The Design a Spell contest was launched today. I'm excited to see your ideas. I know a lot of people will want baselines to create within, after all its hard to design an implementable spell if you don't know exactly what can be done. But I encourage you to forget the technical limitations for the moment and just design spells that you would love to play with. Sure it means that some great ideas might not make it to the final 5 because they aren't practical, but I would rather see those dream spells and spend some time to see if we can make them, then limit everyone's creativity.
Remember we need spells for outside of combat as well as in combat and that we will have global mana by the time these spells are implemented (one mana pool that all that player's casters share). We are looking for a mix of a good strategic function and cool flavor.\
Good luck!
http://elementalgame.com/contest
@ the contest detractors:
While developing the Fall From Heaven mod, Kael hosted a number of community contests. When I read about this EWoM spell contest, it made me smile. I enjoyed them. It was fun to design spells, and world wonders and stuff. I enjoyed reading everyones contributions. It was fun doing something communal with the FfH Team and fanbase. Good stuff. Where's the bad?
If I had to guess, I'd say this contest idea came from Kael. As a game producer he has offered them before. To my knowledge Stardock hasn't offered any design contests. But even had the idea come from a long time Stardock employee (or founder), what the hell difference does it make? Would it be that much a different deed than Kaels FfH contests? His mod had no fee, and the contests had no prize! Was just about offering another level of communal involvement. His team had loads of creativity, and the FfH forums were chock full of ideas. Didn't need a contest to bring them forth. Didn't need a contest to sell a free mod. It's just about the fun dude. Enjoy!
@ EWoM Team:
Thanks for the Dev Journals and thanks for participating in the forums! I value this more than these words convey. I hope this continues. And I for one, would be very happy to see future contests. Keep up the good works, and thanks for the fun!
I think you're saying that the combat & economics aren't complicated enough to make really interesting spells? I think there's certainly a case there, but you can use the contest to indicate what type of mechanics you'd like to see added. Such as a spell that weakens all summoned creatures for a turn. Does the game differentiate between summons and regular units in combat? Are there weakened conditions that can be applied? I dunno, but if you'd like there to be, you can use the contest to send that message.
(Obviously you may have been doing so with the forums already. Doesn't hurt to repeat yourself if you know they are listening).
Agree x10!!
If you won, you could just sell the graphics card, buy the hiergameyongogtrydblah and the book and put some cash in your pocket.
So.... submit a spell already.
Just some tips that I think comprise some of the things the "Winning Spell" should have. I'm giving these tips because I most likely won't be in good enough health to submit an entry myself so these tips will do two things:
These tips will name the steps to making a "Complete Spell"...
&
As an ex dev myself, having run many community contests on UO, these are some of the things I would look for when choosing a Contest Winner (which I've done in the past) for a creativity contest... (keep in mind not being on the internal team I can't name specifically what they'll be looking for in a winner, but I have a few general ideas).
1. Make a "Complete Spell" . This means... write your own code (XML) , make your own Graphics using the Particle Cauldron (If you suck at using it like I do start practicing now, you have Half a Month to figure it out). Granted many people out there don't have the technical knowledge to write their own code for a spell and Stardock knows this. I can't say for certain that it will be a coding genius that ends up winning, but....I'm sure it will help and asking someone else to do the code for you would mean they'll want a cut of your prize and I'm also not sure on what rules Stardock may have on having multiple people work on the same entry.
2. Do more than just a few lines of a new spell description. I.E. make a Complete Spell. Here's an example of what NOT to do to expect to win:
Ice Blast:
Ice Blast showers your foes with shards of sharp ice.
Done!!! Canz I haz prizezez nowz?
...lol. That won't cut it people
3. Try to come up with something Unique, don't make a spell based on a existing spell. Be Creative and Imaginative. Don't be afraid to do something Different. If it's something no-one has seen before that will be a big plus.
