Techtree Contest #10 - Poll

[CLK Eclipse]

Sorry guys I'm late!
I don't know why, I can still download them from puush .-.

Oh great now I know why I can't add attachment here, because I didn't click the "Upload" button :' (lol)
I'll upload it here (I can't edit my post in the contest section anymore)

 

[Yours Truly]

^HurmHurm
Is this allowed? Dem late bug fixed entries?

 

[VeljkoM]

It is not allowed to fix bugs after the contest ends. But in CLK Eclipse case he isn't fixing his race, he is fixing the fact that his download link couldn't be used so nobody could actually test his map. And trust me he did not fix or come close to finishing this race.
Now editing human race instead of using the provided or alternative system to add 5th race should not be allowed. The features that are allowed to be edited should be revised honestly because editing existing races shouldn't be allowed.

I am unsure should I even bother with writing wall of text to review this race.
You don't start with a builder unit; you can't train units until tier 2; I couldn't actually train units after finally upgrading all upgrades to unlock first unit; If the system worked there would have been just 4 units; heroes are barely thought out; Nothing is finished...
Race is not playable.

 

[Wasabee]

He just can't upload his entry properly so that's why he's late.

 

[Kam]

I opened CLK Eclipse's entry and I will get to it later, but I can tell you now it's not going to rate well.

Otherwise I am done reviewing.

 

[BlackRangerXIII]

I've updated the first post with the updated link to CLK_Eclipse's entry

 

[CLK Eclipse]

@VeljkoM, Yeah, still can't be played @.@ and sorry about editing and replacing Humans, next time I'll try to do as you said, adding a new one..
"Your final submission must be bug free." Really sorry, lots of bug and still far from finished.

@BlackRangerXIII, thanks

EDIT: Thanks for informing me in my profile about my map's link is broken, Kam! I just noticed them now :'

 

[VeljkoM]

First I want to congratulate to each and every participant of this contest. It was a pleasure to play your races and examine techtrees you made and I am looking forward of doing it again next time. Maybe next time I'll actually have guts to participate even if I disagree with chosen theme.

Guess I should finally post the rankings after reviewing all entries. The list is honestly biased and not entirely objective and most certainly not done by standards of proper Techtree judging. By that I mean I considered units most important part of the techtree. Also I now finally see why I should learn how to convert opinions to points.

Ranking

7th - FAKE HEROES by CLK Eclipse
Reason: This is like comparing early alpha game with late beta game. Entry simply is not finished.
6th - Aztec Empire by Astaroth Zion
Reason: Unfinished but somewhat playable. This is more of skeleton of techtree as it lacks a lot of important features.
5th - Children of the Forest by Macros M
Reason: Unfinished and lot of features simply didn't work when I tested.
Bonus for being the only entry that doesn't use 1.07v Wc3.
4th - Egypt by N41
Reason: Unfinished but features such as they are do work.

3rd - Cthulhu by xYours Trullyx
Reason: Judging by the poll results I will be hated for this decision. This race does have good custom features but I feel that building and resource collecting was done better by Spellbound and Cthulhu race should have used only one unit training system instead of three. What hurts most this race are the units and hero designs.
2nd - British Folktales by Spellbound
Reason: I am conflicted myself for placing this race on second place. Like Cthulhu race this has cool custom features and are better implemented (no units randomly teleporting). Units and heroes are designed well for the most part. But there is lack of units that hurts this race.
Thematically this race is best hands down.
1st - Japanese Mythology by apcrabnightlive
Reason: I expect people to disagree with me here because this race does not have cool features regarding base building or unit training. This race is closest to the wc3 formula and it has all unit roles covered with weakness being the heroes.
Also this race was the only one that had proper anti-caster unit and has available dispel.

As for my predictions for actual winner of the contest it is Spellbound and reason he didn't reach first place here is because I didn't consider Theme and Creativity criteria since I made my reviews focused more on mechanics and mostly regarding units and heroes.
As for second and third place that depends if units and heroes are more important or if creativity and features are more important. I myself go with Units and Heroes because it is those that you use to play with a race and execute tactics. I have no doubt that either Japan or Cthulhu will be in top 3.

