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Techtree Contest #4 - Improved Melee Race

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The Naga race is finished, and can function totally fine by itself. Raising Dusk created a few race-building contests over at wc3c were the created races were patterned after Naga, with 1 tier and a limited and efficient amount of units. From play-testing a lot of the races built for those contests as well as making one of my own I can say 1 tier is a totally practical model, and doesn't feel weird at all in most cases. In the Starcraft Zerg is the only race with a 3-tiered town hall as well, Terran and Protoss are both well balanced against them with only 1 tier of their town hall, they just spread higher tech to be dependent on a different hierarchy of structures.

Coming up with reasons to discredit races already in wc3 and reward the most average and bland essence of all the races combined is seriously lame, and so is judging a race based on arbitrary numerical values not specifically detailed in the opening post as guidelines.

The differences between races is what makes them unique and fun to play as. A highly armored short-range unit that exclusively attacks buildings, having exclusive lumber harvesters that double as the basic melee unit, having a ground unit that grants an upgradable hero-like aura, having a powerful aerial unit be able to break into two parts to become significantly stronger against rival air units, etc.

Also, the four melee races in wc3 have to many units to effectively use in one play through, allowing players to specifically chose the strategy they deem most effective for the circumstances, with the units that are best to carry out that roll. That's great for races that will be played countless times online, but for a race that will realistically be played once through it means that the work spent on designing all the racially defining units could be easily bypassed and ignored, while weaker and more familiar units that were thrown in the mix could become all that play-testers remember and focus on for their critiques. Sometimes less is more, and leaving out poorly implemented resources in favor of only keeping the totally awesome ones will increase the overall awesomeness of a race.

/rant
 
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and leaving out poorly implemented resources in favor of only keeping the totally awesome ones will increase the overall awesomeness of a race.

Thats true :D

EDIT:

Forsaken-Main-Thingy


mainy.png



Pretty hard to find fitting models because of the difference between the Forsaken and the Scourge architecture.
 
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Yes, but this is a contest for creating a melee race balanced with the exsisting 4 races, the 4 races were balanced with proper content, so i see no balance issues if you meet the same level of detail they were able to.

If you can't meet the same level of originality while maintaining the same staples of the melee factions, then there IS somthing wrong with your race.
 
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Actually, I think you're wrong here, TWIF.
Think about it. What if a contestant wishes to implement a custom techtree system in which, instead of the usual "Tier 1", "Tier 2", "Tier 3" town hall business, you have a single unit researching buildings? What if a race has a 'Branch' system, that allows you to, for example, follow the path of Nerub or the path of the Scourge, which will allow you to uncover different units\heroes? What if a unit has a custom resource gathering system that requires new units or buildings to be implemented? What if a race has a custom game mechanic that causes the player to gather food by creating a special kind of unit(like Overlords in SC2)?
There are many original game mechanics people can use for their race, and downgrading their entry for originality doesn't makes sense to me.
Either way, did Pharaoh_ confirm you as a judge? Because only he is registered as a judge on the first page.
 
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I pray to the imaginary god your not TWIF, for everyone's sake (going to be a judge in this competition that is).
Because I too think your talking nonsense at the moment.

Guys, is there any way at all to speed up the construction time of units and research time of upgrades temporarily as a buff? Much in similar to Chrono Boost from SC2.

I was pondering over that myself. If you ever solve it, feel free to give me a hint. I wanted a spell similiar to the "Heretics" in Dawn of War 40k for my race... Where the unit builds faster at the cost of hp. However that won't happen.
Also, nice idea's with the "branch". However is it possible to "disable" buildings like that?
 
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@Zpider -If by disable buildings you mean to make them avaliable at the start or not and change during the game then yeah it is. You can make the unit avaliblity change with and upgrade. Though if I remember correctly you can only do it for four units an upgrade. Like using the Troll headhunter Beskerer upgrade. But I'm sure you can trigger it.
 
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Looks like everybody got off to a nice start already! I tried to finish modelling my buildings, but ran into a lot of minor issues that drain a lot of time, sigh.. I'm a bit bored and want to get on with the spells, so here's an initial building WIP:

186080-albums3726-picture40854.jpg


The main townhall is the Shrine-Sanctum-Pagoda line, needing some more cool stuff, rotation, merging etc I plan to make a leafy gust circling the building for work/upgrade anims. Basically it's a giant temple in honour of the Forest deities.

The Altar is a statue of a forest deity holding a giant emerald; the Heart of the Forest. It is said that the emerald has the power to heal fallen warriors, summon heroes of the past or even restore nature. The "heart of the forest" will also play a key role in my upcoming campaign, obviously..

