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Mini Mapping Contest #18 - Results

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Art: Thomas Ripoll Kobayashi
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>> Download Entries! <<

Contestants were to create a dungeon and a hero to traverse it. The dungeon must have 3 or 4 rooms, each featuring different gameplay from the last; and one boss at the end, after the rooms are cleared.



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  • 1st place: 55 reputation points
  • 2nd place: 40 reputation points
  • Judge: 15 reputation points per entry
The winners will receive an award icon representing the winning entry.




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Gameplay
Is the map an enjoyable experience? Are the spells satisfying? Is there replayability? Does the map have unique and original ideas? Does the dungeon meet the contest requirements? /50
ImmersionDo the terrain and music create a desirable atmosphere? Are the sound and art assets used well? How is the general execution?/40
TechnicalDoes the map run well performance-wise? Are there lots of bugs?/10
/100


  • Judgement: 80%
  • Poll: 20%
FinalScore = (20*Reached_Votes/POSSIBLE_VOTES) + (80*Average_Judge_Score/POSSIBLE_SCORE)




The Legend of Ergl by @Tickles
Gameplay 30/50
A fun dungeon map where your level of enjoyment decreases the further you go, there's several major ugly problems in mouse controls and some bad design in the boss fights.
Most notably is how dash, shoot and move interacts, followed by the bizzarely large health pools bosses have.
- A The first room is simple, fast and even has a little unique mechanic to deal extra dps. This, followed by the third room are easily have the most fun to be found here.
- The second room is where the core issues begin to show, took me two attempts to beat this one but the fight lasts a little too long and it's jumping patterns are a little too random.
- The third room is better, and has its own unique mechanic that lets you reset the bullet hell. I would've loved to see this mechanic explored further.
- The fourth room is a hellish room; Here is where the Ergl's core problems really rear their ugly, twisted heads.

This game has several core issues that stop it from being truely enjoyable. Firstly the control scheme is buggy and directly impacts your gameplay experience;
Attacking often causes any move orders to be ignored (unless you wait for the entire animation to finish) and sometimes reads Movement orders as move attacks.
For a game with little healing and relatively low time to kill this greatly ruins any enjoyment found in what could be an intense boss fight.

Secondly is the balancing of the fights themselves, both bosses have far too much health with the last one also being far too fast, hard to hit and aggressive.
The final fight has you shooting at the Naga Sea Witch while dodging Sea Hydra cone attacks; to the designer's credit you can stun the Sea Hydra for 4 seconds if your attack goes through one of the pedestals and the hydra, but doing so will often net at least one hit on you from the ever present Sea Witch.
Design wise, the final boss would benefit greatly from having less health, the seige projectiles stunning more and the boss herself from becoming far less aggressive.

Good gameplay can be found here, and I found myself enjoying the first thirds of this entry but the fourth was frustrating at best and stressful at its worst.
Immersion 33/40
A deathly hard game about a cutsey story of a murloc finding what it means to be a true hero, the music is relaxing during times of intense battle and the selection of music for boss fights is awesome.
The map design has a brilliant use of low / high ground and alpha tiles to communicate which areas are playable and which are not, and has some well appreciated touches of characters moving between cutscenes (Ergl swimming to the ruins was great).
Technical 7/10
Ran into several technical problems here, with some problems bleeding through to and from the above gameplay score.
- I ran into a few issues with music never playing again on death (Boss fight music)
- Move Orders after attacking are often ignored or treated as an attack order

Other than the above, the cutscene system is impressive and responsive. And projectiles interact with the environment intuitively.
Total 70 /100


Ulven by @Ungoliath
Gameplay 40/50
Just a forewarning, I increased maximum level to 99 like you recommended on your download page.

Well done with the gameplay, you've clearly drawn inspiration from Dark Souls (Sen's fortress, I'm looking at you) and ported how you think it would work to wc3 with a dash of your own spice.
Honestly, there are only a few things stopping me from giving it a solid 50/50 and they boil down to hard to fix wc3 jank and some general balancing.
- Some enemies had too much hp ( Looking at you orange guy in the shadows )
- Some enemies and their attack animations were not telegraphed enough to react ( Once again, orange guy )
- Parrying was iffy at crucial times, instead causing you to walk forwards towards the enemy instead of casting
- Parrying was less a game of reacting to attack animations, and instead pre-emptively guessing the enemies attack cooldowns
- Optimal DPS involved [zxc right click] repeatedly, as spamming right click would reset attack animations and instantly let you attack again
- Died several times during the boulder section because of reposition not gliding along walls (it could stop or sometimes even go the opposite direction)
- Your "currency" is hinted at being sold to a vendor? I couldn't find any
- Some guideance, please. Some more instructions on what orbs do (and how the storm orbs in the darkness area are different?) would go a *long* way
I quit several times thinking the storm orb on the pedestal was bugged and soft locked before looking at the map file.
Finally, somethings I disliked but were clearly intended from your end
- Parrying costing mana made it feel like you were always fighting the system
- Building attack stacks and mana could be done without hitting enemies
- Clearing Mana and "s" costing health

The Boss, a really cool and inspiring fight that is a little too unfair at how it plays. The first stage is well designed, but its pattern is random and can sometimes cast multiple abilities at once giving you no time to strike back.
Second stage has a really cool concept of killing summons that should've been explored more, instead you're greeted with a boss that has massively increased attack speed that barely lets you get a hit in. The third and final stage is amazing. I love the arena, it's a shame that any death at this stage gives you a 5-10 minute boss fight before you get to the real boss of the fight.

