Top Cut Closed/Judging Through Y3

11 min read

Deviation Actions

Battle-Frontier's avatar
Published:
1.3K Views

Hi all ~ As promised, this is the journal that breaks down the process of judging we've had through Y3, and announces the schedule for both the Top 4 consideration, and the selection of Champion.

Having both run this group so long, and competed in other places where I could, it's not a stretch to say that I've had a lot of different experiences from both sides of the table to pool together, and that while Y3's system was different from the previous two challenges, I think on the whole, it's been a lot simpler, more efficient, and fairer overall. Not to mention that it gave everyone the chance to stay in the challenge, even when life did what it does best (get in the way of our hobbies, that is :'D).

Rounds 1 through 5 are explained first, with Top Cut and Champ judging listed below it, if you're looking to skim read to what T4 will take. And finally:

The cut-off point for Top 4 Consideration has been reached - Judging for Top Cut has now begun - Round 6 launches on the 22nd.


Please remember that you can still continue to submit R5 works! The deadline does not affect those who aren't overly concerned about the competition and are participating for the story.


Judging: Rounds 1-5


We've had the explanation of judging available in the FAQ/Rules since R1 (and with a detailed breakdown in the post R1 journal as well), but as a quick refresher, here's the criteria we used and how we used it:

:bulletblack: Your judges on Trainer Side have been tazsaints, Kuurokaze and dia-phantom.
:bulletblack: BFOI only scored in whole numbers during Y3. In categories with more than one point available, less than the full amount was earned if the submission did not fully meet that category's conditions (eg: a sketch or line-only entry will earn only +1 completion point, as opposed to a fully coloured piece earning the full +2), and each entry was only scored once (no later edits were accounted for).
:bulletblack: To prevent anti-competitive behaviours, only the Colour Code of a Trainer was visible to the group and individual scores will not be published.

Points Distribution:
Timeliness: +1 - This is earned only if submitted before the initial deadline.
Completion: +2 - Is it fully complete, and consistent the entire time?
Additionally, this category checks that all Round conditions have been fulfilled correctly. Ignoring instructions bites into this category very hard and fast.
Quality: +2 - Does the entry show a good standard of quality compared to your previous works?
For R1 submissions, we compared against recent works in your gallery to gauge your skill and effort level, but from R2 onwards, submissions were compared against previous rounds.
Creativity: +2 - Is the entry interesting, clever and fun to read?
Or is there a concept used here that makes it stand out from the other entries, perhaps?
Technical: +2 - Does the entry display a good layout, easy to read dialogue?
We use this category to score the backbone of your submissions, and take into account anatomy, perspective, layout, colour usage, flow, pacing and dialogue in comics, and so on. It's not enough to just slap some words on a few pictures and call it a comic - There's a lot of ground work that goes into illustration and writing that we look more deeply at here. Additionally, starting from R2, not taking into account any available round ref of a character you were cameoing also affected this, as it showed a lack of care towards the members you're cameoing.
Bonus: +1 - Earned only if the entry contains the random bonus requirement.
Every round had its own Bonus condition for an extra obtainable point relating to the given round conditions.


A typical set of judging on an entry looked like this during Y3, where the first judge to get to an entry would use the points template to score a round sub, and also explain their reasoning, things they liked or disliked about the submission.
Challenges/Agreeings to the score were added via replies, and sometimes they did take a bit of a debate to decide on a final score.


When the final total was settled on, the submission was then accepted and their round tally was updated accordingly. Each colour rank had a fixed minimum limit of points needed for a member to rank up during the challenge, and because it was a fixed amount, not everyone ranked up each time, as some scores added up to a mere 1 or 2 points below the cut, and it happened surprisingly often during the challenge.

The points needed for each rank were:

Colourless - 0 (default entry rank)
Blue - 8
Green - 17
Yellow - 25
Red - 35

Judging: Top Cut


Judging consideration for the Top Cut will be working a little differently from the previous five rounds, as we'll be taking into account factors that weren't scored during the challenge, and looking at the competitors from more than one angle to judge their worthiness for the cut.

Obviously, the first factor is their Total Score. A high score tells us the member consistently put forth a good showing and worked very hard to make it to the top and stay there. Next to that are their individual scores over the course of the challenge - Did they consistently improve, stay stable, or end up slipping over time? While it does have a fair bit of weight, we'll still consider everyone who reached the top level, as individual stories and styles are worth a second look, and we'll be looking at what makes everyone stand out from each other to choose an exemplary Top Cut for Y3.

Art skill or pure storytelling on their own aren't really factors we've ever judged solely on, preferring hard work and creative storytelling married together well within a person's skill limits instead of just strictly one or the other. Someone who's pushed their own skill limits and shown/displayed a great story along the way is someone who will catch our attention to close the story for the group in the final rounds.

Overall Consistency is yet another thing we look at. If we've got a tie, then we also look at previous rounds, and compare the consistency of the work between the two members.
If we have someone who is very consistently producing work of a high standard every round, vs someone dives between a quality of 50% and 100%, then the more consistent worker will win out over the less consistent one.

At the end of the Judging, everyone in the Y3 challenge will be divided into two groups:
Top Cut and Compatriot.

Top Cut will only host the Top Four going into the finals, with everyone else being labelled as Compatriot and given different conditions to work with during the finals.
Compatriot will have two different levels within itself as well, to reflect the level of story completion achieved before taking on the finals. Competitors who are still catching up or only participating for story will still be able to attain the higher level provided they complete the required work.

Judging: Champion


I can tell you right now, this is going to be the toughest selection we've ever had to make for the group. The selection of a new Champion isn't something taken lightly, and Y3 will be even harder than the last challenge for sure.

Champion selection will see the finalists first scored by tazsaints with a similar table used in R1-5.
The Timeliness and Bonus categories will be removed, however, and the extra points placed in under Creativity and Technical (giving those two categories a weight of +3 instead of +2).
The reason for those two categories getting more weight is to make sure that the strengths of the finalists are given equal measure between story telling (Creative) and art skill (Technical), seeing as those are the two biggest factors these challenges come down to in the final round.

Following the initial scores, the judging will then be open to challenge and debate from all admin (tazsaints. Kuurokaze, dia-phantom, Gleaming-Hope, YuriaThames, kimievers) to discuss factors they liked, didn't like, story elements that stood out to them, striking art that left impressions, and so on, to make sure no stone is left unturned, and reach a definite and final score between our finalists that has looked at every possible factor.


Hopefully that gives you a ton of insight into how we've operated during Y3, and honestly, we've found this method worked so well for us that we will likely use a similar scale in Y4.

In the meantime, like it was stated in the previous journal, we will contact those who've made Top Cut a few days before R6 is launched to gain necessary info ahead of the launch, so please keep an eye on your inboxes because it will be very time sensitive and if we don't hear back we will have to drop your trainer's inclusion from the intro (and we'd like to avoid that if possible!)

That's all from us, happy arting, Ohana ~



© 2017 - 2024 Battle-Frontier
Comments4
Join the community to add your comment. Already a deviant? Log In
Zillar's avatar
Excited to see if my personal picks make it to the top cut c;

I'm so glad to hear Y4 will be similar because I have REALLY enjoyed how this year has been run.

Will Y4 also be open round? As much as I'd like to maintain my wishful thinking that I can actually stay caught up next time, I know I'm going to be in the busiest phase of my grad program soooo, not likely hah.