Techtree Contest #13 - Coloured Mana [Optionally Paired]

[Spellbound]

Based on Magic: the Gathering's coloured mana system, design a faction that represents the philosophies associated with a single colour.

White	Blue	Black	Red	Green
White exemplifies the ideals of order and consistency. White's ultimate goal is peace, ideally through structure and law. White can be restrictive and authoritarian.	Blue seeks perfection through knowledge and progress but can also be the sphere of deception and manipulation. Blue can be unethical or lack morality its its efficiency.	Black embodies the essences of selfishness and opportunism. Black desires power over all else as it allows it to get what it wants. Black is merciless and shameless.	Red desires freedom above all else. Red is pure passion, chaotic and impulsive. Laws are anathema to Red as they get in the way. Red has the capacity for complete anarchy.	Green personifies growth, instinct and harmony with nature. Green is honest and interdependent and dislikes artificial change. Green can lead to rigid and unchanging traditions.

• You may only choose ONE colour. No mixing and matching allowed.
• The colour you pick does not determine the visual appearance of your faction. It is chiefly a philosophical descriptor. You can have a faction of undead healers that seek to restore order in a disease-stricken land that only they can enter because they are unaffected by disease. That is technically a White faction.
• You are not required to follow Magic: The Gathering's actual lore or ideas.
  
• Your faction must contain at least 8 non-hero units.
• Your faction must contain at least 1 hero unit.
• Your faction must contain at least 8 buildings (if your faction has more than 1 defense tower, they will all count as 1).

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• Submissions must follow the Map Submission Rules.
• Finding voice actors, or testers to test multiplayer mode isn't considered as teamwork, and is allowed.
• You must download the the provided template map, make the edits, and resubmit it as entry. [Click here to download]
• Any map's features except its terrain may be edited. Editing the map's Marketplaces, Item Shops, and Taverns is allowed, too.
• The map must be playable in battle net. (current max map size is 100MB, for example)
• You may modify existing resources (with permission from the author, if applicable), or create new ones for your entry. You may reuse code, but other content from previous Techtree Contest submissions must be modified to avoid one-to-one copy at the risk of a lower Creativity score.
• Post two (2) images of your workflow ("Works In Progress" or WIPs) to the main Contest thread before the Deadline, in order to prove your work.
• Your submission must be accessible to Voters & Judges in both the World Editor & the Game for ease of testing. (i.e. No protecting your map; alternatively, if you use something like Wurst make sure that there is an ingame method by which Voters and Judges can test your faction with ease)
• Post your final entry in the contest thread before contest is over. The post should be a little presentation, having your submission attached.
• Judges may not participate.

Breaking any of these rules may lead to punishment in the judgement score, up to disqualification from the contest, depending on the weight of the issue. In case of doubts towards a certain rule you are very encouraged to discuss it in the contest thread so others and judges may help with sorting it out.

Helpful Links: Custom Race System, Design Guide for Fifth Race by MCV, How to create Full-working custom race, Guide to make a Race. (Provided by VeljkoM)

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• 1st place: 75 reputation points
• 2nd place: 50 reputation points
• 3rd place: 25 reputation points
• Entry: 5 reputation points
• Judge: 15 reputation points

The three winning teams will receive an award icon, representing the winning entry.​

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• Kam
• [Open position]

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Theme	How well the various elements of the Faction (including aesthetics, gameplay & design) fit together in a thematic manner such that they feel like they are representative of the given Faction, as well as that of the chosen Contest Theme. Well-fitting & polished aesthetics which complement a cohesive theme will be graded well; poorly-considered or lacking thematic elements will result in a poor score.	10
Gameplay	How well the various elements of the Faction work together to achieve the tactical synergy & gameplay style the Faction has, as well as how efficiently each element performs its particular function. Strategic systems that endow an identity to the Faction, comprehensive & well-though-out roles which complement a cohesive Faction will be graded well; ill-considered, insufficient or over-compensating roles will lose points.	10
Balance	Indicates how comparable the Faction is in terms of 'playability'; i.e. the ideal Faction should win/lose 50% of the time against others of it's class. Overpowered or Underpowered units/heroes/abilities/etc will result in a poor score; properly balanced elements will result in a good score.	5
Creativity	How original the design of the Faction is in terms of innovative ideas, clever implementations, or creative concepts. Innovation and creativity will be rewarded; extensive re-use of existing elements in vanilla factions & poor originality will result in a poor score.	10
		35

Results calculation

• Judgement: 70%
• Poll: 30%

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

​

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The contest shall begin on 10th of August 2019 and conclude on 30th of September 2019 GMT (day is included).

