Techtree Contest #16 - Poll

[Vinz]

>> Download All Entries! <<

Contestants were to create a Techtree themed around Faith. Interpretations were encouraged to get creative and think outside the box.

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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 of 5%.
• Participating in the poll will not prevent disqualification.
• Judges are not allowed to vote.

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

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

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

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• @Kam
• @Wazzz

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Contestant	Entry
@Spellbound	Cult of the Maw
@Riki	Dancing Skull Tribe
@Xelos	Leoric's Almighty Cult of Corruption
@xISLx	Shadow Covenant
@Footman16	The Runic Clans
@bruunk	Wolves of Winter

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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.	/25
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.	/30
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.	/45
		/100

Results calculation

• Judgement: 70%
• Poll: 30%

FinalScore = (30*Reached_Votes/POSSIBLE_VOTES) + (70*Average_Judge_Score/POSSIBLE_SCORE)

​

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The poll shall conclude on 14th of January 2021.

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Assigned Staff: @Mythic

Contest | Results

 

[Kyrbi0]

That was quick. And I totally forgot the Criteria were changed; that's nice. : )

It's gonna take a lot of self-control not to automatically vote for the Troll submission, you guys...

 

[Riki]

It's gonna take a lot of self-control not to automatically vote for the Troll submission, you guys...

Resisting the temptation huh?

It's a real shame that I couldn't play the other entries.

 

[MogulKahn]

2 really strong entries. Good luck, guys.

 

[Footman16]

2 really strong entries. Good luck, guys.

6 really strong entries

I've given all of them a play through and if I have time might write a review for them all, but for now I think I can predict which one will come first and second. If I'm wrong you can colour me surprised.

Either way, good luck to all the contestants, we've got a good line up with a lot of cool mechanics and ideas.

 

[MyPad]

Sorry, I was unable to finish due to a lot of life-changing events happening during this time. Anywho, my vote might go to Footman16's The Runic Clans.

 

[Yours Truly]

My vote goes to @Footman16 .Good luck everyone

 

[Wazzz]

I am in the process of developing a significant grudge against the contestants for this contest. I'm supposed to try and pick a winner out of these entries? They're all so good, you're making my job hard god damn it

 

[Kyrbi0]

I am in the process of developing a significant grudge against the contestants for this contest. I'm supposed to try and pick a winner out of these entries? They're all so good, you're making my job hard god damn it

That's the nice part about having strictly-defined & quantized Criteria; you don't have to decide the winner. You just have to grade them all according to the Criteria & let the chips fall where they may. ; )

(but yeah it can be pretty hard, even with my proposition of Judgement Via Rankings)

 

[MyPad]

Currently played a couple of games with the Dancing Skull Tribe. I'm not that good in melee gameplay,
so take my review with a grain of salt.

Spoiler: Theme

Right off the bat, the faction definitely screams the Dancing Skull Tribe. The tribal ambiance permeating across the battlefield makes them appear a lot more menacing than what they actually are. The instruments used for the custom music definitely helps build off a feeling of authenticity. A troll blood bath that also respects the importance of life is what I'm getting from this faction.

Spoiler: Balance

Manticores rock as a heavy air unit. Coupled with the right loa worship combinations, manticores may be the only unit you'll ever need (They'll keep moving forward until all their enemies are destroyed). The bat units are very helpful in mini-stunning enemy air units, especially the Night Elf Chimaera. As a whole, the air units provided complement the magic weakness the ground units appear to have. I cannot state anything more, as I would have to try playing the faction again to master its' intricacies.

Spoiler: Models

The Dancing Skull Tribe definitely looks pleasing to the eye. Of course, there are certain structures which do not have a proper birth animation (construction-wise). The unit models are commendable to say the least.

Spoiler: Miscellaneous

I really appreciate the QWER scheme that's going on with the faction. It makes selection a lot easier.

I plan on playing other factions and I might post a review on them as well.

 

[Riki]

Currently played a couple of games with the Dancing Skull Tribe. I'm not that good in melee gameplay,
so take my review with a grain of salt.

Spoiler: Theme

Right off the bat, the faction definitely screams the Dancing Skull Tribe. The tribal ambiance permeating across the battlefield makes them appear a lot more menacing than what they actually are. The instruments used for the custom music definitely helps build off a feeling of authenticity. A troll blood bath that also respects the importance of life is what I'm getting from this faction.

Spoiler: Balance

Manticores rock as a heavy air unit. Coupled with the right loa worship combinations, manticores may be the only unit you'll ever need (They'll keep moving forward until all their enemies are destroyed). The bat units are very helpful in mini-stunning enemy air units, especially the Night Elf Chimaera. As a whole, the air units provided complement the magic weakness the ground units appear to have. I cannot state anything more, as I would have to try playing the faction again to master its' intricacies.

Spoiler: Models

The Dancing Skull Tribe definitely looks pleasing to the eye. Of course, there are certain structures which do not have a proper birth animation (construction-wise). The unit models are commendable to say the least.

Spoiler: Miscellaneous

I really appreciate the QWER scheme that's going on with the faction. It makes selection a lot easier.

I plan on playing other factions and I might post a review on them as well.

Thanks for the review, I appreciate it.

 

[Footman16]

Maybe the mods should post on the discord about the poll ending soon to give any more people a chance to play and vote before it finishes

I'd also like to thank everyone who has and may yet vote, it really helps to remind us of the community spirit we have here at hive and to inspire other people to take part in the future.

