That's right, we're back to remind you that this party's still happening and everyone's still invited. I'm once again your gracious host @chaos-fantazy, ready to leave last year behind me and do everything in my power to make this our biggest AU contest yet. I'm joined by Differentopic owner @gonzalogamer128, co-creator of last year's winner "Knock Knock," @starlightshore, and @g0at0ad, who has too many potential claims to fame that listing them all here would take far too long.
You'll notice I didn't say "AU comic contest," though. That's because, for the first time, we will be running a second contest in parallel to our usual comic contest—an AU character design contest, the perfect way for you to participate even if you don't have the time to write a full comic. Spearheading the judge panel for that contest is @creatoonz, Flaredust and r2d2kx100. That contest will begin on Saturday, May 10th, about a month from now—but you can go ahead and start your preparations now!
If you'd like to know more, join our Discord server to find the full rules and keep up-to date on everything...or find more info under the cut!
Huh? What? AU Contest???
This contest is dedicated to celebrating how this fandom told stories to each other when it was first starting out—sprite comics, which, as their name implies, are a web comic that uses sprites rather than drawn artwork as the main means of depicting its subjects. They're commonly done to produce fan comics for video games, and Undertale is no exception—many prolific AUs, including @invertedfate, began as sprite comics.
Like a game jam, this contest invites people to produce Undertale/Deltarune AU comics (And design AU characters!). Being a contest, there are prizes and glory on the line for the winners, but in the end, what it's really about is the chance for people to get creative. If you’ve ever had an idea for a story you want to tell using these games’ characters or setting, but could never justify dedicating time to telling it…this is the excuse you need!
Sorry, you mentioned prizes?
After last year, to minimize potential complications, I've been working with the judge panel to establish our prize pool ahead of time:
The character design contest is slated to have four categories; the winner of each category will have their winning character illustrated by one of our judges. (Who will draw which exactly is still a bit up in the air, but they'll definitely be available!)
The second- and third-place comics will receive an illustration from either G0at0ad or r2d2kx100 of a character of their choice, with simple background.
The grand prize for the winning comic will be a full-scale illustration from Starlight, complete with a background and up to two characters—giving you the opportunity to see one of your favorite scenes from the comic brought to life!
Sounds cool! How do I participate?
I'm glad you asked! Our official Discord server is not only the proper avenue to send a submission, it also contains all the official rules regarding the production and submission thereof.
The character design contest begins on May 10th and will run up through the end of June—slightly overlapping with the comic contest, which will start at the beginning of June and end at the end of August. I'll make announcement posts here when each contest begins and close to when they're ending, too.
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Ah, jeez, did anyone remember to dust in here while I was away?
Hello, everyone—CHAOS_FANTAZY here, former entrant and judge to the Undertale/Deltarune Sprite Comic contest. It's been a while since the previous one hosted in 2021, but I've been thinking about running this contest again ever since.
So why not now?
As of right now, I've reopened the official contest Discord server in preparation for the 3rd """annual""" comic contest—slated to run throughout the summer, with the submission period running from June through August. I'm making this post to inform everyone of the contest's return, with all the general information given below:
Huh? What? Sprite Comic Contest? I don't understand anything!
A sprite comic, as its name suggests, is a web comic that uses sprites rather than artwork as the main means of depicting its subjects. This is commonly done to produce fan comics for video games, and Undertale is no exception—many prolific AUs, including @invertedfate, began as sprite comics.
This is a contest to produce a sprite comic about Undertale or Deltarune—a game jam but with comics, as it were. If you've ever had an idea for a story you want to tell using these games' characters or setting, but could never justify dedicating time to telling it...this is the excuse you need!
Who's running this show now?
As aforementioned, it's me, CHAOS_FANTAZY! I'm joined by a panel of three volunteer judges, Mufeet, Subna, and Soufon (Whom, much like myself, has no major social media platforms). All four of us are not only long-time Undertale fans who can remember when sprite comics were a highly popular storytelling format, but also participants in previous sprite comic contests!
What's in it for me?
