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"Nature" by fladdermasken, depicting Nature + Water
Contestants were to combine two elements from the pool, and create a scene depicting their coexistence. The chosen elements could be colored however they liked, as long as they were discernible from each other in the final result. Classic/SD submissions only.
Fire
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Frost
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Lightning
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Nature
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Water
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Embers, flames
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Ice crystals, snow
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Lightning bolts, electricity
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Flora and fauna
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Bodies of water, fluids
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- 1st place: 45 reputation points
- 2nd place: 30 reputation points
- 3rd place: 15 reputation points
- Entry: 5 reputation points
- Judge: 5 reputation points per entry
The three winners will receive an award icon representing the winning entry.
| Aesthetics | Overall appearance of the final entry as a whole, e.g. an entry can lack detail and technique but still have an overall nice composition. | /25 |
Creativity | How unique and inventive is the idea? How original and unexpected? | /15 |
Detail | Measurement and balance of detail in design. Impurities include rough edges, deficiency in execution, and general disorder. | /45 |
Theme | How well do the elements chosen blend together with the rest of the scene? Are they discernible and distinct? Were they featured adequately, or was their presence negligible? | /15 |
| /100 |
- Judgement: 75%
- Poll: 25%
Alexen and Nervuatar each received a 1% penalty for late submission.
| Total 88/100 | "Faraway Gardens" by fladdermasken |
| Aesthetics 22/25 | The overall look and feel of the scene is very mysterious with an interesting contrast between the peacefulness of nature and the tenseness of the arcane lightning contraptions. The composition is nicely executed, with discernable foreground, middleground and background, as well as a focal element, which is the big island close to the viewer. Its going-off-screen is a little jarring, but it's not a huge deal. Color-wise the scene is a bit monochrome - the only real tones in it are purple, the green parts of it are so darkened and desaturated that they don't really contribute much to the color feel, not that there is anything wrong with monochromy anyway, it does create an interesting aesthetic. |
| Creativity 14/15 | The idea of floating arcane-lightning islands is certainly creative in itself - there is a certain nagrand-netherstorm vibe that is very appealing. It's certainly been done before, but then again, what hasn't? |
| Detail 37/45 | The details are nicely thought out - there are ample details where they're needed - like the foreground and focus of the composition; just enough where they need to hint their existence - like the middle ground; and non-existent where there shouldn't be any - the background fogs. Still, there are a few nitpicks that I have, which might have improved the terrain yet: First off, the idea of stars behind the fogs is brilliant, but they are so hidden, the only small place they are visible is the top of the screen. If they poked through the fog in more places it might be more interesting. Also, where are the hanging vines from the islands? That is sorely missing, since their undersides are kinda boring. That being said, the doodads that are used are very high quality and give the terrain that premium non-2002 WC3 feel. |
| Theme 15/15 | This is perhaps the best-executed theme in this contest - the relations between the arcane lightning and the wildness of nature is a very interesting combination and is certainly executed incredibly well. |
| Total 83/100 | "Valley of the Sharp Spires" by tassavadar |
| Aesthetics 21/25 | Overall, the scene is pretty well-composed, there are clearly separated foreground, middleground and background with the appropriate amounts of detail and care put into each. The color scheme consists mostly of cool colors, which might be what you were going after (the theme is ice/lightning after all), but it sorta needs a warmer tone somewhere to break the monotone scheme a bit. |
| Creativity 15/15 | The story telling certainly adds a lot of creative interpretation and interest to the whole scene. It also fits well with the theme, turning the two elements into a mage duel is a sure way to make them interact with eachother in an interesting way. |
| Detail 32/45 | The attention to detail here is pretty amazing - from the foreground with the snow-covered plants (a nice touch!) to the very background with the custom sky and lightnings, everything is touched up just right. One thing I'd like to see more work on, however, is the duel itself - besides the flying ice shards an one lightning bolt, it doesn't have much else going for it - no glows, flashy special effects and dramatic stuff like channeling lightning from the skies to add more interest to the very focal point of both the compostion and the story. This is the only part that kinda feels like a work in progress, and it's a bummer because it's the most important one. |
| Theme 15/15 | The theme, as I said in the second section, is very well executed, and has perhaps the best "interaction" between the chosen elements of all the entries, which is why it gets the full 15 points. P.S. Did you just attach the lightning to her hand with MS Paint or is it just me?  |
