Bubbawheat

I may not have the best prizes, but I decided to run a player based Mission Architect Awards Nominate the best in this thread! Open to all CoX players, US and EU!

Yes, multiple nominations are great, they will help me figure out exactly how to do the next stage of this.

Since I think the current Mission Architect Awards don't go far enough, I would like to organize our own Mission Architect Awards for 2009. Thanks to those offering their help already. The total prize money will be around 200 million inf split evenly between the categories which amounts to about 25 million for each winner, transferred to the character of your choice. If you would like to contribute awards, or to help judge (to narrow down submissions for final voting) let me know.

Rules:

1. You may nominate one arc for each category.
2. You may not nominate your own arcs.
3. This thread will be open for nominations until October 14th
4. If an arc gets a second nomination, that will guarantee its spot in the finals for voting.
5. The level ranges for the first three categories are general guidelines and can allow for a little fudging.
6. Best European arc is for anyone in the European servers, including foreign language arcs. *note* Currently, I have no way of giving any inf on the European servers. If you are on the European servers and want to help out, it would be greatly appreciated.
7. After the nominations are over, the judges will play through the arcs that only recieved one nom and narrow those down to 3-5 arcs for final voting by the public in a new thread in this forum. This thread will be up no later than October 26th and will stay open for voting until November 9th.

Categories

• Best TO Range Arc (1-15)
• Best DO Range Arc (15-25)
• Best SO Level Arc (25-40)
• Best Epic Level Arc (40-50)
• Best Comedy Arc
• Best Serious Arc
• Best Short Arc (1-3 missions)
• Best Multi-Part Arc (2+ arcs, list all for this category)
• Best Foreign Language Arc
• Best use of Mechanics

Current Nominees

* Best TO Range Arc:

(2 noms)15+ Minute Tutorial - Knowledge is Power: Architect Entertainment #28470 @Paula
Mercytown, the one with the fish #6017 @Tangler
Nuclear in 90: The Fusionette Task Force #58363 @Cavatina
Day Job Hell: A Villain’s First Day Job, # 322480 @Clave Dark 5
The Marconeville Horror #178278 @Footloose
Poi, Demonology, and Everything I Learned From Hellions #164235 @londerwost
The Fireside Poet #189439 @MutaJenn
Soul Train: Origins #9590 @Soul Train

* Best DO Range Arc:

(5 noms) Ctrl + Alt + Reset #137561 @Bubbawheat
PUG Hell #7415 @Beach Lifeguard
Cutthroat Competition #10171 @Frozen Northman
The Invasion of the Bikini-Clad Samurai Vampiresses from Outer Space! #61013 @Aliana Blue
Sibling Rivalry #118690 @Sister Flame


* Best SO Range Arc:

(4 noms)Teen Phalanx Forever! #67335 @PW
(2 noms) Polar Emergence neutral Government User Interface Network (PENGUIN) #29205 @Tubbius
(2 noms)Astoria in D Minor # 41565 @The Cheshire Cat
(2 noms) Escalation #6143 @FemFury
Old Dog, New Trick #81318 @Wrong Bird
Twisted Tongue #1444 @Days
Pro Patria Mori #1173 @WhatRoughBeast
The Horrible Mr. Caractacus #10721 @Lady Sadako

* Best Epic Level Arc:

(2 noms) A Warrior's Journey: the Flower Night Task Force #260285 @PW
(3 noms) The Most Important Thing #266877 @Aisynia
Victors Online #97980 @Hellguard
Have a Blap, Blap, Blappy Day Kids! #2019 @Wrong Number
The Fracturing of Time #171031 @Tahlana
The All-Seeing Eye #57352 @Steele Magnolia
One Million Eyes #71933 @minimalist
The Omega Reports: Scavenger #159672 @Luminara

* Best Comedy Arc:

(4 noms) In Poor Taste #259920 @Wrong Number
(2 noms) Verner von Grun's Extraordinary Extradimensional Excursions #115174 @Igor Blimey
(2 noms)Captain Dynamic, the Great, Faces the Great Face #190069 @Aehaed
The Invasion of the Bikini Clad Samurai Vampiresses from Outer Space #61013 @Aliana Blue
Aeon's Nemesis #161865 @Darkonne
Freakshow U #189073 @Lethal Guardian
Becky's Revenge #60197 @New Age Ronin
Seeking Men #169114 @Fatare
LOST DOG #9882 @6x
Females for Hire 110723 @suedenim



