event-general

[cloud solstice]

it would depend on the number of participant probably

[scarlet shoal]

yea

i now want to host it

[stuck hare]

I just want it to happen

[scarlet shoal]

same

lets talk in #spriter-general

ncm

nvm]

to much people talking

[subtle moss]

what if a collab contest in the future requires you to make two separate related fusions

[scarlet shoal]

react here if you woud want to join

(we are currently in a chat group whilst we work out how it would work. dm me if you want to join)

[stuck hare]

we can't form a proper conversation there

[stuck hare]

probably more people if more people knew the idea right?

[scarlet shoal]

yea

we need a post in #1110678444896964628

[stuck hare]

so we need to find a way to spread the word!

[cloud solstice]

maybe we'd have more luck in https://discord.com/channels/302153478556352513/1110680705018646658

[subtle moss]

change your nickname to 'join the blablabla'

[scarlet shoal]

agreed

[blissful kindle]

Yeah it's our best bet

[limber venture]

Why did you guys make 181 entries

[twin locust]

funni

[dull mortar]

for the bit

[limber venture]

Every entry atm is valid, so that's good

Nobody's entry will be removed

[hollow sky]

oof

181 valid ones damn

[teal grove]

Still 4 hours left

[hollow sky]

maybe 200 ? lol

[thin dove]

well, i can't make 2 entries for this because tiny snout is making me angy, but i did basically get 1 and it was something i was planning to do at some point anyway so i'm happy

[little siren]

do jirachi cry? (it looks like he`s crying but when you look at not pixel sprite its looking like triangle)

[dull mortar]

jirachi probably cries in the movie but yeah the sprites so small that the triangles become tears. I kinda forgot about that with mine....

[little siren]

thanks

[cloud pulsar]

can a entry be invalid if i cant see the jirach?

[limber venture]

That's an issue for the gallery, not for the contest

The votes will decide if jirachi is visible or not

Chances are, stuff that's unrecognisable will not get votes

[cloud pulsar]

that sucks then

[livid tulip]

So tomorrow will be polls?

[fair citrus]

I can finally rest 🧘‍♂️

[cloud solstice]

@lunar comet your entry doesn't appear as a png

[lunar comet]

Weird, it looked fine when I uploaded it

[lunar comet]

Both of mine are in there

[limber venture]

either today or tomorrow I need to check when they start

[lunar comet]

There is a file with the same name and no extension on it, but both my actual entries are there and viewable

[cloud solstice]

my bad you have a duplicate then

[lunar comet]

Yeah I have no idea what that is, according to google I wasn't even the one who made that file

[cloud solstice]

damn, google trying to interfere in the contest

[lunar comet]

Smh

At least it means we have an even 180 entries now?

[wooden root]

This contest is gonna be nuts

[thin dove]

with less than 2 hours to go...it's in

[teal grove]

Last minute fun stuff

[wooden root]

Oh weird, Google decided to duplicate my entry when I uploaded it

Does this mean it counts as two entries?

[lunar comet]

if it's anything like mine your second entry won't get very far

[wooden root]

Lol I just deleted the second copy, so hopefully now there's only one entry under my name

[lunar comet]

took a screencap of the edit history and deleted mine

username doesn't seem to match anyone here so i'm at a loss

[thin dove]

i can't wait to see what the choice award is called

maybe it's a "you tried" award

[torpid bough]

Hello there

[wooden root]

Hello!

[torpid bough]

How is everything?

[wooden root]

I am also excited to see what the spotlight will be this time around

[lunar comet]

more like a "you tired" award

[wooden root]

Yeah, this is only my second contest, but it seems like there's a LOT of last-minute entries for this one

(Mine included LOL)

[civic mauve]

Yeah, I keep doing last minute adjustments for one of mine ^^;

[thin dove]

Stress of doing it both keeps me away from doing it and then slams me against the wall at Mach 90

[worn trout]

spriters, be afraid, you have a strong competitor

[crisp cargo]

180 entries jesus

[near horizon]

Just checked, currently we're at 199

[crisp cargo]

i feel so bad for all the contest managers having to deal

[worn trout]

Yeah , good luck for them

[near horizon]

Well it's only like 10% of LC so it's not this much of a big deal here x)

But yeah, good luck for them

[civic mauve]

There's so many good ones!

[cloud solstice]

It's going to be though to vote

[late sequoia]

Yeah, everyone brought their A game for this contest, its gonna be hard to choose a favorite

[scarlet shoal]

indeed

[subtle moss]

Well yeah I certainly brought a game.

[teal grove]

https://tenor.com/view/champoy-el-risitas-kek-issou-etu-gif-17837830

[teal hull]

We should try to get this to be an emote

[late sequoia]

No thoughts, head empty

[teal hull]

Duhhhhhhhhh

[limpid garden]

how does the voting system work

[limber venture]

Day 1: Preliminaries: 1st sprite of each bracket goes to Semis, 2nd and 3rd ones go to Quarters, a phase of four brackets.
Day 2: Quarters: 1st, 2nd and 3rd sprite of each bracket go to Semis.
Day 3: Semis: 1st and 2nd go to Finals ((semis should be split into two brackets if required by the amount of entries))
Day 4: Finals: 1st, 2nd and 3rd sprites go to the Podium

[little siren]

when can i vote?

[limber venture]

The contest literally just ended

[worthy shuttle]

boowomp

[late sequoia]

The sprite managers need time to go through the sprites and set up the brackets so right now we need patience. Its not as simple as click one button and its done for them

[civic mauve]

Anyone get the final submission count before it closed?

[limber venture]

202

Some might be invalid though, let me check

[little siren]

thanks!

[limber venture]

All are valid, so that makes 202 sprites for this contest

[late sequoia]

Decent number of entries.

[limber venture]

Pretty sure this is the biggest ever non special contest

So I'd say more than decent

[late sequoia]

Good point, I forgot how many we had in the past couple of contests

(not including LC)

[limber venture]

50 more entries than the deoxys contest

And 40 more than family fuse

[dull mortar]

eat it deoxys

[misty acorn]

Tell that 2020 Charlotte or BTA

[slow gyro]

Did I win yet?

[late sequoia]

[little siren]

[silver merlin]

https://tenor.com/view/kanye-west-kanyewest-yeezy-meme-gif-22503154

[wary crag]

Pls make this a sticker

[near horizon]

🙏 I hope that i'll go to the semi finals 🙏

[sly gorge]

I hope I'll get out of the first round honestly

[stuck hare]

will EVERY sprite be in the first round?

[sly gorge]

yep

[stuck hare]

damn

dats a lottt

[sly gorge]

and then it's up to the people if they like it or not

if they don't

you're outta luck

[stuck hare]

Well it doesn't really matter all that much, as long as you've created a sprite you're proud of right?

[sly gorge]

that's true

and I sent my submissions to the gallery as well so at least they'll live on in someone's memory

[stuck hare]

yeah

it'll be fine either way

[cloud pulsar]

it will be weird if that wasnt the case
they go in different brackets tho

[stuck hare]

what are the brackets based on?

[cloud pulsar]

based on?
like how are they made?

[stuck hare]

also, I mean maybe some sprites are so bad they won't even bother showing em? I dunno xd

[cloud pulsar]

that will be unfair and mean

[stuck hare]

yeah, what criteria places certain sprites in certain brackets

[stuck hare]

definitely

[acoustic light]

Are you asking if r1 is seeded or random?

[cloud pulsar]

its just a bot that made them
completely random

[stuck hare]

ohhhhhh

so no rhyme or reason to it

gotcha

I was just curious

and I'm happy all sprites will at least be shown, because I was afraid mine wouldn't even be shown

and that would've been a little bit sadge

[hazy chasm]

i Hope i get a single vote

[sly gorge]

🍻

same here

[stuck hare]

same bro

[vernal flint]

Guys, does the person here make sprite? in this chat...

[wind matrix]

I never got around to making a jirachi for the contest

[warm blaze]

I'm not 100% sure what you mean but if you mean for the contest the entry time has closed. If you just mean a sprite for the game then you should read #spriting-guidelines and any questions you have about that can go in #is-my-sprite-ready . If you meant something else then I'm sorry I didn't answer your question.

[thick jolt]

so true me too

[vernal flint]

no, like, I want to ask some sprite creator to make some sprites that I think would be really cool to tar in the game too

[primal maple]

Check out #sprite-requests , altough questions like these belong in #is-my-sprite-ready

[glad sail]

How many did LC have

[vernal flint]

Ok bro

[limber venture]

More than this one

[grand tusk]

at least 3

maaaaaaybe 4

[wary crag]

What is LC

[grand tusk]

Little Cup (Japanese: リトルカップ Little Cup) is one of four Stadium Cups introduced in Pokémon Stadium 2. It was introduced for players to compete with newly-hatched baby Pokémon. It also tests the player's Pokémon breeding skills, as specific Egg Moves are highly desirable.

