[Contest] City Building Grand Tournament!

[Xterminator]

Hey Folks,

I am going to host a community City Building contest/tournament on my YouTube channel. There are bound to be some kinks in it for this first time that need working out, but regardless, I think it will be very fun and that we can do more in the future if this turns out well!
Anyway... I will give all the details below, but for a very brief summary of it; There will be 3 different categories to enter under for this contest. I decided to do it this way to give more variety, and give people a choice of what type of city they want to try and make. But without further ado, let's get to it:
*Note* You can find my channel through the linked text in my Signature if you wish to watch the contest entry videos. I would post my channel in the thread itself, but I don't think that's allowed.

!!Submissions need to be in by the end of day 4/9/2015 U.S. time!!

Rules:
1.) You may only enter into one (1) category. This rule is here simply to stop the potential of the same person winning in multiple ones.
2.) You need to follow all the submission instructions (explained below) or you won't be entered.

Instructions & How it will work:
- To make things more interesting, I will be making videos of each entry and judging them mostly on-screen. I want to do it this way simply because I think it will be much more interesting for everyone if they can actually see how their cities compare to everyone else's, plus just see all the amazing work that I'm sure will show up here!
- I will be accepting City Submissions from the moment this post goes up, until Thursday April 9th at 8PM Mountain Standard Time (GMT-7). Hopefully videos will start coming out the next day (Friday).

CATEGORIES:
You may use any map you want for any of the categories. Please make sure to link to the Steam Workshop page though (for non-default maps) in the submission email.
You may Not use any mods for any of the categories.
**Functionality**
- To make things fair, ALL submissions for this category must be between be a minimum of 80k population. I do this because it would obviously be unfair to compare traffic and such between a city of 5k people,and one of 100k people.
- This will be hard to judge, but I think it's possible. I will mostly be looking a things like Traffic, Service Availability, Public Transit Implementation, Imports/Exports, Education/Health coverage, and just the general functionality of the city as a whole.
**Most Compact**
- Pretty straight forward here. You are limited to two (2) tiles, and the goal is to make the most compact city with the highest population possible in this space. HOWEVER, it must still be functional to some degree. I won't be looking at functionality and the inner workings of the city as much as I will for the actual Functionality category, but it wouldn't be very interesting if people just submitted cities that are jammed to the guiles but don't work worth a dang and have a city-wide traffic jam 24-7. Lol
**Most Interesting/Best Looking**
- You can use Unlimited-Money mode for this category only.
- This one is the most straightforward of them all. This is probably best described as just a "general contest category" lol. You have no size limit, and no population limit (I may regret this later when someone submits a city that makes my computer exploded >.>). This will be judged simply on how it looks. BUT AGAIN, it must still be functional to some degree, similar to category 2.
- I give no size or population limitations simply because I think that makes it more interesting, and for this category it isn't needed. Someone could make a city of 10k people in 1 tile that looks more beautiful and interesting than one with 100k people in 5 tiles. This is for people with those amazing imaginations and who like to bring their ideas to life in Cities Skylines.

Submission Instructions (make sure to follow these to be a valid entry):
- Email City Submissions (the final product, not just saying you want to enter please) to: contact@xtproductions.net
You MUST include the following:
- Save File
- A few pictures (or imgur links to pictures) that best show your city as a whole.
- Your (gamertag, obviously not real name) and pronunciation if you don't want it completely butchered while judging.
- What category you entered under.
- If you used a non-default map, please include a link to the Steam Workshop page for it so I can download it to view the save.
- Any other details/explanations you want to include are fine.
How to find your save:
For most people it should be under [Installation Drive, usually C]\Users\username\AppData\Local\Colossal Order\Cities_Skylines\Saves

Feel free to ask any questions or post suggestions for improvement in this thread.

