Another scenario contest?

[techumseh]

Originally posted by Jay Bee
The point of the code names is not that the judges do not know who the contestants are; the point is that nobody else knows who the contestants are. The scenarios will be posted somewhere and will be discussed on these boards. For that to be done properly, real identities should be hidden. As to the judges... come on, do you think I would be influenced by the author's identity? If there was a cash prize or something, that would be understandable. If not, even the suspect seems a bit out of place. In any event, you can always apply with a pseudonym as I did for the first SDC. Just open an email account in Hotamil and Yahoo and e-mail us from there.

I'm sorry, but I don't agree. At least in SDC#2, in which I was a participant, and SDC#3, in which I was the judge, the judges DID NOT know the names of the participants. In the end it really doesn't matter if other contestants know who is who, but blind judging is very important to ensure fairness. People will invest thousands of hours in this contest; they need to know that there will be objective evaluation. No one is free from bias at some level, not even you JB.

Do you need a contest administrator? Someone to receive the files, issue code names and transmit the files to the judges without names attached? If you think a participant in the contest can do both, I'll volunteer. In the last contest, Cam was the administrator and a contestant.

[Jay Bee]

[WarVoid]

Currently, i'm the contest admin. As it stands, techumseh's outline was the plan I was originally going to follow. It can be followed now, as neither of our two judges know the names of the currently registered entrants.

techumseh, if you want to be another judge, that'd be good too. When it comes down to judging your scen, i'll take your place and judge it myself.

How's that sound?

[techumseh]

Thanks for the offer WV, but I've had a turn already. I'm willing to help in another capacity if I can. Kull was the winner of the FW contest last time, and William Keenan was runner up in ToT. Perhaps they might be asked if you need additional judges.

[DarthVeda]

Prepare to eat my dust fellow scenario creators!

[our_man]

I'm considering entering, but is there anyone in the judging panel I can pitch my scenario idea to first to see if it acceptable? There will be very little naval warfare involved in it, so I'm wondering if this would make it uneligible.

[Case]

Originally posted by DarthVeda
Prepare to eat my dust fellow scenario creators!

DV, you poor deluded fool

[Henrik]

Originally posted by Case
DV, you poor deluded fool

Indeed

[kobayashi]

Originally posted by our_man
I'm considering entering, but is there anyone in the judging panel I can pitch my scenario idea to first to see if it acceptable? There will be very little naval warfare involved in it, so I'm wondering if this would make it uneligible.

I not a judge but it stands to reason that if the theme is Age of Sail, the naval part must be substantial. If not, the theme would just be 1500-1800 A.D.

[kobayashi]

Originally posted by Cam

You might be surprised how difficult it is to pick the author on the basis of the scenario alone unless you have a very obvious 'singature' to your games. Techumseh was quite surprised as I recall with the authors of the SDC#3 submissions when the names were finally revealed.

I'm brought this up because I need to know if I should bother to 'disguise' my (and WillemO) entry. There are many other traits other than Klingons - the format of the readme.txt, my standard three races/four tech tree branches format, corny (yet tasteful) event messages ...etc.

[Cam]

Originally posted by kobayashi
corny (yet tasteful) event messages

"We are the French, you will be assimilated, resistance is futile, ..."

[techumseh]

Originally posted by Cam


"We are the French, you will be assimilated, resistance is futile, ..."

[DarthVeda]

I think it should be clarified by the judges, kob. By Age of Sail, do they mean "in the age of sail" (this just covers 1500-1800), or is the center of the scenario supposed to be naval combat?

[winterfritz]

I remembered seeing this on page 2 of this thread.

Originally posted by WarVoid
Goingonit - The Age of Sail can be simulated in Civ2 very easily. We've seen it done with some of Case's and Gothmog's naval scenarios. But the focus of the scenario should not be entirely on naval combat. Rather, it should be a combination of land and naval warfare. For instance,
in the 1630's, the Pirates of Tortuga and the Bahamas, collectively known as the Brethren of the Coast, attempted to gain a land empire in the Moskito Coast (modern Nicaragua), but were foiled by British and Spanish forces. That's a perfect example of combining both the naval and land aspects of the theme.

I assume this to mean that naval warfare doesn't have to be the focus at all, although a reasonable amount of sailing should be involved.

[WarVoid]

Originally posted by winterfritz
I assume this to mean that naval warfare doesn't have to be the focus at all, although a reasonable amount of sailing should be involved.

What i'm saying here is that the scenario will be judged for the COMBINATION of both land and naval warfare, as it truly was a test of both during the Age of Sail. But this is not the only thing the scenarios will be judged by.

They'll be judged by quality, originality, accuracy, dependability (i.e. no bugs) and play/replayability.

The actual subject of the scenario can be anything within the range, either partial or whole, of the years 1500 thru 1800. Whether you choose to utilise this entire period or focus on a single set of battles is entirely up to the author. As I said above, the scenario will be judged moreover by it's workings rather than it's subject.

A scenario is nothing if it has no value to the people that play them.