Winter Lunar Magic Creativity Contest - 2016 Judge: Gloomier ----------------------------------------------- Entry #1: That's a cute snowman! I loved its hat! A bit disappointing that it only uses single-colored square blocks for its construction with everything available, but hey, it looks nice, the colors are spot on, and it comes with a ground and a (bit too simple) background. It'd fit nicely in a frame or something. Creativity: 14/20 Crafting: 18/20 Theme Adherency: 10/10 Total: 42/50 ----------------------------------------------- Entry #2: Well it's a bunch of common Christmas-related objects. It's a nice selection, with the gingerbread cookie being the cutest-looking and the least common of the bunch, but from an pixel-artistic view they're not too polished: most of the lighting and shading is focused on the outlines, making them look flat. Also, the santa hat's colors aren't the greatest and it's very inconsistent shaping-wise, even though you got the right idea with the roundness in it. Since you've only used single-colored square blocks for these it seems you unfortunately didn't capture the contest's essence. Creativity: 10/20 Crafting: 8/20 Theme Adherency: 8/10 Total: 26/50 ----------------------------------------------- Entry #3: A nice protagonist gathering there to celebrate the occasion with the viewer. Good job with the animations (I'm legitimately impressed with the snow!) and the cold ambiance! However I felt you could've done a bit more with it: it uses a single screen, the message says "Merry Christmas" but there's not much Christmas-related stuff there, and the decoration is lacking. The turn blocks are a bit out of place, for example. Also, it bugs me a bit that you left those characters out in a bone-chilling snowstorm but that's me nitpicking lol. Creativity: 15/20 Crafting: 13/20 Theme Adherency: 9/10 Total: 37/50 ----------------------------------------------- Entry #4: Oh wow, that's a neatly drawn Santa! The amount of detail you put to that is incredible, and the colors are perfect! Unfortunately it doesn't go beyond the solid-color blocks and the vanilla background doesn't fit it at all, considering it cutoffs because of the vertical layout. You gave it custom colors but it's not redeeming enough to be honest. Creativity: 13/20 Crafting: 12/20 Theme Adherency: 8/10 Total: 33/50 ----------------------------------------------- Entry #5: ... Creativity: 20/20 Crafting: 20/20 Theme Adherency: 10/10 Total: 50/50 No but really, this is perfect! It totally captures the essence of the contest with the clever usage of vanilla blocks. The design and colors are flawless and the amount of detail is outstanding. I loved how you actually went to the trouble of making shadows and anti-aliasing out of blocks. Also dat Luigi. ----------------------------------------------- Entry #6: Erm... This is a nice Mario, but that's it. I think you tried to keep it as vanilla as possible but that also heavily limits your entry when it comes to creativity. Also the contest's theme is "Winter" and I see nothing remotely related to that there. Creativity: 5/20 Crafting: 7/20 Theme Adherency: 0/10 Total: 12/50 ----------------------------------------------- Entry #7: Oh hey, an attempt at a landscape portrait! The idea is very unique and I really like the surreal-ish nightfall colors! The way you made the snow is simple but cute, with the way it conveys wind, albeit not much smoothly animated. One thing that bothers me a bit is that the FG and BG differ a bit when it comes to artistical style, with the BG going with solid colors and no shading whatsoever. Also, the color gradients of the mountain range and the sky aren't very smooth, but no big deal. I also felt like the sky could've used cooler (as in, colder-looking) colors too. Lastly, the pipe isn't properly colored. Creativity: 14/20 Crafting: 14/20 Theme Adherency: 9/10 Total: 37/50 ----------------------------------------------- Entry #8: That's a beautiful Christmas tree! I like how you made the lights, and the BG and FG deco go really well with it. The colors are great and match the nighttime ambiance, although I felt the FG could've used a better color for the dirt so it didn't have so much white. The one thing that bugs me the most though is the star at the top of the tree. It's not well shaped at all and it's a bummer because it's one of the main things