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And now for some helpful stuff for your future techtree creations (shameless advertising)

I noticed that some really could have used this little tool when importing icons.
With Button Manager you can make Auto-Cast, Passive, DSBTN and even Hero gamescore versions of any icon you want to use. And as a bonus you can even make your own icons with it for unit models that lack icons or have icons that clash with wc3 design.

Also to understand the base model I used to make critics you can check out the following:
Design Guide for Fifth Race by MCV
Guide to make a Race by me (Needs revising, reason why I didn't upload this in Hive Wc3 Tutorials is because there already is How to create Full-working custom race but it isn't detailed and deals more with interface and system to implement race which is inferior to system everyone here used as it lacks "Wining Condition").

BONUS CONTENT

Tutorial Unlocked
How to set map to use latest patch

Because certain number of entries didn't actually set map to use either 1.26 or 1.27 patch (depending which they use) I decided to award you with bonus part of my reviews.

Why to set map to use latest patch?
Setting map to use latest patch for most of map making is not required. It is only important if you are using gameplay from basic Warcraft 3 game and map types that use it are Campaigns and Altered Melee if you make blizzard races to remain or you clone units from existing races. Special mention goes to custom melee maps that lose map melee status because of certain edits, they definitely need to use latest Warcraft 3 patch or else they are useless for competitive warcraft 3 gaming.

There are three settings to chose regarding which version of the game you want your map to use:

-Default setting that saves map "depending of melee status" which actually means it saves either as v1.07 TFT or special case if you use Tinker, Fire Lord and Alchemist which will save map as v1.17 TFT.
-Custom that saves TFT map as v1.07 or RoC as v1.01
-Melee that saves map using latest patch.

To change the settings all you need to do is go to "Map Properties - Options - Map Data Set"



Here are few examples of gameplay from contestant maps



And now compare them with examples taken from regular melee map


Thank you for your attention and hope this little tutorial will help you in your future Techtree making.

 

[Yours Truly]

Can't say I'm suprised with that review. But 3rd place's good enough ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

 

[N41]

4th - Egypt by N41

4^th in Poll
4^th in Review
Fair Enough...
-----
Still confused whom should I vote^{Voted xYours Trulyx's Cthulu Race}

Short Review (Non Technical)

These are my personal thought and experience. Sorry for any mistake or if anyone is offended by any comment.

1. xYours Trulyx
   
   I liked this race very much.
   + Liked the slave transformations
   + Variety of units were available
   + Tower upgrades
   ~ Though some units were missed, I dont blame coz I myself was not able to add many units due to lack of models.
   ~ Team Color on some heroes is red irrespective of chosen TC, but this is Techtree Contest.
   - As Veljkom said why do units "teleport" when building is placed?
   
   
2. Spellbound
   
   I liked this race aswell.
   + Everything looks beautiful like a fairy tale.
   + Lumber collection and
   
   Lumber Army!!

   

   -----
   Why?
   Cause we can have many of them without utilising any food! So we can swarm enemy base with these treants, each for just 50 lumber!
   
   
   ~ Icons were default, Custom would have made this map more beautiful imo. Though this isn't that it's a problem or they did not suit.
   ~ Some portraits are missing and TC is missing on some models. This is Techtree Contest, So Ok.
   - Main building is not clickable
   
   
3. Marcos_M
   
   ~ Some ingame buildings are used, I think when ingame buildings, especially ones belonging to some race, are used atleast tint them a bit so that they can be distinguished.
   ~ Some models lack portraits, some lack TC
   ~ Raven's portrait is Medivh. Why?
   ~ 1 Hero lack hero glow.
   - Many tooltips are default in Mill building
   - Some icons lack DISBTN.
   - Some icons are misplaced
   - Some models are "invisible" and unselectable
   (Thanks Veljkom for map )
   
   
4. CLK Eclipse
   
   - I feel like I am playing Humans with little alteration
   
   
5. apcrabnightlive
   
   + Gives a nice japanese feel
   + Heroes were self sufficient to destroy any creep camp. Didn't required any other units
   + Liked Thunder King's 3^rd spell (don't remember name)
   + Healing in base
   ~ Tengu icon seems misfit imo.
   ~ Tengu model doesn't have TC or portrait
   ~ Worker's lack TC
   I think acrabnightlive was working on one more hero, don't know why was it not released.
   
