-
Welcome to Smashboards, the world's largest Super Smash Brothers community! Over 250,000 Smash Bros. fans from around the world have come to discuss these great games in over 19 million posts!
You are currently viewing our boards as a visitor. Click here to sign up right now and start on your path in the Smash community!
The Smash Grand Festival Spriting Contest (Closed)
- Thread starter Firus
- Start date
- Status
I tried to keep this very basic to get a hang of it.. hopefully it shows an improvement from that thing I posted last time. I call it Stansir 
edit - I can't get rid of this damn huge white back round, gonna try to figure this out, sorry
edit- FINALLY OMG
edit - I can't get rid of this damn huge white back round, gonna try to figure this out, sorry
edit- FINALLY OMG
If it wasnt for the name, I'd have no idea what typing that was supposed to have
Kantrip
Kantplay
Awwe shoot deadline is so soon =/
how do you guys get your sprites so big?
maybe it's just zangoose :s
HERE IT IS
I guess you could call him... Zingoose
get it? zing! or no. whatever. zapgoose. har har. critique please!
EDIT EVEN BETTER: BLUE SPARKS AND CLAWS YEAHH
and rofl I got "dollars to donuts" as my CAPTCHA for that pic. those guys.
maybe it's just zangoose :s
HERE IT IS
Zangoose
+
ELECTRIC
=
oops, i mean ...
sorry :x
+
ELECTRIC
=
I guess you could call him... Zingoose
get it? zing! or no. whatever. zapgoose. har har. critique please!
EDIT EVEN BETTER: BLUE SPARKS AND CLAWS YEAHH
and rofl I got "dollars to donuts" as my CAPTCHA for that pic. those guys.
Final Submission
don't want to double post but I can't help it since no one else has posted since yesterday :x and it IS a final sub
I resized it to how it's supposed to be too, sorry
I chose Zangoose because he already sort of had the Electric thing going for him with those zig zags across his chest and eyes. He was meant to be Electric. And evolve from Linoone. Seriously, how the **** did that not happen?
and at ---
The wing in the background isn't as pointy as the one in the foreground (I don't know if that was intended)
The stripe on his back ends a little abruptly as well. Look at the center of that stripe. It doesn't look rounded, the pixels are a straight line
I would add more minor shading underneath the center folds of the wings to make it look less flat
there you go
don't want to double post but I can't help it since no one else has posted since yesterday :x and it IS a final sub
I resized it to how it's supposed to be too, sorry
FINAL ZAPGOOSE
I chose Zangoose because he already sort of had the Electric thing going for him with those zig zags across his chest and eyes. He was meant to be Electric. And evolve from Linoone. Seriously, how the **** did that not happen?
and at ---
The upper part of the tail looks sort of clipped on the edges.
Dark Dunsparse
Being my first sprite, and that I'm a noob, I'd like to get as much feedback as possible.
The wing in the background isn't as pointy as the one in the foreground (I don't know if that was intended)
The stripe on his back ends a little abruptly as well. Look at the center of that stripe. It doesn't look rounded, the pixels are a straight line
I would add more minor shading underneath the center folds of the wings to make it look less flat
there you go
CT Chia
Smash Obsessed
Look at this competition, I'm hyped!
Making a sprite now.
edit: uhg I can't really get my sprite to come out how I'd want
Making a sprite now.
edit: uhg I can't really get my sprite to come out how I'd want
- Joined
- Jan 27, 2008
- Messages
- 13,516
- Location
- Michigan
- NNID
- TripleDash
- 3DS FC
- 1719-3728-6991
- Switch FC
- SW-1574-3686-1211
Well I went back a re-edited based on suggestions I got (thanks BTW), hopefully it looks better.
