TT-Screenshot Of The Month - April 2012 to November 2013

[STD]

I'm just gonna be very honest here and probably stirr up quite something.

IMO the new theme is lame. Of course OzTrans is free to pick any theme he likes, but I'm free to disagree.

Firstly, the theme is very restrictive by limiting it to one specific country. A country many of us probably have never seen IRL.
Secondly, there's only a few Canadian GRFs available in the Online Content, and a train set isn't one of them.
Thirdly, since I know OzTrans is involved in developing a Canadian set, This seems like a blunt way to promote his own GRFs.

I think I'll just skip participating in this month's competition.

Quite interesting topic for this month's selected OzTrans. But I agree with you Purno. I like to use a more advanced set of graphics, not limiting specific GRF's. In the current theme I do not participate. Next month, I will participate.

[wallyweb]

DISCLAIMER:Considering that I am Canadian, I will be recusing myself from this month's contest.

I am looking forward to seeing the entries. It should be fun seeing how others see Canada.

... the theme is very restrictive by limiting it to one specific country.

Canada is so large and expansive ... there is a wealth of topography to focus upon. IMHO the challenge is what to select from all that variety.

A country many of us probably have never seen IRL.

I am one of those. There is so much of Canada that I have never seen other than some random photos, and I live there.

Secondly, there's only a few Canadian GRFs available in the Online Content, and a train set isn't one of them.

But a train set is one of them. Have another look. Also, although it was suggested using the Canadian GRFs, it is not a precondition. Personally, I would be quite interested in seeing how other systems would work in this land of mine.

Thirdly, since I know OzTrans is involved in developing a Canadian set, This seems like a blunt way to promote his own GRFs.

Nothing wrong with a little self agrandizement. Canadians are by and large quite introverted. This month's contest should be good therapy.

I think I'll just skip participating in this month's competition.

I'm sorry to hear that. Your highly imaginative interpretations are quite entertaining, although those damned Torontonians might be a bit put off seeing their CN Tower representd as a candy cane.

Come on folks ... Show me your stuff ... How would you make Canada a better place for me to live?

[YNM]

Canada ? I don't even really know how it looks like...

Huh, if you mean anything sub-arctic, then i'm in.

EDIT : silence seems to be disagree, then I'm out.

[wallyweb]

Canada ? I don't even really know how it looks like...

Huh, if you mean anything sub-arctic, then i'm in.

EDIT : silence seems to be disagree, then I'm out.

Lot's of sub-arctic in Canada.

[YNM]

Lot's of sub-arctic in Canada.

If I had time to play any sub-arctic scenario with american/canadian styled buildings, and some lakes, maybe i'll submit one. Most of my games is temperate, or way too much european.

[Katve]

I'm just gonna be very honest here and probably stirr up quite something.

IMO the new theme is lame. Of course OzTrans is free to pick any theme he likes, but I'm free to disagree.

Firstly, the theme is very restrictive by limiting it to one specific country. A country many of us probably have never seen IRL.
Secondly, there's only a few Canadian GRFs available in the Online Content, and a train set isn't one of them.
Thirdly, since I know OzTrans is involved in developing a Canadian set, This seems like a blunt way to promote his own GRFs.

I think I'll just skip participating in this month's competition.

I agree. I know that OzTrans is free to choose his theme, but I will also not participate because, I also think this is just "blunt way to promote his own GRFs" as Purno stated.

[SwissFan91]

Hmmmm, this is a difficult discussion.

I see where Purno and the rest are coming from, and I must admit when I first saw your chosen theme I did think "oooh, this isn't going to go down so well". Still, I am very much someone who plays OTTD by recreating scenarios from different regions of the globe, so this is right up my street in that sense.

Perhaps in an effort to compromise we could change it to North American-style screenshots? That could be anything from a huge, crowded metropolis to a large, expansive prairie, to the depths of the Rocky mountains. Obviously this is OzTrans' choice but it would be a shame to have a contest with only 2 or 3 entrants - although this has happened in the past!

[kamnet]

I like OzTrans a lot, but I will admit that my first knee-jerk reaction was "Nice way to plug your Canadian NewGRFs! This will go over well!"

I think Wallyweb's follow-up post has changed my mind a bit. I've never visited Canada either, but it's hard to think of this as being a very restrictive subject. As a land mass, it's larger than the United States. In topography and weather, it only lacks the sandy deserts of the southwest US and northern Mexico, and the sub-tropical conditions of southeastern US and the Caribbean isles. It has huge mountains, barren arctic regions, grassy plains, vast farmlands, small towns to giant metropolitan areas, rising and falling industrial zones, oil drilling, gold and diamond mining, fishing, and vast rail, highway, airports and seaports.

Don't look at this as only being able to design something using the Canadian NewGRFs. Instead, look at this as an opportunity to learn something about a country that you don't yet know, and build something from that. Maybe you re-create a historical scene, maybe you take what is already known and turn it into what it could be.

[Supercheese]

I don't see anything wrong with the theme, I might even throw together a screenshot for an entry this round.

[zooks]

I agree 100% with purno et al., and can grfs are not available at all in the nightlies. I won't participate either

[Purno]

I think I'll just skip participating in this month's competition.

In the current theme I do not participate. Next month, I will participate.

I agree. I know that OzTrans is free to choose his theme, but I will also not participate because, I also think this is just "blunt way to promote his own GRFs" as Purno stated.

I agree 100% with purno et al., and can grfs are not available at all in the nightlies. I won't participate either

Since there's already 4 people skipping the contest over this month's theme, I have an idea.

