NWN Contest: The DRM Monster and the Treasure of GOG (posted OCT 27/2010. Contest ends Nov 24/2010)

[Legacy_Banshe]

               NWN Contest: The DRM Monster and the Treasure of GOG
 
 
 
 
The NeverWinter Citadel Project and GOG.com are pleased to announce:
 
A Module and Model Contest!
 
 
Why the Contests?
 
To celebrate the launch of the digital version of Neverwinter Nights Diamond Edition on GOG.com!!! Visit their site to see the good news.
 
 
 
The Prizes:
 
That’s right folks. We have managed swing two contests with prizes from the Good Ole’ Guys at Good Old Games (www.gog.com). What are the prizes? For the module contest, the top five entries will be winners and their authors get five free games each. For the model contest, the top entry will earn the winner three free games. That is a total of 28 free games being given away by GOG.com!
 
The winners will be given gift codes, which are redeemable at GOG.com to download five games of their choice, free of charge!  We encourage you all to visit their site to learn more about their operation. All games downloaded from GOG.com are DRM free and adjusted to run on the latest Operating Systems.  What’s more, you can download it multiple times and install it on any computer that you own!
 
The Contests:
 
1. The Tale of the DRM Monster and the Treasure of GOG
 
Make a module with the above title. It is that simple. Be as creative as you like. But obviously, the title should match the plot. See later section for module guidelines
 
2. Make the DRM Monster
 
Dust off that copy of 3DSMax (or your tool of choice) and give us your best Dr. Frankenstein impression. We’re dying to know what a DRM monster should look like.
 
 
 
 
 
Module Guidelines:
 
1. 3 Areas: an interior starter area, an exterior transition area and a final interior.
2. No custom content. You can only submit a module file (no haks), a character file (see #5) and screenshots (see #8).
3. Up to 3 friendly NPCs
4. No more than 10 hostile creatures
5. Include a premade character capable of surviving the module
6. No more than 5 conversations
7. 20 minutes playtime max.
8. Include 2 to 5 screenshots
 
Rules:
 
1. To keep things simple, the judges will review all entries and choose which ones they think should be amongst the top 5. Then they will discuss the modules until they come up with a winners’ list.
2. The Contest ends on November 24th. That is four weeks folks, so get cracking.
3. There will not be a point scoring system that reflects the numerous elements of the module (i.e. plot, conversations, area design etc.). Instead judges will be instructed to choose the module whose overall presentation appeals to them the most.
4. The winning modules will be posted to the vault and become the property of the NWN community.
 
 
Model Guidelines and Rules:
 
1. Submit a hak file that contains all the needed files for the monster to appear in the game.
2. The creature should have animations. It is acceptable to take an existing NWN creature and modify it. However, it should not substantially resemble the original creature. It should reflect the personality of this monster: it’s DRM’ness
3. The Contest ends on November 24th. That is four weeks from now.
4. The judges will choose the entries that appeal to them the most. No point based system will be used.
5. The winning modules will be posted to the vault and become the property of the NWN community.
 
 
How to Enter the Competition:
 
1. Send Banshe a PM on the Bioware social boards (http://social.bioware.com/796386/) with a link to your contest entry (see below)
 
You have a few options for distributing your files to the judges.
 
1. Dropbox – Put the files in your dropbox and PM Banshe the link. The judges will retrieve the files themselves from your dropbox. Your link will not be shared with anyone but the judges. If you are unfamiliar with Dropbox, DO NOT go to the site directly and sign up. Read this thread instead:
 
http://social.biowar...2/index/4812123
 
There is an advantage to using a referral to both referrer and the referred. So please use the referral link:
 
http://www.dropbox.c.../NTEwOTYwNDc1OQ
 
 
2. If you do not want to use Dropbox, there is another method: www.yousendit.com where you can upload a file and PM me the link.
 
3. The third option is one that you can suggest. The files should be somewhere where the judges can go and collect them.
 
NOTE: We are not making a central depository for the contest entries as we would like to keep each contestant’s submission safe and secure from non-judges. We do not want to have people taking other contestant’s submissions. Also, the judges, myself especially, are a little reluctant to pass out personal email addresses to such a large quantity of people at once.
 
