Community Contest 3: Character Contest

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Contest Closed

This Contest is now closed, please pick up the bundle from here to see all the great entries! Congratulations to the winners and the runners-up - be sure to check out the Catalogue!

Brief

Create a character with dialogue for use in a variety of situations including follower, questgiver and merchant. The character will have various removable lines so that modders may use them for whatever purpose they need. The contest discussion thread can be found here.

A raffled mini contest is also running, requiring only a character head morph. We'd love if you entered both!

DEADLINE: Monday 18 October - your entry must be ready for judging before midday GMT+0. It is strongly recommended you submit well before this time in case you run into troubles. Modifications to your submission are welcomed - the newest version of your entry will be judged, although modifications made after the submission date will not be judged.

Requirements

All entries must:

  • Reserve and use a StringID range (do this before you start)
  • Be tested in-game
  • Be in English (non-native accents are very welcome, perhaps give your character an exotic background?)
  • Include MRH source material and dadbdata export of all relevant resources
  • Use only
    • DA assets (hairs, textures)
    • (optional) hairs from More Hairstyles (the agreed mod)
    • (optional) hairs/textures which are your own work and are included with your submission
  • be suitable as a follower, questgiver and merchant
  • Include branches for the compulsory dialogues (see below)
  • complete the overview section with their entry (see below)
  • Be submitted before Monday 18 October midday (GMT+0)

Guidelines

Strong entries will:

  • Be interesting characters with compelling dialogue
  • Have voiceover with lipsynch (this is optional, but will be looked upon favourably if done well)
  • Have quality voice acting, with attention paid to audio quality
  • Tweak FaceFX to give natural and emotive expressions
  • Set and check plot flags and approval where appropriate
  • Include dialogues to use the character in many situations (see suggestions below). The more versatile the character, the better.
  • Be usable in DA canon, or be canon inspecific, to allow them to be used in any module.

Allowable

Entries may:

  • Include custom textures/hairs (please only your own work though)
  • Include more than one character if they are relevant to one another as one submission (ex. brother/sister to be met together)
  • Multiple entries are always allowed unless stated otherwise
  • An entry may contain collaborative work (one person voices, the other person creates the character, for example)

In the case of More Hairstyles, please only state it as a requirement and do not include any of the files. You do not need permission (just don't share the files)... it is the responsibility of the end-user to ensure they have the More Hairstyles mod.

Disallowable

  • For this contest, please do not use other peoples mods except More Hairstyles and anything which is your own work and is included.


Groups and Prizes

Groups

This contest has only one group.

  • 1st place - 15 points, chooses first
  • 2nd place - 10 points, chooses second
  • 3rd place - 5 points, chooses third
  • Best Newcomer - 3 points (unless 1st, 2nd or 3rd place)
  • All other entries meeting requirements - 1 point

To receive an "entry point", your submission must meet the requirements of the contest, listed at the top of this page

Best Newcomer Award

Every judge may nominate one newcomer as their favourite newcomer entry. To qualify, the entrant must not have submitted to a community contest before. The winning newcomer will receive three points if they don't podium (in which case, theyll be getting more points anyway!).

Prizes

Please see Community Contest Prizes

Helpful Links

Video Tutorials

Written Guides

Dialogue Branches

The following lines are to give you ideas to create a versatile character to be used in various modules in various situations. Hopefully you'll be able to come up with some really interesting ideas of your own!

Line type Example Requirement
Greeting/Farewell lines Minimum 1 greeting/farewell
In-town general greeting "Can I help you?", "What do you want?" Compulsory
Goodbye (player-only is OK) Player: "I've got to go" Compulsory
Other introductions "Thanks for saving me!", "I have need of your assistance" Suggestions
Follower lines
Party Add Player: "Interested in joining us?" Compulsory
Party Kick Player: "I have no further need of you" Compulsory
Adventure chat Player: "So, what's it like being a xxxxxx?" Suggestions
Approval-required dialogue Player: "Tell me something personal" Suggestions
Non-follower lines Minimum 1 role
merchant/enchanter chat Player: "What's for sale?" Compulsory
other townsperson chat Player (to farmer): "How's the harvest been this year?" Suggestions
General chat Player: "Lovely weather!" Suggestions
role-relevant chat Player: "How's business?" Suggestions
Quest lines minimum 1 quest
Quest starter "My dog has gone missing!" Compulsory
Quest interim "You still haven't found him?" Compulsory
Quest finisher "He's... dead?" Compulsory


Overview Section

The overview section provides a summary of the character.