The contest rules do not say one has to stick to the theme. What if we were just gonna submit screenshots which do not match the theme at all, so we still have screenshots to vote on? This way we'll be boycotting OzTrans' theme, instead of the whole competition where SwissFan puts quite a bit of effort in. Granted, the voting may end up being more political about the choice of theme, rather than the screenshots itself.

An alternative would be to hold our own little screenshot contest for this particular month.

Any thoughts?

[wallyweb]

Any thoughts?

What if someone had chosen Europe or Germany or Japan or Sweden or United Kingdom or France or Switzerland? Would you be boycotting those as well? For all the years that I participated in this community I never ceased being amazed at the international diversity served up by its members. I am eternally greatful for TTDPatch and subsequently OpenTTD for making all this possible. It would be nice if we could all overcome our prejudices and celebrate this opportunity to learn about worlds away from our own. To be perfectly honest, I am surprised that, until now, nobody has suggested a topic with a national flavour. I sincerely hope that the four of you reconsider your decisions and instead help to make this contest the fun thing it was intended to be.

[Katve]

only 2 or 3 entrants

I remember that time I was finally on 3rd place

Since there's already 4 people skipping the contest over this month's theme, I have an idea.

The contest rules do not say one has to stick to the theme. What if we were just gonna submit screenshots which do not match the theme at all, so we still have screenshots to vote on? This way we'll be boycotting OzTrans' theme, instead of the whole competition where SwissFan puts quite a bit of effort in. Granted, the voting may end up being more political about the choice of theme, rather than the screenshots itself.

An alternative would be to hold our own little screenshot contest for this particular month.

Any thoughts?

I don't actually know about that. I will wait for a moment to see how Oztrans and Swissfan react and I will then decide what to do.

and can grfs are not available at all in the nightlies.

They aren't even available to latest stable release. (1.3.2)

[kamnet]

The contest rules do not say one has to stick to the theme. What if we were just gonna submit screenshots which do not match the theme at all, so we still have screenshots to vote on? This way we'll be boycotting OzTrans' theme, instead of the whole competition where SwissFan puts quite a bit of effort in. Granted, the voting may end up being more political about the choice of theme, rather than the screenshots itself. Any thoughts?

I think that is incredibly disrespectful to both OzTrans and all previous winners, and it completely defeats the spirit of the contest. The rules of the contest says that the winner gets to pick the next theme, and an overwhelming majority of participants gave OzTrans that respect and that right through the last round of voting. OzTrans' choice of theme isn't disrespectful to any member of this forum, it's not obscene, immoral or illegal in any way.

It's one thing to not participate because you're not interested in the theme, but to single out a member of this community and deem their choices as not being worthy, to the point of staging a protest? That's completely uncivilized. Honestly, anybody supporting such an idea should feel thoroughly ashamed of themselves for this attempted ostracization, for no legitimate reason at all.

[Katve]

I kinda agree to your point also Kamnet when you put it that way . I don't like theme and my opinion still stays, but I think it is uncivilized to post pictures that are not in theme to boycott SOTM.

[YNM]

What if someone had chosen Europe or Germany or Japan or Sweden or United Kingdom or France or Switzerland? Would you be boycotting those as well? For all the years that I participated in this community I never ceased being amazed at the international diversity served up by its members. I am eternally greatful for TTDPatch and subsequently OpenTTD for making all this possible. It would be nice if we could all overcome our prejudices and celebrate this opportunity to learn about worlds away from our own. To be perfectly honest, I am surprised that, until now, nobody has suggested a topic with a national flavour. I sincerely hope that the four of you reconsider your decisions and instead help to make this contest the fun thing it was intended to be.

Well well, double sided sword.

Anyway, if I make a heightmap, which part of canada you canadians suggest ?

[Purno]

I think that is incredibly disrespectful to both OzTrans and all previous winners, and it completely defeats the spirit of the contest. The rules of the contest says that the winner gets to pick the next theme, and an overwhelming majority of participants gave OzTrans that respect and that right through the last round of voting. OzTrans' choice of theme isn't disrespectful to any member of this forum, it's not obscene, immoral or illegal in any way.

It's one thing to not participate because you're not interested in the theme, but to single out a member of this community and deem their choices as not being worthy, to the point of staging a protest? That's completely uncivilized. Honestly, anybody supporting such an idea should feel thoroughly ashamed of themselves for this attempted ostracization, for no legitimate reason at all.

Very well. Then the contest will continue with less participants.

[Badger]

Oh come on people, it's a screenshot competition, not the end of the world, put the toys back in the pram and move on.

[STD]

I agree. Let everything be as it is . I'll wait another theme. Already decided so.
I just do not all themes like. I respect the selected OzTrans' theme , but it is not in my taste.
I think that participants will normally in this month .

Oh come on people, it's a screenshot competition, not the end of the world, put the toys back in the pram and move on.

I agree with Badger.

[Quast65]

Everyone is free to not like a theme for the competition, don't like it, don't participate. There aren't any rules that say that a theme has to be so universal so that loads of people can and will compete.

Regarding remarks about promoting a specific grf-pack, I see it more that the creator of certain grf's is curious about how people use his grf's, how imaginative they can be with tools that he has created and not simple as a promotional thing.
Furthermore, I think this theme is interesting because you can try to simulate some reallife stuff, it just takes some work (for example, try to simulate an existing rail/road/water/airroute). Gladly there are enough tools available (google-earth, pictures, movies) to see how a certain area looks if you have never been there.

I will certainly give it a try.

And finally, congratulations OzTrans with your victory, excellent shot!!