| Total 79/100 | "Not my problem" by Z-Machine |
| Aesthetics 25/25 | This is a terrain that is not only eye-candy, but also tells a story, and that is something that always appeals to me. The feelings that it creates in the viewer are of discomfort and tension, which is exactly what I think was the intention. Composition- and color-wise, it's very well though out - there is a clear foreground with the darkest elements, almost silhouettes, and the background, where the focal point is with a color contrast between the warm tones of the fire and the cold blue tones of the sky and fog. That being said, I think the dragon should have been bigger and perhaps darker so it stands out more, since it is one of the main story-telling elements. |
| Creativity 15/15 | The scene is fairly creative, with the whole storytelling (that I talked about in the first point and don't want to repeat myself). The low-poly and low-res models you used do hold you back a bit, but I'll give you bonus creativity points for using them in the best possible way. |
| Detail 28/45 | The details are well distributed within the scene to direct the eye of the viewer to the important stuff. The problem is that you used for the most part vanilla WC3 models, which are pretty low-poly and low-res, you used the default rain effect, which is kind of jarring, no custom sky, the custom water you used could have used some reflections from the fire to add more dramatic effect to the scene. If you were to remake this terrain with high quality models it would look so much better - the low-quality models and effects and saturated textures (even though you toned them down with lighting) really bring your terrain down, which is a bummer, because the idea is superb. |
| Theme 11/15 | The theme is well-executed, being a combination of the elements fire and water, however the elements themselves are not the main focus in this case. They do contribute enough to the scene and story though. |
| Total 60/100 | "Doom Castle" by FeelsGoodMan |
| Aesthetics 15/25 | The composition does a good job to direct the viewer's eye to its focal point, which is the castle, through the use of details, or perhaps lack thereof in the other areas. This is perhaps a bit overdone to the point where there is very little to look at beside that castle - the background is covered in dusty fog, the foreground - with fiery fog that hides almost all elements and I'd be hard pressed to guess it was lava if its texture wasn't poking out a little in the middle. The colors are also a bit on the boring side, we got like 4 tones in the entire terrain - Orange, black, pink and brown - all warm tones with no cool accent. I think if the lightnings were more on the purple side they would act as such accent, but they're too warm currently. |
| Creativity 9/15 | We've all seen our fair share of "doom castles" surrounded by lava and dragons (Shrek much?). While not the most creative thematic, it is executed fairly decently and in an interesting manner too. The story this scene tells is nothing short of stereotypical though. |
| Detail 26/45 | The details, as they are, exist almost exclusively in the focal object - the castle. More details, especially in the foreground are sorely needed - and they are there, it's just that they are covered by a THICC layer of fog to the point of being near-invisible. |
| Theme 10/15 | The fire part of the theme seems to be leading, I'd go as far as say that it was the part that inspired the overall thematic. The lightning seems very secondary and only put there, because it was a requirement to have a second element, having zero interaction or significance with the fiery part. You could have made it WAY more prominent and interesting - lightning that extends to the foreground and even background in the form of huge and bright lightning strikes (maybe even electrocuting that dragon over there? >) would have added much more interest and interaction between the elements. |
| Total 48/100 | "Beyond Inferno" by Neruvatar |
| Aesthetics 11/25 | This terrain screams "ORANGE!" - it is very monochromatic, all warm colors with no focal color to differentiate anything - the closest thing to it would be the neurtal white human figures, which are the only thing that is not a warm tone. Composition-wise, its foreground consists of floating black spheres that lack any detail and are more like a strain on the viewer's vision than an interesting element of the terrain. The middle ground fades into the background and contains what I assume to be the focal element of the terrain - the volcano-thingy. |
| Creativity 10/15 | The terrain is certainly trying to tell a story, but it's too vague to guess (vagueness is not a bad thing) - it does spark interest and guesses as to what exactly is happening in it. That aspect of it is interesting and creative, but other than that it's a generic hellscape full of fire and spires. |
| Detail 20/45 | The details are alright, not too few and not too many. Apart from there being virtually no details in the foreground, the background looks pretty good, thanks to the foggy silhouettes that lack detail. The doodads you used are not the highest quality, and were not used to their full potential - some of them look pretty random to be honest, like the spheres and the random "outbursts" of fire on the ground - it would help if it was coming from somewhere, like a crater or cracks. |
| Theme 7/15 | The theme is the confusing thing here. "Combining" fire and lightning that are barely distinguishable, because of their exact same color - and both blend into an orange-ish fog. It could be seen as an interpretation of hell, in which the fire would be right at home, but the lightning is a little out of place - it looks just slapped on there so that there is a second element, and it does not really interact with the fire in a meaningful way. |
