6th Annual Atari Homebrew Awards: Voting Information & Discussion

[+ZeroPage Homebrew]

6th Annual Atari Homebrew Awards

Celebrating the best in Atari Homebrew

brought to you by

ZeroPage Homebrew & AtariAge

 

 

Welcome to the 6th Annual Atari Homebrew Awards, where YOU get to vote on your favourite homebrew games of 2023! The results of the Atari Homebrew Awards will be announced LIVE on the ZeroPage Homebrew's Twitch channel on Saturday February 24th, 2024 during a special broadcast. During the event we will be announcing the winners and runners up in each of the categories along with LIVE acceptance speeches from the winners, plus much, much more!!

 

Voting Begins: February 2, 2024 @ 12PM PT | 3PM ET | 8PM GMT

Voting Ends: February 18, 2024 @ 23:59:59 PT |  12AM PT | 3AM ET | 8AM GMT

Awards Show: February 24, 2024 @ 12PM PT | 3PM ET | 8PM GMT on the ZeroPage Homebrew Twitch Stream

 

IMPORTANT -> READ VOTING GUIDE BEFORE VOTING <- IMPORTANT

 

FULL GAME LISTS FOR 2023: Atari 2600, Atari 7800, Atari 8-Bit/5200, Atari Lynx, Atari Jaguar

DOWNLOAD GAME BINARIES / PACKAGING GRAPHICS: DOWNLOAD

  or

PLAY A SELECTION VIA PlusCart (2600), FujiNet (8-Bit), Argon (Atari 2600/7800/8-Bit/Lynx)

 

Voting Links:

• Best Atari 2600 Homebrew (Original)
• Best Atari 2600 Homebrew (Port)
• Best Atari 2600 Homebrew ≤ 4K (Original + Port)
• Best Atari 2600 Graphics (Original)
• Best Atari 2600 Graphics (Port)
• Best Atari 2600 Music + Sound (Original)
• Best Atari 2600 Music + Sound (Port)
• Best Atari 2600 WIP (Original)
• Best Atari 2600 WIP (Port)
• Best Atari 7800 Homebrew (Original + Port)
• Best Atari 7800 WIP (Original)
• Best Atari 7800 WIP (Port)
• Best Atari 8-Bit/5200 Homebrew (Original) (NEW!)
• Best Atari 8-Bit/5200 Homebrew (Port) (NEW!)
• Best Atari 8-Bit/5200 WIP (Original) (NEW!)
• Best Atari 8-Bit/5200 WIP (Port) (NEW!)
• Best Atari Lynx Homebrew
• Best Atari Lynx WIP Homebrew
• Best Atari Jaguar Homebrew
• Best Atari Jaguar WIP Homebrew
• Best Atari Homebrew Packaging

 

WINNERS: (TBA on Feb 24, 2024 After Live Event)

Spoiler

• Best Atari 2600 Homebrew (Original)
• Best Atari 2600 Homebrew (Port)
• Best Atari 2600 Homebrew ≤ 4K (Original + Port)
• Best Atari 2600 Graphics (Original)
• Best Atari 2600 Graphics (Port)
• Best Atari 2600 Music + Sound (Original)
• Best Atari 2600 Music + Sound (Port)
• Best Atari 2600 WIP (Original)
• Best Atari 2600 WIP (Port)
• Best Atari 7800 Homebrew (Original + Port)
• Best Atari 7800 WIP (Original)
• Best Atari 7800 WIP (Port)
• Best Atari 8-Bit/5200 Homebrew (Original) (NEW!)
• Best Atari 8-Bit/5200 Homebrew (Port) (NEW!)
• Best Atari 8-Bit/5200 WIP (Original) (NEW!)
• Best Atari 8-Bit/5200 WIP (Port) (NEW!)
• Best Atari Lynx Homebrew
• Best Atari Lynx WIP Homebrew
• Best Atari Jaguar Homebrew
• Best Atari Jaguar WIP Homebrew
• Best Atari Homebrew Packaging
• Lifetime Achievement Award (Voted by Nomination Committee)

 

NOMINATION RESULTS:

Spoiler

Best Atari 2600 Homebrew (Original)

• Berry Fun! (8K) by Mike Littau @littaum / John Calcano @Atariboy2600 (Packaging Artwork)

