Topic: February 2015 Castlevania Dungeon Sprite Contest

[darkmanx_429]

Damnit I forgot to animate.

It's always optional.

[piscesdreams]

There's some really excellent sprites here.

[Shiroi Koumori]

Voting is closed.
We'll just wait for the judges to hand out their respective verdicts.

[theANdROId]

Great job to everyone!  So many entries, and all done so well...this was difficult!  (Somehow, it was still fun to do, so thanks for the privilege of letting me judge this one!)  Again, ;-) I say we should use our entries from each of these contests to just make our own game...Castlevania: Dungeon Forum of...something.

Anyway, on to my verdicts if you would like to know!  I thought about placing each winner under their own spoiler tag, and the honorable mentions under another...but on account of the fact that such an act may just be annoying, I'll just use one tag for them all.  [Drumroll] [/Drumroll] ;-)

(click to show/hide)

First Place: Kokushibyō, for Roxanne Belmont
Fantastic entry, and my pick for first place!  Roxanne's design seems like a typical or "classic" style of Belmont, and it just looks awesome!   The design leaves no doubt in my mind that she is a Belmont.  The choice of colors look nice and the shading seems pretty good too.  The boots are also really awesome, and look great!  Regardless your end placing, keep spriting!

Second Place: theplottwist, for Ariane Belmont
Ariane is wonderfully designed, and my pick for second place!  I particularly like the way her hair flows in two of the images, and the way she holds the whip in the second image is different and neat.  The SotN style comes through clearly and as a whole her design is very well done as well.  Great job!

Third Place: Donvermicelli, for Seranna Belmont
Seranna is a great entry, with a pretty epic pose I might add!  She is also my pick for third place!  The background is also an interesting twist in an alternate dimension's Belmont line, and I imagine the succubus side could add something interesting to the gameplay.  The arc of the whip seems potentially unrealistic, but I skipped whip-physics 101 so I really don't know.  Otherwise, you did a great job!

Other Entries:

Konstantine -- Yet another impressive entry!  Her animation looks cool and even like there is a bit of a 3D effect.  Maybe that was the intention, or maybe it's just my eyes...either way I think it looks pretty nifty!  Alunia does seem incomplete though somehow...I can't quite place my finger on what it is though.  I know you mentioned that you didn't have time to add detail to her dress, and maybe that's what it is I'm noticing.  I wish you'd had the time...given what I've seen you do before, I'm sure the final product would have been remarkable!  Keep up the great work!

Jop, Dolores, Dralia, and Ainos Belmont -- You did a fantastic  job with each of your entries!  Of the two Dolores sprites you created, I think the red-headed Dolores looks better because of the contrast between her face and hair.  I like your robe design for Dralia, and Ainos is well done also.  Dralia's ice shot (in final form) looks like a jet figher to me, or like something from a side-view shoot-em-up.  Maybe it's just to my eyes, but it sticks out to me and seems awkward.  Nonetheless, your work is great, so keep it up!  You are one that always has me eager to see what you'll bring to the table next!

theplottwist, Gamer Belmont -- I really love this entry and idea!  Perhaps you entered it as a joke (I mean, she is using a controller for a whip after all!), but I think it's great!  Whether in a serious or silly game, and whether or not it was meant as homage to Castlevania, I'd love to see and play a game with this character in it!  The headphones she wears look more like blue highlights in the sprites, though I'd imagine it'd be difficult making it clear they're headphones in the sprite alone.  Great design, great idea, great job overall!

darkmanx_429 -- Your design for Zoe Belmont looks pretty awesome!   She seems like a pretty basic Belmont, and the SotN style comes through so that I can almost imagine her fighting alongside Richter.  I think my only complaint is that her skirt looks awkward or incomplete to me.  I'm pretty sure I know what you intended for it to be, but something still looks off about it.  Otherwise, great job!  Keep it up!

Once again, and absolutely stellar job done by all!  I don't know how anyone else really feels, but I say all of these forum contests are pretty awesome!

[Jop]

Oh yeah you are right theANdROId about the Ice, its because it is a space ship, its Vic Viper,I just wanted to do something that some Castlevania do, you know find some items that looks like something from other game, so thats why the Ice make that XD.