Thankfully posting it this time didn't mess up the tail like last time.
aww yeah, he looks gen-Vified.
i have no idea what it is but for some reason the style of Gen V pokemon and Gen II pokemon is so radically different. And it blows my mind how I can't see that style difference but I know it's there.
fffff
edit: **** but now I know why the Gen IV and V names seem to suck more
the english guys who name the pokemon are naming the pokemon as if they were characters, instead of naming the species
i have no idea what it is but for some reason the style of Gen V pokemon and Gen II pokemon is so radically different. And it blows my mind how I can't see that style difference but I know it's there.
fffff
edit: **** but now I know why the Gen IV and V names seem to suck more
the english guys who name the pokemon are naming the pokemon as if they were characters, instead of naming the species
Gen V pokemon are overdesigned, that's the difference. Many of them have too much detailing on their bodies to look natural, they look artificial instead. This is a deviation from the much simpler, animal-like designs of earlier gens. Many V pokes are also artifical objects like ice cream to begin with.
Kantrip
Kantplay
Managed to get time to make my vision. At first I wanted to make Munchlax into a ghost type, but then it turned more into dark type when I liked reversing the teeth into fangs and adding wings. Then I realized it's really close to the Dark Dunsparce entry. =/
I'll see if I can get something more unique, but I'll enter this for now.
Vamplax
Preview post edit: Whoa looks really weird on a dark background.
I'll see if I can get something more unique, but I'll enter this for now.
Vamplax
Preview post edit: Whoa looks really weird on a dark background.
Round 26 Results! Great to see a good turnout this time around.
----------
--- - Dark Dunsparce
Firus: I didn’t really realize just how significant a transformation this sprite was until I looked at Dunsparce side-by-side with your retype. The eye change in particular does a lot for the sprite, and the wings, teeth, and tail change all really get across the dark retype. The tail is a bit awkwardly bent, though. Both sides of the tail ought to bend with each other, or it ends up looking a bit awkward. Shading is also something the sprite could use more of. You did an excellent job shading the eyelids, but the wings and even the teeth (although to a lesser extent due to their small size) are a bit flat, as well as the torso of the body. If you could just add that shading and fix the awkward angle of the tail, this sprite would be excellent.
Neon Ness: A really thorough retype, I like what you've done with the colors and the small details like the eyes and teeth. The wings are a nice change but the execution falls a little short. They look out of place because there's no shading on them, and they're surrounded on all sides by a noticeable black outline. The left one seems crooked as if it's placed a bit higher than the other. The tail suffers from similar issues in that it has no real shading, and the outline makes it stand out as opposed to the softer outline on the bottom of the head. The red gem on the tail isn't quite a perfect circle and looks rough around the edges, and I think it would have looked better to use the same red as the markings on the body. The main issue with this sprite is consistency, but aside from that it is really good work.
Firus: 8/10
Neon Ness: 7/10
FINAL: 7.5/10
yani - Stansir
Firus: I think you had an interesting concept with this sprite, but it has trouble standing as a retype. Because I recognize the horns as being Pinsir’s talons, I can assume this is supposed to be a bug retype, but due to the appearance of Pinsir’s horns, you might be able to make an argument for steel. I do like the idea of turning the deer horns into bug pincers, though. If you just do some more minor changes – think of what features bugs tend to have and then apply them to the sprite – that’s what’ll really bring your sprites to the next level.
Neon Ness: A decent start, it just needs to be pushed further, and I think there should be more specific details about what type it's supposed to represent. Technically spiked horns could go on a Normal type, so it might be helpful to think about what type you want to go for instead of simply taking parts from another Pokemon. If you were going for Bug, you could have changed the antlers to antennae, or given Stantler compound eyes, or made the legs thinner like an insect's. From a technical standpoint not much was changed, and the transition between the antlers and the horns should be less obvious. Try to remember to keep a consistent outline and shading when splicing different parts together.
Firus: 3/10
Neon Ness: 4/10
FINAL: 3.5/10
Varist - Zapgoose
Firus: This was a good type correlation you spotted. The zigzag-type design of Zangoose definitely lends itself towards the electric type, and you expanded on that with some great, subtle changes. You added a more spiky element to the ears, the arms, the zigzag on his chest, his shoulders, and particularly with his tail. I like the blue, spark-y claws and the sparks on the edge of his shoulders, too. The only issue I have with this, in fact, is the yellow colors that you used. The bright yellow on top of the white is hard to look at. It’s hard to get a yellow color that isn’t too bright, of course, but I’d recommend either trying to darken the yellow a bit, darkening the overall body a bit, or perhaps a bit of both. But aside from that, excellent job.
