THE MISAOS ARTICLE

Everything you need to know about the Misaos.




Makimachi Misao



The Misaos in an annual event RMN holds to determine the best games released on RMN in that year (like game of the year.)

The following article will cover the history, general information, and the rules of the Misaos. Some of this information can already be found on RMN, but not all of it is currently written down in one easy to use article.

History

My information comes from
https://rpgmaker.net/misaos/
But I will reiterate it here

The Misaos were originally run by #rm2k on irc.dynastynet.net and hosted on The Queen’s Court Website ( http://queenscourt.org/misao/ ) The winners of Misaos from 2002-2006 are still recorded on this website. RMN started the Misaos in 2006 and has run it since. (*Note there are 2006 Misaos winners on both websites.)

iishenron (or FinalDragon) choose the name Misaos from his favorite anime “Rurouni Kenshin.” The name comes from one of the show’s characters, “Makimachi Misao.”

"It was mostly just iishenron going to whatever RM forums were relevant at the time and asking people to vote in a php voting setup. If they couldn't register or whatever people could at least nominate stuff in the thread he posted in. Before queen's court the Misaos were hosted on Hellfusion but given the news archive it seems like the site closed and iish just made his own site." (Info provided by Darken)

General Information

Nominations for a year take place all year round. You can nominate a game from January 1st to December 31st. At the start of the next year Kentona will tally up the nominations to determine who can go forward to the voting round. Currently a game requires 2 nominations to go forward. (Kentona reserves the rights to move or remove a game forward on other circumstances as well.)

You can change your nominations anytime in the nomination year. You can change your vote as well, prior to the end of voting. You can view games you have nominated or voted for in your personal profile.




See the nomination button at the top of the game page?
This game can be nominated.



The link here is colored differently.
This game can't be nominated.



I can check these boxes and save.
I can change what I want to nominate very easily.



In my profile I can see what games I have nominated or voted for.
I can view my entire RMN history!



Rules

1) You must have a RMN account to nominate or vote for a game.

2) You cannot nominate your own game.

3) The game must have a download.

4) If a game is tagged Commercial it cannot be nominated. Though it’s possible for a free game to get nominated, win, and then later change its status. (There have been a couple of instances where this has occurred.)

5) A game can only be nominated in the year its initial download is released. It cannot be nominated for minor download updates; however, in cases of major updates (such as demo to completed) a game can be nominated in the year the update is released.




Posts

Pages: 1
Marrend
Guardian of the Description Thread
21781
I believe #5 might be incorrect? Like, I don't think it has to be an initial release download. It just has to be a "new" download. You're correct in saying that updating an existing download would not count, however.
SunflowerGames
The most beautiful user on RMN!
13323

author=Marrend
I believe #5 might be incorrect? Like, I don't think it has to be an initial release download. It just has to be a "new" download. You're correct in saying that updating an existing download would not count, however.

A new download is easy to complete. Just delete your download every year and upload a download and you'll have a "new" download (just an extreme case scenario.) That's why I used the term initial. There are of course exceptions to everything. But mostly this is going after games that add new downloads all the time that just make minor changes.

The only time where this is okay is when a demo download gets nominated then a completed game gets nominated. This is the legitimate time where you could possibly enter two separate years. Example, Luxaren Allure is a well known game that has been nominated for 2 separate years. (See 2014 and 2015 nominations.)

Thank You for putting this article together. kory_toombs ❤

I have a question:

The Misaos were originally run by #rm2k on irc.dynastynet.net and hosted on The Queen’s Court Website (http://queenscourt.org/misao/) The winners of Misaos from 2002-2006 are still recorded on this website.RMN started the Misaos in 2006 and has run it since. (*Note there are 2006 Misaos winners on both websites.

...If RMN began hosting the misao awards in 2006, where were the Misaos Awards hosted from 2002-2006?

Like, I know they were hosted on queens court from 2002-2006, but in order to have an award ceremony of some sort for rpgmaker games, you need to have a community where opinions and merits are shared and formed, but you also need to have games.

Where did these rpgmaker games, that this award ceremony is based upon, come from?

Did these games all come from an assortment of rpgmaker sites from 2002-2006?
or were these games just rpgmaker games from gamingworld.net from 2002-2006?

...I'm asking this question because, I didn't get involved with the rpgmaker community till 2007 and like many new comers to RMN, they'll probably want context as to where in history the misaos awards fit in and took place - What the rpgmakers communities were like back then, what games people were playing etc.

Cause right now, it's weird to access queenscourt as a site and not only, not know the history behind the site's creation, but where these rpgmaker games, that queenscourt have given misao awards to, came from.
SunflowerGames
The most beautiful user on RMN!
13323

On the Queen's Court website go to the top where it says "main."
To the right you will see sundry links: classic Rm2k/3 games.
Click on that link. There are some games that be downloaded here.

If there are other websites its quite likely they no longer exist.
Sorry, I haven't been around long enough to give more of an expansive history.
i always thought it was named after that horror game
ya that game, though it came out way before that steam release
CashmereCat
Self-proclaimed Puzzle Snob
11638
author=kory_toombs
author=Marrend
I believe #5 might be incorrect? Like, I don't think it has to be an initial release download. It just has to be a "new" download. You're correct in saying that updating an existing download would not count, however.


A new download is easy to complete. Just delete your download every year and upload a download and you'll have a "new" download (just an extreme case scenario.) That's why I used the term initial. There are of course exceptions to everything. But mostly this is going after games that add new downloads all the time that just make minor changes.


