Hero Contest #8 - Proposition

[Kyrbi0]

Hero Contest #8
Artists & Coders Unite!
TAVERN Series

You may remember THW's successful series of Hero Contests... This time around though, we're kicking it up a notch and trying to involve multiple aspects of the site in one tremendous contest of skill. Both artists and coders will unite together to enter into this contest: the artist will choose and create aspects of the hero's graphics while the coder will provide the hero with spells. With good teamwork, the end result will be worthy of taking a spot in the Neutral Taverns!

You may choose to create a hero for any non-primary Faction (i.e. not Alliance, Horde, Scourge, or Sentinels). You are to create the ninth hero for the Tavern, including skills fitting of that hero and the Neutral Heroes in general. You will need to consider how that hero balances with the other heroes in the Tavern and how it impacts the metagame of melee as a whole. It might sound scary, but with solid teamwork and design you can pull through with a winner!

Contest Rules:

• Everybody is allowed and encouraged to enter, as long as they follow the rules.
  
• Two people per team, one artist, one coder.
• No entrant can be a member of multiple teams.
• One entry per team.
  
• No submission may violate the Hive Workshop Rules and Spells Rules.
• If you are both a skilled artist and coder in one, you cannot perform both tasks and be your own team. Choose to team up with another individual who needs a partner and do that part of the tasks.
• All entries must be designed specifically for this contest, there will be no previously-made work allowed. Exception: The Hero you make for the Techtree Contest #11 can be used for this Contest (and vice versa)
• Any submission must follow a Work In Progress (WiP), before it is published and labelled as the final piece.

_______________________________________________

Hero Requirements:

• Your hero must be a hero for the Neutral Tavern.
  
• The hero must have only 4 spells, no innate abilities (aside from Shadowmeld for a Night Elf).
• • Your hero must have one "Ultimate" and three "Level-able Skills".
  • Your hero must be designed with a max level of 10 in mind.
  • At least two of the hero's skills must be trigger enhanced, but you may trigger more than two of them.
  • You are not allowed to make purely cinematic spells. This means you cannot pause the hero, use cinematic mode for any spell, or anything of the sort.
  • You are not allowed to use the spellbook ability as any of your spells. Heroes have 3 normal abilities and 1 ultimate no matter what, no bypassing it.
  
  
• The hero must have a distinct Theme. This Theme is an important part of hero design, your artwork and spells must fit into its Theme. There is no defined Theme for the contest, but your team must create your own Theme.
• The hero must have a distinct Role. This Role is an important part of hero design, your abilities and playstyle must fit into its Role. There is no defined Role for the contest, but your team must create your own Role.
  
• The hero should be balanced qualitatively and quantitatively as if it were a tavern hero in standard WC3 melee games.

_______________________________________________

Specific Group Requirements:

Artist Rules:

• The artistic team member must choose to do at least one of the following:
  • Create a custom texture(s) for a model. (Unit models with >1 texture may have all non-effect textures changed)
  • Create a custom hero model with either in-game or custom animations.
  • Create custom special effect models for any number of the hero's spells and/or the hero's attack.
  • Create custom icons for the hero's spells.
  • Perform any one of the above another time for a hero's summon.
  • Perform any one of the above another time for a hero's alternate form.
• Any combination of up to 3 of the above is permissible, any more than 3 used in a single entry will result in disqualification.
• You are allowed to make a custom unit icon for your hero.
• You are allowed to import an attachable hero glow effect model for your hero.
• If you pick to texture or model a hero that is already present in the melee game, you may reimport the model with different texture paths to prevent model and texture collisions.
• If you make a texture, it has to be at least 90% freehand.
• You must post at least one WIP shot of your artistic contribution to the contest before deadline.
• All artistic work used in this competition must be made exclusively for this competition, no previous work will be accepted. Exception: The Hero you make for the Techtree Contest #11 can be used for this Contest (and vice versa)

_______________________________________________

Programming Rules:

• You can use any type of coding method you'd like (JASS / GUI / vJass) in designing your spells. (Specify in the entry topic)
• All spells for the hero must be designed specifically for this contest, there will be no previously-made spells allowed.
• You may use any script or system from a Wc3 Modding-Site's database for your map. This means if you want to use a system you, yourself, have made, it will have to be approved and in the database before the contest's beginning.
• You are allowed to import and use a dummy unit model with a single bone and the 'origin' attachment. This can be useful for some projectile spells and therefore it is allowed. (Pitch dummies with 180 degree vertical rotation are allowed as well)