Although the Little Cup is for Pokémon hatched from an Egg, Pokémon caught in the wild can be entered as well. However, they follow the same restrictions and must not be evolved.

In Generation IV, Little Cup rules can be selected in Single Battle mode and Double Battle mode at the Pokémon Communication Club Colosseum. However, it is not available in Flat Battle mode. A rule similar to Little Cup known as Little Battle also debuted in Pokémon Battle Revolution.

[wary crag]

Oh I seee

[glad sail]

In this context I’m discussing the LC sprite competition, in which only first form mons were allowed and the contest managers forgot to cap how many entries individuals could submit

[wary crag]

Oh lol

[grand tusk]

what the hell is a sprite

[wary crag]

its a drink

[grand tusk]

perfect, thanks for the answer

[wary crag]

no problem 👍

[surreal folio]

"Did you know that Steve Jobs has ligma?"

"Who the fuck is Steve Jobs?"

"Ligma balls!"

[grand tusk]

anyway im pretty sure the LC has its entries in the thousands

the rundown being my pinned message on this channel

[hollow sky]

damn

hopefully mine can have a round :D

[late sequoia]

Yeah LC happened right after the main influx of people joining the server and with unlimited entries people went ham. Over 2k entries by the end, we ended up breaking the bot we were using for votes and are still waiting (hopefully) for it to get fixed (outside sprite managers control)

[plucky arch]

voting when ?

[severe trout]

Jeez

[near horizon]

Unlimited entries + 1 month to make them = madness

[supple magnet]

Mine is definitely not winning, it seems to look worse the more I look at it

[fringe mica]

mine has a chance

i hope theres calamity fans

[stuck hare]

Don’t put yourself down! Winning doesn’t matter if you had fun :]

[thick atlas]

also this could be considered fishing for pity votes
so id suggest dont talk about specific sprites or spriters until the contest is over

[stuck hare]

Whoa, a champion that’s so cool

But yeah sure, I won’t talk about specific spriters :]

[thick atlas]

hehe thank you 😊 . i wasnt talking about you. i meant lyrebird and genesis 😅

[stuck hare]

Oh hahaha

[near horizon]

i won't win, or if i win it's gonna be a wish that come true x)

[stuck hare]

pretty much no one will win to be fair

1 out of 200-something

we shouldn't base our worth off of that

[supple magnet]

I mean I am certain that my sprite isnt the worst but I have definitely seen a few sprites that are absolutely AWESOME

Some of the spriters here are really skilled

[stuck hare]

definitely

there are so many cool sprites!!

[modest kindle]

just been looking over the drive and these are all so cool, omg

good luck everyone!!

[cloud solstice]

The spotlights will probably have a lot of awesome sprites to choose from if they don't win

[crisp cargo]

so fun fact - the beta version of pokemon stadium 2 in japanese actually calls it リトルゲーム, or リゲーム for short

||damn nobody took the bait ||

[severe trout]

リグマ・ボール was a great game

then again, how many people on here can read katakana?

[severe trout]

and if this wasn't what you were going for then whoops lmao

[crisp cargo]

it was a ligma-adjacent joke yes

[odd garnet]

One of my sprites is unfinished TvT

Well it's finished technically but I was told to make it smaller

Couldn't finish in time so I just submitted the bigger version
Dang it...

[fast bough]

I saw a couple of pixels wrong on one of mine and now I can't unsee that

[hollow sky]

I like mines :D

I know for fact that they're not the best but I like them

[fast bough]

I like mines too

But

The other ones are going so fkng hard

If I get to quarters I'm happy

[hollow sky]

i mean idc abt being high or not

[fast bough]

[hollow sky]

i made 2 and one is just a really cute boi but it's way too simple to go anywhere lol

tho ofc there's noterally no way he passes a single vote

but my first one has more chances i'd say

my first one could maybe pass a vote if i'm lucky ? x)

[fast bough]

I think mines are good, one of them is one with a gradient with 1 of similarity

But the rest are so good

[hollow sky]

Chad 0 similarity

lol

@fast bough can u show me ur 2 entries, i'm curious :o

[fast bough]

That brakes rule 7 or not?

[thick atlas]

yes, it does

[hollow sky]

oh

[fast bough]

Then I shut the fuck up

[hollow sky]

you did not see that

i completely forgot abt that rule, mb

[fast bough]

[signal reef]

You can just check the drive and see who did it what, not sure if it breaks any rule ?

[sly gorge]

When's the voting for the Jirachi contest gonna start?

[signal reef]

Just checked and there are so many amazing entries, this contest is gonna be insane like the previous one

[teal grove]

No clue

[crisp cargo]

yeah uh you can check in the drive itself who made what

should prob be fixed in some way

[fast bough]

Close the drive

https://tenor.com/view/you-shall-not-pass-gandalf-wizard-gif-13584855

[crisp cargo]

the drive is closed you can just still see the entries lol

[charred barn]

Hi can you help me people? I am in the voltor mision but i cant let any voltor

[vestal silo]

#gameplay-help

[hollow sky]

bro saw "contest-general" and sent this message

[timid shore]

you'll get used to it.

we all did.

[thick atlas]

we all did

[hollow sky]

dw i've been on discord for longer than you i know how it is x)

[timid shore]

bold of you to assume this is my first acct

[limber venture]

i think that i will do polls tomorrow

[silver merlin]

no thats when we PLAY ROMANIA AND TURKEY IN HOI4

[limber venture]

WE ARENT GOING TO BE PLAYIGN ALL DAY ARE WE

[silver merlin]

OH YOU BET WE ARE

WERE GOING UNTIL 2023 INGAME TIME

[limber venture]

NO WE ARENT

[silver merlin]

:3333

[dull mortar]

kattens trick

[late sequoia]

People get you with HOI and Civ type games. "Oh it will be a quick game, no more than a couple hours" proceeds to play for 12 hours

[silver merlin]

rezza had to physically lay down after he played colombia with me the other day

[late sequoia]

My friends and I in college would sometimes play Civ 4 and we learned we had to start by early afternoon or it was likely we would see the sun coming up.

[uncut shadow]

damn the contest ended and i just got back from vacation to work on my sprites 😔

well, anyways i finally finished the garchomp base so @manic willow please let me know if thats good in your opinion

[silver merlin]

LOL yeah

you lose track of time when youre conquering all of south america

[manic willow]

Nice job ! 👍 You can post it in asset gallery if you want

[uncut shadow]

ok, glad you like it i will credit you of course!

[crisp cargo]

wake up babe new mod quote just dropped

[weak palm]

i forgit to add mine

[stuck hare]

oh no!

that sucks

[near horizon]

https://tenor.com/view/oh-no-top-gear-jeremy-clarkson-no-one-cares-gif-18925814

[fast bough]

Less competition

I'm kidding

[silver merlin]

rezza just really likes italy guys :)

[livid tulip]

[subtle moss]

what

what does that mean

[grand tusk]

Rezza likes italy

what else

[subtle moss]

NO I mean

the ping just now

[livid tulip]

@limber venture

I think there's something off here

[grand tusk]

it means there are polls

refresh nerd

[livid tulip]

Already did

[grand tusk]

its all there for me

you may be experiencing a skill issue

[subtle moss]

oh, okay

[livid tulip]

It dissapeared in front of my eyes

[grand tusk]

(dont worry Rezza I gotchu covered)

[limber venture]

there

fixed

[grand tusk]

nothing was fixed, it was perfectly fine as it always was

[sly gorge]

why does it show the reaction count

I feel violated

[wide knoll]

[limber venture]

I thought this was a mixel

[wide knoll]

[grand tusk]

It's jerma's fursona

[wide knoll]

true

[rough saddle]

This is sooooo hard there's so many good ones

This is my first contest, does each batch only have one that passes to next round or more than that

[grand tusk]

1 winner and we ban the other users who dont get through

[livid tulip]

Nah, it's getting fun like this. I'm laughing confirming certain things I knew that were going to happen

[grand tusk]

take em out the back and "Of Mice and Men" them

[summer nebula]

i know exactly what you mean by this, and it was inevitable.

[rough saddle]

I always knew this is how I'd go

[twin otter]

It is so hard to pick!!! tbh whenever I'm stumped on what to pick i just pick ones that I think need more love. Like if a sprite is really good or the idea is amazing and the execution is a little off and they are in a bracket with some of the best in the comp then I give it a vote because the artist deserves to be appreciated

[livid tulip]

I cannot wait to see finals

[grand tusk]

already saying you're gonna lose, bad sign compadre

[crisp cargo]

meh i already know i will

[steel vortex]

Sorry I'm new and can't seem to find the answer, do the sprites that don't win still get used, say, if that fusion doesn't have a sprite? There's so many amazing ones I'd genuinely wanna use

[crisp cargo]

i put 0 sfx in either of my designs

[rough saddle]

Its ok I already won someone's heart when I posted it the first time I can die happy 🫡

[crisp cargo]

every sprite just needs to be put through #1050404143807873157 and into the #sprite-gallery to be in

[steel vortex]

Sweet, ty!

