Create-a-theme Community Build

Spongey · Post by **Spongey** » Wed Jan 07, 2009 7:18 pm

Hello

The idea that I am about to present is one that was inspired both by Anthony's Create-a-theme contest and the Eurobricks community castle build.

I thought that it would be an interesting process to collaborate as a community and come up with our own castle theme. I have a fairly detailed set of plans that I will post later, but I just wanted to judge the attitude of the community towards this idea.

Basically, we would first vote for what kind of a theme we want (fantasy or realistic), the factions (proposed by members), and hero characters (also proposed by members.) Then, we would have set times to contribute different aspects of the theme; for example, we would probably start off with roughly a two week period for people to submit heraldry for the different factions, torso designs and shields. Then, as a community we would vote on the ones we like best, and then the winner would be in charge of refining their design as per the ideas of the members. This would then be done for the sets themselves (heraldry first, so that builders can print decals off for the designs.)

An example would be something like the following:
Community Build $20 set
Have members build sets that are no more than 240 pieces (using Anthony's criteria for piece count).
After a set amount of time, put pictures up of each proposed design, and have members vote.
After a winning design has been selected, members can offer ideas for improvements to the builder in order for the set to fit in with the rest of the theme in terms of design.

This would be done for all of the different sets, from Impulse to the 1000+ piece set, as well as for add-ons like the chess set or a UCS castle.

By the end, if all goes smoothly, we as a community would have designed our own in-house LEGO theme, complete with our own minfigs, sets, and exclusives (Advent Calendar, chess set, etc.)

Anyways, please let me know how you feel about this proposal. If I receive enough positive responses, I will post my fully detailed plans (number of sets, alternate set types, order of what we will do first, timelines, etc.)

Thanks

Roman

draugaer · Post by **draugaer** » Wed Jan 07, 2009 9:21 pm

Seems like a pretty cool idea.

How would you regulate the pricing though? would you require all sets to be created in LDD? or include only pieces available in pick-a-brick? I suppose you base prices off of brick link but their prices and inventory do fluctuate- not that this is a huge issue, just something to consider.

Also, why the low piece count/cost limit? Every theme has always included 1 or 2 really big sets with 500-600 pieces. I think there should be multiple categories for sets and then the community would vote for the best in each categories. Then the winning sets would be the "offical" sets of the community theme. There could also be multiple winners depending on the category (since there are usually lots of 10-20$ sets in a theme) for example:

50-100 piece: 4 winning sets
101-200 piece: 3 winning sets
201-400 piece: 2 winning sets
400-600 piece: 1 winning set
-not that these numbers are totally perfect, but you get the idea.

Muskey15 · Post by **Muskey15** » Wed Jan 07, 2009 9:51 pm

This is a great idea! By creating our own theme, would that include a custom faction, or one that currently exists?

Spongey · Post by **Spongey** » Thu Jan 08, 2009 1:17 am

draugaer wrote:Seems like a pretty cool idea.

How would you regulate the pricing though? would you require all sets to be created in LDD? or include only pieces available in pick-a-brick? I suppose you base prices off of brick link but their prices and inventory do fluctuate- not that this is a huge issue, just something to consider.

Also, why the low piece count/cost limit? Every theme has always included 1 or 2 really big sets with 500-600 pieces. I think there should be multiple categories for sets and then the community would vote for the best in each categories. Then the winning sets would be the "offical" sets of the community theme. There could also be multiple winners depending on the category (since there are usually lots of 10-20$ sets in a theme) for example:

50-100 piece: 4 winning sets
101-200 piece: 3 winning sets
201-400 piece: 2 winning sets
400-600 piece: 1 winning set
-not that these numbers are totally perfect, but you get the idea.

The $20 set was just an example. I was actually thinking of doing six sets, like the 2007 line, ranging from $5 to $100. Also, the pricing is based off of the $0.10 per piece ration that LEGO generally follows, like the one in Anthony's contest. The voting that you mention is also the exact way that I hope to run this contest.

As for the factions, I think we would make them custom factions, with our customizers competing to have their designs for torsos/shields accepted, and then making these designs available on line for the set designers.

