The Sorcerer's Apprentice Season 8: Magic Journeys

spacemt354

spacemt354

Chili's
Original Poster
It’s hard to pick winners when the projects are so close. I can understand frustration when you put so much effort in only for the other team to put in just as much if not more. But I would look at that with a positive spin. There are games where winning teams are chosen by default essentially because the opposing team was not available. We never had that this season and I see that as the biggest win of all

I have tried my best to give everyone an opportunity to shine. Many of the prompts were inspired by not my personal tastes but by what concepts would get the best out of people and keep people excited. And the awards showcasing everyone’s individual abilities to me mean more than the win/loss which is a snapshot in time opposed to the library of work over the course of the season.

The four finalists will not be chosen by how many wins and losses they have, though naturally wins have some of the better projects. They will be chosen by how much of a team player you were, how much you’ve grown throughout the season, how much you’ve contributed, and many more factors that I’ve been following.

Akuades has the most people in the playoffs and never won a single round. That goes to show right there that individuals play a role but wins are team based
 
AceAstro

AceAstro

Well-Known Member
spacemt354 said:
Akuades
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What a time that was 🤣
 
Mr. Sullivan

Mr. Sullivan

Well-Known Member
TheOriginalTiki said:
I guess if Sullivan does end up breaking his winning streak this project we know who to blame :p :p
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Tegan pilots a chicken said:
View attachment 816317
Current mood
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I'm starting to feel like that one player on Survivor who everyone was super chill with for the first half of the game because they came off as such a first outer that they dint' even register but then they started doing well and then everyone began conspiring about how to get them off the island.

Just bear in mind that @Architectural Guinea Pig and @D Hulk are big names to blame for this accidental streak because they're the ones most consistently co-signing my crazy!
 
Earlie the Pearlie

Earlie the Pearlie

Well-Known Member
Mr. Sullivan said:
I'm starting to feel like that one player on Survivor who everyone was super chill with for the first half of the game because they came off as such a first outer that they dint' even register but then they started doing well and then everyone began conspiring about how to get them off the island.

Just bear in mind that @Architectural Guinea Pig and @D Hulk are big names to blame for this accidental streak because they're the ones most consistently co-signing my crazy!
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😑









(me just having been on agp’s team every round sobbing in the corner)
 
spacemt354

spacemt354

Chili's
Original Poster
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Book One featured a unique start to the game - all players on the same team with one common goal - to build a competing Universal park to Disneyland Mumbai (created by the playoff members of Sorcerer's Apprentice Season 6).

This Universal Worlds of Wonder concept originated from an idea for a 2nd gate in SYWTBAI Season 15, Uniting Universal, a park that got to the planning staging but never truly to its potential.

With this project - all the players rallied together in what is arguably the longest and most detailed imagineering competition project spanning only 10 days as everyone worked together and created a masterpiece!

Some of the highlights being Endicott led by @JokersWild @OSUPhantom and others, as well as the Valley of Stories spearheaded by @Architectural Guinea Pig

Another highlight was from @CookieMouse who early on was one of the favorites to get far as Cookie was one of the most active and innovative imagineers on the roster, in their first Sorcerer's Apprentice, designing the Wonka miniland and many of the children's attractions.

I mean just look at these contributions...
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Behind the Scenes: The Lost World was at first planned to be a Jurassic Park themed project. However in Season 3, we already did one at Islands of Adventure. So Worlds of Wonder becoming the 'lost world' came to mind. The idea to have everyone on the same team came with the entire park prompt idea, as it would be a way to lighten the workload on everyone and allow some unique teamups between the players in a low-stress environment. ​
 
spacemt354

spacemt354

Chili's
Original Poster
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Book Two transitioned back to normalcy, with three teams competing against each other in a more traditional location in Walt Disney World.

There have been a lot of changes in the SAU in WDW, from Team Brava's The Microverse Pavilion, to the Arabian Nights dark ride in Morocco, to The Wetch created by Team Sea in Season 2. But there was one area of Epcot that hasn't been touched, and that's the Innoventions/CommuniCore section.

An animatronic based musical is something that is quintessentially Disney - with examples such as Country Bears and Kitchen Kabaret, the teams created 3 stylistically different shows representing 3 different eras of Epcot. Ultimately, Heimlichen's Luminous, with their featured song "I'll Light the Way" by @JokersWild found its home in the SAU Epcot for good.


Behind the Scenes: This was one of 2 prompts that underwent 0 changes/tweaks throughout the season! It was decided on from the inception of the season because when I've hosted Sorcerer's Apprentice in the past, I have had good luck with Epcot as the second prompt location. Season 4 featured Epcot in Stanza II - The Pavilion Symphony​
 
spacemt354

spacemt354

Chili's
Original Poster
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Moving on to Book Three and we have our first non-theme park location of the Season. This is not something new for Sorcerer's Apprentice, as dating back all the way to Season 1, there have been prompts outside of traditional theme parks, such as the Independence Hall Prompt in Season 1. And then we have some gaming prompts as well such as Pinball (which we will recap in a future book) but Las Vegas offers potential being that the AdventureDome is something that could use a refurb, and one a Disney budget, the three teams did just that.

