Adventure Game Studio

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Step # 0 - play them games!
You have some time to play games made in 2016. Do it!
Step # 1 - nomination time!
Select games you deem worthy in each category!
Step # 2 - vote, folks!
Pick from the nominees and we get a winner!
Step # 3 - party!
Big party to celebrate the winners!


Awards are over

The full result including all nominated games can be found on the wiki page (http://www.adventuregamestudio.co.uk/wiki/AGS_Awards_2016).

Best Game Created with AGS
Kathy Rain by Clifftop Games

Best Freeware Game Created with AGS
Toffee Trouble in Creamville by Miez and cat

Best Writing
Shardlight by Wadjet Eye Games

Best Puzzles
Kathy Rain by Clifftop Games

Best Character
Kathy Rain (Kathy Rain)

Best Short Game
Toffee Trouble in Creamville by Miez and cat

Best Demo
The Journey of Iesir Demo by Dream Cauldron

Best Non Adventure Game Created with AGS
Until I Have You by Dualnames

Best Gameplay
Until I Have You by Dualnames

Best Background Art
Shardlight by Wadjet Eye Games

Best Character Art
Kathy Rain by Clifftop Games

Best Animation
Shardlight by Wadjet Eye Games

Best Programming
Until I Have You by Dualnames

Best Music and Sound
Kathy Rain by Clifftop Games

Best Voice Work
Kathy Rain by Clifftop Games



Best Innovation
Gurok (for improving and extending the AGS scripting language)

Lifetime Achievement
Crimson Wizard



Party like it's 1990 in this thread!

yay! </spam> :-D

Yay indeed :)

Several people posted their games already in the For Your Consideration thread (http://www.adventuregamestudio.co.uk/forums/index.php?topic=54317). Go and play them!

But there were so much more games released last year. Don't forget to post your games in the FYC thread to get people play it and increase the likelihood of being nominated for an award!

How are you getting along with playing all games? Are you ready for nominations yet?

Chatting about the awards is allowed (and encouraged) in this thread :)

Still have a couple to play. Downloading them now!

Nominations will start today, this is your last chance to add your game to the For Your Consideration (http://www.adventuregamestudio.co.uk/forums/index.php?topic=54317) thread.

Cat, quick question - some games are released in whatever year, and sometimes only have the voiced version come out some years later.  I take it the voice work cannot be considered for an award on a standalone basis, since we go by the year of release for eligibility?  (Not a problem but I thought it was worth asking.)

Yes. The eligible games are automatically determined based on the date when they were added to the database. The only option would be to create another DB entry and call it a deluxe version or something like that.

Nominations are open! (http://www.adventuregamestudio.co.uk/site/awards/nominate/)

Big thanks to AGA for setting up the page.

Nominations run until 17:59 GMT on Saturday 04 February 2017. You still have some time to play the eligible games (http://www.adventuregamestudio.co.uk/site/awards/eligible/) before you make a decision. Don't forget to have a look at the For Your Consideration (http://www.adventuregamestudio.co.uk/forums/index.php?topic=54317) thread.

Remember to judge each game for its own merits in each category.
The categories for the awards stay the same as last year's (http://www.adventuregamestudio.co.uk/wiki/AGS_Awards_2015).

The nominations have to be done all in one go and it involves a lot of clicking through all the menus to select the titles you want.
So I made myself a little nominations manager on Google Docs. Nothing fancy, just a basic table, but it's there if anyone wants to copy it :-)

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1qYK1PoYAJTsNRHvwHp3lcWtCLsLUZNVNUtlr5U2a0ZM/edit?usp=sharing

Nice! Thanks for sharing :)

Just one question:
Is ist legit to nominate your own games?  :-D

Quote from: Cmdr on Fri 20/01/2017 23:27:14
Is ist legit to nominate your own games?  :-D

Yes, it is, if you think your game deserves it based on each categories. Please just don't nominate your game in every single category, but think about where the game really stands out above other games.
Your MI game for example uses ripped graphics, so you probably wouldn't want to nominate it for the graphics awards. But what I've heard about it, it has great humour and puzzles, so you might want to nominate it for "Best Writing", "Best Puzzles", "Best Freeware Game",...

This actually applies to all games: don't go all fanboy but try to judge each game for its own merits. Try to play as many games as possible and then decide on your nominees.

Thanks Cmdr for asking that question, and thanks cat for answering, I've been wondering that for a while (even if I haven't released any games for years), so it's nice to finally know.
I was always too scared to ask myself for some reason. Also, like I said before, I haven't released any games for years, so there wasn't really a reason to ask just yet.

I also thank you for your detailed answer, cat.  :)

Actually, the idea to vote for my own games feels a bit weird.... I think you know what I maen.
But I also think that have some great fangames, not mentioned about the time I offered to create them.

@Cmdr
You can nominate up to 10 games per category. Putting one of your own among them is fine. It's just the nomination phase so all you're doing at this point is choosing which games you'd like to se on a shortlist. I can understand if you don't feel comfortable voting for your own game (some people don't) but just nominating should be fine.

Stupot+, that nominations document is really useful, thanks so much for sharing!

Wow, so many games were made this year and I have played like... 3 including my own. I can't vote of course, but good luck to everybody! I'll play the games of the winners. :-D 

pffft, play as many as you can of the games you know you would vote for, screw the games you know you wouldn't vote for anyways and then some. Then be fair and resist the urge to go all fanboy when voting. resist the urge! :-D

Have you already nominated your favourite games for the AGS awards? You know, that big, red announcement in the forum is there for a reason ;)
I just did it right now, even though it was hard to decide.

