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CuriousShyRabbit
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icon The Fifth Annual People's Choice Awards - WINNERS! (+10)  
We have some BIG WINNERS of the

Fifth Annual People's Choice Awards!

This year, the voters chose highly polished holds that are very clever without being too difficult. That balance is oh so hard to achieve, and the winners deserve our warmest congratulations. Without further ado, here they are:

=================================================================

1. Most Promising Hold
:hooray Porthole Demo by RoboBob3000 wins!
Porthole Demo, a port of Portal to DROD, is an ambitious project that even includes a level editor! RoboBob3000 has managed to transform our top-down view of the DROD world into the side view of the Portal World, and has used scripting to create the Portal puzzle elements, including portholes, cubes, and more. This is very impressive work, RoboBob3000, and I hope you continue on to create a finished product.

2. Best Custom Game Element
:hooray Fireballs in Fireballs by Chaco wins!
Chaco's Fireballs were the first in a series of custom monster creations that showcase the full potential of the DROD 3.0 scripting engine. Fireballs exhibit complex but easily predictable movement patterns: they travel in straight lines until encountering an obstacle, in which case they turn clockwise 90 degrees, and continue on. The short hold, Fireballs, contains both easy and hard puzzles that demonstrate their fireballs' puzzle potential in blocking monsters and holding down pressure plates (if they are "heavy" fireballs). This very enjoyable hold inspired the creation of several other custom monsters on the ballot. Nice job, Chaco!

3. Technical Design Excellence in Scripting
:hooray RPG 3.0 by Jason wins!
Despite its name, RPG 3.0 is a hold for DROD: The City Beneath. Jason created the RPG elements including quests, battles, various weapons, and helpful pets entirely with scripting. My favorite is the pirate gel baby pet, which is awesome! A quick tutorial at the beginning orients the player to the scripted RPG user interface. Then you plunge into a fun, fast-moving story, where you experience being a thief, a merchant, and a wizard, in whatever order you choose. It seems that Jason thought of everything; for those who like to optimize, there's even a scripted score at the end. Well done, Jason!

4. Technical Design Excellence in Layout and Aesthetics
:hooray Castle Steele by Elfstone wins!
Just as in Elfstone's first hold, the puzzles in Castle Steele are gorgeous hold art. This time, the hold art helps tell the story, and we are treated to both indoor and outdoor scenes depicting the gardens and interior of an elegant castle and an old keep. My personal favorite is the cyanozamia tree. Hold art isn't the only thing that makes this hold beautiful. The final postmastery room features an extra special custom music treat. This hold is exquisite, Elfstone!

5. Technical Design Excellence in Concept
:hooray Advanced Concepts compiled by jbluestein wins!
Grand Construction #1, otherwise known as Advanced Concepts, was conceived by jbluestein, then Director of the Department of Grand Constructions, to fulfill a need. While many of the currently popular holds feature lynchpin puzzles, none of the available tutorial holds explain the advanced interactions between game elements needed to solve those puzzles. So he assembled a team of the forum's best architects to create levels of informative rooms and application rooms centered around various game elements. The result was not only educational, but lots of fun to play, too. This was a terrific idea, jbluestein!

6. Creative Design Excellence in Storyline
:hooray Imperial Wandering by Chaco wins!
The ability to use non-Beethro player roles has added a wide range of storyline possibilities to DROD. And so Chaco brings us Imperial Wandering, the uplifting story of 53rd Tar Technician, who takes a wrong turn on the way to a meeting, winds up in a certain someone's death avoidance case study, and finally escapes to a new world of possibilities. This was a great story, Chaco, and we're eagerly awaiting the sequel!

7. Creative Design Excellence in Difficulty
:hooray Museum of Ooze by LarryMurk wins!
Museum of Ooze is a set of "clearly impossible" lynchpin puzzles based on all the fun tarstuff tricks, including growing tarstuff, cutting tarstuff, having someone else cut tarstuff, switching tarstuff, making lots of babies, making no babies, trapping babies, playing with baby movement order, playing with baby movement rules, playing with brained baby pathmaps, and more. Who would have thought that a tarstuff-only hold would have such a variety of puzzles! This is a wonderful hold, Larry!

