[POLL] Modeling Contest #25 - Ascension

[Kyrbi0]

[RAINBOW]PLEASE DO NOT VOTE: This poll is not official nor is it "on" until fixed, finalized & approved by an Administrator. Any and all votes will not be counted, so please exercise some patience. : )[/RAINBOW]

I just want to say, as this is my first time hosting a contest; thank you all for an enjoyable experience. I've seen some incredible effort expended over the last 7+ weeks, and I want to encourage each of you (especially those who were unable to finish) to keep it up!

Excellent work, all involved. May the best entry win!

PLEASE NOTE: Read the Rules before Posting! This isn't your regular poll.

Contest Theme: Ascension

Original Contest Information

Contestants are to take a Unit from Warcraft III and create a model depicting an alternative Heroic version of it. See below for examples.

Original Contest Information

Heroes are the heart of Warcraft III. As Champions to each faction, they stand as examples of greatness to which other units aspire. As Paragons of each faction, they symbolize the pinnacle of achievement in their assorted fields. One of Wc3 Modding's greatest and most exciting triumphs comes in the creation of a powerful new Hero, whether conceptually or artistically.

You the Modeller have the opportunity to craft such a Legend into being.

In the style of Blizzard itself, each entrants will take a Unit(s), and craft a model depicting it in Heroic fashion. Entrants will be challenged to creatively interpret various aspects of their chosen Unit in order to create unique, useful, and "Wc3-Fitting" Heroes.

PLEASE READ == Original Contest Explanation/Examples

Original Posts:
http://www.hiveworkshop.com/forums/2210857-post9.html
http://www.hiveworkshop.com/forums/2211678-post16.html
http://www.hiveworkshop.com/forums/2212729-post26.html

Heroes are cool, iconic, and symbolize the epitome of whatever they are. One of the coolest "race-building tools" I use is making a hero-version of various units. Really makes things interesting in regards to creativity and what elements of that unit should be "turned up to 11", as it were.

My Idea:
Have a "Hero Version of Existing Unit" contest. Contestants can choose any unit from anywhere in Melee TFT (i.e. not just the existing four melee factions, but any creep unit or what-not).

...

So, it's like we will make the Sorceress have stronger version of "Slow", or I named it "Slow Motion"...? and stuff like that? I like it...
(Yeah, let's name this theme "Hero-ic unit", any disagrees?)

More or less, though the more creativity the better. Since it's all visual, you'd basically take some aspect of the Sorceress & max it out, "hero-ize" her. Perhaps "Archmaiden", or "Mistress of Magic", or considering her regular spells (Slow, Invisibility, Polymorph), maybe "Illusionist".
With that last one, then, you'd have this whole "eyes" motif to use in her armor/cape/staff/whatever. Maybe since everything has a staff, she could dual-wield wands.
-EDIT-
Oooh, actually, going with "Illusionist", you could do a sweet "phantom-of-the-opera"-style half-mask (or one of those theater "happy/sad" masks) that she wears or holds in one hand. Then her spells involve the mask somehow.

Maybe change things up and make a "Battle Mage Maiden", with a spiky chained Magic whip, or an Eye-mace.

I dunno, get crazy!

I think in TFT there is one of these "Promoted-Unit", that is Garithos (knight-based heroes, just add some detail in models and give "paladin" attribute...
And for me, Lord Garithos himself is a knight...)

