The Eighteenth Annual People's Choice Awards
Welcome to the 18th Annual People's Choice Awards, also known as The Deadlies! 
We missed the awards for a year, so The Deadlies covers both the year 2021 and the year 2022 this time around. Despite the various disruptions we all experienced over that time period, DROD still goes on.
Best Custom Game Element
Pixie in The Custom Element Contest Compilation by LuckyLuc
Way back in the year 2017 we ran a contest where architects were asked to make a custom game element and make a level showcasing it. LuckyLuc's Pixie was the crowd favourite, claiming first place in the contest. Now, four years later, this contest hold was finally published, making this the first time that the Pixie appeared in a published hold. It would seem that the appeal of the Pixie hasn't diminished over time as it manages to win "
Best Custom Game Element"
once again. The Pixie is a relatively simple element that plays well with the DROD engine and is easily slotted in to the regular puzzle space that DROD players are used to. Perhaps some day we'll see another hold making use of this element.
Technical Design Excellence in Scripting
The Legend of ZelDROD 1 by disoriented
What does DROD have in common with the Zelda franchise? Apparently enough to make a Zelda-style overworld and a number of dungeons mimicing one of the classic video games. Whether it be because the DROD community is collectively made up of fans of Zelda, or because people were simply impressed by how well this concept was executed, it is undeniable that this hold uses scripting and a custom aesthetic to pull off an impressive homage.
Technical Design Excellence in Layout and Aesthetics
The Legend of ZelDROD 1 by disoriented
With The Legend of ZelDROD 1, disoriented demonstrates that DROD is a game that can mimic the aesthetic style of another game. Certainly, a player playing this hold for the first time will immediately recognise that this isn't a standard DROD hold. Despite the Zelda stylings, however, the hold still functions well as a DROD experience despite not looking much like a DROD experience at all at times.
Technical Design Excellence in Concept
The Legend of ZelDROD 1 by disoriented
Have you ever wondered how well the DROD engine can adapt to the playstyle of another franchise? This offering by disoriented at a Zelda-like experience in DROD was well received by the community and currently boasts an impressive 9.4 out of 10 score on the holds rating boards. If you want to depart from the standard DROD experience and try something a little bit different, this hold receives a strong recommendation from the DROD community.
Creative Design Excellence in Storyline
Treacle Stew by Chaco
While DROD is often held up as an exemplary puzzle game experience, a lot of the time that experience is purely focused on the puzzles once you've finished with the official DROD holds. The main holds and the Smitemaster's Selections demonstrate that there is a place for story within this puzzle game, and with Treacle Stew, Chaco manages to continue off of the ending of The Second Sky with an extra helping of story. Treacle Stew focuses on one of the mysteries of DROD that until now hadn't received much of an explanation: Why is gel referred to as a forbidden element? Tying this question into the ongoing plot of the DROD series makes for an enticing story hook.
Creative Design Excellence in Difficulty
Treacle Stew by Chaco
Gel is the variety of tarstuff that people have the most difficulty in wrapping their heads around, so it should be no surprise that a hold focused on the stuff will result in some serious head-scratching. Despite the relatively high difficulty of Treacle Stew, Chaco did make sure to include a few tutorial rooms demonstrating some key concepts. After all, what's the point of designing puzzles around manipulating gel babies if the player isn't familiar with some basic techniques. Playing through this hold will definitely familiarise you with gel, but it also will give you a bunch of general purpose techniques that are easily transferrable to other DROD holds, so don't be put off by the difficulty. This hold is worth experiencing and learning from.
Creative Design Excellence in Entertainment
The Legend of ZelDROD 1 by disoriented
If high difficulty isn't your thing, or you are wanting to enjoy a more relaxed DROD experience, The Legend of ZelDROD 1 is a fun hold that offers a unique experience. Of all the holds released in the past two years, this was the crowd favourite when it comes to holds with a difficulty below 7 of 10 brains. This doesn't mean that this hold is trivial, however. It is still a DROD puzzle experience, after all.
DROD Hold of the Year for 2021
The Legend of ZelDROD 1 by disoriented
If you've been reading this list from the top, you may have noticed a certain hold being mentioned again and again. Snagging itself an impressive 4 awards despite competing against not only the other holds of 2021 but also the holds of 2022, this hold makes an obvious pick for 2021's hold of the year. There really isn't much else to say about it after the previous 4 write-ups. This is a good hold that got the attention and admiration of a lot of people over the past couple of years, and it's something you should check out and play for yourself if you still haven't.
DROD Hold of the Year for 2022
Treacle Stew by Chaco
It's been about ten years since the release of Flood Warning, but after a long wait, the DROD community has been blessed with another Smitemaster's Selection. This time around the focus is on gel. There are lots of puzzles here involving manipulating gel babies, so it isn't just focused on the act of cutting up gel itself. As a Smitemaster's Selection, this hold has a degree of polish that makes it stand out from a lot of user-made holds, with a long testing process, voice acting, and even a story that continues on from the ending of The Second Sky. It's an impressive hold, and it is well deserving of being Hold of the Year for 2022.
Best Voice Artist in a Distinct Role
Logan West playing the role of Beethro Budkin in Treacle Stew
Everybody loves Beethro, and Logan West returns once again to give his voice talent to our stoic hero. With the most voiced lines and the strongest connection to the audience, Beethro's voice is going to be the most important bit of voice work in any DROD hold featuring him. Fortunately, Logan West delivers a satisfying performance that matches with his previous attempts at voicing Beethro, giving this Beethro a familiar voice that helps to immerse the player in the experience of playing DROD.
Erik Hermansen Award for Lifetime Architectural Achievement
Xindaris (RPG)
Xindaris has been a fixture of the DROD community for a while, and has consistently been one of the most prolific hold architects since he started releasing holds upon the community. Xindaris' First Hold was released at the beginning of 2016, and he has an impressive 16 DROD holds to his name at this point. 4 of those are contest compilations for events that he ran, while the other 12 are solo efforts. He has also released 4 DROD RPG holds which tend to be on the lenient side with regards to the expected optimisation, making them accessible holds for less confident RPG players while still being satisfying for the hardcore optimisers. On top of that, Xindaris has a habit of submitting multiple entries to any architecture contest run by others. Truly, his architectural ambitions can't be stopped!
Best DROD Video Presentation
ThemsAllTook (a.k.a. Alex Diener)
Alex has come a long way from his first let's play of Journey to Rooted Hold, and while he has finished with all the official content at this point, he still regularly plays custom holds. He has played DROD RPG in the past as well. Alex has a presentation style that lends itself well to the DROD experience. He is generally good at breaking down and explaining his thought process, so even on those occasions where he gets stuck on a puzzle, the viewers can still follow along with his solving attempts. He has also completed some of the hardest DROD content out there, so you know that he'll persevere and eventually see whatever his current challenge is through to its completion.
That's it for this year. It's somewhat unfortunate that we missed a year of the Deadlies, but with this double-feature complete we should be back on track for the 2023 Deadlies. Several holds have already been released this year, and several more are in the making, so there should be an exciting amount of content to get through for another year of DROD. I'm personally hoping that some RPG content gets released again this year since we missed out on any RPG over the past two years, but that's in part due to the forthcoming update to the DROD RPG engine. There are in fact some RPG holds that have been developed using this new version, but until DROD RPG's update comes out of its beta phase, those RPG holds will be stuck on the Architecture Board. Here's hoping to another strong year of DROD content!
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106th Skywatcher
