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Mod of the Year 2009 Editors Choice - Best Original Art Direction

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2009 had many inspiring and graphically stunning releases throughout the year. To be nominated for an award in Best Original Art Direction, a fresh and unique look was key. High-res textures and detailed models while great, was not our focus, instead this award is all about artistic originality. Here are the ModDB editor's top selection of 2009.



Out of Hell
is a singleplayer horror experience for UT2004! Make your way through a decimated town overrun by blood-thirsty zombies! Powerful firearms and brutal melee weapons are at your disposal as you cut and cleave through over 20 grimy and blood-soaked maps!


A Reckless Disregard for Gravity
is loosely based on the sport of base-jumping. In the game, you gain points by swooping within an eyelash of buildings, scoring extra points by kissing the surface, all while going as fast as you can! You can score extra points giving a thumbs-up to spectators as you fall past them or be a rebel and gain points by flipping them off at just the right moment.

NEOTOKYO°
is a first person shooter that aims to provide a visceral & realistic combat experience in a rich futuristic setting. NEOTOKYO° takes place in and around a fictionalized Tokyo approximately 30 years in the future. Mankind has begun to fuse with technology. Government and corporate corruption have transformed Tokyo into a deadly dystopian nightmare.

The Ball
offers an adventure that puts you in the boots of an explorer who gets stuck in a cavern and bumps onto ancient Meso-American tombs. While making your way through the internal workings of ancient ziggurats, golden cities, and huge caverns, your only companion is a mysterious big gold and metal-shelled ball.

Zeno Clash
is an action fighting game set in a punk fantasy world. The game blends the first person genre with the fighting game genre and the combat is generally up close and brutal. The original visuals, which make full use of the Source engine features, are a refreshing deviation from traditional fantasy games.

Post comment Comments  (0 - 50 of 68)
AshtonAndersen
AshtonAndersen

All look great, but in my opinion I think Zeno Clash did a fantastic job with their unique art-style. Good luck to all the nominees!

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Emil_4444
Emil_4444

I don't know how they can choose because I really like them all! But Zeno Clash is an awesome art!

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diesal_11
diesal_11

i think A Reckless Disregard for Gravity should win

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medve
medve

aaaaaa has a too boring gameplay and monoton grafic elements
neotokyo is really nice, i really loved the environment
out of hell has the greatest textures ever, great work with this outdated engine
ball is nice, but only in the u3 category as msu has proved
zeno has nothing to do with art at this point, the direction is good, but needs a lot more detail to feel like a real world

i respect all these games, all of them got some special thing but neotokyo is simply better then all of them.

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Nikholai-Chan
Nikholai-Chan

NeoTokyo I say but that's coz I'm a huge fan of Ghost In The Shell.

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FW:ToW_Sushi
FW:ToW_Sushi

Wow, this is a tough one to call. My bet is on The Ball, though.

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Guessmyname
Guessmyname

I'd call it as being between Neotokyo and Out of Hell, personally, simply for the amount of work gone into the visuals

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qeloqoo
qeloqoo

Mod of the Year 2009 Editors Choice - Best Original Art Direction...
Hmm, are Zeno Clash and A Reckless Disregard for Gravity really mods?

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Mastix
Mastix

Mod of the Year 2009 Editors Choice - this is the name of the so-called competition, there is the Mod of the Year 2009 Editors Choice - Best Indie if you didn't notice, and the catagory says "Best Original Art Direction" without saying Mod or TC.

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qeloqoo
qeloqoo

Oh, well, last year it was map pack winning best upcoming mod. I'm not surprised.

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Henley Author
Henley

You can thank the player votes for that, nothing to do with the editors choice.

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Mastix
Mastix

Yep, you can blame the majority for having a bad taste (I do agree with you on the mappack thingy).

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DuckSauce
DuckSauce

Last year sure showed me what player's choice really ment!
I know now not to expect too much out of that, last year's editor's choice awards were great though and I'm expecting this year to be no different! The video's were all great to watch last year, hope the quality is still there :D

Gogo ModDB!

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NullSoldier
NullSoldier

Yeah... I don't make friends with people who voted for the map pack last year.