   
6. Astaroth Zion
   
   + Has little bit of Aztec feel (Though I felt Skull of Gul'dan out of place)
   ~ Priest can be trained at two locations
   ~ 4 buildings are just upgrade buildings
   ~ Heroes are trained in Town Hall.
   - Building list do not follow basic order
   - Some icons lack DISBTN
   - BTN and DISBTN of one building is same
   - Tooltips are not modified; They show default base tooltips
   I know its unfinished and Astaroth Zion made it within hours.

I think I'll play all map again and edit this post later...
-----

 

[Kam]

I'll post mine later today.

I assume official judges don't vote in the poll?

 

[N41]

I'll post mine later today.

Won't it be too early for judge's review?
The poll will close on 14 June 2016 at 04:57 PM

I assume official judges don't vote in the poll?

Can be assumed, though not explicitly stated.

 

[VeljkoM]

Judging must come after polls end so the votes could be calculated along with Judge Score. Nice that this time it won't be months of waiting.

And Judge voting would be a spoiler.

 

[BlackRangerXIII]

@VeljkoM: Thanks for the tutorial on 1.27 settings

@Kam: Send a request to Ralle and send your review with it through either Staff Contact or Private Message since he will be the one posting the results.
And no they don't count since you already have have a lot of power

 

[Astaroth Zion]

Aztec Empire

I will describe this whole race now with two words. Unfinished mess. There are complicated requirements which are straightforward in normal Wc3 gameplay and there are some quite unorthodox elements. Everything feels unfinished like unedited tooltips, placeholder heroes and barely any custom ability.

Thanks a lot VelljkoM for your time and review.
Also great job for all the contestants, producing a variety of original interpretations of your chosen mythos. Hope to see you all again in the TecTree #11. +rep to all who delivered an entry and thanks for keeping this cool contest alive.

Now time to review my own work

Indeed my Entry was very very far from finished. Only the number of buildings and quantity of units and heroes were in place, but they were far from done in terms of cost, abilities, sounds, appearance, custom coding and general balancing. (Only the Siege Archers "Tequihua" had their final set of abilities, yet not codded nor balanced)

Never the less I am eager to participate in the next TechTree Contest, hoping that the next one lasts less time, and it's open to paired participation. I did kind of drop out from this contest do to a high activity peak on my job, but with such a long deadline I tryed to build my entry on the last few days (evidently, I failed at completing my entry and didn't achieved all that I had planned).

Here are some images of planned elements for my entry (Scans of notes and sketches):
Custom weapons that match each Tech Upgrade. (several Macuahuitl included)

Choose you main god and secundary god similar to Age of Mythology mechanisms. With 4 main gods and 4 secundary ones.
(Having 16 different possible outcomes)

PS: VelljkoM you were so kind by freely reviewing in detail my work. I will try to answer your comments and questions on a next post as a show of my appreciation. Also thanks for the small tutorial I didn´t know how to easily changed the patch used nor to create icons.

 

[Kam]

I'm glad you're remaining positive Astaroth Zion.

I encourage everyone to continue working on their races and eventually submit them to the map section. They are wonderful resources when in a complete state.

 

[BlackRangerXIII]

I encourage everyone to continue working on their races and eventually submit them to the map section. They are wonderful resources when in a complete state.

I second this and even reccommend that you guys finish them for the upcoming race repository that i'll create

 

[Wasabee]

Really we are allowed to submit in the map section yay!
I've been waiting for someone to ask but lol

 

[Astaroth Zion]

Formal reply

I'm glad you're remaining positive Astaroth Zion.

I encourage everyone to continue working on their races and eventually submit them to the map section. They are wonderful resources when in a complete state.

