Welcome to the TES Graphics Game website.
Our game is a graphics-oriented contest played in
TES
Graphics Game
at Delphi Forums.
None of the graphics displayed on this website are available for download. Players, Staff,
Judges and Fans may post challenge results in our Share Folder in the forum. Only
graphics in the Share Folder are available for download.
Open
Challenges
Players, friends, visitors, staff and judges, are all welcome to help design our forum themes, start page and corner graphics, calendars and game piece display graphics for our upcoming games!
Visit the
Open Challenges
in our forum to see what challenges are open.
Game
Length
1. Game Length: Each game last 4 weeks.
2. Challenge dates will be posted on the Start Page of the forum, in a Game Information Post and on this website.
3. Number of challenges: There will be one challenge posted per week;
-before Noon Central North American Time Zone
-each Sunday,
-for 4 consecutive weeks, per game.
4. Players will have 60 hours from the next "on the hour" to complete the challenge and submit their entries.
"on the hour" example: If we post the challenge at Noon:15, the next "on the hour" is 1pm. You will have to submit your entry by 1pm Central North American Time Zone, on Wednesday.
5. Judging and Results:
-after the challenge due date/time is passed, Staff will host the images on our website and post a poll for the Judges to view and vote. [usually Wednesday evening]
- The Judges will have up to 24 hours to vote.
-Results are generally posted on the Friday. They may be posted as early as Thursday or as late as Saturday, North American Time.
6. By registering to be a player you commit to:
-participating according to the posted timetable
-having read and understood the game rules and guidelines
-as linked to from the Start Page
-as posted in the Game Information Folder, and,
-as iterated on our website.
Tutorials
& Software
Tutorials may be used for our challenges.
If we use a tutorial for a challenge, it might be written for Paint Shop Pro version 7, 8 or 9 or Photo Impact.
As long as you are comfortable following those kinds of tutorials or no tutorials at all, please feel free to join.
Our focus is on the creativity, ingenuity, humor, and sense of fun you bring to your artwork, not the software you use to create it with.
This game is not restricted to PSP users. We welcome any kind of software users, as long as you are comfortable and confident in your abilities to "wing it" a bit.
For example, if we say "use this tutorial to create a picnic scene", a graphic that you submitted totally unrelated to any kind of picnic is not going to win a lot of votes because it will not meet the criteria specified in the challenge. However, if you submit a picnic scene of astronauts at the International Space Station would be a definite "thumbs up" twist to the tutorial supplied!
Challenge F.A.Q
01. Once a challenge is posted, use your best judgement to create what you feel the guidelines are asking for.
02. If you are experiencing technical difficulties, for example, dead links, missing supplies, missing software - notify a staff member as soon as possible. We are
not in the forum 24/7 so the sooner you check out the challenge and notify us of any difficulties, the better.
03. Skill Level: This is not a course, this is a challenge.
We will not be providing "teaching". There are numerous tutorials or classes available to teach basic skills.
04. "Newbies": We encourage "newbies" to apply for the game;
-IF you are willing to challenge and stretch your own skills, creativity, and comfort zone.
-IF you are comfortable recieving constructive criticism from our judges.
-IF you are OK with playing an entire game and receiving zero points.
You will learn from seeing what others create within the same guidelines.
You will increase your knowledge of your software Help Files and Quick Guides.
You will discover what information is available online as you create under a time pressure :)
05. Challenge Skills: We try to create challenges that utilize interesting features of graphics software and rely heavily on your own creativity.
06. Serenipity: The emphasis for our game is on fun and sharing. Life is not fair, and no matter how hard we, as hosts, try, some things may not turn out "fair". We run into at least one snag in each game. If you can’t deal with that, please don’t apply.
Points
F.A.Q.
How do players earn points?
Players earn points in 2 ways.
1. Game Piece Race
2. Challenge Submissions.
1. Game Piece: For each game we will have a theme. For each theme we will ask you to make a "Game Piece" that will represent you throughout the game. The Game Pieces are used in the Points Grid and the Game Piece Start Page Graphic. They may be worn by players as signatures.
Example: Jan/Feb 2004 the theme was Water Escape.
Water Escape Final
The Game Pieces were fish and the Game Piece Start Page Graphic was an aquarium.
For each game, there is a race for players to post their Game Pieces.
The first 5 players to get their Game Piece posted after the posting opening, earns 10 points each.
-If you've failed to follow the instructions and have to "do-over", or if you edit your post, you move to the bottom of the list and the latest edit time from your post will apply.
-"Time" is determined by the time posted by Delphi on your message. If two of you posted at the same time and yours is given the "later" time by Delphi? Life isn’t fair –– don’t apply if you can’t tolerate that kind of serendipity.
-Players will be notified in the Game Piece Challenge, when they have to post their
"Game Piece" and what it is to be.
Challenge Directions
apply.
2. Challenge Submissions: Once all the graphics for a challenge have been submitted or the due date/time has expired, a staff member will put the images up on a webpage for the Judges to vote on.
