Techtree Contest #19 - Warcraft Commanders

[Spellbound]

Inspired by StarCraft II's coop commanders, create a custom Warcraft III faction centered around a hero or major character from Warcraft lore. Your design should reflect the theme, personality, and abilities of your chosen character, and the faction’s gameplay should feel true to their identity.

NB: In case you are wondering, this theme has been selected before. This is a revisit of a past theme that was popular enough to win again.

• Submissions must follow the contest theme.
• Submissions may not be started / made before the official launch of the contest.
• Teamwork is not allowed (physically working on someone else's entry).
  • Giving feedback isn't considered teamwork and is always welcome. However, if you feel someone is abusing it, you may appeal to the appointed moderator.
• Post 2 Works-In-Progress (pictures or videos) in the contest thread during the contest process. It must be clear that you are working on the submission.
• 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.
• Any map's features except its terrain may be edited. Editing the map's Marketplaces, Item Shops, and Taverns is allowed, too.
• Ideally, prioritise the retail version of Warcraft 3 for your submission, but if you want to work on an older version, this is fine as long as it works on retail.
• Using imports is allowed as long as it follows Resource Submission Rules (Models, skins, icons, spells).
• All submitted entries must use (4)Tanaris.w3x as the test map (see attachments).
• The submission must be posted in the Maps section, before the contest ends.
  • The resource description must make it clear it's a submission from the respective contest.
• 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: UI-Custom Race System by MyPad, How to create Full-working custom race, Guide to make a Race. (Provided by VeljkoM)

• 1st place: 2250 experience points
• 2nd place: 1800 experience points
• 3rd place: 1350 experience points
• Entry: 250 experience points
• Judge: 50 experience points per entrant

The three winners will receive an Award Icon representing the winning entry.​

Winning a contest also unlocks Demon Rank icons (at least two wins is required).​

• @SgtWinter
• @Wa666r
• @Spellbound

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 contest shall begin on the 1st of May 2025 and conclude on the 31st of July 2025 GMT (day is included).

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Assigned Staff: < Staff member >

The Poll | Results

 

[Kyrbi0]

Heck yeah.

 

[FlameofChange]

Oh damnit. I don't know much about the expanded collaborative fanfiction which is the Warcraft Universe.
I'm gonna have to cook something else inspired from it. I don't want people to correct me on lore I am not affectionate with.
But tech tree contests are extremely rare these days.
So assume I'm throwing the coherence out of the window and propose an alternate lore.

 

[Spellbound]

Oh damnit. I don't know much about the expanded collaborative fanfiction which is the Warcraft Universe.
I'm gonna have to cook something else inspired from it. I don't want people to correct me on lore I am not affectionate with.
But tech tree contests are extremely rare these days.
So assume I'm throwing the coherence out of the window and propose an alternate lore.

This will likely affect your theme score. You could try to pick a character with little lore, in which case winging it is probably fine for the most part. Alternatively, as an example, let's say someone's making a Tyrande faction; it's not necessary to represent every detail of the character across all Blizzard media she's appeared in. Elune will have to be involved in a prominent way, archers/huntresses are going to be very relevant as well, and based on her kit you might want owls, something to do with arrows on fire, and maybe a falling star or two... maybe something to do with Shadowmeld, based on that one campaign mission and the fact that it's a Night Elf Sentinel ability. That's already plenty to go on.

 

[MyPad]

Woah, how did I miss out on this? I'm in. Just gotta figure out whose faction I'm going to work with.

Edit:
Now I know what I'm going to base my faction on. Expect screams of terror from the enemies as they flee from the hell that is--

 

[Daffa]

I need to figure out any decent ideas for this one. Some ideas I have probably won't be taking the medal at the current rate... probably have to do some winging since my lore knowledge is terrible.

Anyway, summoning @Cherrymage since both of us bailed out from TC#15 back then

 

[deepstrasz]

This will likely affect your theme score. You could try to pick a character with little lore, in which case winging it is probably fine for the most part.

I feel it's interpretable either way. Do all judges know all Warcraft characters lore? Will they study each character before reviewing?

 

[FlameofChange]

I feel it's interpretable either way. Do all judges know all Warcraft characters lore? Will they study each character before reviewing?

My take would be to make it a rounding-up rather than plain points. In other words having something which exploits well the lore could give some extra points from an expert. However of course if you give AK-47 to your human-orc waifu army of the pink spear confederation that would destroy low hanging points.

Back to my faction, I think I'll make something centered around Ragnaros (or the very few I know) ; so other people won't overlap much with me !