Always, we must enjoy our time at The Hive. Also about my entry I will work on the models (resources that may be useful to the community) and things on my reach, yet I really need the help of a codder to materialize my entry (I only know average GUI).

As promised, my reply to specific questions over my entry.

Reply to VeljkoM

Aztec Empire

Pros: Healing and Detection.
Con: Obviously unfinished which shows everywhere.
Special Con: Game Data set to Default setting. Which means map is for all intended purposes Wc3 v1.0.

Before starting the main mechanic for the whole faction was to have a kind of "Sacrificed Blood Counter". (Aztecs believed that their sacrifices were necesary for the survival of their gods).. That counter will be depleting every passing second, and you will have to sacrifice your own units in a temple to get a little extra "Blood" or sacrifice an enemy for a bigger "Blood" bonus. The Counter would have 3 stages:

• Low Level (0-40): own units get randomly plagued, unit spells sometimes backfire and heroes can't use thier ultimate abilities. (Heroes ultimates always cost "Sacrificed Blood" and mana to cast.
• Normal Level (41-79): everything works as usual.
• Full Level (80-100): randomly get extra potency on unit spells, bonus to ultimate spell (lvl 6) for heroes.

Buildings

- There are no base defense mechanics, not even a tower.

R: Parcially Implemented, Walls Upgrade that gives building extra armour and HP, also grants a fixed melee damage reduction that increases with upgrade level (like Mountain Giant hardened skin, but only melee damage)
R: Not implemented, towers should be "addons" for each building, with the bigger ones having space for multiple towers. These towers can be repaired and targeted separatly by the enemy. (Think in SC Terran addons, without the flying buildings ofcs)

- Race starts with main building and two farms. I understand that farm is needed to make more workers but because two farms are already made I can't make altar and barracks at same time because I lack resources.

R: I am not sure how to properly balance this, because you don't need temple "altar" to get your first hero, it can be trained at main base. Although you do need specific buildings to unlock the heroes, following a base logic:

• Chief Army Commander: a commoner with physical and tactical talent. Only Tier 1 Barracks is needed to unlock, because that is where commoners first train.
• High Priest: head of religion, you need a Temple (Tier 1 "Altar") to start the state religion unlocking your religious leader.
• Aztec Emperor: being a highly educated noble, you need to unlock the "Noble Barracks" (Tier 2 Building) to unlock him. Aztec empire needs to be at least Tier 2 big to have an emperor.

- Farm makes workers which is efficient and workers are inferior compared to other races. Your economy will be weak despite being able to make more workers (sadly this is Wc and not AoE).

R: Two economy upgrades were planned to balance the faction resource harvesting, with 3 levels each.

• Upgraded Lumber Axes: fully implemented. It's an axe upgrade not a wheel wagon one, so no sense in increasing the amount of lumber carried, but to make each chop much more efficient. At max level each Aztec Worker chop will net 3 wood, speeding up lumber harvesting. As a bonus Workers use the same axe to fight, so this upgrade also improves their attack damage. (More testing and balancing was needed to have a decent lumber gathering rate at lvl 3 upgrade)

• Upgraded Gold Metallurgy: not implemented. Planned to increase the number of Aztec Workers allowed in a mine or reduced their time inside it. Also as a faction bonus you will get (+0,5 ; +1,0 ; +1,5) extra gold per worker Deliver regardless of current Upkeep, for this will make mines give more total gold to Aztecs than to the other factions. (This idea may be too broken or not, a lot of testing is needed)

- Item shops only has items shared by all races. Race items didn't make it.

R: not fully implemented, some Aztec units favor daylight, others night, so items for both purposes were added. Also generic healing items were included, but more unique healing could replace them. (May be something like a nerfed Death Pact consumable could work, that gives a non-combat HoT instead of an instant heal).
R: I don't know what the Unique Orb should do, maybe something related to the faction's "Blood Counter", any suggestion?

- Gate of the Underworld icon is BTN even when disabled.

R: ups, imported 2 icons but both were BTN, my bad.

