Egg Boy Posted December 10, 2021 Congrats on any and all winners, as well as anyone who mapped this year, happy to see the community growing continuously. I don't envy the caco ward staff, especially after a year as packed as this. I wasn't surprised at all to see a number of WADs I haven't even played on this year's list. Anywho, not that anyone asked but here are my top 3 WADs this year Doom 2: In Spain Only - A joke wad that's actually funny (this is surprising enough on its own) with memorable maps and a unique concept. Blutonia when? 1000 Lines 3 - Props to Aurelius for the gameplay changes, they slap. The inherent limitations of the gimmick kept maps short and to the point, but the skilled mappers kept the maps polished and fun. Haste - Full disclosure, I played on Hey Not to Rough and still got my ass kicked. 10 Share this post Link to post
andreadworkin4thaweekend Posted December 10, 2021 i take back my props for anyone who created this year and resubmit them for anyone who created this year and didn't complain about the cacoawards 12 Share this post Link to post
Grain of Salt Posted December 10, 2021 good to see Testing Pool and Down the Drain in there 5 Share this post Link to post
Jacek Bourne Posted December 10, 2021 Most of what I wanted to see up there was included so it's all good in my book. Specifically: Fractured Worlds Lullaby Haste 0 Share this post Link to post
galileo31dos01 Posted December 10, 2021 (edited) Congratulations to absolutely of the winners, mentions, everyone basically, well deserved, and the quality of the writings is getting more and more poetically impeccable every year. Having said that... umm, I'm trying to find the runner-ups through all the links and sidebars, is it the "21 more" list but renamed?:x EDIT: and I found it to the first click... 2 Share this post Link to post
CherubCorps Posted December 10, 2021 (edited) 7 hours ago, Kinsie said: This, however, is just silly. A project using a modding standard that isn't the one you use isn't some kind of anti-mod DRM. Doom modding is one big-ass umbrella that encompasses so many different approaches from both a philosophical and technological perspective, and we try and avoid focusing on one specific way of doing stuff. Are we successful? Sometimes! I think this year was pretty good for covering a wide gamut of things. You're right. It's a stupid argument. At the end of the day, it is opinions and doesn't diminished the quality of other projects. Every year, there's always contention among what gets nominated and what doesn't. While I have my feeling about widepix, I can't believe I became "that guy" who gets overly salty over things. I could have been nicer and not gone on a stupid tangent. I'm sorry and it won't happen again. Congratulations to all the winners. There were alot of good projects this year. I'm especially happy to see zone 400 get a runner's up and 1000 lines 3 to win awards. They're both real gems. Edited December 10, 2021 by RomDump : Clarifications of opinion and of apology. 21 Share this post Link to post
Biodegradable Posted December 10, 2021 4 minutes ago, RomDump said: I can't believe I'm "that guy" who gets overly salty over things. I'm sorry and it won't happen again. Rom tried to take a big ol' Dump on the Cacos, but the toilet water splashed all over his butt, propelling him face-first into a humble pie. Jokes aside, good on you for admitting you took it a little too far, mate. All is forgiven ;^) 3 Share this post Link to post
Benjogami Posted December 10, 2021 Big thanks to @Demon of the Well (second year in a row!) for the great writeups on Down the Drain (a pleasure to read, and to be read so clearly [but also kind of embarrassing]) and Haste (thanks for my new title!). It's an honor to be seen among the multitudes of great creators in the Doom community. Great job as always, Cacoward team. 11 Share this post Link to post
Edward850 Posted December 10, 2021 (edited) 1 hour ago, RomDump said: eternity engine which is designed specially to counter mods This is a strange accusation to make, and is not remotely true. Doom's engine is simply just not inherently designed to stack mods, this has always be the case. Stacking mods is a relevantly recent ZDoom exclusive concept, and most certainly is not universal. However aside from anything else, counter what, exactly? Eternity doesn't intentionally counter anything, your complaint seems to stem from that fact that you can't load a ZDoom mod with it, which, well, of course you can't? 9 Share this post Link to post
Philnemba Posted December 10, 2021 Grats to all the winners & mentions in this year's Cacowards 😎👍👍 2 Share this post Link to post
ReaperAA Posted December 10, 2021 Congrats to all the winners and runner ups of this year's Cacowards!!! 2 Share this post Link to post
FrancisT218 Posted December 10, 2021 What a bumper year and I think adding 21 more 'this wad still definitely deserves some attention' (runners up to runners up haha) was a very nice addition. And likewise putting a runner up between all the true Cacowards...that and their silver Cacos really brings home the feel that they didn't really miss the cut at all, rather that even with two extra slots there is real picking and choosing to be done with respect to all the front runners. Some get the gold, others settle for silver! Nice to see the 1K series finally have recognition too. I'd say Unhallowed is the only one I really can't be sold on for the mainline picks, as the gameplay interested me a lot less, though it was an earlier iteration being played. But for another OTEX wad I'd have favored Atmospheric Extinction (swapping which one got the runner/ which one the Caco). And of course, since 2021 is an odd number, one of the mainline picks (Haste) has Ribbiks as a major contributor. How could it be any other way? Give that streak a high five cause it's now officially earned it! 8 Share this post Link to post
