I bought one of those japanese mechanical pencil-style erasers, and OMG. It makes getting lines just right so much easier. It's like, "oh, your line isn't quite right? Have another try at it, courtesy of me, Mr. Eh-Kuro4." The last time I was drawing somewhat regularly was when Imperian had first opened, and if I got a small line wrong, I would have to erase the whole line, then try and do it all over again, but then (especially since I was drawing on computer paper) I would just end up drawing the line in exactly the same way again.
With this really thin eraser that comes out like a mechanical pencil, I can just keep sketching until I think the line looks right, then erase all of the excess.
I wish I hadn't been so busy with all of the other shit happening in related to Imperian, or I would have been able to finish this written submission. Here's hoping I can make it in time.
<div>Message #2062 Sent By: (imperian) Received On: 1/20/2018/2:59</div><div>"Antioch has filed a bounty against you. Reason: Raiding Antioch and stealing Bina, being a right</div><div>ass, and not belonging anywhere near Antioch till he grows up."</div>
"On the battlefield I am a god. I love war. The steel, the smell, the corpses. I wish there were more. On the first day I drove the Northmen back alone at the ford. Alone! On the second I carried the bridge! Me! Yesterday I climbed the Heroes! I love war! I… I wish it wasn’t over."
Imperian's narrative is hella underwhelming. It has been for a very long time and given who's in charge (seriously, no offense, but) that probably won't ever change. Imperian is a game that focuses on mechanical aspects. Classleads, combat avenues, et cetera. That's fine. I get it. That pays the bills. However, if no one's going to be brought in to make the narrative appealing, I feel like these art contests are about the best things we're going to get in terms of cultivating any sort of roleplay/story driven community. That said, I'm going to guess that the initial responses were somewhat underwhelming just based on what I saw. People participated, but a lot of it was likely at the last minute and probably phoned in, or done from the point of being cheeky in MSPaint.
I want these contests to continue, but I feel like some things should probably change.
1. They need to be heavily incentivized. I could not figure out just what the prize amount was for the contests. I understand the administration is leery about just throwing heaps of credits at people, especially when it feels like a couple of people will just win over and over, but there needs to be a hefty reason for people to get involved. Maybe split the winnings. Give the winners credits, but also something aesthetic and purely neat. I'm just tossing out ideas here, but maybe a special sort of currency unique to these contests. With enough of these tokens (and keep in mind, someone could only win four a year) winners could buy like a totally over the top customization for weapons or armor. I'm talking like, an invisible spear made of wind, something nuts that will seriously motivate people to go for it, akin to legendary quests in World of Warcraft. It doesn't have to be exactly that. My point is, if you want to a] retain the more artistic crowd and b] create a healthy library of competitive, high quality original work to be able to advertise, the administration needs to make it worth the time and effort.
2. Everyone who enters should get something. Even if Khizan submits his little MSPaint Mona Lisa, toss him 15 credits. Again, this only happens four times a year. He can make 60 credits for booting up MSPaint.
3. The prompts need to be better. I actually enjoyed this one because it helped me come up with some unique characters and consider a point of view I hadn't before, but I know most people were looking for something a little better. If need be, I'm always available (as I'm sure someone like Aleutia) is to brainstorm a list of potential topics.
4. Take the time to spotlight winning works. I messaged Jeremy and didn't get a response, but IRE actually has a decently sized Twitter that it doesn't touch at all for reasons that literally baffle me. Get someone on there, share out winning works to fans of the company. You'll get people interested in not only doing the contests, but also coming to the game. I know Twitter's unpopular and terrible, but it's a great tool for generating interest. If people know their winning works will be shown to the rest of the IRE community, it might motivate them to really go for it, especially if they're trying to push their personal Deviant Art accounts, et cetera. Moreover, you might have people come across the account, read a story/see an art piece and say 'hey, this game looks like it's fun' and come hang out with us.
So, yah. My personal advice here.
‘Least I won’t have to carry it no more. You see how bloody heavy it is?’
‘Every sword’s a weight to carry. Men don’t see that when they pick ’em up. But they get heavier with time.”
Has admin hopefully reached a decision to continue these? (pretty please? :< )
I'm pretty sure that we're going to be continuing the quarterly arts contests. We're in a little bit of a tough spot right now though, because we're planning on doing some kind of a Tournament of Ages later in the month. The ToA usually contains an arts contest, so for now we're holding off on announcing the next round of quarterly arts. Doing two simultaneous arts contests has the potential to be very messy.
Has admin hopefully reached a decision to continue these? (pretty please? :< )
I'm pretty sure that we're going to be continuing the quarterly arts contests. We're in a little bit of a tough spot right now though, because we're planning on doing some kind of a Tournament of Ages later in the month. The ToA usually contains an arts contest, so for now we're holding off on announcing the next round of quarterly arts. Doing two simultaneous arts contests has the potential to be very messy.
Awesome! And completely understandable. Thanks for getting back to us
2. Everyone who enters should get something. Even if Khizan submits his little MSPaint Mona Lisa, toss him 15 credits. Again, this only happens four times a year. He can make 60 credits for booting up MSPaint.
My MSPaint Mona Lisa is awesome.
(it's Ressnik and Ander on an ill-fated attack on Mereis[who is a newbie])
(it did not go according to plan)
"On the battlefield I am a god. I love war. The steel, the smell, the corpses. I wish there were more. On the first day I drove the Northmen back alone at the ford. Alone! On the second I carried the bridge! Me! Yesterday I climbed the Heroes! I love war! I… I wish it wasn’t over."
Comments
‘Every sword’s a weight to carry. Men don’t see that when they pick ’em up. But they get heavier with time.”
Who else participated!
"On the battlefield I am a god. I love war. The steel, the smell, the corpses. I wish there were more. On the first day I drove the Northmen back alone at the ford. Alone! On the second I carried the bridge! Me! Yesterday I climbed the Heroes! I love war! I… I wish it wasn’t over."
(may vanish for periods of time)
(pretty please? :< )
‘Every sword’s a weight to carry. Men don’t see that when they pick ’em up. But they get heavier with time.”
My MSPaint Mona Lisa is awesome.
(it's Ressnik and Ander on an ill-fated attack on Mereis[who is a newbie])
(it did not go according to plan)
"On the battlefield I am a god. I love war. The steel, the smell, the corpses. I wish there were more. On the first day I drove the Northmen back alone at the ford. Alone! On the second I carried the bridge! Me! Yesterday I climbed the Heroes! I love war! I… I wish it wasn’t over."
(may vanish for periods of time)