Special Effect Contest #4 - Poll

[Vinz]

Contestants must create three versions of an effect of their choosing,
each one a more masterful form than the last.

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• Trying to manipulate the poll in any form is not allowed.
  If you're aware of IP-sharing with any voter, for any reason, you should contact the staff.
• Harassment towards others to influence the result will lead to punishment.
• A neutral recommendation to take part at the poll isn't problematic, though.
• Voting for yourself is not allowed, and will lead to a malus by 5%.
• Participating in the poll does not explicitly safe one from being disqualified.
• Judges are not allowed to vote.

You are very welcome to make a short statement what you like the most, so contestants get a bit of public feedback!

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• 1st place: 40 reputation points.
• 2nd place: 25 reputation points.
• 3rd place: 10 reputation points.
• Entry: 5 reputation points.
• Judge: 5 reputation points.

The three winners will receive an award icon representing the winning entry.

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• blink
• Edy

Contestant	Entry
Directive255	Prism Ray
Mythic	Voidfall
Retera	Fel Arrows
xYours Trulyx	Forest Blessing

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Aesthetics	Are the effects impressive, and made in good measure? Are the animations fluid?	/15
Creativity	How inventive and original are the ideas?	/15
Integration	How well do the models work in-game? Do they have fitting sounds? Are they excessive to the point of hindering visibility?	/15
Theme	How well do the effects fit the theme? Are they cohesive?	/15
		/60

Results calculation

• Judgement: 70%
• Poll: 30%

FinalScore = (30*Reached_Votes/POSSIBLE_VOTES) + (70*JudgeScore/100)

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The poll shall begin on 6th November 2019 and conclude on 20th November 2019 GMT.

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Assigned Staff: Heinvers

Contest | Results

 

[Vinz]

@Heinvers @Naze

@blink @Edy

 

[Yours Truly]

Best of luck, fellas.
I'm gonna spread the news around Hive to raise the votes up.

 

[deepstrasz]

Best of luck, fellas.

good

Spoiler

 

[Yours Truly]

@deepstrasz
How do

Spoiler

 

[Daffa]

Aesthetics Are the effects impressive, and made in good measure? Are the animations fluid? /15
Creativity How inventive and original are the ideas? /15
Integration How well do the models work in-game? Do they have fitting sounds? Are they excessive to the point of hindering visibility? /15
Theme How well do the effects fit the theme? Are they cohesive? /15

1. Directive255: Good. Felt similar to some of Mythic's recent workings. Fits well. Fit with the theme, but the tier 1-2 transition looks minimal. Bonus for being supportive of three different weapons.
2. Mythic: Splendid. Felt similar to Starfall to a good degree. Fits well. Fit with the theme, I find the transition is small between tier, to be honest.
3. Retera: Good. Felt weird, cause I thought it was Searing then it looks like Poison. Fits well. Fit the theme, but the transition felt weird to a degree, I like the concept of it being weak-powered-explosive though.
4. xYoursTrulyx: Good. Reminds me of Tranq, but doesn't feel too similar. Fits well. Fits with the theme.

I personally sundered between 2 and 4, but I decided 4.

 

[Kerael]

Very good entries presented. The contest is close, but for me, Voidfall steals the show with how simple and organic the progression looks. Mythic pretty much zeroed in on the contest's exact topic, while the other contestants focused more on the individual stages, judging from my perspective. Even the ubersplats and the lighting are a nice touch which make the picture look whole, complete. I have nothing to add, nor subtract.

That is to say, I have some feedback on the other entries as well:

• Prism Ray. Changing color through level-transition non-verbally tells me that we're looking at a different thing, rather than the upgraded one. Without context, the progression from Lava to Void is questionable. But the effects look good. Extra credits for the amount of applications put forth.
• Fel Arrows. The transition doesn't seem natural: Level 2 Arrows have a great ensemble of particles (which span for too long, imo) and ribbons about them, but Level 3 loses it for some reason. Also, you might wanna go for subtler effects for auto-attack modifiers. I'd imagine those to deal Chaos damage and gain an AoE at Level 3, but still they take too much screen-space; take note that this last point is pretty much invalid, unless we involve gameplay; but the overall gist stands. I appreciate the creative approach towards attack modifiers!
• Forest Blessing. The given example swayed me a bit too much. The transition seems more like a Caster - Target relationship, rather than a smooth progression. Still, I can see myself roaming the Ashenvale this season, with the trees around me highlighted with the first 2 Levels of the effect. And the Level 3 effect would obviously highlight The Christmas Treant. This example may indicate on the evident gap between Levels 2 and 3 of the effect. And a lovely effect, nevertheless.

Generally, these gaps, or power-spikes, were the most prominent question in forming my opinion. I think the contest's name needed more emphasis on the word 'Path', rather than the 'Mastery' itself.
Don't think me harsh. Loved all the entries, just had to be specific about the details.

 

[Yours Truly]

Very good entries presented. The contest is close, but for me, Voidfall steals the show with how simple and organic the progression looks. Mythic pretty much zeroed in on the contest's exact topic, while the other contestants focused more on the individual stages, judging from my perspective. Even the ubersplats and the lighting are a nice touch which make the picture look whole, complete. I have nothing to add, nor subtract.

That is to say, I have some feedback on the other entries as well:

• Prism Ray. Changing color through level-transition non-verbally tells me that we're looking at a different thing, rather than the upgraded one. Without context, the progression from Lava to Void is questionable. But the effects look good. Extra credits for the amount of applications put forth.
• Fel Arrows. The transition doesn't seem natural: Level 2 Arrows have a great ensemble of particles (which span for too long, imo) and ribbons about them, but Level 3 loses it for some reason. Also, you might wanna go for subtler effects for auto-attack modifiers. I'd imagine those to deal Chaos damage and gain an AoE at Level 3, but still they take too much screen-space; take note that this last point is pretty much invalid, unless we involve gameplay; but the overall gist stands. I appreciate the creative approach towards attack modifiers!
• Forest Blessing. The given example swayed me a bit too much. The transition seems more like a Caster - Target relationship, rather than a smooth progression. Still, I can see myself roaming the Ashenvale this season, with the trees around me highlighted with the first 2 Levels of the effect. And the Level 3 effect would obviously highlight The Christmas Treant. This example may indicate on the evident gap between Levels 2 and 3 of the effect. And a lovely effect, nevertheless.

Generally, these gaps, or power-spikes, were the most prominent question in forming my opinion. I think the contest's name needed more emphasis on the word 'Path', rather than the 'Mastery' itself.
Don't think me harsh. Loved all the entries, just had to be specific about the details.

That's a good review. I have to agree that my second to third form does have a major gap when it comes to the effects.
1000th post!!!