Event: Pumpkin Carving Contest - [Deadline 10/31]

42 replies [Last post]
Cronus's picture
Cronus
Game Master

It's that time of the year again: Time to dust off your scariest outfit and put your blade to the task of carving a jack-o-lantern. Your mission is to carve a real pumpkin with a Spiral Knights theme and take photos. Submit your entries in the entry thread which is located in the Treasure Vault for a chance to win fun prizes.

Deadline: October 31 11:59 PM Game Time
Event Thread: http://forums.spiralknights.com/en/node/66483
Prizes: There will be 3 winners who will each be able to pick between a 30 day elevator pass or a pocket monster (Chroma Whelp, Love Puppy, and Mewkat ). Other prizes may be added depending on participation.

The Rules:
1 - Obtain a real pumpkin. If pumpkins are not available where you live, you can try any type of gourd, squash, etc.
2 - Create a SK design for your pumpkin
3 - Carve design onto your pumpkin
4 - Take at least 2 "creation" pictures while you are carving your pumpkin, to prove it's your own work. Include a card with your knight's name in EACH photo (no photoshopping).
5 - Take at least one lit and one unlit photo of your pumpkin, again including your knight's name on a card to show it's yer own handiwork.
6 - Host your images on a website that allows you link to it. For example, Photobucket or Imageshack
7 - Submit your entry with a minimum of 4 photos per entry (2 creation, one lit, and one unlit) in the appropriate thread in the Treasure Vault along with your knight's name and your prize preference. (http://forums.spiralknights.com/en/node/66483)
8 - Double check your entry to make sure you have 4 working links to each image, and that it follows the template below:

Knight Name:
Creation Link:
Creation Link:
Unlit Link:
Lit Link:
Prize preference: A 30 day elevator pass or specify which pocket monster you want (Chroma Whelp, Love Puppy, or Mewkat).

Judging Criteria:
Judging will be based upon the creativity and cleverness of design, the quality and detail of carving, and the overall effect of the lit pumpkin. Remember, the LIT pumpkin is the photo being used for judging. Take care with regard to shadows, flash, and detail.

Extra Stuff:
You can enter more than once, but only one entry per knight will be awarded a prize.

Translations:
Spanish: http://forums.spiralknights.com/en/node/66485
French: http://forums.spiralknights.com/en/node/66490
German: On the way!

Tevokkia's picture
Tevokkia
Question!

Are dyes allowed to be used on the carved pumpkin, or must it be straight carving with no additions?

Burntsouls's picture
Burntsouls
Too bad halloween wont

Too bad halloween wont celebrated in my country :(

Hyperion's picture
Hyperion
Celebrate it in cyberspace,

Celebrate it in cyberspace, then! :D (Tevokkia, I'm not ignoring your question, I just don't know the answer :) )

Toastnaut's picture
Toastnaut
WOW

Last night I was actually thinking "I hope they do an SK pumpkin carving contest." and then thinking I might do one anyway...

This is going to be fun!

Latisan-Sklay's picture
Latisan-Sklay
No skill...

Well, I've absolutely 0 skill in this, but best of luck to everyone who's wiling to try their hand at it.

...Knights' honors system. Let's see what ya'll got!

Schattentag's picture
Schattentag
Game on, people

I was already thinking about carving a Spiral Knights pumpkin just for kicks, but now that there's an official competition for it I'm definitely going to participate.

Question:
Must we come up with the design ourselves or are we allowed to use existing media? I'm not asking if we can randomly steal other people's work from the Treasure Vault, but can we adapt official Spiral Knights images or something?

Dreathuxy's picture
Dreathuxy
SS?

Could we use some SpiralSpy and some photoshop to make a pumpkin bombhead?

Tevokkia's picture
Tevokkia
*cough* I believe you already did that, Dreath ...

That wouldn't require a real pumpkin, now would it?

Arquebus's picture
Arquebus
AWW YEAH

Time to make a jillion pumpkins!

Does the pumpkin need to be intact/be only one pumpkin? For instance, if a certain Arquebus has an awesome idea for a Howlitzer with a little pumpkin for ribs and half of a bigger one for the head, would that be OK?

