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Mini-Mapping Contests: The Drums in the Dungeon

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Tension is going high, and flames lurks among the shadows, what will be the faith of the contestants? As the end draws near, the conclusion is coming! Good Luck Contestants~

EDIT 2: Oh. Sorry about that. It's just this :

Btw my Eng sux and it always will xD, so for eng I will probably call my friend.

Heh. I missed probably. Sorry about that.
 
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Level 9
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Hope you guys like it.
I decided to take part in this contest at last minute thinking.

Played it for a while with EXTREME HARD. And I got to say, it is extremely hard, although I got the boss's life down to 40k, it's no big deal, since I can get it lower but I got bored. Repetitive gameplay and quite fun in early times. Mechanics must be explained on the game. Also, say the skill's hotkey ( on Learning it and Using it ). The hotkeys I recommend ( since H is Hold Postion so... ), Q - Heal ( Its the same. ) W - Evade ( Learning ) A - Attack S - Stop E - Adrenaline ( Increases Movement Speed, but amplifies damage. ) D - Open Learn Hero Skills ( this way when running around and around, we can learn our skills quickly. ), Z - Add STR, X - Add Agi. C - Hero's Final Breath ( It can only be used when the Limit Break Bar is full, and releases a AoE attack, which is nice ). Okay. It needs more events, like a Infernal, mini - boss while facing a boss? A army of wood nymphs are hiding, and they ambush you when the boss life is less than Y% ( X is too mainstream )? Da ( hey it's like my name! ) Boss will stand up and do something? Backflip? Or a horde of bears stampede and will try to trample you? It's fun, yes, but needs more Omph. Especially on Terrain.

UNRELEATED TO THREAD

When the game starts, Pour all the stats on Agi, increasing your movement speed which can save your booty, pretty much the whole game and Upgrade Attack per level up until it reaches 10, when it reaches ten, level up other skills, like heal, make it go to 10 then max out attack, when you max attack, max heal and add agi until it movement speed reaches 522, then add Evade. Max it and Heal after, if you max it out, add STR. After that, when attacking Da Boss, make the attack pass through treants, which will help EXP go up. It will be a long game so seat back and kill Da Boss on Extreme hard!

It's good yes. But I think you should let the player know what damage his/her hero took when hit. Maybe a Dummy unit around upper left that gives out damage taken into floating text like : 30! so that when running around and not noticing the rocks of Da Tree is hitting you, well you will know now. Give out a warning when Da Tree levels. I mean, it is pretty obvious, but a floating text that will give out : " Puny, little trespasser! I have gotten stronger, and you are closer to your doom! " or " Tremble, I have gotten stronger. Beware Mortal! " and add special effects or shake the screen, to make it more epic. The camera view, and too much creeps blocks the rock that hits you, making it more hard to hit ( and more ouch times for me ), and it's good, especially the Reduced Life! Extra Challenge ! I solo'd Da Tree until it reached the point that my Warcraft crashed ( sad. ) but I teared down his life ( on Extreme Hard AND Reduced Life ) to 20k. It's good, so I see the possibility of winning against that tree! Good Luck!

-Da Fist-
 
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Ok here is my entry.
I must say that this one way well worth my efforts and time(or at-least how far I've gotten into it so far).
I hope that you all will enjoy a little quest puzzling.
....
Updated and now all useless imports deleted.
also done some small tweaks. :)

Note: I didn't upload an optimized version as it will preserve next to no space and will not actually help the loading time as it already is fast.

I am only learning jass through this map so don't expect every variance off jass kind to be implemented into the code.

And once again I hope that the screen shot isn't to dark for anyone. It might be just my settings, so I guess that I'll have to check that out!
 

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Level 12
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@DeathChef

hahahah, nice map, that scared me(the laugh) . it took me lot of times to figure it out :ogre_hurrhurr:

210329-albums5809-picture61733.jpg



@Dat-C3

extremely hard boss fight! i didn't get a chance to avoid those attacks :goblin_cry: i played on easy and activate -RLife and it was still way too hard! but i will test it again and see if i get any better results :goblin_yeah:

Edit : i just realized that -RLife only reduced the hero's life not Da Tree :goblin_cry:
and i didn't know that i could leap, maybe add some hints ?

Edit 2 : I completed the easy mode, and now i'm continuing to Extra Hard modes, but after i died and resetted the game, it didn't show any text when i'm attacking Da Tree.

P.S this is a really fun map :ogre_love:
 
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Level 25
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I haven't really been able to work on it the past few weeks due to sickness.

Anyhow, here's the map in its somewhat unfinished state.

If I have some energy in the morning I'll see if I can add some more to it.

Map primarily for 4-player coop, but if you play it in singleplayer, just choose the casual difficulty and hope you can micro all 4 heroes well enough.

EDIT: Renamed it more clearly.
 

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Level 37
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Hey,

So here's my entry.

I got stuck today to 'Faster Of Light' game and didn't had much of time to do the entry as I just wanted to play the game. It's damn addictive game, damn Kita showing the game. Anyway, here's the map with few some required wip screenshots.

The map is a boss run. Not much more to say.

Map: http://www.hiveworkshop.com/forums/maps-564/big-bad-ass-boss-run-bbabr-223730/
 

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Level 12
Joined
Sep 11, 2011
Messages
1,176
Hey,

So here's my entry.

I got stuck today to 'Faster Of Light' game and didn't had much of time to do the entry as I just wanted to play the game. It's damn addictive game, damn Kita showing the game. Anyway, here's the map with few some required wip screenshots.

The map is a boss run. Not much more to say.

Map: http://www.hiveworkshop.com/forums/maps-564/big-bad-ass-boss-run-bbabr-223730/

i defeated the Yugimar, but there's no message that say i won or something like that :p

by the way, love the boss battles :p
 
Level 4
Joined
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Messages
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Hey,

So here's my entry.

I got stuck today to 'Faster Of Light' game and didn't had much of time to do the entry as I just wanted to play the game. It's damn addictive game, damn Kita showing the game. Anyway, here's the map with few some required wip screenshots.

The map is a boss run. Not much more to say.

Map: http://www.hiveworkshop.com/forums/maps-564/big-bad-ass-boss-run-bbabr-223730/

Reviewed your map and I say it received 4/5 so you got +REP and a VOTE FOR APPROVAL. Wish the moderators will appprove it.

YOUR map is way cool. Epic boss fight, requires fast spell casting, requires tactics but just noticed that YUgrimar is way weak. He doesnt cast any spell at all!:eekani:
 
Mini-Mapping Contest: The Drums in the Dungeon ~ The Results

The contest has ended and it's time for the winner to be elected. The judging was delivered by

Judge

7 entries were found to be valid and legal, out of 8.

HammerFist132 has used previous work, which was and is against the rules of any contest. Apparently, your previous work can be found here.

While previous work violates the rules of the present contest (Your submission must be specifically made for this Mini-Contest.) and while it is associated with the public image of how contests work, it has been decided that it will not be accepted as an entry.
  • Disqualification consequently disallows the person to receive the award for working on their entry.

I am hoping that you understand the reasons of your punishment and that such incident will not be repeated in the future. However, Lordkoon has judged your entry, regardless of the possibility of getting disqualified:

HammerFist132
Checking FieldExplanationPoints


Originality:
- For the theme itself it seems hard to make an original dungeon and not ''Just another Warcraft 3 map'',
which unfortunately I think you did not do. Judging by the heavy inspiration of World of Warcraft presented by the models, systems like block, critical etc. I would assume if there was any lore-dimention where this dungeon should be, it is somewhere around WoW...boring and bland. (-3)
The whole concept was good, but worn out and unexciting for me.(-4)
I always prefer to play maps that are interesting not only by presenting good fresh gameplay, but also by wrapping all the gears in a nice cover if you know what I mean. Also I would remove a few points for the dissapointing start of the map. I thought I was having a deja-vu whe the game started. It is the same design as your last contest entry that you did not even finish. Even tho you know originality is essential to this contest, so we - the judges, would be able to destinguish one entry from another with its good and bad sides,yet still you choose to follow the same pattern as your last unfinished map, or as far as I am concerend it IS your last map that you kept on progressing on and decided to fill in the new contest. By the amount of exported items, triggers and overral complexity of the map I feel offended by your statement that this map you did in ''the last minute''. We are not that dumb, believe me. (-7)
The positive things around is the atmosphere that resembles a classical dungeon with all the prism-like design - boss,trash,loot,venture deeper,repeat. I am not the biggest fan of it but considering I myself tend to make such maps (like my own last entry) I understand how hard it is to come with something original and pleasing after all the years of map-making experience of the higher graded creators of dungeons,campaigns and rpgs.
11/25


