Showcase Ideas!

[Hioco]

[center]Right, this is how it goes. I'm getting a little worried about Showcase. The forum is getting less and less active each week. I've been back for a little while now and well it's not getting as many posts as it used to. However, this could be due to the lower talent level. We used to have tag makers posting ever few hours or maybe once a day. Now we get one ever two days or every week. This needs to stop. We need a lot more posts. A lot of people could get better if we posted more!

So, i'm making this thread an open discussions thread. Me and Yin would both like feedback from you, the people. Me and Yin will update this thread with what we think will be reasonable ideas that you have given. Then you may discuss them and maybe add on to them, make them better ect..

The main idea me and Yin have come up with so far is:

It's basically perfect for this section. When a member posts a creation they have made, they get a small reward. The more and more they post, the more rewards they get. Also, CnCers can also earn rewards. The more and more detailed and helpful the CnC you give is, the higher and the more rewards you get. Now, me and Yin haven't come up with any rewards yet so this is the part we want you to add on to or maybe change. How many creations do you think members should make before they get a reward? What could the rewards be? Should there be a ranking system for the creations? What else could you earn rewards for?

Feel free to add on to these ideas or give us any fresh ones of your own!

Think, how could we get Showcase into a more active, talented forum again?

Thanks![/center]

[Anbu-of-Sand]

Although I am not the most active person in the Showcase / Graphic Designs Forum as a whole, I'm willing to help make it more active.

I like the rewards idea you currently have, they remind me of some sort of 'Badge System' I've seen somewhere. I'm pretty sure it was the game zOMG! on Gaia that I used to play xD (For example, you'd get a Bronze Badge for killing 50 ____, Silver for 100 ____, then Gold for I believe 200 ____). We can do something like that, but with how many times you post a tag / sig, whatever it may be in the Showcase / Graphic Design Section as a whole. The rewards / badges (if you like my idea, then badges) would be nothing but well, rewards, but it gives members a warm / fuzzy kind of feeling. Might go more in-depth if you and Yin like my idea.

Yeah, that's it for now really.

[Legend Zero]

I think that having a Teaching thread (or members willing to teach) would improve activity here. This idea might work, but it might just encourage a flood of bad designs...and since members still get rewards they'd be less inclined to get better.

[TheGenuine]

Render sharing

[Cin]

LZ valid point, but that's why Hioco has asked for suggestions of a minium standards be posted in order to gain a reward. Teaching topic is a great idea.

TG, that is done on here already in showcase. You'll need to expand on what you mean.

Anbu sounds llike a good idea.

[Kuroda Kaito]

Well this is my idea about making the Showcase Section become more activate like it used to be :
-This idea is base on Anbu's idea before, i think that we can make a graphic contest for all the member who love GFX to join like tag-contest or render-contest to see their skill, and the winner get a badge or a gift.....etc.And about that, i think that we can make a contest base on the level of member like Newbie Sig Making Contest, Forum Sig Making Contest...etc
-Second idea is that i think that we can add one 1 Section in Showcase is Resource, in this section, you can share any C4Ds, PSDs, XCFs, renders, stocks,..... that you have to other member for free or paying is up to you, this idea is base on TG's idea

[Cin]

We've tried contests in the past and they die very quickly. The PSDs/XCFs, etc can already be found in Tutorials. We've asked several times for it to be renamed Resources and Tutorials with no success.

[.Nu-13]

IMO, prizes for improvements.

[chairman ali]

Some workshops probably? I myself would like to hold a few workshops every week or so!
Basically its like an interactive section where people get taught specific skills and with those skills they use it to make an artwork.

As for rewards, I think its a good idea but really, its hard to find a proper reward for such a thing.