               
               

               

                     Modifié par Banshe, 27 octobre 2010 - 06:09 .
                     
                  

            

[Legacy_Banshe]

               Please put any questions in this thread.



Thanks. '>
               
               

               
            

[Legacy_Estelindis]

               Excellent news!  :-D
               
               

               
            

[Legacy_dunniteowl]

               WE are very excited that GOG is on board with promoting NWN and NWN2 through their generous sponsorship.

The whole idea here is to find ways to make contests that drive more interest in both NWN and NWN2 and we can't tell you how pleased we are that GOG.com is being such a great sport about this. This second set of contests is also to highlight and promote to the Community that NWN Diamond is now available through GOG.com and that's another bit of Really Good News™.

We hope you all take the time to enter in either or both the contests and most importantly, HAVE FUN with it. This two's for You!

And for the record, I think Nov 24th from now is at least 3 weeks and a few days. (Hint, it's really 4 weeks, people.)

best regards,
dunniteowl
               
               

               

                     Modifié par dunniteowl, 27 octobre 2010 - 01:11 .
                     
                  

            

[Legacy__six]

               

Banshe wrote...

3. The Contest ends on November 24th. That is two weeks from now.

Pardon?

Edit: Ah, an answer. At least we can rest assured our judges are eagle (or owl) eyed
               
               

               

                     Modifié par _six, 27 octobre 2010 - 01:23 .
                     
                  

            

[Legacy_Eurypterid]

               Going to sticky this one. Good luck to everyone that enters!
               
               

               
            

[Legacy_dunniteowl]

               I guess the excitement got to Banshe.  We had some backchannel discussions before the kickoff and GOG was pressing for a 2 week time frame and I kicked hard for a 30 day.  Apparently they listened and compromised at 4 weeks.  I wanted to ensure that the NWN Community had ample time to knock together a module, even a short one, and to give new folks an honest chance to compete.

Once again, enjoy and imagine winning 5 Free Games of your choice at GOG.com.  That alone is one of the best contest prizes I've seen (other than a shot at getting hired by Bioware) in all the time I've been on NWN/NWN2 forums.  Take the shot.  I can't because I'm involved in the contest so I hope that all of you stretch those creative muscles and give this a shot.



best of luck and best regards to all,

dunniteowl
               
               

               
            

[Legacy_Banshe]

               Yep. DNO nailed it. The first draft was two weeks. I only had 15 minutes to do the second draft and had to change the due date (but forgot to remove the "two week" comment).

Among other things, I also had to change the prize. I thought each winner was getting 1 prize, not 5. '>
               
               

               

                     Modifié par Banshe, 27 octobre 2010 - 06:06 .
                     
                  

            

[Legacy_Eurypterid]

               I'll change that for ya. '>
               
               

               
            

[Legacy_Banshe]

               Thanks. '>
               
               

               
            

[Legacy_Banshe]

               Hi folks. There are some slight changes to the contest. I am reprinting here what will be put on GOG.com. You can still use the Dropbox referral program with me if you like. But the main method is using the GOG ftp now. Also, there is a little community PvP going on now between the GOG and NWN1 communities. Just a little friendly competition... '>

<<>>


To celebrate yesterday's great release of Neverwinter Nights Diamond Edition, we've teamed up with the NWN community and The Neverwinter Citadel Project to launch two contests for all Neverwinter Nights fans (and those who will become NWN fans '>). 

The game provides players with very an useful and extensive set of tools to create their own quests and adventures. We encourage gamers to create a NWN module entitled "The DRM Monster and the Treasure of GOG" '>. For those of you who are skilled enough, we encourage you to take part in the second contest where you have to create a model of the evil DRM monster. From all entries we will reward the authors of the 5 best quests and the author of the best model of the DRM monster with free GOG games, plus we'll post a special mod spotlight highlighting the winning entries.
All guidelines and rules for both contests are listed below and on the NWN community forum.


