Background Blitz - Imprisonment - WINNER ANNOUNCED!

[GreenBeams]

WEEEEELLLLLLLL that was an incredibly close run race! Oozing talent like some kind of.... erm.... septic.. genius...?

Bad vocabulary aside, what a belter of a competition. Thank you for actually all turning up to my first hosting gig and please feel free to help yourselves to curly meat paste sandwiches and little hot dogs on stick. We have cheese on sticks for the vegetarians and pineapple chunks on sticks for the vegans!

I've counted the votes and the winners are as follows:

goes to...

Spoiler

Congratulations, Loominous!

[close]

goes to...

Spoiler

Another cracking entry for 304!
[imgzoom]https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/107389340/AGS/BG_Blitz/Dungeon/VOTING/304.png[/imgzoom]

[close]

And the
tortured mind of dungeon madness is...

Spoiler

Fantastic job, WRK!!!

[close]

Well done and thank you to everyone who entered!! The standard was exceptionally high in all of the voting categories and there's not a background here i couldn't see in a good game! I may be devaluing the exclamation mark by using it so much for everything but i don't care - you all deserve a round of applause...!

I can't wait to see what the next Background Blitz turns out

[ThreeOhFour]

I had a good time entering the last blitz so I thought I'd have another go! Here's mine!

[imgzoom]http://i.imgur.com/S0T4dLv.png[/imgzoom]

(big thanks to Ilyich who gave me a super easy tip to fix the balance issues!)

[Andail]

Great theme, I'll definitely enter!
... it's just that Ben immediately raised the bar to inferiority-complex-inducing levels... but hey, I'll give it a go.

I'm really curious about that balance issue, btw, and how it was resolved!

[ThreeOhFour]

The original version is here: https://pbs.twimg.com/media/B-39_6gUIAA1unL.png

I showed it to Ilyich and commented that I felt the mushrooms had thrown it out of balance, but I wanted them in there to add some colour. He agreed that it was the mushrooms that threw the balance right off, and suggested I put some red on the other side of the image. As soon as I blobbed the red banner in (the only change here) I could instantly see that the balance issue was fixed. I consider it a valuable learning experience!

[Grundislav]

I also had fun last time, so here is my entry!

[GreenBeams]

Bally heck fire! Kicking off with the complex-inducing bigguns, indeed!

Marvellous stuff, 304! Just the simple addition to of the red banner has really grounded the piece out. It also does really well in the "Abandon All Hope, Ye Who Enter Here" department!

Ah, Grundislav, loving the water and the whole feel to this! Sort of like the prisoner could be locked in the cage on the ramparts and forced to watch the rescue attempts thwarted form cannon fire. Or could it be that the player is actually being stolen away in the night from their castle home to be imprisoned on a slaver ship? So much to wonder about!   

[selmiak]

the prison of the future is your brain. it is just frozen for you while tubes regulate your body functions...

[imgzoom]http://selmiak.bplaced.net/stuff/trapped.png[/imgzoom]


I have no idea if this is even a background or more of a painting. But after reading this theme I had to get this picture out of my imprisoned own brain and I always wanted to do a piece with someone stuck to some tubes in a more or less sterile room.
Could work gameplaywise as a rescue mission background

Note to self: practise painting faces, I cannot always cheat with cheap helmets

[Creamy]

Very strong entries once again.
Neat use of the wires, Selmiak.

I don't know if my picture qualifies as a background either :

[Monsieur OUXX]

Hey Grundislav, did you change your entry? I feel like the contrast is much better. Or is it because I'm watching with a different screen? Anyway: sudden quality boost!

I really want to enter this. I just have very little time, with my new job.

[Cassiebsg]

I guess I could take the challenge and do the Galactica brig or some other scene that I might could use on my BSG game... but am currently focusing my time elsewhere, so I'll probably not enter this one.
Good luck everyone!

[Grundislav]

Monsieur OUXX: Yeah, I went back and made the ocean darker. Made a world of difference!