Although he's no longer directly involved in running the contest, the former host @fmsdraws has graciously offered to supply it with illustrated prizes. Additionally, we have a small cash prize pool to distribute among the top three (Via Paypal/Cashapp, or an alternative if both of these are unavailable to the winner):
First place will receive $25, and a custom illustration with up to two characters from Fms.
Second place will receive $15, and a one-character custom illustration from Fms.
Third place will receive $10, and a custom sprite from Fms.
Additional prizes may be added to this pool over the next week or so; this post will be edited to reflect these changes.
How do I participate?
I'm glad you asked! Our official Discord server is not only the proper avenue to send a submission, it also contains all the official rules regarding the production and submission thereof. (The original contest's rules are here, but there have been some revisions and modernizations made since.)
As aforementioned, the contest is planned to run through August—make sure you get your submission in by 11:59 PM EST on August 31st!
After a long wait (Seriously, much longer than we originally wanted), the results of the contest are finally in. I'd like to once again extend my personal gratitude to all of our entrants this year, and thank them once again for their patience in us procuring our reviews. Now, catch it all under the cut:
Let's kick things off with the character contest results! We received a total of 19 character entries across all four categories, and a lot of you guys had some very cool ideas! There's way too much to go over in this post, but our score cards are linked below, and we'd at least like to give some praise to our winners:
Hearts (Redesign for a setting change AU) category winner: Frisk (DarkTale) by Skulgan
Diamonds (Redesign for role-swap AU) category winner: Chara (No AU name) by E-Clare
Spades (Create a new ruler of a Dark World) category winner: Lord Pollux by Aceantarctic
Clubs (Create a new background character) category winner: Paneguin by Aceantarctic
A huge congratulations to our winners here! And now it's time for what I've been looking forward to—our comic entries!
1st Place: "PMD: Delta Explorers" by Trooper3 and rhenaudthelukark
"The two art styles nearly blend seamlessly, while distinct between surface world and the darkworld dungeon. The animation flourishes, battles, puzzles and gameplay work to make this expanded map feel alive. One can easily imagine this as a fangame rather than a comic." - Starlight Sam
"The battles were my favorite part, they looked super accurate to DR, which is something I value a lot. I really liked how the background was changed on each panel so they looked more like screenshots. (which was also done for that one waterfall in the overworld.)" - GG128
"I’ve seen comics with well thought-out attacks before, and seeing Pokemon moves get translated into bullet patterns is definitely cool, but some attacks are fully animated? And there’s even details like Ralsei’s mercy meter increasing on one of his attacks getting touched? It really goes above and beyond, and I think it’s worthy of a little commendation." - CHAOS_FANTAZY
" I had a great time reading this, and I’m sure Pokemon fans would love it even more. Good job! Enthused about the possibility of a followup. My last complaint is that Susie calls their team the ?1? Squad instead of the $!$? Squad. Irredeemable mistake /j" - G0at0ad
(Average score: 37.5/50)
2nd Place: "Undertale: Ten Years Later", by Starkeeper
"It’s a cute fluff piece, answering the basic but ever-reliable question of 'Where are they now?' Most of the art is serviceable [...] with a few good-looking stand-outs, like the Delta Rune hedge." - CHAOS_FANTAZY
"I liked the weird pattern on Papyrus' shirt and scarf, and [Asgore] looks kind of funny, in a good way. The weather duo cameo was nice. Something else I liked were the fences and the floor pattern for the last setpiece." - GG128
" 'Chairisk' is a funny joke. Charlotte the neopronouns-using spider is a great addition that I adore. I enjoyed you replacing Muffet with a more likable spider-lady. The Froggit that was teaching itself English was a good touch. And Undyne and Alphys having a kid is cute! This comic had a lot of potential [...]" - G0at0ad
"It’s a cute catch up with the Undertale cast that felt authentic yet personalized to the author. While it ends abruptly, the journey is an enjoyable one." - Starlight Sam
(Average score: 26.5/50)
And in 3rd place...
Uh...how do I put this...
...There is no third place. We only got two comic entries this year.
As always, our full score cards, for characters and comics alike can be seen here, and anyone who wants to read the full reviews for entries of either sort is welcome to ask the judges for them. If your positioning has earned you a prize (That is to say, if your name is mentioned in this post), please get in contact with our judge team to procure it. And...that's it. That's all I have to share.
