Cacowards 2017 discussion (24 years)

[TurrboAnklet]

1 hour ago, Graf Zahl said:

a wad I don't like got a cacoward and a wad I like didn't waaahhh

Okay, instead of whining about that here, how about you make a Pain Elementoward and give Waterlab GZD that? Should mean just as much if the Cacowards are as vapid as you claim they are.

[snapshot]

Great, more reskinned Hell Revealed clones ! when are you people going to give us a true 150 Barons in 1 Room Megawad !

EDIT : oh.

[scifista42]

What's the origin of the word Machaward? I doubt it refers to the Czech poet K.H.Macha.

[Ribbiks]

hi. thx. somehow dew is the last person I'd expect to stomach their way through reviewing one of my wads ;DD partially disagree with a quip or two, but whatever, who cares. grats dobu, one of the most inspired mappers and I think truly deserves MOTY

[Uni]

Congratulations to all the winners! Was very interesting to read all the articles and even seeing new awards(if I'm not mistaken). 

Thank you for keeping the tradition up, well done!

 

Can't wait for the next year's awards!

[durian]

Congratulations to all the winners and thanks of course to the team! Nice to see Water Spirit in the runners up - that really impressed me. The Machaward is a great addition. Happy Birthday Doom!

[Csonicgo]

... THANK YOU! I’m so glad I got a mention!

 

And Marisa, if you ever read this... Thank you.

 

[Csonicgo]

2 hours ago, Graf Zahl said:

*REMOVED*

 

Graf, what the hell? This really makes me worry about the possibility of mods suddenly not working on your source port because you don’t like the mod.

You’ve a bad history of doing this. The fact that you don’t see how this turns away potential modders is maddening to me.

Yes, I’m glad you still develop GZDoom, but I remember when *your* project was criticized, and YOU PULLED IT.

 

 So to do this to another member of this community is... well, it’s what I’ve come to expect, unfortunately.

Edited December 10, 2017 by Csonicgo : 9_9

[TerminusEst13]

rigged

[Grain of Salt]

1 hour ago, scifista42 said:

What's the origin of the word Machaward? I doubt it refers to the Czech poet K.H.Macha.

Presumably Mach as in "Mach 1". Breaking the sound barrier, etc.

 

Also, congratulations to all the winners! Especially Ribbiks, Anotak and Mechadon, because I was hoping/predicting they'd win.

[<inactive>Player Lin]

24 minutes ago, Csonicgo said:

 

*REMOVED TOO*

 

I would hate to see something like the MaxED drama happens again on GZDooM, but since we know him, maybe it just unavoidable in one day... *sigh*

[anotak]

11 minutes ago, Player Lin said:

 

I would hate to see something like the MaxED drama happens again on GZDooM, but since we know him, maybe it just unavoidable in one day... *sigh*

if you can assign a value to someone's ability to write code, then for that person to be "worth it", they cannot be allowed to remove more total "value" from other people.

 

graf's behavior drives away more skilled programming than he himself is capable of.

[taufan99]

Am I the only one who just recently found that Randi Heit is actually a female for all this time?

Also, I don't think we get to know her nationality (though I guess it doesn't matter all too much).

[Linguica]

2 hours ago, scifista42 said:

What's the origin of the word Machaward? I doubt it refers to the Czech poet K.H.Macha.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mach_number

[Memfis]

Who is Gaspe?

[yakfak]

no end in sight rules and wool ball makes me giggle

congrats to all the other winners and runners-up too

 

edit: did Altitude get looked over or wasn't it eligible this year? I thought that level was outstanding

Edited December 10, 2017 by yakfak

[cannonball]

The two things i am involved with are here and a uk weather forum. So i am having a great day reading the cacowards arcticle whilst looking out on a winter wonderland for the first time in years.

Some great picks, i did think tntr might have made the final cut but i guess that it is consistent with many community projects due to the hit and miss nature of the maps. Dobu ia a fantastic choice for mapper of the year, stunning visuals, gameplay and gimmicks and is a fantastic pillar in this community.

Here is to another year of fantastic doom projects.

[Havoc Crow]

Can't say I'm convinced by the arguments for retiring the Mockaward.

Quote

First off, the original purpose and spirit of the Mockaward has long since fallen by the wayside. The Mockaward was named after Mockery, a 1998 "jokewad," the only notable trait of which was to intentionally include a whole host of newbie-mapper errors. Back then, this could actually pass as being funny; in the years and decades since, however, intentionally bad WADs have become more of a scourge than an amusement, most notably with the rise of the "terrywad," a particular subgenre of Doom modsmanship which prided itself on being as obnoxious and puerile as possible.

In short: terrywads and deliberately bad wads aren't funny. Okay, I agree. But what does this have with the award? Doesn't it make it all the more valuable to reward, y'know, genuinely funny wads that aren't terrywads/mockery clones?

 

Quote

Second, and perhaps more importantly, the most common genre of WAD that usually vies for the Mockaward has grown in a way where it no longer really needs special recognition from us.