- Besides Main Building, Armory also has tiers that are needed to unlock units. It just puts you at disadvantage.

R: take arms system not implemented. The idea is that you can train units fairly fast (faster than current system), but recently trained units are unarmed and unarmored, thus you need to take them to a nearby armory and have a second “training” step, higher tier Armories train 2 and then 3 units at a time.
The benefit was that you had different configurations and weapons for your same units:

• Example the Youths could be equipped (1) with an axe that also grants them the ability to chop trees thus helping economy, or (2) with a spear that deals bonus damage to large units like the pikemen in AoE2.
• Other example will be skirmishers that could be equipped (1) with throwing spears and a shield giving them more armor life and range protection, or (2) with only the throwing spears giving them bonus move and attack speed without the range protection.

Finally units could be “re-trained” at armory to change their current weapon set-up to suit the current needs.

- There are too many buildings and some don't do anything besides unlocking units. There are 3 upgrade buildings, 4 troop buildings, one empty building, market, farm and main building. Altar trains units (eventually) and revives heroes but main building actually makes heroes.

R: Aztec faction got 11 buildings, not counting the “addon” tower. Let me break them a little:

Almost complete buildings: done but need balancing.

• Chinampa: (90% done) farm building, trains Aztec workers very slowly, yet compensated by the number of chinampas you generally have. Do no use the walls upgrade, because Aztec farms were outside walled cities.
• House of Youth: (90% done) primary barracks, creates units from tier 1 and tier 2. Missing an upgrade to be able to change equipment in the armory.
• Capulli: (90% done) lumber mill to drop wood, also economic upgrades.
• Gate to the Other World: (80% done) factory like building, trains the some special units. Missing some unique upgrades for each unit here.

WIP buildings: need balancing and some key features are missing.

• Main Base: (50% done) creates and revive heroes, missing sacrifice ability with long cooldown.
• Aztec Temple: (50% done) revive heroes and train magic casters, what is missing is the secondary sacrifice ability with bigger cooldown than the main base. Also missing are the caster upgrades.
• Market: (50% done) already reviewed.
• City Armory: (45% done) blacksmith building, upgrades are up but the re-training and equipping mechanic is completely missing.
• House of Noble: (45% done) trains elite soldiers, missing the unique upgrades for those units (I had planned something similar to the caster upgrades). Also missing an upgrade to allow capture of defeated enemies.

Barely implemented buildings: all key features are missing, only placeholders were present.

• Skull Rack: (20% done) unique faction building, it has the creature attack and defense upgrades. Its primary role was to place the skulls of a single faction enemy. You first had to kill enemies or sacrifice them to get their skulls. Then enemies of the chosen faction had negative fear effects (-%damage, -%attackspeed, Negative Regen, etc) when near a Skull Rack that had skulls of their faction. Only skulls of a single faction can be held at each Rack, the aura effects were NOT STACKING, and Skull Racks may only be built in a close area around your bases.
• Ball Game Court: (10% done) favorite sport of the Aztecs to honor their gods, unlock special base spells that use directly “Sacrificed Blood” and mana to cast. Also units could be send to play ball game inside it, killing the wining team and granting more “Blood Counter” than other mean of sacrifice.

Units

- First I want to make it clear that unit requirements are all over the place. It is complication for the sake of being different from regular techtree without actual benefits.
Also most units get at second attack upgrade poison Obsidian Bleeding that lasts for 3600 seconds (why?) and most units get passive that reduces range attacks. With those two abilities we already covered half of units. And regeneration edits are all over the place.

R: indeed the 3600 second poison was not finished. It was supposed to make even extra damage to the bleeding unit whenever it attacked or cast a spell, yet it would be removed with triggers when the unit is healed to 100%, so focus healing should remove Obsidian Bleeding pretty easily.
R: The range damage reduction was supposed to go only to the Shielded versions of the units, the 2 hand weapon versions of them would not get this passive.
The unit themselves were not completed, specially their unique abilities. In most cases, they just got place hold abilities of similar effects. I will try to make them properly functional and then ask you to take another look on them.