 

[MyPad]

Releasing my review for Leoric's Cult of Almighty Corruption. (I played a few games here and there, hardly ever finished them though.) These games were played in the pre-reforged or preforged version (v.1.31)

Spoiler: Theme

The faction comes off as a coalition of undead and demonic beings subjugated by Leoric, rather than creatures willingly following him. This rather .. loose interpretation of faith in Leoric is construed as an interesting take on the matter at hand. Loathsome Lovecraftian structures, as well as menacing, Stephenian, ghoulish creatures tell you that Leoric is not one to be understood or rationalized. Rather, they tell you very well of the horror of the unknown, the inevitability of corruption within oneself, the hatred of life, which can also be experienced through the death metal song that plays.

Spoiler: Balance

Coffin structures (the farm equivalent) give way too low food resources for its cost and build time at its base form. They require a lot of work for a less than mediocre payoff. Similarly, the hitpoints of the tier 1 units feel underwhelming. Leoric himself appears to be a glorified unit; two of his spells require something from the coffin structures to work, and do not appear to be useful in the battlefield. The same two spells appear to be based on the same custom ability, with both proccing even if you cast one or the other.

It is rather odd that one of the Tier 2 structures, an ancient-based attacking building, has the move, stop, and the hold position ability (though I am not quite sure about this).

Unfortunately, I was not able to properly expand onto Tier 2 & 3 units, so I cannot provide a meaningful critique on them.

Spoiler: Models

Unit models (at least for Tier 1) do not mesh satisfactorily; there might be some confusion between certain tier 1 units. The structures themselves look rather impressive, brandishing an image as the embodiment of corruption.

Spoiler: Preforged Exclusive Gameplay

The hotkeys are not provided, leaving the player with no clue as to what key to use, resulting in a reliance on hovering and clicking. This becomes a major inconvenience before one realizes that the hotkeys are likely based on the human race. Even then, it might still remain an inconvenience to those players. Human race mains are less likely to be disoriented from the hotkey configuration upon this realization.

Spoiler: Nitpicking

Tooltips really need to be improved upon. There isn't enough flair in them to immediately capture the attention of the player. Tooltips generally follow this format: | cxxxxxxxx<insert text here>|r. The x's represent the following in order: aarrggbb, where

• a -> alpha
• r -> red
• g -> green
• b -> blue

With a bit more work, this would've been a rather solid entry to the previous contest, given that the Commander mechanic is rathe.

 

[Xelos]

Releasing my review for Leoric's Cult of Almighty Corruption. (I played a few games here and there, hardly ever finished them though.) These games were played in the pre-reforged or preforged version (v.1.31)

Spoiler: Theme

The faction comes off as a coalition of undead and demonic beings subjugated by Leoric, rather than creatures willingly following him. This rather .. loose interpretation of faith in Leoric is construed as an interesting take on the matter at hand. Loathsome Lovecraftian structures, as well as menacing, Stephenian, ghoulish creatures tell you that Leoric is not one to be understood or rationalized. Rather, they tell you very well of the horror of the unknown, the inevitability of corruption within oneself, the hatred of life, which can also be experienced through the death metal song that plays.

Spoiler: Balance

Coffin structures (the farm equivalent) give way too low food resources for its cost and build time at its base form. They require a lot of work for a less than mediocre payoff. Similarly, the hitpoints of the tier 1 units feel underwhelming. Leoric himself appears to be a glorified unit; two of his spells require something from the coffin structures to work, and do not appear to be useful in the battlefield. The same two spells appear to be based on the same custom ability, with both proccing even if you cast one or the other.

It is rather odd that one of the Tier 2 structures, an ancient-based attacking building, has the move, stop, and the hold position ability (though I am not quite sure about this).

Unfortunately, I was not able to properly expand onto Tier 2 & 3 units, so I cannot provide a meaningful critique on them.

Spoiler: Models

Unit models (at least for Tier 1) do not mesh satisfactorily; there might be some confusion between certain tier 1 units. The structures themselves look rather impressive, brandishing an image as the embodiment of corruption.

Spoiler: Preforged Exclusive Gameplay

The hotkeys are not provided, leaving the player with no clue as to what key to use, resulting in a reliance on hovering and clicking. This becomes a major inconvenience before one realizes that the hotkeys are likely based on the human race. Even then, it might still remain an inconvenience to those players. Human race mains are less likely to be disoriented from the hotkey configuration upon this realization.

Spoiler: Nitpicking

Tooltips really need to be improved upon. There isn't enough flair in them to immediately capture the attention of the player. Tooltips generally follow this format: | cxxxxxxxx<insert text here>|r. The x's represent the following in order: aarrggbb, where

• a -> alpha
• r -> red
• g -> green
• b -> blue

With a bit more work, this would've been a rather solid entry to the previous contest, given that the Commander mechanic is rathe.

thanks for your feedback

 

[Footman16]

So what's the ETA for the results of this contest now that the poll has finished and the contest has been finished since December?

I'm eager to see what the Judge's thought of every entry.

 

[Vinz]

@Wazzz

 

[Wazzz]

Sorry for the delay. I'm just running my results by Mythic now, so it shouldn't be too long now unless there's something wrong with them, at least from my end.
I wouldn't be surprised if Kam already did his judgments quite a bit earlier than I did tbh lol.

 

[Vinz]

Techtree Contest #16 - Results

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