[GreenBeams]

@selmiak - nice twist on the theme, there =D
@Creamy - Yeah, i'd say this is a viable background. You've got interaction points, a way in and out of the scene. The guards may be better off as animated characters and not part of the background unless you're looking through a CCTV camera - If that's the case then they could be static while the camera pans round. Nice style, too!
@MonsieurOUXX - New job, yay! Congratu-ma-lations!

Quick personal aside - I'm at the end of a long visa/emigration process and am finally moving/flying out this friday (6th March). I won't have a computer straight away but i'll do my best to get online as soon as i can! Oh, and the trophies have been added now so that's that donesies!

[Monsieur OUXX]

I've just found my background
I'll start drawing this weekend.

[Mouth for war]

Here's my contribution (Not very satisfied with the lamp though...oh well)

[Monsieur OUXX]

All the entries are really cool and full of personality so far!

Here's my very first wip

[Haggis]

Go easy on me people but I thought I'd use this months challenge to test my artistic ability for a game idea I have. Integral to it will be creating underwater environments so hence my choice.

This is still very much a work in progress (there should probably be a toilet in there at least)... I'll update as much as possible before the deadline but at least I have something nestled in among your masterpieces.

And yes monsieur, I have created a small replica of your figurine - useful for judging the scale

Update: It's not great, my perspective needs definite work and the layout is a little cramped, but I made a start on the cell interior. After being dumped into the ocean, the pod anchors to the bottom. It is then connected to the surface - complete with pneumatic tube delivery system to ensure our prisoner doesn't run out of food and also has somewhere to dispose of their bodily deposits (multifunctional). The tube also provides soft tube lighting. Air vent at the top ensures steady supply of oxygen... could it also offer an escape route? Who knows?

See latest post for entry

[Monsieur OUXX]

Interesting! That's certainly emprisonment!

[GreenBeams]

Aaaaaand finally landed but still without a painty computer so here i am on the laptop:

@Mouth for war - very realistic... and kinda creepy. Nice =)
@OUXX - I do so love the buildup of your pieces. keep going!
@Haggis - An other-world-y, underwater-y feel to it. Nice use of the vegetation/kelp stuff for the foreground, too =)

Still time to get an entry in; there're 9 days left

[Haggis]

Thanks guys. This is a new style of art for me, my previous style had rough outlines around everything (in brown and black) but I wanted to move away from that and at least produce something easy on the eye. This is why it's taking me a while to come up with a better way of adding detail to the prison 'bubble' - you guys make it look so easy!

@Greenbeams - are you saying you don't painstakingly create each masterpiece with a touch-pad laptop? Only way to roll! Glad to hear you made it!

[Mouth for war]

Thanks! Glad it's appreciated

[[delete}]

Once again, glorious showcase of art pieces, looking forward to comment and vote!

@OUXX:  Hm, not sure if that little red fellow is handsomely named Mathieu...    But it better is at least Marcus or even Henry, I excitedly waited for years just to see a character (I once was rejected to draw... )

[Monsieur OUXX]

@OUXX:  Hm, not sure if that little red fellow is handsomely named Mathieu...    But it better is at least Marcus or even Henry, I excitedly waited for years just to see a character (I once was rejected to draw... )

Don't cry, we settled with ProgZMax's sprite, who is (once again) ten times better than all other sprites. Which doesn't mean that the other sprites were bad! Far from it.
His name is indeed Henry... Henry Jones Jr. to be accurate
Also, one is not "handsomely named Mathieu". One is "named Mathieu and handsome" Oh wait, is it too late for the flirt trophy? haha.


For a moment there I thought I had missed the deadline. I really, really REALLY want to finish this background.

[Haggis]

I really, really REALLY want to finish this background.

A common dilemma, less flirting more blitzing!!

[Haggis]

OK - I think this is my entry finished - really need to get back to working on my own game!

