Official modeling contest by Paradox Interactive

[Drosovila 86]

I honestly like the digger. In the beginning I wanted to make it too, but I would have had to compromise too much with the 4000 poly limit. The textures on that thing look quite bad though...

But so far the rankings are quite random and more based on luck and thumbnail. The upload timing was also quite bad (when the least amount of players are online)and the difference in the amount of exposure that each model gets is already big and will only get bigger. Quite dissapointing so far, let's see how it develops...

 

Edit: I also found it interesting how my submissiogot downvoted instantly after uploading and I saw some other 3-star submissions(which indicate that it was downvoted which usually doesn't happen). Someone's salty.

  Edited July 17, 2015 by Drosovila  

[Turjan 1,048]

IRL these machines are mobile and can move on their own.. which makes sense for a machine. Therefor they can't be a monument (which is obviously stationary).

As you are from Germany, you should know that there are actually several of these excavators in Germany which are functionless monuments and can be visited by tourists. Here is one example: https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bagger_1452. So it definitely fits the definition.

It's also officially called a monument:

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/1c/Görlitz_-_Bagger_1452_01_ies.jpg

It's not the winner I would choose, but from a formal point, it's fine. Parks are buildings in this game.

Edit: I also found it interesting how my submissiogot downvoted instantly after uploading and I saw some other 3-star submissions(which indicate that it was downvoted which usually doesn't happen). Someone's salty.

Really? That's sad and pretty disrespectful.

Not sure why anyone would want to downvote your buildings. They look very nice to me.

 

[Dubai Skyscraper 129]

I honestly like the digger. In the beginning I wanted to make it too, but I would have had to compromise too much with the 4000 poly limit. The textures on that thing look quite bad though...

But so far the rankings are quite random and more based on luck and thumbnail. The upload timing was also quite bad (when the least amount of players are online)and the difference in the amount of exposure that each model gets is already big and will only get bigger. Quite dissapointing so far, let's see how it develops...

 

Edit: I also found it interesting how my submissiogot downvoted instantly after uploading and I saw some other 3-star submissions(which indicate that it was downvoted which usually doesn't happen). Someone's salty.

This. I notice that most submissions are on a similar niveau of views and submissions, with one huge exception.. that excavator. It got close to 3k visitors already (yet less than half of them subscribed). Why is that? It simply got featured on the workshop home page: the users have to visit the asset's page before they can subscribe. Being featured there before the other entries gives one a huge advantage and that's just ridiculous. 

 

As you are from Germany, you should know that there are actually several of these excavators in Germany which are functionless monuments and can be visited by tourists. Here is one example: https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bagger_1452. So it definitely fits the definition.

It's not the winner I would choose, but from a formal point, it's fine. Parks are buildings in this game.

 

Yeah, I know that. But these are clearly disabled and set out of order yet the model in the competition is not. Of course you can transform any vehicle into a monument but it takes some changes to do that.

Edit: Here is what I consider a good example (though the ship is not to scale, but you get the idea): http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=482926845

Edit2: Another good example: http://www.airventure.de/tips_speyer/technik_museum_speyer_Mai04015.jpg

  Edited July 17, 2015 by Dubai Skyscraper  

[Cool_Z 1,547]

I honestly like the digger. In the beginning I wanted to make it too, but I would have had to compromise too much with the 4000 poly limit. The textures on that thing look quite bad though...

But so far the rankings are quite random and more based on luck and thumbnail. The upload timing was also quite bad (when the least amount of players are online)and the difference in the amount of exposure that each model gets is already big and will only get bigger. Quite dissapointing so far, let's see how it develops...

 

Edit: I also found it interesting how my submissiogot downvoted instantly after uploading and I saw some other 3-star submissions(which indicate that it was downvoted which usually doesn't happen). Someone's salty.

This. I notice that most submissions are on a similar niveau of views and submissions, with one huge exception.. that excavator. It got close to 3k visitors already (yet less than half of them subscribed). Why is that? It simply got featured on the workshop home page: the users have to visit the asset's page before they can subscribe. Being featured there before the other entries gives one a huge advantage and that's just ridiculous. 

