Hack of the Year 2012: Nomination Round Results

[DrFuji]

Hack of the Year 2012 Nomination Round Results

Best Mapping:

1st - Light Platinum by Wesley FG
2nd - Flora Sky by 12345 {Tie}
2nd - Lilac by DrFuji {Tie}
3rd - Brown by Coolboyman {Tie}
3rd - Crystal Dust by diegoisawesome {Tie}
3rd - Fuligin by Sllew {Tie}
3rd - Silver Legend by TheZeno96 {Tie}
3rd - Victory Fire by 1158 {Tie}

Best Scripting

1st - Liquid Crystal by linkandzelda
2nd - Flora Sky by 12345
3rd - Crystal Dust by diegoisawesome {Tie}
3rd - Snakewood by Cutlerine {Tie}

Most Graphical Appeal:

1st - Light Platinum by Wesley FG
2nd - Silver Legend by TheZeno96
3rd - Lilac by DrFuji

Best Story Line:

1st - Snakewood by Cutlerine
2nd - Light Platinum by Wesley FG
3rd - Dark Rising by DarkRisingGirl {Tie}
3rd - Super Rising Thunder by PinkParkaGirl {Tie}

Best Gameplay:

1st - Light Platinum by Wesley FG {Tie}
1st - Liquid Crystal by linkandzelda {Tie}
2nd - Brown by Coolboyman {Tie}
2nd - Dark Rising by DarkRisingGirl {Tie}
2nd - Flora Sky by 12345 {Tie}
3rd - Snakewood by Cutlerine

Most Engaging:

1st - Light Platinum by Wesley FG {Tie}
1st - Snakewood by Cutlerine {Tie}
2nd - Dark Rising by DarkRisingGirl {Tie}
2nd - Victory Fire by 1158 {Tie}
3rd - Brown by Coolboyman {Tie}
3rd - Super Rising Thunder by PinkParkaGirl {Tie}
3rd - Liquid Crystal by linkandzelda {Tie}

Overall Favorite:

1st - Light Platinum by Wesley FG
2nd - Flora Sky by 12345 {Tie}
2nd - Liquid Crystal by linkandzelda {Tie}
3rd - Crystal Dust by diegoisawesome {Tie}
3rd - Dark Rising by DarkRisingGirl {Tie}

Finally, here are the top three hacks which shall progress into the final round of judging, a review conducted by a handful of long-standing members:

Most Overall Number of Votes:

1st - Light Platinum by Wesley FG
2nd - Liquid Crystal by linkandzelda
3rd - Crystal Dust by diegoisawesome

Congratulations to the winners and runners up of each category! The final result thread shall be posted some time in the near future.

[Leafgreen2itsmyidea]

Yes Yes Yes Yes Finaly after al these years Light Platinum is the first!!!!!!

[Manipulation]

Light Platinum won best mapping? With Flora Sky second? Oh my word...

[Projectwolfie]

...How does LP even qualify in people's minds for most of these awards? (The only one I can see it running for is graphical appeal.) And what's with all the ties? Oh well... I'm not butthurt at all, just legitimately curious.

I'll repeat what I said earlier in the discussion thread: Great to see Lilac, Crystaldust, and Dark Energy, and Fuligin get something, even if not first.

[Fireworks]

Originally Posted by Manipulation

Light Platinum won best mapping? With Flora Sky second? Oh my word...

I had to triple check to see what category I was looking at.

They both have horrible mapping, I can't even count the amount of tile errors I saw in Flora Butter.

None of the top 3 appeal to me...We have two of the same hack and a hack that's already been here every other year. I want Light Platinum to win only so I don't have to see it up there again next time.

[glitchguy]

Those were definitely not the results i was expecting but congrats to the winners nevertheless.

[PokemonMasters]

I cant believe Flora Sky got 2nd Place in Best Scripting and Mapping. No offence to the creator but most of the maps were just slightly edited ones from the original rom and the scripts as well. And I can't believe Light Platinum got 2nd place for best storyline when didn't understand anything that was going on in that game.

[Pink Parka Girl]

I'm just as mystified by some of the results as the rest of you; but we have to remember people put a lot of time and effort into their work. Regardless of whether or not you thought so and so did or didn't deserve to win and/or advance to the final round; to blatantly say as much seems a bit ungracious and outside the spirit of this competition. Wesley, Diego and Linkandzelda didn't solicit all these votes and your disappointment isn't their fault. People vote for what they like; and a popular, well-distributed and widely-played hack like Light Platinum will always have an edge. There will always be an element of popularity to contests like this; and people will always disagree over whether that popularity is deserved or not. But it just isn't fair to take it out on the hacks themselves or their creators.