Nominations end at 17:59 GMT on Saturday 04 February 2017. When everything is going smoothly with the voting script, results will be announced on Sunday in a small casual IRC ceremony and of course in this thread afterwards.

Watch this space for more details!

Phew. Done. I didn't get a chance to try all of the games I wanted to before nominating but I did some.

I'm done also! Phew...quite the list but many categories were no-brainers to fill quite easily.

Best of luck to all!

I got logged out  :angry: I guess I'll redo it with Stuport's form next time. It's a bit tedious.

EDIT : I did it just in time. I don't know if it's normal to get disconnected after a certain amount of time or if my problems come from my connection.

Last few hours!

I hope you were able to nominate, Creamy? Please contact AGA if you have any problems.

Nominations are over

The results are in! This year I want to try something different and present the nominees in a casual IRC ceremony.

AGS nominations will be revealed on Sunday, 5.2.2017 at 18:00 GMT in the #ags channel on irc.adventuregamestudio.co.uk.

Just pop in, chat, play a game of acro and hang around with friendly people.

Join the #ags channel on the official AGS IRC server at irc.adventuregamestudio.co.uk (see here for detailed instructions: https://www.adventuregamestudio.co.uk/site/community/irc/ (https://www.adventuregamestudio.co.uk/site/community/irc/)).

Woo hoo, can't wait for tomorrow. :-D
This will be my first time using IRC.

I moved the nomination improvement discussions to a new thread to keep things organised:

http://www.adventuregamestudio.co.uk/forums/index.php?topic=54415.0 (http://www.adventuregamestudio.co.uk/forums/index.php?topic=54415.0)

AGS nominations are being revealed as I type... :-D

Join in everyone!

Quote from: Cassiebsg on Sun 05/02/2017 18:25:44
AGS nominations are being revealed as I type... :-D

Join in everyone!

I think I missed you all... I joined the channel just now and it looks like everyone's already gone home  :(

EDIT: Thanks Cassiebsg, I'm in now.

Actually we're playing trivia now, so you must have joined the wrong channel.

Nominations are revealed!
Thanks everyone for playing the games, nominating and joining the small ceremony!

I am currently updating the wiki. However, since this is a lot of work and will take some time, here are the results, sorted alphabetically per category:

Best Game Created with AGS
Kathy Rain by Clifftop Games
Shardlight by Wadjet Eye Games
Tales by AprilSkies
Toffee Trouble in Creamville by Miez and cat
Until I Have You by Dualnames


Best Freeware Game Created with AGS
Among Thorns by Matt Frith
Sniper and spotter being patriotic by Blondbraid
Stair Quest by No More For Today Productions
The Man From Fugue State by Haggis
Toffee Trouble in Creamville by Miez and cat


Best Writing
Fallen soldier by Blondbraid
Kathy Rain by Clifftop Games
Shardlight by Wadjet Eye Games
Tales by AprilSkies
The Journey of Iesir Demo by Dream Cauldron


Best Puzzles
Kathy Rain by Clifftop Games
Shardlight by Wadjet Eye Games
Tales by AprilSkies
The Journey of Iesir Demo by Dream Cauldron
The Man From Fugue State by Haggis


Best Character
Kathy Rain (Kathy Rain)
Shardlight (Amy Wellard)
Tales (The Cheese Seller)
The Journey of Iesir Demo (Bjorn)
Toffee Trouble in Creamville (Toffee)


Best Short Game
Among Thorns by Matt Frith
GNRBLEX [MAGS version] by WHAM
Graveyard by CaesarCub
Stair Quest by No More For Today Productions
Toffee Trouble in Creamville by Miez and cat


Best Demo
Jacqueline White - Curse of the Mummies by Grok with team
Legend of Hand - Demo by shaun9991
Shardlight by Wadjet Eye Games
The Journey of Iesir Demo by Dream Cauldron
This City at Night - DEMO by paolo


Best Non Adventure Game Created with AGS
Columbus Lander by Ross Kevin Moffat (AKA Mandle)
Monkeys to the Moon! by Crystal Shard
Predators Prey For Plants by Ross Kevin Moffat (AKA Mandle)
Space Tunneler by CaptianD
Until I Have You by Dualnames


Best Gameplay
Kathy Rain by Clifftop Games
Shardlight by Wadjet Eye Games
Stair Quest by No More For Today Productions
Tales by AprilSkies
Until I Have You by Dualnames


Best Background Art
Kathy Rain by Clifftop Games
Shardlight by Wadjet Eye Games
The Journey of Iesir Demo by Dream Cauldron
Toffee Trouble in Creamville by Miez and cat
Until I Have You by Dualnames


Best Character Art
Kathy Rain by Clifftop Games
Shardlight by Wadjet Eye Games
The Journey of Iesir Demo by Dream Cauldron
Toffee Trouble in Creamville by Miez and cat
Until I Have You by Dualnames


Best Animation
Kathy Rain by Clifftop Games
Shardlight by Wadjet Eye Games
Tales by AprilSkies
The Journey of Iesir Demo by Dream Cauldron
Until I Have You by Dualnames


Best Programming
Kathy Rain by Clifftop Games
Monkeys to the Moon! by Crystal Shard
Shardlight by Wadjet Eye Games
Stair Quest by No More For Today Productions
Until I Have You by Dualnames


Best Music and Sound
Kathy Rain by Clifftop Games
Shardlight by Wadjet Eye Games
Stair Quest by No More For Today Productions
The Journey of Iesir Demo by Dream Cauldron
Until I Have You by Dualnames


Best Voice Work
Kathy Rain by Clifftop Games
Order of the Thorne : The King's Challenge by Infamous Quests
Shardlight by Wadjet Eye Games
Tales by AprilSkies
Until I Have You by Dualnames


Congratulations to all nominees!

