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Thread: Please. Your thoughts on joining Monthly Challenges.

  1. #11
    Community Leader Facebook Connected Badger's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Redrobes View Post
    I try and enter every month though some months I spend more time on them than others. I think the new multiple vote should enhance the voting to newer members. Del's marked me as a heavy and I have never won. Its just a bit of fun for me and a chance to try out some new ideas on a map.
    Yes, the multiple voting seems to be quite a success. We should also see the implimentation of the number of votes you get based on the number of completed entries... as per your suggestion
    I marked you as a hitter cause well... you are. ... you make great graphicly pleasing maps, and ... your a genius when it comes to mapping software 3d rendering, scripts for oh ... too many things to count, including the one we use for thumbnails. Ya, you are a bit intimidating my friend, sorry to break the news to you like this... but you rock

    Quote Originally Posted by Steel General View Post
    Having only been around a few months I was a little intimidated with the quality of the entries at first. But now that I've grown more comfortable with the various software I use and more or less developed a "mapping style" I will probably enter more of the contests.

    I think ultimately it comes down to whether the subject of the contest "draws me in enough" that I get excited about spending the time working on an entry.
    Agreed. Getting comfortable with your chosen medium of mapping is somewhat of a factor in gaining confidence to do something like a challenge. Notice I kinda revert back to my pen and ink maps as opposed to going full PS color extraordinariness. Mainly because I'm more comfortable with a pen and piece of paper than a stylus and a tablet using software that I'm still trying to wrap my brain around.
    And I too need a challenge that says (HEY!... I wanna DO THIS!) Aside from the time factor the last couple challenges, I really felt kinda blasé about the challenges. While fun to watch the others make the maps, I just wasn't all that into it.
    Have Pen. Will Map.
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  2. #12
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    I was the one who was unaware of the challenge - it's partly because I was new to the forums, and used to seeing banners on other forum home page indexes that announces big news and events - kind like at http://forums.cgsociety.org/ - I'm a visual person, so advertising with big text and pretty pictures usually gets my attention better than a thread subject.

    For me the challenge is something to explore and work on my skills as at the moment I don't have any other maps lying around to work on. So a sketch someone else had done was a perfect start to test myself.

    I'm not 'in it to win it' - just to develop and learn and there is a fantastic variety of entries which help us all. I find it very interesting, educational and inspirational to see how someone else approaches the same task and I have got a few ideas by other people's entries to try new things and the like.

    I'm also only interested in the larger maps, not the D&D maps of inside buildings and caves and stuff so that's why I jumped on this challenge and not the previous one. So if the next one is one of those, I won’t be making an entry. I think they style Challenge is a great idea, and would be interested in seeing it as perhaps a different thread where every month a sketch is created by a forum member .

    To anyone worrying about their standard may not be good enough - some words of help (I hope)

    The thought of not being good enough will never go away - no matter how 'good' you thing your work is. The positive side is you know you want to improve. Improvement comes with practice. Practice only comes from effort, and It's a healthy thing because the day you feel you 'know it all', is the day you stop developing and improving. There will always be someone better than yourself, but there is only one you. You have the potential to create wonderful things too and there is room for everyone and everyone's efforts have equal validity.

    The only difference between you and the stuff you feel is beyond your capabilities is mostly time. Each day, hour, minute to delay out of fear of not being good enough is nothing more threatening that one day, hour, minute away from achieving the level you aim to be at. As for the artists who's work has a touch of divinity - they started life as a kid drawing stick people too, they' just been working at it longer than the rest of us - and these same artists doubt their own abilities - it's a matter of perspective.

    I feel all talent is, is the result of being passionate about something - or at least have at spark of interest in it. I certainly don't feel I have 'talent' or am 'gifted' If you are interested you will be enthusiastic, from which come the effort put into something, with that you grow and improve. Everyone who has joined this forum shows interest and therefore has potential.

    Fear is the thing that stops us. God knows I have many, many artistic endeavours that are unfinished or not even started because I fear I may not be good enough to create the result I want. But I know if don't do all that work, I won't improve and I'll stunt my growth. This is easier said than done (and I'm reading a book on the 'fear of art' for myself in fact!)

    Just by doing this challenge I feel my style improved an inch - and that's what I loved about this challenge - it's about style and every entry has something to offer. With style we are all equals and you make it your own. With any challenge, if you enter you wont ever fail and you will learn something and be that bit closer than to your desired goal than if you didn't.

    But it must also be said that CG is a great place to develop because everyone is very supportive, helpful and friendly - a very healthy place to develop!

    Sorry - went off subject a bit.


    jez

  3. #13
    Community Leader jfrazierjr's Avatar
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    Oh, and I have ADD, so if a challenge is not interesting I doubt I will finish. I can count on both hands the number video games I have "finished" compared to the hundreds of games I have purchased. I tend not to follow through and complete quite a lot of things sadly...