Neon Ness: This is really clever. I like how you've taken the jagged parts of Zangoose's design and turned them up to eleven. I especially like the glowing blue wire protrusions on the shoulders, it has a very nice color scheme overall. No complaints about the technique, this is a very polished sprite with a solid concept.
Firus: 9/10
Neon Ness: 9/10
FINAL: 9/10
Kantrip - Vamplax
Firus: You have a good start here, but aesthetically, the sprite is lacking in a few places. For one, the eyes, while a good touch, would likely be more effective if it were the pupils that are red instead of the whites, since that’s generally the “evil” look. The wings are a good touch for the vamp look, but the shading on the lining seems to be reversed, which makes for a very bizarre effect. The outline should be darker than the color on the inside. Other than that, I don’t have any complaints – I think the removal of the feet, while subtle, lends itself to that dark idea – but I wish you’d done a bit more to get the dark aspect across than just eyes, teeth, and wings. I can tell that it’s trying to be dark, but it doesn’t really have the intimidating factor dark types generally have.
Neon Ness: The batwings are a very nice addition for this retype, but the light outline looks out of place in the style most Pokemon sprites are drawn in. Maybe instead of having pure black on the inner parts of the wings you could have used a darker gray, and saved black for the outermost outline. Besides the outline issue the shading of the wings is very good outside of a few stray white pixels here and there. No complaints about the recolor of the torso--although the fur around the feet still looks too even and clean for a Dark type. Making it more jagged/less even might have complimented the overall look more. The red eyes are a very nice touch; my only complaint about the teeth is I wish they stood out more--they're somewhat difficult to make out against the light orange fur. Nice work overall!
Firus: 5/10
Neon Ness: 7/10
FINAL: 6/10
----------
Congratulations to Varist for being the winner of this round!
This week’s prompt:
----------
--- - Dark Dunsparce
Firus: I didn’t really realize just how significant a transformation this sprite was until I looked at Dunsparce side-by-side with your retype. The eye change in particular does a lot for the sprite, and the wings, teeth, and tail change all really get across the dark retype. The tail is a bit awkwardly bent, though. Both sides of the tail ought to bend with each other, or it ends up looking a bit awkward. Shading is also something the sprite could use more of. You did an excellent job shading the eyelids, but the wings and even the teeth (although to a lesser extent due to their small size) are a bit flat, as well as the torso of the body. If you could just add that shading and fix the awkward angle of the tail, this sprite would be excellent.
Neon Ness: A really thorough retype, I like what you've done with the colors and the small details like the eyes and teeth. The wings are a nice change but the execution falls a little short. They look out of place because there's no shading on them, and they're surrounded on all sides by a noticeable black outline. The left one seems crooked as if it's placed a bit higher than the other. The tail suffers from similar issues in that it has no real shading, and the outline makes it stand out as opposed to the softer outline on the bottom of the head. The red gem on the tail isn't quite a perfect circle and looks rough around the edges, and I think it would have looked better to use the same red as the markings on the body. The main issue with this sprite is consistency, but aside from that it is really good work.
Firus: 8/10
Neon Ness: 7/10
FINAL: 7.5/10
yani - Stansir
Firus: I think you had an interesting concept with this sprite, but it has trouble standing as a retype. Because I recognize the horns as being Pinsir’s talons, I can assume this is supposed to be a bug retype, but due to the appearance of Pinsir’s horns, you might be able to make an argument for steel. I do like the idea of turning the deer horns into bug pincers, though. If you just do some more minor changes – think of what features bugs tend to have and then apply them to the sprite – that’s what’ll really bring your sprites to the next level.
Neon Ness: A decent start, it just needs to be pushed further, and I think there should be more specific details about what type it's supposed to represent. Technically spiked horns could go on a Normal type, so it might be helpful to think about what type you want to go for instead of simply taking parts from another Pokemon. If you were going for Bug, you could have changed the antlers to antennae, or given Stantler compound eyes, or made the legs thinner like an insect's. From a technical standpoint not much was changed, and the transition between the antlers and the horns should be less obvious. Try to remember to keep a consistent outline and shading when splicing different parts together.
