Qualifications To Host
Participated as a contestant in the Making Headlines (A mini-story) contest & the MTS Official 2014 Calendar Contest: TS2. I also have at least 20 posts on the MTS forums.

Concept
The goal is to develop your fictitious construction company by building or developing lots for the prestigious Monopoly Game Town. You succeed in these challenges by fulfilling the guidelines set up by the head urban developer͵ swooning the board of directors who will scrutinize your company's work͵ & reap valuable simoleons to spend in the next contracts (rounds). You will claim victory by having the company with the most simoleons by the end of the competition.

Game Requirements
The Sims 2 (Base Game). We recommend the following EPs͵ but it is not necessary for the competition͵ as this will cater to as many Sims 2 Simmers as possible: (Bon Voyage͵ Apartment Life).

Skill Level
This competition is for lot builders and/or lot decorators. It is welcomed to all Simmers. Experience building on lots up to 3x3 in size with up to 4 floors with simple details is preferred. We are not asking for skyscrapers or palaces or any extravagant looking designs͵ unless you'd like to tackle such a building͵ lol. That will be entirely up to you.

Contestants / "How To Apply?" / Applications
We will accept as many as 20 contestants maximum for the competition. Minimum 8 contestants to proceed with the competition. To apply͵ fulfill the "Town Application" round posted in the thread. After 14 days͵ judges will score your design͵ & award you a score that will translate into your starting budget for the first town contract.

Judges / To Become A Judge
We wish to obtain at least 3 judges͵ up to 5 judges. We would also like up to 2 emergency judges. Judges will be required to submit their scores in 7 days maximum for 8 participants starting from the time the round ends. If more participants joins, then for every 2 additional participants, judging time will increase by 1 day. You will be given a guideline package through a link that will be provided to you in your PM box on ModTheSims. It will detail what you will be looking for in judging a participant's submission. There will also be an e-mail to use for contacting the contest coordinator, should you have concerns that need clarifying.

To participate as part of our board of directors, please PM me or send me an E-Mail for a request.

Rules
- This contest is for The Sims 2 only.
- This contest requires that you do not use custom content. This means that anything produced outside of Maxis CDs/DVDs will be disallowed (including recolors/swaps of meshes). Disqualification may occur if such CC (non-Maxis items or downloaded Maxis items EXCEPT for The Sims 2 Ultimate Collection) is discovered.
- No Sims on the lot you submit allowed. Disqualification may occur if Sims are seen occupying the lot.
- No obscene content allowed. Such obscene content is listed by the ModTheSims forum rules.
- Late submissions from contenders will be penalized during the game.

Additional rules for each round will be determined as the town contracts are released. You may have questions that require an answer. Read about them here in the F.A.Q..

Scoring / Judging Criteria
You will be scored by a panel of judges. They are the town's volunteer board of directors who will be scrutinizing your construction company's designs when created & submitted. Specific criteria on each round's scoring will be discussed as each town contract is released. Each round will be scored out of a possible 50 points (except for the application round͵ which is scored out of a possible 20 points).

The board of directors will be looking for how well your structure's design fits the theme of each round. They will also judge how well you follow the urban developer's guidelines͵ along with your lot design's creativity͵ and/or budgeting skills. Your construction company may also receive bonus money if offered during the contract. If your company is low on funds͵ your construction company can request..."financial assistance" by the town in the form of a loan. More on that will be explained in the upcoming round of town contracts͵ when it arises.

Please note that it is the amount of simoleons you have left in your fictitious company's coffers that will determine the winner. Scoring from points will determine how many simoleons͵ in addition to any bonuses & penalties incurred͵ will be added to your coffers͵ but may not necessarily declare you the winner. In case there is a tie between companies at the end of the competition͵ only then will it be the company with the higher score (out of those who are tied) that will be declared the winner.

Showcasing Your Images / What To Post
You will provide pictures of your lot to showcase your building/designers skills for judging by providing the following images:

1. Front of the lot.
2. Back of the lot.
3. Floor plan of each level.

You may also wish to provide other pictures that will stand out in your lot. Part of the scoring will involve the judge's discretion on what looks nice in the way you arrange the rooms & furnish your lot. Points 1͵ 2͵ & 3 must be provided for proper judging of your lot. Otherwise, your scoring may be effected.

Minimum pixel resolution is 800x600. Maximum pixel resolution is 1280x1024. Recommended file size is no more than 500kb per image. No more than 8 images per contract for a 1 floor property, & then 2 additional images for each higher level (e.g. 2-floor property = 10 images, 3-floor property = 12 images, 4-floor property = 14 images). This total includes floor plan images, & is not excluded from the total number of images allowed. Other image guidelines, especially those pertaining to the ModTheSims Forum can be found HERE.

