Spritemeister Round 2

[Orangey]

Alrighty, I feel that it's time for a re-visit of the spriting contest. However, I think we should be a bit more organized this time. I'll lay down some rules, and provide you with some of my paradigms, so no-one gets insulted or angry if they lose.

Rules:
1: Each contestant is allowed to submit two(2) images for consideration.
2: No re-colors, and edits must be significantly different from the original.

Paradigms:
1: Megaman will be looked down upon. Bob and George references will not be tolerated.
2: 8 bit sprites are not as good as 16-or-higher-bit sprites.
3: Animations are good.
4: Sprite sheets are good.
5: Original sprites are better than edits.

Keep in mind that these paradigms are not hard-and-fast rules; rather, they are my personal feelings and how I'm likely to judge. Also, just because some-one submits a 16-bit orignal animation doesn't mean that it will automatically beat an 8-bit megaman edit. If the edit is well-done, and the original is sub-par, then the edit will win out. However, between an equally well-done edit and original, the original is much more likely to win.

Our official judges as of right now are SleepingOrange, King Spritemeister the 2nd, and Saint.  The above paradigms (which I feel now would be a good time to define: a typical example or pattern of thinking; a model) appy to only me, so I would like Saint and King to post their own paradigms, for the convenience of our spriters.

I would like to announce the top five entries, and award prizes accordingly. I think the layout may be some-thing like:

1st Place: Spritingtypeperson's 'Sprite Thing'. Prize: X Battle Pastries, use of exclusive signature, one-of-a-kind emote
2nd Place: PixellatedPie's 'Pie-nimation'. Prize: 5/6X Battle Pastries, one-of-a kind emote
3rd Place: BiffFan's 'Pixel-Biff'. Prize: 2/3X Battle Pastries
4th Place: AwesomeGuy's 'Un-named'. Prize: 1/2X Battle Pastries
5th Place: Newbie123's 'First Try'. Prize: Honorable Mention

I hope that you all enjoy! (And participate... Please?)

EDIT: Changed the paragraph about judges. Please read. ^^^

EDIT 2: I removed the rule about size. I would prefer it in, but don't feel strongly enough to argue. If you guys would prefer it out, then no peel of my Orangey.

[SUDDY has a big name]

Are we going to get a base image to sprite off of?
Also, does it have to have been made recently? I participated in a Megaman spriting contest a while back, and made something that's pretty good.

[Orangey]

No, no base sprites. just do whatever makes you happy.
There's no limit on age. I wouldn't be able to tell unless you told me anyway, so...
If it's Megaman, make sure that the sprites are different than the original Megaman sprites. I want edits, not rips.

[Solid Snake]

I don't think this will work...

[Orangey]

why? If there's a reason, we can change it, thnks to the mutable nature of the intarwub.

[SpriteMeister]

I'm up for being a judge. I won the last contest, and I don't have time to make new sprites, so this is a good position for me, in my opinion.

[Saint]

I'll be a judge cause I'm totally sucking up to SleepingOrange, cause he's awesome.

[DomanickX]

Hey saint would be a good judge

[Silfedac]

I mightdo this, though I really prefer to use 8-bit. And the restrictions are a bit...restrictive.

[Green]

There is not a emoticon in the world to express what I'm feeling right now after that [dog] story.

Anyone want to take a crack at the overcome-with-hunger emoticon...

[Orangey]

Silf: Remember, the only actual restrictions are the first three. The rest are just how I'm LIKELY to judge. Our other two judges might well judge differently.

Saint: Welcome aboard. Sycophants are always appreciated .

Generally to every-one: If you have a problem with the rules, ARTICULATE IT. I can easily change them if it's a reasonable complaint. It's a forum, nothing's set in stone.

[Solid Snake]

I'll be a judge if you want, if not i'll just observe. I'm tired right now...

[Orangey]

Thanks Snake, but I already set up the panel. Maybe next time, if this one happens at all. Keep in mind peoples, that I am open to suggestions for improvement.

[SpriteMeister]

I pesonally agree with most of Orangey's paradigms, which means that even though they aren't rules, they still have a lot of effect on the outcome of the contest.

My suggestions:
   One paradigm I'm not quite sure about, though, is the animations, mainly because not everybody can make them (I would rather see a sprite sheet than an animation). On that note, you can post both the sprite sheet and animation of your sprites in this contest, and they will only count as one submission.
   And I don't think there should be a size restriction as a set rule, mainly because I know my current "ShySheet" would be at least two hundred pixels too wide unless I left the sheet at 100% zoom, and many single sprites are smaller than 20x20. I think that rule should be under the paradigm section.
   Something I would like to add, would be a rule or two about how zoomed in it is. The zoom should, first, be in an increment of 100 (so you don't have some pixels wider than others); second, they should be somewhere between 200% and 400%, so we can see the pixels more easily, and so it won't be too zoomed in. Try to make it so it fits on the forum pages.

[DomanickX]

I second the above statement

[SpriteMeister]

Question: How many people will be allowed to join this round? If we decide to make it an open contest (meaning any non-judge can join), when will we call it closed? More importantly, when does it officially start?

[Orangey]

Well, I think we now have enough of the rules worked out that it can officially open. I don't know how long it should run; here, I'd value your opinion. As to number, I figured we would keep it open. I hadn't actually even considered capping it.

[Solid Snake]

Maybe I'll be like a mentor to some of the artists... If thats ok with Orangey...

[Orangey]

I don't see a problem. However, there may be a slight issue unless we get some artists.

[Solid Snake]

I guess not... Well call me if you need me.