Re: Summer 2002 piecepack game design contest RESULTS

["mschoessow" <mschoessow@...>]

Thanks Ron and Marty Hale-Evans for your kind praise of Alien City. I 
feel priviledged to win considering that the other entries looked 
very fine too! This idea of a series of design competitions is very 
cool; Thanks James for starting it and thanks to Ron, Marty, Tom, and 
everyone else who has made it happen and contributed; it's really a 
win-win for all of us gamers.

I will be honored to specify and judge the next competition. I would 
like to solicit some input from the group regarding timing. Should 
the next competition close in roughly three months or should we have 
a longer interval this time. Because of the changing theme for each 
competition a designer does not have the option of just waiting until 
the next one to submit a game that isn't quite done, and I'm a little 
concerned about the effect a short interval has on reducing the 
number of entrants. 

-Mike

mschoessow@...

--- In piecepack@y..., Ron Hale-Evans <rwhe@l...> wrote:
> Congratulations to the winner of the Summer 2002 "Ludic Synergy"
> piecepack game design contest:
> 
>   Alien City, by Michael Schoessow!
> 
> This was the stand-out winner of the contest.  It has super replay
> value, as in "Let's play this again NOW!".  Everyone who has played 
it
> so far has not just liked it, but _really_ liked it; Marty is on the
> way to becoming an Alien City junkie.
> 
> This game may not be just the best of the contest, but one of the 
best
> piecepack games we've seen.  The "German-style" scoring mechanism is
> highly novel, yet easy to learn, like the rest of the game.
> 
> The rules mesh well, and there are no superfluous, "fiddly" rules, 
in
> our opinion.  In addition, the strategy seems quite deep, and you 
can
> learn more of it on replaying the game.  Multiple strategies are
> possible, including both offensive and defensive ones.  Even the
> aesthetics of the game are interesting and fit the theme: the 
organic,
> wooden piecepack components representing the undeveloped plots of 
land
> contrast well with the crystalline buildings of the alien city
> (Icehouse pyramids).
> 
> Hooray for Alien City and its designer, Michael Schoessow!  Michael,
> please email me your snailmail address, so we can make sure you get
> your prizes.  (We also need to talk about whether you want to run 
the
> next contest, and so forth.)
> 
> In addition, although this was not initially part of the contest, 
we'd
> like to announce two runners-up, which, although we think they need
> tweaking, are not only playable as they stand, but replayable, with
> several interesting and creative features.  Coincidentally, they 
both
> use double-six dominoes as their second game system.  In 
alphabetical
> order, they are:
> 
>   Ley Lines, by James Kyle
> 
>   Pawns Crossing, by Michael Schoessow and Stephen Schoessow
> 
> Surprising no one, James Kyle's Ley Lines is a worthy entry.  The
> rules are succinct, and not only does everyone who see it exclaim
> "What a cute board!" (it's a map of the British Isles), but it was 
the
> only entry to cause a paranormal event in our house during
> playtesting.  (Okay, a big smiley here.  We had lit some candles, 
and
> one of the candle holders exploded while we were debating the "lines
> of cosmic energy".  A shard of glass shot out about eight inches and
> frightened our dog.  I want to stress that this did not affect our
> judgment of the game!)
> 
> Pawns Crossing, by Michael Schoessow and his brother Stephen, is 
also
> a fun game.  The "Amazing Labyrinth"-style mechanic in which you 
slide
> rows and columns of the board around makes the game more strategic
> than it appears at first glance.  Other strategic and tactical
> elements become apparent as the game wears on -- for example, some
> dominoes are good "Pushers", and others are not.  Well worth a spin.
> 
> Both of these games can be played with three or four players, and
> Pawns Crossing can be played with two.  Our advice if you want to 
try
> some of the games from the contest is: if you have two players,
> definitely try Alien City.  If you have three or four, give Ley 
Lines
> or Pawns Crossing a try.
> 
> In fact, the other four games in the contest all have something to
> recommend them, and depending on taste, you may like some of them
> quite a lot.  We will also be happy to give feedback to the designer
> of any game in the contest, in private email or on the piecepack 
list,
> as the designer prefers.
> 
> An amusing side-note: every game in the contest could have been
> disqualified on some technicality.  We chose to disqualify none.
> 
> You can find PDFs for all seven games in the contest at the 
following
> URL:
> 
>   http://www.ludism.org/piecepack/contest200206/
> 
> Alternatively, you can visit the official site for the contest at
> Piecepack.org, where you will find a list of the games and a link to
> the contest rules, then visit the Piecepack Games Page, where all 
the
> contest games are linked:
> 
>   http://www.piecepack.org/DesignContest/LudicSynergy.html
>   http://www.piecepack.org/PiecepackGames.asp
> 
> Finally, we'd like to say that if we were running this contest 
again,
> we would do a few things differently, such as having blind judging,
> and permitting entries in HTML format (e.g. web pages).  It would
> probably be a good idea for us to discuss contest mechanics with
> whomever runs the next contest.
> 
> Thanks!  It's been fun, and a real privilege to act as midwives to
> some very cool games.
> 
> Ron and Marty Hale-Evans
> 
> p.s. As Alien City is an Icehouse game as well as a piecepack game, 
I am 
> cc'ing this to the Icehouse list.
> 
> -- 
>          Ron Hale-Evans ... rwhe@l... & rwhe@a...
>            Center for Ludic Synergy, Seattle Cosmic Game Night, 
> Kennexions Glass Bead Game &  Positive Revolution FAQ: 
http://www.ludism.org/
> Home page & Hexagram-8 I Ching Mailing List: 
http://www.apocalypse.org/~rwhe/