Re: [piecepack] New Piecepack Products from MG

["Mike Schoessow" <mikeschoessow@...>]

Hey Karol, the new products look very nice! Best wishes for increased sales in 2004! This is truly something that is a win for all of us. I get the feeling that piecepack is sort of "turning a corner" if the number of posts is any indication, and the new product releases can only help. 

I do have two suggestions; 1) I think pictures of the pawns, saucers, and dice would be good, both for sales, and so that I can see what the saucers look like :-)  2) Could you make it possible to buy an extra set of pawns alone (or buy pawns by color)? There are some games (including one I'm working on) that would really like more than four pawns to play well.

I have a number of games I've been working on and play-testing over the past twelve to twenty months, and hopefully I'll be able to add six to ten new games to the data base at piecepack.org this year. 

Now that the quantity of games has grown so much, I think it may be a good idea to organize them a bit more in the future (looking at things from the viewpoint of future Mesomorph customers really; we piecepack veterans know what's out there no matter how they are listed).  I think it would be a good first step to categorize the games by type. An example of categories would be, abstract games, race games, dexterity games, thematic games. This shouldn't be very controversial I would think. Further breaking down of the thematic category would also be possible. Giving ratings to games IS controversial, but some sort of rating system (such as the ones employed at boardgamegeek or funagain) would be useful in my opinion. I'm not in favor of a system that lists "best" games; that's just asking for trouble. However, I think it would be good if a point system (1 to 5, or 1 to 10, for example) could be agreed upon, and then a system could be set up where people who have played games could rate them, with the quantity of ratings and their mean being displayed, and perhaps even comments included, just like at Funagain and boardgamegeek. I would be interested in hearing comments and ideas on this subject, including how it could be implemented, by who, and where.

Best wishes to everyone for a good year and more good gaming, whithin the piecepack system and without.


-Mike

  ----- Original Message ----- 
  From: Karol Boyle 
  To: piecepack@yahoogroups.com 
  Sent: Sunday, January 04, 2004 12:42 AM
  Subject: [piecepack] New Piecepack Products from MG


  Happy New Year! I am bubbling with excitement - I [FINALLY] get to publicly
  share what's been going on behind the scenes at Mesomorph Games.

  We are kicking off the New Year with several new products:

  3rd Edition: Same suits/icons/art as 2nd Edition, new non-yellowing finish,
  packaging, CD-ROM, and Pawn Saucers.*

  4 Seasons Expansion: 4 new suits, 4 new colors also in the non-yellowing
  finish. Winter (White Snow Flake), Spring (Light Blue Flower), Summer
  (Purple Fish), Fall (Orange Leaf).*

  Playing Cards Expansion: The first 2 color expansion for piecepack featuring
  the traditional playing cards suits, icons and colors: Red Hearts and
  Diamonds, Black Spades & Clubs. We throw a dot on 1/2 of the pawns and
  saucers to make them unique.*

  Pawn Saucers: This accessory is my answer to the pawn directionality issue.
  We've created this accessory to be used with the pawn or as a stand alone
  game marker or component - it's multi-functional!* [Single function- Demo
  versions of this accessory are added to 2nd Edition while supplies last.]