Hello there! Welcome to our digital castle.
Artwork credit - @yeszuzia on steemit and instagram
Are You Watching Closely?
It seemed like an ordinary day in Cryptopia. Krypotcek and his lovely girlfriend were just getting back to the Satoshi Farm after their morning run; Bashadow was cleaning his windows to his shop; Miss Charisma777 was stacking and organizing all the new books in The Story House. And the renovations on Crystal Street were under way! It truly was a lovely day.
The championship round entries were also all in and currently being judged by the judges as Apolymask was directing additional construction on Crystal Street for the marketplace, Apolymask walked with curiosity through town following the tumult.
Passing inaudible whispers and gasps, Apolymask quickens his pace. As the crowds get larger the pace gets quicker and whispers louder. It appears the crowds are heading towards the Castle. Something is very wrong at the Castle.
The sea of citizens had crowded the front of the castle. Apolymask, rushing now, swims his way through the nervous and panicking crowd. He pushes through to the front gate. Once there he inspects the damage to the entrance and notices a peculiar particle along the walls and floors. After further inspection, Apolymask's thoughts go through a psychedelic information download. "Orgone..." He nervously says to himself.
"Everyone of Cryptopia, Please head back to your dwellings!"
Apolymask enters the castle and to his heartbreak all is destroyed from the inside out. Relics and Artifacts are gone. Fires burning the ancient quest logs throughout. Heading up through the castle in search of the culprit, Apolymask races up to the lookout crystal. There he looks out over Cryptopia and to his horror the city is burning to the ground...
As he turns his gaze to the sky. There appears to be a long irregular shaped craft. It's the Oumuamua and appears to be slowly approaching. Terror sets in as Apolymask turns to help his fellow Cryptopians, but he is summoned and dematerializes and rematerializes into the Oumuamua.
Apolymask looks over himself as he feels the affects of the transport. He slowly looks up to see a giant Grey standing in front of him...
This time Apolymask did not awake from sleeping. This time it was not just a dream.
What happens next...?
Some of you should recognize the story above as one from earlier in the season that @iexplore created for one of his catch up rounds about "dreams", I really liked his story a lot! And thought he did a great job with it, and I had another idea recently to try to get the community to continue it from where he left off! Except, it's not a dream this time.. And I want you the community to help us determine what happens next!
This is going to be a bonus "All Star" sort of round though it is open to anyone, even the judges. However if you are a judge you can not vote for yourself. Also it will be open to myself as well, but.. If I decide to play and somehow managed to win I will give my prize to someone else. (PS.. I do probably plan on writing something up, it sounds like fun. :)
And hopefully enough of the All Stars of the regular season will play, but.. It's a busy world and steemit is particularly slow right now as well, plus we're not wealthy enough to pay peoples to be here(Outside of the prize anyways).. So whoever shows up shows up for now I suppose! Maybe in the future if this becomes more of a business we can pay All Star players to play in the All Star games. But for now.. It is what it is!
Your mission is to finish the above story. Tell us what happens next in the IFC world?
I want the players to shape where this is going! But! I do have a few guidelines of my own that I want to see.
I had an idea, and this could change in the future.. But for now I want to try it.
My idea is that each season we will move to a new castle and start a new journey. (Will pay to have a new picture drawn up hopefully by @yeszuzia but if she's too busy someone else can do it)
The old Cryptopia will still be there! No worries! Some citizens will remain, and we will send others back to help repair it and maintain it, it will continue to be an important place in our culture and society, and in time maybe we can have many castles in a network instead of just one.
Most of the citizens though and the main characters will be moving to a new castle in a new place to start a new adventure. :)
My original idea was.. An underground crystal castle inside a mountain with an underground river and big lake.
Perhaps some skylights that allow you to see the stars, or some passageways that allow the flying saucers to fly in and out of.
I was also thinking that our people would sort of be "in hiding" or trying to avoid being discovered by the alien greys, thus part of the reason for it being underground.
