Community Zoobuilding Challenge ? Immediately sprang to mind - resonates the community aspect, and the zoo building .. and for many of us .. a challenge it may well be
Competitive building game brainstorm group
- Thread starter Villanelle
- Start date
deleted as I accidentally posted the below twice
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That sounds good, let's just check it's not treading on Frontier's toes as "community challenge" is their wording. Might be best to avoid having both of those words in it although I like your reasoning
@HeatherG please can we check if these are all okay with the forum managers?
- To keep this informal/friendly building challenge going on in this thread
- To call it our "Community Zoobuilding Competition" or similar? EDIT: Please can we rename this thread "The Zoolympic Games" ?
- To rename this thread when we have a title for it (or start a new one if not?)
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Oooops didn't mean to post twice 
Oooh shower thought - what about The Zoolympic Games ?!
Ooh, I like it! Either option are good!
Yeah, you are right there of course. I was also thinking that maybe the challenges could be timed to hit on the weeks we don't have an official challenge. So, probably why it has a similar ring to it.That sounds good, let's just check it's not treading on Frontier's toes as "community challenge" is their wording. Might be best to avoid having both of those words in it although I like your reasoning
@HeatherG please can we check if these are all okay with the forum managers?
- To keep this informal/friendly building challenge going on in this thread
- To call it our "Community Zoobuilding Competition" or similar?
- To rename this thread when we have a title for it (or start a new one if not?)
Time To Finally Showcase The Temple Of The Tapir.
Below Are Some Images From The Build. To Get To The Video Just Press On The Final One.
Below Are Some Images From The Build. To Get To The Video Just Press On The Final One.
Trying to bring my zoo out of the gutter it fell in after my challenge building rofl.
Found out .. after 5 years .. that firing and rehiring costs you more than waiting those few minutes before deciding to fire rofl.
I ended up dropping the frog exhibit from my Gharial Habitat building. I already had one in another part of the zoo that was part of a pair, so the unpaired one went.
Re-workzoned the whole zoo and employed new staff where needed, otherwise re-hired those I fired - cos of the training they had had.
The animals suffered the most, so hopefully once things have settled back down I will have a better idea of where there is chance to salvage the zoo or if restarting is the easier option.
Yep, looks like starting over for GHI zoo .. again rofl. Despite the transport system making over 1k in profit rofl.
Think I will create a new zoo specifically for this type of stuff so that my regular zoos aren't affected adversely.
Found out .. after 5 years .. that firing and rehiring costs you more than waiting those few minutes before deciding to fire rofl.
I ended up dropping the frog exhibit from my Gharial Habitat building. I already had one in another part of the zoo that was part of a pair, so the unpaired one went.
Re-workzoned the whole zoo and employed new staff where needed, otherwise re-hired those I fired - cos of the training they had had.
The animals suffered the most, so hopefully once things have settled back down I will have a better idea of where there is chance to salvage the zoo or if restarting is the easier option.
Yep, looks like starting over for GHI zoo .. again rofl. Despite the transport system making over 1k in profit rofl.
Think I will create a new zoo specifically for this type of stuff so that my regular zoos aren't affected adversely.
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looks great! nice choice of animals and water feature
I love the pic of the maned wolf haha! such a cheeky lookRight, I'm home from work! Time for me to get started on my second job See you here shortly, watch this space...
See you here shortly, watch this space...I Hope It's Fine If I Just Showcase The Other 5 Animals In The Temple Of The Tapir
Everytime i see the boa up close i cant stop but thinking that it looks like an ambience animal in a playstation 2 tomb raider game
Here we go-oh-oh!
The ZOOLYMPIC GAMES ROUND ONE!
All six entries are in this helpful folder: LINK
Scoring Form: LINK
Scoring will be open until Monday (27th). Winners will be announced on Tuesday.
How to score:
Live Poll for next round: LINK
This poll will be live until Monday (27th)
Round Two will be announced and start on Tuesday 28th May and finish on Thursday 13th June
(this round will run for a couple of extra days because I'm on holiday until the 13th)
_________________________________________________
Rules and Survey Results
Thanks to everyone who answered the survey
Full results are copied below.
It is still live if you want to add your opinions here - LINK
Based on its current results, here are the rules by majority vote:
1. No time limit (hours) for builds
This was unanimous (the one 'yes' answer was due to a misunderstanding about hrs vs weeks).
2. No blueprints
This was a very narrow vote so we can revisit this and discuss further. For now let's disallow them for the next round.
