2023 Cacowards

[Immorpher]

Nice seeing an appearance of @Jetx_121's MAP NOT FOUND with myhouse.wad :D

[Nockson]

9 minutes ago, Major Cooke said:

Doomworld comes out with a ridiculous number of projects every year when it comes to mapping and modding. I suspect it's pretty easy as such for things to fall between the cracks, or there's just so many good ones that some have to be sidelined

I tend to disagree. DBP59 was mentioned like a dozen times in the Cacowards 2023 mentionation thread. A lot of people played it, you can just look at its release thread here on Doomworld (4 pages long, 119 likes as of right now) or at dozens of playthroughs on YouTube. It even got its own drama about the usage of characters from indie game without credit (which happily resolved). It's strange and sad that this rather important piece of this years's Doom modding scene was left unattended.

[esselfortium]

"Nazi Punks Fuck Off" remains a good guiding principle for all aspects of life.

[Scuba Steve]

7 hours ago, Nockson said:

Why didn't DBP59: Zeppelin Armada receive an award, or runner up, or at least a mention? 

I'll answer that; we've been trying to decide for years what's the best way to handle the DBP projects and I finally just made the call to omit them. Because of past behavior and prevailing attitudes on the Doomer Boards, Doomworld has a stated policy allowing for the posting of DBP but disallows the promotion of their forums. As long as this policy is in effect, the DBP are not entitled to free publicity.

 

DBP59 was a top ten release this year, but this is not a democracy, it's a curated community. Anti social behavior makes you a pariah and the most extreme examples can get you banned on Doomworld. The Doomer Boards can change their moderation policy at any time, but until such time, Doomworld's restriction extends to its hosted awards.

[baja blast rd.]

Feel really lucky to be involved in projects that were very received this year. Fun fact is that when I thing-placed the current version of "Infernal Carrier" (TNT2 20) years ago, in the back of my mind during the very first beta release I was worried it was a disaster -- and I'm still kind of stunned the overall result turned out well enough for people to really like the map, and for it to get a prominent place in the write-up.

 

Hardfest 2 was a big surprise too (being spoiled a few weeks early doesn't make it any less of a surprise!), as was seeing how many different people ended up liking Junk Food 2. 

 

Some extra commentary on a few of my favorite overall trends: 

 

- The still-growing niche-gameplay scene. I wrote about this already, but one of my favorite other examples is how raddicted takes a lot of influence from lunchlunch, who himself is very new. The iteration is ridiculous.  

- The level of quality that community projects and team projects that draw their teams from one subcommunity (which I think of as the same spirit) can attain with a seemingly more informal approach to management. (By "informal" I just mean they aren't run on BTSX/TNT2 dev cycles lol.) There's been a lot of meme-ing on badly managed community projects in W&M lately, but projects like 1x1, Solar Struggle, Skulltiverse, Hardfest 2, What Lies Beneath, Pina Colada, and many more would be unthinkable in 2015-2016 at their current-day level of overall goodness. These days it's really easy for projects to recruit a number of creative, skilled authors who bring a lot to the table. Authors like Muumi, Dashlet, Yumheart, and many many more aren't mouldy- or skillsaw-level recognizable but there are a bunch of authors like that who are responsible for this. (Me in 2021 playing Skulltiverse: "Who is 7Soul?" Look up their DoomWiki and they have four maps but just casually dropped a top-notch map okay, perfectly normal these days.) Back in 2015, it seemed like "extra-nitpicky quality control" would be the way forward for these projects -- 50 Shades of Graytall being a good example of a project that rejected many maps -- but instead people simply show up and are creative and passionate and very conscientious about their work and that's it. A lot of this is because of increasing activity, but it's not just that; the skill floor has also risen because people learn from good examples and there are more of those around, so it is self-perpetuating. 

