Fan-fiction contest and more...

[Slaughter]

Fan-fiction contest:

The fan-fiction contest is now ended, and we are determining the winner. We didn't get many contributions, so it should be decided upon soon. In the meantime we'd like some comments from you on the subject. You can now find the 4 stories submitted in our fan-fiction section. Read through them and post your opinion in this thread.

 

X-Com sounds/music mod:

Strahd have put together a new version of his X-Com music mod for us, this time with the X-Com sounds as well. It includes the alien, weapon and menu sounds from X-Com, as well as the music. You can read more about it here, and download it from our Other mods section. The download is 42 MB, but if your bandwidth permits, enjoy!

 

Czech videos with Martin Klima:

Martin Klima, senior designer of ALTAR Interactive, spoke at the Game Developers Session 2004 in Brno, Czech Republic recently. If you speak Czech, you can download videos from the event here. And in case you wondered, yes, it is the development of UFO:Aftermath he talked about...

[Thorondor]

As requested, and after reading the contest submissions, I shall now give my general impressions on the entries:

 

* The Soliders Story (Strahd)

Bad pacing (excessive speed), glancing strokes (little characterization) and inconsistencies (once a truck, then a car) plague whatever appeal the story might have originally had.

 

As a result, this one lands at the bottom of the heap

 

* Barely Nothing (Devvie)

After an extremely promising first paragraph, it all went downhill (much as the protagonist's mood). Bad use of punctuation, spelling mistakes, and repetition of the same wording consecutively ("anyway") don't help the reader to latch onto the story either.

 

It's a real shame that the author didn't manage to keep the quality up to the 1st paragraph's standards.

 

This one lands a notch above Strahd's entry.

 

* Living in the Aftermath (Skonar)

Though not very gripping, it is quite readable and doesn't suffer from the same basic failures found in the stories above.

 

It's real strengths lie in the very end, with a very nice description of a transgenant helping things really come alive. If only that youngster had found it in him to use his rifle before his religion...

 

As it is, it takes the nbr. #2 spot.

 

* Saundersville station (Not too Young Not too Old)

As you might have already guessed, this one gets my winning vote.

 

The entire first half of the story is passable, but what makes it a winner is Max. A quietly competent soldier whose level-headedness makes him a hero in the end...

[Slaughter]

Good, honest feedback there Mr. T . We have to take into account that not all contestants are native English speakers of course, but since most text editors have dictionaries...

[Aralez]

Will there be a poll regarding the stories ? Btw, i can't fully agree with Thorondor, i think the entries are all very good, but those authors were limited by the small maximum of words for that contest.

[shagpuss]

Right then, I'll say first off well done guys! I enjoyed reading them all!

 

Posted in my humblest opinion last to first-

 

Strahd- The Soldiers Story

It doesn't quite read right, the first paragraph reads quite descriptive and slowly, whilst the rest of the story flashes quickly by.

 

Skonar- Living in the aftermath

Quite boring and a few baffling areas. For one -

 

"His words were cut off by a heavy coughing bark, flakes of bone and flesh chipping through the door's wood in hollow crunches, a sickening slap of impacts on flesh. The shuddering inhalation of lungs filling with blood.

The young man stared helplessly at the older man. "Hel... help..."

The young man took two steps closer, spasming hand of the old man pulled at the younger man, twisted in the dangling strap of the young man's rifle.

 

I know what is happening from reading further on, but I have re-read this over and over and from these few sentences still can't make it out!

 

Older Man? Young Man?

 

Devvie- Barely Nothing

I liked this, nice descriptive beginning, sets you up for........a bland ending. A Squad Leader or Commander who deosn't listen and doesn't care? Who the hell put him in charge?

 

Not too young not too old- Saundersville Station

Probably the easiest type of story to write, it reads much like a take on the Aliens movie..

but I love the way it ends... Very Good

 

:mad:

[Slaughter]

Agree with you there Aralez. They are all nice stories. I just wish people ran their stories through a spell check before submitting them

 

As for a poll, no, not this time. 3 of the ALTAR developers and myself will decide. We have already done so, this is just to give the writers some well earned feedback, and to see if people's opinions are compatible with ours.

[shagpuss]

Slaughter, I found it a bit hard to actually locate this thread. Now I aint stoopid or nuthin so don't you dare say so!

But, you know where it says on the main page "post your views in this thread" Perhaps you could make "this thread" an actual link to this thread?

[Slaughter]

Hehe, will do so

[izchan]

I am very impressed with the quality of the work.

Yet, unfortunately, with the responsibility to give comments, someone might get hurt from this.

 

So here goes. From last to first.

 

4. The Soldier Story.

Eventhough the author is giving explanations to what happends, it is more suitable to be used within prequel to a novela rather than a short story. It lacks the emotional impact that is required.

 

3. Living in Aftermath

Now personaly I like the concept of the story, but somehow it lacked the part of the emotions. I would love to have felt more for the people involved, being forced into positions that they dislike.

 

2. Barely Nothing.

This ia a good story. The perspective of the person is very clear and precise, it falls into the physic of a human being in a losing war. I felt touched and could actually become part of the story.

 

1. Saundersville station

This is by far a best short story among them. It tells the story well, and you can relate to the people involved. It also shows the background and the world in which they live in. The harsh environment, a glimpse of the soldiers world before and after. The essense of short story telling is captured well.

 

I hope that I did not piss anyone off with my comments.

 

I sincerly hope that they will be more fan fics available in the future.

[Slaughter]

No, I think everyone will be thankful for the feedback. That is after all the reason for submitting a contribution, to get some feedback on your writing. If you'd like to read some more, you should also check out The Assault if you haven't already, and the stories in our fan-fiction forum.

[Sabreur]

Well, im not going to write anything long. (drove over 700km last night and still havent got any sleep.

 

My 'vote' would go to the Saundersville station, good work as the others at the forum from Not. Allso the Assault was good.

 

Well, Not deserves that shirt.. cant say anything else.

 

Good night...

[Devvie]

Thanks for the feedback.

 

It's fun to hear that people acctually reads what we writes =)

 

@Thondor, yes you are very correct, i wrote the thing a week or so before the deadline, but then i worked alot, and in the last minute, somehting like very late at night i had re-write it since i had far to many words in it. The first paragraph started out in about the same way as the original, but as it started getter very late, or even early, i just had to finnish it, hence also much of the bad spelling i guess.

[shagpuss]

So come on Slaughter!! Who won? Or are you trying to drag this out longer than an EastEnders plot line?

[Slaughter]

lol I'll reveal the winner tomorrow. I haven't been around much here in the Easter.