Dacy

I believe the handle is @Envious. -Dacy

I highly recommend this latest video for those wanting their base to look its very best, with the services fitting in and designed to reflect the base theme.

I was going to say, searching images can often help. 🙂 Glad you figured it out! -Dacy

A general word: Yep. There will be more contests. Differently set up, different categories. How many and how often is up to us, and, of course, participation. However, for every contest, we not only get to put thought into how to set it up, we will have to examine entries carefully, and that's a time commitment, often a huge time commitment, and one we will not skimp on, so there is definitely a limit to the contests we will run. Not that we won't take suggestions into consideration (especially if you become a judge by winning a contest), but we do already have a pretty good idea of where we're going in the future. You'll just have to wait to find out what's in store, though. -Dacy

Well, Ultra, you are right, I did ask for suggestions. And I was responding; not the way you liked, obviously, but you make a valid point in that I did not make your suggestion feel valued, and for that, I apologize. I think I was fine until you went on about how a base built outside the bounds was somehow more impressive, which, as I indicated, I do not agree with at all. That made it less about building in or out of bounds and more about separating the types of bases because one was better than the other. Which is not a concept I'm comfortable with, nor is it one I wish to promote. For me, categories are to help with judging. We have so many unique and inventive concepts out there! (This group rocks the creative HARD). Sometimes it is difficult, personally, to think of comparing, say, a city section with a fantasy setting, or a hugely complex base built to function, with an intricate work of art. So, I make distinctions. I make categories. This helps with judging so I'm comparing apples to apples, so to speak, and it helps with who will win prizes, because the judge who likes apples also has to rank the oranges, and oranges aren't better or worse than apples, they're just...oranges, not apples. So, as to making categories for builds inside or outside of a base, I personally don't see enough of a difference to make that category make sense to me; hopefully that makes sense. I hadn't ever considered it a real difference, but I will think on it as a suggestion. After having several people express various negatives about item count divisions, I'm going to be thinking hard about future categories. I'm quite sure we will never make everyone happy, but I want to make sure that we're not unintentionally making a statement we don't actually mean to, either. I did not want to discourage participation (although I could wish that the discussion was happening in a different thread so this one could be more for entries.) -Dacy

Location, actually, -is- an issue. We've been calling that base shift, and it gets worse the farther you are from the base itself. So, it's worst at the bottom of the map. Some bases, for some odd reason, are worse than others, and some locations in a base will give you problems that other locations, again, for unknown reasons, will not. The problem will likely get much better if you move closer to the base plot, or even actually on or IN the base itself. -Dacy

Oh, and some people don't yet know about this contest. Please spread the word! Here's a link that might help: -Dacy

This is definitely not something I want to feed into. And, of the last winners in order of placing: Grimmsel College, inside the base. Simulacrum, outside the base. Invincible Ones, both in and around the base. Rat City, at that time entirely inside the base, currently has some parts outside the base. Paragon Galleria, inside the base. The Pagoda, outside the base. So, 2/3s of the winners had the bulk of their base inside the base. Personally, while I've built both inside and outside the base, I prefer inside, when I can. The greatly reduced base shift and lighting advantages are hard to give up! Plus, I enjoy the challenge of disguising the base walls. -Dacy

Well, the number is somewhat arbitrary. We had thought maybe 10,000, which is half, but we realized that most bases were not that big. In truth, we didn’t have much reference for the sizes of bases that were impressive. And this is a contest. We are looking for the most impressive bases, and we were trying to come up with categories that gave several different types of bases a place to shine. Just a note, of the winners where I know the number of items from the last contest, they are all over 10 K. So 7K seem like a good number of items, but yet under the number where most bases were when they won last time, which gives people who limit themselves on item placement a place to shine, without restricting it too much. -Dacy

Baffled Oooookay, Monk… whatever. I don’t know how I could have been more clear that “bigger=better” is NOT the belief here nor the practice nor the judging criteria, and that the categories are merely there to give as many types of bases the opportunity to shine as possible, but clearly, that either is not how you understand things after a fair bit of explanation, or it’s how you choose to see things for whatever reasons, but no one requires you to enter, certainly. It’s a bit annoying …sorry, frustrating… to have someone insist that we are somehow favoring and promoting bigger bases as better when we have bent over backwards to make all types and sizes of bases on equal ground for this, and we’ll have no “runner ups” or second place bases; all categories will have a top base and all titles are the same, but it seems clear from commentary that you seem alone in this interpretation. Also I realize, we can’t and won’t please everyone; and fortunately there will be other contests. Out of my inherent curiosity, how would you set up categories so as to cover the most bases possible without favoring one type over another? Also out of curiosity, did you in fact look at the rubric? -Dacy (Upon reflection that I should have done before posting, I realize my tone was a bit saltier than I meant for it to be, and I apologize for that. I realize you are just communicating your perspective, and that’s good to do. )

Remember, judging does not start until the entry closes after April 9th. Any and all bases entered (or not yet entered) can be worked on up until that point. Use the rubric, go through your base and see what you can improve! There should still be time to put some polish on a base. And if not this contest, then for the next one! 🙂 -Dacy