 

- Oversaturation has proven not to be a thing. Yeah, there are so many good wads, and you'll never play them all. But if you are very selective about what you want to play during one particular week, there still isn't an abundance of any one particular thing. Rather, there are so many wads because there a lot more approaches being explored, and a much broader range of voices and styles. The RAMP 3 rundown and the extra wads on the myhouse page are a very good example of this -- a lot there feels nothing like traditional Doom. Check out the Duck Nukem map lmao. People (who don't know what they're talking about!) sometimes rag on post-Sunder for being too much about bright highlights on dark backgrounds, but a wad like suzerduzer's Black Diamond is heavily inspired by Swim With the Whales but in a mode of artistic expression that is very different from 2013 Ribbiks -- suzerduzer's style is more like a painter (and would fit at home in something like JPCP), whereas Ribbiks had that cold abstraction minimalism, and these wads feel a lot different in tone and aesthetics. Authors like RJD, Aurelius, Tango, LordEntropy, and Bridgeburner (who seem to draw from later gens of FPSes) do grand, baroque architectural in a way that's miles away from Mechadon, lupinx-Kassman, Tarnsman, or Xaser (who have a more traditionally Doomy take on it) -- and all of those authors split up in different ways too. There's platforming maps, glide maps, "wobble maps," all that. There's wads like this. Okay, I need to stop with the examples. Rather than the scene getting more and more crowded, like one bucket filling with more and more ""Content"" to the point of overload -- what's happened is space itself has greatly expanded, so even though there's more work, it's even more differentiated (and it's not called "Content"). 

[Nockson]

12 minutes ago, Scuba Steve said:

I'll answer that

This is exactly what I expected to hear. Thanks for your honesty.

[Cacodemon187]

Man, I'm so thankful for everybody who played El Viaje de Diciembre and believed in the project! Being paired up with so many great releases, some of them being my friends', is just awesome. Thank you @baja blast rd. for the wonderful write-up :)

Representing a part of the culture of my country was one of the main goals of the mapset, so I'm glad it came out as I envisioned it.

 

Thanks again for the cacoward, it has made my day! I don't want to be held up to a certain standard now, I'll just keep making my maps with the same attitude and will as I always have.

[Pierrot]

As usual a really enjoyable read! And what a year... this is just awesome
Congrats to every winner and runner-up, and a big thanks for the Cacowards crew for making this happening!

 

Happy birthday Doom, and here's to 30 more years!

[Death Bear]

What another great year to be in this community! Fantastic picks and write-ups! It's been an honor to contribute to projects for these last three years with all of these talented people, and man, it felt really special this year. I had literal tears running down my furry face when I saw Pina Colada and Quoth the Raven among some amazing releases this year, and seeing so many names of people I've worked alongside is just amazing! There's so much to play this year!

We loved making Pina Colada, but I don't think many of us thought we'd be getting a gold! That's awesome! Thank you not only to all of the wonderful contributors who made this possible, but to all of you who played it!

More on Pina Colada:

Spoiler

We started this in April of last year. It originally started with a comment BluePineapple72 made about a map myolden had made (Aqua Dementia from PUSS XV: Mysterious Mayan Madness) about how he wanted a megawad of maps just like it. My response was "I can arrange that." Before I knew it, myolden was formulating a plan for a mapset in response. The three of us cooked up some maps, myolden laid down the rules, and we started calling it "Juice Break". The idea was a coffee break type wad (Crumpets was also mentioned a few times), but with a little extra 'spice'. Smaller, compact maps with no more than 75 monsters. We settled on the name Pina Colada, as suggested by Blue. Invites went out, and mapping began. Muumi had been working on these glorious skies and we knew we HAD to feature them. It was a wonderful team effort of contribution and testing. I know we all appreciate each other for the work put in, especially with myolden at the helm. The rest...well, the proof is in the pudding (or cocktail) I guess. If you've played it, THANK YOU and we hope you enjoyed it. If you haven't played it yet, I would love for you to! Be sure to check it out! Thank you for the lovely write-up, @baja blast rd.!

And also THANK YOU for the wonderful mention of Quoth the Raven! This means the world to me, and I'm so excited to make more Heretic maps next year!

More on Quoth the Raven:
 

Spoiler

I fell in love with Heretic and made my first map for it in late 2021; speedmapping an episode during NANOWADMO the following year. After I started occasionally leading PUSS projects late 2021, I really wanted to run a Heretic event for PUSS with the intent to bring in people who hadn't mapped for it before, and maybe some who had. I pushed it off a few times so we could make way for other plans, but we finally decided to run one in 2023. As luck would have it, Egregor approached us about running a Heretic Community Project of a slightly different nature. I offered to help co-lead it, and several conversations later, we ended up marrying the two ideas together into what became Quoth the Raven. The name was one I referenced at some point, and Egregor suggested it as the name.

