Techtree Contest #17 - Swarm

[Wazzz]

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

• Entries that play well in the melee format will score higher than entries that do not.
• Entries that touch upon real world religions or faiths are to be respectful towards such religions, without inhibiting creative flow. Keep it civil.
• Your faction has no prerequisites for how many structures, heroes or units it must contain at a minimum or maximum.
• Submissions must specify whether they are intended for HD or SD.

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• Submissions must follow the Map Submission Rules.
• Submissions may not begin development before the contest start date.
• You must download the provided template map, make the edits, and resubmit it as entry.
• Post at least 2 media (images or videos) of your workflow Works in Progress before the deadline.
• The map must be playable in battle net. (current max map size is 256MB, for example)
• Using imports is allowed as long as it follows Resource Submission Rules (Models, skins, icons, spells).
• The submission must be unprotected so that it's openable via the normal WorldEditor.
• Teamwork is not allowed.
  
  • Testing and feedback aren't considered teamwork, and are allowed.
• Upload your final entry to the Map Resource Section, and indicate that it's an Entry for the 17th Techtree Contest. Link to your bundle in the contest thread.

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: 15 reputation points
• Judge: 15 reputation points

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

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• @Kam
• @Wazzz

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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

Results Calculation

• Judgement: 70%
• Poll: 30%

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

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The contest shall begin on 7th of February 2021 and conclude on 21st of April 2021 GMT (day is included).


Assigned Staff: Heinvers

Previous Contest | Poll | Results

 

[SgtWinter]

damn, that was quick

 

[Footman16]

Hmmm, swarm isn't exactly a theme I'm particularly keen on, and I've got other Warcraft 3 modding I'm doing atm. Not to mention Feb to April is a busy time of year for me sooo... we'll see if I'm able to join.

 

[Riki]

I would like to say that I will join this one, but I am not sure I can as I have other things to do right now.

If I come up with some ideas soon, I might join.

 

[Wazzz]

Date may be susceptible to change, and it seems that Mythic may not be moderating this contest, so we'll need to find out who will.

 

[WolfFarkas]

�

Contestants	Progress	Entry
@SgtWinter	1 | 2	Nisharus' Brood
@Footman16	1 | 2	Name
@Riki	1 | 2	Heralds of Oblivion
@Alexen	1 | 2	Name
@7oda	1 | 2	Name
@Leods	1 | 2	Corrupters
@MyPad	1 | 2	Extremodroids
@WinterSnow	1 | 2	Ratfolk
@Ceterai	1 | 2	Manapure
User	1 | 2	Name

message

mmemm @Wazzz probably you already know but, just in case wich melee map is gonna to be used?.

 

[Wazzz]

Oh yeah, a map. That should probably be chosen at some point.

Yeah, we'll probably go with another 1v1 map, I'm happy to see what suggestions there are for the template in this contest - ideally it should be one people have access to across multiple versions.

Also I hear that @Archian is handling things on the contest area at the moment? I hope that's accurate, otherwise sorry for the tag lol

 

[Footman16]

Oh yeah, a map. That should probably be chosen at some point.

Yeah, we'll probably go with another 1v1 map, I'm happy to see what suggestions there are for the template in this contest - ideally it should be one people have access to across multiple versions.

Also I hear that @Archian is handling things on the contest area at the moment? I hope that's accurate, otherwise sorry for the tag lol

Booty Bay, just kidding, I think most 1v1 maps will be suitable

Also since there's no minimum requirements I will submit my custom techtree with a total of 0 buildings and 0 units. Consider this post my final entry

Just kidding but you might want to add just the bare minimum in terms of structure's units like 2 structures and 4 units and 1 hero minimum at least.

 

[WolfFarkas]

Oh yeah, a map. That should probably be chosen at some point.

Yeah, we'll probably go with another 1v1 map, I'm happy to see what suggestions there are for the template in this contest - ideally it should be one people have access to across multiple versions.

Also I hear that @Archian is handling things on the contest area at the moment? I hope that's accurate, otherwise sorry for the tag lol

has to be a ladder map or a comunity map can also apply?
in case of comunity maps I was thinking this, was used in cups and leagues.

Crystal Kingdom - Liquipedia Warcraft Wiki
Crystal Kingdom

or this, was used in a finale of a cup

Irresistible Mind
Irresistible Mind - Liquipedia Warcraft Wiki

both are 1.24-1.28 so it can be opened in 1.29 1.31 1.32 ....

