El Hazard, Year 10

[Helio Perroni Filho]

Fanfiction Contest

If it is alright for everyone, I'll sign up for organizing a Fanfiction Contest for the El-Hazard 10-Year Anniversary. Doing it will take:

* Finding people to actually get on the contest. There are several fanfiction sites out there which publish El-Hazard fanfictions: I'll ask their webmasters if they can advertise the contest, and I will also personally contact writers and ask them if they want to join;

* Setting up a page to host the contest itself and the competing works. No problem on the technical part, but I can use some help on design;

* Gathering a jury -- do you think five people will do?

The rules are simple. The fanfictions can be of any length and deal with any theme, so long they still belong to the El-Hazard setting. There are no specific restrictions on mature content -- but it will of course count against the fic if it deviates from the style of the original series (see below).

The best fanfiction will be chosen by a jury, which will rate the works on the following features:

Adherence to The Original Series - they ought to be El-Hazard fanfictions, afterall. This rates not only references, but also style -- the more a fic actually feels like an El-Hazard tale, the better it rates;

Adherence to The Contest Theme - The contest theme is Ten Years After. The more a fanfiction sticks to it, the better it rates;

Completeness - Does the fanfiction show the resolution of all the events it starts? Does it leave loose strings, or doesn't finish at all?

Length - Every story has a "right length", according to its argument -- the climax of an epic saga usually takes much longer to build than a romantic comedy. Does the fanfiction takes the time to fully develop its argument? Is it hurried, or too lengthy?

Popularity - there will be an open poll for the fans to express their preferences. The more people vote for an specific fanfiction, the better it rates.

Features are rated 0 to 5, except obviously for Popularity. There is no precedence -- they all weight the same. In case there is a draw, a second poll will be set up to decide it.

I really think there should be a prize for the writer of the best fanfiction. A copy of Guardian of Order's El-Hazard RPG sounds good, at least to me -- it has a lot to do with the ficwriting spirit of keeping the story going on after the original series finishes. If nothing else, it's something I can afford by myself -- although I wouldn't reject any contributions.

Please post any comments you might have on this, and feel free to offer any help you like.

[Helio Perroni Filho]

Fanfiction Contest Report #1

This is actually a preliminar report, to inform you what I'll do next -- or most probably, what I won't do. I'll probably spend this weekend working on that countdown I promised; besides that, there are several mundane chores (like college and my job) that need my attention. I might be able to contact some people during the week, but except for that I'll only start working on it on the next weekend.

[Saucer]

Hey, I have an idea for a fanfic! How about we write an erotic fanfic where all the chara are furries? Like, Makoto is an ocelot or something and we put furry versions of ourselves as stars of the story and...... :: dodges flying debris ::

OK seriously, welcome to the forum Helio and smkviper! Yes I would be interested in assisting with some sort of.... something or other commemorating the 10th anniversary of the greatest anime series of all time!

[Helio Perroni Filho]

Hey, I have an idea for a fanfic! How about we write an erotic fanfic where all the chara are furries? Like, Makoto is an ocelot or something and we put furry versions of ourselves as stars of the story and...... :: dodges flying debris ::

Hey, I like it! And we could ask that guy who's drawn the Ifurita Kittens to ilustrate it! |D

OK seriously, welcome to the forum Helio and smkviper! Yes I would be interested in assisting with some sort of.... something or other commemorating the 10th anniversary of the greatest anime series of all time!

Welcome on board, Saucer! It's good to see you're motivated. Fell free to contribute in any way you like -- if you want, you can read back on this topic and see some suggestions.

[Helio Perroni Filho]

0k, as long as programming is concerned, El-Hazard's 10 Year Anniversary Countdown is up and running. I used JSP to get the current and final times from the server, so the display is independent from the client's time settings. One side-effect of it is that it can only be hosted on JSP-enabled servers, but I don't think that will be much of a problem, since I've already got access to one.

I would appreciate some help with setting a proper page to display the countdown. Robert? Tim? Anyone?

[MrWhat]

Fanfiction Contest

Okay.  I'm in, if I have enough free time for it.

Sorry to be stupid, but-- is the theme simply "Ten Years After," or are you looking for something with a similar look/feel to those song lyrics?

I'm currently trying to work on a millstone-around-my-neck EH continuation serial called Hana Ni Arashi, but it's set roughly eight years after.  So I don't think I can shoe-horn HNA into your contest as it's described here.  Anyway, HNA probably still won't be finished in eight months.

So you'll probably get something short and silly from me, as is my usual.  On the other hand... this could be a good excuse to butt in on the Wolfe/Engels continuity.  Hee hee.