 

[MyPad]

Okay. I'm going to work with Grommash Hellscream's faction. I've made the following spell descriptions for Grom's spellkit:

Spoiler: WIP

Culling Blade

Haemophiliac

Bladestorm

Mirror Image

 

[Kyrbi0]

Okay. I'm going to work with Grommash Hellscream's faction. I've made the following spell descriptions for Grom's spellkit:

Spoiler: WIP

Culling Blade

Haemophiliac

Bladestorm

Mirror Image

View attachment 531501

View attachment 531502

View attachment 531503

View attachment 531504

Geez those are some real meat-sandwiches of abilities Impressive, but feels more at home in an AoS, IMO... But still I think the greatest sin is arranging them backwards, my dude. Ultimate goes last! ; )

 

[Spellbound]

Okay. I'm going to work with Grommash Hellscream's faction. I've made the following spell descriptions for Grom's spellkit:

Spoiler: WIP

Culling Blade

Haemophiliac

Bladestorm

Mirror Image

View attachment 531501

View attachment 531502

View attachment 531503

View attachment 531504

I agree with Kyrbi0, those abilities feel a bit more at home in something like a moba. Perhaps it's relevant with how your constructing your faction but consider simplifying some of them, especially that ultimate.

Geez those are some real meat-sandwiches of abilities Impressive, but feels more at home in an AoS, IMO... But still I think the greatest sin is arranging them backwards, my dude. Ultimate goes last! ; )

Based on arrangement and levels, Culling Blade is the Ult.

EDIT: Unless you mean the order in which the tabs were displayed, in which case /shrug

 

[MyPad]

Haha, I had it arranged from last to first because the last image (Culling Blade) was uploaded first.

But yeah, the ultimate is that complex because of what I had planned for the faction. Still, I hope everyone is looking forward to the next WIP.

 

[deepstrasz]

Impressive, but feels more at home in an AoS, IMO...

Perhaps a proper balance for a hero centered faction rather than support/aid/healer/booster what have you?
It's definitely a thin line to cross towards those non-melee/strategy genres but it would be well met if done adequately.

 

[Kyrbi0]

Perhaps a proper balance for a hero centered faction rather than support/aid/healer/booster what have you?
It's definitely a thin line to cross towards those non-melee/strategy genres but it would be well met if done adequately.

I'll agree that, if there's a Contest where such an emphasis on hero complexity would be appropriate, it would be this one (where ostensibly people will be designing a singular Hero for their faction by default).

Doesn't mean I have to like it. ; )

 

[deepstrasz]

I was imagining the hero being more dependent on its troops than them on the character. Like instead of Grom summoning some orc fellows, dealing crow control damage and/or having some ability to strengthen the troops, Grom could just have DPS (more inclined to single target gameplay maybe focused on eliminating enemy faction's heroes) abilities and units like warlocks could instead fill Grom's mana/rage, keep the character alive longer, something like that.

 

[StormKnight]

The map must be playable in battle net. (current max map size is 512MB, for example)

Does it really have to work in battle.net ? because i dont know if you mean does it have to not be above 512 and not use memhacks like 1.26 days or does it have to be exclusively compatible and built around retail 2.02 ? like for example i'm not inclined to use retail patch because of issues it has that something like 1.31.1 doesn't.

 

[PROXY]

Birth Test

 

[MyPad]

Here is a sneak peek on the armies that Grom commands.
Apart from Grom heading directly for Cenarius (and him having 15% hp left), everything else about the battle was handled by AI computers.

 

[Spellbound]

Does it really have to work in battle.net ? because i dont know if you mean does it have to not be above 512 and not use memhacks like 1.26 days or does it have to be exclusively compatible and built around retail 2.02 ? like for example i'm not inclined to use retail patch because of issues it has that something like 1.31.1 doesn't.

Is that issue based on whether it was made on retail patch or not, or can it be made on 1.31.1 but still play properly on retail?

 

[StormKnight]

Is that issue based on whether it was made on retail patch or not, or can it be made on 1.31.1 but still play properly on retail?

Person makes their map on an older patch because they're more comfortable there and it has less bugs or inherit problems for them to hunt down and compensate, Reviewer opens and reviews their map using Retail and runs into problems inherit to retail that has nothing to do with the mapmaker making any errors. Does the mapmaker get penalized because they didn't create their map on retail and wrestle with retail problems to make sure it works fine ?

 

[Spellbound]

Person makes their map on an older patch because they're more comfortable there and it has less bugs or inherit problems for them to hunt down and compensate, Reviewer opens and reviews their map using Retail and runs into problems inherit to retail that has nothing to do with the mapmaker making any errors. Does the mapmaker get penalized because they didn't create their map on retail and wrestle with retail problems to make sure it works fine ?