Map Presentation/Design:
- Well the design was mostly eyecandy exept some bad moves I will point out in the terrain segment. On terms of dungeon design there are some unrealistic things like the blood fountain in a frozen prison that seems to be blistering/blooming/raging, and yes I understand that in a imaginary world everything is possible but you have to be able to present it in a good-fashioned way so we can understand why the hell is the ice on fire, there are gallos made of wood in a icy tomb, there is a bloodboiling fountain in the middle of it...stuff like that. It's like one of the general
rules broken - like putting a tree over a lava terrain.(and I don't mean it literally). (-1)
The instructions were very scarce and mostly missing. Find a way to explain the boss's tactics and abbilities before the fight starts altho some of them were so easy I could easily just heal myself and kill them with autoattacks, so peaking at the popping text is somewhat possible.(-1)
The missing of a quest log information is also a sign of a 'needs polishing' lable. Quest logs can be so usefull for example in putting valuable explination like credits, lore, boss tactics, boss spells, formulae behind the systems and many many more. It is just something I reccomend on spending some time on every occasion.(-1)
I liked the design of the spells and the appointed icons to them. Having so many spells is a bit overwhelming and part of them could easily be ignored due to the overpowering use of the Q spell(forgive me I hardly remember spell names). For spell imbalance I was getting quickly bored by the bland enemy monsters that came in, recieved a few hits by the AOE and the Q and died in the same fashion as everyone else. Even part of the bosses.(-1)
Missing credits - According to the hiveworkshop rules you should be disqualified if some of the criteria is not followed, but as I see the map is not such a sloppy last minute creation (as you mentioned, which I believe is not true) I prefer to remove a substantial amount of points.You'v used OVER 130 models most of them ripped by a nameless person, that is why my first intention was to remove 7 points but seing that some of the wow ripped support sites have gone silent over the past few months I will reconsider it as it might be anyway impossible to gather this information now (-2)
9/15


Terrain:
- Yes the terrain was great and feeling very alive but the massive use of high poly models removed some of that great feeling for me. Not because wow models are usually better in quality than wc3 models, but because on places they were spammed so much that I had to open the map 3 times and remove some of them so my video card doesn't overheat.
Morely you had your whole map revealed all the time. That means that every animated object on the map will be playing his animation all the time and this caused massive lag for me, and I bet for other people testing your map. (-2)
The crystals and the blue fire beneath them made no sense at all to me, they were so many that I had to remove most of them too. Most of them looked out of place too. (-2)
One important thing you must realize is not to flood the map with unneeded doodads. It's like creating a square 3d figure but using like 100 polys. You DON'T NEED to create doodads at places that won't be visible ingame. I will give you another example for it - in world of warcraft all unaccessable places are completely empty inside. You can't make a castle that is locked and not able to be visited by players, but still make decoration and interior for it. It's just waste of space. Unefficient. (-1)
Out of place models and doodads like the gallows inside the prison and the boiling blood fountain that seemed completely random as I stated in the design section, is unneeded. If you make a frozen wasteland don't put a palm tree in the middle of it. Simple as that.
Overral the terrain was great and gives the feeling of a dungeon - classy and extraordinary, but a little boring and spammed with too many wall-parts.
15/20


Triggering:
- The triggers were organized well in foldiers and easy to browse through. A few test triggers you did not remove but it's not big deal or a big issue. However you did use other people's systems in the triggers but failed to acknoledge their work too like the missing credits list. (-1)
The Houndmaster boss (big frozen giant) seems to have his triggers messed up, I restarted him 3 times and all the time he just stands and doesnt do anything untill I get him bellow 70% hp. (-1)
The multiboard is not working/not finished. Boss counter as well as shield block doesn't display anything. (-1)
Unfixed leaks in 2 triggers, but they are not looping ones so it is also a minor defect.
7/10


Object Data:
- SO MANY WOW imports! Many many many of them like the Chilling Lord's model were not even needed. A good old ice reverant would have looked so much better than the beaten old skeleton we used to bash in wow some time ago... I acknoledge the use of wow models but mostly when done for doodads, wc3 presents enough unit models for astonishing gameplay. This one was laggy due to the many exports, the ghouls were sometimes getting deformed as if my video card could not render them appropriately (and I run sw:tor at medium graphics).(-1)
Your imported interface seems glitchy as some parts of it were new and others were the old orcish one. Curiously when i load a save game , the not working interface parts were diffrent.(-1)
I did not like the item drops. Some of them were too overpowered and gave massive stats and health regen, while others
like the magic circlet that gives +mana/inteligene were completely useless. No interesting, rewarding loot after the bosses.(-1)
7/10


Gameplay:
- Gameplay started great at first and then began to quickly die... Firstly we are introduced to a paladin-like hero with 5 active abbilities (for some of each I am doubtfull for being of any use). That's fine. The first 5 waves of monsters I had to kill the same way by pressing the laggy aoe spell with W ... then the other few groups of monsters were pretty much the same thing. No use for the damage reduction shout or the toss-in-air light. (-1)
One thing that made me suspicious of your dungeon design where I have to ''use spells according to situation''
was the Ghost/Spirit spell that heals me when I recieve spell damage. I swear to God Allmighty I never ever ever
needed to use this spell and finished it witout it completely. (-1)
The variety of monsters was very minimal and most of them did only stun/slow me. Nothing interesting, nothing exciting.
The Abomination has such a great death animation that in my opinion you should have put some aoe pool of poison at the place where it dies. (-2)
The lack of creativity in terms of dungeon creatures made the fight through them just boring and irritating. The succes in making a good dungeon with trash is to make it challanging all the time by changing the tactics used to defeat them. (A good crowd controll spell that needs to be executed at the right moment would have worked great in achieving that result).
Bashing towers and 'generators' while some ghouls were just scratching my back due to the overpowerment of items and short cooldown of defensive abbilities got away any chance of something exciting happening untill the boss fights.(-2)
Speaking of which they were very boring to begin with. The firs boss was so weak i could practically kill him just by using autoattacks and self healing, while chopping those towers down. The second boss was buggy and did not attack me before I got him to 70%, in which moment he opened a portal and I was like '' oh dear'' but then another batch of two headed dogs spawned which were a complete joke and pretty worn out throuhout the dungeon. (-2)
The Chilling lord - yes I will dedicate a new paragraph for him. I think it was much better the part where he was sending minions and frost spells at me from distance. The melee ending fight was so boring I killed him with autoattacks and self heals. His minion summoning was a joke - another batch of ghouls and nothing that actually needed any attention. Then the lack of good aoe spells that were supposed to make the fight more dynamic... I was literally just standing there bashing him, with no need to move away at any given moment. Not even when he started the bonestorm which was actually just animation played because he kept using autoattacks at pretty much the same damage. (-3)
The big spelling mistakes and grammar... you should have given them to someone to fix. It is hard to take something serious when the hero-to-boss conversation is so hilarious or maybe that was the point?
Atmosphere in the game was just...missing. You focused so much on those bloody wow models that you forgot to put decent music,fog,special effects which for me affect my interest and thus negatively affect the score I would rate a game about its gameplay in the end.(-1)
18/30

So overral a good map that needs quite a lot of polishing and more challenging fights, atmosphere, grammar, credits, useless-to-usefull destinguishing of spells. I played it three times from start till end, but if I wasn't supposed to judge it I probably would have stopped at the first time.


Aeroblyctos
Checking FieldExplanationPoints


Originality:
I should award you 0 points for originality, I am fed up with your display of ''demo boss fights'' that you will ''add to your campaign later''. I feel like I have to judge the campaign instead of the dungeon entry because there is some idea factor behind it while the dungeon just relies on good boss fights that were somewhat unfinished (not counting the last boss which was actually nice, but very repetative phases). (-4)
For the story I can give no points because it's not made at all. Will we get any dialogue between those boss fights when/if you implement them in your campaign or just gonna bash em' hard? Oh yea I remember, you will put them ,along with terrain, actual dungeon template, items, original hero spells(from the campaign) and all other stuff when you finish them there... why bother present a finished entry to the contest. A waste of time, eh? (-4)
And the heroes spells...first time I jump into the action without reading ANY spell tooltip. pretty much they did what the icon showed...Sometimes when a mapmaker for such contest is overcrawded with things to do about the map, he might be skipping some corners like hero spells, but you practically did nothing more than triggering 3 creatures and adding basic abbilities to the characters of the player. So this act is not justified. (-3)
14/25


