Make it So: The Final Challenge

by Charlie Plaine, Make it So Host

12th April 2014

It has been a long road for our eleven contestants, and now only two remain: James Monsebroten (Orbin) and Adam Hegarty (Chewie). James and Adam face one final challenge, at the end of which we will know who shall be the next First Edition Assistant Designer. But before we begin the Final Challenge itself, we want to take one more opportunity to thank everyone involved with Make it So. All of our contestants have worked extremely hard over the course of the competition and all deserve recognition. The judges, guest judges, and support staff for this competition have also invested a massive amount of time and energy which can not go unrecognized. And finally, you, the public, have done a massive amount of work in judging the submissions - thank you!

Right after the conculsion of Challenge #8, our two finalists were tasked with recruiting their own design teams. Adam and James were able to ask any of their peers (the nine other contestants) to join their teams, and the participants were limited to working on just one team (i.e. no "double dipping"). With that first task complete, we're happy to announce the two teams that will be battling for victory:

Adam Hegarty (Chewie) [LEAD]
Paddy Tye (KazonPADD)
Sean O'Reilly (Jono)

VS

James Monsebroten (Orbin) [LEAD]
Stephen G. (Zef'no)
Daniel Matteson (OKCoyote)

The finalists are going to be the Lead Designers for these design teams. They will set direction for the project, goals for the team, divide work assignments, and make all final decisions as related to the challenge submissions. They can use their team members as much or as little as they would like, and in whatever capacity they feel is best; but, at the end of the challenge, they (as leads) take full responsibility for their submissions and the work of their team.

In addition, team members will be asked to evaluate their leads - and these evaluations will be factored into the final scores.

 

We will also be preserving anonymity of the teams and their submissions until the conclusion of voting. Neither you, the public, nor the judges will know which team has submitted which entry, and will be judging them on their own merits. After judging is complete, we will reveal the identity of the design team behind each submission.

The Final Challenge
The last challenge for our finalists is to create a fifteen (15) card expansion. These expansions can be focused on almost anything the contestants wish them to be, and there are very few restrictions that will be laid upon the finished products. Here are the guidelines:

1) The expansions are NOT block legal. 
While it is fine for the expansions to have cards that care about the current blocks ( or cards), these expansions themselves will not be part of any block, and the impact of the cards on Block format is not relevant.

2) The expansions must include four (4) different card types.
Out of your fifteen cards, you must include at least four (4) different card types amongst your submissions. (Sorry, no "all mission" expansions!) Any of the card types mentioned in the reference guide are acceptable, although designers are cautioned to avoid card types without strong definitions (i.e. those we are actively avoiding). Designers may not create a new card type.

3) No new affiliations, templates, or icons.
Finalists may not introduce any new affiliations, new card templates, or icons as part of their submissions. Designers may reference the Vulcan affilition on missions only.

Outside of these three restrictions, designers are free to create anything they like as part of their fifteen (15) cards. To give this project focus, we are challenging the designers to choose a theme or set of goals for their submissions. Designers will be asked to submit their themes ahead of the deadline, and then judges and the public will be able to reference this theme when judging the final submissions. Some theme examples (and contestants are free to use these):

• Help the
• "Missing Links" from Block
• Enterprise Collection II

The Final Score
Unlike the previous challenges, the final scores for this challenge are based on a number of factors other than the scores of their individual cards. Here's a breakdown of how the final scores will be calculated:

Score Component	Maximum Points	Details
Meeting Challenge Requirements	20	Did the submission meet the card type restrictions?
Individual Card Scores	150	Each card is scored on a scale of 1-10; combined score is represented here.
Overall Challenge Score	50	The overall submission is judged as a whole, and represented here.
Meeting Objectives	50	Did the submission meet the objectives set by the lead designer?
Final Team Evaluations	10	Each team member will evaluate their leader; 5 points per team member.
Team Phase Evaluations	10	Previous team members each submitted evaluations; this component represents an aggregate score of those evaluations.
Process Evaluation	10	Observation and evaluation of the leadership and design process used by the finalists during the challenge.
Total	300

The Final Challenge

Because of the nature of this challenge, it will be on an extended timeline. The first deadline for contestants is for them to submit their chosen theme and goals. This will be a small writeup outlining the objectives of their expansions, and will be used later in the process by the public and the judges as a rubric for scoring their submissions. These writeups are due no later than 11:59 PM on Saturday, April 19th. As with all entires, they must be sent via PM to MidnightLich on the forums and not posted anywhere else.

The second deadline is for their expansion first draft. This is an optional step, but one each team is encouraged to take. As part of this step, any team that submits a first draft before the deadline of 11:59 PM on Friday, April 25th will receive comments from yours truly on each of the cards, as well as a mock up of their cards from our software. The comments will reflect my own opinions only, and not that of the judges, and can be taken or disregarded by the finalists as they see fit.

Finally, the final drafts of their submissions are due no later than 11:59 PM on Saturday, May 3rd. Voting on the submissions will begin on Monday, May 5th and run through 16th, with the final results being posted on May 19th. Good luck to the finalists and their teams - we can't wait to see what you have in store for us, and to see which of you will be joining an upcoming design team!

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