The Amazing Race > RFF's Amazing Race: Design Challenge

The Amazing Race: Design Challenge VIII - Final Round Design Show on Page 50!

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gamerfan09:
My comments are coming tomorrow morning my time (so like 12 hrs). Apologies for the major delay.

Jobby:
Apologies for the delay too. My internet died....

nrh2110:

--- Quote from: nrh2110 on October 14, 2020, 04:32:32 PM ---
--- Quote from: Kamineko on October 14, 2020, 12:32:15 PM ---

Kamineko's Comments



Hi nrh2110, these are my comments to your legs. :luvya:

Premiere Leg [Kyoto, Japan]

Show contentChoosing Kyoto as the Starting Line location and focusing the premiere leg on the same city is pretty daring, I say. I always have high hopes for a Japan leg, so hopefully you can impress me this time.

Love the Starting Line location. I think it fits really well for a Starting Line, especially in Kyoto.

The Starting Line Task is pretty solid I believe. I just wish you included the picture of the Kyoto International Manga Museum. Also, I believe this task fits better if it’s held in the museum, instead of in the Starting Line.

The first cryptic clue is nice. I believe teams would have a hard time to find out that Nintendo’s HQ is located here. But if they’re smart enough, they can just go inside the museum and ask for help from the locals.

The first Roadblock is nicely themed. I just don’t like that there are only four spots to perform the Roadblock at one time.

Onto the next task in Ichihime Shrine (a typo you made right there), which is a Hinamatsuri themed task is fine. I have some issues for this. First, that the shrine is way smaller than the Nintendo HQ but all teams can complete the challenge in one time, but you only provided four spots at the first Roadblock. Also, you used a picture of Ichihime Shrine that is located in Kanazawa, not the one in Kyoto, I believe.

The next location is pretty useless and can be skipped, because teams will only get a clue directing them to Kiyomizu-dera. Perhaps you picked Otani Hombyo because it’s near the next location, but I wonder why you pick the specific location, instead of other nearby locations like (for example) Ninenzaka or Yasaka Shrine.

Then teams have to go directly to a theater for another Roadblock. The concept is great because I would love to see a geisha-themed task happening. I am confused that teams had to dress a geisha, but followed by learning a dance routine, which was not really related. Perhaps you meant that they have to dress themselves as geisha then learn the routine? Because that makes more sense to me.

Finally they go to the Pit Stop at Kinkaku-ji. Nice location to serve at the Pit Stop.

For my final comments, I believe you highlighted Kyoto pretty well. It’s not a perfect one because I think you were rushed to submit this leg. Also, the latter half of the leg just seems pretty mediocre to me, because at the beginning I was pleased reading on your leg but it’s declining after the halfway of the leg.


Assigned Country Leg [Bandar Seri Begawan, Brunei → Rotorua, New Zealand]

Show contentSince this is my assigned country to you, I really hope that you impress me with a side of New Zealand that I rarely see.

I like that you’re starting in Brunei. We’ve never had a leg before in Brunei, so I am really curious about a leg in Brunei as well. I have to say that the location that you pick, which is Rotorua, is not surprising, since Rotorua has some Maori influenced sights and many cultural sights as well in there. But let’s see if you can surprise me with your leg in Rotorua.

The first location is nice and well fit for the upcoming Roadblock. I really like the background story for the Roadblock, and that you took parts of the story as your Roadblock task. I just don’t like that you didn’t explain more about the music that they had to follow and you didn’t include a picture of the geothermal pool.

The next location is also nice. Although you didn’t have any task there, I like that the geyser fits really well with Rotorua.

Then, teams went to a Maori village. Although from the picture it seems to be a tourist attraction location, that's fine.

Your next task is another Roadblock, but it’s fine. I really like the Roadblock task since it fits really well with the indigenous culture there. I had watched this way of cooking in Gordon Ramsay’s Uncharted series, so I can imagine how this task would work, thus I really like it that you used this task.

Finally they go to the Pit Stop. It’s another nice location and really fit as a Pit Stop location.