• Dark Keep (32K) by Edward Smith @easmith / Kevin Mosley @KevinMos3

• Game of the Bear 2 Much To Bear (32K) by VHZC Games / Vladimir Zuñiga @vhzc

• Kovi Kovi (16K) by Mashdy Games / Marco Johannes @MarcoJ

• Penult (128K) by Karl Garrison @Karl G / Maggie Vogel @mvo (Music) / William Thorup @BitJag (Packaging Artwork)

• Strike Zone Bowling (32K) by Edward Smith @easmith / Kevin Mosley @KevinMos3

• Tober's Nightmare (32K) by Mick Crocker @mickmuze

 

Best Atari 2600 Homebrew (Port)

• Elevator Agent (64K Port) by Champ Games / John Champeau @johnnywc (Coding & Design), Nathan Strum @Nathan Strum (Art & Graphics, Packaging), Pat Brady @Pat Brady (Music & Sounds)

• Lucky Chase (32K Port) by Carlos Centeno @RaymanC

• Myst (16K Port) by Vince Weaver @deater78

• Paul's HappyBird (16K Port) by Bruno Steux @bsteux

• Turbo Arcade (120K Port) by Champ Games / John Champeau @johnnywc (Coding & Design), Nathan Strum @Nathan Strum (Art & Graphics, Sound Effects, Packaging)

• Xanthiom 2600 (64K Port) by MathanGames

 

Best Atari 2600 Homebrew ≤ 4K (Original + Port)

• Armor Ambush Reloaded (4K Port) by Bruno Steux @bsteux

• Bob and the Alien Fire Flies (4K) by 8bitsinthebasement @8bitsinthebasement

• Book of Five Rings (4K) by Dan Manning @dmanning23

• Bot&Tom (4K Port) by Thomas Jentzsch @Thomas Jentzsch / John Calcano @Atariboy2600 (Packaging Artwork)

• Duelo (2K) by Natanael Vasconcelos Leitão @nvlgun1996

• Laserface Island (4K) by Your Face @Your Face

 

Best Atari 2600 Graphics (Original)

• Caramujo (32K) by Mirsad Sarajlic @kikipdph / Haroldo Hjou @Hjou

• Dark Keep (32K) by Edward Smith @easmith / Kevin Mosley @KevinMos3

• Game of the Bear 2 Much To Bear (32K) by VHZC Games / Vladimir Zuñiga @vhzc

• Kovi Kovi (16K) by Mashdy Games / Marco Johannes @MarcoJ

• Penult (128K) by Karl Garrison @Karl G / Maggie Vogel @mvo (Music) / William Thorup @BitJag (Packaging Artwork)

• Strike Zone Bowling (32K) by Edward Smith @easmith / Kevin Mosley @KevinMos3

• Tober's Nightmare (32K) by Mick Crocker @mickmuze

 

Best Atari 2600 Graphics (Port)

• C.H.E.A.T. (8K Port) by Vince Weaver @deater78

• Elevator Agent (64K Port) by Champ Games / John Champeau @johnnywc (Coding & Design), Nathan Strum @Nathan Strum (Art & Graphics, Packaging), Pat Brady @Pat Brady (Music & Sounds)

• Lucky Chase (32K Port) by Carlos Centeno @RaymanC

• Myst (16K Port) by Vince Weaver @deater78

• Paul's HappyBird (16K Port) by Bruno Steux @bsteux

• Turbo Arcade (120K Port) by Champ Games / John Champeau @johnnywc (Coding & Design), Nathan Strum @Nathan Strum (Art & Graphics, Sound Effects, Packaging)

 

Best Atari 2600 Music + Sound (Original)

• Berry Fun! (8K) by Mike Littau @littaum / John Calcano @Atariboy2600 (Packaging Artwork)

• Dark Keep (32K) by Edward Smith @easmith / Kevin Mosley @KevinMos3

• Escape from Mars (16K) by Leandro Camara @HSW3ET

• Game of the Bear 2 Much To Bear (32K) by VHZC Games / Vladimir Zuñiga @vhzc

• Kovi Kovi (16K) by Mashdy Games / Marco Johannes @MarcoJ

• Penult (128K) by Karl Garrison @Karl G / Maggie Vogel @mvo (Music) / William Thorup @BitJag (Packaging Artwork)

