LurkerHunter Presents: The First Annual Epic Arc Contest!

It impresses me what's come out of the small but talented community of architects thus far, and I'd like to help take it to the next level. There's no such thing as too much good content, and with the incarnate slot on the horizon, end-game content will be in even higher demand. This is why I'm happy to announce...

The First Annual Epic Arc Contest!

What are the rules?
-The "epic arc" consists of two arcs, the first being level 45-50, the second 50+. The goal is to make a large scale, engaging, fun, and original story arc.

-In line with the theme of Going Rogue, the arc's theme should deal with "the greater good." Specifically, actions of an individual/group done based on their perception of "the greater good."
-Player morality is encouraged to be neutral in order to appeal to a larger group, but sometimes for a story to be told this is impossible.
-The arc should relate in some way to the CoH universe.

-As many people can work on one arc at once, as long as they are given credit. However, the person who turns in the arc (therefore also publishing it) will be treated as the leader, and (if picked as the winner/runner up) will receive the prizes.
-One person may be associated with up to three arcs. This includes mission design, story design, and costume design. If you want to publish three epic arcs, go for it, they're your six slots!

-No plagarism. This should be obvious, don't outright rip off anyone else's work. Allusions are perfectly acceptable, as well as works based off of another. If you're not sure where the line between "homage" and "rip-off" is, play it safe.

What criteria will the arc be judged on?
-Story: 40%
(Uniqueness: 5%)
Is the concept of the story is exceptionally unique (in the City of Heroes context, at least)?

(Integration of CoX Canon: 5%)
While not required to be the main focus, the arcs should at least be tangentially related to the CoX universe. Be careful in using major characters from the canon in that they are consistant with their other appearances ingame (unless it's for a good reason).

(Delivery: 10%)
How the story is presented to the player, be it in the form of dialogue, clues, etc. Ideally everyone on the team should know what's going on, keep in mind that not everybody checks the contact dialogue, and only the leader can see closing dialogue.

(Overall Quality: 20%)
Is the interesting? Do I want to continue from the first arc to the final? Does the end of the story give a sense of finality? (Note that if done well, deliberate plot holes and unresolved conflicts can be interesting. Be careful, but also be creative.)

-Gameplay: 40%
(Fun Factor: 20%)
Basically, is this arc one big farm or do the players feel like they are accomplishing something? Be creative, big "defeat all" maps with no additional objectives is boring.

(Difficulty: 20%)
Difficulty-wise the arc should be a challenge to a team of eight on +1x0. Avoid it being unrewardingly easy or insanely hard. Keep the level range in mind while balancing.

-Polish: 20%
(Presenation: 5%)
Spelling, grammar, punctuation, everything you learned in English class. If English is not your first language, ask a friend to proofread it for you.

(Glitches[lack of]: 5%)
Minor glitches are understandable, but if it's enough to take away from the experience then it's too much.

(NPC Costumes: 10%)
Costumes for customs, are they good? If they aren't good, is there a good reason in the story for this? While not the main focus, your characters' appearances are very important.


When is this "epic arc" due?
-Submissions will be accepted between February 1st through February 7th, barring outside interferences. Late submissions will be not be accepted, period. If you need to submit early, contact me.

What will be offered as prizes?
-There will be a prize pool will be an assortment of orange/purple recipes, shown at the bottom of this post, as well as a sum of inf.

-The winner will be awarded 2/3 of the pool inf and allowed their choice of 80% of the pool recipes, while the runner-up will be awarded 1/3 the inf and get the rest of the recipes.

-Donations to the pool are encouraged, but not required. Post a pic of what you're willing to give (to prove that you're not pulling our legs) and I'll add it into the pool. (You don't have to give it to anyone just yet, just simply don't post if you have no intention of sharing.)
-The prize pool may change depending on what the Incarnate system brings, if that content is even tradable.

-The pool will be locked February 1st.

(The above rules/criteria are subject to change at any time depending on the circumstance by their creator.)

Please post any questions, concerns, suggestions, etc. in this thread. If you like the idea, tell your friends, donate, and/or participate in some way!

Prize Pool:
Inf Pool:
- Lurker Hunter: 150,000,000
- Dark_Respite: 100,000,000

Recipe Pool:
- Lurker Hunter:





(more to be added)

Reserved.

Will you accept arcs that have already been published that fit the criteria, or do they have to be new arcs? In any case, great idea. Thanks, very much, for giving your time to this effort.

Looks cool. Good luck with your contest!

I may or may not give this a go, but to help things along, put me down for a donation of 100M inf to the winners' pool.

Michelle
aka
Samuraiko/Dark_Respite

I like the idea behind this contest and the amount of detail given to how scoring will be done.

One concern I have is that it will be pretty hard for a lot of people to allocate 2 story arc slots to writing a new epic story for this. But it is a contest for epic length stories, so maybe there is no getting around this.

I want to chip in for the prize pool, will see about taking some screen shots later. Best of luck!

Thanks for your support guys!

Dalghryn, new arcs would be ideal, but if you or someone you know has something that fits the exact criteria it would be accepted (so long as it was not created for a previous contest).

As much as I'd love to enter. Devoting 2 slots to one contest would be more than I want to sacrifice.

Very best of luck with your contest!

Wow, I just realized this part of the contest: February? That's a long ways away. Good luck with it in any case.

I totally support this and anything that promotes MA though as mentioned something to consider is that many of us have no slots left let alone two free. If you are just encouraging new authors to enter, then that should not be a big consideration, but if you want to open it up to more people you may want to allow single arcs.

WN