Cacowards 2021 Mentionation Thread

[Jayextee]

Doom 2 Asteroids savegame-injected code execution.

 

Great stuff.

[Doomkid]

I have no clue how the Cacoward team is gonna whittle this year's output down to a Top Ten List.

 

Frankly, in terms of stuff I've actually played a bit of myself, it's already a very overwhelming prospect.. Here's the stuff I've booted up this year and thought "yeah, deserves a Cacoward":

 

- Heartland

- Time Tripper

- Refracted Reality

- URE2020

- KINDa

- Lullaby

- Tarnsman's Projectile Hell

- Doom 2 In Spain Only

- Plutonia 7

- Arrival

- DOOM Damnation

- AUGER;ZENITH

- MSCP

- RAMP (biggest community project of all time by a wide margin, far as I can tell)

- Zone 400

 

..that's just the stuff I've had time to play for a little bit.. there's a whoole lot more I haven't even booted up, but have seen screenshots of, and thus I know this isn't even half of the great shit from this year..

 

And then there's non-mapset stuff:

 

- DSDA-Doom

- DeHackEd Special Edition

- jval's amazing tools

- Sigil 32x Port

- The new MBF21 spec

 

..oh, but you thought that was all, right? Nah. What about the MIDI pack craze of 2021?

 

- Ultimate MIDI Pack

- Master Levels MIDI Pack

- NRFTL MIDI Pack

- Evilution MIDI Pack

 

..and even though I was/am heavily involved with these, there's no reason to be coy: .MID the way id did, Bourgeois Megawad, and (assuming all goes smoothly) Ray Mohawk 2 are all strong contenders this year as well.

 

All the stuff listed above is just the projects I've played / used / had a hand in.. I know for an absolute fact this isn't even 1/3rd of the great shit released this year..

 

....ROFL GOOD LUCK CACOWARD TEAM 😂 I am NOT jealous of your job this year, good luck getting all this and more down to just 10 entries... LMFAO

 

 

On 7/16/2021 at 5:39 PM, dmdr said:

+++ DBP 37 Auger;Zenith

Best wad I've played all year

"But dmdr, you've only played one wad this year", you may well reply

True, but it's also one of the best wads I've played any year. Utter fuckin masterpiece

Honestly, AUGER;ZENITH absolutely deserves one, but if you've only played one wad this year, you're missing out man. I know it's hard to believe, looking at such a high-quality project - but there are like 25 other wads any Doomer would simply have to admit are at least on the same level in terms of quality.

 

No exaggeration, I think this is going to be the hardest Cacowards of all time. If every year from here on out has an output like this, I genuinely think expanding it to a Top 15 or something would be the only way to make sure soul-enlighteningly-amazing works don't go without mention. Of course, I have no say in the matter, but if someone asked me to make a Top 10 for this year, I'd simply respond with "no", lol

 

EDIT: Holy fuck, when I typed this up earlier, I totally forgot to factor in the numerous multiplayer releases...

 

 

Edited July 19, 2021 by Doomkid

[ketmar]

we should switch to limit-removing cacowards engine.

[Endless]

18 minutes ago, Doomkid said:

I have no clue how the Cacoward team is gonna whittle this year's output down to a Top Ten List.

 

Frankly, in terms of stuff I've actually played a bit of myself, it's already a very overwhelming prospect.. Here's the stuff I've booted up this year and thought "yeah, deserves a Cacoward":

 

- Heartland

- Time Tripper

- Refracted Reality

- URE2020

- KINDa

- Lullaby

- Tarnsman's Projectile Hell

- Doom 2 In Spain Only

- Plutonia 7

- Arrival

- DOOM Damnation

- AUGER;ZENITH

- RAMP (biggest community project of all time by a wide margin, far as I can tell)

- Zone 400

 

..that's just the stuff I've had time to play for a little bit.. there's a whoole lot more I haven't even booted up, but have seen screenshots of, and thus I know this isn't even half of the great shit from this year..

 

And then there's non-mapset stuff:

 

- DSDA-Doom

- DeHackEd Special Edition

- jval's amazing tools

- Sigil 32x Port

- The new MBF21 spec

 

..oh, but you thought that was all, right? Nah. What about the MIDI pack craze of 2021?

 

- Ultimate MIDI Pack

- Master Levels MIDI Pack

- NRFTL MIDI Pack

- Evilution MIDI Pack

 

..and even though I was/am heavily involved with these, there's no reason to be coy: .MID the way id did, Bourgeois Megawad, and (assuming all goes smoothly) Ray Mohawk 2 are all strong contenders this year as well.

 

All the stuff listed above is just the projects I've played / used / had a hand in.. I know for an absolute fact this isn't even 1/3rd of the great shit released this year..

