ANNOUNCEMENT: FFHacktics Winter Sprite Contest 2009!!

[Kagebunji]

I'm eager to see who will win

[jimmyjw88]

Oo...great ^^

[SilvasRuin]

Oh goody.  I thought I'd be horribly late.  I got stuck in a house with an apparently crappy breaker for the break and couldn't set up my own computer.  (Hell, I couldn't even plug in my decent speakers to use them instead of the crappy ones built into my mom's monitor.)  Visiting family is nice and all... but I was beginning to miss things that I normally quite overlook.  >_>  Please excuse the minirant.

I hope we have more entries than last I looked.  I'll start judging... maybe some time tomorrow.

[Vanya]

Alright, I got the entries posted. Have at it, guys. =P

[jimmyjw88]

Not bad. Roughly around 10 entries ^^

[Jon]

Wow, I am no judge or anything...but I think Dwib's Penguin and Jim's Nutcracker rock! Everyone did an awesome job!!

[mav]

Awesome, I'll try to get my verdicts out by the end of today.

[SilvasRuin]

In order of how well I feel they did:



Artist:  jimmyjw88
Icy Demon (End of the World)
Theme:  Um... it fits winter I suppose?
Creative:  In some ways, it's lacking.  In others, it does well here.
Chilliest/Funniest:  Freezing.
Overall:  The spell effect edits are what does it for me.



Artist:  jimmyjw88
The Nutcracker
Theme:  Quite well.
Creative:  Quite well again.
Chilliest/Funniest:  Eh, it's neither...
Overall:  It looks clean to me.  I have no real complaints.  I like it.



Artist:  Cold52
Behemoth as Rudolph and other reindeer (plus santa's sleigh)
Theme:  Quite well.
Creative:  It's certainly up there in creativity.
Chilliest/Funniest:  Santa is going to mow down your grandma with a sleigh of Behemoths.  Sounds funny enough to me.
Overall:  The edits look clean.  I have no real complains for the appearance.  I feel the noses were done really well.  The sleigh sucks, but I'm trying to ignore that for the Behemoth sprite.



Artist:  dwib
Holiday Penguin
Theme:  The santa hat helps here.
Creative:  Very creative.
Chilliest/Funniest:  It's a penguin, so I'll give it some points here.
Overall:  The tip of the hat looks a bit off in the dead frame.  It looks pointy and straight when that cotton ball makes it look like it should be drooping.  The edit looks nice and clean.



Artist:  Zodiac
White Saber-tooth
Theme:  It doesn't fit the theme as well as others, but it isn't completely out there.
Creative:  Not very.
Chilliest/Funniest:  I'd give it some points for chilly.
Overall:  Good edit but the lack of creativity is holding me back from ranking as high as I would have.  He also gets the "higher ranking or I'll ban your ass" bonus, so be sure to bump him up in points when tallying mine.  (That puts me in the clear, right?  Right...?!  All blame should totally fall on the tallier now.)



Artist:  woodenbandman
Santa's Elf
Theme:  It fits the theme very well.
Creative:  It is creative but not extremely so.
Chilliest/Funniest:  I don't feel it scores well here.
Overall:  The hunched position is odd for an elf and the hat looks rather pixelated.  I also see pillow shading.



Artist:  Jon
Cola Bear
Theme:  Ah, Coca-cola and it's tradition of turning everything about Christmas into marketing for itself...
Creative:  It is fairly creative.
Chilliest/Funniest:  Qute chilly.  The coke bottle gets it some points for being amusing.
Overall:  The scarf looks like crap.  The ears blend in with the rest of its head too much for the second frame.  I like the snowball, but the smaller one looks too blocky.  The sprite could use some refining overall.



Artist:  Kagebunji
Queklain Santa
Theme:  Rather well.
Creative:  I don't find it all that creative.
Chilliest/Funniest:  It's amusing to some degree.
Overall:  The hat is pillow shaded.  The white parts don't blend well; they don't look like they belong with the rest of it.  The buttons should have just been left off of it.