I'm kinda baffled by this view on the purpose of the Cacowards. Are they really supposed to provide recognition only to mods that "really need" it? If a mod receives lavish press coverage, does it lessen its chances of winning a Caco?

 

Quote

In recent years, when a Doom WAD has escaped from the confines of the Doom community and crossed over to articles on "mainstream" gaming sites, it's usually been some sort of meme WAD - a single-joke, single-serving WAD based on a contemporary trend or news item, meant to be chuckled at once and then tossed aside. And while this is all well and good, and we should give kudos to the authors for capturing the zeitgeist... it's also not something that we really need to applaud, especially when that mainstream attention sometimes comes at the expense of mindshare for any of the really big and well-crafted community efforts.

The reason "the really big and well-crafted community efforts" don't get mainstream attention is not because of these nefarious meme mods hogging the entire yearly quota for Doom news, but simply because they inherently aren't going to be as interesting for the mainstream gaming public. People who don't play Doom aren't going to be super-excited to hear of a new mod which still plays exactly like Doom except with different level layouts and recolored textures. And there's nothing unusual or tragic about that.

[Gothic]

Congrats to all the winners, too bad some of my picks didn't get an award, but that's ok.

Also, would it be favoritism if the code award was the DB2 logo instead of the green caco?

[Doom64hunter]

As someone who rarely has time to keep up with new releases, I always look forward to the Cacowards to catch up.

 

Congratulations to the winners, and thanks for keeping this tradition alive guys!

[Memfis]

What are your thoughts on the length of Cacowards? I remember the times when the texts were much shorter and could be easily read during breakfast. But this year I saw so many words that I found myself just skimming through everything to be honest. Reading about the Espi award alone made me feel tired. I'm a modern man, I can't read paragraphs after paragraphs.

[A Nobody]

5 hours ago, Nine Inch Heels said:

Been a good year. Too bad speedrunning is "sidebar material", especially this year. I get that doing those runs is niche, but I think it deserves more attention.

Nothing is niche.

[A Nobody]

To be honest, I don't get the whole Cacoawards deal. Every mod is great (except racist and meme ones. Also Brutal Doom). There's no need for it in my opinion.

[Alfonzo]

56 minutes ago, Memfis said:

Who is Gaspe?

This can't be the area of most concern for you, this year, surely. You're better than that, Kuchitsu. Step it up!

 

gaspe's name is capitalized in the LoH text file. I guess that was reason enough for me to avoid starting new sentences more awkwardly.

 

26 minutes ago, Memfis said:

What are your thoughts on the length of Cacowards?

We discussed this a fair bit. In general I think we agree that we're spinning our yarns a bit too long and that brevity is something we want to keep a handle on, moving forward. The Cacos are quite widely read by people outside the immediate community, and no doubt some of them are just looking for the blitz assessment in deciding what Doom WADs they should play for the first time in a long time. But the format isn't helping that much either when you consider the direction we're heading in. It's very well suited to articles roughly 350 to 400 words in length, or thereabouts.

 

We'll be trying to find ways to both improve readability and provide in-depth reads. The 25th anniversary seems like a good opportunity to knock it on the head.

[WH-Wilou84]

36 minutes ago, Memfis said:

What are your thoughts on the length of Cacowards?

I like reading these long, in-depth reviews, it shows that Cacoward authors are passionate about these wads and the people who build them - how's that a bad thing ?
People and lack of attention span these days, heh. We're truly f*cked as a species.
 

That being said, congrats to all the winners. :)
Nice to see Randi Heit being honored.
 

I'm disappointed for Chris Lutz, though. He's a mapping veteran and made quite the comeback this year, he'd have deserved more than honorable mentions IMHO. But on the other hand, Dobu is a true artist (Saturnine Chapel and The Given look like Edgar Poe novels turned into Doom wads) and clearly deserves the recognition.

Here's to an even greater 2018. :)

[Blastfrog]

i remember when graf made an alt to call me the "donald trump of freedoom" not too long ago

 

good times

[SuperCupcakeTactics]

Congratulations all of y'all. Kind of what I expected (please don't gang up on me telling me how it is; just saying) but there was some cool stuff I haven't seen before like The Given. I especially like The Given since I'm glad someone is still making maps like those (and I spent a good minute and a half just staring at the ceiling).

[Tormentor667]

Congratulations to all the winners, a lot of brilliant choices have been made and the articles are - as always - very entertaining to read :) Good job on that one to all the authors (mappers and texters in both cases).

 

Though I have to admit that we are a bit disappointed, that Blade of Agony Chapter 2 hasn't been even mentioned somewhere. :(

[NuMetalManiak]

5 hours ago, Tarnsman said:

It's not the cacowards without someone questioning the legitimacy of these here "doomworld" "forums" and their right to give out "awards".

yo where have you been almost this entire year?

 

I need to play some of these wads. Cue new wiki articles too.

[Paul977]

Congratz to winners and runners up :) Totally not expected to see Legacy of Heros in the winners, GJ Gaspe!