Get your Pixels in a DS Game Contest!!

Hi everyone,

I am the Creative and Technical Lead for Dragon's Den Unlimited ( DrgnDen.com ). By Q4 of this year we will officially be entering the video games market. While we already have several very talented artists on staff, it never hurts to make some new friends, and, perhaps, even long term allies in our fight to put out fun, creative, and unique gameplay experiences! So this is a great chance for you, the aspiring or accomplished pixel artist, to build your portfolio by having your work in a Nintendo DS Game published by a well known company. (NDAs, non disclosure agreements, prevent me from naming which company and major details of the game until later in development, sorry -.-; )

We are on an accelerated development cycle to fast track this game to stores by the Holiday Season so you don't have a lot of time (July 24th). So, Without further adieu...

Premise :
Using the following specs you should create no less than 10 unique icons. These icons can be just about anything:

Vehicles, household objects, food, animals, plants, electronics, dust, toys, computer components, toiletries, clothing.
The only things it cannot be are: copyrighted characters (Captain Planet, Mario, PS2, Pokemon), real people, close ups of faces (non descript low res people are okay), material inappropriate for minors.

I know this sounds weird, but we really just need lots of STUFF, normal stuff, strange stuff, boring stuff, exciting stuff


Speaking of Exciting stuff.....
Prizes:
1st : $50 USD, Your name in the Credits, Retail Copy of the final game
2nd : $25 USD, Your name in the Credits, Retail copy of the final game
3rd : 3-month Sub to DA

Extended Prizes:
Mega Star: $200 USD if we use 50 or more of your icons, Retail Copy of the Final Game
Super Star:$100 USD if we use 25 or more of your icons, Retail Copy of the Final game
Star: Your name in the game credits if we use any of your icons

If you are a Mega or Super Star you can submit a self portait or a portait of your character to accompany your name

Icon Rules:
Must by 32x32 with a 1 pixel border so your effective area is 30x30
Must be 16 colors with the first entry in the Palette being the transparent color (#FF00FF)
No animations. Just a static image.
Come up with 9-16 color variations

Submission Rules (VERY IMPORTANT):
1. REALIZE that you are creating this art for Dragon's Den Unlimited (DrgnDen.com), and to a greater extent, our publisher. Any icon that is submitted becomes the property of DrgnDen.com. This means we (DrgnDen.com and our publisher) can continuously use the icon you created in any fashion we choose without royalty or payment beyond the above prizes.

2. Re-Read rule 1 so neither of us ends up on the wrong side of our publisher's law team

3. If you are a minor, please get your parent's consent before entering

4. Deadline is JULY 24TH, 2006

5. To enter

Post a high resolution JPG or GIF/PNG of your icons (sprite sheet) with their titles underneath (this aids easy

viewing) to your DA Page and reply to this post with the link

THEN

Send an email with zip file to ( codax@drgnden.com ) with the following files
BMP(4/8bpp)/PNG/GIF of each icon named YourInitials_ICONTITLE.bmp
PAL an exported palette o feach icon named YourInitials_ICONTITLE.pal
Please include your name (as you want it to appear in the credits), email address, DA name
Please have the subject read "DA Pixel Art Contest Entry"

6. Submit as many icons as you have time to create, 1-upping other entries is allowed

7. Don't forget, even 1 awesome icon gets you in the game

Judging (Contest is judged by Myself, DrgnDen.com Concept Artist Alison, and our Publisher's Art Director)
Most important is following the rules. Time is something my team is very short on, following the rules will allow

easy implementation into the game and make us very happy.
Quality: This is your statement to the world, people all over the united states (and with any luck some foreign

markets too) will see your work. Put your best icons forward it could definitely mean future work
Quantity/Speed: The deadline is hard, but manageable. Prove you can handle work within time constraints to provide

as many top quality icons as you can
Creativity: The subject matter is pretty wide; we judge creativity by the breadth of subject matter covered as well as variety with a subset of subject matter (randomness vs. completeness)

We all look forward to seeing what you come up with!

Miguel
Dragon's Den Unlimited
http://www.DrgnDen.com