ORIGINAL: Drew
Hey I've heard of Photoshop Pin-Pong and Duels before but have never gotten a formal explanation of the rules, and how the winner's decided. Can anyone help an obviously new guy out here?
Wroth, of Deviantart.com once explained it to me like this:
"So, a duel.
Rules and conditions of victory and such? Hard to say, the game changes with the players and the setting. In some there are no winners, and in others there are no losers, and in some kinds there is a winner and a loser... So, then, it is important to carefully pick where you play, and who you play with. You do NOT want to get stuck in a long running battle that is no fun and only work, trust me. If you quit it looks like you gave in, if you stay you waste hours of your life. Be careful, make sure your investment of time is profitable.
So then, duels take many forms and it's important to pick what kind you want. But what kinds are there? Well I think you could classify them by how scripted they are, that is how many rules they have and how those are enforced. Some are very free, you hook up with someone you know and colab together in a series or a one shot; none of which involves an arena [my holiday colab with ~korridan last year is an example]. Others are very scripted, with judges and rules up the ***, these are normally where the arena is more important then the duelers [my duel with voice is an example of this type]. Then there are ones that are a mix, the arena is there to help connect duelers and manage duels. I've yet to try this last type, but I'd say that is the mix I would look for if I where you and wanted some big and sweet battle.
So we got an idea now of what form the duel should take? Enough freedom to be productive, but not so much that it is unfocused. And enough rules to imply a point to the battle, but not so many rules that creative is crippled [only limitation, so that you can force your enemy into a conner want watch him die ]... So then you need someone to beat on. I'd suggest a balance again; find someone that has art with things in common to your art, but who also does things differently. That way you can some common ground that is safe, and then have a style that is your own which you can lure him into and trap him. The way to win is commonly making an image which he is unable to use any element from to make his next image. Trap someone who can only do photomanip in a net of vector images and before long he'll run out of wiggle room and have to stop... You also want to learn something from the battle, so pick someone who does things a little differently then you do things. Him/her picking up your image from where you left off is an excellent way to get a kind of feedback on the image, to see how it is transformed from a different perspective.. So this is another reason why you want to pick someone who has balanced skills, you don't want to play with someone who sucks and can teach you little. [and you don't want to play with someone so much better he'll kick your *** in a few turns.]
Which brings us to 'why duel' now that the 'who' and the 'where' are sightly cleared up. Battle and duel at not perfect terms in this sense. I suspect, the reason they are used is because a duel is the ideal concept of a one on one display of skill. the give and take, parry and thrust, is more important then the goal of beating the other person in this sense, which is why the term battle and duel are used for colabs that do not have the aim of beating the other player... I've played some battles where my aim was to beat the other player, those where fun in their way, trying to trick, trap, and trash the other guy. I've done other duels though like the one with voice, where the aim was to blow the fucking sucks off everyone watching and every other duel in the arena; that was more fun, a sparing battle of comrades. What you want is up to you, i'd say try them both if you can. but do it for some reason that matters, try to learn something and have fun.
Anyhow, that is a basic sketch of how duels work i guess? vague i guess, but so is the subject itself. i dun'know, hope it helped. i would still say dropping by that site of voice's is worth it. got'a be a good place to start
--
Wroth "
There ya have it.