Exactly. He's like a hero-version of the Human Knight, with a twist of "self-serving jerk"/"bandit warlord". Black armor, wings on head, stubble, and replace the lance/sword with a huge double-bladed (enchanted) axe. New name: "Grand Marshal". Solid.

~~~

Wish I could post pictures, but examples might be a hero-version of:
- the Goblin Sappers (like a "Bombardier" bombs, flamethrower, shield, burnt face, twitchy, crazed expression, etc)
- the Troll Witch Doctor (like a "Headshrinker"; big cauldron, shrunken heads, potions, herbal remedies, crotchety grump, etc)
- the Dwarf Rifleman (OH WAIT, ALREADY DONE)
- the Tauren Spirit Walker (like a "Thaumaturge"; wizened burly Tauren caster, aligned with spirits, focused on resurrection, etc)
- the Goblin Merchant! (like a "Tradeprince" or "Baron"; arrogant royalty, lush furs & capes, crown/top hat, monocle, expensive gilt staff... riding in a shrouded palanquin, or surrounded by adoring fans, etc)

Imagination runs wild. Plenty of other good options.

...

(But there's something I want to ask, do we make another hero that is using an unit's model, OR we make another hero by upgrading the base unit's ability and stuff?)

Not exactly. It's more like a conceptual successor-type deal.
Considering this is a modelling contest, it's not really a matter of what kind of spells or where they'd be used, so much as how the HERO version is related to the UNIT version. However, I see it much more conceptual than literal, e.g.:

Buncha pictures here.

Anyway, I think you get what I'm saying. It need not be the same exact thing, or even the same gender, or even the same race. It certainly doesn't need the same weapons, or the same type of attack/defense (i.e. Knight + Holy - Horse = Paladin. Necromancer + True Undead + Frost = Lich). But the Lich is obviously a Hero-tier Necromancer, and likewise with the rest.

View attachment 127925	View attachment 127926	View attachment 127927	View attachment 127928	View attachment 127929
Alliance Examples	Horde Examples	Scourge Examples	Sentinels Examples	Tavern Examples

Good luck!

[/center]

Logistic Rules

• Free Market - Everybody is allowed and encouraged to enter, as long as they follow the rules.
• Solitary - One entry per user.
• Under Construction - You must show at least one unfinished preview of your submission, before the deadline, as proof that it’s yours. Also builds interest!
• Originality - Your submission may not be started/made before the official launch of the contest.
• Impartiality - Judges may not participate.
• Timeline - Your submission must be posted before the deadline. The post containing your final submission must also contain the following:
  • Submission - The file in the appropriate format.
  • In-Game Screenshot - An in-game screenshot showing your submission in action.
  • FINAL - The word "Final", so it is easy to Search for, indicating Finality.

Artistic Rules

• 
  Mesh - Feel free to use either use/modify In-Game Geosets ("Geomerging") or create your own Custom models, as well as any mixture of the two.
  Animations - Feel free to either use/modify In-Game Animations or create your own Custom animations, as well as any mixture of the two.
• Textures - Feel free to use/modify either In-Game textures or Custom textures, as well as any mixture of the two. If you use a Custom texture, it has to be at least 90% freehand.
• Loco-Motion - Must contain the following animations, and more if possible:
  • Stand
  • Attack
  • Spell
  • Walk
  • Death
  • Dissipate
  • Portrait Animations (whether it's for a camera or a separate portrait model)

• Pest Exterminator - Your final submission must be bug free.
• Rule-Breaker - No submission may violate any of the site rules.
• Punitive Measures - If a submission does not follow the model submission rules the creator will be disqualified.
• Themes Ahoy - All submissions must follow the current theme. If any model does not fit, a moderator will tell you as soon as possible as to avoid confusion.

-------------------------------------------------

Judges & Criteria

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
modeling, animating, UV wrapping, and creating particles; and who is known to judge objectively.

1. Judge 1
BlinkBoy
2. Judge 2
Frankster
3. Judge 3
HappyCockroach

-------------------------------------------------

The Judge's score shall be taken out of 50 points for the following categories:

MESH	The geometry of the model, the wire-frame that gives your model a physical form and silhouette. Does the shape look clean or deformed? Are all ends capped, are there any stray faces, etc? Clean, distinctive meshes graded highly; deformed or incomplete meshes graded poorly.	10 pts
ANIMATIONS	The movement of your model. The animations give your model life, character, a personality. Are these animations smooth or choppy; organic or puppet-like? Do the animations deform or clip parts of the mesh? Smooth, life-like anims graded highly; choppy or lifeless anims graded poorly.	10 pts