Right now there are three of the entries featured on the workshop's first page, not only the excavator (and I like it too). The fact that something is on the first page depends of the amount of views or downloads it gets at first.

[Turjan 1,048]

Yeah, I know that. But these are clearly disabled and set out of order yet the model in the competition is not. Of course you can transform any vehicle into a monument but it takes some changes to do that.

To disable one of these excavators you just have to remove the huge power line. They cannot run independently, as they do not possess a power source by construction. That's also the reason why these excavators don't count as biggest land vehicle.

It doesn't really matter, as I think the point is moot. It would be more interesting to see where the votes came from. Which would still not be a point to rail against, as the competition rules said that you can advertise your project even before you publish it.

Edit: I really would like to look at the entries in my game, but my video card decided to call it a day just yesterday.

  Edited July 17, 2015 by Turjan  

[Dubai Skyscraper 129]

Not true. It was the first to hit the home page and therefor got the most attention so far. I don't know the exact formula that determines what assets get there but it is not based on views & subs only, it seems that ratings have a significantly greater impact. When I went to sleep around 3am the excavator wasn't even a big deal and place 1 - 3 were Ulm Cathedral, World's biggest World and the Wave Building, all three having about the same amount of views and subs. But the excavator got the most ratings and therefor made it to the home page. Boom, visitors and subs skyrocket.

  Edited July 17, 2015 by Dubai Skyscraper  

[wallacet 336]

Not true. It was the first to hit the home page and therefor got the most attention so far. I don't know the exact formula that determines what assets get there but it is not based on views & subs only, it seems that ratings have a significantly greater impact. When I went to sleep around 3am the excavator wasn't even a big deal and place 1 - 3 were Ulm Cathedral, World's biggest World and the Wave Building, all three having about the same amount of views and subs. But the excavator got the most ratings and therefor made it to the home page. Boom, visitors and subs skyrocket.

I think we can all agree that the voting system for this contest is broken and loans itself to massive favoritism. The thing that sucks is that CO is on vacation and probably cannot see our complaints.

[Cool_Z 1,547]

It's too late for complaining

 

As I already said, public voting will always lead some unfairness at some point, but judge votings will also bring some concerns (hey, MY entry was the best, who are they to tell me this guy's work is better than mine).

 

So why not just sit back and relax ??

[Dubai Skyscraper 129]

Public voting is fine, in fact it's the best way to get us to make assets that the community wants to have. What I'm not okay with is that it's happening in the Steam workshop. The system is beyond broken and totally random. The search function sucks and the rating system is a nightmare. More votes = more stars, what the hell is this? Why is there only 2 options (thumb up or down), instead of a scale from 1 - 5 or 1 - 10? With a decent rating system we could have a real competition (= who gets the highest rating) instead of who has the biggest fanbase ( = subs).

Sure it's too late to complain now. But if we don't complain at all, chances are that Paradox won't notice these flaws.

[Shelltoe 15]

... Why is that? It simply got featured on the workshop home page: the users have to visit the asset's page before they can subscribe. Being featured there before the other entries gives one a huge advantage and that's just ridiculous. ...

wow just saw this.... featuring any of the contest entries is kinda lame

though i think it's not CO featuring it but Valve

  Edited July 17, 2015 by Shelltoe  

[NickKerr 34]

I would post mine but I'm getting an error when importing it into the asset editor. Does anyone have an Idea of what it is.(PM me if you do)

GetColors(): format not supported [System.NotImplementedException]

Details:
No details
System.NotImplementedException: GetColors(): format not supported
  at (wrapper managed-to-native) ColossalFramework.Importers.Image:GetColors (int,int)
  at ColossalFramework.Importers.Image.GetColors () [0x00000] in <filename unknown>:0 
  at AssetImporterTextureLoader.BuildTexture (ColossalFramework.Importers.Image[] sources, ResultType type, Int32 width, Int32 height, Boolean nullAllowed) [0x00000] in <filename unknown>:0 
  at AssetImporterTextureLoader+<LoadTextures>c__AnonStoreyB7.<>m__2A () [0x00000] in <filename unknown>:0 

[Shelltoe 15]

ppl who subscribed to some collection featuring an asset won't visit the asset site but are subscribed to the asset.

eg my supermarket has way more subs than views cause it can be found in many collections.

so if contest entries get attached to populare collections this could be a reason.