Bit of background: After being dumped into the ocean, the pod anchors to the bottom. It is then connected to the surface - complete with pneumatic tube delivery system to ensure our prisoner doesn't run out of food and also has somewhere to dispose of their bodily deposits (multifunctional). The tube also provides soft tube lighting. Air vent at the top ensures steady supply of oxygen... could it also offer an escape route? Who knows? It's not great, my level of detail needs work, plus it looks too nice to be a cell... I think I'd happily live there (toilet situation aside).

[Monsieur OUXX]

Nice!
Oh god oh god oh god only 3 days left. Actually two, since I have to work on Sunday. Oh god.

[Monsieur OUXX]

Hey is it possible to have a few more days? Pretty please.

[Mouth for war]

BOOO you had time from feb 26 to make a bg

[Monsieur OUXX]

BOOO you had time from feb 26 to make a bg

I've been trying but I never had time

[Mouth for war]

Yeah I know how it is Real life reminds you that you must do stuff hehe

[Misj']

This month's theme is IMPRISONMENT!!!!
...
...
Just make it a background where the player will be quite rightly wetting themselves with the heebies before being slammed by a whopping great serving of jeebies!

Or...we could go an entirely different route, and draw a place that is actually quite pleasant. It's still a prison, it's just neither heebish nor jeebish. That being said, when you're in there, chances are you're going to be in there for a few thousand years.

Inside the Genie's Lamp:


-- click here for a version without animated elements --


ps. I thought this was a great concept for an asymmetrical composition. I like how it turned out.
pps. I didn't have time to draw the genie; but you already met her in a recent SpriteJam, so today you get to meet her friends and home.
ppps. Yes, I like cats.

[Monsieur OUXX]

when you're in there, chances are you're going to be in there for a few thousand years.

Interesting idea

[Mouth for war]

I love your artwork Misj'

[GreenBeams]

@Haggis - Nice work there =)
@Misj - Aw, that's lovely! Nice way to think outside the box... or should that be "inside the lamp"?
@Monsieur OUXX - How long would you need, monsieur? I must confess to being a sucker for a good old lasr-death-chair!

[Stupot]

Nice stuff, peeps.

[Monsieur OUXX]

@Monsieur OUXX - How long would you need, monsieur? I must confess to being a sucker for a good old lasr-death-chair!

I don't know. Until the end of the week would be OK? Don't want to frustrate the other contestants though, or anyone who'd think that's an unfair request.

[GreenBeams]

@OUXX - ok, I'm making an executive decision and extending the deadline up to and including Friday 27th March; voting to begin on Saturday 28th.

[ThreeOhFour]

I support this! Looking forward to seeing your entry OUXX.

[Haggis]

Same here, the more entries the merrier!

[Monsieur OUXX]

@OUXX - ok, I'm making an executive decision and extending the deadline up to and including Friday 27th March; voting to begin on Saturday 28th.

Cool, thanks mister executor!
See, I'm working, I'm working :

[Monsieur OUXX]

More evidence that I'm working

[Mandle]

More evidence that I'm working

ARRRRGGGHH!!! STOP SHOWING AWESOME STUFF IN TINY CHUNKS!!!

I wanna see the full pic all at once and have my head explode from sheer awesomeness!!!

[Monsieur OUXX]

Dammit I work with a monitor that has terrible, terrible contrast.
Every evening, I work on it and I'm happy, but then every morning I look at my drawing at work and I realize it's all black.

[Haggis]

That's how I felt about my entry - if you look at it during the day it's pretty dark and murky. Look at it at night and it's much clearer!

Your entry is coming along very nicely - mystic stone figures and nazi flags. Ominous.

As usual the quality of entries this month is staggering.

[ThreeOhFour]

Get a better light! I work with a ceiling light and a lamp, and also an LED light behind my monitor that shines on the wall and lights the wall up. That way my lighting conditions for drawing are always as consistent as possible.

[Monsieur OUXX]

Get a better light! I work with a ceiling light and a lamp, and also an LED light behind my monitor that shines on the wall and lights the wall up. That way my lighting conditions for drawing are always as consistent as possible.

