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Castles/Cathedrals
Participants are to depict a scene with its primary focus being a cathedral/castle in any shape or form.
APproject: 15, 15, 11, 13 = 54
Chen: 6, 7, 7, 6 = 26
Edge: 13, 12, 11, 12 = 48
Fladdy: 14, 14, 14, 14 = 56
Forsaken: 7, 10, 8, 9 = 34
Heiny: 12, 11, 13, 13 = 49
Master Trainer: 6, 9, 7, 7 = 29
Median: 8, 9, 7, 7 = 31
Spulb: 8, 10, 6, 9 = 33
Stryder: 12, 14, 12, 11 = 49
Chen: 6, 7, 7, 6 = 26
Edge: 13, 12, 11, 12 = 48
Fladdy: 14, 14, 14, 14 = 56
Forsaken: 7, 10, 8, 9 = 34
Heiny: 12, 11, 13, 13 = 49
Master Trainer: 6, 9, 7, 7 = 29
Median: 8, 9, 7, 7 = 31
Spulb: 8, 10, 6, 9 = 33
Stryder: 12, 14, 12, 11 = 49
APproject
Creativity 12/15
Detail 10/15
Technique 12/15
Aestethics 13/15
That there is one fucked up amazing Cathedral. It's just so damned sad the rest of the terrain isn't equally outstanding. I get that you might have done that on purpose, as to not make the rest of the terrain take away from the Cathedral itself, especially considering the theme of the contest. Thing is, though, this is a terraining contest. For one, themes has never been the main focus of importance in terraining contests, they're more like guidelines, it's the overall terrain as a complete package that makes a terrain a winner or not. And sadly, there are demurring factors to your terrain.
I'm not overfond of the green garden below the cathedral, nor do I like the near complete lack of an impressive sky. The lightning is a nice touch, but otherwise the surroundings of the Cathedral is only... Forest. If you'd given the terrain some depth, some mountains, a clearing in the clouds with some stars or some details to the surrounding terrain at all it would be a huge improvement. The overall impression is a bit more striking than the details, save for the cathedral itself, though. The atmosphere is relaxed and as I previously stated, the lightning is a nice touch. Also, the reason why I'm not going ape-shit crazy over the cathedral like some other users does is merely because I don't find it very... Creative. The design is fairly standard for a cathedral, and while some of the details are very nice, they aren't extraordinarily complex, merely time-consuming.
I do love the stained glass windows, though. They are awfully creative.
Chen
Creativity 0/15
Detail 1/15
Technique 2/15
Aestethics 5/15
If this was a first terrain in the Terrain Board I might have been a little more lenient. But as it stands it must be compared to the rest of the entries, and this terrain doesn't even reach some of the other entries to the ankles.
For starters, the castle isn't even a castle. I mean, yeah it kind of resembles one, but that's mostly because the doodads you've used are parts of a castle building-set. Secondly, that grass doodad should be banned from existence, it's truly horrible, and I won't ever understand why people like to use it. It's simply just not pleasant to the eyes, furthermore, you've spammed it far too much. And now comes one of my heart-cases: NEVER PUT DOODADS THAT CLOSE TO THE CAMERA. I mean, when even the felsen rocks sports stretched textures and bland surfaces, that should really be a sign that you shouldn't have em there.
The tree-line looks flat, this could be resolved by scaling them down, adding some mountains in the background and gradually have them fade away in the fog toward the horizon. I also honestly don't understand what's going on with that world-tree trunk over there, it's... Just in my way.
Overall, if I squint, this terrain might appeal a little more than when I look at the details. That means you've managed a smooth-ish atmosphere, and that's probably the thing you did best out of all the things you didn't do well. There's a lot to be done here, and there's a lot for you to practice on if you want to become a better terrainer.
Edge45
Creativity 6/15
Detail 8/15
Technique 5/15
Aestethics 7/15
This is the most perfect example of a decent terrain in this contest. Don't get me wrong, there's nothing especially outstanding about it, but there's nothing completely horrifying either. The sky is bland, the castle is neat, although it does have this strange feeling that you've made a bigass castle and then decided to zoom in on a particular part of it, which kind of takes away from the terrains... Story. To borrow a term from Gilles.