  Edited July 17, 2015 by Shelltoe  

[Dubai Skyscraper 129]

The sub - visitor relation is quite simple. Many people who use the search function to browse large numbers of assets won't bother to open every single one. Instead they just press the sub button when they like a thumbnail, without becoming a visitor to the assets page. But as soon as an asset gets featured, people who see it on the home page have no choice but to open the assets page in order to subscribe. To prove this theory, check out the contest entries which got featured so far: All of them got way more visitors than subs (because not every visitor will subscribe to it).

I'm not sure about the connection between visitors and subs. Many assets seem to have way more subs than visitors.

The rating system isn't ideal for this kind of thing. A 1-5 scale would be much better. There are lots of assets that are "ok" that don't really deserve a thumbs up or down.

It is also maybe a tad unfair to have entries on the front page.

I think he did an ok job based on time and resolution constraints, and with the complexity of the design. The textures look to colorful, and a lot of the small details like the tracks and lattice work look too large. He over did a lot of the trim details like the black lines on the beams. All of those things combine to make the model look small and cartoonish. It looks like hes got it scaled at 1:1, so I'm not sure that was his intention.

Anyways, the contest was mostly about getting attention with a creative idea, and not about making a high quality asset (which I do think the digger is both). Give the guy credit for getting the most attention, despite not having any previous subs.

It's not only a tad unfair but totally distorting the contest  The excavator got more than 4 times the visitors of my ferris wheel yet "only" 1.5 times the subs. Why is that? -> featured.

You know, I'm not trying to badmouth this model in any way. As I said before, it's seems to be a quality asset. I'm just pretty upset that luck plays such a big role in this contest. In fact, we can take Drosovila's Sky Garden as an example too. He's a cool guy and I love his assets, but his entry is kind of too crazy IMO. And I'm sure many people would share this opinion. Now here is the thing - he got many ratings despite having relatively few subs at first. These ratings got his asset feeatured and now the visitors and subs are skyrocketing too. Not saying that's undeserved, but these workshop mechanics really annoy me!

[Shelltoe 15]

featuring three contest entries it totally absurd.

just forget about it. it already happend. even if those three won't win this time. Paradox will handle it different next time.

thats not how to do a competition. they probably forgot about this workshop mechanic

  Edited July 17, 2015 by Shelltoe  

[Cool_Z 1,547]

If those entries are featured they somehow deserved it.

 

If they're in lists they were picked to be there

 

if they were upvoted it means people liked them

 

if they were subscribed to it means... people liked them.

 

 

Why... not... stop... complaining 

  Edited July 17, 2015 by Cool_Z  

[Mr_Maison 2,426]

Yeah, I think that's one of the points of the contest is to make something great to get subs on the workshop. If a contender is being featured, that means they're doing very well and are top contenders. Can't really be mad about that.

 

[Dubai Skyscraper 129]

This is the least fair contest I have ever seen. You all seem to forget what's most crucial for a fair contest: Transparency.

Imagine the political elections in your country ran like that... you won't have a list of all candidates / parties, but instead you had to find out on your own who is participating. As you visit the voting booth, you will have a list of, 3 candidates being advertised as "most elected so far". I don't think this qualifies as a democratic election, do you?

  Edited July 17, 2015 by Dubai Skyscraper  

[Shelltoe 15]

Yeah, I think that's one of the points of the contest is to make something great to get subs on the workshop. If a contender is being featured, that means they're doing very well and are top contenders. Can't really be mad about that.

 

well but only the featured once will be seen by the majoity of the players. (EDIT: can anyone explain how to get featured?)

it's like very few ppl will search for "#tempted" and look at the results, subscribing only the once they want to win.

it's probably very many ppl seeing something on the workshop frontpage, clicking it.

it's not really a problem they get featured but if so all should be imho

  Edited July 17, 2015 by Shelltoe  

[Mr_Maison 2,426]

OK, I see. Maybe next time there should be a section for all contestants where player can go. And while the contest is active, A steady slideshow of all the entries should be on the front page with the contest title. Makes sense.