[cloud solstice]

both of my entries are in the same bracket

[sly gorge]

I don't know if I should laugh along or feel called out I am in a state of uncertainty

[teal grove]

Yoooo polls

[primal maple]

same

[livid tulip]

Shhh let things happen this way. We already know what will happen after this contest, don't rush

[summer nebula]

tfw want to post some haha funnies but rule 7 will make it result in my execution

[grand tusk]

We Old Yeller the SFX users?

[crisp cargo]

Alright I voted on all the polls without my sprites in 'em

[teal grove]

God this is just depressing

I see so many people voting en masse for some of the worst stuff

[sly gorge]

badmouthing I see?

👀

[cloud solstice]

that's not very nice to say

[hazy chasm]

ouch thats gonna hurt

[teal grove]

Oi

[glad sail]

Good luck all~

[ashen sapphire]

If I can't decide between two sprites to vote for, and one used a base or an official sprite, and the other is all from scratch, I usually vote for the one that didn't use a base to reward the effort.

[sly gorge]

anyway why are my votes randomly disappearing

I vote on something and my reaction disappears a few minutes later

quite confusing I must say...

[summer nebula]

they should be disappearing instantly to hide who you're voting for

[chrome trench]

the polls are laggy

[crisp cargo]

anon votes are on

[summer nebula]

but the bot's chugging so it's taking it a while

[teal grove]

Because the bot cant remove them all, theyre supposed to be anon

[sly gorge]

I see

[livid tulip]

I cannot be depressed when the proofs of what we were warning are right there and I'm 100% sure this will be the last time a contest will be this... ahem

[teal grove]

ALSO im not badmouthing, im stating actual facts. Some of the sprites that are doing well have significant technical issues and are getting more votes than sprites of higher quality

Banning sfx wont stop this shit, im genuinely gonna advocate for making contest voting exclusive to spriters

[twin otter]

Oh i like that thinking!

[cloud pulsar]

yes please

only spriters

wanna vote?
go make sprites

[summer nebula]

only landowners may vote in these sprite contests

we returning to victorian rules

[livid tulip]

*Proceeds to make a terrible sprite like the ones that are doing well here *

[teal grove]

Contests are becoming this

[summer nebula]

immediate 50+

[twin otter]

I disagree, these contests are just for fun so why not let everyone join in. When $$ is on the line in specials only spriters voting is a good way to do it

[cloud pulsar]

https://tenor.com/view/walter-white-falling-fast-gif-18043850

[crisp cargo]

I mean you get to pick a subject for the next classic contest so I wouldn't say they're just 'for fun'

[teal grove]

Non-spriters outnumber the spriters during voting by at least 10:1

[twin otter]

wait you do!!! now i wanna win lols hahaha

[cloud pulsar]

you win a role and be the icon

[summer nebula]

if the winner of this contest chooses palkia my skeleton is going to escape

[fast bough]

My sprites are not going to pass a single vote xd

[teal grove]

That's like doing a cooking contest with 1 chef and 10 other people and giving them something with a lot of artificial sweeteners vs something that took time and effort to make for an interesting and unique quality taste

[livid tulip]

No but yeah I'm 100% in favor of Husk. Things like this is why I never trusted in public votes (including #dex-entries-submissions )

(especially #dex-entries-submissions )

[summer nebula]

1 chef and 10 midwestern americans (who consider Red Lobster to be "fine dining")

[cloud pulsar]

im going to combust if we get another contest with space sfc

[limber venture]

I agree with you on spriter voting husk, we'll just have to wait and see

[livid tulip]

Sneasel with ICY effects everywhere haha GOOOOO

[twin otter]

As a midwesterner myself... DONT YOU DARE DISRESPECT RED LOBSTER!!!

[ashen sapphire]

counterpoint: if we have a palkia contest next then we've gotten all the epic space legendaries out of the way and it'll never happen again

[summer nebula]

tbf every legendary is going to be effect spam if you think about it

[limber venture]

I don't think there are any rules preventing someone from readding a mon that's already had a classic contest

[teal grove]

You say that like people wont just do umbreon, clefable line, ...

[cloud pulsar]

theres not

aegislash has been 2 times i think

[livid tulip]

This is not a counterpoint, it's a good point to ban SFX

[limber venture]

That's not how this works

[rough saddle]

I figured they didn't have the votes public cause it would overload the bot lmao

[summer nebula]

You guys can't behave with effects, next contest is Geodude, I hope you're happy

[livid tulip]

Because where the heck Palkia has a whole space behind them

[limber venture]

The votes are meant to be anonymous but the bot is overloaded :(

[cloud solstice]

contest winner pick

[twin otter]

pls god let the winner pick geodude that would be so fun!

[ashen sapphire]

I was joking--

[rough saddle]

Oh I mean the public getting to vote lol that would absolutely break it

[cloud pulsar]

geodude contest lets go

lets get those rocks sfx

[livid tulip]

Thanks! But don't refer me directly. Rule 7

[twin otter]

someone will make a geodude Palkia and it will be a galaxy of sfx and asteroids

[limber venture]

I really do want to strongly consider limiting contests a bit because it's just not fun for anyone involved anymore, people trying to abuse a meta and then people complaining about people trying to abuse a meta, it's just tiring for both sides

[cloud pulsar]

"random nose guy" 💀

i barely see people saying good things about the contests
is just complaints

[livid tulip]

LFMAO

[limber venture]

I had an idea for the next themed that might help but the entire contest manager chat ghosted me

[hazy chasm]

oof

[crisp cargo]

tbh this is just disheartening for me

[twin otter]

minimalist theme???

[crisp cargo]

like actively makes me not want to sprite for this lol

[limber venture]

[crisp cargo]

(this being IF)

[limber venture]

Not in a million years will I do a reference contest

[rough saddle]

People getting heated and nasty over a fan contest using fan sprites for a fan game in the fan discord

[normal oyster]

Funni innit

[ashen sapphire]

okay, but it'd be really funny if like... reference contest, but no outfits and no particle effects

[rough saddle]

Like just enjoy everyone coming together to make something cool idk it's not that serious

[ashen sapphire]

(please note: I'm 100% trying to be silly and not serious)

[thin dove]

i feel like i have to make that one Good Place meme where i'm returning with a pizza (sprites) and i see the room is on fire

[crisp cargo]

#1050404143807873157

[limber venture]

A lot of people take this quite seriously, which I guess is fair, because winning a contest DOES have some more than intangible effects

[twin otter]

Pesonaly i think there should be one that makes the wining sprite for a new reaction it would be so fun!

[limber venture]

Since your sprite becomes the server pfp

[thin dove]

you get a button

[cloud solstice]

the best part of the contest is before the polls

[normal oyster]

Fax

[thin dove]

everybody should've learned from the last time that buttons are
(monster truck rally/ WWE announcer voice)

SERIOUS BUSINESS (explosions in the background)

[crisp cargo]

you get a gigantic amount of recognition since uhhhh however many people now see your sprite every time they're here

[twin otter]

... did you mean community?

[thin dove]

is that where the pizza returning to the room on fire came from? i keep thinking it's either Good Place or Community

[twin otter]

its community, but the good place has a simmilar scene i belive

but its with nachos maybe?

[summer nebula]

contest, but the winners are decided by roulette

[thin dove]

roulette omg don't do that to the mods lmao

[limber venture]

Next contest I will judge all 200 sprites myself

[sly hatch]

I came here to talk about how these polls are just pitting so many bad bitches against each other

[twin otter]

https://tenor.com/view/the-darkest-timeline-community-gif-18212973

also wasnt calling you out, just wanted to clarify cause if there is a good place meme i dont know i need it

[ashen sapphire]

contest but the previous winner A. can't enter, 2. has to judge all the entries themself

[rough saddle]

I never got a real answer lmaoo how many pass each batch of votes, just 1?

[crisp cargo]

i'm down for more contests like these

[limber venture]

Day 1: Preliminaries: 1st sprite of each bracket goes to Semis, 2nd and 3rd ones go to Quarters, a phase of four brackets.
Day 2: Quarters: 1st, 2nd and 3rd sprite of each bracket go to Semis.
Day 3: Semis: 1st and 2nd go to Finals ((semis should be split into two brackets if required by the amount of entries))
Day 4: Finals: 1st, 2nd and 3rd sprites go to the Podium

[livid tulip]

Based

[crisp cargo]

like a bunch of judges doing this

[rough saddle]

Dang so it is pretty cutthroat then

[crisp cargo]

yeah no shot i'm gonna get past prelims lol

[warm blaze]

I'm not sure I agree with the opinion that nonspriters shouldn't be able to vote. Everyone plays the game so why not have everyones opinion? Sure some might have errors in them but if someone likes it overall as the mon they would use then why not let them vote on it. Personally things I voted on were pretty mixed some had high votes and some had basicly none.