Artist:  jimmyjw88
Snowman
Theme:  Quite well.
Creative:  It is mostly custom, so I can't help but score it well here.
Chilliest/Funniest:  Well... it's certainly chilly.
Overall:  THE PILLOWS!  ARGH



Artist:  dwib
Christmas Behemoth??
Theme:  Sorry, I'm not buying it.  The red and green isn't doing it for me.
Creative:  It IS creative.
Chilliest/Funniest:  Neither.
Overall:  It makes for a good Carbuncle, but I don't think it has a place in this contest.



Artist:  Jon
Gingerbread Man Normal and Half Eaten (I know, kinda cheap...)
Theme:  While I don't much associate gingerbread men with Christmas, I'll let it be.
Creative:  ...I suppose I have to give it points here.
Chilliest/Funniest:  There's certainly an attempt at humor.
Overall:  It's buttons and facial features look like crap and the second frame is an ugly copout.

[jimmyjw88]

Haha. Yeah, Snowman is terribly pillowshaded ^^

[Xifanie]

I also get the "higher ranking or I'll ban your ass" bonus.

EDIT: Fixed reference

spoiler: reference:ww5krqfz

http://www.manatheater.com/SOM47.htm

[Jon]

You don't like the scarf on the Cola Bear? Oh well, at least I made it in the running As for the Gingerbread Man, I have to agree, I made him in under 5 minutes xD How don't you associate Gingerbread men with Christmas?? What other time in the year do you make cookies out of gingerbread or cookies that look like men? Still, I think GM should stay as dead last haha!

Edit: Zodiac, did you make that Secret of Mana Theater??

[mav]

Sorry for getting these out so late, but hopefully everyone's gotten the feedback they wanted.

Artist: woodenbandman
Santa's Elf
Theme: Definitely fits the theme; Elves go with Santa, Santa is Christmas.
Creative: This sprite is reminiscent of one we've seen in the contest a couple years ago: same body coupled with a face swap and different colors. The portrait helps differentiate it though.
Chilliest/Funniest: It's not hilarious, but it certainly ain't cold.
Overall: This sprite is okay, nothing to write home about. The execution was okay, the idea was nice, but there's no "wow" factor. The ears on the portrait kill it for me...
Overall Score: 6th Place

Artist: Cold52
Behemoth as Rudolph and other reindeer (plus santa's sleigh)
Theme: Fits the theme perfectly, in my opinion.
Creative: No one would have expected to see our dastardly Behemoth become a cute little reindeer. And the sleigh ain't half bad either.
Chilliest/Funniest: Definitely one of the funnier ones.
Overall: I like this sprite a lot. The color choices are nice and it manages to be creative without drastically adulterating the source material. Like a few of the others, this one meets all the criteria, but it also manages to look damn good.
Overall Score: 1st Place

Artist: jimmyjw88
Snowman
Theme: I would have said it's more cold than wintery, but Frosty the snowman came to mind...
Creative: You bet this is creative--you try finding the female Chemist in there!
Chilliest/Funniest: Chilly; he's a snowman, dammit!
Overall: I can't say that this sprite looks like something you'd find in FFT. The angles are a bit off and the shading needs work. Jimmy could do better, and I'd say this is by far the lowest among his submissions.
Overall Score: 8th Place

Artist: jimmyjw88
The Nutcracker
Theme: Fits to the theme very well, and is a fairly inspired choice.
Creative: Definitely one of the most creative in the competition.
Chilliest/Funniest: It's not terribly funny, so I guess it's chilly?
Overall: This is a great example of what can be done with this competition: have an idea, take a couple pieces from here or there, and make it work. This looks exactly the way it should and it fits the criteria of the competition quite well.
Overall Score: 3rd Place

Artist: dwib
Holiday Penguin
Theme: That Santa hat helps it fit the theme quite well.
Creative: Very. Turning a Uribo into a bird is no simple task.
Chilliest/Funniest: Both chilly and funny! And quite cute too.
Overall: This is an adorable sprite. It looks cute and it was done pretty well. Maybe I'm just a sucker for penguins.
Overall Score: 5th Place

