Ikerous wrote:McGinge wrote:Firstly, design contests are way too long and boring imo!! Also,Ike, if you and Nick gave creative medals to each other every time even if the solutions werent creative at all then people wouuld ask qns from the beginning!!!
Personally if I were hosting the next Design Contest, I'd make a regular level like in A or B league and then just tell everyone to complete the level in the most creative way they can. Have it end in one week. Then have voting for one week. Then it'd end.
And if we were going to switch off giving medals we'd at least try to submit somewhat creative solutions just so it didn't look rigged. And besides, theres nothing anyone could really do about it since the medal would be so subjective.
Yes, the design contests are too long for me too. I propose there be two design contests running at the same time, one in the tweaking phase and one in the voting phase so you can always be working on a level. If there is only one, like there is now, there will always be a week or so that you can't work on a design competition level.
Besides, there are 4 general contests in the tweaking stage almost round the clock. That equals more participation. If one level doesn't suit you, you can focus on another one; I don't get the current A, B, and C contests
, but I've already sent in a light N entry and working on the dark side. With the current design contest, if you don't like the current challenge, you'll just have to wait until it ends, gets voted on, and another one starts again, which can take a long time (Especially if the new host [NickyNick!!]
wont put up the new contest "ASAP").
Even though there are 4 general contests for every design contest (more like 8 to 1, considering how long it takes to start another design contest) the design contest gets waaaay less attention than it should. Check these stats:
* Here I consider the design contest a ?league?
** Dates are in MM-DD-YY Format
*** Stats as of 7-10-07
Breakdown of topics and posts from each league?s forum
League Forum___Topics_____% of Topics________Posts______% of Posts
N________________33____________9.2_________579____________7.9
A_______________186___________51.7________3,933__________ 53.9
B________________89___________24.7________1,870__________ 25.6
C________________30____________8.3_________602____________8.3
Dsgn._____________22____________6.1_________308____________4.2
Total____________360_____________________________________7,292
Breakdown of # of leagues and average length of each contest
League_____# of Contests_____% of Contests_____1st Contest Date_____Days Running_____Average Length
N___________________16_____________9.2_____________2-26-07____________135___________8.4 days
A___________________93____________53.4______________8-9-06____________335___________3.6 days
B___________________44____________25.2_____________8-14-06____________330___________7.5 days
C___________________15_____________8.6_____________2-18-07____________142___________9.5 days
Dsgn._________________6_____________3.4______________9-7-06____________306__________51.0 days
Amazing what you can collect by looking around the forums! Anyway, It?s obvious that leagues
A & B dominate with more than 3/4 of anything contest related being about them. I think this is a big problem. The people posting in these forums are
probably not all that new. They are the ?pros?: doing the impossible, and cheaply. I believe this has created a deficiency in the newbie population. Since the pros are the best and 3/4 of the contests are A & B (geared toward them), I think it?s hard for the new guys to catch up, and they?re probably frustratedly thinking ?I can?t win any contests, this isn?t so fun
? or ?Ok, now that I?ve won 3 N-leaguers, I can?t win any more because these pros are too good. This isn?t so fun any more
?. So, to increase the amount of newbies active on the forums and in competitions, there needs to be more contests geared toward them. The N-league is a good start. I like the idea of excluding ?contest veterans?, and I think there should also be a ?first-timer? league, where only contestants who have not won
any medals can participate, and an intermediate league, where only contest veterans and under can participate (no armadillo lords and higher). This intermediate league seems like what the current A-league should be like now. It has easier levels than B-league but harder levels than N. The problem is, it seems inaccessible to ?intermediate? players because the pros can still play!
Summary:
Have more leagues
Have more experience requirements
Now, back to my original point: the design contest. I think the design contest was way too long, had too much down time, and the themes weren?t interesting enough. In my opinion, the design contest was/is a great idea! It just wasn?t well excecuted. It was unorganized at the beginning and pretty much stayed that way. We have to have better guidelines to follow. McGinge, you brought up the point that the contests were very, very long (51 days on average, according to my handy dandy tables). That is a fact! There should be a set timeframe, or a maximum length at least. Problem solved. Ikerous, you said that if you were hosting the next design contest, you?d make a normal ?A or B? level and say ?be creative!?...
AAAA!!! No! Please No!
I don?t agree. I believe the design contests should have a theme and you should build a level around that idea. Matacus 6's Pinball theme is a perfect example! If you had to host a contest and you made a level and said ?be creative?, I think that you should be hosting a totally different league?s contest. Maybe a ?Creative solutions? contest? Design contests are not for pre-made levels! That is why I think Matacus 1's theme was bad. It was ?pac man?, but it was an already made level that you had to finish and also bump the most metal plates. That sounds to me like a C-league contest!
Onto my final point. There needs to be a new layout. The old one is kind of messy. Here?s my idea:
General Contests (In order):
A-League (
a.k.a. Old B-League): The best of the best compete here.
Anyone can compete, but this is the toughest competition to win.
B-League (
a.k.a. Old A-League): This is where the intermediate players compete.
Anyone who is a contest veteran or lower can compete, so you have a better chance of winning if you aren?t godly.
C-League (
a.k.a. Old N-League):
Players who have won only 1 or 2 competitions can compete here. No contest veterans or higher are allowed.
D-League or N-League: Players who have dabbled in the ways of the armadillo but
haven?t won a competition yet can compete here.
Creativity Contests (Not necessarily in order): I think there should be 2 of each of these, because there is always voting.
Creative Solutions Contest (a.k.a. Old C-League): Here, money is not generally a concern. Players compete to solve a level with the most creativity.
Design Contest: Players must build a level on their own that has a theme, which is picked by the host. Money? Hah!
Other Contests: Maybe a good idea, maybe not?
Speed Contest: I know this isn?t my original idea, but I like it. Players have only a limited time to solve and complete a level, usually a few hours to a day, under the same rules as the general contests.
I hope my proposal wasn?t
too arduous to read
Anyway, I hope this will sway some people!