_______________________________________________

Submission Rules:

• When the hero is complete, submit it to the Pastebin with the prefix [HERO8] and send me a private message with a link to the submission thread.
• All submitted entries must use (4)TurtleRock.w3x as the test map. (Modified as necessary, but not with any drastic changes)
• The map you submit your hero in should be set up as a melee map so the hero can be tested in a standard melee game; that means no cinematics or other extraneous additions, aside from:
  • Your custom Hero, it's custom spells (and any triggering/OE-work necessary to accomplish them), etc (your submission, essentially).
  • Triggers which should be provided to allow a single player to test the hero individually with ease and without having to build an altar and gain experience.
  • All submitted entries must have a filename in the format:
    [HC8] <MyHeroName>.w3x
    Example: [HC8] Paladin.w3x
  • All submitted entries must have an in-game map name in the format:
    [HC8] <MyHeroName>.w3x
    Example: [HC8] Paladin.w3x
• Submitted maps may be no larger than 1400kb.

_______________________________________________

Judging Criteria:

• If more than 3 teams enter, the contest will enter into a public poll where users can distribute two points among the contestants.
• The teams with the highest points after the public voting stage (Up to 5 teams, depending on how many entries) will move on to be judged based on code, art, and overall hero design by a team of up to "3" judges.

• In the poll, users will have to rank the heroes from best to worst, ignoring any of the entries that they want to.
• Clear instructions on how to vote will be posted the day the poll opens.
• The votes will then be processed using the (Modified) Borda Count Method.
• The teams with the highest ranks (Up to 5 teams, depending on how many entries) will move on to be judged based on code, art, and overall hero design by a team of up to "3" judges.

• All points earned in each section of judging will be scaled to 1000 points and then weighted equally in the final tallying of points.
• Judges will grade the final (up to) 5 heroes points, and must use the provided Criteria without modification:

Design Criteria

Theme	How well the skills, aesthetics & design fit together in a thematic manner such that they feel like they belong on the given hero (i.e. frost mage with frost spells, warrior with martial abilities, etc). A cohesive Theme complemented by well-fitting & polished aesthetics will be graded well; poorly-considered or lacking Thematic elements will result in a poor score.	15
Role	How well the skills of the hero work together to achieve the tactical synergy & gameplay style the hero has (i.e. ranged assault, tank, support caster, etc). Comprehensive, well-though-out Roles which complement a cohesive playstyle will be graded well; ill-considered, insufficient or over-compensating Roles will lose points.	15
Balance	Includes how well the hero's Theme, & Role fit into the melee environment in terms of balance, theme, style, complicatedness, and so forth. Overpowered or Underpowered Heroes will result in a poor score; properly balanced elements will mean a good score.	10
Creativity	How original the design of the hero is in terms of creative ideas, clever implementations, or new concepts. Innovation and creativity will be rewarded; re-use of existing spells and such, or extensive un-originality will result in a poor score.	10
	Total points:	50

_______________________________________________

Coding Criteria
All Criteria must be interpreted as being 'in regards to the language it is written in'; e.g. GUI code should not be compared to similar (v)Jass code in terms of it's Efficiency, Cleanness, Reusability or Robustness, or vice versa

Interface with Computer	How well the coding works & communicates with the system (i.e. Warcraft 3); is it Leak-Free? Is it Efficient & Robust? Etc.	15
Interface with User	How well the coding works & communicates with the user; is it Clean & Easy to Read? Is it Reusable, and does it provide for User Modification? Etc.	15
Total points:	30

_______________________________________________

Artist Criteria
Submitted art should be graded based primarily on the criteria listed in the corresponding resource submission rules for that entry type (i.e. model, texture, animation, etc), in conjunction with:

Concept & Style	How well is the Hero's Concept reflected in the art? Did the artist's Style aid or detract from it?	10
Implementation & Execution	How well were the art decisions implemented? Do they come across correctly/appropriately in the final product?	10
Relevance	How well does the final product fit within the standard Warcraft 3 game?	10
Total points:	30

If you would like to judge the contest simply make a post in this thread stating so.
You need to be a user who is knowledgeable in the process of
designing, creating & implementing custom content; and who is known to judge objectively.

