The 2017 Ultimate CAAA Character Challenge [Happy New Year!]

[Wesley]

Greetings, and welcome to the 2017 Ultimate CAAA Character Challenge. The Character Adoption Addicts Anonymous is a community of users who have joined together to discuss their love of adopting, purchasing, and creating original characters. With the new year rolling in, a lot of users share a common resolution - better development of their characters. Based on the previous 2015 Character Challenge, we are instilling some major improvements to create a bigger, better challenge for 2017.

There are 12 different quests that participants may choose to complete. Each participant may sign up for as many quests as they'd like, and the intended goal for each participant is to complete each of their quests for every single character they own (and any new characters they pick up along the way) throughout the course of 2017. The goal is to have everything finished by December 31, 2017...just in time to roll in the new year of 2018 in style!

As incentive for completing your quests, we will be hosting a raffle at the end of 2017. The only way to earn tickets for this raffle will be successful completion (or partial completion) of your challenges with proof. Throughout the course of 2017, we will be collecting prizes that will be awarded to these successful participants at the end of the year!

There are quests for artists, writers, and even some quests for people who just like to collect and order art! If you're interested in developing your characters more in the coming year, please continue to the next post to see our quests.

Once you've decided which quest(s) you'd like to complete, you'll want to gauge the difficulty of completing your quest. To help you with this, we've separated character hoarders into 4 different tiers, based on the number of characters that you own and intend to keep. Click here to figure out which tier you are in. What tier you are in will help to determine how you will be rewarded for completion of each of your quests and what your individual goals should be.

Still have questions about participating? Click here to see our FAQs.

You are welcomed and encouraged to discuss the challenge here! I want to stress that this thread is not just for members' forms; it's for updates, questions, discussions, and tips & tricks!

Things you may wish to note:

• In the original character development challenge, Solanum and I had planned to give away, sell, or trade all of the characters we did not complete by the end of the year. If your goal is to cut down your amount of characters/undeveloped characters, you may wish to challenge yourself to finish your variation by December 31, 2017 or get rid of any characters you don't finish by then. This, however, is optional.

• Different people work at different paces, and that means that all of you will be at all sorts of stages! I (along with Weege and any other GHs/mods that would like to help) will track your progress and set up a goal-and-reward system to encourage you all to keep going!

Here are some basic rules for the thread:

1. You're encouraged to post your progress! However, please do not double post and only post after multiple pieces are finished, not after each and every one.

2. Do not post full stories on the thread. Instead, link them and encourage users to read. You may also ask for critique!

3. Only post 5-6 images in each post. This will likely be a slower moving thread than the CAAA, so big posts full of images would clog the pages.

Here are the rules for the challenge:

1. All writing must be new or revised. Click here for more information on this rule.

2. All drawings must be FULLY custom (no lineart color-ins, even if the lineart is your own). You may count pre-existing avatars, tags, and references as completed if they are fully custom, BUT art completed before 2017 will not earn you raffle tickets. All fullbodies/situational or prompt-based art must be brand new. Click here for more information on this rule.

3. Post a warning if your art or story includes nudity, gore, graphic scenes, violence, drug use, or excessive profanity. You're welcome to use these things in your story or art, but be mindful of what you link on CS!

Once you are satisfied that you are ready to join, please post the following form on this thread! PLEASE REMOVE EVERYTHING IN BRACKETS. Feel free to pretty up this form if you'd like~ do not remove the codeword or you will not be included on our participants' list!

Code: Select all

Username:
How many characters do you own? [and what tier does that place you in]
What challenge(s) will you be attempting?
Link to the thread, website, sta.sh, etc. where you will be keeping your progress:
Any additional questions or information: [If you are recycling/counting old art pieces (ie, tags you already have ordered) or writing (that you do not intend to edit) PLEASE let us know here along with the count of HOW MANY PIECES you already have towards your goal. Please feel free to include any other information you feel is pertinent as well!]
[size=1]auld lang syne[/size]

[Wesley]

Here are the quests you may choose to participate in:

Organizational skills:

"Character Keeper"
Objective: Must consolidate all characters and all art pieces with as much artist credit as known/possible onto one character storage platform (charahub, weebly, toyhou.se, sta.sh, CS forums, etc).