Firus: 3/10
Neon Ness: 4/10
FINAL: 3.5/10
Varist - Zapgoose
Firus: This was a good type correlation you spotted. The zigzag-type design of Zangoose definitely lends itself towards the electric type, and you expanded on that with some great, subtle changes. You added a more spiky element to the ears, the arms, the zigzag on his chest, his shoulders, and particularly with his tail. I like the blue, spark-y claws and the sparks on the edge of his shoulders, too. The only issue I have with this, in fact, is the yellow colors that you used. The bright yellow on top of the white is hard to look at. It’s hard to get a yellow color that isn’t too bright, of course, but I’d recommend either trying to darken the yellow a bit, darkening the overall body a bit, or perhaps a bit of both. But aside from that, excellent job.
Neon Ness: This is really clever. I like how you've taken the jagged parts of Zangoose's design and turned them up to eleven. I especially like the glowing blue wire protrusions on the shoulders, it has a very nice color scheme overall. No complaints about the technique, this is a very polished sprite with a solid concept.
Firus: 9/10
Neon Ness: 9/10
FINAL: 9/10
Kantrip - Vamplax
Firus: You have a good start here, but aesthetically, the sprite is lacking in a few places. For one, the eyes, while a good touch, would likely be more effective if it were the pupils that are red instead of the whites, since that’s generally the “evil” look. The wings are a good touch for the vamp look, but the shading on the lining seems to be reversed, which makes for a very bizarre effect. The outline should be darker than the color on the inside. Other than that, I don’t have any complaints – I think the removal of the feet, while subtle, lends itself to that dark idea – but I wish you’d done a bit more to get the dark aspect across than just eyes, teeth, and wings. I can tell that it’s trying to be dark, but it doesn’t really have the intimidating factor dark types generally have.
Neon Ness: The batwings are a very nice addition for this retype, but the light outline looks out of place in the style most Pokemon sprites are drawn in. Maybe instead of having pure black on the inner parts of the wings you could have used a darker gray, and saved black for the outermost outline. Besides the outline issue the shading of the wings is very good outside of a few stray white pixels here and there. No complaints about the recolor of the torso--although the fur around the feet still looks too even and clean for a Dark type. Making it more jagged/less even might have complimented the overall look more. The red eyes are a very nice touch; my only complaint about the teeth is I wish they stood out more--they're somewhat difficult to make out against the light orange fur. Nice work overall!
Firus: 5/10
Neon Ness: 7/10
FINAL: 6/10
----------
Congratulations to Varist for being the winner of this round!
This week’s prompt:
#HBC | ZoZo
Shocodoro Blagshidect
Man I'd totally join this if I were good at this.
- Joined
- Jan 27, 2008
- Messages
- 13,516
- Location
- Michigan
- NNID
- TripleDash
- 3DS FC
- 1719-3728-6991
- Switch FC
- SW-1574-3686-1211
So close. Oh well, I'm pretty happy that I did that well considering that was my first sprite.
I'll see if I can come up with something later this week if I have the time between 2 essays and playing KI: Uprising.
I'll see if I can come up with something later this week if I have the time between 2 essays and playing KI: Uprising.
Neon Ness
Designated Procrastinator
- Joined
- Jul 10, 2008
- Messages
- 3,631
But how will you get good at it until you try?
#HBC | ZoZo
Shocodoro Blagshidect
I'd love to know how to actually do this properly etc before I dive into it. So I'll be looking around for guides and see if I've got time for next round ^_^
Kantrip
Kantplay
-Blaziduck-
Round 27 Results! Sad to see interest has died down a bit, but hopefully we can see things pick up a bit again this week.