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Assigned Staff: Heinvers

Previous Contest | Poll | Results

 

[MyPad]

Cool. Count me in.

Post edited by Heinvers. DO NOT DELETE!

Contestant	WIP	Color	Entry
MyPad	Click	White	Click
Wazzz	Click	Black	Click
Leods	Click	Black	Click
xYours Trulyx	Click	Red	Click
The_Spellweaver & Storm Knight	Click	Blue	Click
AMarkov	Click	Red	Click
Mythic & Spellbound	Click	Blue	Click
Riki Martin	Click	Black	Click
Name	Click	Color	Click
Name	Click	Color	Click
Name	Click	Color	Click

 

[Pyrogasm]

These two articles explain MTG color philosophy in some interesting ways. I would recommend reading them for inspiration:

Pie Fights
Mechanical Color Pie 2017

 

[Wazzz]

I might try my hand at this, there seems to be enough liberty to work with to make something interesting.

 

[Yours Truly]

 

[Heinvers]

Approved!

 

[MyPad]

So, where's the template map?

 

[Spellbound]

OH
Erm, give me a moment ^^;

EDIT: added map.

 

[Heinvers]

Notice added. Good luck people :]

 

[Yours Truly]

What version of Warcraft should be used for this?

 

[Leods]

I'm in. I think I will choose red, or probably black:
ayn rand memes - Пошук Google.

 

[Heinvers]

What version of Warcraft should be used for this?

Latest if available.

 

[Leods]

It's a problem with me. I use 1.26, and my computer can't support a better version.

 

[MyPad]

My color of choice is White, called the Orderions.

 

[Daffa]

It's a problem with me. I use 1.26, and my computer can't support a better version.

Just avoid Memhack and you sbould be okay. Memhack doesn't work with latest patch.

 

[Heinvers]

@Kyrbi0 @PurplePoot @Wazzz @Retera @Tank-Commander

 

[Leods]

Memhack? Are you talking about the dragonhawk, or what?

 

[Daffa]

Memory hack. If you're not aware of it, you should be okay.

 

[Wazzz]

I am leaning towards doing Black at the moment, going to play around with something I want to have fun with. I'm not sure how original the elements themselves will be, but I want to have a go at playing around with them anyway and seeing what I can come up with.

 

[Archian]

Being a Magic player myself. I might join this one.

Also this:

 

[Kyrbi0]

FINALLY

MTG

There's no way I have time to join now, unfortunately... But I'm very excited to see this idea finally come to fruition. Maybe I'll post a write-up, a "theoretical" faction, a "faction-on-paper"

Good luck!

 

[Leods]

I am trying with a Cult of the Damned techtree. All the basic units are alive. The pest boilers are essential, they allow you to kill a alive unit and create a Skeleton, based on the killed unit (but stronger) to replace it. For this reason, now I have 4 units, but only 2 can be directly created.
The servant (Acolyte model) can be sacrificated (it needs a update) to heal 50 HP and 50 Mana points to the nearby units of your own. It doesn't look like egoism, but the Servant don't choose, he just follow orders for his fanatim...
The dark mage (and the shadow skeleton) have Shadow bolt, created from the black arrow, who adds 75 extra damage (every attack cost 100 mana, keep calm) and create a skeleton if kill the enemie.

(Sacrifice, I know it's misspelled. I was distracted.)

 

[Wazzz]

That will definitely be interesting to see.

I find myself leaning a little bit towards Green now, with another idea in mind, so I'll see which one wins out for me to play around with. If I have time I might even do both, but doing one will probably be challenging enough.

 

[Leods]

Haha, you are thinking on black and green? They aren't exactly... friends.
Do both is a good idea, but only if you think the time is enough, just don't overexpose yourself.

Edit: I need to ask for permission. For my Lich unit, i need a phylactery model. The problem here is that the only one I could find in Hive is cataloged within Substandard. A phylacteria is essential for the special caster, so I need another functional model, or permission to use a substandard model in the techtree.