You won't get penalised for a problem if you specify that it's meant to be played on a specific version or else this and that bug will occur on retail.

 

[Retera]

if you specify that it's meant to be played on a specific version or else this and that bug will occur on retail.

Is there a list of versions where this rule applies? For example if I use some open source remake client, and then the bug will occur on any client other than the one I created, can I designate that the map is meant to be played on my client? I assume not, but this starts to narrow down what is allowed. And maybe what is allowed should be expressly listed, or something.

Edit: Similarly, and perhaps a more real example, a few years ago I modified the factions on the Reign of Chaos Alpha build from 2001. For me it was a fun novelty. But the concept of "ability" as a data container didn't exist then, so to make custom abilities I would put parameters on the unit. For example, the amount of gold harvested by a Peasant was a value that we would customize in the Peasant unit stats -- as if it were a Unit Editor setting -- and so when we change that, it would not change for the Peon even if they both used the same sort of harvest mechanics. [Perhaps as a more real example, on that version if I copy the peasant and make Blood Elf Worker and introduce a future model from Frozen Throne backported to that client for the custom worker, it is then possible to make him harvest 27 lumber on each trip to and from trees instead of 10 lumber without ever editing any ability data at all, just by changing the unit data! But this doesn't work on your retail client, because retail doesn't honor the "lumber capacity" stat on units.]

But if I got on here and said, "My faction doesn't work on retail, it only works on Alpha" presumably you guys might reply and say, "that's unacceptable" and so it starts to become pretty important what the range of accepted versions are.

Edit 2: As another example, I could make a faction that uses the MDX900 model format and only works on Reforged Beta from 2019, but not on the release version of Reforged. So then I would be making a faction entirely on Reforged but it still wouldn't work on your computer. Maybe I would do that to gain access to the Dialogue Editor feature or some other thing that existed in Reforged Beta but was later cut, to try to do a different style of FAFX lip sync on my custom Reforged models, or whatever. There are a lot of possibilities...

Edit 3: Am I allowed to make a faction called "Kel'Thuzad and the Virus" which requires you to play on Patch 1.26, but when you play it a virus is installed on your computer called InfectedGranary.exe (using the 1.26 virus exploits) which modifies the Reforged install on the local computer so that if you then subsequently play the map on Reforged, it will have custom soundsets for units added by injecting custom sound SLKs into the Reforged using the external program? So you play the map first on 1.26 to spread the plague and then you play the map afterwards on Reforged to get the undead version of the units who have been raised into undeath?

I think this virus should also undo the Reforged 2.0 change to portraits

 

[Tuwnew]

Is there a list of versions where this rule applies? For example if I use some open source remake client, and then the bug will occur on any client other than the one I created, can I designate that the map is meant to be played on my client? I assume not, but this starts to narrow down what is allowed. And maybe what is allowed should be expressly listed, or something.

Edit: Similarly, and perhaps a more real example, a few years ago I modified the factions on the Reign of Chaos Alpha build from 2001. For me it was a fun novelty. But the concept of "ability" as a data container didn't exist then, so to make custom abilities I would put parameters on the unit. For example, the amount of gold harvested by a Peasant was a value that we would customize in the Peasant unit stats -- as if it were a Unit Editor setting -- and so when we change that, it would not change for the Peon even if they both used the same sort of harvest mechanics. [Perhaps as a more real example, on that version if I copy the peasant and make Blood Elf Worker and introduce a future model from Frozen Throne backported to that client for the custom worker, it is then possible to make him harvest 27 lumber on each trip to and from trees instead of 10 lumber without ever editing any ability data at all, just by changing the unit data! But this doesn't work on your retail client, because retail doesn't honor the "lumber capacity" stat on units.]

But if I got on here and said, "My faction doesn't work on retail, it only works on Alpha" presumably you guys might reply and say, "that's unacceptable" and so it starts to become pretty important what the range of accepted versions are.

Edit 2: As another example, I could make a faction that uses the MDX900 model format and only works on Reforged Beta from 2019, but not on the release version of Reforged. So then I would be making a faction entirely on Reforged but it still wouldn't work on your computer. Maybe I would do that to gain access to the Dialogue Editor feature or some other thing that existed in Reforged Beta but was later cut, to try to do a different style of FAFX lip sync on my custom Reforged models, or whatever. There are a lot of possibilities...

Edit 3: Am I allowed to make a faction called "Kel'Thuzad and the Virus" which requires you to play on Patch 1.26, but when you play it a virus is installed on your computer called InfectedGranary.exe (using the 1.26 virus exploits) which modifies the Reforged install on the local computer so that if you then subsequently play the map on Reforged, it will have custom soundsets for units added by injecting custom sound SLKs into the Reforged using the external program? So you play the map first on 1.26 to spread the plague and then you play the map afterwards on Reforged to get the undead version of the units who have been raised into undeath?

