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The Rise of the Underdog
Last March over thirty artists joined together to represent 3dTotal.com in a game art competition of epic proportions. Each artist had been working for six weeks to complete their entry into the second annual Dominance War contest, where they joined their work with hundreds of other finalists from four different major computer graphics communities. In the end, winners from each forum were to be selected, and then from those, an overall “best of show” chosen. The prize at stake? Software, training materials, over $10,000 in cash prizes, and, of course, bragging rights. |
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3dTotal.com had no shortage of artistic muscle, but among the four participating forums last year, the community could be called the underdogs. As a newcomer to Dominance War, 3dTotal lacked the 'war veteran' status of the founding sites CgChat.com and Polycount.com. CgChat had a personal stake in taking the trophy from the incumbent Polycount. Polycount's artists, likewise, had no desire to lose the bragging rights they had earned from the first year's contest. And the fourth community? Well, the sheer size of CgSociety.com made them something to worry about. It seemed 3dTotal's main advantage lay with its mystery status—no one knew what to expect of them. What kind of artists would the 3dTotal message boards rally? How active was its membership? How interested were they in a contest like Dominance War?
This year the picture's a little clearer. 3DTotal walked away from the competition last March with three of the top ten entries, including the aforementioned “Best of Show” slot—the “First Place Champion” entry. |
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The Reigning Champion
“I couldn’t believe my entry was first,” said Taehoon Oh, who provided the winning entry. Oh received a cash prize of two thousand dollars, the entire back library of training videos from CGAcademy, and his choice of gaming console. “I was asked to write articles, newspapers printed my interviews in Korea and the US. Companies contacted me with new opportunities. I felt famous.”
Fred Hultqvist, the competition founder says that global exposure is one of the key draws of this event . “It’s my goal to make Dominance War into a form of Olympics for game artists. Forums would act like countries and artists may choose which forum they would like to represent during the war. When everything is over, the forum that produces the best 3d game art or best concept game art, wins...artists of all skill levels can compete against the best, compete for their home community, compete for themselves, compete to win prizes, compete to become better, compete for global recognition, and compete to make something truly great! In the end, all the time an artist invests in this event is time invested in enhancing him or herself and his or her image.” |
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With Dominance War III quickly approaching, Hultqvist has been busy orchestrating an even bigger contest. For starters there will be at least $10,000 in cash prizes again. However, this year the contest's size will double to include eight forums, running concurrently in four different languages, making it perhaps the first truly international game art competition ever created.
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