If this were to be improved, my suggestion would be to pull back the camera, have a wider horizon and get a more complete view of the castle, or make it seem more like a complete castle. Also, this might be a personal grudge of mine, but I really don't like that rock model. The texture just isn't good enough. Especially not with the Refuge in Ruin doodads, which have so detailed textures. A big aspect of being a good terrainer is knowing what looks good together and what doesn't. Don't mix low quality textures with high quality textures unless you have the skills to get away with it.
fladdermasken
Creativity 13/15
Detail 12/15
Technique 13/15
Aestethics 10/15
Yeah, I know, I'm probably going to be a little unfairly ditpicky with you, flad. But you know that, and you shouldn't cry about it, it's only because I love you.
The strongest thing you've got going here is the castle in the background, and with that I mean the details, how you made the windows and constructions. They kind of have this elredir feel to them. And the weakest thing you've got going is the atmosphere. And quite honestly: This puzzles me. Your strongest assets and weakest assets are completely reversed in this terrain than what is usual in your terrains. To me the atmosphere is simply too monochrome, and that probably comes from the fog being a little too thick. Yeah, I know, you said that the fog needed to be this thick for the depth perception, but I don't know.
Another part of it might just be the complete absurdity that those windows are lit, it's neither realistic, what with the sun and all, nor does it look good. But mostly it doesn't look good, those light shafts are simply ugly.
I also like the cliff on the left side, and the waterfall shine is beautiful, but the little shrine thing on the left side looks awkward. And by that I mean that if you look at it, the way the tree on it's right makes it look like the entire shrine is being sucked down into the corner of the view. Kind of... Funky.
Elsewise, nothing much to say. Doodad placement and all that shizzle is tidy and good, as expected, and it's a pretty decent terrain.
Forsaken
Creativity 4/15
Detail 6/15
Technique 4/15
Aestethics 5/15
You know, I can't really decide whether this is a castle or a ruin. and well... Technically it's both.
There isn't much going on in this terrain, I mean, most of what you did is decent work, but you seriously lack something
to hold my attention, a "centre of focus" as we like calling it. As it stands right now it seems like a mere preview of the
location of some ruin you're going to do a boring quest in, see my point?
Furthermore, those three towers don't look like much, they look like unfinished
products of lacking inspiration. And the moon looks kind of off, I don't know, it's
just something about the... Yellowness. There's also a little issue with your dead
trees, you've been sloppy with their rotation, three of them are facing the exact same angle, which kind of ruins the centre view.
Other than that, you did a decent job, lighting is alright, there's a slight end of the world feeling to it, but only slight, and doodad placements looks decent. Obviously there is much to improve, especially what concerns making me interested in looking at it at all, but yeah. Alright execution.
Heinvers
Creativity 14/15
Detail 8/15
Technique 12/15
Aestethics 13/15
Motherfucker. Just. Yeah, when did you learn to actually terrain?
Obviously I'm joking, but this one kind of came out of nowhere. I mean, you've been improving for some time now, but this terrain is really nice. I love the castle, and yeah, all you haters, it IS a castle. I also like the overall feel and depth of the terrain and most of the details.
You are still suffering from the illness of not knowing what textures mix well together, but that's a minor problem. Even if the mix of good rocks and bad rocks are nearly on the verge of ruining the entire terrain. The centre pillar thing also looks a bit off, but that's easily fixable, and that tiny waterfall just... Looks excessive.
Overall, the best entry in this contest, by a hair-thread.
MasterTrainer
Creativity 3/15
Detail 2/15
Technique 2/15
Aestethics 2/15
Is this the ghostly WIP from the terraining past?
Admittedly, we weren't sure whether or not to include this terrain, but we decided that "fuck it" we did "let's give the judges more shit to judge" we concluded. Yeah, damned great idea.
