Post by b101 on Aug 6, 2024 9:08:56 GMT -5
With Season 10's contests in the books, I wanted to post something here about the upcoming season and our thoughts. Like the last time I did this (see here), we're in that tricky stage where we think we might get a new game some point soon, but we aren't sure. Additionally, the current interest in contests has subsided somewhat and there's generally less being published at the moment than earlier in the game's cycle - this is pretty normal.
A few brief thoughts for now:
A few brief thoughts for now:
- National Treasure will be the last of the formal contests until the new game. With only 27 publishes compared to 18 withdrawals in that contest, despite extending the window to four months, I don't think there's the appetite now. Instead, I'd rather we waited to ensure people are fully committed. Whenever we do get a new game, the intention is to start with World Cup, which I will run.
- There'll be the usual mix of some invite / qualification contests and some that are complete open entry. Sadly, National Treasure showed the pitfalls of the 'first come, first served' signup format. World Cup will be one of those invitation/seeded contests - there will be chances for all to sign up, but you may not make the full field. If you are a newer designer, there will be spaces for you in other contests.
- We'll aim to have more formats where designers can judge and compete at the same time. Our best designers make the best judges, but we also need and want quality fields to produce great courses for the tours. I want to develop new judges as well, so it won't be exclusive - judging and learning from experienced designers is a great thing to encourage, but there needs to be a solid floor of expert judging ability.