about this entry. But overall it's a solid entry. Creativity: 17/20 Crafting: 14/20 Theme Adherency: 10/10 Total: 41/50 ----------------------------------------------- Entry #9: Ok, this one is really, REALLY clever. I'd never, ever think of using the generator boxes to achieve message boxes like that, haha. Everything else is spot on: the turn blocks representing presents, the nicely curved trees, their deco, the cloud FG being used as fluffy snow, a bow tie made out of blocks for the big present (nice angle). Colors are great too, although the gradient at the top isn't that smooth. You could've used Layer 3 to make it go behind stuff too. Creativity: 19/20 Crafting: 18/20 Theme Adherency: 10/10 Total: 47/50 ----------------------------------------------- Entry #10: ...Oh boy. A cheery Santa girl, festive objects and a festive text. This couldn't make me any happier to be honest, and that's sweet considering Christmas is a time of joy. Great job by using 8x8 tiles and literally using everything that was available: from Layer 3 to the Lakitu clouds being so cleverly used as part of the girl's Santa clothes. The colors are great too. There's really one thing that I don't like much about this entry: the BG stuff at the top. If I hadn't changed my angle of view for a second I'd never be able to tell it was there. I must admit that it sure was a nice addition, and I loved Mario on that deer cart... being pulled by Yoshis instead of deers, which makes it all that more original. But yeah you could've used a brighter color for those to make it more noticeable. Aside from that, it's perfect! Creativity: 20/20 Crafting: 18/20 Theme Adherency: 10/10 Total: 48/50 ----------------------------------------------- Entry #11: Those are very nice vanilla houses! I like how it tells a little story with Mario burned by the fireplace and everyone reunited for possibly a Christmas celebration, considering the festive decoration etc. I feel bad for Luigi being left behind with those Yoshis, though. They don't seem to be having as much fun as the rest, lol. The idea was nice, but I think the execution could've been better: the snow on the ground barely has any shading, the falling snow animation is awkward because it doesn't have a sense of direction since it uses only 2 frames, and lastly the BG is empty when you had Layer 3 available. Creativity: 17/20 Crafting: 13/20 Theme Adherency: 10/10 Total: 40/50 ----------------------------------------------- Entry #12: "The Mario Lisa in Winter!" This confused me to no end because I don't get any Mona Lisa vibes from it. Maybe I'm missing the true reference here? I don't know. Anyway I think Santa Mario looks nice and the beard is perfect (nice usage of cement blocks), but the color for the hat isn't very nice. It has too much orange in it. I think you wanted to use the same color you used for the shading of Mario's skin for some reason. But whatever reason that is, it didn't pay off much. The BG is nice but unfortunately I can't say the same for the FG. It has nice colors (good mix of warm and cool colors there), but it's just too empty, and the slopes are so random. It's decent nonetheless. Creativity: 13/20 Crafting: 10/20 Theme Adherency: 9/10 Total: 32/50 ----------------------------------------------- Entry #13: Creativity: Black McDonald's Grimace with mits on wheelchair./20 Crafting: Pay me new eyes./20 Theme Adherency: Oh hey, there's a Christmas tree there in the corner!/10 Total: lmao/50 ... 12/20 10/20 2/10 24/50 ----------------------------------------------- Entry #14: This is really impressive! The atmosphere is perfect: a cozy room decorated for Christmas, and you actually had the trouble of giving it perspective and increasing its sense of depth! Everything looks great: the decoration, the tree, the gifts under it, the food on the table (loved how you used sprites to simulate toys and snacks), Mario dressed for the occasion, etc. You've also used every resource available, which automatically makes it a great entry for this type of contest! There's only one thing that made this entry a bit less stellar and it's the "TIS' THE SEASON" message, which due to its mild informality, it doesn't end up fitting the cuteness and overall tidiness of the rest of the entry very well. It's still way too well crafted though. Creativity: 20/20 Crafting: 19/20 Theme Adherency: 10/10 Total: 49/50