TaleWorlds Forum Modding Contest [June 2018][Scripting]

Users who are viewing this thread

The TaleWorlds Forum Scripting Contest – June 2018

Theme: Combat Features


Welcome to the third edition of the TaleWorlds forum modding contest! This month, we'll be challenging our scripters to come up with new ways to play the game. The format of the contests is still being worked and improved on, you're welcome to voice your feedback in the thread. We're still thinking about what works well for a scripting theme that can fit into a month, but also provides a challenge and enables originality without being overly restrictive.

To start off the first contest in this category, we'll begin with Combat Features: you are to come up with a new spin about the workings of combat, introducing features that are not present in Native. In short, anything that impacts combat in some way should be a valid target for implementation.

Some examples of what may be a valid submission follow:
* Combat events: Adding active combat abilities in the style of other games, or perhaps extra combat mechanics such as shield bashing or critical hits;
* UI: Revamping the orders menu, or providing extra information during combat;
* AI work: Modifying the ways agents select targets, creating custom AI logic, or perhaps exploring formations.

These are only several examples that we came up with to describe what we have in mind. If you're in doubt about whether what you're planning fits the theme, feel free to ask. Additionally, remember that the more original your idea, the better it'll score, and remember to read the rules carefully.



[size=18pt]Contest


Theme: Combat Features
Submission Start Date: June 5th 2018. 12:00 BST   
Submission End Date: July 4th 2018. 23:59 BST

Rules:
  • You may only submit your work during the submission time period specified above.
  • Both a singleplayer and a multiplayer focus are allowed.
  • Derivatives of OSP code packs are allowed, but only your own work shall be scored.
  • If you base your submission on an existing OSP pack or DLC feature, you must fully disclose the origin of this existing OSP or feature.
  • It is recommended for your submission to include thorough instructions for installation. (Those contribute to scoring.)
  • Additional assets, such as animations or UI meshes, shall not be scored. Only the code is to be evaluated; feel free to utilise placeholders as needed.
  • You may submit up to three works for the contest, they'll be treated as separate submissions.
  • The features and mechanics you implement must not be present in Warband Native.
  • The code provided must use the default Module System compiler, and must not rely on any other frameworks such as ModMerger, WRECK, WSE, and so on.
  • The code provided must be compatible with the latest version of Warband Native, and will be only tested on Warband Native.
  • You have to post screenshots of your work in progress in at least two different stages of completion, to confirm it is your creation. You are free to post more.
  • By submitting your work to the contest, you agree that it will be shared as open source with all the submissions at the end of the contest, according to the open source license provided here.

By submitting your work to the contest, you have agreed to the rules stated.

Judging

The submissions will be rated on a points system, based on their performance in the following five categories: Code Quality (10 points), Gameplay (5 points), Ease of Installation (5 points), Ease of Customisation (5 points), and OSP Value (5 points). Once the submission end date is reached and the submissions are closed, the judges and selected testers will review the submissions. Each of the three judges will a number of points for each category, up to the maximum number of points the category supports. Thus, the maximum amount of points a submission can get is 90.

Code Quality
Code:
(10 points)
The organisation, cleanliness, and "buglessness" of your code. As normal for coding, you should strive to give your variables proper names, to keep indentation proper, and to resolve compile-time warnings; your code should be as efficient and effective as possible.

Gameplay
Code:
(5 points)
How your new feature feels in the game. Is the modified UI elegant and easy to understand? Is your new mechanic intuitive and accessible? Is the feature fun to play with?

Ease of Installation
Code:
(5 points)
How easy it would be for an inexperienced modder to install your addition; how clear, thorough, and readable the installation instructions are.

Ease of Customisation
Code:
(5 points)
How easy it would be for another modder to modify and tweak the behaviours of the pack. Reliance on constants versus fixed values, etc.

OSP Value
Code:
(5 points)
How original and useful this submission is as an OSP pack. A niche kit built to take advantage of a single specific mod's features would naturally score low in this category, as would unoriginal ideas. A pack that is both original and could fit into a wide variety of mods, however, is guaranteed to score high.

The Judging Committee is comprised of three of our best coders - Kalarhan, Sebastian, and Somebody.

Rewards
* USD 50 prize pool, generously provided by Khamukkamu.
* Custom medals by Efe Karacar.




Submitting Your Work
You can use the below form to submit your work. If you make any edits or changes after your first submission, it'll be accepted if it is re-submitted within the submission deadline. Name your submission as you see fit, and please try to use a stable file hosting service (Google Drive, Mediafire, Dropbox, Pastebin, Github gists, etc.). Add your modifications to files, as well as any relevant instructions for installation, into an archive, and upload that.

Code:
[b]Forum username:[/b]
[b]Submission name: [/b]
[b]Download link:[/b] 

By submitting this work I agree to the rules and regulations of this contest.

Forum username: Lumos
Submission name: Combat magic kit
Submission download link: ...

By submitting this work I agree to the rules and regulations of this contest.

Contact and Discussion
We encourage the discussion of the contest rules, format as well as discussion of the works presented on the forums. You can also participate in the TaleWorlds Forum Modding Discord if you want a more direct method of interaction.​
 
I can publish a set of unique for warband opportunities as finishing blow, working dual wielding melee and one-handed crossbow\pistols, sling with spin animation, somersault etc.
But only if you allow to use wse, warband engine is too limited, most of my scripts without wse is not done.
 