Example: Half of my characters are stored in this sta.sh file and half of them are stored on my weebly site. This does NOT count as completion of this task. In order to earn this achievement, I must consolidate ALL of my characters onto either the weebly site, the sta.sh site, or my toyhou.se account!

"Balancing the Books"
Objective: Determine and record what you spent on each character you own (not including additional art purchased) and any additional stipulations/rules about whether or not you may trade, sell, gift, edit, or breed them. If you care to take it a step beyond, record from whom you purchased each character as well.

Example: I paid 220 points for Kae and he has no additional stipulations or rules. In order to earn this achievement, I must record the price and rules for all of my other characters in this same fashion.

Writing and development skills:

"Basic Bio"
Objective: Must write a short description of the intended use or development for each of your characters. These can be rough and choppy statements, but you must record at least an idea of what each of your characters is going to be like. No more "blank slates."

Example: Shiitake - Asian, feisty, traveler (maybe lives multiple lives or has multiple homes or just goes door to door to whomever will take him in). He loves Milkis. He always has something to say, but it's difficult for others to understand him. It's easy to piss him off, but really he's a free-loading beggar and he's a lot more harmful looking than he actually is.

"Personality Pro"
Objective: Must compose a full description of each of your character's personalities. This cannot be one sentence or a short list of words. It must be at least 1-2 paragraphs long and contain a detailed description of what they are actually like.

Example: Schizoid - Schi suffers from several afflictions of the mind due to a birth defect in his brain. This defect has caused infrequent but severe hallucinations and mental breakdowns. Schizoid may be disregarded as nothing but a 'wimp', but he's been left quite easily terrified because of his inability to discern reality from fantasy. He's very naive, which is what allows his confusion to believe that his hallucinations are true. Because of his strong doses of medication, Schizoid is commonly very drowsy. He's always very forgetful as well, and incredibly clumsy. He's likely to slur his speech and usually sways back and forth when he's standing. In fact, he rarely holds still, even twitching and kicking in his sleep. Sleep is his favorite activity, because it generally shuts down his brain troubles. He does often, however, have some very graphic and disturbing dreams, and after waking up from these, has problems falling back asleep. Schi is very silly, but he's super shy. He doesn't like to make his presence known, and he clams up whenever he's pushed into the spotlight. He isolates himself indifferently and indefinitely from others and has some pretty greatly differing mood swings, possibly another side effect of his medication. He's usually grouchy if he's forgotten his dose, and his hallucinations will come back given any opportunity, so he needs to be kept on his toes to take his medicine. He uses yellow post-it notes all around his house to remind him to refill his needle with medicine, because he's simply so forgetful, even with the help of the medication. Even though he frequently isolates himself from others, he is indeed rather loving. He doesn't like to spend time with other people, but he spends a lot of time thinking about them. Usually, the only reason Schizoid avoids social contact is because he's very scared his hallucinations will break out when he's around others because they make him itchy, nervous, and excitable. Even though he likes to stay hidden, he has a soft spot for grocery shopping, and he loves going to the store to pick out foods, his favorite being a box of original Cheezits!

"Detailed Description"
Objective: Write a personality (1-2+ paragraphs) and a basic overview of background/history information (1-2+ paragraphs) for each of your characters. This should establish both what they are like and where they came from; what is unique about their story that makes them an interesting character? In order to earn this achievement, every single one of your characters must have a personality like the example above AND a history like the example below.

Example: Camille's page contains a full-length background overview.

"Short Scenario"
Objective: Must write a short story or song prompt for each character. You may create your own word limit for these, but your composition should be no shorter than 2-3 paragraphs. Each short scenario or song-based writing piece should recount a specific moment in your character's life.

