Wolf Angelus

Thanks for having held these contests. They have been going almost 3 years so I think that is just part of the natural life cycle where it feels like most things have been done in some form or another or people have moved on to do other things. I remember way back in 2015 when there were 15+ entries to the building category.

The idea Jat was talking to me about in December would be interesting to see followed through, the "themed ideas". So for pics, the themes could be like "carnivores" or "action" or "colorful" or "black and white", and similar key words for other stuff, like build a dinosaur for arkitect, create a vehicle, a ship, spaceship, etc. I think having such a specific focus might create more appeal since you won't suddenly have someone come along with a massive village that took 200 hours or something, and levels the playing field a bit more.

I am curious if my stuff isn't being looked at because I have to do slideshows now as my CPU is worn out. I don't find any logical explanation why else a pixel art heart would get runner up rather than a fully functional design considering the shaping and theme were identical.

This little wolf spies a new, sleek looking, Building Mod for after Holiday season. The detail on each piece makes it stand out for customization versus the entire thing being a single colored panel. It is so getting decked out with flowers though, lol.

If anyone wants to play the "Hidden Objects" game from the Freeform, here is the original, full-sized image https://we.tl/sgTbRfTVs9  :3 

You need the original for sizing/zoom to work, as the clickable isn't the 8x quality required for it to work. Link is good for 7 days of this posting.

Thank you :3 Hope everyone likes clowns, hehe

It's totally a gecko-like fairy dragon with dragonfly wings, seen those in some other games before.

Here is a little Comic to enjoy, made for launch day. It combines the long process feeling of the game in Panel 1, with some humor, fun, and celebration in the rest. Something fun for the special day / occasion :3  
The Apes will do the talking.

Quality probably not as good since it had to be downsized to meet upload limit.

1 hour ago, Valoule said:

Wolf angelus and me had the same idea and the postcard for this one ^^

Great crunch as always 

Haha, I swear you are my long lost brother or something. This is the 2nd time too, a few weeks ago we both did a pixel painting which neither of us ever do   I thought it was being super creative in doing a postcard style picture since it has not been done before. Pretty funny. I think you and need to hang out some time or chat, so similar lol.

On another note, and don't get the wrong idea, I am always thankful for prizes, but my friends (some who play ARK, some who don't, some who are builders too on various games) said I should post on it, I was trying not to, but peer pressure gave in and they said I should stand up for how much effort was put in and at least try. This is coming from them who have seen all I built, and check out the competition - they at this point feel there is some sort of bias against me here (regarding the building portion) as this is supposedly my best creation to date, (I personally rank it around 3rd or 4th best), and believe the result should not be what it is as the builds weren't comparable. In their words, this was a "has to win" creation (I did show them all entries earlier on this morning as i was completing mine). I can't say that I disagree with them, it does feel like there is a bias, or perhaps the video was not watched in full to see everything. I am mostly confused at the result.

Thanks if you can clear this up a bit. I really don't know what to tell them either and they aren't impressed with you guys that this seems to not be based on content vs content.

I am curious how the Ansels are judged? There are several (in the 8x category) under honorable mentions I think are far more exciting as they have a certain level of scenery, dino quantity, and color (excluding mine for the purposes of this comment & wiping all names away to avoid any form of bias). I actually just look at the images first purely anyway and not the names, I don't want to say which ones I think fit the above since the nature of this isn't targeting anyone, but rather in an image vs image scenario, but I count at least 6 (again, excluding mine for this purpose).

Thanks for any response.
Happy 100.

22 hours ago, Jat said:

 

@Jat Here is the link to the memory leak issues, I have tagged you in there, but not sure if editing an older post will trigger it. I have the 5 most recent Crashstacks / Dump files there. Please note, several more of us are having the same crashstack as our more IT competent servermate took a look and tried to help us. I usually exit the game at 97% as to avoid crashing somewhere bad, otherwise there would be tons more. 

This was also happening on ANSEL mode that I was talking about. I have all the Crashstacks/Dump files for the whole year if you need more. I really would love to play, the Nvidia update gave FPS a HUGE boost, but having to restart every 15 mins, and it taking 5-10 mins to load on an older HDD just isn't fun. Turning on paging file isn't an option (aside for ANSEL just to get contest stuff made), as the game freezes for 20 sec of every 1-2 minutes.

I had made it managable around 1 month ago by triggering certain settings (Shadows/Foliage/Sky speed up the process), and I suspect the new sky/fog always on in the distance to have something to do with it.

Thanks.