I could also try to do a cartoonish fan art.  My only fan art on this board to date is an inside-joke Ayeka fan art, and I've always wanted to follow up on that.  But I was never more than an amateurish cartoonist, and I've drawn about four cartoons in the past 12 years, so don't expect too much from me, there.

I'm afraid that's all that I can do.  Again, not much free time, here.  And I just came off the EHOL Round Robin, which was fun, but I'm not eager to start anything like that again, any time soon.  But good luck with all that other stuff.

[Neil Lafrenais]

I'll probably just draw a big ass picture or something, in celebration.

Just like I'll do for Evangelion. Yyyep.

[Helio Perroni Filho]

is the theme simply "Ten Years After," or are you looking for something with a similar look/feel to those song lyrics?

It's simply "Ten Years After". I linked to the song lyrics only because I thought it could be a good font of inspiration... "then again, maybe not."

I'm currently trying to work on a millstone-around-my-neck EH continuation serial called Hana Ni Arashi, but it's set roughly eight years after.  So I don't think I can shoe-horn HNA into your contest as it's described here.  Anyway, HNA probably still won't be finished in eight months.

I'm affraid I'll have to rewrite the rules to make them clearer... you see, what I tried to say is fanfictions will be judged on how close they come to follow those guidelines. So you can submit a story that doesn't fit exactly, or doesn't fit at all, any and all of them -- so long you realize it will get lower grades than better fitting ones.

I could also try to do a cartoonish fan art.

We're still short of someone to take charge of the Fanart Contest... in the worst case, we can make a "commemorative fanart gallery" or something. So please dot it, if you find the time.

[Helio Perroni Filho]

I'll probably just draw a big ass picture or something, in celebration.

Please keep us informed, I'll be looking forward for it.

[Captain Southbird (EHOL Creator)]

I would appreciate some help with setting a proper page to display the countdown. Robert? Tim? Anyone?

For future reference, I'm the tech guy.  Tim's more a content/workhorse guy.  (I.E.  He'll be the one who scans a new book, updates text, researches a fact.  I'm the guy who writes the site CGI scripts, maintains the files, and fixes broken links.)  But anyway.

How do you want it?  I mean, do you want me to make an embedded static clock, similar to a page count?  A java clock?  (I don't think I have JSP support, but even if I do, the mainpage is already .HTML...) Do you just want me to link to your clock page?  An IFrame with your clock in it?

[Fujisawa4654]

Wouldn't there be a way to create.. Meh I am no brainiac so I'll try to keep it from being over-simplistic.

Isn't there a way for you to create a 'sub-window' on the mainpage that gets the countdown directly from that page?... Just trying to help...

This is my little contribution to El-Hazard's 10 year anniversary, already posted on the forums, but still. Jinnai's a conquerer right?.. Except I don't remember him fighting for freedom (In the game, he's fighting for the freedom-fighters AKA New Conglomerate)

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v387/Fujisawa/LGJ.jpg

[Helio Perroni Filho]

How do you want it?

I was thinking something like what Fujisawa4654 suggested: using HTML 4.0 frames to display the counter inside another page (I know it can be done, even though my lousy HTML reference book doesn't tell me how ). That way we could keep it on my account, and there would be no file extension problems either. Of course we would still need to format the counter a little to match the style of the host page, but I don't see much problem in it.

[Captain Southbird (EHOL Creator)]

Oh, frames, yes.  I didn't think about those.  I've never deliberately redirected a frame to an alternate server, but it's perfectly possible since you can follow a link to another page but still be inside a frame.

Of course, since people are like deathly afraid of frames and I often hear of some mythical "old browers" that don't support them, I've avoided them for everything except my little quick access top bar, which is pretty much optional for viewing the site anyway.  But for the sake of the clock I'm sure I could frame it.

[Fujisawa4654]

2 things...

1. I don't think one of those mythical "old browsers" Could view this site.. I might be wrong though, even if there is, I doubt any EHOL member or visitor has one.

2. Come on man! My picture is l33t!.. What more do you want? A superhero?.. With blue hair?... I want some feedback on it at least... ;_;

[Captain Southbird (EHOL Creator)]

2. Come on man! My picture is l33t!.. What more do you want? A superhero?.. With blue hair?... I want some feedback on it at least... ;_;

It's a nice picture from what may very well be a fun game.  But just cause you stick the word "Jinnai" on it doesn't make it an El-Hazard attribute.    I mean, it ought to at least have SOME visual relevance.  Or if like all the players were named El-Hazard-ly.  Or something like that.