Hi guys,
Welcome to a revamped version of the SOTM contests we had in previous years. This year, we hope to have prizes for each month and a grand prize for SOTY winner!
A lot of the rules are the same as before, and if you are already farmiliar with them, just read the new ones that are highlighted below:
THE RULES:
- These rules are subject to change at any time.
- You must be a member of these forums. No bots allowed.
- You must submit your own work.
- You can only submit 1 final screenshot per month.
- The screenshot must be a still picture taken from MM2. No videos or animations allowed!
- If there is a theme, your screenshot submission should follow it. Otherwise, it may be excluded from voting.
- The screenshot may include only publicly released addons (cars, cities etc.). No private addons allowed! HOWEVER, you can use your own basic mods that edit the public addons (such as tuning mods, texture mods, camera angle mods...etc.).
- The screenshot can be edited or unedited. No software limits.
- The screenshot editions may include cut&pasted editions from photos not related to the game (i.e. new sky picture collected from Google Images...etc). However, majority of the final picture should be from the game.
- The screenshot must be appropriate for the general community. No porn, no blood, no freaky, creepy or illegal stuff. Violation of this rule may lead to banishment from these forums...or worse.
- The screenshot dimensions should not exceed 1600x1200 pixels.
- The screenshot file size should not exceed 1MB.
- The screenshot file type (format) must be either BMP, JPEG or PNG.
- When you decide to enter your screenshot, post it here in this topic after the "Stage 1: Enter Your Screenshots!" announcement has been made for that month.
- Use common image-hosting sites such as ImageShack, MediaFire or PhotoBucket.
- You are allowed to change your screenshot submission only once and within three days of your original submission date.
- No submissions allowed after the last day of the month the contest is designated for.
- Voting will start on the 1st day of a new month and end on the 3rd day of the month.
- Vote after "Stage 2: Vote Now!" announcement has been made.
- To vote, just post using a sentence like " I vote for <name>". PLEASE DO NOT make ambiguous votes such as "kunal's SS is nice" or "+1 to Silent". These will not be counted as votes.
- You cannot vote for yourself.
- You can change your vote only once and only on the first day of voting. You cannot change your vote 24 hours after the Voting announcement has been made.
- The winner will be announced shortly after the voting period ends with the "Stage 3: Winner announcement".
- The winner's screenshot will be entered in a slot for a chance to win the SOTY contest AND the winner will receive the prize via PM (please allow up to 2 weeks for "shipping & delivery"
).
The following will be a little hard to explain, so please bear with me: - No one can win more than 3 SOTM contests during the year.
- If a 3-time champion gets highest vote count for the 4rth time, the winner of that SOTM will be the person with the next highest vote count. HOWEVER, BOTH screenshots will be entered into SOTY contest.
- Now you may think "well, I'll just stop voting for the guy who won 3 times already..." or "why bother trying hard this month if I won 3 times already?...", but please vote honestly or try hard on your screenshots every month because it will make a difference in the SOTY contest, which has a much bigger prize and that should go to BEST screenshot of the year!
- A few other top screenshots that didn't win may also be entered into the SOTY contest.
- New contests should start on the 4th day of a new month or when the new "Stage 1" announcement is made. Remember its taking place in the same topic (topic title will be changed).
- You cannot re-submit an old screenshot or modified form of it.
- Please keep spamming to a minimum. Commenting on other's screenshots once in a while is ok, but making one-word posts every time some submits a screenshot is unnecessary and annoying as hell.
- Any participant may be disqualified if in violation of above-mentioned rules or for reasons not said above.
THE PRIZES:
Since this is something new and its just for fun, please don't expect really great or monetary prizes and please appreciate what you get. Remember that I'm doing this for free.
Most prizes will be some kind of beta for future mods I'm planning. So winners get to enjoy it before anyone else, sometimes for months ahead of release. There may be other additional prizes such as multi-votes for future SOTMs, or maybe even a request for a low-poly car. I'm also open to suggestions, so please feel free to let me know.
THE RESOURCES:
If you are in need of image-editing software, try:
- Paint.NET
- The Gimp
- Photoshop Express
- Photofiltre
- Pixlr Editor, Pixlr Express, Pixlr O-matic
Or you can search google for other free programs.
If you want to learn how to make edits to your MM2 screenshots, there are some tutorials available:
- How to Add Cars to a Screenshot
- Making Dynamic MM2 Screenshots V2
- How to Add Custom Light Effects
- How to Make a Stationary-Camera Mod - NEW!
- How to Add Reflections to MM2 Screenshots - NEW!
You can also search Google for other tutorials and apply them to MM2 screenshots.
SOME EXAMPLES:
Below are the winners of the 2010 SOTMs:
