The AGS Awards Guidelines aka "The Rogers"
(Last Updated - 29/12/2002)

AIM AND OBJECTIVES
'The AGS Awards' is a ceremony tributing the best AGS (Adventure Games Studio) games developed within a one (1) year period. It focuses on honouring the elements that make adventure gaming inspiring and worthwhile.

CATEGORIES
The AGS Awards will give one (1) award (among a certain number of nominees) per following category:
(The number of nominees per category in brackets.)

Main Award:
1. Best Game Created with AGS (5)

Story/Character Awards:
2. Best Gameplay in an AGS Game (5)
3. Best Story in an AGS Game (5)
4. Best Dialogue Scripting in an AGS Game (5)
5. Best Puzzles in an AGS Game(5)
6.Best Player Character in an AGS (5)
7. Best Supporting Character in an AGS (5)

Technichal Awards:
8. Best Room Art in an AGS Game (5)
9. Best Character Art in an AGS Game (5)
10. Best Animation in an AGS Game (5)
11. Best Music in an AGS Game (3)
12. Best Sound Effects in an AGS Game (3)
13. Best Scripting in an AGS Game (5)
14. Best AGS Documentation (3)

Other Awards:
15. Best Utility/Application (3)
16. Best Demo created in AGS (5)
17. Best Non-Adventure Games created in AGS (3)
18. The P3N1S Award (Booby Prize)(3)

Lifetime Achievement Award:
19. The AGS "Developer of the Year" Lifetime Achievement Award (1)

Note: all awards are open to any complete AGS games except for the following categories:
(15) which is open to any utility, application, shockwave or java applets that have some prolific use in the community. This includes programs made with AGS and ones that aren't. No 'games' are eligible for this category: Only utilities and applications.
(16) which is open to any incomplete AGS game or AGS project that is used as an example of a finished project.
(17) which is open to any AGS game less than or equal to 4 rooms in length.
(18) which is open to any games created with AGS that is not specifically an adventure game.
(19) which is open to any AGS game or demo.
(20) which is voted upon by a small selection of judges.

DEFINITIONS
The following section will define the specific awards listed in the CATEGORIES section:

Main Award:
1. Best Game Created with AGS - Awarded to the best game created within a one (1) year period. This means that the sum of all elements in an AGS game outweigh all other AGS games. For example, even though a game may not have great artwork, it can excell in other areas and still achieve Best Game. Five (5) nominees will be selected, from which the AGS community will vote upon their favourite game.

Story/Character Awards:
2. Best Gameplay in an AGS Game - Awarded to the most fluid and playable game. This means a game that is accessible, has strong direction, the characters are likable, and, above all, it feels entertaining. In others words, a sense of cohesiveness of all gaming elements. Five (5) nominations will be selected, from which the AGS community will vote upon their favourite game.

3. Best Story in an AGS Game - Awarded to the most interesting and entertaining AGS game story. Five (5) nominations will be selected, from which the AGS community will vote upon their favourite game.

4. Best Dialogue Scripting in an AGS Game (5) - Awarded to the most lively, interesting, or humourous dialogue. Can also go to intelligently scripted dialogue (Eg. Who Killed Kenny Rogers?). Five (5) nominations will be selected, from which the AGS community will vote upon their favourite game.

5. Best Puzzles in an AGS Games (5) - Awarded to the most innovative, inventive, yet logical, puzzles that increase the atmosphere of a game. Five (5) nominations will be selected, from which the AGS community will vote upon their favourite game.

6. Best Player Character in an AGS - Awarded to the best player character in an AGS game. The award is open to any character the player is able to control. E.g. Rob Blanc, Larry Vales, Jake McUrk. The award is open to both male and female characters. Five (5) nominations will be selected, from which the AGS community will vote upon their favourite game. Note: Characters cannot be nominated more than once within a one year period. If, within the one (1) year period, a developer releases two or more games with the same player character, the character will be nominated for the complete series in one nomination. If a developer releases a new game in future years with the same player character, the character is eligible for nomination in that future year - E.g. If Larry Vales 3 is released, Larry Vales is eligble for nomination again, or if Pleurghburg 2 is released, Jake McUrk is eligible for nomination again.

7. Best Supporting Character in an AGS - Awarded to the best non-playable character in an AGS game. The award is open to any character the player is not able to control. E.g. Paul from the Rob Blanc Series, The Zombie from ROTN, The Headless Whoresman. The award is open to both male and female characters. Five (5) nominations will be selected, from which the AGS community will vote upon their favourite game. Note: Characters cannot be nominated more than once within a one year period. If, within the one (1) year period, a developer releases two or more games with the same supporting character, the character will be nominated for the complete series in one nomination. If a developer releases a new game in the future with the same supporting character, the character is eligible for nomination in that future year - E.g. If a developer releases another game with Mika as a supporting character, Mika is eligble for nomination again, or if Larry Vales 3 is released, Charlie is eligible for nomination again.