Congratulations to all who got a nomination - a great variety of game types and styles in that lot!

That was a wonderful live ceremony too, highly enjoyable! ;-D  #ags is just the place to be.
Congrats to all the nominees, who are now rivaling with each other. Of course all the other good adventures won't be forgotten (only the bad ones will  := )

Spoiler

Jk, I will play them too. Thanks for creating them.

[close]

Haha, this is what I get for releasing a game in Jan. of 2016! Forgot about this... thanks to all who nominated "Order of the Thorne: The King's Challenge" for best voice work!


Bt

Quote from: Blackthorne on Mon 06/02/2017 12:13:32
Haha, this is what I get for releasing a game in Jan. of 2016! Forgot about this... thanks to all who nominated "Order of the Thorne: The King's Challenge" for best voice work!

That's what you get for not posting in the "For your Consideration" thread. It's not related to the month of release.

Quote from: cat on Mon 06/02/2017 12:49:36

Quote from: Blackthorne on Mon 06/02/2017 12:13:32
Haha, this is what I get for releasing a game in Jan. of 2016! Forgot about this... thanks to all who nominated "Order of the Thorne: The King's Challenge" for best voice work!

That's what you get for not posting in the "For your Consideration" thread. It's not related to the month of release.

Exactly, just look at Captain D's Space Tunneler which was posted in the "For your Consideration" thread. It got an award and it was posted on the 1st of January. As a matter of fact, almost everyone tried to nominate it at the last year's awards.

Congratulations everyone! On what date will the winners be announced? Can we watch the awards online?

Quote from: cat on Mon 06/02/2017 12:49:36

Quote from: Blackthorne on Mon 06/02/2017 12:13:32
Haha, this is what I get for releasing a game in Jan. of 2016! Forgot about this... thanks to all who nominated "Order of the Thorne: The King's Challenge" for best voice work!

That's what you get for not posting in the "For your Consideration" thread. It's not related to the month of release.

haha, no I'm blaming myself! I totally forgot we released in in 2016, cause it had been so long since the release.  I forgot to come around and do a "For your consideration!" I only knew now because a friend had told me it was nominated for Voice Acting!  I hadn't checked the general forums in a bit, spend too much time lurking the technical ones!  There's a lot of great games nominated this year; I'm just kicking my own butt for not being pro-active!



Bt

Hurrah! Thanks to all who nominated Shardlight!

Thanks to everyone who nominated Kathy Rain! :)

Quote from: Dave Gilbert on Mon 06/02/2017 16:12:12
Hurrah! Thanks to all who nominated Shardlight!

Ditto!

For some reason I felt inclined to see how many nominations each game got.  Here are the results:

12   Shardlight
11   Kathy Rain
9   Until I Have You
8   The Journey of Iesir Demo
7   Tales
6   Toffee Trouble in Creamville
5   Star Quest
2   The Man from Fugue State
2   Monkeys to the Moon!
1   Among Thorns
1   Snipare and Spotter Being Patriotic
1   Fallen Soldier
1   Among Thorns
1   GNRBLEX
1   Graveyard
1   Jacqueline White - Curse of the Mummies
1   Legend of Hand
1   The City at Night
1   Columbus Lander
1   Predators Prey for Plants
1   Space Tunneler
1   Order of the Throne: The King's Challenge

22 different games nominated in total.

Thanks, Dave! This list is also very useful for people who want to know which games they still have to play.

I know there are lots of commercial games, but most of them have a free demo. Even if you don't want to or can't afford to buy them all, please play at least the demo. Maybe you like it so much, that you want to buy the game after all :)

A hint to authors: Now might be a good time to offer discounts on your games ;)

Thanks to everyone who voted for Fugue State, just to be in that 'best puzzle' nomination list among those fantastic games is mind boggling 8-0 and I'm very honoured. Now discount those games woooo ;)

It's nice to see a good range of games there. It's going to be fun playing them and deciding which to vote for.

And a nice surprise to see This City at Night among the nominees for Best Demo. Thank you so much to everyone who nominated it!

I have updated the Wiki-page (http://www.adventuregamestudio.co.uk/wiki/AGS_Awards_2016).

If you find any errors, please tell me. Or, even better, fix them yourself, since it's a wiki :)

I'd also like to say I'm very grateful for all the nominations <3

Quote from: cat on Mon 06/02/2017 17:09:23
A hint to authors: Now might be a good time to offer discounts on your games ;)

Not a bad idea: If you haven't played our games, here's a special sale just for you AGS forums peeps - $.99 on Itch.io this week, get it while it's hot. Order of the Thorne is nominated this year, and Quest for Infamy is a previous AGS Award winner!

https://infamousquests.itch.io/AGSAWARDS

Bt

@Blackthorne - that's a mighty generous offer. Thanks.

Thank you guys for nominating Graveyard :D

Voting will start soon!

Make sure to play all the games that were nominated and pick your favourite for each category!

In contrast to the nomination phase, I think this time you should not vote for your own games, to keep things fair. Is everyone okay with this?

