Discussion: Announcing the City of Heroes Design a Loading Screen Contest!

This thread is to discuss this announcement!

UPDATED! Please note we now allow the use of Sendspace.com or https://www.yousendit.com/ for files bigger than 5MB.

Also viewing the entries we have received so far, we have decided that it was necessary for us to get UNFLATTENED files. Apologies for this change in the rules.

Thank you for patience, we look forward to seeing what you come up with!

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Cool contest! I have little to no artistic skill so I wish all participants the best of luck.

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I will do my best to design something absolutely fabulous.

Good luck to all who participate!

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I'll see what I can put together for this. One question though, pertaining to the Boosters included as prizes. What if we have them all? I wouldn't want to see those codes wasted, so I'm wondering if they're automatically applied to a winners account or if the codes are emailed.

That said, off to reinstall Photoshop!

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First vote for the Strong and Pretty pic!

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We're excited to see what you guys come up with. If you have any questions at all, please post 'em here. I'll be reading the thread daily.

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David Nakayama, Lead Concept Artist
COH Concept Art Gallery now open at http://pixelsaurus.deviantart.com/

Im having a problem downloading the frames - I click on the link and rather than start my downloader it opens up the PSD file in text format on a webpage

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I know this isn't a contest question, but...

Any chance we can get widescreen loading screens any time soon for the game?

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1. I have everything in all the prize packs (aside from the gametime, I guess), if I win, could I forfeit some/all of it for a Praetorian PD code? :P
2. Does 'no characters' include Trainers/Contacts/Civvies etc?
3. I'm not in a position to download and view the templates where I am currently, but are they the same as the current ones? And if so, are the Hero ones adjustable for the location of each zone (Or will you guys do that?).
4. Edit: What Evilanna said.... Widescreen? Should we make the entries viable to be resized to widescreen format if needed?

Cheers, and this is probably the best contest so far. Well, apart from the exclusion of the Praetorian PD codes from the prizes. This game has turned me into an obsessive completionist

Edit again: Two more:

1. It says you are allowed to submit more than one entry - Is there a limit? Can we submit one for each zone? Multiple for one zone?
2. Any editing or filters allowed on the screenshots?

Sorry for all the questions

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[CENTER]Euro side: [B]@Orion Star[/B] & [B]@Orions Star[/B][/CENTER]

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@Demobot

Also on Steam

Got a few questions myself...

1) Are we limited to the existing elements provided? Am I able to alter or manipulate any of the layers that you have provided me in order to design a completely new and fresh looking loading screen or do you just want me to drop a couple of screenshots into the numbered areas and thats it?

2) Is there any limit to how many times you can enter (i.e. if you do one for each zone and put them ALL in a pack does that count as one entry?) or do you have to pick one specific zone and enter that one zone once?

3) Is there anything that would stop me entering this contest if I have previously won a contest?

Think that's all I can think of right now...

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I've been looking forward to this! Let's see what we got...

And NO characters? I realize this is so that some overly egotistical goofball doesn't put their character in every shot, but what showcases AP better than a crowded Atlas plaza (besides which fact is, good luck getting atlas not-crowded on freedom or virtue XD), or IP better than a giant octopus? Can't you change the rule to say "don't make YOUR CHARACTER/supergroup the center of attention in any picture"?

You guys probably had discussions in-office about all this though, so mweh. Good luck to everyone!

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-STEELE =)


Allied to all sides so that no matter what, I'll come out on top!
Oh, and Crimson demands you play this arc-> Twisted Knives (MA Arc #397769)

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I noticed a zone that isn't listed as either eligible or ineligible... but I can't say I'm surprised that even the devs forgot about the Tunnels of the Trolls.

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Proud member of Everyday Heroes (Infinity Heroes), Dream Stalkers (Infinity Villains), Devil Never Cry (Freedom Heroes), Enclave of EVIL (Pinnacle Villains), Phobia (Infinity Villains), Les Enfant Terribles (Freedom Villains), Gravy Train (Virtue Heroes), and more!

Full, detailed character list

I've downloaded the .psd files, but they won't open - says it's not compatible with my version of photoshop (cs2). Could you make the files available to be compatible with cs2?

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The "highest Ultra Mode setting" part makes me wonder... Will those of us that have non-UM compliant computers be at a big disadvantage because our screenshots won't have UM stuff, like shadows, in them?

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[CENTER]Euro side: [B]@Orion Star[/B] & [B]@Orions Star[/B][/CENTER]

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If it happens that all entries for a particular zone are terrible (let's be honest, some got it, some don't), are you going to be forced to use a terrible user submitted loading screen, or will you go out and take your own screenshots for it so that we end up with quality screens?

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First off, I love the idea for this contest. Really nice to test the creativity of the community, and update the old loading screens while you're at it.

I too would like to know how many submissions we may enter. My current guess is seven: one of each frame. Either way, I'll probably be making them for all zones, tweaking them, and then settling on my favourites before the competition's over.

Edit: Another question. Is mild 'fix' tweaking allowed? Such as slightly brightening dark screenshots? Or is this strictly a copy, crop, and paste job?

Edit #2: Oh dear, another question. Title consistency: When entering the name of the zone, do you want the title all in caps, first letter in upper case, or what? I think some consistency needs to be established for the screens to look good in-game. The default text would imply all caps, but I was hoping for some clarity.

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I'm looking forward to this!

Will these prizes (booster packs, temp costumes) be in the form of codes that we could give away to other players? As I'm sure many of contestants will already have most if not all of those booster packs.

EDIT: Reading the rules, I see that it is noted that the prizes will be mailed so I'm going to guess they are all codes.

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By the way, for those of you entering, don't forget that quite a few of the normally crowded "landmark" areas of the game - like Atlas Plaza, for example, can be accessed in peace and quiet via AE

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@Golden Girl

City of Heroes comics and artwork

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