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As it happens, I'm currently admin for the Sprite Jam and the Background Blitz. For the Background Blitz, I put the topic Dream Sequence and I thought we might combine these two art competitions a bit.

So, for this Sprite Jam, I ask you to come up with an object or person or thing that reminds your character of the real world and serves as their anchor or focus in the dream world - something that allows them to return to reality or just understand their surroundings better.
You can present this anchor as a room object, a character sprite or an inventory item.
If you want inspiration, you can have a look in the current Background Blitz (but you don't have to) and maybe even enter both competitions with matching entries (if you feel like it).

Deadline for the Sprite Jam is February 18 (note that it's earlier for the Background Blitz).

[Dream Sequence]

Dream Sequence

From time to time, characters stumble into scenes that are not part of reality as we know it. The world might get a surreal feel to it, or there are small things that just don't fit anymore, making the background idyllic or nightmarish.

For this Background Blitz, I want you all to lead us into a dream: good, bad, neutral, surreal, confusing - it doesn't matter, but something in the background must tell the viewer that the character has left the real world. It can be a small element, like a lamp that is upside-down, somthing a bit larger like an escheresque staircase or something completely weird with abstract forms and colours. It doesn't matter, as long as the player gets this dream-like feeling when looking at it.

Deadline: 11. February

[Merry Christmas, everyone!]

Merry Christmas, everyone!

Wherever you are, whatever your year was like, I hope you have a wonderful Christmas!


(A Christmas Tree for everyone, curtesy of the last Colouring Ball)

And if you do not celebrate Christmas, merry all other festivals!

And if you celebrate nothing at all this time of the year, just have an amazing day, week, rest of the year!

[That's... that's NOT a classical Christmas Ornament!]

Hello, everybody.

Welcome back to the Coloring Ball, the competition where we give you shapes and you fill them in.

The time before Christmas is always stressful (and I'm sure before other season festivals as well) so it's a good thing to get started early. And look at that, your partner offered to buy the new ornaments, so you don't have to. What an amazing partner you have!

And look at them:
      
They look exactly like you had them in mind, at least as long as you look just at the shape: A moon, a heart, a star...

But then you take a closer look and you realize, something is wrong. That's... that's NOT a classical Christmas Ornament!

Well, what did your partner buy?

Show us by filling in one or more of the shapes with your craziest ideas. You may rotate or mirror the shapes, you may color the outline and either the inside or the outside of the shape. The weirder and crazier, the better!

You have time until 14. December.

[Vampires and other Bloodsuckers]

Vampires and other Bloodsuckers

They come in the night and take our blood. They rip our throats and take our life. Some literal, some in a more metaphorical sense, when they wear business suits and work for a bank, for example. Or maybe they are just animals that happen to survive by drinking blood, like leeches?

It doesn't matter what kind of bloodsucking being we're talking about. It doesn't matter if they are the hero or the villain of the tale. They can be romantic or terrifying, afraid of garlic or sparkle in daylight (okay, probably not that one, unless we have Twilight fans here  ), they can be a secret to everybody or out in the open. As long as there are vampires or other (metaphorical) bloodsuckers in your story, this is the right competition for you.

Deadline: 19th October 2021

[From the Mountains to the Sea]

From the Mountains to the Sea

Someone once told me that you can either like the mountains or the sea (as a holiday location) but not both. I'm not sure that's true, but I certainly would say I prefer the mountains.

Which one is it for you? Where would you rather live or spend your vacation? Is it swimming on a tropical beach or skiing in the wide ranges of the Alps? Maybe a bit of tracking and mountain climbing? Or perhaps you'd rather have a surfboard or a jetski? Maybe it's kind of both, with a sand mountain instead of a sandcastle on the beach or maybe a wide lake to swim in among high mountain ranges?

(Somewhere close to the border between Germany and Austria - I forgot to properly index my photos)

Show us your nice little idyllic (or less idyllic, that's not actually a requirement) depiction of a mountain or ocean scene. It can contain elements of human inhabitants, but please focus on the nature.

Deadline: 7 October 2021
New Deadline: 10 October

[9. September 2021]

Every aspiering adventurer needs to learn sooner or later to lug around all kinds of strange objects in their far too small pant's pockets: Ladders, books, boxes,... are all standard adventure game gear - and therefore inventory items.

But sometimes your adventurer is supposed to take more, let's say, abstract things along. Concepts and Ideas can end up in the inventory of a character as well. (I'm sure of it, but as is always the case when I try to think of a specific example, I just can't come up with anything). What concepts and ideas am I talking about? Just about anything, really, that doesn't have a physical presence: The Love of your Life , or time itself, the memory of a dead friend or, somewhat simpler, a magical spell. These are just some ideas off the top of my head, but you can use anything that isn't an actual physical object you can touch.


(A heart, a rather common symbolic representation of love)


(Skull and Crossbones can be a symbol for the concept of death)

These two are just some of the more basic and common ideas.


Here's your task:

- come up with an abstract concept that might show up as an inventory item
- draw this inventory item as a sprite
- post it here before the deadline of 9. September 2021
- let us know what your idea was (but put it in spoiler tags, a bit of guessing adds to the fun)

Go crazy!

[Dragons!]

Dragons!

Who doesn't like dragons?

Well, I love them (as you can see above), so I'd like to see some dragon themed backgrounds.
Is it a dragon's cave filled with treasures? Is it the mansion of an evil dragon lord decorated with statues of dragons everywhere? Is it a nest high in the mountains or the room of a moody teenager(or adult woman)? Or maybe a castle melted in a dragon's fire?
It can be everything that has something to do with dragons: Where they live, where they ravaged, where they are imprisoned. Or where they are used as decorations: as statues, tapestries, paintings, details on furniture, a chess set... (the possibilities are manifold.)


Voting is done in categories here:

Concept: your background should tell us something about the place you have depicted.
Playability: does it have clearly defined walkable areas, things to interact with, etc?
Artistic Execution: does the image convey the wanted atmosphere? What's the feeling of the place?
(shamelessly copied from Creamy)

Entries should be in by the end of 30. March 2021

And now, Fire!!!!