[twin otter]

Contest where all previous winners must make entries and the winner has to give the mods $10 each

[limber venture]

I'm for it if it gets people to shut up

(/j)

[livid tulip]

Money involved = making contest more awful than already is

[rough saddle]

If it wasn't so hard on the bot id say let the non spriters have a separate poll and have it weighted different

Like mario party bonus stars

[crisp cargo]

that's just more work for no real reason

[twin otter]

punish the victor!!!

[near horizon]

I hate that the polls aren't really anonymous (i know it's not staff fault) because I feel like a lot of people are just like "oh big numbers of vote i'm gonna click this one" instead of choosing the best one for them

[warm blaze]

haha people will never shut up XD You will just get the opposite side complaining.

[limber venture]

I really can't do anything about it, I'm sorry

Contests just aren't really made for a server this big lmao

[crisp cargo]

the end of #event-announcements

(/j)

[rough saddle]

Personally just getting your sprite into the game at all is a good enough reward for me so I'm not heated about it lmao

[limber venture]

If only everyone else thought like you instead of getting bloodthirsty over having a light green name

[warm blaze]

Im just happy I got any votes. I know I didnt make the sprite for nothing

[livid tulip]

Hot take: Contests shouldn't have rewards, just be funny competitions to try to make something cool with the idea of the contest

If we need rewards like funky roles, it must be for challenges like #1110689277861441637 where the spriter will win for their own creativity and not because has made a bad-but-eye catching sprite and voted by a bunch of whitenames

[limber venture]

You remember what happened when we got rid of completionist

[crisp cargo]

(gonna point out a non-negligible amount of the sprites in the contest did not go through spritework and will not be in the game unless the maker(s) put them through spritework)

[limber venture]

And that wasn't even in our control

[rough saddle]

Like it's not that serious, you can put your own sprite in YOUR game too without approval so like..?? Idk why its such a fuss

[near horizon]

Wait there's rewards for classic contest outside of the discord picture?

[crisp cargo]

(including my own but that's because I want to make one of them better)

[limber venture]

Role

Top 3 get role

[near horizon]

Oh, i didn't knew x)

[limber venture]

And the most recent contest winner has a green name until the next contest winner

Then after that they're dark blue

[near horizon]

Oh, i taught dark blue was after a big amount of sprites

[limber venture]

There are a few ways to get dark blue

[near horizon]

Okay okay

[rough saddle]

Yeah I think you should at least have to go through that to be in the contest. Like if it's not good enough to be in the game why put it in the contest? That should be the next step up

[near horizon]

Well good luck everyone, i'm 90% sure that this contest end at this round for me

[limber venture]

A lot of the sprites that didn't go through spritework are from non spriters, which is another thing I don't really understand

I don't know why we let non spriters submit sprites anyway

[crisp cargo]

that just makes it so only spriters can submit which

[thin dove]

i'm just happy i can see a little bit of what people like

[thick harness]

To be fair I don't even think it's the roles/rewards that cause contests to get this heated; I think it's just a consequence of having a lot of spriters in an actual competition. the fact that you're actively competing is what causes people to clash, removing the rewards probably won't change that much

[limber venture]

True, it would just make people mad and not a lot would change

[crisp cargo]

on one hand a lot of sprites just end up having technical issues so i feel like this would help with more quality sprites

on the other it would remove fantastic quality from spriters that just haven't applied yet for one reason or another

[warm blaze]

Yeah it was eye opening how different peoples opinions could be from mine.

[rough saddle]

Yeah like the progression should be white name-> approved spriter->submit sprite for feedback->submit to game->eligible for contests

[livid tulip]

Being completely honest: if something doesn't have the correct results, then getting rid things is better than stretch the problem.
The state of contests, with the high number of users here with a wrong perception of what fusions must be proves that there's no reason to reward people for this.

And I'm saying this when I don't have either Completionist nor Contest winner roles. Perhaps because I'm more interested in the quality of the project than banal rewards like a slighly darker blue in my nickname.

[near horizon]

Kinda like with the old pokemon team roles?

Maybe limit the number of people in contest could help but it won't really be fair because it'll be the fastest and maybe not the ones with better talents

[limber venture]

Unfortunately, it'd seem that either a majority (or a very, VERY vocal minority) care more about discord roles/being popular/winning, than making a sprite they're proud of and enjoy making

[thick harness]

I think contests are different to the teams because with teams it's more a collabrative effort to complete a specific pokemon; whereas contests put people in opposition where each spriter is trying to win (not all spriters, but the majority will enter a contest at least with the mindset of wanting to be victorious)

[woeful moth]

THIS LEVEL OF DECISION MAKING ISN'T IN MY ABILITIES

[limber venture]

That was very much proven with completionist roles

[woeful moth]

WHY SO MANY OPTIONS

[crisp cargo]

i mean i want to make sprites i'm proud of but it's also p disheartening to see little to no acknowledgement

[rough saddle]

It's just always gonna be hard when there's so many people/entries so fast cause the game went viral lmao there's no fast and easy way to fix it

[near horizon]

I know that some discord profiles are sold because they have badges so yeah giving a role isn't a good thing I guess

Or maybe limit the possibility to participate in a contest to only people that did 50+ sprites?

[warm blaze]

Maybe if there was multiple votes or something more love could be spread around but thats probably pretty tough to do with the current system. They would probably have to use an external voting system.

[rough saddle]

That's why I like submitting them to #1050404143807873157 cause I've never had NOBODY comment

You can even force ping them lmao

[crisp cargo]

i mean i've struggled with getting people to comment and i don't wanna use the force ping command, feels like a bother haha

[limber venture]

This is a really, really hard thing to fix easily, yeah

[warm blaze]

Forced Love! XD

[limber venture]

All the solutions aren't really feasible

[rough saddle]

I mean they signed up to be on the force ping list so I don't feel bad imo

[crisp cargo]

i mean yeah it's just a brain thing

"oh they might be upset" with the actual rational side of me going "my brother in christ they signed up for getting pinged"

[livid tulip]

Idk, then the staff should evaluate what they prefer: a lot of bad sprites or less sprites but at least with good quality. Because I can see that most people concerned, even angry, about the current situation aren't precisely bad spriters

[warm blaze]

I usually just make multiple version of the sprite and get people to vote in spritework questions. That way they dont even have to come by to give their opinion and it attracts more people to comment on it

[limber venture]

Well, it's not like current contest submitted sprites are "bad"

[rough saddle]

Hopefully you can just get used to it then cause it's definitely a net positive to have people discuss your work even if it's scary

The only thing I learned from art school lmao

[summer nebula]

pls no it'll take me months to get there (I am very slow)

[near horizon]

But yeah, at least, limit contest to only spriters

[livid tulip]

Well, true, not bad sprites but bad fusion designs

[rough saddle]

I could see the benefits to having class based contests (beginner intermediate expert) but again, that's a lot of work

[limber venture]

Plus you can't really quantify that

And we'd need a lot more contest managers

[summer nebula]

I think it's just that "what makes a good regular IF sprite" and "what makes a good contest IF sprite" often conflict with one-another

[rough saddle]

You'd have to invent a syllabus and points system basically so yeah way more work, maybe even a whole role of mods that do just that.

[limber venture]

I'd think that a lot of that would be down to the fact that, the people that go and give heartmails and feedback in spritework are all spriters, and then like, 70% of contest voters are nonspriters

[cloud solstice]

on another note it looks like the bot is starting to catch up on the votes

[limber venture]

Which heavily shifts the expectations when it comes to contest time

[summer nebula]

Then you'd end up with people being upset that they're in the wrong group, either feeling insulted that they've been put lower than they think they belong, or out of their depth because they've been put higher

[limber venture]

Sidenote, this is a very civilised discussion, proud of u all

[near horizon]

I'm sure that if you make an announcement saying that "With the number of people / spriters growing exponentially the contest managers aren't able to easily take care of contest. If you love Infinite Fusion and want to help with contests please fill this recruitment form." you'll get some people that will come to try to be a contest manager

[limber venture]

We did have some applications ye, the contest manager team is a lot bigger than it was before

[rough saddle]

Definitely. It would have to be points based and very clearly defined on how you earn those points. Points from number of sprites, points from heartmails, points from actually listening to criticism.

[limber venture]

It works for what we have now, but I don't think skill based contests are the solution now

[silver merlin]

funfact at one point the contest manager team was just me

[near horizon]

Yeah application, i was struggling to remember that word x)

[cloud solstice]

it would be very hard to count these points, especially for the critisism part

[rough saddle]

Sorry to sound preachy but I have an art education degree with a focus in syllabus drafting for middle school I feel like that applies a lot here 😅

Yup it would be a full time mod position probably

[limber venture]

I went to contest management school and got a degree in contest management

[rough saddle]

Just not feasible rn

[rough saddle]

That would be more useful I agree

[summer nebula]

sounds like quite the job, I say we double, no, TRIPLE the moderator's salaries for their hard work!