* Best Serious Arc:

(2 noms) Tales of Croatoa: A Rose By Any Other Name #178774 @Silvers1
(3 noms) Blight #140423 @Witch Engine
(2 noms)Turg Fiction: Ghost in the Machine, Act I #1013 @Turgenev
The American Revolution Remixed #31700 @Silenex
The Most Important Thing #266877 @Aisynia
The Storyteller: Sabrina's Tale #1237 @Redbone1
Kiss Hello Goodbye #156389 @Kitsune9tails
Karmic Exchange #47550 @Braxzana

* Best Short Arc:

(2 noms)Forget the Rose, Send Me the Thorns #8925 @Hydrophidian
(2 noms)Celebrity Kidnapping #1388 @PW
The Monster Hop #27861 @Big Daddy Vio
The "Easter Basket" #35335 @Simplifly
Captain Dynamic, the Great, Faces The Great Face #190069 @Aehaed
Becky's Revenge #60197 @New Age Ronin
Trademark Infringement #2220 @wrong number
Of Sound Body and Mind #13107 @Mr. Mud


* Best Multi-Part Arc:

(6 noms) The Audition Part 1 #221240 and Part 2 #221241 @MRCaptainMan
(2 noms)The Consequences of War Part 1 #227331 and Part 2 #241496 @Dalghryn
The Lost Choir #123675, 136959, 141011 @MrSquid

* Best Use of Mechanics:

(2 noms) The Next War on Drugs #245042 @arachrodragon
(2 noms) Macguffin Delivery Service #1567 @Lazarus
Constantinaple's Jones' Family Secret #91838 @Hero2
Grim Riddles #1396 @Mantid
Speeding Through Time # 51728 @Geek_Boy
The Beating Heart of Astoria: A Play in Five Acts #170547 @The Cheshire Cat

Thought I'd steal Golden Ace's idea and try it out with the forums. I'm excluding the Forum Games section because I think it's a fair guess that it would win.

City Life 10
European Lounge 10
Oceanic Lounge
Mission Architect: Stories and Lore 11
Suggestions and Ideas 9
Comic and Hero/Villain Culture 10
Roleplaying 10
Screenshots and Fan Creations 10
Multi-Media 10

Stories and Lore +1
Suggestions and Ideas -1

Welcome back, uh... bookie? Impy? That name is hard to nick outside of IB. I've got another fire/fire brute: Burnt Matchstick for your perusal.

Yeah, I'm trying to decide what to put my two arcs in. Though as I sit here typing it out, I think I decided for myself anyway.

Ctrl + Alt + Reset! #137561
It's a neutral (why is there no best neutral category?) time loop arc with bits of humor thrown in. I'm thinking Original story since it doesn't really fit in any others. (no custom group, not heroic, not villainous, non canon-centric)

Matchstick Women #3369
It's a heroic arc with tragic story involving an Archvillain arsonist/cult leader. It has a custom group that I typically got a lot of compliments on. It could qualify for best Heroic arc, Best Original Story, and Best Custom Group.

I vote Tigertailz
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Dangit!
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Um, I mean, uh, I vote for Shia. ;^_^
Wife votes for Foo. (still don't think I ever got official word if her vote counts or not. I think I checked last time and it did)

A light blue looks nice for a soothing Empathy, also matches well with Ice.

Ladies & Gentlemen. And Foo. Wait, Foo didn't sign up for this one. Oh well, wasn't my joke anyway. Welcome to the Third Ice Creamery Edition of Picture This, the forum game where you get to re-imagine a fellow player’s character! What you do with their character is completely up to you, as long as it's somehow recognizable to the original. Pair ups generated through random.org. Here’s how it works.

1) Prepare 1-3 Screenshots of your character and/or a short biography of your character.

2) Exchange these screenshots and description with the player you have been matched up with. Let’s try to keep this thread clear; exchange information through PMs.

3) “Reimagine” your buddy’s character using whatever methods you feel like. Your final creation should be recognizable somehow as the original character.

