The Avatar’s Guide to Knowledge and Virtue – A Video Creation Contest

Do you have in-depth knowledge on a feature in the game that new players should know more about? Would you call yourself an expert in a particular field of gameplay? This is your chance to create a valuable how-to video that can be shown to the entire community (and help grow your channel as well!)

The ‘Avatar’s Guide to Knowledge and Virtue’ video contest kicks off today. You have from Nov. 17, 2017 to Jan. 15, 2018 to design a walkthrough video for all New Britannians to use as a resource for making their way successfully in the game.

When you have a video to submit, please post it in This Thread. You are allowed to edit your posts up until the submission deadline on Jan. 15, 2018 at 11:59 PM CT (Jan. 16 at 5:59 AM UTC). We will be posting all final videos on Portalarium’s YouTube channel in a Playlist after the contest ends.

Below are the details of the contest, including what you can win!

SUGGESTED CATEGORIES

You may submit a video for each category (Feel free to come up with your own categories! You can only win once though.). If you do create multiple videos, consider developing a special series title!

• Getting Started – From Install to Play
• Getting Started – The Beginning Scenes
• The Various Gameplay Modes
• Navigate Through Compass and Maps
• Finding Other Players
• Chatting with Other Players
• Adventuring and Scenes
• Town Differences (Incl. nested, biomes, player owned/run, etc.)
• Quests, Story, and Conversations
• Combat Types (PvE or PvP or both, etc.)
• Combat Mechanics
• Combat Do’s and Dont’s
• Inventory and Storage
• Weapons and Armor
• Crafting Skills and Techniques
• Gathering Skills and Techniques
• Guilds, Groups, and Friends
• Mail System and Secure Trading
• Using the In-game Economy
• Craftable Versions of Store Items
• Lots, Housing, and Rent
• Musical Instruments (including the radios)
• …or any other category you can think of!

Please mention in the submission post which category your video is designed around.

WHAT YOU CAN WIN

Grand Series prize winners (For those who create a video series of 3+ eligible videos):

• Special Contest Version of the Old Time Camera
• ‘Professor of Arcane Knowledge 2017’ in-game title
• 750 COTOs

Grand prize winners (Top 5):

• Special Contest Version of the Old Time Camera
• ‘Professor of Arcane Knowledge 2017’ in-game title
• 500 COTOs

Runner-up prize winners (Top 2):

• ‘Professor of Arcane Knowledge 2017’ in-game title
• 250 COTOs

Weekly entries (2 random picks per week of the contest being live):

• 25 COTOs

Final entries and winners will be announced on the Community Livestream on Jan. 19! Keep watch on the main website and the game’s social channels for details and updates.

SUBMITTING A VIDEO

If you want to know what works best for a game like Shroud of the Avatar, search on YouTube for MMO or MMORPG “How-to Play”, “Gameplay Walkthrough”, “Player Guides”, etc., for ideas. Videos can contain textual cut-scenes, though we suggest limiting these and letting you do the work talking about what you want to explain out loud.

You only have a couple of minutes to be impactful, so don’t waste it with dead space! We recommend you create a script in advance and walk it through several times before recording the final video scenes (recording doesn’t have to be seamless, you can cut where needed).

Requirements:

• Scenes: Use the following [Beginning] and [End] scenes
  The second scene after our provided opening scene will be a custom one by you that must contain your character name and what the walkthrough is about. The Beginning scene is required for ALL videos, so please wait to upload your videos until you see this update from us!
  • #1 Scene = Ours, #2 Scene = Yours, #3 Video = Main How-To, #4 Scene = Ours
  • #1 and #2 Scene should last ~4 seconds each with the #4 end scene at ~8 seconds
• Resolution: 1920×1080, 2560×1440, or 3840×2160 if consistently at 30fps or higher. If absolutely necessary, you can go down to 1280×720, but only if it helps performance.
• Runtime: 1:30 to 2:30 minutes
• Assets: May only use game or free graphics, music, or your own customized assets.
  • NOTE: If you use your own assets you must have all rights to those assets and you must assign us perpetual non-exclusive rights to those assets so we can use them to share the video for promotional purposes.
• Quality: For optimal game recording quality, set all game settings to their max
  Scale back game settings if framerate drops consistently below 30fps
  Use relatively brief fades to help transition from one scene to the next
• Audio: Music should be subtle or non-existent except perhaps at the beginning and end. Light sound effects may benefit the video if you are doing things like crafting, in combat, or other activities that sound would aid in the results. Voiceover should be a priority.
• Voiceover: You must be able to convey instructions, whether that be through transcription, and/or preferably a voiceover.

Your video must be in English and shareable on YouTube. Submit your video in the official forums with a title, description, why you chose the particular walkthrough category, and a link to the video.

VIDEO RESOURCES

There are plenty of tools out there to use to put together a video! Production tools include Adobe Premiere, Cyberlink Director, and Sony Vegas. As long as the video adheres to the contest requirements, you can use any software at your disposal.

Click here to download our Media Kit that includes additional logos and items for your video.

You are also required to save raw footage in case we would like to reuse the footage in future videos. Please do not send raw footage until we ask though, unless it is via an easy to use link that downloads the footage in one path.

CONTEST RULES

Since this is a skill based contest, a committee of judges will be formed at Portalarium, and any tie breakers will be resolved by the committee. Any concerns and disputes on who won must be sent to Berek in the community forums. Do not post in the submission thread or other public areas any disputes or challenges about the winners.

Inappropriate or vulgar submissions are prohibited and will result in disqualification. Submissions containing any of the following are considered inappropriate:

• Any disparagement of a race/gender/group of people or ideals
• Drug/alcohol abuse, sexual connotations, and other derogatory or disturbing imagery
• Graphical bugs, or otherwise depicting the state of the game in a negative manner
• Anything that would be a violation of the common Community Rules & Guidelines

THIS IS A SKILL-BASED CONTEST. VOID WHERE PROHIBITED BY LAW. VIDEO FOOTAGE CAN BE FROM ANY SOURCE AVAILABLE TO YOU, INCLUDING YOUR OWN GAME ACCOUNT AND THIRD PARTY SOURCES. ASK FOR PERMISSION WHERE APPROPRIATE. AFFIDAVIT OF ELIGIBILITY / RELEASE OF LIABILITY / PRIZE ACCEPTANCE AGREEMENT MAY BE REQUIRED.

ALL SUBMITTED VIDEOS ARE ABLE TO BE USED AND COPIED BY PORTALARIUM FOR PROMOTING SHROUD OF THE AVATAR AS PORTALARIUM AND ITS PARTNERS SEES FIT.

Discuss this contest in the forums.