Techtree Contest

What if we had a contest where the point was to make a Techtree? I was wondering what the general consensus is on something like this.

I mean, we haven't done it before, and I know of several people (myself included) in whose niche this is.

In case it wasn't clear, I mean a contest in which the point would be to create a fully comparable Techtree for a specific race or faction inside the Wacraft 3 universe (i.e. Gnolls, Ogres, Trolls, not "flying elephants" or "undersea Elves"), other than the existing playable 4 (Human/Orc/Undead/Night Elf). Including, but not limited to, 4 heroes, 12 units, 3 Tiers, all the appropriate buildings, upgrades, custom abilities, and stuff like that.

*However*, as a note to that, I think the above (full-race) is a bit too large. In fact, I think that if we had a Mini-Race contest, that would be a much more feasible contest (for a variety of reasons)
- Less work
- Reduces the chance of people getting bored and dropping out
- Dang, I thought I had some more reasons...
- Alright, if you have any questions, hit me. I wrote a bunch up at the Hive about this. :P

This race would instead be comparable to the Naga race from the TFT campaign: 1 Hero, no Tier levels, ~8 units, ~6 buildings, only the most basic of basics (I can further explain this, too).

I think this could be a great success, and could (if we allow Custom Resources to be used, and Triggers) also generate stuff for the community, like any other contest.

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TL;DR = Does anyone think a Techtree Contest would be cool? And if so, Full- or Mini-Races, with what Rules?

And no, I'm not doing this to generate more race ideas and stuff for me. :/

Questions:

• Teams: Should we allow for Teams to get together for this contest? Likely, we could only work in Pairs, similar to the Hero Contests; Teams would share the reward, whereas a single-user would get the full-reward by themselves. Eh? (also, this could make it like the Hero Contests in that an Artist/Coder join up...).
• Half/Full: (I think this is already decided, but): Do we definitively want to make a Full Race/Techtree, or a "Half" Race/Techtree (for reference, check out the Naga)?
• Imports: Should we allow Imports at all (and thus a file-size) limit? Or only currently available resources? Or None at all? (related to Teams^)
• Dibs: Should we allow people to "call dibs" on a certain race, and thus keep anyone else from making that race?

I don't like calling it a techtree contest. We should call it a race building contest. Makes it seem more in tune with what we'd have to do; making a techtree doesn't actually imply creating it, only designing it. Also, I don't think calling it a mini contest makes sense either. It's a contest with a different set of rules, that doesn't make it any less of a contest. Sure, I agree that 4 heroes and 3 tiers is too much, that would never succeed. ~8 units, ~5 buildings, and 1 hero would be a much better way to go about it.

I think it'd be coolest if we did this and limited it to in-game models/no imports. That way everyone's on the same page. If we allowed any imports or whatever, we'd open up the system to people being alienated out of it.

It could be fun, though; I'd enter.

Myself included!


Gosh, why not "undersea elves"? XD
As I understood, a valid race could be (example) Tuskarrs and a not valid one Penguins? (they have to be real races? Or someone could make a race from a part of the critters?)


And so a resource zone for custom races? Can work good...


Got my vote (and I'm sure the others are yours and Dusk's XD)

I think that in the case of a similar contest both options should be avaiable, with overall quality, originality (not for the race choice, but for the new units, buildings, spells, abilities, upgrades etc.) and (maybe?) balance between the custom race and the other races in-game as the judgment points.


Hard to believe (just joking :P)

Lol but Mr. Troll would have a headstart. Or just an excuse to finish his goblin race. :P

Mmm I would make a critter race. It'd be like snow white with a bunch of animals doing different jobs. It'd be epic. Rats would mine gold and beavers would build stuff. I'm such a genius. Mmm and I could make frogs into hypnotoads...

You do realize like 5 different people are going to try and make a Naga race?

I'm sure that any race could be permitted assuming you can come up with the necessary structures, etc. for it. Custom resources should be a definite no-go, though, way too much of a demand on the entrants.

Awesome ideas for a contest I think.
Imports? No.

Lol I was joking about the critter race but now I'm kind of curious if I could actually build an entire race out of critters. It'd be epic imo. Structures would be kind of hard. I'll borrow some from Night Elves, they love animals.

Totally random thought: What happens if an ancient gets termites? o_O

Linaze refer to the posts above.

I'm actually pretty keen for this ^^.

-Av3n

I'd actually like this - But if we did have it, I'd prefer it if the contestants were allow up to 2/3 custom models in the whole race, otherwise we could be seeing this:

Naga - Unit
Naga Hydromancer - model: Naga Siren

Naga - Unit
Naga Wardancer - model: Naga Siren

Naga - Unit
Naga (Insert generic spellcaster name here) - model: Naga Siren

@Rising_Dusk Quote: Originally Posted by Dusk I don't like calling it a techtree contest. We should call it a race building contest. Makes it seem more in tune with what we'd have to do; making a techtree doesn't actually imply creating it, only designing it. I guess I agree with you. I just think "Techtree" is a better one-word descriptor; more attractive and elegant (:P). However, "Race-Building" is perfectly fine. Quote: Originally Posted by Dusk Also, I don't think calling it a mini contest makes sense either. It's a contest with a different set of rules, that doesn't make it any less of a contest. I was gonna call you out, but I did indeed "call" it that. :/ Whatever. I didn't mean that, and I agree with your reasoning; I was just suggesting a change to the contest parameters. Quote: Originally Posted by Dusk Sure, I agree that 4 heroes and 3 tiers is too much, that would never succeed. ~8 units, ~5 buildings, and 1 hero would be a much better way to go about it. For the record, I definitely think this is the way to go. Quote: Originally Posted by Dusk I think it'd be coolest if we did this and limited it to in-game models/no imports. That way everyone's on the same page. If we allowed any imports or whatever, we'd open up the system to people being alienated out of it. Meh... While that's a valid point, it would be kind of nice to see some interesting custom things being used; not to mention, the possibility of custom resources being made for the races. Actually, that reminds me of a question I forgot... Quote: Originally Posted by Dusk It could be fun, though; I'd enter. I was counting on it. ;P

