Below is a list of the zones that did win the BOTM Award over the years, and Molly’s personal motivations for the choice:
THE 4D BUILDERS OF THE MONTH:
YEAR 1997 Aug. 1997 Lanseril - for Mirkheim Castle Dec. 1997 Hugh - for The Dirt Farm YEAR 1998 Jan. 1998 Slaanesh - for Necromunda Febr. 1998 Remington – for Dun Shivaar March 1998 Kenneth – for the Golf Course April 1998 Kalliste & Kalsan – for Legend and the Android Punk Concert June 1998 Kelixa - for Sanctuary Haze July 1998 Liathi and Pandora – for conversion of zones after the code change Aug. 1998 Moonstar - for Osten Ard Sept. 1988 Angel – for The Dragon Forest Dec. 1998 Palpatine – for Star Wars YEAR 1999 Febr. 1999 Nicoli – for The Temple of the Damned April 1999 Persuter – for Cartesia - the Spaceship Titanic May 1999 Darkwolf for Little Italy YEAR 2000 Jan. 2000 Crystal – for the Township of Odessin Febr. 2000 Cali – for Downunder Aug. 2000 Martin – for Prelude to Terramort Sept. 2000 Shartrance – for Mother Goose YEAR 2001 Jan. 2001 Soulstar - for Midlands March 2001 Emory – for The Temple of Hatshepsut Nov. 2001 Sonya – for Quixotica YEAR 2002 Dec. 2002 Katriel for Enchanted Lands YEAR 2003 Jan. 2003 Sonya – For updating several old zones Febr. 2003 Lonewolf – For the Newbie Arena March 2003 Katriel - for Mount Kuromeru Dec. 2003 Durgan – for the Citadel of Thandar YEAR 2004 Febr. 2004 Phantom – for Ali Baba’s Cavern Dec. 2004 Solana - for Sutter’s Fort and Mills YEAR 2005 March 2005 Durgan - for The Town of Ta-Beneth May 2005 Solana - for Sutter’s Mines Dec. 2005 Alabastor – For the Royal Forest YEAR 2006 Jan. 2006 Kita – for the Land of Punt YEAR 2007 April 2007 Kvetch – for NightDragon Realms July 2007 Amber – for Victorian England YEAR 2008 Febr 2008 Kvetch – for NightDragon Realms II
Motivations:
Aug. 1997 Lanseril Lanseril is the first receiver of the Award "Builder of the Month". His Castle of Mirkheim is a very challenging zone, and those who enter it need to brace themselves against the perils ahead. The rewards will be great, for those that conquer it - but I'll say one thing - they don't come easily. I had a hard time myself even to get past the Guard at the entrance…
Dec. 1997 Hugh Hugh is the Builder of the Month for December. His Dirt Farm is a very original zone, where things are not quite what they seem. It has for instance the most "different" position of a portal that I have seen so far in the mud world. (I bet 90% of the players won't even know it exists, hehe!) The zone also has some pretty cool mob-progs.
Jan. 1998 Slaanesh Slaanesh is the Builder of the Month for January. Necromundia II, is a very cool area, with some good shops and very funny mob-progs. It has even got a library, where you can read the History about Necromundia and the Demonic Hordes from the books on the shelves. Go check it out, folks! - it may give you some good ideas about building!
Febr. 1998 Remington Remington was chosen as February's Builder of the Month, because his city Dun-Shivaer, always gives me an uneasy feeling and a chill down my spine when I visit it, and because the City Park in it always makes me feel good. (In fact it beats many parks I've seen in RL!)
March 1998 Kenneth Kenneth wins March's Builder of the Month. His Future Golf-course, which is now ready to go into the Game Port, was finished in an almost incredibly short time. Also it is a pretty funny and very original area. And it also shows that there are some things that just are eternal - like a good game of golf..
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April 1998 Kalliste & Kalsan Kalliste and Kalsan will share the honour of being April's Builder of The Month, since they each completed a cool area this month. Kalliste's Legend is a western town, where the owner based his wealth on the hard life - and even death - of his poor miners. Funny how this sort of thing occurs in all time periods, isn't it? Kalsan's Future Punk Concert is probably the only Punk Band in the world where all the members are androids. But then again you never know… When I see some of the punk bands of today I sort of wonder sometimes if they are not all androids too.
June 1998 Kelixa Kelixa is May's Builder of the Month. Sanctuary Haze is one of the best areas I've seen in a very long time. The descs - (both room and Mob descs) - are full of flavour, imaginative, colourful, funny and - well - poetic. All I can say is that I wish I could write descs like that myself. This is one Quality Area! Congratulations to Kelixa for creating it, and to 4D for receiving it.
July 1998 Liathia & Pandora Liathia and Pandora share June's Builders of the Month, for the hard and unselfish work they put down in Port 6001 with fixing the resets in most of the converted areas from the Game Port. This is extremely boring and unrewarding work, and I'm deeply grateful to both of them for sharing the heavy load.
Aug. 1998 Moonstar Moonstar is August's Builder of the Month. Her zone Osten Ard is the best I've seen here in 4 Dimensions for a long time. It's a pretty large and varied zone, with a good plot, a definite flavour of medieval times and a nice spice of humour. Moonstar has got a firm grasp of the English language, and she uses colour in a measured and tasteful way to accentuate her zone, but without making it appear as a fun-fair.
Sept. 1988 Angel Angel wins September’s Builder of the Month for his zone Dragon Forest. Although this zone breaks just about every rule there is about building, it still has something that makes it stand out. Maybe it’s the unbridled creativity that hatched the background story for the zone. Maybe it’s the easy flowing language in which the story is told. Whatever it is, it lends a touch of magic to the zone.
Dec. 1998 Palpatine Palpatine is November's Builder of the Month. His zone ‘Star Wars’ is truly awesome, and a real challenge to the players. This zone is HUGE, 300 rooms, equalling 4 normal zones. It has got several different planets with spaceships and space shuttles to connect them all. And although the mobs are very challenging, it is not a common hack'n'slack zone - the ones who know how to use patience and brains will be rewarded too.
Febr. 1999 Nicoli Nicoli has won the award as February’s Builder of the Month. His zone 'The Temple of the Damned', which was finished in an incredibly short time, presents some real challenges to the daring. It has a tough maze that had me running around in circles for hours (*bonks Nicoli*) and once through that difficulty you are faced with the fires of hell and the evils of the Temple. There is a quest to be solved and a virgin to be rescued, but you will also have to deal with the evil Priests Rahkz cult…
April 1999 Persuter Persuter is April's Builder of the Month. His zone 'Spaceship Titanic' has some of the best descriptions I have seen so far, and the whole zone tells a really interesting story. Everything in the zone - rooms, mobs and objects - is within the theme, and it really gives an 'authentic' impression of a spaceship marooned in space ages ago. And by the way, I only managed to catch ONE typo, believe it or not.
May 1999 Darkwolf DarkWolf has been awarded May's Builder of the Month. After finishing his Clan HQ, the Sicilians, in new record time, he went on to build the zone Little Italy equally fast. Both these zones are real quality work, full of atmosphere and humour, with well written, concise room descs that have some real content, without spamming you out of the screen. I have never seen a new Builder catch up to the craft as fast as DarkWolf, he took to it like his natural element. Small wonder too - he is a writer in those strange outside Realms called the Real World.
Jan. 2000 Crystal Crystal is February's Builder of the Month for her large and beautiful zone 'Township of Odessin'. For a first zone, this one is truly fantastic. She had never built on a mud before, yet, unlike most new builders, she set out not to do the bare minimum, but to create a World. The zone has 200 rooms, and almost as many mobs and objects. It has shops, quests, mazes and dungeons. It has plots, suspense, humour and surprise. This zone sprung from a very imaginative brain.