For my final comments for this leg, I appreciate that you follow my suggestion and avoid the adrenaline activities, but still delivered a pretty solid leg in New Zealand. I just feel that I want to see more task(s) because it seems to be a pretty short leg. Another idea I kinda hoped you included in this leg was a task related to sheep since it’s an animal that fits well with New Zealand and I really love to see more featured in a race.

--- End quote ---
Thanks Kami, just a few things!

1. I think your criticism about having the SLT at the museum makes sense, I honestly wish I'd thought of having them run there for the SLT, so I think that's a reasonable critism.

2. I think four is enough, given how much time they have on each go, and for the players who aren't good, for the first few times their rounds may be shorter because they keep dying. But I'd be okay with maybe a couple more—I think having enough for everyone to play or even most to be able to play wouldn't be as interesting and wouldn't create as much of a staggering of teams that having four or maybe a couple more would.

3. Your criticism is fair about the ARI. I didn't have a chance to visit it while I was there so I didn't realize it was that small (also sorry for getting the wrong picture!).

4. Yes. I chose the Otani Hombyo simply due to its proximity to Kiyomizudera.

5. Yes. I didn't realize that they way I wrote it could be interpreted differently, but that is EXACTLY what I meant—they get dressed and then learn the routine.

6. I included information about both the music and the pool in my notes!:


--- Quote ---The main highlight of the music being played is the flute, and you can listen to an example here. As you can see in this picture, the hot pool isn't deep either, so grabbing the clue at the bottom won't be too difficult.
--- End quote ---

7. Your criticism is fair about the length, but I still feel that it would work for a full hour episode—especially since it's longer than the original Rotorua leg, and the Roadblocks are both multiple-part roadblocks that will take time. I actually considered doing something with sheep but I figured that that was just as expected as an adrenaline task. I really wanted to do a leg that really tailored to the Maori side of New Zealand bc iirc, the only task relating to Maori culture in the visits of TARUS (I may be wrong though, it's been a while since I've watched some of the seasons) was the tattoo one and I think that's something that's expected, so I wanted to do it justice.

Thanks Kami! Hope I get to see one more leg of comments.

--- End quote ---

I'd like to revise what I said about the SLT. I actually forgot that I did consider doing the SLT at the manga museum, but I realized that would mean that Phil would somehow have to get to the manga museum before the teams and logistically that's impossible because if he hopped in a car, I'm sure teams would just follow wherever he's going. And yes, I guess someone else could check the teams' guesses at the manga museum, but I think it's tradition to have Phil do it with his "That is correct!" rather than some local, especially when it would flashback to when the teams got eliminated as they get their correct answers.

gamerfan09:


Gamer's Judgments:

Like before, I will be giving my comments! But this time, like Kami, I think you have all done as much as to be dignified by having your comments be one post per Designer rather than a clump, so that is what I will do.

First off...



Kyoto, Japan

Show contentFirst of all, your AS cast…. whew there’s a few questionable choices but UB works I guess. Your SLT is something I really loved! It’s pretty much something in concept that helps establish the Unfinished Business motif, and really helps teams face their problems head-on lol. It’s just a fun idea for a task.

Your first Roadblock is interesting! I would normally think giving non-video game players a game task seems unfair at first, but I think 1-1 and 1-2 on Super Mario Bros. is iconic and memorable enough to be an introduction for this task to be fair. I do think it’s very good, and its also very timely - it is Mario’s 35th anniversary after all.

I also really like your doll altar task. Your next Route Info is interesting. I like the idea of making teams look up to find the place with minimal instructions, and there’s a chance for teams to just risk taking a penalty to find it faster. Your Roadblock is decent enough, but I just think that with the tempo of how geisha performances can be, I think that it’s a bit tonally off from the rest of the leg, which feels busy, loud, and exciting. It’s still a solid task, but I would have preferred something with similar energies to the tasks before it.

We then head to the Pit Stop.

NRH, I really loved this Japan leg! I think a big problem with modern TAR and Japan is that its too focused on showing the “wacky” side of Japan to the point of mockery, and I think your leg managed to show enough culture to that. I just wish your Roadblock fit the energy of the rest of the leg before it.
Rotorua, New Zealand

Show contentMy comments will be brief and short, just like this leg.