You must also state the property cost of the lot you submit for use in the contest. Take a screenshot of it in neighborhood view with the price of the lot showing.

Timeline
The application stage ("Town Application") of the competition will last for 14 days maximum͵ starting from the time I post it. Each contract ("Town Contract") is expected to range from 10-15 days for sufficient build time (depending on the time of the contract)͵ then 7 days maximum (unless otherwise noted) for judge scores to be released. There are 4 contracts in the game. We expect the competition to last between 2 to 3 months.

Additional Information / Credits
- All contest lot files provided by the Host is made using The Sims 2 base game. Base-game compatible files made possible by AnyGameStarter v.2.1.1.
- Some lot files will be adjusted using The Sims 2 Lot Adjuster 3.5.
- The monopoly-type board game originating from Lizzie Maggie's The Landlord's Game, 1903.

Contest Approved

• Do not post replies and/or contest applications before the contest host has checked in on this thread, or your post will be deleted.
• DO NOT WRITE USELESS POSTS like "Hey cool contest, I think I might join." Reserve type posts and useless posts about coming back with an application will be deleted.

1. Does no cc include defaults?

Correct. It doesn't make for an even playing field because not everyone can download or make the best looking texture replacements or recolors for use in the game.


2. How would that work with something like the application round when there's bonus points for using BG content only? [...] Should the default replacements be limited in any way? [...]

Base-game only content, will strictly mean whatever was found originally in the base game. It can be verified using AnyGameStarter to make a base-game only game folder.

We're expecting participants to not use custom content because otherwise, yes, you (as a highly experienced downloader of custom content) can build the best looking structures that look pretty while other inexperienced players won't have access to that easily. The judges could then score highly on those type of structures while others who use only Maxis content could get lower scores. Additionally, custom content may not be priced fairly. Such an example would be a beautiful bed that costs §1 to a player should really be priced at §2,000. The only fair objective way to price a property would be to use Maxis-only content because all players have the same content/information to go on. All participants can have a fair chance at submitting their properties, knowing that another participant (who may have larger structure) won't have an understated cost of construction that a smaller structure may have.


3. What about recolours of maxis objects?

They will be considered outside the game's production. So no, it's custom content. It's correct to assume that the recolors don't change the price of the items, but that can skew the judgement of the judges because their colors/textures look nicer than existing Maxis objects.


4. Can we use the Maxis accessory objects spawned in with boolprop? Examples off of these clutter objects would be the phone book, coffee cup, toy boat etc.

Spawning of such an object to produce accessories in-game will not be accepted. The reason is because it requires a Sim to spawn the objects. Having a Sim occupying the lot can depreciate (or appreciate) the value of the lot after 24 hours. This can skew the results of the funds being given or taken from your company. Only fresh unoccupied lots that haven been built will be accepted for submission.

Additionally, we will not accept submissions where Sims are present or were present on the lot. We cannot measure how long a Sim has occupied the lot being presented. We strongly recommend building your structure on the lot without moving in a family.


5. Can I take pictures of Sims on the lot?

I will not approve of having Sims shown in the images. This is entirely a building contest, we are not judging what Sims are doing on the lot. We can leave that to the advertising/marketing of the property through your post. Having Sims shown in the images while other participants don't may unintentionally swap the judges to give higher scoring to such pictures and be unfair to balance of the competition. It may seem harmless, & although I wish for this competition to be fun, I'm also interested in the fairness of the judging in that judges will count only your building skills and showcasing of your buildings. The only advantage you will have is through the presentation of your buildings (along with the necessary images requested).

However, only after judging and scoring of the round has occurred for the lot you'd like to showcase Sims on can you do so in another post. For example if you built a property in Town Contract #1 that you'd like to show your Sims on, only after Town Contract #1 has been judged and scored may you release images of Sims enjoying/posing for the property. You must NOT edit the post your lot was scored on to add in pictures of your Sims. Only in later posts of the scored lot(s) can you do so.


6. I have a great deal of mods and CC in my TS2 game; does "no CC" mean I have to make a TS2 folder with no CC installed or does it just mean I can't use any of the CC I have installed?

It means you can't use the custom content objects to place onto your lot. However, you do not need to remove your files from your downloads folder. If a judge sees that you have a piece of custom content in your pictures that was not created by Maxis, then the judge could ask you to remove the items, before final submission. Also, the advice from Karen Lorraine in her post is sound.


7. Are OMSPs ("One More Slot Package") ok to use?

We're going back to the originally written rule where no custom content outside the production of The Sims 2 game is allowed. So yes, that includes OMSPs, these are not allowed to be used. The presentation of the lot can be a disadvantage to those who don't use this mod.