So much work on the backend was done by Egregor, Hambourgeois, KWC, and SilverMiner to get this resource pack working as intended. Peccatum provided us with some graphics to customize the experience! I personally learned a lot dealing with the running of this project, including some HHE and HEHACKED work, as well as what advantages & limitations certain sourceports have when running and modding with Heretic. QTR may not be perfect (and what is?) but a lot of work and love went into this project, and I can personally say that having all three of my kids map with me on this was a treat! Unicorn Skull literally let out a scream when I read the article and "Hunt of the Chickenmancer" was mentioned. They loved the idea of likely being some of the youngest contributors to a Caco-mention! A big shoutout to this team, of whom many created their first Heretic maps for this set. We even have Zari who released their FIRST map for this set! That's awesome!
  
I am very thankful to all of our cheerleaders, playtesters, and bug-reporters on the tail-end of this journey. And while I already thanked @scwiba for the lovely write-up, I'm doing so again! I would really love y'all to go play this, if you haven't already!

QTR has already opened other doors for us, and we are also looking forward to a planned follow-up next year! 

 
I'm REALLY looking forward to 2024. In terms of stuff to play, who KNOWS what will surprise us this next year!? I know I'm looking forward to the team projects we're currently working on, as well as finally getting some personal work out there. I'm also excited to finally get this PUSS backlog finished (ESPECIALLY PUSS XXII) and start fresh with some awesome new stuff we've got planned!

Happy Dirty Thirty, Doom! Cheers, friends!

[bioshockfan90]

Thank you for the amazing writeups as usual, I have yet more to play on the endless backlog. I'll get a little anecdotal quick and recall my Doom past:

 

I wasn't alive for its release, but around 2003-04 when I was a young boy, my mother sat me on her lap and played Doom 3 for me to watch. I had nightmares for a couple weeks after that, but it got me interested. My father ran Doom95 back in the day and claimed to have been one of the first to host LAN deathmatch setups for him and my mother, as well as others that came around.

 

I still remember playing Doom with Skulltag using only a keyboard and beating E1 of Doom 1 over and over again. I played things like Fava Beans, I read 10 years of doom, I submitted a dumb first-ever-map for DUMP 2 when I was in highschool and made a few more maps after that. At the age of 23, I couldn't be happier to be a part of this community even if it's just chiming in for the occasional comment or review on my Tumblr blog. 

 

Super glad at how Myhouse was handled, probably the best way to go about it. Now if you'll excuse me, I feel like I just ate 2 Thanksgiving dinners and need a long nap. Of playing these excellent WADs, that is. 

 

Congrats to all the winners and here's to me being in my 50s one day still playing this game! Much love, y'all.

[anotak]

(edit: error previously mentioned here has been corrected)

congratulations to the winners

Edited December 11, 2023 by anotak

[myolden]

Awesome to see stuff I was involved in make the list. Thank you! Pina Colada was a really fun project. I want to thank the team for coming together and creating something that resonated with people. It wouldn't have been possible without the talented mappers and artists who believed in the project. @muumi put together the awesome animated skies, @Danlex did an amazing logo and HUD (and un-mutilated the pink torch I made), and @Peccatum Mihzamiz created a fantastic Endoom screen. @BluePineapple72 was, of course, responsible for sparking the idea that led to the project in the first place, but he also created the Pina Colada object that can be seen in game. Both he and @Death Bear helped set the tone for the project, contributing to the rules and scope. And of course @Weird Sandwich, @Shawny, @ViolentBeetle, @LordEntr0py, @Steve88, @Pegleg and all of the folks listed above created awesome maps. 

 

Contributing to Tetanus was a real honor and joining the Squonker Team has been an amazing experience, not only for mapping but also making a group of new friends. @Egg Boy is a fantastic project leader, @AD_79 and @ZeMystic created beautiful MIDIs for this, they and of course the rest of the crew @Bobby "J @Skronkidonk, @T.Will, @uber, and @Yugiboy85 made amazing maps and overall have been fun to pal around with. 

What Lies Beneath was also a great project to be a part of. @ViolentBeetle proves yet again his capabilities as a project leader and a mapper, bringing together an awesome crew to make something great. @muumi, @LordEntr0py, @Pegleg, @DFF, @Weird Sandwich, @dac, and @Shawny all made killer maps and I'm very proud to contribute to something with them.
 