I think this virus should also undo the Reforged 2.0 change to portraits

Why are you always off-topic dude..

 

[Retera]

Why are you always off-topic dude..

I use Hive to relax, so it can be easy to type a lot.

I think that asking for the specific list of versions permitted in the contest is on-topic.

 

[Spellbound]

Is there a list of versions where this rule applies? For example if I use some open source remake client, and then the bug will occur on any client other than the one I created, can I designate that the map is meant to be played on my client? I assume not, but this starts to narrow down what is allowed. And maybe what is allowed should be expressly listed, or something.

Edit: Similarly, and perhaps a more real example, a few years ago I modified the factions on the Reign of Chaos Alpha build from 2001. For me it was a fun novelty. But the concept of "ability" as a data container didn't exist then, so to make custom abilities I would put parameters on the unit. For example, the amount of gold harvested by a Peasant was a value that we would customize in the Peasant unit stats -- as if it were a Unit Editor setting -- and so when we change that, it would not change for the Peon even if they both used the same sort of harvest mechanics. [Perhaps as a more real example, on that version if I copy the peasant and make Blood Elf Worker and introduce a future model from Frozen Throne backported to that client for the custom worker, it is then possible to make him harvest 27 lumber on each trip to and from trees instead of 10 lumber without ever editing any ability data at all, just by changing the unit data! But this doesn't work on your retail client, because retail doesn't honor the "lumber capacity" stat on units.]

But if I got on here and said, "My faction doesn't work on retail, it only works on Alpha" presumably you guys might reply and say, "that's unacceptable" and so it starts to become pretty important what the range of accepted versions are.

Edit 2: As another example, I could make a faction that uses the MDX900 model format and only works on Reforged Beta from 2019, but not on the release version of Reforged. So then I would be making a faction entirely on Reforged but it still wouldn't work on your computer. Maybe I would do that to gain access to the Dialogue Editor feature or some other thing that existed in Reforged Beta but was later cut, to try to do a different style of FAFX lip sync on my custom Reforged models, or whatever. There are a lot of possibilities...

Edit 3: Am I allowed to make a faction called "Kel'Thuzad and the Virus" which requires you to play on Patch 1.26, but when you play it a virus is installed on your computer called InfectedGranary.exe (using the 1.26 virus exploits) which modifies the Reforged install on the local computer so that if you then subsequently play the map on Reforged, it will have custom soundsets for units added by injecting custom sound SLKs into the Reforged using the external program? So you play the map first on 1.26 to spread the plague and then you play the map afterwards on Reforged to get the undead version of the units who have been raised into undeath?

I think this virus should also undo the Reforged 2.0 change to portraits

We'll restrict this to Warcraft 3 game versions. Anything else does not qualify.
Perhaps in the future we might consider a Warsmash techtree contest if the game becomes complete enough that people can use it casually like Warcraft 3. However for the scope of this contest we are keeping it restricted to Warcraft 3.

 

[Retera]

restricted to Warcraft 3.

Okay. But is there any cutoff? For example, should we say that any game version that requires physical CD inserted in the CD rom drive is too old? That would mean the techtree has to be formatted in Patch 1.22 or newer, which is a technically meaningful rule and also is a good range of versions.

Sometimes I enjoy myself by being different. If modding Reign of Chaos Patch 1.00 was allowed, I might be tempted to try it. Clarifying that it is not creates constraints around which to manage creativity. I'm not promising I'll motivate myself to join but I think it would be fun to join the contest, and I might try, and if I do I should be sure of the limits so I don't go outside them.

 

[Spellbound]

Okay. But is there any cutoff? For example, should we say that any game version that requires physical CD inserted in the CD rom drive is too old? That would mean the techtree has to be formatted in Patch 1.22 or newer, which is a technically meaningful rule and also is a good range of versions.

Sometimes I enjoy myself by being different. If modding Reign of Chaos Patch 1.00 was allowed, I might be tempted to try it. Clarifying that it is not creates constraints around which to manage creativity. I'm not promising I'll motivate myself to join but I think it would be fun to join the contest, and I might try, and if I do I should be sure of the limits so I don't go outside them.

I'd say a good cut-off point would be 1.26. Anything earlier than that would not work for this contest. It's still possible to find older wc3 versions but in general the maps will be played on retail first. If there's a game-breaking bug because of a specific problem, we will try to accommodate you by procuring an older version.