• DESIGN Judge(s)
• ARTIST Judge(s)
• CODING Judge(s)

• Each Judge shall receive 5 Reputation Points

• 75 % of the winner shall be determined by the contest's appointed judge(s).
• 25 % of the winner shall be determined by the results of a public poll.

1st 50 reputation points & Your Entry on the award icon. 2nd 35 reputation points & an award. 3rd 25 reputation points & an award. Finished Entry 5 rep

:BEGINS: :ENDS: DAY DAY MONTH DATE MONTH DATE 2013 2013 11:59:59 GMT You have 7 weeks, 49 days, or 1176 hours to complete your submission.

 

[Kyrbi0]

Please read carefully; many things have changed.

The Voting, the Judging, and the Coding Criteria are most in need of some thought. Let me know if I missed anything.

 

[Spellbound]

Wait was there a poll to vote for the theme? Not that I'm opposed to your idea, just a smidge confused.

 

[Deleted member 238226]

Wow this is big.

interesting.

 

[Kyrbi0]

Wait was there a poll to vote for the theme? Not that I'm opposed to your idea, just a smidge confused.

Eh, not exactly. When others mentioned "passing the ball" to me, I mentioned how I felt the time was right for an awexome, epic Joint Hero Contest (and that, consequently, it might make sense to go for a more 'standardized' theme to avoid confusion).

Glad you like it. : ) Any thoughts?

Wow this is big.

interesting.

Thanks.

Yeah, it's big, but it makes sense since it's essentially two Contests in one (Hero Contest & Modeling/Texturing/Icon Contest).

 

[Spellbound]

Eh, not exactly. When others mentioned "passing the ball" to me, I mentioned how I felt the time was right for an awexome, epic Joint Hero Contest (and that, consequently, it might make sense to go for a more 'standardized' theme to avoid confusion).

Glad you like it. : ) Any thoughts?

I'm game. By the looks of things, the Techtree Contest #11 is headed in the solo direction again, and I don't think I have the strength to commit to another one of these all by my lonesome, so having a Hero Contest being paired might just be what I need.

I do have to ask though, if the artist only makes custom icons and everything else besides the spells is vanilla, will that still count or is a custom model or texture mandatory? It would feel as though the model or texture would make the hero feel more unique than just icons.

 

[Kyrbi0]

I'm game. By the looks of things, the Techtree Contest #11 is headed in the solo direction again, and I don't think I have the strength to commit to another one of these all by my lonesome, so having a Hero Contest being paired might just be what I need.

It's funny you should say that... It might be easier than it seems... ; )

I do have to ask though, if the artist only makes custom icons and everything else besides the spells is vanilla, will that still count or is a custom model or texture mandatory? It would feel as though the model or texture would make the hero feel more unique than just icons.

As the guidelines currently exist, the Artist must at least do one custom art-thingie for the submission, but can do up to 3 (as indicated). Granted, an entry with merely one custom thing will likely be a lot less attention-grabbing & cool than one who did all 3... But the lower bar allows those with even a smidge of talent (or just more specialized talents) to participate (and/or, if an artist drops out of a team, the coder can, if he's lucky, whip up a little something to stay in the race).

However, consider a poor geomerge/rewrap compared to an exquisite Icon set by, say, Mr. Goblin. Ah dannae about you, but Goblin's probably got my vote in that match-up. : P

(also don't forget SFX. Icons & SFX can make a world of difference).

 

[Astaroth Zion]

Very interesting proposition indeed.

Artist Rules:

• The artistic team member must choose to do at least one of the following:
  • Create a custom texture(s) for a model. (Unit models with >1 texture may have all non-effect textures changed)
  • Create a custom hero model with either in-game or custom animations.
  • Create custom special effect models for any number of the hero's spells and/or the hero's attack.
  • Create custom icons for the hero's spells.
  • Perform any one of the above another time for a hero's summon.
  • Perform any one of the above another time for a hero's alternate form.
• Any combination of up to 3 of the above is permissible, any more than 3 used in a single entry will result in disqualification.

I got a doubt here; does this means than creating a custom model and custom texture for your hero counts as 2 "arts"?, also if the custom hero single model also includes the alternate version (as an anim with extra meshes) does this also counts as 2 "arts"?

