The 2021 Cacowards

[Horus]

Excellent work from the Cacowards team, who had the hardest year of all to cover with the huge plethora of community output. Picking the winners / runners up / etc was never going to be easy in such a packed year (big thumbs up for implementing antares’ suggestion of the silver caco). Very glad to see the 21 more of 2021 feature, a great way to cover more of this year’s many releases. Also very happy to see the PUSS series and RAMP get mentions, two very significant projects this year from a community perspective imo. I suppose if there was one other thing I would like to have seen covered somehow, it would be MtPain27’s Dean of Doom series.

 

Sadly life circumstances has kept me on the periphery of the Doom community for most of this year (I at least managed to release one map), but hopefully that should change next year, so I can actually spend time playing all the amazing stuff that came out this year :P and restart mapping again too

Edited December 10, 2021 by Horus

[Syn]

A very large congrats to every one of the winners and runner ups. All of you are absolutely deserving of it. And a deep thank you to everyone for being an inspiration to me, especially Jimmy, being one of the biggest influences on my interest in MIDIs and Doom in general. 

 

tl;dr You all are amazing! :)

[Peter]

13 hours ago, dew said:

Dear lord, what a bitchfest. Aren't you decino's basement sidekick? It's probably good when you're just focusing on work and not being paraded publicly.

That's the first time I've been called a basement side kick 😂.

 

Having the thousands of collective hours of extremely high quality work across many different musicians on this website hastily thrown onto a sidebar feels like an afterthought instead of actual acknowledgement.

 

Also, no mention of A1s doing Stardate 20x7 D2ALL in the Hooked On Speed post? An absolutely outstanding accomplishment not getting a mention. 😭😭😭

 

AND NO MENTION OF MtPain27’s DEAN OF DOOM YOU WHAT???? 😱😱😱😱😱😱😱

 

EDIT:

Ayy! Thanks for editing in A1s Stardate 20x7 D2ALL achievement to the mentions! Truely well deserved.

Edited December 10, 2021 by Peter

[Wavy]

Doom 32X Resurrection got the Mordeth award!

 

Super happy I was able to contribute to it via the map fixes and updated statusbar. Great job to everyone apart of the D32XR team and all of the winners in general!

[Nash]

Good work all around to both the Cacowards committee and also the creators whose works made the cut this year. Doom modding will live on for a very, very long time... :)

[Starduster]

Wow, 'grats to all the winners and mentions! I almost forgot about the Cacowards this year. There were ton of great releases this year that I have yet to play. It was an honor to be mentioned in the speedrunning section for the Scythe D2ALL Max I recorded earlier this year in March - feels like forever ago. 

 

There were a few unfortunate missed moments in Doom demos that absolutely deserved a mention:

The remarkable effort of @David Asaad to achieve his Stardate 20x7 D2ALL Max;

@KineticBeverage showing up and blasting Dimensions Map 03 out of the water with his max in 13m05, as well as his D2ALL of Dimensions

 

Edited December 10, 2021 by Starduster

[Big Ol Billy]

What an amazing year. Congrats to all the winners, runner-ups, and mentionees! In awe of the Cacowards team, and frankly anyone else who was able to comb through the mountain of quality content and come out with a relatively firm opinion on how to rank it all. Of course, very happy to see a DBK01 shoutout and even one for The Long Trek Back Home, which is my jam in a major way at the mo'.

 

Now to add some more stuff to my "must play" folder, right next to... uh... some of the stuff I'm still trying to get to from last year...

[andreadworkin4thaweekend]

nice job everyone, and also to everyone who released wads and assets who weren't included here

 

except BoA, they can kick rocks

 

[Gaia74]

Congratulations to everyone :)

[Obsidian]

1 minute ago, Peter said:

That's the first time I've been called a basement side kick 😂.

 

Having the thousands of collective hours of extremely high quality work across many different musicians on this website hastily thrown onto a sidebar feels like an afterthought instead of actual acknowledgement.

 

Also, no mention of A1s doing Stardate 20x7 D2ALL in the Hooked On Speed post? An absolutely outstanding accomplishment not getting a mention. 😭😭😭

 

There was also the Odyssey of Noises award that mentioned the OSTs for Arrival and Ashes: Afterglow, so I think it would be fair to say that the musical accomplishments of the Doom community aren't being disregarded by the folks behind the Cacowards.

[LadyMistDragon]

8 minutes ago, Peter said:

That's the first time I've been called a basement side kick 😂.

 

Having the thousands of collective hours of extremely high quality work across many different musicians on this website hastily thrown onto a sidebar feels like an afterthought instead of actual acknowledgement.