Map Presentation/Design:
I just have such a hard time commenting on things I never saw. The presentation was pretty much just another warcraft 3 map classic. Plain and boring to death. Like the time you start making your map and don't bother naming it properly yet... can't destinguish it from other WIP maps I have in my wc3 foldiers. No effort at all. (-5)
Hero icons were corresponding greatly according to the spells (one may say even too obvious). The goal of the map was clear deespite the missing quest log or informative comments on the bosses or the map itself. (-1)
Credits should be also put inside the map, not only in a website that might be there today and gone tommorow. (the map that is) (-2)
The design was painfully simple(missing), I would have substracted less points if you had at least used some DOODADS to make the ugly cliffs barable.(-2)
5/15


Terrain:
Tell me now... tell me what to write here, because with all my thoughts,ideas and, what I consider a large dictionary I have in my head, I think of no words... Mostly like the presentation I find it very hard to comment a thing that is barely there.
My nephew does those things in paint. Circles, squares...lines. And I have played the Chosen Ones. I know you can make a good terrain, or at least once could... Stop relying on things you did years ago and had years to improve. It is not acceptable. Think of something new or bypass some contests before you get an idea. (-12)
The only thing I can do is explain my thoughts on the massive points removal. - 5 for lack of terrain 'deformations' - the excitment that is lost when you see a flat chunk of rock is just too much and can only be balanced by at least good gameplay. - 5 for lack of doodads - terrain is nothing without doodads and decoration. Very few people could ever make a good terrain by just using cliffs and lights,cameras, effects. - 2 for the lack of life in the picture and the lack of a dungeon feeling. It takes no more than 10 minutes to decorate your entry with underground mushrooms, rock spires and things like that.
8/20


Triggering:
Since you focused entirely on the bosses it was clear that the triggers would be the best thing in the map.However there are some things that I disliked.
Firstly your trigger comments were not on english. As much as I like trying to understand new languages by putting a bug in my head like in a sci-fi movie.... I can't.(-1)
Then some of the triggered abilities of the final boss seems to be uneffective. A few times I was able to move out of the cage without a need to destroy it. In the Impale phase one of the dummies remained there after the phase. Also the boss regenerated too fast which caused him to restart his fight by the time I finish clearing the trash units. (-1)
I know this is probably my bad but I was hoping to at least see difficulty settings.
You have clearly focused on the final boss. The other two I could practically kill by just forcing the autoattacks with heals.
8/10


Object Data:
Thanks God you didn't upload millions of models! It is so hard to track if they are all credited correctly. Some of the spells/dummies are a bit hard to understand where they fit. I think you are having a few test units not cleared.
The heroes are simple and their spells blend good with the encounters. I'v used all of them at certain points in the fights. No oversized selection circles or visual glitches found.
No imported sounds or used sounds...this is a downside for me. Boss fight without frenzy screaming bosses are just too ...quiet. But my taste won't substract points in something that is widely interpretated.
10/10



Gameplay:
The gameplay was good, I enjoyed it completely and believe me it's much easier to test something that was enjoyable - even if the joy comes from the simplicity that substracted so many points in the categories above. Despite the lack of any creativity to the terrain(or the actuall lack of such) the boss fights were mostly fun. I however did not like the bug with the guard distance/return time. Considering the size of the map you should have had this thing covered and fixed. (-2)
When I said the bosses were good I was not entirely accurate. The final boss was good. The other 2 bosses were just a display of special effects/triggered moves, that were somewhat weak. After replaying the map I decided to try killing first and second bosses only with heals and autoattacks...well I had succes. You have soley focused on the final encounter and I think it is clear that there start the harder part of the contest entry. Check Dat-C3's entry to see his judging.It is pretty much how yours would look if you had skipped even more of the required details for a finished map/project. (-2)
A big chunk of the gameplay for me is the atmosphere the sounds,terrain,fog,special effects create. This as I stated a few times above was missing. And this time I feel like there is no player that would not apreciate it if it was there.(-2)
I also feel one thing is bugging me. That was the water elemental spell. It was the only spell that I did not find fitting and was quite random for me. The elemental was not having any supportive/offensive skills. Just spawning a trooper to shoot the big dragon seems a bit useless. The priority of the elemental was also high enough for the boss to target it and two-hits it. I find this to be the least usefull spell in the map. Also the armor buff of the mage would be better if autocasted. Just to remove some slack of tab-switching every second. (-1)
23/30

Altho the boss fights were good, the contest they needed to go was a few months ago. You'v kept yourself into the old borders of your campaign and really seem to not bother produce something else,fresh and fluent. I strongly reccomend letting go of the Chosen ones WHEN you make an entry for a contest. Firstly you build your entry on concepts that were already done, then you dislike the idea of even finishing the entries with proper terrain,spells,ITEMS...just things that are expected for a map uploaded in the section. BBABF... seriously?

68/110
DeathChef
Checking FieldExplanationPoints


Originality:
Well it was quite strange to be honest. It's like between original and basic stuck somewhere there. It is really hard to judge it due to the simplicity and a lot of randomness. I loved the way the game started, the flashy effects were supposed to amplify my feel of the game's atmosphere. But then I got the controll of a treant... This was just wrong. Yes you can enshroud everything in mystery but do make it a possible scenario... even the hardest of puzzle/mystery games have some story and general instructions. Such were missing in your game. (-3)
Then a spark of hope appeared - the only hero spell/button of the treant appeared... and ofcorse was lacking tooltip due to the filter/fog/haze. What is a treant doing in a stone surrounded dragon ruin/statue grabing something from a bucket and wandering around cluelessly ? (-2)
The atmosphere was right, the terrain was right, the idea seemed somewhat right (search and discover) but the story was missing, the unit you controll was not explained, the goal was too hazed. I spent 30 minutes walking in circles not knowing what to do after I seemed to have picked something from a wooden bucket in the middle of the whole place....(-1)
When contestants are asked to be original in their creations I have a suggestion - stick with the classics and add a fresh twist. That way your game will be understandable and playable yet still original and fun.(for example TkoK - classic overhead view of the heroes, yet still the gameplay and systems along with the terrain made it unique in many aspects ).
I have noticed people tend to tweak newly created maps by giving camera angles that in 90% of the game are a pain in the ass rather than helpfull and improving the atmosphere of the game. (-1)
Keeping it simple and fresh yet original is hard but don't mistake it with abnormal/unplayable.
The feel I had was definetly not from a dungeon rather than a forest. Pharaoh gave exact explination of what a dungeon should be when I asked if a city can be considered a dungeon. Same goes for a lake/forest picture.(-1)
I am sorry, I am sure the game is very easy for you to complete (given the time it requires to be completed -1-3 minutes?) but you are the creator of it and I wandered in the small circle for quite a lot of time.v
17/25


Map Presentation/Design:
The loading screen was muffled and displayed nothing. Using a classic campaign loading screen would have been much better. There is also a great topic by RED BARON who makes loading screens for maps if you have troble with them as I do.(not a photoshop fan) (-2)
The screen was also missing any information about the game,goals,ways of achieving those goals, story...anything. I remember I wrote this in another entry but I will say it again - loading screen is your friend. Use the small text wall it provides. Helps much more than floating texts and timed texts ingame.(which you didn't use anyway).
The flashy thingy at start was nicely made in terms of effects but had completely no sense given what followed.(-1) Do consider giving a chain to the events you create in the map so they seem at least 1% related with each other.
The design behind the map is rather odd to me. I had a hard time twisting the cameras in the editor to be able to see the terrain itself. You seem to have great techniques with the terrain but on that a bit later. Now I want to give you a suggestion - when you have 5 mgb of imported files you should feel obligated to make MORE than 4 square meters of game zone, which is in your case the whole map. You combined what you had well but it was too short to be able to give some valuable information about your design skills. I really disliked the bucket/barrel thing there which was actually an interactable item for the game...(-2)
The overral lack of presentation display - bad loading screen, cinematic effects that made no sense (maybe it did to you but not to those who played it) considering the gameplay that started after, no informative tooltips or any text information at all, exept the lacking credit list that I approved, given your explination earlier. (-1)
9/15


Terrain:
The terrain was simple yet creative and quite an eye candy. I loved the way all doodads blended. They were naturally tinted greatly by the creators and arranged very nicely by you. Well the waterfall is kinda' dripping nowhere which was bothering me all the time in terms of reallisum, which you need to achieve considering the micro-tiny playable area. (-2)
The mist and fogs contributed a lot into softening some of those large rocks which sort of looked stretched even though they were not really that big. The dragon model is somewhat random at this position and I don't understand why you really needed importing so many parts of it...alas this is mostly problem of which I spoke in the above categories.
One thing you were missing was a nice animated or not animated grass. The ground needed a bit more furnishing. If you make a 5x5 square meters of gameplay zone you'd better make it epic. (-2)
I think that triggering and terraining are your best perks. Hopefully if you can put some of those into the gameplay and take some ideas from the many people that offer them at the hive, I would be able to enjoy every factor of your entry map... next time.(-1)
It would be unfair for people like Kino who did a large area for the gameplay to get equal points with terrain as with your entry and the ones of Matija,Aero and (bleh) Dat-C3 but anyway, it is nothing personal - just my thoughts put on paper.
15/20