Febr. 2000 Tanaea/Cali Cali is March's Builder of the Month, for her Zone 'Down Under', picturing Australia in a not-so-far Future. This is one of the funniest zones I've ever seen, and also one of the hardest and most frustrating. To get through this zone and get to the Mardi Gras Parade, which is the heart of it, you don't just have to be a good fighter, you have to use your imagination too, get into long conversations with the mobs and figure out her wicked puzzles. Not many will succeed, but the ones that don't can have a good time anyway.
Aug. 2000 Martin/Robin Martin gets the award of August’s Builder of the Month for his innovative zone Terramort. This zone has a very good storyline, and everything in it is true to story and in character. This is the first zone to be finished since the /listen/smell/taste/feel descs and look under/behind/below options were added to our code, and Martin makes good use of these opportunities to add some extra challenge to his Quest.
Sept. 2000 Shartrance Shartrance has been awarded September’s Builder of the Month for one of the funniest, kinkiest and most challenging zones I have seen in a very long time. It is a sort of ‘adult’ version of the Mother Goose nursery stories, which throws an astonishing light on the lives of Snow White, Cinderella, Little Red Riding Hood and all the other well known characters. The seven stories in Shartrances zone – one for each dwarf – are definitely not for kids! *snicker*
Jan. 2001 Mordecai /Soulstar Soulstar is getting January's Builder of The Month Award for his new zone The Midlands. This zone is creative and engaging, its dark humor holding ground for Hack'n'Slashers, Questors and Roleplayers alike. It is one of the most challenging zones I've ever seen - for all categories. But of course Soulstar, being a true Sicilian, couldn't resist cheating a bit. Too many interestingly twisted items and scripts were found to be far out of the boundaries of conventionality, and were cordially removed. This delayed his imm career with several months. But we all know how he ended up... Head Coder...
March 2001 Sekhmet/Emory Emory has been awarded March's Builder of the Month for her three Egypt zones, but mainly The Temple of Hatshetsup. This is a zone totally true to period, which uses archeological facts and ancient Egypt myths to create a feeling of authenticity that few zones possess. But it is not a dull History book, the zone has life, humour, challenges, and makes you truly feel yourself brought back to the time of the old Pharaohs. All Emory's Egypt zones are completely in character, and linked together to form an intriguing world of adventure and suspension.
Nov. 2001 Sonya Sonya wins the Builder of the Month Award, for her Future zone Quixotica. This is an Amusement Park, more geared at Roleplay and Quests than Hack'n'slash. It is a high quality zone, with excellent descs, which also has some pastimes, like Hazard games, Bars, Hotels and some Rides. It also has one of the funniest scripts in 4D - try having a conversation with the Mynah bird!
Dec. 2002 Katriel Katriel gets the Builder of the Month Award for December. Her Medieval zone, called Enchanted Lands, has an intriguing background story, very good descs, some tough challenges and a number of quests, that are most rewarding, if you manage to get through them. And still the really big Quest is not even in yet, that will be added lately.
Jan. 2003 Sonya – For updating several old zones The BOTM Award is not just about creating new zones. Sonya gets it in January, for updating several of our oldest zones to the new OLC features, and adding some fun scripts and quests to them in the process. Updating an old zone is not nearly as fun as creating a new one, and not nearly as rewarding, so Sonya is commended for her unselfish work.
Febr. 2003 Lonewolf – For the Newbie Arena February’s BOTM Award goes to Lonewolf /Blitz, for a Newbie arena that is so far from the one in Stock Muds that the name is a bit misleading. Blitz is one of our most experienced players, and he has put all his knowledge into this zone, that is set up in 4 Dimensions, just like our Mudschool and the entire Mud. Each part gets increasingly harder and the zone is designed to teach the new players some of the Questing culture that is characteristic for 4D.
March 2003 Katriel The BOTM Award for March goes to Katriel for Mount Kuromeru. This is an expansion of Enchanted Lands, and as dark and threatening as EL was bright and colourful. To help the people of the Enchanted Lands, you have to carry out a dangerous Quests. Katriel’s EL zones are among the most popular in the game, because of the fascinating plot and the rich rewards.