Seikfreid · Post by **Seikfreid** » Thu Jan 08, 2009 2:20 am

Great idea! I'm in total support of it and I would love the opportunity to help (If you want my help

)

draugaer · Post by **draugaer** » Thu Jan 08, 2009 2:56 am

Spongey wrote:
The $20 set was just an example. I was actually thinking of doing six sets, like the 2007 line, ranging from $5 to $100. Also, the pricing is based off of the $0.10 per piece ration that LEGO generally follows, like the one in Anthony's contest. The voting that you mention is also the exact way that I hope to run this contest.

As for the factions, I think we would make them custom factions, with our customizers competing to have their designs for torsos/shields accepted, and then making these designs available on line for the set designers.

cool, seems like you've thought things through pretty solidly. I hope this gets some support around the forum.

Brik Masta · Post by **Brik Masta** » Thu Jan 08, 2009 12:44 pm

I'm all for it.

You seem to have thought this through alot.

Ser Loktar · Post by **Ser Loktar** » Fri Jan 09, 2009 2:55 am

Though I haven't a camera and probably can't contribute a whole lot I do think this is a fun idea.
One question though,
The idea being a contest? or is this a brainstorming we want TLG to see, if we can get the local ambassadors to send the winning entries along to them (in the hopes this affects future official projects)
Seems like we've got enough folks around here with extra pieces that we'll build for the sake of building, but maybe you wanna put out a call for prize donations and see if we can really get the juices flowing.
Either way I can't wait to see the results of this and throw my meager support into it wholeheartedly,
Ser Loktar

Spongey · Post by **Spongey** » Fri Jan 09, 2009 2:59 am

Ser Loktar wrote:Though I haven't a camera and probably can't contribute a whole lot I do think this is a fun idea.
One question though,
The idea being a contest? or is this a brainstorming we want TLG to see, if we can get the local ambassadors to send the winning entries along to them (in the hopes this affects future official projects)
Seems like we've got enough folks around here with extra pieces that we'll build for the sake of building, but maybe you wanna put out a call for prize donations and see if we can really get the juices flowing.
Either way I can't wait to see the results of this and throw my meager support into it wholeheartedly,
Ser Loktar

I like your idea of making this a contest; that being said, I'm going to see how this runs as just a community build, because their will be quite a lot of different categories, and this will also be a long-running project that will probably blend into other contests.
I don't know if I would call this a direct attempt to influence TLG. If they see them, that's great and hopefully something might happen. However, the main goal I set out to achieve when coming up with this idea was simply to get together the community in a way where everyone can contribute to one common goal, without the geographic/economic constraints that conventions can have.

nwinch · Post by **nwinch** » Fri Jan 09, 2009 7:31 am

I love this idea it seems brilliant i would join probably as a cumstomiser (if all goes well)

::EDIT::
I do see a probllem, in the recent sets the archetecture was the same. If we have a number of builders we wil have to create a standard look, unless we want them all to be different.

shmails · Post by **shmails** » Fri Jan 09, 2009 4:00 pm

I think this will be a great thing if it can be achieved. It is very hard to bring an entire community together. Our different building styles, maturity levels, societal difference can make this tough. I think you should start as a contest, so you can trim the ideas down this way without hurting feelings. Then, once the themes/factions have been chosen, a second contest can introduce or committee can be made to decide the final product.

I am more than willing to offer the Bear Claw Clan and Order of the White Rabbit as new factions. Each has multiple designs already finished. If not, I am willing to work with some other designers to come up with a new faction.

I really hope this continues to gain momentum, as this is the best of what an internet community can be. Thanks for the ideas!

Seikfreid · Post by **Seikfreid** » Sat Jan 10, 2009 1:54 pm

nwinch wrote:
I do see a problem, in the recent sets the architecture was the same. If we have a number of builders we will have to create a standard look, unless we want them all to be different.

We could probably solve this by using either a historically accurate building scheme (Gothic, Greek, Roman, etc.) or an existing official faction line's style. We would all definitely have to get a lot of communication in the early planning stages, so I suggest this: Use a couple of LEGO "architects" who design several different styles of buildings, then post them online. We could decide which one we like the best and base our sets off that style. The architects could also give help to people who get stuck on a building or need help creating a certain feature.

There is a major drawback and that's getting people to be architects. Also if this became a contest, the architects couldn't really help.