Triggering:
Your triggers are good but I don't understand why you needed to make so many triggers for the starting cinematic and you have like 4 triggers for the game itself (excluding the movement system which was bug-free and much better than the one of Matija97 for example)
Perhaps you could rework this into a nice cinematic because it was much more. You could have used expiration timers or I would even close my eyes for -wait- (as I use them too often) but so many triggers for a thing that can be put into 1-2 maximum. (-1)
Anyway your triggers were nicely arranged and chronological to the events they create/alter. So overral it was not a mess, easy to browse through and analyze.
9/10


Object Data:
The imports were all appointed correctly to their models/skins. The only 1 hero spell/button for the game seems to not merge with a treant's nature. You could at least spend a minute changing the icon to be more treant-like. (-1)
Your 'Dig' spell has a tooltip but somewhere in the triggers a filter is probably put wrongly altho I could not find it, because the spell tooltip is never visible and I'v stayed for more than 30 minutes wandering like a baboon. However this might be my problem because it has happened before on my game for some reason.
Anyway no major problems with the little object data your map contained.The loading screen was really not needed in such condition.
9/10


Gameplay:
Thrown at the unknown from the start. It was stimulation for me to go there and explore my enviroment hoping for something great corresponding to the effective altho a bit random cinematic that started. Well I did wander aimlessly for a while before noticing something I hoped was finally going to work with my Dig spell. Yes...a barrel with some stuff inside. Then what? I put it infront of the dragon? To the tree? where? This was so frustrating I quit it a few times hoping I just bugged it somehow and restarting it would fix it.(-4)
At least the move system was great and not buggy so I got used to it quickly. If only there was more content to explore with it...
The gameplay was very basic - so basic that I could level it to some 8-bit 1995 year game and even they offer more things to do than this. And I feel trolled... is this the purpose of the troll? To make me feel like that? This certainly did not feel as a dungeon or even as a complete map. It was a demo of a prologue to something that was not explained at all. I did not like it at all. It got me frustrated to a level only the flat-made entry of Dat-3C did. I am sorry but due to the simplicity of your map the MAJOR factor of the game is technically 'missing in action'. I remember a map called Skibi' Castle Defence where there are mini games between waves, well your map looked like one of those minigames but it was somewhat unfinished or one might even call it dull. I would imagine the game being a multiplayer challenge for lets say 5-10 people searching items and stuff in the same way you did it right now. Ofcorse they would have to be randomly generated.
Given what I'v said I just CAN'T give you more than 10 points for gameplay. It was lacking and did not kept my interest for longer than 2 minutes, God is my witness how annoyed I was wandering around like a drunk man in the middle of the night. I just watch it and wonder what the hell was the gameplay anyway... (-8)
18/30

To the author :You seem to know your triggers and how to make great terrains and impressive atmosphere and effects. The problem is that you were not loyal to the theme of the map or to be precise you did little to show us that this is a dungeon in any way. It should be something that players can figure out themselves rather than looking at what contest was this submited. I would not say this was an entry worth 1 month of creation time and seemed VERY unfinished and small, compared to the entries of other contenders. For example Tickles also did a small map but it was so full of things to do... you get my point I am sure. Nice entry anyway.

77/110
Kino
Checking FieldExplanationPoints


Originality:
Another entry that followed the theme perfectly. I knew this one would be a pleseant sight and got me going from the start. The whole entry was following a straightforward scheme like most dungeons in various games. Exept the fact that the combat system was EPIC. I'v never played something so dynamic from the times of Ninja vs Samurai. I strongly suggest that you make a pretty topic for your map and release it as an ongoing multiplayer project.
There are quite a few maps that really challange the skill and reflex of players and dare I say, your map is one of those jewes. It was a pleasure to play and a tough one to master. Both terrain and gameplay were contributing to this effect as I enjoy seing people using the nice effects of elevation terrain - like the water boss and the second segment that was actually the platform surrounding the previous boss' position.
A part of the spells however were a bit underused. Like for example the immolation spell. I know the idea of the spell is to slash through enemies while immolate is active but ot was taking too much mana and as I advanced further many enemies were hitting me with their skillshots from too many directions to avoid them all, so I prefered ranged attacks from the first weapon which made the others not the best choice for me. (-1)
While other spells like the health regen with 100 mana was overused. It should have some cooldown and perhaps not be made the mandatory spell. Lack of potions more often was giving it that role. (-1)
One thing that was lacking and was irritating to me was the lack of ressurections or sort of respawns. (-1) That would not have been a problem if I wasn't recieving errors and crashing my game the moment I tried to load a saved game on your map.
All your bosses were differing from each other both in strategies and increasing difficulty. This is something hard to achieve as people in many games find some later bosses to be more easy than the first ones which makes the map a bit bland or dull.
22/25


Map Presentation/Design:
Well the descriptions in both loading screen and ingame were a brief story plot and location composition. Something that I always enjoy reading and have positive thoughts about. However I was hoping on something more than a black loading screen. (-1) I'v always found them ugly and uncreative. I would only forgive black screen if it is text-free and ofcorse all the information is then given ingame rather than in loading screen.
The map itself was very stylish and stood loyal to the theme the whole time. You'v put a certain design that impressed me quite a lot and the atmoshpere was spot on. You'v managed to give the looks of an outdoor zone to resemble a dungeon with it's highs and lows. I loved the custom text you'v made by some pillar doodads. It was one of the best things I'v seen done with them without using them according to their design. That tells a lot about a person's abbility to be creative and do basically things out of nothing.
I have no negative remarks on the dungeon design (actually a few ) to make on the design exept that there was no clue that the water has vanished as your story technically states but more on that in the next section.
I was however hoping for an intro to atleast tell us how the hero found himself at the gates of the dungeon (given there is a solid wall/ramp behind him when you start the game). Later on I saw that the bottom part of the map is open so I guess thats the road.
14/15



Terrain:
As I'v stated above the terrain is just very nice. It is nothing too extravagant or too simple. Most importantly units could not shoot through walls as this is the most annoying thing in warcraft that sometimes a mapmaker has to deal with. You'v seems to have handled this in any way achievable, with either using dummies for projectiles or something combined with pathing blockers.
I'v always said that dungeon entrances must be blossoming of effects/life and remind of what is to come when you step into them. Your entrance was a bit boring - more like the first room rather than the entry point to a deadly place where many had lost their lives. (-1)
Also the walls in most of the dungeon were a bit too thick and they looked stretched out. Many parts were cliping over each other creating that blinking effect where the models overwlap when you move your hero/camera. This annoys me quite a lot (especially when it's done on floors - people often use for example tables to do floors and don't place them right so they blink a lot which degrades the terrain in most of the times) I think elevating one of the wall segments just with one point over the other fixes this for good.(-1)
When I said above that I have no remarks on the dungeon design I had forgotten the part with the icy lich and ice blocks spread around. It made little sense to me but I guess there is some idea behind it (icy race wants to flood over the deserts? why do they block the water supplies then...oh whatever , feel free to explain it...and then the fire boss/zone. So the elementals combine to take the powerfull villagers' water? bleh).
I must say the area I liked the most was the water boss zone that combined both upper and lower boss level and many waterfalls which broke the feel of a desert zone and was a nice oasis. I was hoping the hero would be able to interact with the water (like regenerate mana/life or get a zone specific buff) and not only the boss that followed and his spells.
I noticed you'v kept being constant and took a lot of time detailing the surroundings not only the first 10 minutes of gameplay, but the whole game. With an exeption at Aradus. There is too much vegetation around his zone given the fact that it should look more like scorched ruin rather than blustfull oasis. (Also it's raining on those poor fire elemental's heads, which is not a problem but just saying.) (-1)
You have kept the basic terrain rules like putting trees on grassy dirt/grass/dirt and not over rocks and unnatural positions. However I feel you should have added more plants and growts at the places where there is water. Water is a source of life like your map shows but it still looks too desert-like around water shores even with some vegetation there.
You'v made the surroundings (exept for the fire elemental) around the bosses reflect what they are all about, that is good to show how exactly their presence affected the nature of this place. A simple concept - a spider lair should have webs and a water elemental zone should have water around them, just as a zone where fire elementals take refuge should be reflected as scorched burning ground and etc (as Iv stated above)
Finally I'v stumbled uphon the nicely artistic work of the building that resembles the dungeon in a orange-yellow dusty background done by light mixing. It was great! I liked it very much and I wished you'v put it at the start of the map as an intro while the info is running.
17/20


