Looks like we have some
BIG WINNERS of the
Seventh Annual People's Choice Awards!
This year's awards are shared among eight forum members, both new and veterans. The winning holds are relatively short (all but one have 25 puzzle rooms or less), chewy (difficulty ranges from 5.5 - 8.5 brains) and of course very very sweet. 2010 must have been the year of Caramel DROD!
Without further ado, here are the winners.
================================================================
1. Technical Design Excellence in Layout and Aesthetics
Detention Complex by
Penwielder wins!
Penwielder's second hold, Detention Complex, is designed to look like an actual dungeon. The upper and lower cells have an attractive, functional layout, enhanced with colored lights, that both build atmosphere and highlight important puzzle features. This hold looks great when viewed with Schik's map.php tool. Nice work, Penwielder! You've got a really good eye for light and color.
2. Technical Design Excellence in Concept
Going in Circles by
Jacob wins!
Going in Circles is a clever hold about sword positions. Beethro walks through a series of identical rooms. If he keeps his sword pointed west, he'll be walking identical paths through each room. The puzzle is to find sword positions that allow Beethro to progress to other paths through the rooms, and ultimately to the end of the hold. It's a fun break from monster-killing puzzles. Well done, Jacob!
Because Going in Circles is based on Ravon's idea (see his hold,
Lines, in architecture), I'm going to give Ravon some points too.
3. Creative Design Excellence in Storyline
Rosebud Museum by
noma wins!
Beethro visits the Rosebud Museum of Culture and Leisure, and learns perhaps more about Rosebud than about culture or leisure. (Do DROD lightbulb jokes count as culture or as leisure?) Who or what is Rosebud? Play the hold to discover Rosebud's views on life. This well-written story is deliciously silly. This is a wonderful debut, noma!
4. Creative Design Excellence in Difficulty
Koenigsburg Swamps by
incnone wins!
Koenigsburg Swamps is a small swampy level of tightly constructed puzzles, which have bridges as a common element. What motivates players to keep coming back to these challenging puzzles? Probably the fact that even failed attempts are worthwhile, as they provides new insight towards what should happen in the correct solutions. Impressive work, incnone!
5. Creative Design Excellence in Entertainment
Uncle Arable's Rooms by
Jacob wins!
Uncle Arable's Rooms is a lovely set of clever puzzles, each based on a single different trick. Among many neat puzzle ideas, this hold showcases Jacob's talent at making similar rooms that have very different solutions. The puzzles are not too hard, not too easy, and incredibly addictive. It's impossible to put this hold down after playing just one. Excellent work, Jacob!
6. Graphics Design Excellence in a Modification
Timo006's
Better DROD modification for DROD:AE wins!
Timo006 tweaked AE's GeneralTiles.bmp file so that the monsters look like they do in TCB. (With permission, of course.) This is a very nice facelift for the Architect's Edition. Good job, Timo!
7. 2010 DROD Hold of the Year
Elusive Exhibitions by
Jutt wins!
Elusive Exhibitions is rather like a museum. Interactive exhibits in non-puzzle rooms cleverly illustrate the themes of six challenging puzzle levels. Some themes are monster-based, such as brains and wraithwings. But a couple of the level themes are so unique, only Jutt would think of them; these include parity, where the player must break repeating patterns based on tarstuff and snakes, and movement order, where the player must lead lines of monsters around the room. The museum feel to this hold is enhanced by the elegance of the intended puzzle solutions. And there is even some very special eye candy as a reward at the end of the postmastery level. This hold is truly a masterpiece, Jutt!
8. 2010 DROD RPG Level Set of the Year
Washed Ashore by
Dischorran wins!
In Washed Ashore, Dischorran has taken advantage of the RPG's extensive scripting capabilities to create a "
mimic sword"
, whose ATK value keeps changing to equal the DEF of the last monster you killed. This cool idea has tons of puzzle potential, which is well illustrated in Dischorran's level. There is also fun with the grappling hook, and a number of custom scorepoints that make it worth your while to go back and replay the level in different ways. Washed Ashore is full of great ideas, Dischorran!
9. 2010 Novice Architect Award
incnone wins!
Incnone is the architect of Koenigsburg Swamps, which won the Creative Design Excellence for Difficulty award. In only 8 forum posts, incnone has shown himself to be intelligent, articulate, and adept at designing attractive and challenging DROD puzzles. Hopefully, a couple of awards will lure him back and encourage him to create another hold.
10. 2010 Erik Hermansen Award for Lifetime Architectural Achievement
Rheb wins!
Since Rheb came on the DROD scene in 2006, we've watched him grow from a good architect to a great architect. He's given us 8 high quality - and high difficulty - holds, including
The Underground Civilsation,
Beethro is Getting Home,
Tar Gate Stronghold,
A Slayer's Weakness,
Troshian Tower,
Rescue Operation,
Dungeon of Broken Orbs, and the Smitemasters' Selection
Complex Complex.
Rheb's earlier holds show his mastery of efficiency puzzles, while his later holds have become more thorough explorations of selected game elements. Some of Rheb's "
research"
includes swordless dancing, brained and unbrained goblin manipulation, and different ways of smashing cracked orbs. And I've never seen brained rock giant puzzles even remotely like Rheb's. No matter what the puzzle is, there's always the "
Yes! I finally did it!"
feeling of satisfaction one gets after completing a Rheb room.
While puzzles are the most important part of Rheb's holds, they excel in other aspects as well. No Rheb hold comes without a story, and Rheb's crowning achievement in this area has to be the story he wrote for Complex Complex. Finally, if you have played these holds, it's worth looking at Dungeon of Broken Orbs and Complex Complex with Schik's map.php tool. Rheb's progress with hold layout and aesthetics has been amazing. You're wonderful, Rheb! We love you!
================================================================
Let's have a big round of applause for all the winners!
Congratulations once again to Penwielder, Jacob, noma, incnone, Timo006, Jutt, Dischorran, and Rheb! Of course, the biggest prize here is being able to say that you won in the Seventh Annual People's Choice Awards. But I do have some mod points for the winners as well... please post here to receive them. Posts to congratulate the winners are also welcome.
But thank you! This forum and game are a fun sandbox to play and experiment in, and a lot of that has to do with the people who hang around here: some of whom, with their good advice and seemingly endless patience, helped me make Rosebud into a much better hold than it otherwise would have been. And although life/work has kept me from being too active here lately, I always find time to at least quickly check in. A special thank you to CSR for all her hard work in putting this together and keeping it going. I was wondering... since I never requested a spootlefish for voting, I'd like to release one into the wild, if CSR thinks it would enjoy freedom that is. 