The garrison is the sentinel command centre, training Rangers, Sentinels and Ballista's. The Spirit Grove summons the spirits of special nymphs that have taken the form of an Ancient.




I'm not really familiar with WC lore, so please correct me if I'm wrong.
Basically my elves are a group of night-elves that lived separated from Mal'furion et al. since the sundering (The stuff with sargeras and the sunwell). They encountered a sylvan deity in the woods, offering the elves an opportunity to attone for the whole sunwell-thing. The elves take the job, protecting the forest against invaders, and in return get an elevated bond with nature.
Now, 2000 yr later (?), the elves are still guarding their forest, some more elven than others. Their main force, the Sentinels, have remained normal but some Druids have gone semi-plantlike and other elves have left their corporate forms completely, posing as nymphs or even animated forest spirits.



So far most abilities and spells revolve around a 'terrain' theme. Day/Night effects are augmented by numerous abilities. The Wolf Spirit and Sun Adept change into a Night Spirit and Moon Adept overnight; yielding completely different stats, abilities and strategies. Nymphs can haunt special trees and plants to make them come to life. This way you can have a "Nymph-Rush" strategy or defend your camp in need (like a militia). There are seedling items available at the shop and certain spells may create plants (WIP).
The turtle becomes an absolute beast near water, enabling him to load his massive reservoir with water to convert his normal bubblebeam-attack to a powerfull aquatic blast. Moreover it gets the Hydrophyll ability which increases attack and water (mana) regeneration during rain. The heroes are designed to support these terrain effects, as well as fulfilling an individual hero role. Allright.. more details later :)


Just a side note: I guess we got spoiled with all those nice pics in the terrain contest 'cause this terrain would not make it though the hive selection! xD And where will my poor turtles swim?? (In the kiddy pool near the goldmine?)

Random stuff:
@67Chrome: I loved your ability overview and ideas so far. I'll try to post something like that soon. Goodluck with the spell making!

@wazzz: I like the idea of an offensive race combined with a less is more philosophy. You could make your lone caster a double buff caster (bloodlust etc) to sky-rocket the offence even more. Hard to balance, though.. Maybe a taunt hero or a late stage annoyer with sleep/silence to avoid needing a tank? Meh, just some random thoughts, I'd like to see how you handle it.

@ Xillinger: I like the symmetry doing the buildings per race. This way the player will have to chose his sub-race early on. I also like the racial upgrade system, maybe you could augment the sub-race strategy even further? But "old" horde and "automated robo-workers" clash a little.. I'm just sayin', you don't nèèd to make a custom lumber system, you know ;)

@ghosttruster: You are a fast worker, aren't you? xD Anyways, you can always model your lumber system after the wisp x3. If the wisp is balanced, the turtle is balanced :)

@debode: Hmm, you could try to experiment with human repair for the build speed: Have a dummy unit help-out with the repairs :) Now, the upgrade is much more difficult.. I would make three units of each upgrade: The Upgrade, One dummy at normal 60sec time and one dummy at 45sec time. Once you set the buff you disable the first dummy upgrade and enable the second dummy upgrade. If a dummy upgrade is complete you set the real upgrade to be completed.. Something along those lines.. On a side note: what race are you making?

@everyone else in the contest: Keep the flow going xD
 
Deolrin, you dont understand what i am saying.

It has to fit in warcraft, while still being unique.

If it isnt balanced with warcraft's exsisting staples it would be downrated, I have nothing against, and indeed encourage changes to how the tech system operates.

Now, if you have a race that has no similarities with warcraft, only 1 or two heroes, and no items, you are ignoring a massive part of how wc3 operates as a game, this race is meant to fit in with the other 4. there are other factors that would influence such changes, but i wouldent care if your race only had 2 units, as long as it was balanced properly, and had the correct game staples (i.e. heroes, items.) that make the game what it is.
 
Yes, but this is a contest for creating a melee race balanced with the exsisting 4 races, the 4 races were balanced with proper content, so i see no balance issues if you meet the same level of detail they were able to.

If you can't meet the same level of originality while maintaining the same staples of the melee factions, then there IS somthing wrong with your race.

Dum dum-dum dum dumm
Seriously, if this is this guy's attitude when it comes to judging our races, I vote that he doesn't judge in this contest. And here's why:

67Chrome said:
Coming up with reasons to discredit races already in wc3 and reward the most average and bland essence of all the races combined is seriously lame, and so is judging a race based on arbitrary numerical values not specifically detailed in the opening post as guidelines.

Honestly, 67Chrome, I could not have put it better myself.

