Have you ever wanted a character of yours to be on a poster or website promoting a real live game? Well, now's your chance, because the makers of "Super Omega Deathbattle Warzone Apocalypse (the Most Dangerous Game Ever Made)" have turned to you -- yes, YOU! -- to help design the characters they'll use in their promotional materials! How cool is that?!
Here's an example of the kind of thing where your characters might appear:
And your prize isn't just getting your character added to the promo, but getting it fully illustrated in an awesome pose within that promo by Livio Ramondelli of "Transformers: Autocracy" and "DC Universe Online" fame. Check out his fantastic DeviantART work -- this guy is seriously fantastic.
So to recap, you get a character you designed painted in full color, to be used in promotional materials for a cool game that you can actually show your friends. This is big, folks.
You can find the complete rules here (PDF viewer required). But, here's the short version:
- You have two weeks instead of one to get your submissions ready. We want them to be really good.
- You can create up to nine characters and you don't have to say which archetype(s) they are for -- let the design speak for itself.
- They're much more interested in the character design than the actual piece. For instance, they don't care about flashy backgrounds or anything like that. You can add them in if you want, but all the judge will be looking at are the actual character designs. So if you get frustrated at your inability to create the kind of elaborate set pieces of people like Kytana or dblade, this is your chance to shine with just your design vision.
- By submitting a design, you are granting Thunderpunch Studios the rights to use it in their promotional materials. You are not granting them the copyright to the image outside of their official promotional materials, however. In other words, you're giving them the ability to use it how they want for themselves, you're not giving up rights to the character altogether.
- Winners will be announced on May 11 and will be chosen by Thunderpunch Studios executives.
To avoid accusations of "he stole my design!", we're going to handle submissions like for a "Friday Night Fights" session.
- Instead of posting links to your character(s) here, you will need to email them directly to me (afdstudios@gmail.com), all in one single message. You can ZIP them up if you want or you can do them all as separate attachments, so long as I just get one email from you.
- Each file should have your HM user name and your character's name so I know who's who.
- A description would also be nice but isn't mandatory.
Also, once you hit SEND, your submission is final. No takebacks or do-overs.
Good luck, everyone! I know you'll do us all proud. If you have any questions, please speak up in the comments below and I'll try my best to get them answered.
Edited To Add: DO NOT POST YOUR ENTRIES AS LINKS IN COMMENTS HERE! YOU MUST EMAIL THEM TO ME! Please, read the directions above, folks.
wow awesome – better get to work
One little heromachinist here is not sure if she should believe her eyes… This is so cool!
so we don’t have to submit using heromachine illustration?
Just to help me thoughts while designing:
is it an end of the world battle arena thing (like Mad Max’s Thunderdome) or more like these characters were summoned to fight (like the Secret Wars)
from the pdf ive downloaded, it looks like mmo realtime strategy (tile based strategy) game, so we might summonned it
ah about my post before, forget it. the pdf said it must be heromachine work 😛
Can we use “older” pics?
I don’t see why not.
“older” meaning previously submitted?
Hey guys, I’m Woody, the guy who will be judging your designs. I just wanted to answer a few of your questions:
Frevoli: Try not to worry about the game’s setting too much. It’s designed to allow players to create any sort of characters they want to play, which is partially the reason for the absurd title. A single team might have a Mad Max-style post-apocalyptic warrior, a wand-wielding magician, a chainsaw-armed zombie, and some sort of cyborg Teddy Roosevelt knockoff. Whatever genre you decide to go with, all we care about is that the character looks awesome and original and is a good representation of what the Hero Machine software is capable of.
ams: Like Jeff said, recycling older designs should be perfectly fine.
I have got a question. I made 3/4 view pictures thats are good or need full body pictures.
Sounds great! Thanks for the opportunity, Jeff and Woody!
Let’s go gang. Show them what we got!
MACHINERS ASSEMBLE!!! (sorry, watching Avenger cartoons with my kids)
Sorry i have another question. My english not enough good, and try to understand well. I use translator but i can’t copy that line for the pdf, to understand well.
I can make 9 char but if is few that is not problem? I also parcipitate it.
As long as you can make out enough important details for the artist to do a full illustration, any view is fine.
Fewer than 9 is fine. You just can’t do MORE than 9, but there is no minimum.
Yes, the Maximum number of entries is 9, but you can submit less if you like. However one you make your submissions you can not add more later, so if you only send say 6 entries in then 6 is all you will be allowed as all your entries most be sent in together in a single email.
Curious.
Jeff will you be able to post all the entries AFTER the winnerss are picked, so we can see their awesomness?
Thanks Jeff and Kaldath
Like in FNF.
Another question, any non finalist char in any contest are enter or like in the same rules with normal contest. If we enter once a picture that is eliminated?
