Overview
It's that time of year again. This time, I'll be handling things, since R3ptile is in the military at the moment and can't do it this year.

This year is going to be a bit different from the last ones. Instead of going straight to the voting thread, and then announcing the results, I'm going to be running this in three stages. The first (this one) is where you post nominations. The second stage, which will happen later on, will be a regular voting thread, with the nominations being selected from whatever is posted in this thread. The third thread will be the results, posted sometime in January. I think this structure allows for people to have a bit more say in matters, which is a good thing considering this is all up to a popular vote.

I'll be posting my own nominations later in the thread, probably towards the end.


The Rules
This is not the voting thread! You may nominate as many things as you want, including your own stuff. In fact, I encourage you to list as many things as you can. I will be quite liberal in choosing nominations from this thread to appear in voting thread: basically, if something is mentioned only once here, and it is fairly good, it will probably be in the voting thread!

There is only one rule: it has to be something from 2009. For our purposes, this will mean anything that was uploaded to J2O in 2009 (as long as it wasn't nominated in previous years). So yes, this can include older things if they were uploaded late, but it can't include reuploads, and it shouldn't include remakes/rereleases unless they are very notable ones. Also, notable levels that were not uploaded to J2O this year can be included, as long as they were made this year.

I also have a recommendation, though this isn't a rule. It would help me if you post a download link to whatever you are nominating. It will save time when it comes to making the voting thread.

This thread will (probably) run for about two weeks, and a J2O newspost will be made when voting begins. Also, even if something isn't nominated here, you can still vote for it in the voting thread. But it won't be listed in the first post, so it won't have as good of a chance.

If, for some reason, you want your nominations to be a secret, you can private message me with them.


The Awards
When you post your nominations, you can either fit them under these categories, or just post an uncategorized list. In the latter case, I'll just categorize them for you when the time comes.

The awards have varied from year to year, but for this year I'm sticking with the categories used in 2008. They pretty much cover every area of JCS, without too much overlap.

Note that the "best level" categories can include standalone releases, but can also include levels released as a part of a pack.

Best Level of 2009: Battle

Best Level of 2009: CTF

Best Level of 2009: Other Multiplayer (e.g. custom gamemodes, treasure, race)

Best Level Pack of 2009: Multiplayer

Best Single Player Release of 2009

Best Tileset of 2009 (includes conversions)

Best JCS'er of 2009 (anyone who makes levels or tilesets and has released something in 2009 is eligible)

Most Improved JCS'er of 2009 (same rules as above apply; try to include someone who really has improved)

(If you want to add a new category, this is the thread for suggesting it.)


The Previous Threads
2004, 2005 (voting thread; can't find winners), 2006, 2007, 2008.

My Custom Gamemode Nomination (even though its technically CTF)

Troglobite's RPS (Its in this pack)/

I nominate EvilMike's "Episode Five: The Fortress of Ruin" as best Single Player level pack of 2009.

^same.

I'll nominate all my favorite battles and CTFs this year. In no particular order.

Best Battles:
Lut Gholein - Snooze
Deinspirated Mayhem - Eigus
Underworld - Eigus
Pleased with Presents - FawFuL
Triton Armory - Purplejazz
Starlit Basin - Ragnarok
Rainforest Revelry - Ragnarok and cooba
Surreal City Scenery - Snooze
Agony Void - P4ul

Best CTFs:
Chemical Gases - FawFuL
Server Room - Ktos
Steam Machine + Landscape - Snooze
Junkyard Blues - Snooze
Golem Landscapes - FireSworD
Xyzzy - Superjazz
Technologized Sonicwaves - FawFuL
Fort Medina - Napoleon
Mt. Helens - Superjazz
Sanguinary Sanctuary - cooba
Dubbed Marine - Crimiclown
Snowy Cave - Spaz18
Destroyed Cassis Factory - Snooze

As for best customs, I nominate Hitch's pack =P.