This is gonna be good :smile: Can't wait for all the submissions!

I'm assuming that no WIP snippets are required, like in the 3D contest? So i guess the thread will be quiet til the end of submissions :razz:
 
Khamukkamu said:
WIP snippets

You have to post screenshots of your work in progress in at least two different stages of completion, to confirm it is your creation. You are free to post more.



K700 said:
I did everything I wanted in Warband.

you can also revisit your old projects, update one (or more) and bring it to the contest. There are many options/paths to follow as described above if you would like to participate!

Cheers
 
You have to post screenshots of your work in progress in at least two different stages of completion, to confirm it is your creation. You are free to post more.
What are they even supposed to look like?
A screenshot can only fit like... how many? 60-70 lines/operations?

I can easily cut that tiny part from a final script, if it was coded by someone else, and say 'oh, look, this is my WIP!'.

In case of models (the previous contest) intermediate stages look nothing like the final appearance, so it kinda shows work in progress, but in case of scripts it won't prove anything. It's just a waste of time. 


Also speaking of the tasks of the contest... is there really anything that can be done here? I mean, when it comes to battles, all the following things already exist as OSPs or parts of mods:
- PBOD, formations
- all sorts of better ai: for particular infantry soldiers, for horse archers, for lancers
- aoe weapons, flaming weapons, fire arrows, multi-arrow bows, repeating crossbows
- all sorts of spells, healing skills, rally/scare/sprinting skills, teleportation, life-draining swords and the like
- machinery/artillery
- autonomous animals
- shield bashing, lance breaking, AI kicking and stuff like that
- health bars for soldiers
- troop ratio presentation

I can't really think of anything complex and battle-related that wasn't invented yet.
Keeping track on suggestions posted on the forums I've seen quite a few ideas about improvements on the global map, but in battle... I'll be really surprised if at this point someone manages to invent something that's complex (not like 10 lines of code consisting of basic val_add/troop_get_slot/agent_get_health/etc. operations) and new.
 
Leonion said:
In case of models (the previous contest) intermediate stages look nothing like the final appearance, so it kinda shows work in progress, but in case of scripts it won't prove anything. It's just a waste of time.
We thought about that, but ultimately decided to keep that in, chiefly for rules consistency across the different stages of the monthly contest. If you have a better idea, we'll be more than interested in hearing about it.


As for the theme, we felt that despite this specific "subject" has seen its share of improvements over the years, it still provides a large enough spectrum of opportunities for submissions; moreover, we didn't want to select a topic that was too restrictive or completely broad, and felt that as a theme, this provides enough freedom of choice. Finally, whilst originality is certainly a desirable value, we recognise that creating something completely unseen before is a difficult task, and originality is a factor in only one of the scored categories.
 
I didn't participate in the creation of the contest theme and rules(kudos to Lumos and the judges who did this), but a lot of the code features you mentioned Leonion are unfinished, old/deprecated, and if people can't come up with a new idea - remaking something existing in a polished and complete iteration is not a bad thing in my book.
 
PitchPL said:
What about the licenses?  Can i use sounds/music which I don't have license for ,  just for presentation purpose?  (delete in final osp).
I have an idea that would definitely be better with a sound addons.
Whilst I believe that I can understand your point, we can't accept any distribution of unlicensed materials for any purpose. Sorry!
There's plenty of royalty- or otherwise "free" music on the Internet, and the same probably applies to sounds, so perhaps you'll be able to find something like that? Even if you can't, remember that sounds won't contribute to scoring anyways, so their presence (or absence) won't change the performance of your submission.


In addition, I am glad to state that Khamukkamu has generously volunteered to donate $50 to the prize pool of this contest! This reward is to be split amongst the top 3 submissions as scored by the judges, in much the same way it has been done in previous months. Once more, and this time in public, many thanks, Kham!
 
Just a little addition to the Code Quality rating of multiplayer compatible submissions...

You should define whether your feature works as a server side (only) modification, or requires server and client adjustments.
The latter is logically not native compatible out of the box, but uses less network traffic in the most cases.

For the related performance rating network-traffic optimizations will be prioritized over run-time optimizations.
 
EmielRegis? said:
Lumos said:
Is there any logical explanation for this.
I think it's for the sake of universality.
For the same reason why the code has to be written for Native (i.e. the most 'default' set of features that are present in most mods), rather than for some particular mod.
 
I think it's for the sake of universality.
WSE is common modding tool, avaible to everyone. Both for modding and using to play mod. This is unnessesary hindering. There are people used to WSE that simply won't shoot themselfs in foot and relearn orginal ModSys just for contest. Meh...more like "TaleWorlds Forum Modding Contest [June 2018][Scripting Challenge - only most primitive tools possible]
"
 
It's not a common modding tool.
How many mods use it? 1-2%?
How many top-10/20/30 mods use it? 0%?
I only remember ever seeing 2 mods that required WSE.

You need to learn WSE, you need to adjust your modsys to WSE, you need to force players to install WSE. It seriously hinders universality.
 
Back
Top Bottom