I see what you mean, but I do like that the contest was flexible. Perhaps adding 'deadlines may be extended at adjudicator's discretion' at the beginning of the contest could help here.

I think for future contests, it would be nice to encourage play-alongs from the start of the contest (for newer players, or those too shy to enter!), people could post a thumbnail of their attempts and link to more pictures in the Sim Pictures forum (to keep the contest mainly for competitor's images). Competitors and judges could offer comments if they wanted to.

I also like the idea of allowing people to skip a round if they have real-life obligations, they could still get a score and potentially win a round, although they would probably not win overall.

And if the deadline is extended then allowing people who have already submitted to change things.

You can, but I also understand Pinkdynamite's point - depending on what you change, you may have to retake all or even most of the screenshots.

Thank you judges and other contestants for putting on such a fun contest! I really enjoyed participating and I hope there are more contests or even play-along activities or challenges in the future. Things like foundation challenges, lot remodels, sim makeovers, etc feel like a thing of the past but I miss them so much and they were excellent community engagement activities :D

It was interesting to see how the contest evolved and what everyone's entries were. Congratulations to @simsample for winning! But also, congratulations to everyone that stuck around, without your engagement a contest like this obviously never would've been possible.

I am interested to see what kind of themes we could come up with as a community for future contests. Just don't do an Egyptian theme. Because let's face it - I'd win that.



Lot remodels... now that is something I'd love to see again. I remember long ago there would be contests where you'd have to take a Maxis lot and give it a makeover without touching the foundation. Some really interesting (and nice) builds came from those.

Good morning, everyone!

(Anyone who still wants to post some feedback or reply to this thread, please do it ASAP)

Some points from me - mostly regarding building then.

1.Foundation challenge:

I considered it, but I also wanted simmers without all the EP's and SP's to be able to join, especially because it was also the first contest in a long time. Using the UC, even if I use the AGS for the UC, it still runs on the M&G engine, which means it will still exclude people without M&G to download any foundation I build in my game.

2. Lot make-overs: Considered that too.

The Trading Places contest by our judge, @joandsarah77, was about making lots over, but with a very original twist. Any contest involving making lots over would have to be original as well, because it has been done many times (also in monthly themes on MTS).

A database exists as well:

https://ts2lotmakeoverdb.tumblr.com/

and our judge @CatherineTCJD had done quite an excellent job making over the complete lot bin,

https://modthesims.info/d/667821/lo...n-overhaul.html -

and since it has been downloaded 2750 times, many players are probably quite satisfied with what they have in their lot bins.

It will, of course, also excludes players without all the EP's and SP's.

3. Number of Rounds.

Over the 4 rounds of this contest, we had 3 different winners, which means I, personally, will stick to 4 rounds. And @Pebblerocker certainly rocked that 4th round! Also, it was great to see how much our contestants have improved over the 4th rounds - that was impressive, since everyone started out with great entries in the first round!

4. Deadlines - I do believe in sticking to deadlines, but sometimes, RL happens (to the judges too, not only the contestants). I think it is a good idea to make a note at the start of a contest, and to limit the extra days - or the contest can drag on forever. It will of course be up to the host of the next contest to decide that.

(I already posted some feedback in post 727 and am trying not to repeat everything).

Some remarks from me:

@shastakiss - Thank you for the lovely lots you have built for the first 3 rounds. It is always sad to see a contestant leave, but I hope those lots will be available somewhere. I have appreciated your work, and you are a very talented builder.
@simmingregency - I hope you are getting better all the time, and thank you for popping in at times. Your lots are lovely and I hope to see you build again soon.
@Craft90 - Hoping that you are well! You were the real Sims 2 beginner on here and showed a lot of improvement in just 2 rounds. Don't stop building, and it will be nice to see you as a contestant again.
@Pollino - Your lots were superb from the start, and I think we are all quite sad that you did not enter the last round. Wishing you the best, hoping to see you and your buildings again soon, and would love to see those uploaded too!
@simsfreq - missing you around as well, hoping that computer is working again? Thank you for the lots you have built!

@CatherineTCJD and @joandsarah77 : Thank you for being the judges. Without you, the contest may have had to end and I appreciate you so much, not only for judging this contest, but also for everything I have learned from both of you when I was this new and stupid builder. Your comments as judges on my lost were always helpful, and you were also there with helpful advice when I needed it for other builds, great feedback and support - and as friends.

Now, to the persistent contestants who have completed all 4 the rounds:

First, thank you from the bottom of my heart for the hard work, the fantastic entries and for sticking around.

Second, some of you were already there, but congratulations to

@Modder, @simsample, @Aysarth, @pinkdynamite, @AndrewGloria, @Phantomknight, @Pebblerocker, @Monsieur_Oshima, @Meowingcookie

Each one of you now qualifies to host a contest

Keep on building and remember: THE FUTURE BELONGS TO THE BUILDERS!