However.. I want to give you the players an opportunity to come up with a better idea, or you can use my idea as well if you want, but.. I also want you to explain how Apolymask manages to escape/manage/solve the problem he is facing with the grey alien in front of him and how the community deals with Cryptopia being put in danger.
You must give us permission to use your short story upon entering.
And if something is slightly off we may need to do a slight edit.
I'm not sure what kind of edit that edit would be at this point..
If so, it will be discussed in more detail at the time as I just don't know what to expect and we will cross that bridge when we get there if necessary.
Whoever does the best story gets 15 steem, second place gets 7 steem and third place gets 3 steem.
Also, I want some good entries and I want this All Star round to be special.. So I'm going to offer an additional 15 XP and a choice of a relic to the winner of this round towards the next season! Good luck!
Try to remember.. You're essentially writing the ending of this season and the beginning of the next one in a sense. Partially at least! :)
I'm excited to see what you come up with! Thanks for playing if you do! :D
By the way.. You have 2 weeks to complete this challenge. We're still busy judging the championship round, plus it's official lore so I want people to take their time on it and not be rushed and I just.. Don't want to complicate things too much, so.. Instead of the normal week, you have two full weeks to get your entry in.
PS.. Special thanks to @iexplore for creating the original story above that you read at the beginning that inspired this round and also.. Please be respectful when you write of other characters in the world. The "word" is powerful, and if this is going to be our official lore, you should be careful how you write of others and try to portray them in a fair manner.
A very special thanks to the judges and guest judges who this would not be possible without!
Judges @charisma777 @addempsea @xomegax
Former judges @rarebooksleuth @luckysteem @harj
Guest judges @enforcer48 @deliberator @jankasparec @plushzilla @tonyr @irvinesimages @sparrowbernard @mdf-365 @cryptosharon @dynamicgreentk @tecnosgirl @lunaticpandora
And also @iexplore for doing the catch up rounds and judging those as well!
And also a similarly very special thanks to all of the players and all those who managed to score at least one point in the game! This wouldn't be possible without the players either! And.. I'm not sure about how many played in total or who the names were of those who did not score any points, maybe at some point we can get someone to get better info on that. But.. For those who scored at least 1 point I will tag you below. Thanks for playing!
@kryptocek
@bashadow
@plushzilla
@amariespeaks
@har5h
@iexplore
@eaglespirit
@mr-bike
@youhavewings
@jan23com
@sandrina.life
@jbreheny
@artgirl
@magicalmoonlight
@bengy
@swolesome
@wholeself-in
@kenneth1
@warpedpoetic
@auminda
@simplymike
@bitpizza
@losthippie
@boladayl
@noisyboy
@giddyupngo
@grizzman
@deliberator
@sophiabydesign
@lynncoyle1
@nxtblg
@yura81
@mnallica
@lahvista
@chrisroberts
@laurawhite
@beeyou
@gerrardihno
And now a moment for our sponsors!
First up is @ats-david who has helped greatly! If you appreciate this contest or just his efforts in general you may want to look into voting for him as a witness at @ats-witness, he does a lot of other cool things for the community as well!
Next is @timcliff who has similarly helped out the contest significantly and who is also a witness who does a lot for the community, so likewise if you appreciate the efforts you may want to vote for him as witness also!
@krnel has also offered some support and does other good things to help out on the platform in general, I suggest you vote for krnel as a witness as well if you want to support all of this.
@steemcommunity has also helped us and expressed interest in helping more in the future and they likewise also help the community in various additional ways, I suggest voting for them as witness as well!
I'd also like to thank @theguruasia who has pledged at least 20 steem to the second and third place prizes and he said he may even donate more.
And @nxtblg who has been regularly resteeming and upvoting our challenges which has been a big help!
Plus one other person who has been helping a lot who deserves some credit is @soundlegion who has also been upvoting the contests regularly.
And while not technically sponsors, we are working with @davemccoy and those at #newbiegames and #newbieresteemday and they do a great service to the community so definitely check them out if you appreciate that, or if you're new.
