Me Make Monster - Story Contest

In an effort to spread the word about my project, Me Make Monster (which lets you make a monster, then get it printed on t-shirts, mugs, and other Zazzle products) I've just launched a Story Contest.

The way it works is, you visit the site and make a monster, giving it a name. Then click the "Enter Our Story Contest" button. This takes you to a new page, where you enter a little info (including the name of your monster), and then write or paste in your story.

The contest will run for a month, and I really have no idea what to expect. As far as the stories themselves, anything goes - though I'm suggesting people write about a few specific things regarding their monster, if they're not sure what to cover:

• its origins
• powers
• allies
• enemies
• weaknesses
• secret lair/domain
• how it feeds

I'll be awarding one $50 Zazzle Gift Certificate and two $25 Zazzle Gift Certificates in each of four age groups, so feel free to spread the word and try it out for yourself. The link to the contest is right here:
http://www.memakemonster.com/contest.html

Winners will be announced on December 15th - I may even read the winning stories aloud, accompanied by some simple monster animation. That seems like it would be cool.

Me Make Monster Animated Commercial and Theme Song

The first Me Make Monster commercial has launched, complete with a retro 80's-style theme song! Click below to check it out!

Or check it out at:
www.memakemonster.com

The theme song, 34 seconds long, was composed in GarageBand, using all MIDI instruments except for the voice, which I tripled to thicken it up. The song's feel was modeled after the early- to mid-80's Saturday morning commercials of my youth - very aggressive, filled with attitude, Eddie Van Halen-inspired guitar noodlings and heavy beats.

I kept the lyrics as streamlined as I could, conveying the customized monster-making functionality of the site, and the ability to get those monsters printed on producsts, in as few words as possible.

I developed the commercial all in Flash, and kept it free of gradients so there wouldn't be any nastiness when the piece went from Flash to Quicktime to Flash Video, or whatever other compressed format it'll be converted to.

The piece has been integrated into the site itself, and should set the tone for the site as being edgy, cool and fun - especially for the 8 to 12 year old boys I'm targeting. I hope they enjoy the sixteenth note guitar triplets. I'm sure they will.