Background Blitz - 061015-26

[ildu]

Hmm. Is anyone still gonna offer their comments? Please do so now, since this'll most likely be closed very soon.

Here's what I propose: We take it up gradually. We now raise it from 4 categories to 6, and if that proves to be too slim, we raise it again. Here's the two sets of categories I suggest:

Idea & Storytelling
Atmosphere/Mood/Emotion
Design
Composition
Colours & Lighting
Walkareas & Exits

Or, we just extend the 4 existing ones into 6:

Idea
Atmosphere
Design
Composition
Functionality
Technique

So what does everyone think? Are they comprehensive enough, and are they balanced enough into artistic qualities and functional qualities? Please, if you've got any interest in the blitz, comment on this. Thanks.

[Neil Dnuma]

Basically, both suggestions seem almost the same. I'd go for version 2. For some reason, finding the BG with best atmosphere seems less work than finding the BG with best atmosphere, mood and emotion combined. Even if it's basically the same. More voters=more detailed information on the appeal of your work.

A brief explanation of the categories in the thread, and everyone should be fine.
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I think 6 categories is enough. It's good for feedback, and learning where to improve. But I prefer much more when people write up what they think about your work in their own words (like some people here thankfully do, I wish more would. I'll try to improve on that aswell.). It's like reading a review of your work instead of just noticing how many stars out of five you got.

That being said, the Background Blitz is alive and well, and a great place to challenge yourself.

[Mikko]

I think four categories was enough, but my voting wont be affected by the amount of categories.

Main thing is to have balanced categories.

Voters who are willing to comment are also important. Plain vote doesn't say much. If it is like that then we could as well have voting just for one category: the best piece.

[loominous]

Just did a bit of research, looking through five randomly picked rounds all occuring before the category system:

Ã,  Ã,  Ã,  Ã,  Ã,  Ã,  Ã,  Ã,  Just vote:Ã,  Ã,  Ã,  Ã,  Ã,  Ã,  Ã,  Ã,  Ã,  Ã, Very brief comment:Ã,  Ã,  Ã,  Ã,  Ã,  Ã,  Ã,  Ã,  Ã,  Ã,  Ã, Vote with comment:

Round1:Ã,  Ã, 15Ã,  Ã,  Ã,  Ã,  Ã,  Ã,  Ã,  Ã,  Ã,  Ã,  Ã,  Ã,  Ã,  Ã,  Ã,  Ã, 0Ã,  Ã,  Ã,  Ã,  Ã,  Ã,  Ã,  Ã,  Ã,  Ã,  Ã,  Ã,  Ã,  Ã,  Ã,  Ã,  Ã,  Ã,  Ã,  Ã,  Ã,  Ã,  Ã,  Ã,  Ã,  Ã, 1

R2:Ã,  Ã,  Ã,  Ã,  Ã,  Ã,  6Ã,  Ã,  Ã,  Ã,  Ã,  Ã,  Ã,  Ã,  Ã,  Ã,  Ã,  Ã,  Ã,  Ã,  Ã,  Ã,  2Ã,  Ã,  Ã,  Ã,  Ã,  Ã,  Ã,  Ã,  Ã,  Ã,  Ã,  Ã,  Ã,  Ã,  Ã,  Ã,  Ã,  Ã,  Ã,  Ã,  Ã,  Ã,  Ã,  Ã,  Ã,  Ã, 1

R3:Ã,  Ã,  Ã,  Ã,  Ã,  Ã, 18Ã,  Ã,  Ã,  Ã,  Ã,  Ã,  Ã,  Ã,  Ã,  Ã,  Ã,  Ã,  Ã,  Ã,  Ã,  Ã, 4Ã,  Ã,  Ã,  Ã,  Ã,  Ã,  Ã,  Ã,  Ã,  Ã,  Ã,  Ã,  Ã,  Ã,  Ã,  Ã,  Ã,  Ã,  Ã,  Ã,  Ã,  Ã,  Ã,  Ã,  Ã,  Ã, 1

R4:Ã,  Ã,  Ã,  Ã,  Ã,  Ã,  6Ã,  Ã,  Ã,  Ã,  Ã,  Ã,  Ã,  Ã,  Ã,  Ã,  Ã,  Ã,  Ã,  Ã,  Ã,  Ã,  2Ã,  Ã,  Ã,  Ã,  Ã,  Ã,  Ã,  Ã,  Ã,  Ã,  Ã,  Ã,  Ã,  Ã,  Ã,  Ã,  Ã,  Ã,  Ã,  Ã,  Ã,  Ã,  Ã,  Ã,  Ã,  Ã, 1