----------
Kantrip - Blaziduck
Firus: A solid fusion. Blaziken and Golduck, both being bird-like, were good choices for the fusion, and the parts are blended together well. Blaziken’s arms and legs both look natural on Golduck’s body and don’t look like they’ve been attached. The only issue with the sprite is that the shading is a bit off in a few places. While the shading on Golduck’s chest and arms work for Golduck, and the shading on the right leg work initially on Blaziken, it looks awkward in the fusion, particularly with the contrast between the darkest body color and the next lightest color. There’s no particular reason that that much of Blaziduck’s body should be shaded, since there’s more body and still the same size head. Also, something important to note: If you flip parts from a Pokémon (as you did with Blaziken’s legs), remember to change the shading so that the light source is still from the upper left. You could also have gotten a bit more creative with adding smaller parts (e.g., adding webbing to Blaziken’s claws), but overall your fusion gets the job done, minus the few shading issues.
Neon Ness: A fairly clean fusion. Technically, it's very seamless and the parts you did splice were done very well. My only real complaint about this is that it feels a bit too clean in the head area. I think Blaziken's spiky crest would have worked well with Golduck's head shape, or some other detail to really make the sprite stand out. There are a few stray pixels on the left arm but it's a very solid entry.
----------
Congratulations to Kantrip for being the winner of this round!
This week's prompt:
----------
Kantrip - Blaziduck
Firus: A solid fusion. Blaziken and Golduck, both being bird-like, were good choices for the fusion, and the parts are blended together well. Blaziken’s arms and legs both look natural on Golduck’s body and don’t look like they’ve been attached. The only issue with the sprite is that the shading is a bit off in a few places. While the shading on Golduck’s chest and arms work for Golduck, and the shading on the right leg work initially on Blaziken, it looks awkward in the fusion, particularly with the contrast between the darkest body color and the next lightest color. There’s no particular reason that that much of Blaziduck’s body should be shaded, since there’s more body and still the same size head. Also, something important to note: If you flip parts from a Pokémon (as you did with Blaziken’s legs), remember to change the shading so that the light source is still from the upper left. You could also have gotten a bit more creative with adding smaller parts (e.g., adding webbing to Blaziken’s claws), but overall your fusion gets the job done, minus the few shading issues.
Neon Ness: A fairly clean fusion. Technically, it's very seamless and the parts you did splice were done very well. My only real complaint about this is that it feels a bit too clean in the head area. I think Blaziken's spiky crest would have worked well with Golduck's head shape, or some other detail to really make the sprite stand out. There are a few stray pixels on the left arm but it's a very solid entry.
----------
Congratulations to Kantrip for being the winner of this round!
This week's prompt:
- Joined
- Jan 27, 2008
- Messages
- 13,516
- Location
- Michigan
- NNID
- TripleDash
- 3DS FC
- 1719-3728-6991
- Switch FC
- SW-1574-3686-1211
Sorry, I was very busy this week and didn't have any time. That and I had a similar idea as Kantrip. 
This sounds like a pretty interesting prompt though.
This sounds like a pretty interesting prompt though.
Aurane
ㅤㅤㅤㅤ
I'll be entering this time..
No worries, just glad to hear that it wasn't lack of interest in the contest.Sorry, I was very busy this week and didn't have any time. That and I had a similar idea as Kantrip.
All right, haha, that's good to hear. Good luck with your work, research papers suck.just wanted to say I didn't lose interest in this or anything, had a busy week and probably won't be able to do this week either (research paper
*looks at list of non-evolvers*
Ok I can definitely work with this. I hope to enter as soon as I work up the gumption and free time.
EDIT: oops sorry for the double post. I've been playing in Dgames for too long where that's a no-no
Ok I can definitely work with this. I hope to enter as soon as I work up the gumption and free time.
EDIT: oops sorry for the double post. I've been playing in Dgames for too long where that's a no-no
Kantrip
Kantplay
~Hierune~
(Baby form of Sigilyph)
Ah pokeballs! I spaced on the deadline...
My idea was going to be a pre-evolution of Farfetch'd holding a leek seed pod. Such is life.
At least the thing that sidetracked me was being in awe of the Pokemon Online revamp... lol
My idea was going to be a pre-evolution of Farfetch'd holding a leek seed pod. Such is life.
