AGS Awards 2021 - Results!

Babar · Fri 18/03/2022 07:06:11

Quote from: PPAentertainment on Fri 18/03/2022 05:59:42
Hi:
My name's Pijin Pastrana and I've been developing games with ags for a while. Robotragedy 1 and 2, Dr. Lutz and the time travel machine, Maverick Gunn and the Eye of Oggun, The manuscript of Sarmanyanha and Postcard Adventure. I believe this game's years nominations are very good and fair but I have to say that I don't feel treated with fairness because the backgrounds of Postcard Adventure can compete with some of the games like ossarium or breakfast on trappist 1, and I don't mean any disrespect to the developers, they are great but year after year the games I released , no matter how hard I tried to achieve the best looks possible, NEVER GOT even a nomination. I wonder if the reason I'm cuban and out of the mainstream is the reason .

Hi Pijin Pastrana! Nominations for games aren't done through some secret hidden group with an unknown agenda- games are put up for nomination and nominated by the authors and public members of this community. If the public isn't aware of your games, they wouldn't be in the right mindframe to nominate them. For example, while I had known of the Robotragedy games, I wasn't even aware of Postcard Adventure. You're right, they're very pretty backgrounds, and I'm sure they could've been nominated. Usually authors will post a thread in the Completed Games forum section to show their game's release, and near the awards time, they will post their games in the "For Your Consideration" threads so that people can be made aware of them for nomination for awards. I notice your game had neither, so I suspect people had simply forgotten about it (if they had known of it in the first place).

cat · Fri 18/03/2022 08:48:26

As Babar said, it's a matter of marketing. Every year I create a For your consideration thread and link it in the awards thread. All authors should advertise their games there to make players aware of them and point out the strong points. While all games that were added to the database last year are automatically eligible for being nominated, people have to be aware of a game so they can play and nominate it.

And a thread in Completed Games forum will also help to get more people play it.

heltenjon · Fri 18/03/2022 14:14:34

Quote from: PPAentertainment on Fri 18/03/2022 05:59:42
My name's Pijin Pastrana and I've been developing games with ags for a while. Robotragedy 1 and 2, Dr. Lutz and the time travel machine, Maverick Gunn and the Eye of Oggun, The manuscript of Sarmanyanha and Postcard Adventure. I believe this game's years nominations are very good and fair but I have to say that I don't feel treated with fairness because the backgrounds of Postcard Adventure can compete with some of the games like ossarium or breakfast on trappist 1, and I don't mean any disrespect to the developers, they are great but year after year the games I released , no matter how hard I tried to achieve the best looks possible, NEVER GOT even a nomination. I wonder if the reason I'm cuban and out of the mainstream is the reason .

Hi! I second everything Babar and Cat said in their replies to you. I think especially posting in the forum makes a game visible.

Another aspect is that it seems like short games get fewer downloads, fewer comments and fewer ratings on the database pages. I can sort of understand it - if a player has had several days of enjoyment from a playing a game, he/she is more likely to take the extra time to leave comments and ratings. This year, it seems like few votes came in in the short games category, and I believe this may be part of the reason.

Personally, I think differently, and it's the short games (MAGS, really) that drew me to this site in the first place. I don't know if it's any consolation, but I nominated Postcard Adventure. And I played all the games last year. And it's a good candidate for Pick of the Month, too, like Maverick Gunn, Robotragedy 2 and Dr. Lutz has been before it. You have an audience in this group, but sure, it would be nice if it were bigger.

Cassiebsg · Fri 18/03/2022 16:31:01

I'm pretty sure I nominated Postcard Adventure as well, just like I nominated Pedro... out of my 10 nominated. But alas, only 5 get picked, and they all need to have at least 5 votes.

Your nationality has nothing to do with it, since I didn't even knew what it was before you mentioned it just now. don't take it personally, do the best you can, post and make your game visible. The more visible it's in the forum, the more likely it is it will be played by active forum members. I for one, am unlike to go download and play a game from the DB that does not have a forum post. This is simple cause I don't go there and check what new games have come... but I check the forum ever single day, several times of the day... meaning I'm more likely to see it, if it has a post.

cat · Wed 23/03/2022 13:08:06

We are still waiting for the resources of several games. Please provide them or the game cannot be included in the awards client.

Ponch · Thu 24/03/2022 00:54:23

Voted! Everyone should. All the cool kids are doing it!

cat · Sat 26/03/2022 21:39:26

5 more days!

cat · Wed 30/03/2022 20:38:26

Voting closes tomorrow evening - only one day left!

Pax Animo · Wed 30/03/2022 21:23:10

Get those votes in! it means a hell of a lot to the developers and the overall AGS community.

cat · Fri 01/04/2022 09:54:46

Voting is over! Thanks to everyone who voted!

The results will be revealed in a ceremony using a special client that is updated and maintained by Dualnames this year: https://www.adventuregamestudio.co.uk/forums/index.php?topic=59640.0

To decide on a ceremony date, please take part in this Doodle poll (let me know if it is working for you):
~~https://doodle.com/meeting/participate/id/lejXyDzb~~

heltenjon · Fri 01/04/2022 11:31:02

Quote from: cat on Fri 01/04/2022 09:54:46
To decide on a ceremony date, please take part in this Doodle poll (let me know if it is working for you):

The doodle poll is working. We can choose the allotted dates and see what choices others have made.

cat · Fri 01/04/2022 11:35:32

Thanks!

