General Discussion

[mk1995]

I think I'm with Lee here. The differences are so unnoticeable, you might as well leave it all black.

[Veke]

Definitely not the first one, it makes me think of sleet. Maybe the second one?

[Norbert]

The differences are so unnoticeable, you might as well leave it all black.

How is this, any of those backgrounds any good?
I've also fixed the spacing of the lower font.

[Eagle-Head Priest 97]

Here's an idea, why don't you make the background just a black background with a few of the blue brick backgrounds that there are in the game's dungeon levels? It would be more relevant in my opinion.

[Norbert]

Okay, I'll work out a second draft of the official rules soon, probably tomorrow.
I'll mark the differences between the first and second drafts in a different color, to make it easier for everyone to read through the new/changed stuff.

Let's decide on who will make up the jury.
We can't have semi-permanent jurors, I think, given the limited number of volunteers.
So we'll have 3 or 4 permanent jurors.
Since we seem to agree that entrants will need to record playthroughs, judging should be easier for those involved.
What I've read so far:
- mk1995: yes ("why not")
- Eagle-Head Priest 97: maybe ("may consider jurying")
- Veke: maybe ("participating in some way")
- poirot: maybe (he told me on IRC he may want to be a juror)
Eagle-Head Priest 97, Veke, poirot: do you want to be jurors?
It would be nice if we'd have at least 3 jury members.

Here's an idea, why don't you make the background just a black background with a few of the blue brick backgrounds that there are in the game's dungeon levels?

I've been thinking about that myself, it's not a bad idea.
The problem is that the middle part that's now empty will list the winners, and then there isn't really any empty space left to put the bricks...
They could be crammed in somewhere, like above the right potion on the left, but I don't think it would look very good.

[mk1995]

I've been thinking about that myself, it's not a bad idea.
The problem is that the middle part that's now empty will list the winners, and then there isn't really any empty space left to put the bricks...
They could be crammed in somewhere, like above the right potion on the left, but I don't think it would look very good.

Why don't you just put three or four brick patterns over the image at random? I'll see if maybe I can fix something up and then be right back.

Edit: Like this. I had to pick one of the older images as the newer ones either had sucky font or already had the barely-noticeable background patterns.


(Keep in mind this is only a mock-up, already because it's neither animated nor has the right fonts, and you might probably put those brick patterns somewhere else.)

[spartacus735]

I prefer this Background good job Mk1995 !

I made this with the snes graphics if you want

[Eagle-Head Priest 97]

Eagle-Head Priest 97, Veke, poirot: do you want to be jurors?
It would be nice if we'd have at least 3 jury members.

I guess I could be part of the jury this time. Though I would like to make a mod the next season.

[Veke]

I was thinking of making a mod, actually. That'd make me the first who's signed up for making a PC mod...

[poirot]

I'm very busy right now, I could be a juror in the future, but I don't think right now I could do a good job or at least as good as I would want to.

[Norbert]

Why don't you just put three or four brick patterns over the image at random?

I was thinking there wouldn't be enough room (like this)...
...but without scaling up the background patterns it does indeed look quite nice:



Thanks for putting together the mock-up, mk1995.
So, I think the image is finished like this.
Everyone okay with it, good enough like this?
If so, then I'll start working on the HTML required to make certain things clickable and project the winners over the image and such.

[Norbert]

I guess I could be part of the jury this time. Though I would like to make a mod the next season.

That would work; one of the three winners of the first contest could be a juror during the second contest.

I was thinking of making a mod, actually. That'd make me the first who's signed up for making a PC mod...

Let's hope that, when we mass e-mail all the forum members about the contest (poirot is okay with that), more people will get 'back in the game', just like you.

I'm very busy right now, I could be a juror in the future, but I don't think right now I could do a good job or at least as good as I would want to.

Sure.
I hope you'll have some time now and then to continue your work on CusPop...

