DiMono
Level: Smitemaster
Rank Points: 1181
Registered: 09-13-2003
IP: Logged
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The Dungeons of Snoll! (+3)
Contest Update: The time has come, once again! With one mighty stroke of his gavel-like hand, King Ballioutay shall reveal the themes he wants for the second run of his audition holds. Stand in awe (again) at the majesty of his task... a second time! The themes for the second running of this competition shall be:
1) Stop-Watch.
2) Hiding in the Bushes.
3) Circular Logic.
King B. has asked me to wish everybody only the best of luck in this endeavor, as he looks forward to seeing each and every entry in this competition. Remember, your entry is due Local Time:10-17-2004 at 07:30 AM, and I'll be making another post at Local Time:10-17-2004 at 07:15 PM to let everyone know the time is nigh.
Alright. Themes will be revealed every half hour. I will be lurking on the forums during the contest, so if you have any questions please feel free to ask them in the thread, or to send me a PM. And yes, the themes are intentionally vague to allow for more flexibility.
Contest Update: It seems that 2 hours was just not enough time to make the dungeons, as a few people have told me, so I've extended that phase of the contest to 2.5 hours. See my post on the second page of this thread for details.
Contest Update: The first running of the Dungeons of Snoll contest has completed! The themes for the first contest, which will not be reused in the second, will be re-revealed after holds for the second running have been submitted:
1) Follow The Leader.
2) Your Friend, The Snake.
3) They Can't See Me - I Can't See Them!
To play the entries, and to see who won, browse on over to this page. The second running will begin in negative 1049 weeks, 2 days
One fine spring day on the island of Snoll, off the shores of Ephelna, King Ballioutay decided he would expand his dungeon. When he put the word out, he received literally dozens of offers from reputed architects to help him in this endeavour.
"This is just too many," King Ballioutay (King B. for short) said to himself. "I must find a way to narrow this down to only the best of the best."
Being a relatively smart man, King B. realised that the only way to know an architect's quality was to see what (s)he was capable of firsthand.. There was only one problem: King B. was very undecisive. He knew he needed to see what they could do, but he couldn't think of how to go about it.
Naturally, King B. went to his advisor, Antholius Nathaniolus Tratyopius. Despite being born in the heartland of Tueno, Antholius (A.N.T. for short) had proven himself to be of the same brutal efficiency that was required of a King of Snoll, and had been ingraciated in to the ranks. It came as no surprise, then, when A.N.T. immediately came up with precisely one idea:
"You must have the architects build for you a dungeon in a style of your choosing, in limited time."
"Of course," King B. said, "it's so obvious. I shall command from each architect a dungeon, to be constructed in short order. Only then shall I see who has what it takes to be my new personal architect. What do you think, A.N.T.?"
A.N.T. agreed, and the date for the architecture competition was set. There was only one problem: King B. was so indecisive that he'd end up changing his mind on the theme, resulting in several levels with different themes. Since he wanted the dungeons constructed in a short time period, this would pose a challenge to the architects.
So, here are the rules of this contest:
1) The contest will begin at Local Time:10-16-2004 at 05:00 PM. Every 30 minutes a new theme will be announced, until Local Time:10-16-2004 at 06:00 PM. This means three themes, released at:
Local Time:10-16-2004 at 05:00 PM
Local Time:10-16-2004 at 05:30 PM and
Local Time:10-16-2004 at 06:00 PM (man, I love that localtime tag).
2) For each theme a level with no less than 4 rooms should be constructed, and each room must have a puzzle that conforms to the theme (no corridor rooms, sorry folks), including the entrance and exit. You do not have to include all five levels in your submission, but it will be worth your while to do so, as will be explained below.
3) At Local Time:10-16-2004 at 07:00 PM, the holds must be submitted to me via email (cjmarks at gmail dot com). Please do your best to send me a finished hold the first time. Fifteen minutes later, victory demos for each room must be submitted. If it turns out you made an impossible room, I'll accept an updated version of the hold with a small tweak (removing a couple monsters, changing a couple walls in to crumblywalls... not a room redesign) to fix the problem, provided a victory demo comes with it. There's no point in changing from one impossible room to another, after all.
4) At Local Time:10-16-2004 at 08:00 PM, I will release the holds to the public, in a seperate thread, and everyone who submitted a hold will get the chance to defeat each other's holds, recording victory demos along the way. When you've defeated all the holds, announce it in this thread. You will then have fifteen minutes to export and zip your demos and email them to me at the same address. The first three people to announce their superiority and submit a full set of victory demos will win themselves some prizes.
This means the longer your hold is, the more time it will take everyone else to play it, while you will already have your victory demos for it. Anyone may download and play the holds, of course, but only those who submit a hold may win a prize. I expect the contest to take about 8 hours from start to finish. And then, it all happens again!
Since there are some backwards countries where they sleep during the day and stay up at night, in an effort to be reasonable to those who will not be awake at the time of the contest, a second contest will run exactly 12 hours later. I'll probably bribe Matt in to doing it with a muffin or something. This means everyone will have a chance to win, not just those in the Western Hemisphere.
To protect the fairness inherent in everything on the planet, it is entirely unreasonable to reuse the themes from the first contest in the second. As such, an entirely different set of five themes will be used in the second contest, so that nobody can gain any sort of upper hand.
For each incarnation of this contest, first place will win 100 points and an item from the DROD store (or a free copy of JtRH), second place will win 50 points and a hug from your mom, and third place will win 25 points and some much needed sleep.
Additionally, a special "Rookie Bonus" of 10 points will be awarded to anyone who submits a five level hold and competes for the prizes, and hasn't entered a previous contest.
So, who's going to answer King B.'s call? Also, if anything is unclear, please feel free to let me know and I shall perform a revision... coffee for all!
[Edited by DiMono at Local Time:10-11-2004 at 07:50 PM]
[Edited by DiMono at Local Time:10-16-2004 at 05:00 PM]
[Edited by DiMono at Local Time:10-16-2004 at 06:57 PM]
[Edited by DiMono at Local Time:10-16-2004 at 11:29 PM]
[Edited by DiMono at Local Time:10-17-2004 at 04:59 AM]
[Edited by DiMono at Local Time:10-17-2004 at 05:00 AM]
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Deploy the... I think it's a yellow button... it's usually flashing... it makes the engines go... WHOOSH!
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(One for morning, one for evening)