Triggering:
Triggers were nicely arranged and categorized in good shape, easy to browse and understand. Setting boss quotes by functions is something I'v never thought about, thank you that would save a lot of time and a bit of memmory. Speaking of which I found no major (or minor) leaks or problems in the loop triggers which for me are the most important ones. Since this map is single player and not more than 30 minutes of gameplay given you are good on it, I did not inspect every single small trigger thus a minor leak would not affect it overral.
I feel like some of the things you should have done without triggers like potion using via abbility button. An extra jump spell would have been nicer addition to make the fights even more dynamic. (-1)
9/10


Object Data:
The icons were accurate to their spells/effects. No selection circle bugs were found or unapropriate health bars.
I found no unneeded test units or spells, there were a few units scattered on the map but they had their use in the game. More importantly you did not overuse imported models - a proof terrain and gameplay means a lot more done in creative way with what you'v got (and a bit more ). Tooltips ingame were explaining the effects they create in a easy to understand fashion. Perhaps however you should have put info on the potion that it can only be used via a spell that appears later, and the maximum charges.
You have avoided the mess people tend to create when testing something and they forget to remove all test material later and the map size is affected by that badly. I have no remarks, everything seems perfectly put, arranged and executed. Including credits list for which I thank you.
9/10


Gameplay:
The most enjoyable gameplay from all entries thus far. Immediately I am instructed what to do and the appearing on my abbilities one by one in certain moments gives me the option to try them out individually and combined. Like in those RPG games where you discover new moves and spells one by one with time. One other thing that was a nice addition and gave a bit of personalization option was the few weapon choices that gave new combinations of moves/spells. One thing about them is bugging me tho, if they are given before almost each boss it makes me feel almost as if you force me to use this weapon because it is possibly good for the upcoming boss. I think you should have given us weapon choice from lvl 1 and make the player decide which one to draw against upcoming danger. I felt forced that way. (-2)
One other thing that I would like to adress my attention is the stats system. The player should have a much bigger choice in how exactly to make his hero. One player might consider investing more points in improving damage while risking higher vulnerability but that choice should come in my opinion at the start of the game, and later on if reevaluaded a player might choose another tactic. Right now you start with 25/0/0/ and thats pretty much it. What if I could arrange those 25 points diffrently? This is an option you should think about, given there is only one hero to play with.(-1)
Now on the gameplay itself - it was fast paced, dynamic and required quite a lot of hitting the right buttons in the right moment. I personally had problems with that so for the sake of testing I had to remove some stuff and add others like reincarnation, boss health regen should be lowered. I had a really bad time at the first boss because there were too many skeletons also shooting at me and the boss was spamming his spells too fast. I am sure other people who tested it can confirm that. Give a opening moment to your bosses when it is fairly safe to engage and deal damage, right now such moment was mostly missing. That was even amplified by the fact that when I tried loading a save game on the map, my game crashes and there are no additional lifes or any means of reviving. (-1)
At the area with the thorns they were constantly bugging and damaging my hero the moment I went to kill them even when it seems I was out of their range. This is not much of a problem but still is a thing to polish.
All boss fights were hard to deal with and offered diffrent experience, while the reward for defeating them was not really that great. Some gear equipment can change that, not too fancy stuff but items that give little things which are affecting the gameplay a lot - like for example an item that refunds % of mana every time a spell is cast, or health regen vest and etc. and etc. (-1)
One last thing I want to say is that at places there are too many flying projectiles to dodge and the fragile hero sometimes end up dead very unexpectedly. Please make a revive location or checkpoint that does not require running a save, because of the issue from above.
25/30

To the author: This could become a great multiplayer boss fight dungeon oriented game if you continue working on it. Or perhaps make a new map based on the gameplay mechanics and techniques used in this one. Whatever you decide to do I wish you good luck and do feel free to let me know because I would love to test anything with the quality you'v presented this contest.

96/110
Tickles
Checking FieldExplanationPoints


Originality:
A no surprise to anyone Tickles comes up with another stunning entry, tons of systems, good menu...everything was obviously put a lot of efford to. That is one of the entries to be an example for a contest. I am not a big fan of the cinematic mode games where F1-9 are used, BUT you'v made it very clear with the informative multiboard and the neat options. (I especially liked the 'lag reduction' option, that served me well) I must say despite some problems I had with the aim system, this has been enjoyable entry to play and I took some time to beat it in all 3 game modes, finding the classic boss fight mode to be the hardest for some reason...perhaps I am just bad at shooter-styled maps.
I will however substract points for making the jorney on the railroad a tiny bit boring. A few bats and mice were not really hard to deal with. I was hoping for some more action and use of those 180,45,90 degrees turns (-2).
The map was noob friendly as it was offering not much of a challenge overral (-1), easy to play and master. Good replayability due to the achievments of the diffrent game modes.
This game reminded me of sw:tor rail-styled gameplay in the space battles. It would be very entertaining if you could add massive amounts of enemies(meaning massive amounts of triggers, bleh ), popping behind rocks, hiding in places I can discover by shooting them... tweaks like that which could benefit the action in the game greatly.
The idea behind the boss is very nice, a bit simple but he was hard for me due to the shooting system and the aim-target moving a bit slow and skipping the tentacles a few times. Health bar on the boss would also be nice, and on the villager who I need to resque for that matter(despite the fact that actually he has 50 000 hp)
What I feel you can improve is the selection of enemies. Bats , rats, ghoul, jellyfish, octopus... It seems to random, perhaps focus on some watery force, use snakes, snap dragons, even nagas, make the jellyfish move up and down like jumping from the water - that would give a partial challange to actually hit it. That enemy assortiment would explain the nature of the boss at the end for me.(-1)
21/25


Map Presentation/Design:
The map design was really giving the feel of an abandoned mine, perhaps you should have tinted the doodads/walls a bit to make it less cartoonish, but more for that on the Terrain section. The only thing I would add are a bit more details, fog,stuff like that to make it more festive. (-1)
Also I liked that you actually put some sort of a story, even with not much of a background or depth. This is an example for others on how to formulate their entries, yes contest entries or at least most of them fall to oblivion after the contest but that doesn't mean they can be striped of any textual meaning.
The multiboard was very informative and made it easy to browse through all the options, I found no bugs with it. (I hope Matija97 takes an example in doing it so , next contest hopefully.)
The map design is really clever - wide areas (altho very little doodad details, almost none) for the shooter to work are essential. The potential of these wide areas (yes I will tell it once again) is a bit undeveloped because of the small amount of enemies and long, slow travel between enemy spawn points/events. You should make this jorney more festive by detailing the enviroment and improving the action a great deal. I feel like this affects gameplay/originality/presentation/design and the overral vision of the map as a complete product, and this is why I shall remove another point. (-1)
14/15



Terrain:
The terrain was very nice. The walls were accordingly to the camera angles and it really felt like being in an abandoned mine filled with nasty creatures. The interaction with the gun and the enviroment was also a good and clever way of making the player observe his surroundings (whether he likes it or not).
On one hand the mind seemed very textured and smooth but on the other it seems to be lacking in details very much. It is like in some sort of beta state of a game still in development. Where is the equipment, the crates of junk items, the rubble from the mining process, the carts full of coal/gold or whatever they were mining; the enviroment that develops in a mine afterwards - a bit of dirt-grass , mold, perhaps some webs, miner's personal spots. Stuff like that which would make the underground working complex complete. Right now it just seems a work in progress. (-2)
Some pain for my eyes was the choice of the boss model. You had 8 mgb and altho I gave penalties to many contestants for not properly using wow models I feel like when doing close ups with such boss units you should look for the most efficient unit-model on the web. Even wow model tentacles would have done this and they would be justified (because of the close ups with the boss). But nontheless this is your choice and cosmetic improvements so small such as this will not remove you any points.(besides unit models don't really fall under the terrain category)
One last thing about the terrain is something that many people don't use when they import models - tinting colors. Seperate models are made in seperate color palletes thus it means to blend all together you must collide all models under a few tinting color schemes and follow them all the time. The water was too bright for an underground place and the walls were too brown, much like the mine was just dug and the soil was still soaking wet. Yes this is merely detail but in some aspects of perfection it matters a lot. Figure out a good style of the interior/exterior much like in the black-tinted entry you had a few contests ago. (-1)
p.s. I was so jelous of the water model that I took it for my own twisted ideas. Who is the author of this marvelous creation
17/20