• Robot Zed (64K) by Chris Spry @Sprybug

 

Best Atari 2600 Music + Sound (Port)

• Elevator Agent (64K Port) by Champ Games / John Champeau @johnnywc (Coding & Design), Nathan Strum @Nathan Strum (Art & Graphics, Packaging), Pat Brady @Pat Brady (Music & Sounds)

• Food Ninja (16K Port) by Ricardo Pim @Ricardo Pim

• Lucky Chase (32K Port) by Carlos Centeno @RaymanC

• Myst (16K Port) by Vince Weaver @deater78

• Paul's HappyBird (16K Port) by Bruno Steux @bsteux

• Turbo Arcade (120K Port) by Champ Games / John Champeau @johnnywc (Coding & Design), Nathan Strum @Nathan Strum (Art & Graphics, Sound Effects, Packaging)

 

Best Atari 2600 WIP (Original)

• Button (32K) by Jonas Carlsson @Lillapojkenpåön / Glafouk (Music)

• Frazzled (16K) by David Marli @DaveM

• Laserface Planet (16K) by Your Face @Your Face

• Minigun Miner (8K) by Dr. Ludos @drludos

• Oh No! More Peril (32K) by VHZC Games / Vladimir Zuñiga @vhzc

• Steps (4K) by Dave Christianson @Dave C

 

Best Atari 2600 WIP (Port)

• Beyond Parsec (32K Port) by Grocer Games / Kevin Kelley @KevKelley

• Legend of Zelda, The (32K Port) by mzxrules @mzxrules

• Minotaur (8K Port) by Bob Montgomery @vdub_bobby

• Pas de Deux (4K Port) by Thomas Jentzsch @Thomas Jentzsch

• Space Instigators 20th Anniversary Edition (8K Port) by Christopher Tumber @Christopher Tumber

• Zkeep (32K Port) by Krzysztof Kluczek @KK/Altair (Code, Design, Graphics, Music) / H0ffman (Music - "Chiphead" Track)

 

Best Atari 7800 Homebrew (Original & Port)

• A.R.T.I. (Port) by MuddyVision / Lewis Hill @Muddyfunster (Coding, GFX) / Bobby Clark @Synthpopalooza (Music) / Mike Saarna @RevEng (Code Guru) / Matt Smith @mksmith (Music Help) / John Calcano @Atariboy2600 (Packaging Artwork)

• Harpy's Curse by Todd Furmanski @Revontuli / William Thorup @BitJag (Packaging Artwork)

• Mario Bros. (Port) by Oldstyle @OldStyle, Bobby Clark @Synthpopalooza (Music/SFX)

• PentaGo (Port) (was Pengo) by 20th St Arcade / Darryl Guenther @darryl1970 / Paul Lay @playsoft & Pat Brady @Pat Brady (Music & Music Engine)

• Plumb Luck DX (Port) by Blake Smith @SmittyB / William Thorup @BitJag (Packaging Artwork)

 

Best Atari 7800 WIP (Original)

• Drone Patrol by Steve Engelhardt @Atarius Maximus

• Ducks Away by Blake Smith @SmittyB

• I Ran by VHZC Games / Vladimir Zuñiga @vhzc

• Knight Guy - In Another Castle by VHZC Games / Vladimir Zuñiga @vhzc

• Orion Assault by 8bitrocket @8bitrocket

• Wilf by MuddyVision / Lewis Hill @Muddyfunster

 

Best Atari 7800 WIP (Port)

• Block'em Sock'em (Port) by 20th St Arcade / Darryl Guenther @darryl1970 (Code & TIA Music) / John Hancock @swlovinist / Sergio Elisondo (YM Music) / Paul Lay @playsoft (YM Conversion)

• Bomber Hero (Port) by Anthony Quinlan @TwentySixHundred / Marco Sabbetta @Defender_2600 (Graphics)

• Bubble Bobble (Port) by OldStyle @OldStyle / Bobby Clark @Synthpopalooza (Music)

• Drelbs (Port) by Kelly 'PCL' Jones

• RatTrap (Port) by 20th St Arcade / Darryl Guenther @darryl1970

• StoneAge (Port) by Anthony Quinlan @TwentySixHundred / Konstantinos Giamalidis @TIX (Graphics)