[wallacet 336]

It's all about accessibility. People are lazy...if you make one entry accessible by a simple click from the home page, vs making people search or wade through pages of files...the more easily accessible file is going to have more views and downloads EVERY time. It doesn't matter if there are other models that are better...if you make them harder to get to, no one's going to see them. Yes, it got to the front page due to good ratings, but during a competition, there should be NO FRONT PAGE!

[Mr_Maison 2,426]

Or the front page should be all contestants? If none are on the front page at all, the subscriptions will be worse because yeah, people are lazy and most entries will be out of sight, out of mind. The contest should have it's own platform.

 

 

  Edited July 17, 2015 by Mr_Maison  

[Dubai Skyscraper 129]

They can change whatever they want, personally I won't participate in any future contest, unless they change the environment. The Steam workshop is just too obscure to host a competition.

[Shelltoe 15]

won't happen. the workshop is basically valve. i don't think they will create a special C:S workshop page.

  Edited July 17, 2015 by Shelltoe  

[Azurespecter 506]

Hmm... well I definitely am listening. I tend to disagree that the "Featured" section is making it unfair. Some of you are claiming that being featured gives a big advantage, and yet so far being featured isn't equating to most subscribers.

2/3 of the most subscribed entries thus far aren't featured.

Despite claims that the most popular modellers would win (just a popularity contest) there are some previously unknown modellers who are getting a lot of great feedback, followers, and publicity. This is something we wanted to accomplish with this contest.

I understand the dismay of feeling that someone is getting an unfair advantage based on something you can't control (ratings, and therefore views from being Featured). But so far in this contest, I feel like every participant is getting a pretty equal chance at getting most subscribers. It's not perfect. But I don't think anybody is getting shafted because they didn't get upvotes and therefore featured.

There will be other contests. We will use a variety of different methods and processes for competitions. The fact is though, there is no perfect competition system that has absolutely no bias.

Please feel free to share what you think would be a better way to judge/vote future contests =)

 

Also, just for context: We have no control over Steam's Featured Section. And no matter what we do, hosting a contest solely on our forums (where we do have control) results in FAR less participation and viewers

  Edited July 17, 2015 by Azurespecter  

[Shelltoe 15]

@Azurespecter can you explain how to get featured please?

[Azurespecter 506]

@Azurespecter can you explain how to get featured please?

I actually don't know the exact process. Completely created and managed by Steam. I believe it is running off  the top 9 most upvotes received in the past 7 days.

[Shelltoe 15]

hm you think it's based on votes? (you read it our post on the paradox forums right ... there aren't that many votes)

feels like "Currently Hot" in terms of downloads within a certain amount of time.

i have seen items go frontpage the day they went online so a week seems unreasonable

but yeah i thought so. it's a valve thing

  Edited July 17, 2015 by Shelltoe  

[Cool_Z 1,547]

so a week seems unreasonable

The featured items are the "most popular of last week"... so the whole last week seems to be taken into account

[Shelltoe 15]

oh yeah might have gotten it wrong. it might be a dynamic week review

[Shelltoe 15]

 

...

Please feel free to share what you think would be a better way to judge/vote future contests =)

...

well we just heared we don't even know how the "featured" mechanic works so probably only valve has controll over it and could say how fair it is.

consider most active players browsing in the workshop don't know/care about the contest at all. they see an indeed great excavator on the frontpage and sub. thats all good and no problem.

what's not good is that these ppl don't know they judge by doing so (they vote a virtual "no" for all the others). and they won't see all the other related stuff they would have to search for. even if they would like some of those more. and would "rate" for something else if they knew whats up/cared about it.

i don't think anyone really claimed what you said.

i have no idea how to procede but it is a problem and it should be dealed with.

i think we can't do to much about the workshop mechanics and an "Contest Showcase" on the front page (like mention by someone else) is no option right?

 

  Edited July 17, 2015 by Shelltoe