CuriousShyRabbit
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The Fifth Annual People’s Choice Awards

Good evening and welcome to the Fifth Annual People’s Choice Awards! 2008 has been our first full year of building and playing with the new elements in DROD: The City Beneath. We’ve been treated to new kinds of puzzles, including puzzles where the player role is not Beethro, puzzles where the player has no sword, and puzzles designed around custom scripted monsters. Interesting new behaviors and interactions between the game elements have been used as lynchpins in puzzles. We've also seen quite a few traditional holds that use the old AE and JtRH monsters in original ways. Some large holds have either begun or continued epic storylines. Our favorite architects have been productive this year, and new architects have arrived on the scene, offering their own personal flavors of DROD puzzles. 2008 has been a terrific year for DROD holds. Now it’s time to celebrate all that creativity, cleverness, and innovation by nominating your favorite holds, mods, voice actors, and architects for the Fifth Annual People’s Choice Awards.

This year’s categories follow. These categories closely follow the categories announced by gamer_extreme_101 for last year’s awards, with a few additions. See the links below for some history of these categories and their previous winners. Even though the word “fun” isn’t included in all of the category descriptions, please imagine it there. A hold that is not enjoyable (at least for someone, in some sense of the word) should not win any of these awards.

1. Most Promising Hold
This award is for an excellent work in progress, which has been in public beta on the DROD Architecture board for no more than one year. This hold may feature an engaging storyline, beautiful custom artwork, a terrific layout, an interesting custom monster, an innovative use of scripting, or simply the best puzzles around.

2. Best Custom Game Element ***New Category!***
The versatility of the TCB scripting engine has made it possible for innovative architects to create their own custom monsters, custom protagonists, or other custom elements. This award is for a published DROD hold with an excellent implementation of a custom game element. The game element should work predictably (and without errors), it should be interesting, and it should be showcased in excellent puzzles.

3. Technical Design Excellence in Scripting
This award is for a published DROD hold where innovative and original scripting is a prominent feature. In contrast to the best custom game element award, where a constant script is used throughout a hold, this award is for a hold where different scripts are used in different rooms or levels. Scripting may be used for puzzle and/or storyline purposes.

4. Technical Design Excellence in Layout and Aesthetics
This award is for a published DROD hold that has an aesthetically and/or conceptually beautiful design. The rooms and levels are attractive, and they work together as a whole in an interesting way. Holds eligible for this award may (or may not) include hold art, original avatars or sprites, and/or original image floor, pit or wall.

5. Technical Design Excellence in Concept
This award is for a published DROD hold that is the only one of its kind. It features unique puzzles that fit together in an equally innovative way. Val Unrich is not eligible for this award this year, because it won last year before publication, and it would be nice to let everyone have a turn.

6. Creative Design Excellence in Storyline
This award is for a published DROD hold that has a detailed and engaging storyline. Characters are well-developed. The player is motivated to solve puzzles just to find out what happens next.

7. Creative Design Excellence in Difficulty
This award is for a published DROD hold that is difficult (at least 7 brains), yet still fun. Solving these puzzles requires the player to think in new ways. While many players give up on other difficult holds, they persevere and struggle through this hold, because it’s just such a cool hold.

8. Creative Design Excellence in Entertainment
This award is for a published DROD hold of easy to medium difficulty (at the very most 6.5 brains) that is the most fun to play. Playing through this hold is the perfect way to relax on a Sunday afternoon.

9. Hold of the Year
This award is for the best DROD Hold published this year. This beautifully polished and balanced hold features an excellent overall concept, creative and fun puzzles with just the right level of challenge, great level design, an engaging story, and perhaps just the right extra goodies (such as custom artwork or voice acting) to set it apart from the rest. If only one of this year’s holds could be preserved for future generations of DRODders to enjoy, this would be it.

10. Graphics Design Excellence in a Modification
This award is for a modification for DROD, not for any one DROD hold. It can be a whole new room style, a clock, or a “cheat” like transparent tar. The most professional-looking and usable modification wins this award.

11. Best Actor or Actress in a Leading Role
This award is for excellent voice acting in a published DROD or DROD RPG hold. Good voice acting sounds professional and adds another dimension to the character being played. When nominating an actor or actress, please specify the hold and the character played.