| Total 46/100 | "Lightning Singularity on Icy Valley" by WolfFarkas |
| Aesthetics 13/25 | The overall feel of the terrain is a bit messy. Composition-wise I couldn't say what was supposed to be in the foreground, middleground or background - there is a statue in the foreground that I guess is supposed to be a point of interest, but it's shoved almost out-of frame to the right. The focal point, which is the green lightning-stuff is shoved way towards the background and can't be easily identified as much, because of that. The fog you used hurts you more than help you, because you placed it in the foreground, as well as the background - a default WC3 fog might have looked better, because of the gradation that yours lacks. Color-wise, it's very monochrome - and the bad kind of monochrome. Everything is the same shade of desaturated blue, with the only thing that resembles a color-focus being the green lightning (that is still more white than green) - You could have used color to direct the eye of the viewer - for example more contrasting tones towards the viewer in the foreground, more muted in the background, and most importantly - a warm focal point in this cold monochomy would do wonders - if the lightning was for example yellow or orange (and covered a larger part of the composition) it would feel so much better overall. There is certainly a lot of potential for improvement. |
| Creativity 8/15 | The terrain is somewhat creative - the icy landscape is executed well thematically, as is the "apocalyptic green stuff", it does spark interest. That being said, you could have told more of a story with your terrain - what is the green stuff, why is it there, is it some sort of apocalyptic energy? A lot of ways to hint at stuff like that. |
| Detail 19/45 | The details are overwhelming. There is no place (except for the sky) where the eye could rest, it's all covered to the brim with doodads and small insignificant details. Using fewer, but larger and more sparsely-placed doodads would have done wonders for your terrain, but as it stands, it's kind of messy. |
| Theme 6/15 | I would've assumed the green stuff was some kind of fel fire if not for the name, and maybe it would be better if it was - ice and fire is a more "natural", contrasting and subsequently, more interesting combination. Lightning does come from the sky doesn't it? If it did, it would also help the composition by bringing together that empty sky with the rest of the terrain. That being said, I fail to see how this lightning is interacting with the other element, being the ice, it fails to convey a story or a feeling. |
| Total 25/100 | "Frozen Spring" by Alexen |
| Aesthetics 4/25 | The overall feel is of a playable terrain for a warcraft 3 map that was created back in 2005. The camera is poorly-placed, which hurts the composition a great deal - if it was to show sky in the top 1/3rd of the screen it might have looked way better. Instead, the bottom 2/3rds, which form the foreground, are plain ground with little to no doodads or interest, and the top 1/3rd, which is supposed to be the background, acts as a focal point and is crammed to its brim with overspammed doodads. The colors consist of very bright and raw tones of green and blue that don't compliment each-other very well and don't have much consistency - there are atleast 10 different tones of green and 5 different tones of blue. |
| Creativity 3/15 | In terms of creativity, it's not the most creative combination of elements - nature and water/ice is pretty much what we have everywhere on our own planet. The elementals could add some interest if they told a story, which they fail to do. |
| Detail 12/45 | As I've already said in the first point, the details are non-existant in the foreground and overly spammed in the background - pretty much the opposite of what you should do. The doodads are only the vanilla WC3 models, which further hurts the aesthetic, because they really show their age, especially when used like that. Even if you did use custom models, spamming them like that wouldn't improve much. |
| Theme 6/15 | The theme is fulfilled to an extent - there are 2 elements (or 3, depending on which way you look at it), but they don't really "interact" in any way that is interesting or creative. |
Good job everyone! I'm most pleased to see a TC getting such attention these days. Good luck and let's get the judging done.
Beyond Inferno by Neruvatar
Aesthetics 9/25
The scene suffers from the abuse of repetition, lack of color variation and too much rough edges. The sky is bland. Model choice is not what it should be. LQ and stretched textures in the foreground, which is not a good thing. Thus, making this scene unpleasant to look at.
You know, we're not in the old ages of WC3. We terrainers nowadays try to get far from the standard WC3 feeling in our terrains. I'd recommend taking a look at terraining tutorials.
Creativity 8/15
Not bad. I would alter the story though.
This would make a fine concept for Terraining Contest #17 by the way. : )
Detail 13/45
The scene leads our eyes too much distraction from the focal point. Our focus should be on the gate, which is sadly blocked by the fog and spheres in foreground. And as said above, too much rough edges here and there. You should really pay more attention to what is best for you terrain mate.
You could've added more detail in the foreground. I like those firey effects though. Better luck next time! : )
Theme 11/15
Fire and Lightning. It's fine, could be definitely used better but it's all fine.
