Keeping the GWSC Alive

[Bguy7]

First off, congratulations to American--Pi and noobiess for winning last week's contest.

Now for business, with last night's announcement of the winners, the noobiess era of the GWSC has come to an end, but that does not mean that the GWSC itself has to come to an end. The GWSC helps to keep spriting alive, so let's help it stay alive. I have already made this proposal in last week's poll, but figured I should open it up for discussion here.

I propose that in order to make it so that no one person has to carry the burden of hosting the GWSC week after week, we have the host shift every week. How this would work is that the winner of one week's contest would host the following week's, creating a chain of winners hosting contests. What would be required from each week's host would be to come up with an idea for a contest, post the contest thread on Sunday, and then post the poll thread on the following Sunday. It is fairly non-committal, and the only real task would be to come up with an idea for the contest. If all else fails, one could simply have a simple retype or fusion contest. I would not mind acting as overseer of this new format, making sure that it runs smoothly, and if the host bails, I wouldn't mind stepping in to keep things moving. Or, someone else (maybe someone who's participated in the GWSC more than me) could volunteer to do this as well if they want.

Please discuss your thoughts on the mater. Do you think this would work? Would you be willing to make this change? Do you have any comments or suggestions? Hopefully by next Sunday we will have come to a consensus and can resume the GWSC.

 

[Bert]

I was kinda waiting for this thread. Let's see who's still lurking around.

Several people can volunteer to take over if a host should be, say, 24 hours late or something. I wouldn't mind a 'you win, you host' concept, personally. I just don't believe everyone feels that way (and some people are just chaotic and forget about silly little stuff like sprites).

Anyway, if there's a back-up, I'm in. Wouldn't mind stepping in once or twice too either in case of need, but I'm not planning to make a habit out of it.

 

[Missingno. Master]

I can roll with this idea, especially if it means the GWSC lives on. I do occasionally get ideas I'd like to see for this competition, and it'd be cool to be able to implement some of them. So yeah, count me in for this.

 

[Ex Extreme]

I think hostin' isn't the main problem here.
I believe the main reason the GWSC's in this situation is because Pokémon spriting activities went kinda downhill with the 3D models in its games.
Btw, I think noobiess said it already, but most of people that sprite nowadays are really casual spriters and it's been kinda hard to keep 'em interested; so, this community should make some other projects and focus on promoting pixel art somehow, not only keeping the GWSC alive.

 

[Bguy7]

I think hostin' isn't the main problem here.
I believe the main reason the GWSC's in this situation is because Pokémon spriting activities went kinda downhill with the 3D models in its games.
Btw, I think noobiess said it already, but most of people that sprite nowadays are really casual spriters and it's been kinda hard to keep 'em interested; so, this community should make some other projects and focus on promoting pixel art somehow, not only keeping the GWSC alive.

Do you have any ideas? Because I've got nothing.

 

[noobiess]

I'm glad I'm seeing this thread

I think that switching host depending on the winner could work but some clear rules should be made beforehand. For example: how many backup-persons are there, what do you do if it is a tie, when do the back-up persons pitch in (and decided the winner of previous week will probably not make a thread),....

,Ex is totally right that spriting has been become less popular since that 3D models came in. However spriting still has some pro's that can't be overshadowed by 3D models: it is pokémon themed, easy (you don't need anything but Paint, and fairely easy to do) and doesn't require much time.
It is perfect to introduce pokémon fans to art, but to keep them interrested you need something more challenging then recolors,... .
Scratching/new art styles look the most straight-forward solutions to me. I actually wanted to introduce making 3D sprites in the GWSC (and actually did it one week) but it was very difficult to keep it going because it is very challenging to learn how the program (Blender) actually works so I didn't feel like I was in the position to make a GWSC-challenge of it.

 

[Bguy7]

Well, at this point I think it might just be best if we dive right into this thing and try to iron out the kinks as we go. As Sunday is approaching, that would be an appropriate time to start our first test trial of the new system and see how it goes. Since American--Pi won the last contest, they have the right to host the first contest. So if you're reading this American--Pi, please respond. If you don't want to do it, or don't see this, I will gladly host the contest myself instead. Or, if anyone else wants to do it and American--Pi doesn't, feel free to volunteer.

 

[Navarch]

I haven't participated in a while because time/life/whatnot, but maybe we could make this a monthly contest? It would give people more time and there'd be less work of having to keep the thread(s) running each week.

Though, like I said, I haven't participated in a while. Partly from the above reasons, but partly because I'm not completely into spriting anymore. There seems to be less focus on it since 3D models and we're only going to lose more people as time goes on. I hate to be a debbie-downer, but I don't think spriting is gonna last here. The times are changing and spriting just isn't gonna change with it.

 

[AmericanPi]

Yeah, I don't think I'll be able to host any contests anytime soon. It would be nice if we could have general art contests (for many different forms of art, not just sprites), but I don't have the time or will to host them.

Bguy7, thanks for taking over and hosting the contest without me responding - me not responding was an indication of my lack of interest in all this. Spriting is something I consider to be kind of obsolete anyways, both for me and for the Pokemon community in general. We've moved into 3D models for years now, after all. Spriting is kind of fun and definitely has its place as an entertaining little diversion I can take once in a while, but in general I'm not a regular, hardcore, new-sprite-every-week spriter. Sorry guys.

