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Future Contest Ideas - Gaming Forum Edition!

wait so do we dress her up in the fanciest dress possible so that she can win Prom Skull Queen?
 
Legend tells of an ancient artifact that can grant a woman's wish...

The Skull Tiara
 
But these contests are meant to be fun, not practical.
Is this the next level step to "I play to win" vs ""I play for fun"?
"I want something useful out of the gameplay forum" vs "I only want to have fun while posting"?

You'd be surprised, but it can be fun to figure out matchups and move interactions, much like it can be fun to 'play to win'!!
I have more fun on a forum if it provides me with information and a field of discussion, rather than a huge mess of self-gloating shitposts.

The Eliza contest was fun because
1) It created something worthwhile (pretty pictures)
2) That otherwise wouldn't have gotten created (cus work)
3) It was pretty specific, but not *so* specific that it wouldn't allow any variety (Eliza + winpose + needs X colours + staff)
4) The art subforum is pretty all-over-the-place and this gave it a focus on something not usually done

"Make a combo" contests are garbage because
1) They create something largely useless (a combo, as pretty as it may be, is not something you're gonna watch 15 times; unlike a picture which you sometimes just open the thread for -- and if it's a 'specific' combo, it won't have an application ingame , either)
2) People make dumb combos all the fucking time (hi <list of people>), there is actually a thread for exactly that already.. what would the contest bring?
3) It can't really be char specific, as that would create a lack of entrants; and if it's not, then the rules of the contest will either be too broad, or create a lot of similar combos, or some characters will just be way better at it
4) The Gameplay forum is pretty much all combos, and this would give it a focus on.. exactly that, yay.

TL;DR:
- Art Forum has lots of good art, so Eliza contest channeled all of that good art into one specific spot (Winpose)
- Gameplay Forum has lots of garbage and no worthwhile posts, Combo contest just creates more of the same shit

I seem to be pretty alone with this opinion though, so uuuuhhhh... I guess have fun with your contest?

P.S. At least make it "Prettiest DoubleSnap combo" or "Fastest Midscreen assist kill" or something, so there's #some# use in it, thanks??
P.P.S. I would @elsa but you don't deserve it
 
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I seem to be pretty alone with this opinion though, so uuuuhhhh... I guess have fun with your contest?
Nah, totally with you on that one.

Tried to post about it from the beginning, but looking at my draft made me remember how bad I am at posting anything that makes sense, so I deleted and waited for someone that had the same idea and some writing abilities to do that for me.

Only problem I have with your contest proposition is...well, looking at the MU thread, I don't have much hope for the results. But I guess I'm being pessimistic, considering what we witnessed with the eliza contest.
 
Giant Skullheart tournament like that one 86ed tourney back in the day
 
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The slapfest? I'll get rekt in a new one just like I did in the last one! (I'm just happy I made it past the first round)
 
Sorry guys but bella pong and fugazi suck as side games.

Ceretoss on the other hand is always godlike.
 
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And protagonisthero because peacock.

Somebody recognizes me? Now I feel special! (Too bad my stuff only works because it's ridiculous, and nobody is stupid enough to actually anticipate anything I pull on them.)

Well, now that I'm done being late to the party, I kind of agree with the sentiment that just making a ridiculous combo video isn't the right direction to go here. Skullgirls is a two-player game, despite what some people seem to believe, and combo videos of any kind really just test an individual's creativity and execution. Not that that's bad, just that there are better ways to approach this.

I do like the other direction though. I could never compete in an actual tournament, due to the whole "crippling fear of other people" and "just generally being terrible" thing. But if you throw in some absolutely ridiculous and arbitrary rules, you've got an awe-inspiring, wonderful mess.

I actually do stuff kinda like this with my friends sometimes (We had planned to do a Skip Superflashes tournament once, but we could only get 4 people together, and 2 of them backed out the day we tried to get everybody together). Besides, I'd feel right at home in an unorthodox assist tournament. Charged Shadow Of Impending Doom and Excellebella, anybody?
 
How about Best Big Band Song as a duo? You must play a song with another player.

You'd also be allowed to use Big Band's other musical attacks
 
What is ceretoss?
Grabs only?

yea man. only grabs or mobility options allowed (command run, glide etc)

shit is waaaay more hype and more interesting to watch than bella pong (nowhere near as good as roseball) and fugazi too. ceretoss is far more organic than either off them. and when you see someone land a raw grab bag in neutral its the coolest shit ever. Plus anyone can play it and have a good time. i honestly couldnt say that many beginners would be able to even play bella pong. that thing moves pretty damn fast not to mention the repeated DP motions.

one day im gonna record some matches and post them but i dont really have equipment.

also excebella is in no way shape or form unorthodox. maybe when i see some back/forward dashes, stand jabs, painwheel fly, bella st. mp i would be satisfied with those.
 
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How about ugliest/worst custom character palette for humor's sake.

And no, the homestuck used for Eliza doesn't count.
 
I've been staying out of this thread so that I don't steer the discussion too much and wanted to let ideas run wild and free, but I'll weigh in with my thoughts now since some big points came up.

1) I'm not even considering tournaments. They just don't work reliably online, particularly in a small community like this. Yes, we'll still get a handful of people who definitely will play, but it will alienate a vast majority of people who have bad connections, cannot reliably get online for these things, or just plain can't be bothered on the day. They're annoying to run and I have rarely seen one actually work out to everyone's satisfaction.
I'm primarily looking for asynchronous contest ideas - meaning contests that people can enter on their own time and submit entries when they are available, not relying on others to show up at the same time (unless they want to enter something as a tag team).
I should also point out that I will not be the only one running contests on Skull Heart, so this is just my opinion. If someone else wants to run a tournament I'll gladly help out, but I'm not interested in setting one up.

2) Mainly at @IsaVulpes here. We tried a "make useful content" contest before. It didn't get may entries.
Honestly, that idea of a valid matchups contest seems far more like work to me than anything else. It also seems like stuff that as you say about combo videos, happens all the time anyway in the gaming forum. Yes, obviously it'll be fun for some people as you said you enjoy it, but the bottom line on these contests is we want as many people as possible to enter, not just a select few, even if it benefits the community. This is why I'm reaching out for ideas in the first place - I have hit a wall of coming up with interesting, catch all ideas that relate to gaming.

3) If I was going to do a combo video style contest I would definitely put some specific restrictions in it. Once said combo contest is done we could then compile all the combos into a single showreel and send it off to SRK and places for some exposure.
 
yeh sounds like a plan to have Wombo Combos Reels sent off to the SRK. There's a good number of Lab Rats who are good at making that stuff. ( some how i am placed into this group, don't know why.)
 
No tournaments? Damn. I was kinda hoping for a Typing Of The Skullgirls tournament. That's still a thing, right?

Having thought about this a little more, I'm kinda liking the idea of prioritizing resets over combos. People do combo videos all the damn time. Maximum damage combos, ridiculous and impractical combos, there's even a thread going about minimum damage combos. It's fun, but I'd like to take the chance to encourage people to move in a different direction.

I enjoy watching people cook up absurd, wacky resets more than neat looking combos (for the most part, anyway). It's even sweeter knowing that nobody is going to defend against some of them, even though it's technically possible. Also, I haven't seen very many reset compilations, but every third person on this site has put together a small collection of combo videos.

Besides, that's just about all we've got for gameplay: playing actual matches, combos, and resets. Unless somebody wants to find out how to make a contest out of defense or the neutral game, anyway. Somebody feel free to prove me wrong, though.