Marrend is right. The thing that qualifies you for a Misao is that you uploaded the game download in the current year. Games can get nominated for several years in a row if they update their download each year.
SunflowerGames
The most beautiful user on RMN!
13323

I do believe that I once heard Kentona or Liberty mention something about the update having to be significant enough to qualify (doesn't mean it can't get nominated, but it could be removed later if the update isn't significant enough.) I'm keeping the rule as is for now under the premise that this article got accepted by the RMN moderation team. Any clarification on that rule will have to be made by them I guess. It's a hard thing to word in the first place. The general idea is that you should only get a chance to win in the year you released your game.
To update about the Misao history LordBlueRouge brought up. It was mostly just iishenron going to whatever RM forums were relevant at the time and asking people to vote in a php voting setup. If they couldn't register or whatever people could at least nominate stuff in the thread he posted in. Before queen's court the Misaos were hosted on Hellfusion but given the news archive it seems like the site closed and iish just made his own site. Queenscourt used to have a forum which i think is where the actual voting world happen pre-RMN. From what I remember it was very open house, any game from any RM community could get submitted due to it not being tied to a game database unlike the way things we do now. Really it's best to just ask iish about this stuff if he ever browses here anymore, I know that he used to be on the RMN irc 24/7.

Mostly got some info from rpgtown/palace, though it wasn't the only forum with misao award advertising (only online forum i can find with misao mention)
from 2003:
http://rpgtown.proboards.com/thread/565/rm2k-misao-awards
http://rpgtown.proboards.com/thread/810/2003-rm2k-misao-awards-results
forum post from 2006 about the "commitee":
http://www.rpg-palace.com/categories/game-maker-s-guild/projects/misao-awards-committee-nominations
At the top of G&D you can see iish posting the results of 2006
https://web.archive.org/web/20060226034247/http://www.gamingw.net:80/forums/index.php?board=82.0

and my own broken memories of GamingW and the other sites iish advertised on.
author=Darken
To update about the Misao history LordBlueRouge brought up. It was mostly just iishenron going to whatever RM forums were relevant at the time and asking people to vote in a php voting setup. If they couldn't register or whatever people could at least nominate stuff in the thread he posted in. Before queen's court the Misaos were hosted on Hellfusion but given the news archive it seems like the site closed and iish just made his own site. Queenscourt used to have a forum which i think is where the actual voting world happen pre-RMN. From what I remember it was very open house, any game from any RM community could get submitted due to it not being tied to a game database unlike the way things we do now. Really it's best to just ask iish about this stuff if he ever browses here anymore, I know that he used to be on the RMN irc 24/7.

Mostly got some info from rpgtown/palace, though it wasn't the only forum with misao award advertising (only online forum i can find with misao mention)
from 2003:
http://rpgtown.proboards.com/thread/565/rm2k-misao-awards
http://rpgtown.proboards.com/thread/810/2003-rm2k-misao-awards-results
forum post from 2006 about the "commitee":
http://www.rpg-palace.com/categories/game-maker-s-guild/projects/misao-awards-committee-nominations
At the top of G&D you can see iish posting the results of 2006
https://web.archive.org/web/20060226034247/http://www.gamingw.net:80/forums/index.php?board=82.0

and my own broken memories of GamingW and the other sites iish advertised on.


Thank you so much for posting this Darken! ❤

I was going to do a “Does anyone Remember Queens’s Court” thread, in hopes that

iish, Brickoad, Legion, WIP and the rest of the 2005 nomination committee could fill in the blanks, with this info, now I won't have to:

One of the things I wanted to do was to eventually make a backup of the games available on queen’s court, (which I’ve already done) convert them to a standalone playable format, and then add them to the eventual torrent, as well (which I'm currently working on).

But before doing that, I wanted to include a preface that users could read, so that the could understand more about the history of the misaos and where these rpgmaker games actually came from, during that time.

…Like, I think this is important, especially when a game like Barkley Shutup and Jam Gaiden wins a couple of awards and gets a passing mention for misaos 2007 - but goes onto to be mentioned and featured on several gaming newsites, as well as podcasts, including HG101.

Like, it’s kind of crazy the people I run into - they won’t know about stuff like Kinetic Cipher, The Way or Star Stealing Prince, but they’ll definitely know about something like, Barkley Shutup and Jam Gaiden.

Thanks for the info Darken! If you come across anymore info, please share it.
Barkley Shutup and Jam Gaiden was kind of a shitshow when it came to the Misaos because I think 2006/2007? was when Strangeluv spammed votes with multiple accounts on the game. Obviously the list corrected all of that, but I think the GW crowd that was into Barkley wasn't all that big on the misaos anyway.

ancient poetry from a dead playwright:

Kole circa GW 2008 AD (Anno Donmiguel)
There once was I time where I believed in Misaos.
A day where I cherished every single moment setting events and variable keys.
Never was a time where I would be RPG making without a smile on my face.
Many seasons has passed since that day, my smile has faded and so has my inspiration.
Thinking to myself "what's the use, misaos feh what a useless joke!".
The seriousness of the event has begun to take it's toll on it's humble followers.
The kids who were once inspired, smiling and imagining worlds, gone forever.
As I watch from the sidelines these days, living a Misaoless life I ponder.
Since when has inspiration left the door?
Must we face creativity with a blind mind?
Or should we go back and relive our day, our days where we made games with a strange love?

I wonder
what it really it really Means to live life with the shackles of
i
s
a
o
SunflowerGames
The most beautiful user on RMN!
13323

Wow, that was some pretty decent history on the awards. I'm surprised with the lack of information the RMN page has on it after reading what you said. I would like to see if that creator of the award could give a full account of the award's history.

Thanks Darken.

Edit: I also semi quoted some of your information in the main article.
Pages: 1