...Doesn't that feel weird? It sure does to me. I had really high hopes for the contest this year, for reasons I mentioned in the previous year's postmortem...but for all appearances, enthusiasm about Undertale's 10th anniversary didn't reach here, and if anything, the new Deltarune chapters took motivation away from our would-be competitors (I know at least one who said they no longer had the original creative vision they had for their comic before). Ultimately, the pattern of scores of drop-outs repeated itself, and my worst fears were realized—we failed to fill the podium this year.
I don't know what this contest needs to be a success. But I know that I cannot provide it. I have no plans to host this contest again next year, and if anything changes...well, I probably won't be the person to write the post announcing its return.
I always wanted this contest to be an excuse for people to tell the stories in the UTDR settings they've always wanted to tell. And for a long time, I've been dwelling on the fact that the time constraints are in fact kind of antithetical to that intent. I can't make people learn the time management skills required to make a sprite comic in three months.
But I'd like for all the people who wanted to participate in the comic contest—or for anyone else coming to this post after the fact, really—to make this their takeaway: the excuse this contest provided was just that, an excuse. If you have a story you've always wanted to tell, you can just...do it. You don't have to wait for an event or a demarcation; you can start right now. If all these guys—the entrants from this year and years past—can tell stories like this in three short months with just the scraps they have and the determination in their hearts, imagine what you could do for yourself without a deadline.
If you have a song in your heart, it's worth sharing with the world. I promise someone out there will be listening to it very intently.
Before we get started, I would like to extend a personal thank you to everyone who created an entry for the contest this year. Although we only got four entries this year, those four entries' dedication to telling stories that are novel and interesting for this community to enjoy is worthy of commendation in itself. For a while, I was scared we wouldn't even get enough entries to fill the podium; thanks to your efforts, this has not come to pass.
Since we have very few entries this time around, I'll be providing a link to each comic, with accompanying scores and excerpts from reviews. Now, catch the results under the cut:
Runner-Up: "The Undertale Game Comic" by FutureGamer25
(Average score: 15.5/50)
"As the submitter says, this was made in a day. I can’t be too hard on this out of principle..." - Soufon
"[...it] succeeded at making me laugh multiple times, thanks in no small part to how it deliberately wields nothing looking like it fits together." - CHAOS_FANTAZY
"You know, honestly for being made in less than a day and being posted 5 minutes before the deadline, I gotta give you a lot of credit for that. I don’t even think I could have made that in a day [...]" - Mufeet
"The freaking car and the ending got me a good chuckle. I'll give you that. I congratulate you for tossing your coin." - Subna
3rd: "Frisk Visits the Store and Nothing Happens" by Trooper3
(Average score: 34/50)
"I thought Sans and ESPECIALLY Papyrus were super funny [...] I think we’ve finally reached a point where the skele-bros are just consistently characterized properly now, and I love to see it." - Mufeet
"The FunMart[TM] makes an earnest effort to capture the feeling of exploring an area in an actual Toby Fox game, and [...] captures at least a bit of that shine." - CHAOS_FANTAZY
"I honestly like your idea, is funny and it works perfectly to show these OCs of yours in this format. I wish there was more content to see about them, I wish to know them [...]" - Subna
"As light as it is, I like having this kind of slice of life look into UT’s world, the comedy focus helping to make the comic feel more breezy than insubstantial." - Soufon
2nd: "Undertale: Pushing On" by Mouse
(Average score: 34.75/50)
"Of all the entries we got, this is the only one that really felt like it captured the essence of telling a story as if it were still part of a game—something I have sorely missed." - CHAOS_FANTAZY
"Great story and great teaching from it. Can add up greatly to UNDERTALE’s world and...tbh I’d LOVE to play a full game with Alvia." - Subna
"[...] I like having who [Gerson] is in UT be because of Alvia’s actions, like how the orange soul kid is framed as responsible for the bunny family in Snowdin’s success - having all the soul humans impact the underground like that helps all of them feel real to UT’s world[...]" -Soufon
"I was captivated from beginning to end, and god, the ending [...] it actually made me a bit teary-eyed." - Mufeet
1st: "Knock Knock" by StarlightShores and ToMoChao
(Average score: 47/50)
"I was not expecting something like this out of this contest. Knock Knock is a substantial storyline, not a peek into an adventure, or a silly reprieve." - Soufon
"Even if it’s pretty lengthy, it keeps you engaged, to know where this is all going, all the way to the end." - Subna
"Flowey and Sans pair-ups are so rare, but when done it is ALWAYS such a fun time. They both play off each other so well, and it is no exception in this comic, especially towards the end where they start to bond over dealing with the loss of someone important to them." - Mufeet
"You created a story going on a thousand panels where, while reading it, my attention never flagged [...] You created a webcomic the Undertale fanbase will, if there’s any justice left around here, be obsessed with for years to come. It’s art, I’m afraid." - CHAOS_FANTAZY
Our full score card for the event can be seen here. The full reviews will be available in the Discord server on request.