12. Best DROD RPG Hold ***New Category!***
This award is for an excellent DROD RPG hold, either published on the DROD RPG Holds board, or available as a work in progress on the DROD RPG Architecture board. Tendry’s Tale is not eligible for this award, well, because we already know it would win by a mile if considered, and these awards are really supposed to be about user-made holds.

13. Novice Architect Award
This is the Rookie of the Year award for architects. This award is for an architect whose first hold was published this year. This architect’s excellent puzzles, well-designed levels, and possibly other architectural virtues such as well executed scripting, engaging storyline, and/or beautiful custom artwork show promise of great things to come from this architect.

14. Most Promising Young Architect ***New Category***
This new category is to celebrate our forum’s young, but unusually creative, clever, persistent, and mature architects. This award is for a young architect, 14 years old or younger, who has published at least one hold this year, and has published at least two holds total. This young architect’s excellent puzzles, well-designed levels, and overall fun holds show promise of even more great things to come. Thanks to Dischorran for suggesting a junior architect category.

15. Lifetime Architectural Achievement
This award is for architects who have been creating great holds for years. To create one good hold requires creativity and skill. But to keep on creating good holds, year after year, requires special dedication and inspiration, well worthy of an award. The winner of this award must have published their first hold more than two years ago, must have published at least one hold this year, and must have created at least two holds rated 7 “fun” or better. Doom and larrymurk are not eligible for this award because they won in previous years.

Nominations
A list of eligible holds and architects will be posted below. Please PM your nominations in each of the 15 categories to me. I’ll post and keep updating a list of what has been nominated for each category. Each eligible hold or architect that receives at least two nominations will appear as a choice in the Fifth Annual People’s Choice Awards voting topic.

Deadline for Nominations: Saturday, November 22
On Sunday, November 23, I’ll post the voting topic.

Links
History of the People’s Choice Awards
The First Annual People's Choice Awards | Voting | Tiebreaker
The Second Annual People’s Choice Awards (Deadlies) | Voting
The Third Annual People’s Choice Awards | Voting | Final Round | Tiebreaker
The Fourth Annual People’s Choice Awards | Voting | Tiebreaker

CuriousShyRabbit
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Here are lists of eligible holds and eligible architects.

Here is a chronological list of DROD Holds that were published since the last People's Choice Awards:

Here is a list of architects who are eligible for the Novice Architect Award. I may have made some mistakes here due to the same person using multiple names. Please look this over and let me know if I've accidentally included a "veteran" architect.

Here is a list of architects who are eligible for the Most Promising Young Architect award. Since age is self-reported on this forum, I may have missed a deserving someone. Or I may have missed a 15th birthday... Please let me know!

Here is a list of architects who are eligible for the Lifetime Architectural award. These fine forum members published their first hold more than two years ago, they published a hold this year, and they have two or more holds rated 7 or above.

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[Last edited by CuriousShyRabbit at 11-20-2008 03:20 AM]

CuriousShyRabbit
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I've already received a couple sets of nominations for the Fifth Annual People's Choice awards! Here's what I've received so far. Remember that each hold or architect will need at least two nominations to be included in the voting topic.

1. Most Promising Hold

2. Best Custom Game Element

3. Technical Design Excellence in Scripting

4. Technical Design Excellence in Layout and Aesthetics

5. Technical Design Excellence in Concept

6. Creative Design Excellence in Storyline

7. Creative Design Excellence in Difficulty

8. Creative Design Excellence in Entertainment

9. Hold of the Year

10. Graphics Design Excellence in a Modification

11. Best Actor or Actress in a Leading Role

12. Best DROD RPG Hold

13. Novice Architect Award

14. Most Promising Young Architect

15. Lifetime Architectural Achievement Award

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[Last edited by CuriousShyRabbit at 11-23-2008 10:00 AM]

NiroZ
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List of Graphical mods for DROD that have been released.

Jacob
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Great job.

History of the People’s Choice Awards

This page definitely needs updating!

Ideas for future categories:
Best Hold with a non-Beethro role.
Best Compilation hold.
Most overlooked hold. (None, really, in this block, but several in the past)
Best Room/Puzzle
Addendum: Cheapest Trick

____________________________
New to DROD? You may want to read this.
My Holds and Levels:

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[Last edited by Jacob at 10-30-2008 05:25 PM]

CuriousShyRabbit
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It's only been a week, and I've already received a bunch of nominations! Thanks everyone, who has replied so far!