Thanks for the tips, but it's not a matter of consistency in that specific case. It's my laptop's screen that is really terrible. IT's very unnecessarily bright while having a terrible contrast. It gives me a headache after 1 hour. You can't see the whole image at the same time (the contrast is significantly different at the top and at the bottom of the screen). I have to move my head up and down... Terrible, terrible screen. Thank god it will be replaced soon.

[Snarky]

My laptop (an old MacBook Pro) is a bit banged up, and has the peculiar feature that any black parts of the screen get filled with green snow, like some shitty version of the matrix, unless i press down on the case in certain specific spots. And sometimes there's pink static in white regions, but not as much. I don't use it for drawing, but it makes it quite annoying to watch movies on.

[WRK]

[Monsieur OUXX]

Oooooooooooow!!!!!! That is gorgeous! The other ones were gorgeous too, but that's my type of pixel art!

[GreenBeams]

Dammit I work with a monitor that has terrible, terrible contrast.
Every evening, I work on it and I'm happy, but then every morning I look at my drawing at work and I realize it's all black.

Hmmm, just thought i'd weigh in on this one too - when i view it on the laptop, i get the detail (a little dark but i'd have to see the whole picture to tell if that shadow is justified given the light source) However, when i view it on the ipad it's mostly just solid black. with no detail whatsoever. i've no real clue as to why this is the case though =(

What i can see of it on the laptop looks typically excellent and up to your usual high standards!

And, @WRK, that's some mighty, puurdy fine work! Lovely stuff

[Haggis]

@WRK - yet more beautiful pixel art from your bad self! Stunning. Love all the little details. How does one pick a winner from all these magnificent works?

@MonsieurOUXX - it's not even finished yet and I know it's going to be another masterpiece! For info - to get around the fact the image is very very dark I stuck your image in photoshop and ramped up the contrast / brightness so I could make it out.

[selmiak]

@WRK: WOW!

[Creamy]

@ Misj': it's funny that your personal  text is "Too lazy to add an avatar" when you keep coming up with amazing art.

@ MonsieurOUXX: the contrast is good on my monitor. So far, the background looks like it could fit in your own Indy game

@ WRK : so many details with so few pixels! The colours are spot-on too.

@ Haggis : simple yet effective. Is it a second pod in the distance? 

I think I'd happily live there

[Haggis]

@Creamy - thanks! I was planning to add some text or some markings to the exterior of the pod but I just couldn't achieve it in a way I was happy with within the timescales.

Is it a second pod in the distance?

Correct! I was going for full on isolation but Cassie gave me the idea to subtly hint at the existence of other pods out there.

[loominous]

Blimey, it's been more than four years since my last entry. Cool to see the standard being so high these days!

[GreenBeams]

@loominous - Holy! Sheep! I think one of my eyes just fell off!

So glad OUXX asked for that extension 

[Misj']

So glad OUXX asked for that extension 

I'm not...all these will make my voting-choices a lot harder.

ps. good to see you're back in the race Loominous...

[Monsieur OUXX]

Holy mother of farping Jesus, what's going on? Are you all becoming insane? Next thing I'll know is that CJ will come back to life just to join this contest.


Still a work in progress:
[imgzoom]https://40.media.tumblr.com/b859841493bdb993330a297842814c04/tumblr_nluf2hy5Yr1tsfksfo1_1280.png[/imgzoom]

[Mouth for war]

Wow! EVERY entry is very nice for this competition indeed!!!! Good work people

[ThreeOhFour]

More great entries. Awesome to see loominous entering again!

[AprilSkies]

Awesome works guys!!!
all entries are soo good ... WRK and M.OUXX ONES are STUNNING!

[Monsieur OUXX]

WRK and M.OUXX ONES are STUNNING!

Really? I was worried after Mandle complained that I was showing my chunk. <-- this pun.

[AprilSkies]

Hahahah
btw, Yeah really! I wish it was a game to play!

