I'm gonna preface this with the fact that reading Samsara's nominations from last year really spoke to me. Giving kind words to newcomers genuinely does encourage them to come back to do more work, especially if they were on the fence like I was. The 2022 wave of rookie TASers coming out with the revamped site means that there are a lot of newcomers of various but great skills for making TASes. I'm gonna split my nominations into digestible categories.
Absolute volume and breadth of games:
- ShesChardcore
- MarioAtWork
These two newcomers showed off a whole lot of TASes this year. More interestingly, they showed off a lot of games that usually don't have that mainstream appeal that would've gotten those games notice. Whether they were old and forgotten games from decades ago, or indie homebrew games that simply doesn't have the outreach to get popular recognition, these two give those games a chance to show themselves off with a neat TAS for others to see.
Record keepers of extremely high level tech:
- benstephens56
- Cadit
- DeathKontrol
- M1D
- Pontus
These five newcomers have submission notes that are extremely detailed and helpful. So much information on display that would help out not only anyone curious bout what's going on under the hood after watching the TAS, but also information that would help future TASers looking to improve those to have in a nice, handy location to use. If there's one pet peeve of mine, it's the problem of tech that gets used in places but is either inadequately explained or, much worse, never explained or written down in an easily accessible place. These five make some incredibly helpful TAS notes that are incredibly technical, detailed, and helpful for understanding how the games they TAS work. That research definitely shows in their great TASes.
For love of the hobby:
These two newcomers show some genuine enthusiasm to me with regards of making TASes. While they've proven themselves to be pretty good at TASing, I expect them to stick around improving their craft and bringing some great TASes in the future.