I’m having to do this from my phone, so this may be shorter than usual. It’s interesting how differently people can interpret things. Monk, you seem to feel that we are fostering bias, but I will tell you, the bias already exists. We made the dividing line to address it, not encourage it. Were you here for the last contest, Monk? There were no categories. There was some discussion that the larger, complex bases had an advantage, and even that maybe some won because the size was just impressive. I think I said this already, but the size categories are to remove any perceived advantage a larger base has. The winner’s titles will all be the same, because we don’t want to give the impression any type or size base is better than any other. The item count is, frankly, arbitrary. We needed a line, and settled on that. Yes, efficient building can and should reduce piece count. If you were to take a look at our rubric, you’d see that there is NOTHING in the judging relating to item count, but a heck of a lot of focus on what makes a good base technically, artistically and functionally. Another division being given less attention for some reason are the categories of utility, RP, and multipurpose. Now, we wanted the categories because there are serious skills involved with each type, but they can be different sorts of skills, and we want to value the person who is able to present base services attractively and logically at the same level as those who create huge works of imagination, at the same level as someone who creates a more intimate and focused work. All are worth honoring, and the categories and item count was our attempt to give the spotlight to a variety of builders. Next contest will be different, and we will see what worked and what didn’t from this contest, and we will apply that knowledge to the next. Meanwhile, just know that we are definitely going to be judging on quality, and we hope that the rubric will help us keep things as objective as we can be on a very subjective topic. -Dacy (anything I missed I will address when I’m at my computer!)

Um, argh. You know, I've never been a CR before, either...I hadn't considered the categories we came up with for the contest (THIS contest, there will be others and likely not the same categories at all!) to be in any way definitive for anything except the contest, and I don't think EB was thinking of those sort of ramifications, either. We simply were thinking of types of bases we've seen. Now, there are other types, which will be covered (probably not all at once) in future contests. A hub base, we would consider to be a specialized base. My Witch's House, too, is a specialized base. A specialized base has a specific function. Bases made for holding contests would fit in this category, too. Most people have utility bases. A utility base is simply a base made to function and provide the services bases can provide. In this category, we will be judging things like accessibility, organization, completeness of services offered, and then there's the window dressing, or how it looks. There are no rules on that other than the rubric we put up would imply, as to the quality of the work. NPCs that don't provide services are window dressing, so they could be used...or not. Some people want a really nice, thematic base, and have made one or had one made, but they don't actually RP in the base, it is just designed to appeal to the builder/owner's aesthetic or backstory, and because it's not intended to actually be RP'd in, the builder does not have to account for character accommodations, because there are some chairs that can't be sat in, and chairs must be a certain distance from a table for a character to be able to sit and not "float" at the level of the table, due to the hit box. So, although the base can look much like an RP base, it doesn't have to make sure that characters can interact with its environment. A great number of bases on Everlasting are strictly RP bases. An RP base is created to fulfill an RP desire or need. Maybe it's a house, apartment complex, a school, a mall, a park...or perhaps it's more complex and part of an ever growing story that changes according to the needs of the builder or group that is using it, but it has a STORY, and the story relates to the characters that use it. You can usually see evidence of the stories in the base. This sort of base doesn't have to worry about services, tho they may have some, but their base should definitely be accessible for characters. People should be able to sit at the tables, walk around things, and so forth. A Multipurpose base is one that has a story and an RP connection, but also provides all of the services. This is perhaps the highest level of difficulty as far as what's required, because this sort of base has to keep in mind not only character accessibility, but it has to make sure its services are complete, logical, organized, accessible, and to top it all off, the services should, ideally, be part of the base design in a way that complements the design instead of interrupting it. Again, these are our definitions, and we made them and the size categories to be more inclusive. Making the utilitarian base into something beautiful can be a different skill set from those that create worlds from their imagination; we want to appreciate both kinds of work, and also appreciate those that manage to combine both into one project. Our categories are more about focusing on the different kinds of skills involved, than trying to categorize the products of this server's healthy imaginations. Right. As far as I can tell, the descriptions are not categories as we have set up categories, they are descriptions that help the RP crowd know where to find a particular sort of base if they are looking for something in particular, and the hubs get a separate designation because that's helpful for people who want to use them. I don't think our categories would be useful for this; the only people who care about the services are the people in that sg, so the descriptions are all about what the base is supposed to be, because that's all that applies to people who visit it. I have not really thought that bases really needed any sort of categorization. Sure, descriptors are handy for the RP crowd, so they know where to find what, and the creators of the hub bases want people to use them, but I can almost promise that as soon as anyone starts making categories more formal, someone will come along and break the mold. It's really what base builders excel at, lol. And, honestly, our systems for keeping track of bases is hugely flawed, with large gaping holes, so any directory is at best a small representation of the bases that are actually out there. I do wish there was a more automated way to keep track of bases. So I guess my answer to your questions would be, if people let us know that they want a system of classification, well, we can work on one, but I'm not currently seeing a need. People list what they want, when they want, how they want, and unless we get some sort of tracking system that's automated, categories are going to be subjective, if they are listed at all. Interesting points! I hope I answered you satisfactorily. 🙂 -Dacy