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Mastix
Mastix

My bet is Zeno Clash.
All of those got great original artistic styles but Zeno Clash is just one level above.

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justgoaway
justgoaway

Zeno Clash is the one that have more chance to win, but The Ball and AAAAA(...)! A Reckless Disregard for Gravity have a big chance to win, too.

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DuckSauce
DuckSauce

When looking at actual "original" art style I'd say Zeno Clash wins, with The Ball a high possibility to.

Overal quality of art I'd say anyone has a chance to win but A reckless disregared for gravity, it had sweet gameplay, the art style is interesting and even without top notch graphics looks great at a glance and that's mostly what you see when falling down, but I don't ought the chance very high that it will win, Zeno Clash and The Ball just seem to have a much more interesting style, especially Zeno Clash has a crazy and good looking art style.

Out of the 5 I never played Out of Hell so I can't judge that one, from superficial glances it seems like another zombie shooter, but the reactions from people seem to indicate it's more than that.

Either way, my bet is on Zeno Clash or the Ball for this one ;)

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Torabi
Torabi

Zeno Clash has to win!

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PytoX
PytoX

Definately Zeno Clash! :)

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dave_5430
dave_5430

(buried)

Borderlands isn't unique?

Dang, I guess I'll have to give 'em a call that they suck too much.

On a side note, is it me or is everything on this list either source or ut based? prejudice much...

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Henley Author
Henley

Not sure what you mean, as there is no game on this list that shares the same engine. As for borderlands that isn't a mod or an indie title, not sure why you would think otherwise.

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DuckSauce
DuckSauce

Borderlands isn't an indie though?
At least the pricing sure told me that.

ModDB Moty is for mods and indies, not for non-indies.

And yes, 2 of the mods are Source, 2 of them are UT and 1 of them is an indie. Your point is? Last year a Battlefield 2 mod won at two different categories, the way I see it, they're not biased at all, but I could be wrong, feel free to show me mods on other engines with original art directions.

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Mularac
Mularac

2 of them are indie, one with the source engine (Zeno clash) and I don't know the one Aaaahaaa (or however :P) used for his game. As for the others, 1 source mod, one ut2004 mod and an other ut3 mod. Yeah, quite some variety.

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Micah
Micah

Just because there are two games that use the same SERIES of engine doesn't mean it's the same engine. The engines behind UT2004 and UT3 are a world apart.

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SEKCobra
SEKCobra

I hope Neotokyo will win this one.

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RKotern
RKotern

20s

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SEKCobra
SEKCobra

Why do all Countdowns stay az zero for so long without really showing what should come after it? :<

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Headcrusher
Headcrusher

ZEEENNNOOOOOO CLLLLAAASSSSSHHHHH

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Varsity
Varsity

I'm so disappointed that the video narrator didn't pronounce the "AaaaaAAaaaAAAaaAAAAaAAAAA!!!" :P

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DuckSauce
DuckSauce

Or just stick in a clip of Tarzan doing his jungle AaaaaAAaaaAAAaaAAAAaAAAAA!!!

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DuckSauce
DuckSauce

Well that was unexpected for me.
Grats to the winner regardless!

Stupid question maybe, but what's TLC?
Quote from the video "With a little bit of TLC..."

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Henley Author
Henley

tender love and care.

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Mastix
Mastix

Out of Hell alongside Neotokyo are a bit dull looking when compared to the other nominees but I guess it's a matter of taste.
Anyway, gratz for OfH.

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Torabi
Torabi

Are you serious? I mean, Out of Hell it looks great but still, it's art direction is far from unique. Killing Floor is also set in a simmilar enviroment and whatnot. Zeno Clash, looks NOTHING like anything that I have ever seen before, especially on the Source engine. Zeno Clash still wins in my mind.
Will be interesting to see what people on Moddb voted for.

Still, congrats to the team behind Out of Hell.

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DuckSauce
DuckSauce

I agree somewhat, but I haven't played Out of Hell so I can't judge that all that fairly.

However I think Best Original Art direction could be interpreted as the best art with an original direction, so maybe they thought Out of Hell had the best(highest quality) art with still an original art direction.

Although not having played it I've no idea what would be original, obviously the most original parts won't be shown in the video's(because that would spoil it!).