Untamed64 Posted December 10, 2021 7 minutes ago, RomDump said: I'm sorry and it won't happen again. All good, mate. There's always next year. Motivate yourself and continue improving each day. Have confidence. 6 Share this post Link to post
Mystic 256 Posted December 10, 2021 (edited) someday I hope to make it on the cacoawards 2021 was the year I've released more wads than any of the other of the 12+ years I've been mapping 2 Share this post Link to post
Cammy Posted December 10, 2021 I understand and share in your disappointment, @Peter - though I feel it's misdirected by portraying it in a way so angry and so invitational to pushback. (Although calling anybody a "basement sidekick" is a bit much, @dew. Cool it.) This was a thrilling, stressful rollercoaster of a year to be a composer in the Doom community, especially a new and untested one - I have both worked myself to the bone leading and contributing to a variety of projects, and seen firsthand several others do the same. Up until this year high-profile MIDI Pack projects were generally finished at a rate of one per year, and it was a lot of hard work and talent which shot that number up to at least five this year, and that's just the ones that have so far been released. To see that unprecedented explosion of content - hours of music, across over a hundred tracks, written by dozens of authors - only get mentioned in a very brief sidebar is genuinely disheartening. I'm really not trying to sound ungrateful; I'm happy and honored to have received that shout-out at all, of course! No reward ceremony ever owed anybody anything. But it does still elicit the defeating feeling that the work from this side of the community registered as a blip on the radar of the greater scene. @Shepardus, I have to disagree with your comment for that reason. The publishing of the Cacowards is an eagerly-awaited ceremony with a whole year of buildup which is expressly geared to celebrate the accomplishments of the community - that is a prestige not shared by just anybody posting just any opinion piece. Very few of us are doing the work we do only for the sake of doing it; it's in hopes that we will achieve recognition for what we've done, and see others enjoy our creations. That's true of everything created, from maps to music to textures to sounds to code and beyond. That the Cacowards are principally focused on celebrating the maps is not a bad thing of course - Doom is a game and the maps are what you play - but there's a lot more that goes into a fully-realized experience which gets a lot less love. MIDI packs unfortunately have no maps - where does that leave them? A ceremony that focuses in so heavily on mapping accomplishments will essentially need to treat them with little fanfare, but these creations are still made to be appreciated by the community and to inspire future works of all varieties. They live and die by recognition. It's better than it has been in the past, with the recent renaming from "mapper of the year" to "creator of the year", for instance, and the presence of the Dootaward at all. But I do hope the table is being set for the Cacowards to both engage in and invite much deeper discussion and appreciation of the work put in by Doomers of all vocations, not just mapping. All that set aside, I did enjoy reading the Cacowards this year. Congratulations to all the winners and nominees, and thanks to the staff for organizing the whole thing and smartly introducing the Silver Cacos. Each award was richly deserved, and to divvy them up must have been a grueling task. I'll continue working hard to give back to the community and I hope to see you all here again next year! 13 Share this post Link to post
Roofi Posted December 10, 2021 Congrats for the cacowards ! I'm really happy that the Deadly Standards series get a lot more recognition ! 9 Share this post Link to post
VoanHead Posted December 10, 2021 58 minutes ago, RomDump said: I can't believe I'm "that guy" who gets overly salty over things. I'm sorry and it won't happen again. Ay bro, no worries. We all get salty over things as well. You probably typed all that in the heat of the moment. Happens to the best of us. 3 Share this post Link to post
The_SloVinator Posted December 10, 2021 Congratulations to the winners! I'm happy Deadly Standards 3 got a runner up! It was a blast working on a map for it. :D 5 Share this post Link to post
Tristan Posted December 10, 2021 Congratulations to the winners and thanks again to the judges for their tireless work on these writeups for another year. Really nice to see honourable mentions escape the sidebar and to see more winners in general. Xaser was a great pick for the Espi. I just wanted to weigh in since I saw a bit of stink about this in the thread, I admit I thought the MIDI packs of this year would collectively win the Dootaward - to my fellow composers though, our craft is getting a whole section and a fairly long sidebar piece dedicated just to the stuff we're making, (even I got a mention and I've done barely anything for Doom this year). Let it not be forgotten that a few years ago we weren't getting anything, the Plutonia MIDI Pack went completely unmentioned in the 2013 Cacowards, for example, so personally I'm just glad music is getting attention at all now. 25 Share this post Link to post