 

Also, no mention of A1s doing Stardate 20x7 D2ALL in the Hooked On Speed post? An absolutely outstanding accomplishment not getting a mention. 😭😭😭

I mean, @MtPain27 didn't even get a mention and you're complaining about being relegated to sidebar status? That comment was incredibly condescending, but in all honesty, the judges probably weren't used to so many midi packs being released. Its more natural for them to talk about wads and mods I think.(1000 Lines 3 would probably be my personal Dootaward pick, btw).

Edited December 10, 2021 by LadyMistDragon

[GarrettChan]

9 minutes ago, Peter said:

AND NO MENTION OF MtPain27’s DEAN OF DOOM YOU WHAT???? 😱😱😱😱😱😱😱

Reasons why this should be mentioned in the Cacowards? I don't get it.

[Dynamo]

It is the nature of the awards, not just in a year as packed as this, but in any year really, that ultimately not everyone is going to be completely satisfied with what won what. My personal opinion is that it's impossible to mention every single good thing, but if you feel like you should've won an award, what I say is, there's always next year to try again! :D

[VoanHead]

A little salty that some of the projects that I wanted to win didn't win one, but I'm happy for those that won.

 

Conglaturations!!! You're Winner!

[Shepardus]

11 minutes ago, Peter said:

That's the first time I've been called a basement side kick 😂.

 

Having the thousands of collective hours of extremely high quality work across many different musicians on this website hastily thrown onto a sidebar feels like an afterthought instead of actual acknowledgement.

 

Also, no mention of A1s doing Stardate 20x7 D2ALL in the Hooked On Speed post? An absolutely outstanding accomplishment not getting a mention. 😭😭😭

 

AND NO MENTION OF MtPain27’s DEAN OF DOOM YOU WHAT???? 😱😱😱😱😱😱😱

Sounds like you have a substantial list of things you would like to shout out; if that's the case, feel free to write up and share your own thoughts on them.

[Snark]

Really glad Atmospheric Extinction made it in here.

 

Also love that the Cacowards come at the time of the year when I have nothing to do but play wads , so ...I know what I'm doing in the next 3 weeks.

 

Well done everyone, keep it kicking.

 

 

Edited December 10, 2021 by Snark

[Captain Ventris]

Great write ups, as always. This was a great celebration of a real banner year for the community. There was just so much to talk about!

[SuperCupcakeTactics]

Thank you for the Cacoward, Cacowards team members who nominated 'AUGER;ZENITH' who have irrefutably great taste! I want to give a special thanks to @scifista42 who provided invaluable praise and critique to my earliest maps shared on this forum. I'll always remember him for that and I hope he gets a chance to play DBP37 if he ever looks back on the Doom community wherever he is now. All the best to you man.

[Bauul]

Congratulations to all the winners, runners-up, honorable mentions, sidebar mentions, vaguely inferred projects and everyone else!  It's been an incredible year for great content, so absolutely phenomenal job to the whole community for making it one of the best years in memory!  

[CherubCorps]

So I usually don't complain, but widepix! Seriously! That's not even a gameplay mod! It doesn't change anything or alter gameplay or give a truly unique experience that great mods can offer. 

 

This is just proof that there is a bias in the mapping community towards the modding community and a desire for mods that think inside the box. With the exception of CC, all the mods chosen in this and the mini mod safari give vanilla experiences, balance stats or put carbon copies of existing shooters into the doom engine.

 

There was no mention of Angelic Aviary, Doom fighters, Ikadoom, hell crusher or Combine arms (Which is the best mod of 2021 on a gameplay, artistic and technically level). The big mods this year that truly shook things up and turn doom into a unique experience that can't be found anywhere. Mods that have so much amazing content on their own that they are practically there own games. Mods that truly MOD doom without altering the maps.

 

Just so people know, I'm the creator of Angelic Aviary. I might sound like a sore loser, but this is a real problem. There has been a trend in mapping to do everything possible to keep modders of of there maps. Either by using dehacked assets or the eternity engine which is designed specially to counter mods. That might be an unfair assumption to make, but it really feels that way.

 

 

 

 

 

[Biodegradable]

Truly a phenomenal year of powerful single map releases, community mapping projects, speedmapping sessions, contests, sourceport development, Doom technology and other assorted goodies that keeps our favourite game thriving. I'm really stoked to see @Danlex's Lullaby win one, along with one of my favourite newcomers @Orcsbreath getting a special mention for their output of terrific bite-sized maps. I myself have had the honour of playtesting for all sorts of cool and unique projects this year, some that have since been released and others that are still on the way.