[Cassiebsg]

Hahahah
btw, Yeah really! I wish it was a game to play!

I'm sure it will.

[Monsieur OUXX]

If I just... Could... Have... A few more hours.... MUST... FINISH... BACKGROUAAAARH

[selmiak]

@Ouxx: it's insane, these 2 transformator boxes to the left of the chair look so much like minions

[GreenBeams]

OK, i'm not sure how much time you need, OUXX.

I'd like to ask the community if we're ok to wait, or, would you rather press on as it's well into "Voting Day".

What say you all? Are you happy to wait or will there be pitchforks and firebrands thrust at me for not cracking the whip?

[Misj']

I'd like to ask the community if we're ok to wait

Please vote before even more pieces are entered and there is just too much competition


(Nah, just give him a bit more time...it'll give me more time to decide whom to vote for; which will be a hard choice considering the quality in this Blitz)

[Monsieur OUXX]

OK I promise I'll finish tonight. If I'm not done, I'll forfeit (I swear I'm not being lazy, but I only have bits of one hour to draw)

[Monsieur OUXX]

With a little animation:
[imgzoom]http://38.media.tumblr.com/e0349a150f1eef9f6a9d5fd694642569/tumblr_nlzpoirSCk1tsfksfo1_400.gif[/imgzoom]


My official entry :

[AprilSkies]

Oh WOW OUXX!

[Haggis]

Teach me. Teach me the ways of the pixel.

Incredible scene and well worth the wait. I can't help but imagine the two generators at the back as little robot faces looking on with fear at what is going on in front of them!

Such an array of fantastic backgrounds... each deserving of victory.

[Mandle]

Holy crap, Mr. OUXX!!!

* Mandle 's head explodes!!!

That's some beautifully done textures and lighting! I have been following your WIPs since that Lost Cities comp and I know you don't use a 3D modeller for your scenes, which is un-frickin-believable when looking at how spot-on the perspective is!

I assume that when the laser fires up its coils glow and shit? Otherwise it's a tad dark against the backgroud, but if it's planned to light up and draw attention to itself upon activation then this may have been a concious choice on your part I'm thinking...

* Mandle goes off to find the pieces of his head...

[GreenBeams]

Wowsers trousers, OUXX! Lovely stuff as we've come to expect from you

OK, Voting is now OPEN and will remain so until Friday 3rd April whereupon the winners shall receive their hard-earned shiny shinies and bragging rights!!

Good luck and i apologise for any funky formatting that may be happening in the first post now on different devices. I'm not a handy man

[Monsieur OUXX]

IMPORTANT: all entries are in the first post AND you can enlarge them by clicking on the name of the artist.

[Monsieur OUXX]

My votes :

(please note: This time it would have been really unfair to vote for just one person each time, considering that there is no entry that stands out, and they're all very good. So I took the libert of voting for more than one person where it seemed appropriate)

artistic: 304 and WRK *
playable: WRK and Haggis
concept: Loominous and Grundislav
(updated my votes in a subsequent post)

* (Misj and Selmiak, you did great too)

Grundislav I loved how eery you entry is, but there doesn't seem to be much to do in the scene, that's why you didn't get more votes from me.
WRK I can clearly see all the intermediate puzzles that could lead to an escape. I can see the game!
304 I love your excellent drawings, but my heart belongs to crispy pixel art (hat's totally arbitrary), sometimes too much digital painting repells me (yet, you did get my vote)
Loominous, excellent drawing -- maybe a bit sketchy compared to your former entries. But I understand it takes a lot of time. That's already amazing.
Creamy, nice entry, I feel sorry that I didn't give you any vote! unfortunately it wasn't excellent in any of the fields : the special perspective doesn't make it very playable, etc.
Selmiak you almost got a vote for the concept because of the sentence countdown.
Mouth of war : You entry would certainly be very atmospheric with some scenaristic building up coming before, but not just by itslef.

[Misj']

... you can enlarge them by clicking on the name of the rtist.

