Issue 108 - Suggestions for a Zzap! Challenge

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CraigGrannell
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Post by CraigGrannell »

Lots of stuff about a certain article with word counts in the 1000s, despite only being 10% done, and the author wondering why we couldn't include it in a 32-page magazine... :roll:
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Lloyd Mangram
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Post by Lloyd Mangram »

Oww Yes, I DO remember that!
That was quite frustrating, I really had to control myself not to write anything offending.
And Gordon kelpt his cool all the way, being nice and all that.
That whole discussion, it wass all 'greek' to me :wink:
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Post by CraigGrannell »

Kudos to Iain for stepping in at the last minute, writing the piece, and not complaining about my rampant sub-editing...
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Challenge

Post by robin hogg »

Hi all,

Of course, I can't resist throwing in my 2p worth when it comes to challenges, seeing as I was the challenge champ in my time at ZZAP! and there was the small matter of winning the inter magazine challenge when I was on TGM, beating ZZAP and Crash!. It was a particularly satisfying win to beat the other magazines at their own games! Ah, fond memories. :D :wink:

I'm up for it, the UK/Global combined challenge is best in my opinion. A centrally located venue would be great, a Ludlow pub as a venue would be perfect (leave that one for the reunion otherwise), and hell I may be tempted to do it at BIT (given enough beer and money!). I may have got rusty in my old age though, (quick disclaimer prior to being slaughtered by some upstart fan!)

Interesting bit on Game Central on Wednesday (2nd July) about how games on C64 etc were harder because they didn't have saved game facility on them. Every game has them now, be it arcade or adventure! Games were tough then, none of this casual gamer business that we have nowadays!! :wink:

Regards

Robin
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Mayhem
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Post by Mayhem »

As I read GC too, I saw this today also... well it's partially true though of course many disc games had them anyhow, and you could always "cheat" slightly by AR'ing the game at crucial points and reloading if you died ;)
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MaffRignall
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Post by MaffRignall »

Well, if we get enough people interested, why not have three or four 'semi-final' rounds in different places around the world, then the winners of those can compete in the big final over the net.

So you could say, have one challenge in the UK, one in Australia, one in Europe somewhere, and elsewhere as demand permits. For any people who can't make it to a 'real life' challenge, a special online semi final could be held for them.

Then you take the winner of each semi final and they can go head to head online to decide each winner. This way people from all over the world get to partake in social events, but people who can't make it to such events don't have to miss out.

The big problem with this method (apart from organising, for which you'd have to assign 'ringleaders' in each country to organise a venue and a time, etc), is the length of the write up.

You'd only do a blow by blow account of the big final challenge, but you'd still want a little summary and some pictures of the various challenges around the world (otherwise what's the point?). You'd probably want 6-8 pages to do this, which would be a bitch for Craig (or whoever lays it out).... though if you keep the pictures small and the writing concise there's no reason why it couldn't fit in 4.

Am I being an optimist or is this actually feasible?
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Post by CraigGrannell »

MaffRignall wrote:You'd probably want 6-8 pages to do this, which would be a bitch for Craig (or whoever lays it out).... though if you keep the pictures small and the writing concise there's no reason why it couldn't fit in 4.
More to the point, it'd be boring as shit to read if it was 6-8 pages. Bear in mind that z108 will most likely be 32-48 pages, so having 4 for the challenge is a tad OTT...

Also, too few pictures and lots of copy looks, well, horrid.

I imagine three pages will be the most this could go to - an opener on the right and then a double-page spread.
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Post by gordon »

MaffRignall wrote:Well, if we get enough people interested, why not have three or four 'semi-final' rounds in different places around the world, then the winners of those can compete in the big final over the net.

So you could say, have one challenge in the UK, one in Australia, one in Europe somewhere, and elsewhere as demand permits. For any people who can't make it to a 'real life' challenge, a special online semi final could be held for them.
All sounds feasible to me, particularly the Australian and European (or UK-only) semifinals, which people here seem quite keen on. Maybe the rest (Paul in the US, and some Europeans) could have an online play-off like you suggest, and the winner of that could meet the winner of the UK and Australian contests online: three people in a challenge is a nice number from a narrative point of view.

Agree with Craig, though: 3 pages is the maximum: one page to round up what it's all about and make some comments about the semifinalists, then two pages to discuss the global challenge itself, with more background info on the competitors. And LOTS of pics. :)

g.

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Post by gordon »

Just had another thought -- conveniently, since I wanted that extra post :) -- we could easily leave out the Scorelord's highscore page this issue, and just have a web link at the end of the Challenge. The scores have changed quite a bit, and it's probably the easiest page of all to do, but it might get a tad boring doing it here as well as in 107, particularly if we're short of space. Let's see how things go.

g. (Freelancer :) )
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Post by CraigGrannell »

Of course, I'm all for the Scorelord page, as it'll take about 15 minutes to do... ;)
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Post by Iain »

Craig, re editting my article.

So that was you!!!! :-E and I've been blaming Gordon all these years (well 1.5) for changing about 99.8% of my words ;-)

Still it turned out nicely in the end.
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Post by CraigGrannell »

Heh - glad to hear it. Yeah, it was me that chopped your Zzap!64 history, although not by as much as some articles. It was one of the best designed pages, too, IMO, which made it all the better. (I very much enjoyed doing the graphic with all the b/w heads!)
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Lloyd Mangram
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Post by Lloyd Mangram »

Hi fellas,
if we want to include a challenge in issue 108, then we should start thinking seriously about planning it in early 2004 my friends!
You know, time flies, and I don't wanna miss all the fun.
I vote (again) for a challenge somewhere (central) in the UK, with everybody who can make it.
Any thoughts?
Ni!
Rob
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Post by Iain »

We could hire out a pub room in Ludlow? x-) Now that would be cool!
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Post by seanbags »

I think the poll says it all dont you Groovers? :roll:
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