Spells & Systems Mini-Contest #16

PurplePoot · Dec 6, 2008

Kay, I've got a good deal of time this weekend, so I should be able to get most if not all of the marking done today and tomorrow.

Eccho · Dec 6, 2008

Great Poot

Now, I know my spell is leaking so make sure to give me some minus score^^

Oh and, dont forget, I made a post containing all the spells. It will make it easier for you.

-Berz- · Dec 6, 2008

Hehe Purple =)
Have fun

Edit:
*900th post, I'm so pro xD*

Kwah · Dec 6, 2008

pr0?

Hell, I rather forgot about this while it was going on.

raft_pl · Dec 6, 2008

Weee, i was starting to wonder if Poot forgot about the contest D:
But hey, hope you wont get bored to the death during these two days ;p

terradont · Dec 6, 2008

I know i would. Well, not bored. Just sick of all spells with the same theme xD

Palaslayer · Dec 8, 2008

i think the time for editing ran out some time ago ^^

when are the results going to be posted? and who is the damn winner!! when is the next contest?

-JonNny · Dec 8, 2008

Hmm

i hope soon
Purple said hes be done with the most within the last two days

I guess we have to wait a few more days till we know it
Im sad that i was not able to finish my spell

anyway , winning is not all

Paladon · Dec 12, 2008

Uhm, did i miss something or is this contest still not over?

Kwah · Dec 13, 2008

It's over.

Paladon · Dec 13, 2008

hawk900 said:
It's over.

Poot´s judging too? Which submission won?

Eccho · Dec 13, 2008

hawk900 give me the source.

Kwah · Dec 13, 2008

Oh. Judging isn't done. Poot is busy this weekend.

-Berz- · Dec 13, 2008

I'm pretty sure that Poot will submit the results soon, he have a life too...(how would you feel, checking 25 spells, score them all, and write up every single point?)

MistAssass · Dec 13, 2008

Oh snap ! that's right ... but still i hope he will submit them soon

Avator · Dec 13, 2008

Let's just all be supportive and stop spamming this thread with 'Is it done yet?' and 'Are the results in yet?' questions. PurplePoot will judge them all when he got the opportunity, so let's just patiently wait.

terradont · Dec 13, 2008

Seconded

-JonNny · Dec 13, 2008

-BerZeKeR- said:
I'm pretty sure that Poot will submit the results soon, he have a life too...(how would you feel, checking 25 spells, score them all, and write up every single point?)

25 Spells?

i thought its about 10-15
anyway , 3 weeks has been passed - hope to see soon some results

go purple go , should be easy .. just gimme max. score and lemme win xD

Joe-black-5 · Dec 13, 2008

lol good idea

doom_sheep · Dec 13, 2008

terradont said:
Seconded

this made me lol

Zack1996 · Dec 14, 2008

I have an idea, let +rep him and say "Is the judging done yet?" and stuff
Anyway, good luck to everyone

PurplePoot · Dec 14, 2008

My god that took a while.

Anyhow, gratz to Eccho and all contestants.

Spells that were bugged are not included.

doom_sheep - Druid's Escape

Idea: 5/5

A very original and interesting idea.
Triggering: 7/10

It was generally decent, but there were a few problems, primarily a leak every .04 seconds, a leak whenever a tree seed died, and the fact that you used way more triggers than necessary, making it a little more annoying to implement and read.
Overall Aspect: 4/5

Generally good, and a great alternative ability for all sorts of maps. The icon could've been better, and you should watch out for spelling errors in the tooltip.
Visual Effects: 5/5

Fitting and simple visual effects.
Theme: 3/3

The spell followed the theme well.
Total: 24/28

In general, a very nice alternative ability. However, your triggering could use a bit of work.

MistAssas - Forest's Spirits

Idea: 5/5

An original and fun idea.
Triggering: 7/10

Generally decent, but a few problems included the fact that the code was far longer than it should've been (For example, a separate section per level), and that it wasn't MUI.
Overall Aspect: 5/5

A good trapping ability for some sorts of maps. The icon and tooltip fit well.
Visual Effects: 3/5

The lighting star is far more than a little cliché by now, and didn't really fit the spell at all. The rest were fine.
Theme: 3/3

The spell followed the theme well.
Total: 23/28

A neat piece of work, but work a bit more on your triggering, and try not to go overkill with special effects.