Clicking on Haggis doesn't show his full-sized entry (but the scaled-down version), and clicking on mine doesn't show anything at all.

my votes:

IDEA/CONCEPT: Loominous - There were several nice ideas, but this one was the most creative. It's definitely not your regular imprisonment (plus it's just a fun concept).
PLAYABLE: Grundislav - I think the piece could do with some clearer focal-points and I'm not the biggest fan its two-tone design...however, when it comes to playability this piece stood out for me. There's a decent amount of walking-area with some nice objects to interact with without it becoming too cluttered (or too empty).
ARTISTIC EXECUTION: Wrk - I don't like pixel-art. But I don't like to look at this subject from the point of my taste (because I feel that is unfair), but how well I feel a piece was executed within the chosen style. As such, this piece stood out for me. It's interesting, stuff is happening I think it captures the mood, and there's an excellent use of blacks (which is not that simple).





ps. OUXX, I'm counting your votes as only half points (and I urge GreenBeams to do the same ). I think that part of the voting-process is to actually make that hard decision where you have to say: 'ok, I hate not to give him points for this, but...' - There are several entries that I wish I could have given votes to, but alas*.

* If I were to pick my top-three backgrounds looking at them as a whole (so not within the context of the three parameters) then my votes would have been different. And I hate to not necessarily being able to give my vote a piece that I think is overall the best.

[Mouth for war]

I agree totally monsieur ouxx. It was a rushed piece and i should have treated it better but thank you for commenting. :-) i have a hard time voring because everyone has done a fantastic job. And i mean EVERYONE!!!

[Monsieur OUXX]

I think that part of the voting-process is to actually make that hard decision where you have to say: 'ok, I hate not to give him points for this, but...'

You're totally right. I just couldn't.

[selmiak]

IDEA/CONCEPT: Haggis
PLAYABLE: WRK
ARTISTIC EXECUTION: WRK


*slaps ouxx with a crowbar*
why do you start voting twice? There can only be one!

[GreenBeams]

Clicking on Haggis doesn't show his full-sized entry (but the scaled-down version), and clicking on mine doesn't show anything at all.

Very sorry about that! I've fixed it now although your entry will be shown without the characters in as i kept getting errors by 'saving image as' for your entry proper. Hope that's ok.

ps. OUXX, I'm counting your votes as only half points (and I urge GreenBeams to do the same )...

* If I were to pick my top-three backgrounds looking at them as a whole (so not within the context of the three parameters) then my votes would have been different. And I hate to not necessarily being able to give my vote a piece that I think is overall the best.

I agree with this but i have to insist that MONSIEUR OUXX choose just one entry per category. Sorry for being a hard ass but this opens the door to decimalising votes. The way i see it, this categorical kind of voting allows more recognition to the artists than the conventional first, second and third places. This is inkeeping with the fun, friendly and growing experience of producing any kind of art for AGS competitions. However, from now on we could add the category of "People's Choice/Vox Populi" or something similar which would incorporate things like "i don't know why, i just like it the best" kind of votes. I'd be willing to paint another award for that.

I'd like to know what people think about that idea and whether or not it'd be something worth trialling?

[cat]

Best IDEA/CONCEPT piece  MISJ with LOOMINOUS as runner-up
Most PLAYABLE piece  GRUNDISLAV closely followed by 304
Best ARTISTIC EXECUTION  WRK's magnificent piece is just a few pixel ahead of 304

[Grundislav]

My votes:
Best idea/concept - Haggis I love the idea of being imprisoned in both a bathysphere as well as the crushing deep of the ocean. Double horror!
Playability - WRK Seeing the characters in the scene really helps get a feel for how the game would play. I can imagine solving puzzles to try and escape here.
Artistic Execution - ThreeOhFour What can I say, I'm a sucker for that turquoise lighting on the rocks.

[Monsieur OUXX]

i have to insist that MONSIEUR OUXX choose just one entry per category.