[Kakashi Hatake]

I don't have any major ideas but I'm going to throw in some little ones.^^


[b]"What else could you earn rewards for?" -Hioco[/b]
I think that you should be able to earn rewards for several things depending on the quality of the piece. Spriting, Tagging, Icon Making, Logos, etc. Something like "My first Splice!" or "I spliced a 10/10!" or something. xD


[b]"Should there be a ranking system for the creations?" -Hioco
[/b]A ranking system like with Card Making? Imo, that might make GFXers less likely to post again and try to get better if they get a low, depressing, score. I think that we should stick to nice, thought out CnC.


[b]"What could the rewards be?" -Hioco
[/b]I like Anbu's idea of Badges a lot. Maybe a +Rep when a person earns a reward?


[b]"How many creations do you think members should make before they get a reward?" -Hioco
[/b]Maybe 10 or so of a certain skill level to earn that reward?

Not much, but hope it helps to a bit of an extent. :/

[Anbu-of-Sand]

[quote name='• Ω Kakashi Hatake Ω •' timestamp='1301926668' post='5113732']
[b]"What could the rewards be?" -Hioco
[/b]I like Anbu's idea of Badges a lot. Maybe a +Rep when a person earns a reward?
[/quote]
Lots of people already do this though. I was thinking badges like [url="http://games.bbgsite.com/content/2009-02-19/20090219073527873,1.shtml"]this[/url], but you know, instead of killing said amount of monsters, it would be like, posting 10 different Tags / Signatures for a Bronze Badge, 20 for Silver, and 40+ for gold, and so on and so on for different things as well (Sprites, giving CnC, giving GYFTS, etc.). If it goes well with the Showcase Forum, maybe we can expand onto the whole Graphic Design Forum as well.

[Madsen]

The workshop idea I love, the reward one I do not.
People would only make things for the rewards. I think the rewards should be something given out by the mods every month or so; like the YCM awards. People would know the rewards are there and if they are lucky they could get them, but won't fight for them and only gfx for them.

[Cin]

Loads of stuff.

@ Kowalski, nice, but you need to make suggestions
@ Blesh (post 1) Workshops awesome idea. It's just seeing which of the gfxers are interested. Then me and Hioco need to discuss who should go ahead and do it.
@ • Ω Kakashi Hatake Ω • . I would worry about the use of rating in order to judge quality.
@ Anbu, as long as they're of a good quality. We need to figure out how to judge quality.
@ Blesh (post 2) interesting concept, I like it.

[TheGenuine]

Mine=A giant Archeive where people post renders to share with everyone what Imean

[Anbu-of-Sand]

[quote name='Yin' timestamp='1301942676' post='5114231']
Loads of stuff.
@ Anbu, as long as they're of a good quality. We need to figure out how to judge quality.
[/quote]
By quality, do you mean on GYFTS / Sprites and whatnot? If so, as long as I have been in the Graphic Designs Forum / Showcase Forum (which isn't that long to be honest), I normally just give the CnC on the item itself, and with a bit of how it 'relates' to the person who made it / to the person it was given to (in a way). For example, say a beginner posts their first Sprite here. I'd rate it on it's quality (that being if it follows Jappio's Tutorial), if it 'wows' me, or at the least, really good for a beginner. I'm sorry, but I'm not sure if what I'm saying / the examples I'm giving make sense, so feel free to question.

[Hioco]

Some great ideas coming along guys!

I like all the talk of workshops. Sounds like a fun tutoring event which could get a lot more users into graphics as they'd be working with some of the best on the forum.

The rewards thing has also lifted off a bit which I like. I do like the sound of an each month award ceremony type of thing. Where users could possibly get rewards like things to go in their signatures or avatars? Maybe even badges to go in saying "Blah blah has won an an award for splicing, tag making, improving, icon making ect"

Maybe we could expand on these ideas above?

And thanks again for the ideas guys! Helps out a lot!

[Cin]

I suppose that could work Genuine.

[TheGenuine]

ThAnx I would love to make it where people can share renders so people don't have to redo it >.>

[Jappio]

Well I'll drop my 2 cents I suppose.