Frankly, I didn't vote simply because in between my own projects and my IRL life, I didn't have much time to devote to playing very many hacks. But I would like to congratulate everyone who received even one vote - be proud of yourself As for the top three, I wish them all well - its amazing how far you've gotten, and good luck in the judging!

[hinkage]

Originally Posted by Manipulation

Light Platinum won best mapping? With Flora Sky second? Oh my word...

Originally Posted by Fireworks

They both have horrible mapping, I can't even count the amount of tile errors I saw in Flora Butter.

I thought Light Platinum had pretty good mapping, actually. But Flora Sky, **** no.

Frankly I'm surprised Mechamon didn't tie get first for best story tho.

[CycloneGU]

Already we have two people with perfectly opposite opinions. And this is great, because it shows the wide spectrum of opinions here. To come in and say "(insert hack here) is horrible at (insert category here) and does not deserve to win (come second/come third) in it at all. People don't get it." is basically saying the people who voted for it are not allowed to have an opinion.

LC and CrystalDust got awards for things like mapping because they had to recreate the original maps. I used to remake original Rollercoaster Tycoon maps for use in the newer games (currently up to RCT3, likely not going to be a future one). Trust me when I say this: remaking an original classic map or level is NOT a simple task. It's much easier to create a new map than recreate an existing one. One tiny tiling error and it's not perfectly cloned, and thus fails from a mapping standpoint.

So they deserve these awards like anyone else, and people have a right to choose who they think are the best.

Cyclone

[Ash493]

So LP finally won... =)
I must say LP did deserve it after all these years. =)
But seeing as not many new hacks were chosen as nominees, we should've expected old hacks to occupy the categories =)
And as was mentioned, fans will vote for their favorites more than objectively.

[Manipulation]

Originally Posted by Ash493

So LP finally won... =)
I must say LP did deserve it after all these years. =)
But seeing as not many new hacks were chosen as nominees, we should've expected old hacks to occupy the categories =)
And as was mentioned, fans will vote for their favorites more than objectively.

It hasn't won yet, this was just the nomination process. However, I think it'd be a grave injustice if it didn't win it from the votes here, especially compared to the two hacks it's up against. (Both are good but I think an extremely popular original hack deserves it over two remakes).

[Projectwolfie]

Originally Posted by CycloneGU

Already we have two people with perfectly opposite opinions. And this is great, because it shows the wide spectrum of opinions here. To come in and say "(insert hack here) is horrible at (insert category here) and does not deserve to win (come second/come third) in it at all. People don't get it." is basically saying the people who voted for it are not allowed to have an opinion.

LC and CrystalDust got awards for things like mapping because they had to recreate the original maps. I used to remake original Rollercoaster Tycoon maps for use in the newer games (currently up to RCT3, likely not going to be a future one). Trust me when I say this: remaking an original classic map or level is NOT a simple task. It's much easier to create a new map than recreate an existing one. One tiny tiling error and it's not perfectly cloned, and thus fails from a mapping standpoint.

So they deserve these awards like anyone else, and people have a right to choose who they think are the best.

Cyclone

Your points for those two hacks I will grant you, and I agree. However when it comes to LP, FS, and by a slighter extension Brown...

1. Both are old hacks; haven't even been worked on for years.
2. They are still voted on (and only these hacks are voted in plenty of cases if you look at the nominations) ritually by people that seem to not have played anything different and/or vote only because it's at the top of the topic list.

[Warning, rant]
I'm not just crying and moaning here, there's a reason why this is a problem. It means that PC's Hack Showcase in specifics is dying because nothing new grabs these people's attention. What will they vote on after all these are crossed out? Moreover, once the voting has been done and over with and people eventually don't care about these, what will happen to the HS? If something doesn't happen soon, it's just going to be completely deserted by the fans of these items and the HS will be officially dead.
[/endrant]

[chen12]

Well, in response to some comments, I feel that everyone has their own right to their own opinions.

That being said: I have my own rebuttals to some comments.

LP has actually is still being worked on, having been picked up by other members of the community.
LC you could say was pretty much dead in visible updates until relatively recently.
I would say that people should be able to vote for any hack (but try not to vote for hacks that aren't really even available anymore like Silver Legend)

That is all, and it was a great process.

[Bix Nood]

In my opinion, LP is all about graphical appeal, sporting the best tilesets, but it doesn't have much more...the storyline is too confusing.

[Projectwolfie]

Originally Posted by chen12

LP has actually is still being worked on, having been picked up by other members of the community.