 

Best Atari 8-Bit/5200 Homebrew (Original)

• Binary Parasite (A8) by Martin Šimeček @matosimi

• DotA (A8) by Martin Šimeček @matosimi

• Dude Story (A8) by Mariusz Ejchsztet @Mq. (Code, Graphics, Music)

• Tenebra Series (A8) by Ali Pouladi @H4plo

• Time Wizard (A8) by Krzysztof Piotrowski @amarok

 

Best Atari 8-Bit/5200 Homebrew (Port)

• Block Attack (A8 Port) by Tomasz Biela @tebe (Code) / Jaroslaw "Odyn1ec" Wyszynski (Graphics) / Piotr Lis @LiSU & Vin Samuel @VinsCool (Music)

• Gold Diggers (A8 Port) by Krystian Walczyk @Salmax (Code) / Krzysztof Ziembik @Kaz atarionline.pl (Graphics) / Zoltar-x (Music)

• Inertia (A8 Port) by František Houra @Fandal / Buddy

• Night Knight (A8 Port) by Lars Langhans @LarsImNetz / Konstantinos Giamalidis @TIX (Additional Graphics)

• Plan B Part 2 Mission Unlikely (A8 Port) by František Houra @Fandal / Michał Szpilowski @miker

• Space Taxi (A8 Port) by Andrea Cucchetto @Andreatari

 

Best Atari 8-Bit/5200 WIP (Original)

• Caverns of Eris (A8) by Peter Prodehl @PPR

• Dimo's Underworld (A8) by Thomas Schulz @8Bitjunkie (Programming) / Tobias Prinz & Thomas Schulz @8Bitjunkie (Graphics) / Hilton 'Elektrofish' Theissen (Music)

• Dragonwood (A8) by Michael Borrmann @Steril707

• Planet Rescue Mission (A8) by Zdeněk "Zdenda" Zubr

• Unnamed Platformer (A8) by Janusz Chabowski @shanti77 / Jarek "Odyn1ec" Wyszyński

 

Best Atari 8-Bit/5200 WIP (Port)

• ADoom (A8 Port) by Krzysztof Swiecicki @Saint (Swiety)

• Double (A8 Port) by Vladimir Jankovic @popmilo (Code, SFX, Graphics) / Radek Štěrba @raster/c.p.u. (Title Music)

• Elite (A8 Port) by Mark Keates @Wrathchild (Code) / Mark Moxon (Flicker-Free code) / Sal Esquivel (Music)

• Flimbo's Quest (A8 Port) by Jarosław Padula @solo/ng & Waldek Pawlaszek @laoo (Code) / Michał Szpilowski @miker (Music)

• Last Ninja (A8 Port) by Jakub Husak @jhusak (Code) / Michał Szpilowski @miker (Music) / Adam Wachowski @+Adam+ (Fonts, Graphic Advice)

• Popeye (A8 Port) by woj @woj

 

Best Atari Lynx Homebrew

• Dungeddon by Paul Lay @playsoft

• Growing Ties Deluxe (with Timeloop, Fishing & Gift Catcher) by Dr. Ludos @drludos / Carl Forhan @Songbird (Music) / William Thorup @BitJag (Packaging Art)

• Scooternia by Alex Kraken @LordKraken

• Star Blader (Port) by RetroGuru / Shahazd Sahaib "Kojote" (Supervisor) / Gisberto Rondinella @Nop90 (Code) / Simon Butler (Graphics) / Michal Szpilowski @miker (Music)

• Stinger by Fabrizio Caruso @Fabrizio Caruso

• Odynexus by Alex Kraken @LordKraken & Alexander "Ander Lex" Grade @agradeneu (Created By) / Drozerix (Music) / Michal Szpilowski @miker (Music Adaption) / William Thorup @BitJag (Packaging Art)

 

Best Atari Lynx WIP Homebrew

• Chasm Warden by Igor Kromin @Igor

• Circuit Dude (Port) by Alex Thissen @LX.NET

• Grogger (Port) by Ganksoft Entertainment / Brian Peek @peekb

• Hero Dust by KanedaFr @KanedaFr

• RED Against the Machines by Alex Kraken @LordKraken

• Running Knight by Dr. Ludos @drludos

 

