Colossal Castle Contest IV

Discussion of personal LEGO Castle creations
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architect
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Post by architect »

Mike Viper wrote: If we where to enter a siege tower into vehicles, could we have mythical beasts pulling them?
You can but we will be grading on the vehicle, not the beast. So it probably will not help you in any way.
One question. Say I do a cliff vignette, for whaever reason. Would I lose marks for having the cut-out (id est, not supposed to be visible) sides solid, flat, and grey?
Since a vignette will fall into the medieval life or miscellaneous categories, this should not be a problem.
In our folder, can we include a fourth pic wich is really a subfolder?
You can include a subfolder in your images folder. Make sure that the grading folder only has three images.
To the admins:
Feel free to edit or delete this message if it isn't right.
Jens, even though your answers were close to what ours would be, only the admins should answer these questions. Thank you.

Ben
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Bruce N H
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Post by Bruce N H »

jens wrote: after all these questions now I'm a bit confused. What means "playability" regarding with the entry.
Hey,

Ben already touched on this, but I figured I'd my thoughts as well. Grading MOCs is inherently subjective, and I'm sure all of the judges look at each of these things slightly differently, so this is just what I think when I grade based on "creativity, playability, details".
For me, when I think of creativity I'm thinking both about the overall idea of the MOC and also about its construction. In the first part, it's like "have I seen many MOCs like this, or is this just another _____ that I've already seen a bunch of different versions of before". For the second part I'm looking for creative construction techniques - things that make me say "I want to try doing that in my next MOC".
When I think "playability", I'm basically thinking would I want to play with this MOC. Or, if I were a minifig, would I want to inhabit this MOC. In part this has to do with "features", but to me it's more about depth of construction - some MOCs are very flat, and you would get bored of them in five seconds, whereas you could spend tons of time exploring other MOCs if you were fig-scale. Of course this varies from category to category. For instance, you don't have a lot of "features" to a custom fig.
Details is, to me, all about those finishing touches that turn a rough MOC into a finished creation. This could be different things in different categories--in the castle interior category it's about the furnishings, torches, wall hangings, candles, etc; in the battles category it's more about fig placement and "action"; in the custom fig category it's more about the execution of the customization (is the painting clean or smudged, are the decals straight, do the sculpy molded elements look like real LEGO elements or do they look like lumps of clay, etc).

For more insight into how I look at judging (and these are my thoughts only, and in no way reflect on discussion with the other judges), for the past two contests I have posted extensive commentaries after the winners were announced: CCCII and CCCIII

Bruce
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Prince Imdol
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Wow

Post by Prince Imdol »

I will be uploading my creation soon
Thomas C.
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supernova
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Post by supernova »

I have a couple of questions:

If I were to, say, build a keep, can I use it for 2 categories, i.e. castle fortifications as well as room interior? (of course different shots will be used)

Also, for the room interior category, what exactly does it mean by "fitting 64 x 32"? If I have a few floors for the keep that is built on a 48 x 32 base, does that mean I can only show 1 floor or can I still show multiple floors?

Thanks! :)
~~ Supernova ~~

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Post by Shurtugal »

Just a small question about the Frotification Prize, do you already know what it is, and announce it soon, or don't know what it is yet, and will post when you figure it out, or do you know what it is, and will tell us after the contest?
~Andrew C.

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Post by architect »

supernova wrote:I have a couple of questions:

If I were to, say, build a keep, can I use it for 2 categories, i.e. castle fortifications as well as room interior? (of course different shots will be used)

Also, for the room interior category, what exactly does it mean by "fitting 64 x 32"? If I have a few floors for the keep that is built on a 48 x 32 base, does that mean I can only show 1 floor or can I still show multiple floors?

