Topic: Castlevania Dungeon Award Sprite Contest

[Lelygax]

I expect a honorable mention for being so bad at spriting  j/k

[uzo]

Jorge didn't finish his yet, we're still waiting on him.

[darkmanx_429]

Jorge is done now, I am assuming he is going to make the announcement...

On a side note you guys, we can officially start bouncing ideas for what we want as the new contest for this month as well as the pick for judges! 

Lets get this done soon, so people can have the maximum amount of time to work on their sprites!

For my idea for November's contest, I say we should have a contest to design an original Castlevania End Boss that Dracula could turn into.

Maybe something up to this size:



I think this gives everyone the opportunity to sprite much bigger this time around.

[Jorge D. Fuentes]

You are correct.
I arrived from Halloween last night and finished up the contest.

We started drafting up the Judgment in GoogleDocs over the last few days, with me concluding it last night.  Here is a copy of our collected thoughts as well as the scores:

TOTALS
Example Entry--------------------------------- | 4 | 2 | 1 |    Total: 7


(D= Darkman, U= Uzo, J= Jorge)

 ---------------------------------------------------  D - U -  J ----------------

The Plot Twist  - Golden Bat Trophy------  | 4 | 4 |  4  |    Total: 12
Kaonstantine - Death Thumbs Up--------  | 2 | --  |  1  |    Total: 3
Jop - Victor Belmont Stand----------------- | 1 |  --  |  --  |    Total: 1
Jop - Simon Belmont Stand----------------  | -- | 1 |  --  |    Total: 1
Donoffrio - Simon Bust --------------------- | -- | 2 |  2  |    Total: 4

_______________________________________ ___________________________________
UZO

(click to show/hide)

1st Place - The Plot Twist - Golden Bat
This seems to be the standout entry of the submissions. It hits every point the contest is about. It clearly looks like an award, and is colored appropriately for “First Place”. The animation is a very nice touch and the shine effect just really sells it as an award. You did remarkably well.
I think the one other comment I have is basically in reference to how you explained it. You said it references Dracula, though personally I don’t get that feeling out of it. It just looks like the Giant Bat, or a normal bat really. However I feel that symbolism represents Castlevania perfectly, and really does fit as the grand prize.

2nd Place - Donoffrio - Simon Bust
I gave you my second place vote because the lack of polish on yours that the Bat Trophy really had. I think your concept was pretty solid though. A shine animation really would have helped to sell it. I think also you tried to over detail it. Because you’re working with one material, which limits you to one color scale usually, you have to be very careful about over complicating the details of the sprite. Colors help really differentiate details a lot, and the lack of diverse colors really hurts you here. It appears somewhat hard to make out, especially at first glance.
I did really like the base of the trophy though. It looks really fancy like a prestigious award.

3rd Place - Jop - Simon Belmont (LoS)
I settled on this one for third place after some thought. I think out of the remaining entries that were vying for third place and that I believe have satisfied the theme of the contest, this one was it. It looks like a neat figurine trophy. Reminds me in a way of the trophies in Smash Bros.
What kept this from going higher in my picks was that it had no feeling of ‘place’. I could not tell by looking at it, especially within the whole set, that it necessarily stood out as ‘first place’. In the classic timeline perhaps it would be more obvious as he is the first Belmont that was playable, and highly regarded. In the LoS timeline however, Simon is somewhat relegated to side kick.
I think the form on Simon was much better than the others in the set. The others looked a bit too stiff and similar.

Did Not Place - The Plot Twist - Alternates
I think the coloring on these was a little dull, especially when compared to the bat one. Lack of animation aside, they look pretty well done in form. I think Death’s looks a bit strange being noticeably shorter looking than the others though. Since the bat and the medusa head to me look like regular enemies as opposed to Dracula and possibly the boss Medusa head, it makes me wonder what it would be like to replace Death with another minor enemy, like perhaps the Axe Knight.

Did Not Place - Lelygax - Throne Trophy
I’ll give you A for effort. You did satisfy the contest guidelines, and the pick was kind of interesting. Obviously execution is what pushed you down the list, but that said you seemed to be on the right track. Given more time and practice it could have had a chance to place.