The prize idea I don't think is a bad idea. What is given has a few options I think. As a spriter there are a few things I like to get when I post my arts. Obviously one thing is comments and notice. I like when people look at my sprites and say their opinion on them. Critique or praise can both be satisfying as long as the person giving it clearly put a little thought into it.

Above and beyond the comments though, one of the best things I've received due to my work would be fan-art. Seeing something I made, but done in a different way by a different person was one of the best things ever. It isn't something I get all that often, but the a few times I have it was one of the best feelings in the world.

So if you want the super best top prize, I'd say find a way to have actual art gifts given to people. The gifts can be any form of commission I suppose. So like someone who gets to this top spot where they get a prize, they can request a tag from one of the super-good tag makers, or maybe they can get a drawing of something from one of the people capable of that. Avatars, sigs, drawings, sprites, whatever various things you can find. A few ideas for prizes: Drawings, hand or digital; sprites; sigs; avatars; music; super in depth critique. Basically anything you can think of that someone is willing to offer.

Of course to make this idea work, you'd need to find one or two people of each category to be willing to make these gifts every month or so.

As far as how to get the gifts, good ideas were presented before. Maybe some point system that will keep track of each art field and the top of each every month gets one of these commission gifts. Maybe have a few categories also like "Most Improved" "Best Critique Giver". Probably every month exclude the previous month winner to give more people more chances.

I know I personally would probably want to get fan art if I were to win a particular category. I'm a sucker for free art. Depending on the workload, I know I'd probably be willing to give out a custom sprite as a gift to any winner looking for it. Again it depends on the workload; I wouldn't want to end up in a situation where every week I have 10 people who won various categories wanting sprites =P

[Hioco]

Jappio, your idea has really added something different to what I was thinking of. This idea seems like one of the best so far. I remember a while ago getting a gift of a guy on here. That feeling was amazing, like I had people who wanted to actually spend an hour or two of there time devoted to me.

Now, this idea would be really easy to do, however, it would require quite a bit of work from the sites best graphic designers. I'm really happy if your willing to devote to the spriter position.

I'm defiantly going to take this idea further. Thanks!

[Twenty-five Zero Oh-oh]

[quote]I'm [b]defiantly[/b] going to take this idea further. Thanks! [/quote]
I think you mean definitely.


Anyway, if the staff can do it, it might be cool if you gave people uh... little tags similar to the ones that staff under their user-title but instead saying something like 'SOTW winner' or whatever awards people come up with.

And by the tags I mean these things: [img]http://forum.yugiohcardmaker.net/public/style_extra/team_icons/staff.png[/img]

[Kakashi Hatake]

[quote name='25000st' timestamp='1302306148' post='5123624']
I think you mean definitely.


Anyway, if the staff can do it, it might be cool if you gave people uh... little tags similar to the ones that staff under their user-title but instead saying something like 'SOTW winner' or whatever awards people come up with.

And by the tags I mean these things: [img]http://forum.yugiohcardmaker.net/public/style_extra/team_icons/staff.png[/img]
[/quote]

I like this idea. Maybe something like one that says "Workshop Sensei", "GFX Graduate", etc.

[Hioco]

I hate Chrome, changing my words.. D:

Hmm, that would have to be discussed with an Admin, however it should be possible, and in my opinion would be a nice thing to see!

I'll try and see what I can do!

Also, thanks for pointing out my spelling mistake, noob

[Madsen]

Guys just keep in mind this forum is NOT a graphics forum. I know that we need to get it more active but we can't alter the purpose of the site.

[Hioco]

That's true, and I can see how some of the people who have posted are trying to make showcase the Penultimate Forum.

Just try to keep it to the forum guys, don't go to the extreme, so far I haven't really seen any that could have a mass effect on the forum, however it could change it a bit. So just try and keep it to simple ideas!

I'm still happy with Jappios' idea. It could help the forum a lot. Plus, it could show more talent in the members!