Cronus's picture
Cronus
Game Master
Q&A

Tevokkia: Are dyes allowed to be used on the carved pumpkin, or must it be straight carving with no additions?

You can use something like dyes, markers, and paint. However keep in mind that we will be judging your lit pumpkin picture and will be looking for how well you carved it, your creativity, and your level of effort.

Manalicious-Knight: Must we come up with the design ourselves or are we allowed to use existing media? I'm not asking if we can randomly steal other people's work from the Treasure Vault, but can we adapt official Spiral Knights images or something?

Go for it. You're more than welcome to use images from the game to create your pattern.

Dreathuxy: Could we use some SpiralSpy and some photoshop to make a pumpkin bombhead?

I'm not really sure I understand your question here. You can use images from SpiralSpy and photoshop them in order to get a pattern. However you'll still need to get a real pumpkin (or similar object if one isn't available where you live) and carve it.

Arquebus: Does the pumpkin need to be intact/be only one pumpkin? For instance, if a certain Arquebus has an awesome idea for a Howlitzer with a little pumpkin for ribs and half of a bigger one for the head, would that be OK?

You're welcome to use more than one pumpkin in an entry. Just as long as pumpkin(s) and your carvings are the star of the show.

Dvntbjh's picture
Dvntbjh
Hmm.

Can we use some clay or other materials to make the carving?(just to add the color and some outer features i cant carve)

Tantarian's picture
Tantarian
Hm

I'd like to make a 3D render of a SK pumpkin, because I'm too lazy for manual carving (and would waste a good pumpkin), but it obviously doesn't qualify for the contest.
Should I anyways? It may be fun.

Aureate's picture
Aureate
Processing Thoughts of You Always

...would it be acceptable if I carved an actual pumpkin into a bombhead design, wore it, and then stuck a sparkler on the top so it lights up like the fuse on a bombhead? Because putting the fire where my head would be... probably not all that comforable D:

Cronus's picture
Cronus
Game Master
Dvntbjh: Can we use some

Dvntbjh: Can we use some clay or other materials to make the carving?(just to add the color and some outer features i cant carve)

You can add some things like that to enhance your pumpkin, however the primary object/subject needs to be the pumpkin. You don't want to heap a ton of clay on it because then we wont see your pumpkin carving skills. keep in mind that we're judging the lit picture for the punkin.

Tantarian I'd like to make a 3D render of a SK pumpkin, because I'm too lazy for manual carving (and would waste a good pumpkin), but it obviously doesn't qualify for the contest. Should I anyways? It may be fun.

If you know it wont qualify for the event, feel free to just post it in this thread. While you wont be eligible for a prize, it would still be neat to see what you come up with. :)

Aureate...would it be acceptable if I carved an actual pumpkin into a bombhead design, wore it, and then stuck a sparkler on the top so it lights up like the fuse on a bombhead?

You could do that, but the bombhead face probably wont show up well in the lit picture. You can always carve the bombhead, light it from the inside like you normally do, and then use the sparkle for a little extra touch.

Tantarian's picture
Tantarian
Aha!

Without further ado, I present you my totally disqualified 3D SK pumpkin: http://fav.me/d5iorez
Could look better but my render times are too long for a redo with this old GPU that doesn't support OpenCL or CUDA (so I render with the CPU).

PS: Yes I totally stole the pattern from that old wallpaper Ian made.

Eternal-Lancer's picture
Eternal-Lancer
Woohoo!

Neat, I was already planning on making a Pepperkat jack-o-lantern, and now I have a good reason to. =3 I was actually thinking of doing one last year but I just never got around to it. I might have to get a white pumpkin and do a Bloogato as well to make up for last year. Too bad the picture on the SK wiki is too far out for pepperkats, so I'll have to go find one myself to get a good reference photo. I may not be an expert in punkin carving but I can pull it off.
ADVENTURE HO!

Acck's picture
Acck
Just in case......

Just in case anyone is unclear how to carve a pumpkin.....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mThUfYcea3I&feature=plcp

Con-Pow
Pumpkins

If I didn't take creation pics do i need 2 carve a whole new pumpkin? XD
Also have to take new pics with my knights name. XD lol.(Well I'll do that now.)

