It’s definitely competition time these days. The Halloween competition just ended (congratulations to Kazza for having the winning entry!) and the C-64 Retro Challenge is still on (don’t forget to send it your entries for a chance to win Wonderland Adventures). Now it’s time for our first ever Wonderland Adventures competition!
The game is still in development. It’s very hard to judge what a release date would be, but by my estimation it will likely be February 2007. January is a possibility, so is December (although that’s only very remotely possible) - it all depends on how the final pieces come together. I want to ensure that this is another great Wonderland game, even if that does mean a little extra time to wait for you guys.
But, in the meantime, there’s no need not to get you involved in some of the development and design of the game. I’ve designed this competition not only to give you a chance to win a free copy upon release, but also to enable you to put your own very personal touch into this game. This is a competition for all the creative types out there, which, I suppose, means everybody on this forum.
The goal of the competition is to send in a piece of creative work that could be inserted into the game for others to enjoy (and for you to say “I did that!”). There are four categories: jokes, riddles, art, models. I hope this broad range will give everybody a chance at submitting something for inclusion and help shape, even if in some small way, the next Wonderland game.
Up for grabs are ten free copies of Wonderland Adventures, as well as eternal fame (in the form of a line in the game’s credits). To enter, simply submit one (or several) items from one or more of the categories to our e-mail with the subject line “Wonderland Adventures Competition” by Nov 30th, 2006. Each entry will be judged on its quality for inclusion in the game. If it is selected for inclusion, your name will be listed in the game’s credits, and you will receive one or more virtual “tickets”. After the competition ends, I will draw seven random tickets and announce the winners on the board. If you have a winning ticket number, you’ve won a copy of the game!
Some notes:
1) You may enter as many times as you wish, but each entry is judged independently on its quality. If you, say, submit five great entries, then you’ll receive five times the ticket numbers. If you submit twenty rushed entries, it is less likely that any of them will be included. So put quality before quantity.
2) Seven tickets are drawn at random and prizes awarded accordingly. Three prizes are awarded based on merit only. This is a judgement made entirely by Midnight Synergy. If we see an entry that clearly had a lot of work go into it, we want to try to ensure that it wins a prize. This makes for a total of ten prizes.
3) Only one winning copy per person/household/family. That is, if you win once and you or someone else in your house wins with a second ticket, then the second ticket is re-drawn to give someone else a chance of winning that prize.
4) Entries are due by Nov 30th, 2006, and should be sent to use via e-mail with the subject “Wonderland Adventures Competition”.
5) Important: All entries must be your own work, and cannot make use of any copyrighted material out there. If copyrighted material is submitted, all of your entries will be disqualified.
6) Please do not post your entries on the board, so that they remain a surprise for everyone in the game. General questions about the nature of entries or other rules can of course be posted on this thread.
7) Midnight Synergy is the sole judge of entries. You understand that your entry will not necessarily be included in the final game. No arguing!
(but as always, we will be as fair and inclusive as possible. We also want younger players to participate, and will judge accordingly).So, after all that, here are the types of entries we are looking for.
Text:
1. Jokes: There will be a character in the game who just loves to tell jokes. We’re looking for jokes to tell! Jokes should be appropriate for younger players, non-offensive, non-political. In other words, a kind of joke that the Stinkers might tell each other in Wonderland. The shorter, the better! Be creative - if you can involve Wonderland characters, monsters, etc, then please do so. One ticket is awarded for each accepted entry.
Text/Art:
2. Riddles/Puzzles: Several characters will baffle you with puzzles and riddles (hmmm... who could one of them be?). So, send in your riddles and puzzles. Again, these should be appropriate for Stinkers to tell teach other. Given that we have many international players, they also shouldn’t be too heavily reliant on English language knowledge (although basic word puzzles are fine). These can be text-only, or you may submit them together with a single image file (.jpg/.bmp/.gif, resolution of 512x512 or less). One ticket is awarded for each accepted entry.
