Topic: January 2015 Castlevania Dungeon MUSIC Contest

[darkmanx_429]

Make sure that you do something  more open for next time so that we get more people involved in the contest. I usually try to think of a hard contest, then a easy one, etc. rinse repeat...

How about a team-based contest for next month?

[uzo]

Make your own new Castlevania Game Over jingle? That should be simple enough. They're something like 5-8 seconds long I think.

[VladCT]

IIRC we briefly discussed a romantic remix theme when discussing a theme for the December contest, why not that for February? It's topical, after all. :V

[BMC_War Machine]

What about opening the flood gates a bit? Pick either a system with any cv title for it or even a title specific, and make it open to any and all styles? I think by just picking (and please, NO OFFENSE FELLAS!) a specific music format you are severely limiting contestant entries. That would be like me saying "ok folks, lets just have a heavy metal remix month only.  I think maybe Zannibal would be the only other contestant lol. Or for that matter, make a poll for the public to decide. Instead of us giving them themes, lets have them give us one. Remember, its competition but its all for fun 

[uzo]

Having a theme to a contest gives it a little more originality. It also makes a great baseline for judging. You can compare the parts of each entry much more closely.

Beyond that having some rules really brings out the creativity, not stifles it. This month we see Dracula9 admitting to have to think of new ways to make the CV3 tracks work in the NES sound font without being the same track as CV3. It takes creativity to make that change, not a lack of it.

Beyond that even, and the part I think is most interesting, is it helps our artists grow. We're making situations where our contestants are trying new things. Things they aren't familiar with. And these can teach them many things, and often better, than if they were just given free reign all the time. I bet even Chern noticed or learned something new, even if very small, or interesting by doing this month's theme which he has stated he doesn't do chiptunes.

A free for all once in a while isn't bad though. But really consider what themed contests bring to the table.

[BMC_War Machine]

Having a theme to a contest gives it a little more originality. It also makes a great baseline for judging. You can compare the parts of each entry much more closely.

Beyond that having some rules really brings out the creativity, not stifles it. This month we see Dracula9 admitting to have to think of new ways to make the CV3 tracks work in the NES sound font without being the same track as CV3. It takes creativity to make that change, not a lack of it.

Beyond that even, and the part I think is most interesting, is it helps our artists grow. We're making situations where our contestants are trying new things. Things they aren't familiar with. And these can teach them many things, and often better, than if they were just given free reign all the time. I bet even Chern noticed or learned something new, even if very small, or interesting by doing this month's theme which he has stated he doesn't do chiptunes.

A free for all once in a while isn't bad though. But really consider what themed contests bring to the table.

I completely agree dude. As I saidim not bashing anyone,  I think what is gwtting brought is great. I agree with everything except for the lacking anything part. I dont feel that anythinf is lacking in what has been done thus far, and as you mentioned, it helps musicians broaden the scope of their abilities and challenge themselves, I simply meant that limiting the platform of the contest - for example, chiptune only, rock, metal only etc etc is the only thing that IMO puts the brakes on other members involvement.

[Chernabogue]

Agreed with uzo. It was interesting to try something I've never done before.

IIRC we briefly discussed a romantic remix theme when discussing a theme for the December contest, why not that for February? It's topical, after all. :V

That'd be nice for a Valentine's Day month ^^

[Shiroi Koumori]

Ha! My romantic remix is getting traction. hehehe.

[Dracula9]

CONTEST MERGER IDEA THAT SHOULD MOST DEFINITELY BE TAKEN SUPER SERIOUS

Sprite/draw something involving a female Belmont and a Succubus and compose a love song to go with it.

LET THE IMAGINATIONS AND NSFW FLAGS COMETH

[darkmanx_429]

Having a theme to a contest gives it a little more originality. It also makes a great baseline for judging. You can compare the parts of each entry much more closely.

Beyond that having some rules really brings out the creativity, not stifles it. This month we see Dracula9 admitting to have to think of new ways to make the CV3 tracks work in the NES sound font without being the same track as CV3. It takes creativity to make that change, not a lack of it.

Beyond that even, and the part I think is most interesting, is it helps our artists grow. We're making situations where our contestants are trying new things. Things they aren't familiar with. And these can teach them many things, and often better, than if they were just given free reign all the time. I bet even Chern noticed or learned something new, even if very small, or interesting by doing this month's theme which he has stated he doesn't do chiptunes.