Did Not Place - Kaonstantine - Various Animations
I really hated to not place you, but I think that your entries do not really follow the contest guidelines. It’s a shame because your sprite work is top notch, and you had the skill to really compete. The collection of animations you did would serve better as like stock avatars for the forum to be honest. None of them really gave me the award vibe. The closest is the potion, but like I mentioned with Jop’s there is no sense of what ‘place’ it is. It’s not obviously a first place prize.
I really have to hand it to you though for maximizing your color usage and animating them. It really is a great set of icons, just not really embodying the theme of being awards.

Did Not Place - Sonic Reaper - CVIII Trio
Like Kaonstantine, I really hated not being able to place you in this. I know you do good work. The reasons are pretty similar. I think you encapsulated the ‘icon’ look very well, but none of them stand out as obviously ‘first place’. Even amongst themselves, it’s very hard to discern an order of lowest to highest. That said they are really well made, and have very good use of their limited colors.

JORGE

(click to show/hide)

The Plot Twist - The Golden Bat TrophyThis entry captures the spirit of the contests that will come.  It is simple, elegant, and it’s even animated!  It will be easy to figure out that it’s an award piece and it will draw the eye when contest winners post it on their profile.  The bat’s open/
Donoffrio - Belmont Bust
Man, I really really wanted a ‘shine’ animation for this.  As it stands, it’s a solid entry, but given the nature of the contest, naturally the more eye-popping animations are drawing the eye more.  You get my 2nd place entry because it matches the intent of the contest rather well, even though it falls short of the 1st place.  If it were animated with sheen, it would probably give the Bat that Theplottwist put up a run for its money.
Kaostantine - All are good, but Death Thumbs Up is my pick
Wow, these are actually rather great! As I said, my fave is the Death Thumbs up one.  It captures a ‘Good job!’ feeling you would get as a contest winner, so it somewhat works for the intent of the contest.  Keep on doing animations, though! The Thunderbolt Rosary (or Holy Cross) and the Medusa are solid.  Did you keep these under 15 colors?  It certainly seems so.  Pretty great.  They also seem to match SotN’s color palette (greens and blues from the name entry screen).
All the other entries don’t quite match the intent of the contest.  Remember that these entries are to represent “Hey I won something, let me show it on my profile”.  They needed to be eye-catching and showing off some kind of prestige.  While a lot of these other entries are great in their own merit, I don’t think they quite fit the intent of the contest as well.  Major props for some amazing work, though.  Honorable mention goes to Sonic Reaper for his CVIII Trio icons, and Jop’s LoS trophies.  Certainly, Kaostantine’s other animated ones are great.  Lelygax gets props for something cute, hehe.

DARKMAN

(click to show/hide)

1st Place:
4 pts. The Plot Twist  - Golden Bat Trophy
This is a spectacular piece. The composition, coloring, and animation is beyond reproach. In my opinion this piece encompasses what a 1st place award for the Sprite Contest should look like.
I am all about the silhouette. The piece translates well at 1x and even better at 2x. It has a simple animation yet this is an excellent example of simple is better. The animation is really smooth and the coloring is blended well. The highlight areas translate well against the darker colors and the highlighted areas make sense. There is even sheen on the podium! I can’t say enough good things about this piece.
2nd Place:
2 pts.  Koanstantine - Death Thumbs Up
All of Koanstantine’s entries were solid, but for the theme of this month’s contest the thumb’s up is my choice for the winner. In my opinion what really sells this piece is the ¾ perspective of the hand and the slight tilt of the head. Speaking of the hand, it translates well at 1x and even better at 2x. The hand is shaded well and color choices for the darker areas of the back of the hand really bring it into the foreground from the main image. The cool color choices for death’s head are shaded well. You could have went with the basic white off tone bone color for the head/hand but the fact that you went with a cooler color palette shows that you have really come along as a great sprite artist. Also, the multi layers of animation are great! My only suggestion is that you could add some additional mouth movement to the animation. i.e. chuckle, laugh, etc.
3rd Place:
1 pt. Job - Victor Belmont Stand
Out of all Job’s entries in my opinion the Victor sprite was the best. Normally, I am not a fan of character art being profiled dead center but for the theme of this contests it works well.  The color palette for Victor actually works better in your favor at 1x then all the other sprites. That subtle hint of white and the highlights of the armored pieces make this pop at 1x. There is also a nice transition of brown on the legs leading to the green of the torso which is not overpowering. Nice solid detailing on the tunic as well.  In the future my suggestion is work on studying dynamic posing for your character sprites. In most cases ideally dead center poses don’t work well when showing off your character sprites. You want to showcase your sprites as best as possible so try a combination of dynamic poses and ¾ view. That can turn a good sprite into a great sprite. If you noticed everything can start to look the same with every sprite in the same perspective view.

