141 replies to this topic

[William]

Hello, everyone! This will be the official thread for discussing the current events in Screenshot: Challenge Accepted. Any questions, comments or suggestions regarding S:CA can be posted here.

[Shane]

Firstly Congrats. Secondly, will there be a S:CA achievement thread?

[William]

Firstly Congrats.

Thanks!

Secondly, will there be a S:CA achievement thread?

Yes, sir. Actually, I'm working on it right now. It should be up shortly.

[William]

Hey, if anyone has some challenge ideas, we're open to hear them. We'd like to hear your opinions on the recent challenges, as well as what you'd be looking forward to as far as further challenges. Swamps, beaches, you name it; we're open to any suggestions.

[Jared]

Just saying (Not to be a self promoter or anything), shouldn't the official S:CA banner have the first winner's picture? Makes more sense, rather than one that didn't win...

[Shane]

^ Like the idea myself but why not have multiple banners that are fused with many entries?

[William]

Oh, that's not the official S:CA banner. That's a banner that a friend of mine made with one of his shots; I've never taken the time to make a new one. If anyone wants to volunteer to make a new banner that makes a little more sense, we'd gladly accept it.

Also, I like Shane's idea.

[SpacemanDan]

Dungeons.

SpacemanDan runs.

But seriously speaking, I wouldn't mind seeing something like taking two commonly used area types and mashing them together. Or maybe an area type that just isn't commonly done like a jungle or something. Just shooting a few vague ideas out there.

[Linkus]

I've got one. But with two words.


Inner Sanctum.

Now this doesn't have to be in a temple per se. It's just a very sacred location, used by some religion, cult, or secret order, ready to give up its secrets to you. It's where the grand puzzle would be or its solution would take place, and is the biggest open area there. So this suggestion would be more like a miniature map, but for the sake of going too big, it must have a minimum of three screens and a maximum of nine screens, or a maximum length and width of 5 screens. Standard (or special) wall dungeons and doors should mark where the room ends - If there is a screen that has a part of the sanctum separated off by a wall, well, it's not part of the sanctum. Bonus points if you use your own tiles, even though I don't know how that can work.

So if that's one heck of a challenge that's too hard to do in a week, then maybe I just think too big.

[Russ]

^ Like the idea myself but why not have multiple banners that are fused with many entries?

I like that idea, actually. If somebody who's good at banners volunteers, perhaps we could do a new banner each month, with the four previous winners mashed up.

Dungeons.

SpacemanDan runs.

But seriously speaking, I wouldn't mind seeing something like taking two commonly used area types and mashing them together. Or maybe an area type that just isn't commonly done like a jungle or something. Just shooting a few vague ideas out there.

We can do more dungeons, sure.

As for mixed areas, that's not a bad idea. I'll admit, I'm a huge fan of your forest desert screen. I think we'll have to do something with that.

Pure win and awesome idea.

Yes. YES. HOLY *%@# YES!

That is such an awesome idea. Seriously, it's amazing. It doesn't require the screen to be an overworld or dungeon, really, and the possibilities... Perhaps we should have a monthly (or bimonthly) special challenge like that, giving the contestants two weeks to work on bigger, more vague areas (with the inner sanctum being the first of them). Seriously, that is such an incredible idea.

[Russ]

Alright, we only have two shots right now. So, I'll wait til tomorrow night, and if there's not another shot by then, I'll put the two up. Or maybe I'll make my own. Who knows.

That said, since popularity seems to be dropping, I'm interested in hearing input. Why aren't you entering? Would you be more likely to enter if we changed it up? Don't hesitate to speak up, William and I are always happy to hear criticism (preferably constructive).

[Orithan]

I'm one of the ones who have entered this time, but I'll make some input on this:

The challenges should be simple and clear enough for people to design a decent screen around. A standard challenge, in my oponion, should consist of two or three simple restrictions, be interesting enough to entice people to enter and should not discriminate against tilesets, especially the popular ones in the other contests. A special challenge can be bolder, but should be interesting enough for a large turnout.

Example standard challenge:

- Restrictions:

1. Screen type: Castle Exterior.
2. Features: Must have a bridge of some sort.

Example screen:



We can do a challenge where you don't specifiy the screen type unlike most of the challenges that have been put up.

Example:

-Restrictions:

1. Theme: Combat - Two or more enemies (Keeses, Gels, Bubbles, Shooters and falling Rocks/Boulders don't count) or a boss present on screen.
2. Terrain: Must have some water (shallow or deep, doesn't matter).
3. Features: Must have a set of statues parallel to each over (this can even be Armos, FYI).

No example screen.

An example of a special challenge:

Special S:CA:

-Restriction: Must feature Zelda AND Ganon.

No example screen. Not that much of a challenge, but an unusal one at that.

That's my suggestions for S:CA.

[Adem]

I think a big issue is that there are sometimes so many restrictions/requirements, it's hard to be incredibly creative. I'm totally okay with it, but I think a lot of members would rather be able to take more liberties. So, really, my only advice would be to keep things a bit more simple. Having too many specifics makes it more difficult, thus can discourage some from participating.

... Am I making sense?

[Russ]

Hm, so I'm getting "Less restrictions" from everybody. Makes sense. Alright, we'll give this a shot; the next challenge should be much simpler and with much fewer restrictions. Let's see how this works out.

[Orithan]

Are we going to post the poll for this challenge anytime soon?