    Thankfully, my wife has taken some interest in my mapping attempts this month and this might be the only reason I actually completed (due to her constantly bringing it up and prodding me to get it complete on time.)
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  4. #14
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    I love the challenges, they are a great excitement generator and motivator. But I realize (as a moderately skilled hobbyist) I don't have the chops to finish one in 25 days that is even vaguely competitive. We've got some really first rate, professional mappers in the guild (which is a major attraction), but I see no point in going head to head (speaking only for myself). Past a certain point, psychologically being last all the time would vastly overshadow the benefits of practice. Or so my 46 or so years of life tell me. My time is better spent in the other forums where time isn't 'against' me. Now, I sure I'll enter some contests again soon. They are fun! But I need/want to finish my other maps. The Ambush Inn needs to be rptools enabled, and Fenridge Castle needs a massive gatehouse or two. And a road.


    My thought is having different tiers or competitions for the various levels of mappers. Maybe run two competitions at once, one for previous winners and one for the 'herd'.


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    -meleeguy
    Last edited by meleeguy; 09-26-2008 at 03:01 PM. Reason: grammar

  5. #15
    Community Leader NeonKnight's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by jfrazierjr View Post
    Oh, and I have ADD, so if a challenge is not interesting I doubt I will finish. I can count on both hands the number video games I have "finished" compared to the hundreds of games I have purchased. I tend not to follow through and complete quite a lot of things sadly...

    Thankfully, my wife has taken some interest in my mapping attempts this month and this might be the only reason I actually completed (due to her constantly bringing it up and prodding me to get it complete on time.)
    Ahhhhhh ADD, and it's little cousin ADHD.

    Yeah, I have it, and I have it bad at times. Like you said many games I have not played to completeing, but I have a lot of games.

    Many projects I start, but don;t finish.

    Many times I start to do something and then I
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  6. #16
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    Quote Originally Posted by delgondahntelius View Post
    You should join anyway, even if you don't get a complete entry, it actually motivates you to get it done and prepares you for things like making deadlines. Aside from that, experience has taught me that the more you map, the easier and faster you get with it. Not to mention, gaining a sort of library of what you need to make maps. With somethings, once you devolop the initial style, you have it in your arsenal (Take PS brushes for instance. When I started... I had what every other PS user has... the set of basic brushes it comes with ... now... I have a veritable plethora of brushes for forests, mountains and hills, just to name a few. Not to mention I have a number of actions that will complete some pretty painstaking tasks on command.) ... just keep at it.... you will get faster...

    Maybe not as fast as GP, but GP is actually a futuristic machine sent back in time for one purpose .... to kill sarah connor. wait... no... to produce fantastic maps at fantastic speeds.
    Yes, but even if I ignore the alignment of Cosmic Event #3, I still have to contend with the indominatable power of Cosmic Event #2. I, unfortunately, cannot at this point manufacture additional hours for my day. Now that I've started Grad School, what I don't spend at work, in class, or studying is probably spent with my wife. And she's not terribly inclined to sit and watch me work on my computer for long hours at a time. For now, my priorities leave stuff like this a little too low on the list...
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  7. #17
    Community Leader jfrazierjr's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by NeonKnight View Post
    Ahhhhhh ADD, and it's little cousin ADHD.

    Yeah, I have it, and I have it bad at times. Like you said many games I have not played to completeing, but I have a lot of games.

    Many projects I start, but don;t finish.

    Many times I start to do something and then I
    Hey! Are you making fun of my
    My Finished Maps
    Works in Progress(or abandoned tests)
    My Tutorials:
    Explanation of Layer Masks in GIMP
    How to create ISO Mountains in GIMP/PS using the Smudge tool
    ----------------------------------------------------------
    Unless otherwise stated by me in the post, all work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial 3.0 United States License.

  8. #18
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    Quote Originally Posted by NeonKnight View Post
    Ahhhhhh ADD, and it's little cousin ADHD.

    Yeah, I have it, and I have it bad at times. Like you said many games I have not played to completeing, but I have a lot of games.

    Many projects I start, but don;t finish.

    Many times I start to do something and then I
    ROFLMAO....
    I too was born with this rare genius talent...

    and now for my ADD joke...
    Q:How many ADD people does it take to change a lightbulb??
    A:Hey, you wanna go ride bikes?
    Have Pen. Will Map.
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  9. #19
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    RL interfered with me finishing mine as well. My company got acquired 3 weeks ago, then the company that acquired us got acquired last week by a bigger fish. As you can imagine, it has been insanity. Sometimes I wish I was still writing games.

    loyd

  10. #20
    Guild Novice Aera Lure's Avatar
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    I'm new. Joined mid-September and, though I found the challenge the day I joined, and wished to join it, since it was really suited to a wide array of approaches, I didnt. The reason is really two-fold:

    I havent enough time. Right now, I'm lucky if I get props ready for the campaign I run. Most times I delay it an extra week or two between sessions as it is. I'm not sure where I'd find the time to enter a challenge, which would be akin to picking up yet another hobby. Given how well I know I'd wish to try and do, and given my lack of experience, I know it would be a pretty big time investment.

    And map creation for the campaign I currently run? Well, that's if I have time after development of the things like story and other props. Most of the time I create one on the fly within RP Tools. I dont think my skills are in the range of most people here.

    That said, I'd still like to join a challenge at some point. If a cosmic event happened though that had a monthly challenge more or less matching up with something I needed to create for my current campaign anyway, I'd definitely bring that to the table. I'll be on the lookout. Otherwise, I'll just need to have found a fair bit of free time, which for me is rare. Mostly I joined here to learn about making maps. I may need to join another site to learn about how to make time.

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