@Michael Peppers Quote: Originally Posted by Michael Peppers As I understood, a valid race could be (example) Tuskarrs and a not valid one Penguins? (they have to be real races? Or someone could make a race from a part of the critters?) Both Tuskarr and Penguins (and/or Critters) are valid races. However, realize that you will be hard-pressed to make something seriously competitive if you do choose Penguins (or even Critters). :P Not impossible, just hard. Quote: Originally Posted by Michael Peppers I think that in the case of a similar contest both options should be avaiable, with overall quality, originality (not for the race choice, but for the new units, buildings, spells, abilities, upgrades etc.) and (maybe?) balance between the custom race and the other races in-game as the judgment points. ?? I'm not sure what you mean. Of course, balance would provide some difficulty, as the Naga race would be the only comparison. (for Mini-Races)

@ShadowWolf Quote: Originally Posted by ShadowWolf Lol but Mr. Troll would have a headstart. Or just an excuse to finish his goblin race. :P Are you kidding?! How could we possibly allow any previous work for this contest; it's just like any other contest of this sort. Besides, I know it may be hard to believe, but not everyone loves Trolls, Wolf. (sad, I know). Even if I could use my near-completed race for this, and I am happy with it, there's no telling if it will win. (Now, I could feasibly take my Troll race, shrink it down, and remake it from the ground-up... But when I have all those other races to do, why? I'd rather get something productive done. :P) Quote: Originally Posted by ShadowWolf Mmm I would make a critter race. It'd be like snow white with a bunch of animals doing different jobs. It'd be epic. Rats would mine gold and beavers would build stuff. I'm such a genius. Mmm and I could make frogs into hypnotoads... But see above. Quote: Originally Posted by ShadowWolf You do realize like 5 different people are going to try and make a Naga race? Which is exactly why, if Mini-Races are chosen as the contest parameters, I believe the Naga race should be Off-Limits. For one, it takes no creativity or originality; pretty much what Blizzard did is teh shiz. For two, we can't verify that they re-created everything (Object/Trigger editor) themselves. (other than painstakingly comparing through the Object Editor...)

Well, since in a Mini-Race, there is only 1 Caster (generally), that shouldn't be too much of a problem. Besides, are you forgetting the Naga Summoner? (same model, different texture)? Also, Naga probably shouldn't be do-able (see above)

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I'm glad to see interest in this thing. :P So right now, the questions are (will update the first post):

• Teams: Should we allow for Teams to get together for this contest? Likely, we could only work in Pairs, similar to the Hero Contests; Teams would share the reward, whereas a single-user would get the full-reward by themselves. Eh? (also, this could make it like the Hero Contests in that an Artist/Coder join up...).
• Half/Full: (I think this is already decided, but): Do we definitively want to make a Full Race/Techtree, or a "Half" Race/Techtree (for reference, check out the Naga)?
• Imports: Should we allow Imports at all (and thus a file-size) limit? Or only currently available resources? Or None at all? (related to Teams^)

I'm gonna answer to you with my (maybe wrong) ideas and explain clearly what I said in my other post:

1. I'm glad that a critter race could be done, that increases the possibilities to show something original.

Parameters of judgment:
1. Quality (no bugs etc.)
2. Originality (make new abilities (also simple Blizzard-edits) and units, not just picking up a unit from a race, an ability from another and "the work is done")
3. Balance (this is mandatory IMO)


Teams: single users or pairs, not more.

Half/Full: I tend to think that a Mini-race could be better, it provides the chance to do something good without being unoriginal.

Imports: I'd say NEITHER MODEL NOR SKIN IMPORTS, spell imports only for the heroes, the normal abilities have to be done adapting a pre-existing Blizzard spell for the purpose without using triggers.

And, surely, I'd enter too, Dusk. :P

EDIT:

100th post!

I definitely think Triggers should be allowed, no questions. And not just for hero abilities.

Haha Kyrbs, House is my hero. And I was kidding about your personal motives :P

And I call dibs on the critter race idea. I've got some sweet ideas brewing.

Personally, I like the idea of an only-tech-tree contest. You could provide a few races with units. Participants could choose a race and then develop a techtree for it, complete with unit abilities and upgrades, tiered caster abilities, etc.

Like "only techtree" by Dusk's reckoning, in that it's a contest to come up with the best ideas (i.e. no actual World Editor work)?

Thanks, that's another important thing to mention:

• Dibs: Should we allow people to "call dibs" on a certain race, and thus keep anyone else from making that race?

For
- This way, no one is making the same race as anyone else. Maximimize interest, minimize "hey you stole my idea!"
Against
- However, then we get into arguments about people wanting to do the same race, thus losing submissions