Just one more thing: the weekend from 15th-17th is Easter, please consider this (holidays, visiting relatives etc) in your choices.

cat · Sat 02/04/2022 21:28:40

Please don't forget to take part in our Doodle:

~~https://doodle.com/meeting/participate/id/lejXyDzb~~

It also helps us finding potential presenters for the ceremony.

Cassiebsg · Sat 02/04/2022 21:41:52

Unfortunately all I get is an empty (blank) page.
I'll have to try it from another computer.

Kastchey · Sun 03/04/2022 11:16:32

Hi everyone!

The AGS Awards Ceremony is approaching, so if you plan to join and have a custom avatar that you would like us to implement for you, feel free to send it to us!
There are some simple rules and guidelines to follow:
- The avatars must be in .chr format. Please do not send separate frames, gif animations or, well, whatever that is not a .chr file.
- The avatars need to have the standard walking animation as a bare minimum, but if you'd like your avatar to be compatible with the extra actions supported by the client, you can add a talking animation (LucasArts style) and a special action (any kind of non-looping, fun animation you can add for show).
- If the avatars are too large for the client, it will be scaled. If you're worried about the auto-scaling and prefer that your avatar is displayed in its native resolution, please scale it down. If you're unsure how to scale your avatar, please reach out to me via PM.
- Please send a link to your avatar to me via PM and fill out the below form:
https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSd3fc4gCK25gUl1uZzqgVsppXq1qtblB-q6aRIeAi6Jfw9PKA/viewform?usp=pp_url

Also, another quick reminder about the ceremony date doodle: https://doodle.com/meeting/participate/id/lejXyDzb
Please vote if you consider joining the ceremony. We want to pick the slot that works for as many guests as we can!

Snarky · Sun 03/04/2022 12:59:53

Quote from: Kastchey on Sun 03/04/2022 11:16:32
- If the avatars are too large for the client, it will be scaled. If you're worried about the auto-scaling and prefer that your avatar is displayed in its native resolution, please scale it down. If you're unsure how to scale your avatar, please reach out to me via PM.

To quantify what this means, any character much larger than 200 px tall should probably have its sprites scaled down. Conversely, if a (human-sized) character is less than about 32 px tall, it would be helpful to scale it up to x2 (or if necessary, x3) size, using nearest-neighbor scaling, before submitting. Anything in between we handle automatically in the client by setting a scaling factor that keeps consistency between characters at different sizes from different games.

Edit: A more important point is that the animations need to be aligned (center-aligned to be precise) so that there's no jump in position in switching between them, and that the "special animation" should fit seamlessly with a standing pose both at start and end. (So, for example, if the animation is of the character pulling their hands out of their pockets and doing finger guns, it should include a return of the hands to the starting positions.)

cat · Mon 04/04/2022 19:02:56

I think we have a clear winner, regarding the ceremony date!

The AGS Awards Ceremony will happen on Saturday, 9 April, 2022 at 20:00 BST.

Get the latest information in this thread: https://www.adventuregamestudio.co.uk/forums/index.php?topic=59878.0

There will be a test-run on April 7th Thursday 20:00 BST. Please join and help us testing the client before the big event!

cat · Tue 05/04/2022 13:43:28

I was notified that I got the ceremony time wrong - of course it will happen at 8:00PM which means 20:00 BST.

eri0o · Tue 05/04/2022 14:00:26

http://www.timebie.com/std/bst.php?q=20

Found a way to convert to my local time.

Laura Hunt · Wed 06/04/2022 10:14:50

Quote from: Snarky on Sun 03/04/2022 12:59:53
Quote from: Kastchey on Sun 03/04/2022 11:16:32
- If the avatars are too large for the client, it will be scaled. If you're worried about the auto-scaling and prefer that your avatar is displayed in its native resolution, please scale it down. If you're unsure how to scale your avatar, please reach out to me via PM.

To quantify what this means, any character much larger than 200 px tall should probably have its sprites scaled down. Conversely, if a (human-sized) character is less than about 32 px tall, it would be helpful to scale it up to x2 (or if necessary, x3) size, using nearest-neighbor scaling, before submitting. Anything in between we handle automatically in the client by setting a scaling factor that keeps consistency between characters at different sizes from different games.

Suggestion: I think the info that is sent to the nominees regarding asset preparation would greatly benefit from being updated with all this information. I wasn't told at any moment that I had to submit my avatar as .chr, so I submitted all the different loops separately, possibly creating more work for Dualnames or Kastchey or Snarky or whoever is responsible for including all those assets into the client. I wasn't told either how tall the avatars should be more or less, so I submitted my avatar unscaled at 1x, again, possibly creating more work for the organizers who will have to upscale it themselves, when I could have easily done that before submitting. Something to consider maybe for future awards ceremonies?