[Norbert]

The second draft of the official contest rules.
- - - - -

Prince of Persia 1 Quarterly Modding Contest
Official Rules
as from <date>

The first Contest Period is from 1 October 2012 to 31 December 2012.
That Contest's official thread is here: <thread>

= GENERAL =

We, the Prince of Persia modding community ("Community"), are not in any way associated with any of the official (current or past) publishers and developers of the games in the Prince of Persia video game franchise. Our Community is not making any profit from the Prince of Persia 1 Quarterly Modding Contest ("Contest(s)"). The Contest is designed to keep our Community vibrant and to encourage fans of the original Prince of Persia 1 game ("PoP1") to create the best fan-made modifications ("Mod(s)") they can. Anyone who enters the Contest ("Entrant(s)" or "You") should read these official rules ("Rules"). Entry in the Contest constitutes Your acceptance of and agreement to these Rules.

= CONTEST PERIOD =

The Contest takes place once every quarter year (three months). The Contest begins on the 1st of January, April, July and October at 0:00:00 A.M. Coordinated Universal Time ("Contest Start") and ends on respectively 31 March, 30 June, 30 September and 31 December at 11:59:59 P.M. Coordinated Universal Time ("Contest End"). During the first two months of the Contest, Entrants can submit their Mods ("Submission Period"). Judging begins on the 1st of March, June, September and December at 0:00:00 A.M. Coordinated Universal Time and ends at the Contest End ("Judging Period"). The Judging Period consists of three phases, which are described in the JUDGING section of these Rules.

= HOW TO ENTER =

Entrants can be citizens of any country. Entrants are allowed to collaborate with other Entrants and submit a Mod together ("Team(s)"), but Teams are limited to two (2) Entrants. Each Entrant or Team may submit one (1) Mod per Contest. Subsequent entries will be disqualified. Mods must be created of either the DOS or the SNES version of the original PoP1. Each Mod must be given a title and, optionally, a brief description, to identify that particular work. Mods must not be offensive, threatening, defamatory, disparaging, libelous or contain any content that is inappropriate, indecent, sexual, profane, tortuous, slanderous, discriminatory in any way, or that promotes hatred or harm against any group or person. Mods must not have been released prior to the Contest. However, as explained in the JUDGING section of these Rules, already released Mods may be added during the Judging Period. Mods must be posted in a designated thread onsubmitted on the "New Levels and Mods" board of the Princed Forum at http://forum.princed.org/viewforum.php?f=73 and must then be announced in the designated thread of the running Contest. As described in the RECORDING LEVELS section of these Rules, each Entrant or Team must record and publish walkthroughs of all the levels of the submitted Mod before the Judging Period starts.

= JUDGING =

We want to keep the process fair and scalable, and nobody should be required to play more than ten (10) Mods per Contest. Therefore, the Judging Period consists of three phases. During phases 2 and 3, a ranked (positional) voting method is being used. In the event of a tie in either of those phases, the tied Mods will be reevaluated and put up for a re-vote until the tie is broken. Decisions are final and binding. Mods are being evaluated and scored based on their playability, difficulty (curve), enjoyability, artistic merit, creativity and originality. The Community reserves the right to disqualify any Entrant from the Contest if it reasonably believes that the Entrant has attempted to undermine the legitimate operation of the Contest by cheating, deception, or other unfair practices. If less than six (6) Mods were submitted, Mods that have already been released but were never in a Contest will be added randomly until six (6) spots have been taken.

Phase 1 (Preparation)
---------------------
During the first week (1st - 7th), forum members can register themselves if they want to partake in the second phase ("Peer(s)"). Peers may be Entrants but must not be part of the jury. The Peers are being randomly divided into groups. The number of groups is the number of Mods for the Contest rounded up to the nearest 10, divided by 10. (Example: 12 Mods would mean 20 / 10 = 2 groups.)