4. Make Sure the spell is Balanced, Unless.... it's supposed to be Un-Balanced. If it's a world ending/game breaking spell that does something super massive it should be limited to the end game (like the Spell of Mastery) or it should be Super Rare &/OR Expensive.
5. Add some Custom Content if you can. If you're handy at adding things like skins or new weapons or textures, now might be a good time to use them in the new spell if you can and Stardock doesn't say not to. It doesn't say anywhere in the rules the entry can't require a download. Keep in mind that could change though, since I don't see any "Rules" posted (might want to post some rules Island Dog ).
Edit: I found the rules Island Dog, how come there aren't any rules about people working together?
I hope that helps a few people out. I'm sure we're going to see a TON of cool spells getting entered in the next few weeks. I only wish I felt good enough to be able to take part my-self. Attention Dragonlance Team Members, just because your leader is sick doesn't mean you get to sit around. I expect one of you to step up and "bring home the gold" for the team hehe j/k guys.
Good Luck Everyone!!!!!
~Raven
Note to Scott and Brad (and Derek?) , if you guys want a "Impartial Judge" from within the community to help out just drop me a line. Even being sick I manage to check my forum PM's and my Yahoo and Skype Messages (Boogie and Frogboy have my Skype contact) every couple of days. Also, as some other posts have mentioned above, what are the chances some of the non-winning spells might make it into the game as well? Even if a spell doesn't "Win", it could be considered a "Consolation Prize" (not to mention a great honor) by the other entrants just to see their spell in game .
Cross posted from: https://forums.elementalgame.com/400121
Not Directly Contest Related:
In a way I can agree with my friend Mandelik as he's seen the same thing most of us old-timers here have seen. Even the "Official Spell Wishlist" Frogboy posted the other day isn't the first of it's kind. A couple months before launch Frogboy made almost that exact same post asking for spells and spell ideas. I remember because I made two entries my-self. There was also another community spell list floating around here somewhere. There has been No Shortage of spells offered up or pointed at that are in other games. There were/are At Least 900/1000 spells in those lists. How many of those were looked at for implementation? I know from getting lucky enough to talk with a few of the guys on the dev team that ALL of those spells were at the very least read by a member of the Dev Team, if not by Brad or Scott themselves, so...the devs DO pay attention to our suggestions and have indeed made many of them a reality in game.
I can also see the community frustration too and it's not unfounded. As cool as the guys and gals on the dev team are, they're only human, and they're limited on time, money, and have yet to learn the full capabilities of what the engine can do. Up until recently, if I had to go from a purely developmental view, I'd say the engine is Just Now starting to mature, even a little. Not to be harsh on the engine, as it's a good engine and a Lot of Love has been put into it, but the reason we haven't seen so many of our favorite fantasy staples that are par for the course in this kind of a game is because the devs have had to go to extreme lengths to learn How to make the engine do what it is they want it to do. Anyone who's done any serious modding here over the last few months can tell you as much. Getting the engine to do even the simplest of things like adjust certain stats based on weapons or skills or items and have them grow per level is either far harder than it should be, or flat out impossible without having access to and knowing how to use all the internal resources us modders simply don't have access to right now.
Should there have been a Lot more spells in Elemental at launch? Yes. Should those spells have been varied, different, and been far more impressive than what they generally were? Yes. Did the team have enough time to add them all and was the engine even capable then of doing those things? No, and that's not anyone's fault.
Now the team is not only asking for our help and input, but they're Also giving away cool shit too?!?!?! SWEET!!!!! If I wasn't sick and stuck in bed almost all day I'd be sitting right here in this chair working my ass off on some kick ass spells (even though I don't really need the Gfx card I could still put it in my wifes machine).
@RavenX I went through about 150 of the spells, and I didn't find a single one that was possible with the current limitations to spells in the game. Whoever wins, it is likely they'll need to create a custom function just for that spell.
I wouldn't doubt that one bit my friend.
In the end they have to choose something. From now until then, this is pretty fun.
At the moment, I'm liking Riches from the Deep by Wayward G. It sounds good and has a good effect with risks that actually make sense.