StaberFire - Astral Enchantment

Idea: 5/5

A good original idea.
Triggering: 7/10

Sometimes the spell would continue past its end for one more 'cycle', reducing the bonus to 2. Additionally, As you said, you leaked locations. Additionally, the spell was ridiculously spread out trigger-wise... makes it all the harder to implement and read. Finally, you don't need Do Nothing.
Overall Aspect: 5/5

An interesting concept of an ability, potentially very useful for supporting your units in combat. The icon and tooltip were good.
Visual Effects: 3/5

The effects were a little monotonous (too much faerie fire), as well as the fact that massively scaled up effects shaded red did not look amazing.
Theme: 3/3

The spell followed the theme well.
Total: 23/28

A decent spell, but you could definitely work on your triggering.

Vestras - Mother Nature's Recipe

Idea: 4/5

A somewhat original idea, but the 'treant turning into tree' thing seems to be getting more and more popular.
Triggering: 9/10

Fairly well done in general, but there were some major problems, for example, the treats didn't seem to go in any particular direction regardless of targeting (this went here for lack of a better place to put it).
Overall Aspect: 4/5

An interesting concept of an ability, but with questionable usefulness. Additionally, the treats could attack people when they were out. The icon and tooltip were good.
Visual Effects: 4/5

The effects were fitting if not very original.
Theme: 3/3

The spell followed the theme well.
Total: 24/28

Pretty good, just with slight tweaks that could be done all over.

Flood - Spirit Balls

Idea: 3/5

A fairly standard artillery idea, albeit with some twists.
Triggering: 10/10

I can't say I had any real complaints about the triggering.
Overall Aspect: 4/5

Might get a bit rigged in larger battles, but it's hard to say. The icon and tooltip didn't really fit in my opinion.
Visual Effects: 5/5

The effects were fitting for the spell.
Theme: 3/3

The spell followed the theme well.
Total: 25/28

A fairly good spell, but I'm not too fond of the idea.

Ribenamania - Spirit of Nature

Idea: 4/5

An interesting twist in the approach, but entangling roots and treants are a bit stereotypical.
Triggering: 7/10

You missed nulling a lot. Additionally, ==true is not necessary for most cases (and it's a bugfixing case, not a syntactical case, when it is). The system did not distinguish between "generic destructable" and "tree". Finally, you could really cut down on the amount of BJs you use.
Overall Aspect: 5/5

A fitting tooltip and icon, and could work in a variety of situations.
Visual Effects: 5/5

The effects were fitting for the spell.
Theme: 3/3

The spell followed the theme well.
Total: 24/28

A good spell, but you could use some more work on your coding. Additionally, you should exploit vJass to its fullest if you're going to use the WE mod in the first place.

raft_pl - Life Repletion

Idea: 5/5

A neat and unique idea.
Triggering: 9/10

The method of detecting whether the spell will kill the unit is a bit of a hack and doesn't work properly as it doesn't take into account other damage, armour type, etc. You also had some redundant nulling and such, but most of the triggering was good.
Overall Aspect: 3/5

The spell seemed to be detrimental to itself (When you always wanted the tree as it was an instant kill + more damage later), as well as being rather unbalanceable, as well as weird to watch, especially since the tree was their colour. The tooltip was fine, but the icon was a bit out of touch with the spell.
Visual Effects: 4/5

The effects were mostly fitting for the spell, but the "poison" shot from the tree (blood mage missiles) was a little odd.
Theme: 3/3

The spell followed the theme well.
Total: 24/28

A decent spell all around.

Zack1995 - Rejuvenation Dust

Idea: 5/5

A very original idea.
Triggering: 10/10

I couldn't really find much to complain about with the triggering - it was very well done. My only complaint is that you shouldn't be using arrays unnecessarily.
Overall Aspect: 3/5

The spell worked well ingame and would be useful in a variety of situations. The tooltip and icon were fine, except for the fact that the tooltip shouldn't be an essay - that's just scary. Perhaps consider simplifying your spell a bit, as complication is not necessarily good.
Visual Effects: 5/5

The visuals fit the spell and clearly indicated what was going on.
Theme: 3/3

The spell followed the theme well.
Total: 26/28

A well done spell, but perhaps a little too complicated.

xD.Schurke - Rooting

Idea: 5/5

An original and good idea.
Triggering: 9/10

The code was pretty good, but could've been significantly compressed in some places - for example, you should be using boolean operators (and/or/not) rather than just spamming elseifs when unnecessary.
Overall Aspect: 5/5

The tooltip and icon fit well, and the spell would fit a variety of situations.
Visual Effects: 4/5

The visual effects were decent, but you really need to calm down on the number of roots present at once - I had footmen with 10 or so, and they looked like a big green ball.
Theme: 3/3

The spell followed the theme well.
Total: 26/28

A fairly good piece of work, though a bit overkill on the visuals.