TEXTURE/UV WRAP	The skin, or texture of a model, expresses many important aspects of the character. Is the texture well made; is it blurry, does it have a pleasant color scheme, does it have detail, etc? Or, if In-Game textures were used, how well was it wrapped? Are there parts that are clipped, misaligned or stretched? Clean, effective textures graded highly; cluttered or haphazard textures graded poorly.	10 pts
MECHANICS	50% of the "Does it fit in Wc3" criteria (Mechanically). Does this model work in-game in all mechanical respects? Placed next to other War3 heroes, does it fit? I.e. is it visible when imported, is the texture path-name hard to import, are chunks of the mesh loose and flying around, is the texture the correct proportion, is the model a relatively manageable size (in KBs), do all the animations play properly in-game, do all the particles/ribbon emitters work, does it have footsteps, death sounds, portrait model/camera, life-bar in the right place, and so on. Proper mechanics graded highly; incomplete or messed-up mechanics graded poorly.	5 pts
EFFECTS	The ol' "razzle-dazzle". Special effects add a factor of 'shock and awe'. Particle emitters, ribbon emitters, and sometimes geometry (such as shockwave planes or 3d-debris) are part of the animation process, and every Hero needs cool SFX to give them character. Meaningful, aesthetic effects graded highly; tasteless or un-fitting effects graded poorly.	5 pts
CREATIVITY	The other 50% of the "Does it fit in Wc3" criteria (Aesthetically), and the most Subjective of criteria for Judges. Overall, the essence of your model: Is this a creative idea? Is it unique, innovative, or clever? Or, perhaps if it has been done before, how has the creator 'made it his own'? What has he added to make it special, or different from the ones that have come before him? Thoughtful and creative innovation graded highly; insufficient OR over-done & unfitting creativity graded poorly.	10 pts

70 % of the winner shall be determined by the contest's appointed judge(s).
30 % of the winner shall be determined by the results of a public poll.

• This is a Multi-Vote Poll. Each of you will have 2 Votes to give out; it is your choice whether to give both to one or one each to two separate entries.
• Aside from the Disclaimer on cheating at the bottom, if your vote is not backed up reasonably by an explanation, it can be discounted. Doesn't have to be big, but tell us why you voted the way you did.[/b]
• You cannot vote for yourself. If a voter has the same IP as the author then the vote will not be counted and it may result in the disqualification of the entry.
• You cannot create multiple accounts to vote for an entry in the poll. If a voter has been found to be using multiple accounts none of the voters votes will count in the final result.
• You cannot bribe users for votes. Contestants who break this rule will be disqualified and given negative reputation.

FINISHER	HISTORY
5) WhiteDeath	Isn't sure time's on his side Sham-Wow Biting the wolf that heeds you Polishing the fangs FINAL: Lord of the Wolves
8) PROXY	Feeling crabby Never mind, he was just TROLLin' Slim and dandy Bowl-ing over the others Never mind, he was just Stealin' our heart Dual Wielding (at least it's not Needlers) Back; bear-ably late Da Astrologer... 'E knows Ur-Sine Feather in her cap Standing Tall FINAL: Queen of Clans
11) AnemicRoyalty (A.R.)	Jem and the Illusionists! Evil red mustache Jaina Grey Jean Grey/Starfire/Your Mother's Drapes Mashup Grooving to that Disco Beat With Arms Wide Open Such a Tease Beauty Mark FINAL: She whips her Hair back and forth
14) SuPa-	Gory hopes Has me hooked Churning around at the speed of sound Have armor; will travel FINAL: Lick-i-tung! ~[url=http://www.hiveworkshop.com/forums/2412065-post544.html]The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly. [/url]
26) Vermillion Edict	Looking rather Skeletal Rather Colorful Things are getting Hairy Quite stand-offish Tweakin' here and there FINAL: Throne of Skulls
29) Deolrin	"Fall, like leaves!... in Fall!" Barkin' up the wrong Tree Quite an arm-ful An Unlikely Shot Pseudo-Sylvan FINAL: Sylvan Remix
30) *Freddyk	Infernus Prime Standing on his own two... Wheels Wheels for Glory FINAL: Some Minor Adjustments
31) PvT.Toma	That Cannon Has a Blue Ball Whatever it is, it looks Menacing FINAL: Decepticons, TERRORIZE!

Inviting your friends to vote for you, bribing random members with rep and otherwise cheating with the VB poll system will get you DISQUALIFIED, BANNED from future contests, -REPPED, and possibly INFRACTED. So don't do it!

This includes, but is not limited to, sending PMs out to various users, getting other people to send those PMs, advertising this contest on other sites with the intention to gain more votes (whether it is explicitly stated or not), and so on. If you are suspected of cheating, the staff will notify you and interrogate you (hopefully) over PMs.

[/center]