Lacking Units: Long range siege, anti-caster, heavy air unit. There are 12 units as it should be sadly I wish there wasn't.
Lacking abilities: Dispel. Probably would be more correct to say "Abilities" in general.

Heroes

Heroes are unfinished and creator stated that abilities are placeholders so there is no point of going over heroes. I will mention few odd things.

High Priest is the only hero at tier 1 and can use Obsidian Bleeding Ability racial (3600 sec poison). Attack can be upgraded with unit upgrades.
Cheif Army Commander is tier 2 and can use Obsidian Bleeding. Has attack and armor upgrades.
Emperor is tier 2 and doesn't have Obsidian Bleeding. Doesn't get upgrades at all.

R: my logic here comes on the gear this heroes would normally wear. High Priest would use obsidian blades to fight and to do sacrifices, thus he is capable to use the weapons upgrade. Then Chief Army Commander would use the best technology available in terms of weapons and armor thus he gets both upgrades. Finally the emperor would not use any common weapon or amour thus he doesn´t get any upgrade.
Any thoughts on this reasoning applied to WC3?

Any way, lets star working on those Aztec resources for the Hive.

 

[VeljkoM]

@ Astaroth Zion

I find many of those ideas too ambitious and if you actually did succeeded in making all of them then race would be simply too different for Warcraft 3 gameplay. Judging would be harder since you are trying to figure out if this new system is hindrance for the sake of innovation or if all those new features offer too big advantages because existing races aren't made with an idea to counter them. Personal bias would also hurt since some like me would be perhaps be too harsh because it deviates too much from the norm while others would praise it for thinking outside of the box.

For example idea that each hero is available at specific tier might look logical from real life point, from gameplay it is very limiting without any benefits. Thus it is just hindrance made for the sake of innovation, just to be different from other races.

Still moot point trying to figure all these feature out since I can only see theory.

 

[N41]

Completed my review.

After playing some selected races again decided to vote xYours Trulyx's Cthulu Race.

 

[Yours Truly]

Yay.
About the unit "teleport" thingy,It has to be done.Otherwise the units in the building area will have to move and it will take too much time.The dummy builder dies after 0.50 minutes...seconds....frames? Whatever,the point is,I cannot do anything about it.Orc-raced builder is the only one that stops the dummy builder's expiration timer,while giving it a nice information in the building bar.

Looks like I'm the only one that doesn't vote yet.Stingy me. I will leave my vote for the one that seems to have less chances of winning,but since it's a single vote,mine goes to the dude above me.

 

[Emm-A-]

Just if someone has this problem:
If you cannot see some of these maps in your map register in game, shorten the names of the maps and you should see them.
I often have that problem with contest-related maps, because their names are naturally longer than those of other maps.

 

[VeljkoM]

@xYours Trulyx

What about ability based of item building construction that don't need a builder unit?

 

[Spellbound]

Yay.
About the unit "teleport" thingy,It has to be done.Otherwise the units in the building area will have to move and it will take too much time.The dummy builder dies after 0.50 minutes...seconds....frames? Whatever,the point is,I cannot do anything about it.Orc-raced builder is the only one that stops the dummy builder's expiration timer,while giving it a nice information in the building bar.

Looks like I'm the only one that doesn't vote yet.Stingy me. I will leave my vote for the one that seems to have less chances of winning,but since it's a single vote,mine goes to the dude above me.

You can remedy to that by simply giving the builder a longer expiration timer. I use 10 seconds for my build system which gives units plenty of time to get out of the way. If the construction still doesn't happen by then, well, you won't lose any money since no building has been built. Also if your builder's race is Undead then it will summon buildings instead.

 

[Kyrbi0]

When does this Poll end? The first post doesn't say...

 

[VeljkoM]

The Poll itself says:

This poll will close on 06-14-2016 at 01:27 PM

 

[Kyrbi0]

The Poll itself says:

Ah, duh. Mah bad; I'm just always used to seeing it in bold print at the bottom of the first post.

 

[Yours Truly]

@xYours Trulyx

What about ability based of item building construction that don't need a builder unit?