A free for all once in a while isn't bad though. But really consider what themed contests bring to the table.

True, but if you guys are going to make technical contests like that you should provide references or tutorials for noobs that never had any experience doing something like that before. This contest was a severe example of people that wanted to participate but didn't have the technical knowledge to do anything, even if they wanted to. Hence, only the few entries.

This made the contest seem like it was tailored to a just hand full of participants.

When I made the 3D contests, I also provided links to free modeling tools and tutorials on that net that let's say if someone that never modeled anything in their life, they could choose a free program, watch a few tutorials, and make some work even if it was a little rough around the edges.

I can honestly say at least for me I didn't even know where to start with this month's music contest.

Maybe you guys can implement those kind of resources in the future...?

[Chernabogue]

stuff

I provided links to MIDI files in a posted here, but maybe a short tutorial/software recomendation could help.

[darkmanx_429]

I provided links to MIDI files in a posted here, but maybe a short tutorial/software recomendation could help.

Exactly dude. For you guys it's like child play, but you gotta make the tutorials/software recommendations in a way where if someone just happened to stumble across these contests and had no clue how to do this stuff, they could at least jump in and get their feet wet!

[Chernabogue]

Exactly dude. For you guys it's like child play, but you gotta make the tutorials/software recommendations in a way where if someone just happened to stumble across these contests and had no clue how to do this stuff, they could at least jump in and get their feet wet!

I'll try to make a short FL Studio tutorial when I have more free time. Just the really basic stuff, and then link to more advanced ones.

[Jorge D. Fuentes]

I'm still writing my huge dissertation on what to do about music/MIDI/chiptune stuff....
Don't hold your breath, though.  It'll be a h'while.

[Dracula9]

*points to my post summarizing multiple methods of doing this stuff*
*points to the unfinished guide Jorge's working on*
*points to Jorge's long post earlier in the thread*
*points to BMC's reply to said post*

 :/

A thing to consider; if one has no skills in a certain field, why on earth would they suddenly leap into a contest with seasoned people? Or leap into a contest at all?

Leaving tutorials for every little thing is nice and all (personally I think the resource threads cover most of it), but you can only help for so long before you're just needlessly holding someone's hand through everything.

People should be allowed to follow their own path and develop their own unique style of doing things, especially if it's something musically or artistically-related. Putting up detailed "here's how I do things" threads runs the risk of newcomers trying too hard to emulate some else's style due to their lack of experience, instead of developing their own style.

I never read up on any threads, or tutorials, or what-have-you, I learned through trial and error what function did what or what plugin sounded best. It's great what you're trying to do, but it seems to me that you're treating this thread like it was catered specifically to certain people and shut out others. I can't help but take offense to that. It's true the theme coincided with what I usually do anyway, but that's only because it's something I know enough about to reasonably make a ruleset, and also because I know not many of our resident Abbadons do chiptunes.

Contests are supposed to be fun and enjoyable, yes, but they're also supposed to pit you against any other potential person. The competition is meant to motivate you to do better than all the others, and thus improve or expand your skillset.

This contest was a severe example of people that wanted to participate but didn't have the technical knowledge to do anything, even if they wanted to.

*points to my post summarizing multiple methods of doing this stuff*
*points to the unfinished guide Jorge's working on*
*points to Jorge's long post earlier in the thread*
*points to BMC's reply to said post*


I don't agree with dumbing this sort of thing down to make things easier for new practitioners. I'm sorry, I just don't. You don't get better when everything's a cakewalk and your hand is held the entire time. You get better when faced with adversity and challenge.

Do I agree with your desire for music-program links and basic tutorials? Definitely.

Do I agree with your seeming resignation and accusation that this contest was rigged for certain members? Fuck no, and I'm sincerely hoping I'm misinterpreting here, otherwise my offense to it is legitimate.

Tutorials for most plugins and methods and functions for most music programs litter the web, and the F1 button is definitely a thing. People are certainly capable of looking in this stuff on their own time and in their own way. They don't need coddling.

Yes, I know dumping the "Google it, noob" plate on someone's lap can be overwhelming or intimidating and very possibly elitist; however, there's a line between holding someone's hand so that they never feel intimidated or challenged, and remaining reasonably ambiguous on certain things so that they can develop their own style. And I'm having a really hard time figuring out what side of the line you're currently on, darkman. Help a brother out.