Total 41/100
Doom Castle by FeelsGoodMan
Aesthetics 19/25
The scene blends well. Color palette is good. The use of fog could be better.
I just don't like the fact that the lightning sparks look like they're cut from the bottom by Zeus himself!
Creativity 8/15
Fine, but not so innovative.
Detail 38/45
Almost on point. The execution is good.
However, the details are not so balanced. Foreground is covered by fog elements and looks almost empty and bland, which is not good, I would choose a better angle and rework the details. The scaling and castle construction could be better. There is also some imbalance between frames/planes, I would add one more frame to the foreground as mentioned above.
Try to work with contrasting elements and frames, it would greatly help. For this, observe great terrainers' work like flad, Keiji, Heinvers and many other veterans.
Theme 12/15
Lightning and a majority of Fire. Could concentrate a bit more on the Lightning as well, but it's all fine. Well done anyway!
Total 77/100
Faraday Gardens by fladdermasken
Aesthetics 21/25
When it comes to aesthetics, fladder does not skimp. Pretty much on point. Color palette is great. I'm glad you brought the contrasting tree back; without it, it looked like there is one frame/plane reduced.
The reflections and the lighting work are however a bit weird, unexpected from you. I would also work a bit more on the water, regarding color and mist.
(On a side note, your first screenshot was not really blurry, but this one seems a bit so.)
Creativity 12/15
I love the idea behind it. Could approach more with it as well.
Detail 43/45
On point. The management and balance of details is quite good. No rough edges, no stretched textures. The focal point is well-managed as well. I would just work more on the background and surrounding areas.
Theme 14/15
Very well balanced elements. Well done!
Total 90/100
Frozen Spring by Alexen
Aesthetics 8/25
This one seems more like a playable terrain like I said before. The composition seems random. There is no focal point or anything to focus on. It's fine but it doesn't really interest the viewer.
Creativity 5/15
Good move but nothing new or innovative. Merely a nature concept.
Detail 12/45
You're doing it the wrong way. All details are in background/midground, while foreground should be detailed more than the others. The composition is not what it should be. Next time mate! : )
Theme 10/15
Nature and Frost. It sticks to the theme and is all fine. The execution is just not right to get the perfect score.
Total 35/100
Lightning Singularity by WolfFarkas
Aesthetics 12/25
First of all in my book, why yet stick to the old WC3 style? If this terrain was among our primitive contests, it would've been a good addition. Yet time changes, and with it everything.
The scene is more like a playable terrain. It suffers from the abuse of randomly placed details everywhere. The sky looks quite flat/bland. Color variation is fine, but could be definitely better.
Creativity 12/15
I like the idea. It kept me entertained in my thoughts.
Detail 15/45
As said above, details are randomly placed here and there. This makes the scene quite distracting. There are no properly placed frames/planes (framing). The angle is just not the best. Make your compositions more efficiently. A composition can be simple, yet really effective; on the other hand, a complex composition can be very distracting and insufficient. I'm not telling you not to create detailed and complex scenes, my point is to balance scales between detail and the overall composition. Better luck next time! : )
Theme 11/15
Frost and lightning. Fits the theme but quite tough choice, I'll give you that.
Total 50/100
Not My Problem by Z-Machine
Aesthetics 14/25
Quoting from WolfFarkas's judging:
This stands true for this terrain as well. It is artistically executed yet it is standard WC3 style. The framing however, is almost good.
Creativity 8/15
Nothing so creative. Good move though.
Detail 17/45
The execution is not bad. The fog and lighting work could be much better. The sky is flat and bland. The standard WC3 rain is also ruining everything, remove that. Angle/perspective could be much better.
All in all, if you wanna improve this scene, do what fladdermasken said in his comment about your piece. And kindly try to avoid using standard elements for at least major parts of your terrain.
Theme 10/15
Fire and Water. Fits the theme, not very well balanced though.
Total 49/100
Valley of the Sharp Spires by tassavadar
Aesthetics 18/25
Quite unexpected piece. I like it. I'm not a fan of LQ textures in the foreground though. And the scene is in need of volume and fog.
Creativity 12/15
Creative idea. Could be altered more.
Detail 25/45
The scene pretty much lacks in this regard. Foreground, midground and background are all mostly empty, flat and bland. The overall execution is good, but the detail work could be far better. Scaling and composition needs a bit of attention. The sky is quite fine though.
Theme 11/15
Frost and Lightning. Fits the theme, but not well balanced.
Total 67/100
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