-------------------------------------


So the winner, in what is basically an unanimous decision, is...
The Plot Twist - Golden Bat Award
 


As per the rules of this contest (which were voted upon and the end solution was decided here, ThePlotTwist now has the bonus prize of designing the Silver and Bronze awards.

I'm guessing he will be using the ones he showed us (Silver GrimReaper, Bronze Medusa).
The Castlevania Dungeon Forums team would like to thank everyone for taking their time for their entries.
Hopefully later contest will get everything squared away in terms of rules, etc. in a better, more efficient way.

[Gunlord]

Congratulations, The Plot Twist!

[BLOOD MONKEY]

I think I have an idea for the next one: HD sprite contest. Everybody chooses one belmont, scales it up to a minimum of 4x and maximum of 8x and has to pixel over it. No art, but only pixel art (like this: http://fc02.deviantart.net/fs70/f/2012/126/6/d/hd_sprite_edit___castlevania_sotn_heart_refresh_by_anarkhya-d4yqowe.png            not like this: http://raihn.files.wordpress.com/2010/05/trevor_step02_thumb.png  )

[darkmanx_429]

I think I have an idea for the next one: HD sprite contest. Everybody chooses one belmont, scales it up to a minimum of 4x and maximum of 8x and has to pixel over it. No art, but only pixel art (like this: http://fc02.deviantart.net/fs70/f/2012/126/6/d/hd_sprite_edit___castlevania_sotn_heart_refresh_by_anarkhya-d4yqowe.png            not like this: http://raihn.files.wordpress.com/2010/05/trevor_step02_thumb.png  )

Ewww, so you are basically tracing over already existing pixel art

[BLOOD MONKEY]

Ewww, so you are basically tracing over already existing pixel art

Or we could do a character creation sprite contest.

[Jorge D. Fuentes]

Actually ZeroSaberGreen's pitch is similar to what a lot of the Capcom people did when they had to upscale/downscale sprites.
It's an interesting technique that yields really cool-looking results.

It's still 'pixel art', just high-res.  It's as if you took, say, Richter Belmont and upscaled him to Ryu (SFII) size, but kept the same pose, but took advantage of the many extra pixels in order to come up with more definition.

[Lelygax]

Im with Darkmanx, while I know its very hard to "remaster" sprites, I would like to see something new or done from zero. Im best at doing edits (even so Im not good) and even so I prefered to do something from scratch, the judges mentioning my entry is a great prize for me, thanks

BUT, if the next contest come to be this, I already know what sprite I would like to upscale

[kaonstantine]

Congratulations, theplottwist!

Thanks to the judges for the reviews on my sprites. I even feared my sprites could had been rejected because they don't fit the contest theme. I'm happy with the comments received ^^

To all contestant, i hope to see you again in the further contest, and that more contestant take part of it.

About the next contest, i'm with darkmanx and lelygax, i prefer to work on something totally new instead of making modifications/using a template.

[uzo]

Maybe taking a character that has no sprite in that scale and making one? Like Reinhardt or Gabriel. Could even do a Judgement design (haha I know) or something.

Only a single pose is required. I'd say impose the 16 color limit to keep things authentic to true Castlevania style.

[BLOOD MONKEY]

Maybe taking a character that has no sprite in that scale and making one? Like Reinhardt or Gabriel. Could even do a Judgement design (haha I know) or something.

Only a single pose is required. I'd say impose the 16 color limit to keep things authentic to true Castlevania style.

Ooh. That sounds nice.

[theplottwist]

Thanks dudes! To be honest, the competition here is arduous, and really made me think I had no chance 

Now, I might take up on Uzo's idea and make the silver trophy into another enemy. Maybe Axe Armor, as he proposed, or maybe another equally annoying enemy as Bat and Medusa Head (Fleaman comes to mind). I'll try to find a way to make Death work, but if it doesn't, I'll show something new!

[Shiroi Koumori]

Congratulations, theplottwist!

I had a feeling that the bat would win top prize the first time I saw it.
I can't wait for the next contest. 

Hmm... how about designing an original monster for the next contest?