 

[Wazzz]

Not black and green together, since we can only choose one anyway
Just two separate techtree ideas, mostly

Aren't substandard models already allowed for use in the techtree? I think they are

 

[Heinvers]

@Leods link?

 

[Leods]

Not black and green together, since we can only choose one anyway
Just two separate techtree ideas, mostly

I know, i know. But you sayed "If I have time I might even do both", and that is what I was talking about.

Aren't substandard models already allowed for use in the techtree? I think they are

I suppose they aren't, because:

• Using imports is allowed as long as it follows General Resource Rules.

Edit: @Heinvers Lich Phlyactery here it is.

 

[Yours Truly]

That General Resource Rules link seems to be broken.

I'm going for the Red theme here. Brainstormed a bit and decided to go for a lizardman themed race.

 

[Heinvers]

Edit: @Heinvers Lich Phlyactery here it is.

Feel free to use it.

That General Resource Rules link seems to be broken.

Fixed! It was broken because of the changes made to the submission rules and the deletion of the old thread.

 

[Spellbound]

I've expanded each colour descriptions with some additional information to round them out a bit more.

 

[Chaosy]

I was working on another tech tree in the last contest I believe. It was the paired one so we did not finish due some team related reasons. I do not think we even posted a WIP.

Can I reuse concept and code? it would fit in pretty well with both red and black.
I know some contests prohibit this, but I did not spot it in the rules this time around.

Of course I would only take the parts that were made by myself.

edit: Did post a few wips apparently. Though mostly code x)

 

[Patcharoo]

Might toss my hat in if I get any good ideas.

 

[MyPad]

First WIP:

Just starting out with the basic worker and town hall, and here's the image (I think it's starting to lean towards a White+Green combo)

The Peon unit (Orduon) will heal any unit it attacks (including enemies) for 100% of its incoming damage. It's attack type is Chaos, but it doesn't really matter anyway. Aside from that, to aid in survival, the Orduon can Phase-shift out of existence.

 

[Heinvers]

@Bannar

 

[The_Silent]

I assume any resources custom made by the participants are allowed? Models, skins, etc.?

 

[Wazzz]

@MyPad unfortunately it was specified in the rules that mixing and matching aren't allowed within the rules, but I think yours should be fine to fit into one of the categories and sounds interesting so far, good luck

@The_Silent they certainly have been in past, I think it would be the same here

 

[Spellbound]

I was working on another tech tree in the last contest I believe. It was the paired one so we did not finish due some team related reasons. I do not think we even posted a WIP.

Can I reuse concept and code? it would fit in pretty well with both red and black.
I know some contests prohibit this, but I did not spot it in the rules this time around.

Of course I would only take the parts that were made by myself.

edit: Did post a few wips apparently. Though mostly code x)

In the interest of having more participation (and more importantly, more finished work), I'm very tempted to say yes to this. I think a case can be made about re-using old code that's not strictly systems, so yeah, not everything your faction has must be brand-new. I think the only exception here is that if you were to re-use an asset from a previous techtree contest submission (code being the exception, as it's backend stuff), you should probably modify it to some extent so that it's not a 1:1 re-use. Otherwise I think you should be good. I'll think the rules need to be updated to reflect this.

@The_Silent
Yeah, resources made for the contest are good.

 

[Chaosy]

It is mostly backend stuff.

In fact it is almost exclusively systems.
If my old notes are up to date I only made 5~ spells.

I have a few hundred lines of object editor generation though x)
Most likely my submission will be the easiest to transfer to other maps thanks to it, needless to say I am not too eager undo this.

I'll go ahead and tinker a bit. See if I can make it work with the red color.

 

[Leods]

Feel free to use it.

Thanks. I will continue in a few hours. Is have all the techtree now, in my mind, and some of the code.

Just starting out with the basic worker and town hall, and here's the image (I think it's starting to lean towards a White+Green combo)

Looks great! I think it looks better as green, but it's your choice.

Edit: I was looking to the participants table, and, in my name, says "red colour" Actually, I am doing a black techtree.
I don't know if it is necessary to change it, but I don't want to lose punctuation due to a confusion of color.

 

[Wazzz]

Oh nice, just saw the participants tables and that I'm put down as Black.
That's just as well, since that's the one I've more or less decided to go with

 

[Bannar]

@Bannar

What's up?

