We'll be judging based off beauty, creativity, flow with the surrounding environment, practicality, and just overall interesting or nice looking design choices.
Also, due to popular demand the first place prize will now be 400 coins!
Some hints --- things we don't really like:
* large, gaudy structures that are in your face and ridiculous
* cobblestone, period
* wood planks in large quantities or sections
* floating structures, or extremely unnatural looking buildings
* anything with glowstone
* huge towers that are plain (some towers are cool - like Akillyez' awesome tower)
* iron bar porches (wink)
Things we like:
* creative designs, interesting use of materials, as long as they don't look ridiculous
* thoughtful and detailed decor, exterior or interior
* nice landscaping / exterior work surrounding the actual house structure
* color! It's OK to use some color in moderation. wood and stone gets boring after a while.
We want to make the town look as nice as possible, so hopefully this will be fun and improve the town in the process. I won't be handing out designs, but if you have any questions about a particular idea or want some input, please ask. We'll be judging all the houses in Hal, but making any changes to your existing house is obviously voluntary.
Thanks for everyone who chooses to participate - and just ask kperkins1982 or myself if you have any questions about the contest.
Good luck!