OK, OK. I don't want to be slapped with a crow bar. Have you noticed I didn't vote in the previous competitions? That's why. I just can't choose.


artistic: 304
playable: WRK
concept: Loominous

[[delete}]

artistic: Misj' - Lovely Arabian fantasy inside an oil lamp, the mood relaxed and unhurried - well, you have hundreds of years time.
playable: Haggis - Can't wait to see a figur inside and curious fishes outside that cozy deepsea bell jar.
concept: loominous - In warm sunlight, a both cute and clever arranged prison - I wonder who's kept there...

[Mouth for war]

Haggis, For really doing imprisonment deluxe...No way to get out of there
304, for doing such beautiful art and I can easily see that be a part in a game
Misj, for doing INCREDIBLE art. As I wrote to you in a PM (To which you DIDN'T RESPOND!!!!!!! You ungrateful son of a.... )

Those are my 3 votes, this was really difficult phew!. I think everybody deserves to win in this competition!!!

[Monsieur OUXX]

Damn, I'm getting my ass spanked.

@Amelie: Regarding your forums picture... Please do keep searching

[Misj']

Misj, for doing INCREDIBLE art. As I wrote to you in a PM (To which you DIDN'T RESPOND!!!!!!! You ungrateful son of a.... )

I think that most people - especially my wife - can attest to the fact that I am an ungrateful human being. And those people who do not attest to this mostly doubt the human being part and not the ungrateful part. But despite that, I will now make you this promise*: the next PM you** send me I will respond*** to (possibly in an ungrateful manner)



* I do retain the right to forget this promise.
** The 'you' in this post specifically refers to 'Mouth of war' with the notable exceptions of 'Mouth of pestilence', 'Mouth of famine', and 'Mouth of death' or any other 'Mouth of the Apocalypse'. Ok, Mouth now starts to sound like Mouse with a lisp...which makes the apocalypse suddenly a whole lot more scary.
*** If - for technical reasons, early onset dementia, or any reason yet unforeseen - I forget to press the send button, then herewith it should be known that I cannot be held accountable (or responsible) for that.

[Mouth for war]

Hahahaha that sounds fair

[Haggis]

Congratulations to everyone who took part. The voting process is almost as challenging as making the background... and I thought that before the deadline was extended! All of them are superb in their own way and I wish I could vote for them all.

IDEA/CONCEPT: Loominous lovely twist on the concept, introducing warmth and innocence.
PLAYABLE: MonsieurOUXX but on a flip of a coin with WRK. Both are such outstanding examples of pixel majesty.
ARTISTIC EXECUTION: 304 - When I first saw this it captured and imprisoned my vote in this category. Simply beautiful use of colour and depth. Something about it reminds me a lot of my time in Skyrim.

@Grundislav - BATHYSPHERE!! My new favourite word (and thing)!

[Mandle]

BEST IDEA/CONCEPT:

Haggis

Lovin' that underwater concept, and the art style looks like something from "Out Of This World", a game I love lookin' at and hate playing!

MOST PLAYABLE:

WRK

A well-defined walkable area and nicely balanced (potential) multiple escape routes make this the choice for me. Also WRK actually has me trapped in that pit so I gotta vote for him (strangely no pendulum though...I really kinda expected one...)

BEST ARTISTIC:

MR. OUXX

This one was almost impossible to decide on so I went with the picture that kept drawing my eye to it the most, making me want to look over all the details one more time. In fact I looked it over so much that I noticed one of the swastikas is backwards, turning it into a Buddhist symbol (you might want to fix that to avoid offending anyone).

[loominous]

A. Best IDEA/CONCEPT piece

Grundislav - I like how it's nothing fancy or out of the box, but still an interesting little cage, in a neat environment where you could see stuff taking place.

B. Most PLAYABLE piece

Ben304 - I think playability needs to be judged with the difficulty of the scene in mind. A simple angle and a simple layout makes for easy playability, but requires little skill to accomplish. Ben's piece is on the flatter side, but still has a rather complex layout, which still nicely confines the player.

