Event Layout

The main bulk of the HSWC is made up by two Main Rounds and one Collab Round. There are also seven (or eight) Bonus Rounds that run throughout the event.

All rounds (whether Main, Collab, or Bonus) present a prompt to the community. Teams and participants then do their best to fulfill the prompt challenge.

Main Rounds

There are two main rounds. Each main round has its own Dreamwidth community where teams will post their round submissions.

This is how main rounds generally go:

• The round prompt is released! Excitement abounds!
• Team members flex their creativity and create awesome content based on the prompt.
  • Teams may also work collaboratively to create Main Round entries, but it is not required.
• Each team decides which entry they want to represent them.

• The Friendleader submits the chosen entry to the round’s community.

• The round closes, and everyone gets to enjoy the delicious new content!

• Everyone votes on their favorite submissions!

• The results are posted, points are awarded, and the whole thing starts all over again!

All submissions must be created new for the challenge. No fan-created content is allowed that has not been made by members of your team specifically in response to the prompt. Mainstream creative content is fine (e.g. popular music, well-known art pieces, the Homestuck soundtrack), but not fanart, fan music (i.e., you can parody a song on the radio but you cannot use an already-existing fan song in your entry), etc. This is largely to ensure that the original content in your entry is clearly identifiable as distinct from the borrowed content. For more information on work caps and requirements, please check the Work Guidelines.

Do not post your HSWC creations publicly (i.e., on tumblr, AO3, etc.) until voting ends, whether or not they are chosen as part of the team submission. For more information, read the HSWC Anonymity Policy.

Collab Round

Anonymity Policy

Bonus Rounds

Work Guidelines

Main Rounds

If you are submitting anything with text such as a game, a choose-your-own-adventure style entry, voiceacting, music, etc. you must include a full script with your entry or you will not be eligible for that round's final vote. For games, you should also seriously consider including a video walkthrough of your game. That way, if people have trouble loading or playing your game, they can still get an idea of what you entry is like.

If you are submitting photos of things, please try to make sure they are decently clear/well-lit! We will not be doing image/color correction for you, and it will not be our fault if people can't make out what your submission is. Also, we suggest but do not require that you submit 3-5 photos of whatever it is from different angles, just so we can get a better look at it!

Collab Round

Disqualifications

Your entry will be accepted to the round, but not eligible to move on to final vote if:

• You do not include a full-length script with your game, choose-your-own-adventure, voice acting, video/animation, etc. entry (where applicable; obviously if you have no words a script is not necessary).
• Your entry is a work-in-progress/incomplete.

• (MAIN ROUNDS ONLY) Your entry is 5% over the work cap in any medium.

  • For example: the word maximum is 4,000 words. 5% over that is 200 words. Therefore, entries with 4,001-4,200 words will be penalized 20 points, but still eligible to advance onto final vote. Entries with 4,201+ words will not be eligible for final vote, but the team will still receive participation points.
  • This applies to all mediums. If an entry includes audio and the recording goes 5% over the time limit, then the entry is disqualified from final vote. If a team is using the 1,000 word/20 image limit and submits 21 images, they will incur a 20 point penalty. If they use 22 images, they will be over the 5% cap and disqualified from final vote.

Bonus Rounds