Techtree Contest #12 - Theme Poll

[Spellbound]

Vote for the theme of Techtree Contest #12. We also need to vote on whether the contest should be a team-based or single-person participation. Please note the poll was split in 2 segments, the top part being the theme and the bottom part being the manner of the participation. Take the time to vote on both sections.

The poll will end on the end of March 2018.

THEME:

• Butterfly Effect: an event in the past has changed! The timeline has shifted, and so have the races that inhabit it. Reinterpret one of the vanilla races to match this deviation from vanilla story. Warlords of Draenor is a prime example of Butterfly Effect.
• Creep races: Pick a creep in wc3 and give it its own faction. Eg: Faceless techtree, Satyr tectree, Furbolg techtree, etc.
• Mirrorverse: The Alliance becomes an evil, tyrannical empire that witch-hunts all practitioners of magic; the Night Elves are sadistic warlocks and industrialists; Ner'zhul grants the fallen the chance for revenge and peace by reanimating them with their minds intact. Flip a faction on its head and reinterpret it as its polar opposite, whether ideologically, visually, or both.
• Colour-Based: based on Magic: The Gathering's coloured mana system, make a race that embodies one of the following philosophies (keep in mind that you are not required to follow MtG's lore or ideas, merely one of the philosophies described below):
  • White: exemplifies the ideals of order and consistency. White's ultimate goal is peace, ideally through structure and law.
  • Black: embodies the essences of selfishness, opportunism and ambition for power. Black is merciless and shameless.
  • Red: characterized by the chaotic & passionate nature of its creatures, magic & firebrands. Freedom is the greatest ideal of Red.
  • Blue: represents the pursuit of all knowledge. Blue is most often associated with magic, but is also the sphere of manipulation and invention.
  • Green: personifies growth, instinct and harmony with the universe. Green dislikes artificial change and prefers to remain humble and naturalistic.
• No buildings: Create a techtree without using a single building. Get creative.
• No Units: create a techtree without using a single unit. Get creative.
• Evolution: This is all about how you can build a whole techtree starting from one unit and one building. You are only allowed to have one single base unit and one single base building. Meaning that you can only build one type of building and only produce one type of unit. However,upgrades and transforming units are allowed.
• Open: No mechanical or aesthetic restriction! Your only limitations are a maximum of 4 heroes, 11 non-worker units (excluding summons) and 12 - 15 buildings. Otherwise you are free to make whatever race you want.

PARTICIPATION

• Mandatory Teams: teams of 2 - 3 participants will work on the same entry. Teams are good for techtree contests because it's a lot of work and getting multiple people to help (coder, modeller, etc) can help trememdously by bringing different talents together. The downside to teams is that people can have a hard time coordinating their work (or clashing ideas), especially when there are large discrepancies in timezones and free time.
• Single Person: Only 1 person will work on the entry. There is a lot of freedom here but that person will have to do all the work.
• Optional Teams: People are allowed to form groups of up to 3 people or join solo.

 

[Kyrbi0]

Glad to see the multi-poll making a comeback!

I almost certainly will not be able to participate, but I'm a huge fan of Creep races and, of course/most of all, MtG races.

 

[Direfury]

I'm liking the poll results so far.

 

[Chaosy]

Isn't color and open the same?

I feel like any faction idea could probably be tied to a color.

 

[Spellbound]

Colour has to be limited to one of the fives philosophies. Open is whatever you like not restricted to theme and mechanics. Obviously there's some creativity overlap, but at the end of the day only one of these themes will will.

 

[Chaosy]

Oh, so one there will be a second poll for which color?

 

[Spellbound]

Nope, if the colour theme wins, you pick whichever colour you want to make your race from.

 

[Chaosy]

Then I am back to square one. Almost any race/faction I can come up with WILL fit one of the colors.
So I doubt it will limit creativity.

Scourge: black
Forsaken: black
Goblin: black
Orcs: red
Tauren: white
Argent Dawn: white
Silver Hand: white
Kirin'tor: white/blue
Nightborne: blue
Blood Elf: blue
Cenarion Circle: green
Night Elves: green
Chaosy's Fanclub: black

Maybe you will find an exception, but even so the limitation is veeeeeeeery small.

