Since we are going on the Create-a-Hero avenue followed by a create a universe using said heroes possibly perhaps one of the themes should be a create-a-villian as well?
Also, does anyone know if there's folks on the forum that could draw something if our own drawing skills suck the proverbial bisuit?
I've got a way around this. My hero will have the ability to transform into anything he can draw. But he can only draw stick figures. It's dizzyingly meta.
Also, the character's growth as a hero and as a person will be visualized by increasingly complex art. Incidentally, at the same rate as I'm learning to draw myself. So, in a sense, the comic is very autobiographical.
Right, the themes should, in general, be vague. I think maybe around certain dates, like holidays, we can do more specific themes, but yeah. I like generic themes.
I disagree. The more definition a problem has, the more creativity required to solve it, and the more interesting the results usually. If it's really going to be contests then we need parameters to keep everyone on the same page, or else we'll end up with entries so drastically different that they wouldn't really be competing with each other.
For example, the "silly villain" idea was used over in the CBR competitions, but they also narrowed it down to "silly villain based on a standard kitchen utensil" and it's the ability to solve that problem that showed the contestants' strengths and weaknesses. Also, it leaves more options for humorous villains/heroes for later challenges.
Every challenge doesn't have to be so narrow, but if we have challenges with parameters so broad as "A-list hero" then we'd run out of categories pretty quickly.
Also, the additional parameters really force people to work harder on their entries. If the challenge is "vietnam veteran with unexpected side effects from exposure to agent orange," then each person really has to think of how to cause their entry to stand out from the pack while still following the rules of the category, and there's still infinite directions that something that seems so narrow can be taken in.
Obviously, there needs to be a middle ground between extremely vague (“Create a SuperHero who, ummmm, dose….stuff”) and extremely detailed (“Create a SuperHero named Bruce Wayne whose alias is Batman, who lives in Gotham City, etc. etc.”) entry requirements that will keep everyone happy.
Maybe this dosen't need to be asked, but will there be a vote on the best entries or just a straw poll.
definitely. also, the ability to choose the next theme helps with that. If a person doesn't like the theme chosen, it gives them initiative to enter and do their best anyway so that they get to choose the next round.
I know I posted humorous themes, but we should definitely balance between serious and humorous, despite how fun it is to make pastiches and joke characters.
More themes:
Inspired by Folk Tales, Myths, and Legends
Best Application of Real, Current Science
It Came From The Year 2000 (hero from what people in the 50s thought the future would look like)
the 'it came from the year 2000' would definitely be a fun one. and best application of real science would also be rad.
The 'worst superpower ever' would be fun to see what other people would do with the character.
We had a conversation once, and my friend was all "the ability to spawn ordinary leaves" and I followed it up with "until you start spawning them in peoples' lungs to get what you want."
This is an almost painfully awesome idea, especially if it later evolves into a shared universe in which to tell stories using these characters. Only minor problem is that I can't draw to save my life
Theme-wise I think genre-based ones are a good idea; noir, for example, is quite general while still implying certain conventions of the genre that should be observed. Also I think it'd be cool if one was to come up with both a hero and a villain as their nemesis. I also like last survivor of a race of molemen, though maybe that's just me.
fray on
"I told you," said Ford. "Eddies in the space-time continuum."
"And this is his sofa, is it?" said Arthur.
To give an idea of what can be done under extremely limiting requirements, this challenge provided the character's name, super-hero name, and a full write-up and 15 of us put forth 15 completely different entries ranging from Roseanne to Sigourney Weaver to Tank Girl.
Obviously we wouldn't have such limitations, because we're not only designing the characters visually, but we're also creating the character as well. Its just to show how much variation actually comes out of these.
EDIT: I think more importantly though, we'll need to keep a strict schedule. If we're really trying to bring in more posters, people will expect every Monday or every other Monday or whatever to either have a new challenge or have entries to vote on.
the 'it came from the year 2000' would definitely be a fun one. and best application of real science would also be rad.
The 'worst superpower ever' would be fun to see what other people would do with the character.
We had a conversation once, and my friend was all "the ability to spawn ordinary leaves" and I followed it up with "until you start spawning them in peoples' lungs to get what you want."
Isn't that basically how people viewed Sue Richards until one writer point out that she could create a force-field in your brain?
More Themes:
Seriously, I Only Built This Anatomically Correct Android To Fight Crime
Hi, I'm From A Post-Apocalyptic Future, And I'm Here To Help
The Greatest Generation of Propoganda Heroes
More Themes:
Seriously, I Only Built This Anatomically Correct Android To Fight Crime
Hi, I'm From A Post-Apocalyptic Future, And I'm Here To Help
The Greatest Generation of Propoganda Heroes
I'll throw in a few suggestions
- Like all good things in life...It Emerged From The Sewers
- Super-Powered Pets and the People who love them.