 

[Kyrbi0]

Wow that was quick. How was the Theme chosen; second-most popular from the last Poll?

 

[Wazzz]

The reason there are no minimum requirements put in is because someone might want to try a race with 0 units, and only buildings. A challenging notion, no doubt, but impossible to allow if there's a minimum requirement on units. The same could be said on the inverse, should a contestant want to do a nomadic faction that doesn't implement buildings, but instead utilizes units. There is also, of course, the possibility of somebody actually pulling off an entry that successfully circumvents the use of heroes completely.

If a contestant does, of course, want to put in an entry that has nothing at all, they are welcome to do that. They will, of course, receive 0 in all areas.

As for the map, community maps can be applied - in fact, I believe the last one we used was from a previous terraining contest if I'm not mistaken. We considered looking at more recent contests, but found there could be issues with version conflicts, which isn't good for equity as not all contestants run the same version.

Also, I should reiterate, the date is a placeholder. If this doesn't get approved by a moderator then it's probably just not official tbh.

 

[Archian]

Also I hear that @Archian is handling things on the contest area at the moment?

Not at the moment, no.

 

[Wazzz]

Ah, I heard wrong then I think. Apparently Mythic isn't doing it at the moment, so I'm not sure who is.

 

[WolfFarkas]

Not at the moment, no.

Ah, I heard wrong then I think. Apparently Mythic isn't doing it at the moment, so I'm not sure who is.

my bad I assumed wrong from the texturing topic. my apology to both of you

I was looking that Naze retired (he got the formerly staff badge)
but @Heinvers still holds the charge of arena mod. His last login was in 15 jan
thats the only staff, that I am aware we can write now.

 

[Heinvers]

I trust that everything will go smooth as a baby's butt. Contest approved. Good luck!

 

[Wazzz]

Nice, thanks

I'll change the date a bit to reflect when it got approved, so people aren't cheated out of a few days.

 

[Heinvers]

Notice added.

 

[Deleted member 247165]

Count me in. The leader of the Swarm will bring forth the ultimate army!

 

[Riki]

I'm in again.

I'll reuse most of the aesthetics (models and textures) from my old incomplete entry for the 12th Contest, and completely redesign the mechanics to fit this new theme.

There should be no troubles with that, right? Since I abandoned that entry a long time ago and finally ended up deleting it, so I'll just reuse the aesthetics.

 

[7oda]

Exciting to see people's works! Might try my luck for the first time

 

[Leods]

(Here it is! The newbie that no one wants, but is always there!)
When you say "Swarm", you mean neccesarily the starcraft one, or any kind of "insectish" thing? In that second case, would per example a tech tree of qirajis or old gods stuff be allowed?
I am kinda busy anyway, but maybe I could try a small thing *so I don't overload myself again and drop in the middle*

 

[Riki]

(Here it is! The newbie that no one wants, but is always there!)
When you say "Swarm", you mean neccesarily the starcraft one, or any kind of "insectish" thing? In that second case, would per example a tech tree of qirajis or old gods stuff be allowed?
I am kinda busy anyway, but maybe I could try a small thing *so I don't overload myself again and drop in the middle*

I think it would not necessarily be related to Starcraft or insects. I'll try with an entry related to undead (spirits, skeletons...).

However, I would also like a more detailed explanation on this to be sure I am getting the theme right.

 

[Wazzz]

I'm in again.

I'll reuse most of the aesthetics (models and textures) from my old incomplete entry for the 12th Contest, and completely redesign the mechanics to fit this new theme.

There should be no troubles with that, right? Since I abandoned that entry a long time ago and finally ended up deleting it, so I'll just reuse the aesthetics.

As long as the entry itself is made within the time of the contest, it should be fine. Collected resources and concepts is generally accepted, as we often have ideas we wanted to explore in past, and take the contest as an opportunity to take a proper stab at them.

In relation to the theme, the theme is just the word "Swarm". You are free to interpret that in whatever way you wish, so long as the theme is made apparent in one way or another. It's as open to interpretation as possible, so I'll be curious to see what people come up with.

 

[WolfFarkas]

As long as the entry itself is made within the time of the contest, it should be fine. Collected resources and concepts is generally accepted, as we often have ideas we wanted to explore in past, and take the contest as an opportunity to take a proper stab at them.

In relation to the theme, the theme is just the word "Swarm". You are free to interpret that in whatever way you wish, so long as the theme is made apparent in one way or another. It's as open to interpretation as possible, so I'll be curious to see what people come up with.

nagas, nerubians, zergs. are good options.

by the way have you defined the map or you want us to post here more maps sugestions?

well just in case, here I searched for some more.

