What about "Alien"?
And by that I don't mean exclusively the "sci-fi" part of alien, I'm thinking of the term in
a broader perspective (although a sci-fi themed contest could both work now, and might
be interesting). But no, I mean "Alien" also in the sense that the contestant have to
create something "alien," something foreign, weird, strange, something rather...
Out of this world, on a general basis.
Anyway, let's not rush this one. I'll want to enter, but I can't enter till my exams are
done. I'm thinking we should maybe wait till the summer vacation or something before
we launch this contest. If anything, we'll get a good long while to discuss the theme
before then if so
I like the
Alien idea. And it wouldn't necessarily have to be sci-fi; it could be in early times, but simply with foreign life & environment. Or, of course, it could be sci-fi aliens; they'd both fit into the theme.
I'll also try to think of some themes of my own:
Afterlife Realms: This would be any afterlife type of terrain. It could be a ghostly realm, a burning hell, a bright heaven (think of the heavens in diablo 3 for example), a mysterious tauren spirit walker realm; anything of the sort.
Flowing Current: This would be a terrain that focuses around a flowing body of liquid. It could be anything; a mana stream, a waterfall, chemicals from an industrial complex, whatever theme the terrainer wants, but moving water would have to be a significant part of the terrain.
Tower Defense Terrain: This would be a playable terrain that could be used for a tower defense map. It could be anything; a waterfall through cliffs, with the cliffs designed for players to build on, and enemies going through the water; detailed mountains with canyons through them that enemies run through; manmade structures that enemies move through; anything. But it would be designed in a way that it could clearly represent the paths of a Tower Defense map. They could even create elaborate terrained structures to represent towers, turrets, ships, siege weapons, troops, or some sort of defensive system, along with something that is flowing through the paths, such as units. Then, creators who want to have their terrains used, and at the same time dramatically improve the terrain of a potentially unique tower defense map, could either team up with other mappers, make it into a map themselves, or give it to other mappers to use to create a Tower Defense or Tower War style map. I believe this type of contest would be interesting because it would leave a lot of room for artists to have a unique style while still holding to a very constant theme, would finally require that terrainers work skillfully on the pathing of their terrains, and would also help to produce a wave of tower defense maps that, for once, have incredible terrains (and possibly unique gameplay styles built around those terrains).
No Land In Sight: The contestants would have to create a terrain that includes no land. For example, this could be in the air, in the water, or in space.
Light Source: The terrain would be dominated by a single type of source of light (it wouldn't have to be the same source, but if there are multiple sources, they would have to be the same thing; it could be lit up by stars, torches, energy of some sort such as mana or holy light, fires; whatever the terrainer thinks of.
Mists: The terrain would utilize mists of some sort; it could be dust, gas, smoke, fog, mist, energy, a space nebula; whatever the creator wants. But the entire theme of their terrain will have to be built around whatever the mist is; if they use fog, their terrain will need to have a theme that fits fog, such as creepy or relaxed, and if the terrain is gas, the theme would have to be built around something that causes the gas, such as an environmental phenomenon or an industrial complex. The mist would have to be dynamic; it could not simply be a background fog. It would need to be made with particle emitters or triggers; something that would have to be created throughout the terrain rather than simply setting once throughout the entirety of it.