We love giving the community a chance to showcase their creative talents by designing items for the game! Winning player designs will be used as inspiration for an official Highrise grab, and runners-up get a small selection of their items turned into rewards. Winners always receive the items they designed for free!
That being said, here are a few rules and guidelines to help clarify some of the most common questions we have about Grab Design Contests. Please note that this applies primarily to full Grab Design Contests; rules differ for Mini Design Contests, so check the FAQ for more information.
Grab Design Contest rules:
All entries must be your original creation.
You may incorporate art assets from Highrise or other sources to help express your idea, and we accept the use of tracing and other drawing aids. However, any entry you submit must be significantly changed from your reference material in order to make it your own unique design. Entering images directly from other games, avatar creator apps, art sites, Instagram, etc. is not allowed.
Designs depicting copyrighted characters or other IPs will be disqualified.
Unless specifically stated as a collaboration, you may not enter artwork created by other members. Commissioned grab designs will be disqualified.
Each design must include at least 1 masculine outfit and 1 feminine outfit.
All designs must have a minimum of 12 items in total (both genders combined) and a maximum of 15. More items may be included in the design, but no more than 15 will be made in the final grab.
All avatar items must be clearly visible in your entry. Items that are unclear or obscured may be modified or left out of the final grab.
Furni is optional. You may include up to 2 furni items. These will count toward the 12 item minimum. These should be visible in the main entry image, but do not have to be full size. Having furni in your design does not affect your chances of being selected as a finalist.
Highrise reserves the right to modify, combine, or remove any items in a design. This may be done for technical reasons or to make the item fit better in the style of the app
You may submit up to 2 unique entries for a design contest. However, only one of your designs may become a finalist for community voting. Collaborative efforts are counted as a single entry, so plan your solo and team submissions accordingly.
Final entries must be submitted through the User Design Contest feature, available through a bot in the Welcome Plaza
All designs must follow the Highrise code of conduct and community guidelines. Offensive or exclusionary content won’t be considered - we want to highlight entries that reflect the values of our community
All submissions will be regarded as User-Generated Content as defined in the Pocket Worlds Terms of Service. By submitting a design, you acknowledge Highrise will own the rights to the finished items, and that your compensation will take the form of free items and/or gold.
Use of official Highrise avatar templates is highly encouraged, but not required. You can find the template here:
Contest judging:
After the contest deadline has passed, Highrise staff will review all contest entries under the contest hashtag and select a number of finalists. Finalist selection is based on a combination of factors. This can include:
Visual appeal
Uniqueness of design
Interpretation of theme
Feasibility (Can Highrise actually make your items work in-game within our current technical constraints?)
Community interest
As of March 2021, judging takes into consideration an entry's popularity within the community, including number of likes and comments.
We don’t allow consecutive wins in any art design contest. If you have been selected as a winner or runner-up in a Grab Design Contest, you are not eligible to be selected as a finalist in the next Grab Design Contest.
Finalists who enter the following contest under an alternate account will be disqualified.
Collaborations that include a finalist from the previous contest are only eligible for a shoutout spot.
Winners may participate in a MIni Design Contest immediately following a win in a Grab Design Contest. For more information, visit the Mini Design Contest FAQ
Finalists are announced 1-2 days after the contest deadline. The Highrise community will then have 24 hours to vote for their favorite designs from those finalists.
What's my prize for winning or being a runner-up?
Winners will receive a gold prize along with the full item set inspired by their design. Runners-up will receive a gold prize and a small number of items (around 4) from their design.
If you’re part of a winning collaboration, discuss with your teammate how you would like your item set divided between you. Grabs made from collaborator designs may be smaller than the 15 item maximum to allow items to be equally distributed. Gold prizes will also be divided equally between collaborators.
Outside of the winners and runners-up, we also select a number of designs as Honorable Mentions or Shoutouts for each contest. These players will receive a gold prize.
I'm a winner/runner up for a grab design contest! What happens now?
