Techtree Contest #18 - Theme Discussion

[Riki]

Now that the Techtree Contest #17 is over, let's discuss what the theme for the next one will be.

So far, here are a few themes that could be used, but feel free to suggest more ideas. Another possibility could be to reuse a theme from a previous contest if most of you are confortably with that (some of the old themes are really nice and may have a new chance).

IDEAS FOR THE CONTEST:

• Seven Deadly Sins: Base your faction on one or more deadly sin.
• Elemental: A faction based on elementals or elements. The choice is yours.
• Forced Conglomerate: A recycled idea. Making a faction by merging two factions/sub-factions.
• MtG Color Pairs: Create a faction using 2 colors from MtG.

 

[Wazzz]

Right off the bat, seeing the "Elemental" idea feels like there's a lot of potential there. It's concise enough to give an idea of where contestants will need to work, but broad enough to give a lot of creative freedom. Partly reminds me of the MtG color theme in that contestants could really strive to design a techtree that plays to an archetype of Fire, for example.

 

[Kyrbi0]

Speaking of, may I kindly suggest putting MtG Color Pairs back on the list as well? Specifically the Ten 2-Color Pairs (the "guilds" as they are known in MtG), as that is one of the more exciting ways of interacting with the Color Pie. : )

 

[Riki]

Speaking of, may I kindly suggest putting MtG Color Pairs back on the list as well? Specifically the Ten 2-Color Pairs (the "guilds" as they are known in MtG), as that is one of the more exciting ways of interacting with the Color Pie. : )

Sounds good to me. A creative way to re-explore a previous theme.

Added to the list.

 

[Riki]

@Spellbound @Daffa @SgtWinter @WinterSnow @ISL @Leods @Ceterai @Footman16 @Xelos @MyPad @WolfFarkas (I know some are missing, but is hard to remember all of you )

Alright guys, I know you are some potential participants, so what do you think about the ideas here? Or if you want we can go directly to a poll with the ideas we have.

 

[Daffa]

• Seven Deadly Sins: Base your faction on one or more deadly sin.
• Elemental: A faction based on elementals or elements. The choice is yours.
• Forced Conglomerate: A recycled idea. Making a faction by merging two factions/sub-factions.
• MtG Color Pairs: Create a faction using 2 colors from MtG.

I would vote for SDS or Elemental, but my allotted time is small so I cannot be sure to even mod at all.

 

[Spellbound]

I don't have time to participate.

As for interesting themes, pretty much what Wazzz said about Elements. It would be a lot more fun if contestants made something around an element rather than having a fire elemental build that builds a fire elemental temple that trains a fire elemental soldier, etc.

MtG mana pairing would also work in that way but runs the risk of making things less focused or sort of just have a mix of two different things rather than having a thematic merge. (eg Black/Green - "Here's my plant faction but also, there are vampires for some reason," as opposed to something like the Golgari Swarm.)

Basically, Elemental is easier to approach than MtG Colour Pairs.

 

[Kyrbi0]

MtG mana pairing would also work in that way but runs the risk of making things less focused or sort of just have a mix of two different things rather than having a thematic merge. (eg Black/Green - "Here's my plant faction but also, there are vampires for some reason," as opposed to something like the Golgari Swarm.)

I mean sure, but that's A) part of the fun, but more importantly B) part of the Criteria for what makes the Best entry.

Wherever "Contest Theme Adherence" is in the Criteria nowadays, the idea is that the more well-crafted, nuanced & well-designed Techtree would win. So a faction of "plants but also zombies" should do worse than "actually thoughtfully-combined Green & Black faction" ala Golgari Swarm.

We don't want to stop people from entering in ""lesser"" submissions, just have well-thought-out Criteria that winnows out the best from among them. : )

 

[Spellbound]

Then we are in agreement?

 

[Footman16]

Now that I have returned to Campaign making, I fear I won't have time to participate in a tech-tree contest; therefore I wouldn't want to put my vote behind a theme potentially forcing it on others.

 

[WinterSnow]

Making races based off of MTG mana colours is a brilliant idea. I feel there's more potential for fleshed out races there than with the forced conglomerate suggestion because there is just so much there to draw from. You could even tie in the elemental idea in there.

 

[Kyrbi0]

Making races based off of MTG mana colours is a brilliant idea. I feel there's more potential for fleshed out races there than with the forced conglomerate suggestion because there is just so much there to draw from. You could even tie in the elemental idea in there.

Yeah, I'm biased because I'm a mega MTG fan & I'm not even competing in these really much anymore, but I think MtG Color Pie is a nearly endless well of good ideas.

 

[ISL]

@Spellbound @Daffa @SgtWinter @WinterSnow @ISL @Leods @Ceterai @Footman16 @Xelos @MyPad @WolfFarkas (I know some are missing, but is hard to remember all of you )

Alright guys, I know you are some potential participants, so what do you think about the ideas here? Or if you want we can go directly to a poll with the ideas we have.

Roughly 20 days late, but I am voting for either Sins or Elements. They both seem like interesting and cohesive themes.

On the other hand...
I don't know much about MtG colors, so it could be an interesting new theme to explore

 

[Riki]

Let's see guys, it's been 1 month since this thread started. It seems that many of us are busy and have no time to participate (and I will not participate this time).

If you think so, can we delay the discussion a bit until everyone has a little more time, or could we go on to the poll to at least decide the Theme that we will finally use?

 

[Wazzz]

I'm thinking it looks like Elements may be the best bet for the next theme. MtG colors has been done as a theme before, but could make another appearance at some point since there does seem to be a degree of popular demand for it.

But the theme discussion itself does seem to have been a bit dead on arrival, there's a lot less activity than there has been in past, so I would be interested to see if there's potential for some new blood in the contests, or if we just need to wait a while longer.

 

[Riki]

As we are approaching December we should start this soon.

I am a bit surprised by how little activity there has been in this discussion thread, but knowing that techtree contests attract a lot of attention once they are launched, I hope everything goes well.

It seems that the discussion of the theme is mainly between Elemental and MtG colors. How about we go to a poll to finally make this decision?

 

[Wazzz]

Might as well take it to a poll, I think we've gotten about as much discussion on this as we're going to get for now.

 

[Riki]

Here we go: Techtree Contest #18 - Theme Poll

I will close this discussion.