IDDALAI'S PROFILE

Why not set a date limit for games that can be nominated?
Per example (and this is only an example!), games uploaded to RMN after September could not be nominated for that year's Misaos, and would instead be eligible for next year's Misao nominations.

This is because it seems unfair for a game that was uploaded in October to compete in attention with a game that was released in January.
With the external website voting this could be done (except for the nomination part... ugh).

Looking at the categories, I think we have quite a lot and they cover a lot of ground in all the serious aspects of GAM MAK. Maybe those serious ones (graphics, music, writing, etc) should be named seriously, for clarity (Best graphics, Best music, etc).

Some ideas for new categories or changes to existing ones:

- Best/Most interesting/Fun gameplay - Sure, there's "How the Hell Did They Do That?", but with that title I immediately think it's for games making something incredible with their engine and that doesn't mean it's enjoyable to play.

- "Summoner of Sounds" - should probably be split into 2 categories, one for music and one for sound.

- "The Dark Souls of RMN" - should probably be split into 2 categories, one for challenge and one for puzzles. I also believe that if we are going to name the categories with references (instead of my earlier "naming them seriously" suggestion), then the references should be taken from classic RPG Maker games instead of commercial AAA games.

- "The kentona Award for Outstanding Achievement in the Field of Excellence" - I admit I don't understand what this is all about.

- Best Title Screen

- Best Menu System (how it looks, rather than it being a custom one)

- Best Character (design & writing)

- Best game! (one category for each of the most popular engines: rm2k3, XP, ACE VX, etc)

I also think some more joke categories should be added to keep things light, even if no games are nominated for them (Lawsuit waiting to happen, that sort of thing).

These are only suggestions and maybe someone else can get some better idea from these.
While some look good on paper, in reality I think it would drown people in a lot of categories and spread the votes further.
Even if I really like some of these ideas...

author=psy_wombats
I've said this for a couple years now and I know it's not all that popular, but I think both of the main problems of 1) big, notable games getting nominated in every category and 2) categories not having enough entrants... would be solved by cutting down on the number of categories in general.

And now for something completely different! If the external curated voting doesn't work, why not give this a shot?

I'm really happy that this game got some more attention after the Misaos!

Why not remind people about nominations mid-year? We could use one of those frontpage flags.

Or make an event around nominations, similar to the events around reviews.

I agree that there should be more nomination categories. In fact, we could make an event around creating new nomination categories!

However, having said all that, I feel like we are taking this too seriously.
Sure, it sucks when your game isn't noticed (believe me, I know about that!).

But weren't Misaos supposed to be all in good silly fun?

vgperson has a brilliant RPG Maker 2000/2003 translation tool that I've tested and works perfectly, it even has support for accents and Cyrillic (check the readme file).

I was going to point you to: https://vgperson.com/posts.php?p=rpgmakerguide

But I'm disheartened to find that the website is now dead D:

Fortunately, I had downloaded the program and vgperson's explanation of it: https://www.dropbox.com/s/sl8l9c2xejb148c/RPGRewriter.zip?dl=0

I recommend using this program for your RPG Maker 2000/2003 translations!

Take as much time as you need, Frogge.

Better to delay it, if that's what it takes to get it to the level of quality you are aiming for.

I think I speak for everyone when I say that: we all appreciate your efforts ;)

Edit: also, way to go Pat!