ZeMystic Posted December 10, 2021 Congrats to everyone! This year had some bangers. Shout out to @LordEntr0py for the Hate Flow, glad that got mentioned. 4 Share this post Link to post
MAN_WITH_GUN Posted December 10, 2021 Good to see @StormCatcher.77 in the Cacoward list! This dude definitely deserves to be in here, he's making really outstanding maps. 5 Share this post Link to post
Misty Posted December 10, 2021 Congratulations everyone involved in this year's Cacowards, writers and winners(tho, I have hard time to come up with different word for second word), I believe it was tough and rough year to choose from due how much input was done this year from community. I'm glad to see that few projects I was involved in - directly and indirectly as playtester got mentioned and got write-ups. I hope next year will be fruitful too and we will see more faces - old and new too. Have a good day! 4 Share this post Link to post
Gibbon Posted December 10, 2021 Congrats to everyone! Especially Kraflab. A really great developer. 4 Share this post Link to post
Bobby :D Posted December 10, 2021 Congrats to my homie @mxbobbie49 for earning one of the most promising newcomer titles! You and your big switch will go far. 6 Share this post Link to post
Uni Posted December 10, 2021 God, the Cacowards team was certainly busy this year. SO MANY ARTICLES. But seriously, congrats to all the winners and thank you for the writers/editors once again for providing us with an interesting and enjoyable read. Kudos! And hey, I didn't even know about The Long Trek Back Home so I know what I'm going to play next. Looks pretty cool! 5 Share this post Link to post
Vic Posted December 10, 2021 (edited) Thank you very much for the award! I've had a lot of fun (and quite a bit of pain) porting Doom to the 32X in 2021 with some major help from @ChillyWilly and @Wavy among others :) MatteusBeus also helped kickstart the project by introducing me to Chilly and being the sole tester during project's infancy. Spoony Bard provided immensely excellent FM renditions of the OST. Special thanks also go to Barone, B1tsh1ft3r, Jenovi, RetroRGB, TrekkiesUnite for their assistance at various stages of development and also the team behind Calico Doom. I'd also like to namedrop @Roebloz and his 32X Delta project for pumping out Doom content for this old system and giving Doom maps a much deserved makeover. Edited December 10, 2021 by Vic 10 Share this post Link to post
Peter Posted December 10, 2021 (edited) 1 hour ago, Tristan said: ...the Plutonia MIDI Pack went completely unmentioned in the 2013 Cacowards, for example, so personally I'm just glad music is getting attention at all now. The Plutonia MIDI Pack 10000% deserves to retroactively be awarded a 2013 Cacoward. This MIDI pack from a brilliant pool of talent in the Doom community completely changes how you get to experience the Plutonia IWAD. It was the first time we ever got to experience a community made MIDI pack for Doom. It's absolutely shocking how it never received one yet lives on as what has become an essential add-on for Plutonia. Without this MIDI pack, I'd never have made the Master Levels MIDI pack or lead the No Rest For The Living MIDI pack. 1 hour ago, Tristan said: ...so personally I'm just glad music is getting attention at all now. Bringing in the oldest and the newest talent in the community this year to bring everyone well over a hundred original songs of high quality deserves more than a half-arsed brief mention on a sidebar. Edited December 10, 2021 by Peter 0 Share this post Link to post
RHhe82 Posted December 10, 2021 Let me join the choir, and congratulate all the winners! Now, if I only had time to play through them all. 2 Share this post Link to post
Catpho Posted December 10, 2021 Happy birthday Doom and grats to its community! I don't want to jinx anything, but i honestly would be fine if all the years after this never reach this level of quality output or enthusiasm again -- maps, midis, art, social media Doom stuff like review videos or streams, etc.; goes to show how ridiculous the productivity has been (though the momentum train is still chugging along for the foreseeable future!). Would it be a stretch or premature to declare this year one of the peaks of a Doom silver age1? To close things out, some phrases that feel satisfying to say, especailly if you've been a long time fan: Cacoward-approvedtm mapper Pavera! Along with his award-winningtm episodetm. Mapper2 of the Year Tarnsman! Double special-mentionedtm (two years in a row no less) mapper Big Ol' Billy! Ok, the last one not so satisfying, but you can't have everything :D Also i kid, great to see the expanded 21. Great Doom maps are just too much, so glad to see the panel constantly yielding to the output haha P.S.: A short but fruitful (this is underselling it) regin @Not Jabba. I don't think there will be another Doomer who can claim to have written the community's most important essay for quite some time.1 The golden age, in my mind, is the mid-90s with its unbeatable sheer output. An actual Doom historian can correct me though. The silver age would be 2018 - now, by the way 2 Nostalgia's sake 11 Share this post Link to post