Quote from: cat on Thu 09/02/2017 20:25:34
In contrast to the nomination phase, I think this time you should not vote for your own games, to keep things fair. Is everyone okay with this?

This seems very fair, but it does raise a question... if you are part of the team that worked on a game, and your game is nominated for an award in a department you didn't work on yourself, would it be seen as unethical voting for it?

I'd say yes, please don't vote for games where you actively worked on (I'm not talking about giving advise in CL or the technical forums, but games where you are listed as team member). Otherwise it's more a matter of having lots of team members voting for each others accomplishments.

Fair enough.

Congratulations to all nominees!

:-D

And to all the other games that were suggested for nomination, you all did a fantastic job.  My favorite game of last year sadly has no nominations, but many other favorites do.  Very happy to see that.

As for voting for your own game, I see nothing unethical about that.  In my opinion, vote for the game that you think deserves the award, whether you worked on it or not.

Quote from: dactylopus
As for voting for your own game, I see nothing unethical about that.  In my opinion, vote for the game that you think deserves the award, whether you worked on it or not.

I agree with Cat that it's not a good idea. It's not that I think it's unethical per se. If you genuinely think your own game deserves that prize more than any others, then why shouldn't you? However, some people don't feel comfortable voting themselves even if it's legal so those people are sort of shooting themselves in the foot if they vote for a different game while that game's own author has voted for themself.

It's time to vote! (http://www.adventuregamestudio.co.uk/site/awards/vote/)

Make sure to play all the games that were nominated and pick your favourite for each category!

In contrast to the nomination phase, this time you should not vote for your own games or games where you are listed as team member, to keep things fair.

Thanks Cat - let the voting commence!!  ;-D

The link to the list of nominees in the header banner goes to the 2015 page, rather than the 2016 one. ;)

I haven't made a game that would ever qualify for an award, let alone this year, but I am curious.  What would happen if you did vote for your own game?  Would the vote be disqualified?

@Riaise: The link is updated, thanks AGA!

Ok, guys, please just don't vote for yourself. We might or might not check it, but actually I'd prefer if I can trust everyone.

@cat Could the rule about not voting for your own (or your team's) games be also included on the voting page itself? Otherwise people may miss that information if they don't follow the forum thread.

Also, congratulations to the nominees!

I get an error 403 when voting:

Error 403
We're sorry, but we could not fulfill your request for /site/awards/ on this server.
You do not have permission to access this server. Before trying again, close your browser, run anti-virus and anti-spyware software and remove any viruses and spyware from your computer.
Your technical support key is: 62b8-90b6-b40c-8ddc

I've adapted that spreadsheet for more vote management goodness.
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1qYK1PoYAJTsNRHvwHp3lcWtCLsLUZNVNUtlr5U2a0ZM

Quote from: pcj on Fri 10/02/2017 23:25:52
I get an error 403 when voting:

Error 403
We're sorry, but we could not fulfill your request for /site/awards/ on this server.
You do not have permission to access this server. Before trying again, close your browser, run anti-virus and anti-spyware software and remove any viruses and spyware from your computer.
Your technical support key is: 62b8-90b6-b40c-8ddc

I was able to fix this by clearing my browser cookies for the website.

Quote from: Calypso on Fri 10/02/2017 20:58:22
@cat Could the rule about not voting for your own (or your team's) games be also included on the voting page itself? Otherwise people may miss that information if they don't follow the forum thread.

Also, congratulations to the nominees!

Seconded, I didn't realize this wasn't allowed before popping back into the thread :) A suggestion for next year - Maybe we could deny voting on a particular entry if the forum account is listed on the team in the game database? Would be a way to automate this process and prevent anyone from making that mistake.

Thanks to everyone for nominating Monkeys to the Moon! May you all have a banana-filled year!

Quote from: cat on Fri 10/02/2017 19:04:25
Ok, guys, please just don't vote for yourself. We might or might not check it, but actually I'd prefer if I can trust everyone.

I'm fine with that; however I would prefer a simple rule that votes for your own games are discounted, over a reminder to "please don't do that" which some people may not notice. Scripting it (as JSH suggests) is even better.

Votes will now autofill if you return to the page after having previously voted.  Other things may happen later.

I don't think it's really fair to enforce the voting for credited games programatically.  What if I was credited on a game because someone used a module I created?  Or for moral support or something minor like that?  Or a little bit of beta testing?  Does that mean I shouldn't be allowed to vote on a game I loved, just because I'm vaguely associated with it?  The only way we could maybe do it to discount votes from the first credited person (generally the 'owner'), otherwise I think it could end up being too strict.

Quote from: AGA on Sat 11/02/2017 20:54:01
The only way we could maybe do it to discount votes from the first credited person (generally the 'owner'), otherwise I think it could end up being too strict.

Implemented this.

I'm kind of in a pickle here too...

I worked on Tales. I wrote the English text version. While it follows the Italian version, it is more an adaptation than a direct translation, which AprilSkies trusted me to do as I was on board since the very start of development and gained a very intimate understanding of the game and its characters because of this.

I invented one puzzle in the game: I wrote the tavern door riddle from scratch so that the game would have an original riddle that nobody had heard before.

But I did not write the story. Nor did I work on the gameplay, pacing, music, etc. except to offer a comment here and there as a playtester.

Here's my pickle: On the list of games (that I have played) Tales would get my vote in several categories. This would be an honest vote and not just blind support for a project I had worked on.

