Vae on 29/9/2014 at 23:24
I would say an "autumn theme" or "winter theme" would be best...along with having one broadly defined objective, such as "heist" or "rescue"...So then we would have an "Autumn Heist" or "Winter Rescue" theme, for example.
Leaving things broadly defined gives the author more agency for expression, whilst sparking creativity and keeping contest cohesion with a unified conceptual anchor.
In the macro, I think there should be ongoing seasonal contest themes (Spring, Summer, Autumn, Winter)...Having continual "four season" contests are universally applicable, and would provide regular, reliable times, for community contest participation.
ValmontPhl on 30/9/2014 at 12:25
Apparently i'm slacking, you guys are three pages into this and I'm just reading it all.
Anyway, after careful thought:
Not a pre determined libretto, if you will, but a source theme.
Let's say each author must choose a story from classic literature or film, "garret" can be Garret inserted or "garret" can be any character in the plot.
So yes, there is literature/poetry, opera/musicals, movies/TV, other video games from Ms. Pacman to Assassins' Creed (I think Terry has done this already)
Some of you might have fun with "The Thieving Magpie", "The Fall of the House of Usher", "Othello" - even "Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat"
Or....
Pick an historic event to weave Garret into, that'd be interesting as well
Xorak on 1/10/2014 at 21:44
Why not a 'weather' theme where some type of weather has to be present, much like the old water contest. That leaves it open to Christmas or autumn missions, or rainy or foggy or daylight.
On top of that, there could also be a loose preset story everyone must adhere to, like 'find out why the people here are unhappy' or 'find the source of the stench' or something obviously better. DrK also had some neat types of examples in his last post: "get rid of the (multiple) evidences", "find the recipe and create the antidote", "frame someone", "free these people" and such.
That also means if the predefined story isn't working for you, you can really concentrate on creating amazing atmosphere with the weather and such. But the best mission should be the one that combines the weather with the story.
OldMeat on 1/10/2014 at 23:02
Well I don't know about pre-defined stories or hat draws, but I am guessing it could be based on different fan-fictions.
I do like the idea of cookery though. :cool:
Not so much food recipes, but not excluding them either, but anything built up from different components, much like the items manufactured in the OM Sabotage At Soulforge.
Best use of mechanical goodies, complex actions brought about by innovated use of common weapons, domino effects, etc.
I mentioned in an older post where a mechanical version of squeeky (rat object) had to be built from different parts obtained from here and there before it could be used in a practical fashion.
Maybe even tricking AIs into doing certain actions by setting up a series of circumstances.
Pre-defined stories seem pretty restrictive to the building of a fan mission and I think would limit creativity, but I suppose it show how creative someone could be when prohibitions are set.
Really only the very best already established FM Authors would shine using a restrictive pre-defined story contest.
maga on 2/10/2014 at 16:06
Snowy - Christmasy theme for me.... :thumb:
PinkDot on 2/10/2014 at 21:02
We clearly have ideas for a number of contests and each of them have some group of fans.
Now, somebody takes the role of organizer and makes the decision...
klatremus on 2/10/2014 at 22:00
From what I can gather, the collective opinions of this thread seem to lean towards a loose, pre-defined story/theme, chosen at random, where authors need to implement say two simple elements (elevator, poison, brown, casket, key chain, etc). Plenty of people have also mentioned they would like to have it seasonal/holiday themed.
What if we decide on a bunch of of thematic key words that would be vague enough to allow creativity and freedom to go into a common pool? I would say the authors that are thinking about entering the contest would definitely have a vote here. Perhaps they could supply one word each, although there would be no guarantee they would be assigned their own word. We could maybe create twice as many words as should go in the final drawing pool, then have a poll to decide which ones are better. In adddition we could say each author also needs to implement something from a fall/winter setting. It doesn't have to be weather or a holiday; but at least a reference to these seasons somewhere.
It also seems many are in favor of each author getting unique theme words. Then we need to set up a randomized selection process for which author gets what words.
nicked on 3/10/2014 at 05:57
Just pick one. It's complicated enough already I'd say.
bassoferrol on 3/10/2014 at 15:33
Rework some/most levels from Thief1/Gold. Put some snow or rain if you wish and enter every door and window that was closed and see what's going on there. I'm very curious. That's enough for me.
Sephy on 3/10/2014 at 21:14
Most of you have already written much more detailed and cool stuff than I could come up with right now, but whatever, let me just throw this out:
I recently remembered how much I loved the snow in The Broken Triad. So I looked for other "winter"-themed missions in the "listed by type" thread. That's how I found the first "The Circle of Stone and Shadow" mission. Being an avid FM player ever since Thief 2 came out, I have no idea how this one has slipped past me so far, but the winter atmosphere in it totally hit my spot. I don't even know why, but somehow I really like city streets in winter portrayed in the Thief 2 engine and style. :)
So, yeah, sorry, I don't have any particular ideas to add here other than that I'd definitely love to see more in that style and a winter contest might be the right place for such missions. :)