Dec. 2003 Durgan – for the Citadel of Thandar Durgan wins the March Builder of The Month Award for his zone The Dwarven Citadel of Thandar. This is a real quality zone, with all the hallmarks of an experienced Builder. In case you wonder how a new Builder could make such an excellent zone, there is a very easy explanation. Durgan is only new to 4D, he's one of the top Builders for our 'Sister Mud', Phoenix, where he has more than 20 zones to his name. We are really lucky that he wanted to build for us as well.
Febr. 2004 Phantom Phantom/Wolfsbane gets February’s BOTM for Ali Baba’s Cavern. This is another zone built by an experienced player, who’s put his game knowledge into the project of Tutoring Newbies in the wicked ways of 4D. It starts out as a desert maze, and ends in the cave of the 40 thieves, where you have to be observant and use all your senses to carry out the Quests. As a part of his tutoring project, Phantom also created the Helpers’ Library, with info about the game.
Dec. 2004 Solana - for Sutter’s Fort and Mills Fort Sutter, created by Solana wins the Builder of the Month Award for December. It features the California Gold Rush and will actually give you the chance of panning for gold yourself. This is an unusually rich zone, with lots of details and several ways of advancing in addition to the usual hack’n’slash. It’s easy to see that Solana built in other Muds before gracing 4D with her skills.
March 2005 Durgan - The Town of Ta-Beneth Durgan wins March’s BOTM Award for The Town of Ta-Beneth. Like the Citadel of Thandar, it is an underground zone, where dark elves fight the dwarves from Thandar in the winding tunnels. This is another impressive piece of professional work from Durgan, who knows how to build economically and yet challenging - and with a big pinch of humour.
May 2005 Solana – Sutter’s Mines Mays BOTM Award goes to Solana for Sutter’s Mines, another part of her Coloma River Valley zones in California, which have revived the Old west Dimension. This time you can not only pan for gold in the rivers, you can set up a rocker, or tunnel for gold in a 300 room big mine. Again a zone that is rich in details and offers several possibilities to make a buck.
Dec. 2005 Alabastor – The Royal Forest Alabastor died tragically in November 2005, and his almost completed Newbie zone, the Royal Forest, was finished by Solana. It won the BOTM Award of December posthumously. It's a nice and friendly zone, a good hunting ground, with several easy quests, well adapted to the capacity of new players. In a way the zone is typical of Alabastor, who was a very friendly, funny and easygoing player, loved by everyone.
Jan. 2006 Mireille /Kita - The Land of Punt January’s BOTM Award goes to Kita for the Land of Punt. This is a rather evil zone, built by a player who belongs to the illustrious Bitches Club. So it should not surprise anyone that it is pretty hard even to figure out how to enter her steaming jungle, and that it is easy to get lost in there, once you found your way in. It offers several pretty hard Quests, and the Limestone Caves beyond the jungle are not for the weak at heart.
April 2007 Kvetch/Cati – NightDragon Realms Kvetch wins April’s Builder of the Month Award for her zone NightDragon Realms. It’s mostly a hack’n’slash zones, but it has some very innovative scripts, and among other things the player needs to be wary of what he attacks, or there might be consequences that are not just based on how tough the mobs are. This is the first part of a large project, which has been divided into several more sizeable chunks, in a very professional way.
July 2007 Amber – Victorian England July’s BOTM Award goes to Amber for Victorian England. This zone is not like anything else in 4D. The Time Period is OldWest but the place is old London. It took Amber several years to finish this zone, but the result is well worth the effort. The zone has atmosphere, horror and grit, but also humour and some really original and challenging Quests. (Be prepared to think along new lines to solve them). It has extra descs in every possible location, and it has the most evil maze in the game, apart from the one in Midlands. Especially for a first zone this one is absolutely amazing.
Febr. 2008 Kvetch - Nightdragon Realms 2 Kvetch wins February BOTM for the extension of Nightdragon Realms. The zone is mostly hack&slash, but has got individual and creative descs, and there is a really nasty Boss Mob to try to track down and defeat, if you tire of the normal carnage. People with arachnophobia should probably avoid this zone, since those creepy crawlers are everywhere, even in the swamp. (Did you know that there are water spiders)?