Primary Role

State the major category as well as a shorter specific. ex. "Primary Role: Organization - Chantry"

  • Military - Templar, Warden, Guard, Soldier, etc
  • Worker - Shopkeeper, Smith, Farmer, Servant, Innkeeper, Waitress, Musician, Dancer, Juggler, Singer, etc
  • Organization - Member of: Chantry, Cult, Circle of Magi, Criminal Organisation
  • Nobility - Alienage Elder, Dalish Keeper, Dalish First, Dwarf Paragon, Dwarven King, Human King, Noble, etc
  • Other - only if the character REALLY doesnt fit into the above

Class

State the class of the character (and specialisation if relevant)(Warrior, Rogue, Mage). ex. "Class: Mage - Spirit Healer"

Race

State the race of the character, and if relevant the origin. ex. "Race: Elf (Dalish)"

Voiced

Simple Yes/No for if the character is voiced or not. ex. "Voiced: Yes"

Quest

If you have provided more than one quest dialogue, please seperate with commas. State the category and a ~5 word description. ex "Quest: Errand - find missing dog"

  • Errand - player must fetch or deliver an item/other menial task
  • Rescue - character is rescued/requires escort
  • Hunt - player must kill certain enemies
  • Criminal - player must perform a criminal act
  • Other - provide a short description

Requirements

List the requirements, choosing one of the below ONLY. ex. "Requirement: More Hairstyles"

  • More Hairstyles mod
  • Other asset (included)

Please only use More Hairstyles and content which you have permission to distribute. In the case of More Hairstyles, you do not need to indlude the files, but do need to state it as a requirement.

Entries

For information on how to enter, please see the Entry FAQs

For information on Judging, please see the Judging page. 

IMPORTANT - consent to share

By entering this competition you consent to share your work for other community members to benefit from.
Where appropriate, source files should be shared (include the MRH head morph). 
The work *MUST* be your own (obviously you may use DA assets).
Do not use custom hair/textures/voicework etc unless you have explicit consent from the author to share. You must include them with your submission.
Others may use and modify your work in their Dragon Age mods, though are encouraged to give credit. 
As the entries are judged, local copies will be saved If your work is taken down.
If your work is taken down, you allow for it to be re-uploaded, crediting the work in your name.

Ratha by Jackkel Dragon and DahliaLynn - 1st place

Overview

  • Primary Role: Worker - Quartermaster and Archer (for Avvar clan)
  • Class: Warrior (Archer)
  • Race: Human (Avvaran Hillswoman)
  • Voiced: Yes
  • Quest: Errand - Find amulet

Description

Ratha is an Avvaran hillswoman whose husband has been lost in a raid on the "lowlanders." She might join the PC to find her husband, or ask the PC to find his amulet. She may also be a merchant, but not both a merchant and a follower.

No matter how hard the PC tries, her husband is dead when found. His amulet can be given to her to complete her quest.

Ratha is voiced by DahliaLynn.

Notes:

  • Ratha's quest goal is triggered by a plot flag, not an item. The plot flag will give the PC the item.
  • Ratha's companion flag functions should be configured by the modder before she is used as a companion, as she cannot gain XP or use the party picker.
  • Ratha could benifit from extra lines as a follower, based on the module's plot.
  • Ratha's approval hardly does anything in this package, the modder should create scenes in the module that allow change in opinion and create new plot flags for approval (included flags are for debug purposes.)
  • Ratha should be equipped with proper gear in the toolset before being used as a companion.
  • Ratha's Follower flag must be set before meeting her to work. Merchant flag may be set at any time, but will only work if she is not a follower.

Points Note:

  • 1st: 8 Jackkel / 7 DahliaLynn (total 15)
  • 2nd: 5 Jackkel / 5 DahliaLynn (total 10)
  • 3rd: 2 Jackkel / 3 DahliaLynn (total 5)
  • Entry: 1 Jackkel / 1 DahliaLynn

Judges Comments

mikemike37 Really well made character with equally careful voice acting and staging. Character is fairly specific-case, though: references are made to "lowlanders" as well as the type of settlement, so be careful to use this character in a suitable setting (highland village).


Knives by Vaylise - 2nd Place

Overview

  • Primary Role: Organization - Criminal Organization
  • Race: Elf
  • Class: Rogue
  • Voiced: No
  • Quest: Other – Start bar fight

Description

Knives has a sharp tongue and is prone to making threats of bodily harm when things don’t go the way she wants. She can be found selling stolen merchandise, starting brawls, or even just massacring darkspawn.

Note: She has some basic skill, gender, merchant and follower flags set, however, none of the approval and plot flags have been done.

Judges Comments

mikemike37 Really nice character that will fit nicely into almost any mod (fairly canon inspecific). Would be nice to see this voiced/staged, but a well thought-out and fleshy dialogue regardless.


Saarebas by uberdowzen (Lord Uber Dowzen) - 3rd Place

Overview

  • Primary Role: Worker - Qunari Mage/Shopkeeper
  • Race: Qunari
  • Class: Mage
  • Voiced: No
  • Quest: Errand - Find missing amulet

Description

Saarebas is a Qunari mage. He has a dark past (surprise surprise) which the PC can discover if he is used as a follower. He is also suitable as a merchant (sells magical items) and a quest giver (an errand quest to find his lost amulet).

Notes:

  • Contains very little scripting. If the character is used in a mod the following need to be removed: Approval increases from the ends of each of the 3 steps of the in-party dialogue, line giving the PC the amulet for the quest.
  • Saarebas still needs a fair bit of work to work in a mod. You'd want to include a proper hiring scripts etc to make the approval stuff work.

Judges Comments

mikemike37 Fits nicely with established canon for Qunari with nods to Sten's character. Might feel a little "more of the same" though. Meets all the requirements though, so is nice to drop into any mod.

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