(Suggestions wanted obviously)
Since most of the big project hackers are here now I figure this is the best place to discuss the Quarterly Fire Emblem Fan-game Awards (QFFA)
(QFEFGA sounds bad)
(fan games including ROMhacks, FEXP and FEXNA)
Alright. So I guess if it’s quarterly…
March QFFA
June QFFA
September QFFA
December QFFA
January Fan-game of the Year
FQFA Rules for Projects
Hackers can nominate themselves for various categories to which they choose
The fan-game must have a patch with at least 4 chapters playable That’s a pretty solid amount of progress to show IMO
Nominated Hacks get one vote per category.
I don’t know of any other rules that should be included so giver if you have any
Awards
Best ASM Hack
Best Gameplay
Best Graphics
Best Map Design
Best Music
Best Plot
Best Characters
Most Improved (From last 3 months ago to now)
Best All-around Hack
====================================== Rules for Concepts
Concept must have at least 8 screenshots
A patch isn’t necessary, a 3 or lower chapter patch will be classified as a concept. I know this technically isn’t considered a concept anymore, but there needs to be a bar set that separates fan-game concepts with fan-game projects.
Hackers can nominate their hacks in various categories
Awards
Best Graphics
Best Plot Concept
Best Map Design
Best Music
Best Characters
Most Improved Concept
Most Promising Fan-game Concept
=======================================
Possible Prizes
For Best All-around Hack
Interview with Hack Creator
LP with/without Hack Creator with a chapter the creator wants to feature.
Potential pinned post until the next round? I think this would be cool if the mods on SF would be cool, but I don’t think they’d mind it.
For Most Promising Concept
LP of the hack of a chapter that the creator wants to feature
Potential pinned post again?
What do you guys think?
If we solidified this we could get the ball rolling and have a contest for the end of this month.
I’ll certainly submit a concept to the first of these events if they become a reality! Then my main project’s down the line for a demo in a few months if you manage to get to the second one.
[quote=“Agro, post:2, topic:747, full:true”]
what about best music
[/quote]come at me bro
Sounds cool.
Maybe you could have a category for best gameplay for a hack that may not be the best plot wise or graphically but is a turn from the norm and fun to play? I don’t know
I think there should be some awards that involve people who don’t explicitly work on their own hacks. MVP (Most Valuable Participant), Best ASM Hack, and if anyone else has further ideas it’d be good to give as many people as possible a reason to be interested.
Also, FEU’s got our little badge system so once everything’s set we can actually make the awards show up on peoples’ profiles.
maybe i can bump it to 5 hacks per quarter.
i think an entry limit should be placed because it spotlights a few hacks at a time. If there wasn’t an entry then there would be a lot of hacks to vote for in different categories and there might be like 3 that someone didn’t play and so those hackcs might not even be voted for anything.
Also if there wasn’t a limit then i’d be afraid then the voting would just eliminate the best hacks first and the last quarter might just feature the least impressive hacks i guess?
Oh yeah I just worded that bad haha. I meant that voters can only vote one hack for a category.
The “voters didn’t play hack x” problem can crop up no matter how many entries there are (or how few).
Here’s the problem I see:
Say people a, b, c, and d all want to enter. None of them have won any awards, but they meet the requirements to enter.
If a, b, and c can enter, why can’t d? They met the criteria.
This community is relatively small. I don’t think it would be a good idea to put rules in place that limit the number of projects that can be shown off when there is already a relatively small number to begin with.
You can’t win more than once. And if you win one category you are just out of that category but you can stay in other categories? Like say if bloodlines wins best graphics but loses best music. Next round I can’t enter best graphics but i’m still eligible for best music.
Hackers can nominate themselves into different categories. So if there’s a hack that has graphics but no custom music, then the hacker can decide not to nominate the hack for best music
I think it should be something like: no limits on how many people can submit for a category, each project can submit to a certain number of categories per round (3? 5?), and a victory means you sit out that category next time. If a project swept with a victory in every entry (in a case where something’s just that good), could an exception be made to allow them one category in the next round? We shouldn’t necessarily penalize success too heavily by excluding participation.
Hackers nominate their projects, maybe add in a little synopsis of why they think their entry is deserving to win, and then it’s open to a public vote?
i like it. But i don’t think adding in a synopsis is necessary. I mean the voters can see if the hack is deserving of their vote by playing and seeing for themselves right?
I’m not sure you can expect people to play all of them, though, especially if there are unlimited entries. like I try to play hacks when I can but they can be time consuming, but you can’t really stop people from voting who haven’t played everything unless you’re going for a juried approach by a team of experienced people.
I feel like a synopsis is helpful because it may help prevent this from being a popularity contest? idk
edit: im blind you addressed this popuarlity thing above but i still like the synopsis idea
You’re thinking too hard about it, man. Just put down a set of general guidelines and if an edge case comes up (like Hack X wins best graphics three times in a row) then address it at that point.
…That said, I honestly don’t see the point in doing a thing like this quarterly. These projects take a ton of time and we’d almost certainly see the same hacks (maybe with one or two newcomers) every time. Not to mention that some of that the awards are kind of arbitrary. What does “Best Graphics” mean? Best looking overall? Technically best (ie smoothest animations, etc)? How does stylization factor in to that? And even if you do the thing where the winner sits out the next time, what do you really end up with? EN wins best graphics this time, Bloodlines wins it the next, then EN is allowed back in so it wins, etc, etc.
Look, I think the idea itself isn’t bad. Every few months you highlight new projects, or big updates, or stuff along those lines, but I think it could be done way better than an arbitrary awards ceremony. What about something like Dolphin’s development blogs? Every month they put out a post saying “Yo, here are a few of the notable things that happened this month: We squashed bug X in revision Y, Person A implemented a cool new feature in revision Z, and here’s the stuff we’re looking at for next month.” Failing that, do a Hack of the Month where one particular hack gets highlighted for a few weeks if they have a big breakthrough or put out a new patch or something. Something way less messy than…this.
Not really? This took like an hour to think about and an hour to write it.
Why? Because of this?
So what?
Best custom artwork I suppose?
I’m not sure what you’re asking here lol. If EN won graphics then BL won graphics then we’ll decide if its worth going back in like 6 months down the line.
If you don’t like it feel free to not participate. Its a fun community thing for promotion and recognition.
Yes? Seriously, imagine doing an award show where you have hacks A, B, C, and D nominated. Then three months later, we look at the category and our choices are…A, B, C, and D. What’s the point? We already know who wins. Why even bother with the charade?
So that covers portraits, custom animations, map sprites, weapon icons, custom tilesets…Am I missing anything there? Seems like an awful broad category, almost meaningless.
Also not to mention, isn’t this whole thing basically FEE3, but four times a year instead of one? I really think that a monthly update topic would be much better at getting the word out than doing this whole song and dance.
If the same hack gets voted and wins, sits out and can enter again and has a chance of winning again then we can see if an adjustment can be made to not have it happen again. But like I said, that’s at least 6 months down the line.
Oh good thing it’s not completely meaningless!
The ‘song and dance’ is just a series of polls. The prizes are optional for the winner (of best overall hack/ most promising hack) but they are there. Its nothing more than that. FEE3 is annual and features LP’s of every hack that enters including interviews and trailers and stuff. So no, not basically fee3.