In many of this year's categories, we've started to build up good, varied lists of choices for the final ballot. However, in other categories, we have only one choice with enough nominations to reach the final ballot where we will vote for real. More nominations from more people are needed! Based on highscores, forum posts, and activity on the in-game chat, I've made myself a list of 30 DROD-playing people who should send in nominations for these awards, but haven't done so yet. Please don't forget! Opinions from all different kinds of DROD players are important here. And I'll be personally disappointed, if I don't hear from you... (Nominations will be accepted for the next 3 weeks, through Saturday, November 22.)

Jacob wrote:
Ideas for future categories:
Best Hold with a non-Beethro role.
Best Compilation hold.
Most overlooked hold. (None, really, in this block, but several in the past)
Best Room/Puzzle
Addendum: Cheapest Trick

Ooooh, I like these ideas! Perhaps the compilation award would encourage more contest-holders to compile the results for all to play. Currently there isn't much reward for all that hard work. And I could certainly think of two or three good candidates for most overlooked hold from this year, based on what hasn't been nominated yet. In the in-game chat, Dischorran also suggested an award for the best DROD room. When I make the official FAPCA voting topic, I think I'll add a question about future award categories. Anyone have any more good ideas?

P.S. Does anyone know who voice-acted the Watcher in Tendry's Tale?

Blondbeard
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I have an idea: Make it possible to not vote for categories where you don't have an opinion. Previously you had to vote for everything in a bundle, but you have to have played an awfull lot of holds to have a well-grounded opinion for all the categories.

NiroZ
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That's what I did...

I think CSR accepted my entries.

CuriousShyRabbit
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That's easy! I'll just add a "no opinion" choice to each of the 15 categories when I make the final voting topic.

And just so you all know, you don't need to have an opinion in every category to make nominations either. Some people have sent me nominations in every category, some have sent me nominations in a few categories, and some have sent me a nomination in only one category. Let's see some more nominations today! Make sure this year's great holds get recognized!

And NiroZ, I did indeed accept your nominations, but couldn't send you a thank-you PM.

bodkin
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In the first message you give a link to:
History of the People’s Choice Awards

which is pretty good but could do with an update to include 2007. Whose page is it?

CuriousShyRabbit
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bodkin wrote:
Whose page is it?

According to this post and the exchange before it, the Chief Editor of the fan site is Ezlo. It seems that Ezlo has drifted away from the forum in the past months, so it's probably unrealistic to expect a fan site update anytime soon. I hope the other links I've included provide sufficient information about the previous years' People's Choice Awards for now.

How about, after work today, I make a forum post with a table of past years' winners.

CuriousShyRabbit
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Past Winners of the People's Choice Awards

2004 - First Annual People's Choice Awards

2005 - Second Annual People's Choice Awards

2006 - Third Annual People's Choice Awards

2007 - Fourth Annual People's Choice Awards

CuriousShyRabbit
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BUMP!!! Don't forget to send me your nominations today!

We're getting close to the end of the nomination period for the Fifth Annual People's Choice Awards, and I haven't heard from all of you yet. Don't wait any longer to nominate your favorite new holds for awards. This is a great way to show your appreciation to those creative architect-forum members who have entertained, puzzled, confounded, tortured, enlightened, and surprised us this year!

If I made the voting topic based on the nominations I have so far, it would sadly be rather scanty. The Award for Most Promising Hold would be won by default, as only one hold has two nominations in that category. The Award for Creative Design Excellence in Storyline would also be won by default. Do you agree that any of the other holds with one nomination should go on the final ballot for this award? Did you play any other DROD holds with good stories this year? Were you impressed by any other new DROD holds that got posted in Architecture this year (and are still in Architecture)? In either case, please feel free to nominate them for these awards by PMing me.

I also need more nominations in other categories, particularly for "Concept", "Difficulty", "Entertainment" and "Hold of the Year". If I make the final ballot based on the nominations I have so far in these categories, there will be some glaring omissions, which I'm sure I'll hear all about later. Help me fix that now by sending me your nominations. The final ballot will only be full and balanced if everyone participates by sending me a nomination in at least one category.

larrymurk
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CSR, might I suggest you fill in categories as you see fit. It'd be too bad if holds weren't on the ballot just because they didn't get enough nominations.

Jacob
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If you don't get any more nominations in those categories, it would be reasonable to use those with one nomination.