Submission Rules:

• All submitted entries must use (4)TurtleRock.w3x as the test map. (Modified as necessary, but not with any drastic changes).
• Submitted maps may be no larger than 750kb.

I suggest to increase this kb limit to about (1250-1600kb), for (4)TurtleRock already takes about 144-150kb, thus only about 600kb left for the entry.
My reasoning is that most of the Director Cut models that also use custom textures are heavier than the current limit, and we are not taking in account sfx or (with less impact) icons and code. Bigger limits (than the proposed) should not be necesary, and may be even counterproductive.

 

[Rheiko]

Well, this is definitely big and interesting. Kinda reminds me to dingo's idea about the combination of spell and icon contest.
I'd love to join though this kinda scares me because I'm myself not a very good coder. xD
I might disappoint the artist. :<

Anyway, I'm looking forward to see how this thing progresses!

 

[xxdingo93xx]

Yeah I like the idea - I like the idea of team-contests in general and I think there aren't enough anyway.

 

[Deleted member 238226]

is contestant allowed to use public resources? like SFX?

 

[Direfury]

Why limit what the artist can do?

 

[Kyrbi0]

Very interesting proposition indeed.

Thanks.

I got a doubt here; does this means than creating a custom model and custom texture for your hero counts as 2 "arts"?, also if the custom hero single model also includes the alternate version (as an anim with extra meshes) does this also counts as 2 "arts"?

Interesting question; I suppose it could be argued either way (build the "alternate form" into the "normal form" and it's just an extra set of animations, rather than another whole unit, thus saving you an "art slot", etc), and so if people are game for it, I'd say you could do that.

I suggest to increase this kb limit to about (1250-1600kb), for (4)TurtleRock already takes about 144-150kb, thus only about 600kb left for the entry.
My reasoning is that most of the Director Cut models that also use custom textures are heavier than the current limit, and we are not taking in account sfx or (with less impact) icons and code. Bigger limits (than the proposed) should not be necesary, and may be even counterproductive.

Duly noted. While I believe that constraints fuel & give context to creativity, I don't want to hamstring you guys (and I forgot how big the map is).

Changed to... say, 1400kb.

Well, this is definitely big and interesting. Kinda reminds me to dingo's idea about the combination of spell and icon contest.
I'd love to join though this kinda scares me because I'm myself not a very good coder. xD
I might disappoint the artist. :<

Anyway, I'm looking forward to see how this thing progresses!

Aw, come now. That's just how things go; not everyone is a pro, and this is meant to be fun (though still a test of skill). Don't worry if you still use GUI; I did that and still made it into the Top 5 @ Wc3C's 3rd Hero Contest.

It's an inevitability that people have lives, things will happen, and artists may disappoint coders (& vice versa). But this carrion carries on. : )

Yeah I like the idea - I like the idea of team-contests in general and I think there aren't enough anyway.

Absolutely. : )

is contestant allowed to use public resources? like SFX?

Good question. I'm going to point to the Artistic Rules section & say "only what is described there" (i.e. your 3 "art slots", custom icon, hero glow... and I think that's it).

The whole hope/point is to work with an artist to bring your vision to life; everything else (pretty much) must be found in-game (which, honestly, there's loads of hidden & unused stuff there too).

Why limit what the artist can do?

Because, Direfury, I like to see you squirm.

j/k. Because that's the way it was run when I did it & had such a good time; as aforementioned, I'm a big believer in the power of constraints. If you can believe it, the former Joint Hero Contest @ Wc3C actually limited it to just one "art slot"; there were some great (but obvious) model entries, but there was a stellar "all-texture" one and a ground-breaking "only custom animations" one (turned the Raider into an Orc Warrior w/ Shadow mount). Limitations forces the team & artist to narrow their focus, hone their vision, & create something unique & engaging.

That being said... Upon re-reading the ill-fated 4th Joint Hero Contest @ Wc3C, I discovered that they did away with that restriction entirely (keeping the other stuff, but removing the "X # of art slots" bit). While that Contest did not do well at all, I'm not sure that can be said to be causation.