8. Creative Design Excellence in Entertainment
:hooray Beethro's Brain by Dischorran wins!
Beethro's Brain is a delicious blend of highly original but not too challenging variety. The Dreams and Nightmares level is particularly impressive; in addition to seven DROD puzzles where you have to look at the monsters, it also works as a larger puzzle where you have to look back at the room layouts. Overall, this entire hold is very well conceived. It's amazing that this was Dischorran's first hold!

9. Hold of the Year
:hooray Advanced Concepts, including instructional levels by Chaco, Jacob, LarryMurk, Rheb, TFMurphy, and Tim, wins!
I've already mentioned jbluestein's important role in the conception and organization of the Advanced Concepts project. Due to the outstanding efforts of its team of architects, there has been an overwhelming positive response to Advanced Concepts, and it wins the prestigious Hold of the Year award. Players are having a great time learning new things about the DROD game elements, solving puzzles where they have to apply what they've learned, and optimizing even the simplest rooms. Tim made Simple Sword Tricks; Rheb made Speed Potions and Disarmed Mimics; Chaco made Seep, Roach Queens, and Rock Golems; Jacob made Eyes and Potions, Fegundos, and Goblins; LarryMurk made Brained vs Unbrained Roaches; and TFMurphy made Advanced Brain Movement, a huge level packed with as much information as all the other levels combined. These levels are awesome, gentlemen!

10. Graphics Design Excellence in a Modification
:hooray Basalt by Jutt wins!
Congratulations to Jutt, who has utterly dominated this category. This year, Jutt has given us two beautiful new outdoorsy styles, Basalt (the cooler, greener winner of this award) and Sandstone (a warmer, redder style). Both feature interesting textures and meticulous attention to detail. Very nice work, Jutt!

11. Best Actor in a Leading Role
:hooray Abbyzzmal as Tendry in Tendry's Tale wins!
Abbyzzmal has done a fabulous job infusing warmth and heart into the personality of Tendry, the Stalwart hero of Tendry's Tale, the official DROD RPG hold. His candor, bravado, and vulnerability make him instantly likeable, so there just has to be a sequel to Tendry's Tale so we can see hear him take on another challenge. Bravo, Abbyzzmal!

12. Best DROD RPG Hold
:hooray Fetch the Pie by Chaco wins!
A couple months ago, in a discussion on what makes a good RPG hold, Chaco said, "The trick seems to be giving the player a lot of choices and rewarding him for good choices, not punishing him for bad ones." This has become known as "Chaco's Rule," and is a pleasantly accurate description of Chaco's RPG hold, Fetch the Pie. Interlude levels that feature DROD-like puzzles also distinguish Chaco's offering from other RPG holds. So far, this is a fun and intriguing project, Chaco, it's well worth finishing!

13. Novice Architect Award
:hooray Dischorran, architect of Beethro's Brain and Entropy, wins!
Congratulations to Dischorran, who wins the Novice Architect Award by a landslide. Beethro's Brain, his first hold, won this year's award for Creative Design Excellence in Entertainment. Entropy, which is my personal favorite, Washed Ashore, an RPG hold, were also nominated for awards this year. Excellent writing, clever puzzles, and an eye for aesthetics are characteristic of all Dischorran's work thus far. Dischorran, you are a prodigy!

14. Most Promising Young Architect
:hooray mxvladi, who has seven published holds already, wins!
It's hard to believe that mxvladi has been here only 9 months. He's been an active builder in architecture, and has 7 DROD holds published, 1 DROD RPG hold published, and a couple others in the works. His holds, Dungeon of souls, 46th Slayer adventure, 89th Slayer, Imperial palace, Door master, Cludo's arena, Evil miners' fortress, are filled with a variety of new ideas and his own adaptations of old ideas. We're glad you're here, mxvladi, keep building!

