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I'm Gearing up to do a BZ's Spring Fling Contest on the site and wanted some feedback before getting into the thick of it.

Do folks here prefer Contests that last only 1 Month or the 2 Month model?

What are some other things you would like to see in a contest?

Any particular Themes?

Any particular Awards?

Etc... ?

Due to finding my motivation to write again, I will definitely be joining this contest, so here's some feedback I guess.

I might be able to write a worthwhile game in a month, but I'm also a terrible procrastinator (sure I'm not the only one on the site) so the two month model would definitely be the way to go imho.

Themes? I liked the whole pick-a-prompt theme for the last contest, and the post-apocalyptic contest from about three or so years back was pretty cool. But, we already did those, and honestly I think all the bases and genres have been covered with the contests. I think it would be cool to see a contest with traditional CYOAs as the theme, that is no scripting, no variables, etc. Just a branching story dependent upon your choices.

Awards? Really, I don't think there's anything for awards that hasn't already been offered, IE points, trophies, featured games, etc.

So yeah, there's my two cents.

There's no actual way to prove that scripting isn't going on, so I'm not sure if there'd be a point to forbidding it.

Not really sure what the removal would add to a story either except in some places probably artificially inflating the word count with copy and pasted filler.

I think I'm actually gonna try a contest for once.

I like the two month model as well, I can work on this for as long as I need to to make it feel like a story to be proud of. I personally like the pick-your-own-prompt, although general themes like 'horror' work well too. As for awards, just a trophy or a bunch of points would be fine.

One month over two months. Reason: Some if the best games on the site were written during a contest. I feel having two months would only encourage procrastination. 

A mechanic. It makes things interesting. Like the co-author contest (that wasn’t as successful) or the recent prompt contest. While not necessary, I think they make things interesting.

Theme can be fluid, but I do like themes that I can use/ bend to fit what I want to write. Example: The superhero contest could also be about normal heroes. A war hero could be an acceptable MC.

Awards: Points tend to become less valuable as you get more, so trophy awards help garner motivation there. A high stakes contest would also be fun. Like where the entry fee is 500 points, or even a thousand points if we’re going really high.

I think April would be the best month for this contest imo, so the contestants in the romance contest have a break before the next contest.

One month deadline is superior. Nearly everyone who has two months to write will likely end up writing something they could’ve done in one month anyway. Some users are likely an exception. Cough Steve Cough. 

I figured I’d emphasize this point.

I prefer contests that have a deadline and stick to it, so not a 1-month contest that ends up being a 2-month contest.

I prefer contests where winners have to have an "O" or an "11" in their user name...

Themes are fun, I like a little guidance instead of a free-for-all.

Definitely do a One Month contest. A two month contest would mean I literately don't write until the last two weeks. The only exception is giving more points for submitting earlier and/or adding a bit of a "boost" in terms of judging. That'd be fun.

I wouldn't mind if you did a Fan Fiction contest or a School Based contest. Those categories need some help. I'm not particular with contests' themes, for I can normally find thing to write about.

I'd like a mustache on a golden trophy. It'd help spruce up my place with some bling. :)

Contest of the Pagan Gods? Penguin Gods?

I'm going to be difficult and vote for a one month plus one week deadline. 30 days to write and additional time for planning and proofreading seems just about perfect.

The theme should ideally be something I have no interest in whatsoever because entering the romance contest was a terrible mistake and one I can't allow myself to make again this year.

We need a 2 month fan fic contest. We could do 1 month because you know... fan fic. However I am a slow write so 2 months is awesome. We could do a pic your own fan fic contest. I need points.

A two month fanfic contest? That sounds thoroughly cancerous. Not that I wouldn’t participate, but fanfic is a hard genre to do well. After two months of that I’ll end up going crazy. 

Best way to get points is to rate games. 

Hey, a fan fic won a contest before despite the fact that it wasn't a specific fan fic contest. It's by a pretty mediocre author I believe, but I heard that the writer had a jolly good time writing it. You also never seemed to have read it, so perhaps reading (and rating and commenting on) it could give you some ideas. :)

Perhaps. Maybe after the 4th, and after I read all of these entries, but if you really would like me to then sure.

Certainly don't take time from your storygame, but perhaps put it on your "eventually maybe to-do" list. :)
I really would like it to bump the extra .03 into a 5/8 to hopefully receive more exposure.

Fan Fic contest was going to be the next unofficial contest I was going to hold, but if Berka wants to do it instead, that's fine by me.

A fanfic contest is fine by me, so long as it isn’t a two month beast. 

Has a two month contest ever produced more or better entries than a one month? Everyone just procrastinates till the last two weeks either way.

How about another attempt at getting more children's stories for the site, since End's was such a disastrous failure?

e: Also I think the 100 point bets like we did for the prompt contest should become the norm.

Madglee’s last contest lasted like 3 or 4 months, but it only had four or five entries and Negative’s was done in a day.

Oh, one other thing I remembered BZ. Perhaps you could set up some designated beta-readers in the same idea as we saw in the School Based contest? I could see something like that working if the betas were compensated. idk, it probably won't work, but I haven't seen that idea tossed about in a very long time.

Fanfic is the most cancerous category at the moment, so it should probably be the theme. The one month model works best, because it lights the biggest fire under the greatest amount of asses. 

Just a random thought I had, but how about a 'backwards' story comp? As part of entering you have to make a thread with however many ending pages you want to include written out, and the challenge is writing the story to reach them all in the time you have.

These people can barely write a story the normal way and now you're asking them to do it backwards?

You might as well ask them to chew bubble gum and walk at the same time.

Fine, alternate idea: everyone writes a first page, which is then randomly assigned to someone else. Edits are allowed to change the wording but everyone has to work with the core idea of what they're given. And chew bubblegum while they're doing it if they want to really impress us.

Oh, this sounds like a great idea. Can’t wait to enter and have TELLTALE’s first page assigned to me. 

Actually, it sounds fun. If this becomes a contest, then you know you’ll have to enter right mizal?

Yeah lol, that's why I put in the clause allowing you to rewrite your page as long as you kept to the main ideas.

But I've realized now making everyone swap first pages would've been much better as a secret dick move by Berka himself.

And no more contests for me this year. I've wasted two months now and that's really going to cut into my epic writing time.

Thanks for the feedback. Looks like a 1 month contest is the better option. We had one person suggest the month of ??? - any other thoughts on the timing?

Also, I now take it a personal challenge to rope Mizal into this Contest. ^v^

April is my choice. Possibly May if April doesn’t work for everyone.

Ah yes, thanks for the clarification. :)

Oh my bad. I just realized... yeah I’ll just pretend I didn’t say anything.

I suppose anything is possible with enough points. But what I want to be doing is getting back to that superhero story seeing how I purchased art for it and everything.

Ooh, yeah, I still want to see that one haha!

(And don't you also have a romantic sparkly vampire story in the mix somewhere?)

My vampires are very well thought out and evil and do not sparkle, tyvm.