NPC Design Contest

The NPC Design Contest (also known as “Design an Inhabitant of Pilgrim’s Rest” contest) was a contest held on the Moi Rai Discord server, where the community could submit their NPC ideas for the game. The NPCs would appear in Pilgrim's Rest and feature simple dialogue without additional gameplay.

During the contest, each participant could submit one NPC idea, and anyone could apply for the 'NPC Voting Council' role, which allowed them to vote during the voting period. Once submissions closed, the developers would select ten entries as finalists for voting. During the voting period, those with the voting role could vote for up to three of the ten finalists. The two designs with the most votes would be added to the game.

Schedule

• Contest Start: July 22, 2024, 10:00 AM UTC
• Submissions Deadline: August 12, 2024, 9:59 PM UTC
• Finalist Reveal: August 15, 2024, 10:30 AM UTC
• Voting Registration Deadline: August 17, 2024, 8:00 AM UTC
• Voting Period: August 19, 2024, 10:45 AM UTC - August 26, 2024, 8:00 AM UTC
• Contest Results: August 28, 2024, 11:00 AM UTC

Rules

Click here to toggle the rules and guidelines of the contest.

1. You can submit exactly one contest entry following the design guidelines.
2. You can participate by submitting your contest entry in #⁠npc-contest-discussion in the duration of the submission period (July 22 until August 12, 2024, 9:59 PM UTC ) by uploading an image file along with the text [NEW NPC], a name, a clear indication whose entry it is and optionally a description.
3. From all submissions following the rules, moi rai games will select 10 entries to be the finalists in our contest and let the community vote on the winners that will make it into the game.
4. Everyone who wants to vote on the winners, will have to register by obtaining the "NPC Design Council" Role until August 17, 2024, 8:00 AM UTC.
5. Voting on the finalists will take place from August 19 until August 26, 2024, 8:00 AM UTC in ⁠#⁠npc-contest-voting using the bot "EasyPoll" in an anonymous poll.
6. The two NPC-entries with the most votes by the end of the voting period will be used by our artists to create sprites based on it and will be added to Aethermancer before release as interactable NPCs with simple dialogue (without additional gameplay).
7. By submitting your idea for an NPC, you allow moi rai games to use it in our game Aethermancer for the described purpose as well as communication on social channels, trailers and other marketing materials. Also, you allow moi rai games to make changes to the idea on all design aspects as we deem best. That being said, we will indeed try our best to implement the winners in the same spirit of their original design.
8. By submitting your idea for an NPC, you state that your entry is your own idea and does not directly exist in another game, RPG book or other copyrighted content or is taken from another artist or person without their knowledge and approval.
9. By submitting your idea for an NPC, you state that you are 18 years or older.
10. By submitting your idea for an NPC, you state that you have not used AI tools for this purpose.
11. Alongside submitting your design entry to ⁠#npc-contest-discussion, you are encouraged to post it on social media with the #newNPCforAethermancer tag. Note that this is in addition to your Discord submission and that posting on another platform is not enough to participate. Also, we would like to feature some of the designs on our socials (Twitter for example), so if you'd like to be tagged, please include your handle and the social media platform in your submission post on Discord.

Guidelines

• The design is your idea (see rule #8). Taking inspiration from commonly-used lore/mythology is fine, but don't plagiarize.
• An entry must contain the following aspects:
  • A name
  • At least one sample image (one is enough, but feel free to add different poses of the same design if you like), you did yourself (or asked someone to do it for you)
  • Clear indication whose entry it is (note that collaborative entries are accepted as well)
  • If the sample image is made by someone else, please indicate who the artist is. Note that the sample image can also be a collage of references (not one single reference though), but original drawings are preferred
• Players will be able to talk to the NPC in Pilgrim's Rest, so adding a description of the NPC's personality, character or any other details you want to add, helps to give your idea more character and chances of being picked as a finalist, so we highly encourage you to write a little description.
• Some important lore details:
  • Pilgrim's Rest is primarily inhabited by a race known as Monsterkin. So your task is to come up with new Monsterkin to inhabit Pilgrim's Rest!
  • Monsterkin are similar to humans, but they are born with an animal-like or monster-like appearance, as well as with a higher amount of Aether in their bodies. This gives them some unique abilities compared to humans.
  • Monsterkin are still closer to humans than monsters, however. They can take on any profession and learn any skill that a human could.
  • As such, our Monsterkin citizens look rather civilized: they are fully clothed (generally speaking) and possess their own culture.
  • The anatomy and bodily proportions of Monsterkin are generally very humanoid.

Finalists and Results

By the end of the submission period, there were a total of 43 entries, and by the close of the voting period, 467 votes had been cast by 162 users. The ten finalists and the number of votes each received were:

1. Cephelia, The Dredger (by FossilFace) - 77 votes
2. Hector von Cetan (by Pata) - 59 votes
3. Sir Honest Ratier (by Renardemanga) - 58 votes
4. Lilibit (by RacieB) - 50 votes
5. Kipha (by Halofire) - 45 votes
6. Pedro, the Cowardly Explorer (by Dendrobium) - 44 votes
7. Pleocelsus (by Healslime) - 37 votes
8. Mike Leonard Golden (by matheuslpereira) - 35 votes
9. Lantana (by endeolion) - 32 votes
10. Basil (by Bluepumpkin) - 30 votes

Based on the voting results, the two winners of the NPC Design Contest were Cephelia, The Dredger (by FossilFace) and Hector von Cetan (by Pata). Additionally, in a surprise twist, two more entries were selected as Developer's Pick winners: Mike Leonard Golden (by matheuslpereira) and Kipha (by Halofire). This brings the total number of winners to four.

• 

  Contest finalists

• 

  Contest winners

Trivia

• There was also a Manticorb plushie giveaway, with three random people who applied for the 'NPC Voting Council' role winning the plushies.