15. Erik Hermansen Award for Lifetime Architectural Achievement
:hooray Jacob wins!
Over the past four years, Jacob has given us 12 high quality holds of remarkable diversity, including Labyrinthitis Expanded, The Domain of The Grinfidel, The Hunt for The Grinfidel, The Final Confrontation, Beethro's Bad Dream, Labyrinthitis (JtRH edition), Figure or Ground, Beethro and the Secret Society (SmS), Beethro's Generic Quest, Smitemastery 101 (SmS), The Goblin, and Choose Your Adventure. These include story-based holds, interesting mazes, theme and variation rooms, complex rooms that the player must traverse several times before solving, as well as sets of deceptively simple-looking lynchpin puzzles... oh, and cheap tricks too. It seems that Jacob has a never-ending supply of creativity. This year, he joins the elite group of winners of the Erik Hermansen Award. Congratulations, Jacob! We love you!

=================================================================
Let's have a big round of applause for all the winners!

Congratulations once again to RoboBob3000, Chaco, Jason, Elfstone, jbluestein, LarryMurk, Dischorran, Rheb, TFMurphy, Tim, Jutt, Abbyzzmal, and mxvladi! While traditionally, the biggest prize here is being able to say that you won in the Fifth Annual People's Choice Awards, I've also got some mod points for all the winners. Please post here to receive them. :)
12-23-2008 at 10:26 AM
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mxvladi
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icon Re: The Fifth Annual People's Choice Awards - WINNERS! (+20)  
Whoa! I won something! :w00t

And again, congrats to all other winners of this year's Annual People's Choice Awards.

And thanks to CSR for making this post. :look

[Last edited by mxvladi at 12-23-2008 12:52 PM]
12-23-2008 at 12:49 PM
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larrymurk
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icon Re: The Fifth Annual People's Choice Awards - WINNERS! (+30)  
And a big, big thanks to CuriousShyRabbit for not only running the awards, but for doing so in her ever thorough and thoughtful way.

Thanks, we love you Rabbit :kiss
12-23-2008 at 12:50 PM
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Chaco
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Hm, that's three years in a row I've won awards at this here People's Choice Awards. I must be doing something right. :)

Thanks to all who voted! I have to admit, an Imperial Wandering sequel was not the first thing I had in mind to make a new hold for, but I'll consider adding it to the queue. I already have three holds in various stages of development that aren't published yet (Kenundrems, Fetch the Pie, and a mysterious third project that nobody has even asked me any questions about), so perhaps once those are all done and over with I'll continue the saga of 53rd Tar Technician.

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12-23-2008 at 02:55 PM
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Jutt
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icon Re: The Fifth Annual People's Choice Awards - WINNERS! (+20)  
Congratulations to the winners and special thanks to CuriousShyRabbit; you've all done a great job!

____________________________
Holds: An Architects Audition, Artful Architecture, Salamander, Elusive Exhibitions, Leftover Levels, Six Times Six
Collaborative: Way Forward, Advanced Concepts 2
Styles/Mods: Basalt, Sandstone, Garden, Clock using game elements
12-23-2008 at 03:58 PM
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Elfstone
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I am honoured and humbled and more chuffed than I can say. This is a lovely pre-Christmas present and CSR - many, many thanks to you; I know just how much work goes into coordinating something like this!
Click here to view the secret text



____________________________
Winner of: Novice Architect Excellence 2006.
FAPCA - Technical Design Excellence in Layout and Aesthetics

12-23-2008 at 04:35 PM
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Jason
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icon Re: The Fifth Annual People's Choice Awards - WINNERS! (+20)  
Hurray! Good job to the other contestants as well!

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12-23-2008 at 09:57 PM
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RoboBob3000
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icon Re: The Fifth Annual People's Choice Awards - WINNERS! (+20)  
Nuntar wrote:
Okay. Hadn't realised this was a topic for award winners to post in and get their +20s. Let me know if you want me to delete my post. :tomato
I think you're a-ok.

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12-24-2008 at 12:39 AM
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Dischorran
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Let's pretend that I have no selfish motives in posting here.

This really does mean a lot to me. I'm immensely flattered to receive so much attention as a newcomer to architecture - two awards (and other nominations and votes) are far more than I expected, and in all probability more than I really merit among so many skilled architects. Building these holds was always meant primarily for myself as a way to deal with a markedly difficult year, so I'm glad they have provided some enjoyment to the community at large as well. With any luck, I'd love to continue creating holds as time and ideas permit (both are currently scarce, but perhaps that will change).