[limber venture]

They didn't teach me a lot

[silver merlin]

that role was made when contests got unironically 30 entries max, it was to get people excited for contests again

(after a long break of me, getting some more people than just me to be on the team 😭

[silver merlin]

skill issue

🇮🇹

love italy

[near horizon]

But yeah, i think that to reduce a little bit the frustration non-spriters shouldn't be able to participate in contest

[limber venture]

Katten YOU'RE contest management school

[rough saddle]

Yea im just outlining why its so hard to be an unpaid mod in a fan discord lmao we have breached the scope of what the contests used to be

[silver merlin]

oh yeah ive forgotten it all

:3

[near horizon]

And I think that it's sad that people are doing sprite for trying to get a role instead of a sprite they are proud of

[rough saddle]

That's why this shouldn't be taken too heavily

[near horizon]

like for example, even if my Mr.Mime/Kingler is cursed i still like him

[late sequoia]

Oh 100%

[silver merlin]

its simple really, if you already have the role you dont care

https://cdn.discordapp.com/emojis/909667171146297354.gif?size=44&quality=lossless

[near horizon]

Honestly I've just learned tonight that there's a role xD

[silver merlin]

LOL

[warm blaze]

so give everyone the role? 😛

[livid tulip]

Honestly I'm more concerned on win MSV than winning a contest (but seeing the current state of votes I really hope they don't let people vote ever again )

[silver merlin]

no :3 i worked so hard for this role

[limber venture]

you guys katten is the WORST boss ever never be a contest manager

[near horizon]

MSV?

[livid tulip]

main sprite voting

[late sequoia]

I will admit, my base sprite looks a bit odd in game but glad you had fun using it cause it did come out great

[silver merlin]

wtf do u mean i dont do contests rn

[limber venture]

I know I'm just slandering you

[fast bough]

Si

[near horizon]

Oh, okay

[fast bough]

digo no

[livid tulip]

Qué dices

[fast bough]

perdices

[near horizon]

Why did i read macaron ?

[livid tulip]

KATTEN NOOOO

[cloud solstice]

I haven't see a msv yet is it really bad?

[silver merlin]

enough before frogman sees :(

[livid tulip]

[silver merlin]

no se permite la diversión :(

[livid tulip]

Diviértete

Yo llevo divirtiéndome desde que empezó el concurso

[silver merlin]

this was one of my hardest lines ever

[fast bough]

Aqui solo hay dolor y sufrimiento

[near horizon]

Technically you should speak only English and i'm not saying this because i don't understand any word except solo

[grand tusk]

bonjour

[livid tulip]

Lo entiendo, perdón

[fast bough]

Here are olny pain and suffering

[livid tulip]

Spain without S

[near horizon]

I'm used to it, i'm french

[grand tusk]

🍞

[near horizon]

Oh, i think contest polls are now really anonymous

[silver merlin]

lets go the bot works

[grand tusk]

brings a tear to the eye

[near horizon]

That's not bread, well yes but no... But I don't know how to explain x)

[hazy chasm]

dont be lazy use google translate

[grand tusk]

that hamster is spinning its hardest

[silver merlin]

🥖

french bread

[grand tusk]

the wheel got oiled

[livid tulip]

That's Spain without the S and without i

[near horizon]

It's more fun to try to guess what they're saying

[silver merlin]

sandt

[livid tulip]

The fun is over

[silver merlin]

(this does not mean sand

[grand tusk]

thats

[silver merlin]

guys danish is actually such a fucking weird ass language

this shit is so weird why do we speak like this

[livid tulip]

Pan in spanish is bread

[grand tusk]

I think pan in spanish is cacerola

what kinda spanish you learning

[cloud pulsar]

lmaoooooooo

[livid tulip]

I mean 🍞 = pan in spanish

[cloud pulsar]

thats so funny

[crisp cargo]

at least you didn't make up a word because people kept dying overseas

[near horizon]

Pan in french is "poêle" if someone wants to know

[livid tulip]

baguette

[grand tusk]

is that another type of cooking ware in spanish?

[cloud pulsar]

poele with a thing in the e

got it

[grand tusk]

poēle

[near horizon]

Close but no x)

[grand tusk]

pœlę

[near horizon]

It's a ^ not a ~

[livid tulip]

La buena paellita

[hazy chasm]

the only good bread

[grand tusk]

pøêłę

[near horizon]

The œ is used in œuf which means 🥚

[grand tusk]

not true, sourdough

[fast bough]

NO LA PAELLA

[cloud pulsar]

that picture is so spanish

[grand tusk]

œuf œuf monsier

[near horizon]

Maybe we should go to #off-topic if we continue so we're not breaking rule 4

[primal maple]

not true, any german bread is the best bread

[grand tusk]

what else would we discuss anyway?

The contest? break rule 7?

[hazy chasm]

what is that

[cloud pulsar]

imagine caring about rule 4
couldnt be me

[near horizon]

Monsieur *

[hazy chasm]

what bread is german bread

[silver merlin]

i would care about rule 4 if i were you

[hazy chasm]

i want a list

[grand tusk]

thats what you had issue with?

not me changing oui to oeuf

[hazy chasm]

that does look good

[normal oyster]

https://tenor.com/view/im-watching-stalking-lurking-watching-peek-gif-7914122

[near horizon]

It's the language I speak so yes x)

[livid tulip]

Okay, let's go to #game-suggestions

[grand tusk]

it's joe-ver kherx

[near horizon]

Btw, good night/day everyone, it's 23:42 for me, time to sleep

[livid tulip]

Well, see you tomorrow, I really want to see who will pass next round

Good luck everyone

[normal oyster]

Bet it’s jirachi

[livid tulip]

Or not

[normal oyster]

https://tenor.com/view/lel-teeth-man-laugh-gif-24159653

[livid tulip]

[fast bough]

Im not passing xd

Mucho tryhard

[livid tulip]

Well, it's all about fun. Not because you lose round 1 means you did worse

[fast bough]

It was fun making the sprites

[normal oyster]

Tryhards having breakdown now

[fast bough]

https://tenor.com/view/v1-ultrakill-live-reaction-gif-26566520

[primal maple]

bro there is so much typical german bread I cannot acctually name them all ( and I don't want to break rule 4 ahh)

[cloud pulsar]

its not like im going to get muted or something :clueless:

[silver merlin]

https://cdn.discordapp.com/emojis/909667171146297354.gif?size=44&quality=lossless

[normal oyster]

What’s rule 4 even

[urban knot]

Make sure to follow the #rules!

4. Read the channel descriptions. Stay on topic and don't spam channels, be it with messages, gifs, or reactions.

[normal oyster]

Imagine getting muted for that

[hazy chasm]

im gonna look it up

[livid tulip]

Lmao with the shitpost moment I forgot voting. Already done

[hazy chasm]

lol

[livid tulip]

Things happen. My first intention was voting and keep spriting

[green plume]

how does the voting work? Can only the creator of the poll see how many votes each option has because it says no one has voted?

[hazy chasm]

people have voted it just shows no one voted to make anonymous.

[wooden root]

I already knew this contest was gonna be insane, but actually seeing the brackets is really making it sink in just how amazing everyone’s entries are

[grim patrol]

So cool to see all these entries!
Though tbh some of them I can’t even tell which Pokemon is fused 😅

[wooden root]

@stuck hare Omg I love your name

[stuck hare]

Sometimes it felt like there was just some random space sfx thrown in, to distract from the actual sprite

[stuck hare]

Thanks! I never get that!

[livid tulip]

I wish more people realized this than actually did

[stuck hare]

I am confusion

[summer nebula]

i'm afraid i cannot answer without breaking rule 7

[stuck hare]

:’(

[plucky arch]

rules rules smh

[livid tulip]

May I reply that?

Or rule 7

[stuck hare]

Am I breaking the rules?