Best Atari Jaguar Homebrew

• Block'em Sock'em (Port) by Second Dimension / Reboot / Lawrence Staveley @CyranoJ (Code) / Roald Strauss (Music) / J. Leal (Graphics) / John Hancock @swlovinist

• Hunt, The (Port) by William Thorup @BitJag / Michal "Agenda stRing" Radecki-Mikulicz @michomis (Music) / Jakub Debski @ilmenit (Original Code) / Pawel Szewczyk @ripek (Original Artwork/Graphics)

• Novagen Volume 1 (Includes Backlash Port / Encounter! Port) by Novagen Software Inc. / Lawrence Staveley @CyranoJ / William Thorup @BitJag (Packaging Artwork)

• Raiding Rivers (Port) by Lawrence Staveley @CyranoJ /Roald Strauss (Music) / Eric D (DSP) / Alexander "Ander Lex" Grade @agradeneu, D. Jackson, Carol Shaw (Sprites)

• Rocket Ranger (Port) by Lawrence Staveley @CyranoJ

• Switchblade II (Port) by Lawrence Staveley @CyranoJ

 

Best Atari Jaguar WIP Homebrew

• Burger Tom (Port) by Oceo / Swap D0 @swapd0 (Code) / Martial Daviaud @marss @marss (Graphics)

• Doom: Slayer Edition (Port) by WelshWorrier @Welshworrier / Rik Day @Sporadic / Lawrence Staveley @CyranoJ / Saturn @Saturn / Matt Smith @neo_rg

• Doom II: Slayer Edition (Port) by WelshWorrier @Welshworrier / Rik Day @Sporadic / Lawrence Staveley @CyranoJ / Saturn @Saturn / Matt Smith @neo_rg

• Heretic: Slayer Edition (Port) by WelshWorrier @Welshworrier / Rik Day @Sporadic / Lawrence Staveley @CyranoJ / Saturn @Saturn / Matt Smith @neo_rg

• Rocketeer: Rebounced! by Lawrence Staveley @CyranoJ (Code) / Alexander "Ander Lex" Grade @agradeneu (Pixels) /Roald Strauss (Music)

• Shoot'em up 3D by DrTypo @DrTypo

 

Best Atari Homebrew Packaging

• Alien Holocaust II (2600) by Bitnamic Software / Fernando "Bruce" Rodrigues Salvio (Design and Code) / Pedro Pimenta (Music)

• Dangerous City (A8) by Kamil "Kamilos" Nowiński (Idea, Program, Game Graphics) / Kamil & Hubert Nowińscy (Script, Map) / Konrad Gmurek (Music) / Krzysztof Ziembik @Kaz atarionline.pl (Title Art, Icons, Loading Menu, Instructions, Description, Publishing Organization) / Jakub Husak @jhusak (Cartridge , Loading Menu) / Rafał Dudek @RafalDudek & Piotr "Piter" Krużycki (Box Cover Art) / Piotr "Piter" Krużycki (DTP)

• Harpy's Curse (7800) by Todd Furmanski @Revontuli / William Thorup @BitJag (Packaging Artwork)

• Odynexus (Lynx) by Alex Kraken @LordKraken & Alexander Grade @Anderlex (Created By) / Drozerix (Music) / Michal Szpilowski @miker (Music Adaption) / William Thorup @BitJag (Packaging Art)

• onEscape (A8) by Vortador Games / František Houra @Fandal (Code) / Zdeněk Eisenhammer @pseudografx (Graphics) / Marek Pešout @Poison (Soundtrack & Story)

• Penult (2600) by Karl Garrison @Karl G / Maggie Vogel @mvo (Music) / William Thorup @BitJag (Packaging Artwork)

 

[Thomas Jentzsch]

Now, that is an early announcement.  

[+ZeroPage Homebrew]

12 hours ago, Thomas Jentzsch said:

Now, that is an early announcement.  

 

Hahah, definitely earlier than normal! I'm trying to get ahead of things this year so it's not so rushed for me as time gets to the event.

 

- James

[Albert]

I was surprised to see this as well.

 

 ..Al

[Living Room Arcade]

Kudos for the early announcement.  Looking forward to it!  

[Living Room Arcade]

Two months later

 

It's almost time!  

Edited January 31 by Living Room Arcade

[+ZeroPage Homebrew]

5 minutes ago, Living Room Arcade said:

Two months later

 

It's almost time!  

