Combatants in the Nexus have great and storied pasts, whether from valiant heroes or sinister villains. However, in the infinite realms of the Nexus, the roles of these heroes and villains may be switched, bringing unexpected stories from familiar legends.
Hello and welcome! This is the Concept Design Contest #12 - An Altered Fate thread. Here, over the course of this week, you will create a brand new concept based on the following criteria and provide a link to it here. Please leave a comment if you are signing up for the contest below, and use that comment to deliver a link to the thread. The contest will have three judges, who will each take one week to look over the designs, commenting and helping out with the design. All dates are set to allow the maximum time, and the deadlines will be 11:59pm Eastern Standard Time. The thread must be submitted by exactly 11:59, and there will be no exceptions.
This contest’s theme was based on community submissions, and the one chosen was submitted by MrCLFN in the announcement thread (found here). The judges deliberated on all submitted themes, and even though we had to decide on only one, we appreciate every contestant who took the time to leave suggestions!
Theme: For this contest, contestants can make any role and ability kit they want, but the character must be a Blizzard character with a hypothetical corruption or redemption spin, with some important rules:
- The corruption or redemption can’t be official/canon, and you must create your own spin on a character. Grommash Hellscream has both corrupted and redeemed himself, but his canon appearances are off-limits; on the other hand, creating a hypothetical fel-corrupted Baine Bloodhoof is allowed.
- Corruptions or redemptions must also make some sense for the original character. Amon redeeming himself to become a force of peace and love in the universe doesn’t really make sense, and such stretches are off-limits.
- Your character of choice can’t be in the game already.
Please remember to consider both your character’s original identity and their new one while building your concept; each part should feel properly represented. If you are unsure if your character qualifies, you may ask here or message me through Blizzard network or the HotS Hero Concept Writer discord.
Sign-Ups Open
Saturday, February 1
The post date, and preferably the day all participants will sign up; if you missed this day, you’re still welcome to leave a comment and submit through all of Week 1 and still be accepted into the contest. The judges will be WhoYouExpect, Kyyteo, and myself (Nortin). Judges will not be able to make concepts themselves.
Week One
Sunday, February 2 - Saturday, February 8
This week is for the base concept, simply the abilities and role of your hero. Remember, the role is very important, and part of the judging will be on how well the abilities fit together under a specified role. This is the only week for sign-up, so make sure you give us something before the week is up! Kyyteo will be the judge that will comment on the Sunday that follows.
Week Two
Monday, February 10 - Saturday, February 15
This week is for talents, which means a fully fleshed out talent tree set up with the tiers in order. Make sure your talents are interesting and creative, but still fit with the character and design as a whole. You should touch up on your abilities based on week 1 feedback, as that will also be considered in week 2 judging. I, Nortin, will comment on the Sunday that follows.
Week Three
Monday, February 17 - Saturday, February 22
This week is for the finishing touches. This includes fluff, stats, additional notes, skins, and whatever else you want to add. This has an element of freedom to it, but to give yourself the best shot, you should probably make your concept sell itself. Make the judges become immersed in your concept. WhoYouExpect will be the judge that will comment on the Sunday that follows.
Week Four
Monday, February 24 - Saturday, February 29
This week is the last week for changes to the concept. All major work should be finished by this week, and major changes are risky. Each of the judges will keep a close eye on the concepts, coming to their own opinions. The judges will have all commented feedback and ratings as they saw fit over the last three weeks, so you will have some idea as to what each of us are looking for. At this point, just make sure to touch up your design and make it truly sparkle.
Finale
Sunday, March 1 - Tuesday, March 4
All changes are closed. The judges will gather to determine who is the ultimate winner of the contest, announcing the winner as soon as possible.
The following information will be about the judging structure and how points will be fully evaluated. On each Sunday, a comment will be posted with the following rubric filled out, and then another post will be created explaining a detailed analysis on the concept, giving thorough feedback. These points add on to your total, and at the end, each person will have a score out of 60. Make sure you gather as many points as you can during the first three weeks, but do not be afraid if you fall slightly behind, as some promising changes could really make the difference in the final week.
Individual Judges
-/5 Creativity
-/5 Cohesiveness
-/5 Thematic
-/5 Interaction
-/20 Total
Final Week
-/10 Creativity
-/10 Cohesiveness
-/10 Thematic
-/10 Interaction
-/40 Final Verdict
(+2 Thoughtfulness, +2 Game Fluidity) [+4 bonus total]
The final score and the winner will be taken from whoever has earned the best score. If any tie should occur, then the judges will all agree on a single winner. There will be a single winner, and one runner up.
Creativity: This is how creative the design of the character is, and how creative the actual choice was. While a big name will certainly win you some points for awe factor, a particularly clever choice and design may edge out the victory.
Cohesiveness: This is representative of how well the design fits together, and how well it works with the role and gameplay style you are trying to accomplish. This score will mainly be in relation to a gameplay identity we feel you are trying to give off.
Thematic: These points are mainly for how well the ideas fit with the character. A demon that is a butcher of man would not really be a gentle healer than encourages his allies to do better. Make sure that when creating your character, you will also look towards what they would actually be doing.
Interaction: Interaction is the interaction your character has with allies, and enemies. How the character feels to play with and against is a crucial part of the character’s design, one so crucial it deserves a place in the rubric. Killing your entire team to power yourself may be fun for you, but it would not be fun for your allies, and the character design as a whole would suffer for it. Consider your character in the game, fighting against him and alongside him.
CDC Compilation