R5:Ã,  Ã,  Ã,  Ã,  Ã,  Ã,  6Ã,  Ã,  Ã,  Ã,  Ã,  Ã,  Ã,  Ã,  Ã,  Ã,  Ã,  Ã,  Ã,  Ã,  Ã,  Ã,  4Ã,  Ã,  Ã,  Ã,  Ã,  Ã,  Ã,  Ã,  Ã,  Ã,  Ã,  Ã,  Ã,  Ã,  Ã,  Ã,  Ã,  Ã,  Ã,  Ã,  Ã,  Ã,  Ã,  Ã,  Ã,  Ã, 0

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An additional thing I noticed was that the comments were almost exclusively about the winning contribution, or the runner upper.

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My suspicion prior to this tiny investigation, was that the categories might make people reluctant to comment, since they've spent energy filling out the category votes, and so the categories would in a way discourage comments.

Though it's not at all safe to draw any conclusions from these instances, they seem to suggest that the categories are irrelevant when it comes to additional comments, or possibly benefitial, in that more situations occur, where the voter is ambivalent and weighs two entries against eachother, and while doing this, discusses their respective qualities.

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About the category ideas, I like the first version, perhaps with an exhange of the "Walkareas & Exits" category for "Functionality" (which adds the neccessity for a good camera angle, that works with 2D sprites).

[Snarky]

As categories go, I think either of the proposals are pretty good. Like Neil, I think the difference between them is minimal, but I probably prefer the second. Point by point:

"Idea & Storytelling" > "Idea" - because encouraging storytelling through the backgrounds is good
"Atmosphere/Mood/Emotion" < "Atmosphere" - because they all mean pretty much the same thing, and are redundant
"Design" = "Design" - I'm not really sure what this category means. Does it have to do with how interesting and elegant the shapes are?
"Composition" = "Composition" - maybe call this "Composition & Point-of-View", since choosing an interesting POV is closely tied to composition.
"Colours & Lighting" < "Technique" - because the former fails to cover other aspects of the execution
"Walkareas & Exits" > "Functionality" - because it's easier to figure out what it means (by all means add the camera angle suitability, though)

[ildu]

Personally, I think there's more to functionality than walkareas and exits. Composition and point-of-view also affect functionality. So I see composition as kind of in between design and functionality. Basically design means what objects in the bg look like, while composition means how they're positioned.

I agree about your other points. For example, colours & lighting goes into too much detail, when they both in my opinion range somewhere between design and technique.

More comments, please.

[loominous]

Basically design means what objects in the bg look like, while composition means how they're positioned.

I like the succinct distinction - could be used in the description, though perhaps with the modification:

Design - the physical appearance of the parts of the world

Composition - how these parts are composed/placed in relation to eachother

'Objects' might be misinterpreted as mere "things", while such things as landscapes, the sky, and other vast "objects" are neglected.

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I'm torn between Snarky's idea of adding 'camera angle suitability' to 'Walkareas & Exits', and ildu's merger of this into composition.

While a good camera angle is part of a good bg composition, it also feels like composition is more of the aesthetical aspect of this, rather than the functional.

Can't really make up my mind, so I'd be cool with any solution.

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I know my former descriptions of the categories sucked, so if anyone has any ideas of new ones, please do tell.

[Tuomas]

Personally I vote very rarely. And I can say if it goes to this you can be quite sure I won't vote at all. Who really has the time and devotion to answer all these and then give something for the people to read?

[Neil Dnuma]

Some people spend 4-12 hours (or more) creating a background, I like to think others may have 5-10 minutes to write what they think.

[Traveler]

I, too, think it's getting waaay overcomplicated - a single vote would be enough. When I enter BB, I do it to win . If I don't win, I post my image to CL to see why people didn't vote for it.

Crits Lounge is exactly for people to write what they think about an image. And even if there is just a single vote, nothing prevents people from commenting on each image individually, if they want to.

I feel ashamed, but I must admit, when I vote I don't carefully weight composition against mood and technique - I simply settle for an image that I like most. If there are more than one candidates, I scratch my head and still settle for one, because eventually only one image will win - only one person can host the next BB.

[ildu]

Ok, so I guess we're leaning on the 6-category system. Of what I gathered, there are enough people to support a more complex system, but apparently the 10-category system is too much.

Please, if anyone still wants to comment on this, do it right now! We'll keep this thread open for one more day, and then Gilbot can go on and close it.

[Tuomas]

I guess I could state that Ildu, don't bother asking me to vote since I very unlikely will have the time or the interest to it, but as this doesn't really concern me, ignore this.

[ildu]

Ok, I will go with one of the 6-category systems.