I honestly don't know where you were going with this terrain, the camera angle is awkward, the fog is strange the overall constructions looks like something out of a semi-indoors semi-outdoors view from some game that removes the roofing. And everything else just looks... Off. I don't know. Better luck next time?
median
Creativity 9/15
Detail 7/15
Technique 5/15
Aestethics 10/15
What I like for this terrain is the old-school vibe it's got going.
And if this was among some of the first TCs, it'd be damned fucking great.
It doesn't really stand the trial of time, however.
While I do like the clever use of those naga-esque doodads, I don't like the general messiness of the terrain. Top that with the lack of an obvious CoF and the overall monotony of the terrain and the result is a... Messy mix.
You should clear out a couple doodads, chop down some trees, fool around more with the lighting, using the glow doodad and add something that would really draw our attention to the castle. Sometimes, less is more.
splub
Creativity 1/15
Detail 2/15
Technique 3/15
Aestethics 2/15
Here's another one of those "Hey, it's an unfinished entry! Let's throw it in just to break Keiji's back!" - Ahem, sorry.
This terrain has one good thing going, and that's a cosy orange feeling. Apart from that, I don't even know. The horizon thing with the boat could have been a neat trick, if you'd picked a more natural horizon/sky transition, orange fog really doesn't look very natural. You also seem like you really took the contest theme extremely literal, previewing ONLY a castle. And I really don't understand that golem, Neanderthal, creature... Thing.
Oh, and, protip: Never use that sky-box, ever.
Stryderzero
Creativity 10/15
Detail 10/15
Technique 10/15
Aestethics 7/15
Some terrains benefit from angled views, some don't. This really falls under the latter category. There's just something about the angled camera that makes everything look stretched and off, somehow. You really should have chosen a straight angle for this one, like really really.
Other than that, the only thing I'm going to whine about is the monotony of the structures, everything is the same colour. The sun-set effect does a half-decent job to brighten things up a tad, but you should have really played just a little more with colour variation, because the monotony REALLY undermines this terrain. I can see wonderful constructions and excellent solutions, but they are mostly lost among the grayness of the structures.
In this sense you could learn a bit from APproject, look at his entry, the colors he use and the variations. If you had applied his skills with emphasis to your terrain, I might actually have been inclined to think this should be the winner terrain. But with the lack of that, it really just doesn't cut it.
Creativity 12/15
Detail 10/15
Technique 12/15
Aestethics 13/15
That there is one fucked up amazing Cathedral. It's just so damned sad the rest of the terrain isn't equally outstanding. I get that you might have done that on purpose, as to not make the rest of the terrain take away from the Cathedral itself, especially considering the theme of the contest. Thing is, though, this is a terraining contest. For one, themes has never been the main focus of importance in terraining contests, they're more like guidelines, it's the overall terrain as a complete package that makes a terrain a winner or not. And sadly, there are demurring factors to your terrain.
I'm not overfond of the green garden below the cathedral, nor do I like the near complete lack of an impressive sky. The lightning is a nice touch, but otherwise the surroundings of the Cathedral is only... Forest. If you'd given the terrain some depth, some mountains, a clearing in the clouds with some stars or some details to the surrounding terrain at all it would be a huge improvement. The overall impression is a bit more striking than the details, save for the cathedral itself, though. The atmosphere is relaxed and as I previously stated, the lightning is a nice touch. Also, the reason why I'm not going ape-shit crazy over the cathedral like some other users does is merely because I don't find it very... Creative. The design is fairly standard for a cathedral, and while some of the details are very nice, they aren't extraordinarily complex, merely time-consuming.
I do love the stained glass windows, though. They are awfully creative.
Chen
Creativity 0/15
Detail 1/15
Technique 2/15
Aestethics 5/15
If this was a first terrain in the Terrain Board I might have been a little more lenient. But as it stands it must be compared to the rest of the entries, and this terrain doesn't even reach some of the other entries to the ankles.
