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[Contest Over!] Lunar Magic Creativity Contest Rules and Discussion!

Update 7/14/19 @ 2:15 PM: Added Deadline extension to July 23rd, see below.

So get this: I was sleepin' peacefully in my cannon the otha night when suddenly my pet Bob-omb, Bombn-legg, got too close to my Fire Bar space heatah and exploded! He'll be alright, but my whole house came crumblin' down! Knew I shouldn't 'a built it outta brick blocks, but thems were in the buildin' codes back when I built it! They was cheap too! Anyway, needless to say, I gots me no house to sleep in! That's where youse guys come in. I need you Makers ta help build me, Banzai Bill-der, a new house ta live in! And here's how we're gonna do it...

I've heard that 'round dese parts, youse guys sometimes hold a contest called the Lunar Magic Creativity Contest, where ya use Lunar Magic to make some neat artistic stuff. Sounds like a perfect way for youse guys to build a fancy new pad for me! I'll even reward the top 3 Makers with special prizes! So whadda ya waitin' for? Read the rules and get ta work on my new dream house!

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Lunar Magic Creativity Contest


Welcome to the fourth Lunar Magic Creativity Contest! I'm your host FPzero, and Banzai Bill-der has generously leased me this space inside his post to tell you all the rules of the contest. This is the first time it's been hosted inside a C3. I hope plenty of you will participate even though the rest of the event is going on. If you've never seen a LMCC before, you can see the results for the last one, hosted back in 2016, here: https://www.smwc.me/t/87746

The way LMCC works is that you use Lunar Magic to build a non-playable scene/picture/piece of art in Lunar Magic's level editor utilizing blocks and sprites. Since these will not be playable levels, you don't have to worry about traditional level design elements and can instead focus on just arranging objects and sprites to build some pretty houses, apartments, or other living spaces for Banzai Bill-der.


General Rules and Guidelines:

1. Your goal is to build a house, apartment, or other living space for Banzai Bill-der! You will be scored on how closely you relate to the theme.
2. All the usage of layer 1, background/in-level layer 2, layer 3 and sprites will be what's going to be judged in your entry. Basically everything that shows up in Lunar Magic when the level is opened, sans Mario's starting positions. You're not absolutely forced to use all of these, though; make use only of layer 1 if you'd like, for instance!
3. Make your entry in level 105.
4. You're free to use any level mode. That does include translucency and such, as well as vertical levels. You may also use specific horizontal level modes Lunar Magic 3.0 provides.
4a. The horizontal level modes you're allowed to use are 08, 0E, and 1A.
5. The number of screens you're allowed to use depends on the level mode you're using.
  • If you are using a normal horizontal or vertical level, you have screens 00 to 05 (6 screens) to make your entry.
  • If you are using horizontal level mode 08, you may use screens 00 to 04 (5 screens). Example here: https://bin.smwcentral.net/u/50/08example.png
  • If you are using horizontal level mode 0E, you may use screens 00 to 03 AND screens 0F to 12 (8 screens). Example here: https://bin.smwcentral.net/u/50/0Eexample.png
  • If you are using horizontal level mode 1A, you may use screens 00 to 08 (9 screens).
Some of these look like they'll give you a space advantage over another level mode by having different numbers of screens allowed, but this is the best I can do to provide a small variety of level modes that are of roughly equivalent dimensions.
6. Submit your entry as an BPS file as well as a screenshot. If your entry uses animations, LICEcap is recommended to you can capture it as a gif. If you're having trouble using LICEcap, you can message me (FPzero) for assistance.
7. Don't share your entry with anyone! We are going to do community voting in addition to judge scoring, so we want entries to remain anonymous.


Graphics Rules:

1. You are limited to SMW's original graphics. You may not use ExGFX for your Layer 1 and 2 elements at all. That said, you are still allowed to place any GFX file into any GFX slot.
2. You are allowed to manipulate map16 to make new tiles.
3. You are allowed to make custom palettes.
4. You are allowed to make Layer 3 backgrounds or use the various pre-assembled Layer 3 backgrounds that already exist in the site's graphics section. This is the only case where ExGFX files are allowed.
5. 4bpp-to-2bpp conversion is allowed for layer 3. This also means that recoloring tiles is allowed for conversions only.
6. ExAnimation for all layers and sprites is allowed.