Small-Irish-Eyes's picture
Small-Irish-Eyes
Hai from Platipie :)

Question :) can I use fake pumpkins? Cuz we got fake pumpkins to carve out so there's isn't a huge gigantic mess covering our neighborhood. ( I get REALLY picky about small details and wanted the pumpkin inside cleaner than a clean thing, leading to a big pile of pumpkin guts last year :P)

Schattentag's picture
Schattentag

It's always this weird scraping stuff that puts me in my place. I'm here to carve a pumpkin, not scrape off parts of the skin to make cool gradients and otherwise-impossible shapes. As such, there is a very good chance that my design will not be able to support itself. I should be carving my pumpkin later today, so we'll see how it goes.

There have been some interesting works so far, but now that the deadline is near, prepare for some tough competition.

Autofire's picture
Autofire
You are experiencing a PICNIC ERROR!

I can see that we only have 10 submissions.....

STEP IT UP PEOPLEZ!!

(No, I can't enter. We have no pumpkins!)

Schattentag's picture
Schattentag
"STEP IT UP," they said...

Well, my carving was delayed due to Cloud Atlas (wonderful movie, by the way - really considering going to see it again), Punkin King grinding, and oversleeping, but it's all done now. There's still a couple more days left, and I'm eager to see what else comes in!

Incinder's picture
Incinder
Gate

Are gate symbols allowed?

Xxpapaya's picture
Xxpapaya
The papaya has a question

I'm guessing it will be judged by the quality of our work, will it? Cause the last time I tried carving a pumpkin I basically carved a finger on my finger by accident. Lets say we are really creative and set a neat design, but when it comes to carving the things just goes *prrrrrr*, like a rotten papaya. If we are one of those people who are hopeless when it comes to carving (like me, I couldn't put a dent on that pumpkin without carving the design on myself on accident) we basically have no chance in the contest?

P.S Will there be contests not involving art? Like writing a story, poem, etc (like Tevokkia's big contest =) )

Cronus's picture
Cronus
Game Master
Con-Pow: If I didn't take

Con-Pow: If I didn't take creation pics do i need 2 carve a whole new pumpkin? XD:
You need to have creation pics with your knight name in them. This is how we can tell that you made it with your own two hands.

Platipie: can I use fake pumpkins?
No, pumpkin guts are a requirement (plus the seeds are yummy when you roast them). If you don't have access to a pumpkin because of where you live you can get a squash or some kind of gourd.

Incinder: Are gate symbols allowed?
Sure, that's SK related. We plan on being very broad with our definition of what is SK related. So feel free to be creative.

Xxpapaya: I'm guessing it will be judged by the quality of our work, will it?
That will be one factor, yes. We're also looking for creativity, effort, and the overall feel when it's lit.

Xxpapaya: Will there be contests not involving art?
We already have had a writing event. We try to mix up the event type as much as possible. Keep a look out on this forum and our FB and Twitter feeds for more contests.

Arquebus's picture
Arquebus
Well, [/rude].

I just realized that I got so caught up in taking tons of pictures that I forgot to card myself in ANY of them, and have therefore disqualified myself. ARGH!

Is there any way I can fix this? My face is the same as the food contest, surely there's not a better way to prove it's the same person making it?

Cronus's picture
Cronus
Game Master
Q&A

Arquebus:I just realized that I got so caught up in taking tons of pictures that I forgot to card myself in ANY of them, and have therefore disqualified myself. ARGH!

I'd suggest you take a picture of your finished pumpkin lit and unlit with your knight name on a card. I can't make any guarantees, but it's worth a shot. The goal with the card is for us to be sure that you made it yourself. Hopefully we would still be able to do that with your entry provided you provide the final shots with your knight name.

Arquebus's picture
Arquebus
Yay!

I'll do that, thanks! I now that rules are rules, so if it turns out that it's no good, I'll understand; I still had a blast designing and fabricating it.

Jedisociety
This spookat mask i have is

This spookat mask i have is so nice~

Rosecaster's picture
Rosecaster
I apologize for the trouble,

I apologize for the trouble, but I'm posting in behalf of my boyfriend (Sykocaster). He was planning on entering this contest, and has carved a pumpkin, but due to Sandy he has lost internet and power (and currently can only contact me by charging his phone with his car). Therefore he is not able to upload pictures and submit them.