Judges will be looking for:
-overall composition,
-humour,
-originality,
-consistent use of shadows,
-perspective,
-use of color and white space, and,
-use of symmetry or asymmetry.
The graphic that earns;
-the most judges votes will get 30 points,
-the second most votes 20 points, and,
-the third most votes 10 points.
If there are 12 graphics submitted and only 2 receive votes, then there are no third place points allotted for that challenge.
Tubes & © Info
01. Tube: When we say "tube" we are referring to a pre-made graphic that you downloaded, copied, or otherwise did not create yourself.
02. Challenges will specify when and where, or when or where not, to use "tubes".
03. Copyright protected artwork: Your submission will be disqualified for using copyrighted images without the artists permission.
03.1 If you tell us you have the artists' permission, you must be able to prove it and and show that you have met the artist's requirements for using their work i.e. ©,© statements,
links to websites etc.
03.2 Forum Staff have the final say on whether an image submitted is an illegal one or not. We will always err on the side of caution.
One of our staff members, Susie B, has made a nice information page on copyright information and obtaining artists' permission. You can review it Here
Players
1. All players that are accepted into the game will play from beginning to end.
2. We will have a player pool of up to 12 players per game.
3. We won't play a game with less than 5 players to start.
4. Each player will earn points as outlined in the "Points
F.A.Q."
post. At the end of the game, the player with the most points wins.
5. If there is a tie, an additional final challenge will be held on the 5th Monday. All the tied
players will compete and the judges will have the final tie-breaking vote.
6. If you apply and are accepted, you will be playing for the entire 4 weeks of the game.
7. You will be assigned a number and maybe a color when you are notified that you are accepted into the game. There is a possibility that you may be assigned a color that you
don't particularly like. If you can't accept the challenge of working with a color you don't like, then this is not the game for you.
Time Zones
TES Graphics Game is run on the North American Central Time Zone.
As a player you must do one of the following:
1. Determine what the time difference is between where you live and US/Canada/Central time zone and apply it mathematically in your head when reading TES posts referencing
time.
2. Do the math and write yourself a note.
3. Go to *your*
-"My Forums"
-"My Preferences"
-"Time Zone: Select the time zone to be displayed on messages."
-choose [GMT-6:00] Central Time(US); Mexico City
- "Automatically adjust for daylight savings?"
-check off the Yes box
-scroll to the bottom and click on "Submit",
-log out
-log back in and
-your delphi time will now be the same as TES Graphics Time
If you're confused about the time zones, get it sorted out before the game begins.
Missing a deadline because of time zone confusion will result in zero [0] points for your submission.
Here are some resources to help you determine what your time zone is and what the submission.
difference is between you and TES Time:
1. Some cities to use as a comparison are
-Winnipeg, Manitoba;
-Chicago, Illinois;
-Cancun, Mexico;
-Mexico City, Mexico
2. Time Zone Website
3. Time Zone Converter
4. Print your own Time Zone Reference Card
5. Time Zones by Country
6. Daylight Savings Time
Daylight Saving Time [for TES Game purposes]
* begins at 2 a.m. on the first Sunday of April and
* ends at 2 a.m. on the last Sunday of October
Note: Daylight savings time changes are different in Europe and Australia and many North American states or provinces do NOT switch to daylight savings time.
Generally Monday Noon Central is:
-2pm in the Atlantic time zone, East coast of Canada
-1pm in the Eastern time zone, East coast of the USA
-Noon in the Central time zone, middle of NorthAmerica
-11am in the Mountain time zone,up to the Rocky Mountains
-10am in the Pacific time zone, on the West coast of North America
-6pm in the Greenwich Mean Time zone, United Kingdom
-1am Tuesday in the Australia/Perth time zone,Australia
-4:30amTuesday in the Australia/Adelaide time zone,Australia
-5:00amTuesday in the Australia/Sydney time zone,Australia
-5:30amTuesday in the Australia/Adelaide time zone,Australia
Registration
People who wish to apply to play the game can post their requests in the Player
Registration/Next Game folder when the "[Next Theme] Registration" thread is posted.
Player registration will occur during the week prior to game start.
All players who apply must read, understand, and agree to abide by all the Game Information Read Only posts.
Players are accepted on a first come, first served basis.
A minimum of 5 players is required for a game. If you have registered and it looks like we might not have 5 players, go find a friend to come play too!
Challenge
Directions
Graphic
Names
Staff
Sue aka Suezoo [zoo39] - Housekeeper
Mary aka Gots [GOTSDICE] - Web Mistress
BeancounterCe [RFW322444]- Challenge Poster
Suzie [SUSIEKAZ] - Staff At Large
Denise [JennyOJenny] - Staff At Large
Diana [puglaty1] - Staff
Judges
We have a roster of judges who will remain in "stealth mode" until after the game is finished, then we introduce you to them :)
Our judges range in experience from the very expert to the beginner level, some have judged before, some haven't; some are teachers, some aren't. We'll be collecting judge's
comments as they vote and post them anonymously for the players at the end of each challenge.
If you are interested in being a Judge, email any of the Staff through their member profiles.