 

[Myquandro]

I like the idea, but the category "Functionality" seems to me to be too easy. Cities I build at this moment with over 70k population are without any traffic jams and barely any lines of cars at traffic lights. My goal is to get an as big as possible city without traffic problems and that's easy with 70k pop. This should be a challenge to do right in order to see the differences between cities.

 

[ali.usman]

- To make things more interesting, I will be making videos of each entry and judging them mostly on-screen.

We need more judges

 

[Doc Savage]

9.5...
9.5...
9.5...

 

[Arandur87]

Great idea!

Some questions:

- is it restricted to vanilla buildings? Cause I'm using a ton of custom stuff like Fillers and Parks for industry and such
- is it restricted to "normal mode" or can it be done with the unlimited money-mode? As i can be much more creative with no need looking at my wallet

 

[Xterminator]

I like the idea, but the category "Functionality" seems to me to be too easy. Cities I build at this moment with over 70k population are without any traffic jams and barely any lines of cars at traffic lights. My goal is to get an as big as possible city without traffic problems and that's easy with 70k pop. This should be a challenge to do right in order to see the differences between cities.

Ah yeah true... I can see what you mean here. I am more than open to suggestions for any part of this competition. What changes would you make to that category to make it better?

We need more judges

Why do you say that? Just for more variety? I am totally fine with having other people help judge, as long as they are okay with doing it in a video, because I think that will be most fun for everyone. So anyone who would like to be a judge instead of a participant and who speaks decent English and is okay with commentating on video. If no one wants to/can I can probably find one of my friends to do it. Your right though, I think more judges would make it a bit more interesting.

Great idea!

Some questions:

- is it restricted to vanilla buildings? Cause I'm using a ton of custom stuff like Fillers and Parks for industry and such
- is it restricted to "normal mode" or can it be done with the unlimited money-mode? As i can be much more creative with no need looking at my wallet

Hmm good questions! The vanilla buildings one is really though... xD My first instinct is to say Yes! because it adds so much more to the game, but problem is I would also need all the assets (I believe) to be able to see them in the save. Perhaps like a limit for them? Like you can only use 10 custom buildings/parks, and must give me Steam Workshop links in the submission so I can get them. Let me know what you think!
Also normal mode... Hmm... I think using Unlimited Money mode for the last category is fine (I'll add that to the main post). However I think for the first 2 categories, I would prefer to not use that mode, because I feel it will be more interesting and challenging when you have to deal with money and progress in a normal fashion.
You can't use Unlock-All mode though for any of the categories. I think it will add nice variety for people to do cities with different levels of buildings and unique structures etc..

Let me know if you have any other questions or ideas, I would love to hear them!

 

[MN121MN]

3/6/2015

So.... June 3rd?

 

[Xterminator]

3/6/2015

So.... June 3rd?

Lol woops got it wrong. It is April 6th. Meaning this coming Monday. Thanks for catching that!

 

[ali.usman]

Why do you say that? Just for more variety? I am totally fine with having other people help judge, as long as they are okay with doing it in a video, because I think that will be most fun for everyone. So anyone who would like to be a judge instead of a participant and who speaks decent English and is okay with commentating on video. If no one wants to/can I can probably find one of my friends to do it. Your right though, I think more judges would make it a bit more interesting.
!

Two is better than one but only if it is possible (and if you can arrange it), its not a requirement - it will be more fun -- but i understand it wont be easy to arrange.

 

[Myquandro]

Ah yeah true... I can see what you mean here. I am more than open to suggestions for any part of this competition. What changes would you make to that category to make it better?

I've been considering two parts for this. What population the cities need to be and what aspects of the city should be considered. To start with the last, there are a lot of aspects that determine the functionality of the city but it's too much to actually use because it would make the competition too complex (maybe if it works good and the competition is a succes you could expand for a next competition). The aspects that I would consider are traffic, education, import/export and health.