For example: I would vote for Tales in a category such as Best Voice Acting because I truly believe that performances such as Alfred, Iktan, Merlin, Jack, and Gilgamesh and Enkidu, etc. etc. really bring the characters to life, but I would not vote for it for awards like Best Programming or Best Character (The Cheese Seller) because I believe there are more deserving games on those lists (Until I Have You, and Kathy Rain, in these cases).

Cat asked me in person when we met a few years ago what my favorite AGS game was and I answered "Tales" without hesitation, and that was when the game was still only about 80% finished and still unvoiced. My love for the game has grown hugely since then and I would now say that it is one of my favorite games of all time, not just AGS games.

I even watch youtubers let's plays of the game to re-enjoy the feeling of first playing my favorite parts through their reactions.

Despite these feelings, I'm not allowed to vote for it. I realise it's "just" one vote and it's "just" for a community award, not some elite award that will bring the game more into the spotlight. But it is for those reasons precisely that I want to vote for it. It's just one vote, but it's my vote and I wished my vote could represent my true opinion. It's just a community award but for me that's all the more reason I feel like my honest vote is not cheating or corrupt, as I would maybe feel if the award had a higher probability of increasing the sales of the game.

I'm not going to boycott the vote or whine about the rule or anything like that, but I felt I just wanted to post my real feelings about it in here.

Cheers for reading!

Wow, tbh I didn't expect people being so much upset with not voting for their own entries...

I thought this would be the fairest solution for everyone. Otherwise some people will feel uncomfortable voting for themselves or others might feel they have to vote for themselves to have a chance. Just imagine a team of 5 or 6 people all voting for themselves and what advantage they would get. That's why I wanted to have the same fair conditions for all games and teams.

If people really feel this is unfair, of course we can discuss this for next year's awards. But for now, we will stick to it.

Btw, thanks AGA for improving the voting page!

Quote from: cat on Sun 12/02/2017 09:39:48
Wow, tbh I didn't expect people being so much upset with not voting for their own entries...

No,no, please don't get me wrong... I'm not upset... Like I said I still voted and followed this rule. It just means that it wasn't my 100% accurate vote reflecting my true feelings, but I voted for the game that I thought was next best on the list, so... close enough...

Tales, however, is not my own entry... I wouldn't vote for a game that I was the author of, and I believe that authors should not do so.

But where then should the line be drawn?

Some examples:

Could someone who only had a voice acting role in a game vote for it for best game, but not best voicing?
Could the inventory item sprite artist vote for the game for best audio?
Can playtesters vote for a game they tested? (I was a tester on Kathy Rain and I voted for it in some categories. I don't feel that playtesting the game shaded my opinion of it unfairly. But I will change my vote if this is breaking the rule.)

Or should it just be a common sense kind of thing like: Don't vote for a game in any category that you personally worked on?

This would pretty much bar the main author from voting for anything, which is 100% fair, and also prevent anyone else from voting for their own work, but still be able to show respect for the work of others.

And also to only vote for a game you had involvement in if you honestly feel it's your true opinion that it deserves that award (but, once again, not in a category you worked on).

Of course, the bottom line is that voting is based on the honour-system anyways. After all, there's really nothing to stop some dishonest person from creating 10 fake AGS accounts to vote for their own game. Just as there's nothing to stop, as you mentioned, a large team from all just blindly voting for their own game in any category they didn't work on. But I feel (or I hope at least) that the AGS family isn't quite that cut-throat about the AGS Awards, and we mostly look forward to it as a bit of fun together as a community.

Just my 2 cents of course, and looking forward to the ceremony as always!

I know you are all busy playing the games and voting, but please spare a minute because we need to decide on a date and time for the ceremony. Just post your availability (using your forum nickname) in the

Doodle poll (http://doodle.com/poll/75yexczpyuiczi64)

All times are GMT (London time) but you can change the settings to show your time zone. You can vote yes, no or ifneedsbe.

If there is great demand, of course I can also add other times.

My votes are in! Good luck everyone :)

Hi, I'm new as a member on the forums but have appreciated many of the Freeware games from here for a number of years along with quite a few commercial games featured, bought from other sources, that have been made using the AGS engine & so featured here!

I'm curious to know what the nomination process for games for this AGS Award is? Do the developers here just have to promote their games?

In order to vote I'm trying to be sincere in playing or experiencing via a demo all of the games, as requested, before voting in any particular category. But here lies my problem - I'm essentially a fan of Adventure Games so there is one particular Non-Adventure game that is listed in a lot of the categories of which I've tried the demo of as far as I could manage. I just have to say that it's totally irrelevant to me however good the graphics, voice acting, music etc is in any game if I can't get along with the gameplay because it falls outside of the genre I prefer. So it does seem a little incongruous to list Adventure & Non-Adventure games together in so many nomination lists? :shocked:   

     

Hey and welcome Ciara :)

To be eligible for the AGS awards, the dev just needs to make a game using AGS and upload it to the database. ;) Then we go through the process of nominating ones 10 favorites from that list. And Now, you just vote for your favorite/that you think it's the best in it's category out of the 5 that got more nominations during the previous round.

You don't need to vote in all categories, also some games you can find "let's play" and trailers on youtube if you wish to vote fairly, even though some games you will never play (like non-adventure). (nod)

Hi Ciara!

Welcome to the forums :)

I'm glad that you are sincere about the awards and try to play all games or at least their demos before voting.

About the process:
Cassiebsg already explained how nominations work. The categories are mostly the same every year with only minor changes here and there.
While AGS was created with adventure games in mind, people have found ways to make other amazing games with the engine. The awards are about honouring all AGS games made within one year and we don't want to exclude any games.
There is a special category for non-adventure games as well as for freeware or short games. But all games are eligible for the general awards.

