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The Masters Contest will be an annual, invite-only competition. This competition focuses on story-telling with settlement designs by not just showing off the level 3 version, but each of the previous levels as well. The contest will have a much larger prize pool, longer deadline, and will focus on much larger settlements.
Invitations
Invites will be sent out before September 1st to anyone who has turned in a valid City Plan contest entry in the previous 12 months of contests. Expect the invitation to come through the SimSettlements.com forums to the username you submitted your other entries to the City Plan contest.
Judging
Judging will be done like a typical City Plan contest, with the Sim Settlements team picking what we determine to be the best 3 and presenting those for public voting by anyone with an active SimSettlements.com forum account.
Unlike normal monthly contests, the initial internal judging to cut to the finalists will be a little more nuanced, as the vote scoring will be done across three categories and the combined score will be used (in the normal contest, we merely ask team members to choose their favorites among the entries).
Prizes
Note that prizes will likely change each year as they are heavily determined by donations made by the community and other benefactors!
*If you are not eligible to receive Paypal funds for some reason, we’ll work with you to find an alternate means of getting you the cash.
**We'll work with you to dream up a short story and video to tell the tale of your settlement as it rises from foundation to level 3, and have a professional voice actor do the narration to make your video shine. This video will be used during the finals to help sell your settlement to the public voting, you'll also be given a high-quality render you can post or use anywhere you like!
Specific Rules
Settlement to Build: A settlement will be chosen and announced on August 31st, 2019 that all participants may begin building in. You MUST start from a specific pre-determined save file that we will provide. A link to download it will be included with the post announcing the settlement.
Build Limits: You must stay within the build limit. Under normal City Plan Contest rules you can go to double the build limit, but the save file you’ll be starting from already has the build limit configured.
City Plan Requirements:
Timeframe: The Masters Contest will run from September 1st through October 12th. You may turn in your entry at any time between the start and finish.
Turning In Your Design: A subforum for the Masters Contest entries will be created, the same as a normal monthly contest. Unlike a normal monthly contest, do NOT include your save file in the post, only turn those into the contest runners uituit and Sirlach, by messaging them via the SimSettlements.com forums. You must include the following:
Assets Allowed: You may only use assets included with the vanilla game, those found in the Sim Settlements build menu, and those in the non-DLC named sections of the Project Blueprint build menu.
Disallowed Mods: Transfer Settlements and Clipboard are not allowed as they allow for importing designs done outside of the timeframe of this contest. The primary reason for this is to avoid people taking designs from other creators and claiming them as their own.
Scrap mods such as Scrap Everything and Spring Cleaning, or any other mod that breaks precombines, even partially, is disallowed as they cause complications with City Plans, especially for XBox players.
Additional Rules: Unless a rule stated above says otherwise, the normal City Plan rules still apply! Rules above may be changed or expanded on between now and the start date of the contest. Everyone invited to the contest will be contacted again anytime the rules are updated.
Rule Addition: 08/27/2019 - All building plans used must be publically downloadable. In the past, we've allowed City Planner's to use building plans from beta versions or unreleased addon packs in their screenshots. That will not be allowed for the Masters contest.
Final Thoughts
Please keep in mind that we are not a business, this is just a community run event. So I don't have proper legalese drafted, and am counting on the good will of the community to help this contest go smoothly. If you think that I failed to cover something important to your understanding of the rules, please respond here and I will update things to clarify as quickly as possible.
I'm really excited to share this awesome set of donations with you guys, and can't wait to see all of the amazing City Plans that come of it!
-kinggath
Invitations
Invites will be sent out before September 1st to anyone who has turned in a valid City Plan contest entry in the previous 12 months of contests. Expect the invitation to come through the SimSettlements.com forums to the username you submitted your other entries to the City Plan contest.
Judging
Judging will be done like a typical City Plan contest, with the Sim Settlements team picking what we determine to be the best 3 and presenting those for public voting by anyone with an active SimSettlements.com forum account.
Unlike normal monthly contests, the initial internal judging to cut to the finalists will be a little more nuanced, as the vote scoring will be done across three categories and the combined score will be used (in the normal contest, we merely ask team members to choose their favorites among the entries).
- Creativity: Does your settlement make clever use of the space, plots, and available assets?
- Immersion: Do your settlement levels tell a believable story about how your settlement evolved over time?
