AGS Awards 2015: SOON

bicilotti · Fri 25/12/2015 09:57:49

AGS Awards 2015 ceremony will be Sun 15th May at 8pm (UK) using the AGS Ceremony client.
A download link will be available here before the weekend. Previous versions will not be compatible.
Please check back soon for the download link! NOPE! Wait for Jack Lucy to let us know when the client is ready.

Festive greetings, developers!

As usual, I am here to remind you that you need to add your game to the Database before the year is over if you want it to participate in the AGS Awards 2015!
Don't procrastinate, do it now!

This year I won't be running them, if you want to pick up the task (very simple task, 95% of the work is done by AGA and Snarky), contact one of them!

Peder 🚀 · Fri 25/12/2015 10:46:34

Thanks for all your 5% hard work with the awards the last years bicilotti! You've been a great host

.

[delete} · Fri 25/12/2015 12:55:52

Many thanks! And Yay!, bicilotti finally returned to the AGS forums.

Snarky · Fri 25/12/2015 14:53:45

Quote from: bicilotti on Fri 25/12/2015 09:57:49
This year I won't be running them, if you want to pick up the task (very simple task, 95% of the work is done by AGA and Snarky), contact one of them!

I'm afraid I'm out, too. I have a thesis to finish right about at that time, so I really can't devote any time to it. I might just about be able to update the game with the new nominees, but any fixes or new enhancements will have to be someone else's job, I'm afraid.

Hobo · Thu 31/12/2015 14:18:41

It's usually the commercial titles that don't find their way into the AGS database. It seems that this year we're missing Technobabylon, Alum and The Charnel House Trilogy. It would be a real shame if those games won't be eligible, since all them deserve at least a couple of nominations. Was it Primordia that missed out on the awards a few years ago because of this?

cat · Thu 31/12/2015 14:37:08

I think if game developers want their games to be eligible for the awards, they should add them to the database in time.
If they don't care to add them, why should we care to nominate them?

Hobo · Thu 31/12/2015 15:21:42

Yes, I totally agree with the rule, adding a game only takes like a few minutes anyway. It's just a shame that they don't bother or want to for some reason.

Snarky · Thu 31/12/2015 16:52:33

I thought the decision last time this issue came up was that eligibility was based on the game release date, not whether it was added to the database in the year in question. It needs to be registered by the time the nominations open, of course, but we usually have a FYC thread and stuff before that.

I think commercial game makers forget to add it to the database because there's so much stuff to do around their releases, and there's really very little point since you can't download the game through the AGS website anyway. There's nothing to stop others from doing it for them, actually. (In fact, I might just add quick stubs to the db right now... Edit: Done.)

LimpingFish · Sat 02/01/2016 01:40:32

Quote from: cat on Thu 31/12/2015 14:37:08
If they don't care to add them, why should we care to nominate them?

Quote from: Snarky on Thu 31/12/2015 16:52:33
I thought the decision last time this issue came up was that eligibility was based on the game release date, not whether it was added to the database in the year in question.

I've long given up being shouted down about my desire to see commercial games kept out of the awards, not only for the reasons mentioned above. But I'm clearly in a minority. Still...

The AGS awards are a community endevour, and this remains a community of largely amateur hobbyists, despite the elevation of some developers and titles to professional status. As an (lapsed) amateur developer myself, I never fancied, come awards season, the idea of going up against those developers for whom developing games is now a living. Or games that have, y'know, a budget.

Last years awards were dominated by commercial games, with only a single non-commercial game nominated in the big five. Okay, so we didn't sign on to exclusively promote the amateur, freeware side of the community, but with the commercial side of AGS now plying it's trade outside the community (while reaping praise and the occasional award), I still believe the AGS awards, if reduced to freeware titles only (while retaining a single "Best Commercial Game" award), could play a big part in rallying the creative spirit within both new and old developers, while giving them something tangible to achieve.

That's my two cents, for another year. I still support the AGS Awards, whatever form they take, and I urge everybody to play and consider all the eligible games, not just those that cost you money.

MiteWiseacreLives! · Sat 02/01/2016 06:24:49

I agree that there should be some separation between Free and Commercial game awards, Best Freeware AGS Game and AGS Game of the Year. Its a little more healthy, IMHO.
I would also like to see a category for the short games from the contests (MAGS, OROW, etc), a sort of MAGS-Uber-Winner.

Cassiebsg · Sat 02/01/2016 08:46:14

Quote from: LimpingFish on Sat 02/01/2016 01:40:32
I've long given up being shouted down about my desire to see commercial games kept out of the awards, not only for the reasons mentioned above. But I'm clearly in a minority. Still...

(...)

I still believe the AGS awards, if reduced to freeware titles only (while retaining a single "Best Commercial Game" award),

+1

I don't play commercial games, which means last year I was only able to vote for Best Demo...

Creamy · Sat 02/01/2016 10:09:01

It surprised me too when I attended the AGS awards ceremony for the first time last year.

There was only one category called "best freeware game created with AGS".
I had expected it would have been the other way around - one category for "best commercial game".

After all, most attendants are amateur and most AGS games are made by amateurs.

Snarky · Sat 02/01/2016 20:22:34

We had a vote on this exact question. So could we please refrain from going over the whole damn thing all over again?

LimpingFish · Sun 03/01/2016 03:47:05

Quote from: Snarky on Sat 02/01/2016 20:22:34
We had a vote on this exact question. So could we please refrain from going over the whole damn thing all over again?