House Heimlichen took the win here with their incredibly atmospheric take as they presented Bayou Noire. This was @Mr. Sullivan 's first time as a project manager and he led the team to victory behind a great supporting cast. But that does not discount the incredible leadership from @Tegan pilots a chicken and @Disney Dad 3000 for their respective projects as well. This was the first of many this season where it was not specifically on merits, but more on subjectivity as it became so challenging to separate the competition from one another.

Behind the Scenes: This project stemmed from the early days after the season's announcement where I wanted feedback for which prompts people would like to see. A special thanks to @TheOriginalTiki for being the mind behind the AdventureDome project as the prompt was essentially unchanged from his proposal. ​
 
spacemt354

spacemt354

Chili's
Original Poster
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Flying overseas to Paris, this was a prompt that dove deep into what makes the Sorcerer's Apprentice game unique, as we can travel through time, manipulate existing parks, and create entirely new timelines from scratch. The idea being MGM Studios fits that bill, and in SA fashion, Tintin became the star of the show. This was @Earlie the Pearlie 's first time as project manager and once again a first time Sorcerer's Apprentice player soars to new heights with the project.

This also saw some very original concepts such as Dinohattan Square, which looking back at that project, was so out of left field that, it really took me by surprise. And the return of Potpourri Pizza from @Tegan pilots a chicken was a callback to the prior Season.. adding to the long list of references and memes that this game generates organically.

Behind the Scenes: This project changed many times before watching a video on Disney-MGM Studios Europe and coming up with this idea for a prompt. At first it was a hotel prompt in Paris, but I know I like hotel prompts, but they aren't typically the most popular armchair imagineering concepts. At one point I think it was a Frontierland prompt, but I was always saving that idea for Tokyo. We had already redone Fantasyland in Season 4 at Disneyland Paris, so that was out as well. This allowed everyone to flex their creative muscles and do a little research into a 'What If' scenario - which you may get more of soon! ​
 
spacemt354

spacemt354

Chili's
Original Poster
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Book Five remained in Europe, focusing on what has become a tradition in the Sorcerer's Apprentice games, at least one project at non-Disney/Universal theme parks. We have done projects in Six Flags parks, Cedar Fair Parks, Dollywood, and more but this time we are in 3 unique European destinations.

One of the funny events in this prompt was that Tintirrino had the ability to choose first since they had won the previous round, and wanted to take the zoo-based park just so @PerGron didn't get it - but then ended up going with Energylandia and it paid off! Creating an entire presentation on google slides, the team truly became in sync with one another and developed an incredible project is part of the SAU now. @Brer Panther 's incredible artwork was also on display as well.

However, one of the great things about a prompt like this being in 3 different locations, is that all the work of this round gets to be kept in the SAU. From Akuades and the Maya the Bee aspects of Plopsialand and all the research from @ThemeParkPriest into the area, to the Balto roller coaster by @TheOriginalTiki and Heimlichen as they trekked their way into a very unique Swedish park.

Behind the Scenes: The exact parks weren't known until about a week before the prompt went live. I was debating on it being a Dollywood, Silver Dollar City, and Lagoon prompt, and then also a Disney's Magic Mountain Prompt (yes that exists in the SAU), but we had never done the European parks and each one of these offered something original and the ability for teams to pick based on their preferences. ​
 
spacemt354

spacemt354

Chili's
Original Poster
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Book Six I think was the point in the game where both teams put together such an incredible effort that it was genuinely impossible to declare one better than the other. The transition to Book Six unfortunately left behind the great work of players like @WaltWiz1901 and @Shannoninthemagic but their contributions will be in the SAU and perhaps in a future game as well.

Both teams just had a blast with this - incorporating so many eclectic characters into their smash games. I think this one will be a topic of great discussion for a recap podcast going through some of the best references, SAU characters, and other events that were showcased in this prompt.

Behind the Scenes: This idea was also thanks to @TheOriginalTiki in the pre-season prompt ideas, and was essentially verbatim the concept that he had proposed for the season. Since we had already had a successful pinball prompt in Season 7 with @D Hulk and @Disney Dad 3000 in charge, this video game prompt I felt more comfortable with and I'm glad it was so well received. ​
 
spacemt354

spacemt354

Chili's
Original Poster
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This prompt reached the dog days of the season - it was essentially 2 months of imagineering and we again went to a new park. People were on vacation, people put so much effort into the Smash Game project and I think that combined with the unfamiliar environment led to some struggles in this prompt. I say some because both presentations ended up being great, with Tintirrino's Kingdom of the Witch ever so narrowly beating out Heimlichen's take of a Halloween event.

Even @D Hulk 's rogue project of Universal's Halloween Horror nights was fantastic and now a staple of the SAU!

Behind the Scenes: This was a prompt that very much changed. From title to concept. Again I wanted to do some sort of hotel prompt, but was hesitate due to historical turnout. Book XI was originally titled: The Shining, which was supposed to be the semi-final Halloween Horror Nights prompt (thanks Hulk!), but I ended up switching that as I didn't want the semi-finals being determined by something that not everyone enjoys like frightening Halloween concepts. And with @Outbound active in the prior rounds, having been the designer of the Dark Kingdom and never doing Halloween in Hong Kong before, I figured this would be a good middle of the season prompt. But I will say, what you got in Books VIII-XI was in large part due to Book XII as the prompts altered in some ways to be 100% for the players going forward to keep excitement and interest as high as possible. ​
 

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