Overall I had lots of fun in this map, only let down by some easily patched things that I'm sure a balance pass or two would fix.

I'd also suggest granting a movespeed buff while outside of dungeons, as walking from spawn back to them after death is tedious and takes too much time.
Immersion 38/40
Where to start? You have done voice acting, custom lighting, introductory world building and big angry bosses (With previews! That was sick!).
Your choice of sounds, ambience and music suits both the gameplay and "feel" of the world and there's even some cheeky dynamic music sitting there.
The map design feels dark and claustrophic, that paired with the music and enemy design gives it a perfect mix of depression and action. Well done.
There were some minor issues:
- During cutscenes (especially the intro) it is hard to tell who is talking.
- The character remarks on the knights from the tower being here, but that story thread is never explored
- What turned your rival / partner into a zombie?
- Characters referred to metagame knowledge several times (Use your SLASH to hurt yellow enemies)
Technical 9/10
I ran into no bugs during my playthrough, the dynamic music worked as expected and dying post cutscene often changed / sped up the cutscene the next time you entered it.
I'm only deducting 1 point because of wc3 order cancelling cheese, as that could be viewed as an exploit.
Total 87/100



Ulven by @Ungoliath
Gameplay 25/50 The combat system is interesting, and I like the combinations and fighting style. I have to keep track of my enemies armor type, shield, and build up points to break their shield, something I found refreshing. This all fades in light of the fact that enemies respawns, and that I have to start all the way at the beginning if I die. I pulled my hair out and wanted to quit a million times while playing since I died more than 100 times, and every single time I had to start all over again. Not only that but the enemies respawned, making me have to fight them all again. Luckily some gate opened, but that's didn't really cut it. The rolling boulders have way too large hitboxes, and I wasn't safe at places where it seemed like I would be safe. This would have been an amazing map, if not for the respawn system. The respawn system completely ruined it for me, and made something that could have been extremely enjoyable not so enjoyable. I gave up when I reached a warrior with some archers on the sides.
Immersion 35/40 The atmosphere is great, and I like the art style. The music and voice acting adds a lot to the general atmosphere as well. Terrain wise I do think more filler doodads would have added to the overall impression, but it was still very well made. I absolutely loved the 2D art and tooltip/images that faded in and out.
Technical 7/10 The map is well made, and all systems seems to be working fine. Tooltips and armor card information was nice and organized. The abilities however could be spammed and animation cancelled, leaving combat extremely easy where I could just spam right click and the correct attack ability + parry every now and then.
Total 67/100

The Legend of Ergl by @Tickles
Gameplay 30/50 I like the idea of shooting projectiles into crystals to strengthen them. Movement and attack system is very simple, and easy to understand. The dash can be a double edged sword, and I think giving it slightly more range would do it more justice. I feel the distance reward for the time I have to hold the mouse isn't worth it in most cases. The boss is just way too tedious. I have to shoot through the crystals to stun the hydra (which has got a horrible hit box), and then I have a tiny window of opportunity to hit the sea witch. Then the sea witch dodges the first shot, leaving me with one proper hit (if I am lucky since the hydra will be unstunned at this point, and I have to dodge the sea witches shots as well). I just died and died and died to the point where I gave up.
Immersion 25/40 The immersion was alright, and you managed to create a good atmosphere with a very small variety of assets. I also liked the music. However I think it was a bit too simple, and more filler doodads and custom assets would do it great justice.
Technical 3/10 The abilities and movement system worked as they were supposed to. I didn't find any game breaking bugs, but I did find some bugs. Rooms weren't resetting properly so I would find myself fighting enemies outside of their respective rooms. Furthermore when I got to room 3 I died, and when I respawned the door to the boss was open so I could just skip room 3 altogether.
Total 58/100


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Assigned Staff: @Mythic

Contest | Poll
 
Level 25
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Congratulations, Ungoliath! I loved the concept of your combat system, the eerily immersive environment, and the overall polish was impressive for these contests.

And thanks to the judges. Very good feedback, and I'll go nerf the sea witch immediately :prazz:
 
Level 21
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@Tickles Thank you! I've been itching to try out your map (I love bullet hell games), but I figured that I would let you patch it first. :)

Thanks to the judges, and for their great feedback! I will have to look into further balance changes (boulder hitbox, hp nerf on stronger enemies), and what I can do about animation cancelling.

@Boar could you elaborate on this? "I quit several times thinking the storm orb on the pedestal was bugged and soft locked before looking at the map file." Do you mean the orb that you pick up and bring back to the Egg?
 
Level 12
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@Tickles Thank you! I've been itching to try out your map (I love bullet hell games), but I figured that I would let you patch it first. :)

Thanks to the judges, and for their great feedback! I will have to look into further balance changes (boulder hitbox, hp nerf on stronger enemies), and what I can do about animation cancelling.

@Boar could you elaborate on this? "I quit several times thinking the storm orb on the pedestal was bugged and soft locked before looking at the map file." Do you mean the orb that you pick up and bring back to the Egg?

It's the storm orb next to the first "boss" in the second room, with its red light that instant kills.
At that point I was expecting I needed to unlock a storm stance to continue and that specific orb is on the same sort of pedestal as all the other progression orbs. That paired with the previous "gate" being opened by using your new stance trained me to expect it be a progression item, not a one of two key.

Speaking of the two part key, in hindsight the second "path" in the darkness was something I couldn't easily see either
 
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