Additional: @Sage Chow: Ah thankyou, I hope it comes out well too. Atm I'm thinking of basing some of the hero abilities of the abilities the Dark Wizard has as a Creep as well as it's lower level counterparts (and changing them around to suit the strategy, of course :p). I like the idea of a late game annoyer, could work well... I'll have a look at what I can do in regards to that strategy.

As for the double buff, I'm thinking that the race could even be offensive enough with only one buff to implement offensive tactics, allowing for one spell to be semi-defensive and another spell to be offensive against enemies (by downgrading their stats). In other words, these would be some very versatile casters we're talking here.

I'm thinking that for the defensive ability, a possibility would be an auto-castable version of the existing Anti-Magic. Very simple, I might configure it around so it's either a weaker version (if it's auto-castable, you'd want it to be balanced) or even completely different to the existing version. The main reason I want that as the defensive ability, however, is so my race has some decent anti-magic capabilities.

A hero ability I'm thinking of is a spell based off of the Book Of The Dead. Basically just like the summoning abilities of other heroes, only I might make it you have to target corpses (although that's only a maybe on account of the idea being based on the Night Elves 'Force Of Nature' spell).
 
contest%20judging%20and%20voting.png


Gameplay
How fun the gameplay is; does it introduce a new way of playing? Is it too complicated? (If yes, is it still playable?)/10

Strategy
This is what Wacraft 3 is. Does the race offer dynamic and various types of strategy or does it look like a simple race editing?/10

Philosophy
Does it follow the theme of the original race? //Although the points are 5 here, having a score of 0 means elimination from the contest./5

Appearance
Does the final output look better than the original race?/5

It's not just me telling you you're wrong, it's everyone. Open your eyes, it's not just me who's right. How would I be right if I were the only one saying the one thing? It is you, in fact, who stands alone. So open your eyes or don't judge.
 
Human/ Orc/ Undead/ Night Elf/ Naga. The race created must fit the name of the race you picked and must have many similarities to the original one (lore- and concept-wise).

• Philosophy is the conceptual aspect of the race, the way the lore is combined with the combat and the gameplay. It's the general (gestalt) appearance that identifies it.

• You are allowed to add many unit-types and name them anyhow you want, so that you seemingly have a vast army to pick from, but if they are too many, you doom your points in Strategy and Gameplay, because Strategy gets ruined, since there are way too many options to choose from, which blocks the player from deciding, while Gameplay becomes complex.

My point was, straying away from the philosophy is a bad idea, while your allowed to not have any heroes and items, all i am suggesting that if that hurts your race because it strays from the original concept and gameplay, then it will be downrated because its imbalanced. No other reason. Balance is also fairly rooted in mechanics and numbers, so ignoring their value is silly, but also not being creative is silly.
 
Ignoring their value isn't silly. Look at the Naga race. You have three unit producing structures, an altar, a food production building and a tower. Yet they are balanced. I have even less atm as I may not include a tower (due to my food production building doubling as such).

Funnily enough, when you say that you're going to downgrade races because they don't have the same numerical values as the melee races, people will assume that you're going to downgrade races because they don't have the same numerical values as the melee races. And when you present it as a new thing, people will definitely assume that this is something that hasn't been stated.

But no, you will not judge on your own accord, you will judge as Pharaoh_ deems fit. Thinking that the Philosophy implies that contestants must create a race that has the exact same structure as a melee race is a huge mistake, especially when what you're trying to refer to is the Balance.

As ike_ike said, if it's this hard to understand your point, this will be a problem when it comes to your judging.

Funnily enough, you keep referencing the numerical values as if you're anal retentive. It's called balance, it has already been stated that if a race isn't balanced it will be downgraded, so there's no need to mention that unless you're calling in something new. And if it's something new, you shouldn't be calling it in. Pharaoh_ should. And even then, new things should not be called in this late into the contest. That's just bs.
 
Ignoring their value isn't silly. Look at the Naga race. You have three unit producing structures, an altar, a food production building and a tower. Yet they are balanced. I have even less atm as I may not include a tower (due to my food production building doubling as such).

The naga race isnt properly balanced melee wise. It wasnt included in the melee for a reason, its not properly balanced, nor does it fit with the build that the races are designed to follow.

Funnily enough, when you say that you're going to downgrade races because they don't have the same numerical values as the melee races, people will assume that you're going to downgrade races because they don't have the same numerical values as the melee races. And when you present it as a new thing, people will definitely assume that this is something that hasn't been stated.

Funny isnt it.
Maybe it is my fault that i assumed that you would understand what I meant, I apologize for the assumption, you cant read my mind.