Triggering:
Triggers were nicely put in seperate folders and described accordingly to their functions. Leaks were cleared propperly and I LOVE the way you put your regions with coordinates without creating such areas. (I wish I was not that lazy and could follow your example)
One important lesson for people out there is the way you put your info that you need while making the triggers themselves in the trigger comments at the top.
There is just nothing negative I can find (altho many people claim I need glasses) about the triggers so I will have to give you full score for them. Just keep up the good work, tidy and clean easy to understand and follow.
10/10


Object Data:
Since much of the object data like spells and items was just not usuall for such map type my comments will be short. First of all I liked the way you vocalized the game, the sounds, the background music and peaseants scream/begs for help were giving the feel of life. Something that many map makers forget to take advantage of. The holy trio sound/graphic/story should never be disbalanced. (well in this particular map the story is optional and not really contributing much, as it is just a few rows of words, but you got my point).
There were no displaced selection circles to spoil the game atmosphere and not oversized models (excluding the boss one) that made the game look a bit ugly. I see you have removed those cosmetics the easy way - via trigger. Well if it does the job make it happen. Full score in this category too. I am sorry I just can't find a thing to argue about. Perhaps Bassee have better time with it.
10/10


Gameplay:
If I could give it a percentage of satisfaction, it would be 75%. And let me explain why:
1. Firstly the slowness of the aim moving. I got to restart the map 3 times before completing the survival mode. And the problem was the boss, not the spawned creeps/bats/rats at the long way there. My aim-target was moving too slow and every time the boss hitted me quite a lot, before I was able to retaliate, sometimes I even shot at the tentacle and nothing happened.
2. The complex shooting system itself was not accurate to the target aim. I used maybe 2 rounds of bullets before hitting the lever on the first railway. And my target was EXACTLY on the lever spot.Perhaps some tweaking of it a little bit will improve this, or add a changable speed of the target-aim AND the rail cart.
3. I wasn't really sure when I was taking damage how exactly did the enemies hit me. Because it looked like they are a mile away and still were hitting me(the bats). Perhaps a clear projectile would fix this issue. (total from above -5)
What I loved about the gameplay was the fact that I could shoot almost anything and it would react to that shooting and move/blow up/open. The achievments on the diffrent game modes made it even more festive and replayable overral. Even me - a hater of time-based games, liked the timed challenge.
The bullets were endless, thus I got the feeling I can shoot in any direction. Perhaps a limit of ammo can give another usefull game mode option. The possibilities are endless and only limited to the time given for the contest. And imagine if this could be played in multiplayer...
25/30

To the author :You always seem to amaze us with great new creative ways of presenting an original map that can even be called 'product',however there is one problem I have with this - it is the length of your maps. If you focus on one of the last few contest entries and make it a longer,deeper map - lets say atleast 1 hour of game time, I am SURE it can get hosted along side TKoK, Diablo 3 maps and other great projects taking honorable place in the Hive. I am looking forward to such project, even if you have to keep yourself away from a contest or two and give chance to other people in the top 3 hehe. PLEASE!

97/110
ruleofiron99
Checking FieldExplanationPoints


Originality:
I must say I was intrigued by the way the game starts. The story in the loading screen seems possible (altho lets face it, a king has to be loco' to build a settlment in close proximity of the orclands and I doubt this is the richest mine in the world) and gives a bit of information on what to expect. Since we have two underground-mine-themed maps I will be comparising techniques from yours and Tickles's map. I love the way you did your support column aoe damage. It adds additional options into strategising the combat further ingame.
I like the way you combined your heroes. Altho they are having basic roles like healer,tank,damage dealer there is quite a twist in them, mainly because they posses offensive and defensive/supportive spells in their arsenal aswell as the classics we'v seen gazilion times.
What I found to be a bit of a annoyment was the quest system, I had to surrond the quest givers with all heroes to make the event run. This could cause major problems if there are players afk/dead player/player just wanting to screw his teammates. You should have taken more time into thinking of those choices in my opinion. (-2)
Also how can the heroes at start be so random - a woman , 2 men and a horse ?! This makes completely no sense to me. Perhaps a classic spin in the hero selection area (wisp - selection circle - hero spawns at start point) would make a little bit more sense. (-2)
Lastly but not least , what are those questions that the priest unit inside the barracks calls ''just protocol''. I laughed at some of them (thick skinned lol). I think you should have put more thinking into this part and aim it to achieve your goals. There are many systems based on choices we make ingame but you have to give us at least some good ones. It was like filling test without knowing which was the good answer or if there is such even existing. And when I play with all 4 heroes on single player? I make a choice for all of them I guess? Do we get seperate choices on multiplayer? Overral a good idea gone wrong. No information on how (or if even which) those choices will work on our advantage. Yes some of them gives hints to like the desired profession but others are completely darkened by the weird content of the question itself.(-2)
Credits were nicely done and written in the highest of expectations I have for them... Finally.
19/25


Map Presentation/Design:
The presentation was classic. A loading screen with valuable information on the story on the game which is usually optional but for me it is important. A few words written in good manner can always highten my interest a bit. Then the weir man/horse/woman combo was a bit strange but I overcame it quickly.
I liked how you'v put actuall discussion before the battle begins but you should have made some use of the pathing blockers, like for example the entry to the village should be closed untill you talk to the guy at front and then the exit of the barracks should be closed untill choosing a hero, the blacksmith should be available after you talk to the guy above the barracks. These things leave a spot for bugs/exploits and things that reduce the plesure of playing and discovering things/following storyline.(-3)
The design of the place was very pleasing and I must give you credit for making this happen with mainly wc3 classic models. However there are things which would improve it quite a lot but for that in the terrain section.
The design of the mine itself was rather good but it had some weak points. Like the support columns, they should be turned 180 degrees so the pointy end of them collides with the walls to give them a bit of a real support role. Now the looked like a north pole pylons with not real meaning. You should have made them with less collusion and close them to the walls as much as possible.And locations of some of them is just out of the picture. (-2)
I must say I haven't seen such way of making dungeon for a long time with all the edgy dark areas that makes it look like vertical slice of minecraft's soils or some cartoony magazine. I liked it.
10/15


Terrain:
The terrain was nicely executed, however it was not the greatest. The village needed a bit more details, some use of leveling the ground, just things that contribute, as many times I have explained, to the level of attraction of a player when he starts the game. I don't think day/night cycle script was needed in the map but that's a personal choice which did little to enhanse the enviroment. And tinting the colors of the buildings and doodads a bit darker was really needed if you are going to make a good late-night impression. Avoid using the selection circles as they tend to make the surroundings very unnatural (and they look ugly too). There are many things that can replace them like exclimation mark model, aura model - you get my point. Personally I would find a way to go around the need of those circles all the time. (-1)
However the walls of the mines were not used properly and flashed and overwlapped each other all the time, resulting in an ugly creation with edgy corners and unnatural look.(-2) More to say those walls look bad as a model from above and perhaps were made for cinematic reasons.
The third area of the map looked much better. I was happy the support colums were gone at last. But then it was soo dark... there you'v suddenly moved to Outland terrain which was not a smooth transition and looked too unnatural. (-1) I liked the cliffs and the abyss around them. If it wasn't so dark and almost black-tinted (at least was looking that way ingame) I would say it was the best addition to your terrain - rest to my eyes after the dreadfull blinking flashing colliding wall models of the mine.
One other thing that got my attention was that at many places in the mine I could look through walls ( visibility modifier/blocker was missing) and even engage enemies that way. (-1)
Overral the terrain was having sort of a maze style but also at moments was too straightforward. If it wasn't for the mine walls I would give it ALMOST full score. An advice from me is to look deeper into terrains and make them look realistic - that includes making support colums having something to support...
15/20


Triggering:
The triggers are nicely foldered and explained with apropriate lables. Some of them like the footman drinking water I never noticed ingame which is a shame considering you took time in doing it.
No leaks were found altho a few triggers made me wonder if they leak but after I saw a second opinion I was certain now that they are spot on.
The triggered critical strike was a nice idea and overral all hero spells are classics with a fundamental twist that I liked, but more about that in a second.
Overral I have no remarks to point about the triggering. It was done properly in any subsection - leaks/usefullnes/arrangement.
I am happy you took some time to create AI triggers for simple spell casts, it helped a lot when testing it in single player.
The knockbacking of the kobolds was EVERY HIT. You should have triggered it to be a percentage of all hits. (-1) Have you tried what you'v written in those triggers ingame to see the result? I was knocked through walls and solid objects due to too many kobolds hitting my hero at once and bugging the knockback distance. This can be fixed by giving them slower attack speed and attack range of less than 30. Not to mention my heroes died by getting knocked through walls... which would make sense if it was intended. (-1)
You should also remove the test triggers once you are done with them.
8/10


