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- Apr 24, 2012
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As we wound on down the road, effect creation called out to our souls. Contestants were to create two light-themed effects.
- 1st place: 40 reputation points.
- 2nd place: 30 reputation points.
- 3rd place: 20 reputation points.
- Entry: 10 reputation points.
- Judge: 10 reputation points per entrant.
The three winners will receive an award icon representing the winning entry.
Aesthetics | Are the effects impressive, and made in good measure? How is the attention to detail? | /30 |
Animations | How natural, smooth, and appropriate are the animations? | /15 |
Creativity | How inventive and original are the ideas? | /30 |
Integration | How well do the models work in-game? Do they have fitting sounds? Are they excessive to the point of hindering visibility? | /10 |
Theme | How well do the effects fit the theme? | /15 |
| /100 |
- Judgement: 70%
- Poll: 30%
- Provided a WIP for one texture only, despite having four custom textures that aren't edits of in-game ones
- Based an effect off his older work, a 2008 contest entry, claiming lack of rule awareness
- Voted for himself in the poll, despite the thread detailing a 5% penalty
| Wrath of the Archangels by @JetFangInferno | ||
| Aesthetics | 24/30 | Absolutely beautiful effect. The custom rune texture has a phenomenal aesthetic. Very diablo III angel like, which is always a great idea to go visually. Also; the lightning effects and crackles look amazing. I would have appreciated a bit more aftermath and destruction after the main effect; the regular slam texture is kinda boring. And I just wish you would have used a more detailed pillar with more polygons for the “introduction” of the effect instead of the regular wc3 standard effect. It really doesnt fit that well alongside the absolutely detailed runes. |
| Animations | 12/15 | Pretty straight forward, rotating circles and scaling beams. Nothing too complex or crazy but it does exactly what it should do. |
| Creativity | 15/30 | From a creative point of view it surely is nothing although fancy. It’s a beam of holy power. But I guess a beam of holy power is as heavenly as it gets. Together with the name there is a lot of flavor here, but still, nothing all too creative. |
| Integration | 10/10 | Works perfectly well and can be used in a lot of ways |
| Theme | 15/15 | You can feel the wrath of the archangels when the beam of holy lightning hits the ground and judges the unworthy. |
| Total | 76/100 |
| Auriel's Blessing by @JetFangInferno | ||
| Aesthetics | 21/30 | Beautiful visuals. The beams of lightning are a tad blurry and the feathers always popping facing the same direction look a tad weird but it truely screams heavenly power nonetheless. I would have liked a little less of a straight line for each wing and more curves, but that’s probably because I always imagine Angels from Diablo with those curved wings. I think its a little bit too big, but I guess that’s what you were going for, so I can not really complain about that (or subtract points for that matter  ) One could say that you can not clearly see that its supposed to be (or at least resemble) angel wings, but even if its just bursts of holy power venting out of your fragile mortal body, its fine as well. From a visual point of view its really cool and feels like the blessing of an archangel indeed. |
| Animations | 7/15 | The complexity behind its structure (after looking at it in Magos) is far beyond me. Clearly lots of effort has been taken up here and you can see it. The stand animation is totally fine and there is not much that can or should be done here. The death animation is the thing that bugs me the most. The wings just move around a little bit, tilt, and then: WHOOSH - they are gone. No sparkling effects, no fading away, no last final explosion of holy power that rips apart your enemies… It’s a disappointing end to an otherwise marvelous display of heavenly energy. Birth and Death Animations are what truely make effects shine in my opinion, and the death animation here is lacking sadly. |
| Creativity | 18/30 | Angel wings might not be the most creative go to for heaven inspired theme, but you took the idea and went a step further. I like the mixture of pure holy energy and the somewhat form of wings. It’s also clearly diablo inspired and I’m a sucker for that. The little feathers that fly away are a very nice touch and actually add a lot to the overall idea. It’s still a form of angel wings at the end of the day - so it’s not the king of creativity. |