4) Post the original reference shots and the screenshots of your creation one this thread along with a concise biography. Feel free to include commentary too about your process.

Here's what it looked like last time.

And now on to the pair-ups!

Hericane + GeneralKnowledge
PeteyCat + obijuan
tuter_king + Blpup
Sailboat + Turkey Lurkey
Hercules + DoktorMechaniker
McBoo + ChristopherRobin
Caemgen + Xzero45
Krystallas + Calash
Clobbertime + Jophiel
PowerStream + Eva Destruction
EnnVee + Larissa Rasputin
bubbawheat + pyro nympho

The deadline is about two weeks from now on Friday, October 16th

Sure, why not. Trying to get this one-shot a little loving:

Whack A Mole #2711

A quick game of Whack-A-Mole, open to all level ranges, but if you're looking for the high score, I'd bring a higher level character. 2 timed missions, with a total of 9 bosses and 1 EB.

whoops, forgot about this since it dropped lower on the page, will post matchups tonight.

It's like the difference between your own movie collection and getting Netflix. When you're limited to your own personal movie collection, you tend to watch and re-watch your favorite movies. But when the entire library of Netflix is opened up to you, you don't want to waste it on something you've seen before, you want to check out something new.

I saw two Australias and two Panamas (the first ones were both mine, which is why I caught them)

edit: heh, they changed Panama to Mauritania, which was also originally my guess ;O_o

I see a lot of duplicate guesses, I think this might take longer than guessing out of 100.

Or maybe it's just my guesses are hard to see because I seem to be posting in this thread overmuch.

Also, there's a few threads already you could dig up to post your highly rated one-play arcs.

Helpful link, ranks countries in order of population. Only 137 above 3 million.

And with that, I'll go with Panama and Mauritania.

I was looking through my completed arcs list to see if there were any that I actually played more than once for PW's favorites thread, and I saw a lot of arcs that I really liked that still had less than 10 plays.

So I thought I'd make a thread to showcase some of these diamonds in the rough, and hopefully someone will check them out. Feel free to post your own, and take a chance and play one of them too.

Just list the name, ID#, author, the number of rates it has, and when it was posted. And play another arc from this thread and tell what you thought. Let's give these arcs some love!

The Secret Origin of: Li'l Red Hood #183480 by @Crasical
been around since 5/20 and has only 1 rate, which was me.

Technological Advances #266163 by @Crystalblue
been around since 7/16 and also has only 1 rate, which was me.

Digital Transition #143017 by @Heroic
been around since 5/03 and has only 13 rates. I know it's over 10, but 10 is good for a catchy title.

Out of Time #94443 by @Frightfall
been around since 4/19 and has only 1 rate, I'm seeing a trend here.

It's just a Jump to the Left #83476 by @Aphrodite
been around since 4/18 and has only 19 rates. I like to think having this in my sig has helped it a little, I believe it used to be less than 10 before it was in my sig.

A Tangle in Time #2622 by @jjac

It was referred to me by someone that played my time travel arc, and I really enjoyed it and have played it a few times, and really the only arc I've played more than once besides my own, and besides some that I've reviewed and felt I needed to go back for more details.

I did have an idea for another thread while I was looking through my completed arcs list though...

... as well as a good reason to go back and play some of my "favorites" that just haven't gotten a second go around yet.

Arc Name: yaD sdrawkcaB
Author: @GlaziusF
Arc ID#: 329000
Morality: Villainous
Enemies: PPD, DE, Arachnos, custom(25-30)
Description: Unfortunately, the final ritual failed. The ultimate knowledge was lost forever, and Diviner Maros held prisoner in the depths of time. ...at least, that's what he's telling you. As far as you know, that hasn't happened yet. Maybe you can make the future go your way? (SFMA MLMA goon arc for Shevat)
Played at: level 26-27
How I found it: I heard Glazius was making a new arc featuring time travel, in a way, and saw him advertising it recently so I went ahead and tried it out.