IncubiProtocoL - Ancient's Fury

Idea: 5/5

A nice and original idea.
Triggering: 8/10

The BJs should really be cut down on. Additionally, loops really should be used. Finally, I suggest a timer to escape the unpredictable jumpiness of TriggerSleepAction.
Overall Aspect: 5/5

Overall fitting for a variety of games, balanceable, tooltip and icon seem fine, etc.
Visual Effects: 3/5

Fairly well done all around, my only major complaints being it was hard to tell what was going on at times, and the blue looked a bit out of place.
Theme: 3/3

The spell followed the theme well.
Total: 24/28

A pretty well done spell, but confusing at times.

Justify - Poisonous Mushroom

Idea: 4/5

A fairly original idea, but chain traps are not uncommon.
Triggering: 10/10

An amazing job done on the code, as usual.
Overall Aspect: 4/5

Fitting in a variety of maps, and a good icon, but I had no idea what the tooltip was trying to tell me.
Visual Effects: 5/5

The visuals were simple and effective.
Theme: 3/3

The spell followed the theme well.
Total: 26/28

A really well done spell, just watch out on the details.

Paladon - Magical Birds

Idea: 5/5

An original idea.
Triggering: 10/10

Quite nice for GUI - I couldn't really find anything significant to complain about.
Overall Aspect: 4/5

The tooltip was a horrible mess and was scary for a reader. The spell was also rather messy and unclear often what actually happened when you used it.
Visual Effects: 4/5

The visuals were rather excessive and detracted from the spell being understandable.
Theme: 3/3

The spell followed the theme well.
Total: 26/28

A decently done spell on the modding side, but a mess on the game side. I'd suggest getting some friends to test in the future, because I know it can be hard to not understand your own spell, so you often need an outside voice.

Joe-black-5 - Sprout

Idea: 1/5

Impale with trees.
Triggering: 7/10

The triggering that existed was fine, but what existed did not constitute much.
Overall Aspect: 5/5

The tooltip and icon were fine. Evidently useful ingame as it's a stock spell.
Visual Effects: 3/5

The visual effects were simple but didn't really fit the effect at all - trees randomly started growing, which had something to do with all enemy units turning towards you, stunned.
Theme: 3/3

The spell followed the theme well.
Total: 18/28

What coding there was was good, but otherwise, you should really work on a more original and difficult idea.

-BerZeKeR- - Touch of Nature

Idea: 5/5

A nice synthesis of multiple buff spells.
Triggering: 8/10

Pretty good, but not much existed.
Overall Aspect: 5/5

The tooltip and icon were fine. The spell would be an amazing support spell ingame.
Visual Effects: 5/5

The visual effects were simple and effective.
Theme: 3/3

The spell followed the theme well.
Total: 26/28

I'd like it if you did a bit more on the code side, but otherwise, very nice.

terradont - Earthliving Weapon

Idea: 4/5

A fairly original idea, but a little too much like vampiric aura/mask of death/etc for my liking.
Triggering: 9/10

Could use dynamic support for multiple levels, but good otherwise.
Overall Aspect: 4/5

The tooltip didn't really tell me what the ability did, just something about leeching life which didn't seem to follow with the visuals. Everything else here was fine.
Visual Effects: 4/5

Mostly fine, but it would be nice if you added a heal effect to the people being healed so that it was more clear.
Theme: 3/3

The spell followed the theme well.
Total: 24/28

Fairly good, but its effect could be made more clear.