Definitely. I am not 100% sure of the best way to actually do that since we might have many many entries, but I do want to share all of them.
http://i1103.photobucket.com/albums/g470/Fachrydwi/tarantula.jpg
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http://i1103.photobucket.com/albums/g470/Fachrydwi/orchine.jpg
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i’m hungry by the way 😐
Clownprince, I hate to pick on you, but there’s a lot of fail here. First and most obvious, entries made here in the comments don’t count. You’re suposed to send them to me in an email.
Second, you didn’t name your files in a way that shows who they’re from, meaning I’ll have to rename them when I get them.
Please, read and understand the rules before entering.
Also @clownprince (and really to everyone), be careful about making your character the same color scheme as the background. In both of those examples it’s hard to tell where the background ends and the character begins. I want Livio to be as faithful to your designs as possible, but that will be difficult if we can’t make out your character from the background.
Well, I’ve got my first character…
This sounds really neat. I appreciate the opportunity to participate.
Excellent! Indoctrinate your kids early. 🙂
Hi all,
I’ve been following the blog off and on for a while but I’ve never submitted anything before–I guess now’s a good time to start! I’m excited to give this a try.
I think this is kinda cool, sounds a lot like what heroscape would be like in a video game, what platforms is it coming out on? Xbox 360 maybe 😀 or just computer -_-
While I can’t say too much about the project at this point, I can tell you we are working hard towards releasing PC and Xbox Live Arcade versions of the game, though there have been talks about looking into a mobile version as well. Don’t forget to “Like” our facebook page in order to not only receive updates on our progress, but also to gain access to special fan-only benefits like beta invites! Until we get our official forum up and running, our facebook page will also be our primary source of gathering public opinions and feedback! You can access our facebook page by clicking on my name.
Just curious, I know once they’re sent, they’re sent, but do all pf our entries have to be in one email to you Jeff, or can they be in several over the course of two weeks. Also this shall be fun.
As the bulleted list says, “all in one single message. You can ZIP them up if you want or you can do them all as separate attachments, so long as I just get one email from you.”
So one single message, not lots of individual ones.
What’s the game about???
Tell me.
Maniacmick: Seriously? Come on, man, read the rules.
I honestly wonder sometimes why I bother typing things out.
Maybe just don’t say anything and let them think they have entered the contest. Or am I being a little stinker? 🙂
Sooooooo tempting!
There are some of us, who have not participated Friday Night Fights, so entering contest by e-mail is new…
No excuse for not reading! Off with his head!
Edited To Add: DO NOT POST YOUR ENTRIES AS LINKS IN COMMENTS HERE! YOU MUST EMAIL THEM TO ME! Please, read the directions above, folks.
DELETE !! damn I meant to hit preview for a sizing / link test…..frack frack frack…..
Thanks Jeff
Wow, if the posted bullet points aren’t being read, what hope does my poor PDF have?
True… It is no excuse for NOT reading.
@CrabCake: We can’t go into detail quite yet, but know that it’s being developed by the very talented senior writer of Cracked.com, Dan O’brien.
Jeff, Woody
I am legally blind and I was able to read the rules and understand them. 😀
and I am working busily on creating some entries for ya.
That is just weird.
My roommate just shown me her Alice In Wonderland/Queen of Hearts duo folder she got for her 33rd Birthday today from our other roommate.
I already sent them to you but i don’t know if it worked. If it didn’t can i try again?
this is cool, i plan on being a video game maker and having one of my characters for a video game is cool.
Wow, this is so cool, I might even fire up the HeroMachine for the first time in months.
Good to have you back!
I didn’t get it, abominal. Go ahead and resend, definitely.
send the preview as zip/rar to afdstudios@gmail.com??thats true?
Yes, as the rules say:
Ok, sorry… I am just having too much of a tickle with the back-and-forth explanation of the rules…
The posted cover art itself is way cool. Looking forward to an HM-design interpreted in the Livio-style. I’m definitely in.
iv already made a few today, i will make more Tuesday
Jeff what if I have a guy with 3 forms like DBZ super saiyan can I use all 3 forms or no? It’s actually more of a Bleach hallow form thing but I’m just wondering.
@Mr Matt: If you can somehow combine all 3 forms into a single character, that would be fine. Otherwise you would need to submit all 3 forms as 3 separate characters, and the likelihood of all 3 being chosen as winning submissions would not be very high.
Question: Do you want us to send you the links to online files, or the files themselves?
Please send Jeff the files directly, either as a zipped bundle or as separate attachments within the same email. Just make sure all of your designs are submitted with a single email.
Ah. Much abliged, Woody.
Tuldabar, provided I read the rules correctly (apparently a hard thing to do, judging from the messages above), you’re meant to send the files themselves, either as a single zipped file, or as attachments to a SINGLE e-mail.