I have no idea.

 

[Abelhawk]

None of these work for me... the UI is different on the Cthulhu one, but besides that, they all just start me out with a normal-race town hall and workers. Is this because of the patch or something?

 

[VeljkoM]

No they were just really bad at telling you how to start with custom race. You need to select proper race and set 90% handicap. Cthulhu was undead, rest are mostly night elves I think. It should be written on their posts which race you need to pick.

 

[Spellbound]

Or read the map descriptions when you click on them in the Custom Game selection screen.

 

[VeljkoM]

Sadly not all remembered to edit map description. Or map ingame name.

 

[BlackRangerXIII]

So guys with the HIVE 2 Update, the poll links are broken.
So until it's fixed, All of you are going to be downloading from the OP

 

[N41]

the poll links are broken.

Did you report?

Previously, the BB Code system used to be forgiving when people used [tabs], [TABLE], and [INVTABLE] while overlapping tags. This is no longer the case. You may stumble across some broken posts, or notice that posts you’re trying to make will show up broken. If this happens, please contact us and we will help fix the code.[/INVTABLE][/TABLE][/tabs]

 

[Wasabee]

That's why some posts are broken hope this gets fixed soon.

 

[Kam]

Explanation of scores:

First Impressions - This does not count in any way towards your score. This is useful for you as a creator so you may know what aspects of your race are most apparent.

Theme - How closely does your race follow the lore and mythology behind your chosen race?

Gameplay - How does the race feel while in game? Do abilities go well together? Do your design decisions make sense?

Balance - Numbers.

Creativity - How far did you take your ideas? Are they more than skin deep?

1. Spellbound - British Folktales

First Impressions:

The building models are an odd mix. The building system though is extraordinary. Gold Dance should be on by default, I love it.

Criteria:

Theme: 9.5/10

I'm not sure it exactly communicates "British" folk takes exactly but it did immediately remind me of folktales and literature in general. The mushroom connections are brilliant.

Gameplay: 10/10

The spell set is well done! Twinkling Star is my favorite as it allows you to target enemy/foe and rewards skillful placement.

Balance: 9/10

There are a lot of buff related spells to manage. I add this under balance because it can be difficult for an enemy player to understand what is going on in a fight with so many. Hidden Lantern should not be permanent. The Owlman's AoE attack seems a little OP to me, a group of them can devastate. I have no way to detect invisible units other than with a hero. I am not sure every unit should have armor upgrades. I am wary of any building that behaves like a Fountain of Health (Magic Mushroom).

Creativity: 10/10

I have seen little of this before. It was nice to see the CR lumber system in use. Your heroes are original and well thought out. The Lantern Man is fun to play. You touched on items a little but it would have been nice to see completely custom items. I think it would be fitting if Enchanted Meadows left a small mushroom trail to the current harvesting tree.

Overall: 38.5/40

2. apcrabnightlive - Japanese Mythology

First Impressions:

You took the time to pick good building skins and models. The UI is nice, although the import didn't work out for the center right. Tengu and Katana Samurai are missing portraits. I like Seiryuu a great deal. The Bow Ashigaru has a 2 after it is upgraded.

Criteria:

Theme: 10/10

You nailed your chosen theme. The buildings and units mix well; the ability descriptions and icon choices are in line with the mythology.

Gameplay: 9/10

The units support each other well particularly the Yuki-onna. King Oni is quite fun to play with - he's a lethal combination of unit and target spells.

Balance: 8/10

I played against Human and Orc and it seemed like your units fell in between them in terms of median HP and DPS. Your heroes deal too much damage for a melee. One notable case is the Katana Samurai which has far too much HP. Overall this seems like a defensive race based on armor numbers.

Creativity: 8/10

There's a good deal of custom spells here but I would have preferred more connection to the Japanese mythology.

Overall: 35/40

3. xYours Trulyx - Cthulhu

First Impressions:

Please tell me how to play your race in the map description. Gold is not removed from the mine. The building system is beautiful.

Criteria:

Theme: 7/10

There is a connection to the lore in visuals but it is lacking in content.

