REFLECTING AS A HOST

This graphic war was very experimental, which I'm sure was apparent. I experimented with the prompts, judging systems, and various concepts in general. A clear flaw in this war's intention to be experimental is the fact that I squeezed everything together into six weeks, which is not much time for people to get into the swing of things.

I wanted to be able to create and finish this event before my school year began, but I didn't anticipate the preparation process for this event to take half of my summer. I really wanted to make this event last a lot longer than six weeks, but that was not going to be possible for me to manage. But it will probably be possible for me to manage in future events, with a lot more preparation of course.

Several Food Fighters also pointed out that the food theme wasn't very versatile, and that the theme could barely explore darker-themed graphics. This then made the prompts a bit more challenging for those who weren't very experienced or comfortable with livelier themes. While I completely understand this, I thought the Food Fight's overall fresh and appetizing theme would be a fun challenge! I personally don't believe that prompts should be completely in your comfort zone because then there'd be little to no improvement in your skills!

However, I also understand that it'd be more interesting to see a greater variety of prompts and themes! It could help challenge everyone in different ways, and it could give everyone more experience in different themes. I'll be sure to consider this for future graphic wars and events!

SPEAKING OF FUTURE GRAPHIC WARS

I created a list of some concept ideas I have for graphic wars! It'd be great if you could comment under the ideas you like most! I'd love to further develop these ideas, so I'd like to know which ones I should dedicate the most time to.

- MAGICAL/FANTASY THEME! This is a popular theme amongst graphic wars, so it's not very new. But it's a very versatile theme that can explore bright themes, dark themes, and everything in between! Fantasy is also just a genre with no true limits, so it provides an endless amount of creative freedom.

- FAIRYTALE THEME! This theme is closely related to the magical/fantasy theme. However, the fairytale theme will delve into classic childhood stories from all over the world! It will allow everyone to express their interpretations and new visions for different kinds of stories! (I don't have a clear vision for the kind of prompts this theme would include, but I think fairy tales would create some very fun prompts!)

- SPACE TRAVEL THEME! This theme is also similar to the magical/fantasy theme. This theme will be more story-based, but the story itself hasn't been decided yet. One of the story concepts that I've been thinking of is where you and others are visiting planets, and you need to create graphics to help the inhabitants on each planet! (This theme is clearly under-developed, but I think it'd be interesting!)

- CYBERPUNK/VIDEO GAME THEME! This theme will be a bit story-based, too! Similarly to the space travel theme, the story itself hasn't been finalized. The overall idea I'm envisioning is filled with sci fi elements, neon colors, game stats, points, missions, battles, etc! I personally love cyberpunk themes, and I think a video game-y theme would be lots of fun!

- APOCALYPSE THEME! This theme too, once again, will be story-based! The type of apocalypse hasn't been decided yet (e.g. zombies, monsters, aliens, natural disasters, maybe even government?), but the overall gist is to survive the apocalypse by creating graphics. And that doesn't really make a whole lot of sense at the moment, but that mechanic will be introduced with a more reasonable context if I continue to develop this theme idea.

- MURDER MYSTERY THEME! This theme will be very story-driven. The participants will be considered as a group of detectives who have been assigned the case of a fictional murder. The prompts will ask the participants to design a graphic based on the evidence they collect as the story progresses. (For example, the participants will be provided with a list of suspects, and they will each choose which suspect they think committed the crime. Then, they would design a graphic based on the suspect they chose, and their graphic would not only be judged based on their design but also based on how close they are to the truth.)

Everyone would ultimately be helping each other solve the case! Regardless of whether eliminations are included or not, everyone will still be able to theorize and speculate to try to reach the truth in the mystery. (Now, this theme isn't entirely developed or finalized, so it might sound a bit confusing. I haven't completely figured out the storyline or mechanics of this theme, but I'd love to keep developing it!)