But no, you will not judge on your own accord, you will judge as Pharaoh_ deems fit. Thinking that the Philosophy implies that contestants must create a race that has the exact same structure as a melee race is a huge mistake, especially when what you're trying to refer to is the Balance.

I specifically stated to the contrary. And no, I will judge according to the rules and what they say, i dont understand why you would assume that i wouldent, as what i've said meets the regulations of the guidlines easily. My statment was only concurrent with a certain balance situation and how it would be resolved.

As ike_ike said, if it's this hard to understand your point, this will be a problem when it comes to your judging.

Because I am never understood. Gotcha ;)

IF i was never understood, would I be where I am now? No. I miscommunicate once in awhile, about as often as everyone on the hive does.
 
Um, actually, I'll have to side with TWIF on this one, Naga are very imba. BUT, that's not an excuse to say any race that doesn't follow suite is as well.

Now, back on the people's side, , this is from Wc3 itself. The Undead and Night Elves are quite different to the Humans and Orcs, and vice versa, yet their mechanics and numbers are actually lesser (especially the Undead), but they are still balanced (except for NE :p). Why can't we apply this to our race?

TWIF, IF it is a major problem, I won't have a problem against your judging (eg. if there is only 2 units, and both of them have no attacks), however if the balance is still reasonable, I don't think you have the right to penalise races.
 
Now, back on the people's side, , this is from Wc3 itself. The Undead and Night Elves are quite different to the Humans and Orcs, and vice versa, yet their mechanics and numbers are actually lesser (especially the Undead), but they are still balanced (except for NE :p). Why can't we apply this to our race?

TWIF, IF it is a major problem, I won't have a problem against your judging (eg. if there is only 2 units, and both of them have no attacks), however if the balance is still reasonable, I don't think you have the right to penalise races

No, i wouldent penalize them if the balance was right. Unless they breached a quantifiable rule.

And there is no reason why you cant apply any of those mechanics, my only concern was a different way of restatings pharoh_'s concern for over (or mine for under) complication in terms of balance, i am sorry i miscommunicated.

IF its balanced, and it doesent destroy the race philosophy, GO FOR IT. nothing should hold back the creative process, aside from balance.
 
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@ Wazzz: A versatile caster would be much better. The double buff was an "all eggs in one basket" line of thought, just something bold that I would not think off myself. I suggested silence to protect from magic because it requires some skill by the player. The magic shield is a nice idea as it's not a direct defence boost, but rather a safeguard. You could also consider one of the melee units as anti-caster, using immunity/feedback/mana absorb/spell shield etc. I'm thinking that the polymorph of the dark wizzard would go very well with semi-defending your units: Instead of relying on direct defence this would force the player to use a lot of skill to temporarily disable the enemy and keep frail sweepers alive.

@Everyone: Don't feed the trolls ;)
 
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Hm, your arguement seems to have gone a bit off-topic.
However, I have some answers.

Chrono Boost
For the Chrono Boost, use a trigger.
There is a trigger to set the building percentage of a building to a certain point, and setting it + a certain value could work.
For example:
  • Conditions
    • Unit has buff - Chrono boost
  • Actions
    • Set (All your constructed buildings) building percentage to (Current percentage +(build time of (constructed building) split by 4)
I am not sure this works, as I have not tried it, but you could allways try.

The rules

About the rules, if you check throught the pages in this thread, you can see that Pharanoh_ has stated that you should create unique gameplay and stategys.
But, you are right. You should also include items in your race, because if I recall correctly, it is stated in the rules or in some post that you shall include items.
Also, including items would increase the Hero gameplay of the race.
But, you don't nesseccarily need to follow the normal items.
Why not add new and exciting items for your race.
There is rules, but you can allways stretch them to their boundaries!

Other

I hope I will be able to finish my race, as for now, I have not worked on it for a while.
It is almost finished, except for heroes, 2-3 buildings and 2-3 units.
And, ofcourse, the hard part, balancing.
Balancing my race would take ages and I won't have that time or, rather, the will to sit and try it.

If I decide to finish, the abilitys will only be slightly changed, don't expect any epic triggered abilitys.
 
@ Laserdude, yes he has.
About items, that is a no, you are not required to.

I think i should clear this up.
What i meant was that in a certain situation this is how i would respond to improper balance/or if the race was too crazy, i.e overcomplicated or undercomplicated so it lost connection to the race in a gameplay/inspiration sense. But i said it in a manner that implied somthing else, and that was silly, i apologise.

@ Chrono

Brilliant Laserdude.

I really hope you guys all finish their races, they all look pretty good.
 
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What's with the epic-post shitstorm guys? Please stop.