Object Data:
The icons of the heroes and items corresponded to the effects and abbilities they represented and were nicely enhanced by this new cooldown model. It is obvious you'v put an efford in those items giving them some flavor text and good tooltip design. Something that is hard to get despite how easy it looks. The color scheme is not spammed, which is another thing mostly people tend to overdo. There were a bit of problems too. The armor buff of the warrior hero was making the hero icons red looking like they were debuffed by something. I don't understand was that really needed considering you could have based that spell from any scroll that provides armor.
Anyway I like how you'v combined the standard item table with a custom made one and filling them with interesting uses and arrangeing them in class-categories. Thats quite the work. I wish at least 50% of the entries have taken their attention at items as much as you did.
I was pleased to see that the mining pick was made with cooldown so noone could spam-take all gold at the same moment before his comrades. But you should have splited the gold evenly across the mine so technically all players would get a piece eventually. Since I was testing it in single player that was not an issue, but it could be in multiplayer enviroment.
10/10



Gameplay:
The gameplay itself was rather harder than I'v expected in single player but not because of the presented enemy content but due to the buggy knockbacks and numerous deaths by touching the edge of a cliff or a wall which was a real set back for me(-1)
I was hoping you'd consider doing starting gold boost when the player is only one and controlls 4 heroes. Also vendors inside the mine would have removed the inconvinience of going up and down between town and mine all the time. (-1)
The threat system was a nice addition to the classical dungeons-and-dragons feel you'v implemented on your map. It was bug-free as much as I could test it. However I did not like the priest/cleric's spell arsenal. I took a look at the custom spells and abbilities that you gave to your enemy units. Well I can say that there is absolutely no use for his dispell abillity. The only thing it did was remove numerous times my own buffs.(-1)
For the water elemental I never like a summon that does nothing more than autoattacks. It is a waste of a good spell. If you do a summoned unit make sure it is not so basic unless your hero has like 10 spells and can afford some of them to be basic.(-1)
The mine itself was too boring. Basic enemies with dull spells. Some of your enemy units made completely no sense. Ghosts had Possesion yet there were no player-friendly units they would interact with. Just autoattacking enemy with evasion. Most units had % on hit to knockback or something else silly and unsatisfying for a dungeon and the variety of spells your heroes had.(-1)
The first time I encountered a harder unit to kill I wondered was that a boss. Nothing displayed it as such. His only abbility was tossing stones at heroes...so there was no way that this is a boss. Then I saw 2 more golems who for some reason disliked to attack. Then I checked the triggers that they are supposed to attack if I destroy the support columns in the room...well how the hell was I supposed to know that out of the dozens of support columns all over the mine those five were going to activate the two golems? Did I miss sometihing in the dialogues? I don't think so.(-1)
So far so good. I finished the mines and headed to the kobold entrance. And there is when the bad part started. Those annoying kobolds knocked my whole hero group almost a whole room back. Knocked them through the walls which caused them to die a couple of times too. I knew that probably even if I kill them a whole lot more will be scattered across the map beyond the cobold cave. I can swear my heroes only touched the edge of the playable area and they immediately died without any idea why. I think this fall system that takes the height of the heroes is quite unneeded and disfunctions a lot. (-2)
Finally I reached 3 necromancers - and they were literally 3 necromancers with Raise dead-no corpses around whatsoever, cripple - the first time I used my hero's dispell abillity (the banshees were so easy that even cursed I managed to finish them just with autoattacks), and unholy frenzy. Then I checked them in the editor just to find out that those spells were not even modified a bit. What a dissapointmen. If you focus your game on a classic dungeon you should know that what makes it challenging is the diffrent approach on the so called 'trash' enemy units and the variety of strategies on each boss unit. That was essentially missing in your dungeon unfortunately. (-4)
I later saw more basic units like the abominations and the wildkin (who also had the dreadfull knockback). Your dungeon quickly lost me despite the balanced and classic heroes and the itemization overral. I think you'v put little effort in the enemies and more in the systems. Find the balance or no matter what fancy talent tree system or thing you think of, it would be useless if fighting just units with basic spells/passives.
18/30

To the author :Your map was one of those with much content and more than five minutes to take on. Everyone should aim at finding the balance between the actual gameplay and the complexity of the implemented systems and side bonuses like items and various hidden objectives (like breaking the columns to activate the golems). You have completed the theme of the contest at its best but it was a bit boring when it came to the actual exploration of the dungeon. My advice is to take more time in thinking of good encounters ingame because a boring game is a game that will quickly be forgotten. Good job nontheless.

80/110
MaTiJa97
Checking FieldExplanationPoints


Originality:
The feeling of being true to the theme is a dream far away. I mean your 'dungeon' has only two rooms that would go much better in a 'castle interior' contest rather than what was described as the definition of the dungeon required from contestands to make by Pharao. However you did put some efford in the movement system and camera altho it is a bit weird angle, almost like I am pointed to the hero's butt. So I am not sure how to rate you in this category... On one side the lack of dungeon feel kills the idea of the contest entry, on the other side you'v implemented some fairly new way of playing in cinematic mode (first time I saw such was a few contests ago by Tickles), but the movement was veeery glitchy when it comes to facing a wall,bookshelf, etc.
So - for bad movement implementation ; for being far from dedicated to the contest's criteria, and even further away from the provided hints on how to set the feeling of a dungeon (see the first threath of this contest) ;for making original moves, combos and combat BUT being completely useless - yes I finished the game without even able to use F4,transformations and empowered attacks, just Q spammed the dragon like a lunatic... (total from above -8) .
I don't think you had a clear concept of what you wanted to present. First you make a castle interior but don't tint it darker to look like a dungeon but more like a toothfairy's headquarters. Then you add skeletons roaming a library. Finally a talking dragon from out of nowhere in the next room, reading books perhaps? It was just so random it could easily go for playable terrain contest. (-2)
15/25


Map Presentation/Design:
I was excited from the loading screen and its pulsing animation...but a few words from the author there would be much better than tacky effects, after all it doesn't contribute much when not taken advantage of. In a trigger for the 'tutorial' you'v put so many information that appears every 3 seconds. I never actually realized F4 transforms me to a freaking tiger...mage transforms into a tiger...that shoots light orbs...to figt a dragon...in a toothfary's library. (but that's another story) If you had put basics like what F1-F4 do in the loading screen you could have avoided the confusion this caused when the game started. (-2 always use your loading screens)
They should make a movie about me, a parody of 'Finding Nemo'. It will be named 'Finding the Credits list' because Pharaoh is my witness I'v SEARCHED and SEARCHED... (-7)
After scarecely reading the instructions I almost imediatelly forgot what F1-4 did each. You should make a permanent text in the multiboard menu about each and every combo,command,items you get...speaking of which. I have a suspition the items in the chests at the start are potions, but due to the bad camera angle I was never able to perfectly identify them... Nor did I needed them for that matter.(-1) Too little information (that we can read after the fights start), lack of credits,description, not even author's name somewhere in the texts that appeared.
5/15


Terrain:
The terrain was overral good, but most of that feeling was just due to the huge amount of imports implemented. Nothing original in combination, nothing creative. Just plain terrain with tossed here and there stuff. For so many used imports you could have atleast tried to put some atmosphere there, some details - spill some books on the floor, turn a few chairs around, make the whole place tinted to gray, not to blue-white as its original colors are. Tweak the lights, the symetric place was killing me. And the randomness of it...a throne in a library with two chests on the sides... I did like the windows tho I wouldn't put so much light in them, darken them a bit too. Almost everyone seems to be missing the main concept of the contest - DUNGEON. Also why so short? You import gazilion models and make 2 rooms with them... Loose the roof if it's so painfull to work it out. Loose the movement system, just make it appealing. Right now it is like (epic example incoming) a children's library with crancky dragon librarian lady. Yes it sounds ridiculos. (-9) 11/20


Triggering:
Most of the triggers were great, some can perhaps be improved to reduce the amount of 'periodic timers' that run each instance. The game was almost completely lag-free and the combat triggers were impressive. Not the same can be said for the monsters/creeps triggers. Abomination casts 'every 10 seconds' a stun... They died at the second they spawned so I was never able to witness such stun. (-1)
The movement system was buggy at the moment where I collided with pathing blockers and doodads. I was just pushed back but kept moving that gave me almost a headache. It was hard moving through the door too. Got stuck on the wall one time and had to restart. Perhaps you should check out other movement systems that use arrow keys(-1)
8/10