Artist: dwib
Christmas Behemoth??
Theme: It's pretty Christmasy, I guess. The title of the sprite suggests that even the author's not sure on this one...
Creative: I was surprised to see another Behemoth in the mix, but this certainly is different than Cold's.
Chilliest/Funniest: Eh, it's not hilarious, but not chilly either.
Overall: The sprite looks a little more like some tree or leafy, vegetable monster than a Christmas monster. I don't dislike this sprite, I just don't understand it.
Overall Score: 7th Place

Artist: Zodiac
White Saber-tooth
Theme: Hmm, the theme is winter/holiday, but this guy seems more fitted to plain coldness.
Creative: It's kinda creative, though I'm sure many of us have thought of turning Coeurls into Sabertooths.
Chilliest/Funniest: Chilly, see my coldness comment above.
Overall: It's great to see the admin get into these kinds of contests, unfortunately this sprite doesn't stand out all that well. Maybe if it fit the theme a bit more, it could have done a bit better.
Overall Score: 9th Place

Artist: Jon
Gingerbread Man Normal and Half Eaten (I know, kinda cheap...)
Theme: Yeah, I'd say it fits it pretty well. Don't people hang Gingerbread Men on trees?
Creative: Pretty darn creative.
Chilliest/Funniest: Freakin' funny.
Overall: This sprite was a great idea, it just didn't turn out too well. The sprite is flat and relies too much on its cuteness/funniness to survive. It's also lacking the 1x frame size...
Overall Score: 10th Place

Artist: Jon
Cola Bear
Theme: I remember those Coca Colar bears from the past...were they strictly related to the winter though? Seemed likw more of a coldness thing.
Creative: This isn't uncreative, but it's not all that creative either. Turning a Uribo into a bear isn't too tough, right?
Chilliest/Funniest: Both, but a little chillier than funny.
Overall: I think it's a cute sprite, it just looks a little shoddy and doesn't hit the theme all that well.
Overall Score: 11th Place


Artist: jimmyjw88
Icy Demon (End of the World)
Theme: Once again, this is more of a coldness thing than a winter/holiday thing.
Creative: Originally the palette change didn't come off as too creative, but when Jimmy included all the icy images, I thought that was pretty damn neat.
Chilliest/Funniest: Fucking cold as ice.
Overall: This is easily the best looking sprite in the competition. It doesn't, however, meet the criteria as well as it could have. As such, it loses out its place as the best sprite here.
Overall Score: 2nd Place

Artist: Kagebunji
Queklain Santa
Theme: Santa is Christmas, nuff said.
Creative: Who would have thought of making Queklain into Santa? That's awesomely demented.
Chilliest/Funniest: This one was damn funny.
Overall: It's not the most gorgeous sprite in the mix, but it pulls ahead for hitting the theme, creativity, and funniness criteria all at once. The pose with the open chest is just ridiculously great.
Overall Score: 4th Place

spoiler: Rankings in order:1tp2mo5t

1st Place: Cold52, with Behemoth as Rudolph and other reindeer
2nd Place: Jimmyjw88, with Icy Demon
3rd Place: Jimmyjw88, with Nutcracker
4th Place: Kagebunji, with Queklain Santa
5th Place: Dwib, with Holiday Penguin
6th Place: Woodenbandman, with Santa's Elf
7th Place: Dwib, with Christmas Behemoth??
8th Place: Jimmyjw88, with Snowman
9th Place: Zodiac, with White Saber-tooth
10th Place: Jon, with Gingerbread Man
11th Place: Jon, with Cola Bear

Great job to everyone who participated: it wasn't easy to decree these verdicts, but I can tell that everyone had a lot of fun with this. Keep it up; I'll be there to greet you at the next contest!

[PX_Timefordeath]

Well I'm gonna post in the order I liked the least to most.

