That's not exactly what this is, though.
What is this, exactly
Let's come up with a small list of "OHR Essentials" -- games that someone who's never heard of the engine before can play and get a pretty good idea of what's what. To that end, we want to meet the following criteria:
- The game is high-quality. Pretty obviously, any collection of "essentials" should be made up of good games.
- You have played it recently. The definition of "recently" is up to you, just like we're not going to strictly define what is a good game, but the principle here is that while Memoria was a really good game when it was released, it's old enough to drive now, and I have no idea if it holds up. It probably doesn't. Let's stick to games that do.
- Game length. If it's the best five-minute game you've ever played, then it qualifies.
- Completeness. Because, let's be honest, there are not a ton of complete OHR games.
- What kind of game it is. Ideally, we'd have a mix of traditional and less-traditional games, but we aren't going to deny a game a position on the list just because it is or isn't an RPG.
- When the game was released. If you replay Memoria and find that it does in fact hold up, please do nominate it.
How we do this
First, play some OHR games. This is an important step and not one we have historically been as good about as our fellow authors deserve.
Second, nominate any and all games you feel are worth making the cut. The first phase of this project will consist strictly of nominations. Let's avoid steering the discussion towards whether a given title deserves the nomination. We can sort that out in the next phase.
Many games do not get the exposure they deserve, and therefore it can be hard for some games to reach a critical mass of nominations. If you feel especially strongly about a game, you may super-nominate it to ensure it a spot on the ballot. I am not limiting super-nominations at the moment. Please use them sparingly.
After I cut off nominations (maybe at the end of August), I'll compile a ballot consisting of the games with the most nominations as well as any super-nominations. I will try to keep the ballot to a reasonable size. You will be invited to play all of the games on the list, discuss them, and vote for what you think should make the cut. The exact details will be announced when we get to that phase.
And then what
Once we've identified a list of essentials, they will receive the "essential" tag on the gamelist. I will consider adding a section to the homepage to showcase a random "essential" game. We will pop open a bottle of champagne and celebrate. You will need to provide your own bottle of champagne. Please celebrate responsibly.