~~~

CONTEST

 

[Rheiko]

um, where's the poll?

 

[Kyrbi0]

GAH you weren't supposed to post so quickly, gaiz...

Please read the uber-disclaimer at the top (that I'm currently EDITing in right now...)

 

[GreeN!X]

Uhh.. Since the poll is not here yet, I'll think about my votes more.
But right now, I think I'm gonna vote two of these three models.

Still deciding which ones I will vote. These three models are too awesome. :/

Freddyk's Infernal Wheeled Warrior
SuPa-'s Hero Abomination
WhiteDeath's Wolf Lord

 

[Rheiko]

haha, i always aiming for the first post

Edit: damn, WhiteDeath's Orc Shaman looks cool.. love it

Edit2: Ah Crap!, i vote it already.. ah man, it won't be counted

 

[HappyCockroach]

[RAINBOW]PLEASE DO NOT VOTE: This poll is not official nor is it "on" until fixed, finalized & approved by an Administrator. Any and all votes will not be counted, so please exercise some patience. : )[/RAINBOW]

this poll needs to be public, so we can see who voted (to control if anyone voted for themself)

and 2-vote-poll? i think it's good to have a multiple choice, but how will you control this? you'll need to count each person's votes to see if they're only 2. and people never read the threads when there are polls, they just vote like retards. so they'll see the vote limit after voting.

a multiple choice poll is better to make contests competitive (sometimes single-vote polls break the possibility of sudden turn-arounds because 50% of voters go to 1 single entry). but i say whether put it free multiple choice, whether single-vote.

 

[Deolrin]

What HappyCockroach said, really. It needs to be a free, public multi-choice poll where you can see whoever voted.

 

[BlinkBoy]

What HappyCockroach said, really. It needs to be a free, public multi-choice poll where you can see whoever voted.

Yeah that! That way we can also know if someone cheats the poll.

Btw whats the deadline for judging results?

 

[Pvt.Toma]

Oh, the poll is out.

 

[Amargaard]

Just subscribing

 

[knight26]

Subscribing

 

[Rheiko]

guys, seriously
you can just subscribing from the Thread Tools

 

[knight26]

guys, seriously
you can just subscribing from the Thread Tools

subscribe* :3
Welp, where's the fun in spamming with a 'subscribing' post in that?.

 

[Deolrin]

Btw whats the deadline for judging results?

There isn't one. Judges can take as much time as they want. This often results in months without results, but we have reliable judges and I'm sure you guys'll be done faster than that.

 

[fladdermasken]

AnemicRoyalty and SuPa- were easy choices, even though I don't think SuPa's abomination is particularly ascended. Only, like, more awesome.

 

[Deolrin]

The poll hasn't started yet.

 

[Kyrbi0]

this poll needs to be public, so we can see who voted (to control if anyone voted for themself)

What HappyCockroach said, really. It needs to be a free, public multi-choice poll where you can see whoever voted.