Seeing Nostalgia 2 get a mention was also really cool. I'm glad so many people enjoy my solo stuff, it really means a lot to see all of the kind comments from people. Credits to @BluePineapple72 for the logo, and also for creating the sprite and voice of the alien enemy contained in the secret maps. 

While Obzen didn't win anything, it was cool to see it get a mention inside of a mention. I would be remiss if I did not shout out @Ludi for creating the HUD for that project, alongside @BluePineapple72 for creating the logo, @Death Bear for making the titlepic and interpic, and @Peccatum Mihzamiz for doing the Endoom.

Wow, that was a long post. Happy Birthday to Doom! Time to crawl back into my cave and work on the other projects I have cooking.

Edited December 11, 2023 by myolden

[Endless]

Thanks a lot to @Dynamo for the sidebar write up about WAD archeology! It was a pleasure reading it and I'm quite happy to see the efforts of archivists and WAD hunters such as @Arrowhead, @Mad Butcher, @thestarrover, @VVL, @Never_Again, @deathz0r (who's an archeological living piece by himself already!), @FEDEX, @Roofi, @Walter confetti, @Wadmodder Shalton, and everyone that has participated in helping find and replay/recover those ancient pieces of WAD history. I think WADs from the 90s and early 2000s are an enigmatic and charming piece of history that deserves to be remembered and respected for establishing the stepping stones for the massive growth of this community. I personally have the belief that no matter the reason, all pieces of work, amateurish, expert, avant-garde or boring, deserve to be preserved.

 

I personally spent more time playing WADs from 1994 this year than anything else, and despite all the general jank and low quality of most of the releases back then, I've had a very rewarding and fun journey that I hope I can continue, always looking for those secret hidden gems in shovelware CDs or abandoned hard drives.

 

 

Thanks a lot!

[A2Rob]

Cool to see my wad got a slot in the runners up. I'm actually quite proud of Machete despite it having the shortest development period of my projects. Looking forward to Machete 2's development taking much longer :)

 

Congrats to all the winners!

[Plerb]

HOLY SHIT I JUST NOTICED

Quote

WHAT ARE WE STILL WAITING FOR?

Does this enormous list suggest the boundless enthusiasm for Doom and its relations, or the hubris that will inevitably lead to the community's downfall? Is this the same boilerplate text as last year's column? The answer to at least one of these questions is "yes."

Quote

John.WAD

LMAO

[Mr Masker]

7 minutes ago, Plerb said:

HOLY SHIT I JUST NOTICED

LMAO

If John.WAD comes out this year, Doom modding will finally be complete. There's just nothing that will top it.

 

It'll have 16 playable characters, rogue like mechanics, realistic gun physics, a rich narrative and groundbreaking political commentary.

[DoomPlayer00]

John.WAD is my most anticipated wad now.

[leejacksonaudio]

Public thanks to @Scuba Steve for giving me a mention in the DOOT Eternal section. Much obliged!

[Chalibluefin]

TNT: 2 gets another Mordeth AND a cacoward for not being publicly finalized yet? Not being a hate shill but shieeett I've completed an entire enlistment since it's thread got opened and it's STILL in "Final Beta". 

 

Also before anyone corrects me, the 2017 Cacowards grants the Mordeth as the "TNT 2 Saga" and not to TNT:R directly. 

[Dynamo]

3 minutes ago, Chalibluefin said:

Also before anyone corrects me, the 2017 Cacowards grants the Mordeth as the "TNT 2 Saga" and not to TNT:R directly. 

Different correction then: the Mordeth award is specifically for map26, the saga of which I doubt is something the 2017 award could prophetise.

[Chalibluefin]

Just now, Dynamo said:

Different correction then: the Mordeth award is specifically for map26, the saga of which I doubt is something the 2017 award could prophetise.

Shit, you are right in that regard. My apologies.

Still that's a weird workaround no? I suppose if a specific map has taken THAT long it might as well be noteworthy. 

[giwake]

6 hours ago, esselfortium said:

"Nazi Punks Fuck Off" remains a good guiding principle for all aspects of life.

i hate to be That Guy but what is this in reference to? was there some weird shit that happened?

[esselfortium]

1 minute ago, giwake said:

i hate to be That Guy but what is this in reference to? was there some weird shit that happened?

