British Trainz

OK I've kept quite for a long time on this, It would nice if we could have a competition that wasn't so restrictive to those of us who don't do these types of route and to which anything after Steam is abhorrent
Nothing I've been able to enter for well over a year, not the end of the World however I'm sure there are others who are finding these choices a bit biased!
Just saying.....

I do agree on this. Since I only really model modern era, I haven't been able to enter a large portion of them either. Of the 22 themed competitions we've had, I've only entered 9 of them because the rest were either not something I model, or I didn't have a suitable route.

Prehaps every 2nd or 3rd month could have no theme, so open to any screenshots. Maybe for the themed ones we could have a separate thread where people can make suggestions on what the next theme could be then run a poll to decide it. Or use of those suggestions each month until we run out, then start over with a new set.

Mark

I’m sure I’ve mentioned in the past that we’d welcome suggestions for themes, as it’s currently left to myself to think of a new one each month. As time goes on this becomes harder and harder so I certainly welcome suggestions for changes.

The themes were originally introduced as a means of increasing participation, and also to attempt to increase variety against what appeared at a time to be a trend of the winning shots looking increasingly similar stylistically. To an extent we have succeeded in both respects compared to a couple of years ago, though I admit in hindsight I may have subconsciously picked themes that overlap somewhat, which was not my intention.

Another option in addition to suggestions above could be that the winner suggests the subsequent theme (with perhaps the caveat that this may be ignored if they are clearly trying to provide advantage to themselves).

I like this month's current theme

I like this month's current theme

However how about making the topics designed to broaden the historical input.

IE have a competition going by Railway Region, IE LMR/LMS.

Or how about a Branch Line theme, so anything from modern branch-lines to steam era stuff is accepted.

Other ideas could be: Heritage Railways and Trains, Express Trains (Rather than exclusively intercity), Urban Railways (Urban Branch Lines, Gasworks Railways, Commuter Lines, London Underground etc.), Goods Yards, Mail by Rail, Departmentals & Engineering, Coal (Any operations related to coal, be it simple coal Trains, mining, power stations), Docks, Waterside Railways, that is railways and waterside scenes. Well you get the idea.

I will admit your last idea of industry had a lot of scope for steam era input. I would try to contribute more myself but I don't have the time to develop as many routes as I used to.

I wouldn't exactly say 4 entries for last month or 3 for the month before was an increase in numbers ;o)

An interesting dilemma...

With a theme, you are pitting screenshots of the same genre against each other, and people vote for the one, in their opinion is the best one. This is ok in one respect, but Malc is quite right in pointing out that, that particular theme may not suit everyone. We all have different ideas on what we like to run, model, etc.

There are some positive suggestions here, and the subject of 'railways' as a whole could provide a mass of different themes. Personally, and it is only my opinion, I'd be happy to see a 'free for all' giving the opportunity for folks to post shots of what they like, or happen to be currently working on, building, etc.

It's a difficult one, but I would positively encourage anyone to post in the SoTM.
Cheers
A.

Perhaps there should be an anything goes competition every other month with a themed one in between ?

Whilst on the subject of competitions how about resurrecting the old route building competition ?

Possible rules :

1, Anything goes , Though must be railway orientated with usable track .
( Location :UK & Ireland only , or Rest of world as well - Discuss ?)

2, Maximum 2 boards (can be 1) all board surfaces have to be covered with ground textures and or scenery
(flat board routes acceptable , Sections of route that are clearly fiddle yards exempt from texturing) ,

3, Portals and scenery hanging over edge's of boards acceptable (But not by a ridiculous amount) .

4, Content used on route must be built-in in the version of Trainz you are using or available to download from the DLS .

5, NO third party content from download sites on the internet to be used (other than the N3V DLS) !!

6, NO PAYWARE CONTENT to be used (Grey area in regards to S&C - discuss ?)

7, Authors allowed to produce custom dependencies but : Must be made available with route , Must have permission to alter and distribute other users work !!

8, The route has to be own work and nothing already on the DLS or previously seen in screenshot(s) and or been available to download on here , the other forum or any other parts of the interweb (Flickr , forums etc.) .

9, Completed routes to be available for folks to download (no screenshot only entries) .

10, Given folks still use TS12 then any TANE/TRS2019 route entered has to be downloaded and inspected by at least 2 separate users to qualify (Verify its real )

11, 2 months allowed to complete.

12, Winner to be decided by vote on here in the same manner as the screenshot competition .

If any ones interested feel free to add to or dismiss my idea's above for the route competition rules .

Nexusdj wrote:Perhaps there should be an anything goes competition every other month with a themed one in between ?

Whilst on the subject of competitions how about resurrecting the old route building competition ?

Possible rules :


6, NO PAYWARE CONTENT to be used (Grey area in regards to S&C - discuss ?)



If any ones interested feel free to add to or dismiss my idea's above for the route competition rules .

All OK by me although 6 is definitely going to be a bit messy as a lot of S&C stuff is now on the DLS, that's I think most of the buildings vehicles etc and some rolling stock, no locos though other than what might have already been on the DLS. If it has a DLS upload date (right click to add it to CM in TANE and TRS19, then it would be OK to use, if not it won't, not sure about S&C and TS12 though.

Personally I have enough building to do on my L&B Plus marathon but seems like a good idea to resurrect it. Although I might get bored and knock something up as a break, that's how my fictional Penybryn NG route happened, as a break from the FR WHR thing, however I'm creating in TRS19 now. TRS12 and TANE are purely used for my CRG activities.

Malc thanks for your input regarding rule #6
I've waited a few days to see if anyone else was interested but it doesn't look like it at the moment .

Hi all. Sorry for not offering any recent input here but I've been a bit snowed under. Whilst I wouldn't have the time to enter such a competition at the moment, Dave, (I have 2 separate building projects on the go right now) I think that anything that encourages people to post their work on the site has to be a good thing. I'm sure we'd all agree that one of the favourite things we all look out for each time we log in are any new screenshots - competitive or otherwise. It's nice to see what others are building or working with. I personally find the screenshot section (whether the competitive side or not) to be very inspirational. I'd love to see a lot more of the 1,000+ members posting stuff and I think your idea Dave could be a great one to get members - new and old - to create new routes and show them to the world. I bet there's tons of stuff people have got just lying around on their hard drives that they haven't felt confident enough to post. My advice would be, "Go for it!". You don't have to compete in the screenshot competitions, you can just post in the monthly sections and have your work admired by all. Go on all you shy folk. Give it a go.

Cheers

Dave

klambert wrote:IE have a competition going by Railway Region, IE LMR/LMS.

A regional competition is too restrictive. Keeping the subject vague should produce plenty of entries while keeping the competition fresh.

E.g. Level crossings, stations, freight, water and depots are all things that will appear in most routes so few people will be unable to enter a competition themed around one of these.