Yeah that! That way we can also know if someone cheats the poll.

Excellent points. I wanted to avoid the "popularity contest" of people voting the same as their friends... But while an Administrator can (probably) see the voters anyway, us Normals can't.

Alright.

and 2-vote-poll? i think it's good to have a multiple choice, but how will you control this? you'll need to count each person's votes to see if they're only 2. and people never read the threads when there are polls, they just vote like retards. so they'll see the vote limit after voting.

a multiple choice poll is better to make contests competitive (sometimes single-vote polls break the possibility of sudden turn-arounds because 50% of voters go to 1 single entry). but i say whether put it free multiple choice, whether single-vote.

I agree with your description of the "single-vote" problem. Definitely something we want to avoid.

However, I disagree with both the proposed difficulty of keeping everyone in line & with the proposed solution for "everyone voting like retards".

Basically, it shouldn't be that difficult at all; I don't mind personally doing it (though I'd have to have a Mod/Admin's help to actually delete the offending votes & re-enable their voting). Moreover, I can easily tailor the Poll table itself to indicate to people the rules ("2-votes" and "post to explain"), so that no one can miss it. The few who do, we just delete the vote & let them try again. (if it gets really bad, PMs will sort it out. They should catch on, though, based on what everyone else is doing). No big deal.

More importantly, however, I want to address the idea that "people voting like retards" means we change how we do things.

I'll be honest here; I agree. Polls on THW are largely a matter of popularity, and people definitely appear to vote idiotically & without any real thought (often just doing so "bcz it had a cool screenshot"). However, why in the world would we lower our standards to cater to those that remain ignorant? If anything, I think this is a great opportunity; give everyone a reasonable set of instructions, remove those who cannot follow it, and expect reasonable discussion from those who do. We shouldn't decrease our expectations because we don't think anyone will do it; we should set the bar and ask people to 'toe-up' if they want to participate. Much like any contest has requirements for entry, the polls should have a base-line requirement of "willing to put some thought into it". I mean, consider how much thought & work goes into each entry! It's only justice to demand even a fraction of that on the part of the reviewer.

I'm not expecting massive walls-o-text or anything; I just want people to vote thoughtfully & meaningfully. Quite easily (as aforementioned) we can "keep things in line", and I think it will go a long way towards really making "polls on THW" less of a punch-line and more of a power-house.

Btw whats the deadline for judging results?

Do you want a deadline?

Nah, but seriously. I haven't generally seen a deadline. I'd like to make sure it's done before, say, Christmas or Thanksgiving (maybe even Halloween; one month?), but I'm not going to try & rush you guys. I certainly took my time getting the contest & poll up in the first place. Judging for this contest is 70% of the points, so I want it to be meaningful.

AnemicRoyalty and SuPa- were easy choices, even though I don't think SuPa's abomination is particularly ascended. Only, like, more awesome.

My sentiments exactly, and just about my only problem with that particular submission.

 

[SuPa-]

While I agree, though there are other submissions that are the same way, I wanted to stay true to the feel of the original abomination and put my own spin on it. My main intention and focus was to make a well crafted model and texture with good animations.

 

[HappyCockroach]

Basically, it shouldn't be that difficult at all; I don't mind personally doing it

ok. you're the host after all. but as far as i know, even mods can't effectively remove votes from a poll, they can only restart the poll. so if you plan to remove everyone who voted whether for 1 entry or for 3 entries or more and/or didn't explain their vote, you'll have to re-calculate the percentages after the poll is over.

one bad aspect of it is that the poll will certainly show a very wrong result that won't match reality. but i say we can give it a try, and a success would be a good surprise. the poll has always been a shit parameter to contests because people don't vote carefully enough.

 

[Kyrbi0]

While I agree, though there are other submissions that are the same way, I wanted to stay true to the feel of the original abomination and put my own spin on it. My main intention and focus was to make a well crafted model and texture with good animations.

True. Yours was just one of the first & most promising.

