Challenge brainstorm/critique

bearkub

OK, so we have almost done a full month of these things and I have to say that the turn out for them has actually been better than I first excpeted, so thanks to all those who have participated so far. I really hope they have, if nothing else, been useful exercise.

Now then, on to what this is about. I'd like to hear any and all suggestions, good or bad, you have so far. Anything you have particularly enjoyed? Anything else you would really like to see? I have heard mention of maybe pushing the time limit back to 2 weeks instead of one. Thoughts?

Please post any ideas or feedback you have in this thread or drop me a PM if you like.

Thanks again to all of you and thanks in advance for any feedback!

Bronco

Hey BK

I gotta say I really like working on these challanges,I now have a day of the week,which is my "challenge day" which is used to at least have a really good effort at doing them.

Dispite my poor record thus far....1st week was late,2nd i was ill and didn't feel upto it,3rd week I did it,but did it wrong,4th week done 50% of it,didn't do the side/front/top vieews.

in terms of time Id say it depends on the challenge,for example the Suess model could have been 2 weeks becuase it was a full,concept,model,texture scenario,but then again the challenge was designed to work in an industry time frame.

while the mad doctor I think deserves really one week as it is just a charcter design exercise and as Noserider has so exstravagantly shown us,you can draw up all sorts of ideas and concepts within that time and still have a very nice finished piece.

Maybe you could have challenges overlapping,for example

Challenge5 starting on 28th march....Ends 10th April...but challenge6 starts on 3rd April....ends 17th April....

this way people get there 2 weeks and kinda like school if you finish early theres always soemthing new avalible to do.

also Id personally like to get more feedback about my work,which genrally isn't happening much in the challenges section. So i propose we start a thread just for final submitions in the pimpin section basically becuase many more people will see it and be able to comment.

alternativly we could doit like Conceptart.org,submit our stuff in the challanges section and have a Moderator post them all up in one go to the pimpin section...

Bronco:-
(Image)

NoseRider:-
(image)

Gmax:-
{image}

etc

Then after that post people can just write there crits and opinions of it.

apart from that I think its all good,im enjoying it all and I think im improving,slowly.

though one thing I would like to do sometime,maybe not now as the tasks havent been going long enough to see if any "regulars" show up( people that do the challenge almost weekly) and we will proberly need more people to join in.

But I would love to do a team challange,help me get to know some other polycounters and get more contacts as well as doing a portfolio piece as part of a team (like you do at university or something). not sure how this would work or pan out but I think doing a charcter from start to finish or enviroment in a team of 3 or 4 people over a 4 week period would be great fun and its better than modding becuase it doesn't take a year to see your final product and of course you get the same element of teamwork in your folio that employers like to see.

Overall though im happy sir .

john

cholden

The weekly challenge is great! Knowing, if I dont like the challenge, it'll change up in a week. I'm not against longer than one week for special cases, but I see the timeframe as a part of the challenge.

Personally, if it's not a model/texture (preferably environmental), I'm probably not getting involved. It would also be great to see things gear more towards creating final game art for specific system limitations. As in, as low end as ps2 or a high as unreal3 tech.

I liked how the victoria texture pack went right into the model pack (I hate I missed the textures week). Having more of these themes would be fantastic. For example, set a monthly theme, like medieval, post apoc, space station, etc. One week its textures, then map objects, scenes, and characters. By the end of the month, it's a whole series. Possibly, artists involved would be able to bring some things all together at the end of the month for some fantastic work. Also with the monthly theme, it'll be a constant inspiration party to fuel each challenge.

MoP

A consistent monthly theme with weekly elements sounds like a great idea!
These have been fun so far, although I haven't had much time due to university. I'll be able to do as much as I like for them soon, though!

ScoobyDoofus

I agree on the consistant themeing. So far I've only participated in 1 challenge, as I've been so busy with various work lately, but this is great fun.
I like the 1 week timeframes.

animatr

I love the monthly theme idea. Sounds awesome. I think maybe models/objects first week, then textures, maybe rough animations would be so cool.

Thermidor

i still like the idea of colabirations, or teams ,... but it would be a pig to orginise

hawken

you guys should probably swing over to here http://www.eatpoo.com/phpBB2/viewforum.php?f=19 for a few peeks at what makes good weeklies, they've been doing it rather well for some time now.

I often like to enter each weekly because it forces me to create something I'd never think about working on before.

IMHO trying to do something like cgtalk or having portfolios is just way beyond the scope of this crappy forum engine. Shoulda used something else from the start (PHPBB2!!!!)

KRakarth

Ive managed to do the last two (mad doc and easter) but have been unable to upload as my pooters borked. I really enjoy the weekly challenges but thought the seuss was too much, working full time i can manage to concept, model and texture something that complex in a week but there is no way I can manage that with the time I have at home. If you are going to do a complete model make it a bit simpler.

The ideas of a monthly theme seem good. A week for each stage of the project, but i wouldnt do that too often as its the weekly thing which appeals. Even if I hate it I will do it cos it only lasts a week - whereas if it lasts a month overall....

adam

Hey, bk - I IM'd you a contest idea using the boards IM system. This thread didn't seem to be about specific thread ideas :P

EDIT: I 110% want to see a 3-team contest. The idea of working in mini-teams sounds really fun.