 

Congratulations to all the winners and other folks who received a nod and a wink from the Cacoaward crew. I can't wait for next year :^)

[Scuba Steve]

If you can't see the significance of a professional-quality widescreen pack for every eligible idtech game ever commercially released, I don't know what to tell you. A project of such significance, it was formally added to the GZDoom launcher.

Edited December 10, 2021 by Scuba Steve

[Captain Ventris]

7 minutes ago, RomDump said:

I might sound like a sore loser

Hmmmmmm

Edited December 10, 2021 by Captain Ventris

[pavera]

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

 

 

 

ehem

 

But seriously, thank you @rd. for the absolutely tear-jerking writeup. I am floored. Also shouts to @Demon of the Well for absolutely nailing the brilliant subtleties of @AD_79's work. Can't overstate how much this project means to me personally, and I am so honored to have it so well received.

 

Thanks everyone :)

[TJG1289]

Congrats to all the winners! I've played only half the things that either won or got a runner-up mention. So much to still play! I'm at work so I haven't been able to read a lot yet, so I'm looking forward to really read through everything. Glad my top 3 WADS of the year made it. 

[Tarnsman]

I was going to post a joke about being sad that the year I got COTY wasn't the same year Habitat 2 finally got to see the light of day (TNT 2 will be out one day).

 

But the real thing I'm sad about is that Doom 2 In Spain Only didn't get to be 50% Alfonzo like we originally planned it.

 

Also congrats to Xaser for the Espi truly deserved.

[Scuba Steve]

I think you still owe me $150 mister Creator of the Year...

[Tarnsman]

I do?

 

Edit: Looks like you're correct. You're the only one who didn't PM me your info to send you your prize. You should do that.

Edited December 10, 2021 by Tarnsman

[CherubCorps]

13 minutes ago, Scuba Steve said:

If you can't see the significance of a professional-quality widescreen pack for every eligible idtech game ever commercially released, I don't know what to tell you. A project of such significance, it was formally added to the GZDoom launcher.

It's amazing and alot of hard work went into it. I just wouldn't call it a gameplay mod. 

 

[Kinsie]

4 minutes ago, RomDump said:

This is just proof that there is a bias in the mapping community towards the modding community and a desire for mods that think inside the box. With the exception of CC, all the mods chosen in this and the mini mod safari give vanilla experiences, balance stats or put carbon copies of existing shooters into the doom engine.

 

There was no mention of Angelic Aviary, Doom fighters, Ikadoom, hell crusher or Combine arms (Which is the best mod of 2021 on a gameplay, artistic and technically level). The big mods this year that truly shook things up and turn doom into a unique experience that can't be found anywhere. Mods that have so much amazing content on their own that they are practically there own games. Mods that truly MOD doom without altering the maps.

Hello! Gameplay Mod judge here. A ton of great Gameplay Mods come out and get big updates every year, and I'd scream about all of them from the rooftops if I could, but sadly real life and the format of the whole thing dictates that there's only so much time and space to spare, so narrowing things down was as difficult a process as it's always been. Not appearing in the Cacowards selection is not a shunning or a condemnation of a project, and it also doesn't lock it out of appearing in future years if it keeps getting good, high-quality updates - heck, appearing in the Mini-Mod Safari doesn't even lock you out of a future appearance, as Corruption Cards ably demonstrated. If modders keep putting out good stuff and cultivating a satisfied audience, recognition is always in reach.

 

Personally, of the mods you mentioned, I'm looking forward to seeing Doom Fighters grow and evolve further! It's a fantastic start that I wanna see more of.

 

4 minutes ago, RomDump said:

So I usually don't complain, but widepix! Seriously! That's not even a gameplay mod! It doesn't change anything or alter gameplay or give a truly unique experience that great mods can offer. 

I didn't pick it or write it up, but I'll gladly defend it - It's a pretty stunning piece of effort that adds a much-needed dose of polish to running these classic games on modern displays, and its hopping between however many different artstyles for each game with seeming ease is brilliantly done. Sometimes it's hard to remember how much work goes into it now that it ships as part of GZDoom, but having put together some ultrawide titlepics for my own projects recently, it's no picnic.

 

4 minutes ago, RomDump said:

There has been a trend in mapping to do everything possible to keep modders of of there maps. Either by using dehacked assets or the eternity engine which is designed specially to counter mods. That might be an unfair assumption to make, but it really feels that way.

This, however, is just silly. A project using a modding standard that isn't the one you use isn't some kind of anti-mod DRM. Doom modding is one big-ass umbrella that encompasses so many different approaches from both a philosophical and technological perspective, and we try and avoid focusing on one specific way of doing stuff. Are we successful? Sometimes! I think this year was pretty good for covering a wide gamut of things.