At least the thing that sidetracked me was being in awe of the Pokemon Online revamp... lol
Round 28 judging:
----------
Kantrip - Hierune
Firus: A fairly solid sprite. I can instantly tell that it’s supposed to evolve into Sigilyph, which is a good thing. I also like how you added some green to the small piece you decided to keep from the top of Sigilyph to make it better resemble Sigilyph’s main body instead of just slapping in that piece on its own. However, I feel like the baby quality of the sprite is a bit lacking. The parts aren’t much changed or sized-down at all to better fit the new main body; it feels more like a cut-down version of Sigilyph than an undeveloped one, which is more what a baby form should feel like. I don’t think the main body change was a bad one, but I would have altered the wings and tail to make them a bit shorter, instead of just decreasing the number of prongs attached on each.
Neon Ness: Kind of on the fence about how well this works as a "baby". I can see you clipped the lower half of the wings and part of the feet, and shrunk the mid section. But it doesn't seem that much of the fundamental anatomy or shape was changed significantly. If it were to evolve into Sigilyph it just gets more of what's already there--I would have liked to see a bigger difference in how the features were arranged, or even how the coloring/patterns look on the body in a pre-evolved form. From a technical standpoint it's good, it just needs to be pushed a bit further in terms of creativity.
----------
Congratulations to Kantrip for being the winner of this round! I also realized that I must've forgotten to give out the award for Kantrip's win last week, so I'll be stepping it up to the award for three wins. My bad. If you ever fail to receive your award within a day of me posting up the judging, message me; chances are it slipped my mind in some way.
This week's prompt:
----------
Kantrip - Hierune
Firus: A fairly solid sprite. I can instantly tell that it’s supposed to evolve into Sigilyph, which is a good thing. I also like how you added some green to the small piece you decided to keep from the top of Sigilyph to make it better resemble Sigilyph’s main body instead of just slapping in that piece on its own. However, I feel like the baby quality of the sprite is a bit lacking. The parts aren’t much changed or sized-down at all to better fit the new main body; it feels more like a cut-down version of Sigilyph than an undeveloped one, which is more what a baby form should feel like. I don’t think the main body change was a bad one, but I would have altered the wings and tail to make them a bit shorter, instead of just decreasing the number of prongs attached on each.
Neon Ness: Kind of on the fence about how well this works as a "baby". I can see you clipped the lower half of the wings and part of the feet, and shrunk the mid section. But it doesn't seem that much of the fundamental anatomy or shape was changed significantly. If it were to evolve into Sigilyph it just gets more of what's already there--I would have liked to see a bigger difference in how the features were arranged, or even how the coloring/patterns look on the body in a pre-evolved form. From a technical standpoint it's good, it just needs to be pushed a bit further in terms of creativity.
----------
Congratulations to Kantrip for being the winner of this round! I also realized that I must've forgotten to give out the award for Kantrip's win last week, so I'll be stepping it up to the award for three wins. My bad. If you ever fail to receive your award within a day of me posting up the judging, message me; chances are it slipped my mind in some way.
This week's prompt:
- Joined
- Jan 27, 2008
- Messages
- 13,516
- Location
- Michigan
- NNID
- TripleDash
- 3DS FC
- 1719-3728-6991
- Switch FC
- SW-1574-3686-1211
Kantrip
Kantplay
I was fine with my Pokéball not being updated since I don't feel like I'm "winning" if it's by default, but I suppose for consistency sake it should count, as it would be unfair to suddenly stop counting them or to take away past default wins. I agree with the judging with regards to my creativity with that prompt (I tried to avoid too much free spriting which definitely cost me).
I hope to see some more entrants in this round!
I hope to see some more entrants in this round!
Apologies for the delay in posting here again, I was busy all day Saturday and then I ran into medical issues on Sunday and have been dealing with that since.
Anyway...yet again we're hitting the wall with this contest. Is it the prompts, or is it just that the interest in the contest is simply gone? I was really happy to see everybody show interest again, but we only had one solid week of entrants before we went back to our weeks with almost no entrants and weeks without any at all. I feel like nobody wants to let the contest go -- and I certainly don't myself -- but nobody has the time or interest in participating, and if people can't / don't have time to participate in the contest regularly enough that this doesn't happen every other week, I don't know that it's worth keeping it running like this.
