Message #2034

From: cutelyaware <melinda@superliminal.com>
Subject: New contest
Date: Sun, 26 Feb 2012 07:48:03 -0000

We had a great time with the hyper-speedsoving a while ago and
wanted to do that again. I think it is time for another contest
though in the interest of variety I would like to propose that we
try some other contest types. But then there are so many other types
of contests we could also have it’s hard to know where to start. For
this next one I would like to propose a puzzle beauty contest! I
would like to restrict the submissions to be anything you can do
with MagicTile IRPs to further promote these beautiful objects and
to get some pretty pictures I can show at an upcoming math
conference. If this interests you, then build the prettiest IRP
puzzle you can, adjust its colors and other settings, pose it as
artfully as you can, and then send me a screenshot and the log file.
I’ll figure out a way to present them all and we can all vote on the
winner via a Yahoo group poll.

I would like to also create an additional special category for the
most beautiful checkerboard IRP. This one should be judged purely by
the log file alone. In other words, for this category it is all
about the best pattern that you can create and not involving
artistic presentation like in the open category. So if you create
one of these, please put the word "Checkerboard" as the first line
in the body of your submission. Note that I don’t think anybody has
done a checkerboard IRP yet at all, right? If so, you could snag
that prestigious first.

Yet one more special category will be for 3D stereo images. For
these, the first line should be "Stereo".

Since we don’t really need preparation time, let’s start the contest
now and set the submission deadline for. I’ll then publish the
submissions and give you a further week or so to vote on your
favorites. Here are the rules. If you find problems, please suggest
improvements and hopefully we can adjust them as needed:

&#42; Entry limits per person&#58; Up to

* 3 open category submissions

&#42; 1 checkerboard<br>
&#42; 1 stereogram

&#42; Submission contents&#58;

1. Submission title
2. Photo specifications

&#42; IRP screenshot showing just the puzzle area

&#42; Exactly 800 pixels high with a 1280 pixel maximum width

&#42; JPG or PNG formats<br>
&#42; no post-processing allowed<br>
&#42; Cross-eyed view mode for stereo submissions - maximum            <br> width&#58; 2560 total

&#42; MagicTile log file<br>
&#42; Description of parameters

&#42; Creator's name<br>
&#42; Send to melinda@superliminal.com &lt;mailto&#58;melinda@superliminal.com&gt;<br> ,         subject line &quot;Beauty Contest Submission  - &lt;Your Name&gt; -<br> &lt;Submission #&gt;&quot; (no quotes). One entry per message.<br>
&#42; Submission deadline&#58; Midnight next Saturday evening Pacific        <br> time.<br> You can update your entries by simply sending another entry with the    <br> same subject line as the one you wish to replace.

I will offer a T-shirt prize for the open category if 10 or more
people enter, another for best checkerboard if 5 or more people
enter, and a third for best 3D shot, again if 5 or more people
enter. One T-shirt per person maximum.

One nice thing is that you do not need to know how to solve any
puzzles to win this contest! This will give a decisive advantage to
the more artistic among you, so go get creative, crazy. Find what it
takes to impress the judges and take that T-shirt!

Good luck!
-Melinda