| Integration | 5/10 | I’m a little bit sad that there are no sound effects whatsoever. That and the combination of the lacking death animation makes it rather dissapointing when used ingame. Sure, everything can be fixed by additional triggers and whatsoever, but I’m judging the raw experience here. It’s working flawlessly, no doubt there, but it doesnt feel as satisfying as it could potentially. The wings are also super large, so when the unit is turning around the way they rotate doesnt feel very natural. It’s a common problem for attachments like this, but the sheer size of the wings increases the effect in a negative way. |
| Theme | 15/15 | Not the absolutely most creative effect, but it sure as |
| Total | 66/100 |
| Heaven's Gate by @Mythic | ||
| Aesthetics | 25/30 | Amazing looking portal effect. It’s a pleasure to look at it. At times I think there might even be too much going on though. Under the whole heaven theme it fits, because travelling using heavenly powers can probably be too much for mortal eyes, but still. Very nice texture choice though. |
| Animations | 13/15 | Nice animations that work well in cooperation with each other. I like that you put some visual variey in there (pillar shrinking and expanding etc.) |
| Creativity | 23/30 | I really like the idea of having a heavenly teleport, which is pretty unique. It still resembles the normal Archmage Teleoport quite a bit, but thats more a problem of the whole rune appearance (and something that was done on purpose). Nice idea! |
| Integration | 6/10 | Sadly, one of the two pillars in the middle rotates with the terrain level, resulting in a very weird looking effect. Then there is a ubersplat which adapts to the ground level, while the other circles are not. It’s not a dealbreaker, but reduces the visual appeal. Would also have been nice to actually somewhat hear the cracking of the earth (that one can clearly see). |
| Theme | 15/15 | Fits the theme well and absolutely radiates the power that would engulf you if this portal was truely opened. |
| Total | 82/100 |
| Judgement by @Mythic | ||
| Aesthetics | 18/30 | Looking pretty fine. A little bit underwhelming perhaps, but not every effect has to be extremely crazy. Its very clean looking, which I appreciate. Even if its overused, I would have liked a ground slam effect underneath, especially considering that there are earth particles and rocks flying away, the ground looking completely unharmed is a tad bit weird. Also, not sure why you used the doomhammer as reference, because that kinda puts me off. |
| Animations | 12/15 | Animations are clean and nice, the transitions and geoset animations are pulled off nicely. Does what it should do. |
| Creativity | 15/30 | The idea of heavenly judgement with a hammer (especially in Warcraft Lore) is already there, so its a pretty safe horse to bet on. |
| Integration | 9/10 | Works well and performs fine ingame. The effect turned invisible sometimes from a very steep camera angle, but I’m not sure if that is a problem with the model itself. An additional holy sweep/falling down sound effect would add a lot to the flavor. |
| Theme | 12/15 | Fits the theme well, although as already mentioned, its nothing too creative. The reference of the hammer being the doomhammer is still something I can not quite grasp, because additionally to the absence of holy/heavenly side-effects, it could very well be a regular warrior (or shaman ability) as well. |
| Total | 66/100 |
| Righteous Guard by @xYours Trulyx | ||
| Aesthetics | 25/30 | At first I was a little bit underwhelmed by the effect. But upon closer inspection I found many small details that made it worth its while to look at. It’s very soothing to watch and does indeed feel like an impenetrable barrier of righteousness. The forming and dissolving look stunning as well. |
| Animations | 15/15 | Really good looking and well working animations that do exactly what they are supposed to do. Can’t complain here. Different effects for birth, stand and death as well and not just appearing and disappearing. |
| Creativity | 12/30 | It’s pretty much an OP divine shield. A ball of holy energy protecting somebody. Nothing too creative. |
| Integration | 9/10 | Works perfectly well ingame and fits wc3 in all its aspects. A bit more diverse sound effects would have been good (instead of just using the regular divine shield sound). |
| Theme | 15/15 | Fits the theme perfectly. Awesome job! |
| Total | 76/100 |
| Celestial Assault by @xYours Trulyx | ||
| Aesthetics | 18/30 | Very vanilla looking warcraft effect with its own charms and flairs. Its not aiming to look super fancy and high end but rather to work in the base game, which it clearly does. The base shockwave effect being used is a little bit of a bummer, because its super overused. A little bit more variation here would have been nice. Also the effect is huge! (not a bad thing). I like the idea with the different angel weapons being stuck in the ground afterwards; I think they could have been done in a more heavenly manner (they look a lot like regular weapons to me. Burning and avenging flaming angel swords might have looked even better. |