Ah

Sorry

I shall stop

o7

[livid tulip]

Rule 7 means that we must be careful with what we say about entries

[stuck hare]

I know

[livid tulip]

At least during voting

[stuck hare]

I just didn’t quite know what I could say, so I overstepped and I’m sorry

[livid tulip]

But yeah, we can understand what you mean and I have strong opinions about this. I'm just waiting the end of the contest to say everything I think about

[stuck hare]

Fair fair

I read all the messages I missed in the last two hours

There were like 300

Many people seem to have strong opinions about it so

[livid tulip]

Hahaha that's because the votes were public for a moment and we saw what was going to happen in this contest

[summer nebula]

Merum's preparing an entire peer-reviewed essay about contest metas

[stuck hare]

Hahaha

[slow gyro]

Hello there

Sfx meta will never die

[livid tulip]

I don't really want to make an entire essay of my opinion but yeah, considering that I always was very passionate with the art of monster designing I have my opinions about all this

[thin dove]

I wanna hear essays tho. It's so cool to hear people go on for a while about what they're passionate about

[stuck hare]

But I think what tends to happen, and this is a normal human thing, is that people see something that looks “cool” or eye-catching, and they don’t take the time to take a closer look at everything else, or whether that sprite is a good fusion, or even viable. It’s really the fault of our primate brains just going “OOOOH shiny” and closer examination isn’t exactly easy, unless you either know a lot about a certain topic, or unless you stop and think, but stopping and examining everything more closely isn’t something we can feasibly do all the time, we don’t HAVE the time

Immanuel Kant loved rationalism

Same with descartes really

And they, as great philosophers came to the conclusion that if we took the time to rationally think out all of our actions, we would only ever make good choices

[slow gyro]

I won’t say which were my entries, but I’ll say that I tried to merge the design with the sfx, having the sfx being an important part of the design and not just there cause shiny lol

[stuck hare]

However

If we actually took that time, and only used the Ratio (our rational thinking skills) and never took anything at face value

Which Kant took as the ideal

Then we would never have the time to make those decisions

Because our time isn’t infinite

And so our brains aren’t always perfectly rational

And so our brains often take things at face value and think “OOOOHH shiny” and decide that that’s the best sprite, the best person etc. because they’re “cooler”

This thinking saves us

But it also fails us

It’s why often, when it comes to public speaking, public debates, etc. the most informed person isn’t the one who convinces the audience

The person who speaks the loudest is

[sly hatch]

you are not immune to crow brain

[stuck hare]

It’s why Aristotle said that to win a debate you don’t only need logos (logic), but pathos (your convincing ability, ability to gain people’s sympathy) and ethos (your reputation) are equally important

Tldr; brain stoopid, though it may be handy, it doesn’t help pick the best sprites

Also

There’s your essay

There’s the reason I studied philosophy for 4 years

[thin dove]

❤️

[stuck hare]

The most useful subject I’ve ever taken

There’s genuinely no discussion in which I couldn’t (technically) bring up a philosopher and automatically sound smarter for it

Beautiful

But yeah @livid tulip if you want to steal some of my essay for your essay, by all means do, together we can make the ultimate essay

[livid tulip]

I would do my essay after voting, if I really see it necessary. Honestly I don't care about contests too much to bother, and I know a lot of people here sharing my exact opinion. In any case, I'm more concerned about certain sprites being in the game or even replacing actual fusion designs

[stuck hare]

Fair

[livid tulip]

But for that issue I think sprite managers will do a great work as always, so I think I shouldn't be so worried

[stuck hare]

So no Kant and Descartes anymore 👉👈 😢

[livid tulip]

If I can recommend something: don't take contests as something to win, but to improve as spriter and designer

[stuck hare]

Obviously

That might be rude

Sorry

It isn’t necessarily obvious for many people

Which sucks, primarily for them

Because it means they’ll be more stressed about these things

[livid tulip]

Nah, it's not rude. Sometimes people need some feedback to realize they are doing wrong

[stuck hare]

And they’ll have less fun with em

[livid tulip]

However, I don't think an ongoing voting is the perfect timing to give this feedback

All I can say is that if you realized something that you feel wrong about the current status of this contest or entries, especially if you counted yours as part of the problem, the best thing you can do as spriter and designer is keep improving and avoid what you think is not right

[stuck hare]

Naturally, I had fun creating mine though

But it wasn’t something I’d ever want in the game, because it didn’t truly represent the typing that the actual fusion was, so it wasn’t a great fusion

But it WAS a fun little piece of art

That I had fun making

[livid tulip]

Yeah, sometimes we must distinguish about what we are doing, or where we are participating. Maybe in a contest about making pixel art artworks some entries here would be really good entries, but in a contest that consists on making fusions for a Pokémon fangame, then maybe some entries are losing the point. Of course, you can get fun doing these entries that aren't actually the intention of the project, but part of the magic of design is respect the limitations and still do something incredible.

[dawn prairie]

I dont really worry about making it look like the type of the fusion

Imo jirachi doesnt really look definitively steel or psychic anyways

[stuck hare]

SPEAKING OF FUN

Did you know that there will be a little spriting contest this august! Before you think “oh no, this is going to be another cut-throat disaster” I AM HERE TO TELL YOU: NO!

More than a contest, it’s really just a fun game for spriters! Where we’ll be working together (or failing at) to make the most beautiful and disgusting frakenmosters in a GARTIC PHONE STYLE GAME!!!

If any of this sounds interesting to anyone here, and to any spriters looking for some FUSION induced CHAOTIC FUN 🤩 feel free to read more about it, the rules have been posted in pif projects, though it will NOT be hosted on this server, as it won’t directly benefit the game :(

STILL, if any of this seems like FUN to you, check it out! Because the more, the merrier!

And it’d be really fun if this little game we’re organising had a ton of people to add to it :]

For more info, you can always dm me, or any of the other organisers! They’re all listed by the rules!

And I know that first message may have sounded like a super corny ad, but I am serious, we think it’ll be a lot of chaotic fun, and we hope some more people will sign up, because the more people…

The more FUN!!

We have no price for winning

…

…except the FRIENDS YOU’LL MAKE ALONG THE WAY!

[signal reef]

Damn all the reactions for the first poll are so insane I wish I could have seen the early result to better understand the shitshow
But yeah this contest is weird, there are legit polls were I didn't want to vote for any sprite

But this was expected with Jirachi being voted

[ionic pulsar]

I dunno, I was literally about to start doing a jirachi sprite before the contest even started

There's def a lot of space sfx though, with some that don't really incorporate into the designn but are still pretty

As I read in this channel, it's more a lesson than a contest

[nova willow]

I'm not disagreeing with that, I'm just saying I understand the reasoning and thought behind the type and style of SFX people keep using

[tawdry pelican]

What annoys me is that the default view of the entries in discord is blurry haha. I don't know if for future contests we can try to display the sprites so it shows up sharper on a typical desktop resolution.

[nova willow]

but this is the first contest I've been here for, so SFX has probably been a problem for awhile

[tranquil fable]

Good luck everyone!

[sly hatch]

I just tend to make things cute and sparkly regardless 😅

[nova willow]

With Deoxys I do not see any reasoning for SFX lmao

but I also know nothing about Deoxys

[sly hatch]

Deoxys already has the whole forms and dna

[livid tulip]

The same reasoning as Jirachi: they come to the space so making them look like gacha artwork with an entire galaxy behind them is logic

[signal reef]

People always find reasoning for SFX anyway

At first it was a way to step apart other sprites but now it's almost a requirement to be considered "cool" or "good-looking" for the majority of non-spriters

[nova willow]

but deoxys is DNA not space

[livid tulip]

And it's not because them like it (at least not everyone) but because they know that SFX is eye-catching and use this as a way to win their funky "dark blue" role. And that's all

[signal reef]

Yeah but he comes from a comet

[wooden root]

I partly viewed this contest as a way for me to practice sfx tbh. I’ve never made a sprite with sfx before, and I had an idea that I wanted to try out, so I just went for it lol

[severe epoch]

Same lol

[sly hatch]

I mostly just went with the wish concept

cause y'know. Wish Pokemon

[nova willow]

With Jirachi, I understand the jump to space, due to wishing on stars

[signal reef]

Jirachi is the wish Pokemon because of Tanabata and only 1 sprite in the contest went for the Tabanata route

[livid tulip]

If you want to see them:
https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/12cFzp3lm2Q38pAxjlx1kOAjed1sxGhdV?usp=sharing

[hollow sky]

oh it's cute

[livid tulip]

Now count the number of sprites without unnecessary SFX

[sly hatch]

if I could've I would've submitted my baby

[dull mortar]

cute.......