Frequently Asked Questions

-Do I have a limitation of how much map16 I can use?
There is no limit since you're not making an actual level.

-Is it okay if Lunar Magic gives me a warning because I'm using too many sprites?
It's alright, since your entry is not meant to be played. Use as many sprites as you need.

-Can I recolor tiles like in the VLDC?
Because ExGFX is not allowed for Layers 1 and 2, there is no way to recoloring graphics. The only exception is in converting 4bpp tiles to 2bpp tiles for use with Layer 3.

-Why are the graphics rules harsher than in other years?
Mostly to keep things simple since this contest has a shorter submission period than usual.

-Do I have to use all the space in my chosen level mode?
Don't feel forced to use all the space, though, and don't worry about the edges of your submission not ending on the edge of a particular screen; it will not count as "cutoff".


Submission Details:

Submit your entries to me (FPzero) via PM. As mentioned in General Rule #7, don't reveal your entry to anyone else, as there is going to be community voting at the end of the contest. We want participants to remain anonymous for the community vote.

The deadline is Tuesday, July 23, at 16:00:00 UTC. The contest will end when the week long C3 posting period is over. Yes, this does mean you only have 11 days to complete your entry! Spend your time wisely. (The deadline has now been updated to July 23rd. You have an additional week to work on entries.)


Judging Criteria

Your entry will be scored in three categories for a total of 50 points.

Creativity (20 points): How unique is your entry? Did you really grasp the "creativity" part in the contest's title?
Crafting (20 points): Is your entry polished, or does it just look cluttered and messy?
Theme Adherence (10 points): How nicely and creatively does your entry convey a house, apartment or other living space? Have you considered all sorts of elements that would be in a place someone lives?


Community Voting
The community will be able to vote for their favorite entry after the contest is over. A screenshot of every entry will be posted, so everyone will be able to see all of them equally and more easily. This voting will be held via PM and each user will have the right to vote for one entry as their favorite. We will have more details on the Community Voting process when the time comes.


Prizes
The top 3 winners based on judge scores and the winner of the community vote will be awarded with trophies, and all other entrants will get a participation trophy. Please note that the judges hold the right to disqualify spammy, effortless entries made with the sole purpose of winning a trophies.



That about wraps up the contest rules. Banzai Bill-der's telling me this is all the space I have available to rent. Feel free to use this thread to discuss the contest and ask questions. I hope you have fun participating and have a great C3!
Is there any preference for what part of a house to depict; as in, interior or exterior with scenery?


 
When I was coming up with the theme for the contest I was picturing mostly exteriors in my head because of the building and construction motifs. But if someone wants to make a lavish interior for him instead, by all means they can do so.
This may be a dumb qeustion cus the answer is probably no but,
the rules don't say anything about using custom sprites I just want to clarify if they're alllowed or not
Considering most custom sprites are going to require ExGFX to show up, or won't have any substantial visible effect when simply placed in a level, I'm gonna say "No" to them. I'm sure there's plenty of ways to represent whatever you're thinking of given the contest's graphical rules.
Is there an impartial 3rd party I can PM about my color concatenations to make sure its valid?
Well, I actually can't be a judge for the contest because I'm the person everyone is supposed to send submissions to. If judging is anonymous, I can't judge because I'll know who sent what. So since I'm not going to judge or vote, you could PM me directly with your question.

In general, you shouldn't have to worry about color combinations somehow disqualifying you. Custom palettes are completely allowed.
Just wanted to remind everyone that the deadline is in 4 days. So far I've only received three entries.

Be honest with me, do you think I should extend the submission period? I anticipate at least a couple more entries but a contest isn't much of one when there's only 4-5 entries total. Should I extend the contest and extra week? Would you be more likely to participate? Let me know your thoughts.
I guess that might help. I've been considering participating but haven't found the time so far.

Maybe it's just a lack of eyeballs, and it'd help to make a separate announcement and/or thread in the contests forum?


 
After thinking about it longer and seeing that I only have 4 entries with just two days left to go, I have decided to extend the deadline for this contest to Tuesday, July 23, at 16:00:00 UTC. This gives everyone an additional week to work on entries.

Additionally, I'll be mirroring this thread over in Contests and Events to see if it gets further traction outside this subforum because there may be people who didn't even realize this contest was ongoing. Better late than never.
Oh, might as well make some art OUT OF Lunar Magic. Gotta try this one out!
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