Messages

I think for practical reasons candidates should be in the games db, and I'm a bit leery of the organizers unilaterally going in and creating new entries (or messing with existing ones), so for that and other reasons already mentioned, I think the most straightforward rule would be to limit contestants to those submitted to the db in the year in question.

But if it's so important that the authors give their consent, why not just make the organizers ask them for it before adding each game? At least the organizers would actually have the power to fix things in case the consent is given, unlike an unlucky author who realized their mistake too late and can't fix anything with the current system. And if necessary they could be adding some kind of entries directly to the eligibility pool without adding it to the main db or something. I really don't like the idea of some extremely trivial technicality imposing limits on the actual needs of the task at hand.

Eternal Darkness.

Yep.

Can the next one be a horror game too?... (so I would maybe have a sliver of hope of guessing what it is? )

You got it, Grim.

Interesting. It's not Dark Seed 2 is it?

[I VOTE THEATER!]

I want it to be inclusive, but I don't see the problem with leaving it to the developers to make sure their game is eligible. If my favourite game didn't appear in the database, and therefore wasn't included in the awards, I'd be disappointed, sure. I'd also be curious as to why it wasn't in the database in the first place, seeing as that's how award eligibility has been determined for a number of years.

Well the problem is that it's not as clean cut as we'd like it to be. Sometimes the lack of presence in the database is a meaningful choice as you say. But sometimes it's not at all. It may be just an oversight (and one that may be too late to fix too even if the author wants to). Or reluctance to include a commercial game because there would be no free download for it. And the database does pose as a database of downloadable AGS games first and is only retrofitted to serve the awards second, which as far as I know actually discouraged developers from adding their games to the database for that reason. Yes, in most cases it indeed just works. But again, sometimes it becomes conflating meaningful choice with trivial mistakes and limitations of the system in place.

I disagree with this, only in so much as that I don't think a set of awards is the best way of achieving this.

*shrug* Perhaps, but I still definitely find it appealing and interesting enough.

I VOTE THEATER!

Me too. I'm even considering doing something to that effect, especially seeing as no one did the last time. I'm not making any promises of any sort whatsoever yet though.

[some]

Double post to assess this particular point: as I said adding the game to the database is the simplest way to state "deal me in, please". I have know at least one developer who purposely didn't add their game to the DB because they didn't want to be associated with the community (and I guess, with the Awards too). To sum sup: imho some kind of "submission rule" will be always needed, wherever you decide to technically draw the line.

Aaaaaand to restate a well known thought of mine: to prevent and counter the risk of inflation, we need less  categories, not more!

I suppose this eventually boils down to the meaning we choose to give to the awards. Because for me the preferred meaning would be documentalistic: I'd like the awards to represent each year of AGS gaming through the perception of players as accurately as possible, and as such the wish of the author to be represented or not doesn't matter. Just like whether voters are registered on the forums doesn't matter (so I'm with Peder on this one and from this POV commercial games getting more voters isn't a downside, because it simply represents the reality). However, to some people the meaning is clearly more social and is about active participation of authors in the competition process and in the community. If you take it that way of course it all matters. I don't want to impose my preference on anyone, especially considering how this conflict of views is not trivially resolvable at all, but obviously I'll still advocate it.

As for categories, I don't mind them being numerous. Again, from my POV I'd prefer more information to less. And I'll still harp on about how we need Best Comedy one (my argument is if a game's strongest point is being genuinely very amusing without having neither a strong storyline or beautiful graphics it doesn't have a chance at recognition despite its high entertainment value). But most importantly, for the love of CJ, don't conjoin Best Voice Acting and Best Music into one category. Please just don't. Seriously. I really hope I don't have to explain why.

But why? Not to go too big, but the Academy Awards, for instance(!), don't work in this way. Eligible films must be submitted (which is the responsibility of the film's producers) to the Academy within a set time frame, or they don't get to compete. It's not down to the Academy, or any third-party, to ensure certain films aren't overlooked.

Why? You mean you wouldn't want the competition to be as inclusive as possible without some games lost to arbitrary trivial technicalities? I know I would and I say that as a player not as a developer. If my favourite game got excluded that way and I wouldn't be able to vote for it, I'd be even more pissed than I am about PISS. (pun not intended) And now I recall I actually was really pissed about Primordia as well. Let me ask you too, why not? What exactly is there to lose by trying to represent AGS gaming as accurately as possible and including all games we're aware of?

I am of course biased on that subject (I'm severely sore and butthurt about PISS never competing with other games because it wasn't put in the database) but I think voting eligibility entirely relying on the game entry being added on time... is rather unwise. I think people who maintain the awards should have the power to add any fitting games they are aware of into the eligibility list regardless of the time they were added or whether they've been added at all. Just my opinion.

To release a few games, at least some of them commercial.

Adventure Legends is an amazing site.

edit 2: OH the topics have been merged, so it is the right one. Ok. So anyway. Knowing this is an AGS splash screen, my remark about the necessity of the blue cup on the tree stands.

Merry Christmas to everyone!

Here's something you can look forward to in 2014 (shameless self promotion):

OMG :>

How did AGS surprise you?

Also you could've hung a blue cup on that tree. Imagine how funny it'd have been if you did!! But you didn't! 

And oh yeah, Merry Christmas to you too.

I suggest GIANT golden p3n1s awards.

Giant? This is 2013, in fact it's almost 2014, son. We need something modern, stylish and efficient. I'd rather suggest some kind of a minimalist pnsr award.

Well, Chris Jones' mother. Obviously.

Nemo's actual reaction when he saw the blog.

That... that's true.

And I mean that's actually true. The comedic value of my first post is of course reinforced by the content of the latest blog post and the fact that being the lazy bum I am I hadn't even actually looked at the blog yet when I posted, so I haven't seen a very kind post promoting my own game, so rather than being merely friendly teasing (which probably wouldn't be obvious to some people already), my post makes me look like an outright douchebag. Oh well, the sacrifices we have to endure for the sake of teasing friends!

My reaction.

I think it may be even simplier than making average interface based on cursor modes.

Well, yes.

Here's mine!

Damn! Wyz, you better be looking as cute as this irl.

Not sure about what context you're framing it all in, but I'm glad to comment specifically on the mention of Trowe and the RPS article. Trowe is an utter fucking dickwad and it's nice to see that all of his awful behaviour is now publicly documented with attention drawn to it so people can at least know who they're dealing with.

Unfortunately, this means we won't see any more Larry installments

Personally, I'm not saddened by that at all~