2006 Hall of Fame Modding Awards - please post your thoughts

[Bwian]

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]

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]

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.