Indigo Competition Ideas

[Zom-B]

Hey Guys,

I thought a little about Indigo Competition the last days.
Its quite a pity that only so few people attend to it

Such Competition should be some Happening that spreads the word further then the Indigo Forum itself.
Not only enjoyable for us users around here, but also some advertise for Indigo itself!

How to archive this? Well, there are some good ways to do so:

Awesome Prices
If you can win more then just fame & Glory people will participate to have a chance for some Full Licenses, extra Network Licenses or even Indigo t-shirts or a coffee cup.

Sponsoring
It should be possible to get some some (Hardware) Sponsors for Top Rank Prices, like a new Graphic Card that will rock upcoming GPU versions of Indigo.

spread the word
Post in different 3D apps Forums that have a Indigo Exporter to lure some people from outside to join the competition!

rearrange competition structure
Some Halftime showoff of the progress the people did would make it more interesting. At the moment everybody posts his stuff just in the end to avoid showing his awesome work & concept, so others can calculate how much more work they would need to put into their work to beat the shown stuff.
Check out how other competitions are arranged and copy the good stuff, there is no shame in this!!

Topic Poll
Have at least 3 possible options to vote from before starting the competition, this would optimize the interest of the people, and also allow some pre-contest brainstorming for everybody!
Ideas that hit second or third can be recycled for next competition...


I'm sure more of you guys have a idea how to push this, let them commin

[Pibuz]

I completely agree with all the topics pointed out by ZomB!
I was very deceived about the theme of the last competition. I mean: I knew it was going to be interesting, but I somehow guessed few people would have participated. Point 5 (topic poll) would have been good to increase the number of works. No poll is all right with communities like Evermotion, I think, with thousands of registered guests: Indigo main site is large nowadays, but only a small percentage of users is active.

Completely agree about showing of the progresses: competitions must be a moment of challenge but also a spot to learn. Ronen Bekerman challenge's structure is good, I think, although I guess too much time is spent in adjusting the presentation of the work, sometimes.

I don't have any more ideas than ZomB. You made a good list mate

Hope to see some challenge implementations soon!

[Zom-B]

I think, with thousands of registered guests: Indigo main site is large nowadays, but only a small percentage of users is active.

The Problem is also that if you check out the Artwork forum you see that only a few people show stuff there :/
Indigo Community is not a "artist community" like evermotion or others, the people see this more of a help & feedback Forum... technical orientated!
We have a serious lack of capable artists around here showing stuff, and a competition should be a possibility to lurk them to present their skills with Indigo, and also get people from other communities to participate (prizes are the way to get them!)

[Pibuz]

(prizes are the way to get them!)

You're absolutely right. I think this competition only came out with bad timing: guys at Glare were a little busy with the move I think. Now that they're settling in England, I think they'll have some more time to spend over founding gathering to increase the consistency of the prices! I'm sure next competition will be a success..

[OnoSendai]

Hi Zom-B, thanks for the ideas, we will definitely take them into account for the next competition.
I think it's likely that we will have one or more GPUs for prizes in the next competition.

[Zom-B]

I think this competition only came out with bad timing: guys at Glare were a little busy with the move I think.

Yes, a valid point.. Also the whole xmas time is often used to stay away from the computer for some days
I actually had to finish some commercial projects during this time -.-

Hi Zom-B, thanks for the ideas

You are welcome

we will definitely take them into account for the next competition.
I think it's likely that we will have one or more GPUs for prizes in the next competition.

He he, I for myself am now highly interested to participate.. and win

[solarray]

Just some sentences from my point of view. The thing Im totaly disagree Zom-B is to make a topic poll. You make a competition to find the best one and also help everyone getting better and growing their abilities. But if you make a poll the most people would choose a topic they like best and things they have still in mind about a topic, but if you don't know before what the topic will be and maybe the topic is also not your faviourite than you are able to grow much faster because you have to endeavour a lot more.
For example the steampunk topic. I would had never choosen this topic over a poll, and as I read it the first time I didn't liked it at all. But I started anyway and came into some kind of flow and got totaly obsessed about it to create something big.

Pibuz maybe you are also right when you say that this comunity here is too small for a fixed topic, but than it should be focused on a better advertising before a competition.

For all other points I agree especially the prices (which can't be big enough )

[CTZn]

Hey solarray, that's interesting... I don't know how to put this myself, I guess I had the same feeling than you when the steampunk challenge popped out (of nowhere ?). Congrats on taking over this feeling by the way, that's quite noble imho.

Thanks also Zom-B in putting the topic on the table so fast, structural enhancement great idea

it should be focused on a better advertising before a competition.

Could you elaborate on this point please ? How would you see this advertising in terms of form, and timing above all ? Should there be a break between challenges etc ? Big challenges (one by quarter ?), micro challenges, what not ?

What do others think on this timing matter, what would be comfortable for a rather big challenge ?

[Zom-B]

it should be focused on a better advertising before a competition.

Could you elaborate on this point please ? How would you see this advertising in terms of form, and timing above all ? Should there be a break between challenges etc ? Big challenges (one by quarter ?), micro challenges, what not ?

I think he thought about "advertising" this challenges in other communities too..

What do others think on this timing matter, what would be comfortable for a rather big challenge ?

I would raise the duration to 6 weeks with a concept show off after 2 weeks (pure text & maybe some drawings etc.
A second WIP showoff in 4 weeks and final image after 6 weeks.
By having such smaller deadlines (without mattering for final judgment of the project) you push the people to actually start doing something for the competition...
You also have the chance to get valuable Feedback from the community to enhance you project even more!
There is quite some psychology in this stuff... and I'm not the best regarding this, so what do you think?

[CTZn]

I think your input is valuable and that we need more of those !

Yeah like you I've read that about the advertising in communities, I guess solarray meant banners and stuff but I may have missed other means.

[solarray]

About the advertising, I wanted to say what Zom-B still said to post in some 3d forums out there when a competition is starting.

cheers

[CTZn]

Gotcha. I'm a sweet, overzealed and leadless mad dog barking at swivels. Tell me otherwise and I'll bit q:

[Soup]

I would raise the duration to 6 weeks with a concept show off after 2 weeks (pure text & maybe some drawings etc.
A second WIP showoff in 4 weeks and final image after 6 weeks.

Not a bad idea, perhaps make them mandatory? Could do something like make a whole forum dedicated to the specific competiton and have participants have to make a thread in there by 2 weeks and dump an idea. At 4 weeks some kind of WIP. Then close the forum and archive it after the competition is finished.

Maybe just make the 4 week one mandatory, and the 2 week on a 'strong suggestion' to get feed back from community and judges alike.