I’m not a fan of your Roadblock. It’s just swimming. Beautiful place, yes, but it’s not the most exciting Roadblock. We then have another Roadblock that is cooking. And then that’s it? Pit Stop already? I’m a bit surprised, to be honest, that was short.

NRH, ironically, I think this leg of yours actually fit the “premiere” part of the requirements better, and not in a good way. I thought that your leg was very short and the Roadblocks were both underwhelming. With no other task, it just feels very barebones and I’m really just not a fan of this leg. I understand it was a difficult place to design in, but I just think you could have thrown in any other task, even an adventure one, and it would have flowed a little bit better.

This is easily the weaker of your two legs by a big margin, but points for location.

Jobby:
Hello everyone! Thank you for your hard work! By the sheer luck of coincidence, each of you have designed one leg of a place that I have visited before (Kyoto, Baguio, Kaohsiung, Ambon, Cairns and Ella). Hence, for the leg which you have created and I have visited before, I will be a little more strict and expecting certain sort of familiarity, and in general, although I have a marking rubrics of five components below... what I am looking out for a leg itself MUST BE where the places visited or tasks and activities attempted can let me scream in me "HEY I WANNA DO THAT"! That was the very feeling which got me hooked on to The Amazing Race, and I think the essence of it is quintessential.

And let me make this clear - We all have different expectations of how and what a leg should be like.. so to each his own and I respect the hard work that you have done for your leg for sure. However, as I was tasked to be a judge, the comments that I provide will be straight to the point and state really clearly what I like or do not like as I do not like to beat about the bush. You may disagree, but that doesn't make my comments invalid... so there really isn't a need to defend or reply to my judging LOL (as I won't have time to read it either). Also, you are not wrong either with whatever you have done for the leg, so be proud with what you have done and making it this far. <3

Design #1 - nrh2110's Premiere Leg
[Kyoto, Japan]

- Originality & creativity
We have seen some sort of tasks arranging dolls/related to dolls (TAR9/18), and although I know the tasks may be different, it did brought back some familiarity and similarity in my mind. Although I can completely see the cultural reference and significance of this task, especially to be done by the teams visiting Kyoto.

- Tasks
I love the Roadblock, and the gameshow like task which The Amazing Race likes to do when they visit Japan. However, you mentioned about the cultural history and importance of Kyoto even right from the start, and then the very first task was a gameshow like replica which we have seen many times on the show, and they did not necessary turn out well.

The beautiful part about Kiyomizudera, would be the amazing shopping streets leading up to the temple, was hoping for a feature of the streets. The temple itself, is also currently under restoration - something that TAR will keep in mind about making it a location to be visited or not. It is unlikely they will visit the temple as more than 50% of the temple is covered up.

- Locations
What do they have to do at Otani Hombyo? There's a stone bridge with lotus... would have been good to let them retrieve a clue from fishing out a lotus from the pond etc. Just felt that even though some places are just locations to retrieve a clue etc, but it's not exactly an "active task" if you ask them to merely retrieve a clue an unconventional way that doesn't take up much time! :)

- Presentation & attention to details
I know that as this is an online game, it is important to provide details and an explanation as to how the activities or tasks will be carried out. However, I honestly cannot imagine Phil rattling on to a long introduction to each task. Sometimes, the best sort of explanation and introduction are those that are short, sweet, concise and not misleading.

- Enjoyment of the leg
I like the locations, the tasks, but wished there was more attention to the cultural aspect - actual significance to Kyoto and not just visiting the temple. For example, when I went to Kiyomizudera, I took a reading for a blessing. There was also no natural aspects - Arashiyama, Bamboo Forest, Monkey Forest etc. That was a miss, in terms of planning a leg in Kyoto. Yes, tourist traps no doubt - but these locations are honestly why people even visit Kyoto in the first place. From a viewer point of view, I would have been dismayed by the constant features of temples - with nothing to do, but will be interested in some scenic beauty aspects.

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