CONTEST: Pirate Smiley Wars - has started!

[Mister Phes]

Welcome to our latest experiment!

This is how it works:

Users submit their custom smileys between Sunday August 3rd and Saturday August 10th. The following week the best smileys will be selected for a vote off and whichever smiley gets the most votes gets added to our Smiley Collection. There may be up to 5 voting categories depending on the number of entry.

Here's a blank smiley to start you off:

The rules

1. It must retain the Eurobricks Smiley aesthetic - can't look like it came form somewhere else.
   
2. It must resemble a LEGO pirate, Soldier, Imperial Guard, Islander, Imperial Armada or something Pirate LEGO related.
   
3. It must have a transparent background. You must figure out how to do this otherwise your smiley will be rejected. MS Paint DOES NOT support transparent backgrounds. Looking for a free program that can do the job? download GIMP
   
4. Must be in GIF format. Unfortunately Internet Explorer 6 doesn't support PNG transparency so for this reason PNGs will not be accepted.
   
5. It must be within the standard Pirate Smiley dimensions I.e. no more than 35 pixels wide by 20 pixels high.
   
6. Not all smileys will be selected for the vote off, so if yours doesn't make the poll that's a hint that it needs improving. Revise and try again next round.
   
7. We reserve the right not to add any new smileys to our smiley collection.
   
8. We will determine the number of voting categories and which voting category the smiley is allocated.
   
9. Entrants may enter more than one smiley providing each smiley is substantially different. Variants of the same smiley are not accepted.
   
10. Entrants must number their smileys, even if they only enter one smiley. So the first smiley is "1", the second "2" and so on...
    

Round one has started

Post your entries in this thread.

Any questions?

Ask them in this thread only

When is the next building competition with real prizes?

There is something BIIIIG in the pipeline. No more shall be revealed at this stage.

[Shoc]

This sounds very interesting, I wonder why nobody else has responded yet... I like to design things in pixels, so I might have a go. I have an idea, it may fit the 35x25 limit.

Also, are Sunday the 3rd and Saturday the 10th the only two days that we can submit the entries? I don't quite understand that bit...

:skull:

Edited August 1, 2008 by Shoc

[Wes]

Why not provide everyone with a blank head template to start with?

[Shoc]

Why not provide everyone with a blank head template to start with?

Well, existing smilies can be copied and pasted anyway.

:skull:

[Shadows]

Sounds like fun!

1.

Oh, wait, I already did that one, and it's in the system, AND the contest hasn't started yet.

I'll come up with something else for this fun contest idea!

[Joey Lock]

Gotta make it Clear but does this count for one?

I just moved Yodas Bicorne down 1 pixel since it doesnt look right:

[Adam]

Sound's fun! However, I'm a little confused- would something like this:

work? I would fix the backround (make it completely white), but would the face count?

[Mister Phes]

Also, are Sunday the 3rd and Saturday the 10th the only two days that we can submit the entries? I don't quite understand that bit...

It says between Sunday the 3rd and Saturday the 10th. Maybe I should I have written from Sunday the 3rd till Saturday the 10th.

Why not provide everyone with a blank head template to start with?

That seems like a good idea

I'll come up with something else for this fun contest idea!

You are the man!

Gotta make it Clear but does this count for one?

That's just makeing a slight modification an existing smiley, so no... You'll need to put in a bit more work than that.

Sound's fun! However, I'm a little confused- would something like this:

work? I would fix the backround (make it completely white), but would the face count?

Possibly. The face already exist so it depends how it stacks up against the other entries. It's best to come up with something completely original.

[Joey Lock]

That's just makeing a slight modification an existing smiley, so no... You'll need to put in a bit more work than that.

Thats ok, I have made some Customs. But when you put them in Paint and save them the colours go funny.

Edited August 1, 2008 by Joey Lock

[Mister Phes]

Microsoft Paint won't do the job because it doesn't support transparent backgrounds. Remember this program is ancient, it was released in 1993 and hasn't had many upgrades since.

Looking for a free program that can do the job? download GIMP

[Scouty]

I've already got entries done

[Adam]

Thats ok, I have made some Customs. But when you put them in Paint and save them the colours go funny.

Same thing happened to me. But don't fret- if you go back to zoom: 100%, everything will look fine.

[Admiral Blockbeard]

do not save them as Jpeg files, as they will become artifact-ed, thats the funny colour thing your talking about. save them as a PNG file

see IS i learnd-ed well!

i will go and make something up, however i think when i save as a single layer in gimp it loses its clear background, how should i save the file?

