Screenshot Design Competition - Round 3!

[Alex Walz]

SCREENSHOT DESIGN COMPETITION
Round 3

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Round 3 has just begun with the exciting theme of Lost Cities of Mythador! Check out the announcement for details on the theme, mechanics, and how to participate!

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Want to show off your design skills? Looking to build that citadel of your dreams? This is your opportunity!

In what I hope will be the first of many upcoming competitions and community events, Reverie is excited to announce its first Screenshot Design Competition! I think we can all agree that Dawn of Fantasy has a pretty amazing scenario design editor, and we want to put it to good use!

In this screenshot design competition, everyone is invited to set up an epic screenshot of anything related to the lost cities of Mythador (see the theme below). As this is a design competition, it is highly recommended that screenshots be designed in the DOF Editor; however, designers can set up scenes in one of the game modes as well. We're not strict and there's very few guidelines, so the main thing is just to have fun and to kick off the design community!

To inspire your creativity,
Video: The Level Design Process
Fantasy Friday: Editor Part 1
Fantasy Friday: Editor Part 2
Screenshot Design Competition Hall of Fame

All screenshots must be submitted by 12:01 AM EST on December 22nd. I say 12:01 instead of midnight to avoid confusion, but you can think of the deadline as midnight on the 21st, if it helps. But I'd suggest just not giving yourself a reason to ponder the time and timezone - get your entry in early!
As this round requires more work than the average, we will not be worrying about deadlines until later down the road. So just work on an awesome town, and we'll check in for a progress update before announcing the deadline.

Screenshot Theme
The theme of this round, as chosen by GPS51 (the winner of our last round) is The Lost City of X. Check the announcement for details.

What are the rules?

• Screenshots must be uploaded in .jpg format, no larger than 1 MB
• Only entries designed after the announcement of the current round will be accepted.
• The use Photoshop and other post-processing image editing software are prohibited. Cropping and added text/speech bubbles are an exception, but still not encouraged.
• Modding and in-editor scripting are both allowed
• Only one entry per designer. If a designer decides to redo his or her entry, he or she can remove the original link/attachment, and submit the new entry, as long as it is still before the deadline.
• All screenshots must be submitted by the deadline (noted above) in order to qualify as entries. There are no exceptions; so the earlier, the better.

How do I take a screenshot?
Begin by setting up a screenshot in the Dawn of Fantasy Editor - Editor.exe in your game's directory folder.

Once set up, screenshots may be taken:

• In-Editor. This is the easiest way to take a screenshot and gives the designer optimal control over the camera and lighting effects. You will find how to control both of these in the Level Design Guide linked to below. Once you are ready to take the screenshot, hit the Print Screen button on your keyboard ("prt sc"). This will save the screen's image to your clipboard. Once saved, open up an imaging software, such as Photoshop or MS Paint, and paste your clipboard (Ctrl+V). Save your entry using the guidelines in the Rules section, and you're all set to submit your entry.
  
• In-Game. This takes more time to set up but is recommended for intermediate-advanced designers as it calls upon more of the game's coding (such as the dynamic lighting, auto-generated props, and optimal image rendering) to present a better picture of your scene. To test your scenario in-game to take a screenshot, load your scenario in the Editor and select the green playtest arrow. Alternatively, you can load your custom scenario from DOF's Main Menu. But as mentioned before, it does require a little more work. When loaded in game, you will lose the Editor's easily-maneuverable camera controls. So if you want to shoot from a unique angle, it is recommended that you set up the scene through scripting a basic cinematic. You will also need to script in a couple of lines to call upon the "setup" game functions to get the aforementioned dynamic lighting and other scripts. Fortunately, both of these have been done for you in the guides below and only require a little editing to fit your scene. As for actually taking the screenshot, it's the same as in the editor - use the Print Screen keyboard and then paste your clipboard into an imaging software. In-game, you can also use F1 to take a screenshot that will be saved in your main DOF directory - but watch your limit as you can only store 30 screenshots at any one time. If you do this, however, please open up the image and re-save it as a .jpg to meet the entry guidelines.

See:
A Beginner's Guide to Level Design
A Beginner's Guide to Scripting & Cinematography
Obviously, there is much more to design than what we could include in two guides, so if you have any questions (such as how to cue unit animations), please post them in a new thread in this forum and our scripters and mappers will help you out to the best of their abilities.

How do I submit an entry?
Entries can be submitted one of two ways:

1. Leave a post in this thread and upload your screenshot (through the "Manage Attachments") to the post or provide a link to an externally-hosted image. The latter service is recommended if your image is greater than 250 kb or 1600x900 (see Rules for size and format guidelines). Examples of image-hosting sites include Photobucket and ImageShack; or,
   
2. Email me your screenshot as an attachment or link to publicrelations@reverieworld.com - refer to the rules section for format guidelines. I will send a confirmation email within 24 hours. If you don't receive a confirmation, leave a post in this thread and we'll find another way or try again.

How will the winner be chosen?
After the deadline, all screenshots will be compiled and a public poll will be posted. In this poll, forumers, designers, and devs alike will be encouraged to vote for their favorite entry. We have no means of preventing designers from voting on their own entries, so I'd say everyone can just go ahead and vote for their own, if they wish, to balance things out.

The poll will last for three days, after which time the winner will be declared.

What will the winner get?
As if eternal glory weren't enough, the winner will receive:

• 240 Influence Points, redeemable at the Online Kingdom Market for the purchase of elite mercenaries and other downloadable content
• The chance to choose the theme of the next screenshot design competition, subject to RWS approval
• A rare forum avatar of a warrior/noble class NPC, chosen from one of the six below:

The second runner-up will receive:

• 70 Influence Points, redeemable at the Online Kingdom Market for the purchase of elite mercenaries and other downloadable content
• 1 Market Code redeemable for a free dragon mercenary
• 1 Market Code redeemable for free dwarven mercenaries

The second runner-up will receive:

• 1 Market Code redeemable for free dwarven mercenaries

Fellow designer andreicde will also be throwing in 70 influence points of his own, to be given to the designer of the entry most popular with himself and the developers.

Happy designing, and good luck! Please let us know if anything is unclear or if you want like help/suggestions on the design front.

[Joseph Visscher]

Is there, hum,,, anything preventing me from entering? :P hmm.

[GPS51]

Since I'm building up my own scen map is there a way I could upload the whole map if I wanted to?

[Alex Walz]

Sorry, Joe, a three-year head start would be a little cheap. Maybe for a later round. You could post something for inspiration though.

Originally Posted by GPS51

Since I'm building up my own scen map is there a way I could upload the whole map if I wanted to?

Are you looking to upload your map for distribution or as a contest entry? You can't upload the map as an entry, but you could use a screenshot from that map.

I'll talk to the folks at DOFH and see if we could share their download database for uploading scenarios and mods, though you would still need to register an accoutn over there.

[GPS51]

Yeah I was thinking just the map for fun somewhere, help start the fan made map database. I expect I'll finish it after I get the screen shot I want :P .

[Andy Joslin]

http://www.reverieworld.com/forums/s...ad.php?p=65891

I added an extra post about making sure the GUI is hidden for your cinematic.