MOTY 2011 Editors Choice feature - Canvas mod for Half-Life 2: Episode Two

Welcome to the Editors Choice award for Mod of the Year 2011. Here the editors of ModDB have their say on the most prolific mods both released and unreleased to grace our presence over the past year. The awards have been split up into smaller categories, for more information on why that project was selected for the award please keep reading after the video below.

Interaction is a complex and strange beast, it could be as simple as removing traditional controls or as complex as breading a new strain of camera controls. Interaction is not limited to just what lay between the keyboard and the chair. The winner of this award needs to reinvigorate our perception on how video games should be played, and The Stanley Parable does all of that and more.

It is very hard to explain to all of you good people the exact reasons as to why The Stanley Parable needs to be experienced. The mod is short and does not use any custom textures or game assets, what it does deliver however is a very tight and focused game that pokes fun at games who are well... games. The most enjoyable bit about the mod (without going into great detail) is it's ability to break down the forth wall right before your eyes/ears and do it damn well.

Just play the mod and all will be revealed.

To say that a mod or game is creative in it's design is a little like saying it is hip to be different (sometimes). The mod needs to stand out from the pack in both the direction of the gameplay and the overall look and feel of the project. Titan: XCIX has this in spades! By far the one of the best modifications to remove the mother engines quirks and traits from the final production or as some might say the source engines sourceness.

What is delivered in the final mod is something all fans of sci-fi might have wondered at one point or another. What would it be like to be an engineer (loose term) on a active spaceship (not a red coat). The driving force is the well scripted narrative and the unique perspective on environmental interaction. Well deserving of this award!

Without communities mods would be nothing more then a static object on the web, communities are responsible for keeping mods relevant, motivating the developers and expanding on the mod in their own way. To win the Community Award the mod needs to support the fanbase around the modification giving the masses a chance to participate within the overall design of the mod. The Dark Mod is the most deserving this year.

Building a community is quite a difficult and drawn out process, it first takes a good product to bring in people, then a reason for those people to stick around. The Dark Mod has an amazing collection of user created levels and theme packs built for competitions held by the developers. A shining example of how communities are important for all mods!

Just about anyone can create a world in a game, you could simply say this boxed room in hammer is a world and be done with it. That will not cut it for Editors Choice. To even be considered for the Worldly Award you must first create a world, then fill it with lore, places to explore and no shortage of a looming threat helps as well. Just like the game Dibella's Watch originated from this mod is packed to the rafters with content and story.

Dibella's Watch knows how to please, the itch that was created in Oblivion and Morrowind has once again sprung up within the mod, a brand new massive continent for players to explore, side quests (and main) for the player to loose themselves in and experiences to be had. Skyrim, eat your heart out.

New unreleased mods appear all the time, it takes something really special to announce and make an impression. You need to have something considerable to show, have an intriguing presence/idea and capture the attention of a large audience not just on ModDB. CANVAS did just that.

Popping into life back in June this year CANVAS made an impression, the visuals are the first thing everyone noticed, being on the source engine you might expect at this point some jank however all that we have seen so far is gorgeous visuals (check that city scape), smooth animations and a mysterious story. Our editors will have their eyes on CANVAS so should you!

Now I see a lot of things every day here on ModDB. The founder of the site however spends a lot of his time on business related tasks and site expansions. Once in a blue moon he will take notice of a project, the reasons are mostly unknown to myself, maybe it reminds him of a younger self, maybe it tickles that primal urge we have as gamers, maybe he just enjoys the name. Whatever the reason this is his selection based on what I have seen him react to throughout 2011. Honestly you have to be something special for that to happen.

Unreal Revolution is in fact something special. A little backstory here, the third game in the Deus Ex series released this year, while keeping to the nature and feel of the first (the second is dead to me) game, it did modernise the game. Giving everything you can manipulate a nice golden glow, not to mention DLC issues that video games seem to have, as in DLC exists. Unreal Revolution is parody of the game mentioned above. Maybe that is why the founder likes it?

To even qualify for Best Multiplayer for Editors Choice you need two things. First you need to be released and a new IP within 2011 and secondly you need to be super fun with other people. No More Room in Hell gets two ticks!

Zombies are well, zombies. You can almost guarantee if you have zombies within your game people will like it. It gives reasons for players to shoot other humans without feeling bad about it. No More Room in Hell has been cooking for a long time, there is a colourful and detailed history of missed promise releases and messy development issues that plagued the mod. However 2011 was the year NMRiH saw light, and it was good! Bateman approved.

2011 has seen so many awesome singleplayer modifications, it was very hard to pick just one winner, just take a look at our top 100 to get a vague idea of the quality we were dealing with when we made this selection. However in the end there NEEDS to be a winner, and that winner is White Night.

Amnesia is scary all by its lonesome, but White Night takes that to the extreme. One of the first total conversions for the game players are tasked with navigating an abandoned (maybe) mental hospital. Why are you there, what happened to the hospital, if you can brave the mod maybe you will find out. A very thrilling mod!