Example: An amazing example of these would be Solanum's song challenges + the story she wrote of our characters Stein and Kempley.

"Sound Track"
Objective: Must create a short playlist for each and every one of your characters based on their appearance, personality, and/or life experiences. If you care to take it a step beyond, you could write a brief description of why you chose each song for the playlist.

Example: My fursona Mae has a playlist here.

Artistic skills:

"Snapshot"
Objective: Draw or order a themed piece for each of your characters that is specific to your character (no generic poses like sitting or standing allowed) in some sort of setting or doing something that is distinctly characteristic of their personality.

Example: Schizoid struggles with hallucinations, so I ordered a piece of him having one!

"Tag, You're It"
Objective: Draw or order a small tag piece for each of your characters.

Example: This art by Prince Virus of a sushi dog named Basil that Ardra and I co-own is around the generally accepted size for a tag, though some may be smaller.

"Fifty Faces"
Objective: Draw or order a 50x50 pixel avatar for each of your characters.

Example: This art by xxsinnersheavenxx @ DA of a sushi dog I co-own named Cosmos is an example of a 50x50 icon; yours do not need to be animated or even fullbody, but they may be if you wish!

"A Hundred Avatars"
Objective: Draw or order a 100x100 avatar (pixel or non) for each of your characters.

Example: This art of Schizoid by MegaCheerio is an example of a 100x100 avatar; yours may be animated or non-animated, fullbody or headshot, etc.

"Ready to Reference"
Objective: Draw or order a detailed reference sheet for each of your characters.

Example: An example of a reference with an appropriate amount of information can be seen here!

[Wesley]

The raffle is currently a work in progress!

Monthly challenges and raffle (in a stash) will go here
Monthly challenges will be the only way to earn additional raffle tickets and will provide a well-needed break from your main challenges

Raffle donations are completely optional and do not earn you extra tickets.
Why don't we accept art prizes? 1 year is a long time and you may not be available to may art anymore by the end of 2017.
What will we take? CS pets (to be sent to Wesley and kept in a group for this raffle) + items + C$, ask about other things (merchandise and gift cards) via DA (@wesleydog)

[Wesley]

Can't figure out your percentage? Take the number of completed characters and divide it by your total character amount.
For example, 15 / 130 = .1153
Move the decimal to the right two spaces. (If you've done 15 out of 130 characters, you've completed about 11.5% of the challenge)

Tier 1: 1-30 characters
For each quest you complete for every single one of your 1-30 characters, you will receive 3 raffle tickets.
You have the total possibility of earning 3 tickets per quest.

Tier 2: 31-100 characters
For each quest you complete for 30% of your characters, you will receive 1 ticket.
For each quest you complete for 60% of your characters, you will receive an additional ticket.
For each quest you complete for 100% of your characters, you will receive a third ticket.
You have the total possibility of earning 3 tickets per quest.

Tier 3: 101-199 characters
For each quest you complete for 25% of your characters, you will receive 1 ticket.
For each quest you complete for 50% of your characters, you will receive an additional ticket.
For each quest you complete for 75% of your characters, you will receive a third ticket.
For each quest you complete for 100% of your characters, you will receive a fourth ticket.
You have the total possibility of earning 4 tickets per quest.

Tier 4: 200+ characters
For each quest you complete for 20% of your characters, you will receive 1 ticket.
For each quest you complete for 40% of your characters, you will receive an additional ticket.
For each quest you complete for 60% of your characters, you will receive a third ticket.
For each quest you complete for 80% of your characters, you will receive a fourth ticket.
For each quest you complete for 100% of your characters, you will receive a fifth ticket.
You have the total possibility of earning 5 tickets per quest.

[Wesley]

[Art Trade Center] - Need more art or stories for your characters, but too busy to do it yourself? Spend all of your currency on your secret santa gifts? Tired of drawing your own characters and need a change of scenery? Check out the Art Trade Center - courtesy of Ittam - for all of your art trading needs!