Is there any way you can extend the event for a few days for those out there who have been affected by Sandy?
Thank you for your time. ^^

Canine-Vladmir's picture
Canine-Vladmir
HAHAHAHAHA!

nobody won. and if they did on the English Forums, it would be by default, the best way to win!

Schattentag's picture
Schattentag

That made absolutely no sense. They're probably judging entries now. There will be three winners. If no one from the other forums posted any entries, that doesn't mean the winners here will win by default. It means people from the other forums miss out by default, but since there are more than three entries in the English forums, no one's winning by default.

What.

Raspberry's picture
Raspberry
Seerus Pumpkin Docudrama

Dear Maniacal Gamemasters:

I regret to inform you that my beloved pumpkin finally succumbed to the ravages of decay and dehydration.

The top of his head became the first casualty. A severe case of dessication syndrome caused his hair and lid to shrivel. With severe lid shrinkage and no tuft of hair, his voltive candle was snuffed out when the lid landed on it.

TheBadger and I did our best to keep him preserved longer, but alas decay was beginning to make him squishy.

Thus, we decided to give him a fond farwell on the BBQ grill. We doused his innards with lots of lighter fluid. He burned bravely for a good 15 minutes. Unfortunately, he did not turn to ashes as we hoped and more importantly, we forgot to get marshmellows to roast.

Watch the Seerus Pumpkin Docudrama on Youtube.

We reduced the BBQ footage to a few minutes to fit Harry Mack's Crimson Hammer arrangement. Youtube conversion stripped the sharpness TheBadger's Iphone footage.

Sincerely,
Raspberry & TheBadger
Obsidian Order Guild

Hyperion's picture
Hyperion
You should all know that

You should all know that there is a lot of "wow" and "ooh, aah" going on in the Game Masters' chat right now. We're flabbergasted by how good these are.

Cronus's picture
Cronus
Game Master
Winners!

Greetings knights!

Clearly you all are good with a blade, we've trained you well. In the spirit of the holiday and because you all clearly took so much time and effort with these, you'll each be receiving a Dark Harvest Prize box (if you submitted a valid entry).

These pumpkins were fantastic and had several GMs ready to duel to the death to determine winners. In the end, 3 of you ended up as our favorite picks for both skill and creativity.

Schattentag: Love Puppy
http://forums.spiralknights.com/en/node/66483#comment-555118

Kraken: Mewkat (You had two great entries, so we picked this one as our favorite)
http://forums.spiralknights.com/en/node/66483#comment-556561

Raspberry: Mewkat
http://forums.spiralknights.com/en/node/66483#comment-556607

It will take us some time to deliver all the prizes, but they should reach your in game mail in the next day or so. Thank you all for your great entries, everyone absolutely loved what you came up with.

Canine-Vladmir's picture
Canine-Vladmir
okay.

i retract what i said earlier. just 5 days is a long time to wait.
anyway. bravo to the winners. i myself is amazed

Pballs's picture
Pballs
wow

why does everyone have to be so artistically gifted on this game XD. Great job to not only the winners but everyone! Way to make the GMs really think about who wins :-P . Idk what type of competition you'll have to put up for me to have a chance but I'll keep trying.

Bunk's picture
Bunk
Doop

D'oh well. Congratulations to the winners!

Kraken's picture
Kraken
Thank you!

Oh, this is very exciting! I'm glad my entry was well received. I had a lot of fun making designs and carving the pumpkins. I only wish I had more time since I bought a whole handful of them that haven't yet been carved.

And there were indeed many excellent entries! Looking forward to next year's Dark Harvest and further creativity in the year to come!~

Cronus's picture
Cronus
Game Master
Prizes delivered

Just wanted to update you all to let you know that I have finished delivering prizes. Everyone with a valid entry should have a Dark Harvest box waiting for them in their knight's mail. Our three winners should also have a pocket pet waiting to be adopted in their in-game mail. Thanks again for the great entries, enjoy!

Tantarian's picture
Tantarian
Baw

>if you submitted a valid entry
Don't you have a prize for the most disqualified entry?
Pffhahaha.

Toastnaut's picture
Toastnaut
:D

Congrats, guys!

Those prizes are well deserved. The entries in this really impressed an surprised me. :D