Also not a sponsor, though @iexplore has taken a huge workload directly off of my shoulders and is now doing the "catch up" rounds, those should be posted on the @ifc page.. And I suggest giving him a follow and some support as well if you appreciate the work as he is doing an amazingly helpful and important job!
And another thank you to our recent sponsor @underground for donating 10 Steem.
In addition to connecting us with underground, @eaglespirit has also connected us with @derangedvisions who has donated 10 steem as well. Thank you derangedvisions!
Eagle Spirit gains another 10 XP for this which puts her at 35 XP, and we are probably going to use the steem from her sponsors to help fund a special IFC All Star round. :) Stay tuned for that!
Furthmore we recieved a 5 SBD donation from @youhavewings with a nice message attached thanking us for what we do at the IFC, thank you youhavewings! And you're welcome as well for what we do. :) Glad to share this experience with all of you! <3
And finally, a thank you to @tonyr who has donated a Trophy Token to the winner of the championship.
The challenge will finish after 14 days.
Rules
1. Bonus all star round. 2. Create a blog post for the contest. 3. Title must contain, "IFC All Star Round" 4. Leave a link to your post in the comments below. (This part is important and a lot of people forget this, please put the blog link in the right place so our judges can find it) 5. And you also have to use the #ifc tag in your blog post as well.6. If you somehow get hurt doing any of our quests you can not reasonably hold us accountable. Take responsibility for your own choices and actions in life. This is a voluntary game where you choose to play. Only you can make that decision for yourself. 7. You are responsible for paying the appropriate government taxes, fees, and service charges resulting from any transactions with the IFC or Marketplace. We are not responsible for collecting, reporting, paying, or remitting to you any such taxes, fees, or service charges, except as may otherwise be required by law.
Acceptable content
- A short story continuing from the one specified about the future of the IFC world.
- Language is primarily in English and if you would like to participate from elsewhere in the world it is up to you to translate your message into English so we can understand you.
- We also encourage role playing for those who enjoy doing that. :)
Good luck in the contest!
Artwork credit - @yeszuzia on steemit and instagram
Click to enter the Discord Chat room!
Click to go to the rules page
Original by @yeszuzia and modified by @charisma777
What an awesome surprise ending😊 I can't wait to find out how you conquer the Gray's👾I think there are going to be some great entries for this one!!! I may have to bring out my second part to my original story... the battle has begun🔥
Agreed! I thought it was perfect to allow the players themselves to decide which direction we are going. :) I have a feeling it's going to be awesome! I can't wait to see the different stories. :D
And oh snap! I am pretty certain I know which story you are talking about and I really enjoyed that one!! That would be epic to see you continue that one! I'm excited to see what happens. ._.
I am still lurking about and following along. If I decide to join in the fun for the next season this is the perfect time to follow more closely.
Good luck AllStars can't wait to read some great stories. Watching to see where the muse will lead.
Cool. :) Thanks for letting us know, appreciate the feedback! We'll be happy to have you be a part of our game whenever you're ready to play! By the way, I'm not sure if you read the quest or not.. But this All Star round is open to anyone.. You can play in this round if you want to. The first place winner gets in addition to the 15 steem a bonus 15 XP and a relic for next season. :) Would be a good way to get your foot in the door so to speak! Though as I mentioned.. No pressure! Whenever you're ready, we'll be happy to have you play in our game! :D
Thank you so much! I would say this game is ingenious it is as much fun for spectators as players.
I was kind of wondering if one had to be on the list to play.
I have been back tracking some to see what i missed. I do remember saying a few months back I wanted to catch the second season from the beginning.
I don't have a prayer at winning but staring in the transition round would be a good landmark on my personal journey.
I will try to come up with something if just for that reason. The two week deadline helps a lot with that.
Thanks again.