- Functionality: Does your settlement meet the game needs of the settlers (food, water, defense, happiness), allow them to path well, and provide the player with useful things (such as Crafting Benches, a Commercial area, or even a player bed/home)?
Prizes
Note that prizes will likely change each year as they are heavily determined by donations made by the community and other benefactors!
- 1st Place: $500 - This will be given out via Paypal*.
- 2nd/3rd Place: $100 Steam Gift Card and Lifetime Nexus subscription
- Finalists (1st, 2nd, and 3rd): Professionally voiced city tour video of your settlements**
- All Participants: Sim Settlements T-Shirt
*If you are not eligible to receive Paypal funds for some reason, we’ll work with you to find an alternate means of getting you the cash.
**We'll work with you to dream up a short story and video to tell the tale of your settlement as it rises from foundation to level 3, and have a professional voice actor do the narration to make your video shine. This video will be used during the finals to help sell your settlement to the public voting, you'll also be given a high-quality render you can post or use anywhere you like!
Specific Rules
Settlement to Build: A settlement will be chosen and announced on August 31st, 2019 that all participants may begin building in. You MUST start from a specific pre-determined save file that we will provide. A link to download it will be included with the post announcing the settlement.
Build Limits: You must stay within the build limit. Under normal City Plan Contest rules you can go to double the build limit, but the save file you’ll be starting from already has the build limit configured.
City Plan Requirements:
- Must support between 15 and 20 settlers at level 3 (that means one home or bed, one job, and enough food and water to support them).
- Earlier levels may have less settlers.
- Must include at least one of each of the 6 plot classes at level 3. This includes Agricultural, Commercial, Industrial, Martial, Recreational, and Residential.
- Must include at least 20 plots.
- Must include a City Planner’s Desk and Recruitment Beacon at each level.
Timeframe: The Masters Contest will run from September 1st through October 12th. You may turn in your entry at any time between the start and finish.
Turning In Your Design: A subforum for the Masters Contest entries will be created, the same as a normal monthly contest. Unlike a normal monthly contest, do NOT include your save file in the post, only turn those into the contest runners uituit and Sirlach, by messaging them via the SimSettlements.com forums. You must include the following:
- Links to download your .fos save files for each level, screenshots, and description of your settlement’s story, these should be uploaded to a shared Google Drive or Dropbox.com folder.
- Up to 28 total screenshots spanning your 4 levels to be split up in whatever amounts you see fit. Be sure to clearly label each filename so we know which level it belongs to, and post them to your entry post on the forums as well as including them in the archive.
- A brief description of your settlement’s story posted with your entry as well as included with your archive. (No longer than a single page of text with size 12 font and 0.5 inch margins on all sides)
- Sim Settlements Three-in-One version 4.1.2 or greater
- City Plan Contest Mod version 4.1.2
- Settlement Menu Manager
- ProjectBlueprint.esp, ProjectBlueprintCOBJs_Sim.esp
Assets Allowed: You may only use assets included with the vanilla game, those found in the Sim Settlements build menu, and those in the non-DLC named sections of the Project Blueprint build menu.
Disallowed Mods: Transfer Settlements and Clipboard are not allowed as they allow for importing designs done outside of the timeframe of this contest. The primary reason for this is to avoid people taking designs from other creators and claiming them as their own.
Scrap mods such as Scrap Everything and Spring Cleaning, or any other mod that breaks precombines, even partially, is disallowed as they cause complications with City Plans, especially for XBox players.
Additional Rules: Unless a rule stated above says otherwise, the normal City Plan rules still apply! Rules above may be changed or expanded on between now and the start date of the contest. Everyone invited to the contest will be contacted again anytime the rules are updated.
Rule Addition: 08/27/2019 - All building plans used must be publically downloadable. In the past, we've allowed City Planner's to use building plans from beta versions or unreleased addon packs in their screenshots. That will not be allowed for the Masters contest.
Final Thoughts
Please keep in mind that we are not a business, this is just a community run event. So I don't have proper legalese drafted, and am counting on the good will of the community to help this contest go smoothly. If you think that I failed to cover something important to your understanding of the rules, please respond here and I will update things to clarify as quickly as possible.
I'm really excited to share this awesome set of donations with you guys, and can't wait to see all of the amazing City Plans that come of it!
-kinggath
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