 

[noobiess]

I don't completely agree with Navarch, in the fact that spriting is fading away. Even though Nintendo has moved from 2D sprites to 3D sprites, artist haven't. There aren't many artist who learned to make 3D sprites after the switch. And that is because spriting is very accessible: it is in my opinion the only digital art-form that is easy, quick and don't need any tools/programs.
Even though spriting has lost its shine (because it isn't new and used in games so often), it still has a seperate niche that has some things to offer.

But I do think a whole contest that revolves around pokémon sprites is difficult to keep. I think a monthly art contest (with different art forms) looks the most appropiate.
That being said, I don't think that if someone thinks the GWSC could work, (s)he shouldn't try it. I even would like to be proven wrong ^^

 

[Navarch]

You're right about spriting not being dead, but in terms of Pokemon, it sort of is. I should have been more specific; in other communities, spriting is very much alive. I just don't see it surviving on this forum.

 

[Bert]

Let's just see spriting for what it is. Something fun and cool to improve and compete at, but nothing more (unfortunately). If only people could get rich by spriting, things would be different.

Oh yeah, I'm not gonna make it this week. It's FESTIVAL time! \m/

 

[Bguy7]

I'm kind liking the idea of making it monthly too at this point, especially since the current contest only has one entry so far (though I do plan to enter eventually) and that no one has volunteered to host next week's contest yet. Does anyone else have any thoughts on weekly versus monthly? Or maybe we should do something in between, like two weeks?

 

[Bert]

You could always just call it "GWSC - Issue #" and host one whenever you feel like it.

 

[Bguy7]

You could always just call it "GWSC - Issue #" and host one whenever you feel like it.

I'm not to sure I want to take this on all by myself, that's the major reason I've been pushing for this new system. The more I think about it though, the better a monthly version sounds. Anyone have any qualms with a monthly system?

 

[Ex Extreme]

I'm not to sure I want to take this on all by myself, that's the major reason I've been pushing for this new system. The more I think about it though, the better a monthly version sounds. Anyone have any qualms with a monthly system?

Turning GWSC into GMSC? This is silly.
People aren't entering the contest because they don't want to, it's that simple.
They leave their entries to the last minute and enter if they feel obligated to. A basic sprite per week is hardly something absurd.
Making it a monthly contest won't chage this; we may have more entries but it will make this spriting community even less active. I do like the ideia of running both at the same time, tho.
You asked me if I got any ideas; well, yea, I do. I've seen and executed many spriting projects before but most of them proved to have a temporary effect. People lose their interest really fast nowadays, very few like spriting since the internet can provide them other kinds of leisures. And as I said before spriting went downhill with 3D models, I've heard many youngsters calling pixel art 'bad graphics', they ain't interested in learning it anyway.
Without people really interested, excited to sprite doesn't matter how many projects and contests we create.

 

[Bguy7]

Turning GWSC into GMSC? This is silly.
People aren't entering the contest because they don't want to, it's that simple.
They leave their entries to the last minute and enter if they feel obligated to. A basic sprite per week is hardly something absurd.
Making it a monthly contest won't chage this; we may have more entries but it will make this spriting community even less active. I do like the ideia of running both at the same time, tho.
You asked me if I got any ideas; well, yea, I do. I've seen and executed many spriting projects before but most of them proved to have a temporary effect. People lose their interest really fast nowadays, very few like spriting since the internet can provide them other kinds of leisures. And as I said before spriting went downhill with 3D models, I've heard many youngsters calling pixel art 'bad graphics', they ain't interested in learning it anyway.
Without people really interested, excited to sprite doesn't matter how many projects and contests we create.

So are you suggesting we just let this thing die?

 

[Silversea]

I stopped entering because I lost the time to participate. Although other times I couldn't find the inspiration. If I can't think of something reasonably good, I usually won't do it at all.

 

[Ex Extreme]

So are you suggesting we just let this thing die?

No, what I am trying to say is, we do need to create more projects if we want to keep this alive; but we got a really small amount of people interested here, and even less people that participate frequently.
It doesn't matter how many projects we're going to create, there won't be enough people to keep it alive. So, we gotta find new members, interested people, instead. 'Cuz the ones here don't have time/interest anymore.
This is when the real problem comes up, spriting isn't attracting people anymore, so, how can we recruit these people AND keep 'em interested?
It's sad, but as it looks right now we might as well be one of the last Pokémon Pixel artists generations.

 

[noobiess]

What I propose is to do a monthly art contest that isn't sprite-specific. I would subdivide it into 3 catagories (for example: traditional (scanned drawings), sprites and digital art (speed paint)) with all corresponding themes. These catagories can change every month (there are a lot of options: 3D art, photographs, plushies, ...). And it can be fun to link the themes of the catagories together.
At the end of the month, 3 polls are made to decide the winner of each catagory.

For example: Catagories
Spriting ~ make a pixle-over of Yungoos
Speed paint ~ design and draw an evolution of Yungoos
Traditional art ~ draw a scene where Yungoos interacts with another 7th gen pokémon in pencil.

This way, the change is higher people are attracted to enter in at least one catagory, can choose difficulty (based on the catagory) and are given much time to make an antry.
I think it might be beneficial to link this contest with some social media. I'm not an expert in that field, but I think it can only raise the popularity of the contest and the art section in general.