An OCT (Original Character Tournament) is a bracket-style storytelling competition where multiple artists go head to head to see whose OC comes out on top. Most OCTs revolve around comic submissions (like this one!) while there are some others that rely on written submissions or even video submissions.
Every round, two artists are paired up as opponents. The objective is for each artist to create a story based off of the characters and setting provided within the round’s time limit. Essentially, both contestants are creating their own “timeline” where their OC is the winner. Whoever is dubbed the winner of that round gets to continue, and their version of events is now “canon” to the over-arcing story of the tournament.
This keeps going until only one OC is left standing!
While many OCT’s have a 32-contestant bracket, Apex Predator will only have 16 contestants. This is both for the sake of our judges, and for the sake of our participants.
32-bracket competitions are very big and exciting, but also tend to drag out. We all have work, school, and other general obligations; not even counting family emergencies or unexpected illnesses. We want to try to keep the possibility of burn-out low, therefore we are going to keep the bracket small and the rounds quick.
Anybody! So long as you submit an application that meets our guidelines, you will be considered for a spot in our bracket!
Anybody, again! However they are a lot easier to get in. Spectator characters do not need to be approved by the judges in order to participate in events. They are a way for the community to interact with one another and the setting!
A Spectator character is an OC that exists in the universe of the tournament, however they are unable to directly affect canon events like contestants can. They can react and interact with each other, but most things they do will generally be considered non-canon. The exception to this would either be in-universe acknowledgment either by the Host, Judges, or Contestants. Spectator characters can also participate in community events, these can range from games to challenges. Participation is totally optional.
Of course!
Just note that you might be working together for a few months, and teams tend to face complications that single entrants don’t. Teamwork makes the dream work, but remember that it is a TEAM effort. We will not be accepting groups larger than a 2-person team.
We are only accepting original characters. Characters who take inspiration from a pre-existing property is fine, however we will not be accepting Characters (Fan-characters too) straight from those properties.
Yes and no. We are looking for something more along the lines of Mecha-Godzilla, not Gundam, if you get my meaning. Cyborg like attachments on Kaiju are also fine. However, we would prefer the contestants be their own entities that aren’t directly piloted/puppeted.
Humans can’t harness the power of the King’s Rock; only Kaiju with sapience. So if you want to enter some sort of artificial being, it needs to be its own independent living entity.
If you have any follow-up questions, feel free to ask in the Apex Discord!
We will only be looking at visual mediums for this tournament. Mainly, comics and video entries.
Comics, Animations and Animatics will all be judged on equal footing based on our judging criteria. So don’t feel discouraged if another contestant winds up submitting an animation against your comic. We are looking at substance. And we have seen many cases where animations have lost against comics due to lack of it.
This isn’t to discourage animations by any means (in fact, we welcome them!), but it can be intimidating to many contestants who have never had a match-up against that medium.
Remember, there is no such thing as a “right” way to create art!
For auditions, there is no page limit, so feel free to take all the pages/runtime you need in order to establish your character and their story!
However, once the tournament begins, every round will have a length limit. This is both to challenge the competitors and to pace them, since we’ve seen many instances of competitors overworking themselves to pump out entire odyssey-length entries within a month; they are always unable to meet the deadline and burning themselves out.
One of our main goals is to prevent burn-out and to keep a positive momentum. If your entry winds up going slightly above the cap by one or two pages, that’s fine. However, ten or more pages over the limit is pushing it, and there may be penalties to your score as a result.
Please, keep this in mind during the competition.
Once the audition period begins, you will need a character reference sheet, a comic or video, and either a discord or twitter account. The discord and/or twitter account(s) will be vital for ease of communication, since all important announcements will be posted on both of these platforms. Plus, that way you will be able to communicate with your potential opponents!
Please keep your sheet format simple and the linework clean. The front and back views of the character would be the most optimal; though if you feel so inclined as to include a full turn-around, that is fine too. If there are any tattoos or special markings on your character, make sure you have a close-up or a flat view of what it is supposed to look like. Any traits that would otherwise be hidden (extra eyes, hidden mouth, wings that are usually tucked under something, etc) should also be shown.
Remember, just because you know every single detail of your character in your head doesn’t mean your opponent does! This is less of a reference for you, and more for your fellow contestants! Think of the reference sheet less as an illustration, and more like a blueprint to help other artists construct your character in their own pieces as faithfuly as possible.
Please note that highly detailed designs may be subject to minor simplification by the other artists (for the sake of their hands).
Characters will also have Stats and Attributes. The templates and rules for these will be on our Apply page. Please be sure to include those as they will be required for your entry!
We have a channel dedicated to audition submissions on our discord server! You can also @ us on twitter! Or use our “Apply” page here on the site!
For more details, please reference the Submission Requirements section on our Judging page.
If you miss the deadline, then have no fear! You can still participate in small community events on our Discord server!
If the chips are down, life is biting you in the butt, and you absolutely cannot continue to participate, then please notify either the Host or one of the Judges as soon as possible. We will be sad to see you go, but we understand that sometimes life just throws a curve ball at you.
Unfortunately, once you’ve backed out, you will be considered eliminated from the tournament and will be unable to participate in future Rounds. However, you will still be able to participate in Spectator Events!
Extensions can be requested either in the Discord server (Contestant Channels) or directly to the Host. However, we do not plan to give an extension every single round, and in the instances we do give them out, they will not be for very long.
Please note that Rounds that are unable to submit by the original deadline will be subject to a point penalty. More information on that is on the Judging page.
Ideally, a month long, but later rounds might have more time given to them. We are going to take things round-by-round.
Match-ups are totally randomized! When they are generated and ready, an announcement will be posted both on our discord and twitter and the respective round will begin soon afterward! So don’t dilly-dally!
As stated on our Rules Page, NSFW and fetishistic content is strictly banned. Gore and Violence are expected in a tournament like this, however we ask that you try to keep it tasteful. If it gets too extreme, we ask that a content warning be placed at the beginning of your entry.
Character got a cut and is bleeding? Alright! One of the characters got their arm ripped off? Oof, but okay. One of the characters got executed in a way that seems needlessly excessive, brutal, and shown in excruciating detail? Ehhhh, maybe refrain from that, pretty please.
If you have any further questions or concerns on this topic, feel free to ask in the Questions channel of our Discord server.
Not at all! In fact, we encourage that you ask for your opponent’s explicit permission before writing their character’s death. If they do not plainly state “yes”, then please refrain from writing it. You can kill off your own characters, but please respect another artist’s wishes if they do not feel comfortable with seeing their characters killed. Even if you do get permission to kill them, handle the character’s death in a respectable manner.