I am always looking for helpful prompt generators, resources, motivators, etc. to put here. If you have anything that you think may help CAAA members write or draw, then please PM me or post a link on the thread and I will add it here!

Do you have an abundance of creative energy? Love to help people name their characters, come up with good art poses, or develop personalities and stories? Then you should sign up to be a challenge helper! I will record a list of members who are open to receiving PMs asking for help from CAAA members. If you are okay with being PM'd and want to help out, please PM me and let me know! Please also include what aspects of the challenge you are able to help with (character naming, organization, personality/history formation, art ideas, etc.)

Challenge Helpers (PM me if you'd like to be one!)

waterfront || PM me if you'd like help with: naming characters, personality/history ideas, adding quirks/unique traits to characters


Wesley || PM me if you'd like help with: naming characters, personality ideas/adding depth and quirks to characters, staying motivated (I can encourage you, or I can yell at you!)


Bellidan4234 || PM me if you'd like help with: naming characters, coming up with unique art prompts/ideas/poses


weegeestar5 || PM me if you'd like help with: personality and history ideas, developing OC relationships and headcanons, all things ship-related!


Solanum || PM me if you'd like help with: personality ideas, history/background ideas, situational/story prompts


Ittam || PM me if you'd like help with: naming characters, personality/history ideas, adding quirks/unique traits to characters, reference sheet ideas, possible revamp ideas, finding good sources for cool development questions and overall a buddy to listen to your character ideas!


reygankiwi || PM me if you'd like help with: pose ideas for art, revamping designs, or design feedback!

Prompt Generators, Resources, and Tools:

Behind the Name - good for giving names that are relevant to your character's attributes! Thanks, Sunlitsecrets!

Art Prompts - a site just for generating art prompts! Get scenery, situations, objects, and emotions suggested for your art pieces! Thanks, Sunlitsecrets!

In-depth Character Development Base - a great place to start if you don't know what you need to develop in your characters; will definitely help to build depth. Thanks, Sixbane!

[Wesley]

FAQs

May I recycle old art/writing to count towards completing my goal?

Yes and no. If you have joined one of the writing challenges (for example, personalities) and already have a personality written for a character, you may count this personality as complete once you proofread and edit the old writing to fit the maturity of your current writing style.

If you have joined an art challenge where the goal is to get a reference, avatar, or tag for every single character you own, you may consider the characters who already meet this requirement 'complete.'

However, if you wish to order themed art for every character, you should start over. You can never have too many art pieces that fit your characters' personalities well! The same goes for the "short scenario" challenge; you may not include any pre-existing writing. You can never have too many song-based or random scenario stories for your OCs!

If you recycle old art in your challenge, you will NOT receive tickets towards the raffle for this percentage. For example, if you have 27 characters and you already have tags for 7 of your characters, you will not receive the ticket for the 25% you already have completed because you did not do it during 2017. Recycled writing ONLY counts if it has been revised/updated.



Any additional questions or information:

Question: If I feel that some of the references I have for my characters don't need changed at all, do I have to make one for all of them? Or would I be able to just make one for those who i feel need one or don't have one yet?


You can reuse old references if you like, I think you just have to take that off of the end goal ^^
So you wouldn't get a ticket at say 25% if they're being reused, but apart from that it's the same.

Do we need to include characters that we are trying to sell in our character count?

No, you do not need to draw or write for characters that you do not intend to keep. If you no longer bond with them, there's no reason to force yourself to write or draw for a character you have no muse for!

What if I don't finish by December 31, 2017?

No worries, you put forth a valiant effort. You may choose to consider getting rid of characters you didn't complete, or you can carry over the challenge to 2018 and continue to draw to draw or write for all of your characters! Ittam will be hosting a white elephant (like the one we did in the past) where you may choose to donate any old characters you no longer want and randomly select a new one! ;D

May I do more than one quest? (For example, Character Keeper and Snapshot)

Of course you may! Just specify in your form that you'll be doing both.

What if I can't think of anything to draw/write about for one of my OCs?