@Rag: where are my levels

(like Industrial Intersect and the others from IA, although you probably haven't seen them yet)

They aren't on J2O! =(

How about this for the voting thread:

Originally Posted by cooba

Suggestion for next year: delete your voting posts immediately after they're posted. Then have a moderator un-delete them when the results are up.

Suspense!

I nominate The fortress of Ruin as the best single player campaign. I don't really play multiplayer so I'll just leave it at that. Also aftermath as the best tileset

also

Best Tileset:
Casualty Mines
Pokljuka Heights
A Candion Day
Dark Planet

@DarkSonic: you can nominate your own levels if you want to. Though if they are ones which few people have seen, they probably won't get any votes.

Originally Posted by cooba

How about this for the voting thread:

Cool idea, but it would be hard to get people to follow it (a mod would basically have to babysit the thread for everyone to play along). So it would be better to have this as an option, than as a requirement.

Anonymous voting is still fine too. I've already gotten several nominations via private message so I suspect some people will probably want to vote that way too. Though if someone decided to PM me their votes I'd have to announce them publicly at the end.

Anyway keep the nominations coming. So far there are plenty of choices for battle and ctf levels, but if you have any more to add go ahead. Also, the categories for best SP pack and best MP pack are pretty clear, since it's mostly just a matter of J2O ratings for those (unlike individual levels, which are often included within the packs themselves). But feel free to mention those as well, if you think anything might be left out.

Two areas to think about would be the two "individual" awards (best JCSer and most improved). These are two categories which I can't easily choose by myself, since I'm not following the scene as much as I used to. If anyone has suggestions for these please go ahead and post them (especially "most improved"). Nominations for best JCSer isn't as hard because again, j2o ratings help.

Most improved JCSers.

Dodges
Eigus
Ktos
Napoleon

I'm not going to nominate my own levels.. that would be biased. But one of the levels was in the Bash too, so I guess there are some people who have seen it. The problem is that my pack is not finished yet. I could upload the pack now and let it have only 4 levels, but I planned a bit more than that.

Bare in mind nominations aren't votes. ;o

indeed *is very annoyed by DS' BS*

nice bs

In that case, I nominate Industrial Intersect in the category Best CTF.

EDIT: Best MP pack: New Ages IV by Snooze.

My little nominations list:

Single Player: "Episode Five: The Fortress of Ruin" by EvilMike
Tileset: "Casualty Mines" by Gus
CTF: "Mt. Helens" by Superjazz
Battle: "Rainforest Revelry" by OLC
Pack: "Planetary" by FawFul

Yep my list is kinda shortened, as I haven't been active enough to check every release. I've experienced most of the levels through public and private servers, no reviews or ratings.

Best JCSer: Snooze

Best battle: The Curse, Rainforest Revelry, Triton Armory

Best JCS-er: Snooze (based on MP/creativity), EvilMike (based on SP/creativity).
Best pack: New Ages IV (by Snooze)
Best SP pack: Episode 5: The Fortress of Ruin (by EvilMike)

I don't think anything needs to be nominated more than once.

Good point, my bad.
Anyway, that's that.

Best Tileset of 2009: Casualty Mines (Gus)
Best JCS'er of 2009: Gus

Excuse me.. Best JCS'er of 2009: Gus? i hope you typo'd that. no offense to gus.. but did he even release a level apart from some example levels for his tileset and that guinness freefall idea that is far from making him the best JCS'er this year?..

Well, that is where our opinions are different, I suppose

Originally Posted by FawFul

Excuse me.. Best JCS'er of 2009: Gus? i hope you typo'd that. no offense to gus.. but did he even release a level apart from some example levels for his tileset and that guinness freefall idea that is far from making him the best JCS'er this year?..

I mentioned in the opening post that this category can include anyone who makes levels or tilesets. The award is for "JCSer" not "level designer". I see no reason why tileset makers should be excluded, since it's just as important as making levels.