And perhaps we can have a party before our thread is closed

I wasn't meaning to extend the closing date/time for each round. I meant to let contestants continue even if they've missed a round. For example, in the current contest, if Craft90 had felt better by the time the last round started, it would have been good to see what he/she could do with that.

That's really what I meant. Maybe we could remind people who drop out that they're welcome to post entries in later rounds.

I suppose there's nothing to stop somebody who wasn't able to join the contest at the start, from nonetheless posting pictures of what they had built. The judges (and others) could comment on such posts, bud they'd be under no obligation to do so. The host might, at their discretion, include such "entries" in a play-along table. In Jo's contests (as I recall) only she commented on the play-alongs; she didn't expect her judges to do so.

Justpetro, I'm glad you were flexible about deadlines for closing the rounds. Especially in the last round I probably benefitted from this more than anyone else, but I still finished last in every round so it didn't do me that much good! One of the things that held me up was when one of the Sims, who was involved with my contest build, became ill, and I didn't feel able to concentrate on pictures or captions for my entry post until I felt sure he would be safe. I may be the only one here with that much emotional involvement with my Sims, especially as it turned out he only had a cold. But when he had a bad coughing fit, it reminded that in much of literature, such coughing was often the first sign of tuberculosis, which until the mid twentieth century was usually a death sentence. Of course tuberculosis is not a thing in The Sims 2, but Sims definitely can die from illness (including a sinister "mystery" illness) if I don't look after them well enough, and I do love my Sims.

Here's a link to my post in Jo's "Trading Places" contest, showing Nervous's "hut in the sky" where he'd living now.

I'd really like to see a contest involving sim creation, as not all players like to build (but I think we have all made a sim, or at least changed the outfits of the Maxis sims). Trouble is, how to make it interesting, and not just a beauty contest where contestants make up a backstory?

@simsample - not me Mine just look like any other normal townie (and I like them that way)!

@AndrewGloria - As I mentioned, some things depend on the contest host, others depend on site rules. I would also like to point out that hosting takes time, although it is fun. Judging takes time - it takes me at least 2 hours to judge an entry, and sometimes more, and I am reasonably sure it is the same for all judges. These are things that should be taken into account when a contest is planned. I doubt that any judge would be able find much time to comment for play-alongs - and a host who suddenly has to stand in as judge certainly won't. (Of course, I was a judge AND a play along in Trading Places - and I am reasonably sure I won't try to do both again).

FWIW, I don't think that you deserved last in every round. That was kind of harsh.

I don't think that sims can catch the mystery illness unless they use the Biotech machine?

@AndrewGloria should get the special award for sim empathy (simpathy? ) because he invites these new sims to the neighbourhood and makes them a part of the future. My poor sims were just created, stuck in a hood and played to test the lot I built! Then deleted.
I was really enjoying seeing the building process and how AndrewGloria's sims were using the lots, and I felt the anguish when a sim was ill too. Such a lovely way to play!

Thank you @Justpetro for running the contest and being an awesome host. *round of applause*

My preference these days would be for contests with smaller lots, or smaller makeovers, even to one room makeovers. I was in a contest once with just random room makeovers and that was fun. Basically smaller ones don't take as much time, so don't become as tiring as doing many larger ones can be for some people.

As to being unique themes, I don't think they have to be unique or have a theme. For Trading Places I just had this idea while playing Strangetown that I thought could be fun, so I posted it! Posting a contest as a moderator is a whole lot easier as you can make posts and fiddle with the code behind a closed staff room door. I am very much in awe of all the coding you did here.

I was so surprised to see that I'd got the highest score in this round! Thank you so much to the judges for enjoying my entry - and congratulations to EVERYONE because there were so many excellent entries! And of course congratulations and massive respect to @simsample for doing such amazing, outstandingly creative work in every round - a well-deserved win!

The over-the-top eclectic scrapyard style of my nursery and house is something I'd admired in other lots; I wasn't sure I could pull it off but I wanted to try. And I confess it was something of an attempt at "getting away with" something I'd seen other contestants marked down for - I'm thinking of simsfreq's round 3 entry where a judge wasn't sure about seeing the Mulberry Rice Paper window on a build that wasn't fully Asian-themed, but I recall reading old contest threads and seeing judges disliking the use of only one door, or chair, or painting from a themed set and giving feedback that the contestant should have gone whole hog on the theme or not used the object at all. I had a little rebellious moment and decided that I would use an Asian window and a Morrocan window and some tropical things and some country things, and I'd overwhelm the judges with mismatched stuff and bamboozle them into liking it anyway! I knew that accompanying the house with a story about the resourceful DIY-loving sims who built it would help, but I'd have to actually make it look good in order to pull it off.

I have gone far, far overboard in landscaping and decorating, but my computer does run the lot without pink flashing most of the time - its issues seem to be intermittent and capricious. I wish I hadn't had pink flashing when I took those top-down pics, but I'd already taken them and then somehow misplaced the files, and it was late at night before the deadline and I couldn't close and reload the game for one more try.