8. Can I use a lot modification program to slightly make changes to the property I created?

No. Such programs will be outside the game's creation. The idea is that contenders more skilled with programs that can change the way the lot looks or behaves can disadvantage those who are unfamiliar with such programs. The lots provided in the competition are already approved for use by all contenders. There may be the case that building cheats used in game may be very similar, if not the same, as modifying the lots. The clear cut difference is that all Sims 2 players have access to that through their game versus downloading external programs to make the changes possible. The other issue is that each game installation will vary with the number of building cheats available to use. This is the only discretion we will allow.


9. This is a real oddity...when I built the lot in base game (AGS), the price came to §27,488. I packaged it as a sim2pack file and imported it into my normal game. I added it to my normal game building 'hood and opened it -- and the price had dropped §319 to §27,169! Which price should we quote?

After trying it myself, it's quite interesting & something I didn't expect would occur. So here's what's going to happen. If you build this lot in AGS, or use base-game only items....& the price changes in other installation set-ups of The Sims 2....you may quote the lower of the lot prices you discover. Take a screenshot of the price of the lot either in neighborhood view or a wide shot of the lot with the price posted. EDIT: It seems the Moneywell Computers have an immediate depreciation of the item when you save and leave the lot, then come back to it later. Learned something new!


10. How do I know what time it will be when the round comes to a close?

I've posted a clock being used for the competition on the first post. I'm hoping it's adequate. If not, I'll look into other recommendations.


11. Question about Photoshop: Can the images be a collage? How much photo editing should we do?

Minimal Photoshopping. Yes to the following items: Re-sizing, Cropping, File size optimizing, Adding your logo to the pictures, Conservative changing of contrast/brightness (in case it's dark from shadows in front of the lot), Adding texts or titles onto the picture (provided it's clean/conservative & not eye-catching for judges to see it & think "Ohh! what a pretty typeface")

No to the following, and others unless such issues are brought to our attention: Changing The Colors (such as to reflect a mood with B&W/Sepia/Photo Filtering), Texturing (such as canvas/grainy texture), Collages (compiling more images together will shrink the main image and make it more difficult for the judges to see your lot).

We are not judging how nice the image looks, but rather the content in the images. We do expect the images to be clear and not blurry/grainy.


12. Why can't image resolutions above the stated 1280x1024 pixels be allowed?

It's because some Internet browsers/settings (or OS settings) do not automatically resize the images in the ModTheSims forum posts to fit the window of the user. As a result, such extra large images (e.g. 2560x1440 pixels) will not be seen completely, and can be an inconvenience to the judges to resize.

Welcome ladies & gentleman! My name is Milburn. Some of your may know me as Rich Uncle Pennybags! I'm so pleased to speak with you today͵ through my subordinate typing my every word. I see you've stumbled upon this contest thread & was wondering what you'll be expecting to achieve͵ if you join up. Well͵ I'm coming to you for this proposal.

I've been roaming around town recently͵ & noticed that growth of newcomers & businesses have been slow. My citizens believe that it's because of a lack of affordable homes for newcomers to flock to. They're right. Oh͵ how I sometimes forget that not everyone is a billionaire!

In any event...I need your help to introduce new places that could bring in new folks to create a bustling town. If you're up for the competition͵ apply here now!

You'll need to set up a construction office for your company͵ & come up with a company name. Click here for the image of the land that can be built upon. You may download the 2x2 lot from HERE͵ or from the attachments area located at the end of this post. Because this office is a temporary space͵ we recommend not to build too large of an office͵ nor one that's lavishing. Feel free to include a company logo that's 100x100 pixels in size.

Money & business management is key to this contest. The goal is to construct͵ or develop͵ buildings for Monopoly Game Town given a budget͵ financial assistance if needed͵ & specific guidelines provided by my town's urban developers.

The victor will have the most funds leftover & be awarded for their undertaking of this competitive task. Those who succeed in each round of contracts may receive lucrative benefits for your company.

Just remember͵ the main thing is to have fun in showcasing not only your building & design skills͵ but also your thriftiness in spending only what's necessary to complete the tasks at hand.

I'll be seeing you soon! Hang in there while we get together a group of builders interested in joining. Let your friends͵ forum goers͵ & Internet buddies know about this event.


Throughout the competition, where applicable, your company will be subject to a "Construction Tax". At the completion of any property that was built up from an empty lot (meaning a lot with no building on it)͵ your company will be taxed in the form of an escalating tax. The tax calculations are as follows:

This is an example of how the tax works. If your company completed construction of a newly built property from an empty lot whose value is §88͵932͵ your company͵ will be taxed the following (values are rounded to the nearest simoleon):


Also throughout the competition͵ you'll be introduced to regulations about how to construct your building. There are no regulations for temporary structures such as this office.

Your application time will be no more than 14 days from the time I check in as host. The start & end dates are listed below. We are accepting only one design from each company.

Great sounding contest, very interesting.
First question of the day, does no cc include defaults?