For starters, the castle isn't even a castle. I mean, yeah it kind of resembles one, but that's mostly because the doodads you've used are parts of a castle building-set. Secondly, that grass doodad should be banned from existence, it's truly horrible, and I won't ever understand why people like to use it. It's simply just not pleasant to the eyes, furthermore, you've spammed it far too much. And now comes one of my heart-cases: NEVER PUT DOODADS THAT CLOSE TO THE CAMERA. I mean, when even the felsen rocks sports stretched textures and bland surfaces, that should really be a sign that you shouldn't have em there.
The tree-line looks flat, this could be resolved by scaling them down, adding some mountains in the background and gradually have them fade away in the fog toward the horizon. I also honestly don't understand what's going on with that world-tree trunk over there, it's... Just in my way.
Overall, if I squint, this terrain might appeal a little more than when I look at the details. That means you've managed a smooth-ish atmosphere, and that's probably the thing you did best out of all the things you didn't do well. There's a lot to be done here, and there's a lot for you to practice on if you want to become a better terrainer.
Edge45
Creativity 6/15
Detail 8/15
Technique 5/15
Aestethics 7/15
This is the most perfect example of a decent terrain in this contest. Don't get me wrong, there's nothing especially outstanding about it, but there's nothing completely horrifying either. The sky is bland, the castle is neat, although it does have this strange feeling that you've made a bigass castle and then decided to zoom in on a particular part of it, which kind of takes away from the terrains... Story. To borrow a term from Gilles.
If this were to be improved, my suggestion would be to pull back the camera, have a wider horizon and get a more complete view of the castle, or make it seem more like a complete castle. Also, this might be a personal grudge of mine, but I really don't like that rock model. The texture just isn't good enough. Especially not with the Refuge in Ruin doodads, which have so detailed textures. A big aspect of being a good terrainer is knowing what looks good together and what doesn't. Don't mix low quality textures with high quality textures unless you have the skills to get away with it.
fladdermasken
Creativity 13/15
Detail 12/15
Technique 13/15
Aestethics 10/15
Yeah, I know, I'm probably going to be a little unfairly ditpicky with you, flad. But you know that, and you shouldn't cry about it, it's only because I love you.
The strongest thing you've got going here is the castle in the background, and with that I mean the details, how you made the windows and constructions. They kind of have this elredir feel to them. And the weakest thing you've got going is the atmosphere. And quite honestly: This puzzles me. Your strongest assets and weakest assets are completely reversed in this terrain than what is usual in your terrains. To me the atmosphere is simply too monochrome, and that probably comes from the fog being a little too thick. Yeah, I know, you said that the fog needed to be this thick for the depth perception, but I don't know.
Another part of it might just be the complete absurdity that those windows are lit, it's neither realistic, what with the sun and all, nor does it look good. But mostly it doesn't look good, those light shafts are simply ugly.
I also like the cliff on the left side, and the waterfall shine is beautiful, but the little shrine thing on the left side looks awkward. And by that I mean that if you look at it, the way the tree on it's right makes it look like the entire shrine is being sucked down into the corner of the view. Kind of... Funky.
Elsewise, nothing much to say. Doodad placement and all that shizzle is tidy and good, as expected, and it's a pretty decent terrain.
Forsaken
Creativity 4/15
Detail 6/15
Technique 4/15
Aestethics 5/15
You know, I can't really decide whether this is a castle or a ruin. and well... Technically it's both.
There isn't much going on in this terrain, I mean, most of what you did is decent work, but you seriously lack something
to hold my attention, a "centre of focus" as we like calling it. As it stands right now it seems like a mere preview of the
location of some ruin you're going to do a boring quest in, see my point?
Furthermore, those three towers don't look like much, they look like unfinished
products of lacking inspiration. And the moon looks kind of off, I don't know, it's
just something about the... Yellowness. There's also a little issue with your dead
trees, you've been sloppy with their rotation, three of them are facing the exact same angle, which kind of ruins the centre view.
Other than that, you did a decent job, lighting is alright, there's a slight end of the world feeling to it, but only slight, and doodad placements looks decent. Obviously there is much to improve, especially what concerns making me interested in looking at it at all, but yeah. Alright execution.