Indeed we did.

I think it's a valid discussion to have every year (even in passing), though, since the number of commercial AGS games continues to grow.

Baron · Sun 03/01/2016 03:47:56

Quote from: Snarky on Sat 02/01/2016 20:22:34
We had a vote on this exact question. So could we please refrain from going over the whole damn thing all over again?

What?!? Public opinion evolving over time, you say? Next they'll want their fancy votes at regular intervals! Darn these blasted democrats. Darn them to heck!

MiteWiseacreLives! · Sun 03/01/2016 05:34:54

Quote from: MiteWiseacreLives! on Sat 02/01/2016 06:24:49
I would also like to see a category for the short games from the contests (MAGS, OROW, etc), a sort of MAGS-Uber-Winner.

^^ has this been done or discussed before? ^^

cat · Sun 03/01/2016 08:56:51

Quote from: MiteWiseacreLives! on Sat 02/01/2016 06:24:49
I would also like to see a category for the short games from the contests (MAGS, OROW, etc), a sort of MAGS-Uber-Winner.

For MAGS there is usually MAGGIES, which is basically what you want: voting for the MAGS-Uber-Winner of the year *nudges Stupot*
For OROW there was a voting over all entries - I don't see the need to make an additional category.

All games made this year and added to the DB, even MAGS or OROW games, can be voted for in the regular AGS award categories.

Snarky · Sun 03/01/2016 10:53:13

Quote from: LimpingFish on Sun 03/01/2016 03:47:05
I think it's a valid discussion to have every year (even in passing), though, since the number of commercial AGS games continues to grow.

The total grows, of course, but were there really more commercial games in 2015 than in 2014? What are the commercial releases from 2015?

Technobabylon (partly a remake of games that competed in 2010-2011)
Alum
The Charnel House Trilogy (includes Sepulchre, which competed in 2013)
Rogue State (non-adventure)
Dustbowl
Warptile ("name your price", including free; non-adventure; not in db)
Quasar Deluxe (remaster of a game released in 2011, which is the date in the db, so probably not eligible for most awards)
... any others?

To me the more relevant issue is how to deal with the games where some parts were previously released and nominated as stand-alone games, whether re-released as a remake or compilation. (The precedent is not to worry about it: Bestowers of Eternity was nominated for 5 awards and took 2 in 2003, and The Blackwell Legacy was again nominated for 5 and won 1 in 2006.)

And here are some updated stats on how much the awards have been dominated by commercial games over the years, counting wins:

2009: 4 of 19 by a commercial game (Time Gentlemen, Please!), including Best Game
2010: 0 of 17 by commercial games (11 by The Journey Down, which was free but was later remade as a commercial, non-AGS, title)
2011: 9 of 17 by commercial games (Gemini Rue and Blackwell Deception), including Best Game
2012: 13 of 17 by commercial games (Resonance and RAM Ghost, a Bake Sale game), including Best Game
2013: 0* of 17 by commercial games (Primordia was withdrawn from competition; Heroine's Quest took 11)
2014: 10* of 14** by commercial games (Blackwell Epiphany and Quest for Infamy), including Best Game

* Not counting Best Demo for Troll Song and Tales, planned as future commercial titles
** Not counting Best Freeware Game

Quote from: Baron on Sun 03/01/2016 03:47:56
What?!? Public opinion evolving over time, you say? Next they'll want their fancy votes at regular intervals! Darn these blasted democrats. Darn them to heck!

Well, the vote was pretty lopsided (though the number of participants was low: it lost 4 to 9), and we've run all of ONE year of the Awards under the new system, so IMO it's too soon to fight this battle again. Anyway, the frustrating thing is that each time we have this argument, it always seems that half the participants have no memory of ever having had it before, even if they were around back then.

Dualnames · Sun 03/01/2016 12:11:48

One note, as far as I remember, Primordia wasn't added to win over Cat Lady and Resonance, we were having this discussion with the writer, Mark Yohalem, how it was stupid not to add the game to the database on 2012, and i asked bicilotti, who hosted the awards then, if he thought it was "cheating" to add Primordia then and make it eligible, and then we had a discussion (community one) whereas Mark, m0ds that is, said that he felt it would be unfair for other games, and so I said that i'm okay with that. So it was a community decision somewhat. I mean I remember saying that if someone was not okay with it participating, we wouldn't mind not participating. I don't think it was ever part of the competition to be ever withdrawn.

As far as commercial vs free, I don't think we need that much of a separation. Whether something is commercial or not, doesn't make a game instantly better. Ben Jordan games won a lot of awards and they weren't commercial.

Snarky · Sun 03/01/2016 12:51:37

Ehh, I don't follow all of that, Dualnames. I just meant that under long-established rules and precedent (e.g. Automation was released in early 2005 but not entered into the db until 2006; it was deemed eligible for the 2006 awards and nominated in two categories), Primordia was eligible for nomination in 2013, even if there was some confusion and controversy around that, so by saying it wasn't going to compete, you withdrew it from awards consideration.

http://www.adventuregamestudio.co.uk/forums/index.php?topic=49765.msg636480574#msg636480574

But let's not go raking up old business. The rules were changed afterwards, so this shouldn't be an issue in the future. I just mentioned it because it was relevant to the stats for 2013 that the most likely commercial awards contender did not compete.