The story thus far: Three weeks ago, we asked you to name some themes you'd like to see for the next game design competition. Two weeks ago, we had a poll to narrow down the giant, giant list of ideas you came up with. And finally, last week, we had a final face-off between the top 12 favorites. Thank you, thank you, everybody who voted. We had an even better turnout than the previous poll, and let me tell you, it was a hot contest. The top two favorites were separated by a mere 3 votes. The three leading themes, in random order, are:
- Explore
- Failure
- Breaking the 4th Wall
And without further ado, the theme for Casual Gameplay Design Competition 6 is... hold on, something's missing. I can't quite put my finger on it, but I know there's something... let's see. We got the suggestions. We ran the poll. We ran another poll. We sacrificed a chicken. We tallied the votes. I'm making the announcement. I'm typing it out in plain, dry boring text... that's it! Graphics! We can't announce a competition without graphics! We'll need to have a...
Casual Gameplay Art Design Competition!
Your assignment this week on You Are Games is to make artwork for CGDC6. We need three images. First, a logo. Second, a banner with that logo on it. Third, a theme image. You can take a look at the previous competition announcements for inspiration, but the new logo doesn't have to be anything like what we've used before.
- The logo contains the words "Casual Gameplay Design Competition 6". It should be no greater than 480 pixels wide and 200 pixels tall.
- The banner (which can be just the logo with a background) is 494 pixels wide, and between 300 and 450 pixels tall.
- The theme image has the name of the theme in it. It should be a square, 288 pixels wide and 288 pixels tall.
- If we use your graphics for our next competition, you will win $300 for your efforts! You must be at least 13 years of age to enter, void where prohibited.
Please attach your entries to an email, and send it to the address on the right. The deadline is Wednesday evening, the 19th of August, at midnight Eastern Standard Time. Be sure to include all 3 image elements listed above.
You can choose any of the three winners for the theme image, or enter something for all three. In fact, you can turn in as many entries as you like. If we like your artwork, even if we don't choose your work for this event, we may ask you to make something for us in the future. If we get some graphics that really blow us away, it might very well affect which of the top three themes we use for the competition. Because the votes in this last poll were so very close, that's not locked in stone yet. All three are worthy contenders.
Again, thank you everybody for participating in this little adventure so far. We're really looking forward to seeing what the artists among you come up with.
Oh god, please don't tell me we have to wait AGAIN!
I was just about dying of excitement for the last week: way to kill my attention span for anything other than CGDC and possibly flash games!
Psst, Psychotronic, our plan, it's working. >:)
when you say you can enter an image for each theme, does that include extra logos and banners or just the theme image?
Can I enter a set (logo, banner plus theme image) for each of the three categories? Or, can I enter several different ideas for the same category?
I guess the answer is yes to both questions, I just want to be sure since the post isn't dead exact on these.
bio
Query: Will the full poll results be published any time? I'd be quite interested to see the full breakdown.
[Edit: We may release the full poll results sometime in the future, but not at this time. -Jay]
While you don't have to use any of the themes for the logo/banner, you certainly may.
We don't want to limit anyone's creativity.
And you may submit multiple entries, if you like. So you may submit a set for each theme, for example.
Good questions. :)
This is part of why JIG is my favorite game site.
Jay takes the input from the visitors and Psychotronic and all the other great reviewers rock it (rocket it) to the house with renewed enthusiasm.
JIG is THE best gaming website!
Oh god Jay, you're just plain EVIL.
I mean, I can't even complain that much because this site brings me so much flash-gaming goodness!
Darn you and your evil ways!
Your team of similarly devious henchmen/women!
Darn your evil genius!
...Okay, got that out of my system now.
Can you make the JIG jigman available as a vector format?
Well, at least we have three LOVELY possible winners. Failure and Breaking the Fourth Wall were two of my favourites, and although I didn't vote for it, I quite like exploration. Yes, all is well, but for that dreaded delay!
*glares at JiG staff*
Thank you! That's why we love what we do here at JIG, because of visitors like you all. ^_^
Here's a link to some of our logos in png, fla, and eps format:
https://jayisgames.com/images/JIG_CGlogo.zip
Let me know if you need anything else. I'll have to reply later when I get up, though, as I'm heading to bed now.