 

3 more days until the voting begins! More info soon!

 

- James

[+ZeroPage Homebrew]

6th ANNUAL ATARI HOMEBREW AWARDS

LIVE NOMINATION ANNOUNCEMENTS

AND VOTING STARTS TOMORROW!

 

 

 

Fri Feb 2, 2024 | LIVE @ 12PM PT | 3PM ET | 8PM GMT

WATCH LIVE: https://twitch.tv/zeropagehomebrew/

WATCH LATER: https://youtube.com/zeropagehomebrew/

 

TOMORROW ZeroPage Homebrew will announce the nominees for very best games of the year as voted on by the AHA Nomination Committee! Also, VOTING OPENS in the AtariAge Forums where YOU make your voice heard on your favourite games of the past year!

 

Huge thank you to our amazing sponsor AtariAge for helping make this event happen!

 

See you in the Twitch chat tomorrow for the reveal!

[Living Room Arcade]

Sorry, should have said something sooner.  I just thought of it now.

I realize it's too late to make any changes this year.  But maybe for next year?

 

The one time, I found a really good homebrew game.  I really liked it.

Then I thought, "How come I never heard of it before?"  And I went back and looked at the Homebrew Awards and it wasn't there.

It was probably on the big list of games for the year but not on the list of nominees for voting.

Wish I could remember which game it was. 

Guess it doesn't matter.  My feedback regarding the homebrew voting is that maybe the "nominee" system needs to be reconsidered?  

We have the big list of all the homebrews for the current/past year.  

I think we should be allowed to vote for any one we want, not just a small group of nominees.  

Maybe next year?

Anyway, really excited about the homebrew voting.  Thanks to you guys for organizing it!  

Edited February 2 by Living Room Arcade

[Thomas Jentzsch]

3 minutes ago, Living Room Arcade said:

I think we should be allowed to vote for any one we want, not just a small group of nominees. 

This would mean, for a fair vote, everyone has to test each game of a category (this year we have more than 100 entries, just for the 2600!). I doubt many people will do that. So either we will have less votes, or the votes will become more or less random.

[+littaum]

25 minutes ago, Living Room Arcade said:

 

I think we should be allowed to vote for any one we want, not just a small group of nominees.  

 

 

I think poor James and Tanya would be committed from the amount of time it would take to do "sizzle packages" for the hundreds of games out there and the awards show day would have to be an awards show month.  Perhaps the discussion can be done in the post-mortem, but has there ever been a case where a game was left out by the committee that was really the best game of the year or best game for that category?

[Living Room Arcade]

Thank you, @Thomas Jentzsch and @littaum.  

Edited February 2 by Living Room Arcade

[+ZeroPage Homebrew]

 

CONGRATULATIONS to all the Nominees of the

6th ANNUAL ATARI HOMEBREW AWARDS! Good luck in the voting!

 

Huge thank you to AtariAge for sponsoring this event!

 

Check out the graphic cards below (click in the spoiler tag) with all the categories on them from the Nomination Announcement broadcast on ZeroPage Homebrew today!

 

Spoiler

 

 

[Dan Iacovelli]

with the combination of few of the categories, it makes it my job at running the AHSC (or whatever name it cam come up with) a bit harder

[Living Room Arcade]

So, I read the Voting Guide.  So, we're not really allowed to discuss the games at all, then, until after the voting is closed?

We can't try a game and then report our impressions of the game and whether we liked it or not etc.?

We just quietly try the games and then quietly vote?

Is that the idea?  

[+ZeroPage Homebrew]

58 minutes ago, Living Room Arcade said:

So, I read the Voting Guide.  So, we're not really allowed to discuss the games at all, then, until after the voting is closed?

We can't try a game and then report our impressions of the game and whether we liked it or not etc.?

We just quietly try the games and then quietly vote?

Is that the idea?  

 

The guide says the exact opposite of what you said:

 

"Discussion of the merit of individual nominations is encouraged"

 

We just don't want you to say which games you voted for.

 

- James

[Living Room Arcade]

46 minutes ago, ZeroPage Homebrew said:

 

The guide says the exact opposite of what you said:

 

"Discussion of the merit of individual nominations is encouraged"

 

We just don't want you to say which games you voted for.