As another note, I've very slightly changed one of the categories. "Best Level Pack of 2009: Single Player" is now "Best Single Player Release of 2009". The reason is because the old wording excluded standalone levels (which were thus excluded from the awards entirely), and there's at least one which deserves nomination.

in my opinion tileset making doesn't have anything to do with JCSing itself. tilesets get used in JCS.. but that's just opinion based and a huge whatever .

Bah, Though the rules say its allowed to nominate things from your own, it kinda sounds bad to do :P

But oh well, when i noticed 'Best Level of 2009: Other Multiplayer' I just had to mention our (Falcury and me) very own MOrpg thing...

Karrot Shire, anyone?

(For the people that want us to finish it: yes we still are busy with it but just not as much as first. We will try to push an update soon )

Originally Posted by FawFul

in my opinion tileset making doesn't have anything to do with JCSing itself. tilesets get used in JCS.. but that's just opinion based and a huge whatever .

What else are you going to use tilesets for? Mario bros?

That has got to be post of the year 2009

Originally Posted by FireSworD

What else are you going to use tilesets for? Mario bros?

i was giving some explanation that 'using' a tileset for a level isn't quite the same as JCSing itself (imo). i wasn't waiting for you posting something that doesn't make sense because you conceived it as an obvious stating.

You still need jcs to compile tilesets, which are made with specific requirements such as the size and other things like animated tiles etc. Ofcourse, making a tileset isn't directly using jcs. I don't see how 'JCSer' can be confined to one who only works directly in jcs opposed to things related to jcs.

In any case, it all comes down to votes, so that's where the debate will be settled ultimately.

I said two weeks for nominations, so I'm probably going to post the voting thread on the 23rd. One that happens a new thread will be posted and nominations will end. However, you'll still be allowed to vote for something not officially nominated... it will just have a very slim chance of actually winning. I'll also add my own nominations.

One thing still lacking is that there are still not very many nominations for Most Improved. Vivando's list is good, but does anyone else have opinions? (I have one or two additions myself.)

Yes, making a tileset is directly related to JCS because of the limitations of the JCS editor have importing graphic. If I weren’t working in JCS when drawing tilesets, I wouldn't have to limit myself to less than 256 colors and such a narrow canvas that is the pixel size of a tileset.

For example, when I make importable graphics for Warcraft 3, I create icons in templates or recolor model skins/textures using alpha layer with no color limitations at all. The defining argument is that there are specific settings for when you make graphic for a level editor, which defines which level editor you are using.

It’s only because the JCS editor is limited in what you can do with it that you see creating tilesets as something that’s “not a part of the program” because drawing tilesets is literally the only other part of the editor. Other programs, like the one I mentioned before, have much broader options for customization, creating terrain in a third dimension would be the equivalent to JCS’s 2D level creating, but also has the ability to modify game events using JASS, modeling, texture imports and customization of game constants (e.g. how much damage a specific weapon would do in Jazz2).

If we had the source code, we could open up tons of new doors in the JCS as well. But that is going too far off-topic. =p

Originally Posted by cooba

also

Best Tileset:
Casualty Mines
Pokljuka Heights
A Candion Day
Dark Planet

Pokljuka?!
Cooba, were u in Slovenia?
W8, stupid question... u weren't the one who made Pokljuka Heights I suppose. Who did?

Originally Posted by [GpW]Urbs

Pokljuka?!
Cooba, were u in Slovenia?
W8, stupid question... u weren't the one who made Pokljuka Heights I suppose. Who did?

it was made by Gus.

in that case..

people will hate me for this, but i'll nominate Voltage Cable Malfunction as Best CTF. (lol)

Oh, it's just nominations, I don't suppose you'll be allowed to actually vote for yourself.

Similarly, I nominated Gus so he would at least be "in the picture", I'm by no means sure I'll also vote for him in the end.

Ehm, why did Dubbed Marine get nominated? It's a 2008 level.

...OH NO. It's actually 2009. Wow, I'm glad I didn't upload it when it was actually done. :P

Come on Stijn. We all know why you nominated Gus.df