It bears mentioning that Creative Design Excellence in Entertainment was a two-way initial tie, and rather close to a statistical six-way tie as well. For my own part, the serial forced starting point puzzles of Floor 33, the seamless introduction of word puzzles to DROD by dr0d 2, and the visual style of Castle Steele were all personal highlights of the past year and represent landmark achievements in hold design.

As others have said as well, I'd like to thank the one true Rabbit for her dedication not only in running this contest, but in bringing so many of the holds represented here to their final high quality by her tireless beta testing. Congratulations also to the other winners and nominees!

____________________________
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[Last edited by Dischorran at 12-24-2008 07:06 AM]
12-24-2008 at 06:43 AM
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Jacob
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icon Re: The Fifth Annual People's Choice Awards - WINNERS! (+50)  
We get mod points too?

Thanks everyone for voting for me.
I'm really honoured. I'm glad to join the elite of Doom and Larrymurk. Glad also that the award is named after Erik, who is also deserving of recognition.
Thanks also to everyone who helped me by playtesting the holds; Tim and CSR in particular have put in a lot of work.
Much kudos to CSR for organising this year's Deadlies.


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12-26-2008 at 07:12 AM
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mrimer
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Jacob, Doom, and LarryMurk --

I've granted a lifetime supply of CaravelNet service to your user accounts as a Lifetime Achievement Award. (This actually means till 2015 in our current system. When we reach the point where this runs out, just let me know and I'll extend it. :P)

The Caravel community would love to keep seeing new creations from you forever! :thumbsup

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Gandalf the Grey. That was my name.
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And I come back to you now at the turn of the tide.

[Last edited by mrimer at 12-26-2008 08:14 PM]
12-26-2008 at 08:13 PM
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larrymurk
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Thanks Mike, you're too cool :smile
12-26-2008 at 09:35 PM
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Jacob
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Wow, thanks. That's awesome.

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12-27-2008 at 07:16 AM
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TFMurphy
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Hmmm... is it just me left? ...nope, nowhere near: Josh, Rheb and Tim still have to give a speech. And Abbyzzmal has to give a song. Or something.

It's worth noting that calamarain also pitched in architecture for Advanced Concepts: the pretty Hub Level was his design. (And it even looks good in the demo!)

Anyways, the recognition these holds gain as winners is wondrous. But don't forget to check out the other nominees too -- there's plenty of deserving holds there well worth your attention. I noted that some of the more difficult holds suffered slightly in that not many had played them to completion. This doesn't make the winners less deserving, mind -- but it does mean people are missing out on some wonderful experiences. Entropy could do with a few more people conquering it, and I know CSR will probably hit me if I don't mention Artful Architecture (which I promise to play sometime, really!)

But it's like CSR said. It's been a great year for DROD. Let's hope that the new year will bring just as much wonder.
12-31-2008 at 11:10 PM
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jbluestein
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I don't have a lot to say...I'm really happy that people seem to have enjoyed the Advanced Concepts hold. It was my first real experience with hold design (wow...hard!). Most credit must go to the awesome contributors, though: Calamarain, Chaco, Larrymurk, Jacob, TFMurphy, Tim, and Rheb. And to all the testers...whose input was invaluable.

I'm not really active on the forum or with DROD right now. I hope to get back to it at some point, but, well...life is interesting.

Wishing all Smitemasters a very happy 2009!

Josh

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01-02-2009 at 08:25 PM
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Tim
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Well, congratulations to all of the winners and nominees!

Jacob, Well Done!

As for Advanced Concepts, I'd also like to stress that Calamarain and JBluestein have both contributed on the puzzles in the Hub level. As for me, I feel priviliged to be able to work with the best architects and testers for AC. :)

For me, 2008 was a year of testing, supporting SmS's and the DS remake. Perhaps I'll have more time this year to make my own hold again.

And a happy 2009 for everyone!

Edit: Almost forgot: Thank Rabbit for organising this!

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[Last edited by Tim at 01-04-2009 04:44 PM]
01-04-2009 at 04:43 PM
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Neather2
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Well, congrats to all!
Hope i can be one of winners one day.

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Nothing to say. I just play the game. And you, sir, should play it too.

Conspiracy, my new hold, has just been released.
02-13-2009 at 05:20 PM
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