I asked Pharaoh_ some questions before deciding to join this contest and his answer about my "Philosophy" question was:

Pharaoh_ said:
Philosopohy, exactly what you said; plus, it has to make sense. For example, humans in the real world can have hi-tec stuff, so the alternative human race can also have that. Undeads by default share a warcraft 3 lore, so that can't work with them :p

So basically, Philosophy is the "sense of logic" part of the judging that focuses on your races' appearance and lore.

EDIT: About my race, progress is going real slow due to work and shit.
 
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@Sage Chow - Thanks a lot for the feedback! I'm making Dwarves. What I actually meant, however, is a unit that has a channeling ability(Like Starfall, Tranquility, Blizzard etc) where he has to target a building, and the building will 'operate' faster - Units will be trained faster, research will be completed faster, etc. I think I'll give up on this idea, however, since it just doesn't seem very plausible to me in Warcraft 3.

@TWIF - Balance is not a factor to judge in custom techtree contests, simply because it's very difficult for people to balance their race against four other races. That's the primary reason why Blizzard didn't include a fifth race(they planned on making Demons in RoC ALPHA, and I think the Naga were supposed to be a race as well).
Obvious balance flaws should, of course, downrate your race(for example a hero that can solo a base on his own), but otherwise, you shouldn't be expected to create a fully functioning race with all sorts of units that opens up a lot of different strategies AND test it out against all four races until you're certain it's balanced.

Anyways guys, TWIF is somewhat correct. What I suggest is that you follow this:
http://www.wc3c.net/showthread.php?t=93188
And everyone will be fine. It's a very well written tutorial and the philosophy it's based on is the same as the philosophy TWIF is trying to establish here.
But if you have a good reason why not to include a shop or four heroes or anything like that, it SHOULD be fine. As an example, I presented a phasing system in which, for example, if you choose the path of Nerub you can summon a Nerubian Warlord, a Spider Broodmother and a Nerubian Queen, while if you choose the path of the Scouge you can summon a Withered Spiderlord, a Grave Seer and an Obsidian Annihilator.

@Laserdude - I'll try that out, thanks!

I planned to include my first WIP here, but my lazy ass didn't want to finish up the Architect model, so, tomorrow, I guess. :p
 
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Mausoleum - Ultimate Unit Building

Banshee + (Some gold & Lumber) = Dark Ranger

mausoleum.png


Abilities coming soon.....
 
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Ok i found out that making the Twilight's Hammer clan is almost imposibile(too low units) so i decided to make High Elves, as an independent part of the Alliance.
 
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Ok i found out that making the Twilight's Hammer clan is almost imposibile(too low units) so i decided to make High Elves, as an independent part of the Alliance.

u think thats easier? :D
 
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@Debode: Ah, I was afraid it might be a channeling spell.. For an upgrade I guess it may have worked..

If you really want it, i guess it cán be done. But you'll have to poor some water to the wine =/ What if you set the casting time to 60 sec per spell/building to ensure one unit or one upgrade to be completed. You could even pauze the unit for the duration of the spell. If he gets killed the buff will remain on the building for one iteration only. So thats not a big deal. And you can't cancel, because the unit is pauzed.. It will cost a lot of time tweaking and dummy making.. So unless this is a staple on your race, i'd leave it..

@Malcous: Like the idea's! Good pic(s).*
 
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@Debode
If I choose to finish my work on my dwarf race, I hope it is not similar to yours, since I want to do something unique. (Hi tec stuff, in this case).

@Malcous
Just out of curiousity, aren't those WoW models? Just wondering since you included WoW pics.

Question
Ok, if I choose to continue with the dwarves, I need hero ideas!
I got 1 so far.
Engineer.
If you got an idea, please tell me!
 
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You may or may not have read throught my whole post, as I stated that I was doing a hi-tech race.
I made a habit of reading all of them... I just don't remember every post :p
Hmm high tech... maybe a flying Hero :O Like a jetpack guy or Gyrocopter dude??
Then again a Pilot would be good. Or even a good old commando elite type hero who has way too much muscles making him you strength hero?
A Robot? I don't know how High-tech you are going.

EDIT: Wait I miss read what you said. But I did read it all, but somethings skip my mind :p
 
@Debode
If I choose to finish my work on my dwarf race, I hope it is not similar to yours, since I want to do something unique. (Hi tec stuff, in this case).

@Malcous
Just out of curiousity, aren't those WoW models? Just wondering since you included WoW pics.

Question
Ok, if I choose to continue with the dwarves, I need hero ideas!
I got 1 so far.
Engineer.
If you got an idea, please tell me!
Thane?
 
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