Community Submission Box - Summer E Games Input

[Epitome]

I like the idea of gaming tournys. Why not set up popular vote on each of the platforms and see if you can get enough votes for a game to make small tourneys? Like even 16 or 32 grid format would work. Or like BFBC2 if you could get enough players to form a few squads?

 

[SL33TBL1ND]

Maybe a "Best Post Ever" contest, where people submit funny posts that they have found on the website, people vote, and both the submitter and poster get something awesome if they win.

 

[Ekit]

Invent a Badge:
Contestants submit a badge icon and conditions for earning that badge. The staff pick the five most creative/appropriate badges and the community is polled to determine a winner from those five. When the contest is concluded, the badge becomes available for all community members to earn and display on their profiles.

This is the best idea so far.

 

[ottenni]

How about an photo competition where the aim is to send in the best photo of the Escapist E. And the person with the best E wins.

For example someone may make a giant E made of lego or perhaps a crop circle E if they are really dedicated. Something like that anyway.

 

[dekkarax]

How about a general art contest? Maybe you could have categories for it too, like funniest picture, etc.

Edit: NIIIIIIIIIIIIINJAAAAAAAAAAAS!

 

[dalek sec]

I like the badge making contest myself, that sounds pretty fun to do. Just wondering but when do the E-games start exactly?

 

[Epitome]

I like the badge idea, dont have to be overly artistically talented, just have a good idea.

 

[Spinwhiz]

All excellent ideas! Keep them coming friends.

 

[Spinwhiz]

I like the badge making contest myself, that sounds pretty fun to do. Just wondering but when do the E-games start exactly?

Not sure of the exact start date yet but it will be in August.

 

[dalek sec]

Damn, I might miss some of it cause of Disney World.... yes that's how much time I spend on the Escapist.

 

[Nivag the Owl]

Simple ideas...

Some kind of raffle where everybody is given a number based on the order they clicked the "get a ticket" button. Then you could reveal a random number and give the winner something cool. Could have one a day or just one over the whole event.

 

[hamster mk 4]

I have been eagerly awaiting another Game Development competition to be hosted by the Escapist. Since this is the community suggestion box I have a few suggestions for it:

1) Allow contestants to submit works with the Unity3d Engine.
It is browser based, much more powerful than flash, and the indie version is free. This will both lower the bar for entry and raise the quality of work.

2) Make the contest about another web series.
Zero Punctuation has been a big draw for the Escapist but it is not as interesting without Yahtzee's voice in the background. You could allow us to access to any Escapist web series. I would love to see a game where the Game Dogs and the Unforgotten Realm characters duke it out.

3) Provide better art assets.
I spent a great deal of time was spent stripping and formatting the screen shots provided for the last flash game contest. Providing .png's at a higher resolution and with an alpha layer would save time and lead to better quality renderings of the subject matter. I understand it may have been impossible with Yahtzee but for in house productions like Game Dogs I have seen the sprite sheets (during the making of episodes).

4) Apply random off the wall bonus rules.
If I wanted to make a game for my self I would (and do). When I make a game for somebody else I like to have a little more inspiration than "use these characters". Speed Hack [http://www.speedhack.allegro.cc/rule-o-matic/spin] was an absolute champ at this. Please follow the link to see what sort of enlightened insanity was at work there. It is like an essay prompt back in school. You get better results asking for a five page essay on the causes of the French Indian War than asking for a five page essay on the history of North America, even if five pages of handwriting to analyze was all you were after.

5) Just do it:
I know the forum thread for the last contest was clogged with complaints over IP, but you now have one successful contest under your belt where none of the participants feel like they were shafted by the man. That sort of thing builds up credibility.

*edit*
6) Allow us to talk about it.
The "no posting prior to contest deadline" drove me a little nuts. It makes sense for professional game makers not to let the development team mess up the mystery/hype the marketing department is trying to build, but hobby game develops thrive off recognition. Working for two months without being able to show off each mile stone was a little maddening. At the very least could we post pictures and talk about our design ideas on the forums next time?

