2006 Hall of Fame Modding Awards - please post your thoughts

**Epistolary Richard** · 12-04-2006, 22:18

I wanted to start this thread to start collecting thoughts on modding awards for this year's HoF, specifically in terms of what sort of categories people would suggest and whether there should also be categories for MTW modding and M2TW modding.

HoF 2005 was all wrapped up by the end of the year, so I'd like to move relatively quickly on this - so don't delay in posting your thoughts!

Here's the modding categories from HoF 2005:
Best MTW Total Conversion Mod
Best MTW Mini Mod
Best RTW Total Conversion Mod
Best RTW Mini Mod
Outstanding RTW Modder
Outstanding MTW Modder
Best Modding Guide Writer
Best Modding Tool Creator
Best Artist
Most Promising Mod

**Roman_Man#3** · 12-04-2006, 22:58

how about the fastest progressing mod?

**Dol Guldur** · 12-04-2006, 23:16

Depends how detailed you want to go, ER.

For BI, RTW and MTW you could have:

- Best models
- Best 2D art
- Best textures
- Best animations
- Best video
- Best music
- Best voice audio
- Best coder
- Best scripter
- Best non-roman-era historical total conversion mod
- Best non-historical total conversion mod
- Best enhancement mod
- Best roman-era mod
- Best gameplay
- Best balance
- Best support
- Best tool
- Best in-game text
- Best attention-to-detail
- Best (most realistic) battles
- Best map (aesthetic)
- Best map (strategic value)
- Most promising mod

And so forth. It might also be interesting to allow people to vote for their "favourite" mod rather than a "best". Voters may, for example, know that a certain mod of a certain genre is exceptionally well done but they will vote for another of perhaps a little less brilliance if it is in the genre they like, By saying "favourite" rather than "best" the vote is more accurately reflected I think. Indeed, the word "best" could be replaced by "favourite" in all the above.

I am not sure categories should be established where there is no real way for a person to know the truth of the matter: Best dev. team for example.

Just some quick thoughts.

**wlesmana** · 12-05-2006, 03:25

Voting is overdone. TWC did it and it all came down to mustering the fanbase to vote. Having "Fan Favorite" awards would be good for this. But I'd really like to see the nominees and winners be judged by a panel of experienced judges. They don't have to be modders themselves, but someone who knows the community and projects well enough.

**Dol Guldur** · 12-05-2006, 14:38

A panel of judges is a good idea but I wonder of there are many or any who really have a good handle on every high-profile mod out there? You could have a panel made up from managers of the top mods who are *not* allowed to vote for their own mod. Perhaps a primary popular vote could select the mods to be included as nominees in all the categories (witha min. vote requirement) and the secondary vote made by two members/managers put forth from each of the nominated mods. Maybe 1 from each mod team would be better so as to not disadvantage mods that may only have 1 person in them (esp. enhancement ones) ;)

**Helgi** · 12-05-2006, 14:47

Why not a straight popular vote, or redo what you did in 2005 HOF, it seemed to work.

**Dol Guldur** · 12-05-2006, 19:44

As long as the popular vote categories reflected the vote, i.e. favourite/most popular rather than "best".

**Epistolary Richard** · 12-05-2006, 21:25

Having a panel of experienced judges I think would be good for a one-off 'judge's award' prize - but to change it wholeheartedly to a panel would leave the whole thing open to charges of favouritism. A 'favourite mod' category - for a mod that someone has personally enjoyed the mod sounds like a good idea, and then can be split against a more technical award for the mod that people consider to be the most advanced/polished/accomplished.

One of the criteria will be that nominations can only be based upon work actually released (or previewed in the case of a 'most anticipated mod') in the 2006 calendar year.

**Dol Guldur** · 12-06-2006, 00:47

I think it is a good idea to only allow the nomination (with exception of the 'most promising') to be applied to mods that have a public release - although the most promising may be one that is partly released of course but still far from achieving its full goal in terms of scope and depth.