You're welcome so much. :) Thanks for sharing more of your thoughts about the game. I am a very humble person, but.. I agree. It is a pretty amazing idea, however.. It would be worthless without the community who are it's constituents. So.. It's a great idea, but.. It's also an amazing group of people as well. :)
And that's one of the coolest parts about this game I think is how much the players shape the game, they've created numerous of our quests, and artwork like the logo for our IFC, and even a song! They also named the city "Cryptopia" and many other things, and now they get to decide where out future is going and what castle we will inhabit next. :D So I think that's a really cool part of this! I like to think everyone has a voice in our community, we decide a lot of things by popular vote so it sort of mirrors Democratic governments in a sense. Anyways I think I'm starting to ramble on! Lol.. Umm..
So... Yeah it may be a little more difficult for someone like yourself who hasn't played a round yet, but.. If you're a good writer.. I'd say you got a good shot! It might be someone like yourself who wins who didn't even play in the regular season! Wouldn't that be interesting! :) There's been a lot of interesting things like that.
You're welcome! Thanks for giving it a go! If you have any questions please feel free to ask and I'll do my best to help. ._.
Yes I was here for the song. Started tagging along shortly before that.
That is almost humorous :D I am pretty well known around here for not writing much.
Just like the idea of trying out a lot of different things.
That is one of the things that makes the game appealing. Seems in the course of a season a lot of variety is included.
Anyway enjoy your birthday. See you at the games
Oh cool.
And no worries, you don't have to write a lot. You just need to capture the attention of a majority of the judges.
Sometimes it's less about size or quantity and more about imagination and a unique perspective or point of view! :)
But yeah also, the IFC is a very diverse contest, lots of different things to do! That's part of the fun for some, the challenge of being tested in new ways often. However for most of the quests we do allow people the opportunity to choose between writing, or drawing a picture or making music or a video or just about any way you can express a particular subject! Though, generally.. If you're a good writer, you probably will do well.
Thanks for the nice words at the end! I'm having a great birthday. See you at the games as well headchange! :D Should be fun.
Great post @apolymask!
Brilliant your picking this contest type for d all star round, and thanks for inviting me. It's going to be fun writing it as well as reading other entries - with the single storyline going in different directions. I can imagine a collision!
And ah, yes! the idea of moving location each season and starting a new journey signifies enticing new developments and landmarks for the ifc. It's beautiful.
I totally love the foundation Cryptotia story and your buildup on it. But I was like, "Why do we want to keep old Cryptotia? What "archaic citizens" want to stay back in an old city and don't want to move to the new? (I think like kids some of us just totally love new things, lol.) But when I read on I couldnt but agree! There's so much to learn from Cryptotia! Then, there's the beauty and value of preserved culture, and not forgetting the emotional attachment to something you have worked so hard at. I can directly relate to that. So I'll do my best to help salvage old Cryptotia in my writing but kindly do not send me back to maintain it when the new adventures are taking place!
P.S.
DONT use my enthusiasm to judge the quality of my story, please. I'll be playing with some very creative-minded people who are able to conjure up terrific fantasies! I remember that episode on dreams, I probably was the only one who had ordinary dreams. God, I thought, what do these guys think in their heads, landing in other planets, strange places and all?
So I'll have a go at becoming a real Cryptotia citizen this time while looking forward to reading some amazing, perhaps ribcracking write-ups.
Happy birthday @apolymask!
Thanks for the great feedback boladayl! You're welcome for the invite! I'm particularly excited to see what you come up with. :) You're a very talented writer.
I think you nailed it pretty good. There's definitely some sentimental value to Cryptopia and I don't wanna see it go away. In a lot of video games I've played you can often expand your territory so to speak and I see this as sort of similar! I see it as a way for us to expand our imagination at the very least. :) But.. Also to expand and create new artwork and perhaps there's some other possibilities there as well, this game is still very young and we're figuring it out as we go, so.. Maybe we'll figure out something new in the future and do it differently! Time will tell, I think this is a good start though. :)
No worries! Heh. I try to be OCD extremely fairand pick the ones I think are the best or that I like the most, it can get difficult sometimes, but I definitely try to be very professional about it and not consider external things outside of the entry itself. I'm super excited to see your story! Good luck in the contest! And hey, you're already a real Cryptopia citizen in my opinion. :)
Thanks for the birthday wishes as well! Cheers! :D
I woke up this morning and saw the post on my Discord notification, thought about it for 5 minutes and typed this up in about 30 minutes so enjoy!
https://steemit.com/makesteemitgreat-again/@plushzilla/ifc-all-star-round-short-story-an-old-ending-to-a-new-beginning
Awesome!! One to read already?! This is a great birthday gift. :D Thanks plushzilla for giving me something cool to read on my birthday!!! :) However.. I'm about to head out the door to go filming with my father, so.. Will have to read it later this evening! I'm super looking forward to it! Cheers!