Doomer Boards was founded by and for people who've been banned from Doomworld for posting hate towards black people, Jews, gay people, and other minorities. The DBPs are an attempt to launder their image while continuing to tolerate all of those things on their site. Their current site admin, 40oz, was banned here several years ago after being given an ultimatum regarding a member of DB who was continually harassing a member here over another community member's death.

[dobu gabu maru]

6 hours ago, baja blast rd. said:

Rather, there are so many wads because there a lot more approaches being explored, and a much broader range of voices and styles.

 

Great post, and I think this is also why it's important that the cacowards have expanded their approach to accommodate. There's just a lot of different avenues and directions to explore in the scene, and the broader a light the panel shines on it, the better. Kinda crazy thinking about how in the past that musicians, new mappers, gameplay modders, etc. were just absent from the discussion for the most part.

[DavidN]

Thanks for all the work that you put in to celebrate the incredible creations made by this community! The number of notable things this year was amazing - Myhouse alone was a landmark for exposing our little community to the wider internet, but to also have everything else that happened this year and to finish it off with Sigil 2 and Eviternity 2 on the same day... it's a good year to mark the 30th anniversary :)

 

And a special thank you for the attention paid to the many, MANY newcomers who tried out Doom mapping and submitted maps to RAMP this year - I was completely unprepared for how large the project grew, and I hope many of them stay around for more :)

[Super Mighty G]

20 minutes ago, esselfortium said:

Doomer Boards was founded by and for people who've been banned from Doomworld for posting hate towards black people, Jews, gay people, and other minorities. The DBPs are an attempt to launder their image while continuing to tolerate all of those things on their site. Their current site admin, 40oz, was banned here several years ago after being given an ultimatum regarding a member of DB who was continually harassing a member here over another community member's death.

 

Bruh Doomguy kills hellspawn and nazis. I feel like you're aligning with the wrong game if you're a bigot.  

[Steve D]

Congratulations to the superb creators of this community for their Cacoward victories, runner-ups, and honorable mentions. It is you, all of you, who make this community so unique and special, and may it always stay this way. 

 

And to the Cacoward committee, ten thumbs-up for your tireless playing, replaying, choosing, and then writing the copy on all of these maps, all of this music, and all related content. I'm especially indebted to @Dynamo for his write-up on Ultimate Doom in Name Only. All of us who worked on that project are thrilled to see it recognized. I'm also completely in line with what @Terminus wrote about the awe-inspiring Insanity Edged. 

 

It seems we say this every year, but . . . what a fantastic year this has been! Woo-hoo, we go from strength to strength! All this and the new year kicks off with special releases for Doom's 30th Birthday -- Eviternity II, Sigil II, and Thirty Years With Doom. What an embarrassment of riches, but all I can say is this -- "How sweet it is!"

Edited December 11, 2023 by Steve D

[Dynamo]

7 minutes ago, Steve D said:

I'm especially indebted to @Dynamo for his write-up on Ultimate Doom in Name Only. All of us who worked on that project are thrilled to see it recognized. I'm also completely in line with what @Terminus wrote about the awe-inspiring Insanity Edged. 

Thanks for the kind words Steve! However, it is @Omniarch you should be thanking for UDiNO, not me! He did a truly stellar work on the writeup.

 

But if we pretend for just a moment that I wrote it, I am still looking for that copy of Slava Pestov's original MAP06 for ROC. It would be one amazing Christmas gift... :P

 

All that aside, we are immensely glad you still continue to make amazing contributions to this community, and here's to many more to come!

[Steve D]

5 minutes ago, Dynamo said:

Thanks for the kind words Steve! However, it is @Omniarch you should be thanking for UDiNO, not me! He did a truly stellar work on the writeup.

 

Thank you for the correction, and many thanks to @Omniarch for his write-up on Ultimate Doom In Name Only. My apologies for the mistake.

 

As for Slava Pestov's original Map06 for Realm of Chaos, I think 2024 may be the year that I get it, assuming those old Mac SCSI drives still work. If I get it, I'll also snag Antoni Chan's Escape episode and perhaps an unfinished Michael Krause map to boot. :)

[Treehouseminis]

I'm still riding the happy train that I got a mention in the newcomer slot.  Thank you all for the work you do, this community is the best.