Well my contact today is Diviner Maros. I've heard a lot of interesting things about him, and when I talk to him, I see that they are all true. He is talking about how we've already done all this before and it failed. I believe he is trying to fix himself as it were, as he is currently backwards in time and he seems to want to be going forwards in time like everyone else. But as he is still quite backwards, it's up to me to piece this together and work this out from the wrong end so we don't fail. He gives me an old pendant, and mentions where I had originally found it, in a small cave near Villa Requin. So that's where I go. In the cave are Slag Golems and Devouring Earth fighting it out, as well as a small group of family working for Blood-stone Jimmy, and a small group of Freaks working for M03, though I'm not sure if they will have any bearing on the future at all. And when I finally find the pendant, it's the same pendant that I already have, only brand new looking, but when they come close together, they split the difference and become only slightly old looking.


Why are they digging in an office building?

Next up, Maros mentions wishing that we hadn't performed that ritual inbetween talking about something else that I have no idea about. So I deduce that it's time to head to his scrying cave to perform this ritual. His place is swarming with Circle of Thorns, as well as another group of Family working for Blood-stone Jimmy, and another group of Freaks working for M03. When I find Maros, he informs me that the ritual amounts to me killing him, and I later find out that his death actually helps to break himself up into smaller essences of his self in order to help him in the Vault of Time.


Odd bedfellows.

Now it's time to scale a tall tower to find one of these parts of Maros. Inside is an amalgam of creatures put together, as well as one of those Freaks, Mainframe who comes along with me to help this time. There's all sorts of different people spouting unusual things along the way before finding an interesting version of Maros at the very tip-top of the building. It's a long haul, but at least it was interesting, if not entirely clear.


Maros? Is that you, or your grandfather?

Next up it's time to recover the Loupe of the Long Now, whatever that happens to be. He's talking about it in the future now, but he has already mentioned it in one of our earlier conversations. Inside I find 4syte, but unfortunately I'm supposed to be looking for Foresight. He follows me for a while, but eventually turns on me. I'm also taking out different temporal anchors or similar device all while searching for this Loupe of the Long Now.


4syte


The guard at the gate, I don't think they want me to leave with the Loupe de lou who.

And finally, it's into the vault of time itself to find the current essence of Maros. But it is filled with false copies who are out to attack me. And when I do rescue the real Maros, there are also other fragments of Maros that come along with me to help take out the Timekeeper in order to escape. And when I come out, Maros actually tells me the end of the story instead of the beginning. Apparently one of the ways he was trying to fulfill his plan was intentionally misdirecting me to misdirect the Timekeeper in order for us to truly be successful.

So things are now back to normal, well as normal as Diviner Maros can be.

Four stars: Recommended.


The real Diviner Maros from the depths of the Vault of Time?

(This arc is definately not for everyone. It's well constructed to intentionally be misdirecting. It takes a cue from Memento in its non-traditional storytelling by telling the story in reverse, but still telling the important bits to the player so you know what to do, as well as some internal monologue that explains what you are actually going to do. There is also a ton of text in all the briefings, as well as an extra one in the busy text which is supposed to be the intro text of the mission going backwards. I did cheat a little and copy/paste them in the correct order to see if it holds up that way, and it does pretty well, though I noticed there's mention of the Legacy Chain which are nowhere in the arc, but it could be an intentional misdirection that is explained somewhere in all that text, but I know I missed it both times around. Which isn't hard as I'm not sure if I'm supposed to be looking ahead of me or behind me. And as the first intro is the failure final text, and the final return text is the successful final text, there isn't anywhere to actually put a true intro anywhere, so you're never sure why this actually started on this path in the first place, just the ultimate events.


Maros, Maros, and Maros.

Things are definately a bit clearer on the second runthrough, though I never fully understood what part the Family and Freaks had to play, unless they were just red herrings. Which they were fairly interesting red herrings. Also there are several quite large maps in a five mission arc where you have to go to the final room, and come back to the front. And I played this twice, and had a couple bugs and a couple distractions, so I feel like I've been playing this arc forever. And technically I've been playing this on and off through about 8 playsessions. That's a lot of time to devote to an arc. It was definately interesting the first time around, but I think it's fair warning that not everyone will enjoy a mindtwist as much as the next one. I've got no real suggestions on improvements, it's hard to suggest something in a story so complex.)


The Timekeeper

it'll be harder to keep track of the used and remaining guesses though

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kFQG4094qrs

How about taking it from there?

My guesses:

Australia and Sudan!