I have been playing with flash since ver 3 actually - and never even had ver 4 - but like you said that is not the point… and I DO understand what you are trying to say, being a higher level user - you are in a different situation then 90% of the people that post here. And I agree with you that this is the kind of place that would create that situation for someone, eventually, as it DOES attract lower level users (no offense to anyone)… but my point is that this entire site is built because of that, so expect it. This is a place to help and be helped - not to really reap the benifits of talent - other than learning form it and the occasional job offer that comes through here (which it seems you have accepted the most recent one). I agree with creating benifits for yourself, and I support it… hell that is how I make money. I guess I just feel that this is not the place to be looking for it in that manner.
Hey, I know where are you coming from dan, but I still consider myself a newbie flasher (3 months now baby, YEAH!) so I don’t think I can put in much of an opinion on this matter.
PS: Sorry for the cheezy “Austin Powers” impression
I just became a member of this sweet new 3D/CG/Anime forum ( www.cgtalk.com ) with VTS(edwin) and I wouldn’t mind if some people joined me so that me and edwin aren’t the only flashers posting! Of course I will be on the same name, I’m not trying to persuade anyone to go to another forum, the cgtalk.com forum has nothing to do with flash but is very interesting for anyone with 3d/cg/anime intentions of learning!
I’ll definitly check out that forum… dan, I just hope you dont take anything I said the wrong way, simply my opinion about THIS forum, I do agree with and understand where youre coming from… FLASH on my friend!
Um, I have a small suggestion, in an attempt to placate mods and non-mods alike.
Why not let everyone enter the contest, but when judging it, take into account the entrants level of skill? That way you could see who has made the most creative use of the resources available to them? This should even out the balance between those with amazing ActionScript skills and those who are still learning.
So the winner isn’t neccessarily the best code writer, but the person who put their own personal skills to the best use?
lol… Well that’s good K~. I like Kit’s idea as well. I was trying to think along those lines about a week ago and I ran into a potential snag. How do we judge the skill level in the first place? For instance… a lot of people get impressed with my a/s skills, but I still consider myself very much the novice in that area. It would really take someone looking at a variety of my stuff, and sorting through the FLA’s to see exactly what skill level I am.
I guess it could work if we used a very limted scaling method. Like level 1 2 or 3. I think anything more than that though will get troublesome.
Yeah, that’s the kind of thing I was thinking of. Perhaps people could submit a few pieces of their own work beforehand for the judges to look at, so they can gauge the skill level of the entrant. That way people should have a fairly accurate assessment of what someone can do, and whether they’ve tried to broaden their sphere of knowledge and use their talents with their entry.
Basically I’m not really much of a scripter yet and I’m a little daunted by the prospect of going up against the great ones themselves.
I guess I can’t pull away from this site. I missed all the action! hahahaha… I like the debate. I think it will be nearly impossible to figure out who is downplaying their flash abilities in order to win a contest. The contest itself is really supposed to be about motivation and inspiration. I am sure some will simply take advantage, unfortunately. Wonder what we can do about that?
As far as mods? Hmm… I think with that, with enough sponsors, we could have a mod only contest once in a while. Or, again with sponsors, a mod of the month award. Something like that…
Either way, I hope it becomes something useful and fun that will surely increase this already popular board.
Hey all,
Btw, should someone create a sample animation to display in the guidelines page? It doesn’t have to be really good (you don’t want to use your winning entry for example lol), but just a basic example of how a sample entry would look like. We don’t want people to be too confused and walk away.
EDIT: Should there also be a size limit for the SWF? I don’t want to have a 30 minute high-resolution video stuck in Flash called a good entry because of the special effects hehe.
Hmmm, well it can’t be a video because the Contest is to use only AS with a certain theme involved. Imported video doesn’t really involve the AS we will be talking about.
That is a good point kirupa, there should be an example .fla. Hmmm…
Is that suppose to be an animations? And will we have contest on other stuff besides just straight up actionscript, like maybe a cartoon contest, a 3ds max contest, photoshop contest, ya know stuff like that?
That sounds cool, but what about the people here that don’t have those programs?
I only have Photoshop and Flash:(
I wouldn’t mind seeing the results of that though=) I don’t care if I couldn’t participate, it would just be nice to see what you can do in a program like that.
A thought I had on that would be to have varying contests per month… obviously we would want it to center around a/s and effects… but there’s nothing wrong with saying “this month we’re doing the coolest swift3d project. So if you don’t have s3d, just don’t enter this month.”
As long as it didn’t happen every other monthing I would hope that no one would get bent about it.
Still just mulling ideas over in my head btw… I see that this thread, and the other one on this subject got heated a couple of times. Due in no small part to my own comments I’ll admit. Remember people that brain storming is about throwing ideas out there. No one has a perfect idea right off the bat. Instead we throw anything up, even the wildest craziest ideas and then we discuss the merits and flaws of each.
So to those of you with a thought… please post it. Don’t get upset if not everyone likes it.
For those who have an opinion on someone else’s idea, try not to be too critical… just tell why you see it as a good or bad idea.
If we can just remember those two things, I doubt that it will get heated again in here.
This is JUST A RAP SESSION.
I know that one of the things I’m concerned about, as far as myself being able to participate is this. I’ve spent the last 2 years learning about Flash web design and imported data. That applies not at all to anything interesting. Sure I could make a cool popup menu that is dynamicaly created from an XML doc… but that doesn’t mean that I have the first clue how to make a spiral effect out of dot shaped movie clips. (really… I’ve been trying for a while and can’t get it to work)
It’s not just skill as we’ve been discussing but also very much about area’s of expertise as Dan said in the previous post.
To tell the truth… I’d be happy in the end just helping with the judging if that’s the way it goes. My rewards in Flash come from producing and teaching… not winning contests.
again… again… just thoughts that are mulling around in my brain.