Artist: Jon
Gingerbread Man Normal and Half Eaten (I know, kinda cheap...)
Theme: Hm... I'll let this one pass as a Christmas sprite.
Creative: Plenty of creativity.
Chilliest/Funniest: Not chilly, and to me, not that much funny.
Overall: Without the 1x frame, it's not easy for me to see it as a sprite. Also, the second frame is just a cheap cut off.

Artist: jimmyjw88
Snowman
Theme: Pretty good fit to the theme.
Creative: I'll give you points for being almost all custom. Can't see the base sprite.
Chilliest/Funniest: Very chilly.
Overall: I'll have to say, it looks... real bad. The shading could be done a lot better, etc.

Artist: Jon
Cola Bear
Theme: Old reference, but still fits theme.
Creative: You get points for making it.
Chilliest/Funniest: More chilly than funny.
Overall: Did you slit it's throat, or cut it's head off?

Artist: Kagebunji
Queklain Santa
Theme: Nicely
Creative: Not really creative...
Chilliest/Funniest: Not that amusing
Overall: The hat could have been done better. The white definitely doesn't look like it belongs on the sprite.

Artist: dwib
Christmas Behemoth??
Theme: Doesn't fit the theme well.
Creative: As a recolor, it looks great.
Chilliest/Funniest: Neither
Overall: This is a great sprite, but it's out of place here.

Artist: woodenbandman
Santa's Elf
Theme: Fits Christmas
Creative: Great mixing of parts
Chilliest/Funniest: Neither
Overall: Good sprite, but the hunched back does not look good, neither do the ears in the second frame.

Artist: jimmyjw88
Icy Demon (End of the World)
Theme: Does it fit the theme?
Creative: Recolor, so not really creative.
Chilliest/Funniest: Ice cold
Overall: Spell effects do not give you bonus points, so you go below Zodiac.


Artist: Zodiac
White Saber-tooth
Theme: Still fits the winter theme
Creative: Recolor + Fangs, you get some points
Chilliest/Funniest: Very cold.
Overall: It looks good as a recolor, and the fangs are good.

Artist: Cold52
Behemoth as Rudolph and other reindeer (plus santa's sleigh)
Theme: Fits the theme well
Creative: Real creative
Chilliest/Funniest: Hm... army of reindeer does come off as funny.
Overall: I'm not counting in the Sleigh, but it looks great as a stand alone sprite

Artist: dwib
Holiday Penguin
Theme: Very winter like
Creative: Very creative. Very good for turning an uribo into a bird. This puts it high.
Chilliest/Funniest: It gets points for being a penguin.
Overall: It looks real good, but the hat does it in.

Artist: jimmyjw88
The Nutcracker
Theme: Very nicely
Creative: Quite well
Chilliest/Funniest: Not really
Overall: Real good. No complaints on this at all.


Real hard to judge on this, as there are many good sprites along with many bad sprites. Keep up the good work, as you guys are the future of FFT sprites.

[cold52]

Chilliest/Funniest:  Santa is going to mow down your grandma with a sleigh of Behemoths.  Sounds funny enough to me.

"Grandma got ran over by reindeer behemoth, late one morning last Christmas eve, you can say there's no such thing as Santa but as for me and grandpa were still in shock to what we've seen" >_>;;;

[Xeno3]

hmm I wonder if I'll be needed as the tie breaker in this one ^_^

[Jon]

Haha, came in dead last twice....gotta practice spriting xD

See ya all for the next competition!

[jimmyjw88]

Haha. I know I know, Snowman is as terrible as hell xD
Its for fun though ^^

[mav]

Haha, came in dead last twice....gotta practice spriting xD

These were your first two sprites too, but you got the right attitude, pal. Can't wait to see what's whipped up for the next competition...wait, what is the next competition? Valentine's Day?

[SilvasRuin]

...oh goody.  I'm about to spew my drink just thinking about how someone will use Queklain for that one.

[woodenbandman]

I have to give it to Nutcrackerman. That's an amazing job.