 

[Heinvers]

Hey. Wanna participate? :]

 

[MyPad]

Second WIP:

Introducing two units (Arbiter and Glaive-bearer). (Tier one units with Tier three spells)

Arbiter: A light unit that deals minor damage. Physical resistance grows exponentially, and attack speed increases exponentially. Has Purity Field, which dispels magical buffs from enemies, granting 0.5 hit point regen per buff, which lasts for 10 seconds.

Glaive-bearer: A light ranged unit, particularly with a deadly glaive of oppression. If left alone, they can turn your tank into mincemeat, but they are especially fragile. Has Glaive Fragment, which applies a mark onto a target unit. If the target unit sustains 5 marks, the target receives damage based on his health pool (3% of maximum health for units, and 1.5% of current health for Heroes). The damage applied is pure (ignores almost all reductions and amplifications).

A gif shows what the Glaive-bearers are truly capable of:
(In the gif, the Glaive Fragment spell was modified to deal 15% of maximum health as damage for units)

Spoiler: GIF

 

[The_Spellweaver]

Hi, I'm working on a concept and am so excited for this!

My chosen color is Blue.

I'm not an avid mtg player but it gave me lots of ideas. I don't really mind about place, just wanna make something wild.
@Storm Knight is in it as well.

Can you add the row to the table please? xd

 

[Yours Truly]

WIPs looking good so far. Here's my first one. The first hero is a caster and the other one is a tanky fighter. Icons below their models are their spells.

Hidden

 

[Wazzz]

So far the WIPs are looking pretty interesting, I'm curious to see how everybody progresses.

Here's a pretty early WIP from me, too. I've decided to go with my initial idea of following the Black Sphere with a Bandit Faction.

So far the units implemented are the Villager as the Worker, the Bandit as the basic melee and the Brigand as the basic ranged.

While what I am developing so far could certainly be considered a more traditional lineup for an additional faction, I am primarily hoping to have a lot of fun with the concept itself and am exploring new avenues for what can be implemented in terms of gameplay and the likes - all while adhering to the philosophy of the selfish ambition that is represented by the Black Sphere.

The Tower, when loaded with Villagers, can shoot multiple targets, an extra target per Villager that enters it.

The Tent is intended to be able to hold one unit at a time, and while holding them, heal them as they rest until they are ready to be redeployed in an Ambush

The Bandit and the Brigand both share a Parry ability, where they enter a defensive mode that enables them an Evasion chance to dodge any attacks at the cost of movement speed. The Brigand can also be upgraded to have an Envenomed Weapons ability.
Both the Bandit and Brigand also share a Hide ability, which can be upgraded to function during the day.

There are other units and the likes that I have in mind for now, but these are the ideas I have either implemented or are in the process of implementing thusfar.

WIP 1

 

[Leods]

Well, all this WIPS look great. Soon, I will post another WIP, with the 9 principal units (exceptly siege and worker units). After that, I will start with the heroes.

and 1.5% of current health for Heroes

Well, there is a really interesting paradox about that. If you use the current life, without any minimal damage, the Hero will never die. Also, the damage will be
minor, and minor, decreasing infinitely, but never reaching 0. The paradox is named as "Achilles and the turtle".

 

[MyPad]

Well, there is a really interesting paradox about that. If you use the current life, without any minimal damage, the Hero will never die. Also, the damage will be
minor, and minor, decreasing infinitely, but never reaching 0. The paradox is named as "Achilles and the turtle".

I believe it also goes by another name, "Zeno's Paradox".

The current health percentage is mostly for balancing purposes, with units receiving damage based on their max HP.

Edit:

Oh, another thing I'll include is an ultimate spell (just a concept for now).

Requiem of Souls - No, not the Dota variant. The ability will record the history of the area around the caster. After 4 seconds, any allied unit that died within range of the spell during that time (and had not been removed yet) will be revived, slowly returning towards their initial position, and their initial health. (With animation speed inverted). If the caster dies while the second phase is ongoing, the revival will be undone, and the revived units will die again.

 

[Astaroth Zion]

I am an avid MTG player, I will gladly follow this contest, cheers to all the contestants. I am eager to see, test and enjoy your submissions.

 

[Yours Truly]

Not exactly a WIP, but I need your opinions. Which building type fits better for a lizardman race? Draenei or Naga?