🏆 AGS Awards 2022 - Awards are over!

cat · Sun 01/01/2023 19:57:25

🏆 AGS Awards 2022

Welcome to the AGS Awards, the event where you, the player, choose the best games of the year!

Step # 0 - play them games!
You have some time to play games made in 2022. Do it!
Step # 1 - nomination time!
Select games you deem worthy in each category!
Step # 2 - vote, folks!
Pick from the nominees and we get a winner!
Step # 3 - party!
Big party to celebrate the winners!

Awards are over!

Here are the winners

Best Game Created with AGS
Nightmare Frames

Best Freeware Game Created with AGS
The Witch's Lullaby

Best Writing
Nightmare Frames

Best Character
"Alan Goldberg" from Nightmare Frames

Best Gameplay
Nightmare Frames

Best Background Art
Beyond The Edge Of Owlsgard

Best Character Art
Beyond The Edge Of Owlsgard

Best Animation
Beyond The Edge Of Owlsgard

Best Original Music & Sound Design
Nightmare Frames

Best Voice Work
The Excavation of Hob's Barrow

Best Demo
Zid Journey (demo)

Best Non Adventure Game Created with AGS
Snow Problem

Best Short Game
The Witch's Lullaby

Best Programming
Don't Give Up the Cat

Best Puzzles
Nightmare Frames

Congratulations!

Nomination results

Best Game Created with AGS

Beyond The Edge Of Owlsgard
Nightmare Frames
Perfect Tides
Space Quest: A Son of Xenon - Full Version (2022)
The Excavation of Hob's Barrow

Best Freeware Game Created with AGS

Clotilde Soffritti in: Never Double Park your Spaceship
Highland Spirit
Space Quest: A Son of Xenon - Full Version (2022)
The Witch's Lullaby
Where Did the Humans Go?

Best Writing

Beyond The Edge Of Owlsgard
Nightmare Frames
Perfect Tides
Space Quest: A Son of Xenon - Full Version (2022)
The Excavation of Hob's Barrow

Best Character

"Alan Goldberg" from Nightmare Frames
"Clotilde Soffritti" from Clotilde Soffritti in: Never Double Park your Spaceship
"Finn" from Beyond The Edge Of Owlsgard
"Mara Whitefish" from Perfect Tides
"Thomasina Bateman" from The Excavation of Hob's Barrow

Best Gameplay

Beyond The Edge Of Owlsgard
Clotilde Soffritti in: Never Double Park your Spaceship
Nightmare Frames
The Excavation of Hob's Barrow
The Witch's Lullaby

Best Background Art

Beyond The Edge Of Owlsgard
Nightmare Frames
Rock 'n' Roll Will Never Die!
The Excavation of Hob's Barrow
The Witch's Lullaby

Best Character Art

Beyond The Edge Of Owlsgard
Clotilde Soffritti in: Never Double Park your Spaceship
Nightmare Frames
The Excavation of Hob's Barrow
The Witch's Lullaby

Best Animation

Beyond The Edge Of Owlsgard
Nightmare Frames
Perfect Tides
The Excavation of Hob's Barrow
Zid Journey (demo)

Best Music & Sound

Beyond The Edge Of Owlsgard
Nightmare Frames
Space Quest: A Son of Xenon - Full Version (2022)
The Excavation of Hob's Barrow

Best Voice Work

Beyond The Edge Of Owlsgard
Challenge of the Tentacle
SPHONX
The Excavation of Hob's Barrow

Best Demo

Castle Dornstein - DEMO
Menial; a Utopian Bagel Simulator (demo)
Signal & Echo: Iris is Missing (demo)
Zid Journey (demo)

Best Non Adventure Game Created with AGS

Beat the Buzzer
Don't Give Up the Cat
Mr. Tijerakis
Snow Problem

Best Short Game

Clotilde Soffritti in: Never Double Park your Spaceship
Don't Give Up the Cat
The Witch's Lullaby
There's Something in the Pipes
Where Did the Humans Go?

Best Programming

Beyond The Edge Of Owlsgard
Don't Give Up the Cat
Nightmare Frames
Snow Problem
The Excavation of Hob's Barrow

Best Puzzles

Beyond The Edge Of Owlsgard
Nightmare Frames
Signal & Echo: Iris is Missing (demo)
Space Quest: A Son of Xenon - Full Version (2022)
The Excavation of Hob's Barrow

Congratulations!

How do the AGS Awards work?
(This is information mostly for new members, same procedure as every year)

Every year, the AGS community embarks on a quest to find the best games made in the last year. All games are eligible, that were added to the AGS Database in the year 2022. There is a For Your Consideration thread where authors can promote their games and players get a good overview what might be worth playing.

The awards are a two-step process: First there is a nomination phase where all community members can nominate the eligible games in several categories (it will be the same categories as last year). The top five games of each category make it to the voting (as long as they've received at least five nominations). Again, all members of the community can vote on their favourite games.
The final result is then announced in a live ceremony that can be joined either with a special client or any regular irc client.