**Caius** · 12-06-2006, 01:22

Make two awards:
The best and the better(for the gamers)

**wlesmana** · 12-06-2006, 03:36

Originally Posted by Dol Guldur

A panel of judges is a good idea but I wonder of there are many or any who really have a good handle on every high-profile mod out there? You could have a panel made up from managers of the top mods who are *not* allowed to vote for their own mod. Perhaps a primary popular vote could select the mods to be included as nominees in all the categories (witha min. vote requirement) and the secondary vote made by two members/managers put forth from each of the nominated mods. Maybe 1 from each mod team would be better so as to not disadvantage mods that may only have 1 person in them (esp. enhancement ones) ;)

Or just have different judges for different categories. For instance, you, alpaca, Bwian and EP could be judges for RTW-era mods. Heck, let's put EP and Myrdraal in all judges panels.

About nominations, I think the judges should come up with those. They make a list of all the mods, then take nominees from that. The tough part would be to figure out how a mod could be considered a nominee. I have several ideas:

- The mod is submitted to be considered. This is like the Oscars, where the filmmaker must submit their film to the judges. The mod being submitted must also point out which category it wishes to be considered in.
- The mod submitted will be considered AS IS, so even if it's a beta (i.e. LOTR-TW 1.1c), it will be considered as a complete mod (i.e. minus points for not having a campaign).
- The nominees will be posted before the award is given, each with a written analysis by the judges on its strengths or weaknesses.
- Any additions/fixes/patches after the mod is submitted will not be considered.

For once, I'd really like to hear what other modders think about other mods. Other modding awards had always been about which mod is played most by players.

Yes, it WILL be subjective and probably controversial, but at least for once we get the experts' opinions.

**Bwian** · 12-09-2006, 13:01

Ahh..awards. My thoughts...such as they are ;)

There are certain core categories of mod which really determine, for me anyway, whether I would EVER consider downloading them.

1) Are they CAMPAIGN mods, or are they CUSTOM BATTLE MODS. There are some really accomplished pieces of work out there which don't interest me without a campaign. As a single-player type, I find customer battles of limited appeal other than to admire the units. It's a determining factor.

2) Is it a REBALANCE mod or a completely NEW ERA altogether. For historic mods, have they simply played with the thing to get improved historic units and balance, or have they gone for a completely new timeslot for the mod. How historically accurate have they got it and are the units recognisable as what they are supposed to be, and work in game as they should.

3) Have they based the mod on a KNOWN FICTIONAL base, or have they created something UTTERLY ORIGINAL. Hoggy's Blue Lotus, and my own humble Metal Mayhem efforts are works based entirely on imagination with no books/canon to refer to. Same with the 'end of hte world' mod. No one knows what the units look like, so you cannot compare them in the same way you can for...say...a LOTR mod.

4) Is the thing a finished article or a work in progress.

5) How much content have they actually changed? Metal Mayhem is using a completely new set of animations for rolling, walking and crawling robots...new animations for cutting disc, drilling and claw armed droids, and is changing every aspect of the game that can be changed. I have tanks, tracked crawlers, new strat map cities...everything. All the models have multiple LOD's and nothing is being skimped. It's an ambitious project for a one-man team :D To contrast that...my Skeleton's mod just replaced the gauls with a set of undead models. Changed only a few models and textures and took no time at all. Including the strat-map models

At the end of it all, I think there needs to be a few hard and fast categories which allow comparison of mods that can be compared:

BEST BATTLE MOD ( mods without a working campaign but otherwise done )
BEST CAMPAIGN MOD ( best fully functional mod )

BEST HISTORICAL MOD ( judged on historical accuracy etc )
BEST FANTASY MOD ( adherance to canon / official sources stated as inspiration / mythology )
BEST ORIGINAL MOD ( mod based on pure fantasy or imaginary work )

then add one or two 'JUDGES AWARDS' . Special awards for those mods that tried something really different, original or ambitious, and tried to push the boundaries back and do the impossible. Ones that just don't fit into a category, or were never finished or may get finished sometime in the future. Not necessary to 'nominate' for these, since the decisions could be made by a judges vote..though people can suggest candidates.

Something for every taste is essential for this sort of thing to show the diversity and skill present in the community.

**Myrddraal** · 12-16-2006, 03:04

We already have Judge awards. They are handed out individually and over time. It is an important part of the HoF that it is the members of the .org that hand them out.

Hmmm

**Epistolary Richard** · 12-16-2006, 03:24

Just to clarify that slighty - we already have awards that are decided upon by staff (such as the 'edit' award) which are presented at irregular staff discretion. While the HoF organisers are typically staff or AMs - they are a different group than the staff as a body and any judge/organiser award given as part of HoF would obviously interrelate with HoF rather than being the entirely separate staff award.