Pirate Cove
this is from Wtii an experienced WC3 player.

Deserted Isles 3.2b
this is from Kaer, winner of the last melee contest.

(2) Mercenary Retreat
this is from mafe, map reviewer and winner of many melee contest

Silverwind Clearing
this is from Mr.henci, winner of many contest, and he has 1 map in ladder.

all 4 in 1.24 1.28

 

[Wazzz]

I haven't yet, so these look like good options

Let's go with Pirate Cove, we can probably use the others for future contests

 

[MyPad]

A swarm-themed contest, you say? Though rather broad, I look forward to participating when I am able to do so.
I'll reuse some of the models in the previous contest, though I'm going for (semi)-sentient droids as a whole.

 

[SgtWinter]

Shalt participate with a buncha spider bois. For once the Underground tileset will fit in nicely.

 

[Wazzz]

"For once"

Such an irrational hatred of the Underground tileset lol, I'm beginning to wonder why you don't just import custom terrain textures to overwrite it all.

Although it has recently been pointed out to me how abysmally terrible the terrain on that map is, so I'll be changing the contest map to (2)SecretValley.

 

[MyPad]

As a callback to my previous entry, I'm going with the Extremodroids, a race of (possibly semi) sentient droids, originally burdened with overpopulation due to their uncontrollable auto-biological structure that forces them to duplicate. As a result, they must conquer worlds in over to dispose of their duplicates.

Spoiler: Units and Structures so far

Left-to-right:

Buildings: Robotics Plant, Acquisition Crystal, Archon Nexus
Units:

(Ground) -> Droid Worker, Colony Surveyor, Mechacycle
(Air) -> Avianoid Bot​

 

[WolfFarkas]

Techtree Contest #17 - Swarm

8 participants already!!

I was thinking a "participant table" in the first page would be helpfull, when you know, wips start to bombard the thread as is ment to.


@MyPad
your entry remembers me the swarm machines of matrix 3

machines

 

[7oda]

I was thinking about a murloc/murgul race following some kind of a sea entity inspired from the orc campaign

 

[WolfFarkas]

I was thinking about a murloc/murgul race following some kind of a sea entity inspired from the orc campaign

clever idea, If I remember well, there are interesting murgul models,
I remember some sort of murgul above a tortoise.

WIP 1 : Faction name: Dark Ents of Felwood

for the altar, I am using this model.
Eldritch Covenant

First I was going to do something demoniac with the chaos buildings.
Then I got inspired by Wazz idea , of no buildings, nomadic race.
so I changed to the corrupted buildings, + some models.

So you only build 2 buildings,
Main hall (can be mobile)
, altar, only no mobile

tower farm (spawns as mobile and you root it in the ground
2 research buildings spawn as mobile, but reserch needs to be rooted in the ground
the rest is all mobile.

There will be 3 heroes (deamons + easy to recognice) and 8 units (not counting buildings yet)
1 T1 melee that evoles to T2 and T3 the felbeast
the t1 melee will cost 1 food and will honour the swarm idea, it will have spell inmunity,
the t2 will loose the spell inmunity in exchange of a skill. and the t3 will cost a lot of food so is to have them in small numbers.
1 T1 ranged is a treant
1 T2 siege is a small ancient
2 T2 spell caster, dark draenei, ideal to recognice the spell casters
1 T2 air that will have a swich form, air treant, more swarm
1 T3 air, a big unknow flying monstrosity
1 T3 land Ranged a big, garuda, dont know looks cool.

 

[SgtWinter]

Australian wildlife do be kinda wack tho

 

[7oda]

In progress!

 

[Kyrbi0]

I'm in again.

I'll reuse most of the aesthetics (models and textures) from my old incomplete entry for the 12th Contest, and completely redesign the mechanics to fit this new theme.

There should be no troubles with that, right? Since I abandoned that entry a long time ago and finally ended up deleting it, so I'll just reuse the aesthetics.

As far as I'm aware, the only issue with "reusing stuff" has to do with the primary concern of the Contest; in this case, the actual Techtree design, as implemented in the World Editor.

So yeah, you should be good.

 

[WolfFarkas]

That sad moment when there is no icon for that great model.
that sad moment when there is no score screen.blp in that awsome icon rar.

any way , I got all the units models. and regarding buildings.

