It's this time of the... decade, again. That is, time for Worms Scheme Contest!
In 2010, I thought about a system. It worked out fine, but it wasn't good enough. So this year, things are about to change. We're placing the scheme ratings into the hands of you - the player. You can vote on schemes, you can write about them, criticizing every detail if you so desire, so that ultimately, the community will choose its victor.
If you're new to WSC, you may wonder: "What is this? Why is this? How is this?" Or something like that.
As for the "what" part, it's a contest in which players can make and submit new schemes, and aim for the top. There will be winners, and not-so-winners.
"Why?" Because why not. The WA community is clearly the most creative AND active Worms community, and that results in great maps, schemes, and other things. So why not add a little competitive touch to this creativity, and see what people can come up with if they are trying to impress the playerbase.
And "how"? Well, let me explain the rules then.
For the most part we're using the rules we did in 2010, with a few changes that ended up necessary.
Entry Conditions- The deadline for sending in your entries is whenever Worm Olympics 2014 starts.
- Maximum two entry per person. Pairs or groups can enter as well, maximum two entry per group. And yes, you can submit a scheme individually, and another in a group, but you can still only submit two.
- The entry can not be modified, once submitted.
- You need to write your application, description, etc. in English.
- The scheme has to be either entirely new, or a new variant of an already existing scheme. In the latter case, the criteria determining the originality of the variant will be stricter than in the case of a newly invented scheme.
- The scheme has to have a name, or in case of a variant, a name that obviously differentiates it from the original, while still showing its connection. (See WFW ยป FFW.)
- The scheme can utilise RubberWorm, but at this point, it can NOT utilise Project X and other, game-modifying, external "applications".
What to Enclose- Send detailed description of the gameplay, set of rules and corresponding penalties, optimal player/worm numbers (a scheme with several possibilities regarding player count and team games is preferred but not required). A nice setting story can add to the originality factor, but is also not required.
- Give a general map description (ie. random cavern maps, open island maps, Shopper maps), and in case of custom maps being required, enclose at least 1 example map that you believe plays well (doesn't have to be pretty, only functional).
- Enclose at least 1 example replay. The more, the better.
Additional rules may be added as the competition progresses, and while these are probably going to be retroactively applied to already submitted entries, we're going to do everything we can in order to be fair. So no "hey, you submitted this 2 months ago, but now we must tell you that it breaks a newly added rule".
What will happen after you've submitted your entry? Well, until I set the forum up, nothing. I plan to do it before April, as my time permits. But *after* I have it set up, players will be able to register there, and I will add entries as they are submitted. Voting will be disabled until the end of the submission period, but after that, everyone will be able to vote for schemes based on a few factors. These factors aren't decided yet, but here's the list of them from 2010. If anything, these are good indicators of what to expect.
- Scheme file: Everything that has to do with the scheme file itself.
- Game and weapon settings: Balanced armoury, ideal turn and round times, and so on.
- Originality: Well... it's kinda self-explanatory, isn't it?
- Over-all gameplay: Strategic possibilities, rules and punishments, and the like.
- Casual fun: Indicator of how the scheme would work out in non-competitive games.
- Competitive fun: Indicator of how the scheme would work out in competitive games.
This is obviously subject to change.
There will be rules to filter out most fake votes and trolls, but nothing too complicated for you guys. It's mostly gonna be complicated on my end, but hey.
So yeah, this is pretty much it for now. Go start writing down concepts and ideas. Don't be shy: even if you think your scheme isn't good, others may - and probably will - think different.
I will post the forum's link as soon as I set it up, as well as the email address to which you can send your submissions.
Until next time, then!
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