The previously beta-tested Warrior Mini has now been officially released, and is available for use right now on UGO.com. But even better, the applet is the center of a new contest that is so cool I almost wish I weren't working for UGO so I could enter:

If your design wins, your character will be featured in a UGO-built online video game!

How cool is that?! Read the contest rules for more information, but basically you have from now until the end of January to work on your creation. You can enter up to five different characters. From the rules, here's how they'll be judged:

Winner Selection: All entries will be judged by a panel of three (3) judges comprised of members of the UGO editorial staff who will select five finalists based on the following criteria: Visual Design Aesthetic Appeal (30%); Visual Design Originality (30%); Character History (20%); and Character Name (20%). Judging for the five finalists will take place on February 2, 2009.

And once again, the winning character will be featured in an online game built by and featured on UGO.com. Yes, that's right, you could be the next great action hero. Or at least, someone you make up could be, which is darn close.

Anyone who wants to pose questions about design techniques or to get feedback on what you've built, feel free to post it here or hit up the UGO HeroMachine forums. The guys there have a ton of experience building cool characters using the HeroMachine tools and can probably give you some good pointers.

So get out there and start creating, and good luck to everyone!

Update: Just to be clear, you must create the character with the tool linked above (no other HM version) and it must be submitted via the "Submit to Contest" button in the applet. No other submission method will qualify.