____________________________
New to DROD? You may want to read this.
My Holds and Levels:

CuriousShyRabbit
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larrymurk wrote:
CSR, might I suggest you fill in categories as you see fit. It'd be too bad if holds weren't on the ballot just because they didn't get enough nominations.

Thanks for your confidence in my good taste, Larry.

I hope I don't have to resort to that. After all, these are the People's Choice Awards, not the Rabbit's Choice Awards. I'm sure that everyone who reads my hold reviews and chats in game knows that I am personally biased towards certain types of holds. I really need to hear from everyone, especially people who don't think like Rabbits, who disagree with Rabbits, and who generally don't like Rabbits.

I would, however, entertain the idea of giving Rabbit's Choice Awards in addition to the People's Choice Awards.

RoboBob3000
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A Rabbit's a person too. If you haven't included a round of your own nominations in the counts yet, I say that you shoudl go ahead and do so. I don't think any of us would cry foul.

(And I think it would be A-OK to let holds with one nomination apiece make it to the final voting in uncontested categories.)

Edit: In fact, I think all categories should have at least 4 or 5 contenders, regardless of whether or not those holds received two nominations. The number of nominations received by a hold should be a tiebreaker for determining the ballot.

____________________________
http://beepsandbloops.wordpress.com/

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[Last edited by RoboBob3000 at 11-20-2008 12:49 AM]

zwetschenwasser
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The word geek and his panel of jurors concur with the enlightened Robobob's statement, with the addendum that my jury would prefer all single-nominated holds in any category be presented in the ballot. Thank you.

(Aah! Wheres the judge smiley! Why doesn't the [insert expletive of choice] smiley list have a judge smiley! )

____________________________
Currently working on GaTEB and KDD (never finished the silly thing).

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[Last edited by zwetschenwasser at 11-20-2008 01:31 AM]

Blondbeard
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I would really like to see Dungeon of Broken Orbs nominated for it's story. I might be biased, so I won't nominate it, but if someone who isn't me liked the story as much as I did, please feel free to nominate it.

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[Last edited by Blondbeard at 11-20-2008 05:18 PM]

Dischorran
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I don't think you need to worry about bias for the nominations. Heck, I don't think you even need to worry about nominating the hold that you're going to vote for. Just do it (and some others while you're at it).

____________________________

CuriousShyRabbit
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Alright, we're in the final stretch here! Thank you all so very much for your thoughtful nominations. And you've confirmed something I've believed all along... Caravel forum members have impeccable taste.

I've thought a lot about the two versus one nominations thing, and thanks so much for the advice. As you say, it may not have been the best way to go, but... it's the path we've taken this year. When I started this topic, I liked the idea of accepting any and all nominations offered, with no rules other than the nominee has to be eligible for the award. I feel that rules are counterproductive in a brainstorming session, which is what these nominations are. Of course, with no rules and a free flow of ideas, we're bound to end up with a little bit of "noise" in our lists. That's why I also liked the idea of putting only holds with two nominations on the final ballot. The problem with my idea was that I overestimated the participation in the nominations process. If I host these awards again next year, I will consider adding a one-nomination-per-category rule and a no-self-nominations rule, and then placing all nominees on the final ballot.

So, I've gone through the lists of nominees in all the categories. I've added some new nominees of my own, and "seconded" many of your nominations. You'll see that I didn't "second" all the nominations listed. There are three possible reasons for that... and I'm not telling which is which. First, I don't think it's fair to "second" my own nominations; one of you will have to do that for me, if you think my nominees are worthy. Second, in my own mind, I don't feel that all the nominations in each category really "fit" those categories well. And third, I know it's mean, but I don't feel that all the nominees in each category are quite awesome enough for these very special, only once per year awards.

Last chance to get those nominations in!
Please look over the lists in each category. Do you see a hold with only one nomination that you feel is worthy of an award? If you're not the person who nominated it in the first place, please do nominate it! If you've already sent me your nominations, please feel free to send me some more! The only rule is, I won't let you nominate the same thing twice in the same category.

I will be accepting nominations until Local Time:11-24-2008 at 02:00 AM.
That's a localtime tag... but still Sunday for me.

CuriousShyRabbit
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And... closed! I'll be posting the voting topic within the next hour, right after I finish proofreading it.

A big thank you very much again to the thoughtful forum members who sent me nominations for these awards. Later this evening, I'll bestow mod points on random forum posts of all who helped create this year's ballot.