Now, there is a game nominated that you didn't quite enjoy - this is absolutely okay! Not everyone will enjoy all games. Some people might not enjoy science fiction games, others might not like comedic games and others like you don't want to play non-adventure games. The important thing is that you gave it a try. You can now make an informed decision and vote for the game you liked best in each category.

Keep in mind that you don't have to vote in every category (you can skip non-adventure games) and most importantly - have fun playing!

Only 5 days left - the awards need YOUR votes!

Remember, you don't have to vote in every category. Just make sure you get a good impression of every game where you vote in a category - ideally by playing it, but also playing the demo or watching a let's play is fine.

And there is still the Doodle poll (http://doodle.com/poll/75yexczpyuiczi64) for the ceremony date and time.

Voteeeed!

I can't wait to find out who's won!  :cheesy:

Last 24 hours!

Wheee! ;-D

Voting is over

Big thanks to everyone who took the time to play the nominated games and vote for their favourites :)

The results will be announced during the awards ceremony. The doodle has shown a strong preference for Saturday evening. Since 18:00 seems a bit early for some and 21:00 a bit late for others, I will pick a time in between.

The official AGS awards ceremony will be held on Saturday, 11th of March at 20:00 GMT
Time zone conversion (https://www.timeanddate.com/worldclock/fixedtime.html?msg=AGS+Awards+Ceremony&iso=20170311T20&p1=136)

We will use the ceremony client, prepared by Snarky (thanks for that!). There will be some beta-testing on probably Thursday or Friday. Details will be announced in the following days.

Thanks Cassiebsg & cat for the warm welcome to the forums! Oh, I missed the boat to alter just a couple of votes but did play/experience all of the games within the categories I voted in so don't feel so bad & hopefully those couple of votes won't affect the results significantly! :embarrassed:

Just a heads up to those asking where to download the client. I'm still putting the final touches on it, but it should be ready for download a couple of hours before the start of the ceremony (so, in about three hours).

We are now warming up for the ceremony in #ags on irc.adventuregamestudio.co.uk

Join us for a trivia quiz and small talk!

The awards client is now ready for download! Check out the first post (http://www.adventuregamestudio.co.uk/forums/index.php?topic=54316.msg636550801#msg636550801) (which also features a small tutorial), or get it directly here.

Update: New version 2.1 (https://www.dropbox.com/s/389vf5c15le38pi/AGS%20Awards%202016%20v2.1.zip?dl=0) to fix random laughter bug!

Download the client and join us!


Some instructions on how to use it:

Spoiler

(http://www.clowdergames.com/stuff/client_tutorial.png)
You can also use a couple of special commands by typing them into the chat line:
/cinema - hide the UI (and bring it back: you'll have to type it blind since the input box is invisible)
/help - IRC tips

[close]

You can also connect for a text-only experience over IRC:

Server: irc.adventuregamestudio.co.uk
Channel: #awards (you should also join #ags)
If you don't have an IRC client, you can use this web client (https://client00.chat.mibbit.com/?channel=%23awards,%23ags&server=irc.adventuregamestudio.co.uk).

The awards channel will be moderated, i.e. it is muted while presentations go on.
Join #AGS with any irc client to chat with other people during the ceremony

The ceremony will start in 3 minutes!

Thanks to all for the awesome ceremony! So much fun! And congratz to all the winners!

And it is done!

Thanks to cat for hosting: I know you were a bit nervous, but you did a great job!

Congratulations to all the winners, and thanks to everyone who attended for making it a fun night. At one point we had more than 50 clients connected by my count. Some people were connected with two clients, so not quite as many people were online, but it was a well-attended evening by AGS Awards Ceremony standards â€" I was actually ever so slightly worried that some array somewhere was going to overflow and we'd have a mass crash. Fortunately, it seemed to go off pretty smoothly.

I also want to say that although the winners in every category were certainly very deserving, there were some categories where I was sure another game was a lock, because it was just so outstandingly good (I can't comment on gameplay or writing, but just in terms of presentation): there were just too many great AGS games last year, I guess! So I hope the runners-up aren't disappointed. Your game is great!

It's over! Thanks to everyone who voted for Toffee!

I'll do a proper write-up tomorrow, but now I just want to party and then drop into bed :)

Thank you, cat and Snarky, and everyone else involved, for a brilliant and fun night! Big congratulations to all the winners. It was nice to see the awards were spread out over several games rather than one scooping the lot. All the awards were very well deserved.

Now let's all get busy making and finishing next year's crop!

I have some bad news about the AGS Awards recording.

I'm having computer problems at the moment. I had the entire thing recorded and encoded on my brand new machine (built it last week), but as I was uploading it blue screened and since then, I haven't been able to power it on. Now, normally I'd just plug the drive into a different machine, but this one has a weird interface (U.2). There might be a bit of a delay in getting the recording uploaded (sorry).

8-0

Man, I hope it's not lost completely! Sorry to hear about your computer troubles, Gurok. Did anyone take any screenshots of the ceremony? I wanted to get a picture, but I forgot about it...

For those who missed the ceremony, I'm sure cat will publish the announcements here and on the Wiki (http://www.adventuregamestudio.co.uk/wiki/AGS_Awards_2016) soon, but what you can do in the mean time is launch the client and have a look at the in-game program, which should still list the winner of each award.