So TL;DR, I suppose there's a case to be made for "no limits". I'm fairly certain if I asked, that's the answer I'd get. :<

Either way, I await your handiwork with great antici...pation. : P

 

[Direfury]

Oh ho, I think I see what you're doing. Unfortunately, I can also play that ga...me.

 

[Rheiko]

Coding criteria have most total point, I see. So participants had better make all the spells triggered then?
Also, it seems that the poll plays an important role here since you cannot past the qualification unless you are in the top 5 with most total points assuming there are more than 5 teams participating if I understand it correctly. What if the participating teams are less than 5 though? Are you going to let only 3 teams to move on to the judging part?

I might consider for participating. That also if there is an artist who wants to team up with this 'newbie' spellmaker just for fun. ~

 

[Spellbound]

I'm probably gonna take part in this as well. I've been itching for a 'co-op' contest after TC#10.

 

[Kyrbi0]

Coding criteria have most total point, I see. So participants had better make all the spells triggered then?

Not exactly, but yes, and kinda.

So #1: Notice the part where it says "all criteria (design/art/code) shall be scaled to 1000", so no, it doesn't technically weigh any more than the others, in the end.

Also, #2: It may not be 340 points when we are done with it. It's in red to indicate "needs fixing", and I'm open to suggestions.

And then, #3: To be honest, even if you were right (& #1 & #2 didn't exist), that seems kinda... the point? A Hero Contest is primarily a mixture of Design & Coding (normally); this Joint one just adds "Art" to the list, but Coding & Design is the bread & butter of what is being done & scored.

So coding well (for the minimum 2 spells that require coding) kinda makes sense as to being "important", enough for a larger number of points, no?

~

You can make anywhere from 2 to 4 of the spells triggered (or "trigger-enhanced").

Also, it seems that the poll plays an important role here since you cannot past the qualification unless you are in the top 5 with most total points assuming there are more than 5 teams participating if I understand it correctly. What if the participating teams are less than 5 though? Are you going to let only 3 teams to move on to the judging part?

• If more than 3 teams enter, the contest will enter into a public poll where users can distribute two points among the contestants. A person can put 1 point towards two different teams or put 2 points towards any one team; it is the user's choice.
• The teams with the highest points after the public voting stage (Up to 5 teams, depending on how many entries) will move on to be judged based on code, art, and overall hero design by a team of up to 3 judges.

So if <=5 teams finish, all <=5 of them go on to be Judged. If >=5 teams finish, a public poll is started to narrow it down to a Top 5 (who are then Judged).

It's a tactic done to help save Judges from having to invest two eternities in getting stringent, objective analysis & Judging done on 5-10-15 entries. Filter out for the cream of the crop, then Judge those. We've never done it on THW to my knowledge, and I'm curious if that's something we want to do here (would hopefully decrease the turn-around/waiting time for the Judgements, I believe).

I might consider for participating. That also if there is an artist who wants to team up with this 'newbie' spellmaker just for fun. ~

Please do, and tell your friends. This has been loads of fun over at Wc3C, and I hope to resurrect that here.

I'm probably gonna take part in this as well. I've been itching for a 'co-op' contest after TC#10.

Was counting on it. After all, I need some competition, right? : P

 

[Direfury]

So, when exactly will this be happening?

 

[Kyrbi0]

So, when exactly will this be happening?

Funny you should ask that... Because I realized lately without a Poll, there wasn't really any exterior force which determines "when to start".

So I have added a Poll (Bless you, Hive 2)! Please vote above, and, well, as you can see it ends in a week; I'd say if there's interest enough (as there seems to be), let's wrap this thing up & get started (even before the Poll ends, if we want)!

~~~

I have made some major/minor changes to the first post, though, so please read through (especially the parts about Criteria (Coding & Artistry) and the Judging (giving them Rep & forcing them to use the provided Criteria).

 

[Direfury]

I dunno about anyone else, but I'm about ready to start now, though I think monday would be best.

 

[Kyrbi0]

I dunno about anyone else, but I'm about ready to start now, though I think monday would be best.

Man, already found a partner & everything? Attaboy. : )

Well, the Poll ends on the 10th (Sunday), and that's as good a time as any to start, so yeah, it'll probably be Monday. (Barring, of course, any change to the Criteria or any mod complications).

Glad to hear some excitement. : )

//"EDIT"// - Alright, so it's time; let the games begin! Let's grab some moderator ears & get it going.