Gameplay: 8/10

The Relics of Cthulhu building concept is quite fun. I needs to be fleshed out though as there should not be any unknown combination. The best suggestion I have is to simply increase the base stats of a unit that would otherwise be unknown - IE two Terror Relics makes the resulting unit have upgraded base abilities. You are also using three unit training systems. The slave system is cumbersome, and the normal training doesn't fit. I like the relic system.

Balance: 7/10

Not being able to expand before tier 3 is an enormous problem. Heroes are lacking support abilities. The Waveweaver deals too much damage via spells. The Flying Terror can instantly kill a unit which means I can make several of them and backdoor an opponent to kill their workers. You have some redundant units as well - Fanatic and Marauder.

Creativity: 7/10

It's a good start but you could have fleshed this out much more. The unit composition is missing roles and the tree seems more Faceless than anything else.

Overall: 29/40

4. N41 - Egyptian Mythology

First Impressions:

Building model choices are ok; the Shenu Quarters is out of place. The Scarab Lord, Khopesh Warrior, Seba Haunter, Kepher, and Voodooist feel Egyptian but the other unit models don't quite fit. The UI is nice.

Criteria:

Theme: 7/10

I definitely feel that this is a Egyptian race but it is not as clear as it should be. It does not extend to unit abilities or custom items as it should.

Gameplay: 6/10

There is nothing too exciting about any of these units.

Balance: 7/10

I don't feel it is a complete race in terms of unit composition, and I'm not sure the Medjai having Chaos damage is a good decision. There is building for expansion defense. There is no way to detect invisibility. I have no counter to casters.

Creativity: 4/10

There's not much here besides some custom resources. The ability list is weak.

Overall: 24/40

5. Marcos_M - Children of the Forest

First Impressions:

Why protect your map? Weirdwoood Priest and the Leaf don't have models. The unit composition is a little odd, but somewhat works.

Criteria:

Theme: 7/10

You did alright here but there are some odd standouts like the Weapon Craftsman which should have used some sort of organic growths to augment allies or hurt enemies.

Gameplay: 5/10

There aren't many developed spells. This relies quite a lot of stock abilities with minor alterations.

Balance: 6/10

No invisibility detection. No structure for expansion defense. There is no mana or health regeneration? Why is the gold cost of units so high?

Creativity: 5/10

Sorely lacking in development. There was a lot more you could have done to develop your concept further.

Overall: 23/40

6. Astaroth Zion - Aztec Empire

First Impressions:

I can see the connection to Naga buildings based on some Aztec mythology but I have a hard time buying lizard people. Gate to the Underworld doesn't have a disabled icon. The Market, Rack, and Armory models could have been custom. There are many Naga building models now.

Criteria:

Theme: 6/10

The mix between human and Naga units is odd. It doesn't quite work. The more significant issue though is that the abilities are vanilla. There's no connection at all to Aztec culture. Upgrades are stock as well.

Gameplay: 5/10

Because of the ability issue there isn't really a fun or creative way to use these units.

Balance: 6/10

Combat was ok, but some units like the Aztec Nightmare deal far too much damage for their cost and HP. I have no building to defend expansions. There are too many useless buildings. I have no counter to casters, or heavy air.

Creativity: 5/10

There's not a whole lot in terms of custom content here. The heroes are a collection of stock abilities, and the units are not any more developed. There aren't any custom items either.

Overall: 22/40

7. FAKE HEROES - CLK Eclipse

First Impressions:

I don't start with a worker capable of building. Villagers have wander. There is little indication of what to train, or how to do it - no matter what I did nothing happened. I checked it out in WE and there is hardly any new content. I am forgoing a rating as this is not an entry. The training system could be interesting.

Criteria:

Theme: -/10

Gameplay: -/10

Balance: -/10

Creativity: -/10

Overall: -/40

Thank you for participating!

 

[Kyrbi0]

Selling ice packs, getchyer ice packs, right here!

 

[Yours Truly]

Yarr,I'm on the top 3! But will try to do better next time. And there's already a new techtree contest discussion going on!