Traffic is the combination of having an optimal flow through the city as well as having direct routes to destinations. So it's important to have both good connections to every part of the city and to make sure cims don't have to take a detour around the entire city to get to their destination and to have limited traffic jams and queues at traffic lights (on average all cars waiting should be able to cross the intersection before the next red light). This traffic is both roads and trains.
Education is about the level of education of the cims in the city. What percentage has graduated, how many are highly educated, etc.
Import/export of goods is important for a good functioning city. Traffic jams, lack of workers, etc. reduces the export of the city and are signs of a dysfunctional city.
Health is the last aspect I would consider for a good functioning city. Cities that are well designed and don't have traffic problems have better healthcare and get the deceased quickly to a crematorium or cemetery.

The other thing I considered is the population. The population should be big enough to cause difficulties for managing the aspects that are considered while still be at a point at which it can be managed. If the cities are too small managing the aspects is easy and it gets hard to see differences between competitors (No one has traffic jams, all have good health care, etc.), but when the aspects can't be managed anymore it becomes annoying to build the city and its nice to have a winner that actually succeed to do it all perfectly instead of a winner that was the least of a problem. At this moment I have no idea what the population should be, but I'm now working on my first real city (previous cities were trial and errors to get used to the workings of the game) and at 100k population I have no problem managing traffic. Have had a few short traffic jams that were solved quickly.

 

[Xterminator]

Two is better than one but only if it is possible (and if you can arrange it), its not a requirement - it will be more fun -- but i understand it wont be easy to arrange.

Yup I agree! I will contact some other Youtubers I know that play the game, and try to set something up. No promises though, sense as you mentioned it might be hard to arrange

I've been considering two parts for this. What population the cities need to be and what aspects of the city should be considered. To start with the last, there are a lot of aspects that determine the functionality of the city but it's too much to actually use because it would make the competition too complex (maybe if it works good and the competition is a succes you could expand for a next competition). The aspects that I would consider are traffic, education, import/export and health.

Traffic is the combination of having an optimal flow through the city as well as having direct routes to destinations. So it's important to have both good connections to every part of the city and to make sure cims don't have to take a detour around the entire city to get to their destination and to have limited traffic jams and queues at traffic lights (on average all cars waiting should be able to cross the intersection before the next red light). This traffic is both roads and trains.
Education is about the level of education of the cims in the city. What percentage has graduated, how many are highly educated, etc.
Import/export of goods is important for a good functioning city. Traffic jams, lack of workers, etc. reduces the export of the city and are signs of a dysfunctional city.
Health is the last aspect I would consider for a good functioning city. Cities that are well designed and don't have traffic problems have better healthcare and get the deceased quickly to a crematorium or cemetery.

The other thing I considered is the population. The population should be big enough to cause difficulties for managing the aspects that are considered while still be at a point at which it can be managed. If the cities are too small managing the aspects is easy and it gets hard to see differences between competitors (No one has traffic jams, all have good health care, etc.), but when the aspects can't be managed anymore it becomes annoying to build the city and its nice to have a winner that actually succeed to do it all perfectly instead of a winner that was the least of a problem. At this moment I have no idea what the population should be, but I'm now working on my first real city (previous cities were trial and errors to get used to the workings of the game) and at 100k population I have no problem managing traffic. Have had a few short traffic jams that were solved quickly.

Very good breakdown! I like all the things you considered and your completely correct. I will change the rules accordingly, and I think I will extend the Submission date out to next Thursday so a week from today.
I can definitely see your point about population, and that is where I am having problems deciding what to put for that... I have no problem putting a minimum of say like 100k, but I am a bit concerned that some people might struggle even getting to that. Cause I know some people have a lot of trouble growing their city that big.

However you do have a good point, so I will increase the minimum population required. That is also why I am extending the Submission date, to give people a bit more time to work on it.
Thanks for the suggestions, I would love to hear any others you have, and I hope to see a submission from you.

 

[ali.usman]

Yup I agree! I will contact some other Youtubers I know that play the game, and try to set something up. No promises though, sense as you mentioned it might be hard to arrange

Cheers