 

[Spellbound]

Well, the colour philosophies still need to be expressed in your race, and failing to do so will probably cost you points.

 

[Chaosy]

Hm, I think I see your point.
While I still think that it allows pretty much any race if tweaked slightly, I do not think I should stir up more debate as it has not even won ;P

I am not really upset about it, I just thought the options could be merged. But at second thought, too late to change now.

 

[Kyrbi0]

Then I am back to square one. Almost any race/faction I can come up with WILL fit one of the colors.
So I doubt it will limit creativity.

... Just because a given faction could be created under multiple Theme choices, doesn't mean the choice is pointless or anything like that. I'm sure I could come up with an idea that would work in almost every single one of these Theme choices.

Part of the key is the tThem of the Contest as a whole, and also the effect it has on other contestants. If nothing else, you should be glad that no that no matter what is chosen you can make the faction you want.

Maybe you will find an exception, but even so the limitation is veeeeeeeery small.

I... Don't quite get your point here. That the MtG Color Wheel isn't limiting enough?

Because that's not only the point, but the point I've made all along. Take a gander at the sets that have been released in the last 5 years; the MtG Color Pie, as a system, has enabled everything from Gothic Victorian Horror to Pseudo-Egypt to Asia-Siberia Tribes to 'Steam'punk India... All of these can exist. The possibilities are limitless!... Which is why I've argued that "MtG Color Wheel/Pie" be (to borrow a pertinent phrase) 'evergreen'; something that exists for many Contests.

The key is, to limit it on a Contest-by-Contest basis (much like how the design team of MtG does); one Contest can be "pick only 1 color", another can be "pick only 2 colors (ally or enemy, could be two separate Contests)" (Ravnica-style), another could be "pick only 3 allied colors (AKA "shards")" (Alara-style), another could be "pick only 3 colors in 'Wedge' formation (2 allies & their shared enemy Color)" (Tarkir-style)... And on it goes!

Scourge: black
Forsaken: black
Goblin: black
Orcs: red
Tauren: white
Argent Dawn: white
Silver Hand: white
Kirin'tor: white/blue
Nightborne: blue
Blood Elf: blue
Cenarion Circle: green
Night Elves: green
Chaosy's Fanclub: black

(Lol, we're gonna get into this, eh?)

If you had to pick a single-color for each, I have to say that Tauren are definitely Green, and Blood Elves are almost certainly Black or Red. Night Elves are almost equal parts White with Green, and I feel like the Forsaken is almost more Red than Black (with some strong Blue). Orcs (at least in Wc3) are honestly pushing deep into Green with all that 'part-of-nature' Shamanism.

That's the real problem; I have a hard time with single-color factions. It can certainly be done, but it feels less complex & 'real' to me. Dual-color is a 'soft mininum' for me when assigning Colors to existing factions/people...

So Goblins are definitely Black/White (with a strong 'splash' of Blue); Forsaken are definitely Red/Black (with more of a Blue tint (Apothecaries, Plague, etc)), Tauren are definitely Green/White, Orcs are Red/Green(/White?), Blood Elves range around from Red/Black to perhaps Red/White, and Night Elves are Green/White.

Anyway.

 

[Chaosy]

Does not matter which color is given.
My point is that if any faction has a valid color, then what's the theme really? isn't the theme supposed to limit your creativity? or rather make you think outside the box by taking away the simply default options.

Spellbound clarified that the color also needs to be represented in the techtree which is good but it does not really remove my issue with it as the wide range of option is still the same.

 

[AditTechno]

I would love to see participants come up with zerg-like races!
Voted for Evolution.

 

[AditTechno]

So, any news with the poll?

 

[Spellbound]

It's ending today, but there's the issue of two themes having 9 votes so we'll probably have to do a tiebreaker poll to pick either Mirroverse of Evolution.

EDIT: Please break the tie: Techtree Contest #12 - Tiebreaker Poll