Party like it's 1990 in this thread!

CaptainD · Mon 02/01/2023 12:03:12

For ease of use I've put all eligible games into a spreadsheet, with the demos clearly delineated:

It should be accessible to anyone, let me know if any issues.

eri0o · Mon 02/01/2023 12:27:27

Thank you for this spreadsheet! It makes much easier to make a copy so you can play and make your own notes of all games.

CaptainD · Mon 02/01/2023 13:09:26

Agreed, although I have to admit I really just stole the idea from Katschey and beat him to it this year!

Kastchey · Mon 02/01/2023 17:55:21

Dayum

lorenzo · Tue 03/01/2023 16:00:55

Thank you for the list, CaptainD! It's really useful!

heltenjon · Tue 03/01/2023 22:58:38

The link to the wiki isn't working, so here are the categories from last year, ready for use in the FYC thread:

Best Game Created with AGS
Best Freeware Game Created with AGS
Best Writing
Best Character
Best Gameplay
Best Background Art
Best Character Art
Best Animation
Best Music & Sound
Best Voice Work
Best Demo
Best Non Adventure Game Created with AGS
Best Programming
Best Puzzles

@cat - Please correct me if I missed something.

cat · Wed 04/01/2023 18:45:49

You are missing my favourite category: Best Short Game

We also discussed renaming "Best Music and Sound" to "Best Original Music and Sound Design".

heltenjon · Wed 04/01/2023 21:19:26

That's my favourite category, too!

How could I miss it?

cat · Thu 05/01/2023 07:40:37

The full list of categories is:

Best Game Created with AGS
Best Freeware Game Created with AGS
Best Short Game
Best Writing
Best Character
Best Gameplay
Best Background Art
Best Character Art
Best Animation
Best Original Music & Sound Design
Best Voice Work
Best Demo
Best Non Adventure Game Created with AGS
Best Programming
Best Puzzles

I've updated the first post. Thanks heltenjon for the idea!

Stupot · Thu 05/01/2023 18:46:19

I'll mention here that the voting for MAGGIES 2022^* will be held alongside the AGS Awards process as usual, and the winner will be announced as part of the Awards ceremony.

Expect a separate thread towards the end of this month, once December's winner is known.

^*What is MAGGIES? - Good question. It is the annual contest to choose the best of the best MAGS game from among the winning monthly entries. It is traditionally held separately from, but in tandem with, the AGS Awards.

cat · Sat 07/01/2023 19:20:54

Thanks, Stupot, looking forward to it!

cat · Mon 09/01/2023 20:58:38

A hint for people promoting their game in the "For your consideration" thread:
If you suggest that people vote for "Best Character", tell them the name or names they should nominate. For nominating a game in this category, voters have to enter the name in a text field.

heltenjon · Sat 14/01/2023 13:58:52

As people are playing through the games of yesteryear before the Awards nominations, please consider also voting/rating them on the games page. For the uninitiated, this is done by locating a paragraph named Public Opinion, just to the right of the download button and clicking on the Your votes link at the end of said paragraph.

Only five of the games released in 2022 has been rated by enough players (5 will do it) to receive a player rating, which is the orange cups. You don't have to leave a comment, and the voters remain anonymous. In addition, this is an excellent way of keeping track of which games you have already played, as the web page link will turn into Want to change your votes? after you have rated a game.

Stupot · Sat 14/01/2023 16:56:24

Quote from: heltenjon on Sat 14/01/2023 13:58:52You don't have to leave a comment

But please do consider leaving a comment, if you have time. It gives the developer a warm fuzzy feeling and encourages them to make more games.

cat · Sat 14/01/2023 19:11:15

Excellent advice, heltenjon and Stupot!

How's everyone getting along with playing the games?

Ponch · Thu 19/01/2023 23:18:20

Quote from: cat on Sat 14/01/2023 19:11:15How's everyone getting along with playing the games?

Slowly working my way through the stack.

heltenjon · Fri 20/01/2023 00:50:04

Quote from: cat on Sat 14/01/2023 19:11:15How's everyone getting along with playing the games?

I doubt I'll manage to play all the games this year. I think I have 19 games left to play, most of them commercial/full length.

cat · Sat 21/01/2023 20:04:20

Nominations have started!

AGA set up the nomination page for us, thanks for that!

Every forum member is allowed to participate in the nominations. Just visit the link above and pick your favourite games for each category. You can select up to 10 games for each category.

A few Q&As:

Q: Can I change my nominations?
A: Yes, you can change your nominations until the deadline. This way, you don't have to do all nominations at once.

Q: Do I have to play all games before I nominate?
A: Even though it would be great if you played as many games as possible, there is no need to do so. Even if you have only played a handful of games, you can probably judge their strengths and weaknesses. For some categories like best background and character art you probably don't even have to finish the game to decide.

Got more questions? Don't hesitate to ask them here!

The Last To Know · Sun 22/01/2023 10:01:56

Okay, my nominations are out.