[wooden root]

Cute baby 🥹

[livid tulip]

It's cool

[dull mortar]

to be fair I didn't know that there was more to what jirachi referenced, I assumed it was just a wishing star and not a specific festival

[signal reef]

Funnily enough Jirachi was voted for contest on the 7th of July which is Tabanata day

[dull mortar]

a wishing star with charms on it

[graceful plank]

to me, the wish talismans are essential

[dull mortar]

aww

[wooden root]

I feel like the Tanabata idea came first when they were designing Jirachi, and then they were like “let’s just make it a star because that’s also a wish thing” lol

[signal reef]

yeah it's both

[dull mortar]

I was thinking it was kinda a result of localization

[signal reef]

star shaped + ribbons

[graceful plank]

yeah same

[dull mortar]

since tanbata is the star festival (according to wikipedia)

[nova willow]

I'm not a spriter so I don't know what SFX is exactly, I just understand the general idea, so I would be very wrong

[livid tulip]

Special effects

[nova willow]

Sounds abt right

[sly hatch]

same. The two fusions I've made incorporate different talismans relating to the original pokemon

[dull mortar]

sfx is just the stuff that isn't normally on a sprite

[livid tulip]

Example: Pokémon doing a kamehameha just because looks cooler like this, even if in the game would look weird if that exact sprite is attacking with a move like Water Gun

[nova willow]

what constitutes there being a reason or not for SFX though

[signal reef]

personnal choice

but basically in the base game SFX doesn't exist

[sly hatch]

I mean it's kinda restrictive to say someone can't add anything original to a sprite

[signal reef]

but spriters started using it to make their sprites cooler

[sly hatch]

it's a collaborative creative project after all

[wooden root]

If it’s integrated into the design well, I have zero problem with sfx. If it’s there just to be there, it’s not really my taste

[signal reef]

Yeah but you need cohesiveness among your sprites if you want your game to be good looking.
There is a bunch of rule on how to sprite, how the Pokemon should face left and have similar style to Gen4/5

[nova willow]

To be fair, yeah, it makes sprites interesting, I would not mind if some had an alternative without sometimes but that requires much more work

[dull mortar]

it can be cool but it can also get. excessive? it can end up being a crutch instead in some cases, idk

[sly hatch]

I didn't say rules were bad

[signal reef]

In some case the SFX is like twice the size of the Pokemon

[sly hatch]

I said that just because some people go buck wild with stuff doesn't make mild/moderate creative choices within guidelines bad

[sly hatch]

yeah thats not great

[dull mortar]

after a while all the stars kinda stop being cool and get a lil tiring? I want to focus on the fella

[nova willow]

a lot of the best fusions are just the cute little fellas

[dull mortar]

turns out following up the no sfx competition with sfx the pokemon still causes sfx discourse

[signal reef]

This is why everyone doing their sprite on their own look cool but in the contest it becomes kinda ridiculous.
I made the same mistake adding the starry-blue sky scarf to one of my fusion and it just blends with everything else

[sly hatch]

jirachi's just a little guy. a small friend

[nova willow]

I love a certain Darkrai/Jirachi alt cuz it's just a cute little guy

[hollow sky]

@nova willow cute fella :D

[livid tulip]

I said this in Deoxys contest and I'm saying this in Jirachi contest. I honestly see SFX as a trump card for people to make the design look better than actually is. Or even to don't bother to fuse both Pokémon and just recolor one and give effects that are supposed to represent the second Pokémon and call it a day

Because most entries could avoid the SFX easily and use the resources of Jirachi to make the design look great

[nova willow]

EXACTLY cute little fella

[hollow sky]

:D

[dull mortar]

I did my best to avoid the sfx but even I gave into it while trying to do it in a different way,,,,

[coral palm]

Because of that it makes me lose motivation to make a sprite and participate and this was the first contest I ever participated in. :,)

[sly hatch]

yeah the point of this game is fusing pokemon not pouring glitter on a rayquaza yknow

[dull mortar]

but idk when I start towing the line on 7 I probably am

[sly hatch]

like it looks cool in moderation but like. if you cant see the pokemon under the sparkles

[signal reef]

Really wonder how the staff will manage SFX rule.
I feel like it was a shitshow during the FamilyFuse contest because of how weird the rule was explained but the result entries were amazing and it was one of the most qualitative contest

[livid tulip]

My suggestion is participate in contest just as an excuse to make new sprites, and not to win. Winner doesn't mean better at all

[coral palm]

True

[livid tulip]

So don't feel unmotivated for the contest

Just keep the fun doing your work

[dull mortar]

pours glitter on rayquaza

[ionic pulsar]

LMAOOO

[livid tulip]

💯 this is gonna win Rayquaza contest

[nova willow]

I like Glitter/Rayquaza

[dull mortar]

I'm a shoein >:)

[signal reef]

lacks some flames and smokes and thunder cloud and water jet and laser beam

[ionic pulsar]

To be fair, as a spriter, I'm just here to have fun and follow through my passion whilst learning new things, sometimes I just find sfx fun, but I still need to get better at incorporating it with the design

[daring mauve]

How does one get the contest participant role?

[late sequoia]

Channels & Roles at the top of the server chat list right below Server Guide

[wooden root]

Tbh part of me hopes that someone takes the idea I used for my fusion and make a better version LOL

I mostly entered this contest because I had an idea that I thought someone else might see and be able to execute better lol

[ionic pulsar]

Which one is yours?

[signal reef]

Technically not allowed to answer

[daring mauve]

Hmmm weird. I had selected the "I want to participate in contests" option but I never got the role 🤔

[ionic pulsar]

Shit u right

[wooden root]

I don’t think I can say without breaking the rules lol

[ionic pulsar]

Don't answer

Tell me after the contest is over

[livid tulip]

I only use the contest to have an excuse to use the featured Pokémon

[signal reef]

Same I am quite uninspired as to what to sprite and contest is a great timing to do a nice sprite

[nova willow]

Probobodies are great tho

[livid tulip]

On my way to do all the 420

[sly hatch]

guys look I fused clefairy and rayquaza

[dull mortar]

is this better

same texture

[nova willow]

[wooden root]

Oh dang, we got some STEEP competition here

[ionic pulsar]

Groudon is featured in the 2nd one

100% better fusions should always include nonrelevant pokemon

[dull mortar]

powerful

[livid tulip]

Needs more sparkles and more clouds

[wooden root]

Hmmm, I’m still able to tell it’s Rayquaza, so it’s still not sparkly enough

[coral palm]

you forgot to tear through space time sprite not good 🙄

[dull mortar]

shit I forgot the space time tear

[signal reef]

This should be the server icon

[sly hatch]

I included an anime reference because everything needs one by default

[signal reef]

forgot gardevoir man

[nova willow]

but that one torterra fusion with Aurorus is cute though

[livid tulip]

Add a Feebas icon sprite in the top, I think it's there still white space to cover with more random details

[ionic pulsar]

This is getting out of hand

[coral palm]

Now this is a fusion

[wooden root]

Not out-of-hand enough

[coral palm]

we've been doing it all wrong guys

[dull mortar]

the answer is always layer effects

[wicked perch]

finally some good fusions in this discord smh

[livid tulip]

Great Groudon/Kyogre fusion (the Rayquaza was a reference)

[sly hatch]

threw in some porygon z

[dull mortar]

hahaha

[livid tulip]

NOT THE URL

[dull mortar]

if I put it in a folder this happens

[coral palm]

Even better

It's not a good sprite if your eyes don't bleed 😌

[nova willow]

I need this in game now

Best sprite

[livid tulip]

Well, I think it's enough. I'm pretty sure the mods are going to scold us if they see all this

It was fun tho

Going to sleep, see you tomorrow

[dull mortar]

we'll put them both in for rayquazas

[wooden root]

This whole thread is DESTROYING ME 🤣

[dull mortar]

hahaha ah geeze gets in trouble for this

sweet dreams meru!

[sly hatch]

gn

[wooden root]

Nighty night!

[graceful plank]

guys that is definitely rule 2 lol

https://tenor.com/view/sweep-sweep-under-rug-rug-cleaning-carpet-gif-15914451

kiddies please do not visit that link

[fair citrus]

woah what is that website?

and what were the other rules before it

[cloud pulsar]

wtf did i stumble across

[teal grove]

I see some shit opinions in chat have been posted while i was asleep so im gonna put in my two cents

People care about contests because contests are a form of competition, and in "the olden days" of IF, winning a contest actually meant having the best sprite. The contest champion role is supposed to be a sign of quality sprites and skill, winning a contest should mean that your sprites are the best, both when it comes to technical detail as well as designwise.

That shifted due to contest metas. The more people were voting, the larger the portion of people who dont have a good eye for (pixel) art. This is what led to animation getting banned, and sfx as well in an attempt to stay true to the original meaning of contests.

However, those things won't change anything. The contests arent the problem, it’s the voters. Take 7 midwest americans and 1 professional chef as judges in a cooking competition, and you can see why someone only using a KFC deepfryer would somehow win over someone like Gordon Ramsey. That’s why people are upset at contests right now.

It isn’t fair for anyone involved. The people who win knowing they abused the meta to the fullest extent won't truly be content either, as their entries were carried to victory by an overrepresented group that doesn’t differentiate based on quality or skill, but rather by how much effects something has. It hurts the perception of what a good sprite is in general.

So people saying that we shouldnt be caring for contests are just plain wrong

[slow gyro]

Hello there, sfx addict here

[teal grove]

Dont say a word

[slow gyro]

I like adding sfx, but I usually try to make them fit the design, I don’t add them just because

Like the Tyranitar/Gliscor I’m making, I’ll give it sandstorm wings instead of regular wings, cause of the sandstorm ability

I do sometimes add a lot just cause I think it’s funny, but those are rare cases

[teal grove]

hero, that’s literallly not the problem we're discussing

[slow gyro]

Ik

But I feel a personal attack when ya all talk about sfx

Cause I like adding them a lot

And I got borderline so sometimes I just feel like, really hard

[teal grove]

https://tenor.com/view/mgr-metal-gear-rising-thinking-useless-argument-gif-25611543

[slow gyro]

Lol

I do agree we may need like a way to regulate sfx

But I don’t want them banned completely

[teal grove]

Hero

For the love of god

read

the

chat

[fading fiber]

[slow gyro]

I read just the last messages cause there were a lot

[teal grove]

This all started when i suggested making contest-voting spriter-only because the non-spriters outnumbered the spriters by a ludicrous amount when it comes to contest voting

Because people are voting en-masse for sprites that have actual significant technical issues over sprites of actual higher quality

[fading fiber]

it would be interesting to host 2 seperate polls and see if the outcome is the same

[slow gyro]

Agree

That would be interesting

Having both contest, free to vote and spriters only

[civic mauve]

I wonder if asking people to vote for specific criteria rather than just choosing their favorite might help?