[darkmanx_429]

Great job to everyone!  So many entries, and all done so well...this was difficult!  (Somehow, it was still fun to do, so thanks for the privilege of letting me judge this one!)  Again, ;-) I say we should use our entries from each of these contests to just make our own game...Castlevania: Dungeon Forum of...something.

Anyway, on to my verdicts if you would like to know!  I thought about placing each winner under their own spoiler tag, and the honorable mentions under another...but on account of the fact that such an act may just be annoying, I'll just use one tag for them all.  [Drumroll] [/Drumroll] ;-)

(click to show/hide)

First Place: Kokushibyō, for Roxanne Belmont
Fantastic entry, and my pick for first place!  Roxanne's design seems like a typical or "classic" style of Belmont, and it just looks awesome!   The design leaves no doubt in my mind that she is a Belmont.  The choice of colors look nice and the shading seems pretty good too.  The boots are also really awesome, and look great!  Regardless your end placing, keep spriting!

Second Place: theplottwist, for Ariane Belmont
Ariane is wonderfully designed, and my pick for second place!  I particularly like the way her hair flows in two of the images, and the way she holds the whip in the second image is different and neat.  The SotN style comes through clearly and as a whole her design is very well done as well.  Great job!

Third Place: Donvermicelli, for Seranna Belmont
Seranna is a great entry, with a pretty epic pose I might add!  She is also my pick for third place!  The background is also an interesting twist in an alternate dimension's Belmont line, and I imagine the succubus side could add something interesting to the gameplay.  The arc of the whip seems potentially unrealistic, but I skipped whip-physics 101 so I really don't know.  Otherwise, you did a great job!

Other Entries:

Konstantine -- Yet another impressive entry!  Her animation looks cool and even like there is a bit of a 3D effect.  Maybe that was the intention, or maybe it's just my eyes...either way I think it looks pretty nifty!  Alunia does seem incomplete though somehow...I can't quite place my finger on what it is though.  I know you mentioned that you didn't have time to add detail to her dress, and maybe that's what it is I'm noticing.  I wish you'd had the time...given what I've seen you do before, I'm sure the final product would have been remarkable!  Keep up the great work!

Jop, Dolores, Dralia, and Ainos Belmont -- You did a fantastic  job with each of your entries!  Of the two Dolores sprites you created, I think the red-headed Dolores looks better because of the contrast between her face and hair.  I like your robe design for Dralia, and Ainos is well done also.  Dralia's ice shot (in final form) looks like a jet figher to me, or like something from a side-view shoot-em-up.  Maybe it's just to my eyes, but it sticks out to me and seems awkward.  Nonetheless, your work is great, so keep it up!  You are one that always has me eager to see what you'll bring to the table next!

theplottwist, Gamer Belmont -- I really love this entry and idea!  Perhaps you entered it as a joke (I mean, she is using a controller for a whip after all!), but I think it's great!  Whether in a serious or silly game, and whether or not it was meant as homage to Castlevania, I'd love to see and play a game with this character in it!  The headphones she wears look more like blue highlights in the sprites, though I'd imagine it'd be difficult making it clear they're headphones in the sprite alone.  Great design, great idea, great job overall!

darkmanx_429 -- Your design for Zoe Belmont looks pretty awesome!   She seems like a pretty basic Belmont, and the SotN style comes through so that I can almost imagine her fighting alongside Richter.  I think my only complaint is that her skirt looks awkward or incomplete to me.  I'm pretty sure I know what you intended for it to be, but something still looks off about it.  Otherwise, great job!  Keep it up!

Once again, and absolutely stellar job done by all!  I don't know how anyone else really feels, but I say all of these forum contests are pretty awesome!

That "skirt" is actually more akin to a loin cloth.

If you look at it again, I drew it as if it's blowing in the wind.

The white trim in it is the bottom of it. So the wind had blown it a bit to the side and she has a little bit of thigh exposed on the side.

[Shiroi Koumori]

Belmontoya, wherever you are, please give your judgment so that we can formally close this contest.

