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Our third Event got a pretty decent turnout with 26 entries submitted by 17 participants. We'd like to thank you all for taking part and making it a success! As Blyka and I got together to review all the different designs, it quickly became apparent that it was going to be a difficult task choosing a winner. Sometimes there are designs that just instantly feel right, but in this case we intentionally left the criteria somewhat vague as to what a Sturmbot should be. As a result we got some great variety with a lot of people thinking hard about finding the balance between being a minion of a feared pirate force and being cute enough to appeal to players.

With so many great entries and so many that seemed to hold untapped potential, we had to start by weeding out the less impressive or appropriate ones and then, with very careful consideration, slowly narrowing down the competition from the many remaining entries. Of course, how else would we go about it, right? But no, seriously, this was tough. Loving one design but ruling it out for one reason, thinking about the potential design tweaks of another... and all the time knowing that we could only choose one. Eventually we narrowed it down to these five, not to say we didn't absolutely love some of the others that got knocked out before this point--I mean that, honestly.
 

Blyka's Summary: I found this one to be pretty appealing and unique at the same time. The main downside to me was he looks a bit too mechanical and emotionless, losing the range of personality found in Servbots and Birdbots. The wheel feet and large claw-hands also strike me as something suited to menial labor, and not appropriate for all the tasks that would be required of him. fAB's Summary: This one grabbed me early on as one of the first submissions. I like the color scheme for being bright and cheery and yet giving a bold look to the design. The glowing eyes in the blackness surrounded by a tough looking helmet really looked great, though the body left something to be desired, particularly the unstable look of the legs.

Blyka's Summary: I really like the body design of this guy; visually appealing and it looks sturdy enough for the Sturm Force but not too strong as to be awkward for action-less tasks, e.g. cleaning. I could easily see him anywhere doing anything. Initially I wasn't wild about his head- too basic and boring, essentially. However with more consideration the face grew on me a lot- I see a lot of potential for a variety of great expressions. fAB's Summary: To be honest I didn't care much for this one at first, but it really grew on me. The face that I initially dismissed as ordinary in truth holds a lot of potential for great expressions. The legs don't look very sturdy but otherwise the body seems nicely balanced and adaptable to different situations.

Blyka's Summary: I loved the concept of the Drakebots. It continues the animal theme set down by the Birdbots, and dragons do seem like a powerful and suitable creature for the Sturm Force. The original design did leave something to be desired, though- too square and bulky, mostly. fAB's Summary: This one just didn't look right in the drawing--too blocky and clunky. Conceptually however, a dragon was a great animal choice to base a design off for the mighty Sturm Force, very fitting. During our judging process I whipped up an alternate sketch of how we might modify the design to be more rounded and sleeker and it became quite a contender.

Blyka's Summary: This is just an overall awesome design. Very powerful looking, and even the color scheme works great I think. I could see such power being a perfect choice for the Sturm Force, however his powerful, industrial appearance was also his downside; he really looks more suited to be a warrior bot than a simple multi-tasked serving bot. fAB's Summary: Awesome design, loved it from the first time I saw it. The strong build and industrial palette really make a powerful impression that I could see working well for the Sturm Force. On the downside, it looks so rough and tough that it's really lacking the cute element we wanted to see, even taking alternate facial expressions into account.

Blyka's Summary: This little guy is just adorable, and yet gives a grimy/industrial sort of impression that could work great for the Sturm Force. I can see a lot of expression going into his face, and the vacuum-hose arms are a unique touch that could really add to his personality. The body is a bit on the short side however; he looks like he'd be about 1/2 or 1/3 the height of a Servbot. fAB's Summary: Aaawww! This little guy is seriously adorable! And yet somehow, with the dark colors and theme of a gas mask and hoses, it's just gritty enough to work as a Sturm minion. The arms are funky, but steampunk enough that they'd work in a Legends game. The tiny body gives the impression that this bot is very short, but that could be adjusted.

For a while we were thinking we might want to narrow it down to three finalists and then open a poll for the public to decide the winner, but in the end we managed to finally decide on one ourselves. We knocked out finalist #1 because as much as we liked some elements, we disliked others just as much and it would have taken a lot of tweaking to make it just right. Also, cool as the lit up eyes on black are, there's very little room for expression with that set up. Next we knocked out finalist #4. As cool as it was, it just wasn't versatile enough for our needs. It looks like it would be great on the battlefield, but we couldn't picture it standing around in a town or preparing food for the force. As Blyka said during the judging process, if you blew up its tank, it wouldn't run away like a Servbot, it'd come after you! With the top three it got tougher, but we eventually ruled out finalist #3. As cool as the dragon theme was, like finalist #4 this one also suffered from looking too much like a combat machine. Additionally, we felt bad with how drastically we would be altering the design to remove the boxy appearance.

Down to our top two contenders, we considered very carefully and weighed the pros and cons of each design. There wasn't any clincher decision that made us decide that one was better than the other, we just generally found ourselves leaning more to one side as we compared the two. And so it was that we finally made our choice.

Congratulations, eris!

As I mentioned above, I wasn't crazy about this design at first. If you aren't either, give it a little time and let it grow on you. This design has everything you could want in a little robotic Legends minion. The form is made of nice, simple geometry but is not without style as well. The distinctive yet simple face, like the Servbots' faces, allows for an endless range of unhindered expressiveness. It looks tough and mobile enough to act as an effective warrior and yet friendly enough to slap on a chef's hat and cook up some curry rice. We can picture these little guys working in every scenario of the game we may want to include them in. We have a couple of minor design tweaks in mind that we'll cover later, but all in all we feel this makes a wonderful Sturmbot, and we hope all of you out there will agree we chose well.

Again we'd like to thank all of the participants for taking part in this Event! Though there could only be one winner, we already have cameo appearances in mind for some of the other entries and will be keeping our eyes open for places to include more as the game development continues.