I liked one of the spells that made damage against the sovereign be split in half and cost population in the nearest town, or something like that.
Derek specifically said the idea was to forget about the limits and be creative. Maybe they just want to see what people want to do, so they know what direction to expand the engine's capabilities.
I feel there are quite a few spells that would fit without too much change to the system but still be very interesting spells. I just wish I could submit more than one. (I'm going to start writing them down to post when the contest is over)
I didn't see a post about this, so FYI: The description field has been increased from 1,000 characters to 5,000 characters.
Bara
The only really bizarre thing I see about the contest is the first prize: graphics card (ok) AND spell will be implemented into Elemental (woo). But wouldn't you want to implement ALL of the spells into Elemental that are at least quite good (if not the winner)? So assuming you have about 1000 entries, wouldn't you want to implement a couple dozen? I just cannot imagine the first place making the cut and the rest not. But be that as it may, it's a nice idea.
Well off-hand because we are giving away a prize that technically needs to be given to one direct winner, and that one winner will have their spell included. When dealing with teams (and we have experience with this from the GUI Champs), it gets into a different territory when dealing with multiple people for one prize spot.
I don't think there is anything against people working together, but in the end only one person can submit, and claim the prize.
There's nothing that says other stuff on the list won't be brought in. But as a prize reward, #1 definitely will.
Spell: Summon Mother n Law: Effects: Fear deafness rout
The Mother n Law is so powerful she makes the unit crap in his pants thus causing + 1 stink to the unit making it repulsive to those that don't pass the resistance roll causing -1 hp damage to attacker. She also causes Fear (of staying a week) thus making the unit freeze and tremble in its tracks making it immobile for 1 round. She also badgers the unit relentlessly about all the things it hasn't done for her daughter to the point of near deafness making it more vulnerable to flank and rear attacks -2/-3 to defense. Once the round of immobilization is complete the unit will immediately turn and retreat to the nearst bar for a load of alcohol (retreat 4 spaces) -2 to dexterity.
A Mother n Law can only be summoned once per combat. They are so devestating summoning more than one could unbalance the entire world.
I am getting a code error on my submission. Can you assist me.
It says this
new Spell-book: Armageddon
most spells are "world spells" ... meaning that they can only be cast once ... not once per team but once per game ... and effect the entire world.
all spells are "strategic" and Apocryphal Reign is both a Tactical spell and Strategic spell.
Trumpeter's Sound-off: Random food resources are erased/destroyed, random mountains turn into volcanoes ... allows "First Deceit" to be cast. (World)
First Deceit: Releases First Rider of Apocalypse into the world. Allows Second Assault to be cast. (world)
Second Assault: Releases Second Rider of the Apocalypse. Allows Third Plague to be cast. (world)
Third Plague: Releases Third Rider. Allows Fourth Death to be cast. (world)
Fourth Death: Releases Fourth Rider. Allows "Final Judgment", "Apocryphal Reign" and "Sundering Erosion" to be cast. (world)
Final Judgment: World's Population is halved (Each City's pop is halved, minor Factions are completely destroyed, all size 1 cities are destroyed), random food resources are destroyed. All non-hero and non-legendary units have a 75% chance of dying. Every surviving unit in the world is attacked by an attack with a damage of 10. (world)
Apocryphal Reign: 50% chance to capture/convert a Rider of Apocalypse. Repeatable.
Sundering Erosion: Permanently destroys a Resource. (may be used on any resource, including metals, animals, and shards) Repeatable.
For some reason they took my spell out of the list, don't know why?
nvd its there must have missed it or somethin
keep getting that error no matter what I do, some code 3.
Does it say anything else besides Code 3? Are you submitting for the first time or editing?
I am getting the code 3 also and I am submitting for the first time. using firefox and I am logged in.
I would like a spell that teleports me from inside the dungeon map back to the nearest friendly city on the world map.
Yes, this would require multiple maps to be a game reality.
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