Exactly what I was going to ask. Also how many hours away is 2pm EST? It's 6.30 pm over here.

I have a great deal of mods and CC in my TS2 game; does "no CC" mean I have to make a TS2 folder with no CC installed or does it just mean I can't use any of the CC I have installed? I'd like to know that before I consider entering the contest.

Yeah, I'd like to know about the defaults too...and OMSPs....

You can remove your downloads folder and pop it on your desktop or just not use any of the CC in it. Also in your game there is a button in the Game Options that you can tick 'catalog display custom content', choose 'off'.

So I'm guessing from what you said about defaults, that OMSPs would be ok as well. Since all they do is allow more placement, and don't effect cost at all...

Uh oh... I don't think I can play
My whole catalog has been repriced and organized by price (ie: ALL 1T dining tables cost $215, ALL 2T dining table cost $685, etc) So, even the Maxis items have had their prices changed. These prices convey with AGS too. Pooh!
*sigh* This sounds like a lot of fun though.

@CatherineTCJD what about using AGS? Or making a new sims 2 folder, just rename your current folder and it will make you a fresh one next to the first. Come on Cat, it won't be the same without you. It's been ages since we all did a contest.

Defaults don't change the price of things, but I should think a lot of us use things like default curtains, bedding, Phae's white roof trims.

I'll admit right now, I've never understood the clock that has been used in contests here. :/ I keep Googling time in the US when it's 6am here and stuff like that...
All I would like to know is if you see this post soon and you live in the EST, what time is it so I can see how many hours ahead I am? I will guess about 14-15?

So where is round one? Also we need to place something into our lot catalog folder? They normally just ask us to download a lot the normal way in these contests.

@joandsarah77

Unfortunately, I've been trying to find suitable clocks for the competition too, but nothing interactive enough to easily convert from one time zone to another.

The time you posted in the first post of 6:30pm was for me 3:30am EST. So, that means 15 hour difference. If you have a Windows OS, you can double click the time on your task bar and find "Time Zone". That will give us a clue as to what time it is for you.

GMT -05:00 means 5 hours behind the Greenwich time (the atomic clock "starting point" for time zones). I'm using another clock now. Check out the clock link again, please.

Application is posted Jo, just scroll up

I use the AGS for comps like these, then I dont get surprises of cc in my game, sadly theres no programme files to be able to place lots in ags, it needs to be as a usual downloaded lot. Are you able to please upload the lot in the normal way so it can just be dumped into the ags?

@d_dgjdhh Please can you provide a normal lot package file that can be installed in the usual manner.

Sure, I'll get that done. Shortly.

Done.

If you create a "Permagame" in AGS, then you do get a lot catalogue folder where you can place the file. e.g.
My Documents\AnyPermaGames\PermaGame1\EA Games\The Sims 2\LotCatalog.

I've never done a contest before, but I think I'll have a go at this one. I don't use much CC in my houses, and I'm kind of used to working to tight budgets; there are few rich Sims in my game.

I'm a little surprised that it seems to be a residential lot. I guess someone must be going to sleep in this office.

I didnt want to create a Permagame though, as I chop and change my ags games around all the time.

When I double click I get up a clock and a calendar. I am eastern Australia and 15 hours is what I guessed. So if you say closing at 2pm I should be able to say 6am my time the following day. I hope lol. I will check the clock link.

Thanks Karen I much prefer a normal lot.

All AnyGame setups (doesn't have to be Permagame) have a Lot Catalog folder. It's where everything from the House Bin and Sims Bin are situated. Every Sims 2 game setup needs a Lot Catalog folder or else no lots downloaded would show up. When I made the files, I thought it would be simple because anyone can just plop in the cx########.package file and start up their game. But anyway, I'll upload sims2pack files from now on.

It's very easy to just rename you 'The Sims 2' folder to something else, eg "The Sims 2 main', run the game and let it make a fresh empty sims 2 folder. I did that so I could have a separate medieval style game.

I must be blind I still don't see the rules or what we are to build for round one.

Correct. Also, if you click the Clock Link, the page has a blue box on the right saying "Difference". For Australia, it's 15 hours ahead of EST. So yes:

January 15, 2:00pm EST == January 16, 5:00am AEST

January 15, 2:00pm EST == January 16, 6:00am AEDT

Thanks, that clock is a lot better.

lol Jo
http://modthesims.info/showthread.p...579#post4939579

Lol, yes. Well, I purposefully made that a residential lot because in the base game, you can't find out what the price of a lot is if the lot is a community lot. In later packs of the game, you can see the price, but not in the base game.

Additionally, you can't change the zoning of a lot from the cheat menu in-game. You'd have to go through SimPE to access the information about the lot, change it to a residential lot, then you can find out the price of it in-game.