The Contests:

1. The Tale of the DRM Monster and the Treasure of GOG

Make a module with the above title. It is that simple. Be as creative as you like. But obviously, the title should match the plot. See later section for module guidelines

2. Make the DRM Monster

Dust off that copy of 3DSMax (or your tool of choice) and give us your best Dr. Frankenstein impression. We’re dying to know what a DRM monster should look like. 

The Prizes:

What are the prizes? For the module contest, the top five entries will be winners and their authors get five free games each. For the model contest, the top entry will earn the winner three free games. That is a total of 28 free games being given away!

Module Guidelines:

1. 3 Areas: an interior starter area, an exterior transition area and a final interior. 
2. No custom content. You can only submit a module file (no haks), a character file (see #5) and screenshots (see #8).
3. Up to 3 friendly NPCs 
4. No more than 10 hostile creatures 
5. Include a premade character capable of surviving the module 
6. No more than 5 conversations 
7. 10-20 minutes playtime. 
8. Include 2 to 5 screenshots

Rules:

1. To keep things simple, the judges will review all entries from both GOG and the NWN communities and choose the 4 best modules from each community. From the chosen modules, judges will pick 4 winners while the 5th one will be chosen in a poll on the GOG forums and be awarded the title of "GOG community's favourite module".
2. The Contest ends on November 24th. That is four weeks folks, so get cracking.
3. There will not be a point scoring system that reflects the numerous elements of the module (i.e. plot, conversations, area design etc.). Instead judges will be instructed to choose the module whose overall presentation appeals to them the most.
4. The winning modules will be posted to the vault and become the property of the NWN community. There will also be a special mod spotlight on GOG.com which will highlight the winning modules.

Model Guidelines and Rules:

1. Submit a hak file that contains all the needed files for the monster to appear in the game. 
2. The creature should have animations. It is acceptable to take an existing NWN creature and modify it. However, it should not substantially resemble the original creature. It should reflect the personality of this monster: it’s DRM’ness 
3. The Contest ends on November 24th. That is four weeks from now.
4. The judges will choose the entries that appeal to them the most. No point based system will be used. 
5. The winning modules will be posted to the vault and become the property of the NWN community.


How to Enter the Competition:

You have a few options for distributing your files to the judges. 

1. GOG ftp – log in to GOG ftp (host: ftp.gog.com, username: upload, password: goguser), create a new folder and put the files in this folder. Then just send an email with the folder's name to users@gog.com. Your files will not be shared with anyone but the judges.

2. If you don't want to put the files on GOG ftp, you can suggest your own solution. Put the files somewhere where the judges can go and collect them and send an email tousers@gog.com with instructions how to get them.
               
               

               
            

[Legacy_olivier leroux]

               Two questions for now, out of curiosity:

* Can the included character be hacked, e.g. edited with LETO or similar?
* I guess it's okay if the mod makes use of SoU, HotU and 1.69 patch resources?
               
               

               

                     Modifié par olivier leroux, 29 octobre 2010 - 12:59 .
                     
                  

            

[Legacy_SuperFly_2000]

               I'm in the contest now....for what its worth :-P
               
               

               
            

[Legacy_Banshe]

               

olivier leroux wrote...

Two questions for now, out of curiosity:

* Can the included character be hacked, e.g. edited with LETO or similar?
* I guess it's okay if the mod makes use of SoU, HotU and 1.69 patch resources?

* Nope. The character can't be hacked. But there is no level restrictions regarding the module. So you can make the character and the NPC's/ hostile monsters as weak or as powerful as you like in comparison to each other.

However, if you have 10 goblins and a 20th level character as the base for your mod, it better be pretty friggin' amusing/funny to pull it off and make a good impression on the judges. Perhaps a spoof of the game Overlord or something.

* Yep. NWN, SoU, HoTu and 1.69 is it.
               
               

               
            

[Legacy_Banshe]

               

SuperFly_2000 wrote...

I'm in the contest now....for what its worth :-P

Welcome! I'm counting on you guys to give the GOG community a run for their money. Show 'em what a real module is...