Let me know. If there is interest and people have reasons for not taking part the last two weeks, I'll put up a new prompt, but we've had this discussion so many times and I keep giving it another shot in hopes that things will remain stable, and then they just fall apart again shortly thereafter.
Anyway...yet again we're hitting the wall with this contest. Is it the prompts, or is it just that the interest in the contest is simply gone? I was really happy to see everybody show interest again, but we only had one solid week of entrants before we went back to our weeks with almost no entrants and weeks without any at all. I feel like nobody wants to let the contest go -- and I certainly don't myself -- but nobody has the time or interest in participating, and if people can't / don't have time to participate in the contest regularly enough that this doesn't happen every other week, I don't know that it's worth keeping it running like this.
Let me know. If there is interest and people have reasons for not taking part the last two weeks, I'll put up a new prompt, but we've had this discussion so many times and I keep giving it another shot in hopes that things will remain stable, and then they just fall apart again shortly thereafter.
Maybe it's time to slow down the pace of the contest then. That seems like the most solid way to find out IMO.
I say see if making it monthly makes a difference in the contest. That way if people don't have the free time to whip up a pokemon sprite for kicks in one particular week, they're free to mull and create at a time when they're free. Weekly might have worked back when this was the hippest thing on the poke-boards, but now that interest has slowed down so too should the deadlines.
For me personally, I wasn't exicted about the last prompt. However I was really looking forward to getting to the "create a baby/evolved version of a non-evolving pokemon", though it didn't happen that week. If we're lucky, making a larger period in which to work will allow more people to join comfortably while also (theoretically) upping the level of quality people can put in each time. Make it a big event once in awhile rather than many small events not everyone gets to. If no one joins the month long deadline project: then you can feel totally vindicated in suspending this little contest as a thing that was fun but no one is participating in.
EDIT: I'd also suggest that if you feel like the prompts are the issue (and occasionally they are for some), to revisit one of the most popular prompts and give it a re-go. Look back and see which contest had the most amount and variety of entries and run with it this next month. That way anyone who is still interested in the contest can and will have an entry (or is most likely to).
EDIT2: And advertise a little. Get enthusiastic. Make this a rebirth: all or nothing this time.
People can tell you've lost faith in this contest, so they're not paying much attention to it either. Force anyone who's anyone to pay attention for its last hurrah and in turn it will be taken seriously again. Good luck.
I say see if making it monthly makes a difference in the contest. That way if people don't have the free time to whip up a pokemon sprite for kicks in one particular week, they're free to mull and create at a time when they're free. Weekly might have worked back when this was the hippest thing on the poke-boards, but now that interest has slowed down so too should the deadlines.
For me personally, I wasn't exicted about the last prompt. However I was really looking forward to getting to the "create a baby/evolved version of a non-evolving pokemon", though it didn't happen that week. If we're lucky, making a larger period in which to work will allow more people to join comfortably while also (theoretically) upping the level of quality people can put in each time. Make it a big event once in awhile rather than many small events not everyone gets to. If no one joins the month long deadline project: then you can feel totally vindicated in suspending this little contest as a thing that was fun but no one is participating in.
EDIT: I'd also suggest that if you feel like the prompts are the issue (and occasionally they are for some), to revisit one of the most popular prompts and give it a re-go. Look back and see which contest had the most amount and variety of entries and run with it this next month. That way anyone who is still interested in the contest can and will have an entry (or is most likely to).
EDIT2: And advertise a little. Get enthusiastic. Make this a rebirth: all or nothing this time.
People can tell you've lost faith in this contest, so they're not paying much attention to it either. Force anyone who's anyone to pay attention for its last hurrah and in turn it will be taken seriously again. Good luck.
- Joined
- Jan 27, 2008
- Messages
- 13,516
- Location
- Michigan
- NNID
- TripleDash
- 3DS FC
- 1719-3728-6991
- Switch FC
- SW-1574-3686-1211
I will admit, I have the interest, but I just don't have the time (and I'm also lazy). Extending the deadline sounds good to me, my suggestion would be 2 weeks and see where that goes.