C. Best ARTISTIC EXECUTION

Ben304 - Just solid craftsmanship. Designwise I think Misj's piece is a contender, though the inconsistent values and saturation (guessing due to burn/dodge tool usage) makes it seem cut and pasty, otherwise it might've gotten the vote. (The rock texture in WRK's piece does deserve a best texture award).

[Monsieur OUXX]

I noticed one of the swastikas is backwards, turning it into a Buddhist symbol (you might want to fix that to avoid offending anyone).

I know! Greenbeams already told me. It's a matter of flipped copy-and-paste. So far I've been too lazy to fix it, but I'll do it in the final drawing, obviously. Until then I think it's funny, it reminds us of the good old days when 50% of background elements were duplicated, as in Lucasarts' Last Crusade's Brünwald rooms.

[Misj']

Designwise I think Misj's piece is a contender, though the inconsistent values and saturation (guessing due to burn/dodge tool usage) makes it seem cut and pasty, otherwise it might've gotten the vote. (The rock texture in WRK's piece does deserve a best texture award).

You guessed wrong - I haven't touched the burn/dodge tool in years; all colors were specifically chosen and painted (lot of color-picking to get smooth transitions). So, nope: can't blame some automated tools, it's all my personal decision/design. Personally I don't mind the values and saturation (because they were mostly intentional)...but I will take your remark with me next time I experiment with this rendering style.

I do hate that some of the edges feel/are very rushed (which is what I think makes some parts feel cut and pasty or moved around, although none of it is). Unfortunately this was due to me wanting to make the original deadline, and deciding that I would not fix anything after I submitted the piece.

[ThreeOhFour]

Very hard choice again, many superb entries this round.

BEST IDEA/CONCEPT: Misj' - this is the interpretation of the theme that seemed the most creative to me.

MOST PLAYABLE: Grundislav - The simplicity helps the playability, but also the various elements feel like they'd play well in a scene together.

ARTISTIC EXECUTION: loominous - It's inspiring to see strong principles applied to the layout of a piece without it feeling rigid, and to see such an "ordinary" location given such interesting forms.

[Cassiebsg]

A. Best IDEA/CONCEPT piece: HAGGIS, I just love the idea of dropping the worse scum of society at the bottom of the ocean...

B. Most PLAYABLE piece:  WRK, there's just so much to interact with in there...

C. Best ARTISTIC EXECUTION: 304, but really, this one is for me the hardest to choose, cause they are all so good, that I would put 5 on the top... so guess I'll flip a 5 side coin...

[WRK]

I agree with everything that was said before. It was really
hard to pick the best ones (cause they're all awesome),
real Kobayashi Maru test, but here we go:

Idea/concept: Loominous
Playability: 304
Artistic Execution: Monsieur OUXX

[Lasca]

Wow! The standard of the blitzes are so high these days!
very tough decisions!

concept: loominous
Playability: WRK
Artistic Execution: 304 (this was almost impossible, because so many submissions are brilliantly executed. So this is more a vote of preferred style.)

Once again, I'm really, really impressed by EVERYONE. Everybody's a winner! horray!

[Creamy]

Concept : Selmiak
Artistic exécution : Ben
Playability : WRK

[GreenBeams]

OK, lads and lasses! The winners have been announced in the first post.

Thanks all so much for being part of a great month

[Haggis]

Congratulations to everyone who took part - I can't believe the standard that this competition produces month on month. The hardest part for me was probably choosing my winners!

[selmiak]

yay, I even got a vote!

Thanks for this interesting contest and congrats to all the winners!

[Gilbert]

Aww well...

Adding the results to the first post is fine, but next time please keep the original contents intact, like rules and the dates, especially the dates. It's now impossible to make out what it's really about and it's a pain for archival...

[Monsieur OUXX]

Cool competition. Thanks a lot for the fun! Next theme better be as awesome (and fit in my backgrounds todo list )