Regardless though, it's up to the "editors" on this one, it's what they think, so Out of Hell won fair and square. Already congratulated in a comment above, but here's one again, grats to whoever is behind Out of Hell.

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Tatsur0
Tatsur0

Out of Hell looked great and a lot of hard work went into "CUSTOM" content. I was hoping to see NeoTokyo win this cause i'm a bit biased obviously but also because it was the Art style that made me want to work on the mod. It has the most unique art style IMHO but all great choices.

Congrats Chicken you earned it :)

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John_volkov
John_volkov

if you ask me Earth's Special Forces has the best art direction just look at what they did with hl 1 engine https://www.moddb.com/mods/earths-special-forces

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Henley Author
Henley

Its not released and they have not had a significant update this year, that is why they are not on this list, that and the fact the art direction isn't something original either (ie based on an anime).

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razorb
razorb

i dont want to stir anything up.. but saying esf's art direction isnt unique because of the anime is fine.. but then saying out of hell's art direction is so original that it wins over everything else.. is just silly i wish you could actually explain why it is so original, instead of talking about the fact that it looks good for an old engine.. you really didnt say why it was original that it deserved the award ya know..

also please dont take this the wrong way.. i do think the maker of Out of Hell did a great job in terms of making so much art for the game.. its just not original at all.. its all based on things that already exist and composed in a pretty standard way.. anyway! rant over! :) zeno clash was my winnaar!

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Henley Author
Henley

Thats like saying NeoTokyo shouldn't be in here because it is based on a real place... Original in the sense means that it was created for this game and the direction it took did not change during the entire mod, the atmosphere, the art even the music and story are all fresh and unique. Sorry that I did not explain it well enough for you on the video.

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razorb
razorb

lol... you see neotokyo built upon an already existing design and place.. they didnt just copy paste... and hell i didnt nominate that game.. or even mention it..

o·rig·i·nal
a. Not derived from something else; fresh and unusual
b. Showing a marked departure from previous practice; new: a truly original approach

and when you say original in the sense that it was made for this game? lol every nominee falls under that category... take a look... then you once again say it was fresh and unique? lol! how? what where please explain... i just dont see how you could say that ..
from what you are saying it sounds like this award should be renamed to "**** load of art created for a mod award"

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AshtonAndersen
AshtonAndersen

This contest was suppose to be best Art direction, not who can make an old engine look good. Nothing against Out of hell, they did a fantastic job and congrats to them. But when I think of "Original Art" I think something such as the ball or Zeno clash based on a unique style.

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iopzx
iopzx

I dont get it
why are they working on the hl1 engin tho there is a hl2 engine?

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JohnnyMaverik
JohnnyMaverik

Zeno Clash has to win this one, what ever you think about the game in terms of plot, characters and gameplay, it looks superb, that is undeniable. Plus is looks unique, and considering the engine they used... well when I first played the demo I had no clue it was source.

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MrMattWebb
MrMattWebb

I would have thought Airborne would have been in the top 5 for art for sure. :/

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JuliusB
JuliusB

hehe, thanks Korge :) Don't know why Airborn wasn't nominated...

But hey congrats to "Out of Hell"

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BunnyJen
BunnyJen

Yeah I agree, that and Machinarium would be in there for me.

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Daystranger
Daystranger

Poor choice.

To be honest, Out Of Hell is no way "original" and no way "best".
At first I thought that OOH is Killing Floor mod.
But with bad models and cubic maps.

Zeno Clash is a winner here.
Not only REALLY unique world but also great looking visuals and distinct characters.

MODDB disappoints me once again.

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NullSoldier
NullSoldier

I agree, Zeno Clash is actually the real winner here not Out of Hell. Regardless of what was chosen Zeno Clash should have one regardless of opinion it's just common sense. They created an entire new world and the rules of how it should look. It's the definition of original and also beautiful.

I think Out of Hell was chosen because they just wanted to recognize the guy for working on it for 6+ years. Regardless Zeno Clash actually won and was the mod I nominated for editors choice.

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cW#Ravenblood

Coooooooooooool,
cant wait for the other but I also think Zeno Clash should win
but its editor choise

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