But if it's a month, I'd suggest multiple prompts (2-3?) in order to keep things interesting instead of being confined to one for a long period of time (keep the creative ideas flowing and what not).
Enthusiasim also plays a part as well...
But if it's a month, I'd suggest multiple prompts (2-3?) in order to keep things interesting instead of being confined to one for a long period of time (keep the creative ideas flowing and what not).
Enthusiasim also plays a part as well...
Neon Ness
Designated Procrastinator
- Joined
- Jul 10, 2008
- Messages
- 3,631
With longer prompts I feel like people are more likely to think "Pfft, I've got plenty of time", forget about it until a few days before the deadline, and rush to make something. That's just been my experience with other contests I've participated in/have seen elsewhere. Adding more time tends to drag things out instead of garnering interest and better quality entries. Who knows, I could be wrong though.
For whatever reason there just aren't as many members excited about spriting at the moment. Motivation seems to be a bigger issue than time, especially when you see posts like "I'd join if I were better at this" or "I would have but got lazy". I don't know how you would convince people to at least try for the fun of it, without worrying about winning or losing.
For whatever reason there just aren't as many members excited about spriting at the moment. Motivation seems to be a bigger issue than time, especially when you see posts like "I'd join if I were better at this" or "I would have but got lazy". I don't know how you would convince people to at least try for the fun of it, without worrying about winning or losing.
Neon Ness's concern about length of time is exactly what I'm thinking. Most people post their sprite on the last few days before the deadline, if not on the day of the deadline itself. 2 weeks may be worth giving it a shot -- and I think I'm going to -- but I also worry that giving too much time is just going to leave people forgetting about the contest and still not submitting sprites.
As for advertising, I can put up an announcement in the PC, but there isn't terribly much else I can do. The contest doesn't merit a global announcement, and I can't go around advertising in posts. I'll definitely go for that once we go for our rebirth, though.
I've also noticed the second half of what Neon Ness noted. I tried to offset this a bit by bumping up the old spriting thread and encouraging some casual spriting, but people don't seem to have either the time or the interest (or both) to do so, and without casual spriting, people are less inclined to give it a shot and therefore aren't likely to enter in a contest not knowing that they can sprite at all. My best guess at getting people to be more open about participating is perhaps a round or two of no prizes, perhaps even no "grading," and just giving constructive feedback and help on the sprites, but I don't know that those out there who have hesitated to participate would be at all encouraged by this. If anyone has any thoughts on that who is in the target community, let me know.
As for faith in the contest, I know I've questioned the dedication to the contest multiple times, but that's only because as long as I've been running this contest, there have been numerous occasions of no-sprite rounds or single-sprite rounds, and now every time it happens again I just see it as a failing to fix what was the problem in the first place. I just don't want to be sitting here running a contest that nobody even glances at anymore; I'd rather get people's attention and get some feedback on it.
As for advertising, I can put up an announcement in the PC, but there isn't terribly much else I can do. The contest doesn't merit a global announcement, and I can't go around advertising in posts. I'll definitely go for that once we go for our rebirth, though.
I've also noticed the second half of what Neon Ness noted. I tried to offset this a bit by bumping up the old spriting thread and encouraging some casual spriting, but people don't seem to have either the time or the interest (or both) to do so, and without casual spriting, people are less inclined to give it a shot and therefore aren't likely to enter in a contest not knowing that they can sprite at all. My best guess at getting people to be more open about participating is perhaps a round or two of no prizes, perhaps even no "grading," and just giving constructive feedback and help on the sprites, but I don't know that those out there who have hesitated to participate would be at all encouraged by this. If anyone has any thoughts on that who is in the target community, let me know.
As for faith in the contest, I know I've questioned the dedication to the contest multiple times, but that's only because as long as I've been running this contest, there have been numerous occasions of no-sprite rounds or single-sprite rounds, and now every time it happens again I just see it as a failing to fix what was the problem in the first place. I just don't want to be sitting here running a contest that nobody even glances at anymore; I'd rather get people's attention and get some feedback on it.
- Status