 

[subtlefuge]

I'm so freaking on board with the Short Story Contest idea. That is as long as it is not genre restricted or prompted. I love gaming as much or more than the next guy, but the Escapist is not a fanfic site. I could learn to accept if it was, but I would likely pass on entering and just observe the entries.

 

[CounterAttack]

With regards to the HL2 Deathmatch tournament... I wouldn't be able to take part in it or any other game tournaments. My PC and Internet connection, not to mention my university timetable, won't handle it too well.

How's this for an idea, though?
[HEADING=3]Write Your Own Cutscene[/HEADING]
Basically, design a game and write the script for the opening cutscene. Nothing too huge, long or complex - a la something you might see on Unskippable - just something simple to keep the length down and the quality high. Scriptwriters, budding directors and the like could all take part.

Edit: The one drawback of this idea is that it might take too long to read through all the entries.

 

[Frequen-Z]

I'm not sure how alone I am on this, but I've always liked the idea of visual representations of virtual communities. How about some sort of contest in which you would draw/model/paint/etc what the Escapist would look like if it existed in real life.

Maybe some would see it as a tavern, or a high school, or a fairground, there are a lot of possibilities.

Hopefully the level of artistic skill needed wouldn't alienate too many users. I have a feeling it'd be above my level but I can't speak for the whole community.

So yeah, that's my suggestion. Draw The Escapist.

 

[Irridium]

Team Fortress 2 tournament.

Can there be a clear winner?
Easily. In the game you either win or lose. Stalemates get settled with Sudden Death.

Will the event be interesting and fun for a large group of people?
Considering how many people here love Steam and have Team Fortress 2, yes. Not to mention the TF2 usergroup [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/groups/view/The-Escapist-Team-Fortress-2-Group-PC] has over 600 people, and is the third largest on the site. Plus add in the many people who haven't joined the group and you have yourself a very large audience that would love it.

How much time will be required to participate?
Well you could spread it out during the entire event with the final battle taking place on the final day. Each match would take roughly 10-15 minutes. The only problem would be setting a time for the matches. But a little planning would fix that.

What will we need in order to run this event?
Well we already have both U.S. and U.K. servers, and the usergroup could be used to schedule matches and whatnot. So we have all the major pieces. All people would need is Team Fortress 2.

Some minor details would need to be ironed out, but I have no doubt it would be an absolute blast.

EDIT: Hm, seems I'm a bit late to the thread, hopefully I'm not too late.

 

[jaeger138]

A "Great suggestion for the E-games gets a whole heap of free games, consoles and related merch" contest? No?

OK, so how about an Escapist themed skit contest? Users do a skit of an Escapist series, whether they review something in the style of Yahtzee, make an animation of D&A in an Escapist themed predicament or write a Rebecca Mayes song about Escapist staff and upload it to youtube. Entries are shortlisted, users vote on winners and winners recieve cookies...or something else game related.

Alternatively, users create original content and by the same procedure as above are voted for, winner gets a series on the Escapist.

 

[CounterAttack]

Alternatively, users create original content and by the same procedure as above are voted for, winner gets a series on the Escapist.

That's basically the Escapist Film Festival, which I am in no way prepared for yet. I believe that should wait until December, the same time as previous Festivals. And I know my entry will be astoundingly good... when I have the gear to actually create the first episode.

 

[jaeger138]

Alternatively, users create original content and by the same procedure as above are voted for, winner gets a series on the Escapist.

That's basically the Escapist Film Festival, which I am in no way prepared for yet. I believe that should wait until December, the same time as previous Festivals. And I know my entry will be astoundingly good... when I have the gear to actually create the first episode.

In that case I would alter the prize for the winner to game merch and say that the entry must be less than 1 minute and around the theme of...mushrooms?

 

[Kiithid]

I'm on board the Design a badge idea, however to be more fair to the untalented people (including this silly self), instead of the final icon a raw idea of the meaning or how it looks like.

Something of a preview of the final badge should it win.