-main hall tier 1-2-3 NE stuff
-you build altar
-you spawn the primal ancient, wich spawns more ancients.
-there will be 2 reasearch ents
-1 war ancient for the units
-1 for spell casters
-1 for air units.
-1 an ancient of the elements wich will be unique limited to 1, to the option of cast different auras, with click and change aura.
-1 ancient of the storm wich will do some crayzynes with chain of ligthining, each time casted, will improve the number of targets it can get.
-void sphere carrier wich will have a suport role for healing and mana.
-towers will act as farms and they can produce more walking and cheaper farms
-1 ancient to haverst wood faster.

 

[Footman16]

That sad moment when there is no icon for that great model.
that sad moment when there is no score screen.blp in that awsome icon rar.

View attachment 373360

any way , I got all the units models. and regarding buildings.

-main hall tier 1-2-3 NE stuff
-you build altar
-you spawn the primal ancient, wich spawns more ancients.
-there will be 2 reasearch ents
-1 war ancient for the units
-1 for spell casters
-1 for air units.
-1 an ancient of the elements wich will be unique limited to 1, to the option of cast different auras, with click and change aura.
-1 ancient of the storm wich will do some crayzynes with chain of ligthining, each time casted, will improve the number of targets it can get.
-void sphere carrier wich will have a suport role for healing and mana.
-towers will act as farms and they can produce more walking and cheaper farms
-1 ancient to haverst wood faster.

If you link me the models I can make those icons for you if you want, fair warning they will just be Screenshot icons with some slight edits, nothing too fancy. Let me know

 

[WolfFarkas]

If you link me the models I can make those icons for you if you want, fair warning they will just be Screenshot icons with some slight edits, nothing too fancy. Let me know

thanks but, it would be unfair to put you work for me, specially when:
I also know how to create icons, I used to do saint seiya icons
with photoshop, create big square screens, resize to 64x64, and save them as tga.

also with a bit of search here and there I can sort it out,
I had to use a couple of substandard icons. because corrupted ancients (many models, very few icons)

 

[Riki]

I like the WIPs so far. Here's mine:

Spoiler: WIP

 

[Leods]

All WIPS are looking great, guys
I guess i should send a wip son, I just don't have all the models yet. Instead, I have the wood extraction system, and one of two (the less useful one) gold extraction systems. Inspired by the no building stuff, there will be absolutely no buildings on the techtree. You start with two corruptors (allows to corrupt zones to extract lumber and automatically create the basic insect) and the Overlord, a unique unit that can upgrade itself and works as a sort of main building. You can only have one overlord, and, if it dies, you lose the game, so you must protect it as much as you can. The overlord can channel a spell for 30 seconds to automatically extract 350 gold from a gold mine, but that system is pretty useless into the late game, and is better in emergencies.
I don't know what to do about heroes yet, but I got some ideas...
Some hours later I will edit this to add some screenshots, so it will be a WIP, I guess

 

[WolfFarkas]

All WIPS are looking great, guys
I guess i should send a wip son, I just don't have all the models yet. Instead, I have the wood extraction system, and one of two (the less useful one) gold extraction systems. Inspired by the no building stuff, there will be absolutely no buildings on the techtree. You start with two corruptors (allows to corrupt zones to extract lumber and automatically create the basic insect) and the Overlord, a unique unit that can upgrade itself and works as a sort of main building. You can only have one overlord, and, if it dies, you lose the game, so you must protect it as much as you can. The overlord can channel a spell for 30 seconds to automatically extract 350 gold from a gold mine, but that system is pretty useless into the late game, and is better in emergencies.
I don't know what to do about heroes yet, but I got some ideas...
Some hours later I will edit this to add some screenshots, so it will be a WIP, I guess

Psss
some function such as research and train heroes only work with buildings.
you can train units from units only using the instant merc. system

or copy paste a a skill like troll berserk, put all the effects on 0
and add a lot of conditions
if 200 gold then add -200 gold, create unit,
if not 200 gold, show message not enough gold, reset ability colddown...

now that I have all the icons, I can start thinking the triggering.

 

[WinterSnow]

Is it too late to sign up for the contest?

 

[WolfFarkas]

Is it too late to sign up for the contest?

late ? this just started the 7, want to participate? welcome aboard!

 

[Leods]

Psss
some function such as research and train heroes only work with buildings.
you can train units from units only using the instant merc. system

or copy paste a a skill like troll berserk, put all the effects on 0
and add a lot of conditions
if 200 gold then add -200 gold, create unit,
if not 200 gold, show message not enough gold, reset ability colddown...

now that I have all the icons, I can start thinking the triggering.