I'd like to put in a comment designed to clarify something: A Utility base is one where it offers services, but the location, although it can be decorated and thematic, was not intended for RP. Examples would include my home base, OVERKILL-2729 (Everlasting), RIPOFF-27314 (Everlasting), or TBTP-7677 (Torchbearer). (using examples of my own work here, but TBTP was a buff up project for a class.) A Multipurpose base IS intended for RP, but has worked in all the services in a thematic way. This means that things like seating will accommodate characters. However, the focus of the base is to provide a role-playing environment as part of a story, as a base of operations for a thematic super/villain group, or a place people would visit in the course of various RP stories. It must have BOTH all of the services AND be functional for RP (places will accommodate characters to sit, stand, move, whatever). Examples from previous HC winners would include ONES-5030 on Excelsior, and RATCITY-2259 on Everlasting. An RP base may have some services, but does not have to have any or all of them, and its focus is solely to provide a backdrop for RP stories or be a place characters might visit in everyday life. Examples from past winners would be (all are on Everlasting): The Pagoda GHOST-1471, Paragon Galleria PSHOPPING-13668, and Grimmsel College, which I don't have a current code for. Please be sure you enter in the correct category, and there are perhaps a few? bases already entered that might want to reconsider which category they belong in. Being in the correct category is important to be judged correctly and appropriately for the base you've entered. Thanks! -Dacy

Hi! We welcome your questions and comments. The reason we have two different categories was to distinguish between "small" and "large" bases. Last contest, some of the smaller bases felt at a disadvantage because, to many, a bigger base is a more impressive base. Certainly a bigger base can do more; the more pieces you have used, typically, the more detail you've included, unless your focus is very specific and small. And it gave us a logical dividing point so we could have two winners in a particular category; one will just be a larger base than the other. We wanted to be sure that people knew that, if a base wins, it's not because of its size, it's because of its quality. -Dacy (with a certain CR Easter Bunny looking over my virtual shoulder)

Thank you, EB! And this is why there are two of us! 🙂 Helps a lot when my brain makes a run for it. -Dacy

Winter break is over, sorry for the lag in classes. Next class will be on "Polishing Your Base", different things that will help a base look more refined and polished. It will be on the Homecoming Discord, Voice Channel 1 (unless it's occupied, but that's unlikely) at 2PM CST (that's 3PM EST, 12PM PST, 20:00 UTC. Indicate on Discord that you're interested to get the time in your time zone and to get notifications/reminders! -Dacy

I have the bases, thanks everyone!! -Dacy

Not limited by type, I'm looking for a variety of things, and they could be in any base. -Dacy

I'm wanting to do a class and a video on polishing a base, and I'd rather not build something that needs polishing, simply to then spend the time polishing it! So, I'm looking for a basic, beginner sort of a base (definitely not one entered in the contest!), preferably with some services, that the owner/builder wouldn't mind allowing me in to discuss and demonstrate some things that would improve certain aspects for a class and probably a video. The goal here is not to disparage a base, but to show what would improve it to a more "polished" presentation, or make changes that bring it closer to what the builder had dreamed of to begin with. I can either give credit to the original builder, or keep that information private, as they wish. So, if you have a base that you think is a candidate and you're willing to let me buff it up a bit, please DM me here or on my Discord. Thanks! I need to be able to see the base and talk to you to hear what you were conceptualizing to know whether or not it is a good candidate. Ideally, I could choose one base that has a variety of things requiring different approaches, but if not, I'll spread the demonstration over several bases needing different things. -Dacy

Addition to the Quick Tips series: a very fast overview of editing commands, for those that don't really want to watch a longer video, but don't have any idea how to do things in a base! 🙂 It's very short! -Dacy

Dark Demon, you need to go to the "plot" button on the entry room popup, or type /editbase 3 to get the upgrade plot prompt; go into that and look to see the total number of items placed. You have not chosen whether your base should be in the under or over 7k items, and the pic is so we know how you got that total. I'm guessing from the total here, that your whole base is not over 7k, but you do need to specify which category you are entering. Thanks! -Dacy

I need to correct this: you can only enter one base and be entered to win with one base. If you happen to have worked on another base, and someone involved with that base enters it, you don’t get to share in the spoils with that. You have to choose which one base you want to represent you and your chances to win. This differs from the first Homecoming base contest in that, you could only enter with one base, and that meant that if there was another base, owned by someone else, that you worked on, they were now ineligible to enter that base. In our 2023 contest, a builder may have worked on multiple bases that are entered, but may only win with the one they choose to enter with. -Dacy

Whoops! I didn’t check context. Sorry! -Dacy

And limited in doors, floors, walls, roofing…there are no door frames, wall pieces for framing windows and doors, or ceilings or triangles suitable for gables. Walls are huge, wide, and thick. For requests for base improvements, there is another poll (tho the one pinned is one of two I put up, the other is AWOL). Feel free to ask for things there. The hope is that they will see what we care about, and respond. 😊 -Dacy