| Animations | 13/15 | Nice animations of the angel and the weapons, doesnt feel as cluncky as I expected it to be. The angel swooping upwards is a nice touch. They could have been made even a little bit more smoother but thats nitpicking. |
| Creativity | 28/30 | This hit the spot for me. While working with a common theme, you managed to implement it in a way that is very unique. Sure we have seen spells were angels come down, but an angel pushing three holy weapons sweeping down and then at the end rocketing up again? I love it. You also have a wave type spell here, with three different impact points at the end, which is very unique I think while still making lots of sense. |
| Integration | 10/10 | Works perfectly fine ingame and fits overall wc3 absolutely nice. Has fitting sound effects and works everywhere. |
| Theme | 15/15 | Fits the theme perfectly. Very nice! |
| Total | 84/100 |
| Heaven's Gate by @Mythic | ||
| Aesthetics | 30/30 | As seen in other models, there's a huge attention to detail displayed. There are dozens of emitters, each giving its tiny contribution towards the greater image of the effect. Different versions of tails and particles tuned together in cohesion, and it was executed perfectly. The skill in design is really showing in the non-channel effect. |
| Animations | 10/15 | Plain drop, there wasn't too much special animation going on here apparently, but what it is was very well executed. The fade in and out animations are very good. |
| Creativity | 25/30 | An orbital strike type effect is nothing new, but usage of game textures is really new and refreshing, especially the targeting overlay. |
| Integration | 5/10 | The channel part of the effect works perfectly. It's a very well executed channel effect with all its sequences (birth, stand, death). But the strike effect is made almost entirely out of particles. This means scaling it will go very wrong. As seen in the effect, the impact is shown properly, but the image appearing on the ground is still being scaled. This means it will not work well as target effect on units which are scaled down or up (0.5- or 2+), and its area can't be modified to cover a user's needs. It's a huge drawback, but one that is present on many effects, and it's the cost of it being very pretty and eye catching. |
| Theme | 12/15 | The effects have an air of "arcane, light" theme going on more than "heavenly". But the cross it features shows it more than enough. |
| Total | 82/100 |
| Judgement by @Mythic | ||
| Aesthetics | 20/30 | A plain effect of a hammer dropping, and that's exactly what works for it. It doesn't feature fancy explosions, but it's diverse and detailed enough to call it a quality effect. One problem it has however is the ground crack texture aliasing, making it feel a bit rough, which is more prominent on a lower effect scale, and less on a bigger scale. |
| Animations | 10/15 | The animation is another straightforward drop, again, well executed. It doesn't leave unnecessary trails and fade out times are very good. It might look a lot better if it wasn't a linear drop, and if the hammer grew as it was falling, rather than growing and then falling. |
| Creativity | 15/30 | Paladin's Judgement ability is nothing new, but the added ground crack is really the killer here. It makes it refreshing to look at. |
| Integration | 10/10 | The effect works well in game, there's not much to "judge" about a single stand animation. It also scales rather well, considering the most prominent/important parts scale well. |
| Theme | 15/15 | In context of warcraft universe, this is very much a light themed effect, and it's a hammer made of light. |
| Total | 70/100 |
| Righteous Guard by @xYours Trulyx | ||
| Aesthetics | 20/30 | The effect is a very nice spin off of divine shield. The light theme incorporated into a mana shield like animation is very well executed - it looks smooth and cohesive. The additional particles and outside pulses give it just enough of a push, without removing the focus of the shield in the middle too. But there are two things apparent, which substract from its value - There is not much variation. The effect is very saturated with the same yellow color and seemingly same textures. The particles do not change size and this makes it less smooth as well. Secondly, the rune appearing at the background during death takes away too much focus from the effect itself. The rune texture itself lacks detail, so bringing it out to the forefront of the effect so intensively takes away completely from the real value of this effect. |
