hey chaps,

never entered a competition before but i will!

this isn't because i haven't liked the theme or the prizes or any other of the comments above although i do have a few suggestions...

i like the idea of comments from yourself (mike) or other professionals, sorry chaps i don't know who you are right now being a casual user of this site. the thought that it would encourage bad sportsmanship is correct but i'm sure those with that disposition would keep comments like that to themselves. in fact it could encourage them to grow out of that attitude after all there's always someone better out there.

maybe to encourage more entries you could try focusing on different skills. i understand this is how it works at the moment, what i mean is that you could advertise the competition as being purely game art one month and hyper-real the next. that way it would encourage the varying factions within this community to enter albeit at different times.

taking this idea further you could set a series of back to back challenges that will encourage the entrant to further their skills using the same project. for instance, a game character design challenge followed by an animation challenge designed to express the same characters personality.

i think the problem at the moment is the amount of scope the competitions have with the aim of enabling anyone to enter. this may cause potential entrants to not enter as they feel unable to compete with the high standards of many entries. if it were tailored in a way that benefitted every entry then you may see more of a response.

love the prizes (could have really done with £400 this month!!!) so no probs there unless you could let the winnings 'rest' in my account till the winner is announced...

finally just got your new book mike, excellent as always and a big thank you from my partner and myself. keep up the good work chaps for it is you that are responsible for everything i've learned so far in the 3d world. well you and happymat27...