 

- James

@ZeroPage Homebrew  Okay, thanks.  

[Living Room Arcade]

Hello guys, 

So, I'm looking at this information you guys have provided.

 

So, for best original 2600 game, I must choose one of the seven choices provided?  They are Berry Fun!, Dark Keep, Game of the Bear 2 Much To Bear, Kovi Kovi, Penult, Strike Zone Bowling and Tober's Nightmare.  

Is that correct?

 

So I can't vote for Caramujo or Carrot Kingdom or Spies in the Night 2 or Immunity or Quantum Tunnel or Slick's Racing or Robot Zed or Fox Hunt Arena or Heist 2 or Jutland Skies or Lost Cat or Meeow or Nightwatch at Wilford's or Stellar Drive?

Or many others also not included?  

Is that also correct?  

Edited February 3 by Living Room Arcade

[Thomas Jentzsch]

17 minutes ago, Living Room Arcade said:

So, for best original 2600 game, I must choose one of the seven choices provided?  They are Berry Fun!, Dark Keep, Game of the Bear 2 Much To Bear, Kovi Kovi, Penult, Strike Zone Bowling and Tober's Nightmare.  

Is that correct?

 

So I can't vote for Caramujo or Carrot Kingdom or Spies in the Night 2 or Immunity or Quantum Tunnel or Slick's Racing or Robot Zed or Fox Hunt Arena or Heist 2 or Jutland Skies or Lost Cat or Meeow or Nightwatch at Wilford's or Stellar Drive?

Or many others also not included?  

Is that also correct?  

All correct.

[+jgkspsx]

There is a private nominating committee consisting of a wide variety of scene veterans that nominates the finalists in each of these categories before the voting starts.

[+jgkspsx]

One thought for the postmortem: I am bummed that a lot of physical-only games that theoretically released at PGRE and put up for ordering shortly thereafter have only been played by people who attended PRGE. It's hard for me to vote for or against something I haven't played, and for some categories it ends up being more of a popularity contest than an actual statement of people's opinions.

 

Going forward IMO it would make more sense to use general release shipping to decide what year a game is in rather than the first hobbyist show it was released in limited quantities at.

 

Of course this isn't a problem for games with a public binary or (to a lesser extent since it is Android-exclusive) a trial version on Argon.

[Thomas Jentzsch]

7 minutes ago, jgkspsx said:

One thought for the postmortem: I am bummed that a lot of physical-only games that theoretically released at PGRE and put up for ordering shortly thereafter have only been played by people who attended PRGE. It's hard for me to vote for or against something I haven't played, and for some categories it ends up being more of a popularity contest than an actual statement of people's opinions.

If there is not even a demo ROM available (or I happen to own the game), I do not vote that game in the game category. Music & sound and graphics can usually be judged if at least a video is existing. And for packaging photos do the job sufficiently. IMO.

7 minutes ago, jgkspsx said:

Going forward IMO it would make more sense to use general release shipping to decide what year a game is in rather than the first hobbyist show it was released in limited quantities at.

I doubt that most of the votes (by far) are coming from people who actually own a physical copy of the games they are voting for.

7 minutes ago, jgkspsx said:

Of course this isn't a problem for games with a public binary or (to a lesser extent since it is Android-exclusive) a trial version on Argon.

Right.

Edited February 3 by Thomas Jentzsch

[Thomas Jentzsch]

19 minutes ago, jgkspsx said:

There is a private nominating committee consisting of a wide variety of scene veterans that nominates the finalists in each of these categories before the voting starts.

For the Atari 2600, there were 12 people nominating.

Edited February 3 by Thomas Jentzsch

[CapitanClassic]

You can see them pictured here.

 

Kidding aside, thanks to ZPH and the nomination committee for all the work out throughout the year that make the awards possible. The WIP Homebrew tracking threads are a great resource, and you guys put a lot of time in playing all the games to make the voting each year more manageable.

[mika15]

I have a feeling that the nominations are based mostly, if not purely on „technical” or whatever you call it, programming capabilities, and there is no emphasis on playability, originality, game mechanics and narrative.

 

Ok, one could argue about Carrot Kingdom or Jutland Skies, but to not include Robot Zed in the top 7 games of the year is a mistake, whether it was decided by 2 or 12 people.