Feedback on the contest: first of all, thank you so much to Justpetro for running it and being so active in replying to questions. It must have eaten up even more of your time than of the contestants'! Thank you again to the judges too, including @Harvee, for your hard work. I found the extending deadlines somewhat confusing (I think the linked timer in the first post became more accurate and more frequently updated as we went along) but also very helpful for my dreadful time management issues. And I would LOVE to enter another contest, but perhaps after a break.

In this contest I liked that there was a story for the sims we were building houses for, but not in so much detail that it restricted the contestants from having very different takes on the story. I was able to take inspiration from the instructions while making it fit into my own hood, even though I play a sort-of-historical game. (I'd like to build in a modern hood for the next contest so I'm not restricting myself so much!)

A foundation challenge could work for any EP if a grid view of the foundation is posted; people can follow the grid and rebuild the foundation in their own game, which is a little extra work for contestants but not too hard.

Lot makeovers may have been done to death, but as someone who hasn't entered any contests before and hasn't played the Maxis hoods very much, the experience would be new to me!

About uploading our lots: I've had a look at the requirements but I'm a bit overwhelmed by what's needed. Could we start a new thread somewhere for contestants to discuss uploading, or is there somewhere I should post? I have a lot of CC that might be hard to track down; I was wondering if it might be a good idea to post an additional CC-free version of any lots I upload.

^ I have the same issue so I just made a CC-free version to uploaded. I didn't want to accidentally step on a creator's toes by violating their TOU, especially when some of the stuff I've had for at least 10+ years and can't remember who made it in the first place.

I have so enjoyed this contest! Thanks to all the participants- you are all winners in your own ways!

Thanks to Catherine and Jo for superb judging!

And to Justpetro- thank you for hosting and judging and bringing contests back!

Thank you, everyone!

Of course, as hosting a contest for the first time, I have also learned along the way There are a number of things I feel I should have done a bit differently and others that I think I should have done differently! It was a learning curve and, yes, I forgot about the timer occasionally

@Pebblerocker, fortune favours the brave - and especially if the brave knows what they are doing! You have been adventurous with that lot, but it paid off - because it is the end result that counts.

Advice for those of you who want to upload:

It is really NOT that hard to upload lots with cc - there is help!

The upload wizard is very easy to follow. You basically have to fill in the blanks here and there. You can also save it and come back later.

If you don't know where to find a cc item, try our tried and trusted WCIF thread. Somebody is bound to know where to find a link!

If the creator has retired and the links are gone, you may include your items with your upload, but just mention them in your upload text, giving credit that way.

(I hope this helps)

I've had a lot of fun as a spectator to this contest, and I greatly respect and appreciate all the hard work Justpetro, the judges, and the contestants put in to make it happen. I have one ask that might only be useful to my ADHD scatterbrained self (if so, please ignore me) but a link in the judging to the specific lot would be really helpful so I could follow along more readily. (So, Meowingcookie, Stewart's Orchard as an example.)

Since I finished last overall and last in every round, I can't imagine that there will be thousands of Simmers desperate to download my lots, but if anyone really does want one, please PM me (or contact me through this thread while it's still open). Then I'll share it privately on SimFileShare. If I get lots of requests, I might consider going through the queue.

There is another possible problem with at least two of my builds have a somewhat naughty shower by Numenor at Sexy Sims. The real reason I use it a lot in my builds is that it only costs §25, which is §400 cheaper than the cheapest Maxis shower I know of (the University communal shower). Our Veronaville is not a rich neighbourhood, and at Jones & Moltke, we often find ourselves working with tight budgets -- much tighter than the ones in this contest. (Last night we built a house for two Sims with a budget of §15K -- they got Numenor's shower!) I say only "somewhat" naughty, because they get Fun points for doing something that almost all boys do, and quite a few girls do it too. I think it's mild, bur I'm sure it would not be acceptable in an MTS upload. Of course I could substitute a Maxis shower, but that would significantly increase the price.

So all told I think privately sharing on SimFileShare is probably my best option -- if anybody wants my lots at all!

We have now reached the end of this contest. Thank you again to all of you who made it work

I do not know if I should tag (@Admin) = anyone in particular to give out the achievement stickers - @simsample is the contest winner; I think I get one for hosting the contest too And the thread can also be closed, because I believe everyone has had enough time to respond. (The contest will still be up for anyone who wants to look at anything).

Until next time, remember: The future belongs to the builders

Here are some pictures of Andrew meeting with the Stewarts before we could start building. In the hectic of trying to build and describe the new garden centre lot, I didn't find time to post these pictures before completing my entry post.

@HugeLunatic may be the best person to ask!
I think there's a sticker for all who participated in the contest too.

Thank you Pretty sure I never got one for participating in a building contest, though! We will then ask @Hugelunatic and a big thank you at the same time!

Wow, look at me popular with two @'s in my inbox!

Simsample has (another) blue ribbon and Petro now has the Cat Herder badge! Well done both!

Thank you, and also for allowing me to host the contest