- MAFIA GAME THEME! This theme will basically be a game of Mafia! In case you haven't played or heard of this game, it's a popular game to play with friends or strangers where each person is given one of the following roles: citizen or mafia. In the beginning, you are the only person who knows your role. The citizens are the good guys, and they need to find out who the mafias are before they kill all of the citizens. The mafias are the bad guys, and they need to kill all of the citizens before they find out that they're the mafias.

The game progresses through a series of "days" and "nights", aka rounds. During the night, mafias will secretly choose one citizen to kill. During the day, everyone will discuss what happened during the night and debate who's most likely to be the mafia. The mafias will pretend to be citizens to avoid any suspicion. There will then be a voting round, where everyone votes for who they think the mafia is, who will then be eliminated and their role will be revealed. The rounds will continue until the citizens eliminate all of the mafias, or until the mafias kill all of the citizens. (Werewolf and Among Us are popular versions of this game.)

So, how will this game translate into a graphic war? That's a great question, and I don't actually have a clear answer. The prompts might work similarly to the murder mystery theme, but again, I'm still not entirely sure. I just thought that this mafia game theme would be a fun idea, and it would create more interactivity between participants. But this might be difficult to execute, so any ideas of your own would be helpful!

- KPOP SURVIVAL SHOW THEME! This theme is inspired by kpop survival shows and other idol pop survival shows! I'm surprised that I haven't seen this theme used for a graphic event yet (but maybe I'm wrong and maybe this theme has been used before.) The event will basically be a regular graphic war, just focused on kpop. The prompts will be based on kpop songs, concepts, groups, etc.! The event as a whole will also be more interactive for the participants. (And maybe there will be a voting mechanic? There could be a leaderboard of some sort that would keep track of the number of votes each "trainee", aka participant, gets after each round.) 

IDEAS AND ADDITIONS FOR FUTURE EVENTS

There were a lot of features that I didn't include in the "Food Fight", so I made a list of some ideas I'd like to add to future events! Once again, it'd be great to hear your thoughts on each idea!

- DEADLINE COUNTDOWN TIMER! This was something I added last-minute in Round 3, which was helpful for both me and the participants. The countdown would help you know how many days and hours you had left before a round's deadline.

- VOTING MECHANIC! This mechanic would allow participants to vote for the entries they like most, which would then determine each entry's ranking. I didn't include this mechanic in the "Food Fight" because I wanted to prevent conflict from happening between any participants. However, a voting mechanic would voice the thoughts of multiple people, rather than one, which would result in a more agreeable ranking.

- GUEST JUDGES! Similarly to the voting mechanic, featuring guest judges for a few rounds or for the entire event would voice the thoughts of multiple people, rather than one. Of course, featuring guest judges would require a lot more preparation and time, so I personally don't favor this idea too much. I'm still open to experimenting with this sort of judging though!

- INTERACTIVE GAMES/ACTIVITIES! I personally don't feel like the "Food Fight" was interactive enough, if that makes sense. I think it'd be interesting to host little games and activities that might even affect the prompts in the event! (I was also thinking of creating a bonus game or prompt that could bring eliminated participants back into the event! Let me know what you think of that idea.)

- HIDDEN PRIZES/EASTER EGGS! Now, I actually included two "hidden" messages in the "Food Fight"! Both of them were completely irrelevant to the graphic war itself, but I was still surprised that no one noticed them, or at least mentioned if they noticed them. I really thought they were blatantly obvious, but I guess not? Anyway, I plan to scatter hidden prizes or easter eggs throughout my future events! I think it'd be fun and create more interactivity! I also think it'd be interesting to always have to keep your eye out for hidden things. 

LOOKING FORWARD

My next graphic war will hopefully take place next summer! By then, I'll have enough time to host and manage the event. In the meantime, I'll be working on my own graphic portfolio, as well as a few other projects! I'll also be hosting little graphic contests every now and then.

This is only the beginning of my graphic events! I have so many ideas just waiting to get out there! I hope the next events will go just as well as the "Food Fight" did!