Oh. I feel stupid now... I didn't have much of an idea about that, because I almost never visit the thread. Thanks.

[Saltsas]

soooo LP won?It was about time and I do believe that it was worth as I was one of the people that voted for LP in most sectors.Anyways LAZ's hack is also extremely good and I believe that if not first,second place is just perfect for LC.I hope next year,if it is completely ended it can win first place for sure!Happy new year everyone!
'cheers

[Manipulation]

Light Platinum hasn't won yet. How hard is it to understand that this is just the nomination round and NOT the final results.

[CycloneGU]

Originally Posted by chen12

LP has actually is still being worked on, having been picked up by other members of the community.

I'm actually one of those people (I think two others have also said they still want to do things). I've already made some tiling fixes, and also have ideas for adding areas to the game to allow all Pokémon to be caught that can be found, but I've otherwise taken an extended break with the release of W2. After I get through the maingame, I might take a break from that and concentrate on LP again. The holidays interrupted everything, meanwhile.

Cyclone

[Fireworks]

Wow just noticed Light Platinum got second for best story, lol, things like this honestly make me wonder if it's worth still hacking myself.

Like how does something with no story win second for best story, over something made by someone who writes fanfics like wtf?

[Ash493]

Originally Posted by Manipulation

It hasn't won yet, this was just the nomination process. However, I think it'd be a grave injustice if it didn't win it from the votes here, especially compared to the two hacks it's up against. (Both are good but I think an extremely popular original hack deserves it over two remakes).

Oh yeah, I did not make myself clear =)
LP also did not win nomination process yet so I think it will win with those votes.

Originally Posted by chen12

LP has actually is still being worked on, having been picked up by other members of the community.

But you can say that it's no more LP made by Wesley but remake by the other members.
And it's just bug fixing. The full-fledged is what is released right now.

[Saltsas]

yea my bad it isn't over, but yet have you people that say that LP has no storyline at all played the game itself?Seriously it isn't the best storyline in PC but imo I think that it still deserves a place in top 3.Storyline in Cutlerine's Snakewood sure deserves first place.And all the effort Wesley put on LP, sure there are many people who doesn't like it.I believe most members in PC have played LP and in graphic appeal, engaging gameplay and stuff like that it is first by far.

[Fireworks]

Originally Posted by Saltsas

yea my bad it isn't over, but yet have you people that say that LP has no storyline at all played the game itself?Seriously it isn't the best storyline in PC but imo I think that it still deserves a place in top 3.Storyline in Cutlerine's Snakewood sure deserves first place.And all the effort Wesley put on LP, sure there are many people who doesn't like it.I believe most members in PC have played LP and in graphic appeal, engaging gameplay and stuff like that it is first by far.

Would you care to explain this so called "story" to me then?

Either way saying that Light Platinum has one of the best stories out of any hack is preposterous. Half the hacks in Progressing Hacks that never got any votes for anything have stories far better.

[Ach7AC]

Originally Posted by Saltsas

yea my bad it isn't over, but yet have you people that say that LP has no storyline at all played the game itself?Seriously it isn't the best storyline in PC but imo I think that it still deserves a place in top 3.Storyline in Cutlerine's Snakewood sure deserves first place.And all the effort Wesley put on LP, sure there are many people who doesn't like it.I believe most members in PC have played LP and in graphic appeal, engaging gameplay and stuff like that it is first by far.

Everyone put effort in their hacks, but Wesley's story is... bland, to put it nicely.
His story was mostly a mixed rehash of the typical Pokemon story, except instead of adding more meat, he repeatedly used the climax over and over again. It was always Team Steam stealing an artifact, and later resurrecting a legendary Pokemon, and then getting their plans foiled, and repeat. Though I have to admit, Wesley's artistic skills are stellar, and unrivaled by almost all ROM-hackers in the site.

I'm also surprised by how other hacks managed to get in the top of certain categories. I am not naming any, but how exactly did a hack that repeatedly reused slightly edited default maps got into the top three in mapping?

Though, good luck for WesleyFG, diegoisawsome, and LaZ.

[Saltsas]

Yes actually, isn't the main goal of hacking to create a Pokemon game.Either similar to the already existing games from Gamefreak ,or otherwise you own style.I agree that LP in some point got really boring because of the continious similar battles of Team Steam but there are also other things people should notice.Except from the fact that Wesley managed to place if not every,most of the legendaries in this game and 2 regions.The graphic appeal, the custom sprites, all pokemon from next generations and the Pokemon Championship itself at the end of the game,I believe that LP outweighs most of hacks.This is my opinion and any criticism is welcomed, as long as it isn't an arguement.