[Belmontoya]

1st place:

Kaonstantine: Alunia Belmont

Love this. Great design, great animation. What kaonstantine does is bring a fresh style to the table. I wish we saw more sprite artists work with their own voice, rather than emulate style. Kao takes risks and breathes new life. Thank you for the great entry! I only wish you would have put more time into a backstory.

2nd place:

Donvermicelli's Seranna

Great work on this. She has an original design. The pose is good but a little awkward for the only sprite. I would have liked to see a standing pose in addition to get a better feel for the costume.

3rd place:

Theplottwist: Ariane Belmont

Another great piece by Theplottwist. You are a master of the SOTN style and an amazing artist. This entry had some controversy, but it was ungrounded in my opinion. Even davinci used a model for the Mona Lisa. There is nothing wrong with using references. I gave you 3rd place because I would like to see you show us another style of your sprite work. By now we all know that you are a skilled artist. I want to see what else you can do!

Great work everyone! Thanks for playing!

[theANdROId]

So, to save anyone the math:
First: Tie between Ariane (plot) and Roxanne (ZSG)
Second: Tie between Seanna (Don) and Alunia (Kon)
Third: Zoe (dark)


Is that okay?  Are there rules for ties?  I dunno!

That "skirt" is actually more akin to a loin cloth.

If you look at it again, I drew it as if it's blowing in the wind.

The white trim in it is the bottom of it. So the wind had blown it a bit to the side and she has a little bit of thigh exposed on the side.

My bad...it isn't at all what I was imagining.  I can now better see what you were going for now.  Admittedly, it does still seem a bit odd, but much less so than when I was picturing a skirt.  Still a good piece overall though!

Oh yeah you are right theANdROId about the Ice, its because it is a space ship, its Vic Viper,I just wanted to do something that some Castlevania do, you know find some items that looks like something from other game, so thats why the Ice make that XD.

Oh my gosh I can't believe that didn't occur to me!  Nice cameo!  If you use that in a game one day, maybe it could be a rare happening that does extra damage or something (like the "shrunken head" vegetable Peach pulls in the Smash Bros games)?!!

[Shiroi Koumori]

As for the ties, I've already asked Jorge to help with that.

[Jorge D. Fuentes]

For ties, both people get the award representing that place.
However, the award for the place under it becomes lost, that place now qualifies for the next award.
Since we only offer three awards, that meant that if there are two ties, there is no third place award.

In this case, theplottwist and ZSG both get Gold.
Donvermicelli and Kaonstantine get Bronze, since the first place had two awards.
No awards are given for darkman's entry, not because it wasn't good, but because of the award structure mentioned above.  I did it this way for previous ties in the past two months.

[darkmanx_429]

For ties, both people get the award representing that place.
However, the award for the place under it becomes lost, that place now qualifies for the next award.
Since we only offer three awards, that meant that if there are two ties, there is no third place award.

In this case, theplottwist and ZSG both get Gold.
Donvermicelli and Kaonstantine get Bronze, since the first place had two awards.
No awards are given for darkman's entry, not because it wasn't good, but because of the award structure mentioned above.  I did it this way for previous ties in the past two months.

Didn't for the previous music contest ( I believe it was) there was a tie and the 2 entries got the same 1st place award while the 3rd person was actually promoted to 2nd Place...

Correct me if I am wrong...

[Donvermicelli]

I had a blast making the character, sadly I was short on time so sadly I couldn't really work out multiple poses (or beef up her story).
Here is to hoping the rest had as much fun as I did.

[Jorge D. Fuentes]

Didn't for the previous music contest ( I believe it was) there was a tie and the 2 entries got the same 1st place award while the 3rd person was actually promoted to 2nd Place...

Correct me if I am wrong...

I'm pretty sure that's not what happened. 

[Shiroi Koumori]

Proof of what Jorge said from the December 2014 Castlevania Dungeon MUSIC Contest:

I'll use standard rules for ties without tie-breaker:

-All tied winners get the award they tied for.
-The award for the tier under that disappears.
-The runners-up get the tier under the disappeared tier award.

So for this, we shall have two Gold Awards, no Silver Award, and the 2nd place gets the Bronze.

Look at BMC_War Machine's profile and his Dec award is a bronze even if he got 2nd place in the rankings.