The_Reborn_Devil - Nature's Wrath

Idea: 5/5

A neat and original idea.
Triggering: 8/10

A bug caused the trees to not disappear one time. Otherwise, fairly good, except keep the following in mind - you don't need to constantly destroy and recreate your global group, and not having a filter can cause what are effectively leaks.
Overall Aspect: 5/5

The icon fit, and the tooltip described the spell effectively and concisely. The spell could be useful for a variety of situations.
Visual Effects: 4/5

Really good for the most part, but the trees disappeared kind've suddenly, the AoE targeter should've fit the actual AoE, and the acid was slightly too far right of where it should've been.
Theme: 3/3

The spell followed the theme well.
Total: 25/28

A neat spell, but with a few flaws that could be fixed.

Eccho - Ancestral Protection

Idea: 5/5

An original idea.
Triggering: 10/10

I couldn't find anything to complain about in the code.
Overall Aspect: 5/5

The icon fit, and the tooltip described the spell effectively and concisely. The spell could be useful for a variety of situations, though it perhaps would've been nicer to have it as unit-target.
Visual Effects: 5/5

The visual effects were great and made the presence of the spell evident.
Theme: 3/3

The spell followed the theme well.
Total: 28/28

Great job! You've certainly improved over the years.

Herman - Wisp Redemption

Idea: 5/5

A unique idea.
Triggering: 10/10

The code was good.
Overall Aspect: 4/5

The icon and tooltip were mostly good, and the spell could work in a variety of situations. However, the tooltip should tell you the absolute stats of the treants at higher levels, rather than relative stats. Also, I'm skeptical about including the line of trees. Finally, the treants could've been ordered to attack the target for maximum effectiveness. Also, some sort of expiration timer for the treants?
Visual Effects: 5/5

The visual effects were simple but effective.
Theme: 3/3

The spell followed the theme well.
Total: 27/28

Quite a good job. The majority of the spell was good, but there were a few holes in the concept.

Dr Super Good - Nature's Aid

Idea: 5/5

An original and decent idea.
Triggering: 10/10

No major complaints here.
Overall Aspect: 3/5

The icon was fine. However, I want to read a quick description of what the spell does, not an essay - your tooltip was pretty much terrifying to mouse over, and not particularly informative. In general, the spell was too convoluted.
Visual Effects: 5/5

The visual effects were fairly simple and fit well.
Theme: 3/3

The spell followed the theme well.
Total: 26/28

A fairly good job with the code and such, but the concept badly needs work.

Avator · Dec 14, 2008

That's one hell of a post, PurplePoot! I see that everybody got a nice score so this is probably going to be a head-to-head poll!

Good luck to all participators, and people: Please don't vote until you've tried and judges all entries equally.

Paladon · Dec 14, 2008

Gratz Eccho!

There will be a poll? I don´t think so.^^

Kwah · Dec 14, 2008

Eccho just won. I think.

PurplePoot · Dec 14, 2008

There are no polls for this, Avator - it's just a mini-contest.

Avator · Dec 14, 2008

Sorry, then I'm mixing up this with another contest xD

Congratulations, Eccho! You've achieved the maximum score! :thumbs_up:

Paladon · Dec 14, 2008

Btw, my total score is 27 not 26. Just noticed it^^
But whatever, Poot, you´ve done a great job with the judging. It was an incredible amount of entries.

Dr Super Good · Dec 14, 2008

I guess that is what happens if you make complex spells. I only really managed to condense it for the learn tooltip and should have condensed the actual use tool tip.

Honestly I think the ratting for the tooltip was far too high as you only read the tooltip once or twice and after that you only ever read the name. Also mostly you can tell what happens from one or 2 casts of a spell so a lot of people tend to take a more pratical approch to learning what a spell does rather than reading up about it.

PurplePoot · Dec 15, 2008

DSG, that was the tooltip plus the spell's congruity and complexity in general. Overall Aspect is basically the dump of where things go that don't fit anywhere else.

Paladon, whoops, you were supposed to have a 4/5 on visuals.

Zack1996 · Dec 15, 2008

OMG! I lost the contest because the tooltip was too long

What a bad way to lose a contest

Anyway, I guess PurplePoot is right, I will change the tooltip before posting the spell XD.
PS: Its Zack1996, not Zack1995

PurplePoot · Dec 15, 2008

Sorry about the name, my eyesight isn't the best.

As for the marking, somewhat, but you pretty much got nuked for the general overcomplexity of the spell, not just the tooltip.