If you have absolutely no muse and no longer wish to keep them, just sell them off/give them away and update your character count. HOWEVER, if you'd like to keep them and you're struggling to find muse, you can post on this thread to ask for help! If anyone's interested, we could make a Chatzy or a Discord or something to discuss the ongoing challenge! I'm sure there are members that would be more than willing to help you out and give you new ideas.

What if I buy new characters throughout the time that I'm doing the challenge?

If you intend to keep those characters, you must add them to your character count and develop them as well.

May I add my own spin to the challenge?

If you want to make the challenge harder for yourself, then you're welcome to revise/add onto the quests. As long as you're completing the base challenges that we've set up for you, you can be part of the event regardless of whatever else you add to your challenge. ^^

Can I join late/in the middle of the challenge?

Of course, but please be advised that you'll be a bit behind everyone else. If you'd like to challenge yourself to catch up, then go for it! Or, you can extend yourself to end one year after the date you started. (For example, everyone who signs up in January 2017 should end in December 2017. But if you sign up in March 2017, you can end in March 2018 if you didn't finish and you'd like to continue the challenge after the official CAAA one is concluded.)

May I add/drop quests to my challenge throughout the course of the year?

Yes, but please make note of this in a post on the thread or PM Wesley to let her know.

Do I have to include co-owned characters or fursonas/ex-fursonas?

This will vary on an individual basis. It is totally up to you whether or not you would like to include fursonas, ex-fursonas, and co-owned characters into the challenge as they can be more difficult to develop. You may wish to make a note in your form that says whether or not you are counting these characters towards your challenge.

May my art and stories include more than one character in them?

Unless your characters are always seen together, all art pieces should be separate. This is to prevent generic poses like cuddling/fighting/etc.

If you plan to write a story with two (or more) characters and intend to use this story for all of the characters involved, you should multiply the number of characters by 2 to get your new minimum paragraph count. In the short scenario challenge, compositions should be a minimum of 2-3 paragraphs. So if you're writing for 2 characters, your new minimum is 4-6 paragraphs.

However, if you are just writing the story for 1 character's completion, you are welcome to use as many characters as you'd like in the story, sticking with the 2-3 paragraph minimum. You just can't count all of the included characters' stories as complete; only one!

Does the "no lineart colour ins, even if the lineart is your own" count for references as well?

No, reference linearts don't have to be custom, but they DO have to have extra information on them if/when you're using linearts. The reference should have some sort of unique, custom info (color palette, personality tidbits, multiple views, etc) but doesn't need to have all of those to count ^^

Any more questions? PM me and let me know! I will add them up here!

[Wesley]

Extra reservation

[redhorizon]

Username: CaesarHorse
How many characters do you own? I'd say about 100ish, so tier 2
What challenge(s) will you be attempting? Organizational skills, Writing and development skills, Tag You're It, Fifty Faces, A Hundred Avatars, Ready To Reference
Link to the thread, website, sta.sh, etc. where you will be keeping your progress: http://sta.sh/21dwh2nzp8j4
Any additional questions or information: I am counting the art I already have, but I don't yet have that full information since my characters are scattered EVERYWHERE. I'll edit this post with the information when I've got it.
auld lang syne

[ghostie,]

Username: decemburr

How many characters do you own? 6 characters, Tier 1

What challenge(s) will you be attempting? Basic Bio, Tag Your It, Read To Reference, Soundtrack, Short Scenario

Link to the thread, website, sta.sh, etc. where you will be keeping your progress: Sta.sh

Any additional questions or information: Nope, but I do plan on ordering some art and characters along the way as well!

auld lang syne (you can't see it with size 1)

[amithea]

Username: Amithea
How many characters do you own? 58(tier 2)
What challenge(s) will you be attempting? Snapshot, Ready to reference, Detailed description, Short scenario
Link to the thread, website, sta.sh, etc. where you will be keeping your progress: I made a thread here
Any additional questions or information:
Don't think so~
auld lang syne