Art:
3. Just wait until you see how much Wondertown has grown since you last visited it in Wonderland Secret Worlds! One of the new additions to Wondertown is the first “Wonderland Art Gallery”. Stinkers from all over Wonderland submit their paintings and crafts for display. Want to see your art on display in Wondertown? Send in a single image file (.jpg/.bmp/.gif, resolution of 512x512 or less). Images can be hand-drawn/painted and scanned/photographed or done directly on the computer. You are allowed to use screenshots or other graphical elements from the existing Wonderland games, but are certainly not required too. Pictures should be in some way related to Wonderland, but other than that the field is wide open. Send in a drawing of Stinky & The Gang, alter a particularly interesting screenshot, paint a Wonderland rainbow star, etc. Younger Players are also encouraged to enter - if you wish, you may include your age with your entry. Two tickets are awarded for each accepted entry.
Models:
4. Accessories: One of the features of the new game is that you can play with any of the standard characters, or make up your very own Stinker for your game. You’ll be able to design both how your Stinker looks and sounds. One of the things that you can add to your Stinker is a selection of hats and other accessories. Sure, there are the wool caps, and Peegue still has a top hat, but perhaps you’d like to have your Stinker walk around in a baseball cap, a beret, or a very silly hat. And what about glasses or other accessories? Let your imagination run wild, and design your very own look for your Stinker.
Click here to download and unzip a StinkerView program. Run it to see a Stinker go through several animations, wearing Stinky’s blue hat and a pair of sunglasses. Press 1 or 2 to toggle the two accessories, press ESC to exit. Included in the directory you’ll also find the model and texture for both the glasses and the hat. The game will automatically place the accessory models based on the position of the main Stinker model. Use the two sample models as guides to where your models should be placed, how they should be rotated, and how big they should be. When you have a new model, simply replace either glasses or hat (3ds and bmp) files with your new ones to test how they’d look in-game. Note that while these are called “hat” and “glasses”, your models could of course be anything else, too. If you have an idea for something that could look good attached to a Stinker body, go for it! The way it will look in this viewer program is the way it will look in the final game, so check how your accessories look in the viewer before submitting. Note that models should have a single texture, only.
Four tickets are awarded for each accepted 3ds/bmp combo.
If you just submit a texture for a hat, one ticket is awarded for each accepted bmp texture only - but note that we already have many standard textures made up, so chances that a simple texture change will be accepted are lower.
[A note on other models: All of the main 3d models in Wonderland Adventures are being designed by a professional graphic artists. However, if you have an idea for a visual of one form or another that you’d like to see in a Wonderland game, let us know. Many of you make great models for the custom levels, perhaps you'd like to make something for the new game, too. This category is a little different than the others, in that we want you to contact us with your idea/sketch first... we don’t want you to create all sorts of models just to be told that we don’t need any of them. So, if you have an idea for a model that you always wanted to see in a Wonderland game, just drop us a line. Note that one possibility might be art for the Wonderland Art Gallery. Again, four tickets are awarded per accepted entry.]
I hope these categories are broad enough to speak to your various talents. The goal is to have some fun and have a little piece of your own creativity in the game - even at this early stage (i.e. before the game or a level editor are even available).
And as a little bonus, for all of you brave souls who read this far, here’s a little side competition. There will be many Stinkers in the game. Perhaps you’d like to name one of them? Send in a (single) suggestion for a Stinker Name. This could be something made-up, or it could even be based on your forum name. We will also select five Stinker names from the list (independent of the other submission) and name five Stinkers in the game with your suggestions.
That’s all (for now). Good luck and have fun coming up with jokes, riddles, art, and more!
I could maybe think of some jokes 
hehehehehe 
jg
The screen goes bad on it and I can't see anything. This time, the screen is dead again and the hard drive won't boot past "windows is starting up" (even in safe mode), The wait is probaby: Ship it to the geeks, order a new screen, wait on it to cxome in, then stand in line behind everyone else whose computers went bad...ick. 