Object Data:
For such a TINY map you got yourself over 100 imports... Seriously? What was bad about the normal dragon model so you had to export fancy wow rip? DECORATIONS and unit models that fit with them are good wow exports, not a random dragon,turtle,tentacle or whatever you can point with your finger on the monitor with eyes closed. (-2)
I can not review quest log, spell tooltips or visual candy like options and user-interface related systems because they were mostly or completely missing. (-2)
The primitive items that represented, what I think was health potion, mana potion from the chests were not even visible. So overral not much ingame object data to judge anyway. There were at least no bugged or showing health bars and selection circles.
6/10


Gameplay:
The first impression I got was positive.(despite the horrific camera angle) The cinematic mode, altho limiting the options available was something fresh and inspiring me to start it. Then the movement system.... my god was it glitchy or what? The moment I touched a doodad I immediately got tossed a tiny bit back but kept moving. It looked as if the hero is made of rubber and bounces off any object it encounters. And the fact that I barely made it through the door without touching anything so I dont get trown at a some silly direction.(-3)
Secondly after restarting the game to see all appearing text I decided to try something I try on many occasions: to see if all the combos and spells are needed to finish the map. Well all I needed to destroy the few creeps that spawned was F2...even more I killed the first and only boss with combination of bashing F1 and F2, no jumps, no tiger form, no improved bolts... never even hit F4. Why would you make so many combinations but make them completely unneeded? (-3)
The lack of tactic required made me get bored very fast. I was somewhat relieved it ended so fast. (-1)
I had no idea what the boss was doing. Just kept bashing F2 F1 while I see a marvelous view of a peaseant tossing a dragon around. The 2 spells that the boss had were launching at so random directions that they never hit me.(-2)
But the greatest amazement came when I tossed the boss out of the map, the wall behind the dragon librarian was having no borders/blockers. I was also able to walk out through it.Very sloppy. (-3)
The spawns that came before the boss in room 1 were so stuffed together that I used only F2 to kill whole hordes of ghouls and abominations... almost fell asleep. And that was mostly the fighting in the game. (-3)
15/30

The idea behind the map was good. Terrain was a bit boring but we all know how hard it is to make it blend with the style of gameplay wc3 provides. The map itself looks like an alpha version of a demo version.The movement system was very buggy. You should check the movement system that DeathChief used on his entry. I am starting to get the conclusion that 1 month is not enough even for a mini-mapping contest, but on the other hand too long duration would demotivate some people to rush it to the finish, like I think you did because you forgot to pathing block an ENTIRE wall behind the dragon.

60/110
Dat-C3
Checking FieldExplanationPoints


Originality:
Originality? Oh it was original allright...original waste of time. By the look of your 'dungeon' it seems to me that even you didn't took pleasure in making it. I will be extremely short on words on this entry, because that is what it deserves.
Since in this entry it's easier calling it's good sides I wll start with them.
It is completely trigger based, firstly looked like a joke, then when I tested it ingame this first feeling was..confirmed.I will award you 2 points for having the smart idea to generate the 'obstacle terrain' aka. the trees that represented the area of play.
2/25


Map Presentation/Design:
Presentation was a complete ZERO. I felt punked. On the basis of the presentation I even offered the other judge to disqualify you and don't even bother writing those few sentences of anger. 0/15


Terrain:
Terrain.... yea sure. I can imagine a terrain myself, you just make the clumsy treant with random effects not corresponding to his doings... 1/20


Triggering:
Absolute MESS! Unnamed,uncategorized triggers, atleast they were mostly cleared of leaks and presented a somewhat fun boss fight besides the randomness and complete dullnes of his abilities. 6/10


Object Data:
It seems unfair to judge something that was so little that it never actually made an impact on the 'game'. This map seriously should be sent to the 'spells' section or something, because I am really having a hard time describing the lack of 'following the theme' focus. The systems were corresponding quite good and the hero's spells/boss intensity were the only things that made me go for a second round. 4/10



Gameplay:
Gameplay would have been somewhat mediocre...if it wasn't for the ugly(lack of) terrain, the randomness of the boss and the feel of something that is in a test,deep-alpha (yes I invented a new term) phase before release. I only survived few minutes before horryfingly hitting alt-f4. 4/30

To the author :As I am too hard on my colleagues at work I will be the same in my advice to you. Don't present such piece of crap made in few hours to one day that lacks basics and gives us a tree that summons rock chunks from the sky... You were not even trying to make it look like it's made with some thought. If I give the editor to a person who has no idea how to work with it, and explain him the basics of terraining and gameplay, he would do a better job than you. A few fancy triggers is nothing... as you have proven once again.

17/110


The winner is...

160036-albums4747-picture62947.png
 
Level 14
Joined
Oct 6, 2008
Messages
759
I hope people are happy with the results.

I actually think I'v been too soft on the points...

My system of points distribution was that every entry starts with max points for each category and then gets substracted points for badly executed things on those categories. I do think this is the more reasonable system rather than starting from 0 each category and adding points only when something seems to impress the judge - thus making every other effort of the map maker pointless. I myself was recently judged by this horrible way and wanted to give an example on how to do it properly without nullifying the effort put into the entries.

I hope everyone is happy once again.


p.s. The more content you gave - the longer the review is.

Congratulations to Tickles and Kino which are for me both equally winning it. Kino's entry was the most enjoyable to play while Tickles's entry was the most complex with all the custom made systems specially for the contest.
 
Level 25
Joined
Jul 10, 2006
Messages
3,315
Yay, finally!


What I found to be a bit of a annoyment was the quest system, I had to surrond the quest givers with all heroes to make the event run. This could cause major problems if there are players afk/dead player/player just wanting to screw his teammates. You should have taken more time into thinking of those choices in my opinion. (-2)
You right-click a unit to interact. I probably should have made that a bit more clear, but since you had to figure that out right at the start... I don't see how this warrants a -2.

Also how can the heroes at start be so random - a woman , 2 men and a horse ?! This makes completely no sense to me. Perhaps a classic spin in the hero selection area (wisp - selection circle - hero spawns at start point) would make a little bit more sense. (-2)
I'm being punished for being creative? Dudewhat?

Overral a good idea gone wrong. No information on how (or if even which) those choices will work on our advantage. Yes some of them gives hints to like the desired profession but others are completely darkened by the weird content of the question itself.(-2)
The dialogs determine:
- Initial hero attributes
- Attribute gain
- Special defensive perk
I didn't mention this in the map, because I feared it might break immersion. It was quite obvious what the choices did to all my beta testers. I'm quite upset that you subtracted points for, once again, creativity.

And when I play with all 4 heroes on single player?
I did say that the entry is made for multiplayer, I take it you didn't play it as such. You should have mentioned that you'd be judging all entries in single player.

Not to mention my heroes died by getting knocked through walls... which would make sense if it was intended. (-1)
Units take damage when knocked into walls. Kobolds had 100% knockback to be a tougher foe in the abyss area. I did test the knockback thorough, I'm sure I fixed being able to be knocked through walls...

The gameplay itself was rather harder than I'v expected in single player but not because of the presented enemy content but due to the buggy knockbacks and numerous deaths by touching the edge of a cliff or a wall which was a real set back for me(-1)
I was hoping you'd consider doing starting gold boost when the player is only one and controlls 4 heroes. Also vendors inside the mine would have removed the inconvinience of going up and down between town and mine all the time. (-1)
Like I said, map was designed for multiplayer. The cliffs are a natural hazard, and with each player controlling one hero it works wonderfully.

Deals damage to summoned units (Golems summoned Dirt Elementals), removes poison (which lasts 2 minutes, dealing plenty of damage).

Some of your enemy units made completely no sense. Ghosts had Possesion yet there were no player-friendly units they would interact with.
Possession affects heroes. Unless, if you were playing with "whosyourdaddy" enabled... Every time I played that part, I received great feedback from my players. I struggle to understand how this creative touch is a negative.

Then I checked the triggers that they are supposed to attack if I destroy the support columns in the room...well how the hell was I supposed to know that out of the dozens of support columns all over the mine those five were going to activate the two golems? Did I miss sometihing in the dialogues? I don't think so.(-1)
It's one of those things added for curious-type players. Some will just see that the units are paused and pass by to continue on their journey, others will think "hey how do we activate these", and destroying all the columns in the room is one of the first things you think about.
Games become really lame if you spoon-feed your players. This is simple to figure out. Once again, I don't understand the -1.

I think this fall system that takes the height of the heroes is quite unneeded and disfunctions a lot. (-2)
As above, map is intended for multiplayer, knockback is a core mechanic of the game. I debated adding "noob-friendly fall prevention", but my beta testers strongly argued against this, that it would ruin the experience.

Arrow key map winning
Meh, whatever.


So my arguments aside, thanks for the hard work Lordkoon.

PS: I'm not arguing against losing. My entry wasn't well polished and finished.
 
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