Quote from: Gurok on Sun 12/03/2017 08:46:49
I'm having computer problems at the moment. I had the entire thing recorded and encoded on my brand new machine (built it last week)

Now I might not know much about how computers work, but I know enough to ask this first troubleshooting question:

Did you build it out of computer parts?

Thanks to everybody for a cool awards show. Was a bit surprised at my wins considering the competition - as I said in the ceremony, other nominees are people whose work really inspired me and made me think "If only I could draw like this". Still very humbled and grateful to be nominated alongside them. :smiley:

Lovely to see many deserving people being recognized, both in nominations and awards. Especially glad to see Crimson Wizard being recognized for the amount of effort he's put in. AGS people are awesome.

A good night's sleep and a Sunday breakfast did the trick, I'm awake again :)

It was a great event, thanks to everyone who showed up, presented and partied! Like paolo, I think it's great that many different games got an award. Kudos to everyone who voted, for thoroughly evaluating each game's strengths and reflecting this in the votes.
I'm also happy that for each game award the author was attending the ceremony and giving speeches when accepting the awards. Spread the ❤️️ guys!

Congratulations to all winners and especially JSH for winning Best Game!

Thanks again to Snarky and everyone who helped with the awards. Even though you might not notice, there is a lot of work to do to run the awards with lots of people involved. Thanks!

Thanks Mandle for waking up Stupot and saving the MAGGIES (laugh)

Gurok, I hope the recording is not lost 8-0



Here are the results, the wiki will be updated within the next days:

Best Game Created with AGS
Kathy Rain by Clifftop Games

Best Freeware Game Created with AGS
Toffee Trouble in Creamville by Miez and cat

Best Writing
Shardlight by Wadjet Eye Games

Best Puzzles
Kathy Rain by Clifftop Games

Best Character
Kathy Rain (Kathy Rain)

Best Short Game
Toffee Trouble in Creamville by Miez and cat

Best Demo
The Journey of Iesir Demo by Dream Cauldron

Best Non Adventure Game Created with AGS
Until I Have You by Dualnames

Best Gameplay
Until I Have You by Dualnames

Best Background Art
Shardlight by Wadjet Eye Games

Best Character Art
Kathy Rain by Clifftop Games

Best Animation
Shardlight by Wadjet Eye Games

Best Programming
Until I Have You by Dualnames

Best Music and Sound
Kathy Rain by Clifftop Games

Best Voice Work
Kathy Rain by Clifftop Games



Best Innovation
Gurok (for improving and extending the AGS scripting language)

Lifetime Achievement
Crimson Wizard



Now, everyone, on to some game making, we want to have as many awesome games for the next awards as well!

*putsOnDeveloperHat*
Thanks to everyone who voted for Toffee! I was super nervous and stressed yesterday evening with hosting, I did not manage to do a proper speech :-[

Here are the results, the wiki will be updated within the next days:

I went and updated it, run a check see if i haven't fucked up anything

http://www.adventuregamestudio.co.uk/wiki/AGS_Awards_2016

It was a wonderful night, thanks to everyone that voted for Until I Have You in any category, whether it got nominated or actually got an award back. Took me goddamn 10 years to get an award, but we brought it home, boys. It was an emotional night, even though most people don't think of the AGS Awards as prestigious or as valuable, I have a place for them in my heart. That was why Wyz and I went through all that trouble to make the ceremony via an IRC client in the first place. Snarky has cleaned up the client wonderfully, kudos to Snarky for that, commendable.

I have to say that the awards were very shared this year, glad to see all games that I believe deserved an award get one. I wanted Stair Quest to get an award to be honest, and I think that Journey had amazing animation (albeit very little of it, because it's a demo), not saying that Shardlight didn't deserve that award, it did. I've ported that game, and there's a ton of animations in it, all done frame by frame by Ben304, he's wonderful, not taking away his spotlight, he truly deserves that award.

That's the thing you know with this years awards, all games were really good in any category, I don't think I'd be "that was unjust" if Until I Have You didn't get programming or best non-adventure game or best gameplay. In the same way that for example in the Music section all games were amazing and fully deserving to win. Nathaniel's gritty acoustic guitar focused soundtrack for Shardlight, Clifftop's heavily distorted and noisy soundtrack for Kathy Rain, Stair Quest's chiptunish trip back to the early 90s, my own Synthwave action-packed soundtrack for Until I Have You, and Journey Of Iesir's symphonic crescendos.

That's what we have to keep, this wonderful variety and appreciation for each other. So thanks, thanks for letting me be a part of this talented community.

Wow, thanks Dualnames! I love this community!

Oh and before i forget, thanks cat. You did an amazing job organizing and coordinating this with Snarky and AGA and whoever else I may be forgetting here. And knowing this is a very stressful thing, you pulled it off nicely. Bici used to drink whiskey. He said it helps :D

It was an amazing ceremony and really fun!
You guys did a great job!  :-D

Thanks Cat / Snarky / AGA for a great awards ceremony!

Shame I couldn't attend, but I'm in a sea of boxes, preparing to move house.

Great job Snarky, Cat and AGA (and others (oh hey I actually did the pencil art for the exterior splash screen thingie!)) for doing this thing, it's really a great tradition that I hope will never die.

Gratulations to all winners, many of whom, incidentally, are among my favourite game makers, such as Joel, Ben & Francisco, Cat, and Dualnames.

Thanks, guys!