I for one quite like the community involvement in this competition, and I hope JiG does the same next year. :)
Oh wow, I wasn't 13 when the contest started, but now I'm sort of a loophole. XD
Time to pull out my low-average-not-so-good-medium drawing skills, I guess.
(also jay and psychotronic curse you for breaking the suspense :P)
Haha, I love it how you make the community a huge part of this years CGDC.
I'll try my best jay. that money makes for some good motivation, but I would have tried even if there was no prize involved accept for the honor of that shiny banner everyone gets to have a look at. :)
Thx, Jay.
Good answers :)
bio
Oh, one more question: though from what's been said/written it seems 99.9%, I still want to be absolutely certain: are we allowed to use the JIG logo if we decide to?
Most probably we are, I just want to see a clear statement of it so there's not gonna be a trouble over it later.
Thx.
bio
Yes! Yes! Sweet glorious victory! I didn't think 4th wall had a chance! (I voted for it anyway. All these others would be great, too, though.
Breaking the 4th wall? Isn't that going to hurt?
And of course you can start making games that use all 3 of the themes (explore + break the 4th wall + failure) and you'll have a head-start. Or you can make a game that uses only one or two themes. In might not make it to the competition, but ...
we do likeses us our gameses
R
We have to wait for ANOTHER week?!? I'm glad that Explore got into the top three, and I liked Failure and Breaking the 4th Wall too.
For the logo its the "Casual Gameplay Design Competition 6" correct? And does the theme design need that text in it?
I cant draw worth a half-penny, but i will tell my artistic friend to take a look. =)
wow! I like those themes.
I turned 13 a few weeks back. time to start GIMPing again! :)
is there a limit to how many entries you can submit?
do you have to do all three (icon, banner, theme)?
bioLarzen - yes, you may use our logos in your submissions, but are not required to. Having our logo in it won't necessarily elevate it above others, we are looking for something aesthetically pleasing, uncluttered, and professional in appearance.
Falzz - yes, the text is "Casual Gameplay Design Competition 6". The theme design does not need the competition logo in it, but it should be in the same design style as the logo/banner.
Kegan04 - thank you for telling your friend and helping us to spread the word about our art competition! :D
Will - there is no limit to the number of entries you may submit, but you must include all 3 pieces requested.
OH NOOOO! Not another week of waiting! OH no!!! ;)
By the way, the phrase is "without further ado" not "without further adieu". Adieu means goodbye or farewell, whereas ado is a fuss. Though there are occasions when adieu can be considered correct.
[Corrected. Thank you. The author has been chastised and beaten. Meaning I slapped myself in the forehead hard enough to sting. -Psychotronic]
Are animated logos allowed (i.e. animated flash or animated gif)?
Assuming flash is okay, can the logo also be a game in itself (i.e. the original JIG logo)?
Although the idea of the logo being a game is an awesome idea, we really want this part of the competition to be for the artists.
Therefore, we are looking for static images only.
No Flash, no animated GIF, please. :)
Wow, cool--I voted for all three of the winning-so-far themes! Which surprises me, because I always feel as if I have very little in common with the rest of the gaming community here.
I too take my hat off to the idea of involving the community in the artwork. Excellent idea--and I have a very cool idea for artwork...but, alas, am not an artist. Well, we'll see what I can come up with!
Those really are in random order... they change around every time I load the page!
Have any of the banners from previous years used "theme images"? Because it says the name of the theme should be stated, and I can't find that in any of the previous banners. I feel incredibly stupid, so if somebody could, maybe, take a screenshot pointing the theme image out, that would be an absolute ENORMOUS help to me. (:
Here you go, Caitlyn:
https://jayisgames.com/images/contest2theme_small.jpg
https://jayisgames.com/images/contest3theme.gif
https://jayisgames.com/images/cgdc5theme.jpg
Is it bad if it includes a flaming monkey? Even just a small one?
i might try one or two of these
failure is going to be a tough concept for a game, i am super curious to see what gets made out of that
Oh, thanks a bunch! (:
(Oooh, I hate to be picky, but) :
I could only find the theme image in the 3rd CGDC..
Why can't I find the rest? Am I not looking around hard enough?
(Again, sorry for being such a picky prick. ._.' )
Caitlyn - I guess I don't understand your question.
