Open discussion on screenshots

Tony_Hilliam

Trainz Plus - enjoy Trainz from just 20 cents a da
Recently there has been a big drop in the number of votes, and a lesser drop in the number of entries. I'd love to hear your thoughts on what, if anything needs to change in this forums, as well as your thoughts about screenshots in general - Trainz gallery, social media, screenshots forum etc.
 
I guess it is because I don't seem to be interested in it as much. Moderators getting into my business and giving infractions for things that don't call for it, not exactly helping the situation.
 
Perhaps You-tube is taking over? Either that or Evilcrow has set a very high standard recently

Cheerio John
 
the game needs a better SKYBOX
a larger one. the one that is in game now is way too small. the current one makes it look fake, thats why i dont use a sky with clouds.
and make the default enviromental settings look better. so it looks good off the start. and not like a cartoon
 
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I always make a point to check the screenshots daily to see what's new from around the world. I get ideas from other route and asset builders for use on my own layouts.

I often contribute to the weekly screenshot competition and a regular on Australian Screenshots. Lately, I've been more involved with looking after my grandchildren, than creating any new routes. This is only a temporary family matter and with some free time, will return to normal again.

Cheers,
Roy
 
Recently there has been a big drop in the number of votes,


I never knew there was a vote. :confused:

Where, when and how?
 
Could it be the competitive aspect that's driving the participation numbers down?

I mean, there are a number of Trainzers who are obviously more talented than others at producing great-looking screenshots. They routinely win the competitions or at least attract many favourable comments, so tend to keep competing. The less-talented ones generally lose and, understandably, tend to get tired of the experience.

As for the declining number of votes, I don't have a good theory on that.
 
I agree with the comment by Deane.

Trainz is a hobby, not a competitive game. I would also surmise that natural attrition due to advancing age or failing interest is reducing the number of users that have the skill and the confidence to post the result of their work. T:ane is also becoming more technically demanding which could tend to discourage new users.

My opinion is that if any substantial element of competition sneaks into Trainz then I am 'outa here'. I create content because I enjoy the 'making', not the 'using' and I think it is possible that others may have the same point of view.

I look at and enjoy screenshots but have no interest in assessing and comparing their worth.

PeterPM
 
It can still be a great picture even if not in taken in TANE there are a lot of great looking routes on the older stuff.
I know about the votes, but don't vote as they all look great to me, I can not decide on which one I like best.
 
Tony,

in all honesty, it appears you are not serious enough about this. Why did you take time off, just to come back to this ship, without a plan to steer it clear of the oncoming obstacle? It is obvious the screenshots are the marketing tools, and without them, the free marketing is gone.
 
As a regular contributor to the Screenshots comp I would like to see a clear set of rules published and make the threads more visible.

I enjoy the competition and I must say that it has made me strive to improve my model building.

Those that don't like competitions don't need to look at the threads and don't need to enter them, each to their own.

Maybe consider making it an official 'Screenshot Showcase' instead with the premise of 'Which shot deserves to be in the Newsletter.'


I would win more often if it weren't for those front quarter shots of big American diesels, oh and ban Ekenkal, he's too good :eek:


(the last line was a joke btw)


Edited to add, I don't do anti-social media and Trainz Gallery needs to be more user friendly.
 
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I view the competitions regularly, and there are some new regulars, along with those that come and go.
But we do have the regulars who contribute. Even I have had a go, once or twice. And then there were
some *surprise* contributors, recently. Really pleasing to see.

What I sense is a drop in participation when the theme is a bit esoteric, or a bit way out. So you only get
five, six entries, and then one vote is allowed.

The open (no theme) competitions are really popular. Ten, fifteen, sometimes twenty or more contributions.
Great viewing, and sometimes, hard to vote for so many contributions are so good.

I would say that Trainz is in competition with social media for participants time and contributions. I remember
the forums back in 2004 and before the great crash of 2006, there were so many contributing, in many, many
different ways. Tony, I think you have to take that on the chin, and attend to your buyers and what they
seek from N3V.

As for us, as Roy3b3 says above, family and work get in the way. And then for some of us, illness, as many
prolific contributors are retired gents. (I have just joined this retired category). I was looking at Andi06's stations
last night, and got to thinking, you know, he is now on the forums in the great game in the heavens, as some
of our regulars have caught "the last train" so to speak.

As I say, what your current buyers are seeking, nay, demanding, and then how we cater to the really young
participants here, so many of who come and ask for one thing, (landrvr, etc) or turn into gimmie pigs and we
have *ahem* issues.

Things haven't really fallen over, imho.

Just sayin.
 
... maybe it is an idea to make it a little bit different...
- select some screenshot-threads (the big, regular ones)
- select a panel of judges: moderators and also (or only) N3V
- divide between professionals and amateurs or advanced and beginners ...
- if the choices are made by panel: give a comment/rating and let viewers choose/vote from the selection
- at the end of the year: some selected pics become a price, like a yearticket or something else ...

... at least: the screenshotters give the "mirror" of the game, with the accent on: "... you can make it, if you try ..."

grtz and have a nice weekend ...
daveric

ps:
- screenshots in general: ... if someone offers a bunch of screenshots with the same topic, let him open one thread and not spreading all the same pics in several threads ...
- screenshothost: must be able by N3V ... and not gallery ... it ruins the "gallery"-image ...
- screenshotgallery: had to be organize ... it's a not-overviewable warehouse ... it is not nice to visit ...
- screenshotthreads: a-must-be ... amazing, wonderfull world ...
- social media: this forum is my only social media ...
 