[teal grove]

Considering voters already have a hard time looking at sprites and not choosing the ones with significant technical issues, i doubt all of them would actually read the message asking them to do that

[signal reef]

Also something to consider, there are tons of submissions nowadays so it's easy to overlook some
And the mass of voters don't know what technical issues are

[fading fiber]

i do like this contest tho, the white yellow and blue looks pretty when scrolling thru entries!

[civic mauve]

Maybe making it so that there are separate categories could help?

Like having folks votes for stuff like most creative design, or best personality, or even just stuff like coolest/cutest/weirdest/etc

Then there could be one for best technical skills that’s spriters only or even handled by a smaller panel of judges?

[teal grove]

Which brings us back to making polls spriter-only

[signal reef]

I just feel like I am browsing the candy section in my japanese store

[cloud pulsar]

based husk

[teal grove]

Given the amount of entries nowadays, judging is most likely never happening again, and voting for seperate categories would take far too long

[civic mauve]

Yeah, it might be best just for spotlights I guess ^^

[teal grove]

For reference, LC3 polls started over 2 months ago and we havent even got to the end of the second poll round yet

Thanks kiwi

[civic mauve]

Though if we could figure out a way to get separate categories to work w/o it causing the managers too much extra trouble it could be a way to combat the meta w/o outright banning anything

If you can only enter your sprite in one category, and you know that SFX sprites are the current meta you might decide to create a Classic or Kaiju sprite to have a better chance of winning since it won’t be competing w/ sprites in the other categories. But if you really like sfx or have an idea that requires them then you can still participate

And if you make a sprite for one category but the managers decide that it counts as sfx or whatever, I think most people wouldn’t care too much so that’d hopefully prevent another situation like what happened in the family fuse contest

[daring mauve]

Re: family feud, are you talking about sfx being banned?

[acoustic light]

that's tough because are you then making x anount of entries for somebody else to decide what category they go in?

I think whether vfx are or aren't allowed for a contest, making the vote spriters only solves a lot of problems. I was pretty surprised that that's not the case for voting already

[civic mauve]

People were annoyed because they had to redo sprites that were green-lit by one manager but then disqualified by another later on. If the sprites just end up in a different category that’s less of an issue than having to either redo or start over if you want to participate

[daring mauve]

Ah I didn't know that that had happened 😮 Yeah, I think categories could be a good thing to mitigate that

[signal reef]

Or just make a clear rule of what is or isn't SFX

[civic mauve]

I was thinking of it more as people would submit sprites to whichever category they want to compete in, but if someone submitted a sprite w/ ton of sfx to the no-sfx category a sprite manager could overrule that

[teal grove]

Banning or not banning sfx isnt the solution to this problem, i feel like that has been discussed clearly

[signal reef]

Not sure, the Family fuse contest entries were really good thanks to the no-sfx ban

[teal grove]

Yeah, but we'd probably get the same effect if we had contest voting were making so much sfx that your sprite became a square wasnt a viable win strategy

For the record, i like pix' idea to do multiple categories of voting, i just dont think it’s possible to do

[civic mauve]

Unfortunately that’s easier said then done as there’ll always be edge cases where people disagree on what counts as sfx or not

The idea of separate categories for sprites w/ sfx and those w/o mean the latter could compete on their own, but no one has to trash or redo their sprite if it’s considered too sfx-y

[warm blaze]

I also think that multiple categories is the way to go cuz I don't really want the players banned from voting on what kind of sprites they like even if they have issues.

[daring mauve]

This is the first contest I entered, and I caught the tailwinds of Family Fuse but I wasn't familiar with contests much yet at that point (still pretty new all things considered)...
I had a really fun time joining this Jirachi contest and I'm really glad I did! When I joined in, I saw everyone in the chat talking about sfx allowed and how the Jirachi entries would go very hard with the sfx. I also saw that sfx were not allowed in Family Fuse, so I thought that sfx being allowed/not was kinda a rule that came and went. Because of all this, I felt very pressured honestly to add sfx to the sprite I made. Which... on one hand, it was interesting since it was the first time I ever did it, and I had fun figuring it out. However, I felt like it wouldn't hold a candle to the other sfx entries because it wasn't grand enough, even though I was very happy with the base sprite without sfx overall.
Because of this, I think that having sfx available sometimes and not other times, or having separate categories where its allowed or not would be good in making it so that the above doesn't always happen.
I think banning certain people from voting is not a good idea though, we make sprites for everyone in the community to enjoy and not just other spriters- and there are still biases even in spriters compared to non spriters anyways, as well as varying levels of spriting expertise and experience.

[civic mauve]

Yeah, idk if there’s a way to do it, but I feel like it would help even things out w/o banning anything outright. Since sometimes sfx can really add to a sprite and I think it’s a shame to ban them entirely. But w/ contests as they are now, it’s nearly impossible to win w/o them and that’s no good either

[teal grove]

Ill argue the contrary, not banning certain people would be betraying the trust of the participants

[warm blaze]

I mean maybe some of them but I dont really feel that way and nobody has to participate

[teal grove]

The idea behind contests is still to make the best sprite with the highest quality, but due to an overrepresentation of non-spriters, that idea has been warped. Dont forget that many people use contests to improve their spriting skills, but as it stands now they cannot do that

[tawdry pelican]

I could be totally out of the loop but these FX complaints seems overblown. Looking through past contests, many of them which don't appear to have a no-FX rule (am I wrong?), the winning sprites often don't have FX or have minimal FX. It feels premature and poor-sportsmanship to be discussing rule-changes because we think the wrong sprites might win before even the first round of voting has finished.

[daring mauve]

I agree

[fading fiber]

i feel called out 👀
jkjk its a very good point. How many entries r from non spriters? i wouldnt have thought very many

[warm blaze]

I don't agree. I don't think its written anywhere that it has to be the highest quality. It has to be what people like. Plus you can still improve your skill if you don't win. Its not like you get extra feedback if you win.

[daring mauve]

Was basically going to type this haha ^ I agree with Cyen again

[acoustic light]

this is about voting, not entries

[daring mauve]

I also feel like I have learned a lot in participating in this contest. I put a lot of effort into my entry, more than in any other sprite I've done I think. So I think it's false to say that a contest can't be used to improve spriting skills as it currently operates

[civic mauve]

I also don’t really like the idea of banning non-spriters from participating entirely, at least not right away. Though excluding them might help things, I don’t know that it’ll actually solve the problems at the heart of the matter, or that it won’t create new ones

But it might be interesting to have a separate poll for spriters/non spriters just to see what it looks like

And based on the results of a non-spriter only poll the managers could look into options like limiting the rounds non-spriters can vote in or making their votes count for less or whatever. I just think it’s a bad idea to say that preventing non-spriters from voting will fix everything when we don’t actually know how non-spriters vote in comparison to spriters

[drifting wave]

As a land-owning, tax paying spriter that's only been here for a week, I completely agree that only people like me, a spriter, should vote. (if now is not a time for jokes, ignore me.)

[warm blaze]

and no where does it say that is has to be the highest quality. It says that you try to win and in a competition of art it is always going to be opinion based. Cuz its art.

[fading fiber]

As a non-land owning non-spriter, i think non spriters should get a vote, but maybe only a half one 🙂

[drifting wave]

oh oh, maybe they can have 3/5 a vote!

[teal grove]

Said by someone who doesnt know how art is judged

[daring mauve]

Also spriters could have their own biases and varying definitions of quality just as non-spriters. For example, some may prefer "cool" sprites and some may prefer "cute" sprites. Even the pokemon choice could have an effect. I wouldn't be surprised if popular pokemon will fare better than non popular ones even if the non popular ones are executed in higher quality, according to your standards

[drifting wave]

for the record, a panel of judges sounds cool and good to me, and honestly probably a faster process? idk about the faster part. The panel of judges being spriter seniority just kind of makes sense.

[daring mauve]

This is just rude :/

[drifting wave]

but it is true, art contests have always had a panel of judges

[warm blaze]

I mean it depends on the competition how art is judged. Art will always be judged in different ways. There is the kind you go to art school for, there is the kind where you try to sell to the masses and not just rich people and there are ones in discord for players of a game.

[teal grove]

What bluepumpkin said

[acoustic light]

I