3. Two weeks for each round
This was a strong preference among the group. Times may vary slightly depending on my availability.
4. Entries can be submitted in any format
I am going to send out some templates with the next round to make the admin side of things easier and more consistent. Any format will still be possible, and it shouldn't involve extra work for you, but will save me a lot of time.
5. Judging is done by scores for categories, with one overall winner and two runners up
Additional prizes will be given: "speediest build", "fan favourite" (based on feedback comments) and "best zookeeper" (for whoever is deemed to have the happiest animals)
......
Something we haven't discussed:
Is this "Villanelle's" game? No way! @Orkan and I both liked the idea of having some friendly competition, and we set this up together. I'm happy to organise and run it, but anyone is welcome to "host" it for a round. Lmk if you want to do this and I'll show you the admin side of things. At some point I might ask for help or for someone to take over when I'm busy or want a break from my many screens!
Full Survey results:
[ATTACH type="full" width="593px" alt="Forms response chart. Question title: How should entries be submitted?
Tick as many answers as you like. Number of responses: 7 responses."]393637[/ATTACH]
The ZOOLYMPIC GAMES ROUND ONE!
All six entries are in this helpful folder: LINK
Scoring Form: LINK
Scoring will be open until Monday (27th). Winners will be announced on Tuesday.
How to score:
- Scoring is open to anyone in the forum, you don't have to participate in the competition.
- Scores are anonymous, please score fairly and once only.
- If you provide feedback keep it positive. Only positive comments will be shared.
- If you participated in the round, please enter your username and score yourself 1-1-1-1: this will allow me to find your entries and ignore your scores for your own build. Your scores will not affect the results (I am using google sheets to do this).
Live Poll for next round: LINK
This poll will be live until Monday (27th)
Round Two will be announced and start on Tuesday 28th May and finish on Thursday 13th June
(this round will run for a couple of extra days because I'm on holiday until the 13th)
_________________________________________________
Rules and Survey Results
Thanks to everyone who answered the survey
Full results are copied below.
It is still live if you want to add your opinions here - LINK
Based on its current results, here are the rules by majority vote:
1. No time limit (hours) for builds
This was unanimous (the one 'yes' answer was due to a misunderstanding about hrs vs weeks).
2. No blueprints
This was a very narrow vote so we can revisit this and discuss further. For now let's disallow them for the next round.
3. Two weeks for each round
This was a strong preference among the group. Times may vary slightly depending on my availability.
4. Entries can be submitted in any format
I am going to send out some templates with the next round to make the admin side of things easier and more consistent. Any format will still be possible, and it shouldn't involve extra work for you, but will save me a lot of time.
5. Judging is done by scores for categories, with one overall winner and two runners up
Additional prizes will be given: "speediest build", "fan favourite" (based on feedback comments) and "best zookeeper" (for whoever is deemed to have the happiest animals)
......
Something we haven't discussed:
Is this "Villanelle's" game? No way! @Orkan and I both liked the idea of having some friendly competition, and we set this up together. I'm happy to organise and run it, but anyone is welcome to "host" it for a round. Lmk if you want to do this and I'll show you the admin side of things. At some point I might ask for help or for someone to take over when I'm busy or want a break from my many screens!
Full Survey results:
[ATTACH type="full" width="593px" alt="Forms response chart. Question title: How should entries be submitted?
Tick as many answers as you like. Number of responses: 7 responses."]393637[/ATTACH]
Attachments
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This image uploaded strangely
I wonder, is the scoring going to be centered on the better builders or is it trying to be fair for all participants.
Good question but no way to monitor / dictate this, I think you have to use your own judgement. With enough results it should all even out.
I hope the categories help with this, i.e.:
- strong creativity can be shown across a level playing field, with good skills or not, just through range of ideas and variation in the design.
- realism is probably the most skill based.
- beauty is in the eye of the beholder and can be expressed through colour, use of foliage (doesn't have to be realistic), additions of lighting or decorations
- animal welfare shouldn't require strong building skill
But if you'd like to skew your scoring based on the player's apparent ability / experience, being more generous to people who maybe haven't clocked up thousands of hours, go right ahead. A "fan favourite" will also be chosen based subjectively on the comments received - this by no means needs to be one of the highest scoring builds
Well, the categories seem well rounded, like villanelle said. And this round only had a few people taking part - and hey it is for fun - and inspiration and practise will be good end results
I can't wait to share all these lovely comments with you all 
You have put so much effort into making all this happen Villanelle (and orkan too!) Thankyou for going to such lengths to make this a fair and well organised competitive build