*** January 2010 Challenge - Up and down the scales ***

[Redrobes]

Yes I should have mentioned to those doing a challenge for the first time. You should start a new thread for your entry. The thread title should read "January Entry : Your Map Title Here" kind of style then when it gets archived you can see the Dec and Feb entries separate from all the Jan ones.

As usual I will try to keep on top of the thumbnails page. When you post your new WIP images as the map progresses it would be helpful if you put a :

### Latest WIP ###

as the last line before your uploaded image and then the thumbnailer script will see that image as your latest for the thumbs page. You can get away without the tag but if you or anyone posts any unrelated image then the last in the thread is used as the thumb one. You should vote on the thread but many people vote by looking at the thumbs images. I urge people to look at the threads this time because you wont see the reference maps to see how close the entry is otherwise.

I'll try to end the challenge as near as I can to 00:00am GMT on the 27th of Jan with 4 or 5 days worth of voting. Post into this thread if you need an extra hour or so at the very end or at least post something just before voting starts not to miss the dead line. Its happened too many times to mention before I upgraded the thumbs updater !

[Jaxilon]

Thank you, Steel General. I thought about this after I posted here. I wasn't too worried because I wasn't sure if I was going to move forward with it. I should have made a new post just to be safe.

Sorry for making you do extra work.

Thanks again!

[euio]

Can we use our own maps as a starting point?

[NeonKnight]

Can we use our own maps as a starting point?

Ditto question here.

[Redrobes]

Good question. Yes I would think so. The usual challenge proviso of not having done the challenge entry before the start of the challenge applies so I think the ref map could be your own previous one so long as you haven't made the entry map yet.

[Jaxilon]

Ok, so since I posted my first wip @ 11:25pm 12/31 when I was trying to figure out how to scale up an image do I need to change what I'm doing so I'm not disqualified?

It's not a problem, I just want to keep things fair.

[Redrobes]

The rule is there to stop people submitting a completed map with days and days worth of effort put into it thus giving an unfair advantage to people who otherwise have only 25 days to do it. I posted a map once which I had worked on but not completed and we have had others who got a small way in too. Its happened before and I think its no problem. Also people use premade bits of art like mountain tokens, or dungeon gear and other bits and pieces too which we normally try to declare where we got them. Its more about making an honest attempt at doing the map in about a month than being super strict about the exact second it started. If you had done two weeks already then it might feel bad to others but a few hours... I don't think anyone can claim that they are going to spend every minute of their month on a map so that one or two extra hours would have made all the difference. Your efforts were one of the strong reasons I asked to put this challenge forward to this month so that what people are naturally trying to achieve can be made into a challenge with possible gold compasses or prizes to gain from it.