And you definitely succeeded at that, I have to say.

ok. you're the host after all. but as far as i know, even mods can't effectively remove votes from a poll, they can only restart the poll. so if you plan to remove everyone who voted whether for 1 entry or for 3 entries or more and/or didn't explain their vote, you'll have to re-calculate the percentages after the poll is over.

one bad aspect of it is that the poll will certainly show a very wrong result that won't match reality. but i say we can give it a try, and a success would be a good surprise. the poll has always been a shit parameter to contests because people don't vote carefully enough.

Hm, that's a really valid point, and possibly a game-breaker for me. I just assumed the poll would auto-correct if votes were removed or whatever...

I don't know that I mind the poll looking weird, or having to recalculate the percentage (annoying, though).

And yes, polls being garbage is part of why I'm doing this (and also part of why I made the poll only worth 30% of the overall score ).

 

[WhiteDeath]

Won't it be easier if the voting was done by posting lets say "I vote for A and B" and than someone in power notes the votes at the end of the day/ month?
Basically instead of people entering their own votes a moderator or something will enter them, this way if someone tries to vote wrongly in some way, their vote will not mess up the pool.

 

[Kyrbi0]

Won't it be easier if the voting was done by posting lets say "I vote for A and B" and than someone in power notes the votes at the end of the day/ month?
Basically instead of people entering their own votes a moderator or something will enter them, this way if someone tries to vote wrongly in some way, their vote will not mess up the pool.

The 'old-fashioned' way, eh?

To be honest, that's the entire reason the forum-setup for Polls was invented; so we didn't have to physically count votes. However, if the Poll setup doesn't allow us to do this, then yes, counting votes becomes one of the few viable options.

This, however, would be prohibitively expensive (in terms of man-power & time spent), so I'd really like to look into other options. (The only way I can think of would be give a number to each entrant, then have everyone include the number(s) of their vote in the title of their post (i.e. "2,5" or "7,3"), otherwise it wouldn't count)

Currently discussing things in the Staff Contact forum, and I've set up a "test poll" in the Off-Topic forum (go and mob it!).

 

[HappyCockroach]

this is going nowhere. make it a simple and ordinary poll.

 

[Kyrbi0]

Hey, thanks for reminding me (sorry, nearly forgot). Yeah, Ralle had an idea to whip up a quick bit of code that would allow for a "custom vote" kinda like what me and WhiteDeath are describing. It's only been ~4 days since his last post, so I was giving him some time.

 

[Wazzz]

i like that we cannot publicly view who has voted for who, personally, since that would stop people complaining about how most the people voting for a user is on their friendlist

becomes a problem when people have a lot of people on their friendlist and coincidentally have a lot of people on said friendlist (on account of how large said friendlist is) vote for them

 

[Roland]

I vote for WhiteDeath's wolf Lord and Vermillion Edict's Skeleton Warlord. :3

 

[Deolrin]

So... Is anything ever going to happen here?

 

[Kyrbi0]

So... Is anything ever going to happen here?

Funny you should ask... Excellent timing, my Troll-loving friend (and, vicariously, everyone else). Ralle has been kind enough to finalize a quick script with which to moderate "out-of-poll" votes that will give us greater modularity in Voting.

I'm excited to try this out. I need a bit to write-up the Voting page, and make sure it is all clear, but past that, we should be good. Hopefully within a week.

 

[Kyrbi0]

DOUBLE-POST Ftw.

Found some time in the middle of a D&D session, and finalized this thing. Now just waiting for Deolrin to give it the once-over and approval, and we'll get this thing out!

Sorry for the wait; thank you for your patience.

 

[Kyrbi0]

TRIPLE-POSTS are Fun!

Alright guys, the real Poll is up. Sorry for the delay; happy voting! Please pay attention to the unique set-up this time around; coding courtesy of our very own Ralle.

//EDIT

HEPH HEPH HEPH DIDN'T UPLOAD THE LINK

THE LINK