» Wed Jun 20, 2012 2:31 pm
I'm sorry, but what?
1. Please link to this competition so we can be sure that you are following the rules. Last I checked, stuff like this is major junk that they sponsor not because they think the contest would be fun or generate interest, but because they actually want to "buy" your prototype and do something with it and/or hire your team.
I am almost positive using an already exisiting game engine, code base, IP and etc and simply modding it into a Planescape game will most definitly not qualify at all for any entry.
2. The legalities of this are completely wonky. You've not asked the owner of the IP if you can use their IP for non-commercial usage, even if they are hosting a contest. Normally for the purposes of the contest this wouldn't be a major issue if you were coding your own engine/game, but seeing as you are using someone else's work (Bethesda, who legally owns the CK and anything you do in it) to do your own thing on a different IP that doesn't belong to either you or Beth, there's almost no way that what you are doing won't upset either Beth or the owners of the IP
3. As a level designer myself (not for Skyrim yet, but for other stuff) I'd never jump into this deal with a 12 foot pole. I'd presumably have to work hard to produce something that I won't even have a real certainty I'd get paid for what I've done. I also know nothing of your skills, if you are capable of doing a good job yourself, and if you have a substantual portfolio to back up your claims that you can and will win the prize money.
This isn't even getting to the root of the issue, even if a contest wasn't involved - you are taking on a monumental task. Monmental tasks from excited modders who have little to show for their ideas tend to not get help, because their mods tend to fail and get svcked into a development void. So far, all we know is you are "the ideas guy". There's nothing really to show that lets us known that you actually can do what you claim, and that you've got stuff working and working great right now that you did with your own work. Mod projects get volunteer help not becuase the idea is good, but because the guy incharge of the idea is good. We reqiure a team, a leader, and a project we believe in, in order to want to give up our own time to work on someone else's project. Not saying you aren't any of these things, but honestly from just this post alone it reminds me of countless others who have claimed big ideas but failed. That's not a spot you want to be in when you want to get help. This type of thing can easily be dispelled however if you've got some kind of pedigree to back up your name or if you have something to show right now that makes this a project I'd want to jump in on.
This is even assuming the first two points of course aren't an issue. Which I highly doubt is the case, especially since you say you'll simply throw away our work should you not get the prize.