 

....ROFL GOOD LUCK CACOWARD TEAM 😂 I am NOT jealous of your job this year, good luck getting all this and more down to just 10 entries... LMFAO

 

 

Honestly, AUGER;ZENITH absolutely deserves one, but if you've only played one wad this year, you're missing out man. I know it's hard to believe, looking at such a high-quality project - but there are like 25 other wads any Doomer would simply have to admit are at least on the same level in terms of quality.

 

No exaggeration, I think this is going to be the hardest Cacowards of all time. If every year from here on out has an output like this, I genuinely think expanding it to a Top 15 or something would be the only way to make sure soul-enlighteningly-amazing works don't go without mention. Of course, I have no say in the matter, but if someone asked me to make a Top 10 for this year, I'd simply respond with "no", lol

The 😂 is the cherry on the top.

[roadworx]

32 minutes ago, Doomkid said:

No exaggeration, I think this is going to be the hardest Cacowards of all time. If every year from here on out has an output like this, I genuinely think expanding it to a Top 15 or something would be the only way to make sure soul-enlighteningly-amazing works don't go without mention. Of course, I have no say in the matter, but if someone asked me to make a Top 10 for this year, I'd simply respond with "no", lol

either they're gonna say fuck it and expand the winners to 15 or 20, or there's gonna be a lot of runner-ups.

 

also - unless there's another major pandemic that shuts down the world for nearly a year, then unfortunately there's no way that any year following this one is gonna have this sort of output.

[TheNoob_Gamer]

Just now, roadworx said:

unfortunately there's no way that any year following this one is gonna have this sort of output.

I can see that, but Doom WADs are more quality over quantity anyway - I wouldn't mind waiting for people cooking up their own thing if the WAD output were to be decreased in the following years.

[Doomkid]

Something I forgot to mention in my post is that there's still a whopping 3 and a half months in which I'm sure numerous other Cacoward contenders will be released. If the cutoff date was yesterday it would already be hard enough..

[msx2plus]

55 minutes ago, Doomkid said:

3 and a half months

 

oh shit, is the cutoff date that soon?! i need to go full hog on time tripper circuit 2...

[baja blast rd.]

I really do hope people don't rush things to get them into the cycle. Your work matters way more than the awards, and the awards should bend to it, not the other way around. 

[msx2plus]

Just now, rd. said:

Your work matters more than the awards, and the awards should bend to them, not the other way around. 

 

100%, but sometimes you just need a swift kick in the ass. or a fire under your ass? either or. an additional reason to execute to fuel the fire. as long as you use it harmlessly - "i have to make it, and hopefully on time" - rather than harmfully - "i have to be on time, hopefully i can make it" - you're using it right.

[dmdr]

OK I just wrote a really long, rambling post in response to DK so to be considerate to those who just wanna scroll right by I'm gonna spoiler it. TL;DR I loved Augur;Zenith and I don't care who knows it.

 

Spoiler

 

7 hours ago, Doomkid said:

Honestly, AUGER;ZENITH absolutely deserves one, but if you've only played one wad this year, you're missing out man. I know it's hard to believe, looking at such a high-quality project - but there are like 25 other wads any Doomer would simply have to admit are at least on the same level in terms of quality.

 

In my defense I haven't touched Doom at all since about August last year so I'm very behind on what's been released since then, so your first sentence is probably true.

That said I really doubt the second sentence is true, or at least is going to be true for this specific Doomer (what follows will be very rambly so I apologise to all for posting it (double brackets: I'm not sorry enough to refrain from posting it, obviously)). I mean I know there's big name stuff like Skillsaw's latest opus but those kind of wads don't interest me all that much, I just wanna run around with the fire button held down for about 10 minutes per map and not really think too much about the architecture or all the ingenuity that was poured into the levels, not to mention that these days I get kinda grotty with wads that try to draw me away from my beloved Crispy. This is of course really dumb but we're here to play and have fun and that's how I do it, for better or worse, and it's not like I'm hurting for new stuff to play despite my stick-in-the-mudness.

