributes. If you're looking for inspiration, you can look at a variety of ice-type Pokémon and see what they tend to have. Recoloring is generally a part of it, but I'll also tell you that the best recolors generally add other things, too.