| Animations | 8/15 | The decision to add a vertical as well as horizontal direction of the shield's circles is very innovative, and it elevates this effect very much in terms of quality. It makes the model look very smooth. The tails are simple and the particles are mediocre, but compared to many other models, they exist. It adds less value than they could however, because they aren't as refined. |
| Creativity | 20/30 | It seems to be a mana shield like ability, but selection of textures and animation adds a lot to the creativity. |
| Integration | 8/10 | The effect is a successfully executed channel (birth, stand, death) and it works properly in game. Due to it being a particle effect mostly, it suffers from unit scaling. However, due to it mostly being a unit attached effect as opposed to a possible target point aoe, this hugely elevates this issue since most units are roughly the same size. |
| Theme | 15/15 | The light protects from harm. Barriers are very light-y. |
| Total | 71/100 |
| Celestial Assault by @xYours Trulyx | ||
| Aesthetics | 12/30 | It has a very grandiose feeling, and there's a lot to take in creatively and thematically - but it still feels very rough and can be refined a lot more. If some more time was spent on effect around the weapons, the impact slash, the cone effect, the dirt and the trail, this can become one of the best effects on hive. It's still very good though. |
| Animations | 15/15 | The angel's animation is very detailed and specific, there's nothing that can be improved in this regard. The weapons fly animation also feels natural and like it should. |
| Creativity | 30/30 | Warcraft 3 isn't stranger to angels in effects, but the spin on it makes it very creative. Weapons are just icing on a cake. Ideas from other games should pour in more into warcraft. |
| Integration | 3/10 | It works with carrion swarm like abilities, but it scales terribly, and it's impossible to see how far the damage will go. In this regard, it can probably be used if the area is adjusted to the model itself. |
| Theme | 15/15 | It's very thematic, angels are creatures of light and it's as far as it can go. |
| Total | 75/100 |
| Wrath of the Archangels by @JetFangInferno | ||
| Aesthetics | 28/30 | The effect seems to contain much detail, especially in the explosion department. What's more, the transparency and multiple animated layers of circles look very smooth. (in fact imho, this is what makes the models pretty/stand out the most, many cohesive complex smoothly animated parts that user cannot take in all at once). Of course, the textures themselves are very pretty as well (and iirc, I've seen MegaCracks in wow). The reason for 2 points less is that the black portion of ground cracks do not fit as much in the whole air of the design. Maybe yellow sharp light cracks would work better. |
| Animations | 12/15 | Even though the animations don't look challenging, the burst looks good and fade outs feel in place. What made me add 2 points over the reference amount however is the apparent complexity when you look at the model. |
| Creativity | 21/30 | Another orbital strike effect. It would likely score as much as Heaven's gate in this regard, but the lacking 4 points bought the custom textures (and the one that feels like from WoW). |
| Integration | 10/10 | The model seems to work fine after importing everything properly. The scaling works on most of the effect - and the most important parts are included, so it can pass for an alternative range to some extent (the explosion is still off scale but it doesn't seem to be too much of a deal). |
| Theme | 15/15 | It feels very thematic, and it screams "offensive holy attack". |
| Total | 83/100 |
| Auriel's Blessing by @JetFangInferno | ||
| Aesthetics | 16/30 | It's not as astonishing as some other models but it does stand its ground, especially the motif of sparking particles which I haven't seen before in wc3 models. It can still be refined, maybe adding more white near the caster and doing something about the feathers which are always rotated in same direction, and stand out too much with its pure white color. |
| Animations | 6/15 | While the sparks bring awe, there's some rough (chromatic abberation texture) parts during birth, before the sparks come into play and should probably be addressed. Also the death animation seems merged from something else, and it's very strange, something with it looks possibly wrong. |
| Creativity | 25/30 | At least with warcraft 3, this is a totally new idea/sight and this deserves points. Again, it doesn't feature clever animations or usage of textures. |
| Integration | 10/10 | The effect works properly in game, and even scaling doesn't invite almost any trouble. |
| Theme | 12/15 | It's quite thematic, but not in particular compared to other models. |
| Total | 67/100 |
Assigned Staff: Mythic
Contest | Poll