 

Stuff that's more in my wheelhouse like URE2020 is also generating a lot of fuss but I played a couple levels today and wasn't feeling it, it's got those old timey real-world proportions so not much room to move, and generally I'd say the ammo balance is tight as a gnat's chuff so as a kb-only player (idiosyncracies everywhere) I was mostly just feeling deprived and not really enjoying myself. I had a look at Zone 400 today too and found it more to my liking, BUT, it's not by @SuperCupcakeTactics is it? You could interpret this as loyalty to a fellow DBP-er and I guess there's a bit of that, but, and now the rambling really begins (sorry-not-sorry again) because I'm going to tell an anecdote to explain myself, one time I spotted @Big Ol Billy talking (prolly on Discord but where's not really important) about how he always felt like he was playing catch-up to Cuppy with regard to his own DBPs. When I saw this I just thought to myself, what the fuck? The dude who came up with DBP16-cyberdemonbungholepenetration doesn't have to look up to anyone! Plus my opinion of Cuppy at that stage was that while he's a talented dude and definitely a singular personality he lacked discipline (eg. MAP01 of DBP18 was pretty well received so maybe I'm just a weirdo, but to me it just kinda feels like one damn thing after another, goes on too long without any real sense of pacing, and would have been better off as three shorter levels) and was probably gonna spend his Dooming life bouncing from one project to another and never really reaching his own potential... Well, anyway, fast forward a year and a bit and BOOM fuckin AUGER;ZENITH right in my stupid fat fuckin face, just as soon as I decide I'd like to get back into Doom, and what we've got here is something that really shows Cuppy's strengths while minimising if not eliminating his weaknesses... I always laugh when people act like 'graphics' and 'gameplay' form some kind of dichotomy, since the way something's presented is inevitably going to effect the way you perceive it, and really the theming, textures, props and the palette in particular means that every map in the set has that Cuppy touch even when they're not his. The whole thing really just has so much personality that it's a totally unique work, you're not getting the A;Z experience anywhere other than A;Z.

NOW this isn't to denigrate everyone else's contribution or downgrade them to also-rans clinging on to Cuppy's coattails or some dumb shit, because every mapper on this set really stepped up  -- there were a few names I didn't recognise, and my expectations were exceeded every damn time -- and there were visual assets contributed by others too of course, but just to say that A;Z has a strong cohesiveness that I've found Cuppy's earlier stuff to lack, and that really elevates it to another level. Me a year ago was wrong and dumb, and even though I hate being wrong I'm really happy to be able to write that.

 

You know what I could talk more and I kinda want to, especially about my favourite set piece in the mapset (the Matrix lobby battle recreation in MAP15, also by Cuppy), but this took just over an hour to write and that's long enough to spend on any post. A unique vision + a strong team = one of my favourite wads ever, and tbh I think the overwhelmingly positive reaction it's received is really proof that people enjoy this kind of auteur driven wad. And I'm rambling again, so I'll just say that anyone who read all this shit deserves a Cacoward of their own.

 

 

[Deadwing]

I already gave up on this cycle and I'll probably have stuff done only in the next year lol

 

But TBH, I wouldn't get surprised if the output in the next year would be as good and numerous as it is this year, with stuff such as BTSX3, Plutonia 3, Elementalism, etc on the works.

[Remilia Scarlet]

Mentionating Ketmar for a code award for his continued, and very dedicated, work on K8Vavoom.  Its features have really changed how I approach Doom mapping.

Edited July 19, 2021 by Remilia Scarlet

[Pixel Fiend]

 

CACOWARD for @Kolibri 's glorious gift of Doom 2: Hell On Earth music re-recording! 

[___]

On 7/19/2021 at 12:40 PM, game said:

 

CACOWARD for @Kolibri 's glorious gift of Doom 2: Hell On Earth music re-recording! 

I second this.  It is quite faithful.

[Donowa]

+1 Doom II Midi OST Remake by @Kolibri

 

+1 TNT Evilution Midi Pack by @Cammy et al

+1 Duck2 by @Eggman07

 

+1 Reelism 2 by @Kinsie et al https://reelism.dog/

Edited July 20, 2021 by Donowa

[hakros]

+1 Micro Slaughter Community Project

 

+1 DBP37 - AUGER;ZENITH

 

+1 Wadazine Master Collection 01 (The Rising)

 

+1 Tetraptykon

 

+1 Archi-Tek V 1.0 (RELEASE)

 

Edited July 22, 2021 by hakros

[LadyMistDragon]

+1 DBK 01: Dungeon Synths I thought I could avoid it for the first four maps, sadly, I could do it no longer 5 minutes into Map 05.

 

Don't think I've done it yet, but +1 Mucus Empire

[Cammy]

+1 to @LeeAurich for the most promising newcomer award. His first map, Baron's Lair, displays a very strong early grasp of combat and visuals, and he's responded to criticism quickly and kindly. I have a good feeling about him. Give the map a shot, it's a fun one.

 

Surely there's something @MtPain27 can be nominated for as well, even if his Dean of Doom series debuted last year. His content is consistently high-quality and fun to watch, and I firmly believe he has assumed a role in our community which was previously left conspicuously vacant. I can personally confirm his videos are a major reason why I ensconced myself in the scene so deeply - and I can't be the only one!

