*** December/January 2014 Lite Challenge Voting***

[Diamond]

Hey guys, sorry for the short work time for this month's challenge. Your job this time was to create an idyllic small village, in whatever manner you saw fit, with as many classic tropes as you could fit in.

Here are the challenge thumbs:

CLICK ME! I'M ALL PICTUREY!

Vote for as many entrants as you'd like, and don't forget to rep those you feel deserve it. Voting will end in four days, after which, the winner will receive a shiny new silver compass.

[Jalyha]

Since I have no idea how to judge how good a map is, and the judging criteria is partly adherence to the challenge itself, and partly... well.. personal taste... I thought I should explain my method of deciding who to vote for, so some nice person could tell me if there is a better way (please!)


So.. most people didn't finish on time.

and:

1) I thought at first that we had three votes, but apparently we have as many as we like, and
2) There are a total of 5 entries...


So I thought, well, I'll just vote for everyone. Then I thought, "that would have no affect on who won, and would be a total cop-out". Then I thought, since I *know* mine is A) Unfinished B ) A rushed-effort and C) Not my best (artistic) work... I could vote for everyone but myself. But that would be silly.

So I decided to stick to the "3 vote" thing mentioned in another post somewhere for a different challenge... but then I realized (if I was not one of my votes) I would just be telling the 1 remaining entrant their map wasn't as good as the rest! (Which is untrue for any entry).

So I decided to do a 10 point scale based on the judging criteria for the other challenge, and (primarily) adherance to the challenge itself.

So:

This month's challenge is to map an archetypical fantasy town.

Play it straight or for laughs but try to get in as many fantasy tropes as you can.

and:

Entries will be judged based on the following criteria in no specific order: originality, artistic merit, adherence to challenge guidelines, technical excellence.

I don't know what technical excellence is, but I'm assuming it is a mix of accuracy and completeness.

Using these methods, I found that all the maps had their strong points:

1) MiltonMills Village
Accuracy: 10/10
Completeness: 10/10 (The only fully-finished map WITH a scale of some type..)
Artistic Merit: 9/10 (The water is disturbing me somehow, but the detail in the rest of the map more than makes up for it)
Originality: 8/10 (Bonus points for the waterfall and the ruins... really, how original can a "typical" and trope-filled small town be? )
Adherance to Challenge Guidelines: 10/10 (Archetypical/idyllic small town? Check. Tropes? Not spelled out, but they are all there)
Total score: 47/50

2) Riker's Crossing
Accuracy: 10/10
Completeness: 6/10 (Was higher without the admission that it was incomplete ("ran out of time") in the thread)
Artistic Merit: 8/10. (Largely because it's incomplete, it feels like something is missing. The blurry background actually somehow fits with the sharp relief of the houses, so that's good!)
Originality: 7/10. (Nothing really jumped out at me, but again, it's the nature of the challenge.)
Adherance to Challenge Guidelines: 6/10. (Idyllic Small town? Check. Tropes? I can't see them. I wish it was complete so I could. Still.. the idyllic small town IS a trope, so...)
Total Score: 37/50

3. Small Town in a Valley

Accuracy: 10/10
Completeness: 7/10 (Was higher without the admission that it was incomplete ("ignore this") in the thread)
Artistic Merit: 7/10. (beautifully and skillfully done, but incomplete, and doesn't let you *see* the village)
Originality: 8/10. (Bonus points for bravely entering a different perspective.)
Adherance to Challenge Guidelines: 5/10. (Idyllic Small town? Check. Tropes? none I can see...)
Total Score: 37/50

4) Town in a Valley
Accuracy: 10/10
Completeness: 5/10
Artistic Merit: 9/10 (I wish this was finished. I can see the bones of a beauty)
Originality: 10/10 (I like that you tried to show more than just a zoom of the building. Part of small town life is the land )
Adherance to Challenge Guidelines: 4/10 (Can't see any tropes, and this *feels* bigger than an archetypical small town to me. Would have been so much higher if finished, I'm sure)
Total Score: 38/50

Finally, my own entry:

5) Crescent Lake (I'll try to be completely objective)

Accuracy: 2/10. (Yeah... found out while mapping that NONE of the distances/layouts I had in my head will work at all. To fill the right area, my houses would all be way beyond the size of that in a small town like this)
Completeness: 5/10 (Didn't get a chance to finish, but at least I got my labels in)
Artistic Merit: 3/10 (Even incomplete, this is by far the sloppiest work I've ever done. It isn't even pretty. (I'll fixit someday, though) )
Originality: Uhhhh... how do you judge yourself on that? 4/10. (I gave up my originality to be able to finish on time )
Adherance to Challenge guidelines: 6/10. small town in a valley, but I couldn't fit in 90% of my tropes. Still, there's a few.)
Total Score: 20/50


So... While everyone did very well overall (except me, ironically), there was one clear winner in all this. (Keeping in mind that all scores are just my personal opinions) So.. that's why, although everyone is very talented, and I repped you all, I'm casting only one vote, for Bogie. Congrats.

[Diamond]

I actually voted for yours and no one else's because I felt A) it kept closest to the spirit of the challenge, and B) it was the only one that was done or even almost done.

[tainotim]

I second Diamond about that. Sure, the other maps were good and could have been great, but without labeling they lacked the information needed to cross the finish line. Cheers

[foremost]

Bogie's Entry: This was, by far, the most complete entry this month,
and I really enjoyed it. Bogie is very good with getting all those details
in, so he earned my vote. While I do think some of the bushes and
trees look rather flat, I was very impressed by the textures of the map.

Chlodowech's Entry: Out of all the entires, I thought this was the most
astetically pleasing, and I liked it a lot. However, I didn't think it was
a good entry for the challenge because it provided no information and
was thus not a map.

Jalyha's Entry: I understand where the cartographer might think it's a
little unfinished, but I'd agree it stuck to the prompt well. Plus, it's
and achievement just to finish the challenge as it is.

KenG's Entry: I thought this was slightly uncompleted, but another fine
map. What was done was spectacular. Adding an interesting border or
more activity on the map would have been very nice.

thepinksalmon's Entry: Uncomplete, sadly. But it looked promising.

[Bogie]

I voted for everyone but myself because
A: I am very happy they all joined the challenge even though there was not enough time to finish their maps.
B: I never vote for myself.

[fabio p]

The time available for this contest was really little, so congratulations to all the competitors for their efforts.

I voted for Bogie and kenG.

Bogie has done the most complete map and used the textures in a way that I really admire.

KenG's map has the choice of colors that I appreciate the most.

Jalyha's map: I like the geography of the map, but the map itself requires, in my opinion, a little more work in aesthetic terms.

Thepinksalmon's map: a really promising start, but the map is too much incomplete.

Chlodowech's map: nice realization, but I do not think it could be considered a map.

[Diamond]

Congrats to Bogie! Your award will be along shortly...

[Jalyha]

Congrats, Bogie!!

[- Max -]

Congrats on this new silver compass Bogie!