(http://s7.directupload.net/images/user/140717/hnvx5c8l.gif) Congratulations to all the winners!
           We got a lot of really cool people in 'the house' - very well deserved wins!
                             (http://i.imgur.com/Bt2zb.gif)

It was a bunch of fun.. thanks for putting it on gang!  :-D

Spoiler

Still a little scared to go out in the snow after witnessing those yeti maulings 8-0 ...

[close]

Thanks to the crew and all the effort putting all this together, from the start leading all the way up to the ceremony!
Not to forget a thanks for all the voters and of course gratz to all the winners!

Congrats to all winners and nominees.  Happy to see some of my favorites win.

Let's hope we get games that are just as good this year.

Well done to all the winners and runners up.
You guys are all awesome.

Congratulations, winners and nominees! A very strong line-up this year.

And thanks to cat for pulling it all together, and to Snarky for his tireless work on the client!

Here's to next year! :D

Sorry, quick question:

When do the icons after the game on our profiles' "Games Worked On" list get updated from "Nominated for (AWARD)" to "Winner of (AWARD)"?

Does this happen automatically or must someone do it manually behind the scenes? (if the latter, then even more kudos for the hidden effort we probably don't even consider)

It's something I do semi manually.  I'll try to do it later today.

Quote from: AGA on Mon 13/03/2017 06:12:02
It's something I do semi manually.  I'll try to do it later today.

So you're the guy to thank! Cheers mate!

Thanks for hosting Cat, and thanks everyone who was involved in bringing us this year's AGS awards ceremony. :-D
It was really fun, and I enjoyed all of the speeches everyone made up on the spot. I can't wait for next year's.

I'm amazed that some games didn't win an award, especially in certain categories, but I think that just goes to show how many great games there was last year.
Everyone who was nominated practically deserved to win with how great they were.

I was sad to miss the ceremony, but huge congratulations to the winners, much deserved!! :)

Every year I swear I'm gonna make the ceremony. Sorry I missed it, but thank you for the awards and congrats to everyone who won!

Winners have been added to the database.

Thanks AGA!

I've lurked on these forums for over a decade, always thinking that I'd love to work on an AGS game and just have people play it. Let alone enjoy it, love it, and even have the honor of being nominated and then winning an AGS award. I think it's fitting that my first post after registering in 2011 is one to say thanks, so thanks everyone for playing Kathy Rain, and digging the music! To say that I'm elated doesn't even come close to how happy I am. :-D

Something came up last minute and I missed the ceremony, but congratulations to all of the winners and huge thanks to everyone involved the the running of the awards. You're all awesome! :-*

Congratulations everyone! Shame I missed the ceremony but I'm in a similar situation to Andail at the moment. Happy to see some of the games I voted for getting awards, all very well deserved. It was a great year for AGS and is looking to be another great year following this :)

A huge congratulations to all the nominees and winners. It really has been a great year for AGS games. It's pleasing to know that AGS is still going so strong with plenty of developers and players. I'm looking forward to seeing what the rest of the year will bring.

Gongrats to all the winners and nominees! Looks like last year produced quite a few little (and big) gems...

Congrats to everyone that made a game. A special congrats to the nominees and winners.

Congratulations to all winners and nominees! Although the results in some of the categories were a bit surprising to me personally and I feel that a couple of games might have been snubbed, I can't really argue with the outcome and all the winners certainly deserved their awards.

I am very much interested in watching the recorded AGS Awards 2016 ceremony. Thanks in advance.

Quote from: Amy on Sun 19/03/2017 23:00:07
I am very much interested in watching the recorded AGS Awards 2016 ceremony. Thanks in advance.

Yes, I'm sorry about this. My computer is in the shop and they're diagnosing the problem -- I don't have the hardware to do it at home.

I told them specifically that I had important data on the drive I couldn't lose. Now I'm sitting here waiting anxiously.

OMG! Thousands of hours of dev'work for Kate and Shelly! Man, Gurok, this little notebook needs to survive. I gonna light a candle, with a small golden flame...  :~(

Well done to the winners all, but certainly Shardlight and Kathy Rain for their sweeps. It was stiff competition for Tales, that's for sure! Thanks for your nominations there. It was a friend's birthday that saturday so did not attend, but I hope the ceremony was enjoyable. And I'm sure next year will be no less quiet on the contenders front!

I'm sorry this took so long. Here is the recording of the 2016 AGS Awards: https://youtu.be/6Z3GHHkRA0k

in modern 720p, no less! Enjoy!

Amy, the problem was a faulty CPU. Never had that happen before. All of my work is safe. Thanks for your concern!

Thanks Gurok! That deserves a...

[embed=960,540]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Z3GHHkRA0k&t=49m22s[/embed]

Hmm... it doesn't seem to reliably start at the right time. I mean this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Z3GHHkRA0k&t=49m22s

Quote from: Gurok on Sat 25/03/2017 04:27:13
I'm sorry this took so long. Here is the recording of the 2016 AGS Awards: https://youtu.be/6Z3GHHkRA0k

in modern 720p, no less! Enjoy!

Amy, the problem was a faulty CPU. Never had that happen before. All of my work is safe. Thanks for your concern!

Yay, now I get to relive the incredible experience that was the AGS Awards ceremony! :-D
...
Hmm, next time I'm going to have to say hello to my future self.

Thanks so much for saving the AGS Awards ceremony, Gurok! This annual event is probably my favorite of all this community. Yay!

Thanks, Gurok! I'm glad that none of your data was lost.

Yay! Now I get to see the first 30 minutes or so that I missed cos my damn limo broke down on the way the ceremony!!!

Thanks so much for the effort to get it recorded and recovered Gurok!