@Jeff, Cool contest. Something for me to sink my HM teeth into, now that I finally have a stable computer that can handle HM3 (and other stuff) for more than 30 minutes…
So, the descriptions that you say would be nice, but not absolutely necessary… How should we include them? As text in the e-mail, or as a separate text file(s)?
Sounds cool, Jeff! I think I’m going to enter some of my best-received entries from the past, and then a few new designs.
Jeff, hope you don’t mind if I include one you’ve been using in this site’s banner.
Not a problem at all. If there was ever a time to use the Greatest Hits, this is it.
Also, hey, I assume I can’t post the same character in multiple poses? So, if I wanted to show the same character standing, in action, and from the back, I can’t do that?
How about now?
@Suleman: That’s a cool idea and something I wish I had had the foresight to consider, but unfortunately now that the contest is under way, the way things are structured would require you to just submit a single design for each character. Just remember, though, that while a cool pose can help sell a character, all I’m really going to be looking at is the overall design.
As for the optional descriptions, that’s really Jeff’s call, but I would think just text in the email should be fine.
Yep, got it. Thanks!
They should be relatively short, and should be in the body of the email as just text. It’s the visual design of the character that will matter the most. The description just helps give it some context; I’m not wanting a whole story here, just a sentence or two.
This is going to be awesome!
Another question!
How about characters riding things? Like horses or more fantastic creatures? Or how about stuff like monstrous creatures with weird bodies and so on. Are we limited to roughly humanoid solo characters?
This is somewhat important since Heromachine offers all kinds of options with this sort of thing.
The sample promo at the top of the PDF is essentially what our finished piece will look like, only with your characters. If you want your character to be riding a vehicle or monster, that’s fine, but the vehicle or monster won’t be included in the official promo piece if your character is chosen. Remember, all we care about is the actual character design. Any sidekicks, mounts, or backgrounds will be ignored.
As stated in the pdf, monstrous characters like Clayface and Gorilla Grodd are fine. Characters should be roughly humanoid, and they should be able to fit within one of the 9 designated character spots from the sample promo in the PDF.
Thanks, Jeff.
Since I don’t have a XBOX Live can it also be on PS3 Cus it looks FUCKING EPIC!!!
Ha, I’d be open to that assuming our budget is big enough. The XBLA service is just such an easier route to take than anything Playstation offers at the moment, but we haven’t discounted the idea completely. And thanks for the enthusiasm!
I sent mine did you get it?
I want to ask it to problem to i have more than 3 woman entries, for some reason i more prefer to make female chars than male chars.
Not a problem, Tarkabarka, make them however you like.
Uggggh. Not finding the time to make new pieces. Looks like I will have to dig into the archive.
Thanks Jeff. Now much easier to choose the perfect pictures.
Jeff has been sending me some of the early submissions, and you guys are killin it! Not only are most of the basic designs just plain awesome, but you guys are doing stuff I had no idea Hero Machine was even capable of! Jeff is a very lucky guy to have such a dedicated and talented fan base! Keep it up!
i sent my entries and i have a really good feeling about winning
i sent my entries and i have a really good feeling about winning, i just hope i didn’t send it to the wrong person
I sent them. I don’t expect to win, but I feel good about them. 🙂 Good luck to everyone!
I sent them as well, just now. Did a lot of work on my new designs. Great contest! Good luck to all contestants!
I also send two times. I hope not make any mistake.
I forgot to put my HM name what should I do?
I realized two things when collecting the characters. 1) I mainly make girls. 2) I am a fantasy nerd.
Don’t think I’ll do well here since they are really looking for Comic Book, Sci-Fi, Fantasy Variety. Oh well. Good luck everybody!
Good luck everyone! Time’s almost up! 😉
What does this do?… Maybe nothing.
Bold? I like.
AWESOME!
Alright guys, barring any submissions in the morning, we should have our winners all picked out. Starting tomorrow (well, today…), I’ll be announcing 5 Honorable Mentions per day on the SODWA Facebook page until the winners are revealed on Friday. Make sure to “Like” the page to get updated as soon as I post a new Honorable Mention. You can either go to http://www.facebook.com/SODWA.game or you can just click on “Woody” above this post. Also feel free to message me on the SODWA page if you have any questions, concerns, or feedback. Thanks!
The first honorable mention has been announced over on the Facebook page!
Hey Jeff, when checking my sent e-mail, I didn’t see my submission for the contest. I know it is really to late to do anything about it now, but could you let me know if you received it or not?
Unknownblackpaper, I just triple-checked my GMail and I don’t see a submission from you anywhere. I look in All Mail, Spam, and Trash and there’s nothing. I’m so sorry, I don’t know what might have happened to it 🙁
That’s okay. At least I know now. Thank you for checking.