@Jat Where is the ANSEL portion? Not a single sentence as to why it isn't included? 4 weeks of no contest, no response via the email I sent, and you don't seem to care about your ANSEL entrants, despite it being the most entered, I am sure there are 100+ images piled up right now

Been sending in the links weekly...as you had told us to explicitly to do so on Page 2, love false advertising/promises  Almost as much as I love 0 communication on this ongoing memory leak  since 1 month, making the game unplayable more than 15 minutes without hitting 100% memory 

Didn't expect others to say it, but it is nice to see comments that I am not the only one who thinks it's pretty fine as is, and that anyone who would like to, should have the right of freedom to enter whatever they like (afterall, no one's stopping them)! It is true that any form of restrictions will make things more complex, from tracking to judging. Some just opt to dedicate more time on a single thing, some do it over a duration of weeks, some do it weekly, some come by every now and then. Effort wise, all efforts should be treated equally and let the content do the talking! You have some who are very skilled with photos and editing, and some not so much (terrible at editing myself), some who are skilled builders, some who are learning. I think there is more expectations though from those who WC is familiar with, and I would imagine the judgement against them being significantly more intensive.

I personally love building, but Ansels is really nice and relaxing. It would be so hard to have to pick suddenly after doing so all this time. On one hand, building is a ton of effort, on the other, Ansels are more of a quick thing. 

I think it all comes down to perception and psychology. Example: I enter PGM/Ansel/ARKitect weekly, there are several weeks I'll get a runner-up somewhere and that's that. People are less likely to notice these occurrences, it is much easier to notice then when it suddenly jumps up to a single name being in more than one category.

There are definitely weeks I'll have put a significant amount of time into content, and it just not being successful that week. But then other weeks, there is some strong content. It all balances out in the long-term and you just have to keep trying. Even though I hate losing and it is pretty natural for it to feel a bit disappointing, the next day it's ultimately become a mindset of, well, there is next week to look forward to and just keep looking ahead.

PGMs has always just been that contest that sits there purely for cash. Input some numbers, let the game generate its thing, take a video/pictures and that's it, it doesn't have the same excitement or interactivity with ARK. The random nature of it prevents it from being skill related in any way.
I think the 1 thing that could be changed for PGMs is have 2 winners for 50$ each. For the minimal amount of effort it takes, even I would say that it's too high.

Oh, and I play 30+ Hours ARK a week (Excluding any playtime for the contests) on my UK PvE Cluster server I joined  breaking any myths out there. My steam activity sits at 180hours per 2 weeks of gaming, excluding Blizzard based games such as Overwatch. Basically, I don't sleep much is how I find the time to do things, I choose to sleep very little as I feel it is a waste of time.

That covers all the feedback I had. Not participating in any flame wars or needless debates, as our feedback is for WC and it is ultimately their choice of how they want to run things. No matter the decision, it won't make everyone happy, could be others, could be myself. In the end, you just have to do what you like and think is worth it.

Since we are having friendly opinions/feedback, I'll leave mine, heavily based on logical and rational thinking:

Contests should be about contents, not entrants. Names should be removed from submissions during voting and may the best content win.

If people put a lot of devotion in and do pictures, and videos or building, that is their own choice/right, and their efforts shouldn't be downgraded for it. If people just want to do 1 thing, that is their own choice too. Maybe some put 15 hours/week of effort in for just pictures, and some put more effort in, say 30 hours/week, to build/video and do pictures. No one said that that any certain person can't attempt the other categories as well. Of course, there is no guarantee where what may win.

Basically, efforts shouldn't be discarded if the content is epic enough, as by definition of a contest - what is judged as the best content should win.

I myself enjoy seeing extremely creative things that wouldn't be your "every day encounter" on the game, like the Harry Potter freeform image, or the Mario Kart track Valoule made. Stuff that really stands out and says "Wow", and unlike anything ever been seen before.

Counter Debates:
Main issue - You run into problems when one or more entrant is in the running to win more than 1 category - What if 2 people enter a video and a picture for example, and they are equally amazing and both worry of being winners, you arrive at a decision of who do you award 200$ to for video, and who gets the lesser 100$ for picture (despite both entries from both entrants being equal).**The is where the solution below comes into play to solve this

-Another point would be that a set of "regulars" have kept things alive weekly. Many have come and gone, or some enter once in a blue moon. This wouldn't be much of a contest when 2-3 people end up entering only, at least without possibly downgrading the content of the contest (Using an extreme example: would one really be want to see a 3x3 thatch building anyone could put together?)
-Winning content may end up being far less exciting by eliminating "specialty" content as I will call it, and you end up with "generic" content that is more along the lines of what you see daily, and not something truly unique (Real Life example:  Eiffel Tower is a unique piece of architecture vs a persons house which generic and doesn't stand out)
-If you chose to actively put restrictions on categorical entries, personally speaking all my focus would go into building and that category would get locked down.
-PGMs should not be included in any restrictions, unless the prize is changed to cash value