In my last comment I linked 3 different theme images, each of which appears on the respective competition announcement page (ref: https://jayisgames.com/tag/cgdc )
You will have to scroll down past all the entries, but they're there, I assure you on every competition announcement page except for CGDC #1.
I'm definitely giving this a shot, although I doubt I'll win anything :P
I'm just glad that there's a something I can do for the CGDC6, since I don't make games :)
Oh goodness, I'm sorry! I understand now. (: Thanks a bunch for clarifying!
Ah, having no artist skillz whatsoever, I'll probably pass this one out... But it's nice to see "Failure" made it to the top three, I've been rooting for it since the beginning!
Do you have to submit all three images?
For example, what if you want to make JUST the banner? Or, JUST the logo?
FrogFri - that question has been asked and answered already: Yes, you must submit all three images since we need all 3 to announce the start of the competition. :)
Hurrah, explore made it! I'll have to see if I can come up with some logos to go with in time.
You know... for a casual game site, you sure are making the casual gamer stress out with suspense. ;)
Hope the graphics turnout goes well. I'm excited to see the results!
Although, I do have to say, would it have not been better to have the theme already in mind for the artists to play off of?
Think how fun it would have been to play off of each of the three themes debated. Each one a task and a great starting point for all the artists who will be involved.
And I bring this up because, knowing how much artists take pride in their work, having them create not one, but three separate images in the alloted time may end up ultimately suffering in the final project?
I don't know. What is your opinion Jay?
And sorry to harp again, but what if you find one of the pieces of art to be far better than another, but ends up being in a category you ultimately end not choosing?
I'm a nitpicker... :)
Hmm, I guess I don't understand your question, bumoftheums.
The artists DO know what the theme will be: it will be one of those 3 listed, and they are free to let any of them inspire them to create a design in that theme.
As for 3 separate images, it's easier to look at it as 1 logo and a companion background style (color scheme plus additional accoutrements) to flesh out the design.
The banner can be as simple as just the background with the logo overlaid.
And the theme graphic can also use the same background as the banner with the theme word(s) overlaid.
So, it's really not all that involved when you take it apart like that.
As for your other question, I guess we'll just have to cross that bridge when we come to it.
Since we have never had an art competition here before, I have no idea what to expect. But we'll certainly make the best out of the situation as we have during past competitions. :)
Will the winning graphics necessarily come from the same entrant, or will there be three separate prizes? Probably obvious, but I want to be sure.
Since the idea is to have a logo, a banner, and a theme announcement all in the same design style, I think it would be very unlikely that we would be able to mix and match the pieces from all the entries.
Therefore, we are looking to get all 3 pieces from the same entrant.
I made a theme image that I think is o.k., but I'm to lame of an artist to try and do the other two. My image is for failure, it has failure written at the top in red, and below is a man being laughed at because he just scored 0 points on Super Pony FUN Time. It's on a purple background. I wish you could see it...
Could you confirm that you received my entry. I'm not sure it sent correctly.
nate8nate - Received.
Thankfully, Breaking the 4th wall is in there! I really think that is the best option by far!
Explore package sent, could You confirm? It's from Tomasz O.
[Edit: Received. Thank you. -Jay]
Oh... my goodness...
Ive been getting myself all excited for entering this competition for weeks now and just now realized it will most likely be only flash games.
...
Any chance Gamemaker games will be accepted? =/
please?
...
I second the Game Maker motion.
Did you get the entry from Cornbread Muffin? I just sent it in today. It probably stunk, but I tried my best.
[Edit: Received. Thank you. -Jay]
Does it count toward me if I recreated my own jigman simply because I didn't see the links here? ;P
Package sent with 1 logo, 1 banner, and 3 theme images. I hope it's okay. ;)
I really should stop working at the last minute.
Sent *two* artwork submissions. Even if neither get picked, considering the awesome three themes that were chosen, I'd be just as happy to work on a game for the CGDC6...
... at the last minute.
Last minute question: what file format do you want these images in?
JIGuest: Any format is fine, but PNGs are probably best.
With 15 mins left, I'm really anxious... did you receive my two submissions, one for "Failure" and one for "Breaking the Fourth Wall"?
nutcasenightmare: All your entries have been received.
*heart reassembles itself*
Thanks, Psychotronic! Now I can *SLEEP* tonight.
Update