With regards to prizes: the judge whom was contributing to our prize pool has begun college for the year, and unfortunately they were unable to set aside the money they had originally promised for the cash prize. The illustration prize is still available; winners, please reach out to fmsdraws on Discord to claim your prize.
And that leaves me...with this blog.
I'd like to write up a proper postmortem for this experience, but that can come in another week or two. For now, please enjoy the comics and celebrate the victors!
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Completion of this form will enter you into consideration to be a judge for the next UTAU sprite comic contest, coming up this summer. Plea
Last year, I employed an application form in order to select judges to assist me in the comic rating process. While the judges chosen this year have served me quite well, they have expressed they would rather be entrants than judges in next year's contest, and there's a new character design contest sideshow that will need its own set of judges besides.
(Oh yeah, I guess I haven't announced that yet here, huh? Well, full details pending, but hopefully it'll be a decent alternative to people who wish to participate but can't dedicate the amount of time making a sprite comic requires.)
Anyway, to that end, I'm taking this judge application form even more public this year, hoping to cast as wide a net as possible so we can get the judges we need for next year's contests. Please spread this around to anyone you think might be interested!
This is more of a personal post, where I'll be discussing my impressions on how this contest went and future plans for the Sprite Comic Contest.
Avid followers of this contest will remember that in 2021, when we saw only half the entrants we saw the previous year in 2020, we conducted an exit poll to attempt to address issues people had with the contest so that more entrants would be able to participate. Despite complications and other priorities getting in the way, I was able to run the contest again this year and make good on the things the exit poll promised.
In this regard, at least, I am incredibly grateful to have run the contest as well as I possibly could, and my gratitude towards our entrants holds true. However, the fact remains: despite these efforts, scores of users dropped out during the submission period, and we had even fewer entrants than the 2021 contest, going down from six to four.
There are many factors that contribute to our decreasing turnouts, but one of the two most important ones is just that…people in the UTDR fandom don't seem to be interested in the sprite comic as a storytelling medium anymore. Many of the old blood who were around when the tradition started no longer have the time to devote to it, and newer would-be contenders are more interested in other mediums like hand-drawn comics or sprite animations.
Perhaps the humble sprite comic has served its purpose in this fanbase. Perhaps it would be wiser of me to simply accept that, regardless of my personal passion for the medium.
But, then again, when have I ever been wise?
After all, I think the other big reason attendance was low is because people weren't ready for the sprite comic contest to suddenly come back. Despite my efforts to spread the news as far as I'm personally able to, there were demonstrably people who were unaware of the contest's existence until it was too late (Most exemplified by FutureGamer25).
Next year will be Undertale's 10th anniversary. We might even have the next part of Deltarune to build off of by then. Will any of that excitement reach this contest? I wish I knew. What I do know is that I have to run this contest one more time, if for no other reason than giving the people who wanted to submit this year but couldn't one more shot.
We'll be back next year, running our same main contest at the same time. In the meantime, unlike previous off-seasons, our Discord server will remain open so anyone can join in, ask questions and provide feedback on how to make this next contest the best it can be.
"…Wait. Main contest?"
How astute of you, FAQ sock-puppet. There will be more than just sprite comics to make next year.