- Superheroes who really, really shouldn't have Superpowers
- No Powers, No Cry: Non-Superpowered Heroes
- If You're a Megalomaniac bent on World Domination and you know it, clap your hands...
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143999Tellin' yanot askin' ya, not pleadin' with yaRegistered Userregular
edited July 2009
- They'll see. One day, they'll all see!
- Who gave this harbinger of the Apocalypse free will, anyway?
- I came here to frag some bastiches and chew gum, but then they killed my family. Now, it's personal.
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TexiKenDammit!That fish really got me!Registered Userregular
edited July 2009
-I'm just a normal kid from the Midwest who was given powers, and my family is still alive and root for me.
-You want smug, I got it
-I was born from the doodling in a 9th grader's paper margins
-A celebrity created me!
Just out of interest, the topic of Worst Superpower made me think of this book...
A very funny collection of short stories about the not-so-super superhumans in a fictional UK. And to my surprise there's Neil Gaiman's name on the cover, who of course I recognise now but would have never heard of when I originally read the book.
Of All the People on Earth to Give Super Powers, They Picked That Guy? (inspired by The Captain from Nextwave)
God, My Alter-Ego is a Douchebag (the hero or civilian identity is a tool, either by choice, psychosis, or body exchanging)
@Lucas: yeah, we're creating characters, not stories.
Then again, everything would weed out at the voting stage, I'm sure. If someone posts a 700 word essay for this, I probably wouldn't even read it before voting and I'm probably not the only one like that.
I'd say 150-250 words should probably cover it. If someone can't pitch their character in less than 250 words, then they need to seriously rethink their pitch.
@Yak-guy: Corporate-funded heroes makes me think of old dude from Mystery Men with the sponsors.
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GonmunHe keeps kickin' me inthe dickRegistered Userregular
@Lucas: yeah, we're creating characters, not stories.
Then again, everything would weed out at the voting stage, I'm sure. If someone posts a 700 word essay for this, I probably wouldn't even read it before voting and I'm probably not the only one like that.
I'd say 150-250 words should probably cover it. If someone can't pitch their character in less than 250 words, then they need to seriously rethink their pitch.
@Yak-guy: Corporate-funded heroes makes me think of old dude from Mystery Men with the sponsors.
Maybe if we were to use some sort of a template. That would help structure and organize everyone's submissions so that they are similar and it would also help with length. A sample template like this:
75 words does seem a very short space to tell a character's origin. I know this isn't a writing contest, but personally I'd like a little more room.
For the graphically challenged, would you be allowed to submit a character without artwork? Or, if all else fails, doing the unthinkable and using Heromachine or something of that ilk? I ask this because I really, *really* can't draw but I love coming up with ideas for heroes and villains.
I don't think word counts are necessary. If we're voting on the winner, then people should know that having diarrhea of the keyboard probably won't help their chances.
My guess is that the visual design of the character is pretty important, but since this isn't an art contest any method of presenting it would probably be cool.
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RingoHe/Hima distinct lack of substanceRegistered Userregular
edited July 2009
I'll make sure that all my heroes have a remarkable similarity in appearance to Conan, or Chuck, or characters from Clone High to court the Moderate Voter.
I'll make sure that all my heroes have a remarkable similarity in appearance to Conan, or Chuck, or characters from Clone High to court the Moderate Voter.
I mean the Moderator Vote.
Gets my vote!
Uh I mean lets discuss the serious social issues raised in Watchmen
* I got my superpowers, but where did my war go?
* Superhero condemned to be forever mocked for one dickish thing they did in a badly-written story arc
* Office guy gets powers; now what?
Okay. Can someone compile a list of all the suggestions for categories so far into a list? I want to get at least a trial run of this going within a week or two. I figure it's going to be a bit of a rough start as we work out what works and what doesn't as far as rules go, but still.
One thing: I don't want to be too strict as far as rules go on this. The only really hard and fast rules should be to meet the deadline and to make sure that your entries don't break any site rules. That means no porno entries.
I think it might be best to start off with less restrictions, at least at first. If you want a text length restriction, I'd suggest "fits in the character limit of a single post."
Posts
I've got a way around this. My hero will have the ability to transform into anything he can draw. But he can only draw stick figures. It's dizzyingly meta.
Also, the character's growth as a hero and as a person will be visualized by increasingly complex art. Incidentally, at the same rate as I'm learning to draw myself. So, in a sense, the comic is very autobiographical.
No one steal this idea.