Heinvers
Creativity 14/15
Detail 8/15
Technique 12/15
Aestethics 13/15
Motherfucker. Just. Yeah, when did you learn to actually terrain?
Obviously I'm joking, but this one kind of came out of nowhere. I mean, you've been improving for some time now, but this terrain is really nice. I love the castle, and yeah, all you haters, it IS a castle. I also like the overall feel and depth of the terrain and most of the details.
You are still suffering from the illness of not knowing what textures mix well together, but that's a minor problem. Even if the mix of good rocks and bad rocks are nearly on the verge of ruining the entire terrain. The centre pillar thing also looks a bit off, but that's easily fixable, and that tiny waterfall just... Looks excessive.
Overall, the best entry in this contest, by a hair-thread.
MasterTrainer
Creativity 3/15
Detail 2/15
Technique 2/15
Aestethics 2/15
Is this the ghostly WIP from the terraining past?
Admittedly, we weren't sure whether or not to include this terrain, but we decided that "fuck it" we did "let's give the judges more shit to judge" we concluded. Yeah, damned great idea.
I honestly don't know where you were going with this terrain, the camera angle is awkward, the fog is strange the overall constructions looks like something out of a semi-indoors semi-outdoors view from some game that removes the roofing. And everything else just looks... Off. I don't know. Better luck next time?
median
Creativity 9/15
Detail 7/15
Technique 5/15
Aestethics 10/15
What I like for this terrain is the old-school vibe it's got going.
And if this was among some of the first TCs, it'd be damned fucking great.
It doesn't really stand the trial of time, however.
While I do like the clever use of those naga-esque doodads, I don't like the general messiness of the terrain. Top that with the lack of an obvious CoF and the overall monotony of the terrain and the result is a... Messy mix.
You should clear out a couple doodads, chop down some trees, fool around more with the lighting, using the glow doodad and add something that would really draw our attention to the castle. Sometimes, less is more.
splub
Creativity 1/15
Detail 2/15
Technique 3/15
Aestethics 2/15
Here's another one of those "Hey, it's an unfinished entry! Let's throw it in just to break Keiji's back!" - Ahem, sorry.
This terrain has one good thing going, and that's a cosy orange feeling. Apart from that, I don't even know. The horizon thing with the boat could have been a neat trick, if you'd picked a more natural horizon/sky transition, orange fog really doesn't look very natural. You also seem like you really took the contest theme extremely literal, previewing ONLY a castle. And I really don't understand that golem, Neanderthal, creature... Thing.
Oh, and, protip: Never use that sky-box, ever.
Stryderzero
Creativity 10/15
Detail 10/15
Technique 10/15
Aestethics 7/15
Some terrains benefit from angled views, some don't. This really falls under the latter category. There's just something about the angled camera that makes everything look stretched and off, somehow. You really should have chosen a straight angle for this one, like really really.
Other than that, the only thing I'm going to whine about is the monotony of the structures, everything is the same colour. The sun-set effect does a half-decent job to brighten things up a tad, but you should have really played just a little more with colour variation, because the monotony REALLY undermines this terrain. I can see wonderful constructions and excellent solutions, but they are mostly lost among the grayness of the structures.
In this sense you could learn a bit from APproject, look at his entry, the colors he use and the variations. If you had applied his skills with emphasis to your terrain, I might actually have been inclined to think this should be the winner terrain. But with the lack of that, it really just doesn't cut it.
Score S = 25v/TOTv + 75( j1 + j2 )/TOTp
where v = votes entry received, TOTv = total poll vote count, j1 and j2 = score from judges, and TOTp = total judge score possible.
4. Stryderzero
5. Edge45
6. median
7. Forsaken
8. Splub
9. MasterTrainer
10. Chen
5. Edge45
6. median
7. Forsaken
8. Splub
9. MasterTrainer
10. Chen
Thank you Gilles and Keiji for judging the contest. Thank you all participants who submitted entries. Meet you again next time.
And thank you fladdermasken for taking care of all the mumbo, jumbo contest hosting and calculations and shit.
Contest | Poll (click here to view the entries)