Thanks! :)
You can have multiple floors. The rooms should be connected by some opening vertically. If you build a keep, your castle room interiors entry could be 2 rooms out of many inside the keep. Or if you have a vertical shaft or open stair, you can have even more rooms. Interiors of castle buildings (keeps, towers, halls, etc) can be used in this category and the castle fortification category.
Just a small question about the Fortification Prize, do you already know what it is, and announce it soon, or don't know what it is yet, and will post when you figure it out, or do you know what it is, and will tell us after the contest?
Wow, what a large fragment ;) I have a rough idea of what has been donated. We will not announce this prize until much later. I guarantee that it will be a good prize that relates to the category.

Ben
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.............................................

Post by The dark tide »

Last question. Is there a size limit to how large the MOC can be in the bridge catagory?
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CC Contest 4

Post by Megan Rothrock »

Right on!!!

I'm gona go for it!
Just hope I can get some mocs. done in time!

build well all!

Megan
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Post by Maedhros »

I have a question about the Castle Building category. Would a Mithraeum be possible for that? Since it has about the same function as a chapel I figured it could work... on the other hand it´s most often more of a cave than a building (and roman).
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Post by ZIGGY! »

Two questions on the battle entry:

1) Can dead minifigs count towards the ten? For example I have nine standing and two dead.

2)If I don't have enough of a faction, can I explain that they have drafted the local peasents and add those to the force?

~Thanx,Ziggy
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Post by the_lorax »

Just a super quick question

I would love to enter this competition and plan on doing a few things, but just wanted to know, my gorgeous friend and I are working on some things together. Is this ok?

Oh and just another thing, is it possible to do maybe a Faq's link on the contest page for a quick reference to the questions that have been asked in this forum. (In case people don't read the forum or miss something).

Cheers

Anita
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Shurtugal
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Post by Shurtugal »

Oh and just another thing, is it possible to do maybe a Faq's link on the contest page for a quick reference to the questions that have been asked in this forum. (In case people don't read the forum or miss something).


Yeah, this would be a great idea! I was thinking about asking the same thing. If it wouldn't be too much trouble, it would be sweet!
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Re: .............................................

Post by architect »

The dark tide wrote:Last question. Is there a size limit to how large the MOC can be in the bridge catagory?
No. The bridge should be minifigure scale. As usual, details are as important as size of your moc.
I have a question about the Castle Building category. Would a Mithraeum be possible for that? Since it has about the same function as a chapel I figured it could work... on the other hand it´s most often more of a cave than a building (and roman).
This seems more appropriate for the miscellaneous category. I do like the idea of building something that noone else has made.
1) Can dead minifigs count towards the ten? For example I have nine standing and two dead.
Yes you can. However the figs should be reasonably complete. Having ten heads strewn about a lone soldier will not make them a faction.
2)If I don't have enough of a faction, can I explain that they have drafted the local peasents and add those to the force?
Yes.
I would love to enter this competition and plan on doing a few things, but just wanted to know, my gorgeous friend and I are working on some things together. Is this ok?
A few entries have been submitted this way in the past. As long as you each do not have separate accounts for the contest, it should be fine. You would have to share a prize if you won and would probably not be eligible for the "master builder" part of the contest. I will have to consult with the other admins for a decision on that.
Oh and just another thing, is it possible to do maybe a Faq's link on the contest page for a quick reference to the questions that have been asked in this forum. (In case people don't read the forum or miss something).
Yeah, this would be a great idea! I was thinking about asking the same thing. If it wouldn't be too much trouble, it would be sweet!
I can link to this thread from the contest pages. Since there are so many questions, and these questions are usually extremely specific to one person's moc, it would be very time consuming to make a faq. In addition, since we change many categories from year to year, a faq would not be the same each year. So everyone will have to read this contest thread. We will continue to update the categories page with important decisions on each category if we make a change.

Ben
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gambort
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Post by gambort »

Whoops! Just apologising for accidentally submitting my new entry (Village Mosque) twice. The first one was to (obviously) the wrong category so please ignore it.

Tim
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thecustomizerwithoutfear
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Post by thecustomizerwithoutfear »

In the custom Figure category, would a Customized Jack stone figure be acceptable? It has a mini fig head. And can carry mini fig accessories?
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