For example, the "silly villain" idea was used over in the CBR competitions, but they also narrowed it down to "silly villain based on a standard kitchen utensil" and it's the ability to solve that problem that showed the contestants' strengths and weaknesses. Also, it leaves more options for humorous villains/heroes for later challenges.
Every challenge doesn't have to be so narrow, but if we have challenges with parameters so broad as "A-list hero" then we'd run out of categories pretty quickly.
Also, the additional parameters really force people to work harder on their entries. If the challenge is "vietnam veteran with unexpected side effects from exposure to agent orange," then each person really has to think of how to cause their entry to stand out from the pack while still following the rules of the category, and there's still infinite directions that something that seems so narrow can be taken in.
Maybe this dosen't need to be asked, but will there be a vote on the best entries or just a straw poll.
More themes:
Inspired by Folk Tales, Myths, and Legends
Best Application of Real, Current Science
It Came From The Year 2000 (hero from what people in the 50s thought the future would look like)
The 'worst superpower ever' would be fun to see what other people would do with the character.
We had a conversation once, and my friend was all "the ability to spawn ordinary leaves" and I followed it up with "until you start spawning them in peoples' lungs to get what you want."
Theme-wise I think genre-based ones are a good idea; noir, for example, is quite general while still implying certain conventions of the genre that should be observed. Also I think it'd be cool if one was to come up with both a hero and a villain as their nemesis. I also like last survivor of a race of molemen, though maybe that's just me.
"And this is his sofa, is it?" said Arthur.
Obviously we wouldn't have such limitations, because we're not only designing the characters visually, but we're also creating the character as well. Its just to show how much variation actually comes out of these.
EDIT: I think more importantly though, we'll need to keep a strict schedule. If we're really trying to bring in more posters, people will expect every Monday or every other Monday or whatever to either have a new challenge or have entries to vote on.
Isn't that basically how people viewed Sue Richards until one writer point out that she could create a force-field in your brain?
More Themes:
Seriously, I Only Built This Anatomically Correct Android To Fight Crime
Hi, I'm From A Post-Apocalyptic Future, And I'm Here To Help
The Greatest Generation of Propoganda Heroes
I'll throw in a few suggestions
- Like all good things in life...It Emerged From The Sewers
- Super-Powered Pets and the People who love them.
- Superheroes who really, really shouldn't have Superpowers
- No Powers, No Cry: Non-Superpowered Heroes
- If You're a Megalomaniac bent on World Domination and you know it, clap your hands...
- Who gave this harbinger of the Apocalypse free will, anyway?
- I came here to frag some bastiches and chew gum, but then they killed my family. Now, it's personal.
-You want smug, I got it
-I was born from the doodling in a 9th grader's paper margins
-A celebrity created me!
A very funny collection of short stories about the not-so-super superhumans in a fictional UK. And to my surprise there's Neil Gaiman's name on the cover, who of course I recognise now but would have never heard of when I originally read the book.
Of All the People on Earth to Give Super Powers, They Picked That Guy? (inspired by The Captain from Nextwave)
God, My Alter-Ego is a Douchebag (the hero or civilian identity is a tool, either by choice, psychosis, or body exchanging)
I concur with person quoted.
So... Corporate Funded Mascot / Super Hero?
Then again, everything would weed out at the voting stage, I'm sure. If someone posts a 700 word essay for this, I probably wouldn't even read it before voting and I'm probably not the only one like that.
I'd say 150-250 words should probably cover it. If someone can't pitch their character in less than 250 words, then they need to seriously rethink their pitch.
@Yak-guy: Corporate-funded heroes makes me think of old dude from Mystery Men with the sponsors.
Or Booster Gold that one time...
Name:
Powers:
Origin: (Max 75 words)
Details: (Max 250 words)
For the graphically challenged, would you be allowed to submit a character without artwork? Or, if all else fails, doing the unthinkable and using Heromachine or something of that ilk? I ask this because I really, *really* can't draw but I love coming up with ideas for heroes and villains.
I mean the Moderator Vote.
right geebs
right
you get to hang out with the cool kids
your first order is to tell geebs I'm not talking to him anymore
Uh I mean lets discuss the serious social issues raised in Watchmen
* I got my superpowers, but where did my war go?
* Superhero condemned to be forever mocked for one dickish thing they did in a badly-written story arc
* Office guy gets powers; now what?
One thing: I don't want to be too strict as far as rules go on this. The only really hard and fast rules should be to meet the deadline and to make sure that your entries don't break any site rules. That means no porno entries.
I think it might be best to start off with less restrictions, at least at first. If you want a text length restriction, I'd suggest "fits in the character limit of a single post."
*Sigh*...Looks like I'll have to table my idea for "Bonerman" yet again.
I guess the forums just isn't ready for a super hero who fights crime with his schlong.