Thor on 26/9/2014 at 09:07
Quote Posted by Dale_
Then I also thought some kind of
colourful contest would be interesting. With the recent teal and orange mania, wouldn't it be great if the goal of the contest was to play with colours as much and as creatively as possible?
Hey, I was making a post yesterday (before chrome randomly quit itself for no reason) suggesting a themed contest idea as well.
Now I'm thinking: what if we made a "Theme contest" or something, where the only thing asked of authors is that they stick to a general theme (with a list of themes that are being offered to them, maybe own themes allowed (or maybe not...)). So one author makes a vertical-shaped mission where verticality is the main theme, another author makes a colorful mission (one color dominating one area, another color dominating another, something like that), another authors does an autumn mission (I suppose people could just mix these themes (like vertical + autumn) up to avoid unintended restrictions), some guy wants to make a horror mission, another one an all-seasons (spring, summer, autumn, winter) mission, or a cave centered mission, or a mystery mission etc.
The possible themes are quite a lot (... or nearly infinite), so
either we do allow authors to make up their own themes
or we list the whole spectrum of themes people can think of
or we just list a few broad enough themes that we'd like to see particularily (horror, verticality, colors, winter, aesthetic beauty?).
I like to include verticality cause I liked the vertical contest despite it having had only 3 entries. They were all very enjoyable.
Also, depending on what we can pass off as a 'theme' (holiday, 64-cube enclosed as well maybe even? 48 hour time-contraint?) it could also be the most free of restrictions contest. Though, knowing that is often not as good of a thing as it sounds, it would still probably be better to make it restricted.
It would make for a very subjective contest (different tastes draw in different people) but I think it would be a cool thing to have. We could also, in a way, find out how many people like certain themes.
I must say, the one-story-many-interpretations contest also sounds like an interesting idea. I think both of these contest ideas would be cool to execute in this/any-future-contest.
downwinder on 26/9/2014 at 13:22
i would love to play a escape/jail/prison missions
also missions starting out in hell and working your way to heaven
missions that have more back story of om characters,like viktoria,karras,etc
also a missions where you start above ground and travel to the center of the earth
choice your own adventure missions would be nice but probably out of the question as time would take way to long for a contest
i also like time travel missions
added new idea surreal missions,mc esher/type stuff/"escape om" type textures,where things are mixed that make no sense
also hiking missions,where you start out at a base camp/cabin,then you take a path along amazing scenery/waterfalls/rock formations,hiking,rivers to cross ad look at ,maybe be able to make a dam to do something,kinda like first part of kings story's,before you get to castle,the journey there type stuff
i would also love to see a set of missions that are based on the movie "the cube" there its a cube that has a ton of rooms,some rooms are traps and some are safe rooms,in the end you want to get out alive
latest idea is based on the movie/book "the maze" a massive maze with puzzles and dangers to escape
space missions exploring the universe
Renault on 26/9/2014 at 14:56
Not sold on the pre-defined story idea. Do authors really want to be confined to story written by someone else? Do players really want to play 5-10 missions with the same exact story? I'm playing a bit of the devil's advocate here - I'd like to get more opinions on this.
@Downwinder - Jason Otto made an FM for the total crap contest called The Cube which I think is similar to what you're talking about.
(
http://www.thiefmissions.com/m/Cube)
nickie on 26/9/2014 at 17:43
I'll weigh in on the pre-defined story idea. I like it and I don't think it's been done before. As long as the story/objectives aren't too prescribed, I'd think it would give authors huge scope to do anything they liked in whatever setting they chose.
klatremus on 26/9/2014 at 17:44
The pre-made story sounds like it has great potential, however I think you have to be careful with how much the pre-written part controls the author. How about just giving the objectives, and perhaps one or two important readables. Then instead of giving the entire story, just let the authors know the main premise. Then they can fill in the rest.
For example: A new lord has risen to power in the city. His organization makes it difficult to earn a thief's living. Steal some incriminating evidence and leave it in the hands of someone that can put him away for good. Objective: 'This is getting too far. Steal Lord ________'s journal and leave it in Constable _________'s safe. That way, Cragscleft is his only possible destination.' Then the author can fill in the missing parts; the journal could for example include evidence that the new lord is planning to assassinate the mayor, or maybe plotting to steal the key to the city.
nickie on 26/9/2014 at 17:50
I think that 'in the city' might be an example of what I mean by 'too prescribed'. Leave out 'in the city' and you could use any type of location.
DrK on 26/9/2014 at 18:11
Quote Posted by Brethren
Do authors really want to be confined to story written by someone else?
That would be something completely unusual for FM authors. For the last 15 years, we've been designing missions along with our own stories in mind. It could be interesting to see how we would handle the ideas from someone else, we'd focus only on level design, and one of the criteria for voting would be how the author manage to integrate the story within his mission.
Quote Posted by Brethren
Do players really want to play 5-10 missions with the same exact story?
The point would be to find out how imaginative an author can be. Once you played one mission, you already know the story, you know what to expect. It's up to the author to surprise the player and try to create a unique experience. Architecture and sound design can't be identical from a mission to another, by working on the immersion and the atmosphere the player would have a unique feeling. It's nothing like Casing the joint and Masks.
fortuni on 26/9/2014 at 18:35
As a slight twist to the pre-defined story idea, you could instead give the author a list of say 10 or 12 ideas/issues that must be included in their mission
Ie Karras, a love interest, a kidnapping, Victoria, a mountain hid away, a named special relic, The Trickster, winter/snow theme, mines/cave, Truart, Lord Bafford etc....
It doesn't really matter what you choose to as the mission ideas, but it would give the authors total freedom to write their own stories/script
redface on 26/9/2014 at 19:25
I do like the semi-predefined story idea.
What if the way the story is made would somehow connect all the submitted missions? Everyone is going to play all the missions anyway, let's find a way to make them into a campaign of sorts. Give every maker just a part of the story (or let him choose it)?
The problem is, where's the contest in that? Best "chapter" ? Um...
nicked on 26/9/2014 at 19:35
A predefined story sounds far too limiting in almost any incarnation. I can only speak for myself of course, but I know there'd be no way I'd be motivated enough to finish a mission where the story had already been laid out for me. Certainly if you're going as far as pre-writing objectives or ingame text. A predefined pre-mission synopsis could work, but you run the risk of either making it so specific that it's difficult to get creative with the mission design, or so vague that there's no point having it in the first place.