Oh my interesting story! Hmmm... Let's see if I can make a continuation. 😅
Posted using Partiko Android
Agreed! It is an interesting story indeed, and.. Okey doke. Let's see. :D However I'm pretty certain you can do a great one! You're a talented writer. :D
nice story and contest O.ob
Thanks for the positive feedback. :) Glad you think so, and.. Hope you'll consider joining in! :D It's fun game with a helpful and supportive community. ._.
Phew! What a way to finish the season! I just read @plushzilla post. Sets a high starting bar... I will have to start thinking!
If nothing else, this will be interesting reading for the entries!
Agreed! :D I think it was a good way to finish the season as well, to allow the players to sort of help tell the story of what happens. :) Sometimes it really pays off to just be patient and wait and think about things over a long period of time! If you have the luxury to do so of course. And yeah plushzilla got us off to a good start! I think others will have a few things to learn if they study his entry. He definitely did some good things. Also I agree in regards to the last thing you said! Should be some interesting reading. :)
The multuple castle sounds like a great way to spread the ifc. I was also thinking if we could seperate the ifc in to 2 because of the huge amount of players, one of the so called "castles" will be lead by apolymask and another would be lead by someone esles and everyone who wants to join has to choose between castles and whatever they choose they have to stay for the rest of the season and at the end(sweet 16) the winner of each castle will face of in a huge battle
Thanks for the feedback! That's a really interesting idea you have there. I was thinking the All Star game would be sort of like that with the top two players each representing one team, however.. I ended up going with simplicity instead of the team aspect.. However.. I am still very open minded to that, and I think it'll become more and more of an eventuality as the game gets bigger and we get more players, I think it will happen naturally that certain "guilds" would start springing up. But.. Maybe there's a good way to do it sooner. I will continue to think about it, and I'm happy to talk about it in more detail with you and others as well. I feel like some of us should come together and start talking about things we can do for the next season before too much longer!
But yes.. I just wanna again say that I think you might be onto something here. Not sure if we'll incorporate it or not.. We should probably do a vote as well either way, though.. I could see how it would be really neat to have teams like that. Hmmm... Gonna have to think about it more. Thanks for sharing your cool thoughts! :D
Happy to see the the community doing better.
Hey, it's been a while.. Happy to see you as well kenneth1! :D Thanks for saying hi! I hope you've been doing well and also hope that you'll consider playing in the All Star round. :)
All star... sounds good.
Let's see how it goes then..
Thanks too😀
Word! Would love to see an entry from you kenneth1! Also you're welcome, and thanks to you as well for being you! :D
Oopsies.. Sorry I only gave you a 50% upvote, I meant to give 100% but misclicked. I'd go back and change it, but I hear you lose the rewards if that happens, so.. I'll just leave it.
lol! no problems sir. Thank you very much.
You're welcome.. Now I can give you a full upvote. :D Still pretty small though. Heh.
lol... Thanks sir!
You're very welcome!
The multuple castle sounds like a great way to spread the ifc. I was also thinking if we could seperate the ifc in to 2 because of the huge amount of players, one of the so called "castles" will be lead by apolymask and another would be lead by someone esles and everyone who wants to join has to choose between castles and whatever they choose they have to stay for the rest of the season and at the end(the winner of each sweet 16) (so each castle will have a sweet 16) the winners of each castle will face of in a huge battle
Well... I can't resteem this. Maybe as it is past payout? Sorry I can't make this round!