What you could do is custom amounts based on what you wish to allocate per week, per category - combine the first prize and runner up pools you were willing to award that week, and split them among the content that you deem worthy of "winner & runner up". Using the current prize values, say you are willing to pay out 400$ for arkitect in that given week. You decide 3 builds to be impressive, you split the value of 400 among 3. Same for pictures, do you find 3-4 pictures worthy of freeform? Perhaps the content was impressive enough that you want to dedicate 200$.
This would tie in with what others have said to some extent, and offer up more people "winning" something (the amounts would be less of course), but it keeps things balanced and fair for those who also put a lot of effort in, while giving something as well to others. You would end up with a mix of regulars, and infrequent entrants winning, therefore balancing the cycle and nature of the contest. Hopefully that makes sense!

As one of the few who has been around the longest, that could be the best solution without hurting your most loyal and consistent of entrants, and also give running chances towards newer entrants. It is a bit more of an elaborate solution, but with a well kept Spreadsheet, it shouldn't be hard to manage.

My tips to people that really want to get into building has always been this whenever I get asked or them wanting help:

Modded or unmodded-
-Painting! (take anything, and play around with paints) the result is almost always a nicer look, or at the very least you can highlight detail bits to make things stand out (black/colored railings and pillars, maybe slate colored flooring to make a clearer distinction from walls). Basically, use coloring to make as many components stand out and be easily identifiable. If you ever seen some of my steam before/after images, it is a world of difference (example: Pirate ship from 2015 (unmodded) the difference is night and day
Also, painting is the funnest component in my view.

-Lights: make stuff look as awesome as night, as in the day

-Pick a design loosely off something, direction really helps keep what you want something to be clean and organized.

-Detailed small bits. Could be some chairs, benches, canvases. maybe using some glass, etc. unmodded can use the X plants or crops

And lastly (and should be no mystery) - use of decorative mods (even just 2-3, they only take around 1GB or less). ARK got tons more optimized for memory just now, so it shouldn't be hard to run a few.

Other than that, it is just practice and keeping eyes open for inspirations, thinking of what you see and trying to picture it in ARK. 
Pretty much anything I see while gaming I constantly think "could I do that in ARK" and try to imagine it.

1 hour ago, DoctorEnema said:

@Jen 

Quick question! How does one claim the reward for winning the crunch? We want to donate to the server that we play on

They will contact you via the forum private message system (could take anywhere from days - few weeks). You get a basic Tax form to fill out and return, and they request your Paypal info to send prizes to. Prizes are done in batches which seem to be every 1-2 months currently (much improved from previous waiting times).

On another note, didn't think the DK stages would place so that was a neat surprise. Was a quicker, fun idea and a test for some upcoming stuff. Planning to do a retro/90's recreation series of several different things. Think I'll come up with something different for freeforms, they took too much time.

I noticed the videos/builds of the contest & fan feature stuff is missing names of who stuff belongs to unless the owner included it in the title. I think the people should be acknowledged for their work. That's just my thoughts though.

Really sad about the Pikachu/Parasaur comic, I love cute stuff more than most, so it hurt this time to see that the judges didn't like them. I was a bit afraid that the judges aren't into the whole cute theme nearly as much, still had to try anyway.
Playing on Scorched Earth gave me some funny ideas for the next comics and got a cool build in mind everyone will recognize from everyone's favorite mystery solving cartoon gang :3

4 hours ago, Jat said:

 

Do you keep all your save files for your creations? 

Yes I do, I started saving them from that creation onwards :3 . I regret not saving the Nightclub build, would have made an epic 360 inside.

Edit- You could say I am also pretty proud of all my work, and to date I have spent around 1,100 hours building, so I wanted to keep it as a portfolio of my creativity, and you never know when there could be a use for it (in this case, Ansels!). I am a slight packrat too.

Next image set will come from one of your most favorite creations, the Fantasy Sea-port :3 Hoping to grab a few really cool 360's and 8x's, and of course I shall do another comic strip.

38 minutes ago, BobRoss said:

Amazing submissions again, @Wolf Angelus amazing looking Park buddy, i found it to be very cool looking  

gratz to all the winners, i love to see how creative this community can be   keep up the good work!