[Kyka]

1 hour ago, Cammy said:

+1 to @LeeAurich for the most promising newcomer award. His first map, Baron's Lair, displays a very strong early grasp of combat and visuals, and he's responded to criticism quickly and kindly. I have a good feeling about him. Give the map a shot, it's a fun one.

 

Surely there's something @MtPain27 can be nominated for as well, even if his Dean of Doom series debuted last year. His content is consistently high-quality and fun to watch, and I firmly believe he has assumed a role in our community which was previously left conspicuously vacant. I can personally confirm his videos are a major reason why I ensconced myself in the scene so deeply - and I can't be the only one!

 

Yes for sure. @MtPain27 is a wonderful promoter of Doom related stuff, and I am sure he is responsible for funnelling many people into the world of Doom mapping and modding, or even just being in and around the community. "Business Development Cacoward," probably isn't quite what we are going for though haha. "Promotions Cacoward?" "Social Media Cacoward?" "Instagramaward?" heh. Something like that.

[msx2plus]

+1 to @MtPain27 for some kind of award - his writing on doom-related anything is great and i really appreciate his fascination with the surreal, beautiful, and oppressive aspects of doom creations. it's a breath of fresh air in a sea of Sheer Intensity/Violence that doom has an increasingly canonical association with. beyond that he's just a swell guy and cultivates good vibes, and the world can always use more of those.

[LadyMistDragon]

I agree about Mtpain, he makes enjoyable videos. Honestly, he gets cranky whenever any remotely stupid questions pop up (I do like his responses whenever someone asks about the voice of the Delinquent). Still, some kind of award referring to his comprehensive and originally consistent megawad reviews (of which I believe hasn't really been a thing on youtube before)  would be nice.

Edited July 30, 2021 by LadyMistDragon

[TheShep]

+1 to UV-Max'ing Nuts.wad, by Zero Master, for Most Ridiculous Demo / Video of the Year.

 

 

Edited July 30, 2021 by b00mb0dy
wrong code

[Mike Stu]

Here's a couple of stand outs off the top of my head, in no particular order.

 

+1 Heartland: Someone gave skillsaw the Eternity Engine and he just went "ok, watch this". Beautiful. 

+1 DBP37 - AUGER;ZENITH: Yeah this one is a no-brainer (probably why everyone and their mom is nominating it). All around fantastic, even if you don't quite get the cyberpunk hype. Get the feeling people will be talking about it for a long time.

+1 DBP33 - Rainy Days In Casablanca: Feel like this one is flying under the radar just a tad ('prolly because of ZENITH), but it oozes with style and is 100% nomination worthy. Short, sweet and sexy.

+1 WMC01: The Rising: Lovely collection of 6 maps utilizing Doom 3 textures (which are criminally underused imho). Looks as great as it plays and is an excellent start for the Wadazine Master Collection.

+ 1 I.H.N.I. Episode 1: Oh yeah. This is another one of those "I can't believe it's Doom" ones. I'm not even sure how Kraja pulled off half of the stuff on display here. Just incredible.

 

Have a bunch of other ones in the list that I didn't get a chance to play yet. Good luck guys - you might need more awards this year 'cause gawddamn.

 

Also, +1 to the fine people at the Widescreen Assets Apreciation Thread. The Unity port opened my eyes to how great Doom looks in widescreen, and I'm glad there's a lot of talented folks working on providing the community with high quality material for several of the most popular WADs. Pro-tip: always check out this thread before starting a new WAD, you might be in for a treat.

Edited July 31, 2021 by Mike Stu

[TheHit_61x]

AUGER;ZENITH hands down one fo the best projects of the year for sure. The aesthetic and locations are just a treat to look at, the combat is also very good with very minimal bullshit moments. A must play for anyone looking for a great adventure.

Edited August 1, 2021 by TheHit_61x

[OniriA]

Kyka for lifetime Espi award.

 

[dew]

3 hours ago, OniriA said:

Kyka for lifetime Espi award.

Espi award is the one category where we don't like being told who to award. Particularly when it's bad takes like this.

[Dodgy Dave]

Oops All Archviles for Mockaward.

 

Because why the fuck not.

 

 

[Horus]

9 hours ago, dew said:

Espi award is the one category where we don't like being told who to award

 

It might be worth clarifying this point in the OP of this thread

[Kyka]

18 hours ago, OniriA said:

Kyka for lifetime Espi award.

 

 

Honored by the nomination, and honored to be mentioned in the same sentence as Espi. Thank you. Really appreciated.

 

But I do feel that I haven't contributed near enough to be in contention for this award, and there are many far more deserving than me.