Congrats! Now your design will be used by our Art Team as inspiration for real in-game items 😃
Once winners and runner-ups have been announced, please email us by going to Profile > Settings > FAQ > Contact Us in top-right corner > Community Requests. Open a new message and include HD images of your full design and any close-ups or detail views, along with any additional notes or instructions for our staff artists.
For winning designs, include a full list of items as well as intended rarities. It helps us a lot when items are clearly labeled. Feel free to include items names as well, but remember: HR has the final say in item selection, name, and rarity
For runner-up designs, include a full list of items listed in order of preference. Typically only 4 items will be made from runner-up designs. Our staff will determine which items will be made, but we try to honor requests and preferences where possible.
Usually, we send designers 2 sets of their items. If you’re a collaborator, we'll send each partner 1 set, along with half the gold prize.
We'll usually send you some previews of your items before they go live, along with their expected launch date. Please note that we typically do not send previews for single item contests (EyeRise, Redesign, etc) due to the volume of participants.
Winning designs will be released as grabs that can be spun with gold. Items made from runners-up will be released as event rewards. You'll receive your items and gold prize in-game in the form of gift boxes under the Gifts section of your Inbox. Enjoy!
Design Contest Do’s and Dont’s -
DO:
Make your entire grab design cohesive. It helps when everything in your design makes sense with the theme and fits together well. There are many ways to achieve this, such as using a particular color palette or specific design elements throughout the design, having a strong central concept/story/aesthetic/mood, etc. If something seems out of place, it might be better to change it or leave it out.
Put equal effort into both feminine and masculine outfits. Are they both equally interesting and well thought out, or has more effort been put into one over the other? A super elaborate feminine outfit doesn’t make up for a very basic masculine one. Push your creativity!
Present your design clearly and neatly. To keep the contest hashtag free of clutter and easy to navigate, please post your entry as a multi-image post. The first image of your post must show your full design with both outfits. Include close ups and detail views in the rest of your post instead of making separate posts. If something is covered up in your design, include a detail view of it by itself so we can see the whole item.
Consider a variety of rarities when designing your items. Are there any items in your design that are particularly unique, fun, beautiful, etc? Are there items that stand out as obvious Legendaries or Epics, or does everything feel like Rares?
Pay attention to how items usually work on the avatar. There are technical limitations that affect the way items layer and animate in our system. Designs that will not work well with our system will need to be modified or combined, which may affect your item count. Refer to the Current Avatar Item Layering Guide in the FAQ for more info.
Include more than 12 items! 12 is the minimum required, but we often need to combine certain member-designed items because of technical constraints. This could cause your design to have fewer than 12 items in total, which unfortunately disqualifies the entry.
Untag any old versions of your entry. We just want to see your most beautiful and polished final design on the contest hashtag page.
Be supportive of everyone participating! Be kind and thoughtful when giving or receiving feedback, and congratulate each others' successes.
DO NOT:
Use the UDC to submit posts that are NOT your final entry. Don't tag your sneak peeks, WIPs, close ups, and other non-final entry posts with the contest hashtag. This clutters up the Browse page and makes it difficult for us to find your actual final entries. If you would like to show close ups and detail shots, please include them as part of your main entry post.
Change or add to your design after entry submission has closed. Any additional artwork submitted afterwards will not be considered.
Encourage other people to repost your design to show support. This makes it harder to find your original post, as well as cluttering up the UDC Browse page.
Host giveaways in exchange for likes/comments/reposts on your entry. People should be leaving likes and comments because they enjoy your design, not because they might win something from you. Members who host giveaways in exchange for likes and comments on their entries will be disqualified from the contest.
Remake existing items, especially ones that are valuable or high rarity. Items that are too similar to existing ones may be excluded from the final grab, but will not disqualify an entire design.
Resubmit entries from past contests. Think of each contest as an opportunity to practice and improve your design skills. While resubmitted designs are allowed, these designs have a much lower chance of being selected.