Overview

We’re very excited to have you submit to VIMworld Community VIM Producer Contest. This document will act as an initial guide for you when creating VIM art assets. If you have any questions, you will be invited to join a private channel on Discord where you can ask questions and download additional resources.

Style Guidelines

Restrictions

All assets must fall within the acceptable standards for “PG-13” or below. If there are any questions, ask us and we will review and respond.

Suggestions

When creating VIM art assets, be considerate of their use cases. They will be seen in small and large views on the website, in apps, and even in games that integrate VIMs.

If a background is included, it may detract from the visual appeal when the asset is small, or even in the VIMdex (a searchable screen where users can see all of the VIM which exist). Having the focus be on the character may help to drive interest.

Since the art will likely have an alpha channel, it may appear over different colors. VIMworld backgrounds will probably remain white as a way to create an expected background color for the art assets, but once a game integrates VIM, different color backgrounds may come into play.

Representing Tiers

The VIM ecosystem is built on the idea of upgrading VIM. There are currently 17 tiers (X, S9, S8, S7, S6, S5, S4, S3, S2, S1, ,S ,A ,B ,C ,D ,E & F). F-tier is the lowest, while X-tier is the highest. VIM art assets should indicate this ‘upgrade’ ideology, and there are a few ways to do this.

Each tier, the art asset is given a new colorway
Each tier, the art asset is given better and better equipment/accessories/pets
Each tier, the art asset is in a more dynamic and epic pose
Each tier, the art asset literally evolves into a more fantastic form

There may be even more ways to denote an increase in value as the VIM tier upgrades, but each tier MUST feel more and more epic/valuable. Experiment with ways to achieve this throughout the tiers.

List of Deliverables

Many elements are needed to create the full VIM experience - both information and art assets. Below is a list and description of elements that are required to have a complete submission to the contest.

Name of the character

A searchable, distinct name
Ex: “Detective Pikachu”

Lore/Background Story

A more thematic explanation of the VIM
Limit of 500 words
Ex: Garu’s Lore

Description

A more technical explanation of the VIM
Limit of 500 characters
Ex: “A small, mouse-like Pokémon with short, yellow fur with brown markings covering their backs and parts of their lightning bolt shaped tails. They have black-tipped, pointy ears and red circles on their cheeks, said to contain "electric sacs".”

Keywords

2-5 terms that make this VIM easily searchable
The VIM will also be searchable via the above information
Ex: “yellow”, “adorable”, “lightning”, “fast”

Artwork

Provide at minimum the basic character and one other tier. You may design art for all five tiers.

F,E,D,C,B : basic character - REQUIRED
A, S, S1 : upgraded version
S2 : epic version
S6 : super epic version
X : Legendairy version / Holo version

File Details

File Types

Please deliver source files as either Photoshop, Illustrator, After Effects format:

Photoshop (.psd)
Illustrator (.ai)
After Effects (.ae) (As a packaged folder with all assets)

For the individual assets the following formats should be used:

Scalable Vector Graphics (.svg)

Styling: Internal CSS
Object IDs: Layer Names

Portable Network Graphics (.png)

Compression: Smallest/Slow
Interlace: none
PNG-24
Including alpha is acceptable and preferred (see Style Guidelines)

Resolution

Because assets may be used to create key art for marketing purposes, a high resolution and pixel density for the source files is required.

Photoshop

3000x3000 pixels
300 ppi

Illustrator

1000x1000 pixels
72 ppi

After Effects

1000x1000 pixels
72 ppi

Note: If source files are created with vector graphics, then the resolution is irrelevant, however, keep in mind that drop shadows and strokes do not scale inherently, as they are set to a pixel/point size. Also, any non-vector images brought into Illustrator will not automatically be converted into vector graphics.

Delivery Method

After the registration deadline has closed, all registered contestants will receive further details on submitting their VIM to the contest. Please keep an eye on your email and pay attention to updates in the contest community channels. If you are selected as a finalist