Regards Cpt. PB

[Scouty]

do not save them as Jpeg files, as they will become artifact-ed, thats the funny colour thing your talking about. save them as a PNG file

see IS i learnd-ed well!

i will go and make something up, however i think when i save as a single layer in gimp it loses its clear background, how should i save the file?

Regards Cpt. PB

I save the files as a .gif so I can get transparency!

[Wes]

I save the files as a .gif so I can get transparency!

PNG also supports transparency (even partial transparency!) and has full colors. GIF has a max of 256 colors. The only real reason to use a GIF anymore is to make the file size small or to make an animated image.

[Shoc]

Where do we post entries? Well, it's already August 3rd where I am, but I suppose the different time zones may affect contests though. I have an interesting design for a smiley...

:skull:

Edited August 3, 2008 by Shoc

[Mister Phes]

PNG also supports transparency (even partial transparency!) and has full colors. GIF has a max of 256 colors. The only real reason to use a GIF anymore is to make the file size small or to make an animated image.

Unfortunately Internet Explorer 6 (I'm not sure about 7) doesn't support PNG transparency. It will display PNGs but their backgrounds will be solid white so for this reason PNGs cannot be accepted.

Where do we post entries? Well, it's already August 3rd where I am, but I suppose the different time zones may affect contests though. I have an interesting design for a smiley...

I shall create a new thread within the next 12 hours, so stay tuned!

[Shoc]

It must we within the standard Pirate Smiley dimensions I.e. no more than 35 pixels wide by 20 pixels high.

D'oh, I must have misread that as 35 by 25... I'll have to try another one now, what I made wouldn't fit that small.

Entrants must number their smileys, even if they only enter one smiley. So the first smiley is "1", the second "2" and so on...

Does that mean numbering them in the post, or numbering the actual file? Sorry, I'm easily confused.

:skull:

[Mister Phes]

Numbering them in the both would probably be best.

[Shoc]

Numbering them in the both would probably be best.

Right, thank you.

Now I'm trying to think of a good idea for a smiley that does fit within the limit, as I don't think the one I made I would be able to resize.

:skull:

[VBBN]

Sounds fun! Does Vista paint work? If not, I'll get the gimp on me laptop.

[Wes]

Unfortunately Internet Explorer 6 (I'm not sure about 7) doesn't support PNG transparency. It will display PNGs but their backgrounds will be solid white so for this reason PNGs cannot be accepted.

PNGs should work fine in IE 7, and who still uses IE 6? Vista and XP SP3 come with IE 7. I looked at my webstats for my site and I found that only 3.5% of users are still using the obsolete browser IE 6, while 20.6% are using IE 7 and 59.2% enjoy Firefox and 9.2% use Opera. Opera, like Firefox and all modern browsers, also supports PNG transparency.

Using inferior file formats for the sake of a small percentage of people that have an obsolete web browser doesn't make sense.

Edited August 3, 2008 by Wes

[Mister Phes]

I'm not sure what kind of users your website attracts or how many hits you receive but the statistics elsewhere are very different.

According to W3C 26.5% of all Internet users still use Internet Explorer 6, which is still over a quarter.

http://www.w3schools.com/browsers/browsers_stats.asp

So according to this source there are still many people using this obsolete browser and it stands to reason, just because a new browser is released doesn't mean everyone will rush out and get it immediately. It will take a couple of years to phase out.

Now, before I go amending the rules, I require more substantial evidence to suggest that the gross minority still use Internet Explorer 6. So if someone showed me 3 or 4 reputable websites stating that only 5% of all Internet users used Internet Explorer 6 then I'd amend the rules. But at this point, I'm more inclined to believe the W3C statistics and therefore the rule against PNG will stand.

Having mentioned that I love PNGs and it's so annoying that Internet Explorer 6 doesn't support their transparency...

[Skipper 24]

I have uploaded now. I made mine in Paint shop pro saved them as .PSD then opened them in Photoshop and saved them as .gif's. Pretty complicated eh Good luck everyone!

Edited August 3, 2008 by Skipper 24

[Shoc]

The new entries look interesting, my favourite at the moment is fallentomato's Monkey.

I still don't have any more ideas for what to do for another smiley. Is it OK if I enter my (mistakenly) 35x25 pixel smiley tomorrow? I would very much like to enter it, and it's not really possible to present it in a "flatter" way.

:skull:

Edited August 3, 2008 by Shoc