IncubiProtocoL · Dec 15, 2008

Gratz Eccho. I have to say I deserve a slightly lower score in triggering. The circle of bushes I created were dummy units. Then I realized units with locust have no collision so I created pathing blockers. Those bushes could've easily been special effects but I didn't have time to change. As of the over use of BJs, my only BJs were polar projections because I'm bad with coordinates and calculating angles. I feel I did pretty well for my first real JASS spell.

Thanks to poot for judging. Looking forward to the next contest.

PurplePoot · Dec 15, 2008

it's fine, as long as the spell isn't laggy dummies aren't a big deal. No problem about the judging, but sorry, I doubt there'll be a next contest. I already ended up having trouble finding time to do this one (as is no doubt evident from the date), and am becoming less and less connected from the Hive - outside this thread, I haven't really posted significantly in the last few weeks. Additionally, ironically enough, while having this many submissions is quite encouraging in a way (more than any major contest ever, if I remember correctly), it's a hell of a lot of work to mark them all, which makes it a turnoff in a way.

Joe-black-5 · Dec 15, 2008

lol like always i finnished last XD good job everyone and congratiolation eccho
well this contest was good i look forward for the new one ^^

terradont · Dec 15, 2008

Gz Eccho^^

Too bad that failed at some point in nearly all sections x.x

Eccho · Dec 15, 2008

Wait a minute... I won? uhm... nice ... But I was actually hoping that someone else won ._.

Thanks guys, you all did a great job too. Aww terradont, dont say that, it's called practise while learning ^^

Okay, so I won which means I am excluded for the next contest if there is any. Ill still be here 'spamming' you guys some feedback

terradont · Dec 15, 2008

That's not what i meant. xD
My point was that i got nearly perfect on almost all sections. I hate being close to a higher grade, since i'm always stuck just below the next one.
It's some kind of "mental sickness" i have xD

Eccho · Dec 15, 2008

^^ I see.

Aw I missed a post there... No more contests for Poot =/

terradont · Dec 15, 2008

mm, that's too bad.
So we need to find another judge huh? That's not an easy job.

Eccho · Dec 15, 2008

Nope, since Wyrmlord and DSG seems to have lost the interest, Rui must be the one left I guess. But hmm...

IncubiProtocoL · Dec 15, 2008

Why don't you judge the next one Eccho? =D Your prize for winning hehe.

Edit to terradont: Neither is Poot? We just need someone with time and JASS knowledge and maybe a mod to start the thing. Nothing wrong with a community contest if we can't make it official.

terradont · Dec 15, 2008

*Puts on evil face*
Mwahahahaha!
But Eccho's not a mod :S

-Berz- · Dec 15, 2008

Hehe, GJ Purp!
GJ Eccho and the rest of the people joined the contest, to bad some good spell werent finished.
Anyway it was fun

xD.Schurke · Dec 15, 2008

good job eccho

if i would be the judge i also had chosen you

-Berz- · Dec 15, 2008

Yeah, Eccho could "host" the next contest ^^, since he can't join the next one and he is good at spells
Ofc if he agrees

...

terradont · Dec 15, 2008

And if we get a mod to do the mod stuff

Herman · Dec 15, 2008

Congratulations Gratz, again thank you PP for all the tedious work and time on this one

Ahhh, I really stripped the spell down alot for this one, I ws going to add more, and maybe add an expiration timer for the destructables (would've used/needed a destgroup ><), considered treant expiration but thought they were so weak, why bother? Now that I really think about it, somebody could just mass them

I was going to add a good deals worth more of effects when the wisp hit the target, but I decided not too for the sake of simplicity

I feel a little dumb not making the treants attack their target, especially with the creeps sleeping on the test map (X_X)

And lastly, yeah, the treants stats were all double-digits, I could've just put the literal instead of relative

-JonNny · Dec 15, 2008

Gz Eccho ! i thought that you would win

eh , my spell was not even rated .. too abd , would hve been a nice feedback to finish it.. btw - i should continue it , not very much work left

Eccho · Dec 15, 2008

Thanks again all. And Jonnny, you just needed alittle more time and it was good to go. The same with yours Herman.
...

Me as hoster? Maybe, maybe not. Just because I won this contest doesn't mean that I have the most knowledge of spell making here. But sure, I guess it would be a good idea since I can't join the next contest and you can. I do not know what to say though. Maybe I should sleep at it