Technichal Awards:
8. Best Room Art in an AGS Game - The first of the three art awards. Awarded to the best background art in an AGS game. This includes all static background scenes, unanimated sprites and anything else not relating to characters or animation. In other words, anything that relates to contents of ROOM files. Five (5) nominations will be selected, from which the AGS community will vote upon their favourite game.

9. Best Character Art in an AGS Game - The second of the three art awards. Awarded to the best character art in an AGS game. Five (5) nominations will be selected, from which the AGS community will vote upon their favourite game.

10. Best Animation in an AGS Game - The final of the three art awards. Awarded to the best animation in an AGS game, in terms of views and loops. This include all character, background, and sprite animation. Five (5) nominations will be selected, from which the AGS community will vote upon their favourite game.

11. Best Music in an AGS Game - Awarded to the best background music in an AGS game. All compositions must be original and standard AGS formats (E.g. MIDI, XM, MP3). Three (3) nominations will be selected, from which the AGS community will vote upon their favourite game.

12. Best Sound Effects in an AGS Game - Awarded to the best use of sound effects in an AGS games. This means that the sounds used are proper or relevant to the AGS game's design/story. Three (3) nominations will be selected, from which the AGS community will vote upon their favourite game.

13. Best Scripting in an AGS Game - Awarded to the most inventive use of function scripting in an AGS game. This includes the all global, room, character, inventory, and dialogue scripts. Five (5) nominations will be selected, from which the AGS community will vote upon their favourite game.

14. Best AGS Documentation - Awarded to the most helpful, well defined, or most humourous documentation included with an AGS game. Three (3) nominations will be selected, from which the AGS community will vote upon their favourite game documentation.

Other Awards:
15. Best Utility/Application/Plug-in - Awarded to anything used in to aid AGS game design or any applications of relevance to AGS. Includes art packages such as Deluxe Paint or Paint Shop Pro, character rippers, sound editors, music composition programs, documentation applications such as AGSFunk, Java applets such the AGS drawing board, and any plug-ins to WinRoomEdit. Utilities created with AGS, such as AGS Draw and AGS Background Editor, are also eligible for nomination. Three (3) nominations will be selected, from which the AGS community will vote upon their favourite application.

16. Best Demo created with AGS - Awarded to any incomplete AGS game created for the specific purposes of demonstration of a future release. E.g. Larry Vales III Demo, Lee and Perrin Demo, A Christmas Tale Demo. Five (5) nominations will be selected, from which the AGS community will vote upon their favourite demo.

17. Best Non-Adventure Game created with AGS - Awarded to any AGS game/program created without the conventional adventure style. It includes games such as arcades, noveltiesm and practically anything not related to adventure games. Three (3) nominations will be selected, from which the AGS community will vote upon their favourite non-adventure AGS game.

18. The P3N1S Award - Awarded to the most uninspiring game created with AGS. All nominations are welcome. Three (3) nominations will be selected, from which the AGS community will vote upon their LEAST favourite game.

Lifetime Achievement Award:
19. The AGS "Developer of the Year" Lifetime Achievement Award - Awarded to the Developer who has contributed more to the AGS community more than anyone else. One award will be given and will be voted upon by five (5) random members of the AGS community. Note: Do not vote for this award. The random memebers will decide this award.

Voting is divided into two parts: "Nominations Votes" and "Winners Votes".

NOMINATIONS VOTES
The nominations will begin 1st January each year.
The nominations will end on the 15th of January each year. All games released within this period are eligible. Any game released after is ineligible.

During this period, any person from the AGS community can submit up to ten (10) nomination choices for each category to the AGS Awards e-mail address. The maximum amount of games in each category with the most votes will become nominated for the best in that particular category. For example, the first five (5) games with the most votes in the Best Player Character category get nominated, as will the first three (3) of the Best Music category.

NOMINATION VOTES SHALL NOT BE ACCEPTED IF:
- The games nominated were released after the last day of December.
- The nomination contains two votes of the same game in one category.
- Contains any game that does not exist on the registered list of games from the period of award.

WINNERS VOTES
The nomination announcements and voting for each category will begin 16th January each year.
The winners will be announced in a ceremony in the #ags IRC channel each year. (Date of ceremony to be announced during the end of January)

During this period, any person from the AGS community can submit one vote (1) per category for thier favourite nominated game. The game with the most votes in a category is the winner

This document is Copyright (c) DGMacphee Designs 2002. No part of this document can be edited or reproduced without consent from the author. Document subject to change.

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