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I enjoy looking at screenshots as it gives me an idea on what can be done if you put your mind to it.

At the moment I'm trying to build my own route and hopefully once I've managed to get it looking to a reasonable standard then I will post some screenshots.

Michael
 
I posted a few but lost interest quickly.

The minute you edit your screenshot in a graphics editor, it's no longer is a screenshot competition, it's now a "who's best at editing images to make them look good" competition. I know for a fact I'm not good with graphic programs, so why compete? I now post the odd screenshot (when I get the urge or I think I have something half decent) in the screenshots forum where you're not competing and just admiring.

As others have stated, some people are very very good at topography and detailing, some of us are average and try to improve as we move along. So why compete?

No complaints btw, I enjoy looking at the images, they give me a lot of inspiration. As a "competition" though, it's only a few who can actually "compete" for screenshot of the week. :)
 
The game has a way to submit screenshots to the FEED if turned on.

Which is located here:
http://www.trainzportal.com/mytrainz/


Why not just attract people using the game its self.

Make a popup letting the user know they can submit a screenshot for competition with "insert theme here"... etc..
And you can make checkbox for users that don't want to ever see screenshot competition messages or they can turn that ON...

This prevents screenshot modification outside tane.

Not sure if you can make a new message on the screenshot tab in tane that tells users about the theme of the current week.

REALLY: The "upload to feed" feature is something that people need to know about, ITS SUPER EASY TO MAKE AND find your screenshots already online with the feed, because they have no idea on how to find the screenshots, let alone upload them to imgur and THEN even link to that image in a forum.

Integrate it with the game/feed so people don't even need forum access.

So you already have the feed available for people, just integrate the competition more with the games screen shot interface and too many people will probably participate, overloading your feed servers...
Then you can give error if user submits more than one for current theme,,, etc...
 
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Well, in my case, as I've posted a lot of screenies of my route project on the contest, as now I'm beginning to get stuck, i'm running out of screenshots to compete.
 
As a fairly new regular participant in the screenshot competitions, I have found them to be enjoyable. I first began looking at/posting in them after reading about them in one of the newsletters. If it hadn't been for that, I would never have known they existed.

I would say better advertisement of the screenshots and various competitions might help....If people aren't aware of them, they won't participate in / look at them etc.

Part of this may also be that there are so many places to look for screenshots and competitions that it is hard to keep track of them all. Perhaps having one location that corrals them would help. Maybe it could even highlight recent great screenshots , both regular and competition ones. Others have mentioned that the gallery should be made more user friendly, perhaps this could serve as the basis for this one stop for screenshots/competitions/forums about how to get involved doing screenshots etc if it were redone? Also having one location would help with getting the word out about it.

Recently there was a campaign with hashtags to post screenshots from social media, but it was unclear how to do so, especially for those of us who are facebook challenged. Perhaps a post or such explaining how to do this? Social media could also help with bringing in more people.

I agree with saieditor about the competition themes, some of them are difficult to come up with appropriate screenshots for. Perhaps only having one themed week per month and the rest be no theme or such might work?

As for the competitions themselves, I feel they are for anyone who wishes to show their trainz work off in the hopes of having theirs used in the newsletter ,etc, or simply just for others to enjoy. Yes, it can be intimidating the first few times you post after seeing many talented trainzers' shots, but it is worth it once you have one win. There are all levels of artistic talent in those who do post, some are downright amazing and put mine to shame, but it drives me to improve mine by using their examples. Many of the shots are excellent in their own ways, even if they don't win. I've seen great ones from older versions as well, so I wouldn't allow that you don't have the latest version to stop anyone. If someone dislikes the competition aspect then there are other ways to share our hobby (aka obsession ;-) ) in other screenshot forum threads.
 
The game has a way to submit screenshots to the FEED if turned on.

Which is located here:
http://www.trainzportal.com/mytrainz/


Why not just attract people using the game its self.

Make a popup letting the user know they can submit a screenshot for competition with "insert theme here"... etc..
And you can make checkbox for users that don't want to ever see screenshot competition messages or they can turn that ON...

This prevents screenshot modification outside tane.

Not sure if you can make a new message on the screenshot tab in tane that tells users about the theme of the current week.

REALLY: The "upload to feed" feature is something that people need to know about, ITS SUPER EASY TO MAKE AND find your screenshots already online with the feed, because they have no idea on how to find the screenshots, let alone upload them to imgur and THEN even link to that image in a forum.

Integrate it with the game/feed so people don't even need forum access.

So you already have the feed available for people, just integrate the competition more with the games screen shot interface and too many people will probably participate, overloading your feed servers...
Then you can give error if user submits more than one for current theme,,, etc...

I did not know this functionality was connected to the gallery like that. I had been loading shots in via that url directly. I won't be doing that anymore.

I agree with TINE, I think beefing up that functionality would be a great way to go. Perhaps showcasing recent screenshots from the feed in game would be something that could also be done...
 
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I very much support what 'brucem56' said at #15 there are one to many screenshots which appear in my view to be more about the ability to be creative with graphic software than being creative with Trainz and although I tend to view the entries it's probably these days why I'm reluctant to vote. Some of those screenshots published within the Screenshots thread are in my view far superior to those submitted for the competitions which I feel is a great pity as those members equally warrant acknowledgement for their efforts.

I think the concept of a competition is good and both organisers and competitors should be congratulated by as all for their commitment. As for the future I'm not sure but currently we have the Gallery, Screenshots and Competition all displaying aspects of members creativity. Peter
 
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