Also during that period, three (3) jury members are being nominated and appointed by the Community for the third phase ("Juror(s)"). Three permanent Jurors have been nominated and appointed by the Community: <nick>, <nick> and <nick>. Jurors must not self-judge, thus Entrants cannot be Jurors. When a permanent Juror wishes to be an Entrant, a previous Contest winner must take his or her place during that Contest as a substitute Juror.

Phase 2 (Peers Vote)
---------------------
The next phase takes nine days (8th - 16th). The Mods are being randomly divided over the groups. Every Peer then plays and ranks all the Mods of his or her group. The Mods receive points from each Peer: the number of Mods + 1 - their rank. (Example: 2nd place out of 7 Mods would mean 7 + 1 - 2 = 6 points.) Of each group, the three (3) Mods that have the highest average Peer scores go to phase 3 ("Finalists").

Phase 3 (Jury Vote)
---------------------
The last phase takes approx. 2 weeks (17th - 30th/31st). Every Juror plays and ranks all the Mods that triumphed in phase 2. The Mod that has the highest average Juror score wins first place in the Contest, the Mod with the second highest score wins second place, and the Mod with the third highest score wins third place. These three Mods and their Entrants ("Winners") will receive the prizes as described in the PRICES section of these Rules.

Note that the forum nicks of the Peers and Jurors, and the points they have given the various Mods, are being published on the Princed Forum. This happens on the last days of phases 2 and 3.

= PRICES =

Prizes will be awarded in accordance with these Rules. The Finalists and Winners are being notified via the Princed Forum. There are only non-cash prizes and the prizes are non-transferable. For a period of three (3) months, the names and places of the winning Mods are being displayed on the front pages of the following three websites: http://www.princed.org, http://www.popuw.com and http://www.popot.org. The Mods can be downloaded directly from these front pages, and these front pages also contain links to the forum threads of the Mods at the Princed Forum. Furthermore, the Princed Forum contains a thread with information about the winning Mods and Entrants of all previous Contests, in honor of these works and their authors.

= ADVICE =
= RECORDING LEVELS =

Entrants are advised to playtest their Mods thoroughly. In case You created one or more (very) difficult levels, You may want to use DOSBox to record playthroughs of these levels. Playthroughs can be uploaded to, for example, YouTube, and may be submitted along with the Mods. Each Entrant or Team is required to record and publish walkthroughs of all the levels of the submitted Mod. DOSBox can be used to this, as can be read here: http://www.dosbox.com/wiki/Recording_Video Under GNU/Linux, if Ctrl+Alt+F5 cannot be used to record, first start "dosbox -startmapper" and save, exit. Then, in .dosbox/mapper, change hand_video from "key 286 mod1 mod2" to "key 9 mod1", to be able to start/stop recording with Ctrl+Tab. Recorded videos can be uploaded to YouTube. If You prefer, the videos may be unlisted: http://support.google.com/youtube/bin/a ... wer=181547

= USEFUL LINKS =

It is not mandatory to use any of the following tools/information.

Where to download level editors:
http://www.popuw.com/editors.html
http://www.popot.org/level_editors.php

Familiarize Yourself with the in-game events:
viewtopic.php?f=73&t=3151

How to change images and audio:
viewtopic.php?f=70&t=2937

Changing the executable:
http://www.popot.org/other_useful_tools.php?tool=CusPop

PoP1 tricks and bugs:
viewtopic.php?f=68&t=1747

Using more than two level graphics:
viewtopic.php?f=67&t=3080

[Norbert]

As for the scoring system, I propose a 10/10 or 5/5 scoring system for the categories, as listed below: [...]

In all honesty, I'm not in favor of making it mandatory for those who're judging mods to abide by a certain scoring system.
I think it's much easier if people can simply ranks the mods, without having to justify their decisions in such detail.
But that's just my opinion, maybe I'm alone in this.

[spartacus735]

Woo it's a fucking good job Norbert !
But for the snes mod , for the competition you must choose which version? Version U, E or Japanese?

( If one person is interested to make a snes mod with me , i'm here ! )






( But i'm french so , my english is not perfect :p )