We've talked about Quad Arrow's moddable fighting game engine EF-12 a couple of times now, but for those who are unaware it's basically a 3D spiritual successor to MUGEN. Players can do things like add new fighting rings, add new character models and animations, create new moves, and program new AI, then play using any number of possible controller configurations. All at a pay-what-you-want price as low as $0.00.
We missed it before, but EF-12 ran some contests leading up to and during Tokyo Game Show, and they're doing it again for this year's BitSummit. There wasn't a name for their first run of contests, but as of round two they're calling it EF-Con. The contests are open to all, though the full contest information is only available in Japanese, one contest will be held at BitSummit itself, and the prizes are all Japanese Amazon gift certificates. This contest hinges around the release of version 1.7, however, and one of the contests reveals an interesting new feature that's just been added to the engine.
There are two distinct contests.The first is a content creation contest (Japanese) which is open until February 28th. There are three subdivisions for this one, and creators are welcome to enter all three. Two of the three subdivisions ask content creators to download and modify base models for two new boss characters, one a group of floating eyes called FloatEye and the other a six-armed humanoid named Asura. In both of those divisions, the first place winner will receive a 20,000 yen (approx. $192.50 US) Amazon.co.jp gift certificate and the second place winner will receive a 10,000 yen gift certificate.
The third subdivision is where the new engine feature comes into play. As of version 1.7, Quad Arrow has added the ability to create external customizations for existing characters. This feature is intended to allow for visual customization and personalization of avatars with costume pieces such as horns, helmets, capes, and the like. For the contest, Quad Arrow two models, one male and one female, prepared for for which they are asking the community to try their hand at making customizable external parts. The first place winner will receive a 10,000 Amazon.co.jp gift certificate, with five honorable mentions each getting 3,000 yen gift certificates.
During BitSummit itself, Quad Arrow will also be running a contest for EF-12 players. The two boss characters featured in the creator contest and one other called Devil Rex will be available to play against, and the first three people to defeat each boss will win an Amazon.co.jp gift certificate to be handed over on-site. Denominations vary for each boss, at 1,000 yen (about $10 US) for FloatEye, 1,500 yen for Asura, and 2,000 yen for Devil Rex. Players will be allowed to challenge a given boss as many times as they like, but are asked to be respectful of other players who want to make the attempt, too. Players may also go for a win on all three bosses, though Quad Arrow reserves the right to limit the number of prizes given to any individual depending on things like how much interest there is in the contest and how many prizes remain.
Both of these contests revolve around the 1.7 version update to EF-12. Playism's page for the English version of the game doesn't say which version is currently available, but Nayan Ramachandran tells me that they try to keep turnaround time to a minimum and that since localization is mostly restricted to the modding manuals that it typically takes about a week. So if it isn't available already, it will be soon, and anyone who wants to dig through the Japanese version of the game can go ahead and get started.
[EF-12 Contest Announcement (Japanese) | Entry Sheet for Modeling Contest (Japanese)]