Relax, I already founded that troubles. The basic units are trained like in a mercenary camp (instantly but with a bigger cost and a limited stock), and the heroes may be summoned (that is the trouble, I am not sure how to make them respawn). Most units are summoned or evolved from existing units. For that (and other reason I will reveal later) it's a techtree with a ridiculously great mobility and better than anyone in sorpresive attacks, so I may nerf their stats pretty much.
Anyway, I don't completely discard the chance of something like temporal buildings, idk. Also, we may not forget that the map includes a tavern..

 

[WolfFarkas]

Relax, I already founded that troubles. The basic units are trained like in a mercenary camp (instantly but with a bigger cost and a limited stock), and the heroes may be summoned (thatis the trouble, I am not sure how to make them respawn). Most units are summoned or evolved from existing units. For that (and other reason I will reveal later) it's a techtree with a ridiculously great mobility and better than anyone in sorpresive attacks, so I may nerf their stats pretty much.
Anyway, I don't completely discard the chance of something like temporal buildings, idk. Also, we may not forget that the map includes a tavern..

good to know, on contrary my mobile buildings will be slow as hell.
and some bigger support units will also be slow.

 

[Leods]

How did you even managed to make mobile structures? Yes, the NE buildings can move, but they aren't strictly structures when they do, they have to become inmovible to create units or spawn heroes. Do you have a similar system, or you somehow discovered how to make that work? I know you can give structures a movement speed and they can move, but then the right click just moves the flag, and that is annoying as hell

 

[WolfFarkas]

How did you even managed to make mobile structures? Yes, the NE buildings can move, but they aren't strictly structures when they do, they have to become inmovible to create units or spawn heroes. Do you have a similar system, or you somehow discovered how to make that work? I know you can give structures a movement speed and they can move, but then the right click just moves the flag, and that is annoying as hell

no no, I said "mobile buildings" in a wide way, they will be big units.
well actually some buildings will be spawned as the mobile form and you will have to root them.
( thanks to I choose NE corrupted buildings) (japanese in RA 3 do that)

since you are going with the merc. system, for unit production
I will use the berserk skill method for unit production. (I used that method before)
that way, we will have different methods.

 

[Leods]

Spoiler: WIPS

WIP 1. All resources extraction systems. For lumber, the Corrupters turn a zone around theme into a sort of summoned half building trees (corrupted tree), that every 2 seconds damages itself by 1 and give 1 lumber to you (oh, and they also give you 5 food while alive, probably the best way to get food). For gold, you can choose between channeling for 30 seconds with your overlord to get 350 gold, or to burrow some scarabs (they will be visible for anyone, and pretty vulnerable) near to the goldmine, where they can extract 10 gold every 2 seconds for each.

Also, i got a big trouble in the middle. The gold system works, but not the method that allows you to get the scarabs (and most of your units). I am using the Bear Form spell to turn some units (amalgamations) into eggs (sort of zerg based stuff), that can be upgraded as towers (they count as a structure, i guess). The trouble is simple, the game crushes (without error banner) while morphing. I tried adding a dependency equivalent to both, but then it just crushes when selecting the unit. I tried changing the order, but still. Does anyone know if its possible to morph into a structure? If so, what could be the trouble? If it isn't, i guess i will change the method you morph into the egg.

Also, @WolfFarkas i guess i have to get some clasified buildings g¿for the evolving stuff, but they will have a temporary and out of board use, so hope to not be disssapointing you there...

Edit: I made some tries, apparently h¿the crushing only appears if the building has upgrade options, even more problematic stuff...

 

[TheManiacWalrus]

I would like to participate but i do have a quick question.
When it comes to imported models can you make your own models during the competition.
Or must it be from the hive workshop or something like that?
(looked at the rules but still were uncertain)

 

[WolfFarkas]

I would like to participate but i do have a quick question.
When it comes to imported models can you make your own models during the competition.
Or must it be from the hive workshop or something like that?
(looked at the rules but still were uncertain)

I am not the one to respond that question, but an overall hint is:
dont bother much in models and icons, this contest is all about triggering and units stats.

shure models are important to have a solid theme, and there are tons of models to download and use.
but this is not a modeling contest, and waste (a lot of time) making unique models may be a mistake, (when there is a lot of work to do designing the upgrades, the triggering for skills, units stats, test bugs )