Thanks. Those images are from my largest mega build I did a year ago, Bioshock inspired style. Some of the original components like lanterns were missing due to changes to the mods. You can view the full thing with all its original pieces in this video starting at 13:10 for the park specifically. (Miss those gear windows, they were so epic)

Do people want more comics & like the idea?

@Jat Did me deleting my old video for ARKitect submission and uploading a new one with an adjustment a few hours ago cause it to be missed by chance?
Thanks!

Yay, wasn't sure if character sculptures would have a chance, got lots more ideas in mind then! I wanted to toss in Gary the snail, but I didn't start till Friday morning and didn't finish till the afternoon, didn't want to miss the deadline (Hint: Hoping to do characters/pieces from a certain game that is one of the most played in the world atm - many WC play it based on tweets - assuming I can get the shaping down). I wonder if turning them into a "base" helps, or if I should skip that component?

If there was an option for .ini to bypass the 75 height to be 150 or unlimited, that would be cool. Valoule told me a few mods to help with that though. I wanted to build Spongebob taller, but had to keep reshaping him to get the proportions decent. 
PS: @Jat - go watch Spongebob! At least 2 episodes, one of the best/funny cartoons from childhood 

Going to do different style of freeforms after next week I think, since the tv/movie parodies haven't been working out. Can the image be multiple small, segmented panels, or is that ruining the idea/purpose of the freeform image?

Really like the Mario Kart build, somehow knew it would win, have to wonder how many hours that took. Need to start on MK8 Switch, that really got me in the mood, huge fan or anything from Nintendo.

  Was hoping the creative idea of the building and freeform image specifically would pull me through this week, all the migraine/headache attacks made it a rough week to get anything done. Hoping it's over now so I can focus clear next week and spend less time stuck in bed.

2 minutes ago, GP said:

I'm sure there probably will be now that the event has started.

Even if there wasn't one, sometimes ya just got to be creative and make it happen yourself  Power of imagination.

Surprised no one else made some Easter themed content submissions  o:  Holiday stuff is always fun, but Easter is a tough theme.

Forgot to say,

Happy Bunny Weekend.

@Jen @Jat

Why is my ARKitect no where on this page under any section, not even fan feature? Combined with last weeks initial incident, its feeling a tad personal >.>

Guess it goes back in next week. And some previous entries too till they win since it is only fair based on the ARKvideo being entered the week before but not having won. I was curious if re-submission was allowed and it looks like yes, so everyone make sure you re-enter everything that lost till wins is the impression being given here.

3 hours ago, Jeremy Stieglitz said:

Actually Wolf Angelus I'm a big fan of your work, and I didn't get to review this week's winners myself as I was out of the office most of today (Wife's B-Day). I absolutely love the "Egypt & Arabian Village", it's super creative   It's going in for a tie, the page should be updated shortly! Sorry about the mix-up on that!!!

Cheers,
Jeremy

Thank you so much, it means a lot to me. I am such a fan of the Egypt and Arabian themes that it really hit me hard like someone ripped my heart out when I first saw the results since I thought this was really unique and fell in love with the village specifically. I actually loved it so much I am replicating it on Conan currently as my main base. Japan, Egypt, and Ancient China are the themes I die for to see in worlds. I was looking to do an Egyptian build since Fall 2015 and only recently had a mod made it possible to get the proper look. I wasn't all that excited about my build last week, but I also had no issues with the outcome.

Thanks for the additional supporting comments so people don't get the wrong idea. It is easy to be someone who views the content, but it is a whole different story when you put something on the line that you put your all into. I most definitely would not be doing the detail work I do like in the Japan theme if I was simply looking to cash in on something. Even with admin commands, building up to 40+ hours while constantly evaluating, altering, re-doing huge parts, and designing requires a lot of patience and determination. It is no easy task. On top of that I haven't been great at promoting my stuff to a wide enough audience as I'd like for how much work is put in. I don't have the best PC for video recording but I try hard to make it work out. Gaming is the world to me and combined with the creativity and designing, I take my building very serious and put more effort into this than I did College. 

I have been wishing since way back last year that I could work for Wildcard (Have a BBA with a minor in Accounting, and classes heavily focused on management/marketing)  but that only ever seems like a dream and not a reality as I asked Jat directly about that back then. I wish I could officially fuel that passion into a proper job, even as part time. But maybe there is another opportunity out there. It is just difficult when you like doing something so much, but it isn't a proper form of support. I am also extremely determined so building 5 hours a week isn't an option, if I start something, it must be finished even if it takes me 30 hours straight.

Wish Susan a happy late B-day from us!

As Jeremy has cleared things up below, the purpose of this post has become irrelevant.